Alter Bahnhof is a 26 minute walk through the old train station in Kassel Germany. Participants borrow an iPod and headphones from a check-out booth. ‘They are then directed by Cardiff and Miller through the station’ (Cardiff, J. & Miller, G. B. 2012).

“As participants follow the moving images, trying to frame them as if they were the camera operator (Figure 1), a strange confusion of realities occurs. In this confusion, the past and present combine and Cardiff and Miller guide us through a meditation on memory and reveal the poignant moments of being alive and present.” (Cardiff, J. & Miller, G. B. 2012)

Cardiff and Miller use binaural audio, ambient sounds, narration (voice) and video to transform the world (space) around the participants.

In order to experience first-hand Cardiff’s technique, I participated in an audio CD walk, accompanied with her ‘Walk Book’ (Cardiff & Schaub 2005). There was no video walkthrough with her book, instead she used the participants home environment (my living room), the book and of course her voice. I’ve used my observations from that experience to expand upon my research into the Alter Bahnhof video walk and support my chosen strategy — to record, resample and play and notate an area around UTS ‘as a story that seems to but does not quite match reality’

TECHNIQUES

BINAURAL AUDIO & AMBIENT SOUNDS

“Binaural audio is a technique that uses miniature microphones placed in the ears of a person or dummy head. The result is an incredibly lifelike 3D reproduction of sound. Played back on a headset, it is almost as if the recorded events were taking place live.” (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 15)

Cardiff utilised silence, she would often pause, to let the ambient sounds, background noise, rise to the forefront. In silence, you realise the world actually isn’t silent, whether it’s the man-made mechanical noise of an air conditioner, or the sounds of nature, the wind blowing through trees, pushing leaves across the ground. Sound is everywhere even in the silence and stillness of human activity.

“Our surroundings seem to be recreated entirely out of sound and this acoustic animation of the material world captures our imagination.” (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 14)

Binaural audio and ambient sounds are but one layer of how Cardiff and Miller create 3D space, for Alter Bahnhof they utilised video, in the ‘Walk book’ Cardiff and Schaub utilised images.

“All of my walks are recorded in binaural audio with multilayers to create a 3D sphere of sound.” (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 15)

VIDEO & IMAGES

“The architecture in the video stays the same as the physical world, but the people and their actions change, so there is a strange disjunction for the viewer about what is real. They start to believe that what is in the camera is the real image taking precedence over the real world.” (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 23)

One thing that was consistent across Cardiff’s various projects, was her ability to get you into a dreamlike trance, and then take you on a journey using just her voice, sounds and images. There was no filter, no special camera angles, perspective was almost always from the point of view of the participant (eye-level). She did use actors to act out certain scenes along the path of the video walk. There was a sense of ‘the matrix’ vibe happening, especially when the lady in the red coat walked into your view (Figure 2), like there was a glitch in the ‘system’ we call life. We don’t often see a ballerina performing in the middle of a train station with musicians either, but in a city they could be busking and therefore; considered normal, so I guess the scenes are not so far out of reality. The cuts to other scenes, like walking through the forest, (especially filmed as a P.O.V. shot and hearing the steps as you move forward through the forest) created that sense of unreality, seeing as you feel like you’re in a forest, but the train station frames your view. She also slowed down her images at certain points to convey feelings and emotions to help communicate her narrative. Her images were sometimes out of focus (blurred) with the same intention.

VOICE (intimacy)

“I establish a sense of intimacy with what I write, but also in the way I record my voice. It’s not an acted voice like a radio announcer’s voice. People aren’t going to relate to that. When you’re talking to them very closely — the way I record makes it sound like it’s almost coming out of their head — it’s like it’s coming from between their ears. Then if I talk very calmly and talk as if I’m talking to myself and thinking to myself, it doesn’t make it too creepy.” (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 16)

While listening to the CD for Cardiff & Schaub’s (2005) ‘Walk book’, I found Cardiff’s voice very meditative, relaxing and calming. I thought of it as monotonous, however Schaub described it perfectly (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 115) as ‘Cardiff’s disembodied calm voice’.

It’s weird because this woman who I’ve never met is directing me in real life. And what’s amazing is the fact that she can, and she does, successfully. She points out things that are generic to everyday life and every person. Like… when she directs me to look out a window, she cycles through various views a person may see depending on the location of their home. Which made the effect even more powerful. As I’m looking out my window, she points out the grassy area of my backyard, the hedge and trees. It’s almost surreal.

