MUSEUM OF MUSEUMS

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Undercurrents. Ian Teh.

"From the hustle and bustle of the Chinese markets catering to Russian tourists and entrepreneurs to the deadly quiet Chinese towns near the North Korean border, this work is an exploration of the surreal lives that exist in these artificial places, special economic zones that have been created by governmental mandates."

(via juxtapoz)

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Nikolai Voinov's 'Paper Sound'

In the 1930s, Nikolai Voinov, a musical theorist and composer, helped to develop the paper sound technique. The technique utilizes magnetic tape and an ultrachromatic 48 tune microtonoal system. By drawing on the magnetic tape, composers were able to synchronize animation and sound.

Voinov's featured compositions in chronological order:

Rachmaninov Prelude (1932) - 1:07

The Dance of the Crow (1933) - 2:11

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The Variophone

In 1930, Evgeny Shlopo (pictured above) invented the variophone at Lenfilm Studio Productions, located in Leningrad, Soviet Union. The variophone was an optical synthesizer that worked by applying soundwaves cut onto rotating cardboard disks. The disks were produced onto 35mm movie film through a process in which the disks revolved synchronically with moving 35mm movie film in order to create a soundtrack. This technique became known as the graphical sound technique, or drawn sound technique.

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Fear Creates Silence by Alfred Jarry

Nothing is terrifying, if it be not a widowed gallows, a bridge with dry piers, and a shadow which is content to be black. Fear, turning away its head keeps its eyelids lowered and the lips of the stone mask closed.

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Self portraits of Stevie Nicks (1970s).

Some people don’t sleep at night - I am one of those people. These pictures were taken long after everyone had gone to bed - I would begin after midnight and go until 4 or 5 in the morning. I stopped at sunrise - like a vampire… I never really thought anyone would ever see these pictures, they went into shoeboxes, where they remained. I did everything - I was the stylist, the makeup artist, the furniture mover, the lighting director. It was my joy - I was the mode

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From the graduate portfolio entitled, At a Loss, by photographer Julie Gautier-Downes.

Shot in the ghost towns of "Wonder Valley" in the Mojave Desert, Julie effectively portrays an amalgamation of  the themes of isolation, solitude, loss, nostalgia, and elemental impressions of people - their leftovers. Along with causing the viewer to speculate about the lifestyles of the people who once lived in these homes, the skillful composition of the photos successfully causes the viewer to question themselves, evoking the viewer's subconscious which allows them to crate a personal connection with objects in the photographed scenes.

The only clues about the people who once inhabited "Wonder Valley" are left in objects at their homes, which have been abandoned for long periods of time and are deteriorating. Despite the rubble and the furniture which has begun to fade with time, there lies an element more poignant than that of abandonment- which alone is superficial. The matter in which the abandoned spaces have decomposed over time, and why they have in such a particular way, is a marvel within itself.

At A Loss, comes out of these experiences. The feelings I had of dislocation, my fear of abandonment and the lack of control I had. The objects in the space are surrogates for the objects that I misplaced or lost. They also serve to answer the questions I have about what happened to the missing people who once inhabited these abandoned homes. This work is about struggling to make connections with people who've left, but also reveling in the sublime beauty that I notice in the way these spaces have fallen apart.

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Henry Miller Asleep and Awake (1975). Directed by Tom Schiller. 

Tom Schiller’s 1975 documentary follows Miller from the microcosmos of his very own shit-hole to a mock-up 1890s New York of his childhood—or “that old shit-hole, New York’” (in fact the set for Hello Dolly, with Barbra Streisand & Walter Matthau, 1969). Schiller describes his documentary this way: ‘A guided tour of the pictures and artifacts of his bathroom’ ... though it feels to be very much more than that.

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In 1962, amidst the Vietnam War and rising national disdain for the United States government,  Ramparts magazine was established by Edward M. Keating and quickly became a leading voice for the counterculture movement. Keating initially introduced Ramparts as a platform for "fiction, poetry, art, criticism and essays of distinction, reflecting those positive principles of the Hellenic-Christian tradition...". With its headquarters located right on the outskirts of San Francisco - the national mecca for counterculture at the time, the magazine's attitude evolved radically with its surrounding environment. The cultural climate of the 1960s also helped to usher in a new breed of editorial art directors who used sophisticated graphic design to help mold and emphasize the ideologies of their publications. In 1965, Dugald Stermer became the editorial art director for Ramparts, and stressed using images as a form of communication independent of the written word to provide "information, direction, and purpose." 

From top to bottom: 

Dugald Stermer (art director) and Carl Fischer (photographer), cover for Ramparts. The presence of two American soldiers at the crucifixion declares immediacy and sheds light on "man's inhumanity to man." 

Dugald Stermer (art director), cover for Ramparts, 1967. "Because the editors' names are clearly visible on the burning draft cards, this graphic depiction of civil disobedience takes on the quality of a self-documented crime."

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Excerpt from The Gaze Of Orpheus by Maurice Blanchot

When Orpheus descends to Eurydice, art is the power that causes the night to open. Because of the power of art, the night welcomes him; it becomes the most welcoming intimacy, the harmony of the first night. But Orpheus has done down to Eurydice: for him, Eurydice is the limit of which art can attain; concealed behind a name and covered by a veil, she is the profoundly dark point towards which art, desire, and the night all seem to lead. She is instant in which the essence of the night approaches as the other night.

Yet Orpheus’ work does not consist of securing the approach of this “point” by descending into the depths. His work is to bring it back into the daylight and in the daylight give it form, figure, and reality. Orpheus can do anything but look at this “point” in the face, look a the center of the night in the night. He can descend into it, he can draw it to him – an even stronger power – and he can draw it upwards, but only by keeping his back turned to it. This turning away is the only way he can approach it: this is the meaning of the concealment revealed in the night. But in the the impulse of his migration Orpheus forgets the work he has to accomplish, and he has to forget it, because the ultimate requirement of his impulses is not that there should be work, but that someone should stand and face this “point” and grasp its essence where this essence appears, where it is essential and essentially appearance: in the heart of the night. 

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sleep til death healeth come ease this life disease

Samuel Beckett

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Film stills from Salomé (1923)

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Salomé (1923), directed by Charles Bryant, is widely considered to be one of the first art films ever made. Adapted from the Charles Dicken's play, Salomé, the film was screened on a single set inspired by Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations for the published play. The play itself is a loose retelling of the biblical story of King Herod. Salome, the entitled stepdaughter of King Herod, lusts after John the Baptist who has refused her advances. Unable to accept rejection, Salome seeks vengeance. Aware of King Herod's desire for her, Salome cajoles the king into executing the Baptist through sexual manipulation. Dickens' rendition of the legend is the first to portray Salome as being a free willed, multidimensional being.

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Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari

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Can You Keep A Secret? Emma Hartvig.

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Bible. Momo Okabe.