The Public Word

Abstract

The priorities moulding the development of word/images constructed specifically to function within the public domain and those accepted as "art" have been very different and separate issues. This article is concerned with the possibility of developing a new public language—an alternative to the one now existing which is largely consecrated to consumption. An examination is made of billboard advertisements and movie marquee slogans. Graffiti is presented as an example of language inversion, establishing it as an intrusion on the high pressure message of advertising and potentially the closest thing to a public poetry.