Posted in October 2010 …

Oct 30 2010
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Random Intoxicants

REFRACTED DESIRES

Images by Lydia McCarthy

“I photograph people and landscapes using a self-constructed camera in which I have replaced the lens with a fresnel, or magnifying sheet. The resulting images are impressions of refracted light, with the highlights rendered as spectrum and the darker areas as undefined lines and shapes.  For my subjects I choose people who I desire but do not know; people I believe to have characteristics I want to possess. The camera distorts their features and their eyes lose any identifying characteristics. I am not interested in who they really are, but in who I imagine them to be.”

More here.

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Oct 28 2010
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International Tóxico Guests

OVERHEARD AT TÓXICO

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“Cinema is choreography, catching things moving in space, catching a secret. Try to frame the world so it can be expressed as strongly as possible and always relate to the image as something that is completely alive.”

-Agnès Godard-

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Oct 26 2010
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HOY! PLÁTICA PUBLICA DE AGNÈS GODARD

No vayan a faltar.

Oct 23 2010
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HELLO, HOW ARE YOU

Images of the Delsarte system of expression, popularized in the 1880s and found in the volume: “The Popular Entertainer and Self-Instructor in Elocution”

(In the collection of the Beinecke Library, as part of a salesman’s sample book)

(Click to enlarge)

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Oct 21 2010
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International Tóxico Guests, Tóxico People, Toxico Lab, Working in Mexico

TÓXICO LAB PEOPLE IN CULTUREHALL

Image by Cristóbal Trejo.

A couple of months ago we had the pleasure of having photographers Juliana Beasley and Tema Stauffer give a great workshop for Tóxico Lab. Tema, who is also a curator at Culturehall–a curated online resource for contemporary art where selected artists can share their work– invited four workshop-ers to be part of it. In Tema’s own words:

“In August 2010, photographer Juliana Beasley and I co-taught the first Tóxico Lab workshop. Tóxico Lab is a new series of events designed for emerging photographers. ‘Truth or Dare’ was a three-day intensive course during which we gave artist talks, lectured about the work of relevant photographers, and critiqued student works-in-progress. We were introduced to twelve photographers living and working in Mexico City, and from this inspiring group, I invited four to contribute portfolios to Culturehall.”

Do take a look here, and see what four young and talented Mexican photographers have been up to.

(Wonderful to see things happening across borders.)

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Oct 20 2010
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WELCOME TO MEXICO CITY AGNÈS GODARD!

(Agnès Godard working on different film sets)

In a few hours a long-awaited international guest arrives in Mexico City: Agnès Godard, one of our very favorite DPs in the world.

Agnès will give a workshop+ public lecture, and also officially inaugurates two new projects of ours: The Tóxico Film Series, and also ‘Tóxico at Casa Prunes‘–our new Artist Residency; which is oh so incredibly beautiful and quirky, if we do say so ourselves.

Sigh. Today we feel intoxicated indeed, and the games have yet to begin…

Oct 19 2010
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VALENTÍN DE LAS SIERRAS

[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xpa84_valentin-de-las-sierras_creation[/dailymotion]

“Skin, eyes, knees, horses, hair, sun, earth. Old song of Mexican hero, Valentin, sung by blind Jose Santollo Nadiso en Santa Cruz de la Soledad.”

Experimental film by Bruce Baillie, 1971.

(Thank you Audrey Young)

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Oct 19 2010
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International Tóxico Guests, Tóxico People, Tóxico Projects

TÓXICO WORKSHOP: MINI MARATÓN DE AGNÈS GODARD EN EL CCC

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Oct 18 2010
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Random Intoxicants

NON-LINEAR STATE No. 027: CRACKS

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“It is always between the things that I thought I was doing, that the real work has happened”

–William Kentridge–

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Oct 17 2010
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LOS OLVIDADOS

Vintage posters for Luis Buñuel’s “Los Olvidados”.

(Via Mexico’s wonderful Cineteca Nacional, our new partner in crime.)

