The memory of man and that of the places

18 Settembre, 2013

Telling stories is a feature of the human soul. Telling for images is anthropological: the huge cruise ships crossing Venice (2012); the “new ” white city in Greece (2010); the barracks in the port of Helsinki (2002); the yards and warehouses of Antwerp in black and white (1955); the condominiums on the Black Sea (2012); the streets and canals of the new Copenhagen (2013).

These are stories of ports, cities ,borders between mainland and sea, of the past and present: the historic city and its inhabitants have to contend with the passage of floating condominiums and the devastating  tourism. The cities are dying like all living organisms; the memory of places like that of people can be lost and regained; one flees from his past as from his own city, from own sea; we try to stop the bulldozer that destroys and the crane that rebuilds; one wonders if the models applied to new projects will bring the desired effects.

Telling is an exercise of the memory: the city that no longer exists; the city that never was; the city indefinite; the city that wants to stop; the new city that is questioning itself.

Telling through images is a personal journey of the mind.


telePORTation2

 

  • VENEZIA Italia | Das Venedig Prinzip [The Venice Syndrome] (Andreas Pichler) – 2012 Germany | Italy | Austria

  • ASPRA SPITIA (Boeotia), Greece | Attenberg (Athina Rachel Tsangari) – 2010 Greece

  • HELSINKI Finland | Mies vailla menneisyyttä [The Man Without a Past] (Aki Kaurismäki) – 2002 Finland

  • ANTWERP Belgium | Meeuwen sterven in de haven [Seagulls Die in the Harbour] (Rik Kuypers, Ivo Michiels, Roland Verhavert) – 1955 Belgium

  • SINOP Turkey | The Sea in Me (Yilmaz Vurucu) – 2012 Turkey | Austria | Netherlands

  • COPENHAGEN Denmark | Havnen: tilbage til københavnerne [The harbour returns to the people of Copenhagen] (Gehl Architects) – 2013 Denmark

 

 


VENEZIA Italia

Das Venedig Prinzip [The Venice Syndrome] (Andreas Pichler) – 2012 Germany | Italy | Austria

Venice lives under the enormous pressure of mass tourism – and lives from it. The city has ceased to exist as an urban structure, has been deserted by its inhabitants and is descending into physical, social and moral decay. The film is a portrait of a magnificent city in the process of destroying itself.

Das_Venedig_Prinzip_POSTER

 

TRAILER

 

 

 

IMDB

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2608566/

 

 

WEBSITE

 

https://venedigprinzip.de/?lang=en


ASPRA SPITIA (Boeotia), Greece

Attenberg (Athina Rachel Tsangari) – 2010 Greece

Stuck in her boring factory town, 23-year-old Marina is at the mercy of both her architect father’s impending death and her distaste for other human beings.

 

 

Attenberg_POSTER

 

WIKIPEDIA

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attenberg

 

 

TRAILER

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2582qyfXOSs

 

 

IMDB

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1691323/

 


HELSINKI Finland

Mies vailla menneisyyttä [The Man Without a Past] (Aki Kaurismäki) – 2002 Finland

The second part of Aki Kaurismäki’s “Finland” trilogy, the film follows a man who arrives in Helsinki and gets beaten up so severely he develops amnesia. Unable to remember his name or anything from his past life, he cannot get a job or an apartment, so he starts living on the edge of the harbour and slowly starts putting his life back on track.

Mies_vailla_menneisyyttä_POSTER

WIKIPEDIA

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Without_a_Past

 

 

TRAILER

 

https://www.artistdirect.com/video/the-man-without-a-past/72700

 

 

IMDB

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311519/

 


ANTWERP Belgium

Meeuwen sterven in de haven [Seagulls Die in the Harbour] (Rik Kuypers, Ivo Michiels, Roland Verhavert) – 1955 Belgium

A pessimistic urban drama, with a musical score by Jack Sels and Max Damasse, charts in strongly expressionistically lit black-and-white images the wanderings of a tormented man through the cosmopolitan port city of Antwerp. The only people to show him understanding are an orphan and two disillusioned women

 

 

Meeuwen_sterven_in_de_haven_POSTER

 

 

 

WIKIPEDIA

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meeuwen_sterven_in_de_haven

 

 

TRAILER

 

 

 

IMDB

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0222186/

 


SINOP Turkey

The Sea in Me (Yilmaz Vurucu) – 2012 Turkey | Austria | Netherlands

The Sea In Me tells the stories of the residents of a small coastal town located on the Black Sea shore. We follow them as they reveal their connection with the sea, nature, their culture and history. The documentary deals with the themes or rapid and unplanned urbanization, recent ecological change and its effects on the fishing culture/habits/economy of the area, and migration to bigger cities. The tag line is: Centuries of co-existing with nature and the sea has created a rich and vibrant culture, one which needs to be preserved and not sacrificed to the norms of what we define as global modernity.

The_sea_in_me_POSTER

 

TRAILER

 

 

 

IMDB

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2388200/

 

 

WEBSITE

 

the sea in me

 


COPENHAGEN Denmark

Havnen: tilbage til københavnerne [The harbour returns to the people of Copenhagen] (Gehl Architects) – 2013 Denmark

Walking along the harbour, sitting down with friends to eat pizza and drink beer, stealing kisses with your loved one as the breeze tickles your cheek, swimming and splashing in the salty water, those activities which make summer harbor life in Copenhagen almost dreamy. But have you ever wondered how the harbor got to be this way? What it used to look like and what it will be in the future? And how the harbor connects to the city?

Havnen_tilbage til_københavnerne_POSTER

 

VIDEO

 

 

 

BLOG

 

https://gehlcitiesforpeople.dk/2013/06/06/havnen-er-din-exhibition-2/

 

 

THE DAC

 

https://www.dac.dk/en/dac-life/exhibitions-1/2013/your-harbour/

 



Article reference for citation:
Scianca Girogio, “The memory of man and that of the places”, PORTUS: the online magazine of RETE, n.26, November 2013, Year XIII, Venice, RETE Publisher, ISSN 2282-5789 URL: https://www.portusonline.org/the-memory-of-man-and-that-of-the-places/

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