happn
April 4, 2020Kenji Chiga’s work happn was another series that was recommended to me. I think the way the artist merges a variety of different image styles (the studio shot, the live cam shot, the diagram, etc) actually works very well, and is not jarring or detrimental to the work as a body. Rather, I think it helps give wider coverage of the concept.
The work serves as an exploration of the artist’s use of the app, ‘happn,’ and how it connects users who may otherwise never meet. I fell that it actually touches on deeper social issues, particularly isolation within a densely populated area. The viewer must think beyond what is presented to them to find deeper meaning in the work.
In an online article in Lens Culture (1), Chiga describes how this series began.
“I came across the app “happn” one day.
This app could show me who these hundreds and thousands of people I come across daily are.
[…] We shared our stories.
I would not have met them otherwise, but they were living close to me for a number of years. We must have crossed paths without realizing, plenty of times.”
A flip through of the photobook is also available on Chiga’s website. Initially I liked the way it opened, and how you had to flip from left to right continually, revealing fold-outs and smaller pages as you went, but it quickly became overwhelming and confusing. Perhaps that was the intention of the author, but I prefer a more traditional or simple layout for a book.
Above is a random image from Chiga’s instagram, which I just really liked in terms of composition, and the “raw” feel of it.
(1) Chiga, K (publishing date not stated.) Tokyo: City of Strangers, Lens Culture, viewed 05 April 2020. <https://www.lensculture.com/articles/kenji-chiga-tokyo-city-of-strangers>
(2) Chiga, K 2016, happn, photographic series, viewed 04 April 2020 <http://www.chigakenji.com/happn.html>