WW1 Razzle Dazzle ship camouflage
"Most camouflage is based on the idea of concealment and blending in with its surroundings. However another school of thought has argued for making the item in question appear to be a mashup of unrelated components. Naval camoufleurs found this theory particularly appealing. Blending didn’t work because ships operated in two different and constantly changing color environments - sea and sky. Any camo that concealed in one environment was usually spectacularly conspicuous in others.
Norman Wilkinson, a British naval officer and painter, suggested a scheme that came to be known as Dazzle or Razzle Dazzle painting. Wilkinson believed that breaking up a ship’s silhouette with brightly contrasting geometric designs would make it harder for U-boat captains to determine the ship’s course."
(FoundNYC Inc, 4 April 2009)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Anemic Cinema (1926) by Marcel Duchamp
"This characteristically dada film by Marcel Duchamp consists of a series of visual and verbal puns with nonsense phrases inscribed around rotating spiral patterns, creating an almost hypnotic effect. Silent.
Anemic Cinema (various versions were made in 1920, 1923 and, finally, in 1926). Essentially a film by Duchamp with help from Man Ray. Calvin Tomkins: 'Duchamp used the initial payment on his inheritance to make a film and to go into the art business. The film, shot in Man Ray's studio with the help of cinematographer Marc Allégret, was a seven-minute animation of nine punning phrases by Rrose Sélavy. These had been pasted, letter by letter, in a spiral pattern on round black discs that were then glued to phonograph records; the slowly revolving texts alternate with shots of Duchamp's Discs Bearing Spirals, ten abstract designs whose turning makes them appear to move backward and forward in an erotic rhythm. The little film, which Duchamp called Anemic Cinema, had its premiere that August at a private screening room in Paris.'"
(UbuWeb)
Marcel Duchamp (1926). "Anémic Cinéma", 7 minutes, B&W.
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Four to the Floor: the ever growing collection of Channel 4 idents
An "ever growing collection of Channel 4 current set of idents. The simple idea that flows through all these idents is the creation of 'the 4, be it optical illusion, supernatural intervention or coincidence, the iconic Channel 4 logo rears its head at some point during all these videos.
The basic premise leaves open many possibilities to play with, which perhaps also explains the longevity that these idents retain. New idents continue to be produced by Channel 4"
(John Beohm, idents.tv)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Pina Bausch: dance, dance otherwise we are lost
"There are deep noises of gallops. The brown earth covering the floor reveals hundreds of tracks of wild animals in stampede. But instead, it is a set of dancers what appears on scene. Their presence is heavily felt through their turbulent footprints. The Rite of Spring is one of Pina Bausch's most celebrated choreographic pieces, included in the homage documentary PINA that Wim Wenders has just presented. A movie about the sign that her teachings on performative space left before her death in 2009: the Dance Theatre genre.
In her choreographies, earth is heavy. Flying dust materializes air. The void weighs. Water drops densify the emptiness. Living bodies become inert corpses. A closed-eyed dancer lets her mass fall down until the trust on her partner saves her from a mortal knock. Hands and feet become detachable prosthesis. The lightness of matter clashes over the presence of the ephemeral. Optical illusions...
In Choreographed Environments, Eva Pérez de Vega points out that 'considering immaterial effects in the production of a material practice, is not at all about ignoring the material per se. It refers more to the conception of a material production. It is about thinking how to make immaterial notions material; ultimately it is about creating material effects. [...] Architecture no longer consists of making building and Dance no longer consists of making dances. The hope is that as dancers continue to explore new territories as managers of space, architects too can conceive of space as managers of movement' (Eva Pérez de Vega, 2007, p.7).
For the movie, many pieces were performed again in unusual urban settings, such as inside and underneath Wuppertal's retrofuturistic sky-train, or inside other recent architectural iconic references (easy to guess!). Pina Bausch pioneered a strong performative approach to architecture and Wenders has made her pupils revive its immateriality in cult buildings for posterity: a clear effort to transmit Pina's philosophy of movement constructing space. Bravo!"
(via Daniel Fernández Pascual, Deconcrete, 16 February 2011)
1,2). Wim Wenders (2011). 'Pina', Germany.
3). Eva Pérez de Vega (2007). 'Choreographed Environments. A Performative Approach to Architecture', New York.
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Looksley's Line Up: hidden picture 3-D diorama
"In this unique take on hidden picture games, you'll move the Nintendo DSi system to change your view of various 3-D dioramas. Peer deeply into the scene as you shift the system, watching as layers within the diorama move to reveal previously unseen letters and objects. As you collect these letters and objects, you'll meet new characters and spell words that will open additional stages with more sets of hidden items to find. Particular stages contain secret pictures, offering your observation skills an even greater test."
(Nintendo)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
