Rendezvous with Time. Solargraphy of Bars of Mallorca Project
Some time ago I started to think about possible applications of solargraphy technique besides the registration of solar trails. During my 2 year long stay in Mallorca, Spain I noticed that it is very common to eat outside. At the time of meal restaurants, bars, and cafeterias are always full of people. It is a Spanish social phenomenon. One day sitting in a bar I found myself thinking about tables. Usually they are removed at night from the street and they are set again in the morning. I asked myself about the precision of placing tables.
What is the table position during the long period of time? Does the waiter put tables exactly in the same position every day? What else can be registered?
In such a way the Rendezvous with Time project arised. I present here solargraphs taken in Mallorca in 2013-2015. The project was quite difficult because it was not easy to find a proper place for a solargraphy camera in public space. Additionally the bar should be well iluminated. See for example solargraph of Bar 31 de Dicembre. 2 months of exposition gave very weak signal, beacuse the Sun iluminated the bar only 1 hour per day.
How is it possible to measure the accuracy of table putting? Tables with sharp edges were placed almost in the same place every day (for example: Bar Santa Payesa). The more blurred table image (i.e.: Bar Amigos, Bar Teide), the worse precision. The extreme case is Bar Mateu Orfila, where one can hardly see tables. There tables were in different places every day. They are usually displaced by the students.
But it is not the image of the table. This is the portrait of the waiter (or waiters), who placed the table. His (their) own accuracy, his work, his behaviour. He leaded customers to sit in the chosen place. This is some kind of collective psychological portrait. Things are saying about the people. And finally, this is the portrait of all customers sitting behind the table.
In some images there are not solar trails, because I focused on human behaviour only. The Sun was only a source of the light. The last solargraphs present portable roofing in Plaça Major and Plaça de Cort, and semitransparent churreria (fritter shop).
