Primul semafor electric din Bucureşti
The First Electric Traffic Light in Bucharest
The image catches the entrance of modernity in
Bucharest in the form of technology: in the centre
of the city appears the first traffic light. In this
photograph we find a technique that was frequently
used by Ionescu: the coupling of a human and
non-human subject. The traffic light is enhanced by
the presence of the policeman. The two presences do
not interact or complete each other but by
accomplishing the same function simultaneously.
There is no traffic jam that could explain this
redundancy. On the other side the pedestrians seem
to wait disciplined before crossing the road.
We can read the image as a cultural discourse: the
crowd responds in an adequate manner both to the
presence of a policeman and of an electric traffic
light. The title of the photograph however makes
this interpretation unsure: if this image shows the
first electric traffic light in Bucharest, it would
be highly unlikely that the crowd was already used
to the new traffic rules. It is therefore more
probable that the people react to the traffic light
as to a show: with curiosity and at a distance.
A few panoramas showing the same crossroad cancel
such interpretation. Besides the traffic light meant
to regulate the car’s traffic, we discover the
street marks and the signs addressing the
pedestrians. No one is minding them, though, in
spite of the presence of some traffic agents. The
crowd circulates in the same chaotic manner.
