embodying the ugly

(Lady Gaga in Bad Romance, decked out in faux Polar bear fur coat, about to torch the man who bought her at auction, with a fire spurting bar.)

The poet makes use of the ugliness of forms: what use of this is granted to the painter? Painting, as an imitative faculty, can express ugliness: painting as a fine art cannot express it. In the first case all visible objects belong to it; in the second it includes only those visible objects that arouse pleasurable feelings [...]
The same holds for the ugliness of forms. This ugliness offends our eyes, clashes with our taste for order and harmony, arousing repugnance without our taking into account the real existence of the object we perceive as ugly. We should not like to see Thersytes, either in nature or in an image; and although his image displeases us less, this happens not because the ugliness of his form ceases to be ugly in an imitation, but because we possess the faculty of abstracting from ugliness, and we delight only in the painter's art. But even this delight is constantly interrupted by the reflection on how art has been badly employed, and seldom will this thought fail to bring with it the devaluation of the artist [...]
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim, Laocoon (1766)

volonté de puissance - une distinction

Sleepers by Toulouse-Lautrec


We can also “want” [ie. will-to-have] something (eg. a book, etc)… would like to have, will to have as want is a striving after something, and has the special characteristic of wishing. But to wish is not yet to will. Whoever only wishes, in the strict sense of the word, does not will; rather, he hopes that his wish will come true without his having to do anything about it. Is will then wishing to which we add our own initiative? No, willing is not wishing at all. It is the submission of ourselves to our own command, and the resoluteness of such self-command, which already implies our carrying out the command.
Heidegger, Martin, Nietzsche: Volume 1: The Will to Power as Art, trans. David Farrell Krell, (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1979) pg. 40

hysteria

Unica Zürn



Portrait of Unica Zürn by Hans Bellmar

Nietzsche + Heidegger - God = Gaga

At the age of twenty-eight, as a professor in Basel, Nietzsche writes (X, 112):

"There are times of great danger in which philosophers appear - times when the wheel rolls ever faster - when philosophers and artists assume the place of the dwindling mythos. They are far ahead of their time, however, for the attention of contemporaries is only quite slowly drawn to them. A people which becomes aware of its dangers produces the genius."

(Heidegger, Martin, Nietzsche: Volume 1: The Will to Power as Art, trans. David Farrell Krell, (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1979) pg. 3)

Having studied Nietzsche and realized God is dead, Maëva at the age of 27, dedicates herself to the study of thinkers, art and the religion of Gaga, praying to the leopard clad deity for a safe journey through the next stack of books dedicated to Nietzsche.

paparazzi

Being photographed by the constant mob of paparazzi photographers who chase me around Montréal day in and day out.
Oh, life is so hard!



Maeva and Brendan Fernades, nominee representing Ontario, captured at the 2010 Sobey Art Award Gala, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal.

Check out Brendan's great work here.

la vie rhizomatique

Today, we are going to embrace the "Rhizome" care of Deleuze and Guattari a couple of French/Italian God's I've loved from a far in my bedroom cozy corner for some time now.

Longing for...

Ever wondering if there was a connection between architecture and choreogrpahy? Ever wonder if you could choreograph a space depending on the architecutral design of that space? Well... here is your answer:

cette photographie qu'on appelle humaniste

"... la photographie est un langage compréhensible pour tous."
- Laure Beaumont-Maillet.

that old argument

I'm sure you've been in a museum or gallery and heard a person near by say "this isn't art. my kids could do that". We all have heard it. It makes others cringe more than some. I've always wanted to find the right argument to share when I hear someone say this, in any situation.

Meyer Schapiro in his text "The Nature of Abstract Art" translated into French as "La nature de l'art abstrait" and this weeks reading for approches sociologiques et les arts visuels, has done just that, given me the argument to share in those situations, with those people:

"Si aujourd'hui un peintre abstrait semble dessiner comme un enfant ou un fou, ce n'est pas qu'il soit puéril ou dément. Il a valorisé ou adopté des qualités liées à la liberté d'imagination à laquelle il aspire: la spontanéité des passions et l'insouciances des techniques, qualités présentes chez l'enfant, qui crée pour lui-même sans avoir à tenir compte des responsibilitiés de l'âge adulte ni des exigences du sens practique."
(page 35, La nature de l'art abstrait par Meyer Schapiro, 1937)

How could you not enjoy, and finally not want to understand, the spirit of a child. That is probably one of the most beautiful things on the planet, the free, not yet tainted spirit of a child, explorative, uncomprehending but not afraid to try anything.
Thanks Schapiro!

Dancing Solar Flowers

Artist Alexandre Dang created a work called "Dancing Solar Flowers", an artwork dedicated to better life for mankind. It will be exhibited at the Belgian & European Pavillion of World Expo Shanghai 2010. His works often trigger debate about issues linked with sustainable development, environment and energy.

In Dancing Solar Flowers, see a video here each flower integrates an engine with a solar cell. The solar cell converts light into electricity that powers the engine which then allows the flower to move, or dance.

