BEING
THERE
by Anders Weberg and Robert Willim
Tourism
is growing in many parts of the world. Curious people, with
bags and cameras, are in search of various exciting experiences.
Places of interest are visited and documented. An important
ingredient of the tourism industry is the concept of authenticity
and the lure of the unique. But
the question is: What would be the most authentic experience?
Attractive places are targets for more than travel agencies.
This
art project twists the authenticity hunt. We offer a number
of audiovisual excursions beneath the gloss of the tourism rhetoric.
Six films, imagining six places. It is an attempt to disclose
the nervous system that is underlying tourist experiences.
The
places we have chosen are high density, they are tourist magnets
and global hotspots. They are places associated with pleasure,
but also with terror. With the shortfilms coupled to the different
places we want to examine the tension between pleasure and fear.
The
films are made solely from clips out of tourist movies and similar
material. The clips have been twisted into a surreal atmosphere.
And the sound accompanying the visuals are based on manipulations
of one or two sounds that are often used to give stereotypical
associations to the various places, eg. demo sounds from sample
libraries. The audiovisual whole express an evocative imaginary
geography.
Download
the films, save them in your media player and take them with
you when you visit the different places. And remember, don't
leave luggage unattended.
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