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151. Calibre 45
Author:Vidales, Nazareno
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Description Item 20 Title Item 20 Description Item 21 Title Item 21 Description Item 22 Title Item 22 Description Item 23 Title Item 23 Description Item 24 Title Item 24 Description Item 25 Title Item 25 Description Item 26 Title Item 26 Description Item 27 Title Item 27 Description Item 28 Title Item 28 Description "Caliber 45" by Nazareno VidalesCopyright © 2010 by Zonezero Web design: Ehekatl Hern·ndez . Picture Editor: Nadia Baram. Webmaster: Alejandro Malo
Friday, 09 July 2010
152. The Room
Author:Fund, Max
Friday, 09 July 2010 | Read more
Author:Welpott, Jack
Thursday, 08 July 2010 | Read more
Author:Mariko Yasu and Maki Shiraki
June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Porn star Mika Kayama is at the frontier of a push to develop videos and content in Japan that Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp. need to lure customers for their new 3-D televisions. Kayama and Yuma Asami, the top actresses of adult-movie maker S1 No.1Style, will star in the country’s first DVDs for the 3-D format TVs, providing content analyst Yuji Fujimori says can trigger the success of the new sets. Sales of adult videos in Japan were 108.6 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in 2009, according to Takashi Kadokura, an economist who runs Yokohama- based BRICs Research Institute. That represents about 30 percent of the overall video market in the nation, according to Kadokura. “Adult videos will likely be an incentive for consumers to buy a 3-D TV,” said Fujimori, at Barclays Capital in Tokyo. “It’s worth paying attention to the move because it’s lack of content that’s hindering expansion.” Closely-held S1 No.1Style will offer “3D X Mika Kayama” on June 7 and “3D X Yuma Asami,” Japan’s first pornographic titles in the new format, on June 19 to coincide with the release of Sony’s 3-D Bravia models, with more titles to follow this year, according to the producer, who uses the professional name of Sakon.   Sales Motivation “I want to try it out,” said Satoshi Miyazaki, 33, who pays about 2,000 yen a month to watch adult cable channels. “I need something dramatic to justify replacing my TV. This could be the motivation.” Sony, the world’s third-largest TV maker, plans to offer 3- D Bravia TVs in Japan from June 10 and in the U.S. and Europe later this summer, according to Yuki Shima, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman. Panasonic became the first major TV maker to sell high-definition 3-D sets in the U.S. in March and in Japan in April. Sharp Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. have said they plan to sell similar products. Sony’s Shima and Akira Kadota, a Panasonic spokesman, declined to comment on whether 3-D adult movies would boost sales of the new TVs. Worldwide shipments of 3-D TVs are expected to be 4.2 million units this year and 12.9 million in 2011, according to California-based researcher iSuppli Corp. That compares with its projection of 170 million sets this year for all types of liquid-crystal-display TVs, the researcher said May 25. ‘Avatar’ Release 3-D movies, which first appeared in cinemas in the 1920s, gained a resurgence of popularity with the December release of News Corp.’s “Avatar,” the world’s top-grossing motion picture. Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co., the No. 1 TV maker globally, said last month it will work with “Avatar” director James Cameron to develop content to market its 3-D sets, which went on sale in the U.S. in March. S1 No.1 Style, which releases about 25 DVDs a month, is offering 3-D titles at the same price of 2,980 yen as 2-D ones, Sakon said. Soft on Demand Co., a Tokyo-based adult-film company, plans to sell two 3-D titles on June 25 and more later this year, according to Tsuyoshi Fujimoto, a spokesman. Local TV station Sky Perfect JSAT Corp. will join BS Broadcasting Corp. and Jupiter Telecommunications Co. in airing 3-D programs on June 19, according to the companies. Three 3-D PlayStation 3 games will be available when Sony starts selling 3-D Bravias, said Shima. Soccer World Cup   Sony’s not aware of any announcement of 3-D titles that will be available on June 10 to coincide with the release of its new Bravia TVs, Shima said. The company’s film unit will offer “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” in 3-D Blu-ray in the summer, and the 2010 soccer World Cup games by the end of the year, she said. Sony shares have risen 1.5 percent this year in Tokyo, while Panasonic has dropped 14 percent. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average has declined 8.9 percent this year. The 3-D TVs may help stem a decline in sales of adult movies in Japan, which have dropped about 15 percent since their peak in 2006 because of a prolonged recession and competition from free online pornography, said BRICs Research’s Kadokura. “3-D technology is just what the porn industry needed,” he said. S1 No.1 Style spent three months making its first 3-D films, triple the time for a normal production, said 29-year-old Sakon.   Actors Moves “It was a different filming experience using a new camera,” he said. “Actors needed to move more slowly, furniture had to be relocated and lighting rearranged to make it work. But it was worth it. We’ll make a profit out of this.” Tokyo-based Sony, which projects sales from 3-D products excluding content will reach 1 trillion yen in the year to March 2013, plans to sell Vaio personal computers that can show 3-D images before the end of the year, the company said in January. Toshiya Shimizu, a 28-year old Tokyo resident, said he may wait for the cheaper 3-D computer. “I want to rent the DVD first to see how good the image is,” he said. “I’d like to watch Yuma Asami in 3-D.”  