“As participants watch events evolve on the small screen, they experience it more deeply by being in the actual physical location of where the footage was shot.” (Cardiff, J. & Miller, G. B. 2012)

She combines an interactive experience with her book, her voice and my surroundings, urging me to get up and walk and interact with my environment. It’s not stationary, it’s a 3-dimensional experience.

“A Cardiff site is not static; instead it is a net of possible references and relationships between the inner space of the walker and their external environment.” (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 11)

She directs me to look at things that I’ve looked at every day in a new way. Like when she tells me to look at my floor, “… look in front of you, really look at the shadows on the wall, the texture of your floor, look hard as if you had to remember the scene, every detail as if it’s for a police report or something…”

I had moments of laughter and moments of wonder, where it felt like she was in my living room with me. She was like a magician and I was trying to figure out her tricks.

Everyday tasks like getting a glass of water from the kitchen sink, when all you have to rely on, is your ears. Take on a richness and depth, you never noticed before. Binaural sound really made me experience these everyday tasks in a different way. It was like the ambient sounds, which are normally edited out, were magnified and clearer.

You also don’t realise that it’s not Cardiff holding the camera until she points out her figure walkng along the train platform (Figure 3), and when you focus more closely on the hand holding the camera, you see that’s it’s a more masculine hand, this is Miller holding the camera, as Cardiff narrates.

SPACE

PHYSICAL CINEMA

‘An alternate world opens up where reality and fiction meld in a disturbing and uncanny way that has been referred to as “physical cinema”’ (Cardiff, J. & Miller, G. B. 2012).

“While guiding us gently across an invisible stage, Cardiff’s audio tracks transform the world around us.” (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 14)

“All of her works are predicted upon re-staging the site and creating an awareness of time and place, and a sense of self-awareness” (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 95).

This was touched upon in ‘VIDEO & IMAGES’ (above) and also in ‘WALKING’ (below). The sense that the stage is the site/place. As soon as the participant presses play, the curtain goes up and the show begins. Cardiff & Miller are the directors that lead the participant through the play.

MEMORIES & EMOTIONS

Space is seen not just as ‘uniformly mappable spaces visible to all’, but also as ‘invisible, purely emotional spaces’ (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 94).

We become familiar with space we traverse regularly. That space takes on ‘personal and emotional geography’ that we come to associate specific ‘memories and expectations’ to (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 94). Cardiff & Schaub (2005) state that ‘space develops an invisible inner architecture, an extremely personal and unique network of thoughts and emotions’ (p. 94). Feelings and emotions are attached to the place where they were experienced.

“The myriad links within the network of one’s personal history can connect the smallest details to remote feelings and bring them back when they are seen again.” (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 94)

With this in mind Cardiff makes spaces come alive and imprint on our memories with scenes that stand out, narratives create memories to the site they were experienced at (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 95).

“…places that are perceived and structured entirely by complex emotional processes.” (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 108)

WALKING

“One can trace onto city maps these ‘operations of walking’ that are idiosyncratic and directed by emotions and sensations.” (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 108)

“You follow the recorded voice, you do as you’re told, you’re walking but you wouldn’t say you were a flâneur. This is not idle strolling; it is directed. When you pressed start you gave up control. It’s the way they want it, these collaborators, well-schooled in the techniques of film noir. While you’re wearing the headphones, they are the directors and what you see as you look out from the space inside your head–this real world that you see–accommodates their production and becomes the “visual” of the film they’re directing. For the duration of the audio walk, the world is their temporal theatre.” (Walsh & Enright 2001)

“They take you away, move you along, show you things fresh, enchant you, transport you and return you safe. And most remarkably–safe, but not unaltered.” (Walsh & Enright 2001)

TIME

With the juxtaposition of the past and present, time is a little confusing. I guess it’s this merging of the past and present that makes the experience feel like a story that seems to but does not quite match reality.

Cardiff’s disembodied calm voice and the ambient sounds also make us aware of the passage of time. Like watching a time lapse video of a flower blooming or a time-lapse of the sun rising and setting. We are made more self-aware and aware of the world around us.

