VÖLKERSCHLACHT LEIPZIG REVISITED 1813-2013

 

German television is reporting the battle of the nations, 200 years ago, as if it was happening right now. History made visible. Or not, Leipzig area can be rather foggy this time of year. The Völkerschlacht left teh city of Leipzig in a desolated middle of the gathered armies. It was the great defeat of Napoleon, on his way back from the Russian campaign. Russian scorched earth tactics did their work.

But what a great idea to do this on a day to day / hour to hour basis. Watch the video! Watch the website!

Völkerschlacht überrollt Sachsen - MDR TopNews 

And look for the facebook page: www.facebook.com/1813voelkerschlacht

Info

Ein historischer Streifzug.

 

Profil

In der Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig 1813 besiegten die Verbündeten aus russischen, österreichischen und preußischen Truppen die französische Armee. Etwa eine halbe Million Soldaten standen sich vor den Toren Leipzigs gegenüber, mehr als 100.000 verloren dabei ihr Leben. Eine Vielzahl von Erinnerungsorten in Leipzig und dem Umland zeugen heute davon. Geht mit uns auf Entdeckungsreise!

WEBSITE HERE

THE EARLY ENVIRONMENTS OF JAMES BOND

Sir Ken Adam (born Klaus Hugo Adam; 5 February 1921) is a motion picture production designer most famous for his set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s. He was hired for the first James Bond film, Dr. No, in 1962. 

Dr. Strangelove's War Room

In 1964 he designed the famous war room set for Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. He turned down the opportunity to work on Kubrick's next project 2001: A Space Odyssey after he found out that Kubrick had been working with NASA for a year on space exploration, and that would put him at a disadvantage in developing his art. This enabled Adam to make his name with his innovative, semi-futuristic sets for the James Bond films such as Dr. No (1962),  

Dr. No sketch by Ken Adam

Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971). 

Thunderball

The supertanker set for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) was the largest sound stage in the world at the time it was built. His last Bond film was Moonraker (1979). 

The Spy Who Loved me

Moonraker

A good YouTube on Sir Ken

GIMME A GUMMO OFFICE

Cupboards and tables and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite flings

Marktplaats and second hand poodles

Doorknobs and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

Kringloop that sell the moon and weird things

These are a few of my favorite flings

Girls in black dresses, white masks against splashes

  Paint that stays on their nose and eyelashes

Black from what melts into things

These are a few of their favorite flings

Then there's spraypaint

And the guys sing

When I'm feeling had

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel bad

Watch that film now

And be amazed

GARDENING [9] LA FOCE

LA FOCE's Superview

One of the most stunning artificial views was created by Cecil Pinsent. Pinsent was an architect who had the good fortune to find a wealthy and influential patron when he was still in his early twenties. He was taken up by the American art historian Bernard Berenson. [Google all those Berenson's and you will see Marisa was his grandniece] He created quite some gardens in Italy of which I want to mention La Foce, to which this view belonged.

La Foce
Benedetta Origo
"...And then three years later, after my American great-grandmother had given my parents
enough money for a water pipe from a spirng six miles away,
he(Pinsent) was able to start this first little garden."

Oh, and this YouTube filmexplains more about La Foce. I almost forgot...

A lot has been written about all of Pinsent's work. Here is another link to another villa: i Tatti, 

It will lead you on to other interesting links.

SMALL FILM ON BIG BALDESSARI

The ... made a wonderful film on John Baldessari. For those that have not heard of this man.

Leave it to filmmakers, Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost of Supermarche, to come up with an original way to shorten the biography of world-renowned, American artist, John Baldessari to 6 minutes. Commissioned by LACMA for their first annual “Art + Film Gala,” honoring John Baldessari and Clint Eastwood, the short documentary, written by Gabriel Nussbaum and narrated by the definitive voice of Baldessari’s dear friend Tom Waits is a refreshing take on the classic video interview. The doc captivates and informs its audience with a witty narrative, using graphics and visuals, not unfamiliar to Baldessari’s own work.

Supermarche is known best for their somewhat controversial, documentary-style feature, Catfish, about a relationship that blossoms over the internet. Good to see that they they continue to push the limits of documentary filmmaking.

