January 26, 2004
Netaudio charts 01/2004
B.[Textone, Paris] netaudio charts for 01/2004:
01. Textone 012 - Hakan Lidbo - forthcoming on 2004-02-15
no URL yet
02. Thinner 049 - Baier/Box - "Boxing/Unboxing"
http://www.thinnerism.com/releases.php?r=thn049
03. Autres Directions in music [moulin] - dudley - "seasonal ep"
http://www.autresdirections.net/inmusic/moulin002/moulin002.html
04. Vertical Form - Einoma - "Krome"
http://www.destiny.is/press/mp3/Einoma-Krome.mp3
05. Textone 009 - Mister E. Minimal - "I need you" (on compilation)
http://www.textone.org/index.php?fuseaction=releases.show_release&rel_id=txtn009
06. Boogizm - V/A - Shaolin Toothpaste EP (partially available online)
http://www.boogizm.net/
07. Klitekture 003 - Deadbeat - "skematic skank" (partially available online)
http://sky.prohosting.com/padrito/Deadbeat%20-%20Track%201.mp3
08. Ideology - gifts from the gifted compilation
http://www.ideology.de/archives/000045.php
09. Subsource Submix 025 - SEBASTIAN REDENZ "SHELTER FROM THE RAIN"
http://www.archive.org/stream/submix025
10. Emusic.com
January 09, 2004
Werefkin and Gauguin
I would like to point out a perceived connection between Marianne Werefkin's work in Murnau and Paul Gauguin's phase in Brittany. The idea occurred to me on a recent visit to the exhibition "Der Blaue Reiter - the liberation of color" in the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum in Ludwigshafen/Germany.
Similarities between the works of the two artists exist on multiple levels. Both artists, after having lived in big cities (Munich/Paris(?)) relocated to rural surroundings for new inspiration. Both concentrated on spiritual, religious themes involving the local population. And both used the techniques of expressive distortions , non-naturalistic color and flattening of the picture plane.
An in-depth study of the link could prove worthwhile.
It is important to note that Gauguin painted his scenes about fifteen years prior to Werefkin and we can safely assume that she was familiar with his oeuvre. (She visited Paris with Jawlensky in 1903, and probably saw Gauguin's and van Gogh's canvases there).
Exhibition information:
http://www.blauer-reiter.de/
11.11.2003-29.02.2004
Works:
Marianne Werefkin, Begraebnis, 1907
Marianne Werefkin, Corpus Christi, 1911
Marianne Werefkin, Die schwarzen Frauen, ca. 1910
Marianne Werefkin, Das Gebet, 1910
Paul Gauguin, Yellow Christ, 1889; http://artchive.com/artchive/G/gauguin/y_christ.jpg.html
Paul Gauguin, "Vision after the Sermon",1888; http://artchive.com/artchive/G/gauguin/gauguin_wrestling.jpg.html
January 04, 2004
QotD: 'No New Year flying fridges'
From Business Day, South Africa, South Africa - 30 Dec 2003
"South African police have warned that they will crack down hard on anybody lobbing items such as old refrigerators from high-rise buildings over the New Year ..."
...a couple of days old, yet still hilarious.
January 03, 2004
DOWNTIME
My webhost had a hardware malfunction today and as a result I lost all data uploaded/entered between 12/28 and 01/03. Luckily I was able to piece most parts back together from local copies and my browser's cache. Only the book database base lost, so the reading list will be offline for a while.
Preview: Eugène Delacroix Exhibition in Karlsruhe
Comprehensive exhibition with 200+ of his works, spanning all periods of activity.
Dates: 1. Nov 2003 - 1. Feb 2004
URL: http://www.delacroix.de (in German and French)
My related essay 'Delacroix at Home and Abroad: A Comparative Analysis of Early French Orientalism.' (04/2002, pdf) is available for download.
