An update

Hi everyone. The latest on the postcard:

01. The postcard will be printed. I am currently awaiting cost estimates on the printing which I should get hold of today. Ideally we will want the postcard printed by the Loncon xmas party (10 December). The copy for the postcard will be posted on the blog for everyone to comment on.

02. The postcard will solicit submissions for the June 2008 issue of Static which we are proposing as the 'catastrophe' issue. These submissions may be academic papers, but they may also be one-liners, new aphorisms or anecdotes. The copy requesting submissions will be slightly, um, mysterious...and will request that submissions be sent to catastrophe@londonconsortium.com. The URL of the catastrophe website will also be printed on the postcard.

03. A website providing more explicit information about the next issue of Static will be created. More than likely the URL will be something like www.londonconsortium.com/catastrophe.

04. The 'catastrophe' issue of static will comprise a selection of our own essays alongside interviews, excerpts, submitted papers, art-works etc. A document outlining our proposal will be submitted next week Tuesday after class (when we can all discuss it).

Decision Time

Okay everybody. I've gone through all the comments, and I've spoken to a few people in class.

The general consensus seems to be that we go for option 3 for the front of the postcard (potentially with the labels, in 'and another option' as a UV varnish that's only visible depending on the angle you look at the postcard).

For the back, most people seem to like the idea of different aphorisms on different postcards. How many aphorisms we go for will be determined by the printers. If this is not possible, are we going to go for option F as the back, or for something very plain and simple?

I have contacted a printing company and I'm currently awaiting a cost estimate on the postcard described above.

BUT: we need to decide if we really want to go ahead and print this postcard or if we want to do/print something else. My concern is: what will we do with the postcard? Will we distribute them around campus? Hand them to our friends and family? Insert them into an academic publication? What is their purpose? Are they promoting our class, or Birkbeck?

Perhaps we should create an issue of Static with Catastrophe as our theme. Then we can perhaps use the postcard to solicit submissions. The postcards could be placed at the Tate, AA, ICA, etc etc and could advertise the next issue as well as solicit submissions.

Please leave comment on these questions and suggestions. If at least half of the class comes to any agreement then I will proceed from there.

A Printing Option

If everyone likes the idea of the most recently posted option (where different points of intersection are labelled), but we prefer the simplicity of just the circle, then there may be a successful compromise. We could print the lines and the labels in a spot UV varnish. What this is is a kind of colourless ink that is only visible depending on how light falls on the postcard. Here are two images to show you kinds how it works.

And another option

Note: please consult earlier posts before reading this one.

In this option I've taken words from the aphorisms, added others, and linked them to different points of the catastrophe symbol to create a diagram of the catastrophe.

Alternatives (part 01)

Sorry, due to the (sometimes irritating) way blogging works you need to scroll down to see the earlier posts and then come back up to here.

Another option would be for us to print a variety of different cards, each with a different aphorism on the back. Here's a very Barbara Kruger example of how it could be done.

Front of Postcard Options

These are really just talking points. It's just a start. As you can see I tried an option with each circle in a different colour (where I've had to recreate the 'symbol/logo), and I've tried an option where the different aphorisms make up the circles. If we like the option with the different colours then we would obviously use something like design option 'E' for the back of the postcard - where each aphorism is linked to one of the circles by a colour.

Back of Postcard Options

Okay, here are a few different options for the back of the postcard. I wanted to develop things a lot more, and I will work on it tomorrow as well, but we might as well start talking...

For the most part I've tried to stick to a vaguely 'Loncon' style, but we can ditch that easily. In general we need to discuss:
1. Do we use the logos on the postcard?
2. What is the copy that drives recipients to email us or go to our website?
3. Is the copy working?
4. I feel like some of the options are trying too hard. That said, just the plain text feels like it puts too much emphasis on the individual aphorisms. What do you guys think?

