Monday, September 19, 2011

Through the Looking-Glass

 
 
 
Fabiana Roscioli lives in her very own world. At first glance a world of sensual beauty, framed by lightful architecture and interior. Fabiana lives in hotels, she works in hotels, fine places that serve as the background for her films and photographs.
Being a member of a family, who has a tradition in the hotel business for the last four generation, the detached realm of the hotels is her natural habitat.
Thus, her pictures of beautiful beings in delicate settings are no fashinable shoots, as in hip magazines, but rather diary entries from an alternate reflection of our world.
 
 
 
Through the Looking-Glass
The art of Fabiana Roscioli
Mirror Bag by Fabiana Roscioli and Frank Di Mauro, 2009
the art resort a Roma
 cinegraph: the art resort
 
 
 
Water and mirrors, reflecting surfaces are a core element of Fabiana´s world. Semi-transparent glass that connects her private realm with the world outside. Like Alice, she cannot be sure if she really exists or if she is only a imaginary figure within a dream. A short glimpse in the eye of the beholder. 
Her short film “Mirror Bag” (entirely shot at the Radisson Blu es, Rome) tells the story of two woman that connect through time and space with the help of a mirror.
It reflects very well the world of Fabiana Roscioli.

read more at  The art of Fabiana Roscioli
 
 
 
Through the Looking-Glass
The art of Fabiana Roscioli
“the time inside” - by  Fabiana Roscioli and Luca Curci.                              Mixed media, cm 150x100
the art resort a Roma
 

Thursday, July 21, 2011

It's all to do with hope and memory and sensuality and involvement, really

Reflection (self portrait) 1985; Oil on canvas, 56.2 x 51.2 cm; Private collection (via  Paul Payne)
Reflection (self portrait) 1985; Oil on canvas, 56.2 x 51.2 cm; Private collection (via  Paul Payne)


Lucian Freud, a towering and uncompromising figure in the art world for more than 50 years, has died, his New York-based art dealer said Thursday. He was 88. Known chiefly for his thickly impasted portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time. His works are noted for their psychological penetration, and for their often discomfiting examination of the relationship between artist and model.
“He lived to paint and painted until the day he died, far removed from the noise of the art world,” William R. Acquavella, his dealer, said in a statement.
 Freud's portraits often depict only the sitter, sometimes sprawled naked on the floor or on a bed or alternatively juxtaposed with something else, as in Girl With a White Dog (1951–52) and Naked Man With Rat (1977–78). The use of animals in his compositions is widespread, and often features pet and owner. Freud's subjects are often the people in his life; friends, family, fellow painters, lovers, children. He said, "The subject matter is autobiographical, it's all to do with hope and memory and sensuality and involvement, really."


(via Francis Bacon & Lucian Freud - Ananas à Miami)
Portrait of Lucian Freud on Orange Couch by Francis Bacon, 1965

Lucian Freud Girl With A Kitten 1947

Saturday, July 02, 2011

Soundsuits by Nick Cave

Soundsuits by Nick Cave
Chicago artist Nick Cave,  transforms found objects in this kind of sculptural costumes, which are  between art and haute couture. The Soundsuits are called like this  because when worn they emit sounds. Reminiscent of African ceremonial  costumes, he believes that the familiar must move towards the fantastic,  to evoke feelings that have no name, which are not realized except in  dreams. With this act of collecting and reconfigure, Cave manages to  construct stories.

Who says art can´t be funky?
(via We Are Selecters · You Are Selecters ♥ » )




Chicago artist Nick Cave, transforms found objects in this kind of sculptural costumes, which are between art and haute couture. The Soundsuits are called like this because when worn they emit sounds. Reminiscent of African ceremonial costumes, he believes that the familiar must move towards the fantastic, to evoke feelings that have no name, which are not realized except in dreams. With this act of collecting and reconfigure, Cave manages to construct stories.

Who says art can´t be funky?

» Soundsuits by Nick Cave

(via We Are Selecters · You Are Selecters ♥ )

(via We Are Selecters · You Are Selecters ♥ » Soundsuits by Nick Cave)» Soundsuits by Nick Cave

(via We Are Selecters · You Are Selecters ♥ )




» Soundsuits by Nick Cave

(via We Are Selecters · You Are Selecters ♥ )
 
 

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

50 minutes of porn





Alan Smithee´s latest work will be on display at the contemporary art ruhr (C.A.R.) media art fair, this weekend, 3th-5th of June. Alan Smithee, best known for his cooperations with Julia Murakami,  is represented by A&O gallery/Directors Lounge.


