[ AIR ] MILEAGE: WORK IN PROGRESS

I just found this unpublished post ( dated 21st April 2017, hence my old logo): It's one of many abstract photo compositions inspired by a stopover at Zurich Airport. Beautiful!

GLITCH YOU WERE HERE...

Alleviating Terminal Boredom

Despite having enormous fun photographing the abstract structures of a quiet terminal back in 2012 ( see the results here ), I'd forgotten how annoying Zurich Airport actually is. It's probably the most badly sign-posted airport I've ever experienced. The simple act of transferring from one departure lounge to another is reduced to an MC Escher-esque conundrum as you follow signs to your departure gate, only for them to completely disappear as you get near them, and reappear when you get further away.

This was because the Swiss seem incapable of following the principle of A-B-C, and instead hide B in a downstairs annex where you would normally expect to find X, Y or Z.

A foreshadowing of this breakdown of reality could be found before we even boarded the plane to Zurich. 

''a constant loop of superb glitching''

Firstly, upon arrival at Athens Airport, the occupants of the long queue at the Swiss check-in desk - myself included - were perturbed to find ourselves in the proximity of a piece of unattended luggage. I went to find an official - a lady at the Swissair desk ten yards away - who so clearly pretended to make an urgent phonecall that it was like witnessing someone in a provincial amateur dramatics group phoning in a bomb-scare. After that, it was as if all Swissair staff at Athens were phoning-in their performances. I tried to round up a total of three Athens Airport staff and nobody was interested. A security-looking guy just shrugged, and actually said, 'it's not my problem'. 

It got to the point where I could imagine a terrorist group - replete with Carlos The Jackal sunglasses, sexy loafers and blocks of semtex - entering the terminal, scouting the area, taking measurements, plotting the focus of the shockwave, going for coffee and croissants, then returning to have another discussion about the blast radius, and finally climbing into a truck labelled 'fertilizer bomb' that had been double-parked for three hours, blocking in a police car.

Eventually an official came along who looked at the luggage, made a comment into his walkie-talkie, and then proceeded to stand next to it for the next forty minutes, occasionally looking at his watch and raising the odd eyebrow. Perhaps he was glad to get out of the office and stretch his legs.

These pictures are of the advertising screen at the Swissair departure lounge in Athens. A constant loop of superb glitching, I stood mesmerized at first, until I had to make a public fool of myself by standing there for several minutes photographing the screen while everyone else was queuing to board. The joke's on them, really. You already have your seat number - why stand there for twenty minutes, slowly shuffling forward like a zombie, when you can be entertained at Swissair's expense by highlighting their malfunctioning corporate showreel?

They tried to get in one last laugh, though. Dying of thirst by the time we landed at Zurich, I went through my pockets and found enough remaining coins for two bottles of water. I approached the lady at the counter only to be told that she couldn't accept them because they were euros, and the Swiss currency is franks. 'Since when?!' I screamed, and was about to phone-in a bombscare of my own when she took pity on me, and accepted the euros, with the caveat that I was effectively paying above the labelled price for the drinks. I didn't care and was immediately charmed by Jeffrey's ( yes, that was her name ) generosity.

Please enjoy these beautifully disintegrated photos, courtesy of Swissair. No filters, these were all naturally glitched on location.

Photos: Alexi K, September 2018

SPLITTING INFINITIES [ THE ABSTRACTION OF MODERN TRAVEL ]

Umberto Boccioni, the Italian Futurist, recognised the disconnected psychological, temporal and geographical phases that you experience when travelling. In his 'States of Mind' paintings, he acknowledged three distinct conditions: The Farewell; Those Who Go; and Those Who Stay. 

For me, travel represents nothing but the anxiety of alarm clocks, check-in deadlines, and air turbulence.Therefore, when I have to catch a plane, I will not eat or drink all day, as I'm too paranoid about being in an air crash on a full stomach. Starvation over a long-haul journey inevitably sends the body into shock, and therefore heightens the sense of disorientation, terror, and paranoia. Only when I have achieved this ideal state, do I start thinking like a true artist.

Despite all the negative aspects, travel can still be a pleasure. For example, I'm a huge fan of Switzerland. I love how it's so clean: Clean houses, clean lawns, clean towns, clean mountains. They even have clean air. I go there at every available opportunity, sometimes even for three hours at a time.

The pictures in this series represent another possible addition to Boccioni's 'States' - The Stop-Over.

Source of inspiration, below: Zurich Airport's sparkling concourse and lines of perspective.

My point, is that disorientation inevitably leads to abstraction, and when that occurs you must seize the opportunity to record it.

So, when deciding on a new 'wallpaper' design to go in the background scroll of my pop-culture blog, I remembered all those shiny surfaces in Zurich airport's concourses, and thought that they might be appropriate. For the current edition of my blog, I wanted something dystopian, robotic, sinister and Ridley-Scott-looking.

I have a folder of 'real-life abstract photographs', and I used repetition to see what effects I could achieve. 

Note: No other CG techniques were used. These are unretouched photographs, simply cropped, flipped, and repeated.

Below: One of my first Zurich Airport abstracts, from 2012.

Below: Back in 2012, I must have photographed this logo as a possible inspiration for a future 'Alexi K' logo.

The only thing that bothers me about flying, is being up there and suddenly not flying.

An example of Financial Abstraction, below: 

Hide your billions from your government, and celebrate your good fortune by eating chocolate gold out of a miniature vault.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Below: The Alexi K 'Smiley Man' logo, inspired by the old Swiss Air 'box logos'. I was aiming for just the right amount of corporate and frivolous.