Observers of the Everyday: Benjamin, Debord, Perec Social Analysis of Urban Everyday Life Meeting 1 (January 23, 2014) Nikita Kharlamov, AAU

What is Everyday Life? Exercise: How can you encounter… - social class and social structure - global economy and corporate business - ethnic culture and conflict - virtual communication - urban redevelopment

First Encounter with Henri Lefebvre ( )

Lefebvre: The Idea of ‘Everydayness’ “The everyday can... be defined as a set of functions which connect and join together systems that might appear to be distinct... the concept of everydayness does not... designate a system, but rather a denominator common to existing systems including judicial, contractual, pedagogical, fiscal, and police systems” (Lefebvre, The everyday and everydayness, 1987, p. 9)

Walter Benjamin ( )

Benjamin: Observations of Urbanism The Arcades Project (pub. 1982) An exploration of the culture of ‘flanerie’ in 19-century Paris – idling and people-watching, leisure strolling through the public space of newly-arrived urban modernity NB: Think of the ‘flaneur’ as you read Simmel for next class!

Paris: A Rainy Day (Gustave Caillebotte, 1877)

Guy Debord ( )

Debord: Psychogeography Psychogeography as a revolutionary practice of creative urbanism. “The study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, whether consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals” (Debord, 1955 – in K. Knabb, Situationist International Anthology, 2006, p. 8) Derive: The artistic/performative practice of ‘drifting’ through urban environment

Georges Perec ( )

Perec: Infraordinary “That which is generally not taken note of, that which is not noticed, that which has no importance: what happens when nothing happens other than the weather, people, cars, and clouds” (Perec, An attempt at exhausting a place in Paris, 1975/2010, p. 3) Meticulous, exhausting, over-saturated descriptions of everyday urban settings

Photography as Means of Accessing the Everyday For each class: Prepare 3-6 photographs of Moscow and be ready to discuss them, using our ideas in class as themes What do you see? What does it mean? How did it get there? Who placed it there? What larger social / psychological / economic / political / cultural phenomenon does it reflect? (If unsure what to do: Read Jerry Krase’s ‘Introduction’, assigned for Topic 6)