ashtray stories / to sum it up

Ashtray

Originally uploaded by uller

Viru Center underground

Originally uploaded by uller

I’m not a smoker, really, but I discovered that I have captured 2 (actually 3) photos of ashtrays. One is from my hostel room balcony when I was on Winter Academy in Nelijärve. It just seemed cool to use empty wine bottles as ashtrays and it’s totally green thinking. The other one is just a random click in the basement of Viru Center, when I was having a conversation with my friend. But what’s the narrative? Well. I was just thinking about that how many stories are being told during smoking. What are these stories? Are they just random thoughts or important narratives from our lives to share? Which lead me to another thought – we also drink to tell stories. We share a drink to gather courage and let our emotions out. The third click is also from Viru underground and once again – an empty wine bottle and an ashtray.

drink to tell

Originally uploaded by uller

Tomorrow is our last meeting to sum this project up. I have thought about some aspects:

* Can we use such interactive media and locative stories elsewhere? For example, a friend of mine invited me to Europe in summer to go and find some good record stores and then tell others about them. My first thought was that we could use similar equipment for mapping and telling.

* What are the locative narratives based on? For example, I captured lots of signs that were saying something (like the one I captured in Tartu this week) and they created the story on its own, but the story could be there even if we don’t see it – based on our memories with a certain place.

*Are these stories visible in the urban space? Are they noticed by other people outside the internet?

I hope we can find answers to these questions or at least some ideas. I’ve also experienced some technical issues again, but this time it’s a little more serious, because my laptop doesn’t work properly and I probably have to use some other computer. Oh well, happens. See you tomorrow!

house of pain II

house of pain II

Originally uploaded by uller

It has been nearly two weeks since I took the first picture of that house. So find 10 differences The signs are gone, the roof, the rain pipe, some wall… what else?

Originally uploaded by uller

birds & the city

the sad duck

Originally uploaded by uller

Take a holiday here

Originally uploaded by kpata

So it seems that we have located some birds in the city and we can have a narrative about them. What do they tell us? A duck behind the bars, a duck for a holiday trip and the third bird (can’t really tell who it is) “standing” on ventilation system (another connection with my posting about ventilators). They are all artifical objects, not biological organisms. I added the fourth picture as an example of real birds, it was taken in Dec 2008 from my home window. Did you know that when birds sleep, one bird must always stay up to guard the others? I’m thinking about going more birdwatching to continue this narrative

Locative virtual artifacts

Originally uploaded by kpata

birdwatching

Originally uploaded by uller

more geometry

geometry

Originally uploaded by uller

Geometry

Originally uploaded by ele373

International Eduction Information Day

Originally uploaded by uller

The first two pics were taken by me and Ele when we started our practical work on 30th January. The third one was taken 2 days ago at the same place – atrium of Tallinn University – but this time there were lots of people there, because it was the International Education Information Day. It’s cool to compare how one place changes through time – it can be about geometry, colour, light or people, for example.

Another example of geometry, colour and light is the pic I took this morning when my lecture was cancelled – the beautiful Kehrwieder’s lamp.

tricolor

Originally uploaded by uller

feel good in public space!

Estonia puiestee, Tallinn

Originally uploaded by uller

It wasn’t just candles in that courtyard I previously described. This one is an example of signs that were put up on a wall to draw attention to some issues about public places. This one says that it is allowed to feel good here. The image of dancing describes it pretty well. Why not to have some music and dance around in the yard?! Of course that electricity sign above it is quite controversial There were also some posters saying opinions about public space issues. I didn’t capture them all, but you can see more examples of the signs from my Flickr.

It seems more and more that my narratives are not so much about the places but the signs and images that I see in the city and what they tell me.

candles in the street

Estonia puiestee, Tallinn

Originally uploaded by uller

I was taking a walk late in the evening when I noticed loads of candles in a courtyard between Estonia and Rävala puiestee. I went to see what’s happening. There were lots candles in a row on the wall and pavement. I wondered who would do such a beautiful thing when I suddenly remembered an e-mail in some mailing list, telling that urban landscape students from The Estonian Academy of Arts are doing some kind of a project there. Anyway, it looked fabulous. The photo quality is not so good – I tried iPhone this time

airport narratives

Originally uploaded by uller

Airports are always full of narratives – millions of people arriving or leaving, maybe to start a new life somewhere else or just go to vacation etc. They all have their own narratives. And these stories always go along with such emotions as excitement, happiness, sadness, last but not least – the long goodbyes. My story was to say goodbye to a friend, who went to Australia for a year. It was a sunny and quiet afternoon at Tallinn Airport (map). And there he went, starting his 27 hrs of flying towards a new life (and a new narrative) on the other side of the globe. I’m sure it is worth it.

On my way there I was listening to: TV on the Radio – Halfway Home

house of pain

Originally uploaded by uller

The signs on the house say that there used to a be back treatment, some kind of tax and book-keeping service, a doctor for skin diseases and a dentist in this building. No wonder it was demolished after such amount of diseases.

PS! I’m also experiencing some technical issues. If I take more than one photo (like I took 4 this morning) and want to share them all in one post, then how can I do that? Flick allows to blog only one photo at a time. I tried to put all the HTML codes together in one post, but it was annoying and still didn’t come out as I wanted. So I gave up and published 4 different blog postings. Is that wiser anyway?

Currently listening: Aim – The Girl Who Fell Through Thin Ice Love it!

a windy house

Originally uploaded by uller

One, two, three, four… nine ventilators! Why having windows when you can have nine ventilators on your house wall! What a windy house

the sad duck

Originally uploaded by uller

Naww. Someone has put the poor duck behind the bars. Look how sad he is!