Alan Smithee, 50 min. of porn, 2011
from the series Reality Scans


Alu-Dibond, Lambda print, behind acrylic glass, 60 cm x 75 cm, 23.6” x 29.5” , ed. of 5/1 AP

Friday, May 27, 2011

DIE: Dice Portrait Emphasizing on the Randomness of Life

DIE:  Dice Portrait Emphasizing on the Randomness of Life




13,138 days. 13,138 die. One die for every day he lived. Frederick McSwain remembers his friend Tobias Wong as, “one of the funniest people who ever lived. Every day with him was a monumental occasion. He had this big presence. There was something about the way he saw the world, the way he reacted was like the butterfly effect.” In his tribute piece for the  BrokenOff BrokenOff exhibition, McSwain chose to create a composite portrait of Wong using dice.




McSwain explains:
The idea of a die itself was appropriate—the randomness of life. It felt like [a medium] he would use. Because [Tobias] was a very street-level force, I thought it was appropriate [to install] the portrait on the floor. Its not something I wanted to suspend on the wall; I wanted it to be right there on the floor where you almost interact with it. The idea of every decision you make and everything you’ve done in your life, defines who you are. All of those days symbolically makes up the image of Tobi.
Core77 was there for the installation at Gallery R’Pure and created a stunning time lapse video of the making of DIE

"DIE" Frederick McSwain Installation Time Lapse from stephen dirkes on Vimeo.




(via the art resort)

Thursday, May 26, 2011

From Paris with Love

Looks like Invader is safely back in Paris with new work and possibly a subtle message for the LAPD. (Photo: Lionel/Flickr)
(via Parting Shot - trends)

Looks like Invader is safely back in Paris with new work and possibly a subtle message for the LAPD. (Photo: Lionel/Flickr)

(via ultra look)

Monday, May 23, 2011

Ai Weiwei Projected on Chinese Consulate in NYC



Cuban artist Geandy Pavon projected a giant image of Ai Weiwei on the Consulate General of China in Manhattan on Friday night. Since the diplomatic mission’s security always runs protesters off their sidewalk and into a designated patch of concrete across the street, this was appropriate.
Protest project Nemesis Ai Weiwei: The Elusiveness of Being had a rippling Ai portrait tower over Twelfth Avenue, haunting the building with a public shaming. This video’s scenes of New Yorkers recognizing Ai’s face are heartwarming, but the action is only symbolic. Too many of Ai’s friends and associates are still missing and the reported details on Ai’s brief visit with his wife seem suspicious. Support from the international art community is growing steadily, but the Chinese government has not wavered in their demonstrative persecution of the artist.
by Marina Galperina

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Tthe Japanese Guerilla Paparazzi going Dolce Vita

The Japanese Guerilla Paparazzi World Tour: The Tour Must Go On - JGP disregarding the Piazza Garibaldi
read more about the project: sometimes they shoot back
The Japanese Guerilla Paparazzi World Tour: The Tour Must Go On - JGP disregarding the Piazza Garibaldi


Our little friends, The Japanese Guerilla Paparazzi just popped up in and around Rome, doing what they do best, ignoring the landmarks around them.  It was only pure chance that the enchanting Nadya Cazan was around, able to shoot back, capturing the hunters. You know what they say: When in Rome do as the Romans do but it is hard to imagine that The Japanese Guerilla Paparazzi will ever change their cameras for a mobile, (but wait, ... when they come with a build in camera...)

read more about the project: sometimes they shoot back

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Cement eclipses

electoral campaign Gendarmenmarkt. Berlin. April. 2011


T he Cement Eclipses by Isaac Cordal, "small interventions in the big city" as he  calls them are clever placed little sculptures that pop up in several European cities. His sculptures take the form of little people sculpted from concrete in ’real’ situations. Cordal manages to capture a lot of emotion in his vignettes, in spite of their lack of detail or colour. He is sympathetic toward his little people and we empathise with their situations, their leisure time, their waiting for buses and their more tragic moments such as accidental death, suicide or family funerals. His sculptures can be found in gutters, on top of buildings, on top of bus sheltersLast year, London bases street art magazine LSD published an interview with Isaac. Excerpt:
Where and when did the Cement Eclipse campaign begin? 
I started making sculptures out of cement when I was at School of Art in 2002, but it was not until 2006 when I started to use them on the streets. The first place I left a Cement eclipses sculpture was in the city of Vigo


What’s the concept behind these small street pieces? 
Cement Eclipses is a critic/definition of our behavior as a social mass. This project intends to catch the attention on our devalued relation with the nature through a critical look to the collateral effects of our evolution. These scenes zoom in the routine tasks of the contemporary human being. They present fragments in which the nature, still present, maintains encouraging symptoms of survival. The precariousness of these anonymous statuettes, at the height of the sole of the passers, represents the nomadic remainders of an imperfect construction of our society. These small sculptures contemplate the demolition and reconstruction of everything around us. They catch the attention of the absurdity of our existence. more

 A book about the Cement eclipses will be presented Thursday 26th May 2011 6.00pm at The Pure Evil Gallery, London 

Friday, May 13, 2011

GO HUG YOURSELF



It was about time for the Sense-Roid. Unpoked on Facebook, unfollowed on tumblr? There´s always still you, and thanks to Sense-Roid you can enjoy an emotional haptic communication with yourself. A needful gadget from the Tokyo's University of Electro-Communications.
via

