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Amelia’s Magazine | Fashion on Film: L’Amour Fou

Yves Saint Laurent by Krister Selin

The relationship between a fashion designer and his business manager-cum-lover isn’t a new concept to cinema. Anybody who has seen Valentino: The Last Emperor will have already witnessed the trials and tribulations when two men – one a rare, creative genius, the other a businessman, have to work together on a daily basis for fifty consecutive years.

Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge by Karolina Burdon

L’Amour Fou is a little different, however. For starters, where The Last Emperor was a celebration of Valentino‘s illustrious career, L’Amour Fou doubles as a celebration of Yves Saint Laurent‘s life. This film is more of a romantic tribute to the designer through the eyes of his partner, Pierre Berge.

Yves Saint Laurent A/W 1965 – the ‘Mondrian‘ dress – by Cruz

From the opening credits, I was hooked. An homage to Yves‘ ‘Love‘ cards that he designed and produced for staff (many on display at the Majorelle Gardens, Marrakech), flashes of colour and geometric shapes flood the screen. I saw the film at the ICA, and its diminutive cinema with old fashion red velour seats and dusty projector make the experience even more apt.

Yves Saint Laurent at his final show by Mitika Chohan

When the title sequence has rolled, we see Yves at a press conference declaring his resignation, juxtaposed with Berge‘s touching eulogy at Saint Laurent‘s funeral. We’re only about 6 minutes into the film here, and already I’m in pieces.

Yves Saint Laurent at Dior by Cruz

The film features archival footage of Yves Saint Laurent, from his days at Dior through to his greatest collections during the 1970s and 1980s, pieced together by Pierre‘s narration. The film skips between Yves Saint Laurent the fashion designer, Yves Saint Laurent the art collector, and Yves Saint Laurent the tempestuous lover. The film culminates with the dramatic, poignant and record-breaking art auction of 2009 in which Yves and Pierre‘s entire art collection was auctioned for AIDS charities.

Yves Saint Laurent Wedding Dress S/S 1999 by Janneke de Jong

The film explores the early relationship between the pair – they met at Christian Dior‘s funeral and it was pretty much love at first sight. You can tell by how Pierre talks about Yves that this was not an easy relationship. Yves‘ crippling depression, substance abuse, morbid insecurities and changeable state of mind have taken their toll on ol’ Berge. But through all this, a glint in his eyes remains, as his relates countless stories about one of the world’s greatest, creative men.

Yves Saint Laurent for Zizi Jeanmaire by Joana Faria

Amidst the drama of the relationship, fashion fans won’t be disappointed. The film features never-before-seen photographs of Yves at Dior, adjusting hemlines and admiring his creations on models. There’s film footage of his most celebrated collections, from bridal wear to Russian-inspired collections in the mid-seventies. We see Zizi Jeanmaire dancing in one of Yves’ most spectacular creations made of feathers.

Opium advert (1977) by Katrina Conquista

Wondrous footage of the original Opium ad is one of the film’s many highlights – and Berge describes how controversial this was; not so much the advert but the name (the controversial adverts would follow, with Sophie Dahl naked and spread eagle for Opium and the first ever fully naked man in a print advertisement for M7). The irony, as Berge describes, was that Yves selected a name with a narcotic reference, when it would be alcohol and drugs that would almost destroy their relationship. Berge talks about this at length, and how Yves would only ever be happy moments after a show; Berge would have to wait another six months to witness that same level of happiness.

Opium advert (2000) featuring a naked Sophie Dahl by Katrina Conquista

But it is the couple’s love of art that dominates this film. After Yves‘ death, Berge decided to sell the collection that they had tirelessly put together over twenty years. Why? Because, after Yves‘ death, ‘the collection had lost the greater part of its significance.’ There are less sombre anecdotes in the film: ‘When Yves designed the Mondrian dress, we never dreamt that one day we would own one,’ Berge says with a smile.

Yves Saint Laurent A/W 1965 – the ‘Mondrian‘ dress – by Mitika Chohan

And so at the end of the film, during the auction, we see Pierre sitting backstage clapping his hands and marvelling at the record-breaking sales prices. Finally, he’s the last to leave the auction and we see him walking down the stairs of the Grand Palais. It’s a poignant ending to a pretty poignant film, and there’s something a bit sinister about it that I couldn’t really put my finger on – the endless shots of empty rooms? Christies‘ employees, the ‘undertakers of art’, boxing up paintings? Berge‘s willingness to openly discuss every facet of Yves’ personality, at the risk of seeming a little bitter? I’m not sure. But I loved it, nonetheless. It’s a sombre tribute, but a colourful one.

Written by Matt Bramford on Monday November 21st, 2011 6:47 pm

Categories ,AIDS, ,art, ,Christian Dior, ,Cruz, ,Dior, ,fashion, ,film, ,france, ,ica, ,illustration, ,Janneke de Jong, ,Joana Faria, ,Karolina Burdon, ,Katrina Conquista, ,Krister Selin, ,L’Amour Fou, ,M7, ,Majorelle Gardens, ,Marrakech, ,Mondrian, ,Opium, ,paris, ,Pierre Berge, ,Pierre Thoretton, ,review, ,Russia!, ,The Last Emperor, ,Valentino, ,Yves Saint Laurent, ,Zizi Jeanmaire

Amelia’s Magazine | Film: An Interview with Jessica Lux

All Stills from ‘Join The Dots’ by Jessica Lux

Jessica Lux is a film-maker who has had her share of interesting life experience. She rejected a place at Oxford to study English at UCL, viagra approved wrote for Private Eye, The Times and Time Out after graduating before flying off to Uganda to photograph Lord’s Resistance Army War. After returning in one piece, she has now gone on to be a film-maker who has already achieved accalaide in the field by being voted one of The Observer’s Future 50 “movers and shakers” of Art and Design in the UK. Louisa Lee sits down to discuss the remarkable journey of Jessica Lux.

