29 de maio de 2011

"It's all fun and games...

...until someone gets killed"

Wel...the new Is Tropical video begs to differ...



'The Greeks' was directed by french collective Megaforce (part of the El Niño Crew, mentioned here a while ago)


via my brother :)

11 de maio de 2011

Double bill at the Haunch of Venison - Wim Wenders and Eve Sussman

Here I am, still taken aback by the emotional roller-coaster and visual masterpiece that is Pina, and along comes Mr Wim Wenders to blow me off my feet again...

'Places, Strange and Quiet', takes us on a trip and gives us a chance, at least for a couple of hours, to see the world through his eyes. And what eyes... Among the almost 40 photographs taken from 1983 - 2011 are beautifully contrasted black and white images, gigantic ultra graphic c-prints and even some tiny polaroids.




Despite being taken in so many different countries (from Japan to Brazil, Germany to Albania), there is a common element to all of his photographs - a sort of dystopic, ephemeral quality. They're constantly referencing a humanity that isn't there, bringing forth traces of a past which reinforce the present, making each captured moment both beautiful and melancholic.



It's interesting how the lack of people is exactly what makes his photographs so narrative - the director persona is present in every shot, setting the scenery and inviting our minds to fill in the blanks and create our own stories.

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On the ground floor,  Eve Sussman's videos and photographs subtly drag us into a timeless world where past and future come together in an everlasting, cyclic, present.


"The exhibition centers around whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir a film that follows the observations and surveillance of a geophysicist code writer stuck in a futuristic city. The experimental fiction runs endlessly, editing live in real time, with no beginning, middle or end, never repeating the same way twice. "  Below are some stills from the film.





Both exhibitions are on until May 14th

Haunch of Venison Gallery
6 Burlington Gardens
London W1S 3ET
020 7495 5050

2 de maio de 2011

who shot the sheriff?

"Queer jew socialist boy seeks a better world" said one of the signs in the 1978 anti racism rally-turned-concert that united punk and reggae, took east London's Victoria Park by storm and changed the course of music and politics in the UK. 



This is the full story - a film for all the cynics and skeptics who think they can't change the world...




So glad I caught this at the EEFF. Although I wasn't even born at the time and am not a Londoner per say, I couldn't help but get goosebumps when I saw such a familiar scenery taken by the crowd, united for something they believed in. 



More about the history and events that lead to the 1978 Carnival - including Eric Clapton's racist remarks - here