Thursday, May 05, 2011

AS MANY EYES AS A MAN CAN HAVE


NYMan With A Movie Camera is a 64-minute, shot-for-shot remake of Dziga Vertov’s Man With A Movie Camera with a live score played by the Michael Nyman Band. Nyman has been heavily involved in cinema for most of his working life, creating the Oscar-winning score for Jane Campion’s The Piano and numerous other features including Peter Greenaway’s Drowning By Numbers and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover.
Conceived and directed by Nyman, Nyman With A Movie Camera painstakingly reconstructs Vertov’s iconic silent picture of 1929 using footage from Nyman’s own film archives shot over the last two decades.  
I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Nyman at the 7th Berlin International Directors Lounge and he is "what the title says", a man with a movie camera, constantly shooting, a pictophag, in his own words "greedy for information" trying to devour the whole world through the lense of the camera.  In that sense the film is also a very personal self-portrait. The following is a review by Kenton Turk, first published at the art resort.
AS MANY EYES AS A MAN CAN HAVE
NYMan With A Movie Camera respins a classic

Dziga Vertov's legendary and highly influential 1929 wordless documentary Man With A Camera receives a tribute and update at once with Michael Nyman's attempt at “a truly international absolute language”, the original's stated intention. Where Vertov's camera captured life in Soviet cities only, Nyman is able to take the aim one step further, reflecting our modern world: here, the locales themselves give evidence of today's accepted international interaction. 26 countries and territories are listed in the credits, and Nyman's camera moves as freely between continents as it does between social classes, activities and cinematic devices. What appears at times to be haphazard collage shows abundant evidence of clever segues that imply plays-on-words or various views of a single subject.

The title's tongue-in-cheek take on the original foreshadows the sly playfulness Nyman displays throughout. The film leads with the original's Russian credits, faithfully translating its aims and veering only when names of original collaborators are to be replaced with those contributing to this work. The opening scene is a filmic tribute to the original, with Vertov's cameraman atop a seemingly huge camera in split screen with a modern boom-mounted camera regarding a phalanx of press photographers. The latter camera will resurface like a symphonic theme, at times intrusively, at others as a ghostly superimposition. From here, we are treated to his vision without losing sight of the kudos due the original. In a series of further split screen shots scattered about the film displaying Vertov's work to the left, we are continually reminded of the film's comparative nature: Vertov's track sweeper sidles up beside Nyman's bullring track, someone feeling eggs is seen next to someone feeling fruit, black and white film frames are shown beside a digital photo album, people rushing to cross a street next to an old man struggling to do the same, a telephone switchboard edges up to a Nokia delivery truck, in each instance, the monochromatic contrasting with full colour. The device does not lean on the original, but rather includes it as a part of the sum of what we witness today.

Utilizing his own 2002 BFI-commissioned soundtrack to the original throughout, Nyman proceeds to lead us through a world of personal imagery, showing a predilection for recurring signposts. Most notably, dolls appear throughout, in all forms and in various frames of reference, from baby dolls wrapped in plastic following bridal portraits to Barbie dolls dressed for airline service preceding a still of a stewardess's legs behind a “Safety on board” warning. Industrial processes and workspaces, sport disciplines and means of transport, particularly trams, also abound.

Tragic scenes married to less tragic ones, such as a car bombing and its victims juxtaposed against examinations of a collection of miniature emergency vehicles only to jump back to actual crises, imply an ability to reference a situation from varying perspectives as well as a certain dark humour. The straightforward variety is also employed. We note with amusement when subjects are unsure of being watched, and are allowed guiltless voyeurism as we spy on a man picking his nose. The unnoticed is sometimes revisited for comic effect: a full shot of plastic- covered automobiles is later re-examined in close-up, with the protuberance of a car mirror so wrapped bearing stark resemblance to a condom-sheathed bulge.

Nyman's best sequences are those showing wit in making connections. Here he demonstrates awareness of the rapid associations our brains make. An electronic billboard with the name of Mexican soccer star “Israel Castro” is followed by a picture of an imam and an Iranian sport team. A shot of a man plugging his ears precedes various scenes of “playing”: first piano, then backgammon, then a toy xylophone followed by a full-sized one. A scene of a barber at work leads to a drawing of bald heads, then a bald androgynous couple, razors and scissors being sharpened, photo session preparation, and finally hedge clippers and a little girl observing the hedge-trimming while fondling her own tresses. In one of the best, scenes filmed at Ground Zero in New York are followed by barbed wire barriers and (in perhaps the film's best visual association) a bird apparently flying “into” Berlin's Fernsehturm in a shot that is eerily reminiscent of “9/11” footage.

