The story
“As the way of the technic I use completely identical to the way of photo-finish cameras - which are used in Olympic Games for judging the ranks.” Adam Magyar
In the Summer of 2009 Adam Magyar, a Hungarian artist living in Berlin, visited the UK to show his portfolio at the Rhubarb-Rhubarb International Review. The series – Urban Flow – showed people in different cities doing something which they had in common – walking.
Rhubarb's Creative Director, Rhonda Wilson, saw another potential for Adam's approach and between them they created the project Walking As One. In a world which is becoming more and more fragmented, the project becomes a metaphor – for people coming together to create a sense of solidarity.
Between September 2009 and March 2010, Wilson worked to put together the partners to make two significant commissions, produced by Rhubarb-Rhubarb, one in Newham, London and the other in Birmingham.
The public were invited to come and walk for the camera and return to see themselves as part of large scale outdoor image installations, both about people, place and a sense of future.
Participants booked their places on the walks through this website, with 110 people Walking As One in Newham and 160 in Birmingham. More details of the two walks can be found on this site, together with some images of the events. Both of the images made are being printed as huge hoarding installations for prime sites which will be seen by millions of passers by and visitors.
How it works
This is the type of image which Adam makes – the scanner captures absolutely the present time. To its left the people are in the future and to the right they are in the past... Of course the people on the right are a few minutes older than the people on the left...
Adam uses the same technologies as the finish line cameras at the Olympic Games, which take thousands of images a second and records through a 1 pixel wide slit. The time and space slices are then placed next to one another to generate an image without perspective. This method is capable of recording movement only, with static objects and buildings appearing as stripes and lines.
Walking As One London
Happened in London on Saturday 17th July at the Newham Show, Central Park, East Ham.
Image site - Outside Stratford Station on the famous Blue Fence. The hoarding will be unveiled in October as part of the East London Photomonth.
Walking As One Birmingham
Happened Saturday 24th July across the stage at The Rep, Centenary Square, Birmingham.
Image site - New Library of Birmingham Hoarding, Centenary Square. To be unveiled on Sunday 1st August at 5.30 pm
Rhubarb-Rhubarb Ltd, Rhubarb Building, 25 Heath Mill Lane, Unit 101, Digbeth, Birmingham, B9 4AE, UK rhubarb-rhubarb.net