“Being aware of the passage of time and the inevitability of death prepares us for our own disappearance, but it also makes us realise the infinite possibilities of change.” (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 115)

“I’ve been creating portholes into my other worlds. I also think that I’ve produced these walks at a moment in time when people have started to walk again, to get out of their cars and discover their bodies and their senses.” (Cardiff & Schaub 2005, p. 5)

MY PROJECT

‘A story that seems to but does not quite match reality’

For my project my challenge was to create a story that seems to but does not quite match reality with no video and only images and sounds of the city, I also had a limit of 30 sec in which to work with.

Out of everything I recorded, I chose a 30 sec piece of audio, recording myself leaving the quiet space of the library and entering into the city streets.

I chose this piece because we know the city as a busy space with lots of things happening and lots of noises coming from everywhere, assaulting your senses. I thought the library space created a bit of unreality in itself, because a library is all about silence the complete opposite to the city, yet this library is like an oasis of peace in the midst of the city. The library was a space that did not quite match the reality of what we associate with a city.

I loved that the city sounds of traffic stood out, contrasting against the relative silence of the library. I also loved the sound of the automatic doors opening, as a transition between the inside and out, the relative silence and noise. As you leave the library you really get assaulted with the sounds of the city.

I went a bit further in my drawing (Figure 4), interpreting the sounds using space (orgnisation and chaos), and the analogies of water and exhaust smoke.

Because the library space was quiet and sound is usually more muted in water, I chose to interpret the library space as a fish tank. The frame of the fish tank signifies the library as an ‘oasis’ in the city, the peace and silence contained to this space. You do hear sound in the library, but they’re isolated sounds, footsteps, the beep of my library card when borrowing a book, this is shown in the order of the shelves and study tables in the library. The order of the library is contrasted against the disorder of the traffic outside. The front doors opening being a transition space, is where the traffic begins to emerge from. As the doors open, instead of water pouring out, traffic and exhaust fumes imitate water flowing out into the street, which is also where my walking took me. The cars increasing in size from the door show the louder sound became as I moved into the traffic (Figure 5).

I architecturally drafted the library space on paper and scanned it into Adobe Illustrator. The cars were created in Illustrator as well, inspired by a car icon Shutter-stock image (Rinck, L. n.d.).

REFLECTION

My drawing may have been more fantastical then a Cardiff work, but with 30 seconds to work with, I didn’t feel I had time to narrate as she did, which limited what I could do to take viewers on a journey. However I do feel, with my work, I was successful in taking viewers on a journey (a very short one). And I believe I was true to the heart of the brief, in creating a story that seems to but does not quite match reality.

REFERENCE LIST

Cardiff, J. & Miller, G. B. 2012, Alter Bahnhof video walk, Canada, viewed 4th January 2018, <http://www.cardiffmiller.com/artworks/walks/bahnhof.html>

Cardiff, J. & Schaub, M. 2005, Walk book, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna.

Rinck, L. n.d., Car icons, Shutterstock, New York, viewed 6th January 2018, <https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/car-icons-132254912?irgwc=1&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Graphic%20resources%20SL&utm_source=39422&utm_term=16394546.1515201769>

The Verge 2015, Hear New York City in 3D audio, video recording, viewed 4th January 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd5i7TlpzCk.

Walsh, M. & Enright, R. 2001, Pleasure principals: the art of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, Border Crossings, Canada, viewed 4th January 2018, < http://bordercrossingsmag.com/article/pleasure-principals-the-art-of-janet-cardiff-and-george-bures-miller>.

Originally published at medium.com on January 6, 2018.

The Endless House (Figure 1), as explored by Bogner (2001, p. 11), was a vision, an idea that Kiesler spent most of his life exploring, It was a dream never built. I guess that’s why Bogner (2001, p. 17) called it a ‘Utopian concept’. Kiesler, states Bogner (2001, p. 11), was tireless (almost obsessive) in his pursuit of achieving ‘his idea of a radically new synthesis of form and content’ (The Correalist Theory). The mediums he used in which to flesh out the ‘endless’ dream is diverse (meaning he used models, poetry, photographs, shows, exhibitions, sketches, drawings and plans, manifestos, jottings in his diaries, painting and sculpture, all impeccably laid out) (Bogner 2001, p. 11).

