December 11, 2002
Roundup
Images of earth from space via the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) cameras aboard the Terra satellite. Unlike weather satellites, this is a camera taking true-color images of the Earth's surface, often focusing on unique events (dust bowls, erupting volcanoes, etc.) Totally fascinating. I came across this via the Earth Observatory website mentioned in this week's issue of The New Yorker.
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I've recently come to appreciate Mies van der Rohe's Lange House (1927-1930), which had previously escaped my focused attention. Some images: photo by Hans Engels, two views from the lawn, a short essay by Kent Kleinman and Leslie Van Duzer of Columbia University, an image from 1985, and one last one. A beauty, no? Especially in the first image, which I've seen printed at a larger scale and in which the contrast between the dark brick and the white interiors is most pronounced.
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There is a Spanish-language bank advertisement on a bus shelter around the corner from my house whose text says something to the effect of "Steering my life in new and better directions." The conscious act of translation works to separate the message from the company placing the advertisement, and, lifted out of its context, it serves as a little pick-me-up on my way to the train every morning. It gives me a (slightly Nietzschian) confidence in my own willpower to change things in my life, to make it better. I'm glad the advertisement is not in English.
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Even though my posts on contemporary art seem to fall flat in terms of response, I'm drafting a top ten exhibitions/works list for the year. The items are selected, but I want to write a little bit about why I felt each selection was important. Coming soon.
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Holiday reading list: The Practice of Everyday Life by Michel de Certeau, The Critique of Everyday Life, Part 1 by Henri Lefebvre, and selections from The Everyday Life Reader edited by Ben Highmore. I also plan to re-read Miwon Kwon's One Place After Another: Site-specific Art and Locational Identity and finish Edward Said's Culture and Imperialism. Pretty hefty for one week, but I think I can manage. One question: Has anyone read Prague by Arthur Phillips? It popped up on a number of best-of lists for the year, and I'm curious for a slightly more in-depth opinion.
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I'm in the middle of paper-writing purgatory (who isn't?) at the moment. Longer posts on specific topics returning soon. In the meantime, if anyone has any final comments to add to the thread on Susan Sontag's essay in last week's New Yorker, they're still appreciated.
Posted in Miscellaneous. Found always via this permanent link.
December 7, 2002
Safety valves
We want every day and every action to be a manifestation of love, joy, confusion and revolt. - Refused, Final Communique
As is often the case when I'm feeling a bit down, I have stayed in the past few nights, cleaning my room and listening to old hardcore records. Refused, Anomie, Born Against, Portraits of Past, Clikatat Ikatowi, His Hero is Gone, Frail, Palatka, Yaphet Kotto - all the music that still gets me going. I air drum, shout along with the lyrics, and reconnect with the energy that seems to have been sucked out of me. I write long e-mails and longer letters, dream up new projects, scribble notes on torn pieces of paper, reorganize and reprioritize. It happens every few months, when my relatively stable range of emotions drifts below the horizon line. An internal safety valve. When I think of close friends and lovers, it seems that they all have these mechanisms. I'm very curious to hear what yours might be. For now, I'm off to watch the lights go out on the Empire State Building, a midnight ritual. I'm sure it's done by computer, but I like to imagine that there's one man or woman somewhere up near the 86th floor, looking at a wristwatch and waiting for the exact moment to flip the switch.
For those of you looking at this on your friends list: I also hope that, despite the voluminous contributions already made by myself and
Posted in Miscellaneous. Found always via this permanent link.
December 4, 2002
Susan Sontag and photography's view of death
Susan Sontag's broad survey of photography, war and disaster, and, by association, an equally broad 'us' as viewers appears in the current issue of The New Yorker magazine. It is not transcribed online, so, before I go further, I highly recommend that you obtain a copy in print. It is a bit of a monster, probably around 25,000 words, all worth close attention.
The essay, divided into six sections, traces the history of this three-way relationship, connects it to wider representations of suffering and pain in the arts, riffs on the role of photography (and "image-flow" media such as television) in contemporary society, touches on the role of photography and written narrative in our memories, contrasts the still image to the moving, throws in a quick shot at Debord and Derrida for claiming the "death of reality," and sums it all up with an explication of a 1992 Jeff Wall photograph titled Dead Troops Talk (A vision after an ambush of a Red Army Patrol, near Moqor, Afghanistan, winter 1986) -- like I said, a monster. I'll try not to summarize, as I can't do her rhetorical power justice.
Continue reading "Susan Sontag and photography's view of death"Posted in Papers & Periodicals. Found always via this permanent link.
December 1, 2002
Philip Glass at Society Hall
Last night I saw Philip Glass perform several of his pieces for solo piano. He played Mad Rush (1980) and five of the Metamorphoses (1989). After an intermission, Dennis Russel Davies performed six of the sixteen Etudes Glass composed between 1994 and 1999, showcasing his amazing dexterity. It was apparent that Davies is the more accomplished performer, and it was quite interesting to see how they both approached Glass' works. Davies approached the work with gusto, allowing his face to register emotional reaction to the pieces played, the technical ability of his fingerwork not interrupting a certain performative gusto. Glass, not as strong a player as composer, kept a straight face and bowed head while working his way through his two selections. The selection of pieces was wise. Glass' plain performance style was enhanced by the emotional tenor of the selections he performed. Davies played to his strengths, for in his short works the repetitive phrases were more complicated and shorter in duration, allowing for relatively wild (in comparison to Glass) fingerwork that wowed the audience. The man in front of me, obviously familiar with the Etudes, let out a "Yeah!" as Davies hit the last notes of the sixth piece. It was a stirring introduction to the live performance of Glass's works, and experienced for the meager sum of $10. Can't beat that.
Update: I was glad to read that the New York Times critic who reviewed the concert had almost exactly the same response as I did. It kind of validates my critical response.. sort of! If you believe in that kind of thing! Here's a link to his review.