I sing the corporate body electric

This photo comes from this site, and explains:
"An ad placed at the Johannesburg International Airport to greet arriving and departing passengers. It’s a world first, a 5000 m2 billboard which required 1000 liters of paint and 9 separate permits from different regulatory authorities."

“Place” is a word that (corporate trademark reference alert), like the Yellow Pages ad says, “gets used”-- a lot. Sometimes “location” is the primary meaning:
“Is this the place?” “I need directions to your place.”


But usually there is some tinge of “judgment,” approval or disapproval:
“What kind of place are you running here?” “I love that place!” “This place is a dump” “There’s no place like home.” "Is this the place to put an ad?"


In addition to location and judgments, place is always tied to “relationships” between oneself and others, and one’s environment--relationships like:
“I don’t belong in this god-forsaken place.” “How the F#@% did I get in this place” “I can’t seem to find my place” “Everyone deserves a place at the table”


Edward Relph’s critical look at corporate colonization of the world’s airports claims that corporate culture has spawned clones to replace real places. These black holes of place only partake of “placelessness,” undeserving of a full place at the table (of course, puns always get a place).

The sense of the loss of “authenticity” reminds me of Walter Benjamin’s criticisms of modern photography in the industrial age, which he thought stole a bit of the allure from the real thing (say, the Virgin Mary or a Tomato Soup can), making reality less magical than it would be otherwise, and reducing all substance to the mere similitude of a photograph. Pierre Bourdieu (yes, another French theorist gets a place at the theory table) is more positive, seeing the ability of specific “locations” with their peoples and traditions to create a sense of authenticity, to give or withhold approval, and to build and maintain relationships in concert with their own notions of place-ness.

I’m not sure any of this matters too much in the airport bar, so of course
“Save me a place”