KIESLER’S IDEA — THE CORREALIST THEORY

‘The dynamic correlations, as Aprile (2016) explains, between objects, environment, and human experiences in all aspects of design should be analysed, he believed, since their relationship was part of an ongoing spiritual process that lent meaning to existence’. To take into account the different facets of humans, not just the physical (biological) but their social needs and their psychological needs (Bogner 2001, p. 11). Kiesler explored these ideas in ‘The Endless House’.

THE ENDLESS HOUSE

The Endless House, as stated by Bogner (2001, p.11), was biomorphic (organic, had the form of a living organism) and cave-like, capable of responding to a wide range of forms without losing its integrity (metamorphosis). The Biomorphic form, as Sveiven (2011) stated, ‘allowed ample light to reach every corner of the room without being broken up by corners and interior walls of a conventional building’. It created a seamlessness and continuity through the spaces and rooms.

‘the function of the endless house is “to shelter those ‘continuous mutations’ of the life force, which seem to be a part of the ‘practical as well as magical.” (Bogner 2001, pg. 21)

The Endless house also had symbolic connotations. Bogner (2001, p. 21) compared ‘the infinite nature of the celestial sphere and the concept of the Endless house as a cosmos shaped by men’.

It is important to note that the space in-between elements is important just as the elements themselves are. Space had a double function of defining the autonomy of an element but also in defining the interrelationships (connections) between elements (Bogner 2001, pg. 23).

INTERRELATIONSHIPS

Bogner expanded on this idea of interrelationships by comparing a single element with a group of elements.

A painting is a complete unit in itself, while a galaxy, all of its component parts are imbued with an inner relationship, each of them actually appears differentiated from the other. The spectator has the freedom to connect all units into one field of vision or make any of the parts the focal point of his interest. (Bogner 2001, pg. 23)

Bogner then goes on to compare the galaxy to group-living, explaining that each family member is of a ‘distinct individuality’, yet they have to live as a unit, in unity, no matter how diverse the character of its members may be (Bogner 2001, pg. 23). In light of Kiesler’s ‘Correalist Theory’ the occupants, of the Endless House, are not spectators or passive. It is more of a complex system of interrelationships (Figure 2)(Bogner 2001, pg. 22).

“the house freed from aesthetic tradition became a living creature.” — there is an interrelationship between the occupants and the house. material and ideal, natural and cultural — into which the occupants become drawn, with all their physical, mental and social constraints and with all their mythical and magical conceptions.” (Bogner 2001, pg. 22)

MY DESIGN

(Inspired by the Endless House)

For my design (inspired by the Endless House) I explored the ideas of continuity and seamlessness in an apartment situated in an urban city. I sought inspiration from nature and concepts like the Mobius strip, Chinese scholar rocks and Le Corbusier’s Unite D’Habitation, exploring double heights in apartment buildings (Figure 3).

Choosing to follow along the lines of Kiesler’s biomorphic leanings, two of the elements I looked into were the barnacle (Figure 4) and pebbles (Figure 5). Through these elements I was able to explore placement, structure and the movement through space in my design.

The barnacle was appropriate for my design as firstly it is an example of Kiesler’s Correalist Theory. That is, there is an interrelationship between the organism, it’s home (the shell) and it’s host (whatever it chose to attach itself to). Secondly, the cavernous-like interiors of the empty barnacles (Figure 4) closely emulated the biomorphic form of Kiesler’s Endless House.

While exploring the concept of the barnacle as a habitable dwelling for humans, I thought about it’s characteristics and how that could be incorporated into an urban environment. From the few sketches (Figure 5) I drew, I chose to keep the idea of the dwelling being attached to the side of a building (like a barnacle attaching itself to a host) but discard the form of the building taking on the shape of a barnacle. Instead I decided to explore the idea of the Mobius strip.

I created numerous models along the lines of the Mobius strip, exploring how I could manipulate a single strip of paper to create dwellings (Figure 7). In particular I payed close attention to the stairs and different levels in the apartment, wanting to communicate continuity and seamlessness as shown in the Chinese Scholar Rock (Figure 3).

Through iteration of my model, I began to explore how a person could move from one space to another. Where rooms would be situated in the apartment, and how my apartment would be attached to a building and how light would enter and flow through the apartment.