PS click on the image to view a bigger size

catstrophe cocktails

Dates were mooted today. I'm out of town from 20th-22nd Nov incl, around after that.

status

Hey all,

Just an update on the card (and related material). I'll have stuff for everyone to look at on Wednesday. Then we can discuss changes, additions and final production.

caps etc

...I mean I like the random caps and no spaces...

postcard text

I like Alice's text games (below), and was thinking maybe something along those lines could form the text part of the flyer/postcard we're to produce. How is the registering of site and production of card going, Jonathan and everyone else?

Tom x

CATASTROPHE COCKTAILS

An aside: I chanced upon the name of a play by Mark Twain called A CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL and a CATASTROPHE: Two Acting Charades in which there are three characters, namely, Cat, Ass and Trophy. This chimed with my recent word play. Using the same photos you can use an American accent to produce Cat-Ass-Trophy and a UK RP accent to produce Cat-Arse-Trophy.

Next:

To go with the Catastrophe Manifesto, I decided to create some Catastrophe Cocktails.

Scene: Harry’s Bar, post-disaster
Menu: Catastrophe Cocktails

The Divine
The heavenly option recommended for monotheists.
4 parts champagne: 1 part Tequila (Patron Platinum)
Stir and drink served with a fresh, perfectly-formed strawberry.

The Molotov
This is highly recommended for those with aspirations or the desire to act out or stage a coup.
1 part Absinthe: 1 part champagne; a teaspoon of sugar
Place a teaspoon over the glass and drizzle with Absinthe. Set fire to it and drop into the drink. Add champagne until the fire goes out.

Champagne can be replaced by Cava (Brut).

The Quake
The hair-of-the-dog option as it’s a great choice for anyone with the DTs (aka the shakes). It is also recommended for those who don’t have their feet on terra firma.
2 parts Vodka: 1 part lime juice: 1 part cranberry juice: a dash of sugar syrup
In a shaker, two-thirds filled with ice add the above. Shake well. Then strain into a chilled glass.

Greenfingers
Recommended for those with a desire to save the planet - it’s the alcohol-free option. Note: all ingredients are non-GM, organic, environmentally-aware and dolphin-friendly.
2 parts wheatgrass: 1 part Aloe Vera juice; 1 part apple juice
In a blender, blitz all the ingredients and decorate with a zest of orange.

Ashes and Diamonds
The premium choice for currency converters, number crunchers and bond traders; it’s the fiscal alternative. What’s more, every time you take a sip, you off-set your carbon foot print.
1 part Kahlua: 1 part Vodka: 0.5 dark Rum and a dash of Amarula cream
Mix the Kahlua, vodka and rum. Pour cream over the back of a spoon to create a thin, white layer.

You’ve read the books, taken the course, created a manifesto, now buy the T-shirt.

Pictures from today's session

The catastrophe is an aphorism...

thecatasTropHEisnotparadoxiCAlThecAtaSTROPHEisnotparadoxIcal
thecataStRopheisnotpAraDoxICAL

I was trying to think of how to keep the idea of inversion/otherness that the statement 'the catastrophe is none of the above' was intended to imply, hence the scrambling capitals. But perhaps just have said statement at the bottom of the text as we first thought.

Aphorisms:

1. The catastrophe is profane. [Or, thecataStropheisprofAnetheCatastROpheiSprofANetheCaTastrophe
isprofane]

2. The catastrophe is hysterical
[Or, thecatastRopheishystEricAthecatastropheishystericaLl

3. The catastrophe is democratic [Or, thecatastropheisDEmocraticthecataStroPheisdemocraticthecatastrOphe
isdemocraTIC]

4. The catastrophe is desired. [I give up for now]

5. The catastrophe is cancerous.

6. The catastrophe is a utopia.

7. The catastrophe is vacuous.

8. The catastrophe is benign.

9. The map of the catastrophe is blank.

10. The catastrophe is a liar.

11. The catastrophe is in hiding.

12. The catastrophe excludes you.

And some of the possible combinations:

The catastrophe is a hysterical fiction.

The catastrophe is a lying desire.

The catastrophe is an unknown known....

Paul Tibbets is dead.

