Kraftwerk: Tour de France

Another fine piece of work from Kraftwerk...with bikes AND Paris!

Bicycle Vids Posted by Streetsblog

Wowsers! Streetsblog posts a whole slew of videos with bicycles in them. Enjoy!

Kraftwerk: Trans Europe Express

An oldie, but goodie, how can you not love a song and video all about a train? Somebody needs to make a video and song about Greyhound or Amtrak...maybe add to their sex appeal a bit? We all need a sexy bus/sexy train to make Obama's transportation plan really work.

The Knife

I love the video for "Heartbeats" by Swedish duo, the Knife. It starts off with vintage footage of kids skateboarding down a steep, paved road, probably in California. Fantastically inventive use of existing infrastructure for a new function.

Jose Gonzalez covered the original song, and Sony used this version for a commercial that is similar to the Knife's version: both incorporate slopes and activities that rely on gravity. Just a reminder that although the majority of paved roads were built for the automobile, they belong to us, the public, and there are endless creative possibilities for invention.

Bowerbirds: In Our Talons

The following video, "In Our Talons" by North Carolinian rockers, the Bowerbirds, isn't nessarily a commentary on urban living, but it does inspire awareness of the impact of our lifestyle, and is just so beautiful that I couldn't resist adding it to the blog.

Jean Mohr

Oiseau noir et graffitis by Jean Mohr

Art, in its many forms, can be a useful tool to explore and understand the landscape. Landscape architects and artists have, throughout history, explored their world in inventive and creative ways. Such exercises produce a connection to the space that cannot be analyzed by science. These approaches attempt to read the landscape as personal experience, and sometimes as a litmus test of society.

Photographer, Jean Mohr, uses photography as a means to understanding the unknown. His first priority is adventure. If he happens to see something interesting, he will take its photograph. Mohr’s photographs are more documentation of and reason for adventure than a preconceived idea to simply capture.

After contemplating the verge of his own existence after a serious operation, he became interested in the edge of common experience and/or geographical location. Armed with a camera, he records underexplored places and spaces that range
from ordinary to extraordinary. This series is entitled "At the Edge of the World". Poetic and political, his work deserves a thorough look. His web site is a fantastic place to start.

Deep Listening

Musician Pauline Oliveros developed a technique called "deep listening", which focuses on sound locally and globally, the presence of sound, and silence. She is inspired by the work of John Cage, including his piece "4′33″, in which the musician stand on stage with his or her instrument, silent for four minutes and thirty-three seconds to promote awareness of the ambient sounds in a space. This technique promotes awareness of being in a space. What do the sounds around us say about the place we are in? How can this awareness improve our public places? A man discusses his own perception of "deep listening" below. I also posted a video of Pauline Oliveros herself.

Street Fashion Blogs

Supermodel Agyness Deyn poses for London Cycle Chic.

The Sartorialist street fashion blog by Scott Schuman, which mainly focuses on NYC, Milan, and Paris has spawned a series of blogs around the world that feature people wearing their own clothes and looking fabulous. This new trend is exciting, because it focuses on style, rather than branding, and signals a renewed appreciation for the art of fashion. Perhaps car culture has made it too easy to throw on a pair of sweats and sneakers and leave the house; the make, model, and color of one's vehicle expressed one's identity and style. However, walking, biking, or riding mass transit are public activities in which one may run into anyone, and clothing/accessories are key. Below, I list some street fashion blogs for your pleasure. Rest assured that there are many many more than what I have listed, and that some of these blogs have links to other sartorialist-inspired sites. I am sad to see that the Chicago Sartorialist is just a few shots of Chicagoans, and lots of commentary on designers and fashion shows, not people wearing their own clothes.

Copenhagen Cycle Chic
Cycle Chic NY
Japanese Streets
London Cycle Chic
Style Scout
Stil in Berlin
Easy Fashion

Man Man

Philadelphia band, Man Man, makes beautiful music on the existing urban elements of Paris. Their music inspires some neighborhood kids on rollerblades to join in on the fun. Gorgeous!

Los Angeles

The video below is an entry in a competion for Laura Veirs' song "Don't Lose Yourself". I posted it, because it shows two young people running down the empty sidewalk in LA, which is just so very poetic.

Andrew Bird

Another perspective of Paris, quite different than "Come Into My World", Andrew Bird performs "Spare-Ohs" through the streets of Montmartre, Paris. From the opening scene, Bird is in an apartment with a huge, open, side-hinged window; we immediately know that he is in Europe, and the grey sky gives us more reason to believe that he is in Paris. The slim alleys and cobblestone provide an interesting medium from which his voice and the guitar resonate. In one section, Bird walks behind a car and his voice temporarily becomes muffled. The neighborhood, Montmartre has a dream-like quality that is easy to translate into film. "Amelie" was filmed in Montmartre, as was "Breathless". By the reactions of passers-by, singing in the streets of Montmartre is nothing particularly unusual. There is something to be said for an urban space that provides mystery and surprise, with twists and turns. You never know what you'll find around the next corner.

Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry captures Paris beautifully in this Kylie Minogue video for "Come Into My World", showing all types of transportation (cars, bikes, pedestrians, wheelchairs, scooters) moving together in harmony: an urbanist's dream come true. If art truly does reflect life, then this video is a fun-house mirror of what I hope Chicago will look like when more of us take the step to embrace active transportation.

Noemie Lafrance

Brooklyn-Based Quebecoise choreographer Noemie Lafrance uses existing landscapes, indoors and out, to stage her dance performances. Her creative use of space encourages one to see an otherwise everyday place with fresh eyes. It can be argued that her performance "Agora", which took place in the formerly abandoned McCarren Pool in Brooklyn was responsible for the revitalization of this historic landmark. Below I attached the video for Feist's "My Moon, My Man", choreographed by Lafrance, in one take by filmmaker Patrick Daughters.



My Moon, My Man