Advertising Battles

Wang Qingsong is bang on:

My new work "Commercial War" focuses on the power of ads and the misconceptions that ads can create. For this photo work, I constructed a chaotic backdrop where over 20 people are depicted in a frenzy of competition with some even fist fighting while jostling for ad positioning on a huge billboard advertisement; this struggle for the most optimal outdoor ad placement is perceived as inevitably bringing power and influence. The struggle for ad placement in public space in China is not unlike a battlefield strewn with casualties after a pitched battle for power. Today one brand wins. The next day, its competitor will replace it with better positioning on public spaces. Every day, new ads go up, and old ones fall down, scattered in pieces, and discarded on the ground under newly erected billboard advertisements. [Link]

Visualizing Death In Occupied Baghdad

Data Mining points to a great interactive visualization by the BBC which maps the ongoing violence in Baghdad. The program draws body count numbers from the Iraq Body Count project, which as of this moment estimates a minimum and maximum number of civilian deaths in Iraq at roughly 59,000 and 65,000 individuals.