lll . 11 x lll .

111
t
m
u
o
r
Nin kyoung Lee Street and House
From the Project Travelogue
There is a book that carries this title, in fact. I
discovered it in a second-hand bookshop in San
Cristbal in Mexico. I only began the book, so I just
know it is about women and domesticity. But I was
attracted by the title, as I am thinking about streets as
houses, perhaps. This is a thought, or a beginning of a
story on that I am about to tell you.
I have just been on a months travel in the Eastern
part of Africa what they call The Horn of Africa. I
was on a kind of mission, which was to follow the
travel of Arthur Rimbaud, a legendary French poet,
whom I never knew before then. Essentially, what I
decided to follow was the poets state of a traveler: to
be wildly lost and then to only follow my sense of
passion.
Out of all the things that could evoke ones
inquisitiveness in such a travel, what took me as the
most remarkable and enviable were the streets. Without
going into the political and economical reasons behind
why the cities are deserted and why they have so few
cars, here I just want to talk about what I saw: the streets
that were free of cars, and the diferent sociality on those
streets. In the countryside of Ethiopia and the streets in
cities of Eritrea, I saw, yes, cars, but too few to form a
fow of trafc. Imagine immense landscape, immense
cityscape with big, open roads, with no cars! When the
streets are emancipated from vehicles, what takes the
place of cars on the highways? Of course, its the people
and animals. They still have to travel! Everywhere, you
see freely walking men and women, children and old
people, donkeys, cows, camels, goats, sheep, horses
That is the highway.
What happens to a town, when the streets are free
of cars and taken over by people? The frst noticeable
diference is the sound. There is quietness in the city.
Then, there is a sense of expansion with islands of
pedestrian areas, undivided by car lanes, are now
joined as one giant room. It is true that people pass
through the streets, but they also stay and linger. With
this slow walking trafc, the whole city turns into an
open social place, especially in the evenings after
work; a free circulating place for individuals to meet
and socialize.
Yes, I am thinking of the roundabout in the city of
Keren Eritreas third biggest city, which is still rather
small and its long, empty roads stretched into the
distant hills with sun setting over them, with groups of
people, young and old, leisurely walking. That
evening, a young lad took me on a little tour around
the town; he was a friend of a friend I had made. As
we walk along the street literally, on the street we
met and were stopped by his friends, who gathered in
small groups on the side of the road, or around the
plaza, or on the stairs of buildings. Each time, we
stopped for a little chat, sometimes with a drink and
then moved on, but only to the next meeting. It was
like visiting many houses or many cafes to see friends
in one stroll, or being in a giant party place, going
around and talking to diferent friends.
I am thinking of the bridges in Massawa, another
port city in Eritrea. For a long time, I watched a small
boy sitting on the bench alone in the quietness of the
night, until he eventually was met by a bunch of his
acquaintances and went with them. He was one of the
many grown-ups and children who were spending
time on that bench. There are still free children in this
part of the world.
Often I am nostalgic of a time when I used to play
just outside of my house all day long in streets, car
parks, train tracks, when I was young. I did not feel
like a prisoner in the islands of fats on the vast ocean
of car roads and buildings; but a free child in one giant
playground with all my playmates just around the
corner. All I needed for a good days playing was to
turn up.
- rtnt s, reenutn\ zu1u
L'accuell que vcus n'avez reserve etalt excetlcnnel et les dlscusslcns que |'al
eues avec tcut le ncnde trs enrlchlssantes. 8ref, |e ne eux decrlre ncn se|cur
qu'en ternes suerlatlfs ! Ju as en ncl descrnals un anhassadeur ltlnerant et .
Harkus Lcfher
Lnnanuel Lcl
lrederlc Lcndelx
Zscha Lcrand
Antcnla Lctz
Hlkcla| Lczlnskl
Hatthlas Ludwlg
Fclger Lund
An|a Lutz
Harlusz Hacle|ewskl
Jakekl 0. Haeda
Claus-Steffen Hahnkcf
|crg Halnka
Phlll Halntz