A concerted effort is made throughout to include Vertov's many cinematic innovations and employed techniques, culminating in the final scenes, the film's most frenetic. In a Koyaanisqatsi-style escalation, we are taken through many of these in dizzyingly fast succession, all paraded out for a last look: simultaneously focused and unfocused frames, multiple images, time lapse photography, split screen, Dutch (or tilted) angles, superimposition, extreme close-ups, diagonally split images, jump cuts and more, the various techniques concentrated on performers and performing spaces, cameras and spectators. In the final shot, the red carpet press photographers of the opening are inserted into a camera's lens, turning the tables, as it were. Observers become the observed.

Nyman references not only Vertov's, but also his own forays into film. The shadowed drapery of his Witness I makes an early appearance, to be followed later in the film by the same film's haunting faces. Sequences from other Nyman offerings will also later vie for attention: the inept but unperturbed passenger of Tieman can be seen; the “Wanted” poster of Searching For Bacon briefly appears. Nyman himself, not to be forgotten, shows up Hitchcock-like in a few scenes. Vertov's shot of a Russian-language “Gorky” banner spanning a street shares the screen with a “Nyman” banner doing the same; later, electronic ribbon text announces his appearance at the Toronto International Film Festival. We see him from behind early on, later as a reflection, a man with a camera. About halfway through the film, we spy a poster with the slogan “Your sight is precious”; over it is Nyman's own reflection in glass while he brings the shot in with a slow zoom. An appropriate way to sum up the film, one thinks..


NYMan with a Movie Camera will be screened in NewYork Premiere at the MoMA,
introduced by  Michael Nyman, Sunday, May 8, 2011, 5:00 p.m.
This screening will also occur on:
Wednesday, May 11, 2011, 6:00 p.m.


Wednesday, May 04, 2011

habits make us blind

‘habits make us blind’  1/4
 Spanish architecture studio espai MGR’s ‘habits make us blind’ is a photographic series of work which addresses the vacant lots in downtown valencia, which they pass everyday.
habits make us blind
‘habits make us blind’  1/4


 Spanish architecture studio espai MGR’s ‘habits make us blind’ is a photographic series of work which addresses the vacant lots in downtown valencia, which they pass everyday.
‘…like an invisible metastasis generated in the heart of the city and extending to all its arteries. neighborhoods that, although having huge potential, lay unused, not promoting a good means of sustainable development. We recognize this as a typical theme in the central neighborhoods in valencia. sometimes, the tourists are the city’s
inhabitants pay attention to the issue at hand for a moment because secondary problems stemming from those spaces implied affect us directly. however, in most cases, they are only a part of daily way of life. this photographic body of work aims to call people’s attention to these neglected spaces. it demands the recreational use of these vacant lots as seen through the eyes of a child, by filling them with impossible constructions, surrealistic installations in line with the problem. (…)’
architecture studio espai MGR
‘habits make us blind’  2/4

‘…like an invisible metastasis generated in the heart of the city and extending to all its arteries. neighborhoods that, although having huge potential, lay unused, not promoting a good means of sustainable development. We recognize this as a typical theme in the central neighborhoods in valencia. sometimes, the tourists are the city’s  inhabitants pay attention to the issue at hand for a moment because secondary problems stemming from those spaces implied affect us directly. however, in most cases, they are only a part of daily way of life. this photographic body of work aims to call people’s attention to these neglected spaces. it demands the recreational use of these vacant lots as seen through the eyes of a child, by filling them with impossible constructions, surrealistic installations in line with the problem. (…)’
architecture studio espai MGR

(via habits make us blind)
‘habits make us blind’  4/4
(via habits make us blind)

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Where her son flies in the sky




 On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin, "the Columbus of the Cosmos" became the first human to travel into space. During his flight, Gagarin famously whistled the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает"). The first two lines of the song are: "The Motherland hears, the Motherland knows/Where her son flies in the sky". The Japanese Guerilla Paparazzi, themself known as maniac voyagers, are shown here while firing flashes of salute in honor of the travelling comrade. It should be noted that we don´t see Mr. Garin in Person, instead it is a "Singing Postcard" with a recording of the radio transmission covering his flight.

more

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Black Rain


Black Rain from Semiconductor on Vimeo.


Black Rain is sourced from images collected by the twin satellite, solar mission, STEREO. Here we see the HI (Heliospheric Imager) visual data as it tracks interplanetary space for solar wind and CME's (coronal mass ejections) heading towards Earth. Data courtesy of courtesy of the Heliospheric Imager on the NASA STEREO mission.

Working with STEREO scientists, Semiconductor collected all the HI image data to date, revealing the journey of the satellites from their initial orientation, to their current tracing of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Solar wind, CME's, passing planets and comets orbiting the sun can be seen as background stars and the milky way pass by.

As in Semiconductors previous work 'Brilliant Noise' which looked into the sun, they work with raw scientific satellite data which has not yet been cleaned and processed for public consumption. By embracing the artefacts, calibration and phenomena of the capturing process we are reminded of the presence of the human observer who endeavors to extend our perceptions and knowledge through technological innovation.

