right in front of your eyes

Рапорт перформансии на русском  merci Dima!

Вос 22 Апрель : 45 минут без движения. Место и время встречи : Киевский вокзал около пригородных касс 15.00.

And here's what happened:

The space chosen for this last action was the waiting room of Kievsky train station. We met outside at 3h and by 3h30 we were 15 and as no one else was supposed to show up we decided to go. We entered the room, spread all around and, some standing, some sitting, some right in the center, some near the walls, stopped moving for the next 45 minutes.

The first 15 minutes were very quiet, people merely noticed those standing right in the center. From where I was standing I could see most of the room and while trying to relax my body looked at the people there. Families, men playing cards, people reading, slowly drinking beer or coke, an old women sleeping surrounded by an impressive quantity of luggage, a few kids and about all kind of people waiting for a train or just going through.

After a while people started noticing us. Not only those of us standing in the middle but all of us and then something interesting happened: in their search for more non-moving people they were scanning the whole room and its occupants. That old man, is he sleeping or is he part of the immobility plot as well? The confusion augmented when a young man stopped in the middle of the room waited immobile, looking at the ceiling for about 8 minutes and resumed walking to the platforms. It happened several time.

After about 30 minutes a man appeared on small cleaning cart and started cleaning the room from wall to wall. The suspense lasted for a good 5 minutes. What will happen when he’ll arrive to the center where these three people have been standing without a move for the last half hour? Well… he stopped about half a meter behind Sacha, raised his arms as if asking what the hell is that all about, had a look around and turned the motor off. He waited for a couple of minutes, restarted the engine, went around the 3 persons standing and resumed his cleaning. The whole process took about ten minutes and took us to the end of the 45 minutes of immobility. We gradually resumed moving and went out.  

Суб 21 Апрель : (Прожить) день в деревне с завязанными глазами. Место и время встречи : M. Павелецкая (в центре зала) 10.00. Приносить напитки и еду.

And here's what happened:

When I arrived –late- everybody was already there. We bought tickets and sat in the train going all stations to Domotetovo airport. Ours was Buletnikovo and it took us about 40 minutes to reach: just the time needed for exchanging a couple of riddles and explaining what was going to happen during the day. The plan was the following: we would go by pairs, half of us would be blindfolded from the station and for the first 3 hours and the other half would take its turn afterward and should be brought back to station. Meanwhile, we would walk, talk, eat, make a fire… just another day in the countryside. We were 7, 3 pairs plus Marina who was to film the whole event.

Marina

The first group, Anton, Charlie and Arsen put their blindfold on the platform and we started walking. I didn’t know the place but on the day before someone had drawn me a very basic map showing where was the lake, forest and village. We headed for the lake.

The first 15 minutes were spent walking on a very long straight street. It had been raining the night before and the dirt track was full of mud and puddles. On both sides, datchas, people gardening, a few cars… Arsen whom I was guiding was very confident, walking straight and quickly, talking a lot. So were the others. We passed the lake –strange sound of a small artificial waterfall- and walked on heading for the woods. We eventually found a narrow path going through the field down to the shore of the lake. By that time, those blindfolded were walking nearly freely, orientating themselves by their feet or the noise made by the other. We, the guides, only prevented them from stepping in too much water or in a deep hole. We had a pause for a cigarette and an interesting moment when Anton, blindfolded, after successfully lighting a cigarette for himself tried to lit one for Charlie, blindfolded as well. It took some time and they eventually succeeded only after Arsen, blindfolded as well, offered his zippo lighter. Twenty minutes later we had found a place to rest. Everybody went looking for wood and soon a fire was burning in the center of our small camp. Lunch. While eating, Anton was surprised that without seeing it was really difficult to tell what you were eating, at least for the first few seconds. Consistency was not enough to tell and taste was not always that obvious… After lunch we had all had a few walks around and I went to the shop guiding Charlie. The old ladies in the shop were a bit puzzled. Were we a sect? Why were we doing that? they asked amused before concluding themselves that it was an interesting experience and a much better way to spend the day than drinking vodka. They guided Charlie out of the shop… We walked back, and the 3 hours were over. They all took off their blindfold at the same time and had the same reaction: “that’s what it looks like here!” We had spent about an hour and a half in the same place and they had time to “visit” it. Each of them had a mental map, had imagined what the place looked like and it turned out to be totally different.

