My heart leaps up

Wordsworth in 1798 writes in his preface to 'lyrical ballads' that:

'Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility. Poetry to be written in the language of the "common man," and the subjects of the poems should also be accessible to all individuals regardless of class or position.'

Here's a video lifted from Youtube:



And here is William Wordsworth's 'My Heart Leaps Up' from his 'Poems, in two volumes' from 1807:

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky.
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

Parallel World Cups

View Refait here

"Refait" is the title of a film about the last 15 minutes of the World cup match between France and Germany, in Seville, Spain 1982. The short film is shot by Pied La Biche in Villeurbanne in France, and he reconstructed players, positions, gestures, intensity, drama, etc. The film shifts the traditional game into the urban environment. Each sequence takes place in one or several locations. The city becomes a laboratory for experiments; context, storyboard, shifts, repetition.

The soundtrack is made up of the original commentaries mixed with interviews of the audience recorded during the shooting.

The idea is simple but the effect of the film is quite amazing. The aspects that I find interesting in the film are the many locations used in one scene or sequence. Spatially it becomes very effective in the way that a game, originally played in a very defined square, is unfolded into the whole city. You see it sometimes in the film where a player is preparing to kick the ball and runs towards it in an open parking lot, when the scene suddenly changes location to a bridge over a motorway where the player stops abruptly. In the original game the player stopped because he kicked the ball towards the goal.

Other aspects are the gestures and mimics. You don't have any idea of what the players are talking with each other about in the original game, because the game was filmed from a certain distance. In “Refait” the players must have focused on reconstructing the gestures and the mimics of the original players instead of what they said to each other. That aspect is also an interesting technique which could be used more as another acting technique: The separation of sounds and visuals, text and gestures.

Finally the way “Refait is constructed by portraying exactly the same positions of the players, but with two different motivations and focuses, is spot on.
In that way the repetition aspect becomes an important device. The new players are emptied of meaning and reasons and only choreography the movements of the players by means of the techniques of the camera, and in that way a new game is created.

sets: the ruby playlist

• Ruby (don't take your love to town) by Kenny Rogers 1969

• Ruby Tuesday by the Rolling Stones 1966

• Ruby by the Silver Apples 1968

• Ruby Baby by Dion & the Belmonts 1963

Reclaimed stories: Norman Evans II

I recently uncovered six pages of diary entries from Norman Evans, which I have transribed in their entirety, and is now posting here:

MY DIARY AS FAR AS DURBAN ON BOARD "OMRAH"

-----------------oOo-----------------

1917. April 28th.

We left Prestion Station at 1-50 a.m. with our pockets full of cake and biscuits, which we had pinched from the Buffet in Prestion Station. Not knowing where we were going we pulled our puttees, spurs, and boots off. and all went to sleep. The jerk of the train woke me, and I found we were in Crewe, off to sleep again, and found we were in Hereford Station, 5 a.m. We all awoke, Freeman, Jones Randles,H.Roberts, and Pollard, talked and smoked until we arrived at Bristol, then started to have some food. At Taunton we had tea brought to us. Tea and buns also in Exeter, arrived Plymouth 11 o'clock, were taken straight to the docks at Devonport, 11-30 a.m. There we sat on our kit bags, writing letters and eating bread and Bully. After our meal we were marched off on board and told off to our different messes, I being at No.1 Dock, and No.11 mess, 18 men on our table. We were taken from the dock into the harbour by a tug at six o'clock. We were anchored in Plymouth Sound for a week waiting for different liners to arrive to take the troops. The way we passed our time was in talking,writng letters, playing cards, and sleeping.It was very warms there, and we could sleep on deck in the daytime, it was so warm. The only thing to liven us being destoyers, seaplanes etc, coming and going, also mine sweepers, etc. etc.

May 4th.

At last we are all ready, 10 Transports, 4 Destoyers, and 1 Aux. Cruiser. We are all feeling anxious. the vessel we ought to have gone on was torpedoed coming to Devonport to fetch us. The Omrah was stopped in the Downs by naval craft, and told to stop where she was. The sailors witnessed a scrap between our detroyers and the German boats, which were attempting to raid Ramsgate. The Transport which went before us was sunk (Transylvania, about 500 being drowned), and a vessel leaving Devonport was sunk after putting to sea. As the journey had to be faced we made the best of it, and at 7 p.m. we all put to sea in two lines, but as night approached we split up into two parties to avoid to great a risk. Although nice and warm in Devonport, it now began to get rough and cold. I forgot to mention, that in harbour we were all given a hammock, and two blankets each, and we slept slung up, but now the Commander orders every man to sleep at his boat station with his lifebelt either on or as a pillow, and to be up 3 a.m. and stand at his raft or boat ready for emergency. Our boat station was on the highest deck, and we were told of to rafts, 16 to each raft, from the boat deck to the sea was about as high, if not higher than our bedroom window, so it was not pleasent to jump from that height into a cold rough sea if we were torpedoed, but it was either that or go down with the ship, so we slept on top deck for two or three nights. It was very cold and wet, and up at 3 a.m. with your lifebelt on expecting every minute to be blown up, while the destroyers raced about, and my word, they can travel, and turn in their own length. In the daytime we wore our belts all the time.

