The Moving City - Florian Freier // selected works and concepts

the moving city

"The Moving City", collection of 100 photographs, city of Barcelona, 2016-2017

The Moving City is based on a scraped dataset of about 17.000 GPS coordinates in the inner city of Barcelona, collected and provided by insideairbnb.com (raw data can be downloaded here). Street photography and location tracking via iOS and apple iPhone camera.

An ongoing project documenting change of urban spaces by matching street view construction sites with GPS located AirBNB interiors of the same spaces.

The omnipresent bags of construction waste are becoming sculptures celebrating the new, but also monuments for the old that is carried away with them at the same time.

A Selection of 100 photographs has been published as a limited edition print on demand photobook and is also available for free online reading.

In Barcelona, as one of Europe's highest populated urban areas, silent evidence of local change can be found on the streets: For any abandoned apartment that is cleaned out for transformation into a tourist flat or an investment object, a bag of personal remains and construction waste can be found on the narrow pavement outside the door - giving insight into the personal lifes of the previous inhabitants and also indicating the places of the hidden transformation behind the walls at the same time.

Based on a dataset with GPS coordinates of about 17.000 Airbnb interiors "The Moving City" is revealing a view into the apartments behind these streetview construction sites.

The Moving City has been nominated for the Promotion Award for Photography by the City of Munich 2018, previously awarded among others to my beloved photographers Katharina Gaenssler, Thomas Demand and Barbara Probst in 2007,1997 and 1994.

A Selection of 100 photographs has been published as a limited edition photobook which is also available to read online (scroll down).

„The Moving City“ is not affiliated with Airbnb or any of the hosts that appear in this project. In respect of privacy all interior images are used without revealing any original names and locations. All quoted images are used for research and educational purposes only.

"Florian Freier hat in Barcelona zur Abholung bereitgestellte Schuttsäcke fotografiert und dann per GPS das nächstgelegene Airbnb-Angebot gesucht. Unter den 17.000 Treffern lagen verdammt viele nah beieinander."
Evelyn Vogel, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 04.2018

"Florian Freier juxtaposes Street View images of packaged rubble in Barcelona with interiors of GPS-tracked Airbnb pictures (...) and thus documents the city's hidden rebuilding in a new way."
Urs Stahel, Magazine L. Fritz, 08.2018

Collection of downloadable Airbnb data from cities around the world
http://insideairbnb.com/get-the-data.html

Data Visualisation of Airbnb in Barcelona through the years
http://www.dwarshuis.com/various/airbnb/barcelona

The Moving City is based on a scraped dataset of about 17.000 GPS coordinates collected and provided by insideairbnb.com (explore the data)

"The Moving City", 2016-2017; Exhibition views at Hangar Studios, Barcelona ES (2017)

Nominees exhibition, Promotion Award for Photography by the City of Munich 2018, Lothringer 13 Halle, Munich, Featuring "The Moving City". Kodak c-prints, GPS coordinates and video screening, ca. 360 cm x 680 cm

A selection of 100 images has been published as a limited edition print on demand photobook,108 pages. Available via email and at selected stores and festivals. Click here to browse online.

"Florian Freier juxtaposes Street View images of packaged rubble in Barcelona with interiors of GPS-tracked Airbnb pictures (...) and thus documents the city's hidden rebuilding in a new way." (click for full article)

Disclaimer: „The Moving City“ is not affiliated with Airbnb or any of the hosts that appear in this project. In respect of privacy all interior images are used without revealing any original names and locations. All quoted images are used for research and educational purposes only.

This project was realized with the Hangar.org studio residency program. Barcelona 2016 / 2017

Related links:
Selected Press
Cached Landscapes
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