The urban landscape of Madrid bears the silent traces of a bygone era of analog advertising, encapsulated in layers of adhesive stickers once used to promote locksmith services and other trades. These remnants, now obsolete in function due to the rise of digital search culture, remain as palimpsests—visual testimonies of temporal strata within the city. Avendaño (2021) interprets these sticker clusters on traffic lights, mailboxes, and metal surfaces as urban archaeology, where the deterioration and overlapping of stickers mirror the chaotic yet structured logic of street-level competition and the evolution of public communication. Although no longer consulted in emergencies, these neglected pieces of paper still participate in the visual culture of the city, marking the transition from physical to digital modes of engagement. Their persistent presence highlights the contrast between the ephemeral nature of street advertising and its unintentional permanence, suggesting that cities, through such overlooked details, store collective memory in everyday materials. This transformation—from utility to artifact—positions the sticker not just as residue, but as a symbolic index of shifting urban semiotics, where analog remnants become part of a visual dialogue with the present. The analysis extends to how these obsolete markers anticipate the visual saturation of digital screens, offering a tangible precursor to the continuous visual occupation of urban space (Avendaño, 2021).
Avendaño, G.E. (2021). Pegatinas, palimpsesto y publicidad. URBS. Revista de Estudios Urbanos y Ciencias Sociales, 11(2).
