Photography zine Flâneurism celebrates the act of strolling through a city and capturing the unseen, hidden or uncelebrated. ‘Memory and connections always run throughout each issue,’ says founder Rik Moran. ‘It’s an archive of not only the places I’ve been but the experiences and feelings they gave me.’
In a new edition, released this month, Moran takes to the streets of Tel Aviv’s White City.
Master-planned by Sir Patrick Geddes, it was built from the early 1930s through the 1950s and is home to the world’s largest collection of Bauhaus-style and International Modern buildings.
‘[Its story] is fascinating,’ says Moran. ‘German Jewish architects fled the Nazi regime and created all these amazing buildings in one place. As a result of that terrible time in Germany, something positive and beautiful came out of it.’
The climate (and decades), however, have been hard on the buildings, designed by architects including Zeev Rechter and Yehuda Magidovitch. ‘They have been in disrepair for many years, but there’s a real concerted effort to restore them underway,’ Moran adds. ‘I believe there’s over 1,500 of the 4,000 in total that are earmarked for renovation and restoration’.
Moran, who is based in London, originally studied design and has been heavily influenced by the Bauhaus. ‘I stayed at the school in Dessau a few years back, so it made sense to come to Tel Aviv and see the other side of its output.’