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y concentrar en un solo centÃmetro el contenido de varios metros enteros
(recuérdame cuando se me olvide)
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Posted in June 2009 …
MORE THUNDERSTORMS, MORE KAFKA, AND SOMETHING ABOUT TINY WONDERFUL ABSURD HEROIC ACTS
“When you seem finally to have made up your mind to spend the evening at home, when you have put on your smoking-jacket and settled down after supper with a light on the table to the piece of work or the game that usually occupies you till bedtime, when the weather outside is so unpleasant that it makes staying at home the obvious thing to do, when by now you have been sitting quiet at the table for so long that to go out would cause general astonishment,when the staircase is anyhow dark now and the front door locked, and when despite all this you get to your feet in a sudden fit of restlessness, change your jacket, promptly reappear dressed for the street, explain that you have to go out and after a brief word of goodbye actually do so, estimating the degree of irritation you may have left behind from the force with which you slam the flat door, when you then rediscover yourself down in the street, your limbs responding with particular agility to the unexpected freedom you have procured for them, when you feel all your decisiveness concentrated within you as a result of this one decisive act, when it strikes you with more than usual significance that your power to effect the swiftest of changes with ease and to cope with it outstrips your need to do so, and when in such mood you go striding down the long streets, – then for the space of that evening you have completely broken out of the ranks of your family, which veers off into the void, while you yourself, firm as can be, black with your sharpness of outline, slapping the back of your thighs, rise up to your true stature.
All this is intensified still further if at so late an hour of the evening you look up a friend to see how he is.”
-FRANZ KAFKA-
MAN WITH A CLOUD ON HIS HEAD, OR HIS HEAD IN THE CLOUDS, OR WITH A CLOUD FOR A HEAD; AS YOU PREFER
Searching for something else in my Gmail I ran across these images by Joshua Ray, which he sent me once upon a time, just before flying to Mexico City for a Tóxico project. Mmm. I like. Mucho.
THE MICHAEL JACKSON COLLECTION
The Stranger has an amazing collection of photographs from the Michael Jackson auction that was supposed to take place in Beverly Hills. It was all stuff Jackson was forced to auction due to some severe financial problems. Watch the whole gallery here.
MR. FATHER, MRS. MOTHER
Their natural mother died of AIDS. They where three of them, two of them twins; the twins where born with the virus. The Foster Parents visited them at the hospital. Wanted to decide if it was a good idea to take them in, weighed the pro’s and cons. They took them in. They kids called them Mr. Father and Mrs. Mother for a while. They have been together now for four years. The images are by photographer Adam Panczuk, from the series Foster Family. Nice.
NON-LINEAR STATE No. 007: LA DÉRIVE
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(I will walk very quickly at night so quickly until a specific leaf falls from a random tree)
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NEAR THE BORDER OF POLAND AND BELARUS
Images by Adam Panczuk, from the Actors series”
Says Lens Culture Blog:
“Adam Panczuk is working on a project depicting the transformation of a Polish village. His focus is on the relationship between human beings and nature, on the essence of humanity in relation to the earth and the seasons, and on passing away and birth as inseparable elements. The Actors series shows amateur actors from the folk theater company â€Czeladonka” based in Lubenka (near the border of Poland and Belarus). They perform scenes based on old customs and rituals passed down through generations. The actors are farmers, who work in the fields during the day, only working on the plays in the evening. Often a show is performed by a whole family – sometimes three generations of actors take part in a single performance.”
ALEJANDRA LAVIADA
Images by Alejandra Laviada, mexican photographer who just won the Descubrimientos PhotoEspaña Award.
Read an interview here.
FOR HALF AN HOUR EVERYDAY
Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.”
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast…”
-Alice In Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
FOLK YOU OUT, SET THE DEAL STRAIGHT
[nggallery id=51]
Images by Clare Rojas
OVERHEARD AT TÓXICO: AMY STEIN ON DOUG DUBOIS
“The woman sits in the semi darkness of what appears to be a living room. She is alone. Her eyes are red rimmed and still. At her throat is a bandage that seams together a long surgical incision. She fixes you with a knowing gaze. If you thought you could hide or pretend in the face of that gaze, forget it. She has your number, she’s figured you out and she knows a hell of a lot more than you do about life and pain and love.
This image of Doug DuBois’ mother is from his book ….all the days and nights. Published by Aperture, it contains 62 images spanning 25 years. In the mid 1980’s DuBois began photographing his family just before his father suffered a fall from a commuter train. This event and the challenges his family faced during his father’s convalescence set in motion an unraveling of sorts that plays out in subtle ways throughout the book.”
-Amy Stein
(Amy’s great Tóxico Workshop is going on as I write. We have been going over many other photographer’s work, and many books, including Dubois’. Above an excerpt from an article Amy just wrote for Ahorn Magazine. Read the rest here.)
AMY STEIN: TÓXICO WORKSHOP, DAY No. 001
Amy Stein’s “Domesticated” series is about isolation and our new relationships with nature; or rather, nature´s new relationship with our human world. The shots were constructed from newspaper and oral stories, and in most of the cases the animals are stuffed. All though it is somewhat difficult to imagine these type of scenarios while living in Mexico City, paradoxically, we are also used to being able to buy endangered species in subway stations and to hearing about lions eating their owners or escaping from public (and private) zoos.
More Amy Stein:
And more more Amy Stein at the Tóxico Workshop that is going on right now somewhere in Mexico City as you read this post.
(More more more soon, here.)
(Y un artÃculo el jueves o viernes en El Ãngel del Reforma)
WELCOME TO MEXICO CITY AMY STEIN!