May 5th. Weather getting colder.

" 6th. Weather very misty. Submarines sigthed - alarm sounded, but we got away safe.

" 7th. Weather warmer - joined balance of Transports. A shoal of porpoises following the ship; a shark seen, a lot of wreckage floating past. The Destroyers wishing us "Good luck", and a safe journey, left us and went back home.

May 8th. We were all ordered to go about barefooted or use slippers We also had a "Health Inspection".

" 9th. Fine day but a very rough sea, I was put on Submarine Guard for 24 hours.

" 10th. Very rough, many sick. All port holes closed.

" 11th. Washing day. Nice and hot - rough sea.

" 12th. Lifebelts given up. Sunburnt feet, very hot. "Omrah" firing her gun for practise.

" 13th. Sunburnt feet. Service at 10-45 a.m. was not able to go on account of being inoculated at 11 a.m.

" 14th. Sunburnt feet, nice and warm. Some getting into their drill, but I did not. Saw shoals of flying fish close to vessel.

" 15th. Sunburnt feet, nice and warm, flying fish all about. Boxing Match in the afternoon. Concert at night.

" 16th. Nice and warm - sea smooth - Boxing Match - service at 6 p.m.

" 17th. Hot, had hot sea water bath. Shoals of sharks passed. Boxing Match in the afternoon.

" 18th. Wet. Saw flock of swallows going North, and lot of small birds. Arrived Serre Leone 6 p.m. A very pretty place, put very warm. It fairly oozed out of us while we were there.

May 19th. Very hot. Vessel taking in water and coal. Water was pumped out of a ligther, but niggers came with the coal. Itwill take too long here to describe their methods of coaling, description of them and their food, as I have to hand this in to-night. I bought some pines, limes, and cocoa nuts, as I wanted fruit badly, and need hardly say I enjoyed them.

" 21st. Left Serre Leone 5 p.m. with H.M.S. "Kent", and three extra liners with black troops.

" 22nd. Wet and stormy. Vessel sighted cruiser, chased after her, and we were all ready with our lifebelts on but it was harmless.

" 23nd. Wet. Inoculated 7 a.m.
" 24rd. Crossed Equator. Sports.
" 25th. Hot in morning. Wet rest of day, and lightening.

" 26th. Cool and wet, Sports, Tug of War, Cock Fighting, Bolster Bar etc. etc.

" 27th. 24 Hours Marconi Sentry. Hot.
" 28th. Hot. Sports Continued.
" 29th. Cool. " "

May 30th. albatross following us.
" 31st. Sports, - Concert - Warm.
June 1st Kit inspection.
" 2nd. Warm, Inspection in full marching order.

" 3rd. Cool - Service - six albatross following, and also smaller black birds.

" 4th. Cool in morning. Arrived Capetown Harbour 12 o'clock went into Dock 7 p.m. ( Cruiser left us and went to Simonstown). Took in water and provision. No leave granted, but some sneaked off.

" 5th. Left Capetown 10 a.m. - cold - 24 hours Deck Sentry.
" 6th. Very stormy waves going over top deck. Had some feed to-day. Some of our mess sea sick.

I must now finish this diary as I am going to give it to a sailor friend who will post it in England after he has been to Australia. This boat is going from Durban to Australia. for troops, so we are changing boats at Durban, and as we expect to reach Durban tomorrow, I must give this to him to-night for fear I do not see him again.

-------oOo-------

New ups #1

• English episode w. J. Shapiro up on third ear (subscribe to listen).
• Emilie Östergren's new website is up, also check out her dino blog.
• Photos from Nordicomic workshop & exhibition, I helped organize are up.

A cork in the machine of things, an interview with Dorte Marcussen

To extend on the post about the Museum of Everything, here is a short interview with a Danish outsider Dorte Marcussen of Haderslev. Who is a self-taught and self-proclaimed naïve artist.

Q: Would you tell us a bit about yourself?

A: 55 years old. Started painting in the late eighties, but have always painted, drawn, and done a lot of cutting and pasting. I was, unlike many from my generation, lucky to attend kindergarten, where drawing and being creative was encouraged. A friend of mine took me to her evening course in painting in Haderslev. The city had taken a long time to redevelop the centre; in consequence many of the old houses were still there, but without it looking like a museum.

