GMU:Körper Raum Stadt/Zaryab Chaudhry

From Medien Wiki

PROJECT TITLE: THE ESCAPE Medium: Video Walk- 360-degree photos and Audio

Final Concept:

It is very interesting to notice that the abandoned building serves as a shelter for people in different ways. Some like to paint graffiti here, some getting drunk or even sometimes doing drugs. I would perceive this place to be very flexible and dynamic in the sense that it does not hold any function. It serves as an ‘escape’ for these people and for me, most probably because it is unsurvellied.

The interesting thing about abandoned buildings is that they are not made consciously, as in no person would actually want this kind of building to be designed as abandoned. These places grow organically when left unsurveilled. These tend to exist as the ‘escape caves’ for the people, out of their daily routine. The same is the case for me.

What I find interesting about this concept is that this space also exists in my mind. The desire to be un-watched and un-disturbed or maybe even forgotten for a moment.

Imagine a space in our head where there is completely no thought, no noise. This space that we store some memories in, the ones we never want to go back to or visit from time to time. It is the transition between our other regular thoughts. It’s not something that we create on our own but it just tends to exist. Then in this space, there are the old memories that get rotten over the time (like metal junk in the abandoned building). Some things in the same space that reminds us of some distinct memories (like the melted wires in the abandoned building that make us go to a certain kind of nostalgia).


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In this sense, the abandoned building is the manifestation of another transition space in our minds. Yet these two physical and memory worlds co-exist.

Final Execution: I created a video walk based on all my research and some practical experiments in the abandoned building. The practical experiments (painting the walls with green paint- removing everything that was not important for me) made me realize that everything about the space was important. It was because of all of these elements that I was able to feel a certain sensory experience of the space.

The video walk revolves around the concept of realizing that such spaces are multi-functional but also serves as escapes for certain unsurveiled activities. The sensory-guided video walk is the key to experiencing the space as I did and my personal interpretation of it.

The walk can be experienced with VR-glass and headphones and is available free on the following link.

roundme.com/@zar17


Results of the practical experiments: The video can be found in the following link at Vimeo: the password of the videos is - zar17


https://vimeo.com/user88257125/review/284222026/0d928178e4



Process Material: For the process, I decided to paint some parts of the abandoned building green to use the technique of green screens. Later these green parts to be replaced with the other videos to merge the two spaces together (abandoned build.ing and other spaces)


1. https://vimeo.com/user88257125/review/284229198/89ae39768c

2. https://vimeo.com/user88257125/review/287450558/73b569611a


Inspirations- Case studies

1. Janet Cardiff 2. Julian Rosefeldt 3. Andreas Angelidakis