Friday, 02 July 2010
Author:MODERN MC
    I am very fond of Diego Goldberg's “Arrow of Time”, photo art and ritual. Whenever June rolls around, I think of this family and I'm later compelled to visit the Arrow of Time site just to see how they are doing. The photos tell over 30 years of this family's story. You watch everyone change and age--and even get married and have children.     Although I love Diego's work of art, I always get a little anxious when it is time to check in on them. I fear the day when one of the family members is not there. It's interesting how you can care about people that you don't know. Anyway, I admire Mr. Goldberg's perseverance to continue this project year after year.     These dolls were made by Mary Colleen Eld of Silver Acorn.  
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Author:Nelson, Brittany
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 | Read more
Author:The British Journal of Photography
  The porn industry is big business. It has larger revenues than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple and Netflix combined and achieved $97.06bn worldwide in 2006, according to market research company TopTenReviews. There are 4.2 million pornographic websites, 12% of the total number of sites online.   So what, unless you're a fan? Quite a lot, for any working photographer. The porn industry has lead the way in new media technology, and the shift it's experienced from print to online is now kicking in everywhere else. Worryingly for photographers, video has also comprehensively taken over the porn industry - in 1988, US companies (which have by far the biggest share of the market) released 1300 hardcore video titles; in 2005 they released 13,588. Also worrying for professionals is the rise of amateurs - as Dian Hanson, queen of porn, puts it this week (Interview, p28-31), amateur footage is universally popular but it can't be used commercially. In fact it just undermines professionals. 'Now, as in the music industry, photographers are expected to do interesting work for free,' she says. 'Which of course doesn't really happen.'   It makes for gloomy reading, and the future looks little better. With 3D football matches and Oscar-nominated films already appearing you can be sure that 3D porn and 3D everything else, will follow soon. But if you're willing to be flexible, it could be an opportunity. A few magazine publishers are combining high-quality print with 3D and video footage for augmented reality specials, and I predict many other publishers, in both porn and non-porn markets, will find it hard to resist. If you're into multimedia, you could be in for an interesting ride. Diane Smyth, Deputy editor.   The British Journal of Photography  
Friday, 11 June 2010
Author:Alejandro Malo
    Over the past few years, sexuality has turned into something similar to a computer screen: emerging from discrete isolated cubicles to become an omnipresent window. The religious sphere has been affected by a slew of sex scandals that have not been restricted to the Catholic hierarchy and have affected all denominations to the same extent. In the SEC, a US government department dedicated to supervising financial organizations, it turns out that just as the crisis was imploding, its employees were spending far more effort and money on consuming pornography than on sorting out the institutions they were supposed to supervise and judging from the current state of affairs, this seems to be still the case. e.   Who among us has not received an offer of pills to improve his performance, or for implants for every inch of his anatomy or even an invitation by exotic partners ready to meet you? The sex market does not discriminate by gender or preference and offers whatever the customer wants. That is why, if we think about it, sexuality, like computer screens, has altered its range of colors. It has evolved from a universe with nearly monochromatic views to an unlimited palette, reflected in the six colors of the flag representing sexual diversity with new alternatives seemingly springing up everywhere. We will soon be surrounded by choices as varied as a 32-bit truecolor range with millions of shades to choose from.   To give you an example: some people recently started to come out of the closet of their bisexuality while on the one had there were those who, feigning restraint, said that they were hetero-flexible while others rather greedily went so far as to say they were pansexual. As if that were not enough, the latter were criticized by the pan-sexuals, who pointed out, like gourmets, that it is one thing to eat everything and quite another to eat in a varied but select, orderly fashion. And yet, or perhaps thanks to this, many of the world's cities have encouraged an atmosphere of tolerance, which I think is positive, although it is far from being the norm.   It is positive, because in an environment where material and virtual aspects interact in our everyday lives, we must understand each other without prejudice and acknowledge the fact that our aspirations determine who we are as much or even more so than our biology. It is also positive insofar as it enables us to accept our appetites and histories and respect others. And lastly it is positive because it invites us to sit up and reflect, more immediately than a Kinsey report, on aspects and forms of sexuality that are gradually becoming evident, thanks to the growing capacity to group together and document events provided by new technologies.   Let us give our voyeuristic tendencies full rein and continue, like the adults we are, beyond the warnings about adult contents, along the path of “I understand and I wish to continue.” We would like to share with you a viewing and discussion of a photographic exhibition of these emerging sexualities. It will always be a small fraction of all that is available, but we hope that it will serve as a window on an increasingly broad universe and an invitation to give our views on an issue that is both familiar and endless for all of us.   Alejandro Malo June 2010
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Author:Pedro Meyer
