Fahr in Blau, a project by Chema Alvargonzalez

In my world of packaged experiences, a sightseeing bus performs. Navigating through the city to various tourist attractions, it satiates my desire to see and experience the metonomy of historical narratives: monument, cathedral, museum. The camera enshrines these moments in my album, which has become an extension of my memory and experience. My attention is stimulated upon my arrival at a destination, the route and my observations meticulously regulated by the tourist map. I am driven along its connecting lines, lines that traverse anonymous spaces where my perception of the city's image dilutes and my attention falters, receding into the everyday projections that repeatedly wash over me in their vapid familiarity. Yet in the nocturnal setting of Berlin, in a tour bus emanating a neon blue light, my relationship to the city and its inhabitants is unexpectedly altered. I, the passive receiver of images, become engaged in an ambulatory theater, a Ride in Blue, a sculptural performance where urban landscape is the stage and the bus driver, the director. The city, once circumscribed by its mapped-out monuments, now reveals itself as a labyrinth, evoking endless journeys into the metropolis of my memory. I succumb to this labyrinth of space and imagination, which conspire to blur the direction and intention of my ride. Lured by ambiguity, I remain trapped in the wanton blue of the bus and endlessly play in the impromptu theater of image-making. Text by Kaira M. Cabañas