User:LucaO/Methods

What, How & Why

LEGACY

The project LEGACY shows everyday garbage, old furniture, garbage bags filled to the brim and whatever you can think about thrown or dumped onto the sidewalk, streets, parks and in general just all over city, no matter how big or small. The remains of a bbq dumped into nature and hang from a tree, old furniture just thrown onto the sidewalk, old newspapers, still wrapped and bound together, just sitting on a street corner left to rot - just to name some examples of the portrayed scenes shown in the project.

Through traveling to different cities around Germany and walking the streets of those cities, photographing scenes more than places, scenes you could most likely find in any city, I tried to portray the ubiquity of trash in public places. The final selection of images, a mixture of digital and analog photography using a multitude of cameras and film stocks, is shown in form of a photo book and was originally shown with an installation of the book in an exhibition. The exhibition showed the book, in an unbound form, suspended from thin wires and arranged in a grid surrounding a center piece, containing a larger framed photograph.

The project tries to show how little we as a society care about what and how we leave things behind for upcoming generations especially when it comes to public places. Most people are focused on themselves and their way through the day or through life, the bigger the city the more its about oneself most of the time. When we move around our home, our own property, we are very delicate with thrash and how we leave our space, but when it comes to public spaces no one feels responsible and nobody cares about how a place is left behind or where trash is dumped. The ubiquity of littering and trash in public places shall be looked at, actively perceived and accepted as what it is, omnipresent. It is about showing the things we want to forgot and trying to portray them in a romanticized way that makes us think about how we perceive garbage and trash in public places, when most of the time we wouldn’t even think to look at it for more than a second.

EDITED VERSION:

The project LEGACY shows trash, old furniture, garbage bags filled to the brim and whatever you can think about thrown or dumped onto the sidewalk, streets, parks and in general just all over city, no matter how big or small. The remains of a bbq dumped into nature and hang from a tree, old furniture just thrown onto the sidewalk, old newspapers, still wrapped and bound together, just sitting on a street corner left to rot - just to name some examples of the portrayed scenes shown in the project.

Through traveling to different cities around Germany and walking the streets of those cities, photographing scenes more than places, scenes you could most likely find in any city, I tried to portray the ubiquity of trash in public places. The final selection of images, a mixture of digital and analog photography using a multitude of cameras and film stocks, is shown in form of a photo book and was originally shown with an installation of the book in an exhibition. The exhibition showed the book, in an unbound form, suspended from thin wires and arranged in a grid surrounding a center piece, containing a larger framed photograph.

The project tries to show how little we as a society care about what and how we leave things behind for upcoming generations especially when it comes to public places. Most people are focused on themselves and their way through the day or through life, the bigger the city the more its about oneself most of the time. When we move around our home, our own property, we are very delicate with thrash and how we leave our space, but when it comes to public spaces no one feels responsible and nobody cares about how a place is left behind or where trash is dumped. The ubiquity of littering and trash in public places shall be looked at, actively perceived and accepted as what it is, omnipresent. It is about showing the things we want to forgot and trying to portray them in a romanticized way that makes us think about how we perceive garbage and trash in public places, when most of the time we wouldn’t even think to look at it for more than a second.

P A R A D I E S

P A R A D I E S, which literally means paradise in German, is the name of my last photographic project, a photo series portraying the town of Mannheim, through my eyes and experiences. It consists of around 50 images, showing everyday scenes around the city, images that try to portray a sense of ZEITGEIST and freedom in a world of covid-lockdowns and regulations, and is supposed to end up as a book or magazine publication.

Some of the imagery originates from having my camera, slung around my neck or packed inside a bag, with me all the times I went out and just photographing what catches my eye and makes me actually stop and turn back. The other part of the images are more on the conceptual side of going out with a plan of taking a specific or multiple photographs, more often than not scenes I drove or walked by multiple times and that got stuck inside my head and linked to some kind of feeling or image.

Trying to cope with the impact of the covid related lockdowns and regulations in Germany I tried to form and build a world in which the definition of the word paradise is as crooked as the world it tries to describe. Being unable to meet up, socialize, go on events, parties, festivals combined with being forced inside for long periods and being stripped of basic human rights in some regards really made me feel powerless and locked up inside my own head which further amplified this weird dystopian feeling I got every time I walked around out side just trying to break free.

