Sunday, July 7, 2013

The Walking Men (and Women)

photographic collage of pedestrian traffic images from cities around the world, collected by Maya Barkai (photo: walking-men.com)

Located on the construction site of 99 Church Street in Manhattan, Walking Men 99™ is a site-specific public art installation showing 99  pedestrian traffic lights icons from cities around the world, collected by artist Maya Barkai.

The corner of Church Street, and Park Place NY in Google Street View.

One of the few walking ladies is Sofie, the traffic light icon from Amersfoort!

Sofie from Amersfoort with a ponytail, a mini skirt and high heels (source: forgotten-ny.com



next episode: a Stevens

13 comments:

  1. One day all New Yorkers will know where Amersfoort is situated :)

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  2. Very eye-catching and very imaginative Amersfoort, compared to all the other traffic light icons shown.

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  3. @Peter And, however, New Yorkers should never forget how much of the Netherlands they have in their roots:
    Breuckelen -> Brooklyn
    Nieuw Amsterdam -> New York
    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_New_York_City.svg
    etc.

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  4. I never realised there were so many different 'men'. Well done Sofie, ponytail and all!

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  5. Interesting to see the different designs. Amersfoort's has great style.

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  6. IMHO, Amersfoort has the best traffic icon. Sofie is a fun design and definitely the most fashionable. :)

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  7. Different countries or regions also sometimes have varying sounds with these walking people, to help the vision impaired.

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  8. Very interesting, although unfortunate that the artist has assumed most of these figures to be men. Most of the walk icons are stick figures have no gendered features, just a basic representation of shared human shape. We could assume they are all women except the ones with hats indicating otherwise (even then, women wear hats).

    It is sexist then, to assume the neutral figures are male. Men are not the standard with women a deviation - when we see a neutral, we should assume it is a person.

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    1. I see your point. I didn't realise it myself but of course the standard figure should be considered gender neutral!

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  9. Love your comment, Neridah, and fully agree!

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  10. Of course -- I was scrutinizing the gender neutral figures myself and imagining why the artist was insisting that they were male. Not that many women nowadays wear skirts or dresses, and at this degree of abstraction the addition of a breast would be exaggerated, except to definitively distinguish it as a woman. In some cases though, the build of the upper body does seem more masculine than just gender neutral, likewise with the shapes of the heads, which seem more lie "male" haircuts at times. But in many cases the are neutral, and that should be recognised and pointed out.

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  11. The most important function of walking sticks is to provide balance because mostly the sticks are used by the aged people while walking and it serves as their third leg.http://www.easeofmobility.com/best-patient-lift-guide/

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