Posted in August 2009

CHINA?

Thames Town, Songjiang, Shanghai, China.  2008.  12"x12" Giclee Print.

Thames Town, Songjiang, Shanghai, China.  2008.  12"x12" Giclee Print.

Thames Town, Songjiang, Shanghai, China.  2008.  12"x12" Giclee Print.

Thames Town, Songjiang, Shanghai, China.  2008.  12"x12" Giclee Print.

Thames Town, Songjiang, Shanghai, China.  2008.  12"x12" Giclee Print.

Yes. China. Or the new Chinese suburbia to be exact. And images by Dave Wyatt documenting  it all.

As he explains:

Thames town is an English style new satellite town built close to Shanghai as part of the local governments ‘One City –Nine Towns’ plan.  This plan was hatched out of the population boom being experienced in Shanghai.  In the past 15 years the population has increased by 8 million and the landmass it covers has increased from 100sqkm to a staggering 680sqkm.  Despite this growth Shanghai is still four times as densely populated as New York.  The ‘One City –Nine Towns’ plan seeks to construct nine satellite towns around Shanghai.  Six of these towns are to be themed on European style cities from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and Italy.

The rise of China’s new middle ‘class’ is resulting in the creation of a new suburbia, the same phenomenon as seen in post-war Britain and America.  Now that disposable incomes are reaching levels that allow people to pay for better education, annual holidays and private accommodation, the landscape of China is changing in the same manner as seen in the West.  This is China’s suburban revolution.

(Via Alejandro Cartagena‘s blog)

(The world is the new Epcot, o qué)

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HATS AND AIRPLANES

It took him five seconds in actual time, in mind time ever so much longer.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3357/3585238176_5f0b731c96_o.jpg

A. Airplane. Alphabet series.

Images by Portuguese illustrator and visual artist Cristiana Couceiro.

Nice.

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MURMUR No. 001, ET AL

Images by Richard Barnes. From the series Murmur.

More here.

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HISTORICAL ANATOMIES

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Historical Anatomies is a site dedicated to the preservation of old anatomy books from around the globe.

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HOTEL ROOMS


“Hotel Europoa, Prague, Room 402, Night of June 8,1998″


“Hotel Europoa, Prague, Room 402, Night of June 8,1998″

“Hotel Intercontinental, Leipzig, Zimmer 2116, nacht zum 12. Dezember 1999″

Project by German artist Florian Slotawa.

Via Exposure Project

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WALKER EVANS POLAROID PICTURES (1973 – 1974)

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From the  Walker Evans Archive at The Met


Via American Suburb X.

“During the last two years of his life. Walker Evans took nearly 1000 portraits of friends and students using an SX-70 Polaroid camera. This body of work constitutes a noticeable departure from the work for which Evans is best known and respected, and introduces an apparently alternative direction. It is significant that up until this point he had worked in a particularly public way whereas these portraits, produced more privately, remain separate from the public domain apart from discussion of his late works more generally. This essay presents Walker Evans as an example of an author’s history, which depends on the knowledge/reputation of his familiar work and which perpetuates the perspective from which we view all subsequent work. Archival research of Evans’s Polaroid portraits suggests the possibility of a re-presentation of Walker Evans’s historiography. Is it possible to reframe such a powerful photographic figure and reposition his legacy?”

-Jane Tormey, Afterimage, July 1, 2003-

Full essay here.

And read 1971 interview with Evans here.

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LA GUERRERA

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Nos acaban de contar. Paulina del Paso ganó la Beca Gucci-Ambulante para la post-producción de “La Guerrera”.

LA GUERRERA es un documental acerca de la vida de Ana María Torres, una boxeadora de Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl. Es el retrato de cómo los deseos y la necesitad de ser diferente, de sobresalir y valerse por si mismo pueden llevar a alguien a subirse a un ring a darse de golpes. Es una historia de cómo la peleas más duras son las que se tiene con uno mismo. Ana es la prueba de que, pese a todos los obstáculos, uno si puede cambiar su destino.

