SXSW Art Program – Life Underground by Herve Cohen
SXSW Austin Convention Center, March 9-14, 2018
Article by Stacey Lovett
Parisian documentarian Hervé Cohen debuted his latest project, Life Underground, to SXSW 2018 audiences along and spoke on the inception and creation of this deeply musing piece.
Originally conceived as a feature documentary film, Life Underground ultimately delves into what really is behind a passenger on the subway – a gaze into what we often pass by. Having met funding issues, the documentary resulted in taking life as an interactive web doc where viewers embark on a voyage in any one of over a dozen cities around the world through a revelatory lens of their subways. Each city transit scene opens with a broad scope of the landscape – both in setting and people – leaving the viewer to create their own stories and judgment about what is presented. Certain individuals are singled out as a biographical aspect of them is presented to the world in a beautiful humanistic manner.
Cohen – well versed in capturing the essence of the human experience in this films – drew inspiration for this project from other artists like Walker Evans, Chris Marker, and Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, all of whom used subways as a medium to convey deeper message and insights. Life Underground presents an underground anthropological experience and creates a new vantage point within a culture and inside humankind itself, connecting strangers on a deeper level than perception leads. It brings to light our interconnectedness as human beings – in the greater sense beyond borders – diluting the notion that our survival exists independent of one another. This project reminds us that beneath the façade we share common themes; our interactions serve as connections learning both through empathy and relation. Cohen groups each person’s story into these defining themes of love, aging, transition, work, youth, migration, dream, & family, and “meeting” these strangers strengthens the bonds we commonly share as we create a personal relationship, although brief, with someone we may not have by happenstance, choice, or locale. Filmed as cinéma vérité it evokes a truth in public interactions, the certainty in the passing gaze and how often the importance beneath it is overlooked.
With the Life Underground project, the availability of interaction with it online as an experiential storytelling experience it has an exponentially greater chance of reaching and affecting more people, especially with its share features via Facebook, Twitter, and email with each story and city. To create this level of global reach for a message so profound is a statement to the power of art and the significance of his vision. The introduction to these living portraits and depiction of the beauty underground resonates with the viewer, ever varying the interactive experience. As we’re introduced into undiscovered realms of the human experience, each participant’s journey is still customized to an individual itinerary based on the particular passage they choose the locations and people that strike their interest; the project’s availability broadens the scope of knowledge yet still presents a customizable journey based on user preferences and relatability – everyone’s trip will resonate differently in their own introspection. It is fodder for the greater conversation of the worldview, especially in times of international upheaval, requiring humanism and empathy to become the common denominator. Hervé Cohen’s unconscious gaze into life beneath the surface moves beyond simple storytelling element in its experiential storytelling descriptor – the experience continues a dialogue beyond the director into society resonating unknown through subsequent views of life and the people who cross our paths.
SX 2018 attendees were able to view Life Underground as a large scale interactive installation that Cohen teamed up to create with designer/installation artist Tonian Irving. She also joined the filmmaker to speak on the evolution of the piece to grow the desire to transform human behavior in order to enhance the capacity for empathy. The artists hope to broaden the installation aspect of Life into museums internationally, further spreading the message and conversation on a global level.