I thought my final design (Figure 8) captured the biomorphic form of Frederick Kiesler, the apartment is attached to the side of a building using tension cables above, and steel support beams below. There are no obvious square openings for windows, rather the gaps/openings in the frame form the windows. This makes the form of the apartment look more natural (biomorphic). The levels within the apartment change through floors that flow into ramps, the walls flow into the ceilings and the ceilings into the floor, creating that ‘endless’ flow (continuity) of Kiesler’s.

REFERENCE LIST

1st Dibs Inc. n.d., 19th Century Chinese Scholar’s Rock, viewed 9th December 2017, <https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/asian-art-furniture/scholars-objects/19th-century-chinese-scholars-rock/id-f_989534/>.

Aprile, J. D. 2016, ‘Frederick Kiesler and “Correalism”’, Landmarks blog, weblog, The University of Texas, Texas, viewed 9th December 2017, <https://landmarks.utexas.edu/blogs/kiesler-correalism>.

Bogner, D. 2001, Frederick J. Kiesler endless space, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Germany.

Kiesler, F. 1966, Inside the endless house, Simon & Schuster, New York, p. 566.

Sveiven, M. 2011, “AD Classics: Endless House / Friedrick Kiesler”, ArchDaily, viewed 5th Dec 2017, <https://www.archdaily.com/126651/ad-classics-endless-house-friedrick-kiesler/> ISSN 0719–8884.

Weisstein, E. W. 2017, ‘Möbius Strip’, MathWorld, A Wolfram Web Resource, viewed 9th December 2017, <http://mathworld.wolfram.com/MoebiusStrip.html>.

Wibisono, G. 2011, ‘unite d’habitation’, Frozen music studio weblog, weblog, viewed 9th December 2017, <https://frozenmusicstudio.wordpress.com/tag/unite-dhabitation/>

Scandicreations n.d., ‘Barnacle mussel shells, marimo terrarium, DIY terrarium, sea shell decor, aquarium, craft shells, DIY beach wedding decor, found object’, Etsystudio, viewed 9th December 2017, <https://www.etsystudio.com/listing/484013295/barnacle-mussel-shells-marimo-terrarium?ref=listing-shop>

Wikipedia 2017, ‘Barnacle’, Wikipedia: the free encyclopaedia, viewed 9th December 2017, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnacle>

Originally published at medium.com on December 18, 2017.

Keywords: Psychogeographic, The drift (dérive), juxtaposition

Situationists were artists, writers, philosophers who basically wanted to undermine anything that was apart of modern society, the capitalist system and in particular the Spectacle. They wanted to redefine art and how we relate to each other and our surroundings. They were concerned that mass media and consumerism was breeding an apathetic, passive and socially distant and isolated society.

The Situationists wanted to wake people up from the hypnotic brainwashing of the spectacle. To make people aware of the city and spaces that they inhabit by treating everyday life as an amazing, spontaneous, continuous, exciting, playful experience. They wanted to create situations, moments in life to replace apathy with playful affirmation. Situationists remained fascinated by buildings and places seemingly untouched by religion, capitalism and modernisation.

Situationists regarded the best urban activity as human, unmechanised, and non alienating.(Sadler, S. 1999)

Psychogeography

Psychogeography is the discovery of cities through drifting and playfulness, though which a social geography of the city is created.

Psychogeography, through drifting, maps out the paths of opportunity in which you can experience or have an activity that could create a situation or moment. Guy Debord and Asger Jorn depicted this in their 1957 The Naked City (Figure 1) and 1956 Psychogeographic guide to Paris (Figure 2).

Technique

Juxtaposition — the refusal of an original creation, the belief that everything you need to know is already there, waiting to be found, it just needed to be put together in new ways and let people see the world in new ways. (artstar11 2007)

Collage/Street Cuttings/Places of ambiance — special care was taken in the cuttings of the streets which streets were included in the cutting and which weren’t making sure to follow the boundaries of the streets. The deliberate care shows that they walked and really considered the streets to include.

