Only when it's no longer there, you realize how much you miss it

The "I atsterdam" sign in front of the Rijksmuseum was as much a part of Amsterdam as the coffee shops, the bicycles and the canals. Thousands of tourists had their pictures taken in front of it every day. The already small square where the letters stood was always crowded - a thorn in the side of the city. At the end of 2018, the city council decided to remove the Instagram magnet - the applicant criticized, "I atsterdam" stood too strongly for individualism. The lettering was taken down.... and suddenly sorely missed. By tourists, by locals - something was missing after all.

This was Greenpeace's hour. Creatively orchestrated by the Belgian agency Duval Guillaume, the environmental organization built a new lettering overnight, reminding us that you only really learn to appreciate some things when you no longer have them. The visually similar words "I atazonia" warned that the rainforest will soon be completely gone if mankind continues to raze it to the ground in a flash. Unlike a missing photo subject, however, the tropics will be sorely missed by humans and animals alike. Once the lungs of the earth are gone, they are gone - and mankind is lost.

With the "i atsterdam" sign, things are not quite as dramatic. Four of them are now actively in use. One sign can be seen permanently at Schiphol Airport, while the remaining three tour the city and change location regularly.