The second group took its turn.

I spent the first 15 minutes seated next to the fire, relaxing myself, listening, trying to feel the wind, the changes of temperature… and then went for a walk alone, then for another one along with Rada guided by Anton and a third one to the lake’s shore guided by Arsen. Though I had seen it, the whole place was gradually turning out to be different,  the sensation of the ground and the sound being the main reference points. Wind which was quite cold on that day (it snowed at some point) began to be enjoyable as a sensation. After a while my voices was also different. Blindfolded we all spoke very quietly and slowly. The others sounded really loud.

After about an hour and half we packed and started our way back to the train station. Walking was a really enjoyable experience. Already used to the blindfold I felt really free, orientating myself with sensations, sounds… some kind of euphoria. When we reached the platform we seated and talked for about 15 minutes before taking the blindfolds off. The euphoria dropped and I began to feel a bit dizzy. I was talking lower and lower and I felt like a whole different range of sensation would appear if I would keep the blindfold on for another hour. Something not that physical but maybe much more intellectual. Imagination took its turn… but I took the blindfold off and resumed living in the word of light. The whole experience was really moving… Rada and Anton were already making plans for a whole day blindfolded in a country house without anyone helping…. We had a fun journey back to

Moscow

Text by Cedric Anglaret and pictures by Marina Fomentko

Место и время встречи : Лаврушенский переулокь около входа Третьяковской галлереи 15.00.

If you missed it, here's what happened (скоро на русском)

We met with Dima at 3 as agreed. Lina joined us a bit later. She was to film the whole process. As none one else has shown up by 3h30 we decided to start. We agreed on a one hour walk in the sun. The starting point was the limit of the shadow. The first minutes went unnoticed for the people around, it is only after a good 15 minutes that a young couple who has been sitting on a bench nearby started staring at us. From then one, most of the people going through the alley noticed us.

The looks where quite straightforward, much more than in France for example where people are a bit afraid to look straight at you. Here, people stopped, stared, and asked questions to which Dima answered. He was a bit uneasy until then but after the first question began to relax. I was quite relaxed myself, feeling well in an exercise my body already knows and enjoys. The whole situation was quite funny as everyone seemed to find it strange and amusing. Lots of smiles… Some people also noticed the video camera –although standing far apart- and asked Lina questions. Why were we doing this? Lots of hypotheses were raised around us…

After about 35 minutes we noticed that we were not alone anymore. 40 meters in front of us, two girls, that none of us knew, were walking toward us. They walked with great care as if playing a role. The situation was becoming even stranger for the passer-bys. Lots of people asked them questions as well. We exchanged a few smiles for the 20 minutes that it took us to meet and then a few words when we finally stopped face to face. It turned out that they saw us, got interested and decided to give it a try for what ended up being half an hour. We had a quick talk, thanked each other and split.

The whole action had quite an effect, raised questions and interest around us.

Суб 14 Апрель : 23 километра пешком вокруг аэропорта Шереметьево, чтобы посмотреть, что там происходит. Место и время встречи : М. Речнои вокзал (в центре зала) 11.00. Приносить напитки и еду.
Приходите!

