Μπας Κλας - Bus Class - Basse Classe

BUS CLASS
20th of June 2015

SYN
Centre of Collective Artistic Activity
17 Tositsa street, Exarcheia, 106 83, Athens, Greece

ΜΠΑΣ ΚΛΑΣ/BUS CLASS*

It all started with a childhood misunderstanding of the expression "basse classe". To sum up the project in a few words: Whoever uses the bus on a daily basis belongs to the basse classerie! Eventually, growing up and learning foreign languages, It became clear to me that "basse class" did not mean the "Social Class of The Bus".

Yet... the initial impression for this imaginary class remained, and urged me towards photographing its daily life.

So what distinguishes the Bus Class after all? First of all, more freedom. Contrary to the other types of public transport, where you are "trapped" in a predetermined route, one can walk down a bus at any given time. The medium itself is freer as its driver - if needed - can change its course. Perhaps that explains why the bus is more familiar to people coming from places with no metro, be it from the provinces or from abroad. Due to the possibility of direct contact between driver and passenger, the bus is essentially a "big taxi". Then there is also the informal look of the passengers, partly resulting from the absence of various far-fetched trappings and their respective demands (the Metro has marble floors, escalators, closed spaces under surveillance, security guards. The Tram on the other hand is designed by the great Pinifarina!!!).

Taken from 2011 to the present, the photographs are "blind shots", as I did not frame through my Leica D-Lux 3 in order not to affect the desired result (a concept/study with no aesthetic considerations established in advance) since people always react when you raise a camera to photograph them.

When I shared the idea with some friends they exclaimed: "Bus Class? We too!" So that is how Yianna Xanthopoulou and Nearchos Ntaskas joined in and we became the three basse classeries!

*Bus Class: Paraphrase of the french expression "basse classe". Used in everyday speech to designate a situation or a person of low social rank.