Y golpes se dan. Acompañamos a Paulina a ver una pelea hace unos meses, cuando La Guerrera defendía su título como campeona mundial, contra una tailandesa-huracán sacada de una caricatura japonesa de ciencia ficción. (Quizá tendrían que haber estado para entender.) (La Guerrera ganó.)

(Felicidades Paulinita.)

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(Paulina tomó el Tóxico Workshop de Christoffer Boe.)

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BAJITO Y SUAVECITO

(Salvador ‘Chavo’ Figueroa with his radical hopper: a ‘83 Cutlass Supreme, modified so it can hop 80 inches in the air.)

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(Jaqueline, Alejandro, Guisela, Alejandro Jr,  Jocelyn Villasenor and their ‘82 Cadillac Coupe De Ville.)

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(Clockwise: Gilberto ‘Potente’, Gilberto Jr, Maria, Alondra Diaz and their ‘48 Chevrolet Fleetline. Rick with his ‘93 Fleetwood Cadillac. Francisco, Checo and Angel Vallejo with ‘El Cotorro’ (the Parrot). Edgar ‘Cholo’ Becerra with his ‘90 Lincoln Town Car.)

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“Agressive Levelz” and “Good Times” are the names of two automobile clubs that  get together in a parking lot near the house of Corine Vermeulen, in Detroit. Lowriders are cars that have been adapted with an hydraulic system that lets them ride much closer fto (or much further from) the ground; lots of  time and mechanical work goes into these cars, and then a whole world is created around them. (The Lowrider tradition started within the Chicano culture of L.A., during the 40s.)

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Photos by Corine Vermeulen, Dutch artist based in Detroit, and frequent Tóxico partner in crime.

(This series will be included in “La (otra) maleta Mexicana”, a new collective and itinerant Tóxico Art Project that will start its journey in Mexico City and then travel to Cuba and New York.)

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NOT I

Not I, by Samuel Beckett.

Not I takes place in a pitch black space illuminated only by a single beam of light. This light illuminates an actress’s mouth. The title comes from the character’s repeated insistence that the events she describes did not happen to her.

The mouth utters at a ferocious pace a logorrhoea of fragmented, jumbled sentences which obliquely tells the story of a woman of about seventy who having been abandoned by her parents after a premature birth has lived a loveless, mechanical existence and who appears to have suffered an unspecified traumatic experience. The woman has been virtually mute since childhood apart from occasional outbursts, one of which comprises the text we hear. From the text it could be inferred that the woman had been raped but this is something Beckett was very clear about when asked: “How could you think of such a thing! No, no, not at all – it wasn’t that at all.”It seems more likely that she has suffered some kind of collapse, possibly even her death, while “wandering in a field … looking aimlessly for cowslips.”

Video from the wonderful Ubu Web, found via Oh Colour Me In.

For full dialogue click here.

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ON MAPS, ORBITS AND EYES

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“What is on the paper map is a representation of what was in the retinal representation of the man who made the map; and as you push the question back, what you find is an infinite regress, an infinite series of maps.”

-Gregory Bateson-

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More Nautical and navigational astronomy here.

Found via But Does It Float.

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(And on maps in eyes and eyes in orbits and…)


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LEFTOVERS FROM HIROSHIMA INSIDE A BATTERED SUITCASE


“One rainy night eight years ago, in Watertown, Massachusetts, a man was taking his dog for a walk. On the curb, in front of a neighbor’s house, he spotted a pile of trash: old mattresses, cardboard boxes, a few broken lamps. Amidst the garbage he caught sight of a battered suitcase. He bent down, turned the case on its side and popped the clasps.
He was surprised to discover that the suitcase was full of black-and-white photographs. He was even more astonished by their subject matter: devastated buildings, twisted girders, broken bridges — snapshots from an annihilated city. He quickly closed the case and made his way back home.

