ARCHIVING THE CITY

for the city yet to come

Archive for December, 2008

Single Men

Posted on December 31, 2008

I am not sure what exactly this has to do with the theme of urban research, or archiving the city, but I must mention the greatest (urban?) youtube phenomena of 2008: copying Beyonce’s music video for her song “Single Ladies.” My two  favorite “repeat performances” are by these fabulous men. What I love about these performances is the precision, the attention to detail, the sheer perfection of the copy. At the same time, each of these performers infuses the song with personal soul, attitude and humour, in the style of the jazz greats, giving a new meaning to the otherwise trite, (hetero)sexist sentiment of single ladies having to “put a ring on [that special finger].” And, of course, you gotta love the fashions! To more love and beauty in…

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Lagos Hair

Posted on December 31, 2008

I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria during the oil boom of the 1970′s and 80′s. Fashion reflected the city’s exuberant modernism and futurism. There were great hairstyles, which all the fancy ladies wore. The city was changing and growing fast. New structures seemed to be going up everyday. The new hairstles were intended to simulate the forms of the urban structures they were named after. Like the hairstyle pictured above was called “Eko Bridge,” after the new bridges built to link the city’s islands. There were also styles like the skyscraper, the stadium, etc. As you can probably tell, hair for Lagosians, and many other Africans, is a big deal. Look here for more about the significance of hair and the head in West Africa. I…

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Tecktonik

Posted on December 29, 2008

I love Tecktonik. These French kids rock hard. Tecktonik is a popular dance movement begun by youth from the suburbs of Paris, France. A combination of techno, house, hip hop and trance dance styles, the new movement is distinguished by its practitioners’ use of urban space. Individuals or teams of dancers “invade” a public space, sometimes a landmark, like the Eiffel Tower, or the Champs Élysées, other times a non-descript office plaza or industrial park, and perform impromptu dances to electro-house music, in the distinctive Tecktonik style. Short segments of these dances are recorded using consumer-grade electronics, like mobile phones, or digital cameras. They are then edited, featuring the individual styles and personae of each dancer or team, and then uploaded to youtube.com. Both…

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