part of the process

[seeselfblack]

Scramble for Africa: Berlin Conference of 1884-85 kicked off

On this day, in 1884, Western countries met to discuss the future of Afrrica in what is known as the Berlin Conference. The result of the meeting saw the countries distributing portions of the continent to come under their control…

The Berlin Conference of 1884-85 produced the General Act of the Berlin Conference which began the Scramble for Africa. Called for by Portugal, the conference was organised by Germany first chancellor, Otto van Bismarck (during Germany’s rapid rise as a power) and signified a time of increased European colonialism which decimated most of Africa’s self-governance. 

The colonial powers superimposed their domains on the African Continent. By the time most of Africa regained its ‘independence’ after the late 1950s, it was extremely fragmented, almost beyond repair. Instead, while Africa celebrates freedoms and independence, there are more subtle ways that Europe still exerts its vast influence over the continent.

For example, there is a new scramble for Africa and France still loots its former colonies.

12 countries participated. Namely Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, The Netherlands, , Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Norway, the USA and Germany. 

The initial task of the conference was to agree that the Congo River and Niger River mouths and basins would be considered neutral and open to trade. Despite its neutrality, part of the Kongo Basin became a personal Kingdom (private property) for Belgium’s King Leopold II and under his rule, over half of the region’s population died.

The General Act of the Berlin Conference formalized several points:

Powers could only possess colonies if they maintained sufficient authority to administer and defend them;

The Niger and Congo rivers were free and open to the traffic of trade; the Congo Free State was the private property of the Congo Society;

Any new act of possession along the African coast would not be recognized unless reported to the other signatory powers. The phrase “spheres of influence” made its first appearance in an international agreement.

In the three months of the conference, the continent was divided into 50 countries through a mix of irregular geometric borders, ignoring the cultural and linguistic boundaries set by the native population’s leader. The scramble for Africa had begun.

[prostheticknowledge]

Floating projections

Latest from @joanielemercier continuing his No-logram experiments presents what appears to be 3D forms in mid air (which are actually projections on transparent screen with viewer tracking):

- This is a video projection that appears to float in the air. - The user is tracked to adjust perspective so objects appears in 3D. - Unlike AR and VR, no headset, device or screen is required. - You can control the projection with your hands. - There is no limitation in scale. - I’m developping this as an art installation - It’s also available for special commissions. 

THIS IS NOT A HOLOGRAM ! Holograms are still images captured on photographic plate with a laser, and were invented in 1971.

THIS IS A VIDEO PROJECTION appearing to float in the air and following the viewers perspective, overlayed with the real world. Unlike AR and VR, no headset, device or screen is required.

You can read more about the No-logram project here

[Edit - new GIFs and new video added]

[prostheticknowledge]

vvvv academy

Dominik Koller is starting workshops to learn how to use creative coding platform which is used by many professionals in the interactive field starting this summer in Berlin - no experience required, only your own laptop:

We are launching our first ever full vvvv course in August 2017.

In eight weekly sessions, this course provides you with a strong foundation for using creative technology and building interactive interfaces.

No previous knowledge needed.

Each week, we will focus on a topic:     

 2x vvvv basics     

 Sound reactive visuals

 2x Projection Mapping

 Motion Tracking: Kinect

 Arduino and Electronics

 3D and Virtual Reality

More Here

[sesiondemadrugada]

Kemono no nemuri (Seijun Suzuki, 1960).

[kwesiabbensettsgallery]

My new PhotoMagazine - “Peppapot” -now available for your collection.

My new PhotoMagazine “Peppapot”- 44 pages of wonderful imagery - is now available. A magazine of photographic experiences. A journey of love. “Peppapot”. It is a diverse compilation of my photography published in print. I am now releasing the first issue available for purchase online.

http://www.spaceshipgeorge.com/peppapot-mag-1

Peppapot is representative of my photography experiences and the love I have for the craft of image making. Personally I want to make my art more accessible to the world and to those who would like to collect my work. This magazine is a labor of love and I am excited share it with you. This is a personal venture of my art and an exploration of the many ways to present it to the world.

The 1st issue of “Peppapot” is now available for purchase online - http://www.spaceshipgeorge.com/peppapot-mag-1

Much thanks for your support.

