Non places of wanderlust

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)

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[...] 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.

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(AugĂŠ 76)

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the mediation of words

There will be no individualization (no right to anonymity) without

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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

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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

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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