von Jan-Alexander Krause
Im Juli 2017 hat die zweite internationale Summer School unter dem Titel Frontier Zones in São Carlos, Brasilien, stattgefunden und erneut bot die Metropole São Paulo den Ort für urbane Expeditionen. 20 Student*innen aus ganz Brasilien mit verschiedenen disziplinären Hintergründen, wie etwa Architektur und Urbanität, Kunst, Design, Film, Musik und den Sozialwissenschaften, haben an dem Lehrforschungsprojekt teilgenommen. In interdisziplinären Kleingruppen galt es, sich insbesondere auf die Altstadt São Paulos zu konzentrieren und in dokumentarischen Kurzfilmen Aspekte des Wandels aufzugreifen.
Zu dem im Fokus stehenden Stadtteil schreibt Ursula Kirschner: „This part was foundet by the Jesuits in 1524 and developed rapidly in late 19th and early 20th century, when it received tens of thousands of European immigrants as workers for the emerging coffee economy. In a few years, colonial houses gave place to architectures inspired by European neoclassical standards, while the central area expanded towards the so-called Cidade Nova, the New Town, designed according to the modern architecture precepts.“ – Krischner
Die aus dem gesammelten Video- und Audiomaterial entstandenen Filme zeigen Kollagen der urbanen Impressionen. Oft sind es Momente und Szenen, die im alltäglichen Rausch des modernen Stadtlebens gänzlich untergehen und hier ihre eigene Narration erhalten.
„Our mode of working was strongly collaborative. Between participants and teachers as with the people we film on the streets of São Paulo. There is no neutral observer, but authors with different cultural and personal backgrounds.“ – Nomads.usp Center for Interactive Living Studies
Die insgesamt acht Kurzfilme widmen sich dabei selbstgesetzten Schwerpunkten und folgen eigenen Konzepten, die von ihren Macher*innen ergänzend zu den hier vorgestellten Artefakten in wenigen Worten zusammengefasst werden.
ARRHYTHMIA
ARRHYTHMIA: The city pulsates in the mismatch of its contradictions and conflicts, in the images that are compiled in projections when the body searches for senses in the frontier zones and in the diversity of the metropolitan ways of life. The differences found in the territory of the city of São Paulo result in a palimpsest, a multiform organism that covers the most diverse subjects, the most different contexts and the most varied rhythms that make the city flow in a compass interspersed with abrupt visual interferences unplanned for the built space. Through overlapping of images, sounds and contexts, Arrhythmia is an audiovisual exercise that tries to understand the socio-urban dynamics present in the downtown area of São Paulo. Such dynamics give a multiple identity to the city, making it a unique metropolis within the larger global cities. Starting from a deep analytical immersion and the production of media records collected in this complex metropolitan functional system, a new city reading was proposed, which aims to contribute to the expansion and refinement of sensory perception in relation to the city and to the social relations among the most diverse agents in the same space-time.
BLIND FLOW
BLIND FLOW: Nowadays, instead of „inhabit“ urban spaces we move between them. Moving fast from one place to another, in a flow where we become blind and every human interaction goes off. Transitory places are only to facilitate the passage of people, connect one place to another and increase the urban motion. The rapid displacement is an exclusionary activity that doesn’t favor human interactions and the experience of the complexity of the place. In the center of São Paulo, the biggest city in South America, the feel of absence remains in this spaces but, what happens if we start looking in these transitory places?
SÃO PAULO IS A MONSTER
SÃO PAULO IS A MONSTER: What do we expect from our cities? What kind of images come to our minds when thinking about what a city should be or how it must look like? Are there any narratives about the city, transmitted to us within the urban space? What do those narratives look like? Where those narratives come from? We aim to question our expectations and ideas on the city as well as their sources and implications. When talking about a pretty city, what exactly does it mean? Who lives and who does not live in a pretty city? When we say the city is ours, to whom are we referring when we say ours? Who determines the right to the city? How is it determined? Is the right to the city the same for everyone?
SURVEILLANCE
SURVEILLANCE: The city is made up of multiple and diverse layers intertwined and acting conforming a living complex system. From this plot that happens whether or not watched, observable or not, some layers can be defined and made visible in the eyes of those who observe them; Others of these can be described as not possible to observe to the „daily naked eye“, being necessary a monitoring, an observation, a more detailed vigilance for such perception. Surveillance is a reading that seeks to understand the construction of these layers and their border zones and a critique to the vector of this monitoring of the city, the citizen and the movements. Who monitors? Who is monitored? Everything seems to be under control. From who?
DO SKYSCRAPERS HAVE EYES?
DO SKYSCRAPERS HAVE EYES?: Downtown area. Cutouts and fragments. The reflected city. The observed city. The struggle for space, for housing, for representativity, all in one place. Each fight occupies, manifests, sings and dances. The place where conflict is present and constant is the same place chosen as home. In the street, in the bandstand, in the buildings. Through the windows, the eyes of the street, can everything be seen? Do skyscrapers have eyes? Is a snapshot of the center of São Paulo that intends to present the diversity of the city from the social clashes and the personal searches of the different actors that coexist in this complex system that is the city.
THE OTHERS, US
THE OTHERS, US: São Paulo’s central area is known for its simultaneity of colors, sounds, and everyday gestures. However, the Center of São Paulo is also a place full of segregation and conflicts in its public spaces, which are reflected on its built space, dynamics, and social aspects. To these knots that form a diverse and contradictory city, there are also resistance movements and struggles for a space of existence.
UNVOICED CONFLICTS
UNVOICED CONFLICTS: The documentary Unvoiced Conflicts reflects the daily routine and reality of certain specific groups which coexist in the São Paulo city center, such as the homeless, immigrants, street vendors and the LGBT community. During one week of intense research it was observed that each one of these groups occupies a determining space in the region, besieging the city and creating frontiers based on the intolerance of living together with the different groups. Each group respect the others‘ space but they do not mix with each other. The images try to reflect some of the daily routines of these people, and together with interviews conducted during the research, their relation to the city, which most of the time is a heavy burden. It is left open whether the São Paulo city center is really a place of diverse coexistence or a space of segregation.
ZOO
ZOO: 1: a facility with usually indoor and outdoor settings where living, typically wild animals are kept especially for public exhibition —called also zoological garden, zoological park. 2: a place, situation, or group marked by crowding, confusion, or unrestrained behavior.
Die Filme entstanden vom 10. bis 21. Juli 2017 während der internationalen Summer School 2017 unter der Leitung von Prof. Dr. Marcelo Tramontano, Prof. Dr. Ursula Kirschner, Prof. Marlis Roth, Prof. Dr. Rolf Großmann, Martin Kohler, Steffen Keulig, Nauka Kirschner, Joanne Ashton-Jones und Lucas Gloe durchgeführt. Die folgenden akademischen Institutionen haben an der Veranstaltung mitgewirkt:
- IAU-USP Institute of Architecture and Urbanism, São Carlos
- Leuphana University, Lüneburg
- Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Germany
- HCU HafenCity University, Hamburg
- University of Fine Arts, Hamburg
- Nomads.usp Center for Interactive Living Studies USP
Hier geht’s zum Artikel der Frontier Zones Summer School 2015.