Divinest Sense

Update: The Baltimore Sun gets wind of the story.

Yes, this is a real poster on the MARC, Maryland’s commuter rail system. I have seen it with my own eyes. I wondered at the time whether it was some sort of guerilla art making a statement about the fun times we live in, but alas, no…

UPDATE: Here’s a possible inspiration for the poster. I guess when I said “Soviet” I spoke too soon!

Actually, to be serious, the MARC poster is a reference to the poster designs of the Constructivist movement in 1920’s Russia, which was a strong influence on later design movements - most notably Bauhaus, de Stijl, and the Italian Futurist movement. The strong diagonals, bright colors, metallic surfaces and machine-like shapes are meant as positive, bold statements about the limitless potential of a technological and industrial world. This fertile period of design happened after the Bolshevik revolution and before Stalin solidified his dictatorial power. Thus, the vision is not born out of totalitarianism, but encourages putting art, technology, and human ingenuity in service to society at large. The MARC poster’s slogan, however, reminds us of what happened next - when poster designs became a propaganda tool of dictators, meant to inspire fear and obedience.

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