The German "digital gardener" came to Lisbon in July and animated a dream in Largo da Madalena, downtown, which you can see (and hear) now.
Jan Kamensky is a German who presents himself as a "digital gardener". His job is to make us dream of different cities, and to do that, produces "visual utopias". Using photographs and videos and his knowledge of graphic design, Jan has been animating squares and streets in different cities, swapping cars for people, streetcars, bicycles, trees... Now it's Lisbon's turn.
Jan Kamensky was invited to the Portuguese capital by the activist collective Lisbon Possible and the environmental association ZERO, as you can read more about in this article. At the end of July, Jan met with the interested community at the Coruchéus Library in Alvalade, and after that, together with Ksenia Ashrafullina from Lisboa Possível, he toured the city of Lisbon looking for the best place to transform it.
The place chosen turned out to be Largo da Madalena, downtown. Jan has swapped the noisy, smoky cars for a square full of trees, flowers, birds and, above all, people. There's water and there's also a streetcar running. It's important to note that all this is a utopia intended to make us dream.
You can see the before and after, as well as the full animation below:
"We spent three days in Lisbon looking for a venue. And it was harder than we expected. We wanted a corner that would be recognizable to both Lisboners and Portuguese people in general, as well as to the general public."explains Ksenia. "Our idea is to have an impact inland [in Portugal] and also abroad. We really wanted to put Lisbon in everyone's eyes." They considered other options such as the Marquês de Pombal traffic circle or Avenida da Liberdade, but here because there were trees, "the contrast between the bad and the good wasn't that great". "We also saw other streets downtown, but we found it a bit claustrophobic."
Largo da Madalena was a suggestion from Twitter and one of the last places Jan and Ksenia visited. "I quickly realized that it had to be my object of work. That square shows the city environment compressed into a relatively small space. On the one hand, the city has a unique beauty. On the other hand, it is confronted with today's problems. This place symbolizes that in an excellent way!"Jan tells us. "I incorporated the countless conversations and insights I received during my visit to Lisbon into the animation. The result is a narrative that I hope Lisboners will enjoy."
About Lisbon, Jan tells us that he found a city not very suitable for pedestrian mobility, with sidewalks "very narrow" and with little understanding on the part of motorists of this situation; the German designer and animator was also left with the impression that pedestrians are in the wrong. "bottom of the infrastructure priority hierarchy" of the city. Jan also highlights inadequate conditions for people with reduced mobility, air pollution, lots of noise from cars and airplanes ("the airport is too central") and very narrow streets that sometimes affect the mobility of streetcars.
The launch of this "visual utopia" on September 7th is no coincidence. Lisboa Possível and ZERO applied for and won a small amount of funding from the Urban Movement Innovation FundThe fund is designed to support innovative civic participation and decarbonization projects. And the 7th is International Clean Air Day, designated in 2019 by the United Nations General Assembly and cherished by this fund. The idea of Lisboa Possível and ZERO is to use Jan's work as inspiration for the creation of a "pop-up" SuperBairro in Lisbon; in principle, it will be on September 23 at Praça das Flores, in the parish of Misericórdia.