You studied English Literature at UCL. What drew you to film from English Literature? I was never very interested in the discipline of literary criticism. When I went to study English Literature it was because I wanted to write novels. After my degree, I kept focussing on writing but it was a miserable old business. It’s so solitary. Everything just became words or something waiting to be converted into words. I was continually thinking: how can I describe this, how can I use this? After my degree it got to a point where it was making me so unhappy that I started to question whether I wanted a future of this. So I just gave up on it all. Later I met a boy who did film and I thought: I want to do what you do. It was odd: I’d never been into the cinema or films really. He went back to film school for the new academic year and I found out where his college was and pestered them to let me on the course. They finally agreed to talk to me, then gave me a place in the final year of the course. I remember finishing the first class on a massive wave of euphoria and certainty. I just thought: I love this! This is my thing!

Do you feel that it helps in any way for film-making? It helps in every way. For the first two years of my degree, the literary criticism and all the pretentious arguments really turned me off literature. Jung once said ‘Anyone who wants to know the human psyche would be better advised to put away his scholar’s gown, bid farewell to his study and wander with human heart through the world.” So I went down that route instead. I’d find the most unfamiliar situations I could and fling myself into them headfirst. Crucially, I soon realised reading literature allows you to empathise with different kinds of people. That’s the thing you really need to learn: it’s no good trying to script or direct the actions of a character if you can’t empathise with them.

Your films and music videos, that I’ve seen so far, seem to explore a child or teenage nostalgia with a dark edge. Why do you think you return back to this unsettled idea of youth? I don’t know. I feel too close to what’s going on in my life at the moment to make sense of it. I’m so up close to it that it’s out of focus. I can see the past in perspective and feel like I understand it a bit better.

Your Roots Manuva music video, C.R.U.F.F., explores ‘a boy’s nightmare war being fought with toys’. How did this idea come about? I thought of that idea all in a one go, but it combined elements that I’d been thinking about for a while. That tends to be my working process: I get vivid little bits and then one day they all bundle together and become one story which then takes on a life of its own.

Which film-makers inspire you? I’m very inspired by the women directors in this industry who are bold and brave: particularly Jane Campion, Kathryn Bigelow and Andrea Arnold. I was so excited that Bigelow won the Oscar for Best Director. I think that most female film directors have a tendency to yank apart their work in a fever of suspicion and over analysis; destroying something which might have been excellent. I love filmmakers who are genuinely experimental – in the sense of being forced to forge a new language to convey something that they passionately want to communicate. Like Derek Jarman’s Blue which is just him talking over a bright blue screen. He was dying of AIDS and had gone blind and wanted to show how the world looked from that perspective. I also love a film called The Act of Seeing With One’s Own Eyes by the American artist Stan Brakhage. He went into a mortuary and filmed autopsies, documentary style, as if he were shooting birds batting about on a lake or something. I had always thought that autopsies were conducted really delicately, like operations. But it’s like watching a person rifling through a suitcase in search of a lost sock. The banality of it is shocking. It made me cry but have this fierce sense of the beauty of these fragile little human beings, fiddling around with their nail varnish and sticking on artificial eyelashes and hurtling towards a void so vast and black they can only look away.

Is there anything else that you build inspiration from and if so, what? I’m really inspired by other people; the things they say and the things that they don’t say. Humans are such strange beasts. I’m inspired by things that effect me strongly. I also listen to music all the time and whenever I’m not talking to people I have headphones on. So the world as I see it pretty much always has a soundtrack. I love this combination of image and sound: it can make things that you might overlook as mundane seem startling beautiful. I also love lots of artists in other mediums: Shakespeare, Chekhov, Picasso, Francis Bacon, Beckett, Nan Goldin, Walt Whitman, Philip Larkin, Thom Yorke, Hieronymous Bosch…

How do you like to work when you make a film? Is there an amount of improvisation or is it meticulously planned? Film requires a strange mix of being very free and very precise. I think it’s important to absolutely precise about the emotional core of what you are trying to communicate but very free about all the possible ways that it could be communicated.

Who would be your dream person to work with on a film? Walter Murch.

I read the film-script you are working on at the moment. Like the two other films that I have seen by you, the film culminates in a beach scene; the beach setting seems to be the pinnacle point of the drama. Are you conscious of this and if so is there a reason for it? I know! I realised that after my second film, and have just realised I’ve done it again with this one. It isn’t conscious. I don’t really go in for symbolism, it seems a bit of dead way of working. But I think even if you don’t consciously set out to do symbolism, I think a lot of people find they do it without realising. I’m not entirely sure what the sea means in my films, but I suspect its to do with my associations with it. I was quite a solitary child and would often go and walk down the beach on my own. I’d make up stories and speak in the voices of my characters. It was this sort of clean space where all the frills and decoration and clutter fell away and you could think clearly. My first film and the one I am making now are both about the amount illusion is involved in our perception of reality. The sea seems to be a place where the characters are forced to confront reality as it is. But because it isn’t a conscious use of symbolism, perhaps it isn’t that simple.

When will this film be finished and where will we be able to see it?
We’ll be entering the film for film festivals around the world as soon as it’s finished. It’s called Join the Dots.

Written by Louisa Lee on Thursday March 18th, 2010 3:36 pm

Categories ,film, ,jessica lux, ,london film, ,louisa lee

Amelia’s Magazine | Film Review: Black Pond

Black Pond by Katy Hudson.

A film about that follows the events leading up to a man’s death told in semi documentary manner may not sound like particularly engaging subject matter, but Black Pond uses an interesting backward glancing narrative arc to create an effective portrait of dysfunctional family life that is set to rapidly unravel. Despite clues about the final denouement that appear from the start of the film we are never quite clear what is going to happen in what turns out to be a blackly humorous first feature from new directors Will Sharpe and Tom Kingsley.

Black Pond - family at pond

Black Pond Blake Underwater by Gareth A Hopkins.

Black Pond by Olivia Rose.

Black Pond Mad Rita by Jane Young.

