urban gleaning

'The Gleaners and I' is a documentary by Agnes Varda which explores a cultural phenomenon in France of gleaneurs, which historically were the poor and indigent who collected food that was left behind after harvest. Gleaning remains as a source of livelihood or pleasure within the realms of the law. The practice of squatting is in some sense the urban equivalent of gleaning, and denotes the fleeting nature of space within modern cities. Cities become porous with abandoned and disused buildings, which is certainly the case in the downtown, exchange, and point douglas discticts in Winnipeg.