  It has recently come to my attention, that the world is not looking so great. Well, that is after looking at all the news one gets 24/7 coming from all directions. Television, newspapers, magazines, websites, bloggers, twitter, etc. You name it, they come from across the globe. No sooner are stock markets going up, that someone comes up with negative news coming from Greece, or Spain, all of which bring down the entire financial apparatus. We have this week the largest oil spill in the history of the world, and so it goes on. Both Koreas threatening war on each other, extensive draughts in Africa about to hit one million people, amongst other awful news. In Mexico, we have with each passing day, more people being murdered in a war against the drug cartels, than the total losses sustained by the United States military in it's combined war in Irak and Afghanistan over the last decade. So while the United States gives free rein to it's consumption of drugs, we in Mexico are left to suffer the consequences. People without a job, people displaced from their homes, children growing up scared and being fed junk food. The escalation of crime, of course, affects our normal every day well being. Our car was recently stolen, graffiti was painted on the walls of our home, and countless other incidents, that suggest that the fabric of society is being torn assunder and subject to all sorts of tensions. One really feels impotet when confronted with these and many many other maladies coming and going with each new day. But rather then being overwhelmed with such feelings, I thought that the only thing that I could really do, was to create an image, and share it with all of you. In the face of all these hardships (the literal translation of "mal tiempo", in Spanish, is: bad weather) we should offer an optimistic and engaging smile. This is not about being in denial, but it's about having the willingness to engage with reality not on the basis of it's worst common denominator, but alas, with the desire to advance the best in what we have to work with in this crazy world which we inhabit. Each one of us can do something, small as it might be, to make us all feel a little better. I hope you enjoy the image I created, and that it contributes to some degree, to feeling more optimistic. You might also wish to send us your own images of how you cope with hard times, hopefully with some invigorating approach.   Pedro Meyer Coyoacan, June 2010
Sunday, 06 June 2010
Author:Allen, Mariette Pathy
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 | Read more
161. Camila
Author:Marquez, Veronika
Tuesday, 01 June 2010 | Read more
Author:ZoneZero
  There is an apparent contradiction amongst the documentary and artistic value of an art work. On one side, a photographic document aspires to be an instant’s testimony —or a series of instants in the case of an essay— with a location, characters and precise elements, that lead to an exact interpretation; and, on the other side it is accepted without further questioning that any work of art, mostly in the photographic field subsequent to twentieth century’s vanguards, must allow diverse interpretations that avoid it to be run down as a mere illustration or sample of technical mastery. If, besides what was previously said, we emphasize the distinction made by uncountable contests, as something almost obvious, among photojournalism and artistic photography, almost any attempt to conciliate both expressions seems destined to failure.   Alejandro Malo Read More...     Galleries                                       From our Archive                                   Magazine The business of suffering. Author:The British Journal of Photography Shahidul Alam in an interview with New Age Author Rahnuma Ahmed A lifetime project captured on film Author David Brinn The lingering afterimages of 9/11 Author: Hans Durrer Government confirms withdrawal of police from Drik's exhibition on 'Crossfire' Author: Media Helping Media Threats to Shahidul Alam Author: Rezaur Rahman 'Crossfire' exhibition forcibly closed down Author: Shahidul Alam    
Tuesday, 01 June 2010
Author:Valtierra, Pedro
Thursday, 27 May 2010 | Read more
Author:The British Journal of Photography
  In 1993 Kevin Carter found himself mired in controversy over an image he shot in Sudan. The photograph showed a vulture watching a starving young Sudanese girl, seemingly waiting for her to die and its chance to pounce. The image was published in the New York Times on 26 March and immediately sparked numerous protests from readers all over the world, accusing Carter of taking advantage of the girl's plight and asking why he had photographed her rather than helping. Carter won the Pulitzer Prize the following year for his image, but in July 1994 he killed himself.     Today, 17 years later, the ethical questions over photojournalists' role in the midst of human suffering persist. On 12 January Haiti was hit by one of the worst earthquakes in its history, which killed more than 150,000 people. Dozens of journalists and photographers rushed to the island to cover the devastation. Countless images followed and, initially the public focused on the suffering they saw in them, arguably helping raise millions of pounds in donations. But soon the debate shifted towards the journalists. Were there too many of them? Were they helping? Was their work exploitative?     The questions gained traction after a video of CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper - who caught one of the last civilian planes headed to Haiti - featured on the news network, showing him rescuing a bleeding boy from what he claimed was a potentially lethal mob. Haitian photojournalist Daniel Morel was highly critical of Cooper's actions, accusing him, and other journalists, of 'playing with people' in Lens, the New York Times' photography blog. 'CNN is playing with people,' he added. 'Anderson Cooper is playing with people. They're doing show business with people's lives here.'     Back in UK, picture editors are also being accused of engaging in 'disaster pornography'. But are they? I don't think so. Apart from a couple of exceptions, most of them are simply doing their job - showing the extent of the devastation. Why should we be spared images of corpses when the earthquake has killed so many that dead bodies now litter the streets? The challenge, as Jessie De Witt of the New York Times puts it, is to get the right balance, but I think this has largely been achieved.     In the next few weeks - maybe even days - Haiti will slowly disappear from the headlines, just as the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the South-East Asian tsunami and the recent Chinese earthquake faded from view. That should be a cause for outrage, not relevant reporting on the facts.     Olivier Laurent, News editor The British Journal of Photography  
Monday, 24 May 2010
Author:Ghizzoni, Simona
Thursday, 20 May 2010 | Read more
Author:Rahnuma Ahmed