More diagrams

Following on from Jonathan's great mindmap templates and Christien's example below, I thought I'd post the classic chart Alfred Barr produced in 1936 for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, on The Development of Abstract Art. The suggestion of derivation through the use of arrows is something that closely relates to our own discussions about causality, teleology and history. The rationality implied here is in contrast to the Great Bear (1992), Simon Patterson's rather more perplexing diagram of thinkers, writers and other stars.


(See http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/history/patterson.htm)

The Alfred Barr diagram is the subject of a close reading by Edward Tufte, emeritus professor at Yale University, where he taught courses in statistical evidence, information design, and interface design. In his analysis, there are also references to further visual representations of information, including to great examples by Charles Eames and a link to a clear and concise account of Richard Feynman's diagrams (at American Scientist Online).

Diagrammatic representations are explored in art, architecture, design and science and it is no surprise that the Bauhaus, aiming to bring together all those disciplines, published its 1922 curriculum as one.

(See http://faculty.arch.usyd.edu.au/kcdc/journal/vol7/papers/kvan/pg_sec4.html)

Mind Map 5 - Chernobyl

Mind Map 4 - The Coup

and in cube...

From The Journal of Peace Research comes...

Fig. 1. A situational cube representing the three
dimensions of threat, decision time, and awareness,
with illustrative situations...

A . Crisis Situation
High ThreaVShort Time!Surprise

B. Innovative Situation
High Threat/Extended Time/Surprise

C. Inertia Situation
Low Threamxtended Time/Surprise

D. Circumstantial Situation
Low ThreaVShort Time/Surprise

E. Reflexive Situation
High ThreaVShort Time/Anticipated

F. Deliberative Situation
High ThreaUExtended Time/Anticipated

G. Routinized Situation
Low ThreaWExtended Time/Anticipated

H. Administrative Situation
Low ThreaUShort Time/Anticipated

"For Hermann [C. Hermann, 1969, p. 409] one of the eight points in the crisis cube depicts a crisis situation. The crisis situation is described when there is a high threat, short decision time, and surprise. This allows for easy delineation of a crisis situation from a non-crisis situation. If one of the three characteristics of the Hermann definition is missing, a crisis situation does not exist. Hermann argues that the position defined as a crisis in his cube should be viewed as an ideal point[...] "

References:
Phillips, Warren, and Richard Rimkunas. 1978. The concept of crisis in international politics. Journal of Peace Research 15, (3): 259-272.

mind-maps (catastrophe roundup)

I just wanted to post a few examples of what we could do with our final mind-map tomorrow. They're just a few doodles: the first one is supposed to be a mushroom cloud, and the second one is 'little boy' (the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima).

Seeing as we have been exploring the idea of modernity and catastrophe and science and fact and the indeterminate nature of the disaster it could be a challenge to create a kind of mathematical formula (a kind of Spinoza-esque formulation of the Catastrophe?) - that's the third doodle. Ignore the ridiculous content of this example.

And then I've combined the idea of an earthquake with a target of some kind for the last doodle. I did these in like 8 minutes, but we can obviously spend some time crafting whatever we finally come up with in class.

And: I'd still like to produce something tangible (like a product), or start a company that provides a service. Depending on what our diagram looks like we could try and get it made a mobile (cut out of perspex with vinyl stickers)?

Manifesto Destiny

ha ha, terrible pun, I know I know.

I've been reading a few manifestos to get a feel for the kind of document/diagram we could produce tomorrow, and I thought it might be helpful to post a few links to existing manifestos (even if we end up producing something completely different).

But before we start, here's an explanation of the manifesto from Tristan Tzara:

A manifesto is a communication made to the whole world, whose only pretension is to the discovery of an instant cure for political, astronomical, artistic, parliamentary, agronomical and literary syphilis. It may be pleasant, and good-natured, it's always right, it's strong, vigorous and logical. Apropos of logic, I consider myself very likeable.

