For this project I used a photo I took this summer while traveling through Europe. It’s from Hallstatt, Austria, which is known for its really pretty lakeside views and the church that usually stands out in the center of town. Instead of keeping the church, I swapped it out with a McDonald’s.
I wanted to play with the idea of how historic places get commercialized and turned into tourist backdrops. Replacing something meaningful, like a church, with a fast-food chain shows how global brands can take over spaces that used to represent community or tradition.
Other than that change, the rest of the photo is left the same so the McDonald’s really jumps out. It makes the scene feel a little absurd, which was the point—to question how much of these beautiful places are being preserved, and how much are being consumed.
In the digital composition “Architectural Blend” by Megan Cluck, there is a mountain environment with a lakeside town built into the mountainside. The buildings in the town are European village style (I could not for the life of me find the name for this architecture style), with one church in the center of the image a mixture of older style and modern minimalism. McDonald's logo is plastered over the church along with the modern additions. The image overall has a tranquil feeling, with the location and town being more natural, and a jarring element included in the middle adding a point of intrigue. The image itself is in 4:3 ratio and compositionally follows the rule of thirds, with most of the main subject in the lower right portion of the composition. The source images for the mcdonalds and village are linked in the description of the piece.
ReplyDeleteThe work is a combination of the natural, the historical, and the modern through the interaction of the mountainous lake landscape and the village with the modernized sections of the Mcdonalds building. The building that was combined with the McDonalds in the center of the image was initially a church, possibly a message about the idolization of corporations and also how they infect/overtake any building available to profit in a new location - how these corporations exploit these towns and these people of their hard work and history to make a profit. The town is beautiful, and with a beautiful location it would likely attract many tourists, so the corporation coming in to profit off this location shows how a small town may change with the influx of commercialization.
There isn’t much in terms of architectural blending with most of the buildings so I will focus on the mcdonalds+church combination. That being said, the blending of the town into the background replacing what the previous picture of the town was in the original is very smooth and impressive! The obnoxious red rectangle that is present in most modern mcdonalds buildings with the minimalist designs really sells the concept, it interacts with the details and textures of the church in a way that makes it obvious that the smooth walls are all modern branding-compliant additions. McDonald's branding slapped onto the walls in any spot possible also makes it clear this was a super quick addition to gain as much attention as possible, really well thought out by the editor. Overall the editing turns this image from a sweet family trip picture into a commentary on companies and money.
Most of this was mentioned earlier, but this is likely a critique on the way that corporations profit off of historical locations for financial gain, overtaking buildings and applying “brand-associated architecture” and in turn destroying parts of history to turn a profit in a new location. The McDonalds logo really makes it clear that the previous place of worship to god is now a new place to “worship” this corporation. When entering a place of historical significance we should be careful to preserve its beauty and importance and companies have prioritized money over this principle.
The piece overall is a commentary on profits, historical locations, and the exploitation that mega corporations do to smaller communities to make as much money as they can. The tranquil location is disrupted by a combination of McDonalds and a church, causing a jarring shift from more historical architecture to modern minimalism. This draws the viewers eye in and focuses on the details of the logos plastered along the walls, making it clear the place of worship is not a place of profits. The combination of these elements are clean and make a strong message that can be easily understood by most viewers.