Commissioned by Animasivo Mexico City, 2009

Semiconductor is artist duo Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt. Through moving image, sound and multi-media installations they explore the material nature of our world and how we experience it, questioning our place in the physical universe. Their unique approach has won them many awards and prestigious fellowships such as the Gulbenkian Galapagos, Smithsonian Artists Research and the NASA Space Sciences. Their work is part of several international public collections and has been exhibited globally including Venice Bienniale, The Royal Academy, Hirshhorn Museum, BBC, ICA and the Exploratorium.

(via We Find Wildness)

Friday, April 08, 2011

DL hits LA

DL at the LAAA
one not to miss: Directors Lounge hits LA, opening reception April 9th 6-9pm
We are screening assorted highlights at the prestigious Los Angeles Art Association (LAAA) as part of  NOT A CAR, a  special all-media, cross-cultural exhibition featuring the highlights  from our partners, the C.A.R. art fair in Essen, Germany, alongside original  contemporary artworks by Los  Angeles artists debuting at Gallery 825 on  April 9, 2011. Exhibit runs  through April 29, 2011.

pictured: some frames from
Eine Geisha wird gefilmt, a geisha being filmed by André Werner , 1993, 2 min 50 s


O
ne not to miss: Directors Lounge hits LA, opening reception April 9th 6-9pm
Directors Lounge is screening assorted highlights at the prestigious Los Angeles Art Association (LAAA) as part of  NOT A CAR, a special all-media, cross-cultural exhibition featuring the highlights from our partners, the C.A.R. art fair in Essen, Germany, alongside original contemporary artworks by Los Angeles artists debuting at Gallery 825 on April 9, 2011. Exhibit runs through April 29, 2011.

pictured: some frames from
Eine Geisha wird gefilmt, a geisha being filmed by André Werner , 1993, 2 min 50 s

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Gegen Warten | Reinhold Gottwald at a.i.p.



Gegen warten. Reinhold Gottwald´s concept for his exhibition in the a.i.p. gallery is a volatile, fragile Installation, combining room and wall space. Here he works with industrial made materials, objects that he casualla found on city sites, articles that caught his attention are rededicated and Incorporated in the installation. The open construction and mounting will take place directly in the gallery. Variability as a possibility to redefine the room at the present time.


gegen warten 
Reinhold Gottwald 
a.i.p.galerie 
opening reception April 1st, 7pm 
2.4.-7.5.2011


a.i.p.galerie artist in progress
Suarezstraße 8 14057 Berlin

Monday, March 28, 2011





Teller is a magazine of stories. Stories told in pictures, in words, in both; short sharp stories, 'so I once heard this story' stories, stories of pure invention and stories that might just be true.

Teller brings together photography, fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and all kinds of graphic art, from well-known names and exciting new talent. It's beautifully designed by Neue Gestaltung and perfectly printed in Italy on lovely matt paper.

The first issue was launched in October and limited to 1000 copies, which have now sold out. Issue two will be bigger and better, perfect bound and priced at £5/€6/$8. But Teller your help! All donations raised here will go towards the printing costs of issue two.

Teller is now just 7 days away from the end of their kickstarter crowd-funding campaign, and still have some way to go to reach our target to cover the printing costs of Teller issue 2:
If they do not reach our target, we won't get a penny of the money that so many people have so generously pledged, so if you haven't donated yet, please help  to reach the target!


For a $10 donation you can pre-order issue two. You will receive your copy straight off the press, posted anywhere in the world.

And they have lots of nice rewards available for larger donations, from a very desirable Teller tote bag and the glory of a thank you in the magazine itself, to beautiful signed photo books by our contributors and even a limited edition print by Nina Mangalanayagam. Check out the rewards listings for more details.





So what can you expect from Teller issue two?
In a special themed section, we explore the curious involvement of animals in human affairs. Amber Marks, author of Headspace, the definitive guide to smell surveillance, speculates on the mysterious death of Paul the Octopus in the context of a history of animal spies. Thomas Thwaites examines how police might utilize the waggle dance of bees in the fight against horticultural crime, and Niven Govinden invites us to a nefarious hunter’s feast.
Comedian and artist Miriam Elia introduces Il Fascisto Dog, photographer Amy Stein brings human and animal worlds face to face in small-town Pennsylvania. Jose Navarro joins Spain's trashumante shepherds on an epic journey with a thousand years of tradition, and Ruby Russell and Bronwen Parker-Rhodes report on Ceausescu's legacy to the dogs of Bucharest.
In other stories, artist Anna Hughes describes delicate moments of narrative in an obscured conversation, John Angerson goes on a dry run at a space station, and acclaimed young author Lucy Caldwell depicts the pains of a teenage awakening. Salena Godden (founder of London's Book Club Boutique) leads us into a grimy London underworld. Playing with the boundaries between documentary and fiction, Anton Koslov Mayr directs a performance at the headquarters of the United Nations, in which world leaders become unwitting protagonists in a work of gonzo photo reportage.
Keep checking back - we'll let you know how issue two is taking shape. We hope you're going to enjoy it... and THANK YOU for supporting Teller!
"anything but ordinary" – Jeremy Leslie (Magculture), Creative Review
"Sure to become a collector's item" – Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian (UK)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Secret Life


Secret Life from ⓇⓇ Artstudio Reynolds on Vimeo.

