Performance & Intervention I

The Powers of Removal: Interventions in the Name of the City, by Lytle Shaw, starts with Henry James’ return to Manhattan, the place of his childhood.  It reminds me of the saying “you can never go home again.”  As James realized things had changed since his childhood years in Manhattan.  He discovers even scared symbols as churches or his childhood home have not escaped the development of the City.  If these symbols are still present, they are small, insignificant next to the tall buildings surrounding them.  Is it the actual buildings that James is mourning or the feeling that came from the structures?  Perhaps as Shaw suggests, it is the passing of a familiar idea replaced by moving on and letting go.  One thing we know for sure is that things are constantly changing whether we want them to or not. 

How does art play into these changes?  In James Nares’, Pendulum, he captures the constant changing swing of a wrecking ball.  The sequences vary so that the viewer is entranced in the motion allowing them to forget the true purpose wrecking ball.  The change of the wrecking ball’s swing reflects the change in the development of the City.  Pendulum is art imitating life. 

William Cullen Bryant’s “The Prairies”, makes us realize how long the struggle over change has taken place in our country.  Written in 1832, the poem, tells of the Native American’s struggle to overcome changes from American Settlers.  Matthew Buckingham also reflects on this in his film, Muhheakantuck-Everything Has a Name.   Buckingham shoots footage of the Hudson River from a helicopter.  The title of the film comes from the original name of the river, Muhheakntuck, which means river that flows in two directions.  Buckingham touches on how the past shapes the future.  Manhattan, a great present day city on the Hudson was initially explored in 1609 by Henry Hudson.  He states how “the significance of past events appears in the ordinary moments and people.” 

Where stood their swarming cities. All is gone --
All -- save the piles of earth that hold their bones --
The platforms where they worshipped unknown gods --
The barriers which they builded from the soil

From “The Prairies” by William Cullen Bryant

(Illustration for "The Prairies" from Poems, 1876 edition)

Jimbo Blachy’s About 86 Springs, documents the current conditions of the path of James Reuel Smith followed almost 100 years ago.  However the two paths are extremely different.  Blachy encounters fast food restaurants, fenced offed courtyards, office buildings and sewage drains where once was rich wooden areas with clear streams. 

Our physical landscape is constantly changing.  Our mental landscape keeps the history of our environment intact.  Modernization will continue for generations and generations.  Things we take for granted today will someday be obsolete and dispose of by future generations. 

In the reading, Shifting Ground: Street Art of the 1960’s and 70’s, Frazer Ward discusses the protest culture of the 1960s and 1970s.  This is an era marked by the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, Women and Gay Rights Movement.  These protest often played out in the streets.  Art was a very important vehicle in the protest culture.  Artists such as Jacques de la Village and Claus Oldenburg used elements from the streets to create their art.  Fluxus performance art such as Street Cleaning Event and Touch Cinema literally used the street as a stage.  . Yoko Ono’s Rape and Vito Acconci’s Following used the street as a character in their respective films.  Instead of using a studio or a film stage, they created their art on the street and the street became part of the final result. 

Photograph of Hi Red Center performing their Street Cleaning Event,
taken June, 1966 at Grand Army Plaza (58th Street and 5th Avenue), New York City.

Photograph of Hi Red Center performing their Street Cleaning Event,
taken June, 1966 at Grand Army Plaza (58th Street and 5th Avenue), New York City.

The two readings tie together in the fact that our physical, mental and artistic world is always changing.  We can choose to be part of the change or not.  We can choose to create our art in spite of the changes or we can choose to have our art be a part of the changes.  Neither is a wrong decision, just a personal decision. 

Example of how change is constant in all cultures 

Some Native American groups are protesting the development of sacred

 land for solar energy projects.

Chicago In The 60’s & 70’s.

There are two main themes in this week’s readings and film viewing.  First is the political climate in Chicago during the 60s and 70s.  Second, is the development and destruction of the Chicago landscape during the same time. 