Also from Mr Tzara (albeit as a criticism):

To launch a manifesto you have to want: A.B. & C., and fulminate against 1, 2, & 3

Here's the extensive Wikipedia entry on Art Manifestos (with links)
Here's one of Tristan Tzara's complete Dada Manifestos
This page has another of the Dada Manifestos (with creative typesetting)
Here's the very straightforward Stuckist Manifesto from 1999 (a lesson in numbered lists)
And here's a manifesto from the Consortium's own Lee Scrivner

With regards to diagrams, does anyone know the work of Mark Lombardi? It would be great to produce something with this kind of complexity and beauty (are catastrophes beautiful?)

Mark Lombardi World Finance Corporation and Associates, ca. 1970-84: Miami, Ajman, and Bogota-Caracas (Brigada 2506: Cuban Anti-Castro Bay of Pigs Veteran) (7th Version), 1999
Colored pencil and graphite on paper, 69-1/8 x 84 inches
Collection of Susan Swenson and Joe Amrhein,

Popper's flea

I feel like side-stepping the quest for truth, for the moment, and instead marvel at the miracle of fleas. Robert Hooke's entire Micrographia is online at the Project Gutenberg. I wonder whether the discussion tomorrow, in what will be our final session, can harness the irksome bite of the flea? As Cornelia Hesse-Honegger said, a tranquilised drosophila doesn't run away but spreads its relaxed gut about too much; it gets in the way. Far better to pitch your patience against it while it is scuttling about under the microscope.

grappling with truth

Ok, so I’m totally caught up in the fun but unsatisfactory discussion we had yesterday about the question of truth in terms of the science vs. art divide.

I understand the argument that the scientist aims not to make a claim of truth, but rather, is making a thesis that aims to explain as best as possible a set of observations. This thesis in turn is subject to a counter thesis that in fruition forms a new thesis, and so on. As Marko said in class this new thesis is “better” (I suppose because it is successful not only on its own but also in encompassing the thesis that precedes it).

Here is where it gets complicated for me. If, and again I’ll quote Marko, the new thesis is “better” then is it not in that regard higher on the linear continued of knowledge? Is it not more truthful? Even if ‘the scientist’ is ultimately reluctant to say that the ‘heavens’ are attainable, that is that absolute truth is the goal, don’t these types of pursuits still necessitate the notion of there being a truth? The fact that scientists do not make statements of truth does mean that their work operates independent of a belief in it –celestial as it may be. [Perhaps this is where I need Jonathan M to compose a visual diagram]. So, am I disagreeing, enforcing or just completely missing your point Marko?

As someone who’s background is in sociology, I am not simply interested in vilifying the natural sciences; In terms of ‘the social sciences’ the notion of progress is crucial. Last night Judith Butler gave a public lecture and said that having a critical stance towards the notion of progress does not mean that you deny that some types of progress exists or even that some types of progress are good. Can we deny the benefits to human health that have come from scientific discoveries (or is that scientific theses??) or, for that matter, the benefits that come from the intellectual struggles for human liberties? [Wow, those questions are cliché!].

In anticipation of our final class in which we are meant to produce something, this is what I’m thinking about when contemplating the idea of trying to contribute to a meaningful conclusion to the class.

I’ll give the last words to Judith Butler who brought her essay to a close by quoting Nietzsche who quipped in The Will to Power “'Mankind' does not advance, it does not even exist."

If you go into the woods today...

Menacing-verdant too good to be true landscape plays an enormous part in Stalker. When Jackie was talking about that village in Dorset she mentioned that you "don't stray from the path", and this seemed to beautifully reference the film - all the terror engendered by the idea of the Writer going directly to the room without following the painful way round, the constant repetitions of "you don't do that here", "this is where you go", "this is how things work here". It's not just reverence, it's fear; if you stray from the path something terrible will happen. The Zone has its own internal logic and its own rules and woe betide those who try to fault them. It's as though the film is tapping into an earlier subconscious Russian narrative, the heavily wooded folk tales of Vladimir Propp, the kind of stories that gave birth to, say, Angela Carter; an older threat than the (possibly) nuclear one suggested by the film, but somehow similar, a faceless danger in the woods that will either kill you (if you don't behave) or cure you (if you do).