Arrows — these show the natural flow between places of ambience. The spontaneous impulse for direction of a person who walks those streets, not led by any practical reasoning. (Figure 1.1)

Arrows at the edge of the map show the continuation of the city, as if awaiting linkages with further cities. (Sadler, S. 1999)

the arrow doubling back warned drifters of the dire consequences of being swept away by the tides of traffic. (Sadler, S. 1999)

Places of Exchange — centre of something, some of the places of ambience acted as junctions or stations in the psychogeographic flow. An example would be Kings Cross in Sydney, in the 90's. (Figure 1.2)

Composition — adjusted the pasted down chunks at odd angles to show the drifters passage across the city as smooth flows. (Sadler, S. 1999)

Maps — Maps organise, make sense of and interpret the city through reason and objectivity. But the situationists didn’t want objectivity, they didn’t want reason or distance. The Situationists created psychogeographic maps to show the world in a new way.

“rejecting the notion of a scientific objectivity that would consider the city and its observer as discrete and disinterested”. (Sadler, S. 1999)

The maps were aids to daydream and get lost in your thoughts. The beauty was in their content rather than their appearance.

the specific effects of the geographical environment on the emotions and behaviour of individuals. (Walsh, P. 2103)

Due to the nature of drifting, to psychogeographically map a whole city that is constantly changing would have been highly challenging, so in effect the maps were temporary, works in progress, needing to be amended as the city changed.

Drifting

“Situationist maps declare an intimacy with the city alien to the average street map”. (Sadler, S. 1999)

Drifting revealed an intimacy with the city. Drifiting could cover a small or large area, it could be done in a day or over several months.

Drifiting was about being free to go with the flow, allowing the city to guide you and draw you into it. To see the city in a new way, it was a way of finding out what you loved and what you hated. A therapeutic technique.

It’s important to note that it veers away from anything commercialised, or places leading to sites like main thoroughfares, crowds of people going to work, monuments, churches, tourist sites. Instead idealising sites like marketplaces, traditional cafes and places of student gatherings.

Situationists favoured the back alleyways, mundane spaces, cafes, parks and cheap shops and cafes. Taking note of the ‘energy’ or hustle and bustle of a place as it attracts and repels drifters through the city. In groups it offered the opportunity for travel, observation and for thought and debate amongst like minded people.

The determinants of drift apparently were alternations in emotional and ambient intensity; the appealing or repelling character of certain places, and the drifters tendency to ‘drain’ along relatively unresistant paths, the ‘fissures in the urban network’. (Sadler, S. 1999)

where the main occupation was unproductive of anything except encounters with other people and with places and of ideas about enhancing those encounters — those situation. Drift had to alert people to their imprisonment by routine. (Sadler, S. 1999)

Psychogeographic Map of Study Spaces in Sydney

My psychogeographic map, maps out the study spaces around UTS Insearch, shown as the main junction, in the centre of the map, with most of the arrows arrving and departing from this building. One of the requirements for my study spaces was their close proximity to this building, the Blue building, which is why around the outside of the map arrows double back.

In order to show an intimacy with the study spaces, I drew key details that drew my eye, and really added to the ambiance of the spaces I frequented. Large open windows that let the light filter in, was a common element in my study spaces. Spaces, that enabled me to sit at a window, and watch the world go by, making me feel like I was outside, while I was still protected and comfortable inside.

While my drifting did take me through alot of back streets, due to road works, I found alot more streets open to me, that I am sure will change once the road works finish. Streets normally packed with cars, were not as busy. I learnt to drift at certain times of the day to avoid peak hour, as this affected my study spaces, and I wanted to avoid overcrowded spaces. I preferred either early morning or late afternoon. Friday’s were good all day, as their tended to be less people around in general.

I decided to use green arrows instead of the red of the situationists map. The green was a calming colour, a cool colour, which I wanted to reflect the spaces I visited.

Reference List

Gilles Rion n.d., The Naked City, 1957, FRAC Centre, Orléans, viewed 5 November 2017, <http://www.frac-centre.fr/_en/art-and-architecture-collection/debord-guy/the-naked-city-317.html?authID=53&ensembleID=705>.

Paul Walsh 2013, ‘The naked city’ Photowalk, weblog, Wordpress, San Francisco, viewed 5 November 2017, <https://paulwalshphotographyblog.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/the-naked-city/>.

Simon Sadler 1999, The situationist city, 1st edn, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts.

artstar11 2007, Situationist International — Part 1 of 3, video recording, viewed 4 November 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SvdWk8zRrI>.