Dominic Pacyga’s biography of Chicago gives a history of Richard J. Daley Sr.’s rule over Chicago.  His desire for power and recognition resulted in both tragedy and triumph for Chicago.  Chicago had not seen much growth since the Great Depression.  One of Daley’s first accomplishments was building the Prudential Building in the 1955.  This mark a new reform in downtown Chicago.  Over 7,000 people held jobs in the building.  It was a major attraction for people visiting the loop.  Next on Daley’s agenda was public housing and expressways.  Daley along with the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), developed housing in three stages.  The stages included 3-4 story walk-ups and two-story row-house projects, townhouses for war veterans and finally high-rise public housing.  Access to the city was a high priority for Daley.  Automobiles had become the main source of transportation.  The Congress Expressway was construction to provide easy access from the north side of the City to the south side.  Congress Expressway was followed by the Dan Ryan and the Kennedy Expressways. 

Jacob Burck’s carton on June 23, 1960, in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Daley Sr. was a powerful figure in the Democratic Party.  He was considered highly influential in getting John F. Kennedy elected as the 35^th President of the United States in 1960.  However, back in Chicago, his influence was being questioned by African American leaders.  After his 1963 re-election, Daley experience clashes between his white and black supporters.  School integration was a major source of concern for both sides.  Martin Luther King Jr. came to Chicago in 1966 in hopes of bringing attention of the Civil Rights Movement to the North.  Unfortunately, Daley needed support from both white and black supporters and did not want to side with one or the other.  Daley’s lack of commitment did not help the Civil Rights Movement or King.  King left Chicago without the success he needed to move forward in Chicago.  Daley only alienated both sides of his supporters by not taking a stand for either side.  As for King, he was tragically shot by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968 in Memphis.  Riots broke out across the country including Chicago’s West Side.  Daley’s mishandling of the riots marked one of the worse mistakes of his life.  While white supporters backed him, he completely lost credibility with his African American supporters. 

Recognizing the need for positive attention to Chicago (and himself), Daley convinced President Johnson and the Democratic Party to hold the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.  Unfortunately for Daley and Chicago, the attention that was given to the City was not the one desired.  The nation was in a crisis.  The assignations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. along with the Vietnam War created strong feelings of dissatisfaction with the US Government.  Protestors set out to use the 1968 Democratic Convention as a way to have their voices heard.  The first confrontation between protestors and the police came on August 25^th in Lincoln Park.  The next day the confrontation became more violent when the 2 groups meet again in Grant Park.  The unusual police force against the protestors was televised for the world to see by networks there to cover the convention.  Daley’s and Chicago’s reputation again was tarnished.  In 1972, Daley was not allowed into the Democratic Convention.  His status and power had taken a serious beating. 

“The police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder.”
Richard J. Daley after the 1968 Democratic Convention. 

He often confused words when he spoke.

The 1968 Democratic Convention is the backdrop for the film Medium Cool.  The film is part fiction and documentary.  The main theme of the film is whether the media is there to become part of the news or just to document it.  I am taking an Ethnographic Film class this semester and this same topic comes up repeatedly.  In documentary films, the question that is always asked is “whether the art of the film or the facts recorded  are the most important aspects of the film’s final cut?”  While, Medium Cool, is a fictional movie, the main character, cameraman Joe Cassellis, struggles with simply reporting news or injecting himself in his stories.  Cassellis appears unaffected by his stories until he realizes the TV station he works for is using his footage to assist the FBI.  It is then he realizes his footage serves a role greater than reporting a story.  He does not like the fact that he has been used by the TV station.  It is at this point, that he meets a woman and her son who have moved from West Virginia to Chicago.  The three of them grow close especially the boy, Harold and Cassellis.  Harold  wonders off to Grant Park during the 1968 Democratic Convention.  While his mother frantically looks for him she is caught in the crowds and the police.  At the end of the film, she meets up with Cassellis and they start driving to find Harold.  In a scene reflective of the first scene of the movie, Joe and Eileen are in a car accident.  A cameraman is close by but only captures the scene on film and does not call for help or stop to assist them.  The unrest in the City causes pain and loss of life.  The protestors and police both take a stand for what they believe is right but does either side take it too far?  Is this not unlike the riots we are seeing today in Libya and Egypt?  We have to stand up for what we believe but how and why the government reacts can cause more problems than the initial issues. 

 When viewing this film, I had to think about the scenes in Grant Park in 1968 and then in 2008 when President Obama spoke after being elected President. 

1968 Photo of Grant Park

2008 Photo of Grant Park

On a side note:  I kept thinking about how far we have come in technology.  I kept thinking how much a cell phone could have been used to help respond to the accident or in the search for Harold. 