At the kitchen table, he looked through the photographs again and confirmed what he had suspected. He was looking at something he had never seen before: the effects of the first use of the Atomic bomb. The man was looking at Hiroshima.”

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This essay was originally published on Design Observer in November, 2008. It is republished here to commemorate the 64th anniversary of Hiroshima, and with a new slideshow of 100 photographs courtesy of the International Center of Photography. See more images and read the full essay here.

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(Tóxico also found a small battered suitcase, full of old photographs, negatives, postcards and other images, at a flee market in Mexico City a couple of months ago. The contents  are not historical, but it is history nonetheless, a personal history taken, kept,  forgotten and lost and then sold.  We bought it with all it contained. We then invited 15 talented photographers to reinterpret the personal materials–or rather be inspired by them, to propose their own. The suitcase will be presented at the Feria Internacional del libro de artista, in FotoSeptiembre–a bienal-type festival, based in Mexico City– in a couple of weeks. More news here soon.)


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MULTIDISCIPLINARY LINES OF FLIGHT: A WRITER ON MUSIC

“I cannot live or write without music. It stimulates the normally dormant parts of my brain that come in handy when constructing fiction. A particular piece of music attaches itself to the piece I’m writing and there is nothing else I can listen to. Every day I return to the same space to write, the music providing both the walls and the pictures on the walls. Once I’m done and the piece is published, I often have a hard time remembering what piece of music is inscribed (or, indeed, transcribed) in it, as there are no visible, let alone obvious, connections, apart from an occasional embedded line. I think that is because the music and writing become indistinguishable to the aforementioned dormant parts, which constitute the majority of my brain mass.”

-Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Lazarus project-

See Hemon’s play list here.

(Gracias Niki Nakazawa for the link)

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JULIANA BEASLEY

Our next Tóxico Lab international guest!

Tóxico Lab is a new series of workshops created for (and by) talented emerging artists.

www.toxicocultura.com/lab

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TÓXICO PROJECT RESEARCH No. 014: THAT MALLEABLE THING

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Interesting web project: interviews with legendary documentary filmmakers such as Werner Herzog, Albert Maysles, Errol Morris, Michel Brault etc, who give their views on different aspects of non-fiction cinema. The web page can be browsed by fragmented or unified themes, like a series of tiny interviews. Mmm. Nice. Click image, or click here to see.

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RESIDUES OF REALITY AND THE LITTLE BOY OR THE LITTLE GIRL LEARNS HOW TO WALK AND PLAYS TAG WITH HEPHAISTOS

Collages by Javier Sirvent, alias Pancho Pancho Pancho, talented 23 year-old visual artist and designer.

(Javier was part of the Amy Stein Tóxico Workshop and will soon be doing other nice lil new projects with us.)

(Gracias Martha por el link)

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MEXICO CITY. AHH, MEXICO CITY

(Image of Mexico City, by Pablo López)

I cannot seem to help myself. This almost impossible  sight always makes all the goosebumps start their own little happy rave, somewhat delirious. And in a few hours this–albeit the p.m. version–will be the view from my window. Yes. Flying back home today, post TED extravaganza at Oxford. In fact, I am somewhere in the clouds as you read.

(Mmm)

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THE HIDDEN MIDDLE


Work by Kathrin Klingner. See more here

Via I heart photograph

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I SMOKE MY CIGARETTE, SQUINT ONE EYE AND LOOK AT YOU, PONDERING LIFE

http://todayspictures.slate.com/20080425/images/NYC16265.jpg

AmericanSuburbX just published an interview with Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden.

Take a look here.


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FROM COFFEE CUP TO STYRO-HOME

Says Pink Tentacle blog:

While styrofoam may be most commonly associated with disposable coffee cups, meat trays and packaging, prefab home manufacturer Japan Dome House Co., Ltd. uses it to construct easy-to-assemble modular kit homes.

