a photographic and critical reflection on non-places, airplanes, tourism, travel photography and in-between-ness.
non-places of
wanderlust Leticia Trandafir
Leticia Trandafir
point of departure/introduction
in-between-ness Travel photographs taken from an
Using Marc AugÊ’s concept of
be the fragment of a larger narra-
I wanted to reflect on the relation-
tive; they appear as punctual moments from the timeline of a voy-
age, as elements from an ostensibly logical time and space progres-
non-places as point of departure,
ship between travel photography, tourism, the experience of flying and non-places.
sion. As part of the set of travel
Although this particular snapshot
seems to function as a natural part
the travel clichĂŠ, I wanted to see
pictures, this particular snapshot
of the narrative of tourism, it signifies that one was at some point
between two locales. In-betweenness, perhaps liminality.
As the experience of flying has
become more accessible to the
regular consumer, paired with a
greater accessibility of digital pho-
tography technologies, we perhaps too seldom stop to wonder what this intermediary between two
geographical locales represents,
personally but also in the greater scheme of things. Where are we,
socially, politically and technologi-
cally when we are flying in a plane? What kind of space is the airplane? What is the significance of the
embodied experience of flight; by
extension, what is the significance
of photographic representations of it?
perhaps pertains to the realm of
what happens to it when taken in
isolation from the narrative or story of a specific trip, when it has no
I have chosen a selection of ex-
when it really becomes the depic-
articles to nourish the refections
point of departure and destination, tion of the non-place that airplanes might be considered to be. What
emotional, mnemonic, social, politi-
cal & narrative value does this par-
ticular kind of picture have, particularly in juxtaposition with many of
its kind? What happens to it when isolated, what becomes its value
and purpose? What does it tell us about representations of tourism,
cerpts from various books and
that I invite you to have when ex-
ploring this work. The conclusion to the questions I am asking is openended. I am offering some of my
thoughts as final reflections, things that I have observed or concluded
from this work. This work is meant perhaps as the point of departure of a larger project.
transit and contemporary spaces of consumption?
page 1
airplane window somehow seem to
“In a world where access to speed is access to transcendence, point of view is particularly a narrative gesture. The point of view of landscape is no longer still, is instead a matter of practice and transformation.�
page 2
(Stewart 3)
“If a place can be defined as relational, historical and concerned with identity, then a space which cannot be defined as relational, or historical, or concerned with identity will be a non-place.�
page 4
(AugĂŠ 63)
page 5
page 6
page 7
[...] the word ‘non-place’ des-
ignates two complementary but
distinct realities: spaces formed in
relation to certain ends (transport,
transit, commerce, leisure), and the relations that individuals have with
these spaces. [...] non-places mediate a whole mass of relations, with the self and with others, which are
only indirectly connected with their
purpose. As anthropological places create the organically social, so
non-places create solitary contractuality. [...]
The links between individuals and
their surroundings in the space of non-place is established through the mediation of words, or even texts.
page 8
(AugĂŠ 76)
page 9
the mediation of words
There will be no individualization (no right to anonymity) without
page 10
identity checks
“‘Anthropological place’ is formed
“Alone, but one of many, the user
complicities of language, local ref-
relations with it (or with the powers
erences, the unformulated rules of
living know-how; non-place creates the shared identity of passengers, customers, or Sunday drivers. No doubt the relative anonymity that goes with this temporary identity
can even be felt as a liberation [...]. As soon as his passport or identity card has been checked, the passenger for the next flight, freed
from the weight of his luggage and everyday responsibilities, rushes
into the ‘duty-free’ space; not so
much, perhaps, in order to buy at the best prices as to experience
the reality of his momentary avail-
ability, his unchallengeable position as a passenger in the process of departing.”