Secret Life by REYNOLD REYNOLDS, portrays a woman trapped in an apartment with a life of its own. Transcending the narrative horizons of human desire, the film visits upon us a glimpse of a shared and sacred reality. A work that defies the ultimate metaphysical taboos of temporality by combining novel technique with intrepid philosophical vision; and daring to present that which is seldom, if ever, portrayed in any artistic medium.
Impossibilities are made possible through Reynolds’ signature aesthetic, a lens that can fill one with reverence for the mundane.
Have you ever wondered what time sees, experiences? Without mortal assumptions about time, the occupant of the apartment is no longer limited even to unique location, but here, seen through the eye of time, space itself is now become alive. Without the context of space and time, the woman’s mind collapses and neglects the organization of her experience, leaving her only with sensations. The viewer may ask: Is it her mind or is it time itself that creates the uncontrolled and uncontrollable environment? The work suggests that all living things are endowed with consciousness, meaning all living things have awareness. While the space increases in its activity, the woman becomes an ever more passive element in her world. She moves at a mechanical speed and her mind is like a clock whose hands pin the events of her life to the tapestry of time, all the while, the truth is transcendentally reflected in the mechanical eye of the camera. Her thoughts escape her and come to life, growing like the plants that inhabit the space around her: living, searching, feeling, breathing and dying.

HD video transferred from 16mm and photo stills

single channel HD projection 10 min or 2 channel HD projection each 5 min.

Synopsis:
Secret Life is the first of the Secrets Trilogy; a cycle exploring the imperceptible conditions that frame life and is followed by Secret Machine (2009) and Six Easy Pieces (2010)

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Tomorrowland

B
en Sandler´s Tomorrowland
A retrofuturistic, ambiguous universe of disorder and design where cars can fly and time stands still.



Ben Sandler´s Tomorrowland
A retrofuturistic, ambiguous universe of disorder and design where cars can fly and time stands still.

Photographer: Ben Sandler; Stylist/Deco: Julie Vianey; Retouching: Pierrick @ Asile; 3D: Ben @ Asile; Casting: Olivier Duperrin; Homme: Edouard; Femme: Sylvija @ Idole; Fille: Jeannine @ Angels; Make-up: Corinne Gues @ B Agency; Rafael Pita @ B Agency; Hair: Emilie Chardonnet @ B Agency;





                                      









digged at the art resort


Photographer: Ben Sandler; Stylist/Deco: Julie Vianey; Retouching: Pierrick @ Asile; 3D: Ben @ Asile; Casting: Olivier Duperrin; Homme: Edouard; Femme: Sylvija @ Idole; Fille: Jeannine @ Angels; Make-up: Corinne Gues @ B Agency; Rafael Pita @ B Agency; Hair: Emilie Chardonnet @ B Agency;

Thursday, March 17, 2011

You are a country if you say you are

President Kevin Baugh of Molossia, still from How To Start Your Own Country by Jody Shapiro, 2010, 72 min




What makes a country a country? What makes a state a state? A nation a nation? And what’s to stop you from starting your own?

In a globe-hopping search for an answer to these fundamental but little understood questions of sovereignty, How To Start Your Own Country visits six micronations – unrecognized self-declared sovereign entities that you will not find on a political map.
Meet Prince Leonard and Princess Shirley of the Hutt River Province Principality, the second –largest nation on the continent of Australia; Salute President Kevin Baugh, the absolute ruler of the Republic of Molossia, entirely surrounded by the state of Nevada; say “buon giorno” to good folk of Seborga, a 1200-year-old principality which claims to have been included in Italy by mistake.

Through the lives and experiences of these micronational pioneers – whether farmer, artist, pirate or inventor -- the film lays bare the ephemeral nature of statehood while interviews with diplomats and experts in international law expose a revelation: there is no legal definition of a country in international jurisprudence. You are a country if you say you are.

But declaration does not guarantee recognition.

Along the way we learn of the exclusionary membership terms of the United Nations, the ultimate country club. We realize that the maps that shape our self-image as citizens are mere representations, the boundaries they delineate relative. Wherever you look in the world – from the high seas to forsaken desert -- there is someone with a different idea of what constitutes home. And an urge to put themselves literally on the map.
From the outback soil of the Hutt River Principality to the futuristic ocean cities of The Seasteading Institute, these visionaries are challenging the status quo, setting their own course and creating nations that you will not find in an atlas… at least not yet.
How To Start Your Own Country explores a concept most of us take for granted: the countries we call home. See the trailer here, read a review from the The Toronto International Film Festival after the jump.


