While reading Shannon Mattern’s (2013) Infrastructural Tourism, the theme of tunnels as infrastructure first jumped into my mind. People tend to pay less attention to the infrastructure and probably also to the people around them owing to these “invisible” infrastructures, which allow cities and people’s lives to function flawlessly.
After choosing the Greenwich Foot Tunnel as my investigating object, I noticed the opposite situation. Its lift, another form of infrastructure in the tunnel that transports people between the ground level and the 15-metre-deep tunnel, wasn’t functioning. Thus, I turned the camera from recording the trace, reflection, and echoes to people who wanted to use this broken lift.
Filming stood out as the most suitable way of recording the tension between the broken lift and the confused, uncertain and hesitated tunnel traveller, compared to static photographs and texts. As time passed by, the camera recorded the different reactions towards the lift and attitudes toward me, who reminded them of the truth that the lift was not in use.
While detecting and proving that the malfunction was not a random occurrence, I went a step further to enquire why people were still attached to this tunnel, especially bikers who knew the need to carry their bikes up and down 100 steps.
I no longer wished to remain a passive observer; I aspired to become an active participant, much like Agnès Varda (2000) did in The Gleaners and I, who engages intimately with her subjects by gleaning heart-shaped potatoes, tasting unwanted fruits and taking abandoned furniture home. When facing the awkward situation of not being able to lift the Santander bike in one single step, I started to receive help from other people and initiate conversations. They were so different— a commuter who chose to change this unfavourable condition into a positive one by viewing the steps as a free gym, while a delivery rider passively accepted and challenged this huge inconvenience to make a living.
In the process of interaction, as they asked me follow up questions, I switched from being an interviewer and videographer to an interviewee, a person ‘in front of the camera’. The delivery rider and I exchanged our places of origin and length of living in London with each other; and I received warm comfort from the commuter for still not feeling settled in.
The camera not only captured the difficulty when I attempted to lift the bike upstairs or find alternative ways of crossing the river, but also my sensitivity to the current state of my personal life, and the anxiety of schoolwork. Though not overtly depicted, this tension undeniably exists within the footage. I suddenly empathised with why Varda (2000) would interweave her focus on wrinkled hands and the passage of time to reflect her own anxiety about ageing. This was what I would never have imagined before starting filming and interacting. I wish to learn further from her practice, and better embody self-reflection and personal engagement.
References
Mattern, S. (2013). Infrastructural tourism. Places. Available at https://placesjournal.org/article/infrastructural-tourism/ (Accessed: 17 Oct 2024)
Verda, A. (2000). The Gleaners and I. Directed by Agnès Varda. France: Ciné -Tamaris.