John Anthony Baldessari (born June 17, 1931) is an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lives and works in Santa Monica andVenice, California

Initially a painter, Baldessari began to incorporate texts and photography into his canvases in the mid 1960s. In 1970 he began working in printmaking, film, video, installation, sculpture and photography.^[1]He has created thousands of works that demonstrate—and, in many cases, combine—the narrative potential of images and the associative power of language within the boundaries of the work of art. His art has been featured in more than 200 solo exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe.^[2] His work influenced Cindy Sherman, David Salle, and Barbara Kruger among others.^[3]

John's home

SCAPES [MUSIC]

Can machines create original music? 

Scape is the answer to that question.
Scape makes music that thinks for itself. From Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers, creators of Bloom, Scape is a new form of album which offers users deep access to its musical elements. These can be endlessly recombined to behave intelligently: reacting to each other, changing mood together, making new sonic spaces.
It employs some of the sounds, processes and compositional rules that have been used by Brian and Chilvers for many years and it applies them in fresh combinations, to create new music. 
Scape makes music that thinks for itself.

- Brian Eno, Peter Chilvers

Includes 15 original scapes
Scapes can be saved into a gallery and added to a playlist
Plays in background of other apps (excluding iPad 1)
Generates random scapes
Scapes can be shared by email
Supports AirPlay and Retina display

Headphones or external speakers recommended

Brian Eno
Synthesiser, found sound, bells, bass guitar, strategies, images, art direction

Peter Chilvers
Synthesiser, chapman stick, structures, probability networks, additional images, software design.

http: generative music

Here's an example of a Cape / iPad / User / Composer

GURUTUBE

Gurutube will point you out why you don't get done what you would like to.



Watch out for your monkey mind..... Look it up on YouTube...

WAYS OF SEEING / JOHN BERGER

The other day, I was reorganizing my books. It seems the books I own longest are still my treasures and some later aquisitions could be disposed of rather easely. 

I rearranged my collection and first of all I put all books together that I keep for their images, not their text. One wonders how their could ever be a world without books. Art history for instance: I can't imagine you can compare on a computer screen? 

My second catagory are books I find teaching treasures. I only have to look at the book to know how I can use its content in my teachings. John Berger’s “Ways of Seeing” is one of my favorites. An in depth look on art, the way people view it and the influences that traditional oil painting has had on society and modern day publicity. The beginning of the book goes into the issue of how people now look at art versus how people in the past look at art and how reproduction has effected this.  The relationship between social status and the subjects of oil painting, particularly the female nude is discussed as well. Berger turns to modern day and explains the role that publicity takes in our daily lives and how it is modeled after the traditional oil painting of the past. It's all there. 

Now in YouTube's era, I thought I'ld give it a go and yes, someone has taken the trouble to upload it all. 

Thanks manwithaplan999. 

He has also shows later series of Ways Of Seeing.

 

Episode one

 

Episode two

  

Episode three

  

Episode four

Wiki: Ways Of Seeing

JIM DENEVAN [LAND ART 1]

Today I discovered Jim Denevan. Some pictures on FaceBook / design-dautore.com made me curious. Jim makes temporary drawings on sand earth and ice that are eventually erased by waves and weather. Contrary to the seventies land-art, this, in my opinion doesn't try to bear more importance then it can offer us: an extra way of seeing the specific beauty of a place...

There is also a certain kind of contemplating quality in the making of these works. Listening to the story in this film, you recognize the meaning of the work for himself.

200 COUNTRIES / 200 YEARS / 4 MINUTES

Visualizing some development always catches my eye. O, that's what's going on... This film in a way is sort of reassuring. The world is not doing so bad. Well, eh, a lot of people are doing great, even. But that creates the next problem... And so on, and so on.
 Watch and enjoy!

AUSTIN KLEON

Austin Kleon is a poet.
Instead of starting with a blank page, poet Austin Kleon grabs a newspaper and a permanent marker and eliminates the words he doesn’t need.

Watch his site www.austinkleon.com and permanently new work on his blog.

There's also a revealing review of his book [and more] on YouTube.

DEBT & TETRIS = DEBTRIS

Visualising the UK's national debt: David McCandless updates Tetris for the recession.

Visualizing something we all think about some moment of the day, can be rather scary... Yes we know, but all those naughts, don't make it easy ot comprehend. Well, for me this film visualizes but the dept of our depths... it goes much to fast...