The final reading was To Collect Photographs is to Collect the World, Chapter 6, which centers on Richard Nickel.  Nickel was a photographer who preserve Chicago’s architecture at a time when many buildings were being demolished for parking lots or new housing.  He believe that photography was a way of saving the buildings for future generations.  His main concentration was on architect Louis Sullivan.  He try to capture what the average pedestrian would not see.  The details of the building such as the sweep of a staircase, the marquee of a theater or the detail in the walls were captured in his photographs.  Nickel strongly opposed the demolished of the buildings.  He protested the destruction of what he saw as important history of Chicago.  However, his photographs are not harsh.   They treat the buildings like a family taking a photograph in a studio.  You can almost feel that Nickel had a friendship with some of the buildings.  He cared deeply for them. 

On June 8, 1960, Nickel organized a sidewalk protest in front of the Garrick.  (right) 
Richard Nickel Photograph inside the Garrick.  (left)

A lot has changed in Chicago since the 1960s, some things are better and some are worse. 

Los Angeles In The 60’s & 70’s.

Ed Ruscha’s art took on two aspects in the 60’s and 70’s.  First was his work in the early 60’s of large scale work such as Large Trademark with Eight Spotlights (5ft. 6 ¾ in X 11ft. 1 ¼ in.),  Actual Size (71 X 67 in.), and Flash, L.A. Times (72in X 67in.).  Another feature of Ruscha’s large scale work was the use of space on the canvas.  He addresses this as the   pictorial, the mental, and the actual space of works of art.  Ruscha moved to Los Angles in 1956 to study commercial art.  Influenced by Jasper John, Robert Rauschenberg, and Robert Frank, he began to paint his large scale paintings and focused on fine art instead of commercial art.  New Painting of Common Objects was his first show.  Ruscha referred to these large scale paintings as characters.  He kept the canvases at a size that he could easily move them, which he did often.  The canvases become companions to him in his studio.  These pieces would encourage viewing from two different points: one close up and the other at a distance.  It seems as if the viewer reference to the painting is as important to the actual art to Ruscha.  He did not want the viewer to look at his paintings and just walk away.  He wanted them to study it.  He wanted them to see the dimensions of it outside of being on a flat canvas.  On the painting, Flash, L.A. Times, the newspaper is upside down to the word flash on the top.  The newspaper itself is drawn with layers w itha written comic strip.  The viewer would need to turn their head upside down to view the bottom portion of the painting.  In Actual Size, the viewer must get up close to see the detail in the can of Spam.  His large scale work uses both small detail as well as large text. 

The second aspect of Ed Ruscha’s work was mass produced photography books.  From 1963 to 1978, he produced 16 artist's books.  He stated that the books are “the toughest part of my art.”  These books include Every Building on the Sunset Strip (1965), A Few Palm Trees (1971), and Thirtyfour Parking Lots in Los Angeles (1967).  Ruscha was not interested in creating fine art books but he wanted a mass-produced photography book.  He viewed this as a piece of art itself.  The books illustrated the urban landscape of Southern California.  Twentysix Gasoline Stations, published in 1962, was the model for most of his subsequent books. It contains black and white photographs of gasoline stations in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and  Texas.  Every Building on the Sunset Strip is Ruscha’s most famous book.  It is an accordion-fold book that is 25 feet in length.  It contains photographs of buildings from Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Cory Avenue.  The viewpoint is from a car driving along the street.  I did some research on the current day value of Ruscha’s books.  A signed first edition of Twentysix Gasoline Stations was recently auctioned for $35,000.  A first edition, unsigned copy of Every Building on the Sunset Strip is valued at $7,500.

http://www.manhattanrarebooks-art.com/ruscha.htm

The significance of the car culture in 60’s and 70’s influenced artists such as Ed Ruscha, Judy Chicago and Edward Kienholz.  Whether painting on a car, taking photographs of cars or taking them from inside cars looking out, the art of the time reflected a bond with the car.   This bond resulted in exploration of the urban landscape of Los Angeles. As the city rapidly changed, the opportunity to photograph a time or place in a moment became a real mission for artist of the time.  Ruscha’s books captured the city from the driver’s seat.  While capturing the perfections of the commercial landscape, Ruscha also captures the imperfections.  Both are then frozen in time.

