Homo Urbanus; Una Odisea Citi-Matográfica

Homo Urbanus celebrates the The Fundació Enric Miralles inaugural contribution to Loop Festival Barcelona, celebrating and exhibiting the work of “Homo Urbanus. A city-matographic odyssey”, by the video artist duo Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine. In Homo Urbanus, Bêka & Lemoine explore the multiple facets of the human body concerning urban territory, revealing to what extent our bodies are the expression of the constant friction of social, cultural, and political issues. In dialogue with the installation, the show also presents a selection of films produced by ‘The Laboratory for Sensitive Observers’, a workshop run by Bêka & Lemoine together with the photographer Gili Merin at the ‘Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA) ‘ from London. Conceived as a collective research project, based on the films by Bêka & Lemoine, the studio aims to portray today’s Homo Urbanus on a global scale.

Between isolation and social distancing, the pandemic has established a global process of disembodiment with our relationship with the urban space and with social life, which has profoundly disturbed our condition as citizens. By depriving, restricting, and constraining our freedom of movement and behavior, the recent health crisis has shown to what extent being a Homo Urbanus, before being a social and political issue, is first and foremost a physical condition – living together, side by side another, in a state of proximity, even paradoxically anonymous intimacy. Now that an attempt is being made to restore “normality”, this audiovisual exhibition proposes to question our individual and collective bodily experience of urban space.

Through an immersive installation that puts the viewer’s body in the same state of alert as the Homo Urbanus they observe on the screen, the exhibition offers a vibrant tribute to what the recent pandemic has contributed to revalue as the most precious component of our cities, the public space.

During the exhibition period there has been an extensive program of activities that has culminated with the viewing of the film “Homo Urbanus Venetianus” and, later, a round table where Bêka & Lemoine, authors, and artists of “Homo Urbanus. A city-matographic odyssey”, Xavi Campreciós, founding partner of the production company NIHAO FILMS and director of the BARQ Festival, and Fredy Massad, architecture critic for ABC Cultural.