The different ways who natives or guests persons have looking a city in the past (infos, easy to find on books, texts, photos, songs, films, diaries, blogs, websites, etc.) is the base of the “vertical” flanerie (=strolling) of me as a [video]Flâneu®.
When, later, i am in this particular city with my camera and start to feel, see, smell, taste and hear the rhythm, the colours, the structures, the architectures, the women, the childs, the lights, the foods (...), then starts the “horizontal” flanerie of me on / through the city.
A ”diagonal”(?) flanerie, that means the meeting with persons who lives right now there, the creation of an intensive relationship with them, as also the meeting with invited artists and the hosting persons of an event, seems to be also an extreme important and probably necessary step to feel the rhythm of the city, to feel the present and the dynamic of the future.
The video-takes of my camera are playing between this three different ways of meeting: sometimes they “approve” the stereotypes about the particular city, sometimes they ironised them, sometimes they shows exactly an opposite to the stereotypes. (Strange abstractions, (un)usual self portraits can also happens..;-)
It is a beautiful and unique play-fool situation: Only there, only in this city, only at this particular moment of space you can have the video-takes that you `ve got.
Sometimes (probably always), the particular video-take it is “born” because the [video]Flâneu® and his camera is there: People “playing” on the front of a camera, reacting in a different way, not exactly like the moments where is there no camera. And this, without to try, unconsciously, “natural”...
If, now, you have someone like me, on the back of the camera, someone who stays there without any movement, sometimes for more than 10 minutes (!), someone who never talks with his “objects”, someone who looks like a statue, or like a street artist, or like a performer, or like “some stupid guy who needs 10 minutes to push the rec button”(!), then the reactions of the “objects” are more normal, or completely strange(.!?)
In every case: The [video]Flâneu® is there to play with the city, with himself, with the natives, with the tourists, with the past and the future and the result is to be unique...
konstantinos-antonios goutos / the[video]Flâneu®
kolonnadenstr. 17 / 04109 leipzig, germany / +4915205133257 / videoflaneur@gmail.com