#kwesiabbensetts #peppapot #guyana #selfpublishing #nude #blackandwhite #women #art #blackwomen #magazine #photography #fashion #color #blackness 🌐

www.spaceshipgeorge.com

[lostinurbanism]

From the ‘Kinship’ series by Gerald Cyrus

[disgoth-deactivated20180319]

the only thing i knew about sex at the age of nine was that

1) it was for mommies and daddies who were married;

2) it made me, my five year old sister, and my baby brother.

i learned everything i knew about sex from the internet while secretly browsing grownup sites on my 4th generation ipod touch i earned for doing so well at a piano recital. because of the nature of, you know, men and their internet porn, i learned that my sexual role as a woman was to be slapped and pissed on and tied up. i didn’t know what healthy sex was. i didn’t know it should be mutually consensual, or that it was okay to want sex with girls. i didn’t know that sex should be good for both people. i learned that sex would hurt, and that sex was about men and men only, and that i would be forced into sex whether i liked it or not, and that it was normal to have sex with big, burly, grown men as a teenager. i learned it was normal to cry during sex. i was scared of sex for so many years because of that, and the way i was exposed to sex at a young age led to the inappropriate and traumatic sexual encounters i had (occasionally with older people) later on in my teen years.

the day i got my first period, i was ten-and-a-half. i was swimming in the river with my best friend, and when i got out to go to the bathroom, i noticed brown blood on the inside of my mint-green tankini bottom. i knew what a period was, but i hid it from my mother in shame. she found out, eventually, of course. she told me, you have a woman’s body now, and if you have sex, you could have a baby. all i heard was, you have a woman’s body.

i started shaving my vulva when i was eleven, because i saw memes on memegenerator about how disgusting “hairy pussy” was. i wanted to be sexy. i was eleven years old, and all i wanted was to be sexy. it hurt, and it itched, and it made me uncomfortable, and i’d sometimes nick my labia with the razor, but i did it anyway, because i didn’t want to have a nasty, “hairy pussy.”

eleven was the age i first started getting pinched on the EL. i was an early bloomer: i had B-cup breasts already, and my menstrual cycle was regular enough that i could keep a calendar. i started wearing a full face of makeup to school and buying shorts that rode all the way up my skinny twelve-year-old thighs. i remember the day i stopped jumping off the swings the summer after fifth grade. skinned knees weren’t sexy. smooth, flawless legs were sexy, and i was a sexy girl. i was probably the sexiest little girl in the whole world. my parents hated it. they told me i was too young, but i knew the truth. my body was older, maybe 17 or 18, so my brain must be, too.

when i was twelve, i had a secret kik account that my parents didn’t know about. i used it to message strangers. i made all sorts of friends. i wasn’t stupid. i used a fake name. never showed my face. one of my friends asked me for a bra picture. i was a cool girl, right, i was sexy, so i sent him a picture of me in front of my bedroom mirror in my little white training bra with the blue butterflies.

sexy, he said.

that was all i wanted.

i’m not typing out all this bullshit because i think it’s something special. i’m typing it out because it’s not. i’m typing it out because i see the same thing happening to my little sister. i’m typing it out because i see the same thing happening to that little millie bobbie brown, sexiest actress at thirteen. i’m typing it out because i’m sixteen years old now, a girl in the eyes of the law and a woman in the eyes of men.

mothers, talk to your daughters. tell them to jump off the swingset and skin their knees. tell them to get dirt on their dresses. tell them that they’re a woman on their 18th birthday, not at ten-and-a-half on the first day of their menstrual cycle. the world is confused. the world is sick. if your daughters don’t hear about how to treat their bodies from you, they’ll hear it from the sick, sick world, and they’ll do the things i did.

let girls be girls.

don’t force womanhood on little girls.

[disgoth-deactivated20180319]

i encourage men to reblog this post

[prostheticknowledge]

Portable Lumipen

Latest project from Ishikawa Senoo Laboratory is the latest iteration of their incredibly fast projection mapping technology that can project on moving surfaces, now in a more portable form:

Portable Lumipen is a portable dynamic projection mapping system that tracks a target at 1,000fps with 3ms response time.

In recent years, projection mapping systems for dynamically moving targets have been proposed and this field is called “dynamic projection mapping.” In Dynamic projection mapping, the moving target is tracked by a high-speed camera, and the projection is controlled at high speed. By achieving high responsiveness in sensing and feedback, these systems enable dynamic and immersive applications. However, they are not truly dynamic because the systems are fixed in a room.

In this reseach, we use a 3D-stacked vision chip and an optical gaze contoller and realize a portable dynamic projection mapping system. The 3D-stacked vision chip enables to omit a huge workstation and inefficient data transfer, and the optical gaze controller enables high-speed tracking shot and also tracking projection. The portable system enables a variety of applications including wearable user interface, projector-based makeup and combination with a drone, and this device will take projection mapping a step further.