EDITED VERSION:

 P A R A D I E S, which literally means paradise in German, is the name of my last photographic project, a photo series portraying the town of Mannheim, through my eyes and experiences. It consists of around 50 images, showing everyday scenes around the city, people sitting in small groups on a sunset filled field next to the river, an asian restaurant with closed shutters early in the morning, a tram just driving by across the bridge, a swarm of birds gliding through the cloud filled sky, images that try to portray a sense of ZEITGEIST and freedom in a world of covid-lockdowns and regulations, and is supposed to end up as a book or magazine publication.

Some of the imagery originates from having my camera, slung around my neck or packed inside a bag, with me all the times I went out and just photographing what catches my eye and makes me actually stop and turn back. The other part of the images are more on the conceptual side of going out with a plan of taking a specific or multiple photographs, more often than not scenes I drove or walked by multiple times and that got stuck inside my head and linked to some kind of feeling or image. 

Trying to cope with the impact of the covid related lockdowns and regulations in Germany I tried to form and build a world in which the definition of the word paradise is as crooked as the world it tries to describe. Being unable to meet up, socialize, go on events, parties, festivals combined with being forced inside for long periods and being stripped of basic human rights in some regards really made me feel powerless and locked up inside my own head which further amplified this weird dystopian feeling I got every time I walked around out side just trying to break free. 

do_humans_dream_of_sheep

The title of this project “do_humans_dream_of_sheep” is a play on the name of the book “do androids dream of electric sheep” and the thoughts of being programmed and stuck in a life, commanded by others and robbed off our free will by the shackles of society. It is supposed to be a short film or video essay, of about 10 minutes, following no specific fictional or non fictional story rather than following an unknown character through his life and his perception of it.

The final video is meant to be a mix of looped video recordings of everyday scenes and people going on with their life, repeating over and over, trying to convey a feeling of being stuck in a loop and in a way also in life, and video footage that portrays a distinct start and ending point, also showing everyday life and scenes but from more of a first person perspective, trying to convey freedom and the power of free will, contrasting the looped video and quite literally showing both sides of the same coin. Using different views and imagery to convey being stuck and feeling free and of free will through using the same subject matter from a different point of view. The portrayed characters are to be used as mirror images of a modern society, so it is not about who they are as an individual it is about their part in society. They are shown as being stuck in this portrayed form of reality, unable to escape their loop of going on with their lives. The whole video is meant to play out as a sequence of a mix of these looped and normal scenes, layered with environmental sound recordings and on screen text, talking about being stuck, of free will and the characters on screen.

Society, and more noticeable how it plays out in everyday life, concepts of free will and freedom as well as our part in society as an individual is where the idea for this project originated from. Wanting to play with ones self reflection on his own space and sense of freedom in our modern day society is how it came to be a video project containing looped imagery of everyday life. Contrasting it with scenes of a similar subject matter, whilst trying to convey an opposite from what the loops are meant to be conveying by trying to show the scenes from another point of view, and in this way trying to amplify that it is about what we define as freedom ourselves.

EDITED VERSION:

The title of this project “do_humans_dream_of_sheep” is a play on the name of the book “do androids dream of electric sheep” and  the thoughts of being programmed and stuck in a life, commanded by others and robbed of our free will by the shackles of society. It is supposed to be a short film or video essay, of about 10 minutes, following no specific fictional or non fictional story rather than following an unknown character through his life and his perception of it. 

The final video is meant to be a mix of looped video recordings of everyday scenes and people going on with their life, repeating over and over, trying to convey a feeling of being stuck in a loop and in a way also in life, and video footage that portrays a distinct start and ending point in itself, also showing everyday life and scenes but from more of a first person perspective, trying to convey freedom and the power of free will, contrasting the looped video and showing both sides of the same coin. An example for a looped part of the whole video would be - looking at an intersection in the early morning, lights turning green cars driving out of frame, lights turn red again, the same cars pull up to the intersection. A contrasting non looping part of the video could be - just walking down a city street at night, filled with people going on with their day, having a beer, having dinner. Using different views and imagery to convey being stuck and feeling free and of free will through using the same subject matter from a different point of view. The portrayed characters are to be used as mirror images of a modern society, so it is not about who they are as an individual it is about their part in society. They are shown as being stuck in this portrayed form of reality, unable to escape their loop of going on with their lives. The whole video is meant to play out as a sequence of a mix of these looped and normal scenes, layered with environmental sound recordings and on screen text, talking about being stuck, of free will and the characters on screen. 

