YO! or OY? - say what? Creative place-making through a metrolingual artifact in the semiotic landscaping of Dumbo, Brooklyn

Abstract

This paper investigates a metrolingual language object and creative place-making in Dumbo, Brooklyn within the era of late capitalism. It is an analysis of how two simple letters ‘O’ and ‘Y’, when put together create two short words ‘OY’ and ‘YO’ yet carry exponential meaning about metrolingual language ideologies, language users and powerful social agents. An example of heteroglossic play and linguistic creativity, Deborah Kass’s multilingual artwork is at the crossroads of social, cultural, political and linguistic boundaries of diverse communities in urban space. This paper focuses on how the work of one local Brooklyn-based artist was fabricated and re-contextualized for public space, use and consumption, but paid for by a private, influential individual gentrifier and his local real estate development company. In short, it examines a local narrative about key players within urban development schemes driving consumer cultures through unique selling propositions, and thereby laying the foundations for language to emerge and become both a cultural and material artifact reflecting global marketing practices and the semiotic landscaping of urban hubs.