AK's bits and pieces

hey there. my name is Andrei Kaigorodov. and this is my blog (right). more personal than professional, more draft than final, more silly than serious, more for friends than anybody else.

you can best reach me directly at andrei.kaigorodov@gmail.com

20 Aug
perhaps no different to any other thing, cities are perceptions and conversations my Bucharest is different to your Bucharest.  it is the flat that i live in, the streets i visit, the people i meet, and the things i do.  the eyes i see it with. and my perception of the same city can both coincide - and be nothing close to yours. and then there are conversations.  a city is what you and me talk about it.  we create its narrative.  our stories travel and get transformed in perceptions of others;  our pictures of the city paint its portrait, and our souvenirs leave its artifacts in the houses of other people. Bucharest is everything that we tell it is.  Emilien is my new friend.  I met him at the seaside, on the beach, with his chunky black big-film photo camera, striped long-sleeve shirt, rolled up wide-leg white cotton pants and a peculiar moustache.  French, clearly, I thought.  a French with Italian name, it turned out to be.  he’s on a mission;  visiting his Romanian father-in-law family, for 10 days he shoots Romanian Riviera, his new project. what caught me eye was his last year’s Bucarest 20 years later series.  the city we find there is grim, dull, gray, tired, hopeless, a bit humorous, and totally absurd.  i like the pictures a lot.  i find them real.  they are an artistic perspective, on the lookout of the interesting.  they reward the viewer. yet my point in this post is this:  they also reinforce the perception and narrative of the “grim, dull, gray, tired, hopeless, a bit humorous, and totally absurd” we find in so many depictions of Bucharest. and for the sake of debate, if nothing else, let me contradict them - my Bucharest is light, positive, energetic, full of beautiful details and vibrant life.  because that’s what i notice and nurture around me.  and i dare to think that the more we will notice good things about it, the more we will cherish and praise the things that work, that are OK, that look and function good, the faster this will become a reality.  try for a week not to talk about how shitty it is - we all love to hate it - and notice and appreciate loudly what’s cool about it.  talk about it wide. take beautiful pictures.  spread them. change perceptions.  change conversations.  change reality.  one week.  go.

perhaps no different to any other thing, cities are perceptions and conversations

my Bucharest is different to your Bucharest.  it is the flat that i live in, the streets i visit, the people i meet, and the things i do.  the eyes i see it with. and my perception of the same city can both coincide - and be nothing close to yours.

and then there are conversations.  a city is what you and me talk about it.  we create its narrative.  our stories travel and get transformed in perceptions of others;  our pictures of the city paint its portrait, and our souvenirs leave its artifacts in the houses of other people.

Bucharest is everything that we tell it is. 

Emilien is my new friend.  I met him at the seaside, on the beach, with his chunky black big-film photo camera, striped long-sleeve shirt, rolled up wide-leg white cotton pants and a peculiar moustache.  French, clearly, I thought.  a French with Italian name, it turned out to be.  he’s on a mission;  visiting his Romanian father-in-law family, for 10 days he shoots Romanian Riviera, his new project.

what caught me eye was his last year’s Bucarest 20 years later series.  the city we find there is grim, dull, gray, tired, hopeless, a bit humorous, and totally absurd.  i like the pictures a lot.  i find them real.  they are an artistic perspective, on the lookout of the interesting.  they reward the viewer.

yet my point in this post is this:  they also reinforce the perception and narrative of the “grim, dull, gray, tired, hopeless, a bit humorous, and totally absurd” we find in so many depictions of Bucharest.

and for the sake of debate, if nothing else, let me contradict them - my Bucharest is light, positive, energetic, full of beautiful details and vibrant life.  because that’s what i notice and nurture around me. 

and i dare to think that the more we will notice good things about it, the more we will cherish and praise the things that work, that are OK, that look and function good, the faster this will become a reality. 

try for a week not to talk about how shitty it is - we all love to hate it - and notice and appreciate loudly what’s cool about it.  talk about it wide. take beautiful pictures.  spread them. change perceptions.  change conversations.  change reality. 

one week.  go.