Vinepeek discussed on Hyperallergic

I'm admittedly perplexed and intrigued.  Could be habit forming, to be sure.  Click HERE to read some thoughts as expressed on Hyperallergic, and/or go directly to Vinepeek.

Photographs in the (Real) World

I came across a couple of interesting posts that related nicely to our conversation in Photo II yesterday - particularly regarding the indexical nature of the photograph as related to authenticity, as well as the nature of being an attendant observer of the world.

Click HERE to read the most recent contribution to Still Searching by Martin Jaeggi, where he interestingly discusses the complicated relationship between the still and moving image, "Despite their more or less identical technical basis, photography in the 20th century was a medium that was considered to have an elevated claim to veracity and authenticity, whereas film was the very epitome of artifice and glorious lies."

And click HERE to read a brief excerpt from The Incoherent Light on the work of British photographer Raymond Moore along with a few clips from a film made about his work.

Raymond Moore, Image from Every so often monograph, 1984

SLOW @ Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville

Very sadly, this exhibition does not open until next weekend (I'll be there today for a lecture I'm giving at the library across the street - go figure).  It looks to be a really nicely curated show though, so I'll be heading back to be sure.  Here are some details from the museum website:

"SLOW: Marking Time in Photography and Film focuses on artists and works that engage photography, film and video to explore questions of time and duration. A combination of still photographs, films, and video works, the exhibition explores multiple approaches to the topic: some works animate and extend the temporal boundaries of painting; others open the sealed confines of photography to the flow of time. In addition, photographic works capture an ever-expanding series of gestures and moments — ones that physically and conceptually transform the boundaries of the medium. In most cases, the temporal elements at play invite the viewer to slow down the process of looking and engage with the works over an expanded period of time in order to observe their unfolding." 

David Claerbout
Ruurlo, Boculorscheweg, 1910, 1997
single channel video projection, black & white, silent, 10 min loop
Courtesy to the artist and Yvon Lambert, Hauser & Wirth, Micheline Szwajcer

Janelle Lynch @ Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona

Janelle Lynch, Untitled 9, from the series, La Fosa Común

Excellent opportunity to see photographic work in person.  Daytona is but a hop, skip and jump from here.  This exhibition (and artist talk, later in the semester) is highly recommended.  Click HERE to visit the museum's website.  An excerpt about the work from the museum's website below -

JANELLE LYNCH
Los Jardines de México

January 25 - April 14, 2013
Exhibition Opening Reception: Friday, January 25, 6:00-8:00pm
Artist's Talk, Book Signing and Reception: March 29, 6:00-8:00pm

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Los Jardines de México presents three related bodies of work, La Fosa Común, Akna and El Jardín de Juegos. Images of overlooked or obscure urban and rural landscapes, they explore aspects of the life cycle—loss, death, regeneration—while simultaneously celebrating life and its intricate beauty.

La Fosa Común is a series of photographs made with an 8x10 camera in Mexico City’s common grave. The site is a burial place for the indigent and unidentified. Also made with an 8x10 camera, Akna is a series of portraits of tree stumps in a nature reserve that explores the theme of rebirth. “Akna,” in Mayan, means “mother” and is the goddess of birth and fertility. Made with a 4x5 camera, El Jardín de Juegos depicts the relics of a children’s recreation area, void of people and eclipsed by nature and neglect.

“Lynch manages to create pictorial order and locate the sites of subtle drama within these Mexican gardens. Her approach has an exquisite lightness of touch, which ensures that the meaning of her photographs is neither too literal nor over-prescribed.” —Charlotte Cotton, Curator and Writer, London

Interview with Kate Durbin

I found this particularly interesting in light of our discussion in Digital Media the other day about New Aesthetics.  Durbin takes this on in really interesting ways and delves into Tumblr culture in particular.  Click HERE to read the interview on Hyperallergic.

Image from Kate Durbin’s “iPrincess”

Some Thoughts on the 2013 Deutsche Borse Photography Prize

As always, this award generates some interesting opinions.  I've grown rather tired of the photographer/artist debate, but aside from beginning on that note, 1000 Words published a thoughtful essay on the nominees.  Click HERE to read the article.

© Cristina De Middel

Bill Viola in Miami

Bill Viola, Three Women, 2008. Color High-Definition video on plasma display mounted on wall,
61 x 36.25 x 4 inches (155.5 x 92.5 x 12.7 cm). Performers: Anika, Cornelia, Helena Ballent. Photo: Kira Perov.