The lead role goes to the outcast Chris Langham, who is excellent in his role as the beleaguered husband in a dead end marriage – his opening lines could as well refer to real life harassment from the press as they do his fictitious situation. Director Will Sharpe (who wrote the screenplay) takes on the role of a confused friend who brings the daughters back to the family home as the main crisis takes hold, and in the soundtrack I recognised echoes of his former guise as a musician in Jumpers for Goalposts (covered in Amelia’s Magazine a few years ago). His fellow band member Helen Cripps appears in Black Pond as the red headed daughter.

Black Pond - Chris Langham rain
The film was shot on a shoestring budget that is evident in the paucity of locations, but I for one welcomed a realistic depiction of a family home, where paperwork is piled on top of the piano and the bathroom shelf is lined with grotty bottles: no Hollywood gloss here, just glorious, banal, British surburbia.

Black Pond family at pond by Gareth A Hopkins.

Black Pond by Gaarte.

There were a couple of scatological scenes that I didn’t really understand and some slightly too unbelievable moments provided courtesy of Simon Amstell‘s role as a cod psychologist, but these are minor quibbles about an otherwise witty and loveable first feature from a multi-talented director/actor/musician to watch.

Black Pond - Simon Amstell car window
You can catch Black Pond at the Ritzy this Monday 5th December, where Chris Langham will be on hand to answer an audience Q&A alongside the two directors. Catch it on the big screen whilst you can!

Written by Amelia Gregory on Sunday December 4th, 2011 3:17 pm

Categories ,Black Humour, ,Black Pond, ,Chris Langham, ,film, ,Gaarte, ,Gareth A Hopkins, ,Helen Cripps, ,Jane Young, ,Jumpers for Goalposts, ,Katy Hudson, ,Olivia Rose, ,review, ,Ritzy, ,Simon Amstell, ,Tom Kingsley, ,Will Sharpe

Amelia’s Magazine | Film Review: The Place Beyond the Pines

The Place Beyond the Pines by Krister Selin

Hollywood heartthrobs Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper star alongside Eva Mendes and Ray Liotta in new action thriller The Place Beyond the Pines.

Ryan Gosling by Michael Arnold

I don’t mind admitting I’m a bit out of my depth here: regular film reviews at Amelia’s Magazine tend to be fashion, art or music based, but I was invited along to see a preview of this flick after reviewing the glorious Diana Vreeland documentary, so I thought – oh, why not. What I didn’t bank on was the film’s dramatic plot and radical twists and now I’m a totally stuck. But I’ll give it a go anyway. I am desperate to shout ‘AND THEN THIS HAPPENS’ but I’ll do my best not to as this is one of those films where the surprises make it enjoyable.

Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes and Bradley Cooper by youdesignme

Gosling plays heartthrob Handsome Luke, not dissimilar to other characters he’s portrayed: he doesn’t say a great deal, instead spending the majority of the film perfecting his vacant stare and sideways smirk; the latter will no doubt have its own Hollywood star before Gosling does. The film opens with him smoking in a grotty dressing room and then we follow him into a carnival tent, where he’s performing a terrifying stunt on a motorbike that involves riding around a huge metal sphere with two other performers. Eva Mendes shows up shortly afterwards as Romina, looking ridiculously hot as always. It’s pretty clear from their short exchange and Gosling’s glad eye that they’ve copped off recently. Cut to a year later and, you guessed it, Romina is with Handsome Luke’s child. Oh, those pesky carnival hunks and their maverick approach to contraception. Why I oughta.

The Places Beyond the Pines by Gemma Cotterell

Unfortunately in Gosling’s absence, Mendes has shacked up with another hunk, but this time a more suitable, stable one. Gosling is determined to win her and his son back, though, and with the help of Ben Mendelsohn‘s character Jack, decides that the best way to do this is to start robbing banks. He enters various establishments in his motorcycle helmet, screaming expletives at workers and ordering them to stuff his rucksack with dollar bills. Each time the process becomes more sinister and it doesn’t take a genius to work out that this isn’t going to end well.

Bradley Cooper by Karina Järv

Bradley Cooper, in stark contrast, plays , a mature and sensible cop with a wife and kid and who seems to have it all together until a run-in with Handsome Luke ends badly and Cooper is hospitalised. Returning to work, he uncovers major corruption at his local cop shop and makes it his mission to overturn it. Cue lots of shouting and fists slamming on tables. Gripping stuff.

Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes and Bradley Cooper by Natasha David

The film jumps fifteen years into the future from the 1990s to the present day and explores the relationship between father and son, documenting the effect that each of the main character’s lives has had on their children. The pace slows down a little in the absence of daredevil motorcycle riding, punch-ups and gun fights, but the story is worth following.

Eva Mendes by youdesignme

Ryan Gosling is hotter than I’ve ever seen him (and I’ve watched a lot of his movies – often alone) and Bradley Cooper gives it his all as the charming, troubled cop-cum-chief. Eva Mendes dominates whenever she’s on screen, and I have decided that I actually quite fancy her and am less jealous that this film brought Mendes and Gosling together and I think they will have beautiful children. It’s not a short film, though, and with the dramatic twists the film is split into different parts; you’ll leave the cinema thinking you’ve watched three movies. The ending is a tiny bit disappointing with Hollywood predictability, but by that point I don’t think I could have handled any more drama. Police corruption, murder, family ties and carnival contraception are all explored. It’s a dramatic thriller that even the most cynical of movie-goers will like, if only to enjoy the good looks of the three billed stars. I’ll certainly give it another watch.

Bradley Cooper by Michael Arnold

The Place Beyond the Pines is released in cinemas on April 12.