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Oct 14 2010
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Post Conversation, Random Intoxicants

AGNES GODARD DIXIT

“As a cinematographer you have to be a chameleon and adapt to different directors. But I don’t like the idea of simply illustrating a script. A script is pages and words, and the image is the basic unit of the film’s language. So it’s very important to work out the transition from word to image. The most inexhaustible landscapes for me remain faces and bodies: I like to look at people, to look at them in order to love them. It’s like dancing with someone, except with a camera you don’t touch them. I just want to tell them that I’d like to put my hand on them.”

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Oct 14 2010
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OOPS

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/13788278[/vimeo]

Oops, by Chris Beckman.

Vimeo Festival Award winner in the Experimental Category, juried by David Lynch.

Oct 13 2010
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AGNÈS GODARD EN TÓXICO!

TALLER TÓXICO DE CINEMATOGRAFÍA POR AGNÈS G.
CUPO MUY LIMITADO / SEDE POR CONFIRMAR
22 – 25 DE OCTUBRE

PROYECCIÓN Y PLÁTICA PÚBLICA
CINETECA NACIONAL
26 DE OCTUBRE / 8PM

Agnès Godard es una de las directoras de fotografía de cine más importantes a nivel internacional, reconocida por su manera de darle una personalidad distintiva a cada película en la que trabaja, y por su versatilidad prodigiosa.

Originalmente estudió periodismo por varios años antes de dedicarse al cine; aun siendo periodista fue aceptada en el prestigioso IDHEC (Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques) en Paris. Después de graduarse empezó a trabajar como asistente de cámara para Wim Wenders, y fue la elogiada operadora de cámara para  Alas del deseo, cuya belleza visual y ritmo marcaron un hito importante en la historia del cine.

Poco después empezó sus legendarias colaboraciones con Claire Denis, como directora de fotografía de películas tales como Nénette et  Boni, Beau Travail, Trouble Every Day y 35 Rhums. Además ha trabajado cercanamente con Agnès Varda, Alain Resnais, Peter Handke, Peter Greenaway y Erick Zonca, entre otros. Las texturas y la belleza de sus imágenes cinematográficas le han ganando prestigiosos premios, incluyendo un Cèsar.

Agnès viene por primera vez a México a través de Tóxico, y dará un taller exclusivo de 3 días, en el cual hablará con profundidad sobre sus métodos de trabajo, las ideas personales que guían sus decisiones cinematográficas, sobre la técnica precisa y intuición necesaria, además de contarnos acerca de sus proyectos más recientes. También tendremos la oportunidad de verla recreando en vivo la filmación de una escena.

Agnès inaugura The Tóxico Film Series, un nuevo proyecto de Tóxico Cultura creado para cuestionar las posibilidades de la imagen, desde varias perspectivas; con el apoyo de La Cineteca Nacional, La Colección/Fundación Jumex, The Lift y el British Council.

Más información en www.toxicocultura/godard

Twitter: @ToxicoCultura

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Oct 12 2010
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THE SIMPSONS. BY BANKSY

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX1iplQQJTo&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Street artist Banksy did the storyboards and also directed this opening sequence of The Simpsons, that aired a few days ago.

Ándale.

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Oct 12 2010
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MAO?

Tommaso Bonaventura‘s portraits of Mao Zedong impersonators.

Via Amy Stein’s blog.

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Oct 11 2010
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AGUA SAGRADA

Images by James Pomerantz, taken at Cenotes in the south of Mexico.

See more pictures from this series here, plus other great work of his.

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Oct 02 2010
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JOHN CAGE AND HIS WATER WALK

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSulycqZH-U[/youtube]

John Cage performing “Water Walk” in January, 1960 on the popular TV show I’ve Got A Secret.

“At the time, Cage was teaching Experimental Composition at New York City’s New School. Eight years beyond 4:33, he was (as our smoking MC informs us) the most controversial figure in the musical world at that time. His first performance on national television was originally scored to include five radios, but a union dispute on the CBS set prevented any of the radios from being plugged in to the wall. “

(Gracias Livia R.)

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