How much of a language is silent? What does it look like when you take the silence out? Can we use code as a tool to answer these questions?
"silenc is a tangible visualization of an interpretation of silent letters within Danish, English and French.
One of the hardest parts about language learning is pronunciation; the less phonetic the alphabet, the harder it is to correctly say the words. A common peculiarity amongst many Western languages is the silent letter. A silent letter is a letter that appears in a particular word, but does not correspond to any sound in the word's pronunciation.
A selection of works by Hans Christian Andersen is used as a common denominator for these 'translations'. All silent letters are set in red text. When viewed with a red light filter, these letters disappear, leaving only the pronounced text.
silenc is based on the concept of the find-and-replace command. This function is applied to a body of text using a database of rules. The silenc database is constructed from hundreds of rules and exceptions composed from known guidelines for 'un'pronunciation. Processing code marks up the silent letters and GREP commands format the text.
silenc is visualized in different ways. In one form of a book, silent letters are marked up in red yet remain in their original position. In another iteration, silent letters are separated from the pronounced text and exhibited on their own pages in the back of the book, the prevalence of silent letters is clearly evident."
(Momo Miyazaki, Manas Karambelkar and Kenneth Aleksander Robertsen)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Le Minitel Bye Bye on 30 June 2012
"Après 30 ans d’existence, le Minitel s’apprête à tirer sa révérence. Les plus jeunes ne verront même pas de quoi il est question, mais ceux qui étaient au collège ou au lycée dans les années 90 s’en rappelleront peut-être pour avoir recherché dessus leurs résultats aux examens du brevet ou du bac. Le Minitel, ou l’ancêtre d’internet ! Invention 100 % française, le 1er réseau dans l’histoire des télécommunications à permettre la “connexion de terminaux permettant la visualisation de données informatiques” disparaîtra le 30 Juin 2012, et avec lui la machine à l’origine du fameux “36-15″. Définitivement la fin d’une époque.
After 30 years of existence, the Minitel is preparing to take its final bow. The youngest will not even see what it is about, but those who were in college or high school in the 90s will remember perhaps have looked over their test scores. The Minitel, or the ancestor of the Internet ! 100% French invention, the first network in the history of telecommunications to allow ”terminal connection to visualization of computer data” will draw his bow on June 30, 2012, and with it the machine behind the famous “36 - 15 “. Definitely the end of an era."
(Vincent Laserson, 31 May 2012, De Jeunes Gens Modernes)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Jean Cocteau: la Belle et la Bête
"La lumière brillante et surnaturelle qui avait dominé toute la scène du château (flamme des chandeliers, feu, reflets étincelants de l’argenterie) s’estompe pour laisser la place à la lumière naturelle du jour [plan 9] [9]. Ces rayons lumineux rappellent ceux des dernières gravures de la Belle au vois dormant. D’autant plus que cette lumière naturelle n’est pas légitimée par la présence d’une fenêtre, comme c’est le cas chez Doré. C’est une lumière naturelle, la lumière du jour, mais elle semble toujours éclairer le personnage de manière surnaturelle : comment la lumière extérieure peut-elle pénétrer à l’intérieur sans la présence d’aucune fenêtre ? Les flambeaux s’éteignent un à un, le personnage traverse un grand pan de lumière blanche, la porte se referme toute seule, l’escalier apparaît en plongée : la scène semble se rejouer à l’envers, ce qui souligne la structure circulaire et la clôture de la séquence, mais aussi l’influence de l’œuvre de Gustave Doré. Le dialogue des contes et des illustrations se poursuit jusqu’à la dernière image de la séquence puisqu’elle se termine sur les ronces qui envahissent l’escalier du château de la Bête, comme celles qui envahissent les gravures du château de la Belle au bois dormant."
(Estelle Plaisant Soler, 26 juin 2006)
Fig.1 Jean Cocteau (1946). "la Belle et la Bête"
2). PDF of 100 Cult Films (Screen Guides).
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Bibliopoly: search antiquarian booksellers
"Bibliopoly has been developed by Bernard Quaritch Ltd... an antiquarian bookshop established in London over one hundred and fifty years ago by a German-born bookseller. Quaritch... is proud to be a member of the British (ABA), the French (SLAM), and the German (Verband Deutscher Antiquare) trade associations affiliated to ILAB (International League of Antiquarian Booksellers).
Bibliopoly is designed to list the stock of participating antiquarian booksellers in a way that meets the specialized needs of those interested in antiquarian books, and is effective in five languages - English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish."
(Bernard Quaritch Ltd.)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Acknowledging the constructed nature of documentary production
"Direct cinema' and 'cinema verité' have historically constituted battlegrounds for the construction of documentary cinema. American direct cinema sought to abolish mediation as far as possible, aspiring to pure transparency. French cinema verité inserted the camera and the filmmaker directly into the profilmic space, and acknowledged the constructed nature of documentary production. ... both schools operated under the guidance of a mimetic imperative to better capture the real. Richard Leacock, insisting on direct cinema's fidelity to the real, once said that 'we don't cheat'."
Joanne Richardson (Durham, North Carolina)
Fig.2 Albert Maysles (right) shoots 1975's Grey Gardens with his brother and longtime production partner, David.
CONTRIBUTOR
The Constellations ProjectSHARE
