collection 0
they have matching scarfs, differing slightly in colour yet stand on two sides of the stop: did they argue about being a matchy-matchy couple at home? Maybe they hoped that if they stood far away from each other no-one would notice.
collection 1
Him, in the dark jacket, is taking his time taking out the money from the ATM. The sun is nice - it definitely promotes the trial version of slow life: it doesn't happen so often in the Netherlands. Him, in the lighter jacket really wants to get his money FAST. Not even getting of his bike, he glances at the relaxed guy by the machine. If only he knew what's at stake, he would not temporize. Yet a fight would only take even more time.
collection 2
11PM, two bedrooms. The bottom one: lights dimmed, curtains drawn, The top one: lights fully on, curtains so slightly closed. While the downstairs neighbour prays for the sleep to come, the upstairs one clenches to the last minutes of the day. And he has the ruling hand. He knows, no one will call the police for sound disturbance.
collection 3
Sitting next to each other, definitely comfortable around one another, similar style… Siblings or dating?
collection 4
Weekend. A perfect time to see your extended family. All scrambled around The Hague, Laak this weekend it is. Even though the city has the same name, different rules apply; do not put your elbows on the dining table, talk when talked to, smile politely, remember you are still in the Green Zone: pay for parking beforehand.
collection 5
4 guys, looks like a friend-group, hanging out in front of the ATM together. This Friday evening will definitely be fun for them.
collection 6
Two people going completely opposite ways. They walked to fast to not know one another. She, quickly took her phone out, and he so slightly put his cap, covering his eyebrows. Laak is a place of short-term rentals, did they degrade from roommates to neigbhours?
collection 7
Grandmother, mother and two sisters waiting for a tram. Girl trip to the beach on Mother's day? Sign me in.
collection 8
3 teenage boys waiting for a tram, while sitting at a railing. I remember feeling so cool doing the same thing 5 years ago.
collection 9
Two men sitting on a tram stop's bench. They don't seem like they know one another, but they manspread with the same width, forcing them to touch knees. I had no clue only two people could barely fit on such a wide, spacious, Western bench.
collection 10
Opposite on the colour wheel, opposite on the emotional spectrum. Is the guy in green really that sad, or is the woman's smile on the advertisement so wide, there is no more space for happines left around her?
collection 11
Old couple looking upwards, both in the same direction. Maybe there is a fight happening in a blind spot from my place, or maybe someone is struggling with construction work I can only hear from my place. I have no way of assesing it from my window, and it is kind of stressing me out.
collection 12
Oh no! I made a Pattern-of-Life Analysis!


This is a Polish experimental film "Out of My Window" filmed by Józef Robakowski at the time of Poland being a soviet sattelite state. The piece was made to show an individual perspective on a socialist, collectivist country and the routines that it permeated.

Since watching the film at 17 years old, I've tried doing the same excercise; sitting by my window, I look at the street in front, and observe the habits or connections of the people I have no clue about. This is the first difference I've caught between me, and Robakowski. The artist, knowing everyone at his apartment complex, saw the actual facts and reality, based on the conversations he had with his neighbours. I, on the other side, do not even know the name of people I share a wall with, leaving me to speculate, project onto the ones I see everyday, or just once. Did the Western system permeating my routine make me an individualised spectator of my closest environment?

When I moved into my 20m2 apartment in Laak, a migrant, worker district of The Hague, I looked it up online. I could not find a single positive opinion on reddit; it was filled with classist, xenophobic and racist opinions, mixed with comments about the lousy upkeeping of trash on the sidewalks. I did not want to look from my window with that intention; looking for deviations, dangers and other discriminatory projections alongside my neighbours. To do that, I gave myself a new task while looking out of my window; find community, or at least see if any already exists. Remembering people who I've seen together a few times already, mapping common hang-out or waiting spots, or just speculating on possible new friendships.

Yet, after the collection was made, I've realised that the system I made led to the same thing I did not want to do; Pattern of Life Analysis (PoL) does the same thing; developed for military surveillance and counterterrorism, it uses and tracks data on presence, groupings and known spots - deviation is something seen through other spectator's windows or CCTV cameras, when one steps away from these marks. The method did not care about my intention; the structure of the observation was scarily identical.

Maybe the alternative is hidden in subverting Robakowski's idea, now. Maybe now one has to develop a communal view onto the individualised system. But to do that, I need to leave my window alone, and talk to those I've marked on this website.