Shahidul Alam’s exhibition, ‘Crossfire’ (a euphemism for extrajudicial killings by the Rapid Action Battalion), was scheduled to open on March 22, at Drik Gallery, Dhaka. A police lockup of Drik’s premises before the opening prevented noted Indian writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi from entering, forcing her to declare the opening on the street outside Drik. The police blockage was removed soon after Drik’s lawyers served legal notice and the lawyers had moved the Court, and after Government lawyers i.e., the Attorney Generals office, had contacted the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s office, and the Home Ministry, during the hearing on the government. The court commented that even after repeated rules had been issued on the government, crossfire had continued to occur. The court’s response and subsequent events enabled Drik to open the exhibition for public viewing on March 31.     You work in the documentary genre, this work is show-cased as being symbolic, interpretive. Does this mean a change in genres? I find these categorisations problematic. I see myself as a storyteller. There’s fiction and non-fiction. This is clearly non-fiction, though it draws upon many of the techniques that fiction would use. The allegorical approach was deliberately chosen as I felt it had, in this instance, greater interpretive potential than the literal approach. Quite apart from the fact that one could hardly expect RAB to allow photographers to document their killing (they do sometimes have TV crews accompanying them on ‘missions’ but they are never allowed to be there during ‘crossfire’), I felt that showing bodies, blood and weapons would not add to the understanding people already had. We are not dealing with lack of knowledge. ‘Crossfire’ is known and, in fact, it is because it is known that the exhibition is seen as such a threat. So, while reinforcing the known with images would have a value, it would be unlikely to be as provocative as these more subtle but haunting images are likely to be.   I wanted the images to linger in people’s minds, perhaps to haunt them. They are desolate images, quiet but suggestive. The attempt is not one of inundating the audience with information, but leaving them to meditate upon the silence of the dead.   Crossfire deaths continue despite regime changes. How do you view this? Criminals have survived because of patronage of the powerful. The removal of criminals, through ‘crossfire’, does not affect the system of control, but merely substitutes existing criminals for new ones. This is why crimes continue unabated under RAB. All it does is to undermine the legal system. Unless serious attempts are made to remove such patronage and, better still, catch the godfathers, the extermination of thugs and local-level criminals (and many innocent people are also killed) will have no effect on crime. The ruling elite knows this. So why use RAB at all? I believe it is to keep control. Dead criminals don’t speak. Don’t give secrets away. Don’t take a share of the spoils. They are disposable, and RAB is the disposal system.   Every government has used RAB and other law enforcement authorities to remove troublemakers. Bangla Bhai had become a liability when he was apprehended. He didn’t die in crossfire, but was hurriedly hanged all the same despite the fact that he wanted to talk to the media as he had ‘stories to tell’. Dead people don’t tell stories. So, all governments would rather have RAB, to clean up their mess, than be confronted by their own shadows.   A change of government does not change this structure.   The inclusion of the Google map has turned this exhibition into a collective, history-writing project. Why that added dimension? Art projects are generally about the glorification of the artist. The audience is generally a passive recipient. I see this as a public project. I have a role to play as a storyteller, but my work is informed by not only the collective work of my co-researchers, but also that of human rights groups, other activists, and most importantly by the lives, or deaths, of the people whose stories are being told. The survivors, the witnesses and others affected by these deaths are important players in this story and it was essential to find a way to make this project inclusive. I would be kidding myself if I assumed this show would put an end to extrajudicial killings. I also believe there are still many unreported cases.   The Google map has the twin benefits of being interactive and open. We have already been told of one person who had been crossfired but his name hadn’t come up in the archival research.   The internet will also allow a much wider participation than might otherwise have been possible.     Besides the Awami League’s electoral pledge of stopping extrajudicial killings, it had also promised us a ‘digital Bangladesh’. I think it is appropriate that this digital Bangladesh be claimed by the people.   What is the significance of research—in the sense of dates, names, places, events—for this project, and for the exhibition? The assumed veracity of the photographic image is an important source of the strength of this exhibition. We have deliberately moved away from the mechanical aspect of recording events through images, but supplemented it by relating the image to verifiable facts. Meticulous research has gone into not only providing the context for the photographs, which has been included in the Google map, but each image, in some way, refers to a visual inspired by a case study. By deliberately retaining some ambiguity about the ‘facts’ surrounding the image, we invite the viewer to delve deeper into the image to discover the physical basis of the analogy, and to reflect upon the image. The photographs therefore become a portal through which the viewer can enter the story, rather than the story in itself. Yet, each image, relates to a finite, physical instance, that becomes a reference point for a life that was brutally taken away.   Your exhibition is political, with a capital ‘P’. Why is political engagement generally not seen in the work of Bangladeshi artists? Art cannot be dissociated from life, and life is distinctly political. To paraphrase the renowned Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali, the price of tomato is political. However, life is also nuanced and multi-layered. Our art practice needs to be critically engaged at all levels. While the war of liberation is understandably a source of inspiration for many artists, there are many other wars of contemporary life that seem to slip from the artist’s canvas. Most artists, with some exceptions of course, claim they produce art merely for themselves. I don’t believe them. Of course there is great joy in producing art that pleases oneself. But I believe art is the medium and not the message, and all artists, I suspect, want their art to have an effect.   I know it is passé in some quarters to be producing art that is political. Being apolitical is a political stance too. While I can understand schools of thought that have rebelled against the traditional trappings of art, I do not see the point of producing art that is not meaningful. Strong art is capable of engaging with people. It is that engagement that I seek. My art is merely a tool towards that engagement.   