(Imagen de Amy Stein, de la serie Stranded)
SÃ. Amy llega a México esta tarde. Weeew! Ya queremos empezar. El Tóxico Workshop se llenó desde el primer dÃa una vez más. (Gracias gracias a todos. Nos intoxica, sin duda, ese tipo de respuestas.)
Información de la conferencia pública muy pronto.
NON-LINEAR STATE No. 006: EXFORMATION
«Is it possible to communicate not by “making known,” but by “making understood how little we know”? If we can recognize that we know so little, a method for finding out how little we know will become clear as well. As the Greek philosopher Socrates remarked, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” There are an infinite number of methods to attain knowledge; finding the right method is up to the individual. This single idea throws conventional communication methods into reverse. I call this method “exformation,” as a counterpart concept to “information.” “In” is to “ex” as “inform” is to “exform.” In their words, I want to speculate on the form as well as the function of information, not for making things, but for making things unknown.»
-Hara, Kenya. “The Process of Making Things Unkown” -
(Gracias señor Santiago)
I WOULD READ YOU IF I COULD
Extraordinary book covers from early 20th century Japan, via A Journey Round My Skull
(Gracias Blak)
OTHER OPTICS, SOMEWHERE FACES
Images by Tanyth Berkeley.
Says the fantastic AmericanSuburbX website:
Tanyth Berkeley likes the special ones.
She likes the pale ones, the large headed types, the big bodies and the long giraffe necks. She likes the Robert Crumb shapes and the vampire faces, the glowing white skin and the men-in-dresses with womanly laces. She likes the eyes set back in the skull or the shoulders holding up those big heads that are smashed in like a pretty pumpkin in certain places. Her specialty is the awkward, the rare flower, the big cheek boned and special feminine shells and large sizes and different races. And what about those “beautiful” humans. What about the “blessed” ones that run around naked with their skinny bodies in the fields and the forest, all pretty and young, perfect skin and perfect faces. The free ones that climb naked and glistening in trees to let the gold sun reflect from their perfect skin as they celebrate their perfect shapes.
F-k them.
TOFU. THE HOUSE.
Built in Kyoto in 1997 by Jun Tamaki, this house was nicknamed Tofu by the locals. More pictures and specifications this way. (Via What We Do Is Secret)
DRESS YOUR HEAD
Engravings of masks and headdresses from 1638.
The work is entitled: ‘Ouvrage Rare et Nouveau Contenant Plusieurs Desseins de Marveilleuse Recreation sous Diverses Caprices et Gentilesses’ (known as Fantastic Headdresses), sourced from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
More here.
POST CONVERSATION No. 006: AND BUCKY DIXIT TOO
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“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
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TÓXICO MORCEAUX: THE MIGHTY BOOSH – THE MOON
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dll8RkgfaxY[/youtube]
THE BEST WAY IS ALWAYS BEST. AND EGGS, AND CHICKENS
“The best way to invent the future is to predict it”
John Perry Barlow – The Future of Prediction (2004)
***
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it”
Alan Kay – Early meeting in 1971 of PARC, Palo Alto Research Center, folks and the Xerox planners
DAVID LYNCH AND THE INTERVIEW PROJECT
Click on señor David. He will tell you all about it.
SUSSURUS
Susurrus: a whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.
Images by Anja Schaffner. Via here.
And Schaffner says:
“There are moments when I want to slow things down. I stare and imagine those moments on hold. It is like when someone says ‘pssst’ and you stop and listen for a short while. Afterwards, things continue in their usual way… some images continue to hum though. Taking photographs is one way of creating a sense of continuity in life. Photographs never end, but perhaps new images can stop the old ones from haunting us.”
**
(murmur into the mind past my mind)
BATAILLE FOR BREAKFAST
“The only strict and honest path. Making no finite demands. Conceding no limitation-regardless of the way chosen. Not even when striking out toward infinity. Demanding of an individual that this person be whatever he or she is, or will be. Knowing nothing except fascination. Never stopping at the apparent limit.”
-Georges Bataille-
AMY STEIN EN TÓXICO!
AMY STEIN: THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S BOOK
Master-Class, taller y revisión de portafolio
18 – 22 de junio
Cupo muy limitado
18 – 22 de junio
Cupo muy limitado
www.toxicocultura.com/stein
AN ATTEMPT AT A SYSTEM OF FUNGI AND SPONGES
Tagged 1817, Fungi, Illustrations
AMY STEIN IN MEXICO CITY! (INFO FOR PEOPLE LIVING ABROAD)
The fantastic photographer Amy Stein will be giving a Tóxico Workshop in Mexico City from June 17 – June 23, in English.
Today we received a couple of emails from photographers and artists from living in other countries, asking if it is possible to attend.
Yes! We always have a couple of places for international guests; quite a few people have flown in for different Tóxico workshops.
And flights to Mexico City and hotels are cheaper than ever, and the city is as delirious and fantastic as always.
If you require more info please write to info@toxicocultura.com. We will also be glad to help with hotel arrangements, depending on your budget.
www.toxicocultura.com/stein
TÓXICO MORCEAUX: CHRISTOPHER YOUNG – OBJECT LESSON
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFU48KuP0Wo[/youtube]
BUKOWSKI DIXIT
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“We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us”
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DANISH 70′S INTERIOR DESIGN (PORNO STYLE)
Musselsoppans has set up a class in 70′s interior design as represented in Danish Porno Movies. Watch the rest of the images here, fill in the blanks as you wish. Thanks to Martha for the link.
NON-LINEAR STATE No. 003: UNEXPECTED DETOURS
“An ars erotica, then, which would teach, not only skills in obtaining pleasure and acceding to their powers, but an aesthetics of bodies and of pleasures and of their powers. What could an ars erotica be in the age of bio-political administration? ”
Alphonso Lingis-Foreign Bodies