And here is that other frenzy of metamorphosis and insectoid mutation I alluded to, from Nabokov's 'Ada or Ardour: a Family Chronicle':


On those relentlessly hot July afternoons, Ada liked to sit on a cool piano stool of ivoried wood at a white-oilcloth'd table in the sunny music room, her favourite botanical atlas open before her, and copy out in colour on creamy paper some singular flower. She might choose, for instance, an insect-mimicking orchid which she would proceed to enlarge with remarkable skill. Or else she combined one species with another (unrecorded but possible), introducing odd little changes and twists that seemed almost morbid in so young a girl so nakedly dressed. The long beam slanting in from the french window glowed in the faceted tumbler, in the tinted water, and on the tin of the paintbox - and while she delicately painted an eyespot or the lobes of a lip, rapturous concentration caused the tip of her tongue to curl at the corner of her mouth, and as the sun looked on, the fantastic black-blue-brown-haired child seemed in her turn to mimic the mirror-of-Venus bloom.


Ada also, Hesse-Honiger-like, has a 'larvarium' full of insects, which serve via their (often mutating and deliberately mispronounced) names, like the Wolf Man's multi-lingual butterfly, as hot-beds of enmeshing or encryption.

fleas

Here is the full text of the John Donne flea poem I spoke about in class, inspired (my allusion, not the poem) by the Hook flea drawing that Marko showed. A flea-theme ran through the whole discussion: Waller's Clint in 'Glowboys' is described as a 'poor mite' when he's shot; Beckett's Clov in 'Endgame' finds a pubic louse on his body and blasts it with insecticide, desperate to prevent life beginning all over again (a typical Beckett-move: disavowing repetition even as you repeat, like Krapp snarling to himself 'Wasn't once enough for you?' *as* he reloads the spool to play his tape-recorded memories back yet again); and finally, Tarkovsky's Stalker describes himself as 'a louse'. It's the lowly insects such as fleas and cockroaches, of course, which, as everyone knows, will survive nuclear apocalypse...


The Flea
by John Donne

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is;
Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;
Thou know’st that this cannot be said
A sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead,
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pampered swells with one blood made of two,
And this, alas, is more than we would do.

Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, nay more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our mariage bed and mariage temple is;
Though parents grudge, and you, we are met,
And cloisterd in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that, self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?
Yet thou triumph’st, and say'st that thou
Find’st not thy self, nor me the weaker now;
’Tis true; then learn how false, fears be:
Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,
Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.

You've watched the movie...

Now play the game!

Here's a link to the wikipeida entry of the game Marko mentioned below. It's gives a much more concise overview of the game than the official website.

Pripyat and Chernobyl

In preparation for tomorrow's session, here are David McMillan's photos of Pripyat and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Not surprisingly, the name of the Zone of Alienation is itself derived from the science fiction novel Roadside Picnic (1977) by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, on which Tarkovsky's Stalker (1979) is based.

While much of the photography of Chernobyl follows predictable patterns of aftermath aesthetics (a single abandoned plimsoll or weeds sprouting in cracked buildings), the circle of references was neatly completed in 2007 when a Ukrainian company made an FPS computer game called S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, using digitised photos of the zone.

Link to interview Tom mentions below:

Click here

mark aerial waller interview

Here's an interview I did with Mark Aerial Waller six years ago about his films Glowboys, Midwatch and Sons of Temperance (which we didn't see on Friday). Can someone make it go all hyper-link-y for me as I can't figure out how...

http://www.necronauts.org/interviews_mark.htm

Nowfroth Report 03

Aaaaand here are this week's stories:

01: Burn, Hollywood, Burn - (callous, I know) a link to the CNN California Wildfires page
01(extra): 'Devil Wind' Stokes Flames
01(more): Interactive Google Wildfires Map
02: A visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
03: Odd behaviour of birds at Chernobyl (strictly for those with ornithological interests)
04: Never saw this one coming: have a look at Wikipedia's entry on Titanic: The Musical

It went without saying . . .