I understand what you mean. A lot of the artwork that’s being produced in Bangladesh stems from commercial interests. Producing formulaic work that sells is the job of a technician and not an artist. Sure, an artist needs to survive and we all produce work which we hope might sell, but once that becomes the sole purpose of producing art, one is probably not an artist in the first place.   There is a strong adherence in Bangladesh to an antiquated form of pictorialism. This applies both to representational and abstract art. Ideas seem to take back stage. While I’m wary of pseudo intellectualisation of art, I must admit that the cerebral aspects of art excite me. The politicisation is an extension of that process.   Books on crossfire have been published, roundtable discussions have been held. Why did the government react as it did, do you think it says something about the power of photography? The association of photographs with real events makes the photographer a primary witness, and thereby the photograph becomes documentary evidence. This makes photography both powerful and dangerous. Way back in 1909, much before Photoshop came into play, Lewis Hine had said ‘While photographs may not lie, liars may photograph.’   Today, liars who run corporations and rule powerful nations, also have photography at their disposal. This very powerful tool is used and abused, and it is essential that we come to grips with this new language. Advertising agencies with huge budgets use photography to shape our minds about products we buy. Politicians and their campaigns are also products that we, as consumers, are encouraged to buy into. I see no restrictions on the lies we are fed every day through advertising or political propaganda. It is when the public has access to the same tools, and in particular when they use it to expose injustice that photography becomes a problem. These seemingly ‘innocent’ photographs become charged with meaning as soon as we learn to read their underlying meaning. This makes them dangerous.   Perhaps this is also why photographic education has been systematically excluded from our education system. A tool for public emancipation will never be welcomed by an oppressive regime. And we will have oppressive regimes for a while to come.   ‘Crossfire’ was curated by an international curator, and you yourself have curated exhibitions abroad. Do you think international curators are more likely to engage with work such as ‘Crossfire’ on the basis of aesthetic considerations rather than lived, political ones, since s/he will be less knowledgeable about its history, meanings, metaphors, how the government has manufactured popular consent, resistance, etc. For instance, and you mention it in the brochure: John Pilger, the well-known journalist, had written when Barrister Moudood Ahmed had been arrested during the Fakhruddin-Moeenudin regime, he’s ‘a decent, brave man.’ And of course, it’s quite possible that Pilger didn’t know that the Barrister saheb, as law minister, was one of the political architects of RAB. Ah yes, Pilger bungled that one. I think artistic collaborations create new possibilities. Our art practice is so often informed by western sensibilities that we at Drik deliberately explore southern interactions. The discussions between Kunda Dixit of Nepal and Marcelo Brodsky of Argentina in Chobi Mela V (our festival of photography) pointed to the remarkable similarity between the political movements in Peru and in South Asia. This made the inclusion of a Peruvian curator even more interesting, and Jorge Villacorte is a respected Latin American curator and art critic. Several other recognised international curators, from Lebanon, Tangiers and Italy had seen the show. I was somewhat surprised that while they introduced interesting ideas about curatorial and art practice and were hugely appreciative of the aesthetic and performative elements of the work, not one of them ever asked me about the impact it might have upon crossfire itself. Though it would be arrogant to suggest that this show would put an end to that.   As someone deeply in love with my country (I find words like patriotic and nationalistic problematic), my primary concern is the welfare of my community. If my work can contribute to improving the lives of my people, I will have been successful, regardless of how my art is perceived by critics. If the work is perceived as great art, but fails in its ultimate goal of furthering the cause of social justice, then I will have failed.   That said, the exhibition was only a small part of the larger movement for democracy. The activism surrounding the show, the legal action, the media mobilisation, and the spontaneous popular actions were all part of the process. The international curator had an important role to play, but only as a point of departure. We have since had students critiquing the curatorial process, where they have brought in elements relating to their political practice and social concerns. The debate resulting from the work is more important than the work itself. But it is the power of art, and particularly photography that makes such actions so vital.   There is an interesting sub-text to this exercise. The dinosaurs of Bangladeshi art have been incapable of recognising photography as an art form. Photographers are still not invited to participate in the Asian Biennale (though foreign photographers have even won the grand prize in the event). There is still no department of photography in either Shilapakala Academy (the academy of fine and performing arts) or Charukala Institute (the institute of fine arts). These are 19th-century institutions operating in the 21st century. It is interesting however, that while Charukala Institute refused to show my work in 1989, because it was a photographic, and not a painting, exhibition, it was the students of Charukala Institute who organised the first public protests when the police came and blockaged our gallery to prevent the opening of the Crossfire exhibition. It is reassuring that the students at least can raise their heads and look above the sand.   Rahnuma Ahmed Drik under Crossfire (Independent) Posted in New Age on 8th April 2010        
Monday, 17 May 2010
Author:Nick Bilton