More Here

[seeselfblack]

““Real” black women are constructed as “queens,” or women who are deserving of respect. The “queen” identity recycles the ideology of the “cult of true womanhood” in which women who perform their genders appropriately are placed on a pedestal as representatives of the purity and goodness of the race. For black women, the “queen” identity provides an opportunity to resist dominant stereotypes that position black women as unable to access this pedestal because of their racial difference. Thus, resistance to the image of the jezebel or the whore results in the oppositional image of the “black queen” who represents the “good” black woman. The “queen” can be characterized by sexual purity, motherhood, spirituality, commitment to the uplifting of the race, and in particular the uplifting of black men. Although the “queen” is to be worshipped, her position is often rhetorically and materially behind that of the “king.” In other words, the “black queen” is judged by her commitment to the elevation of black manhood in the context of a racist society. She is worshipped for her ability to maintain her appropriate position within black culture. The “black queen” identity became popular during the various black nationalist movements within the United States (Collins 2006, 144-50). Michelle Wallace (1999) notes that the “queen” identity position often resulted in black women being relegated to “women’s work” within black movements that favored a strong, black, and male public presence.”

— Shanara R. Reid-Brinkley in “The Essence of Res(ex)pectability: Black Women’s Negotiation of Black Femininity in Rap”  (via daniellemertina)

[politicalsci]

[mi-ki-ki-m]

Mick hee

[teleleonela]

Liberalism is Dead

Silicon Valley’s techtopian libertarianism points to a disruptive left fascism for the 21st century

One side sees the people as subjects; the other, customers. The difference between a dictator-subject relationship and a business-customer relationship is that the brutality and exploitation of the latter is masked behind layers of politeness and seduction, and so sometimes can be mistaken for generosity. 

It is a strange time, when fascists see the future more clearly than the revolutionary left.

[lijnegus]

I

[teleleonela]

[fuckyeahdialectics]

“It is not those who fell wrapped in the unfortunate flag of the defeated Revolution whom we consider to be fraudulent squanderers of the Revolution, but those who afterwards, from their desks of wisdom or from their podiums as mentors of the masses, were unable to derive from that sacrifice anything more than a few phrases of demagogic admiration, accompanied by a defeatist commentary.”

— Amadeo Bordiga, From the Commune to the 3rd International, 1924.

[fuckyeahdialectics]

