Story by Peter Ortmann, participant of the Brussels KAGE Temporary Collective Workshop
I love the complexity of the different layers of this series. Shot free hand and in a very short time while people are rushing from one end of the Brussels main train station to another one. The wall was built of clean white and reflective squares where some where printed with images I presume have been taken in the train station. We see people moving up and down, photographed in black & white and with a very slow shutter speed. We cannot recognize them but feel the rush. Without the context, the lines formed by the squares are unintelligible. We think we understand at first before realizing that we did not understand and stay superficial. Unfortunately, I forgot to look out for the photographer’s name.
Then another layer comes in. The bypassing people were also photographed in their movement. They could be part of the initial frame, but they are not. They do destroy the visual harmony of the grid lines and join the scene in color. At the same time, the formal, straight angle of view, reduce them visually to the initial two-dimensional canvas.
At the end we stand there with very few information and nearly no depth, no perspective, no visual details, no moods. Like every encounter during a rush hour, we stay superficial.