A clinch with the city. Spaces, affects and encounters between Murat and Belle de Mai, Marseille

摘要

© 2018 Pacini Editore. All rights reserved.In September 2014 we shooted a movie: Murat, The Geographer. The film is, in many ways, an experiment in which a reflexive and “non conventional” research practice done in a place, Belle de Mai in Marseille, normally depicted as an urban margin, is put forward. Starting from our clinch with Marseille and Belle de Mai, the article presents and discusses some issues arising from this experiment, in particular the relationship between non representational theories and visual research practices, as well as the possibilities to grasp the emotional dimension of geographical knowledge. After the introduction, § 2 resumes the plot of the movie, presents the post-disciplinary group of geographers, journalists and film-makers that has done the film, and disveils the meaning of the strange name of our protagonist. § 3 discusses the relation between urban space and images in the relationships between objectivity and subjectivity of the research, while § 4 describes how Murat (the group) enters in Belle de Mai (and Marseille) by shooting Murat (the film). Finally, a sort of “not conclusion” outlines the emotional dimension affecting our experimental film and the way in which the attempt to change our view on urban reality has inevitably also change ourselves.