Re:Mapping the Flâneur

Re:Mapping the Flâneur is a development of Mapping the Flâneur, an artwork originally created during Collectives Encounter at FORMAT 2011. Inspired by Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project and the advent of cloud printing, it is the result of a collaboration between 97 photographers from 20 collectives based in 15 countries, and was designed to provide an overview of the global collective movement, of contemporary photographic practices, and the complexity of urban life worldwide.

At the close of the Collectives Encounter at FORMAT on 3rd April 2011, Mapping the Flâneur had processed just over 700 images contributed by 97 photographers from 20 collectives worldwide, and over the month of its duration the installation had produced five 40m long prints (or an artwork totalling 200m in length). Three of these prints were successfully re-curated into Re:Mapping the Flâneur, a new exhibition at Newcastle Arts Centre 14th June – 9th July 2011. The digital image files were also reconfigured into a simple video piece which premiered at a private view on 24th June.

At University of Sunderland’s international photography conference, ‘The Versatile Image: Photography in the Era of Web 2.0’ conference organisers Arabella Plouviez (Professor in Photography) and Carol McKay (Senior Lecturer in Photography/Photographic Theory, Faculty of Art, Design and Media) also cited the Mapping and Re:Mapping the Flâneur project as a case study in their paper, “Photography and Social Networking: Reflecting on Critical Photographic Practice”.

Re:Mapping the Flâneur was subsequently re-curated for Brighton Photo Fringe 2014, shown at Phoenix Brighton, 4th – 26th October.