Taking photographs from my car has always interested me.  I have never really thought of this technique being a part of the history of photography. 

New York In The 60's & 70's.

What is space?  What is politics?  What is public?  This is the consistent theme throughout the three readings this week from Douglas Crimp, Rosalyn Deutsche, and Martha Rosler. 

In Action around the Edges, Crimp recounts his move from Greenwich Village to Tribeca in Lower Manhattan.  His move to a loft in Tribeca was primarily due to his desire to become a serious art critic.  He believed belonging to the “right” crowd would help him accomplish his goal.  Crimp goes on to detail the art scene.  Abandoned lofts became places to display art performances and an outlet for photographers who wished to escape traditional rules and critics.  Crimp writes about Gordon Matta-Clark whose art found opposites in the city.  Where many found abandoned buildings a problem, Matta-Clark found them useful.  He saw potential where others found lost.  He found beauty where others saw destruction.  Another artist Crimp writes about is Peter Hujar.  Hujar took photographs at night along the Far West Side of Manhattan.  In the photographs, the city was abandoned and deserted.  Through the photographs, Hujar wanted to convey a sense that the city is open to everyone.  It belongs to the dwellers.  It was theirs for the taking.  Projects: Pier 18 was a series of photographs taken by the photographic team, Shunk-Kender.  It included photographs of 27 artists as they performed on the abandoned pier as the city loomed in the background.  The piers continued to be inspiration for many artists including Alvin Baltrop and Vito Acconci.  The piers were eventually torn down for Battery Park City.  In this case, politics won out for what would be viewed as public space. 

Martha Rosler’s, Culture Class: Art, Creativity, Urbanism, continues the theme by stating space has displaced time as the main advancement resource for urbanism.  I believe by this statement she means that in our history, time played an important role in urbanism.  There wasn’t enough time to do everything that needed to be done.  Now, however, we are running out of space.  We have built our cities to their capacity.  More people have moved into the cities.  We have expanded to make up for this movement of people.  The downside to this is that the solution was to move the original homeowners out of their homes and neighborhoods to make room for the new middle and upper class moving in.  The upper and middle class starting purchases older homes to tear them down and built multi-million dollar homes.  As Rosler states “Cities were being remade for the benefit of the middle and upper class.”  City services were concentrated on the renewal of downtown areas while the poorer area suffered.  Public art was commissioned as a way to enhance this urban development.

Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics, by Rosalyn Deutsche describe the divide between art, architecture, and urban design with city social space and public space.  She states with urban development, new public space and art is commissioned.  As these are developed, she argues, they destroy the original city environment leaving the residents in jeopardy.  As Deutsche states, homelessness and urban development are linked.  As we bring in new business, new public art, and new public spaces, the people have to go somewhere else for their basic needs such as housing, food, and city services.  Her book is a collection of essays on the use of public art and how it either beneficial or not to the city as a whole.  She questions the use of public art to beautify a city.  Is commissioned public art really a useful benefit for a city where there are homeless or poor citizens without the basic needs of life? 

 

As with each week’s reading, I try to relate them to something I have experienced or felt.  I grew up in Naperville.  Our home is in the downtown area next to the train station.  In the 17 years I have lived there a lot has changed.  I thought a lot about the growth of Naperville as I read this week.  It is a city that expanded to fast.  There was not adequate city infrastructure to keep up with the growth.  Sure, Naperville has a great downtown and beautiful homes but at what costs to the residents.  Below is a video I found that shows how the downtown area went from small single family homes to be being torn down for multi-million dollar homes.  The question is, “where did the original homeowners have to go.”  They had to leave the town they grew up in for another neighborhood they could afford to live in. 

Tear Down McMansions in Naperville, IL

The downtown area grew fast.  Barnes and Noble replaced the bowling alley that once occupied the corner of Chicago Ave and Washington St.  Chicago restaurants like Sullivan’s, Catch 35 and Hugo’s moved in replacing Cee Bee Grocery Store and several smaller homes. People were displaced.  Homelessness became part of Naperville. 

Barnes & Noble - Chicago Ave / Washington St., Naperville, IL

Scott Huber - Homeless Man in Naperville, IL who protests urban development.