Written by Matt Bramford on Thursday April 4th, 2013 9:41 am

Categories ,Ben Mendelsohn, ,Bradley Cooper, ,Carnival, ,cinema, ,Eva Mendes, ,film, ,Focus Features, ,Gemma Cotterell, ,Handsome Luke, ,illustration, ,Karina Jarv, ,Krister Selin, ,Matt Bramford, ,Michael Arnold, ,motorcycles, ,movie, ,Natasha David, ,Ray Liotta, ,review, ,Romina, ,Ryan Gosling, ,The Place Beyond the Pines, ,youdesignme

Amelia’s Magazine | Francis Alÿs: A Story of Deception at Tate Modern: A Review

Francis Alÿs Tate Modern La Ronde
La Ronde by Francis Alÿs

Last week Francis Alÿs: A Story of Deception opened at the Tate Modern. In the first room we are faced with the artwork that inspired the exhibition’s name: a film of a flickering mirage in the Patagonian desert. Water appears to flood across a dusty highway… vanishing into the distance in a hypnotising shimmer. Originally from Belgium, visit this Alÿs has been a resident of Mexico City since the mid 1980s, treatment although his work often explores the politics of a worldwide diaspora. Each room encapsulates a particular project, often showcasing the original source material, such as news clippings, and the tiny but beautifully formed oil paintings that Alÿs produces alongside films and other ephemera.

Francis Alÿs Tate Modern 2010 newsclippings
news clippings collected by Francis Alÿs.

Life in teeming Mexico City has provided rich material to plunder – especially in the constant walking walking walking of the city’s street vendors, echoed in the delicate collages displayed in a light box – and the casual violence which Alÿs imitates by carrying his own gun on prominent display through the streets (in Re-enactments) until he is arrested.

Francis Alÿs Tate Modern 2010 ambulantes

collaged images by Francis Alÿs, featuring ambulantes.

Paradox of Praxis 1 (Sometimes Doing Something Leads to Nothing) is one of the most famous pieces created by Alÿs. In it Alÿs pushes a block of ice around the streets until it is completely melted. Constant movement is a constant theme: whether kicking a can endlessly around the streets (a performance that ended when the absorbed Alÿs stepped in front of a car) leading sheep in a circle or pouring green paint out of a can to retrace the armistice border between Israel and Jordan.

Francis Alÿs Tate Modern 2010 Paradox of Praxis
Still from Paradox of Praxis by Francis Alÿs.

Still from The Loop by Francis Alÿs.

Still from The Green Line by Francis Alÿs.

Through all his methods of creation Alÿs never reaches a single point of resolution, an idea which is explored in the Rehearsal series, wherein a Beetle car is driven up a hill to the tune of a brass band, rolling backwards every time the music reaches a pause, much like Latin American modernisation, which always seems to find some reason for delay.

Francis Alÿs Tate Modern Rehearsal

Stills from Rehearsal by Francis Alÿs.

Alÿs questions the role of the artist in the political, transforming everyday objects into new roles. Half way through the exhibition the floor of a room is covered with rubber car mats decorated with a pop art graphic of a silenced mouth, and Camguns are created out of scrap wood, metal and film canisters. Since 2000 Alÿs has been throwing himself into the eye of the tornadoes that he chases through the countryside, seeing in these natural phenomena an echo of political chaos. If peace is found in the centre will it be possible for change?

Francis Alÿs Tate Modern 2010 Silencio
Silencio by Francis Alÿs.

Camguns by Francis Alÿs.

Some of the newest work by Alÿs revolves around the concept of the tornado, implosions and explosions – a work in progress which is presented complete with post it notes on a wall in the last room. Some of the beautiful oils in this collection echo the delicate work of ongoing series Le Temps du Sommeil, which features 111 miniature oil paintings on recycled wood that feature dreamlike scenes reminiscent of the actions that crop up time and again in his other work. Not only does Alÿs enjoy the privacy of working in a traditional medium, he also uses the money from the sales of such paintings to finance his larger and less houseworthy projects.

Francis Alÿs Tate Modern Tornado
Francis Alÿs Tate Modern 2010 Le Temps du Sommeil

Details from Le Temps du Sommeil by Francis Alÿs.

Worth it to see these paintings alone, this is a must see exhibition for anyone with an interest in how multimedia can be to used to effectively tackle difficult political subjects. It runs until 5th September 2010.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Monday June 21st, 2010 4:39 pm

Categories ,Art Activism, ,Belgium, ,collage, ,exhibition, ,film, ,Francis Alÿs, ,Jerusalem, ,Mexico City, ,Multimedia, ,Politcal, ,Praxis, ,Tate Modern

Amelia’s Magazine | Harun Farocki at Raven Row: Against What? Against Whom?

Copenhagen Climate Summit: Lord Monckton rap battles Al Gore

“It’s freedom they’re plundering, viagra sale website and you’re the scare-monger king!” cries global warming sceptic Lord Monckton to former American Vice President Al Gore, store during their furious rap battle over climate change. Hold on… Lord Monckton and Al Gore in a rap battle?! It happened! Sort of. In this ingenious video by The Juice Media you can see how it might play out if Monckton and Gore were to get down wit da kids and engage in a juvenile debate over the issues of climate change and the Copenhagen summit. This video in particular is part of a series called Rap News – with Robert Foster, order which was born in October this year, other titles in the series include ‘Nasa bombs the moon’ and ‘Obama receives Nobel War is Peace prize’. Rap News was spawned from the artistic and philosophical minds of Giordano and Hugo, who reside in Melborne Australia, where they met after moving from the UK and Italy. Together they write and produce the show; Hugo, an MC/spoken-word performer/poet and actor creates the rhymes and impersonates the various public figures featured in the shows. Giordano, a writer, historian, academic, music composer and founder of Juice Media directs using themes and narratives based on his deep-seated interests and ideas about history, the media, the environment, social justice, indigenous peoples and politics.

They’re an intriguing pair, over 1000 are subscribed to their You Tube channel, and amongst the comments on their page is “What a talent mate” and “You make me proud to be Australian”. With the Copenhagen summit underway I have a few questions for the madcap duo, who going by our email correspondence are not only talented but super friendly.

goremonk

So, why rap?

