"Trihn Mihn-ha's experimental documentary, Reassemblage, is for all intents and purposes a film about the people of Senegal. But Trihn has a higher purpose in mind. The film if self-reflexive in that as it is as much about documentaries themselves as it is about the people of Senegal. Trihn calls into question the conventions of the documentary and how such films have the power to manipulate the way in which the audience sees. She constantly reminds her audience that they are watching a movie through many filmic techniques. For example, at times she cuts sound completely to emphasize the fact that she has the ability to manipulate what we are feeling. By taking away the music (African drumming in this case), a tool filmmakers often rely on to tell us how we SHOULD be feeling, we are left to our own devices and must figure out on our own what we are seeing, what it means to us, and why. At times this makes viewing her film fairly difficult, but ultimately it's a rather interesting and thought-provoking experience." (Youtube)
The Flattering Illusion
George Eliot, Middlemarch, Chapter 27.
Cartographies of the Present
Austin Osman Spare
Austin Osman Spare (30 December 1886 – 15 May 1956) was an English artist who developed idiosyncratic magical techniques including automatic writing, automatic drawing and sigilization based on his theories of the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self. His artistic work is characterized by skilled draughtsmanship exhibiting a mastery of the use of the line, and often employs monstrous or fantastic magical and sexual imagery. (Wikipedia)
The Language of Folding
Robert Lang at TED.
Artificial Hearts
Simon Schubert
in Architecture, Art, Folding, Optics
Simon Schubert (born 1976) is an artist based in Cologne, Germany, his birthplace. From 1997 to 2004 he trained at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in the sculpture class of Irmin Kamp. Inspired by Surrealism as well as by Samuel Beckett, Schuberts works imagine architectonical settings, common situations and objects, whereas the material he uses are either simple or sophisticated - white paper folded or mixed media arrangements. Some of his paper foldings entered the West Collection, Oaks, PA, while the Saatchi Collection, London, owns sculptural works in mixed media. (Wikipedia)
The Discarnate Condition
Marshall McLuhan at John Hopkins University.
NEW DESIGN PROJECT: Cinema Audiences
This book was designed to commemorate a three year period of screenings and events held at the Echo Park Film Center. The book contains 300 photographs of audiences that attended the film center from 2008-2011.
THE AESTHETICS OF WIRE FORMING
Vasily Vereschagin
in Art
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (Russian: Васи́лий Васи́льевич Вереща́гин, October 26, 1842 – April 13, 1904) was one of the most famous Russian battle painters and one of the first Russian artiststs to be widely recognized abroad. The graphic nature of his realist scenes led many of them to never be printed or exhibited.
Tropic of Chaos
Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence
By Christian Parenti
Nation Books, 304 pages
From Africa to Asia and Latin America, the era of climate wars has begun. Extreme weather is breeding banditry, humanitarian crisis, and state failure. In
Tropic of Chaos
, investigative journalist Christian Parenti travels along the front lines of this gathering catastrophe--the belt of economically and politically battered postcolonial nations and war zones girding the planet's midlatitudes. Here he finds failed states amid climatic disasters. But he also reveals the unsettling presence of Western military forces and explains how they see an opportunity in the crisis to prepare for open-ended global counterinsurgency. Parenti argues that this incipient "climate fascism"--a political hardening of wealthy states-- is bound to fail. The struggling states of the developing world cannot be allowed to collapse, as they will take other nations down as well. Instead, we must work to meet the challenge of climate-driven violence with a very different set of sustainable economic and development policies.
Automaton Aviary
in Art, Cultural Ecology, Ephemera, Philology
BHUTANESE PHONOGRAPHIC STAMPS
Bhutan issued these phonographic stamps in 1973. The first of their kind, the records contained recordings of folk songs, facts about the country and the Bhutanese national anthem. They have adhesive backs for use as postage. In 2008, Bhutan issued a CD-ROM stamp as an update to this design.
RECORD 1:
RECORD 2:
Angela Carter - BBC Radio 3 Interview - 1991
in Literature
Angela Carter - BBC Radio 3 - 1991 by DecorporationNotes
I was first given a copy of Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber in high school by the smartest person I knew, and I am sad to say I can now no longer look forward to reading any more novels by her (having read them all in rapid succession after my first encounter). I can, however, continue to reread the stories and novels, rediscovering the immense explorations she undertakes in the various phases of her work — from anarcho-feminist fantasy to farcical family romance and everything in between — and continue to ferret out gems like this 1991 Radio 3 interview. In it, she displays all the power of her timeless vocabulary, iconoclastic vigor and bawdy charm (as in her description of the public reception of the political themes in her books: "One is only supposed to be pink and insouciant after a day in the sun"), and provides much insight into her methods and inspirations. I highly recommend leafing through any of her brilliant novels or essays (Love, The Bloody Chamber, and Wise Children having positions of the greatest importance in my literary pantheon) some afternoon — with a bag of apples by your side, of course.
