»Move – Freeze«

Veuillez nous excuser. Malheureusement, nous n‘écrivons pas en français. Notre français scolaire suffit pour une communication simple, mais pas pour une description écrite détaillée.

Proposal

Since we started taking photographs in Japan and developing the first chapters of our »Cartographie Dynamique« as a collaborative work, peripheral areas, the development of urban structures and the questions about political and social landscape are in the focus of our collaborative work. Living in Düsseldorf but working a lot abroad made us be interested in differences and similarities in various countries and continents.
Connections between Japan (especially Tokyo and Osaka) and Paris became more and more obvious, especially through the Olympic Games and the World-Expo, but also the very different historical background of the cities, their development, construction or demolition, visions about cities and society or the meaning of how people live together and of how they use and experience their city.

The difference between »Move« and »Freeze« will define the two parts of our  proposed work.

Move

Our method of understanding an environment is »Walking«. Walking means using our own body to explore maybe a border of a certain district but also to connect different spots and areas. Until now a walk could be at least two up to nine hours, taking pictures every 100 or 200 m in the direction of the walk, documenting almost cinematographic, a distance, the change of the area, the street, landscape, architecture, construction site, traffic or people.  

In this first part of our project we want to conect different Olympic sites through an extensive walk of 42,195 km, a classic marathon distance. During the residency we will develop a form of how we orchestrate these walks,  if we walk together or with someone else, if we develop a certain costume etc.

Through this walk we will connect certain Olympic Sites in the area of Grand Paris:
•    Stade de France & Aquatic Center St. Denis
•    Olympic Village, St.Ouen / St. Denis
•    Yves-du-Manor Stadium, Colombes
•    La Défense Arena
•    French National Olympic Committee CNOSF, Porte de Gentily (Périphérique)
•    Le Bourget Sport
•    Arena Alice Milliat, Porte de la Chapelle (Périphérique)

Freeze

In this second part of the project we want to connect ideas from some of our previous individual projects: For years Oliver took portraits of members of certain sub-, music- or counter-cultures. In his series »Imaginary Club« you already find portraits of breakers or Hip-Hop-fans in Rotterdam or Los Angeles, Skater in LA or Tokyo, kids from a dance project in Düsseldorf. Since 2000 Katja takes portraits of athletes during the Olympic Games, mainly gymnasts but also athletes during shooting or fencing tournaments. »Supernatural« shows portraits, using the broadcasted image off her TV- or computer-monitor.

In Paris 2024 Breaking will be a new Olympic discipline. Like bevor in Tokyo with Skateboarding these sports disciplines came from a youth culture, from the urban streets.

For this second part we want to collaborate with local performers to create images of
bodies in the urban setting of »Grand Paris«. These staged images will be included between the different sections of the photographic walks.

Through other projects we are already introduced to several local groups; we hope to easily find various people to collaborate with. We would get  back in contact with »L’École des Actes« in Aubervilliers, with Fouzia Bendelhoum in Montmorency, Paul Grund, Takao Baba or find local groups in Clichy Sous Bois.  

»Move«

Walking means using our own body to explore certain districts, to use the body as eyes and brain, using the camera as an extended tool of the body.

»Freeze«
This work will be a different approach than how we usually work, we will create a different visual language and develop a very new challenge for our »Cartographie Dynamique«. Collaborating with performers will expand our photographic practice and lead to very new works.

»Walking is thinking without words«

This quote by Japanese Writer Yoko Tawada is influential for our understanding of walking and why we are walking. Also Masao Adachi‘s Landscape Theory plays an important role in our approach to urban landscape related to cities and people. Finally the documentary about »The Tokyo Olympics 1964« by Kon Ichikawa had a strong visual impact on us regarding sports in public spaces.

Find more "inspiration" in .jpgs.