Filmed from 8:06pm to 2:42am, July 25–26, 1964
Length: 8 hours, filmed at 24fps but screened at 3/4 of that speed
(16fps=8hrs, 5mins)
long single shoot, silent, B&W
location: 41st floor, 16 blocks south, pointing face-on parallel to the world’s tallest building at that time, the Empire State Building.

First Impressions

I found this movie intriguing, when trying to find this video on youtube, I thought I had gotten the wrong movie, or it wasn’t playing, I had to check if the video was frozen or I had lost my internet connection. And even after exploring a couple of different links for the movie, I still wasn’t convinced that, that was all there was to the movie, so I looked for reputable sources online that reviewed the movie.

When I realised that this was in fact the actual movie, I was intrigued. What was the filmmaker trying to convey? And that’s how I came to research Empire.

Introduction

By itself, it doesn’t look like much is happening in this film, however if you take it in context of the filmmakers (who you do see in a reflection of, in the window at a certain point in the movie) and us the audience, you realise that’s the true subject of this artwork.

Now i say artwork, but you can also say documentary, looking at the techniques he used, this film is very banal, objective, in a very structured way, the reason I see to look at it as an artwork, is because of its relationship with us, we are very much apart of this film, our reactions to it, how we think, Warhol tried to communicate a message through his film.

(Lüthy, M. 1995) “All my films are artificial, but then everything is sort of artificial, I don’t know where artificial stops and real starts.” (Andy Warhol).

I think you can see in Warhol’s work, his search for the line between reality and fantasy. His work was highly unconventional, in filming he pretty much defied all the rules of filmmaking, instead of trying to build a fantasy world for us, I believe he wanted us to actually see the world we live in.

(Wordpress 2009) While Hollywood was striving to portray a reality more real than reality itself, Warhol strived to portray reality in its actuality…

Warhol achieved this in the techniques he used, through composition, time (the length of his film), the silence (no sound), the stillness (one long shot, did not move/zoom camera, slow-mo) and the lack of colour (B&W).

Composition

There is no question about what is being filmed here, the camera faces the object directly, remaining completely motionless, it’s face on.

Straight away there’s a connection between the viewer and the object (empire state building) a person watching this film would most liking be sitting (cinema) and mirroring the actual building. So I think this reiterates the fact that this film is about us, the audience/viewers/filmmakers and how we relate to the world, how we see it. What is real?

Time, Sound & Stillness

There’s no traditional narrative, but you can see time go by, with the sky darkening to night and the lights turning on, there is also a light on an adjacent building that flashes the hour. There is no beginning, middle and end to this film. Warhol didn’t want you to be conscious of time as a linear thing but as a loop, just always there, moving in the background of life.

(MoMA 2006) According to Warhol, the point of this film — perhaps his most famous and influential cinematic work — is to “see time go by.”

Now he could’ve shown us busy scenes of activity and people to show time going by, but he wanted us to go even deeper than what we see, that would’ve been a distraction to our thoughts. He wanted our reflection to turn inward, his work is almost meditative you could say, like watching slow moving water in a creek bed, or listening to nature sounds on your iPod, like staring into the flames of a fire.

You could say, he gives you the means or opportunity to stop.

He slowed life down, he muted the sound, he took out the activity, stepped back to give you perspective and he gave you the time to unplug yourself from the matrix.

I believe there is a symbolism in filming the tallest building in the world at that time, it could represent pride, sitting on top of the world, reaching the pinnacle in life, having it all, and yet, the techniques he used, suggest that perhaps it’s an empty life, a hollow victory. That perhaps there’s more to life than chasing the dollar.

(Gopnik, B. 2014) “He wanted that touch of unreality to take it out of naturalism”

(Lüthy, M. 1995) “What Warhol was trying to move toward in the films was a stillness.” — Ronald Tavel

Sydney through the eyes of Andy Warhol’s Empire

Finding the right perspective was very challenging, as I needed a skyscraper, that stood out. The perfect shot, would’ve been a building that had no other taller buildings beside it, I also needed to shoot it from face on, which had it’s own logistical challenges, it needed to be filmed from up high, but it also needed to be filmed from a bit of a distance.

I wanted the cloudy sky, as I only had one minute to work with, I thought the clouds could more aptly portray the passing of time. The cut that I chose from the film, I chose because of the play of light on the building from the moving clouds, there is also a bird that flies behind the building at 00:36.