 

Although city planners want to only discuss the good of their developments, there are many bad things that are directly linked to their plans. 

From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary - http://www.merriam-webster.com/
Space - an empty area (usually bounded in some way between things); an area reserved for some particular purpose
Politics - social relations involving intrigue to gain authority or power
Public - not private; open to or concerning the people as a whole  

The Death and Life Of Great American Cities

February 18, 2011

Attrition of Automobiles

The introduction of The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs,  starts out by saying it is an attack on city planning and rebuilding.  With that statement, it sets the tone of the entire book.  We expect controversial and heavy debate.  Jane Jacobs does not fail to deliver on her promise.  However, she does not  simply attack but provides solutions.  I appreciate this.  She offers new ideas and alternatives to her rivals.  In the introduction, she targets three plans: the Garden City – Ebenezer Howard; : the Radiant City – Le Corbusier;: the City Beautiful – Daniel Burnham.  Jacobs focuses on the reality of the city not the idea of the city.  She felt the plans of city planners would destroy the city itself.  She viewed these developers as a disease causing decay in the body of the city. 

One example she refers to is in New York’s East Harlem.  There is a housing project with a rectangle lawn.  The lawn has grass and would appear to add value to the area however the residents hate it.  They feel it has no useful purpose.  The overwhelming fact is that the planners did not even ask the potential residents what they wanted, they just decided that the lawn would make them happy.

Jacobs recounts her visits to the North End in Boston considered one of the biggest slums at the time (1950s).  She revisited there in 1959 and finds it a transformed area.  Everything had been rehabilitated.  The statics confirmed what she saw.  However because it was once considered a slum, it would always been viewed as a slum by the politicians, business owners, and bankers. 

Jane Jacobs (in glasses) at a protest.

Chapter 18

The chapter starts with the statement, “Today everyone who values cities is disturbed by automobiles.”  However according to Jacobs, it is easy to blame automobiles for the problems in most cities.  She states there are two basic needs of a city, transportation and communication.  Unfortunately, both are not easily achieved.  Where would we be without automobiles?  The other day as I was stuck in traffic, I was wondering how much easier life must have been before we all had cars.  This was before I read this chapter.  I didn’t think about the things this chapter brings to life.  Travel before cars meant walking or horses.  Horses meant mud, noise, smells and crowding.  Can you imagine, a thousand horses on the Ike?  I would rather be in my car with the windows rolled up and listening to my iPod. 

One pedestrian scheme, Jacobs describes is The Gruen Plan for the downtown area of Fort Worth.  It was planned to reduce traffic in the area.  It included having expressways circling downtown Fort Worth with 6 feeder garages for thousands of cars.  The plan would free automobiles in the downtown area allowing people to walk freely.  Plans, like these, appear to enhance the city but have many issues.  One issue the lack of servicing and supplying the city itself.  Another issue is isolating the downtown area and planning for expansion. 

While Jacobs supports the use of automobiles, she explains the side effects of their use.  Congestion and parking are two issues.  Due to these issues, we are forced to build wider roads and more parking garages which erode the city.  More space is needed as we increase our dependence on automobiles.  In Los Angles, the highways are constantly jammed due to congestion which causes accidents which causes congestion.  It is an endless cycle 

According to Jane Jacobs, "Automobiles are often conveniently tagged as the villains responsible for the ills of cities and the disappointments and futilities of city planning. But the destructive effects of automobiles are much less a cause than a symptom of our incompetence at city building.”  If we build cities that are less dependent on automobiles, we will not rely on them as much.  One of Jacobs’ biggest opponents was Robert Moses.  Jacobs and Moses battled over the Lower Manhattan Expressway.  Moses plan was to build a 10 lane expressway through lower Manhattan.  Jacobs and her allies won the battle.  One side note, even though Robert Moses was considered a pioneer in roadway development, he did not ever possess a driver’s license. 

Map of the Lower Manhattan Expressway

Of course, Jacobs’ book was written in 1961.  A lot has happen since then in the automobile industry.  We starting to come around to Jacob’s thinking.  We are abandoning the large, fuel guzzling SUVs for more efficient, environment friendly vehicles.  We are starting to have a better understanding for how our automobile use affects the erosion of our city.  To stop the erosion of cities, we must reduce our dependency on automobiles.

