urban culture

The Melbourne Shuffle – "dance to express, not to impress!"

Ségolène Team Observers — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:19:25 +0100

After tecktonik dancing brought gyrating teenagers to metro platforms around the world, a new electro bop has arrived on the scene. The "Melbourne Shuffle" has attracted flocks of movers and shakers, with over 600 new videos uploaded every week.

The Melbourne Shuffle emerged at the end of the eighties, and for a long time stayed underground. But as electro music gained popularity, the dance move started catching on too. Watching other fans interpret the style on YouTube proved so popular that there's now a veritable cult of "Shufflers" from all corners of the world.

In the process, a faster, more aggressive version of the dance has emerged, leaving old school Shuffle loyalists worried that the phenomenon is killing their culture.

Posted on YouTube by surVAMP.

CCTV hacked by video artists

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:37:31 +0200

Along with the explosion of surveillance cameras comes a new type of filmmaker. Using a technique called "video sniffing"; they're pirating CCTV footage from shopping centres and the police to "retake control of their environment".

Video sniffing, or "warspying", was originally a game with the goal of getting hold of CCTV footage. With the help of a 2.4GHz receiver (which you can get on eBay) and an old camera, video sniffers can receive the images recorded by small shops and offices, and even the police. Once they know where the surveillance cameras are, they can put on a performance in view of them and retrieve the footage without spending an extra penny. The money-saving technique has become increasingly popular in the past few years and is now appearing in exhibitions and actual films.

The rapping policeman from the troubled Paris suburbs

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:08:55 +0200

"Le Brigadier" (the police sergeant) is a French rapper who keeps his identity well hidden. And with good reason - he claims to work as a policeman in the suburbs of Paris. Rapping about police blunders hasn't gone down well with the rest of the force though, leading to an internal enquiry into his identification.

He says to have been patrolling Department 93, a Parisian suburb, for 10 years. Sick of police brutality, Le Brigadier chose to speak out against the service through his own experiences. His first few songs caused such controversy that they reached the interior ministry. The reaction there was not warm, and an enquiry into unmasking the traitor was soon launched. Today, the man in question says the team is closing in on him.

City centre beach comes at a cost of €3m

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:33:19 +0200

For the seventh year running, the banks of the river Seine in Paris have been transformed into an elongated Club Tropicana set. No less than 2,500 tonnes of sand are shipped in to the capital to make "Paris-on-sea" each summer. An event that not all of the city's residents take to warmly.

Despite being criticised as an expensive and non-environmentally-friendly project when it began in 2002, the Paris Plage has brought yearly success to its initiator, immovable Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoë. An average of 3.8m visitors bask under the palm tree leaves every summer, and each year, the resort gets bigger.

Between 21 July and 21 August traffic is brought to a halt on the banks of the Seine, offering a breath of fresh air to those who can't get away for the summer. Deckchairs, swimming pools, pedal boats, canoes and those bizarre two wheel personal transporters are all generously offered by the Paris mayor and his sponsors. Culture hasn't been forgotten - there are also libraries, free newspapers, internet access and organised concerts in the evenings.

And behind all of this, a complex and vast operation, that sees the set transformed in the week before the event, and dismantled in the week following it, along with the creation and removal of 60 tonnes of waste, and an estimated bill of around €3m.

No brakes, one gear, no inhibitions

Ségolène Team Observers — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:25:36 +0200

Photo posted on Flickr by "nabiis" June 23.

Without brakes, freestanding wheels, and possessing only one gear, the "fixie" can already be seen tearing down the streets of the world's metropolises. This new kind of bike has lured fans with a fervour from San Francisco to Tokyo.

The "fixed gear" was born in San Francisco, the hub of non-motorised wheel enthusiasts. The movement is a kind of idealised version of messenger-style bike riding, cruising through the cities and slaloming between cars. The so-called "hipsters" have turned the idea into a veritable urban art form in which the aesthetics of the engine are as important as its performance.

The phenomenon has gone beyond the bike messenger circle and can be seen in London, Paris and even Tokyo.

In France these bicycles, which work on a system of backpedalling, are not authorised to venture outside the area of competitive biking. But the best underground bikers are enthralled by the idea, as it requires an unparallelled mastery of the engine's technology (riders mustn't stop pedalling).

The tinkerers are also in on the game. The "fixies" (fixed gear bicycles) are most often the result of customised discontinued bicycle frames. In Japan, some are worth their weight in gold.