Empire Sign

It’s hidden pieces of art like this which make Glasgow a really special city. We stopped here while on the Merchant City public art trail and admired the sign from the end of the lane at Bell Street.
The guide describes this as though you can walk down the lane, however it was locked on the day we visited. You can still see the Empire Sign well enough though (and the matching Mitre Bar sign).
This is a piece of artwork by Douglas Gordon and is a mirror image of a sign from Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Here’s a quote from the guide: «I liked the fact that I could make an artwork that would not look like an artwork. I could make an object which was a copy of something that doesn’t actually exist except in fiction, and the only way you can read it properly is to look in a mirror which is a place that does not really exist either.»
The artwork was originally in Brunswick Lane but was moved, and they moved the Mitre Bar sign with it. Well worth a look when you’re in the area.

This piece of ‘art’ is something I never had any clue about until one day when a friend of mine took me to see this weird blinking sign. I was like, what are you showing me that for, as I assumed it was in fact advertising some sort of dive club. But as I heard about the story which previous reviewers have discussed, I was intrigued and have invited everyone I am ever walking with to view the sign and listen to a rather abstract account of the story which I can never quite remember. Although the details do often change, I am getting the jist across and more people may go to see that way.
I was wondering though? If it is worth so much money then how come they display it in the street where it could get destroyed.

Stumble across this bright green slightly flickering neon Empire sign displayed in a grubby lane just off Argyle Street, you will probably think it relates to a long closed nightclub or hotel.
However, the sign is actually a piece of public art by Douglas Gordon, is an artist from Glasgow who studied at the Glasgow School of Art and won the Turner Prize in 1996. The «Empire» piece of art dates back to 1997.
There are lots of interpretations about this sign, none of which have been confirmed. One refers to Gordon’s work in video and film and his passion for Hollywood movies and Alfred Hitchcock. A similar «Empire» sign appears in the Hitchcock movie Vertigo. The letters on either side of the sign sometimes flicker, like the «Hotel» signs seen in American films. In the 1930s, Empire was a popular name for cinemas in the UK.
Another interpretation may refer to Glasgow’s role as the second city of the British Empire. The British Empire was once the largest and most powerful in the world. Now the days of the Empire are sometimes seen as a shameful chapter in British history, when brutality and privilege made life unfair for colonial citizens.
I think this intepretation could be relevent to Empire as the sign is located in a rough, deeserted lane in what was once once the second most powerful city the world.
The next time you scroll by the sign, have a glance up and decide whether you like it, don’t like it, or are indifferent. Regardless of what you think it means, it is fun to guess.

Well apparently this is art.
This well-​hidden sign which displays the word «Empire» backwards on both sides was actually designed by a Turner prize winning artist (Douglas Gordon) and is now worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Originally erected in Brunswick Lane, it now sits in the even more inconpicuous Tontine Lane, part of the Merchant City, leaving many of its neighbours, many of whom are students, blissfully unaware of its existence.
Just to clarify, the sign has never actually advertised any place called the Empire, and blinks sporadically. I’m not sure what this means, perhaps an Alfred Hitchcock reference? Perhaps referring to Glasgow’s old status as the second city of the Empire?
Who knows? Who cares? All I know is that I like it. It’s eery and unique, and exactly the sort of interesting quirk which should be in the Merchant City if it’s to cement its reputation as one of the most cutting edge areas of the city.
A touch of, albeit slightly bemusing, cultural class.