flâneuse

This site-specific audio-walk was developed for the exhibition “The Flaneur: From Impressionism to the Present” at the Kunstmuseum Bonn. Taking Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Man of the Crowd” as a starting point, it examines the topic of flanerie and presents four alternative characters from fine art and literature as female flaneuses. While listening to their stories, the participant is led through the area surrounding the museum.

“When we think of the woman in the crowd, walking among other people, does she ever turn around and look back? Suddenly having distinct features, a personality, an identity? What if she, in turn, was the flaneur, or rather the flaneuse? One that is not relegated to the periphery? One that has her own way, her own wishes and desires? Is it even possible to think of a figure that transcends this binary opposition of established gender norms?”

In this audio-walk, participants accompany a female protagonist through a park area at dusk. She embodies the spirit of fictional and real women who claimed their freedom to wander, thus challenging the restrictions and conventions of their culture and time. The audio piece mixes narrative, text excerpts, music and field recordings. The sun sets while the participant walks, bringing out other qualities of this environment.

“Refusing to be the object of anyone’s gaze, she decides to walk into the park at the fall of night. Directly within the city, yet isolated from its busy streets. She enters this space with the intention of becoming completely invisible, merging with the surroundings in a strange half-absence of the body.”