COLLECTedcitylife | COLLECTed

the affectionate screamers

raffaella — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:02:21 +0000

There is often a cluster of chain-smoking kids who like to gather in the public square by City Hall during the day, kids who dress in black and wear chains, playing hackey sack and shouting at each other from the patch of grass on one side of the square across the vast expanse of concrete to the fountain on the other side. “What!” is a favourite exclamation of theirs, usually followed by some string of expletives as people come and go from the groups. Occasionally I see them exchange a flurry of angry royal salutes or see them switch between flying at each other’s throats in anger or clinging to each other as if they would die if they were ever separated. Inevitably the rowdy crowd disperses and when only two or three are left to linger, I realize that only a select few are actually the loud ones and that the group is just your average bunch of teenagers. They are affectionate screamers, with no idea what they’re doing.

the sum of all our parts

raffaella — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:53:28 +0000

Looking down from the second balcony the audience had become a sea of heads. In the dim light of the hall I could make out a suggestion of coloured shirts – certain bright tones stood out from the rest. When the musicians stopped the scene would change to a flutter of hands – and the hall would fill with the sound of applause.

predestination

raffaella — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:00:56 +0000

I noticed that we had reached that time of night where the apartments we were walking past were lit up like living lightboxes. It was just at that moment before the people inside had realized that the lack of light outside had made it possible to see in past the glass of their balcony doors, past the glazing of their energy efficient windows, straight into their homes. It was almost as if every apartment building was a lifesize dollhouse, the kind where you could reach out and open the front panel, exposing all the rooms hidden behind. Sometimes life is like that, it takes on a cinematic quality, your eyes replace the camera and as you pan across the scene, the movie moves with you. But moments like that are fleeting, before you can fully appreciate it you are moving steadfastly towards your destination and you leave that frame behind you.

downtown is deserted

raffaella — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:46:43 +0000

It’s odd to encounter a downtown that is almost entirely deserted. What is it about this city that makes people flee the central hub when the ordinary work week ends? Are we just trying to escape from our jobs? Is out of sight really out of mind?

I wonder what brought about this segregation of our work life and our home life. Were we simply in the pursuit of more space? Were we chasing the ideal of the quiet country? But if the people aren’t downtown, where are they?

night life

raffaella — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:59:22 +0000

There’s something spectacular about a city at night. It’s as if the city is disguised by the darkness. Artificial light takes over and creates new shapes and silhouettes against the evening sky. In the city city streets people take on different forms. Like the buildings that tower above them their identities are masked and they respond either by receding further into the sea of anonymity, whispering quietly to their friends and partners or boisterously acting out, shouting louder than what is acceptable in daylight, giddy for that mask that the night offers them.

the apartment

raffaella — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:55:16 +0000

Sometimes I wonder what people were thinking when they designed some buildings. Long spans of corridor are broken up by the occasional door and fire hazard door mat. The walls are bare of any sort of art and there is often a worn path in the carpet on the floor. It’s amazing to think of that people live behind those doors. Beyond that barrier they are free to decorate as they please, depending of course on the flexibility of their landladies and lords. However the communal space has no decoration. Maybe people are afraid that we will fight too much amongst ourselves. Design is a contentious issue.

a bohemian approach

raffaella — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:00:05 +0000

I’ve decided to give up on trying to launch this site in a near perfect form. I haven’t quite decided what I want this site to become, so for now I’m just going to work on the form and function at the same time. This site will figure out what it wants to be a little more organically. I can work with that. For the time being content will come first.

I’ve always been intrigued with the picture of everyday life in a city, the outer facade of activity and the individuals that lie hidden beneath. I always want to know more about how others approach the highs and lows of life, the exciting and ordinary experiences, how people make life bearable. Individually we may not consider our everyday experiences to be all that fascinating, but collectively our stories and perspectives weave together to form an interesting narrative about the places we live. In many ways we become our city. We are not simply figures that move from point A to point B or from event to event. Besides our physical presence we have opinions about our likes and dislikes. It’s not just what we do, but how we respond. I find it fascinating to consider these responses as a group. This is a sort of experiment, an attempt to discover how despite all of our differences we find a way to coexist. Like I said, I have no great plans about form or function of this site, I just want a spot to explore life in this city. There’s no disguising I’m a little bit bohemian in my sensibilities. I am a city dweller, I live in a what most would consider a shiny yuppie loft in the middle of downtown. There are many stereotypes one could attach to that. However, in my mind I prefer things to be a bit more chaotic and unconventional. Not unlike this project.