(Augé 81-82)
of a non-place is in contractual
that govern it). He is reminded,
when necessary, that the contract exists. One element in this is the
way the non-place is to be used:
the ticket he has bought, the card he will have to show at the toll-
booth [...] are all more or less clear signs of it. The contract always relates to the individual identity
of the contracting party. To get
into the departure lounge of the
airport, a ticket – always inscribed with the passenger’s name – must first be presented at the check-in desk; with simultaneous presentation of the boarding pass and
an identity document [...]. So the
passenger accedes to his anonym-
ity only when he has given proof of his identity; when he has countersigned (so to speak) the contract.
[...] Checks on the contract and the user’s identity, a priori or a posteriori, stamp the space of contemporary consumption with the sign of non-place [...] There will be no individualization (no right to anonymity) without identity checks.” (Augé 82-83)
page 11
by individual identities, through
the ‘hereness’ of destinations are not natural features, but rather socially inscribed values and meanings layered onto the landscape
“In many senses tourism is about producing destinations. Materially
it does so by making places to travel too – through travel links, infrastructure and facilities. Skills and knowledges develop around what
visitors may want, while the techniques to meet these needs – from
sign writing to bus tour itineraries – are also inscribed into the place. [...] what is perhaps more telling is the inscription of an economy of
desire onto space. Tourism, we may say, is a ‘semiological realization
of space’ (Hughes 1998) where the physical landscape is turned into a
socially produced space through the inscription of meanings; meanings which incite the desire to visit. To put it another way, a destination becomes such by producing a sense of ‘hereness’ and becoming a place distinguished from others through its possession of some attribute. Increasingly we might argue that the ‘hereness’ of destinations are
layered onto the landscape. Even the natural is not always secure in
offering a sense of self-sufficient presence to a place. Beyond natural features many places have become sacralised and given a sense of presence by things not physically present at the destination.” (Crang 211)
page 13
not natural features, but rather socially inscribed values and meanings
page 14
the tourist gaze
“there is a phantom landscape of associations underlying the one we see, where: the pro-
duction of hereness in the absence of actualities depends increasingly on virtualities […]
so that we travel to actual destinations to experience virtual places. This is one of several principles that free tourism to invent an infinitude of new products.”
page 16
(Kirshenblatt-Gimblett qtd in Crang 211)
“Modernity is based on a hegemony
Moreover, much of the literature
a constitutive part in the dynamic
one crystallization of this hegemony
or impacts of tourists on locals,
tourist self. The reverse gaze has
(Crawshaw and Urry 1997). Before modern times, the “Grand Tour”
was based on learning languages, speaking to locals, and gathering facts (Chaney 1998). But during
the 18th century, the emphasis of
tourism shifted from the ear to the eye (Adler 1989). The ascendancy of vision within tourism, as with
other realms of modernity (e.g.,
Foucault 1977), has been associated with power relations. Urry’s
(1990) concept of the tourist gaze, for example, directs our attention
toward the domination of tourists
and locals alike (MacCannell 2001).
is framed in terms of the effects
or, the impact of travel on tourists and pilgrims (Kray 2002). How-
ever, Foucault wrote that power is
everywhere and that even the most apparently powerless person is a
node in the system of power. Ac-
cordingly, I have tried to articulate
emergence of the situated
the power to turn a buoyant traveler into a discomforted tourist. It
can create shame and embarrassment.”
(Gillespie 360)
the power of the reverse gaze of
locals as a necessary counterbal-
ance to the gaze of the tourist photographer. The reverse gaze plays
page 17
of vision (Levin 1993). Tourism is
page 18
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page 29
point of departure/introduction final reflections
Airplanes make me aware of my
confinement and from commercial-
Consumption is always omnipres-
feel because of the impossibility to
of the engine!). A freedom that we
ized that it appears as an integral
body: through the discomfort I
sleep or find a comfortable posi-
tion; through the heavy odor and
texture of the recycled air; as well as through the constricting feel-
ing imposed by the seatbelt. The
strict social rules that exists in an aircraft and that have been nor-
ism (until we see a URL on the wing feel the need to capture as part
of our touristic experience. When I look at these snapshots of the sky from a plane, some of them come close to our cultural representa-
tions of that ‘place’ we call heaven.
malized through various measures
At the same time, while passengers
flight attendants or pervious travel
self-conscious through physical
such as verbal explanations by the
experience, all seem to act as ways to control the body within the restricted space of the plane.
