WWII Photographs in Contemporary Spaces

People are waiting for the arrival of the allied forces in Duivendrech, Holland, in May 1945. (Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse)

A friend just sent me a link to this interesting work featured in the Atlantic today.  Beautiful juxtaposition of sourced/found images within their original space of capture.  I was pleased to see the editors acknowledge the (somewhat) similar work of Shimon Attie as well. 

Image Credit:  Shimon Attie

Click HERE to view more image in the Atlantic and click HERE to view Shimon Attie's work.

On-line Photo Workshop Opportunity

Image Credit:  Susie Katz (from the PhotoWings Tumblr site)

I received an interesting email yesterday from Ashoka U (the organization that facilitates the Changemaker campus initiative, of which Rollins College recently became part of - find out more about that by clicking HERE).  Apparently they are hosting a photography workshop in partnership with PhotoWings - Advancing Changemaking Skills Through Photography.  Looks to be a nice introduction to the basic concepts I introduce in my courses, The Photograph as Language and Memory and the Photograph - I especially like the fact that they emphasize the reading of the image over the technical creation.  Their site emphasizes:

What this seminar IS and IS NOT

• This IS a seminar on how to analyze and preserve existing photos. This seminar will draw on photographs from any source, including family photo albums, historical societies, community archives, and online personal, professional, or social archives, etc.
• This is NOT a seminar on how to take photos or on camera techniques. Participants may certainly include original photography in projects, but this is not a requirement.

You can find out more about this seminar and sign up to participate by clicking HERE.

Doug Aitken's Altered Earth

Altered Earth, Doug Aitken Workshop, Arles 2012.

In keeping with our conversation in Video Art yesterday about the hybrid nature of contemporary installation works in new/electronic media - this new work by Aitken looks pretty engaging.  The press-release refers to the work as "land art for the electronic age" - pretty apt, I'd say.  

"This multimedia work is described by Doug Aitken as 'a series of moments and fragments of time focusing on the geography of the Camargue, which provides an almost holographic view of the physical landscape.' The work exists through moving images, sound and architecture, exploring the ever-changing landscape.  The installation ALTERED EARTH creates a form of liquid architecture out of large-scale moving images where the viewer explores a labyrinth of synchronized moving images, which explore new definitions of time and place.  The artwork is conceived as a truly connected multimedia experience. As the work produces its own architecture, and, by extension, its own landscape, Doug Aitken has also developed a form for ALTERED EARTH, through which the work might “reconfigure itself architecturally and its content can continuously shift.”  It was this thinking that led to the conception of the digital application ALTERED EARTH, as a means by which the spectator can interact with this landscape and “have a new dialogue with it, each time they encounter it.” The application can be downloaded for free at www.doug-aitken-arles.com."

Above content from e-flux.
Find out more about the work by clicking HERE.

Landscape and Loss Discussion - Hosted by Orion Magazine

This sounds like a great opportunity to "sit in" on what is likely to be an interesting talk by landscape photographer Matt Black.  Details from the press release are below:

"There's a new generation of photographers exploring the hallowed tradition of imaging the landscape, and Black is among them. Building on our recent conversation with photographer Chris Jordan, Black and Orion staff will touch on topics ranging from process to presentation in the making of art that creates social and environmental change."  

           

The event is free, moderated by Orion staff, and will take place on October 23 at 7 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. Pacific.   

Advance registration is required. More information and registration here.

This will be a web presentation with our usual phone format, during which you will hear from our guest, see a slide show of images from his projects including this one in Orion, and then have the opportunity to ask your questions and share your thoughts.

Image Credit:  Matt Black (from the Orion press release)

New Photography 2012 @ MOMA

It's that time of year again.  Always an interesting and challenging exhibition, if not a bit hit or miss now and then.  "From diverse points of view, the artists in this exhibition—Michele Abeles, Birdhead, Anne Collier, Zoe Crosher, and Shirana Shahbazi—collectively examine and expand the conventional definitions of photography. They challenge the assumption that photography is solely a representational medium, explore the process of picture making, exploit the proliferation of images in a media-saturated world, and blur the lines between photography and other artistic disciplines. As the medium transforms rapidly, these artists question what it means to make a photograph in the twenty-first century."  View images and find out more by visiting the exhibition website HERE.
Above content and image below from MOMA, New Photography 2012 website

Zoe Crosher:  Mae Wested (Studioed), No. 15 from 21 Ways to Mae Wested. 2012

Two Photographers Named 2012 MacArthur Fellows

An-My Le and Uta Barth - good stuff!  Watch the two video clips below to get a sense of their work and find out more.  (Click on the video clip to watch full size on YouTube).

Clips from the MacArthur Foundation website