Sorry if that song is now stuck in your head (if you’re asking ‘what song?’, consider yourself lucky) but having been in Melbourne for a number of years, I was shocked to return to Perth and see the deterioration of the once beloved ‘Perth Entertainment Centre’.
Anyway, that is not the reason for this post (just an amusing aside). The point is that the poor state of this building and the message that has been grafittied onto it – Work Commute Die – made me take more notice of it and think about what it now stands for, more than I ever did when it was functioning in society. No longer slick and strewn with advertisements promoting sponsors and upcoming events, it is now somewhat representative of a failure of commercialism.
As a big fan of the magazine Adbusters, their messages coupled with their artwork, speak volumes about commercialism (among other things) and how ‘the system’ can hurt people and the world. Why, reading Adbusters was one of the many things that motivated us to become nonworkers, and I don’t think that the above image would be out of place in such a magazine. If anything, I’m sure this one below could possibly get a look in on The Worst of Perth ;p.
Vandalised sign outside the PEC
Like them or loathe them, the person who graffitied this was trying to send a message to the people, the workers. No matter how successful something is, no matter how many good memories people hold of it, when it has no further use it is simply discarded by society.
Just as you may be a valued “team member” in your organisiation, but when the powers that be don’t need you anymore or someone better comes along, you may well find yourself ‘kicked to the curb’; relegated to a shadowy corner like Milton in Office Space, or in the case of the PEC: the trains go past, the cars park nearby, but nobody visits you anymore.
As nonworkers, our only hope is that any workers out there who feel like they’re a slave to the wage, receive the message and know that there is an alternative.
I saw the sign …
Sorry if that song is now stuck in your head (if you’re asking ‘what song?’, consider yourself lucky) but having been in Melbourne for a number of years, I was shocked to return to Perth and see the deterioration of the once beloved ‘Perth Entertainment Centre’.
It used to be the heart of the city: THE venue for concerts and events, not to mention home to the Perth Wildcats (on the prowl). But now it’s an absolute eyesore! Ohw, Love you Perth! (yes you mean the world to me)
The PEC in happier times (Credit: James Bromberger)
Anyway, that is not the reason for this post (just an amusing aside). The point is that the poor state of this building and the message that has been grafittied onto it – Work Commute Die – made me take more notice of it and think about what it now stands for, more than I ever did when it was functioning in society. No longer slick and strewn with advertisements promoting sponsors and upcoming events, it is now somewhat representative of a failure of commercialism.
As a big fan of the magazine Adbusters, their messages coupled with their artwork, speak volumes about commercialism (among other things) and how ‘the system’ can hurt people and the world. Why, reading Adbusters was one of the many things that motivated us to become nonworkers, and I don’t think that the above image would be out of place in such a magazine. If anything, I’m sure this one below could possibly get a look in on The Worst of Perth ;p.
Vandalised sign outside the PEC
Like them or loathe them, the person who graffitied this was trying to send a message to the people, the workers. No matter how successful something is, no matter how many good memories people hold of it, when it has no further use it is simply discarded by society.
Just as you may be a valued “team member” in your organisiation, but when the powers that be don’t need you anymore or someone better comes along, you may well find yourself ‘kicked to the curb’; relegated to a shadowy corner like Milton in Office Space, or in the case of the PEC: the trains go past, the cars park nearby, but nobody visits you anymore.
As nonworkers, our only hope is that any workers out there who feel like they’re a slave to the wage, receive the message and know that there is an alternative.
Here’s to more nonworking for us all!