Walking in unknown cities to collect impressions, to catch a vibration, to gather situations and things seen at the angle of a street, on a crossroad, from the top of a building.
Depicting a city in its present, in the simplicity of its daily life. Listening to its rumble, the sound of its depths.
Slipping into its rhythm. To be on the lookout, in a continuous wonder towards the imagination and creativity men have managed to develop to find a way to live together. Asking ourselves what makes a city, trying to understand its silent rules, its habits, its imperfections, its difficulties, and its unique way to answer the endless question: Where do we go?
This project tries to collect a few elements of answer. These visual notes, made on the fly, look at the urban inhabitant within his group and in his deep solitude, redrawing the outline of each city following a sentimental geography.
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This work is a long-term research project developed until now in 10 (only 6 available until now) different cities over the world: Seoul, Bogota, Naples, Saint-Petersburg, Rabat, Tokyo, Kyoto, Shanghai, Doha and Venice.
Born as an artistic commission for the Agora Biennale in Bordeaux around the theme of the moving landscapes, these videos plunge into cities in a spontaneous and subjective approach with very modest means in order to translate in the closest possible way the feel of their constant moving nature: their human landscape.
Presented in a comparative dynamic through the lens of a selection of themes and issues linked with the street daily life, the videos enable us to perceive each of these different urban contexts as an experimental, local and unique laboratory answering the same global challenge of how can we live all together.
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Homo Urbanus Bogotanus – Bogotá, 43 min
Homo Urbanus Petroburgumus – Saint-Petersburg, 41 min
Homo Urbanus Rabatius – Rabat, 50 min
Homo Urbanus Seoulianus – Seoul, 44 min
Homo Urbanus Neapolitanus – Naples, 50 min
Homo Urbanus Tokyoitus – Tokyo, 55 min
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Still in editing, coming soon:
Homo Urbanus Kyotoitus – Kyoto, 72 min
Homo Urbanus Dohanus – Doha, 55 min
Homo Urbanus Shanghaianus – Shanghai, 62 min
Homo Urbanus Venetianus, Venice, 65 min
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“A jem!” Artribune
“Huge, crazy and brilliant project!” Dezeen
“Amazing odyssey!” Domus
“Gorgeous images probably inspired by the draping to be found in Tiepolo, Tintoretto and Veronese! We always thought that Bêka & Lemoine are classic artists. ” FIG Projects
“Un approccio che unisce la capacità analitica del documentario alla potenza narrativa del cinema!” Corriere della Sera
“Homo Urbanus invites its viewer to identify itself as part of an animal species whose habitat could transcend the wall surrounding the projection black box: films could then be diluted in everyday reality. “Archdaily
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EXHIBITIONS:
XII Architecture Biennale of Sao Paolo, Brazil, 2019
Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Rabat, 2019
Amman Design Biennale, Jordan, 2019
Bi-City Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism / Architecture, China, 2019
Bauwelt Kongress, Berlin, 2019
Cinque Mostre, American Academy, Rome 2019
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, 2018
MMCA, Seoul, 2018
MOMAK, Kyoto, 2018
CAMP, Prague, 2018
Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, 2017
Agora Biennale de Bordeaux, 2017
l'eta' della innocenza 