In the introduction, Jane Jacob’s ask “How can you know what to try with traffic until you know how the city itself works, and what else it needs to do with its street?”  She answers – “You can’t.”  Jacobs does not believe if you solve the traffic issues of the city, you solve all the problems of the city.  I agree with her.  Traffic is a huge problem no matter where you live but it is far from the biggest issue facing a city.  Issues such as crime, poverty, hunger or homelessness are far greater problems and should demand more attention from our city planners and government. 

Robert Moses returns Jacobs’ book to Random House.  Letter refers to
Page 131 of her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

“Robert Moses, who genius at getting things done largely consists in understanding this, has made an art of using control of public money to get his way with those who the voters elect and depend
on to represent their frequently opposing interests.”

Photography in the Urban Milieu, ’30s-’50s

February 11, 2011

Photography in the Urban Milieu, ’30s-’50s

The New York School Photographs 1936-1963

The reading begins with a summary of the history of photography.  However Jane Livingston states from the start that the history of photography is constantly being rewritten.  The main focus of the reading is one part of this history, the time period of the 1930s, 1940s, ad 1950s.  During this time period, there was a group of photographers in New York City who made up the New York School.  These sixteen photographers were Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Alexey Brodovitch, Ted Croner, Bruce Davidson, Don Donaghy, Louis Faurer, Robert Frank, Sid Grossman, William Klein, Saul Leiter, Leon Levinstein, Helen Levitt, Lisette Model, David Vestal, and Weegee.  My personal favorite is Diane Arbus.  They all lived in New York City in some part of their lives. 

“I really believe there are things which nobody would see unless I
photographed them.” – Diane Arbus

A little preview of how Arbus works.

The New York School photographers broke the rules.  They did not care about the rules or the consequences of breaking them.  They had a passion for photography and would go beyond the bounds of its historical techniques and equipment to capture the images they wanted to record. 
They were highly influences by film noir.  This is an early cinema style of black and white crime dramas.  Another common thread among the group was they did not start out with photography as their original art form.  They moved to photography from painting, film and design.  The New York School photographers considered it an honor to be photographers. 

The three major influences of the New York School were Lewis Hine, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans.

Helen Levitt was greatly influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson who she did not personally meet until 1945.  Unlike her mentor, she never considered being a commercial photographer.   She regarded herself as an outsider.  Her street photography began in 1937.  She had an exhibit of black and white photographs of children in the Museum of Modern Art between 1941-1943.  In 1965, her book, A Way of Seeing: Photography of New York had images from all walks of life.  Through the images she was able to tell a story that written word could not.  She continued her New York City street photography long after the other original sixteen members.  While street photography became more common for the everyday photographer, Levitt was able to continue her work in creative and new ways.  Levitt lived in New York whole life. 

my street art.

Robert Frank gained the recognition that few in the New York School ever received.   He published The Americans in 1958. Prior to his book, he had The Family of Man exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art.   He spent time in Europe before coming to New York.  In 1955 and 1956, he received two fellowships which allowed him to take the grant money to take photography road trips throughout the United States.  The result was The Americans. 

He used a 35mm and abandoned studio/flashbulb lighting in favor of natural light.  One technique that he used was to capture lighting through windows.  I have experimented with this technique many times.    He did a lot of commercial work for magazines and newspapers like the New York Times. 

My window lighting technique.

"When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they
want to read a line of a poem twice." Robert Frank

Louis Faurer was longtime friend of Robert Frank.  Faurer did not receive the same recognition or success as his friend.  It wasn’t until the late 1970s, that he received the acknowledgement of his work when undiscovered work was exhibited.  He used a Leica camera along with a wide F-stop and slow shutter speed to capture his images.  He pushed the limits of photography.  He did so however effortless to the final image.  As Faurer said himself, “the most perfect technique is that which is not noticed at all.” 

William Klein worked as a fashion photographer at Vogue for 12 years but never felt like he “sold out” to commercialism.  In fact he credits his relationship with Alexander Lieberman, Vogue’s art director, as the key reason he was able to publish his book New York.  He published three other books, Rome, Moscow and Tokyo.  The images used have dark tones and shadows.  The images are often out of focus and blurred.  He originally trained to be a painter however discovered photography through his murals.  Once he began photography, he did so completely. 