    A recent blog post by Craig Mod, a self-titled computer programmer, book designer and book publisher, offers a thoughtful and distinctive perspective on the move of books from paper to interactive devices like Apple’s iPad.   Mr. Mod summarizes his argument in the subtitle of his post: “Print is dying. Digital is surging. Everyone is confused. Good riddance.”   Mr. Mod divides content broadly into two categories: content where the form is important, such as poetry or text with graphics, and content where form is divorced from layout, which he says applies to most novels and non-fiction.   This kind of thinking makes a key point: instead of arguing about pixels versus paper, as many book lovers tend to do, it is more useful to focus on whether the technology is a good match for the content.   Under Mr. Mod’s analysis, the common paperback and many other physical books are disposable. He writes, “Once we dump this weight, we can prune our increasingly obsolete network of distribution. As physicality disappears, so, too, does the need to fly dead trees around the world.”   As someone who long reaped a paycheck from the sale of books, Mr. Mod isn’t looking at the transition with any form of glee. Instead, he argues that it doesn’t really matter which vessel we choose to read on, since the content will always be king. He writes, “For too long, the act of printing something in and of itself has been placed on too high a pedestal. The true value of an object lies in what it says, not its mere existence.”   When I’ve written in the past about the changing landscape of the print world, I usually get a raft of angry comments stating that print will never go away or that books will have to be pried away from a reader’s cold dead hands.   In anticipation of such commentary, Mr. Mod’s argument is highly respectful of people’s love of the physicality of holding and touching a book. In comparison, sitting upright at a computer screen does not offer this “maternal embrace.” Yet devices like Amazon.com’s Kindle and Apple’s iPhone and iPad are getting closer to that intimate experience.   Mr. Mod also discusses the need to push the boundaries of how we interact with content on these devices. Apples’s iBookstore, for example, takes the book metaphors too literally in a digital setting and doesn’t innovate enough given the tools at hand. “The metaphor of flipping pages already feels boring and forced on the iPhone. I suspect it will feel even more so on the iPad. The flow of content no longer has to be chunked into ‘page’ sized bites.”   For hundreds of years, we’ve been consuming information on static pages, and for the most part, this content has been presented with a beginning, middle and end. Nonlinear, digital platforms will prompt a new range of thinking about stories and how to tell them.   Nick Bilton  
Sunday, 16 May 2010
Author:Gómez, Fernando
Friday, 14 May 2010 | Read more
Author:Nadia Baram
  Si estás en Nueva York o esté verano piensas viajar para allá, te recomendamos el taller de Joseph Rodriguez, "Getting Close" para mayor información visita: www.gettingclose.net    
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Author:ZoneZero
In this course, Pedro Meyer will explore the issue of photography, memory and its tricks to reflect on the photographic image as a document, record, anecdote and vehicle for what is memorable. Participants' photographic work will be discussed to enrich their personal projects. They will also analyze emblematic photographs that are already part of collective memory to understand their symbolic significance and how they change over time. Objectives By the end of the course, students will be able to: - Understand and contextualize their work in certain historical, personal and procedural frameworks. - Identify the importance of the artist's intention in his process in order to visualize and contextualize his artistic projects more clearly   Method During the first session, each participant should take a previous piece of work (whether theoretical or photographic) to discuss it within the context of memory. The following issues will be discussed at collective sessions, through analysis and the participants' presentations: the conceptual and aesthetic value of the photographic image; new starting points or routes in the process and selection of the topic and medium; photojournalism, documentary photography and photography of familiar topics. The manipulation of memory in both the digital and analog photographic process as well as in the act of contemplation; the interpretation of images and their role in the recreation of memory. These sessions will enrich each student’s project through everyone's participation in the workshop. At the end of the workshop, each participant will present a series of his own images that have been edited and linked from the perspective of memory and photography. Participants' Profile Photographers at any stage of their artistic career, theorists, researchers and/or critics Requirements In order for the presentations to run smoothly, each participant must send: Up to 20 photographs in jpg format, measuring 72ppi of the project or series he has chosen for the group discussions. This material, properly labeled with the participant's name, must be e-mailed up to two days before the start of the workshop to:  talleres@fundacionpedromeyer.com Duration 12 hours Dates May 21 to 23, 2010. Friday 21 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday 22 from 11a.m. to 5p.m. Sunday 23 from 11a.m. to 2p.m. Cost $2,400.00 Location: Ortega 20 Col. Villa Coyoacán Contact: 5554-3996 Participants will receive a certificate of attendance from the Pedro Meyer Foundation. Visit: Pedro Meyer Foundation                      
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Author:Joanne Trujillo
  Gerardo Nigenda, a photographer, friend and teacher of many, died on May 9. He left us his images, a visual record of a sensorial experience beyond sight. For those who were fortunate enough to know him, he also left us his teachings and the memory of his good humor and his particular way of looking at life.   Gerardo Nigenda was born in Mexico City but spent almost half his life in Oaxaca. He lost his sight at the age of 25. He discovered photography by chance in 1996 when Freddy Aguilar, the director of the library at the Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca (IAGO) invited him to run the institute's library for the blind, the Biblioteca Jorge Luis Borges, where he also taught Braille. After a while, Francisco Toledo decided to house the Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álvarez Bravo (CFMAB) in the same premises as IAGO, meaning that, oddly enough, the blind and photographers shared the same space. The former were photographed by the latter.   As a result of this unusual interaction, Gerardo Nigenda discovered photography. In order to photograph those that had photographed him so often, as a joke, Nigenda approached Cecilia Salcedo, then director of CFMAB, to ask her how she would teach a blind person to take photographs. She gave him a pocket Leica and told him to start shooting. Thus, in 1999, he embarked on his adventure with photography. He was 32 years old.   