A Moment In The Sun
by John Sayles
McSweeney's, 935 pages
"Spanning five years and half a dozen countries,
A Moment in the Sun
takes the whole era in its sights—from the white-racist coup in Wilmington, North Carolina, to the first stirrings of the motion-picture industry, to the bloody dawn of U.S. interventionism in Cuba and the Philippines. The result of years of writing and research, the book is built on the voices of a breathtaking range of men and women—Hod Brackenridge, a gold-chaser turned Army recruit; Royal Scott, an African American infantryman whose life outside the military has been destroyed; Diosdado Concepcíon, a Filipino insurgent preparing to fight against his country’s new colonizers; and more than a dozen others, Mark Twain, Damon Runyon, and President William McKinley’s assassin among them. Shot through with a lyrical intensity and stunning detail that recall Doctorow and
Deadwood
both, this is a story as big as its subject: history rediscovered through the lives of the people who made it happen."
PLAYLIST 07: SUMMER
Caroline Quigley of Derry, age 7, was recorded in 1971 singing this famous little song from the early days of the "Troubles" in the six occupied counties of Ireland. It stems from the bitter "Battle of Bogside" in Derry city when the residents of the Bogside (the main "nationalist" area) for three days successfully fought off the attempts of the Police to enter the neighbourhoods in 1969. Her mother was Helen Quigley, a very fine singer and a well known member of the Republican Movement in Derry. This is a live recording made at The Bogside Inn in Derry at a special concert organised by members of the Official Republican Movement.
Flaming Tunes was a collaboration between Mary Currie and Gareth Williams, and was originally released on cassette in 1985. The album was recorded after Gareth left This Heat in the early 1980’s and returned from the first of several trips to India. Except for its initial release there has been no official edition of FT, although a bootleg CD from the late 1990’s included the tape in its entirety. It was misleadingly described as "This Heat’s final demo recordings" which was a great cause of annoyance to Gareth. He considered the Tunes album a deliberate attempt to create a music with a different mood and texture to the often harsh and uncompromising This Heat recordings, whilst giving full reign to his eclectic tastes and distinctive musical stylings.
The Tower Recordings were a group of friends in Brattleboro, Vermont. Revolving around Matt Valentine (featuring at times, PG Six, Helen Rush, Tim Barnes, Samara Lubelski, S. Freyer, Esq., Andre Vida and Dean Roberts), they were one of the more innovative groups bundled under the ever-growing umbrella of the psychedelic folk scene (or "New Weird America" as The Wire would have it). Although they have been largely overlooked in the wake of the bands who were better placed when the media began to take an interest, they’ve consistently been viewed by musicians and discerning fans alike as one of the psych-folk underground’s best kept secrets. With an encyclopedic knowledge of blues and folk traditions and a fascination with the avant-garde, they created a suitably far out sound filled with brittle acoustic picking and mind melting experimentation. The recordings often involved retiring to a suitably isolated and atmospheric location and playing with a tape rolling. Gradually they folded, with Matt Valentine evolving and creating beautiful work under the MV & EE collective umberella.
The Books are an American duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their releases typically incorporate samples of obscure sounds and speech.They have released three critically acclaimed albums on the German label Tomlab, and recently released their fourth studio album, The Way Out, on Temporary Residence Limited.
Movietone is an English post-rock band. They formed in Bristol, England in 1994. Core members are Kate Wright and Rachel Brook (now Rachel Coe). Brook was also a member of Flying Saucer Attack during the first few years of the band's existence, and Wright is also currently the bass player for Crescent. Other musicians have included Matt and Sam Jones (both of Crescent), Matt Elliott (The Third Eye Foundation), Chris Cole, Florence Lovegrove, Ros Walford and Clare Ring. 2003's The Sand and The Stars was recorded almost entirely live on a beach.
