The Evolution of Flaneurs

Image: Scrolling Through Instagram Unseen by Other Users (Jones, 2016)

During this week’s lecture we focused on the topic of maps. We touched on how they are powerful pieces as we believe them to be real representations of our reality. They are a reflection of how we view our world (Kuttainen, 2016). Cyberspace is also a map but it “…exists only as a cognitive map” (Barnes, 1997, p. 1) but still demands the same power and view of our world as a regular map would. As there are no limits or boundaries in the online world, it allows people to explore freely throughout. This has seen the introduction of cyber-flaneurs in today’s society.

The weekly reading by Richard Prouty discusses flaneurs and Walter Benjamin’s “The Arcade Project”. A flaneur is described as a “someone adrift in the city, a detached observers strolling through the streets at a leisurely pace” (Prouty, 2009, p. 1). As I chose to explore the social network of Instagram, I can see the relationship between the network and the flaneur. It allows users to scroll seamlessly through their feed and other users’ profiles completely unseen. But it also lets them bring attention to themselves by liking and commenting their thoughts on other user’s posts and by posting images of their own.

Walter Benjamin revisited the idea of the flaneur during his study of the street life in Paris after the Industrial Revolution, which lead him to construct “The Arcade Project”. The arcades were the first covered shopping malls, they were covered with big glass and steel panels to enclose the environment (Prouty, 2009, p. 1). Instagram represents the arcade in Paris around this era. Closed off from the public street but allows those inside to view “the carefully curated windows of the rich, famous and stylish” (Prickett, 2013) it also has allowed users to be flaneurs amongst the hustle and bustle of Instagram’s busy feeds.

                                            

Bibliography

Barnes, G. (1997). Passages of the Cyber-Flanuer. Retrieved from Raynbird: http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html

Jones, L. (2016, March 18). Small Businesses Fight To Keep Instagram Chronological. Retrieved from Make It Rain : http://www.make-it-rain.co.uk/small-businesses-fight-to-keep-instagram-chronological/

Kuttainen, V. (2016). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Lecture 4: Maps. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

Prickett, S. N. (2013, November 6). Look Out, It's Instagram Envy. Retrieved from The New York Times Style Magazine: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/06/t-magazine/sign-of-the-times-look-out-its-instagram-envy.html?_r=0

Prouty, R. (2009, October 28). A Turtle on a Leash. Retrieved from One-Way Street: http://www.onewaystreet.typepad.com/one_way_street/2009/10/a-turtle-on-a-leash.html

Prouty, R. (2009, April 2). On the Arcades Project. Retrieved from One-Way Street: http://onewaystreet.typepad.com/one_way_street/2009/04/on-the-arcades-project.html