The Black Flaneaur

Full Overview

The Black Flaneur'' is the presentation of Toronto city and its inhabitants (as well as objects like statues, flags, buses, trains, cars etc) through the eyes of a Black-Canadian flaneur (OJ Obiorah). After adopting the flanerie style of Dziga Vertov, Georg Simmel, Walter Benjamin, Siegfried Kracauer and Franz Hessel's idea of flanerie, I set out to film different parts of Toronto city for a period of one week. This piece is a hybridization of thoughts on one hand. It is a mixture of Georg Simmel, Walter Benjamin, Siegfried Kracauer and Franz Hessel's thoughts. On the other hand, the piece is a kind of homage to Dziga Vertov as a flaneur. Vertov is usually presented to us as a kind of documentary filmmaker. But the fact is that Vertov is also a flaneur. Therefore, my wondering around some part of Toronto-taking spontaneous shots- and later make a story out of it is just like what Vertov did in ''The Man with a Movie Camera.'' The mechanical recording of ''reality'' and making a creative use of it is the best way to describe Vertov as a Flaneur. By using a mechanical tool (camera) to present my perceived reality (just like Vertov), I am paying a homage to him as a flaneur. After seeing all my footage, I decided to use the piece to inspire an intellectual debate about the idea of Toronto's inhabitants being constantly absorbed in space (the skyscrapers are literally causing us not to be noticed whenever we walk pass them). Firstly, I used the millions of flickering neon lights and capitalist billboards in the piece to present the stimulating nature of Toronto's Dundas square shopping district. Secondly, I used the piece to inspire a debate about the culture of consumerism in Toronto city. Lastly, I redefined Hessel's idea of stimulus by highlighting how we are stimulated by graffities and other artistic means of communications (e.g. dancing). All in all, I must confess that the practice of flanerie enabled me to capture so many spontaneous moments as well as the Toronto's cityscape in an artistic manner. I noticed that I captured some artifacts and events which presented the artistic dimension of Toronto city which we usually do not notice-even when we see these things every day. I must confess that the practice of flanerie enabled me to present a romanticized Toronto which is lovely to look at, but also ominous at the same time. I can honestly say right now that after putting the piece together, I found out that a flanerie video actually contains several thoughts from different thinkers. I found out that in addition to Kracauer, Hessel, and Vertov's ideas, the piece also contains the idea of stimulus which Georg Simmel alluded to in the dissection of how mega cities affects the mental state of its inhabitants through his Geistesleben theory.