Chuck D once said that Rap was the CNN of the ghetto. We figure, why CNN? Why not a quality news channel like DemocracyNow.org?

How did you 2 first come to work together? What is your relationship like?

We met over common interests in politics, nature and medieval Italian poetry. Our relationship is great. We sit around in the garden and have brainstorming sessions over homegrown salads.

Your raps are driven by politics, environmental and social issues. Tell me more about your views and motivations?

Our view is that the mainstream media is manifestly almost completely failing in its duty to inform the populace of world events in a measured and contextualised manner, and our motivation is therefore to rectify that in a small way, helping people join the dots between the quotidian occurences, and the broader picture. We are putting into practice that wise adage, ‘become the media’, for, as Jello Biafra famously stated, ‘we demand fair and more accurate balanced news coverage – and if we don’t get it… we’ll make it ourselves!’

algore

Hugo, you impersonate various public figures in the video, who is your favourite person to be and why?

So far the only real public figures i’ve impersonated have been Lord Monckton and Al Gore. Out of those two, Lord Monckton came the most naturally – i finally got to use those skills from ‘Latin For Pseudo-Scientists 101′. Of all public figures to impersonate, my favourite has to be David Bowie when he does the Goblin King in Labyrinth: “Go back to your room… play with your toys!” and so on.

What are your hopes for COP15?

That it will be a turning point. Wherever we’re headed, the future’s not looking too good right now. This seems like a good opportunity to take a break from the reckless ride we’ve been on for the past few centuries and reassess our situation; a chance to consider that we may not have thought all this through that well from the outset: Civilization? – what self-respecting civilization would totally trash it’s own home? And climate is just one of the massive challenges we now face; yet it’s the surest sign that ‘something is rotten in the state of Denmark’ and what better place to rectify this than in Copenhagen?!

Monckton

So, we hope it doesn’t become another Kyoto – with the little time we have left we simply don’t have that option. We hope it won’t legitimise false solutions and myths such as ‘clean coal’ or emission-trading schemes – these just encourage a business-as-usual mentality, and if it hadn’t taken as many as 15 COP’s since the ’92 Earth Summit in Rio, then perhaps these wouldn’t be a case of too little too late. We hope the media does its job and keeps its eye on the ball and doesn’t degenerate into coverage of smashed windows and protester arrests.

But above all we hope that COP15 won’t all come down to money and be limited to market-based solutions – we need a real supra-economic movement to spring from Copenhagen which will carry us through this. It can’t just be about hatching new technologies but also about regaining old knoweldge. We are going to have to finally remember that our economy and society has to adapt to the planet, to the law of the land, and not the other way around. This is the simple fundamental lesson which we are going to have to (re)learn. Whether we do so the easy or the hard way, is what will be decided in these coming days in Copenhagen.

rapnews

What are Juice Media’s future plans? What’s next?

Although this project has existed for several years in our imaginations, we’re really only just setting out on this journey and, well, we’re still figuring out what to pack in the suitcases.

TheJuiceMedia itself is a broader prtoject which seeks to facilitate access to the voices of Indigenous people – particularly from Aboriginal Australia, since that’s where we are. So we’ll carry on working on doing what we’re doing and look to keep the information flowing. As far as Rap News episodes, we are looking forward to covering many more topics, as they come up. First on the cards is a website where we can set up our little campfire in the world-wide-web, light up some hyperlinks and start foraging for new stories.

We’re quite clear about what won’t come next: we’re not hoping to get on TV! The way it is, we encourage people to turn off their sponsor-saturated, Murdoch/Berlusconi-owned mega-networks and tune in to alternative, independent media sources. The internet seems to be the only medium left to us to retain some form of global participation in the production of meaning in today’s society and we intend to dedicate all of our creativity to making the most of it – while we still have it. The more people use this vital medium, the less the likelihood of it being hijacked, like what’s happened to TV. That would truly leave us in the dark(ages), once again.

rapnewslogo

Check out all Juice Media’s Videos here
Workers Leaving Factory © Harun Farocki

Harun Farocki is a strange sort of a person. Although he has been making films since 1967, order he is a fairly new addition to the artisan world of video. Developing film as a creative medium since the mid 1990’s, look his Against What? Against Whom? exhibition at the Raven Row gallery in East London feels very much retrospective. It is as if he is inadvertently peering back across his filmic history and showing his audience what he found out.

I sauntered in on a Friday afternoon and was surprised to find the exhibition space bustling with spectators. People from distant walks of life mosied from room to room, giving the labyrinth like gallery an almost homely feel. Picking up a leaflet and heading straight into the first room to see Eye/Machine III, I was somewhat at ease. Unfortunately, the first installation was not an entertaining piece. Two simultaneous projections of computerised views of bombs and aircrafts – and at twenty four minutes long, left me concerned that I had eight more to watch.

Fortunately, this was not the case. As the reels of the following pieces unravelled, the exhibition became more evocative and enthralling. The second piece documenting the archaic bricklaying techniques of the third world juxtaposed with more modern methods was a bridge into Farocki’s extensive knowledge of how film works. And indeed how to display film in an artistic approach.

Workers Leaving Factory © Harun Farocki

The two most outstanding works of the exhibition would have the most elite cinephile astounded. The first; Workers Leaving the Factory in Eleven Decades took on the Lumière Brothers original film, extending their original premise through the past century to show the anamorphism of the working class. Intersecting works across eleven screens, Farocki includes sights from film greats such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times and, most recently, Lars Von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark. Including headphones for sensory immersion, each headset contained a different score. I was blessed with some jovial and jaunty music (I’m assuming from the Chaplin piece but couldn’t be certain). The whole experience of the piece was like a historical document; not only of workers leaving a factory, but also of how filmmakers over time have captured this banal event to create something extraordinary.

inextinguishable Fire © Harun Farocki

The second, Feasting or Flying, made in collaboration with Antje Ehmann, follows the tragic hero in Hollywood. The six screen set is haunting and heart wrenching. Concentrating on male protagonist suicide, it is extremely fluid, spilling from screen to screen along with an overture of highly resonant and mournful scores. The whole experience signifies and remembers tragedy, with saturnine morose. Along with clips, posters and screens of red black inserts determine film, director and how the hero ended his life. Leaving the viewer subdued but deeply attentive, the piece is arresting and thought provoking, and worth the trip in itself.

