Imaginary City is a visual essay documenting the development of Norway’s Nuart street art Festival. From film makers Kristina Borhes and Nazar Tymoshchuk. It looks at the impact on it’s host city, Stavanger, over a four year period.
Nuart was first established in 2001. It was inspired by the artist Jeremy Dellers statement “I don’t make “things”, I make things happen”. Since then the festival has become world renowned. Known for its exploration of art in public spaces. Imaginary City uses the backdrop of this festival to explore street arts ability to change the ways in which we see a city.
A Changing City
The film aims to discover what makes some cities more vivid than others. It assumes that street art can change the people themselves. That those people are changing the city in a way nobody else could. It does this whilst intentionally avoiding everything that one might normally expect from a film about street art. Certainly Imaginary City doesn’t have much in the way of action. Rather it is the art which does the talking.
Shot over three years in Stavanger from 2015 to 2018, it is a beautiful piece of film making. It’s slow pace lulls you into a state where time disappears. The approach is to give an insight into the philosophy embraced by this most enduring of street art festivals. It does just that.
Imaginary City was shot and edited by MZM Projects. An independent group focusing on research and documentation of street art and graffiti. It was formed by Kristina Borhes and Naza Tymoshchuk in Ukraine in 2015. All photographs including the cover are courtesy of Brian Tallman
Wow, a must watch!