This is brought to you by my favorite website: information is beautiful

There is also an US version.... Waiting for a Greek one.

And then [august 1 / 11] I found this: The Truth About the Economy

TESCO - HOMEPLUS VIRTUAL SUBWAY STORE

We used to say everything America has, we will have in ten years. Now unluckily that will be a huge crisis... Could we just saywhat Koreans have we will have in a couple of years, for Korean commuters now have Tesco's virtual subway store. Going super market shopping is just another time consuming chore on Koreans daily routine.

But what if things were made more fun by combining ambient marketing and mobile commerce? This is what Cheil Worldwide set out to do for Home Plus (what Tesco is known as in Korea).
An image that resembled a super market fridge was put up on a subway wall, with QR codes where prices normally go. Simply scan the QR code and products get added to your online cart. The best part of all? Your order will be delivered by the time you get home.

Look at the film:

CLEARLY VISIBLE CLAIRE DE LUNE

Music to look at:

Either like this...

Or like this:

Or in an orchestral version, made by Stokowski.

 

It could end up in a Fantasia and being left out...

Or even end up in the Fellini movie "E Le Nave Va..."

COMING OUT INTERIORWISE

His mother said: Oh my god, Christian, what are you going to do? But Christian did it and came up with this Lego-style apartment, which transforms into infinite spaces. I wonder what you do on a rainy day, though. The exterior seems to play a big part in this interior's existence...

Enjoy Christian's enthusiasm!

LEONORA CARRINGTON [1917-2011]

De Britse schrijfster, kuntschilder en beeldhouwster Leonora Carrington is in een Mexicaans ziekenhuis overleden. Ze werd gezien als een van de laatste grote surrealisten en is bekend om haar spokerige, dromerige werk. Carrington werd 94 jaar oud.

Het overlijden is door de Mexicaanse raad voor de kunst bevestigd, maar een doodsoorzaak is niet bekendgemaakt. Carrington (wiki) behoorde tot een groep artistieke en politieke vluchtelingen die in de jaren veertig van de vorige eeuw emigreerde naar Mexico. Daar vormde ze een invloedrijk trio met Frida Kahlo Remedios Varo.
In Carringtons werk figureerden vogels, katten en eenhoornachtige dieren vaak in bevreemdende situaties. Ze schreef artikelen, romans en gedichten. Maar het meest bekend is ze van haar schilderijen waarvan ze er duizenden maakte en die onder meer in grote steden als New York, Los Angeles, Londen, Parijs en Tokio werden geëxposeerd.
De Briste, geboren in 1917, vertrok op haar twintigste naar Parijs waar ze in contact kwam met Salvador Dalí en Max Ernst. Met laatstgenoemde kreeg ze een relatie, maar nadat Ernst door de nazi’s werd opgepakt raakte ze depressief en kwam in een kliniek terecht. Ze wist echter te ontsnappen en richting Mexico te vluchten.

Bron: NRC

GARDENING [1] PATRICK DOUGHERTY

Sculptor Patrick Dougherty has been creating stick-work since 1982. He has exhibited all over the world, from the swamps of Ireland to American city centres. The scale and beauty of his work has kept him in constant demanD. There are films of his works op both YouTube and Vimeo.

Present absences: A peripatetic video of a temporary site-specific sculpture by Patrick Dougherty from Ian Russell on Vimeo.

ABOUT DANCE [5] NDT ROTATING ROOM

ABOUT DANCE [3] 1234

This film has been able to cheer up so many people, I showed it too. The clever clip, combining a well build up scenography, non chalance, happiness, colour styling, dramatic development, ending into a 'deus ex machina' like disappearance, keeps you watching till the end...

ABOUT DANCE [2] SWAN LAKE [opera Bastille]

Paris L'Opera Bastille reeditioned Rudolph Nureyev's Lac des Cygnes [Swan Lake] on tchaikovsky's magnificent score. This clip gives a nice overview of the final scene, where the sorcerer / black swan comes for Odette, the princess turned swan.




Swan Lake, based on an old Russian fairytale has seen quite some choreographic developments since it's 19th century premier.

Read it's history on wikipedia
Or click for dozens of other exerpts on YouTube