If you missed it, here's what happened (скоро на русском)

We met with Dima and Lina at Rechnoi Vaxhal metro station at 11, bought a bit of food, juice and water and went for the bus. Half an hour later we were at Sheremtevo 2 and started to walk at 12h10. After a look at the map -actually a print from google earth- we decide to go clockwise in order to start with the “wildest” part consisting of forest and fields. We quickly understand that the google earth photo is in fact not very recent and what was a building site a few years ago is now a hotel just as the woods we intended to go through that now are a huge building site themselves. In order not to cross the building site we go a bit farther south and walk along it through the woods. Very dirty at the beginning it gets better a few hundred meters later. The sound of the planes is already quite loud and mixes itself with the birds. There is quite a contradiction about being in the woods and hearing such a sound. It just doesn’t go and gives a strange atmosphere the place. To our right, at the end of the building site there is now a pretty huge mountain of dirt that adds to the feeling of weirdness. We all think about Tarkowski’s Stalker. After a while, the woods stop brutally and what used to be a field used for agriculture (it looks so on the picture) is now a huge field of water and dirt, a bit like I imagine Verdun looked like during the first world war. There is a track that crosses it where trucks carry dirt from another dirt field further on to the building site behind us. We follow the track until the end and turn right. We approach the western end of the tracks. Planes are taking off on this side and the sounds keeps getting louder. We decide to have lunch there right under the planes. The wind had changed already and they were now landing which made them easier to see. After a quick lunch we resumed our walk to find to our great surprise that some people had made their garden at the end of the other track. Small sheds and well ordered lines of vegetables. There is also a small table, a teapot, a water reserve… There are about 6 or 7 of them and no village in view. Planespotters?

The next 3 kilometres are along the main road. Not very interesting except for a pack of Lipton ice tea 2 litres bottles that must have fallen from a truck. The consumption date is August 2008 so we decide to take a couple, not that we like it but… Further on,  the pilot’s school and then the terminal 1 of the airport where we abandon the ice tea foe someone who either likes it or needs it. Dima often flies from there for his work and knows a place where they sell cheap cognac. A quick drink and a look at the map: there seems to be a plane cemetery a couple of kilometres east. We decide to give it a try… On that side of the airport there is nearly a small town, a few buildings and old factories. We follow a disused railway track for a couple hundred meters, visit a small burnt building that apparently was a bathroom for some workers -Stalker again- and back to the woods. These woods are a bit more difficult to cross than the ones we started with; the soil is soaked and there are lots of really young elastics trees that keep lashing our face. After half an hour we eventually see the tail of an airplane: the plane cemetery. It’s difficult to see much as the fence is actually a wall but there are about 5 planes, all with the soviet’s union flag and a couple of big warehouse in the back. We decide to go around it. It takes us about 40 minutes to reach to road that we will follow back to the Terminal 2. If on the northern side it was all pretty much abandoned on the southern there are building sites everywhere. Here a parking lot, there a hostel or a petrol station… The few old buildings that can be seen apparently won’t last much. To our right, the cargo zone with a brand new church (?!), parking lots and restricted areas. A couple of kilometres more and we reach our starting point at 6h30, happy and even a bit tanned… that was a good walk!

В первыи раз в Москве Cédric Anglaret (Франция) Вас Приглашает на свои представления, выступления, зрелища и акции…  

Програм:

_Суб 14 Апрель : 23 километра пешком вокруг аэропорта Шереметьево, чтобы посмотреть, что там происходит. Место и время встречи : М. Речнои вокзал (в центре зала) 11.00. Приносить напитки и еду.

_Вос 15 Апрель : Очень меделенная прогулка. Место и время встречи : Лаврушенский переулок. Около входа Третьяковской галлереи 15.00.

_Суб 21 Апрель : (Прожить) день в деревне с завязанными глазами. Место и время встречи : M. Павелецкая (в центре зала) 10.00. Приносить напитки и еду.

_Вос 22 Апрель : 45 минут без движения. Место и время встречи : Киевский вокзал около пригородных касс 15.00.

_И каждый день: 45 минут прогулка с завязанными глазами. Предварительная запись по телефону или по мейлу.

Ищет и принимает предложения от всех заинтресованных людей, желающих принять участие и в других акциях в общественных местах.

Mail : drickos@mail.ru

Тел 792 63 40 01 39

http://cedric.anglaret.free.fr