Le gorge d'Ailly meets the sea. This is a place of wonder a couple of meters below the place where Monet painted his 'gorge du petit Ailly' . But I hate Monet. Just a little one to keep your nose to the grindstone.
Monday 5 July 2010
Le gorge du petit Ailly meets the sea, Varengeville, Normandy, France
Le gorge d'Ailly meets the sea. This is a place of wonder a couple of meters below the place where Monet painted his 'gorge du petit Ailly' . But I hate Monet. Just a little one to keep your nose to the grindstone.
Byron's cave
French communards
After the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian war parisian insurgents took power in the post war chaos. The so-called 'Paris Commune' lasted from March 18 to May 28, 1871.
The french government abolished the commune. Around 18.000 parisians were killed by government soldiers during bloody week
A lot of the the french communards were executed.
The psychiatric patient in the previous article actually depicted such an execution in the top-right hand corner of the Charbonnier photograph. In his drawing he adds an executioner to the already coffined communards. So the drawing must have been based on these two photographs. Ironically, with the photographic process of 1871 it was important to have your subjects to sit motionless.
The french commune and its bloody suppression took root in the collective memory of the sane and the insane alike.
photographs: probably André Adolphe Eugène Disderi
Charbonnier documents french psychiatric hospitals.
Hopital Clermont
[Psychiatric hospitals]
1954
Gelatin silver print
Galerie Agathe Gaillard
LL/15415
In 1954 Jean-Philippe Charbonnier documented French Psychiatric hospitals and this photograph was a part of that series. Some of the photographs were published in Réalités in January 1955. In 2006 a 24 page booklet Jean-Philippe Charbonnier: HP hôpitaux psychiatriques was published by Le traitement contemporain n°4 in conjunction with gallery Agathe Gaillard.
This message was taken without permission from http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/vexhibit/_PHOTOGRAPHER_Jean-Philippe__Charbonnier_.
Will be removed on simple request
Shaker drawing
A long jump from the rather austere 'shaker style' in furniture.
More on this subject in:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_7_40/ai_84182781/
exerpt from this site: " . The Shakers, whose laws strictly prohibited "pictures or paintings set in frames," referred to these drawings variously as sheets, notices, rolls, hearts, and tokens of love. Writing, especially calligraphy, provides the conceptual framework"
Friday 21 May 2010
The trouble with the classicist..........
uit ‘the trouble with classicists’, album ‘Seducing down the floor’, John Cale and Lou Reed, 1997
metafori!
noun
a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
A 'figure' such as: beetle
copyright: photography@swad.be
Memory as an image making device 1
Lately I've been working on a series of photographs using the tools of memory. And I mean the memory in our brain. Neuro-stuff. Will expand on this later. First I want to show some images.copyright: photography@swad.be
Monday 12 April 2010
They do exist
On http://www.electricfireplacesdirect.com/ I found this beauty. It's actually called a "Beverly 23" Premium Oak Media Console Electric Fireplace Cabinet Mantel Package"
Guaranteed: Your cabinet, TV set and HiFi won't burn. I like the cityscape in the Tv set. Delusions of grandeur.............
Washing the fire
Previous winter I bought this lovely fireplace on the flea-market in Brussels. I had to clean and wash the contraption thoroughly before putting it to use. It's pseudo woodlogs are illuminated by one lamp. The heat of this 40watt bulb is enough for a small rotor to turn. This creates a convincing 'fireplace' effect only if you apply some imagination into the experience. It' portable , it's fun, you can actually hang it on a wall.
These electric fireplaces are UK fabricated.Check www. They are still being made.
copyright: photography@swad.be
copyright: photography@swad.be
Thursday 25 March 2010
Ingenious and ingenuous: the crutchpade
- crutch: a long stick with a crosspiece at the top, used as a support under the armpit by a lame person.
• [in sing. ] figurative a thing used for support or reassurance : they use the Internet as a crutch for their loneliness. - spade: a tool with a sharp-edged, typically rectangular, metal blade and a long handle, used for digging or cutting earth, sand, turf, etc.
- Call a spade a spade.
Ingenious and ingenuous: Improvised technology
Ingenious and ingenuous are often confused. Ingenious means 'clever, skillful, resourceful' (: an ingenious device), while ingenuous means 'artless, frank' (: charmed by the ingenuous honesty of the child).
The improvised technology is often frank and has a rather brutal visual attraction. At the same time these objects are clever and resourceful.
The Kevin Kelly blog showed me the way to something truly remarkable: a collection of improvised technology from Russia. These objects combine function with poetry. material poverty with invention.
http://folkarsenal.artinfo.ru/map/r56.htm (for the collection of Vladimir Archipov. in russian only) http://www.kk.org/streetuse/archives/2006/09/soviet_improvised_household_ar.php (Kevin Kelly blog)
These were all collected by a young Russian, Vladimir Archipov. His found objects were produced in the last twenty years and were made in Russia at a time when manufactured items were very hard to get, yet the aspirations for them were growing. The collection began when Archipov found a coat-rack made by his grandfather out of heated and bent toothbrushes. He then saw for the first time the true nature of handmade objects and their lovely beauty. He started collecting stuff from his relatives and friends and then friends of friends. He writes: "There are over a thousand items in my collection today, and they all have three characteristics in common; functionality, a visual uniqueness and the testimony of the author, who is both the creator and the user. They represent an astonishing part of modern folk material culture.
