52%25%20 Spiritual is an online exhibition of work arising from collaboration between staff and students at the Slade School of Fine Art and Digital Anthropology, UCL.
It arose from discussions between Patrick White (Slade) and the creators of the Museum of Data: Tone Walford, Haidy Geismar (both UCL Anthropology), and Joel Gethin Lewis (CCI @ UAL Camberwell), with thanks also to Jane Davies and Alex Krook (UCL Digital Anthropology MSc).
Participants: Alex Krook, Bindu Mehra, Eva Bachmann, Eva Popovic, Funa Ye, Haidy Geismar, Ilona Balaga, Jane Davies, Jesse Giordano, Julian Kowal, Kate Davis, Kate Rogers, Pauline Lemaire, Sana Iqbal, Shi Yun Teo, Tone Walford.
Site was designed by Funa Ye
Exhibition link: 52%25%20 Spiritual
The Cycling Flaneuse video unites Bachmann’s visual and sound documentation of the urban landscape and Lemaire’s use of digital tools to recreate the digital exploration of London. For this project, Bachmann focussed on her cycling route to university and depicted ten landmarks that she photographed and sound recorded ten times. There are two versions: the first one includes all 100 photos and 100 recordings, and the second one is an 'audio-visual patchwork', where Lemaire picked her preferred three pictures and sound recordings and assembled them into this video, which meshes the gaze of both Bachmann and Lemaire cast on the city.
Lemaire has worked already on the subjectivity of itineraries and how they each represent some form of portrait of a neighbourhood, or a space. By recording the image and sound, Bachmann creates a relationship with each landmark, as it becomes something more than an incidental milestone on her commute.
Repetition plays a considerable part in Bachmann’s work processes. Here, she tends to reflect on her fixation to return to the same place time and again and record the subtle differences that occurred in the meantime. By doing so, she noticed how the sound of a particular landmark added an extra layer to the authenticity of the place. The act of stopping and consciously taking time to listen to a place transcended the mundane commuting into a mindful act. Even though the sound is fleeting, after stopping at a landmark on more occasions, she started to associate the specific sound with the characteristics of that place.
Eva Bachmann & Pauline Lemaire