Bibliography

Blake Gopnik 2014, Monumental Cast, but Not Much Plot, The New York Times Company, New York, viewed 25 October 2017, <https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/arts/design/andy-warhols-empire-shown-in-its-entirety.html>

Michael Lüthy 1995, Andy Warhol Film Technique Structure, michaelluethy.de, Verlag Gerd Hatje, Senefelderstrasse, Germany, viewed 26 October 2017, <http://www.michaelluethy.de/scripts/andy-warhol-film-technique-structure/>

The Museum of Modern Art 2006, Out of Time: A Contemporary View, MoMA, Manhattan, viewed 25 October 2017, <https://www.moma.org/collection/works/89507>

Wordpress 2009, ‘The Films of Andy Warhol: A Retrospective’, Dear Dear Chicago …an exploration of independent cinema., weblog, San Francisco, viewed 25 October 2017, <https://deardearchicago.wordpress.com>

The key words in this technique are; series, banal, quotidian and common.

Thomas Struth’s cityscapes were a series of typographies, that had a common element; the city street or road. His photographs were banal in that he looked to have excluded all subjectivity from his photographs (Ekland, D. 2004), he photographed the mundane, the everyday and ordinary.

Struth began his photography career in post-World War II Germany by photographing the reconstructed streets of his hometown, Dusseldorf. His mentors & teachers were Bernhard & Hilla Becher at Kunstakademie, who were known for their (Ekland, D. 2004) “neutral views of industrial architectural forms seen from fixed vantage points against a cloudless sky and without expressive effects”

The Becher’s influence can be seen in Struth’s photographs in the typography technique used, with his central subject being the city street from a fixed vantage point. It can also be seen in the documentary like qualities of his photographs. This composition invites comparison in the buildings that frame the road. (Bloomberg L.P. 2017)

He’s photographs were very banal, boring and everyday, which is shown in the uniformity of his technique across his cityscapes. Techniques such as the photographs being taken at eye level, with an exaggerated central perspective, being the road, splitting the photograph centrally creating symmetry. His photographs were devoid of colour and lacked contrast. This was achieved by taking the photos at dawn on overcast days, creating shadowless conditions, not sunny, yet not raining. Even the weather reflects that lack of movement and emotion, reflecting apathy which reiterates that exclusion of subjectivity mentioned previously. The photographs are objective in a very constructed way, neutral, they document the city.

he has a very great sensibility to pick up on the history of things that are visible in one moment. Lisa Zeitz, Editor in Chief, Weltkunst (Bloomberg L.P. 2017)

Usually you would see a city as a bustling, vibrant and crowded space, but Struth, shows another aspect of the city, one that is stripped, bare and translates feelings of isolation, loneliness and emptiness. He communicates this in the absence of people, and cars in motion, there is a stillness to his photographs.

His streets rarely have people in them, he was very aware of the kind of silence that reigned not just in the streets but across a whole generation that had been traumatised by the war and wasn’t talking about it. Iwona Blazwick, Director, Whitechapel Gallery (Bloomberg L.P. 2017)

‘the architecture is extremely diverse, I photographed in Harlem which at the time really looked like a war zone. Some of the photographs that I made in Wall Street speak a lot about the pride and glory and the city of dreams.’ Thomas Struth (Bloomberg L.P. 2017)

To emulate Struth’s work I walked the streets around UTS, in Haymarket and Ultimo. In order to capture that same feeling of emptiness and stillness, I photographed on an overcast day at dawn, as the streets were empty at that time, no people or cars moving. Using the same techniques as Struth, I used the road as my central perspective, editing my photos to black and white, adjusting the lighting to show less contrast.

I chose to use 12 images, in a 4 x 3 grid format, as Struth’s ‘Streets of New York’ series were a set of 12 works and showcased as such at the Metropolitan Museum of Contemporary Art. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art n.d.)

Bibliography

Douglas Ekland 2004, “Photography in Düsseldorf.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/phdu/hd_phdu.htm>

Bloomberg L.P. 2017,Thomas Struth on ‘Brilliant Ideas’ | Episode 51, video recording, viewed 23 October 2017, <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2017-04-18/thomas-struth-on-brilliant-ideas-video>.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art n.d., Streets of New York, viewed 23 October 2017, <https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/263355>