documentation as protection
documentation as threat
documentation as inane
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
sometimes you don't have to even make anything up
"Often confused with owls, the tawny frogmouth is weaker and, frankly, lazier than most owls...
from http://www.zooborns.com/
Thursday, February 19, 2009
inspirations, feb 09
assyrian (?) ancient figures from the British Museum
dress straps held up by balloons, Hussein Chalayan
@ identity & place & disconnection
making the layers visible, , Hussein Chalayan
@ London's design museum
@ identity & place & disconnection
making the layers visible, , Hussein Chalayan@ London's design museum
sensory ethnography
an evocative screening of two films produced by students of harvard's Sensory Ethnography Lab - a collaboration between the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Visual & Environmental Studies on February 11th.
coming from the tradition pioneered by robert gardner who looks to create art that informs understanding of human beings, a wonderful approach to ethnographic film. you don't need to qualify your view point if, as artist, it is your identity is entrnched in the process from the beginnning.
the introduction made me laugh and squirm at being once again in the grand and empty halls of academia. "engagement of the subjectivities of the subject..."
but this idea to try to capture something sensual...of course there is no objective truth and no objective filmaker etc etc etc...so they go for truth through sense..to be able, through film to "almost touch the subjects of the film" and in this way "engage with the life of the subjects."
the focus in both films “Songhua” by J.P. Sniadecki and “Mud Missive” by Fatin Abbas was on sound and texture. the river was the focus of songhua, and i was struck in particular by two scenes: the first, a boy plays with the water, clapping it with his hands, touching it with his toungue, splashing it on his face...without a close up, yet Sniadecki managed to get across the feeling of that cool water on your lips...the boys actions were just to lucious. another scene is a close up of a man's feet as he is washing them in the river, hopping to get socks on, and squeezing into his fancy shoes. great to hear his voice off camera and such an intricate, slow, and careful show of mundane activity.
Abbas's film may not have had the same beautifully composed frames, but it was somehow more sincere and more connected, perhaps due to Abbas being from Sudan herself. Some great moments of close-ups of a potters hands, you can really feel the squishy wet clay between your fingers. No doubt the sensual stuff gets across so much because the shots are long - time allows you to enter into the senses.
some notes:
* the interweaving of story lines (quilting says Sniadecki) - he includes a number of stories - bathers, the barbeque man, the funny man selling trinkets, but interweaves the film with a couple playing cards, shot from different angles
*taking time with closeu ups of feet or hands doing sensory things, and only then moving up ot the face of the person to match the voice or breath you've been hearing off camera works lovely
*at the river, a beautiful long shot just at the start of a bridge, catching all the people crossing it (the plank makes noise) while the barbeque man smokes the meat in the background. worked great - movement and static. a parade of passers-by and the coooker, there all day
*trust? helps to be a student. to remain a human even though you're holding a camera. ask, but not neccessarily right away.
*"flim leisure and labour to get at largter social issues"
* working along give your more access, more adaptable (the lonely person)
* sunheiser mircophones
coming from the tradition pioneered by robert gardner who looks to create art that informs understanding of human beings, a wonderful approach to ethnographic film. you don't need to qualify your view point if, as artist, it is your identity is entrnched in the process from the beginnning.
the introduction made me laugh and squirm at being once again in the grand and empty halls of academia. "engagement of the subjectivities of the subject..."
but this idea to try to capture something sensual...of course there is no objective truth and no objective filmaker etc etc etc...so they go for truth through sense..to be able, through film to "almost touch the subjects of the film" and in this way "engage with the life of the subjects."
the focus in both films “Songhua” by J.P. Sniadecki and “Mud Missive” by Fatin Abbas was on sound and texture. the river was the focus of songhua, and i was struck in particular by two scenes: the first, a boy plays with the water, clapping it with his hands, touching it with his toungue, splashing it on his face...without a close up, yet Sniadecki managed to get across the feeling of that cool water on your lips...the boys actions were just to lucious. another scene is a close up of a man's feet as he is washing them in the river, hopping to get socks on, and squeezing into his fancy shoes. great to hear his voice off camera and such an intricate, slow, and careful show of mundane activity.
Abbas's film may not have had the same beautifully composed frames, but it was somehow more sincere and more connected, perhaps due to Abbas being from Sudan herself. Some great moments of close-ups of a potters hands, you can really feel the squishy wet clay between your fingers. No doubt the sensual stuff gets across so much because the shots are long - time allows you to enter into the senses.
some notes:
* the interweaving of story lines (quilting says Sniadecki) - he includes a number of stories - bathers, the barbeque man, the funny man selling trinkets, but interweaves the film with a couple playing cards, shot from different angles
*taking time with closeu ups of feet or hands doing sensory things, and only then moving up ot the face of the person to match the voice or breath you've been hearing off camera works lovely
*at the river, a beautiful long shot just at the start of a bridge, catching all the people crossing it (the plank makes noise) while the barbeque man smokes the meat in the background. worked great - movement and static. a parade of passers-by and the coooker, there all day
*trust? helps to be a student. to remain a human even though you're holding a camera. ask, but not neccessarily right away.
*"flim leisure and labour to get at largter social issues"
* working along give your more access, more adaptable (the lonely person)
* sunheiser mircophones
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