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Work by canadian artist Marcel Dzama.
Posted in November 2009 …
NON-LINEAR STATE No. 012: POCO MENOS QUE RAZÓN
“Casi razón. Poco menos que razón. Deslizamiento de algo que no quiere alcanzar la razón, para no quedar anclado en su acotada zona. La pretensión de querer tener razón, desvÃa el pensamiento y lo convierte en rÃgida estatuaria mental. Contenerse en algo menos que razón quizá permita, en cambio, atisbar otros territorios más libres de la creación humana, como la poesÃa o ciertos inesperados paisajes de la imaginación. Un poco menos que razón puede llevarnos a algo más que razón.”
-Roberto Juarroz-
TUNNEL
Tunnel, by Thomas Demand
Says The Exposure Project blog:
Ubuweb recently added a short film by Thomas Demand to their archives. Entitled Tunnel, the film, much like Demand’s photographs, is a meditation on the mass media’s pervasive influence over the viewing public. Ubuweb states:
“The film presumably shows a fast-paced tracking shot through the tunnel in which Lady Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash. At first the viewer seems to remember seeing these images in the media. But in reality the set is a true to life, cardboard mock-up of architectural details. Under closer inspection, one also realizes that instead of reproducing reality Thomas Demand creates a perfectly-constructed model world. The cleverly-lit cardboard scenery takes up an incident of recent history and, in doing so, mirrors the illusionary features of what appear to be familiar images. The film literally reflects upon the model of our relationship to images from the mass media. In the process, the construction, representation and repetition of reality create a complex weaving of connections. That the accident used as the theme was the result of a hectic, car chase caused by paparazzi lends the work yet another aspect of the reflection of the media.”
BEHIND THE SEAMS, A BULLETPROOF TAILOR
After posting the new photo series by  Milagros de la Torre, I remembered that our dear Bernardo Loyola (from VBS.tv) had told me, over Spanish tapas in Brooklyn, that VBS had recently interviewed Miguel Caballero, “the Armani of Bulletproof clothing”.
Click play, click click.
And take a look at Milagro’s work (a few posts below) if you have not seen it yet.
TÓXICO PROJECT ARRIVES IN CUBA
One morning, hunting the Mexico City flee markets, I came upon a small battered suitcase that caught my eye. When I opened it up I was surprised to find it full of old photographs, negatives, postcards and other personal mementos from the 30s and 40s. There was a whole story to be woven, image by image: I could tell that the original owner was both an amateur photographer and also an amateur physicoculturist; I could easily imagine that this suitcase kept a certain (nameless) young man’s favorite pictures, plus dozens of self-portraits in different stances and under different guises. I was mesmerized by all that was there to be inferred, and also wondered about how such a suitcase ended up in a stranger’s hands. It made me think of the story of The Mexican Suitcase–a suitcase full of negatives of the Spanish war, shot by Capa et al–and also of the suitcases that someone found on the streets of Massachusetts, full of pictures of a ravaged Hiroshima after the war… both of them surprisingly full of important historical contents. And then there was this suitcase, this other Mexican suitcase, also full of images, of a very different nature. The contents are not historical, but it is history nonetheless: a personal history taken, kept, forgotten and lost and then sold. Because yes, I bought it with all it contained. And Tóxico then invited several talented visual artists to reinterpret the materials–or rather be inspired by them, to propose their own.
Today the suitcase flew into Cuba, ready to be shown at the Fototeca, in Habana. Besides, Alinka EcheverÃa–wonderful Mexican photographer, and one of the artists involved–will be working with several talented local photographer’s: the suitcase will leave the island with a new artist-book, created collectively.
And so the suitcase will travel now, and keep on traveling, and it will acquire a will of its own. It will travel with what it contains, both the new and some of the old, making space for both chance and accident, and at every stop a new artist will be added to the list and at every gallery or museum the project will be presented in a different type of installation. And just like before: who knows where it will end up, and in whose hands.
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Artists: Ramiro Chaves, Mark Powell, Mezli Vega, José Luis Cuevas, Carlos Casas, Maggie Delgado, Santiago da Silva, Carlos Ãlvarez Montero, Alinka EcheverrÃa, Lorena Moreno, Andrés Padilla, Corine Vermeulen, Alfredo Moreno, Omar Gamez, Gabriella Gómez-Mont and the anonymous photographer, the original owner of the suitcase.
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(Muchas gracias a Alinka EcheverÃa, Lorena Moreno y Maggie Delgado por su ayuda. Y gracias a Nelson–curador de Noviembre fotográfico– por su invitación.)