“This is the maggid (story telling) section from last night’s seder. Scene 1: Business meeting Narrator 1: (as if leading a meditation) We invite you to close your eyes and imagine you are in Egypt. Imagine you can hear the palm trees swaying, and feel the sun shining down on you. Imagine the sand between your toes, and the cool breeze blowing over from the river Nile. (Volunteers will quickly put up ‘welcome to Egypt’ posters, and pictures of sandy beaches and palm trees etc.) Please open your eyes. (A boardroom meeting with business people Pyramid enterprises LTD, Papyrus partnership and the Ancient Egyptian state dressed up as bankers) Pharaoh: Hello and welcome. As you know we recently decided to outsource our Pyramid building here in Ancient Egypt. A lot of private companies applied, but I’m glad to say that we have awarded the contract to Pyramid enterprises and Papyrus partnership as they were able to get the job done at the lowest price…. CEO of Pyramid enterprises: Hello, I’m the CEO of Pyramid enterprises. Thank you Pharaoh for agreeing to meet with us on behalf of the State of Ancient Egypt. We’re here to discuss how the State of Ancient Egypt could help us become more profitable. CEO of Papyrus partnership: Yes, as the CEO of Papyrus Partnership, I am also interested in getting more out of our workers in the interests of profit. In fact we at Papyrus have been working with Pyramid enterprises to prepare some proposals for you. (Unveils a papyrus scroll with the proposals) First of all we would like to reduce the pay for the workers. Pharaoh: (Noting this down in notebook) Okay, how much should we pay them? CEO papyrus: Well we did some calculations, and we realised that if we want the economy to grow, then the rate of £nothing an hour would be the best. It will help our profits, which will boost the economy of Ancient Egypt which will eventually……. probably…… possibly…………… perhaps……….. help the Israelite workers in some way. CEO pyramid: Then we would like to take away holiday pay, maternity pay and sick leave. Pharaoh: Okay… how are you going to do that? We do have some laws here in Ancient Egypt. CEO Pyramid: Well here’s the clever thing. If we classify these workers as self-employed then those laws don’t apply to us - we don’t even need to give them sick leave! Pharaoh: Okay, well if you think so, then I guess we can do that. But what if they start rebelling? CEO Papyrus: We’ve thought through as well. If they do start protesting, then it would be great if you could order the Israelite midwives to kill all of the male babies of the Israelites and also get the police to shut down any protests and arrest any mischievous Israelites. Pharaoh: Okay! I’m happy to do anything to boost the economy! CEOs (together): Great thanks pharaoh mate. Bye bye. Scene 2: Oppressing Israelites Pharaoh: (Turn to Israelites) Okay then did you hear that? You need to work twice as hard, and we’re going to give you an NHS pay rise so you’ll now be paid nothing an hour! Also, as a country of Ancient Egypt, we can’t afford to give you holidays and sick leave any more. What are you going to do about it????! Narrator: And hence forth the Israelites suffered under harsh new rules implemented by Pharaoh. Israelite no 1: Oh no. This is not fair! Pharaoh is oppressing us and taking away our rights. We deserve fair pay and safe working conditions. We deserve better than this. What should we do?! Israelite no 2: There must be a way to beat Pharaoh and the State of Ancient Egypt. Let’s all join the Popular front of Ancient Israel and work out a strategy to overthrow the State and liberate ourselves Israeli no 1: It’s actually the Ancient Israelites People’s front. Task – in your tables please come up with a strategy to overthrow Pharaoh and liberate the workers of Ancient Egypt. We would particularly like you to come up with a series of 10 escalating actions. Extra points for hashtags and campaign slogans! And CHANTS! (no supernatural activity allowed) Suggestion 1–private email, 2-op-ed, 3-open letter/petition, 4 – any kind of protest on a weekend, 5-action short of a strike, 6-work to rule, 7- defined length strike, 8-indefinite general strike, 9-riot, 10-occupation of the state. Fantastic, now we have our campaign strategy let’s start. Let’s learn this chant. ——————————————————— Scene 3: Moses to the rescue Moses: (walking around like a stuck-up boarding school kid) Sholem Yidn, for those who are new here, I’m Moses. I was brought up by Pharaoh’s daughter, as an Egyptian prince, but technically I’m Jewish. And I’m here to save the Jews! Israelite no 1 and 2: Err thanks Moses, but we’ve actually already unionized and we’ve got a pretty sound campaign strategy. Look at what we’re going to do…. (talk Moses through the 10 steps to our plan) Moses: Ummm. These are some really great ideas, but I’ve actually just finished a citizens UK training so I have some different ideas. I don’t think we need to be so militant. If we just ask pharoah nicely then I’m sure he’ll say yes. Let me just go and chat to him privately. EVERYBODY EMBRACE YOUR INNER HIPPY! (Lead song : Od yavo shalom aleinu in haggadah) (Moses goes to Pharaoh) Moses: Hey Pharaoh, I was wondering if you’d let my people go? Pharaoh: (Sarcastically) Ummm let me think about that… NO! Moses: Oh pleaseeeeee Pharaoh: (like margaret thatcher…) No, No, No Moses: (singing) When Israel was in Egypt’s land, Let My people go! Oppressed so hard they could not stand, Let My people go! Refrain: Go down, Moses, Way down in Egypt’s land; Tell old Pharaoh To let My people go! Pharaoh: Please be quiet and go away Moses. That’s a shit song, and even if it was good I still wouldn’t let “your” people go. Moses: Look Pharaoh, mate. If you don’t let me people go, I’m gonna phone God and She’s gonna redeem us with an outstretched hand. TAKE THAT. Pharaoh: I literally don’t care. I haven’t seen God for ages. I don’t think She even hangs around here anymore so good luck with that. (Pharaoh leaves) Moses: (Gets out phone to ring God. It goes to voicemail, so Moses leaves a voicemail message) Hey God, it’s Moses here. Just ringing cos I’m in a bit of a tricky situation down here, do y’a think you could lend an outstretched hand at all? Anyway please ring back when you pick this up. Bye bye ————————- Scene 4: Liberation Moses: (To the Israelites, a bit sheepishly) Umm so actually Pharaoh didn’t want to let you go. He/she/they mentioned something about the economy, and God isn’t picking up the phone so I guess we’ll have to go with your original plan – I’ll still take the credit though if that’s okay?”

— Jewdas

[fuckyeahdialectics]

“In the course of the Logic there emerge various different kinds of difference. There is the immediate difference between being and nothingness; and there’s determinate difference which is when you say ‘this, not that’, ‘cold, not hot’. That is determinate oppositional difference. But then there is separateness – apartness – where things aren’t set at odds with one another but are just separate, like something and other. Then there is another kind of difference which is exclusion. Hegel examines this particularly in the logic of essence, where he argues that certain terms, such as ‘positive’ and ‘negative’, include one another within them as excluded. The positive has within itself the moment of not-being-negative, and the negative is the non-positive. Each, therefore, is included in the other, but as excluded by it. This idea by itself is rather abstract, but if we think of human identity in this way, the idea is very illuminating: for we see that if I define myself through exclusion – as not this, not that and so on – I build into my identity that which I exclude in order to be who I am, and so I bind myself to the very thing I seek to exclude. The ethical, social and political implications of this idea are enormous”

— Stephen Houlgate, ‘The Best Books on Hegel’, Interview by Charles Styles, FiveBooks. 

[prostheticknowledge]

Gloomy Sunday

Latest addition to Memo Akten’s ongoing ‘Learning to See’ project demonstrates a neural network powered realtime image translation framework, presenting possibilites for visual poetry:

A pre-trained deep neural network making predictions on live camera input, trying to make sense of what it sees, in context of what it’s seen before. It can see only what it already knows, just like us. 

More Here