David Byrne and Danielle Spencer, 2003

Lenticular Photographs, 18x24"

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David took the original photographs in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and the series was printed in his book Your Action World. We started experimenting with the photos, and ultimately decided to replace the companies' names with words such as Beauty, Courage, Honor, Truth, Virtue — positive, iconic, seemingly universal qualities. Many people wonder if the alternate word versions are real — so how plausible would it be to see such a sign? Are they so far off from corporations’ usual self-presentation? Do we usually realize how grandiose corporate iconography really is? And what sort of alternate reality do they represent?  

We produced the series as lenticulars (used primarily for commercial or religious purposes, e.g.“winking Jesus”.) To produce a lenticular 2 or more individual images are spliced to create one file with alternating strips, and the resultant print is mounted to a plastic sheet made up of thin lenses such that from any given angle the viewer sees only one set of splices, so only one image at a time. Each of the lenticular photographs in this series are composed of the original photo and a version with alternate text so as the viewer moves from left to right, the word flips back and forth.

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