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Friday 29 January 2010

Thursday 28 January 2010

Lechuguilla Caves




Planet Earth: Caves
Places that have never before seen light.

Torsten Lauschman





Had been thinking about Torsten Lauschman's work since the beginning of term and this new project as I really enjoyed his exhibition at GOMA in 2008 which was a dark space with various photos, sculptures and projections.
Coincidentally he was here at ECA yesterday giving a talk about his work, showing examples and how he made his works. He made and interesting point about projections, and using them as "intelligent light" rather than conventional rectangular images.

Roni Horn



A new project. The Black Cube. Thinking about darkness, and therefore light.

I saw these sculptures in the exhibition Roni Horn aka Roni Horn last year at Tate. Again, simple is best

The Black Cube: Mirislow Balka




Miroslaw Balka : "How It Is"
Currently in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern

Link: Miroslaw Balka: How It Is

Link: About the Exhibition

Link: Miroslaw Balka In Conversation

Friday 22 January 2010

Wednesday 20 January 2010

Lost in Translation



Love this movie. It really does get better every time you watch it. I remember the first time I saw it, from seeing the trailer i was expecting a big dramatic running-away-together, and it didn't happen. So the whole way through, nothing seemed to happen. But when you see it again, you love it more and more. It's just the little things that are so sad, or so beautiful, or so funny. That's how life goes. Nothing wildly exciting. People meet, and that's enough.

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Strangeglove's

Nana

Sunday 17 January 2010

College


So the Mid Term Review was on Friday. And we find out we have ANOTHER WEEK OFF. I just want to get back to college really. It feels like second year is nearly over and what have I actually achieved? Not nearly as much as I should have. We need a bit more pressure. More of a challenge. I know I do at least. This has been too easy. I've been working fairly hard (with the exception of the past month or so over Christmas, where I have done nothing), and that's been ok so far. And it shouldn't be.

So I was looking forward to Monday. A New Start. But instead, another week of nothing. So I have to make sure I do SOMETHING other than laze about then go to work. It's doing my head in.

New Year


It's Jackie Bird time!

Thursday 14 January 2010

Synecdoche New York


A film about a play, within a play, within a play. Life, within life, within life. I first saw this film last year at the Cameo, and was totally drawn in by it. It's such a massive film that when watching it, you began to feel like you have been watching for days, and that it will go on for days, and that you don't mind a bit.

I won't say anything about the plot etc. here, you can find that anywhere. All I'm saying is that it is important and that you should go watch it. Now. And then go watch it again. I finally got this on DVD the other day and saw it for a second time. For some bizarre reason, the front cover of the box advertises it as the "Smash Hit Comedy of the Year", when it was neither. A very few bits are verging on funny, but then the rest of it is so crushingly hopeless, that it drowns out the funny almost completely. I loved it though.

Coincidentally, was watching the special features the other day, and they compared it to two films; The Royal Tenenbaums and Mulholland Drive, both of which I had watched within the previous 3 days, along with Synecdoche New York.

Youtube: Triangles and Wallpaper


Go here: http://www.youtube.com/user/HaxelFrax for video work from first term.

Imagine the triangle ones 4 times faster, i don't know why they have slowed right down when I uploaded them.

Saturday 9 January 2010

Ham Trim


Ham trim anyone?

Thursday 7 January 2010

Mark Leckey


In October, Mark Leckey came to ECA to give his talk/lecture/performance: Mark Leckey in the Long tail.

You can read about it here: Mark Leckey in the Long tail

This talk was very important for all of us I think. About the internet. And how it's the future. But as the above article says, "I think Leckey takes too much pleasure in the world of objects to go the whole way." I think this is true as well for all of us.

It's funny how a couple of hours of your life can possibly change everything, but then you'll never know if they actually changed anything at all.

Oh, and the other week, we found Mark Leckey's chalk board.


People who may explain better than me : Claire and Faith

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Repetition for Emphasis


The scarf it finished at last.

If on a Winter's Night a Traveller


CVCS is the written/theory part of our course at college. And it's not my favorite. Some of it is really interesting, but most of the time it just seems like they are trying to draw imaginary circles round things, that can't actually apply, and at the end of the day don't mean anything. So this year it's all Modernism/Postmodernism. And everything seems to be to do with Modernism or Postmodernism so I should really know what they are. But a semester in, and I'm pretty much still clueless. I start to think I'm getting somewhere, but then if I had to explain it to anyone else, I wouldn't be able to at all.

Plus don't get me started on the readings they give us. For example, if this means anything to anyone, please let me know.

Anyway. I was talking about this with my studio work tutor, ie. not a CVCS tutor, and he told me some examples of Postmodern novels I should read. So I read the New York Trilogy and loved it, therefore I was looking forward to reading If on a Winter's Night a Traveller. But I feel like I've been reading it for MONTHS and I'm only just approaching half way. Maybe it's because I haven't had any time to just sit down and read, I've just had snatches of time between things, on my lunch breaks at work etc. But then the way it's written, it stops and starts and stops and starts. There is the first chapter in which you, the Reader, sit down to read the book. And then the second chapter is the first chapter of the book being read. But then there is an error with the printing of the book. So then it's the first chapter of another book. Then another book, then another book, with chapters in between about the Reader. And this Reader finds all these first chapters of books really interesting. So he is trying to find the out what all these other books are that he reads the first chapter of. Perhaps the problem is that most of these First Chapters, I don't find particularly gripping. And if they are, then that's all you get. I guess that's the point, this frustration. But it's just no fun.

I will finish it though. I'll keep going, and maybe i'll change my mind.

Disposable Camera Photos






Nellis


This is Nellis.

Nellis lives downstairs and likes to sing Mariah Carey songs.

Where the Wild Things Are


Finally got round to seeing Where the Wild things Are the other day. I don't really know what I was expecting, kind of for it to be disappointing, so I wasn't disappointed. But that's not to say it was bad. I was filmed so beautifully and the costumes and landscapes and everything were perfect. It was just really obvious the whole way through that they were trying to spin a full length film from a book that has 9 sentences and not much of a plot to begin with. It have to admit that it got a little boring and repetitive, and had no real conclusion. Max goes to island; meets a bunch of unsettled monsters, who are all various aspects of himself. They are happy for a while, sad for a while, happy for a while, sad for a wile, mainly running around and fighting. Oh and they build a really cool house. And then Max goes home, leaving the Wild Things in the same, if not worse state than they were in the first place. So i found it a little disappointing.

However, it's been a week now since I saw this film, and I still keep thinking about it. And I think I need to see it again. And I bought the original story book, arriving in the post any day now.

Saturday 2 January 2010

Counting

You could sit in a room and count forever, and not even scratch the surface of all the numbers that there are.

Numbers should stop at a hundred thousand.