Farocki once said ‘I always use more than one image, I compare the images, to see what they have in common, it is not a linear image. It’s a form of ‘soft montage,’ taking one image ‘a,’ finding it’s not quite right, and replacing it with ‘b’’. The exhibition at Raven Row is an epitome of Farocki’s way of thinking. Multiple screens; a continual flow of disorientating images, occasionally bombarding, but predominately enthralling. Farocki twists and manipulates images to create a visually provoking and perplexing set of works.

The exhibition runs from 19 November 2009 to 7 February 2010 at Raven Row, Raven Row, 56 Artillery Lane, London E1 7LS. T +44 (0)20 7377 4300, info@ravenrow.org. Open Wednesday to Sunday 11am–6pm.

Written by Hannah Osborne on Thursday December 17th, 2009 12:56 pm

Categories ,art, ,contemporary art, ,director, ,ehibition review, ,film, ,Harun Farocki, ,installation, ,london, ,projection, ,Raven Row gallery, ,review, ,Spittafileds, ,video, ,Video Art, ,video installation

Amelia’s Magazine | An Interview with Teenage Photographer Nirrimi Hakanson

Sleeping Forest by Nirrimi Hakanson
All photography by Nirrimi Hakanson.

Hard work and determination are two of the words that first spring to mind when I think of Miss Hakanson: the young photographer known for her soft, dreamy portraits of young doe-eyed girls balancing on that line between childhood and womanhood. It’s Nirrimi’s knack for wistful, other-worldly imagery that grabs my attention; beauty and innocence are captured through skilful light and filtering, but nothing ever seems overdone.

2 Loud as Night by Nirrimi Hakanson
It was some time ago when I first discovered the works of 19-year-old Nirrimi Hakanson, yet each time I find myself clicking through her impressive portfolio of images, I continue to be blown away by her raw talent and keen eye for detail. The daughter of an Aboriginal artist and a Swedish-Australian hippie, Nirrimi has creative blood coursing through her veins. Whilst most teenagers turn to babysitting or Saturday jobs to earn their pocket money, Nirrimi had bigger and better plans: plans involving a Canon 4D and an adventurous imagination.

10 Sunbed by Nirrimi Hakanson
Nirrimi has been a dab hand with a camera ever since the tender age of 13, photographing anything and everything; finding beauty and wonder where others forget to look. There’s something in her work, both dreamy and poignant at times, that reminds me of fellow Australian Shannon Natasha; another young whippersnapper surely set for big things. Growing up in Townsville on the north-eastern coast of Australia, Nirrmi’s photographic endeavours have taken her across the globe, and in just five small years she has come an impressively long way, with two big name commissions under her belt.

9 Sleep in Piece by Nirrimi Hakanson
First we have Diesel – the multi-million pound Italian clothing company who in the past has commissioned high flyers such as Sarah Roesink and Laurie Bartley. Nirrimi masterfully shot the brand’s Be Stupid campaign in 2010, creating controversy with her evocative but playful images. Next it’s Billabong – the biggest surfing brand in the world. Both she and her working partner/beau were commissioned to travel across Europe documenting their adventures for the brand’s new campaign set to be released later this year. But is the prodigious Nirrimi fazed by it all? No. She’s as humble as she was at 13, whilst still creating delectable photography that continues to belie her age.

3 Nirrimi by Matt Caplin
Nirrimi by Matt Caplin.

First and foremost, I hear congratulations are in order! How do you feel being a mother will influence your work?
The pictures that inspire me most are Sally Mann‘s portraits of her children. I always knew one day my most treasured images will be the portraits of my own. I’m only a few months away from meeting my first daughter; I can’t wait to document her life.

What (or who) was it that inspired you to start taking photographs?
The thing that really set my passion alight was falling in love. It was with a young photographer when I was just fourteen. Love at that age is firey and all-consuming. I took pictures in the hope that he’d fall for me through them. One day he did and by then it was so much a part of me that it was me.

Your age is well documented, how do you respond to people who claim that you’re too young?
The only way to respond to that mindset is to continue to live successfully in a way that exists outside of expectation, and to prove that people shouldn’t be characterised by their age.

4 Penny Lane by Nirrimi Hakanson
Your latest editorial, Dead Leaves, is as beautiful as ever. What was the thought process behind it?
It was autumn and I’d come to Queensland to work, shooting model tests and saving money for our soon to be family. I didn’t know what I’d shoot until the model came. I just wandered around the house I was staying in, and the backyard, and we just shot with what was there. She had this naivety about her I wanted to capture. I ended up filling the bath with dead leaves from the garden.

5 Dead Leaves by Nirrimi Hakanson
Dead Leaves by Winter.

Where do you find your models?
Sometimes I scout girls from streets, but they are also often my friends or family.

You and your partner Matt work together as a team, how does this relationship work when it comes to taking photographs?
On the last few campaigns we shot he would film while I would photograph. We’re of one mind when we’re shooting, so fluid and connected. I can’t imagine ever working without him.

Is there a particular message that you want to portray through your images?
Beauty shouldn’t be forced.

The internet is a huge platform that plays a big role in showcasing undiscovered talent. What’s your opinion on the impact that social networking has had on yourself and other creatives?
It has given every artist a voice. In a world where only the well-connected or insanely talented could once succeed, now almost anyone has the opportunity to. Technology has bred a society of youth who want things instantly and without effort, but no matter how much easier it is now that photography is digital, you can’t get anywhere without hard work. The internet is an amazing place for recognition and exposure, but just as ever, it doesn’t mean it comes easy.

