BLUETOWN
[Non-Periodical Publication]
Documentary and Contemporary Photography: Architecture, City and Territory
About this book:
BLUETOWN
non-periodical publication
Author: Guimarães, Pedro
Date of publication: 2010
Place of publication: Braga
Publisher: self-published
Number of pages: 22
Size: 45x32 cm
Illustrated: Photography, text
Number of copies: 500
Institution: -
Language: English
Key-words: Newspaper; non-periodical; self-publishing
Notes: Newspaper/catalog containing a selection of photographs that formed the project ‘Bluetown’; images by the author with texts from other authors
Book Reference: A1.nPaP.1005
It’s hard to say what or where “Bluetown” is, where it begins and where it ends. It is even harder to say when it takes place. One thing we know for sure - there are several aspects in common between “Bluetown” and the city of London. “Bluetown” is, therefore, a kind of “second order” city, an imaginary place made of fragments of a previously existing reality. The colours, shapes and atmospheres of “Bluetown” are those of a well worn tableau vivant, one that has been unconsciously sculpted by previous generations of citizens. And it wouldn’t be abusive to say that, at least occasionally, we all have been visitors of “Bluetown”.
But how can one find “Bluetown”? The answer to this question is neither simple nor easy to find because no one has ever tried to map it before. To help solve this question, Guimarães employed an unlikely method that mixes randomness with cartographic objectivity: he started by superimposing an outline of Queen Elizabeth’s face on the map of London. He then plotted a number of evenly spaced points that served as a grid of geographic coordinates which he then used to identify the checkpoints of this photographic survey. By visiting and photographing a detail present around each one of these locations, Guimarães created a puzzle that could be read, according to him, as “the dream of London about itself, a celebration of the beauty of its own alienation and loneliness”. The choice of Queen Elizabeth’s face is a symbolism for “Englishness”, a necessary condition to approach the geography of “Bluetown”. Despite being a view aesthetically forged by Guimarães’ own interests in the plastic qualities of colour, geometry and space, the “other” space depicted by “Bluetown” constitutes, de facto, the psychological geography of the photographer’s own otherness in relation to the city of London.
Tomasz Curvo
About this archive:
The creation of Cityzines collection intends to strengthen and promote the study and dissemination of author’s editions and other publications linked to the theme of architecture, city and territory, where the image and photography are present in a significant way, with a special interest and focus on the multifaceted richness of urban, architectural and visual culture that characterizes the urban agglomerations and their experiences.
This collection started with a survey more focused on the Portuguese context, but also integrates publications from other countries with a view to internationalization of the project.
The publications that will constitute this collection of the Cityzines project will be cataloged from the following general theme:
Artistic and Documentary Photography: Architecture, City and Territory
It was decided to start this collection by topic A1 - Artistic Photography and Documentary: Architecture, City and Territory, for reasons connected with only two facts: first there is at this time, a greater number of alternative publications pertaining to this topic, according by the fact that they had already been there longer subject specific study through the work of the research line City spaces and Culture of the CCRE group.
As we will see next, we have adopted a sub-theme structure in order to organize the field of alternative publications, covering several areas and formats, as previously described in the general theme of Documentary and Artistic Photography: Architecture, City and Territory. Even though all sub-themes show differences between them, they all fit the general theme and they have in common the focus and the importance given to image/photography, as well as the innovative and/or irreverent stance.
Artistic and Documentary Photography: Architecture, City and Territory
Periodical Author’s editions and other publications (A1.PaP)
- In general terms, periodical publications that reflect and investigate, through the image and /or photography, and in a critical, exploratory and innovative way, the themes of architecture, city and territory;
- fanzines, little magazines on photography: independent non mainstream publications where photography is used as the main visual instrument to perceive, understand and analyze architecture and how people live and appropriate diverse places;
- counterculture or non-mainstream publications focused on social and documentary or contemporary photography and related issues;
Non-periodical Author’s editions and other publications (A1.nPaP)
- In general terms, periodical publications that reflect and investigate, through the image and /or photography, and in a critical, exploratory and innovative way, the themes of architecture, city and territory;
- photo-books or/and artist books specifically more related to the universe of architecture: independent non mainstream publications where photography is used as the main visual instrument to perceive, understand and analyze architecture and how people live and appropriate diverse places;
- photo-books or /and artist books more related with documentary photography.
With this collection we intend to promote awareness and reflection upon art and documentary photography in regard to its conception as a tool to question Architecture, City and Territory. This means understanding Architecture as a broad subject and practice interested in, on the one hand, the real space and its experiences, exploring new spatial forms and architectural codes and, on the other hand, in how architecture operates within larger systems: sociocultural, technical, and historical systems.
The physical collection will focus on Portuguese printed objects only and it will work as a showcase travelling across several places in Portugal and abroad. This catalogue of Author’s editions and other publications will suport its dissemination, being also an important international tool to locate relevant and independent non-mainstream publications related to Artistic Photography and Documentary: Architecture, City and Territory.