bêka & lemoine's 'homo urbanus' exhibition captures ordinary behaviors of city dwellers

‘Homo Urbanus – A Citymatographic Odyssey by Bêka & Lemoine’

From April 1 until August 27, 2023, Bêka & Lemoine present ‘Homo Urbanus – A Citymatographic Odyssey’ photo and film exhibition at S AM Swiss Architecture Museum. The artist duo takes viewers into ten world cities, observing human beings as urban creatures, exploring their everyday habits, gestures, and the simplicity of the daily life that makes a city what it is.

With their extensive, and still ongoing, film project ‘Homo Urbanus’, the visual artists investigate how people adapt to an environment and use, shape, and inhabit the built space through their daily routines. ‘The unconventional cinematic pieces reveal how even a simple gesture can spark wonder and hint at the silent rules that govern our societies. Shot with sensorial vitality and unusual proximity, these films question how the built environment affects human behavior by framing, ordering, and directing the way we collectively make use of space in the city,’ shares the team at S AM Swiss Architecture Museum.

Homo Urbanus Shanghaianus | all images © Bêka & Lemoine

a multisensorial stage that recalls an urban symphony

Through the sensitive lens of Bêka & Lemoine (see more here), viewers can witness different forms of freedom and complex interactions. Spontaneous encounters, strangers becoming protagonists during their daily rituals, and things linked with daily street life are all that compose these films. Following these genuine behaviors full of spontaneity and purity, the exhibition at S AM Swiss Architecture Museum (more here) invites visitors into a multisensorial itinerary, introducing an ‘unpredictable organism in perpetual movement and metamorphosis.’

The show is divided into different stages; This first room hosts a series of still images taken by the films and an interview with the filmmakers, while the adjacent screening rooms invite visitors to delve into the emotional nature of cinema. ‘In this self-produced interview, Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine ironically hijack the codes of classic journalism by turning the microphone towards themselves. Throughout this conversation, they try disarming each other with uncomfortable questions about the ‘Homo Urbanus’ project that journalists would probably not dare to ask.’ The other rooms are entirely dedicated to the ten cities (Bogotá, Doha, Kyoto, Naples, Saint Petersburg, Rabat, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Venice) featured in the ‘Homo Urbanus’ series. ‘The ten films are a lively tribute to what we have sorely missed in a time marked by isolation and social distancing: public space.’

Different sounds and rhythms of the ten films will be audible, simultaneously overlapping and blending into one another, immersing guests in an urban cacophony. ‘This simulation of a sort of global public realm also intentionally creates a kind of jet lag: everything seems the same and yet different. Visitors to the exhibition encounter predictable stereotypes as well as unexpected events in ‘Homo Urbanus.’

Homo Urbanus Rabatius

observing the urban body

‘In 1748, Giambattista Nolli completed his influential plan of Rome, in which he mapped out the built city in black and the public spaces in white. This revealing yet binary image and understanding of our urban environment gradually disintegrates when viewing Bêka & Lemoine’s ‘Homo Urbanus’ series. We recognize: There is no black and
white, but countless gray areas that the urban dweller shapes through an endless variety of uses and behaviors,’ explains Andreas Kofler (S AM), curator of the exhibition.

Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine allow us to observe and study urbanites in detail. People’s behavior in public spaces may differ depending on their cultural, historical, or religious background. Sometimes passersby are joyful and social, but others are apathetic and uninterested. It is a fact that the form of urban spaces can predetermine these behaviors. Urban spaces can be inviting and poetic but also inhospitable and uncanny.

Homo Urbanus Tokyoitus