The City

The City was an interesting documentary film.  The opening excerpts are not unlike the scenes we see every day in Chicago.  Yes, our clothes and cars are different but the rush, the crowds and the traffic jams are the same.  From there we move to scenes of a more rural life.  The final excerpt is about the “new city”.  The new city is portrayed as the perfect life for Americans.  You can walk to work, go home for lunch and be with your family, your children can play safely and carefree in the neighborhood.  It is the “Leave it to Beaver” lifestyle.  I suppose life was this simple once.  It has not been in my lifetime.  My generation does not experience the carefree life depicted in the film.  The ending of the film asks the questions that we are still asking today “do you want a better life – the choice is yours.”  One other note, the musical score moved well through the film and added feeling to the scenes.

Flâneur

Flâneur

According to the reading, The Flâneur, “the street becomes the dwelling of the flâneur; he is as much at home among the facades of houses as a citizen is in his four walls.”  A flâneur is a stroller.  It comes from the French word flâner meaning to stroll.  A stroller is a person who has experiences as he or she walks through their environment.  According to Walter Benjamin, the invention of the arcades, made the capability to stroll through the city possible.  An arcade is a passageway, often covered, that lines shops and attractions throughout the city.  In the arcade, the flâneur, never becomes bored.  He thrives during the stroll.  He is at home and comfortable.  It is a leisurely activity.  In the 1840s, the flâneur, would take a turtle on his walk.  The turtles set the pace of the walk. 

It is not important if there is other human interaction.  The crowd becomes part of the flâneur’s experience, not the other way around.  The crowd allows the stroller to go about unobserved while he is in fact is observing. 

Similar to The Flâneur, City of Modernity: Shifting Perspectives, Urban Transitions, focuses on the industrialization and development of the city.  George Simmel refers to urban development as bringing new quality to life and therefore changing the development of humans.  Simmel discusses how the advancement of print, electricity and rapid transit affect our sensory life.  He refers to this as the “mental life of the metropolis.”  The three social characters in society react differently.  The  dandy relates in with eccentricity and sophistication.   A blasé attitude is experienced by the snob.  On the other hand, the flâneur, has a combination of the two as he reacts to the development of the city.   The flâneur perceives the changes as a positive.  He is open and eager to experience modernization of his environment.

Modernization of environment

Of the three readings, I enjoyed, The Man of the Crowd, the most.  Unlike the other two, it told a story of a flâneur.  It actually told the story of a flâneur observing a flâneur.  A man sits alone in a café observing the passing crowd.  He wonders about the people passing by and what story belongs to them.  He is, as you say, “judging a book by it cover.”  As evening approaches, he observes an elderly man passing by.  He rushes out the café to follow the man.  He continues to follow the man throughout the night.  He is convinced the man has a criminal background.  Without ever speaking to the man, the observer judges the man’s character and considers him a bad element of society.  He finally approaches the man and looks him in the eye but the man does not seem to notice him at all.  I wondered if the two were not parts of the same man.  Was he looking back at himself?

Man of the crowd

He is a man “of” the crowd.  The reason I bring out the point of the man being “of” the crowd, is because when you read the title of the story, you naturally read, the man “in” the crowd.  I believe there is a big difference between being “of” something or “in” something.   In the recent debate about Rahm Emanuel’s residence requirement to run for Mayor of the City of Chicago, it appeared to come down to wording of the law.  The law stated, to qualify to for candidacy, the person had to be a residence “of” the City of Chicago.  The law did not say, you have to reside “in” the City of Chicago.  To be considered “in” something , it means you are enclosed or a part of it.  To be “of” something means you have origins it.  In the end, Rahm Emanuel was considered to be a residence “of” the City of Chicago and therefore able to run for Mayor.  It is interesting how one preposition can change the entire meaning of a sentence.  It is similar to Poe’s story.   The man was “of” the City not “in” the City.

Today, we are not interested in being flâneurs.  We are constantly trying to figure out the fastest, shortest route to our destination.  We are convinced that there are more important things around the next corner.  Even as a photographer, I forget to view my surroundings as a moment in time.  It is in those moments that I do stop and take it all in, that I truly experience my art.  To the flâneur, the stroll is his drawing, his photograph, it becomes his art.