Lo sguardo sulla città (The look on the city) is a project that comes from the comparison between filmic space and real space. Although these spaces are different, their perception by a subject is very similar. This is made possible mainly by the senses, and especially by the view, which filter the experience, translate it, collect the data and finally put them in categories.

The perception of space in both cases is fragmented and discontinuous, but it is only by creating relationships that space appears continuous, reducing space-time distances:

By recording videos, each of us can capture reality as it appears in the moments that we consider important, interesting, particular, following the selective scheme that our mind and memory make. Therefore, the characteristics that most define the cinematographic image could be used to concretize the perceptions that would normally remain abstract and blocked in our mind. It is a matter of manipulating real space as perceived by the subject using the structure of the filmic space. By mapping the apparently discontinuous fragments, a new unreal whole is created, linked by mental associations. In this way, not only video becomes an instrument to capture the personal perception of space, but also to reveal the way in which everyone perceives and stores experiences.

The main purpose of the project is to design an instrument-application that shapes these invisible cities, linking the fragments that our mind selects and absorbs. Thanks to the video, used as a medium between these two types of space, and to the elements that most characterize it (the sequential and fragmentary structure, the framing limit and the openness of montage) and avoiding the subjective vision, the viewer records the reality, in order to be able to reflect on the spatial and personal relationships of which he/she has experienced.

The element of continuity between images in space and time is given by the movement of the subject-camera. Thanks to rapid movements in the three dimensions and to their repetition at the end of a video and at the beginning of what you want to connect, a space is created made up of fragments of the city arranged in succession or on the side of a video taken as a reference point. Therefore, each video will start with a rapid movement, then a part in which the moment and part of the selected space will be framed, to then end with another fast movement.

In this way, impossible and non-linear paths will be created due to the relationships built and the choices made and can be viewed in two ways:

- as a sequence of videos in a film that from an initial point continues making changes of direction to arrive at a final point;

- as a map showing all the mental connections and the points where these relationships can change direction.

The mind map is made up of these fragments-frames that create a new world based on camera movements, and therefore the similarities and differences that we attribute to the place we decided to film. The squares are therefore parallel when the sequence is formed by similar fragments, while they are perpendicular when there is a difference between the perceptions. As each spatial fragment can be similar or different from another, numerous and infinite can be the paths that are formed.

The purpose of this project is not to create a new way to orient oneself physically, but mentally. However, the orientation in real space is still possible thanks to the GPS coordinates transcribed in the information of each video. Thanks to these data, we can reconnect with reality and see similarities and differences by comparing our way of perceiving the city.