What is the story of The Titanic? I'm only wondering this, as we never heard the story. It was nudged at and peaked into. We skirted around it. We talked about it, but not of it. Down below, Alice said something in relation to sentence-formal cadence and repetition. I think this is where I was going with the Möbius thing, codifying, on the surface, breaking the code, in the language, in all language . . .

Mind Maps: Number 3 at Sea

You've seen the film, heard the song, now play the game...

Titanic: The Board Game
The Year is 1912.

You're on the most luxurious ocean liner in history, Gossip with other passengers, receive telegrams. You must collect the necessary items (passport, valuables, life vest, room key, etc.) to advance from the Second Class to the First Class section of the ship. But watch out, you might get put back in steerage or, worse yet, never make it to your lifeboat before the Titanic sinks.
For 2-6 players ages 7 and up.

Copyright 1998 Universal Games

Images sourced from:
www.neighborhoodvalues.com/nv/Toys&Games/T&G2/245tg.htm

Sorry, wrong link

The Loach film is from this project: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11'9%2201_September_11

R

“We will remember you. I hope you will remember us.”

Ahead of Friday’s session on the events in Chile on September 11th, 1973, I’d definitely recommend watching this short Ken Loach film. Perhaps what’s most notable about it is that Loach chose to make the film in response to America’s 9/11 – as part of this project. (I have a VHS copy of this film if anyone would like to borrow it.)

This sets up an interesting question about the relationship between catastrophes – clearly the way in which the events of 1973 have been interpreted has changed significantly since 2001. While Loach’s film won the prize for best short at the Venice film festival, Alexander Walker in the Evening Standard claimed it was “as disreputable an act as setting up your Marxist stall on the graves of 2,800 victims. His mini-film brings shame on our country."

Richard

hiroshima images

an attempt to upload the hirsoshima images a .mov file

Collect them all!!

'Buildings of Disaster' are miniature replicas of famous structures where tragic, historically-significant events have taken place. They're produced by Boym Partners in New York and I want them all.

Have a look at them here and also here.

Chen Chieh-jen

In class today I discussed Chen Chieh-jen's Lingchi - Echoes of a Historical Photograph, 2002, stills and extracts of which are available from the Taipei Biennial, where it was first shown as a three-screen installation. His take on Georges Bataille's The Tears of Eros (1961) is quite interesting, especially given the way in which he concurs with Bataille's ecstatic reading of the 1905 photo yet re-politicises the image.

The mashup trailer for Titanic 2 was made by Robert Blankeneim and I agree with the comment that the mashup process is itself quite oneiric in that it takes, say, Leonardo di Caprio's entire body of work almost as if it were the day residue for the production of the dream/mashup.




As a fine example of Youtube culture, Titanic 2 combines the tradition of the mashup, as for example in Christian Marclay's Up and Out, with that of the fake trailer, as for example in Francesco Vezzoli's Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula (2005).

Absalom! Absalom!

Here is a remarkable passage from William Faulkner's Absalom! Absalom! which I alluded to in class today. Quentin and his friend Shreve are trying to disinter the family crypt, as it were: trying to figure out what happened several generations ago with Quentin's ancestor Thomas Sutpen, what Q's father knows or doesn't know about this, and so on - and Quentin is suddenly struck by an awareness that traumatic events go on and on, transmitting down the generations:

‘Maybe we are both Father. Maybe nothing ever happens once and is finished. Maybe happen is never once but like ripples maybe on water after the pebble sinks, the ripples moving on, spreading, the pool attached by a narrow umbilical water-cord to the next pool which the first pool feeds, has fed, did feed, let this second pool contain a different temperature of water, a different molecularity of having seen, felt, remembered, reflect in a different tone the infinite unchanging sky, it doesn’t matter: that pebble’s watery echo whose fall it did not even see moves across its surface too at the original ripple-space, to the old ineradicable rhythm thinking Yes, we are both Father. Or maybe Father and I are both Shreve, maybe it took Father and me both to make Shreve or Shreve and me both to make Father or maybe Thomas Sutpen to make all of us.’