6 By the Sea by Nirrimi Hakanson
You just recently travelled across Europe to shoot the latest campaign for Billabong; where was your favourite place?
I really liked all the old beachside towns of Cinque Terre, Italy.

After reading through your blog, I’ve discovered that you’re not only a great photographer, but also a creative writer. What inspires you to write? Is this something you intend to explore further?
I’ve been writing since I can remember, so it is very much a big part of me. The darkest and brightest times of my life inspire me. Even if I one day stop taking pictures, I know I’ll never stop writing.

7 Valentine by Nirrimi Hakanson
The campaign you shot for Diesel‘s A/W 2010 campaign was banned was from poster advertisements in the UK. How do you respond to people who claim the imagery was too risqué?
Because it was my first campaign I shot less in my own style and more in the style I thought they’d want, so the images don’t really feel like me. I feel like the risqué thing was sensationalist. It is Diesel, so you can’t really expect anything else.

8 Diesel Campaign by Nirrimi Hakanson
You’ve started experimenting with video, notably a short film showcased at the opening of Mok Theorem‘s S/S 2011 show during Australia Fashion Week. Is the moving image something you intend to develop further?
I do think film will one day be something I fully embrace. My lover (Matt Caplin) has been shooting the most incredible films (including one across Europe for Billabong), so for now I will leave it to him.

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.vimeo.com/23569823" rel="noopener">http://www.vimeo.com/23569823</a>

You’ve come such a long way in a short space of time, where do you see yourself in the next five years?
I think we’ll own a house by water and wildness and an old campervan and go on adventures with our daughter. I’ll have exhibitions to pay the bills, and travel overseas for campaigns now and then. We’ll all be making music, taking pictures, loving and writing all day long.

Written by Sarah Deane on Monday October 24th, 2011 4:26 pm

Categories ,australia, ,Australis Fashion Week, ,Billabong. Diesel, ,Cinque Terre, ,film, ,Italy, ,Laurie Bartley, ,Matt Caplin, ,Mok Theorem, ,Nirrimi Hakanson, ,photography, ,Sarah Mann, ,Sarah Roesink, ,Shannon Natasha, ,travel

Amelia’s Magazine | An Interview with Teenage Photographer Nirrimi Hakanson

Sleeping Forest by Nirrimi Hakanson
All photography by Nirrimi Hakanson.

3 Nirrimi by Matt Caplin
Nirrimi by Matt Caplin.

5 Dead Leaves by Nirrimi Hakanson
Dead Leaves by Winter.

Where do you find your models?
Sometimes I scout girls from streets, but they are also often my friends or family.

Is there a particular message that you want to portray through your images?
Beauty shouldn’t be forced.

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.vimeo.com/23569823" rel="noopener">http://www.vimeo.com/23569823</a>

Written by Sarah Deane on Monday October 24th, 2011 4:26 pm

Amelia’s Magazine | Angels of Anarchy at Manchester Art Gallery

Courtesy of George and Betty Woodman and Marian Goodman Gallery, pills New York

When I hear the word Surrealism, for sale instantly the likes of Salvador Dali, approved André Breton, André Masson and Max Ernst come to my mind. Well I can now add Frida Khalo, Leonora Carrington, Eileen Agar and many more female Surrealist artists to that male dominated list, thanks to Manchester’s Art Gallery! Their current exhibition, Angels of Anarchy, sets out to not only celebrate the works of female artists but to educate and inform those who know little (people like me) or nothing at all about the important role females played in the Surrealist movement. How about that?

The exhibition covers five main categories within Surrealism – Portrait/Self-Portrait, Landscape, Interior, Still Life and Fantasy; the medium used ranges from sculpture to photography to film and the more traditional oil on canvas. Thanks to Salma Hayek’s performance in the eponymous film, Frida Khalo -who features in both Portrait/Self Portrait and Interior – is probably the name most will recognise but you will not be disappointed with the other lesser-known artists on display.

Courtesy ADAGP Paris, Musée National d’Art Modern – Centre Georges Pompidou. Courtesy Photo CNAC / MNAM, Dis. RMN / courtesy Jacques Faujour

The most interesting piece comes in the form of film by photographer/filmmaker Lola Alvarez Bravo -who incidentally went to school with Frida and was one of her closest friends. The 30 seconds (approx) of rare footage is left untitled but is captivating from start to end, not least thanks to the presence of Frida herself; the artist is more stunning on film that I had imagined. There is no audio in this eerie film and it’s quite foretelling that Frida is welcoming death into her home in the shape of an innocent looking girl; this was shot when Frida was in ill health and I thought this was one of many nice surprises within the exhibition. Bravo documented much of Frida’s life and she went on documenting even after her death; there is a poignant shot of Frida’s room after her death (Frida’s Room 1954), where her wheelchair, paintbrushes, a self-portrait and a picture of her husband are strategically placed in order to sum up her life. This particular scene left a lump in your throat!

Courtesy Manchester Gallery

Another big name featured in the exhibition is Eileen Agar – whose Angel of Anarchy (1936-1940) mixed media head dress is featured alongside its opposite number Angels of Mercy (1936-1940) – only two surviving pieces of four, are portraits of Joseph Bard (her husband) and to see them both is quite magical. Angel of Anarchy is wrapped in rich African bark cloth decorated in Chinese silk, beads and osprey and ostrich feathers and has a decadent aura about it. Angel of Mercy is quite the opposite but none less impressive to its corresponding part, using only her skills to sculpt the piece and her hand to paint it.

Courtesy Manchester Gallery

Whist big names like Kahlo, Agar, Oppenheim and Cahun are used to encourage people to visit the exhibition the lesser known artists really do shine and in some cases surpass their well known counterparts. Kay Sage’s beautiful black and white, landscape photography will lead you into the word of the extra-ordinary within the ordinary – her vision of seeing something interesting within what seems to be an ordinary landscape impressed me a great deal! Leonora Carrington’s self portrait (1937-1938) will immediately grab your attention as it did mine; I faced this one particular piece for a good10 minutes and I must admit I was truly transfixed and consumed in my trail of thought! This, in my opinion, is by far was the best self portrait (oil on canvas) in the entire show. I felt deep sympathy for Carrington and I was left wondering and wanting to know more about this wonderful talent.