These objects were part of an exercise in translating pictures of 'things' into 'signs' bearers of meaning. Will be explained and illustrated in a future article.
The improvised technology is often frank and has a rather brutal visual attraction. At the same time these objects are clever and resourceful.
The Kevin Kelly blog showed me the way to something truly remarkable: a collection of improvised technology from Russia. These objects combine function with poetry. material poverty with invention.
http://folkarsenal.artinfo.ru/map/r56.htm (for the collection of Vladimir Archipov. in russian only) http://www.kk.org/streetuse/archives/2006/09/soviet_improvised_household_ar.php (Kevin Kelly blog)
Soviet Improvised Household Articles
This stunning gallery of improvised household objects from the Soviet Union. Many are utilitarian, but many others are decorative, toys, or personal artistic expressions.These were all collected by a young Russian, Vladimir Archipov. His found objects were produced in the last twenty years and were made in Russia at a time when manufactured items were very hard to get, yet the aspirations for them were growing. The collection began when Archipov found a coat-rack made by his grandfather out of heated and bent toothbrushes. He then saw for the first time the true nature of handmade objects and their lovely beauty. He started collecting stuff from his relatives and friends and then friends of friends. He writes: "There are over a thousand items in my collection today, and they all have three characteristics in common; functionality, a visual uniqueness and the testimony of the author, who is both the creator and the user. They represent an astonishing part of modern folk material culture.
These objects were part of an exercise in translating pictures of 'things' into 'signs' bearers of meaning. Will be explained and illustrated in a future article.
Trailer Park by choice: Constructam Comet 5
The purchase of a vintage caravan - A 1975 Constructam Comet 5 - was the first move. Dutch speaking citizens will enjoy the phrasing: 'zeer practisch ingedeelde gezinswagen................'
Fuck You Skeleton
copyright: photography@swad.be
Thursday 18 March 2010
What 's a heliograph?
A heliogram is the message sent by a heliograph. But what is a Heliograph?
The Heliograph was a simple but highly effective instrument for instantaneous optical communication over 50 miles or more in the 19th century. Its major uses were for military and survey work. It was still in serious use at least up to 1935, for example by Glubb Pasha's Arab Legion in Palestine.
The heliograph sent its signals by reflecting sunlight towards the intended recipient with a mirror or mirrors, the beam being keyed on and off with a shutter or a tilting mirror, allowing Morse code to be sent. Heliographs were used by the armies of several countries during the late 1800's; they were highly popular with British forces in India because of the dependable sunlight.
The classic heliograph is the Mance pattern, devised by Sir Henry Mance at Bombay in 1869. See illustration below.
illustration 1: A British Mark V Mance pattern 5-inch heliograph. The operating key is behind the mirror.
illustration above: The working parts of a Mance pattern heliograph.
The heliograph had some powerful advantages. It allowed long-distance communication with no fixed infrastructure. It was highly portable, required no power source, and was relatively secure in that it was invisible if you were not close to the axis of operation.
On the minus side, the heliograph was obviously vulnerable to bad weather, and the mirrors were fragile.
(the article above is an edit from http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/heliograph/heliograph.htm from 'The museum of retrotechnology' A wonderful storeroom of technology and ideas. The article was placed without permission and will be removed on simple demand)
The Heliograph was a simple but highly effective instrument for instantaneous optical communication over 50 miles or more in the 19th century. Its major uses were for military and survey work. It was still in serious use at least up to 1935, for example by Glubb Pasha's Arab Legion in Palestine.
The heliograph sent its signals by reflecting sunlight towards the intended recipient with a mirror or mirrors, the beam being keyed on and off with a shutter or a tilting mirror, allowing Morse code to be sent. Heliographs were used by the armies of several countries during the late 1800's; they were highly popular with British forces in India because of the dependable sunlight.
The classic heliograph is the Mance pattern, devised by Sir Henry Mance at Bombay in 1869. See illustration below.
illustration 1: A British Mark V Mance pattern 5-inch heliograph. The operating key is behind the mirror.
The heliograph had some powerful advantages. It allowed long-distance communication with no fixed infrastructure. It was highly portable, required no power source, and was relatively secure in that it was invisible if you were not close to the axis of operation.
On the minus side, the heliograph was obviously vulnerable to bad weather, and the mirrors were fragile.
(the article above is an edit from http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/heliograph/heliograph.htm from 'The museum of retrotechnology' A wonderful storeroom of technology and ideas. The article was placed without permission and will be removed on simple demand)
Moving out.........
The photography department of KASK, Gent moved out of their dwellings in january 2010. I took this photograph on my last working day on the work floor. Attempts at 'high art' on the wall seem to be contradicted by the maintenance cart. The cart wages war on filth and dust. The drawings aspire to survive. Anyway it's a goodbye of sorts to the building that nurtured artists from about 1760.
more on history of KASK: http://www.kask.be/index.php?/english/
more on history of KASK: http://www.kask.be/index.php?/english/
Food for thought: the Ambush
The most innocent of activities seems tinged with the possibility of ambush
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