Un Été Atypique

Un Été Atypique

Un Été Átypique is a photobook that wants to show the loneliness and disuse of public spaces in France, specifically in 3 cities in the south of the country due to the global pandemic. Through a small essay, the meaning of public space in neoliberal cities and the disuse of these due to Covid-19 is analyzed. The photobook contains a selection of analog photos taken in August 2020 in Marseille, Montpellier and Cassis.

Soundview Une Été Atypique Photography Luciana Reynoso Editors Micaela Reynoso y Agustin Diaz Text and Research Luciana Reynoso Art Direction and Design Luciana Reynoso Print production Descontrol, Can Batllo

© of all the content Barcelona 2021

P

ublic spaces are social, historical and political settings where many processes and events take place. These three dimensions are observed insofar as it is a place of collective memory and the creation of community identity and struggle; as well as, it is an area where power and domination by economic elites and the State are legitimized. For approximately three or four decades (1980 - 1990), the capitalist-neoliberal regime has been appropriated by different governments and respective power groups to create horizons and / or national orders that add little to nothing benefit to the greater populations.

The development of neoliberalism in cities like Lima, New York, Mexico City, Paris, Madrid, etc., is not homogeneous; They have developed according to their history and political and economic behavior. This inequality and impoverishment is not only an effect of the “world economic crisis” due to lack of jobs and job security, but of public policies that shy away from the needs of the majority, aimed at privatization in order to eliminate all public services (housing, health, education and transportation) provided by the State and pass it onto the market. Therefore, only those with sufficient purchasing power to pay for them will have access to them, depriving the the rest of these spaces. This problem manifests itself in the urban area from the development of public policies that form or consolidate cities that (re) produce social inequality and segregation. The so-called “Neoliberal Cities” impart various processes of privatization and commercialization of public space in which areas or entire districts are transformed.

These transformations generate more friction between citizens; and destroy common spaces in which its inhabitants used to meet, share and coexist / cohabit. As Caldeira (2007) mentions, “cities of walls” are being created, symbolic and real; cities with increasingly restricted public spaces: only those of a specific social class, gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation can access, since their privileges allow it. In addition, ‘spaces of fear’ are being consolidated, a term formulated by the anthropologist Teresa Del Valle (1997), which refers to solitary and dangerous spaces for women (but can also include other subjects such as racialized people or dissidents) in the one that before any aggression or act of violence that they suffer, they are the ones positioned as responsible for the rest of the localized actors.

In this way, the impact of neoliberalism on the citizens of various metropolises has made many practices of inequality, aggression and segregation normalized or made invisible; and muddy the real meaning behind a public space. In addition to this, Covid-19 appears, a global pandemic in which governments have completely seized (political) power and, guided by health experts, restrict the movement and use of public spaces. In other words, in response to the global crisis, these countries have strengthened control in public spaces, silencing dissenting voices and imposing authoritarian measures. The health crisis has exposed all these capitalist-neoliberal practices and actions that have been developed over the years in the public sphere; since in many countries with said operandi they suffered from scarce resources to stop the virus. The clear visibility of social inequalities is not due to the coronavirus pandemic, but to the political-economic system that governs the world.

Therefore, in the world population they trigger or awaken selfish and individualistic behaviors for protection, isolation and fear of infection. Freedoms are restricted. Finally, we must stay informed in order to recognize and critically understand all these processes of inclusion and exclusion of all social agents and bodies in public spaces.

The encounter of all the beings that make up that spatial atmosphere will never be between pairs as long as we do not transform the power relations and the hierarchical structure of our society. Everyday life may have more political connotations than we think and, in a political and economic context such as the current one in which urban space is threatened by different processes, we must seek strategies and mechanisms that dominated groups are developing to produce and reproduce a space to live. Let’s fight and take care of each other among the people. bibliography ANDRADE BONE, Eduardo. France, rebellion and neoliberal capitalist economic system. In: https://rebelion.org/franciarebelion-y-sistema-economico-capitalista-neoliberal/. 11/11/2005.

DELLA PORTA, Donatella. Social movements in times of Covid-19: another world is necessary. BRINGEL, Breno and PLEYERS, Geoffrey. In: Global Alert: Policies, social movements and futures in dispute in times of pandemic. 1st ed.

Autonomous City of Buenos Aires: CLACSO; Lima: WINGS; 2020.

CALDEIRA, T. de (2007) City of Walls, Barcelona: Gedisa.

LATOUR, Bruno. Doing “La Res Pública”. Presentation of the exhibition ‘Making Things Public’ at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM), Karlsruhe (Germany). 2005.

MONREAL, Pilar. Neoliberal cities: the end of public space? A view from urban anthropology. Catalan Institute of Anthropology. Number 21 (1) Barcelona. 2016. pp. 98-112.

PALACIOS, Pedro. Self-published photobook, Methodology applied to the design and creation of a prototype. 2017.

Barcelona.

PEREZ ADELGUER, Santiago. THE RHYTHM: A TOOL FOR SOCIAL INTEGRATION. In: http://repositori.uji.es/xmlui/ bitstream/handle/10234/95977/perez_2008.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 2008. Albacete.

SONTAG, Susan. About photography. 2014. Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial. Barcelona.

TORRES NADAL, José María. Life, public space, the pandemic and architecture. In: https://www.eldiario.es/opinionsocios/ vida-espacio-publico-pandemia-arquitectura_132_6385489.html. 11/4/2020.

Soundview