Archive for September, 2007
September 20, 2007 at 7:45 pm · tag/s : art, death, doubt, image
on 22 july 1944, 150 new prisoners arrived at auschwitz as members of the SS Helferinnen (female auxiliaries) ate blueberries. 21 men and 12 women were selected for work, the others were taken to the gas chambers.
in the mid-nineties christian boltanski exhibited photographs of “ordinary“ ss officers which appeared in contemporary german magazines. there was something disconcerting about seeing these images of nazis in uniform with their wives and children, or juxtaposed with innocent magazine illustrations.
now the holocaust memorial museum in washington has published online the photograph album of karl hoecker adjutant to richard baer who took over from rudolf hoess as commandant of auschwitz in the last year of the camp’s operation. the album was donated by a us lieutenant who found it in frankfurt in 1946 and took it home with him.
it is chilling indeed to see these photographs of the men and women who were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, enjoying themselves. like the one below, which shows josef mengele and the current and former commanders of auschwitz baer and hoess relaxing during a break at solahutte, the ss retreat near auschwitz.
September 11, 2007 at 4:41 pm · tag/s : mp3, music
tarry not will oldham fans young and old for this free 192kbps download
Bonnie Prince Billy Live with Harem Scarem, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland, April 12, 2006
At this show, Oldham performs with Harem Scarem (not to be confused with the Canadian rockers), a group of fine vocalists with an array of instruments that easily compliments the songs.
featuring : a minor place, i see a darkness, master and everyone and other immortal classics.
September 11, 2007 at 7:08 am · tag/s : art, beauty, blog
at the australian national gallery for a very lacklustre show of late rauschenbergs i stumbled into a wonderful exhibition of calligraphy and ceramics inscribed with waka poems by a buddhist nun called Otagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875) … it seems odd to be moved close to tears by a tea cup but there you are … if it is made by a very sad poet in japan at the time when napoleon was heading into russia (or something) … the exhibition is on until january next year and it is the perfect antidote to the missing features on the new ipod … just don’t set off any of those nasty alarms by getting too close to the exhibits
September 7, 2007 at 12:57 pm · tag/s : doubt, life, people, reading, strange, thinking
as a kind of ex-cyberpunk i should be a science fiction fan, but i am just not … something about being unwilling to suspend my disbelief. however william gibson explains why science fiction is about the present, and his observations on the strange kind of reality we live in this recent interview in the washington post make for a great read.
A taste :
“…EBay is serving this very, very powerful function which nobody ever intended for it. EBay in the hands of humanity is sorting every last Dick Tracy wrist radio cereal premium sticker that ever existed. It’s like some sort of vast unconscious curatorial movement…”
via boingboing
