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.