At the beginning of the year 2000, documentary maker Mary Ellen Mark gave him a pocket Yashika, which he would use until he died, and of which he was extremely proud, because of its Carl Zeiss lens. He did not do anything technically, as regards the focus, diaphragm or shutter speed. What mattered to him was not the form (technique) but the essence (content). If technology facilitated that part, then why bother trying to use a reflex camera? The point was to communícate something, which does not require technique, although he admitted that knowing about technique helped. However, within what could be called photographic technique, he imagined a line from the center of his camera focus to the center of the object or subject to be photographed. That way, he more or less controlled the setting. With experience, he learnt to locate the sun and tried to make sure it was behind him or to one side. Time and the process of adapting to his blindness defined his personal style of photography.   As soon as he had the camera in his hands, Gerardo began to reflect on what he would have to do with the camera, beyond merely taking photos. It was important for him to feel something, to photograph something that attracted his attention and elicited something. It began as a game, photographing things he liked: his music system, the beer on the fridge, what he came across on the way home or the loudspeakers in a Zapatista march. Within the game of experimentation, he began to take sounds and smells into account.   Gerardo included Braille texts in his photographs. These texts gradually evolved from a literal description of the photograph, which took up a whole sheet, like the one in the CFMAB Patio, to a single phrase summarizing what had led him to take the photograph. These photographs are the title of the work and he fitted them into the image so that they would become a graphic part of the photograph and its meaning. Gerardo Nigenda’s photos are also tactile devices that mixed written and visual language, combining an impersonal description with his own memories.   For him, photography was not a literal description of an image but the sensation he had on the basis of the experience that led him to take photographs: "The photos I take are experiences, what I smell, touch and listen to. The memories of these experiences are my negatives. I have them in my mind. When I read it (Braille) I remember and locate where it was or what it is. It does not matter if I do not visually describe what is in the photo as long as I describe the feeling I had when I took it. So I selected the material to print. It did not matter if one image was better than other technique or better aesthetically; the point was to express what I felt.   The main motivation behind the way he took photographs was never visual, as happens with sighted photographers. What mattered in his photographs was the emotional aspect, not so much the technical or aesthetic aspect, which was the least of his concerns. I remember something he said to me the first time we met: “You have to get involved with the image. You have to touch, smell, and lick it if necessary, so that you can construct an image.” So photographing without seeing usually brought him into contact with the other, and forced him to create a link with what he was going to photograph. He could not keep his distance or be passive. In his case, photography was a completely sensual experience, in which the rest of the senses were involved.   In the "Non-Visual Workshop" Gerardo taught for nearly ten years, he not only reminded participants that living is a multisensorial experience but also that photographing can also (or rather must) be so. This workshop often turned out to be a nearly spiritual experience for the participants, in which they became aware of their own blindness and of the sensorial and creative limitations that had restricted them for so long.   Thank you, Gerardo, for teaching us to see (and feel) beyond what we perceive through our sight...     Joanne Trujillo Tiresias Fotógrafo Retrospectiva de Gerardo Nigenda        
Monday, 10 May 2010
Author:David Brinn
  Each year, on June 17, Diego Goldberg readies his Nikon D700 camera to take the annual family photos – he has been doing this now for 33 years.   Studying the black-and-white portraits in Diego Goldberg’s time-lapse photo journal Arrow of Time, one can’t help marvel at the changes a person undergoes during a lifetime.   Surely, there must have been some underlying, philosophical message about life, death and aging that the Argentinean photojournalist was trying to in undertaking the 33-year, award-winning project that entailed photographing himself, his wife Susy, and – as they were born – their three sons, in the same poses on June 17 of every year from 1976 on.   But ironically, like so many inspired works of art, the impetus behind the project was much more mundane – Goldberg’s mother-in-law asked him for a nice portrait of the couple to hang on her bedroom wall.   “June 17 happened to be the first anniversary of our living together, and I did a very simple photo of Susy and myself. The following year, as that anniversary came along, I said, let’s take another photo to see how we changed. From there it took off and we never stopped,” said the 63-year-old resident of Buenos Aires during a phone conversation last week.   Despite its modest beginnings, Arrow of Time (at http://www.zonezero.com/magazine/essays/diegotime/time.html), like those well-known time lapse photographs showing a flower blooming or a building being erected, encapsulates the effect of time in a concentrated fashion, proving beyond doubt that a picture is indeed worth volumes of description.   Especially striking is the juxtaposition of Diego and Susy – as they transform like Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man from young, dark-haired, unlined 30-year-olds to stately sexagenarians with thinning hair and rings under their eyes – and their children, Nicolas, Matias and Sebastian, who grow from precious infants into bushy, hairy adults.     The photos are really arrows of time, preventing – if only for the second of a shutter snap – time from passing by, and capturing the Goldberg family in a moment as they wave to each other on the up and down escalators of life. As The Rolling Stones once sang, “Time waits for no one, and it won’t wait for me.” But even after that second year of photographs, Goldberg didn’t realize that he had struck upon a lifetime project.   “As the years went by, it sort of took on a life of its own and turned into something we can’t stop. At first, it was our project, now we belong to the project,” said Goldberg, explaining the longevity and perseverance the family has displayed. “The kids all loved the idea of it, and even when they were little, they never complained when the day came, they looked forward to it.”   