RUMA - The Static

“The city is a product of human cleverness, of imagination, of habits, laziness and deterioration. It is at once full of life and groaning to be renewed. It is an organism that feeds on human activity. Concrete roads enable millions to travel in and out of an urban centre each day, and therefore perpetual roadworks are required. New cities are built on the ruins of old ones. I appreciated this truth about cities when I travelled on the incredible New York subway, which is being repaired and maintained twenty-four hours a day.

The city is a profoundly human place. For that reason it is not neutral even though many aspects of it may be automated. The city has a life, a purpose, a character that imprints itself on people whether they like it or not. To experience the power of a city, we just need to catch a subway or a taxi or walk through a crowd. There we descend into a lower consciousness defined by movement. We connect physically to the city and disconnect mentally from our motion. The city absorbs something of our humanity, making us temporary automatons to produce an ecstasy of charm and noise. I can touch this current when it leaps into my fingers from the handrails of the escalator, materials and flesh moving at one speed.

When I choose to emerge from the static by bringing my focus to the city itself, I will hear and see the busker, the beggar, the street preacher. These have their own rituals which both they and the crowds perform as marionettes. These characters belong more closely to the city and so their automations are more colourful. What if we all stopped to marvel at the street preacher or the flame dancer? The city will have fulfilled its purpose, returning its life back to us in a sublime moment of stillness. Perhaps the crowds will never be ready for this moment. So the city continues to recycle human motion, submerging us in a dance where we are its delicate and exquisite instruments.”

-Remy Chadwick (RUMA)