Ernst Reijseger (born November 13, 1954, Bussum) is a Dutch cellist and composer. He specializes in jazz, improvised music, and contemporary classical music and often gives solo concerts. He has worked with Louis Sclavis, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg, Gerry Hemingway, Yo-Yo Ma, Albert Mangelsdorff, Franco D'Andrea, Joëlle Léandre, Georg Gräwe, Trilok Gurtu, and Mola Sylla, and has done several world music projects working with musicians from Sardinia, Turkey, Iran, Senegal, and Argentina, as well as the Netherlands based group Boi Akih. He has made numerous recordings, both as solo cellist and with other groups, and has been the subject of a documentary film. He has also written several film scores, including scores for two Werner Herzog films: The Wild Blue Yonder and Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
Steady On Your Aim With The Petrol Bomb
A famous little song from the early days of the "Troubles" in the six occupied counties of Ireland. It stems from the bitter "Battle of Bogside" in Derry city when the residents of the Bogside (the main "nationalist" area) for three days successfully fought off the attempts of the Police to enter the neighbourhoods in 1969.
The song is performed here by Caroline Quigley of Derry, age 7 at the time of recording in about 1971. Her mother was Helen Quigley, a very fine singer and a well known member of the Republican Movement in Derry. This is a live recording made at The Bogside Inn in Derry at a special concert organised by members of the Official Republican Movement.
The Twitter Fiction of Noel Fielding
Over the past year or two, Noel Fielding (of the Mighty Boosh), has been emitting increasingly complex parables via frantic bursts of tweets, and I feel sad for anybody not reading them. They usually begin from what is ostensibly a matter-of-fact "status update" and then progress into a drunkenly remembered narrative of insular magical logic, often involving debaucherous inanimate objects, fashion mishaps, and unicorns. While similar to his stand-up material and the universe he and Julian Barratt created with the Mighty Boosh, these micro-fictions seem to only make sense in the context of twitter. You can follow him on at @noelfielding11.
Here is the last one, from about an hour ago:
worked on my art book today with bongo brown who is a visual wizard. There was also a spanish bull in the mix and a sausage sandwich. x.i think the bull was famous at some point although he was well balanced and not aloof in anyway. x.cant say the same for the sausage sandwich though. He was up his own arse. x.And he told a really long story that didnt really go anywhere. dick head.but he thought it was the best story ever and started rolling about the desk making a grunting sound.i could tell Dave and the bull were both equally disgusted and rightly so. That sausage was unbearable.i felt bad for the sausage in the end because he had no social skills and it turned out that he his wife had been sleeping around.although to be fair to her if he tells stories like that and makes that grunting noise all the time its not surprising.i always feel sorry for outsiders i cant help it so i offered to go camping with him in europe. Nightmare. Why did i do that?i hate camping and that noise he makes goes right through me. Disaster.I feel in my heart the sausage knew this though.I think I saw him crossing out Daves number from his phone book. in permanent marker.Anyway to cut a long story short I turn up at the sausages penthouse flat with my ground sheet and him and @jimmylazers have already left.So now i have to turn my chariot around and persuade my unicorns to take me back home. But they already had another job booked in.So not only have i been double crossed by the sausage I am walking home with a ground sheet over my head. I look like a small plastic hill.And @jimmylazers and the sausage are in the south of france in a two man tent. living the dream.worse was to come I got back to mine and the Bull was there drunk trying on my clothes. this is like a nightmare.hes stretched most of my good stuff. The stuff I keep for night times. Dry cleaning only stuff. He's in a track suit now doing shots.He's so wide its ridiculous. He is dancing around the bedroom with electrical appliances hanging off him. all caught round his legs.And my best hat hanging from one of his horns. Its bent out of shape. I will have to steam press that tomorrow.I am standing directly on the bulls head now as he crashes about the kitchen looking for more southern comfort.He is so drunk he is shouting to the bedroom for me to come and help him and I am standing on his head. He's out of control.Well if you cant beat them join them. x x x.The guy from next door has heard all the noise and is banging on my door. Gonna send the bull out to answer the door dressed as me. Ha Ha Ha.Oh no the bull is bringing the guy from next door in. Unbelievable its not the guy from next door its the sausage. Wearing a pancake.Hes got a crepe poncho on and is throwing playing cards everywhere. @jimmylazers is here as well dressed as the pope.This is not how I saw my evening panning out. Boom for real.me standing on a drunk bulls head whilst a sausage in a pancake overcoat pelts @jimmylazers dressed as the pope with playing cards.Ive got my French Nan staying with me as well. x.Anyway hope you guys are having a good night x Bye x
Progress and Resistance in Central India, Part 3
Arundhati Roy has republished her essays on the Maoist struggle in central India (previously discussed
and
) in her new book of essays,
. Of course, like all of her work, these essays follow the logical and poetic implications of the injustices and struggles of indigenous people in India to global and metaphysical levels, providing novel possbilities of understanding and inspiration. I can say without having read the new edition and the third essay it contains that this is a must-read for advocates of indigenous rights, environmentalists, and anti-capitalists of all stripes.
Here is a BBC interview with Arundhati Roy about the book: