Signing & Marking: Tourism is a collection of the former brown highway signs that announced the various Flemish touristic regio’s along our highways. The large signs were archived in alphabetic order at the Verbeke Foundation in Kemzeke (BE), where visitors can consult them freely. The life-size archive cabinet allows for a confrontation with the widely know signalling that was part of the streetscape for the past 30 years. 

The boards, with a size of 2m high and 3,6m long, are designed to deliver a fast message to high velocity passers-by. In the blink of an eye they mark the transition between areas. By placing them in a relaxing and natural environment, they lose their context. The graphical abstractions of the different cities and regions transform into fields of white on brown and due to the exaggerated size the font becomes illegible. The typology remains identifiable, the meaning and relevance fades away.