The impetus behind much of Dang's work is the need to raise awareness of the potential of environmentally friendly technologies or eco-technologies and sustainable development. Many of us man not know that the sun provides 10 000 times more energy to the earth than humans needs, yet more than 1.7 million people still do not have access to electricity. The need to address this major issue is the driving force behind Dang's work. He combines scientific approaches, environmental concern and humanism in order to address these concerns in his work which involves kinetic art using solar energy for its power source.

discovery: Emscher Island

Emsher Island, in the Rhur region of Germany was at one time home to coal and steel industries, and one of the biggest producers of these materials in Europe. But as the economical landscape changed, and these industries lost importance, the region fell apart and had been mostly lost to terrible pollution anyway.

The government of the Rhur region created an initiative called IBA or Industrial Building Exhibition which undertook to revitalize and restore the area. This project is now one of the largest renaturation projects in the world. To coinside with this renaturation and restoration, EMSCHERKUNST.2010, a very large scale public art project, will take place on the island that stretches out for 34 km between the Emscher River and the Rhine-Herne Canal.

More info here .

discovery: Martial Bourdin

Ever heard of Martial Bourdin? He was a French Anarchist who on 15 February 1894 was killed. How was he killed? Bourdin, who had been living on Fitzroy Rd (also former residence of Sylvia Plath many many many years later) was killed by the bomb he was carrying as he walked through Greenwich park towards the Royal Observatory in London, UK.


( Royal Observatory, London. Photo credit: http://carolineld.blogspot.com/)

Exactly what he was going to do with this bomb, or where, is unknown, though most assume it was meant for the Royal Observatory.

The Art Council Collection has just acquired a new work concerning this event. Greenwich Degree Zero is an extensive multimedia work that invites the audience to piece together clues in order to discover the artists' interpretation of this event. When the audience is the detective and involved in the creation of the work, well this is the best kind of work. The piece by Rob Dickenson and Tom McCarthy is on display at the Longside Gallery on the grounds of the Yorkshire Sculpture Garden in Wakefeild, West Yorkshire, UK aka my old stomping ground.

overhaul part deux

I haven't fully reflected on my 'overhaul' of this blog.
But what I have thought about is a vision for it.

Like I said in 'Overhaul part uno' - originally I came to this blog conflicted by technology in regards to the photograph and our monotonous capturing of every day life (of which I am guilty too) (thanks to the digital camera). I dabbled for a year in medium format holga and polaroid photographs, until funds ran low for such costly films (Polaroid being nearly extinct, being reprinted now at extrodinary prices).

Then, I moved away, to Drummondville QC and into sequestered land. and neglected this blog for a year. Moved, and shifted visions.

Now I'm back in internet blog land, for awhile, and I need to sort out what I'm doing here.

What is this blog about and why?

I've decided it's about the things I love in life, which are photography, art, travelling, cooking, music.

And thus, this is what I'm going to blog about. and have been, too. mostly.

I suspect in the coming months my vision will change again as I embark on a new journey - graduate studies at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal (imagine appropriate accents over e's and a's as necessary).

And I, as always, hope you will continue to read.

overhaul

Inspired by Julie. Julie who is going for the Jugular.
Good call, and I think it has been a good wake up call for me too.

Since reading Julie's Jugular post I've been thinking a lot about my blog. I often feel very torn about blogs and the internet. It is true that you can reach anybody you want through the intenet, yet the internet is so vast, unending even, that how does anyone ever come across my blog anyway? and what would draw it to them. So I think I started to recline into a comfortable maeva zone of musing on my own love affairs in life.

But what are those anyway?
When I started this blog after returning from Corsica I needed to reflect on technology and art, photography and technology, as well as my life. Some seriously amazing changes happened at that moment - new job, new home, new people. Things were changing. But now this idea (for this blog) has been in a lull for well over a year. and I neglected it for well over a year as well. But this (the neglect part) could also be interesting.

Anyway, I'm starting to feel like an internet flake. During the time at home, baking tons of cookies and lolligaging about at home, in the garden, knitting, watching movies, reading, playing music (to listen to and to play) is all fine and dandy, but where are my thoughts these days? where are my inspirations and desires?

So, this is an overhaul baby.
And Maeva is going for the Mother load (sounds better than Maeva and the Jugular, unless you folk out there in internet land can come up with something even better!)

More to come in part deux of overhaul mania.

Pittsburgh, PA

In late November, I took my first solo road trip and went to Pittsburgh to visit Jessi. It was fabulous.
Guardate i fotos!!!

jessi's street in Bloomfield


Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece "Falling Water" in Millrun, PA - it was a perfect sunny crisp day too


a rainy walk from Bloomfield, detour (by accident) into Shadyside on my way to Oakland to find the Carnegie library - never did find it but had a nice walk. I love this photo


One of the best parts was the Carnegie International "Life on Mars" and this piece was fabulous by Thomas Hirschorn. It's up till 11 January so if you haven't been you should run out and see it - quick!!


a pretty lamp in Jessi's room - the night before I left


I-179N going home :( goodbye Burgh and Pittsburghers!