Perhaps that is the reason why we look through the window and find a strange kind of freedom from
are strictly regulated and rendered confinement and boredom, I often forget that I am floating through
the air at a very high altitude and
speed. Airplanes can also become a space for the creation of fan-
tasies and utopias. The texts and
images which mediate such spaces work to semiotically construct the
page 30
various destinations that fuel the
narratives, discourses and representations of travel.
ent, but sometimes so natural-
part of the flight experience (can
you imagine a plane without films, magazines, branded drinks, duty
free items?). The destination I am
heading to is itself a product, produced and maintained by images
and discourses in quite a Foucauldian way. These images always construct a locale that is somewhere
else, the plane is only a facilitator. Doesn’t a ‘pleasant flight’ usually mean that one was granted the
amusement, comfort and refreshments necessary to momentarily
forget about their body? Unless an accident takes place, an airplane is a good example of a non-place: it
has no meaningful history and it is
not concerned with identity beyond security checks. We are invited to indulge in the role of a particular identity, that of the traveller.
Airplanes are nevertheless spaces that have their own micro social system, which reproduces rela-
tions of power that exist elsewhere. Aren’t the different seating areas in a plane called “classes,” in a quite Marxian way? Being a “Business
Class” traveller as opposed to an “Economy Class” one entails dif-
ferential ways in which one is able to be amused, comfortable and refreshed.
Lastly, I will add that I did not ex-
I’m not sure what significance
this has, but perhaps the area of
tourist aerial photography should be examined more closely by art historians, artists and scholars. I know that I will certainly keep taking them.
pect to collect such beautiful photographs. The ones I have chosen for this book constitute a sample
Leticia Trandafir, 2013.
of the hundred photos I received from members of CouchSurfing,
classmates and friends. I thought clouds bearing little relation to ge-
ography. I find many of the photographs quite poetic and affective.
page 31
I would get mostly snapshots of
Brad @zuihitsu
Mitsu Hadeishi
Yannick Vanpraeten
Gabriel Wetzer
Yannick Vanpraeten
Claire Macaulay
Claire Macaulay
Mitsu Hadeishi
Yannick Vanpraeten
Sandrine Cadet
Gabriel Wetzer
Gabriel Wetzer
Anne Antrup
Leticia Trandafir
Philoteus Nitsch
Magdalena Olszanowski
Claire Macaulay
Gabriel Wetzer
Gabriel Wetzer
Gabriel Wetzer
Philippe Jaubert
Gabriel Wetzer
Philippe Jaubert
Gabriel Wetzer
David Madden
Gabriel Wetzer
Leticia Trandafir
Yannick Vanpraeten
Gabriel Wetzer
Gabriel Wetzer
Claire Macaulay
Claire Macaulay
Yannick Vanpraeten
Christine Johnson
Claire Macaulay
Claire Macaulay
Chelsea Singer
Mackenzie Messenger Sarah Ennemoser
works cited AUGÉ, MARC. Non-places: An Introduction to Supermodernity. London: Verso, 2008. Print. CRANG, MIKE. “Tourist: Moving Places, Becoming Tourist, Becoming Ethnographer.”Geographies of Mobilities: Practices, Spaces, Subjects. Ed. Tim Cresswell and Peter Merriman. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2011. 205-24. Print. GILLESPIE, ALEX. “Tourist Photography and the Reverse Gaze.” Ethos 34.3 (2006): 343-66. Print. STEWART, SUSAN. “On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir,” Dunham and London: Duke UP, 1993. Print.
a photographic and critical reflection on non-places, airplanes, tourism, travel photography and in-between-ness.
non-places of
wanderlust Leticia Trandafir