BICYCLING TIRANA
this is just an excerpt.. the video is 4 min. 2003
it is said that about 60 % of all the Mercedes driving in Albania are stolen from Western Europe.
The bicycle is not only my unique vehicle of transportation but also my urban eyeglass - some extension of my visual and acoustic organs. As such it is a real social urban interface. When working with my dreams over an 8 months period I realized with surprise that I was dreaming constantly of my bicycle in relationship to the apprehension of my world. I'm a bicycle rider since early childhood. My first birthday present I remember was a bicycle. I have never stayed in a place for long without a bicycle, including in Tokyo where I was harassed daily by the police for riding a bicycle. (I was considered a bicycle thief).
Today, 10/23/03, I just had this dream about me bicycling against a crowd of Trachten wearing people. Trachten are the traditional European clothes, associated with traditionalism, 'good old times' and right wing politics. (I m not saying that everybody who wears these clothes does have a right wing agents but many might and do, as do others in contemporary outfits). The last time, I saw a chorus was in Modena for the opening of a group show where Maria Papandropulous invited an Italian chorus - dressed in traditional clothes, lined up in some formation - for some presentation. I really despised the fact that the artist instrumentalized these singers and put them into an uneasy situation where they had to sing songs for a public that basically was making fun of them, that didn't pay any attention, that treated them as if some kind of different species. People stood with the back towards the chorus talking in loud voices while they were singing: "a great piece" .. and other things. I expressed my complaint to Maria. Yesterday, I received an email asking for photographs which I sent to her. She is a great person and we got along very well. In fact I really like her at least as much as I hate this 'conceptual placement'. This might have triggered this dream. During the dream I was bicycling in the same style like in Tirana against the crowds of Trachten wearing lines of people. The police was chasing me and people tried to catch me. Quite a strange nightmare. The bicycle is really - next to the computer and the radio - my most important instrument for 'making it through my life'.
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