As it were
As it were, Sang Jijia’s first creation for GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, is about communication – about the joy of getting through to someone else, but also about everything that gets lost or is misunderstood. As humans, we share the same space but are detached from one another. We know what we want to say, but intentions can become confused.
Excellences and Perfections
“Sie ist eine multidisziplinäre Künstlerin, die von frühen Webarbeiten und Online-Performances bis hin zu neuen Stücken, die skulpturale Formen annehmen und Installationen, Fotografien und Performance-Acts beinhalten, je nach Projekt, Ausstellung oder Werk unterschiedliche Techniken anwendet. Er versucht, ein Gespräch und eine kritische Spannung zwischen Konzept und Gerät zu erzeugen. Eines seiner Netzkunstprojekte ist Excellences and Perfections. In den sechs Monaten des Jahres 2014 hat Ulman eine Geschichte über Instagram-Posts erstellt, die nicht seine eigene war, obwohl er sie mit seinem Namen signiert hat. Es erzählte von den Erfahrungen eines Zwanzigjährigen, der in der Stadt Los Angeles Erfolg haben wollte. Sie löste sich von ihrem Freund, injizierte Botox, nahm Drogen, unterzog sich einer Schönheitsoperation, erlitt einen Nervenzusammenbruch und tauchte wieder auf, nachdem sie den Tiefpunkt erreicht hatte. Sie erstellte einen vollständigen Bericht mit Hashtags und dem Image und der Ähnlichkeit der Profile vieler Mädchen ihres Alters, die sie im sozialen Netzwerk gefunden hatte. Während sie Tausende von Anhängern mit ihrer Fiktion begeisterte, hatte sie das Projekt bereits mehreren künstlerischen Institutionen in vorgeschlagen Nueva York und stellte es schließlich in der Tate Modern und WhiteChapel Gallery in London aus. So führte er in der Kunstwelt eine Debatte darüber, ob Instagram in Museen eintreten sollte.” Carlos Trilnick
Survive the Savage Sea
When I was seven years old, my mother read a book aloud to me titled Survive the Savage Sea (1973). It was the true story of the Robertsons, a family of farmers in England who sold all their possessions to buy a sailboat with the intent of sailing around the world for several years. In June 1972, the Robertsons lost their sailboat in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean when a pod of Orca smashed the hull, leaving the four adults and two children adrift for 38 days. After their inflatable life raft grew too leaky to be safe, they abandoned it for their nine-foot fiberglass dinghy, Ednamair, a vessel so small that with everyone aboard only six inches of the boat remained above the waterline. The family navigated to areas where they could collect rainwater and survived by finding ways to catch sea turtles, dorado, and flying fish until they were spotted and rescued by the crew of a Japanese fishing boat.
Napoleon
Kevin Brownlow’ restoration
Gance embarked on his greatest project, a six-part life of Napoléon. Only the first part was completed, tracing Bonaparte’s early life, through the Revolution, and up to the invasion of Italy, but even this occupied a vast canvas with meticulously recreated historical scenes and scores of characters. The film was full of experimental techniques, combining rapid cutting, hand-held cameras, superimposition of images, and, in wide-screen sequences, shot using a system he called Polyvision needing triple cameras (and projectors), achieved a spectacular panoramic effect, including a finale in which the outer two film panels were tinted blue and red, creating a widescreen image of a French flag. The original version of the film ran for around 6 hours. A shortened version received a triumphant première at the Paris Opéra in April 1927 before a distinguished audience that included the future General de Gaulle. The length was reduced still further for French and European distribution, and it became even shorter when it was shown in America. Napoleon is a silent film directed by Abel Gance, dramatising the youth and early career of Napoleon Bonaparte. Its most complete screening, said to be nine hours long, took place in Paris in 1927 – but this version was subsequently lost. British film-maker Kevin Brownlow saw a version as a schoolboy and subsequently restored the film to close to its original length from various prints. His restoration was first shown in London in 1980 with a score by Carl Davis.
Pasionaria
Pasionaria represents the consequences of our current way of life, as conceived by choreographer Marcos Morau. A future where human beings would have lost their vitality through individualism and transhumanism. The gloomy universe of the spectacle thus seems sanitized of all affect, all passion, and consequently, humanity. All that remains is the labor force that is tirelessly busy vacuuming or handling packages of products. Ringing phones, doors or other objects constantly capture the attention of the protagonists who have become puppets. Manipulated by outside forces, instead of being driven by their deep desires, the humans of this dystopia merge into simple working robots.
St. Vincent – New York
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New York isn’t New York
Without you, love
So far in a few blocks
To be so low
And if I call you from First Avenue
Where you’re the only motherfucker in the city
Who can handle me
New love
Wasn’t true love
Back to you, love
So much for a home run
With some blue bloods
If I last-strawed you on 8th Avenue
Where you’re the only motherfucker in the city
Who can stand me
I have lost a hero
I have lost a friend
But for you, darling
I’d do it all again
I have lost a hero
I have lost a friend
But for you, darling
I’d do it all again
New York isn’t New York
Without you, love
Too few of our old crew
Left on Astor
So if I trade our ‘hood
For some Hollywood
Where you’re the only motherfucker in the city who would
Only motherfucker in the city who would
Only motherfucker in the city who’d forgive me
I have lost a hero
I have lost a friend
But for you, darling
I’d do it all again
I have lost a hero
I have lost a friend
But for you, darling
I’d do it all again
