Project
[06] Flâneur
2024
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Project funded by the Düsseldorf Art Commission stadt.raum.experimente 2024.

Project: Performance art experiment
Project progress:Paris, France;
London, England;
Düsseldorf, Germany
In contemporary cities, routes, time, and speed are increasingly arranged before movement even begins. Navigation apps suggest the fastest path, public transport is scheduled down to the minute, and commercial and pedestrian spaces constantly guide where to pause, pass through, and move on. Over time, faster choices become easier and more readily accepted, and speed gradually turns into the default standard by which action is judged as reasonable.
Since 2024, I have been developing Flâneur across different cities, inviting long-term local residents to lead a biomimetic turtle moving at a constant speed through the routes they know best in everyday life—crosswalks, commercial streets, residential areas, and parks. The turtle maintains the same pace throughout the action, without adjusting to crowds, traffic lights, or surrounding pedestrian flow.
When this constant slowness enters public spaces shaped by higher-speed movement, the movement patterns of others begin to shift. Some people walk around it, some slow down, and some briefly pause and wait. The normally smooth flow develops subtle deviations, yet the overall order does not stop; it continues by making local adjustments. It is through these small reorganizations that the speed usually hidden in the background begins to appear.
Flâneur is not only concerned with slowness itself, but with the way speed is organized, normalized, and repeated in the contemporary city. Through a simple but sustained action, the project brings the speed usually hidden in the background into the foreground. Perhaps the question is not only how fast we move, but why “faster” has come to feel like the only reasonable answer.
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在今天的城市中,移动越来越少依赖偶然发生。路线被导航软件提前计算,到达时间被精确预估,公共交通按分钟运行,商业街区和步行系统也不断优化人的停留、穿行与通过。城市被设计成一个持续运转的流动系统,人的行动在其中逐渐被引导到更顺畅、更连续、更可预测的状态中。
这种变化也改变了我们理解公共空间的方式。街道不再只是人们相遇、停留、绕行和迷路的地方,它也成为一个被技术、基础设施和社会习惯共同调节的系统。红绿灯、导航路径、通勤时间、商业动线、人行横道和人群密度,共同塑造着我们如何走路、何时加快、在哪里等待,以及怎样避免成为他人的阻碍。
Flâneur 从这一城市状态出发。自2024年起,我在不同城市展开这一实践,并邀请长期生活在当地的参与者共同完成行动。参与者牵引一只以恒定速度前进的仿生乌龟,穿过他们熟悉的日常路线:人行横道、商业街区、住宅区、公园和车站附近的开放空间。
在行动中,人和乌龟形成一个共同的移动体。乌龟的速度缓慢而稳定,不会因为红绿灯、人流密度、拥挤程度或周围压力而改变,也不会为了重新融入人流而加快。参与者需要和它一起维持这个速度,将一个持续的、难以被快速同步的行动带入城市日常。
这个行动通常不会造成剧烈冲突。它更像是在顺畅的人流中插入一个很小的偏差。有人绕开,有人放慢脚步,有人短暂停下,也有人回头观察。几秒钟之后,人流继续向前,街道重新恢复运转。正是在这些短暂的绕行、等待和重新排列中,平时被顺畅通行覆盖掉的配合关系被带到现场。
城市中的秩序并不只是由道路、信号灯或导航系统单独维持。它也依赖人们不断调整自己的身体:保持距离、预判他人的方向、加快脚步、让出通道、跟随某种共同的节奏。大多数时候,这些调整发生得太自然,以至于很少被注意。Flâneur 将一个恒定的差异放入其中,使这些细小的协调过程短暂地显现出来。
仿生乌龟在这里既是一个移动物,也是一种测试条件。它把城市默认的行动节奏放在一个具体的现场中,使一条普通路线临时变成观察城市系统的场所。同一条路、同一个路口、同一段商业街,因为这个缓慢而稳定的移动体介入,显露出另一层关系:城市如何通过技术、设施、路径设计和人群习惯,让不同的身体逐渐进入相近的节奏。
Flâneur 关心的是,当城市越来越依赖可计算、可预测、可优化的移动方式时,那些无法迅速同步的行动会暴露出什么。它不把慢作为一种解决方案,也不把差异浪漫化。它通过一个简单而持续的城市行动,呈现公共空间中那些被日常化、自动化和习惯化的移动规则。


1839年,带着一只乌龟散步被视为是一种优雅的行为。它可以让人对在拱廊街漫步的节奏有一个概念。
本雅明