Written by Nina Pappa
The “Gazings” are an attempt to record a conscious contact with the public spaces of Athens. The images document the courses of the gaze and the observations of 50 observers, as they gaze at the space they chose, based on their daily lives. Scripts, sketches, and diagrams reveal a personal way of contacting the urban environment. Notes can carry memories, include comments on the state of space, express aversion, love or indifference, capture habits, or be strictly descriptive. As different as they are, most are about central places of Athens, with which we have all been connected.
In the space where the project was presented, the city was reconstructed through the eyes of the observers, the spaces they chose, their handwritings and their recorded voices from our visits.
PROCEDURE FOR RECORDING THE APPEALS:
- We visit the site with the observer. The space is photographed.
- The participant’s comments are recorded as she/he gazes at the environment.
- From the recorded material, the observer’s comments are transcribed and for every spot she/he focuses on, we measure the time of focus.
- The image of the space is printed.
5. At the next meeting with the participant, she/he is given the text with the content of his gazing. On the image she notes with her own handwriting her name, the name of the street we visited, the date, the time, the spots on which she focused her gaze, her observations and the duration of her focus on each point.