Details:
Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
Hans-Thoma-Straße 2-6
76133 Karlsruhe
Telefon: 0721/926 3575
Telefax: 0721/926 2573
www.kunsthalle-karlsruhe.de
info@kunsthalle-karlsruhe.de
Infoline
0721/926 3368
Tuesday thru Sunday 10:00 - 18:00, € 8,00
January 02, 2004
Info tech killed the Jaguar E-Type
[DRAFT VERSION]
While recently on vacation in Tanzania, I found myself listening in on a conversation of a group of anglophile retirees reminiscing about their time working in the Middle East 30 years ago. Somehow the topic of discussion turned on cars and I was astounded to hear that my hosts still remembered exactly in which year which particular car model was released; how many units were sold when and what modifications were made in subsequent editions. They probably even knew the whole list of available factory paint finishes. For me on the other hand the automotive market is a vast ocean of sameness that I do not care to delve into. (That was not always the case - I remember poring over catalogs from local dealerships when I was ten years old, but this little detail completely detracts from my main point, so please erase this entire sentence from your short-term memory.) What is important is the huge generational discrepancy of interest in cars that I perceived. Now, this might have simply been due to the fact that these people were a bunch of car nuts while I am a flag-bearer for public transport, but such a cul-de-sac of common sense argumentation would stop my the entire train of thought here and I would have nothing more to write about. Instead, allow me to take you on a mental detour to an alternative explanation that maybe far-fetched but makes up for it in overly broad ambition.
Leaving the particulars of the occasion aside for a minute, it seems to me that each generation has a) a formative period for establishing a certain world view which subsequently is clung-to by its constituents even as technological progress transforms everyday life; and b) a specific dominating social paradigm that controls notions of what is important/relevant during the formative period.
Cars have been around since the end of the 19th century; but only after WWII did they come within reach of the average consumer. The paragidm associated with automobile proliferation was that of individual transportation - one had the means to go wherever one wanted, whenever one wanted. And not just around the block - across the country if desired. It makes sense then that the cars as objects AND agents of this positive tranformation should have become subject of adoration/intense study/etc of the generation for which their wide-scale availability was a novelty.
For my age set, the convenience of ubiquitous means transportation has always been taken for granted. The car is a commodity product, but only one of a range of possible mobility options. In fact, in urban areas, it has now often become a quite inefficient (slow and expensive) method of navigating over-crowded centres. Amsterdam has twice as many bicycles as it has registered cars. In New York, most of the city's inhabitants don't even have a driver's license. For me as a mid-20s city dweller, the car does not have the charismatic power of a dominant technology anymore. Instead, predictably, it is communication/information technology that most dramatically transforms my life. Accordingly, I can tell you much more about the history of the web and the rise and demise of various file sharing applications than about V8 versus V6 engines. To take the point even further, I know more about ways to encode and decode audio files than I know about handling any real world object. Vegetables?Cooking? Ah, let's just order take-out. [CONTINUE]
From here I can already see myself jumping off to another point about our new existence in a world of excessive information - the shift in retrieval and filtering methods brought about by instant access to vast amounts of data, but also the daily overload of information impinging on our feeble minds. Ah, even the headline emerges: "I don't recall: How Google replaced my short-term memory."
Yet another topic: Mass markets, economies of scale, and the resulting decline of specialized solutions - are we losing most of our practical knowledge that took so many centuries to acquire? - What are our survival chances if electricity did not exist anymore from tomorrow on? Are we putting to many of our eggs into a virtual model of a basket that disappears as soon as the power drops out?
January 01, 2004
TXTN009 - Designated Drivers Compilation released
At our inhouse netlabel Textone, we are starting off the year in style with a full-length compilation release. Nine tracks with a runtime of just under one hour showcase where the label is headed in the upcoming months. With Rene Breitbarth, Kero, Peter F. Spiess, and labelhead B., four established textone artists are represented again, continuing on their respective idiosyncratic paths. However, the majority of the compilation is reserved to showcase recent additions to our roster. Expect to hear more material from Mister E. Minimal?, Mole of Soul, James Thomason, J. Hunsberger and Darkfarmer on Textone or other Contexterrior Media outlets in 2004.
Release URL:
http://www.textone.org/index.php?fuseaction=releases.show_release&rel_id=txtn009
Background story:
The compilation was originally slated for release on 12/15/03 as a christmas album. But because Jay and I were in transit, having moved out of our old apartment in Amsterdam the week before, there was simply not enough time to master, tag and upload all files before I left for Tanzania on 12/11. Thus the release date was moved to 1/1/04 and around 10pm on new year's eve all files were finally in place. Of course the old christmas tree cover was no longer appropriate so a new concept was constructed - designated drivers - those responsible to take control at the end of the party. Since I did not want to come across as either too sober/serious or too self-important, I picked an image that should inject some self-deprecating humor.
Here are the two images:
