“Where images belong to” is a short documentary film about the “Toc d’Inici”, the opening ceremony of “La Mercè”, the main festivity of Barcelona. It was shot in September 2022 by the members of the ERC Project Visual Trust and edited by Jordi Orobitg.
“El Toc d’inici” (literally “the opening bell ring”) consists on a parade of traditional figures of Catalan folklore that members of “colles” or associations carry upon their shoulders. Among these figures, there is the famous “gegants” (giants), “Diables” (characters representing hell who throw fire upon people) and Falcons (human towers). The Toc d'inici starts at the Palau de la Virreina and ends at Plaça Sant Jaume.
All this is accompanied by a very singular (and repetitive music) played with “gralles” and “tamborins”.
The film focuses on the relationship between images and people in public space. We wished to analyze through the camera how images come into life within the context of a massive ritual. This ceremony is a clear example of a way of relating to images which goes beyond sight: in the Toc d’Inici, images are literally embodied. People enter them, thus merging with the image leading to what participants describe as a “momentary fusion”.
The film also pays attention to the act of looking. Not only to the way people look at images (which is interesting per se, especially in the case of astonished tourists who use their cellphones to make images of images) but also to the way images, animated by the collective movement of the ritual, look at participants in the ceremony.
It is also important to highlight that during the pandemics the Toc d’Inici was cancelled for the first time since its inception. In 2022, it took place again. It was a moving moment, unfortunately spoilt by the rain. Yet in the final scene one can see how images are cherished by people from Barcelona: under the rain, and despite the disappointment, people clap at images, encourage them, and support them.
Where do these images belong? They belong to the streets, and it is there where we put our cameras to understand how images and people momentarily merge turning images into persons, and people into what WJT Mitchell calls "living signs".
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