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(Soon a website for la Maleta)
BULLETPROOF
Images by Milagros de la Torre. From the series Bulletproof.
It is said that Milagros de la Torre investigates the censored and the forgotten along with the fearful, the painful, and the fragile. And the underlying violence that begets these states and sensations is often hidden in the fold of certain unassuming objects. Such as clothes.
These in particular, in the imges above, were designed by Miguel Caballero: the ‘Armani of the armored clothing’.
Says the ICP website:
“Throughout her career, Milagros de la Torre has explored the traces of hidden and often violent narratives to reveal their broader social and political implications, particularly within Latin America. Her most recent series, Bulletproof (2008) reflects her fascination with objects that reveal histories of violence and power. Beguiling in their apparent simplicity, these photographs use a straightforward approach to record what appear to be everyday articles of clothing—a t-shirt, blouse, or sports jacket. These are in fact armor-plated designer garments sold in luxury boutiques, whose purpose is to inconspicuously protect the wearer from gunshot wounds. Photographed on their hangers against a blank background and printed at life-size, these disembodied garments float in the frame as though awaiting the viewer to claim them. Small clues reveal their true function: a hint of the armored breastplate is just discernible under the light blouse, the small zipper on the t-shirt’s hemline provides a clue as to how the armor plate is inserted and removed, the “platinum” garment labels indicate the level of protection provided. Currently worn by politicians (including, allegedly, President Obama on Inauguration Day) and the rich and famous, such bulletproof clothing caters to an elite clientele that has come to expect the discrete protection offered by these armor-plated garments.
***
Bulletproof is included in Dress Codes: The Third ICP Triennial of Photography and Video, on view through January 17, 2010. Other artists include Barbara Kruger, Laurie Simmons, Lorna Simpson, Martha Rosler, Cindy Sherman and Hu Yang, among many others. So if any one is around New York…
(We will soon meet and chat with Milagros here in Mexico City; expect a Tóxico interview soon.)
(Gracias Milagros por las imágenes)
THE NINTH FLOOR
“The ninth floor is just like any other floor in a Manhattan building, but in this case it is the apartment where a group of addicts buy and sell drugs, sleep, argue, make love and fight. For almost three years I followed the stories of the ninth floor and of its residents”
Photos by Jessica Dimmock
(Click photos to enlarge.)
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Jessica Dimmock lives in New York. She graduated in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism at The International Center of Photography. Her work was published in Aperture and The New York Times Magazine.
Jessica also won the 1st edition of the “F Award”; created by FABRICA (creative think-tank based in Italy).
VIDA YOVANOVICH
Images by Mexican photographer Vida Yovanovich, from the series Soledades Sonoras.
Vida has spent many years traveling around Mexico, photographing women in jail. Her main topics–both in this series and in former work–are abandonment, marginalisation, injustice, courage, vitality and survival.
More here.
***
(Vida took the Martin Parr Tóxico Master Class, as well as the one with Christopher Doyle.)
HOY EN BORDER: LORENZO FONDA Y MEGUNICA
Lorenzo Fonda dirigió un documental sobre su viaje por Latinoamérica con Blu, el reconocido artista visual.
Y el mismÃsimo Lorenzo hoy presenta la pelÃcula en Border.
Ahà nos vemos. 8pm.
BLU UP ANOTHER WALL, OVER ANOTHER FLOOR
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/6555161[/vimeo]
On Saturday I met film director Lorenzo Fonda (also part of the ex Fabrica family) who is here in Mexico to present his documentary on Blu. News on this tomorrow. But meanwhile, click on video to see Combo: a great new Blu animation, created in collaboration with David Ellis. (And if you are left hungry for more, click here for another of his classics.)
DEAR MR. WARHOL, IT IS WITH REGRET…
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
October 18, 1956
Dear Mr. Warhol:
Last week our Committee on the Museum Collections held its first meeting of the fall season and had a chance to study your drawing entitled Shoe which you so generously offered as a gift to the Museum.
I regret that I must report to you that the Committee decided, after careful consideration, that they ought not to accept it for our Collection.
Let me explain that because of our severely limited gallery and storage space we must turn down many gifts offered, since we feel it is not fair to accept as a gift a work which may be shown only infrequently.
Nevertheless, the Committee has asked me to pass on to you their thanks for your generous expression of interest in our Collection.
Sincerely,
Alfred H. Barr, Jr.
Director of Museum Collections
P.S. The drawing may be picked up from the museum at your convenience.
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(Transcript of letter that was sent a few years before Warhol became famous)
(Via Letters of Note)