Monday, March 14, 2011

Odes to the Mask

Surveying Contemporary and Modern African Masks as Sculpture
Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street 212-535-7710 New YorkReconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists from Three Continents March 8-August 21, 2011
Highly creative re-imaginings of the iconic form of the  African mask comprise a unique installation at The Metropolitan Museum  of Art. Featuring 20 works of art — 19 sculptures and one photograph — Reconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists from Three Continents reflects on the enduring relevance of African masks as a source of inspiration for artists across cultures into the present.
Calixte Dakpogan (Beninese, born 1958), Heviosso, 2007, Metal,  plastic (shoes and combs), CD, tape, H. x W. x D.: 74 x 55 x 28.5 cm),  Courtesy CAAC - The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva, © Calixte Dakpogan.
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Calixte Dakpogan (Beninese, born 1958), Heviosso, 2007, Metal, plastic (shoes and combs), CD, tape, H. x W. x D.: 74 x 55 x 28.5 cm), Courtesy CAAC - The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva, © Calixte Dakpogan.

Highly creative re-imaginings of the iconic form of the African mask comprise a unique installation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Featuring 20 works of art — 19 sculptures and one photograph — Reconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists from Three Continents reflects on the enduring relevance of African masks as a source of inspiration for artists across cultures into the present.

Romuald Hazoumé    (Beninese, born 1962), Internet, 1997, Metal  can, electric cables, H. x W. x D.: 32.1 x 29.8 x 27.9 cm, Courtesy  CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva, © Romuald Hazoumé.
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Romuald Hazoumé (Beninese, born 1962), Internet, 1997, Metal can, electric cables, H. x W. x D.: 32.1 x 29.8 x 27.9 cm, Courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva, © Romuald Hazoumé.

 
In many world cultures masks allow performers to adopt a wide range of characters and emotions. They can take on an endless variety of forms: human or animal; sacred or profane; dramatic or comedic. They are not meant to be experienced in isolation but rather as an integral component of celebrations, from the epic tributes to Dogon elders in Mali to popular holidays such as Halloween or the Day of the Dead and to the numerous Mardi Gras carnivals held throughout Europe and Latin America.
It is well established that African art forms, most notably the mask, were a source of inspiration for modern artists such as Pablo Picasso, André Derain, and Henri Matisse in the early twentieth century. The aesthetic of the African mask thus contributed to a redefinition of the Western visual lexicon. Considered especially alluring were its accessible reimagining of the human face and its aura of inscrutability.

Romuald Hazoumé (Beninese, born 1962), Ear Splitting, 1999, Plastic can, brush, speakers 42 x 22 x 16 cm, Courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva, © Romuald Hazoumé.
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Romuald Hazoumé (Beninese, born 1962), Ear Splitting, 1999, Plastic can, brush, speakers 42 x 22 x 16 cm, Courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva, © Romuald Hazoumé.


This selection of works from Africa, Europe and the United States attests to the enduring relevance of the African mask in modern and contemporary art. The five artists represented here—Lynda Benglis, Willie Cole, Calixte Dakpogan, Romuald Hazoumé, and Man Ray—have all used the African mask as a catalyst for creative exploration. Their works reflect on a century of viewing the mask as a disembodied form—that is, as an art object in a museum removed from its original performative context. Informed by his or her respective individual experiences, each artist harnesses the transformative ability of unconventional materials to achieve unexpected reinterpretations of the idiom
African masks are often thought of as carved wooden artifacts, but they are an inherently complex and dynamic art form: to fully appreciate them, one must view them in motion, animated by costumes, dance, and music; the various media added to their surfaces are thought to imbue them with mystical powers; and the influence of foreign materials and techniques have led to a continuous redefinition of the genre. Such dynamism finds parallel expression in the work of these five artists, all of whom operate outside these traditions. Responding to the sheer physicality of the mask while alluding to its spiritual quality, each of their works pays tribute to the powerful legacy of the African mask and its infinite potential for reinvention.


 

Man Ray (American, 1890-1976), Noire et Blanche, 1926, Gelatin  silver print, Private collection, New York, © 2011 Man Ray Trust /  Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris.
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Man Ray (American, 1890-1976), Noire et Blanche, 1926, Gelatin silver print, Private collection, New York, © 2011 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris.

Portrait Mask (Gba gba), Cote  d’Ivoire © Baule peoples, before 1913,  Wood, 26 x 12.4 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of  Adrienne Minassian, 1997 (1997.277).
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Portrait Mask (Gba gba), Cote d’Ivoire © Baule peoples, before 1913, Wood, 26 x 12.4 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of Adrienne Minassian, 1997 (1997.277).


