everyday outside of cars

A project by Eleanna Papathanasiadi, everyday outside of cars consists of a total of 365 photos, which depict details from windshields of cars parked in the public space of Athens, as well as elements of the city that surrounds them. A collection of familiar – or unfamiliar – snapshots, transformed into a daily calendar designed by Yannikos Vasiloulis.

The photographic series everyday outside of cars permeates the inside space of different cars in a voyeuristic fashion, when these vehicles are no longer moving, and reveals their owners’ personal belongings. At the same time, it captures the (ever-changing) landscape that surrounds them: Among other things, buildings, trees, and clouds are reflected in the car windshields and windows. The glass surfaces, both transparent and reflective, are transformed into “magic canvases,” as the subjects represented do not remain static (like parked cars do) but are constantly changing as the day progresses. While the windshields allow for multiple viewings to the vehicles’ dashboards, perspective constantly shifts, depending on the intensity and direction of the light that falls on them. In parallel, windows become mirrors that present a distorted image of the external environment.

The camera of Eleanna Papathanasiadi’s mobile phone captures ephemeral images that oscillate between the real and the imaginary. On the surfaces of the windshields, tangible objects and distorted reflections coexist, together comprising imaginative compositions of eclectic and eccentric elements. A series of everyday life snapshots and at once a game between the personal and the public, the inner and the outer, transparency and reflection; an ode to movement, acceleration and stasis, but also to change and stability, everyday outside of cars takes the form of a daily diary – a navigator for 2022 – designed by Yannikos Vasiloulis.