THE FUTURE DOES NOT COMPUTE

Earlier this week, 1.5 million people filled the streets of Berlin, Germany to watch a several-day performance by France’s Royal de Luxe street theatre company titled “The Berlin Reunion”. Part of the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Reunion show featured two massive marionettes, the Big Giant, a deep-sea diver, and his niece, the Little Giantess. The storyline of the performance has the two separated by a wall, thrown up by “land and sea monsters”. The Big Giant has just returned from a long and difficult – but successful – expedition to destroy the wall, and now the two are walking the streets of Berlin, seeking each other after many years apart.

I am so amazed by the scale of this production. Not just the beauty of it but also the logistics it must have taken to pull it off. From the images it seemed like such a magical performance, I only wished I was there in person. What a breathtaking view to see immense marionettes performing for four days around Berlin. As one of the commentators observed: “Very European…New Yorkers would want more action & explosions”, sad but true. It really does put the Macy’s balloons to shame.

Make sure to see all images at the Boston Globe’s website: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/the_berlin_reunion.html

This bad boy of a gadget projects an image from a retrofitted camera at the exact moment another camera snaps a picture with flash. This creates an invisible illusion to the human eye only seen after the picture is taken. This is the brain child of Julius von Bismarck from Germany. In a recent interview from Wired.com he stated that this is the first prototype with many others in the works. Fearing large corporations trying to steal his idea for marketing purposes he refuses to publicly disclose them.

Its a very simple idea done right. This is a great way to stealthily sneak your own messages or images onto highly photographed events, locations, people, etc. I can see how viral marketing companies would like to invest on this for their own evil purposes. So next time you snap a picture, make sure there are no hidden URLs or messages on your picture.

http://www.juliusvonbismarck.com/fulgurator/index.html
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/06/exclusive-inter/

A few days ago I received a message on Flickr about one of my pictures. It was from an aspiring artist showing me some of his work inspired by one of my photographs. It’s great to see my work influencing other artists!

…when Bonnaroo announces the lineup for this year’s festival. There were many rumors circulating that Led Zeppelin will be headlining the festival this year but I guess that won’t be happening but Lez Zeppelin will be there. Instead Pearl Jam and Metallica (yuck) will be the big names this year. I could careless, there plenty of other amazing bands that I am really exited to see live this year:

Pearl Jam, Kanye West, Death Cab for Cutie, B.B. King, Sigur Ros, Ben Folds, M.I.A., Iron & Wine, Gogol Bordello, Broken Social Scene, Ozomatli, Ladytron, Minus the Bear, Battles, Vampire Weekend, and Black Kids.

Being my second year in Bonnaroo I know what to expect, I am no longer a noob and will be better prepared (more beer and food). So I’m really stoked!!! as you can see from the use of 3 exclamation points. I gotta get some money together as tickets go on sale Feb 16!

Also, there have been several parties persuading me to go to Burning Man in Cali this year, all I have to say is: perhaps…perhaps…

For info and tix visit their site: www.bonnaroo.com

The New York Times said it best:

It’s a little embarrassing to watch the New York art world “discovering” Latin American modernist art year after year, as if forever only half-aware of its existence.

It’s a little surprising to see the NYC art world not paying much attention to the Latin American artists. There are so many talented Latinos waiting for their break in a big city like New York. It has not been until recently that these artists have had a chance to present their work to what seems like an ignorant audience. That chance comes in the form of Pinta, the contemporary Latin American art fair, the very first of its kind in NYC.

I actually have a pretty interesting story about how I came to hear about Pinta. I was in Harlem visiting El Museo Del Barrio just trying to enjoy a quiet Sunday with a friend. We arrived to the museum not knowing we only had about an hour left to walk around. So we walked in and instead of trying to see everyone in a hurry we decided to concentrate just a few pieces and really study them. As we finished the tour, with guards almost pushing us to leave, we stopped by the gift shop to look at some books when we were approached by one of the cashiers working there that afternoon. He overheard our conversation on how we were so disappointed to not see all the pieces. He must have seen our enthusiasm and invited us to this new of a kind Art Fair in NYC filled with Latin American artists, us having nothing else to do that night we jumped at the opportunity. He handed us two white translucent, very modern looking envelopes with the Pinta logo on one side, it was out free tickets to the fair. That was the very first day I ever heard about Pinta and was lucky enought to be invited for free on its opening night. I had a great time there, seeing works by some of the most talented contemporary and modern Latino artists. I just hope that next time it will have a much bigger turn around, more publicity and a lot more art (this first year there were only 35 galleries).

Keep an eye out for the next Pinta and hopefully I will see you there.

Links:
Bulletins From a Bustling ‘Undiscovered’ Land
www.pinta-art.com

Anybody can take a polaroid, load film, aim the camera and press the button but not everyone can capture such images as The Polaroid Kidd. Mike Brodie (aka The Polaroid Kidd) has been photographing his tribe of young vagabond friends for the past few years as they travel around the country, capturing a very intimate and interesting glimpse into their lives. These young people are a cross between hippies, gypsies and punks, traveling around the country squatting wherever they can and doing by with what they can find and Mike has been able to capture it all through his lens. His pictures have really touched and inspired me to lean a little more towards documentary photography, something I hope to accomplish in the very near future.

For more on Mike visit his website: The Polaroid Kidd