Dubbed the “habitat for the 21st century,” the Dome House is an igloo-shaped structure built from snap-together wall sections made of 100% expanded polystyrene foam (styrofoam). It might seem like an odd choice of material for a house, but the company lists a number of advantages that styrofoam has over traditional materials. Unlike wood and metal structures, for example, the styrofoam Dome House does not rust, rot or attract termites. It is also highly resistant to earthquakes and typhoons. In addition, the walls, which are treated with a flame retardant, emit no toxic fumes in a fire.

Construction of the Dome House shell is quick and easy. The prefabricated pieces, which each weigh about 80 kilograms (175 lbs), can be carried by 2 or 3 people and assembled in a few hours. Once the shell is put together, coats of mortar and paint are applied for further protection from the elements. (Watch a short video of the assembly process.)

Measuring 7.7 meters (25 ft) wide and 3.85 meters (13 ft) tall, the basic Dome House has a floor space of 44.2 square meters (475 sq ft). It is possible to construct larger, elongated domes by adding more pieces, and joint units allow multiple domes to be connected into a single structure.

Dome Houses, which are approved by Japan’s Land and Transport Ministry, can be erected anywhere in Japan with the proper permit. According to the manufacturer, the versatile structures are suitable for use as hotel rooms, restaurants, freezer rooms, or even as hog farms.

The Aso Farm Land resort village in Kyushu uses about 480 styrofoam domes as lodging, recreational facilities and retail shops.

Whether or not this type of home is truly “perfect for the modern age” as the company suggests, the price is right. Dome House kits start at around 3 million yen (under $30,000), which does not include the cost of transport, assembly, interior construction, etc.

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SKETCHES OF THE DRUG CZARS

Says Vanity Fair:

The United States spends nearly $50 billion each year on the war on drugs, to little avail: illegal drugs remain prevalent, and drug-funded groups continue to spread violence from Mexico to Afghanistan. The new White House drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, says he wants to end the drug war, but other men in his position have tried and failed to do just that. In this illustrated history, Ricardo Cortes shows how science, politics, ego, and scandal transformed a public-health initiative into a century-long military campaign.

Full article here.

Via C-Monster

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YES.

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Image by Shaun Sundholm

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LOS FOTÓGRAFOS DE MÉXICO, AS SEEN BY AMY STEIN

Image by Andrés Arenas, from the Hotel Virreyes series.

Have been away, have been traveling, am traveling, loose and lost in the world, a bit disconnected from the virtual one. Just noticed that our wonderful Amy Stein has been posting on her blog images by the 27 photographers and artists that were part of her intense Tóxico Workshop. Do take a look. Great images, fantastic memories.

(Gracias Amy)

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THE HANDSHAKE SOCIETY

Images by Ben Van Den Berghe, from the Handshake Society  series.

“Comprised of appropriated stills from found video footage, the images from this project explore the nature of relational power expressed through a variety of gestural handshakes. By cropping out the identities of his subjects Van Den Berghe depersonalizes these found moments and emphasizes their archetypal nature instead”,

says the Exposure Project blog.

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MAKING TIME TUNNELS INTO A DARK SKY ABOVE

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“Slinky like light pattern in the blackness of moonlight sky produced by a time exposure of the light tipped rotor blades of a grounded helicopter as it takes off into the dark sky”, says Life. Images by Andreas Feininger. More here. Via But Does it Float.

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THERE IS ALWAYS A WORLD, ANOTHER ONE

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Jacques Prévert (February 4, 1900 – April 11, 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter who participated actively in the surrealist movement and was a member of the Rue du Château group along with Raymond Queneau and Marcel Duchamp.

Via But Does it Float. More here.

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(“Comme cela nous semblerait flou
inconsistant et inquiétant
une tête de vivant
s’il n’y avait pas une tête de mort dedans”,

he said once)

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AN EVENT

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“Observe together with me quietly and everything will happen”

-Sergei Dvortsevoy, filmmaker-

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