Society, and more noticeable how it plays out in everyday life, concepts of free will and freedom as well as our part in society as an individual is where the idea for this project originated from. Wanting to play with ones self reflection on his own space and sense of freedom in our modern day society is how it came to be a video project containing looped imagery of everyday life. Contrasting it with scenes of a similar subject matter, whilst trying to convey an opposite from what the loops are meant to be conveying by trying to show the scenes from another point of view, and in this way trying to amplify that it is about what we define as freedom ourselves. 

INTERVIEW

Hello, would you please describe your practice in a couple of sentences?

Most of my projects and ideas originate from me seeing something, like a little detail or how the light falls onto a scene, that keeps me attached and thinking about it. Then having a lot of these small ideas get stuck in my head and just keep developing and driving them. The ideas I can't forget and can’t keep working on are mostly the ideas I try to pursue in some way and try to get hands on with and see where it takes me. So it is often about getting started with doing stuff and figuring it out during the process of creating rather than getting hung up on perfectionism or planning and all the other small things. I often don’t know the exact outcome, form, medium or even question behind a project till I am at a certain point.

And what is it that are you making right now?

Oh it is different from a lot of my previous work and at the same time kinda similar too. My practice in the past evolved around matters of either society or how I see and perceive society. For me it was about questions along the line of “why do we act in a certain way”, “how do the places we built effect and express us as a society?”: where with my current project it is more about the question “Where do I see myself in society?”. The outlines of the project are at the moment still very vague so take it with a grain of salt. I am asking myself questions about how we behave both as a society in general as well as a part of a society, whilst trying to incorporate personal mental issues and struggles about feeling stuck, out of control and not being able act out of free will - and making what ever comes out of all that into a short film.

OK thank you, another question would be WHY, why do you make it or why do you think it is important to be made?

On the one hand it is inspired by my interest in psychology and philosophy, and the thoughts about the how and why we act in a certain way, especially focused around the concept of society, and on the other hand it originates from within me, from my own thoughts and fears, uncertainties, problems and struggles.

It was one of those ideas that just hit me different and from the first second on stuck with me in a way where I couldn’t even avoid thinking about it.

With it being a project that is, at least partly, really personal and close to me and on the other hand also one that tackles aspects and thematics that a lot of people in our modern day society can, in my opinion, relate to, I want to get the people to think about themselves and their own position and sights on the topics and positions stated in the project.

what are the most significant choices that you made to your current project recently

You know, with getting the project of its feet right now and really starting to find some kind of form to pursue, it is a lot about changing things up constantly, trying out new ways and just taking side roads wherever they come up. I think I changed the whole thing twice in the last two weeks, from what I thought I wanted it to be before compared to what I wanted it to be then. Right now I am sticking with one direction, I might chase a slightly different one tomorrow but the outlines of my project start taking form, so the bigger changes are also gonna start being less frequent, even though I will always keep throwing stuff out and adding new things. I'm not in the state where, you know, there's a definitely finished product in front of my eyes, till then I'm just gonna keep changing stuff over and over 'cause that's how I work, it might be chaotic to some but I thrive when working with chaos and especially with this project being just full of chaos to figure out and find my way through. It is about finding a way to a point where I can tell myself what the final thing is gonna be like. That is mostly the point where I will try to not throw everything out again and again. Until then it is just about getting stuff done and creating for me.

Are you reading any literature or articles that are related to your current project

I’m reading a lot of essays, sometimes philosophical sometimes psychological. Mostly articles that are at least semi related to my current project. Right now I am working with some books and essays surrounding mental health, society and the concept of free will and feeling free. Even though I might read a lot on the topic, there is a good possibility of it not ending up in the final film ,at all, it is more about input and getting an understanding of what I am trying to talk about. Right now that is primarily focused on the constructs of modern day society and the pressure and expectations every individual has to fulfil.

Thank you

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