CYCLOGLYPHS.BEOGRAD

Emerging Technologies Research Group - RASTER
Vladimir Todorovic, Tatjana Todorovic, Toh Hun Ping, Marko Todorovic, Goran Andrejin
Workshop participants: DigitGroup, Belgrade.

This version started to be developed during the workshop with the group of students from postgraduate program at Belgrade University of the Arts called DigitGroup. Mapping happened over a period of a week, and then data from the workshop were taken and edited afterwards. Following terms were used to create symbols, which led our investigation in the city of Belgrade: Create, Conquer, Retro, Play, Isolate, Derive and Explore.

cycloglyphs.beograd.mov (17.2mb)

CREATE

Thinking of create ... a flow of ideas, to make something from nothing/something to all, to bring into being, to   give life to an idea ... modifying or making from scratch... just setting a motion with a possible but not known result or constantly moving, breathing and being, resisting the time and surrounding... the one who is creating: a creator..."the one" that is created : a creation, a creature or something in between ... searching for a place to create... to create at, to create for, a place where to be creative, to create with...to transfer a creation flow into a city flow by creating (at) the flow: bringing life to the city's forgotten artery - to the river, to the river banks and the islands... create on an island? Or leave it as it is for someone to create...

ISOLATE

Thinking of isolate ... negative connotation: abandoned , left alone, forgotten, erased, excluded, non representative, shameful or neglected... positive connotation: wrapped, protected, safe, hidden, special or important... inner space connotation - isolated from the outer space's influenc... outer space connotation - isolated from the inner space's influence  ... we think of the deserted island?... self retained space, that does not correspond with outer space... unique way of   creating and thinking, not related to official, widely spread way (hence often not approved)... brought from the negative connotation: spontaneously and unplanned built-up space, or existing that is abandoned or neglected, both in poverty and ignorance... brought from positive connotation: space of political, religious or other importance that's been isolated because of security (or paranoid) reasons...

EXPLORE

Thinking of explore...... inquire, research, examination or probe... systematically, scientifically... asking questions, searching for answers... braking rules and limits... reviling taboos and prohibitions... re-thinking the obvious and imposed... going beyond known and understood... being curious, adventurous and motivated... investigating   new territories: looking behind, below and under... discovering gaps, unused and "invisible" spaces... understanding the connections, functions and relations... defining problems and constructing a strategy... considering and crossing the city's past, present and future... postulating, probing, giving a possible solution creating new theories and utopias

DERIVE

Thinking of dérive... drift, aimless walk lead by personal connection with the environment, but not to be carried away by pure chance... the way of exploring and understanding new city or unknown space by discovering invisible codes of it... transcoding and decoding spatial language into our own... making our own way through the space in spite of the one "given" to us... individualizing the city and what is public... random and strategic in the same time... discovering and defining number of layers in the surrounding... creating personal ambient data scheme which will lead us from one to another... individualizing   the city and what is public, even if we where a dérive player... we could dérive single or in group, either way the city is individualized and personalized... skipping ready-made scenes for ready-made reactions, appreciating and looking for dérive

CONQUER

Thinking of conquer... aggressively: to defeat, to overcome, to obtain, to subdue, to take over without permission or by force, to put down by authority, to get or gain by using force, to win a victory over   in a battle, to triumph over... a bit less aggressively: to gain or to secure control of, to overcome difficulties... quietly, invisibly, silently: demographic changes, migrations and transitions of population or outnumber birth rate, affecting cultural, religious and ideological changes... conquer territorially or ideologically from west to east, from new to old, from modern to traditional: modernism together with socialism, the new overwhelming the old and traditional; today a new and old "western" way along the both of them... to ensure and secure living and working space... people's daily transitions or conquering on a daily basis, but only from home to work with freshness and enthusiasm: today is a new day!

PLAY

Thinking of play... it's like being a child again: pure imagination, creativity, play as a force, as a means, as a goal... passion, faith, honesty... research, expedition, adventure... and it only exists in such sublime contradictions as: friend or enemy, individual or group , to love or to hate, nothing or all, life or death... in order to make it work play includes and assembles them all: create and explore (as an idea, the concept), conquer (as a win or lose, explicit force ...), dérive (as a spontaneity and talent), isolate (as a focus or persistence) and retro (as an experience)

RETRO

Thinking of retro ...   to look back "at the good times" at past: nostalgic... sum of experiences thinking from the past: retrospective... critical review of the time past: historical... changing the past actions from present: retroactive... a fashionable reminiscent of the past... or just a comment or a reference... to seek answers from the former experience... to reach out to the unique expression and atmosphere - genius loci... retrotopia: using the old symbols that could place us back and forth in time... creating a new history for the times to come