When the fences came up, it was the end of the buffalo.

This collection is an overview over some methods and approaches that I employed in order to develop my view on the city. I do live in Paris since 8 months. - Flaneurie is a French word. Just like 'Paris', when pronounced, it sounds different in different mouths. Paris doesn't care much for your mouth, she wants your eyes. Since she was a city, she was always looking at you. Flaneurie, therefore, never was the recreational practice of a city dweller. It was the tactic of an overwhelmed inhabitant of early urban space. The only way to roam free was to hide inside the crowd, running along, merging, disappearing in haste and business. 'Here' had to become 'there' in order to go unchallenged. That however is the past, the crowd itself is a museum piece. Today, an economy of surveillance is replacing the economy of curiosity and it begins to objectify every body and alter behaviors in ways we do not yet understand. For sure, the crowd no longer offers the freedom it used to. Window shoppers and coffee drinkers still enjoy a short-term relief. "What is happening to our public space?" somebody asked, while sipping on a Latté. Despite his cheeky remark, he was in no danger. His body had already learned not to visibly point at the scandalous. Sometimes his face forgot to suppress the curious look. These were moments of sheer horror, that his eyes had to resolve. Fighting the shivers, he would cycle through all kinds of expressions. His eyes became those of somebody taking interest into displayed merchandise or of somebody, trying to figure out how to take a photograph of an ornament - you know, the things tourists do. They are expected to have no intention whatsoever in blowing up what could become their property any time.