Goldberg, like any photographer worth his lens, doesn’t attempt to offer any profound messages or discoveries that may be conveyed by the photos, which were awarded the Gold Medal at the Society of Publications Design Annual Awards competition and the Distinguished Achievement Award at the 1998 Art Directors Club of New York annual contest. Instead, he prefers to focus on the images themselves.   “I try not to be too philosophical or metaphysical about what it means. I guess the most striking thing for me is how the kids change. Obviously Susy and I change, but seeing kids being born and developing into young men is the interesting thing for me in terms of my family,” he said.   That’s perhaps because Goldberg was away from home so often during his sons’ childhood. Over a diverse 35-year career as a photojournalist while living in Buenos Aires, New York and Paris, he’s traveled around the world shooting some of the era’s most historic moments, including the Nicaraguan revolution, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s historic visit to Israel, the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) war and personalities as diverse as popes, president Ronald Reagan, French president François Mitterrand and Argentinean president Carlos Menem.   “Did Sadat’s visit to Israel feel historic? Oh yeah, it was extraordinary, and it was historic for me too. My photo got on the cover of Newsweek,” said Goldberg, who calls himself a fully secular Jew.   “I haven’t been back to Israel since then, and I don’t really feel any special connection to Israel or to Judaism. I don’t think I’ve ever photographed anything with a specific Jewish theme,” he said, adding that he and his family never experienced any kind of discrimination in Buenos Aires and consider themselves fully integrated Argentineans.   Besides his work in Newsweek and major publications like Time, L’Express, Stern and dozens of others, Goldberg has also taken part in all of the volumes of the famous Day in the Life series, and photographed for a number of books including Nicaragua – A Decade of Revolution and Passage to Vietnam. Not a bad resumé for a one-time physics student who was one class away from becoming an architect.   “I studied two years of physics and then architecture for five years, but I was always taking photos as a hobby,” said Goldberg. “As I was getting more involved with my studies, I realized one day that I didn’t see myself being an architect, and what I really wanted to do was travel the world as a photojournalist. So just before I graduated, I had abandoned architecture for photojournalism. I didn’t have any experience, but I just jumped in and did it.”   After traveling for much of his career, Goldberg stayed put in Buenos Aires from 1996 to 2003 as the photo editor for Argentine newspaper Clarin, with the largest circulation of any Spanish-language paper, leading the photo department to the prestigious Visa D’Or Prize at the Perpignan Photojournalism Festival.   Looking to expand beyond daily journalism, Goldberg left the paper and wound up working on one of his main photographic achievements – a one-man show at the United Nations General Assembly in 2005 called Chasing the Dream, which chronicled the struggles and the hopes of eight youngsters from Brazil, Cambodia, India, Jamaica, Uganda, Morocco and other nations.   “After I left Clarin, I got together with a friend who was a journalist and started thinking about long-term projects together. We heard that the UN was calling for proposals to illustrate its Millennium development goals ahead of a meeting of world leaders. We decided to submit a proposal which we felt had an original approach. And it was accepted,” said Goldberg.   “We wanted to get away as much as possible from the usual NGO style of smiling minority kids and generalizations, and focus instead on illustrating each goal through the life of one child – whether it be hunger, maternal care, HIV. We traveled to eight countries for eight different children.”   For Chasing the Dreams, Goldberg was awarded a $25,000 prize from the FNPI Foundation, which joined the many other prizes and honors he’s earned over his years as a photojournalist.   Even though he’s out of the news photography world, he still recalls the adrenaline rush and urgency of rushing off to cover a cataclysmic event – like the recent earthquake in Haiti.   “It used to be my first instinct to hop on a plane when something like that happened. I don’t really have that urge anymore. It’s not that I’m not interested in breaking news, the flame is still there, but I’d rather do more long-term projects,” said Goldberg, adding that he’s not like some photographers who need to pick up a camera every day.   “Even when I was working for papers, I didn’t take pictures every day. I traveled so much when I was freelancing. I’d be shooting for two days straight or three weeks, and then I’d go back home and be with the family and not pick up a camera for a while.”   But when June 17 comes around, Goldberg is ready with his Nikon D700 camera to take the annual family photos. He began shooting Arrow of Time with an old Nikon camera and over the years has used upgraded models and moved into the digital photography realm.   “We started on film and somewhere along the way started doing it digitally. I’m using both now, still shooting the film to keep up the tradition and to have everything on film, just in case,” he said, adding jokingly that he resists the urge to digitally touch up the lines around his face.   Even though he’s reluctant to enter into a philosophical discussion about the impact of the photos, Goldberg readily recounts the impact that Arrow of Time has had on viewers who have contacted him since it first appeared on-line.   “What amazes me is that it’s such a simple idea that anybody can do, and the fact that nobody seemed to have thought about doing it before is really weird. It’s so simple, and at the same time, so strong,” he said.   “I get thousands of e-mails from all over the world, and what half of the people write is ‘how I didn’t think of that? Now it’s too late.’ The other half write that it was so inspiring that they’re going to do it also when they get married or when they have kids. That’s easy to say, but I don’t know if they’ll have the same perseverance.”   That determination isn’t likely to dissipate when Goldberg eventually lays down his camera.   “My oldest son, Nicolas, is a photographer and I’m sure he’ll continue the project after me,” said Goldberg. “He has his own daughter now, so we’re starting to develop a tree instead of just one trunk – there are different branches starting to appear.”   by David Brinn          
Thursday, 06 May 2010
Author:Huarcaya, Roberto
Thursday, 06 May 2010 | Read more
174. Old Dhaka
Author:Wasif, Munem
Wednesday, 05 May 2010 | Read more
175. Old Dhaka
Author:wasif, Munem
Tuesday, 04 May 2010 | Read more

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