A lot of people on the course painted these houses, they sat there painting houses from photographs. That was not for me. A building or structure is something in itself, but also part of its context; the building next door, the people in the street, the street’s furniture etc. The time of year and its weather also influence how you perceive a building or a space in the city.

These things where what I decided to paint. My first naïve painting was a depiction of the main square in Haderslev with the Erik Heide sculpture (and the unpopular mayor stepping in a pile of dog shit)

Haderslev Square

Q: In your paintings there are often references to history; heraldic coats of arms, stylistic elements from the middle ages and fantastic creatures from folklore, but also people just going about everyday things. What does this combination of a great and a small narrative contribute with?

A: I have never consciously thought about that- or put it into words in that way. I pick things I use from two sets of criteria, both are very visual.
#1 That they, with their shape and colour, fit into the slots in the composition left empty, or generated with the folding of the perspective. #2 That they contribute to the telling of the story about the building or space, to the portrait of it that I am creating.
I strive, on different levels, to visualize walking around, on and (in)to a building or a space in the city, to create the same effect you get when you are actually there. But that said and when you are asking, I guess it has something to do with the mere physical presence of the architecture that has an impact on the people and stories that unfold. In the same way the history of the building means something- no matter how old it is. Accomplished architects capture something defining of their era in their buildings- and something of the possibilities put before people of that era. All this reminds people to appreciate their possibilities, to respect architecture, heritage and appreciate cultural diversity. But also to encourage them to break set perspectives and boundaries, not to be indifferent to bad architecture and to respect other people’s heritage. And that every individual is but a cork in the machine of things.

Q: The level of detail and the diagrammatic character and precision in your paintings give the impression of the same kind of urgency you find in for example botanical drawings from the 19.century. Those images were scientific documentation, what’s at stake for you?

A: Interesting that you see it that way. And you are right I take a kind of pride in that all details of the building and the city space make it on to the canvas. Some gallery owners want me to paint more people in the painting "so people get their money’s worth," like one said (he doesn’t get it), but what’s at stake is that things should be so well depicted that you can reconstruct the building from my painting. But it also has something to do with the answer to the last question and the details' importance for the whole and how their intercourse affects the whole. It’s also a signal of how the whole is the important thing and how every detail needs to know it’s place, to accommodate everything. You can’t go breaking perspectives left and right, if you are not true to your point of departure, chaos will ensue, not esthetic order.

Ribe Domkirke

Q: You are often asked to paint for big public institutions. Are the works you do for them a counterpart to classical portraiture, and if so how does it affect the dialogue you have with these patrons?

A: The comparison with portraiture is right, that’s what I call it anyway. I don’t know how much dialogue there is, the majority of patrons just want their buildings painted and trust in my judgment, they give me the freedom and all the information I need – but are often surprised by what makes it into the painting. It’s different with people who commission me to paint their house. They have so many expectations and want their own story included the painting. But I guess there's a lot of tradition attached to people having paintings done of their possessions. In the past there were painters who made their livelihood traveling between farms and painting them, later you have aerial photography. Patrons probably want to boast, to display their power by showing off the possessions they own. More ‘normal’ people just hang it over the sofa and get pleasure just from watching it.


Amagertorv

Q: Do you see a kinship between your work and marginalized and outsider art?

A: Yes, I hope there is. I also think so as I’ve been at INSITA (in 2007 and now 2010), Triennial for Self-taught art. So the jury must be of the opinion that I ‘... have achieved exceptional standards in my creative output’ and that ‘The jury will exclude all works manifesting any imitative or artificial qualities, as well as works reflecting conscious academic or professional criteria.’ I hope show a kinship to marginalized and outsider art. My ‘nerdy’ approach to the details, which you call urgency and their place within the whole, that people are subordinate to the buildings, space and environment are likewise outsider-ish. I also have a sort of fear, maybe too big a word in this context, of copying myself. Every work must be original. So contrary to what other naïve artists are doing, I rarely do the same motive twice, the colour scheme changes from painting to painting, (what else when you have to capture the atmosphere) and the size of the canvas is never the same. There are maybe two exceptions: ‘Alphabetical Shops in X Dimensions’ or ‘The Landscapes of Times’. But here the individual works are a part of a whole, and assembled they are a universe onto themselves.

For more info on Dorte Marcussen or to see more of her works go to:

dortemarcussen.dk

Growth Assembly

Mini documentary about the design for futuristic synthetic biology. The beautiful natural history drawings are done by my tutor from Central Martins College, Sion Ap Tomos. Lifted from Boingboing.

Growth Assembly - Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg & Sascha Pohflepp from Sascha Pohflepp on Vimeo.