Well, hot damn!  Guess I'll finally be making my way down to Miami after living in Florida for almost five full years.  Apparently this will be the only U.S. venue for this particular exhibition (although, did I dream that? I'm not seeing it in the press release now).  At any rate, below is an excerpt from the press release as seen on e-flux:

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), North Miami will present a major exhibition of work by Bill Viola, recognized as one of the leading practitioners of video art. Bill Viola: Liber Insularum will begin its sole presentation in the United States at MOCA, North Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach.  The exhibition at MOCA marks the first public presentation of Viola’s new piece Ancestors, a recently completed video work that explores the layers of reality and illusion in the physical world, as well as the dimensions between and beyond it. The exhibition Bill Viola: Liber Insularum is presented as part of MOCA’s Knight Exhibition Series. It was first shown last year at Sala de Arte Contemporaneo del Gobierno de Canarias (Spain). The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Bill Viola Studio and was curated by Roc Laseca.

An iconic contemporary artist who draws from Eastern and Western spiritual traditions, Bill Viola is known for creating immersive video installations that explore such universally human subjects as birth, death, and the nature of consciousness. His exhibition is inspired by The Book of the Islands of the Archipelago, authored by Florentine ecclesiastic Cristoforo Buondelmonti in the 15th century. The works featured in Liber Insularum (The Book of Islands) use this historic text as a reference point to engage with distinctly modern themes of spiritual isolation in a 21st-century global landscape.

Works in the exhibition
Ancestors, 2012
Three Women, 2008
Addie, 2008
Darrow, 2008
Howard, 2008
Lenny, 2008
The Raft, 2004
Observance, 2002
Catherine’s Room, 2001
Four Hands, 2001
Surrender, 2001
Unspoken (Silver & Gold), 2001
Ascension, 2000
The Quintet of the Astonished, 2000
The Reflecting Pool, 1977–79

Odette England's Thrice Upon a Time

Image Credit:  Odette England (from Feature Shoot)

I keep running across this work, and I really like it.  There is something so visceral about the rips, tears, holes and stains in these negatives - the result of being pounded and drug across the landscapes they depict.  Really nicely compressing together the whole past/present conundrum.  And some of the best work I've seen that incorporates the nostalgic look, and the nostalgic feel without becoming cloying.  Good stuff.  Read an interview with the artist on Feature Shoot by clicking HERE.

Zoe Leonard Q+A

Really nice little interview with Zoe Leonard in Art in America yesterday.  She talks about her recent sun photographs and camera obscura installations.  A good read.  Click HERE to access.

Doug Aitken - Altered Earth (Part 2)

Doug Aitken, Altered Earth, 2012, Installation view

Nice review of this work in Frieze the other day.  Makes me think of the conversation we had in Video Art last week about the immersive Pipilloti Rist installation at MOMA in regard to its lush aesthetic qualities and the questions that prompted.  The review of the Aitken work concludes with the suggestion that, "...the work offers a direct sensual aesthetic. What finally saves it from the trap of postcard picturesque is the previously alluded to sense of Ballardian hyperstition – the post-apocalyptic possibility of a de-familiarized perception in each innocent act of discovery."

Read the entire review HERE.

Dive Dark Dream Slow - Book Review

Image Credit:  ADP Workshop

I came across a review of this book on Conscientious yesterday, and it is very in keeping with our closing discussion in Memory and the Photograph yesterday.  The publisher's description describes the book as follows:

"Photographer and bookseller Melissa Catanese has recently been editing the vernacular photography collection of Peter J. Cohen, helping to organize this massive curated archive (a trove of 20,000+ prints) into a series of single-theme catalogues. Along the way, she has pursued an alternate reading of the collection, drifting away from simple typology into something more personal, intuitive, and openly poetic. Her magical new artist book, Dive Dark Dream Slow, is rooted in the mystery and delight of the 'found' image and the 'snapshot' aesthetic, but pushes beneath the nostalgic surface of these pictures, re-reading them as luminous transmissions of anticipation, fear, and desire. Like an album of pop songs about a girl (or a civilization) hovering on the verge of transformation, the book cycles through overlapping themes and counter-themes—moon/ocean; violence/tenderness; innocence/experience; masks/nakedness—that sparkle with psychic longing and apocalyptic comedy."

Click HERE to order the book from The Ice Plant.
Click HERE to read the review on Conscientious.

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)