No Billboards in Space, Solo exhibition at Post Tyler Cologne, 2019
In January of 2019 news circulated on the web that a Russian start-up was working on plans to place advertising in space. Now that advertising pillars and paper billboards are being replaced more and more by digital advertising spaces, is this the next logical step or a crackpot idea? Stefanie Pluta has been working for many years with advertising in public space, as a surface, as a fleeting place, as an image, as a message. On expired, discarded billboards, she uncovers layers, isolates motifs, and thus creates new works. In an ongoing series of black-and-white photographs, the artist also captures flags, banners, or packaging whose original messages she removes through subtle interventions. The principle of décollage transfers from her works with affiches to public space. And shows us how valuable a close look at the supposedly familiar environment is. Text: Leonie Pfennig