Needless to say, the back-story turns out to involve incest.

titanic project fails in fund bid

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7052097.stm

A historiography - Roger talks to Machiko

R: Tell me what you learn about Hiroshima then . . . What people tell you about it.
M: We are victims . . . always victims. We know a bomb dropped and many people died. And there's Leukaemia.
R: That's in school? You learn this in school?
M: Yes. And there are pictures of people in the river - burning people.
R: Is there any blaming?
M: What?
R: Do you blame anyone?
M: War is to blame.
R: And America?
M: We don't hear that. No-one says anything about that.
R: Just war.
M: War.

(Machiko is a Japanese artist whose parents were not alive in 1945; her grand parents were however. Neither have said anything to her about the A-bomb blasts in Hiroshima or Nagasaki. The topic is taught in all schools in Japan.)

The Painting of Modern Life

For anyone interested in the problems of representing catastrophe, it’s worth a trip to see the new exhibition at the Hayward Gallery called ‘The Painting of Modern Life’:
http://www.haywardgallery.org.uk/. It features the likes of Warhol, Richter and Hockney exploring the relationship between photography and painting, and the first couple of rooms are particularly relevant to this course – with images of car crashes, race riots, explosions … and the Queen Mum’s funeral. The explanatory blurb also contains this revealing quote from Marlene Dumas: “Everything everyone holds against painting is true. It is an anachronism. It is outdated. It is obscene the way it turns any kind of horror into a type of beauty. Why do we still care to look at images? That’s why I continue to create them.”

Richard

Nowfroth Report 02

A selection of disasters and catastrophes in the news over the last week:

1. Disaster tolls, democracy levels linked
2. The future is not what is used to be ("An apocalypse is sadly attractive. If we cause catastrophe--by our rape of the planet, our failure to address a social problem or we anger a deity--then our generation becomes the most important to ever have lived.")
3. Black Friday fishing disaster tributes unveiled
4. 21 dead in Colombia mine disaster
5. Training disaster kills nine soldiers
6. Catastrophe at Rafah Crossing

Images for session Two: August 6th, 1945

Photograph of a mock-up of the Little Boy nuclear weapon dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945. This was the first photograph of the Little Boy bomb casing to ever be released by the U.S. government (it was declassified in 1960).




This image is a work of a United States Department of Energy (or predecessor organization) employee, taken or made during the course of an employee's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.



Source: http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/images/historical/hiroshima.jpg License: All information on this site is considered public information and may be distributed or copied.





Burn razed field 1,200 meters south of the hypocenter seen from the roof of the Higashi Police Office, Hiroshima.


Looking the disastrous scene at the hypocenter of Nagasaki from the Hospital of the Nagasaki University of Medicine 700 meters south east of the center.



A person who sat on the step evaporated, only leaving the shadow.
Sours: http://www.geocities.jp/chikushijiro2002/peace1e.html





Map of Blast and Fire Damage to Hiroshima
Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Hiroshima_Damage_Map.gif


This photographic image was published before December 31st 1956, or photographed before 1946 and not published for 10 years thereafter, under jurisdiction of the Government of Japan. Thus this photographic image is considered to be public domain according to article 23 of old copyright law of Japan and article 2 of supplemental provision of copyright law of Japan.



An atomic bombed victim had the injury dressed in the Hiroshima Hospital of the Japan Red Cross.






from original prints by Mr. Yoshito Matsushige
Copyright owner is "The Chugoku Shimbun", a regional newspaper.

Portrait of Yosuke Yamahata, photographer. (See http://www.peace-museum.org)



Don’t forget Hiroshima and Nakasaki by Takanori Matsumoto

Also see:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima
http://www.exploratorium.edu/nagasaki/journey/journey1.html