Surveying Contemporary and Modern African Masks as Sculpture
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street
212-535-7710
New York

Reconfiguring an African Icon: Odes to the Mask by Modern and Contemporary Artists from Three Continents
March 8-August 21, 2011

via

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Wrong • The Questionable Reality of Asger Carlsen

Wrong : Asger Carlsen

The Doctor Is In(sane) : The Questionable Reality of Asger Carlsen
What are these?  They appear at first, like so many photographs do, as candid moments, mundane vernacular portraits or documents of small news events from the pages of a weekly local paper.  The on-camera flash blasts in with that harsh direct light we are used to seeing in our family albums, the black and white palette inexplicably adding to their authenticity (why is that?).  They are familiar, and there is nothing out of the ordinary in these photographs except everything. Are they even photographs? I think of the bumper sticker, stuck upside-down that reads "Question Reality", where the gesture itself is a visual pun of it's own sentiment.  The "truth" of photographs has always been in question, but in these images, it's the un-truth you are left wondering about, like vivid hallucinations you see out of the corner of your eye. They are optical illusions in the grandest sense, doctored images with invisible scars. I can look and know that no one has two functioning wooden legs, but there he is, vacuuming the floor. There he is, stopped at a red light on his motorcycle, and I believe in him, over and over. There is a funny expression that people use online in reaction to awful or disturbing images: "Cannot Un-See!" they say in dismay. The image is burned in, the damage is done. I cannot un-see the alternate reality that Asger has created in these images. I am convinced.
- Tim Barber
NYC, March 21, 2010



Wrong : Asger Carlsen


Wrong : Asger Carlsen

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Design Is Culture • Lutz Rudolph



Lutz Rudolph, a charming, little, silver bearded man, started working as a freelance designer back in the early sixties in the former GDR.  This unusual independence, most design was done inhouse by permanent employees,  was as beneficial as it was hindering. While many design concepts never became real, like the pictured concept car from 1966, it offered the chance to work in total different fields from cutlery to radios to cars to lamps. Even so often ignored by the bureaucratic system, Lutz and his fellow Clauss Dietel managed to create an impressive collection of well designed products that can best described as literal simply beautiful. The beauty of their creations was always based in their functional quality. Lutz never was a luxury designer, he put as much effort into the usability as into the production process. For the series, design for mass production, was his declared goal, assuring that his designs became affordable.  And so, against great odds, the duo  inspired the average life in the GDR with a gentle touch of Bauhaus. Today, many of their creations are considered design icons. Lately Lutz spend most of his time together with his wife in an enchanted, century old cottage on the island Ruegen. Those who managed to find the way to his hideaway were rewarded with long night chats at the chimney. Scintillatingly witty talks about art, culture and all with a sincere artist from head to toe.
Lutz Rudolph passed away on Monday 7th of March in Gera. He will be deeply missed.

photo: Trabant P 603, Steilheckvariante, design by Dietel and Rudolph 1966.  Clauss Dietel und Lutz Rudolph - Gestaltung ist Kultur, Chemnitz 2002

Sunday, March 06, 2011

MUSE: A Savage Cocktail (with a Dash of Bitters, Please)



Kudos all around for Massimo Salvato’s Muse, which keenly interposes the almost sepia-soaked world of earnest creativity with the LED-infused shock of the lean, mean and too clean new century that each of the two writers inhabit.

We see the story unfold with the three principal characters locked in the uncomfortable embrace of creative exploitation, resignation and cynicism.

Jules Mallory Skinner’s “Monty” is a reclusive poet spurred toward creative resusitation by Ludmilla (played erratically by Julia Krynke); a woman besotted with her role as the inspirational force behind two very different men. Equally obsessed is Richard Elfyn’s “Walter”(a personality best summed up by the description “wide lawn, narrow mind”).

It’s Elfyn who strikes the most plausible note here in his standout performance. His emotional directness sears as he stares unflinchingly into the camera – his gravel-tinged confessional a perfect complement to the oppressive psychological atmosphere.

Krynke’s “Ludmilla” seems more sterile than the piece requires – alternating a firm lock on her character with intermittent lapses, as the script also exposes bouts of incontinuity breaks in flow and style. There are however several instances of greater flavour added to the written pot.

Adam Harvey’s musical scoring shows admirable restraint, subtly supporting the entire paintbox of colour that Salvato brings to life in an understated surge at the film’s conclusion.

Muse seduces again with the weaving of darkness and light and turns their standard symbolism on its head in a reversal of value. The scene changes are arrestingly crisp and fresh and we are treated to a sumptuous visual feast of images; a snail crawls toward the high set keys of an old typewriter, a tank sits amidst the scrabble of a trodden field, an aerial view of divided farmland stretches out like
gauzy velvet before us.

All said, this is a high level offering. Fine editing and deft cinematography contribute toward making the viewer wish to see this long short expanded into a feature length (indeed it does strike one as a clip from a lengthier effort), as a desire to remain longer in the world that has been created.
One is ultimately left with a strong interest in seeing what will be up Massimo Salvato’s creative sleeve next.

-Angela Turk

MUSE by Massimo Salvato GB 2010 20 min | Screened in European Premiere at the 7th Berlin International Directors Lounge

Photo: Julia Murakami and Massimo Salvato at the 7th Berlin International Directors Lounge