Courtesy Banco de Mexico Deigo Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico DF / DACS 2009

The exhibition is over teeming with beautiful oils on canvas and sculptures that include a rarely seen Lee Miller torso cast that has only even been exhibited once before. Surrealist literature is present in the form of Leonora Carrington’s En Bas ( Down Below 1945) a memoir of her emotional journey after Max Ernst is arrested by the Nazis which leads her to being institutionalized in a mental hospital in Spain. There are video instillations by Francesca Woodman documenting herself exploring the female form and a beautiful interpretation of ‘There was a Miller on a River’ (1971), by Eva Svankmajerova. This old folk song tells the story of a young soldier returning home after 20 years. His parents do not recognise him, rob and murder him; once they realise it was their son they take their own lives. Such a brutal act is given a beautiful lease of life in Svankmajerova’s gorgeous illustrations.

Courtesy Manchester Gallery

Another nice surprise is the room ‘Teenangels’ in which the Manchester Art gallery has teamed up with art students from Levenshulme High School who have came up with their own Surrealist inspired artwork. I would have happily been left to think they were part of the Angels of Anarchy exhibition had I not seen the sign! Seeing interaction between a prestigious art gallery like Manchester’s and GCSE art students topped the exhibition off perfectly.

All in all this was a good exhibition which ran from the 26th of December 2009 to the 10th of January 2010. Penny Slinger describes her work as ‘a protest against females being seen as mere objects at a male’s disposal’. This exhibition sets out to break the notion that Surrealism is a male dominated movement and it does so successfully. Without the likes of Frida Kahlo, Claude Cahun, Edith Rimmington, Meret Oppenheim and the rest of the female Surrealist featured in the exhibition I doubt very much that women in art would be where they are today. They helped the female cause for decades to come and paved the way for equality in Art. They proved that chicks can do what guys do… and dare I say in some cases even better? If you were one of the lucky few who visited the show then you surely came away enlightened, informed and inspired by those surrealist amazons…just like I did.

Visit www.manchesterartgalleries.org/angelsofanarchy for more information.
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Written by Amina Khan on Monday January 25th, 2010 12:19 pm

Categories ,André Breton, ,André Masson, ,art, ,art review, ,Claude Cahun, ,Edith Rimmington, ,Eva Svankmajerova, ,film, ,Francesca Woodman, ,Frida Khalo, ,illustration, ,Kay Sage, ,Lee Miller, ,Leonora Carrington, ,Lola Alvarez Bravo, ,manchester, ,Manchester art gallery, ,Max Ernst, ,Meret Oppenheim, ,museum, ,museums, ,painting, ,Penny Slinger, ,photography, ,Salvador Dali, ,scultpture, ,surrealism, ,surrealist

Amelia’s Magazine | Art Lisitings

Art Against Knives
4th-5th May 2009

The creme de la creme of East London’s artists and designers come together for Art Against Knives: a 2 day event and exhibition to raise awareness of knife crime in the community and to raise money for the medical treatment of Oliver Hemsley the 20 year-old Central St Martins student, shop buy who was left paralysed after being stabbed multiple times on Boundry Street.
Art Against Knives promises to be inspiring both artistically and socially.

Art Against Knives, price this Monday and Tuesday only, approved see website for locations.

Flatland
ends 16th May 2009

Interesting 2 dimensional works and film sculptures from British artist Elizabeth McAlpine.

Flatland, until 16th May 2009, Laura Bartlett Gallery, 10 Northington Street, London.

Fresh Meat, The First Cut
10th May from 7pm

Evening of live illustration, animation screenings, raffle brought to you by art whizz kid Rose Blake and the rest of the This Is It Collective to raise money for their degree show at Kingston. There will be DJs as well as live music from Sheeps and Arthur Delaney. General fun will be provided in abundance.

Fresh Meat, The First Cut, 7pm until midnight 10th May, Notting Hill Arts Club, 21 Notting Hill Gate London.

Art in Mind
ends 11th May 2009

Eclectic collaborative show at the lovely Brick Lane Gallery featuring 13 contemporary artists. You can see our review here.

Art in Mind, until next Monday, The Bricklane Gallery, 196 Brick Lane, London.

The Red Room Platform Presents: Women’s Edition
6-9pm, 10th May 2009

Pan-generational artists, activists and thinkers validate the position of feminism in modern society through provocation, performance and debate.

The Red Room Platform Presents: Women’s Edition, this Sunday, Bethnall Green Workingmen’s Club, 44-46 Pollard Row, Bethnall Green, London.

Fleur Oakes- The Glass Pingle “In My Garden I am Quenne”
showing now

A simply beautiful piece mixing embroidery and corsetry by Fleur Oakes illuminates the front window of knitters’ paradise Prick Your Finger. Review and interview with Fleur to follow this week in the mean time check out the knitting projects here.

“In My Garden I am Queene”, Prick Your Finger, open Monday – Saturday, 260 Globe Road, London.

Beneath the pavement… The beach

Sexton (London) & Dominique Lacloche (Paris)
The exhibition consists of new work by the two artists work.

Art wars project space, 23 – 25 Redchurch Street, E2 7DJ
1st Apr – 5th May 2009

Swine flu art masks- an exhibition of plague masks

Exquisite masks made due to the media hysteria regarding Swine flu, These masks are hand stitched and made as delicate collectable art object.

Hepsibah Gallery, 112 Brackenbury Road, London W6 0BD
30th Apr – 6th May 2009

Constellation

Clay Perry
The exhibiton showcases the photographers images of the 60′s avant-garde art scene.

England & Co, 216, Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill, W11 2RH
Tuesday, 5 May from 11:00 – 18:00
Free entry

Etchings (Portraits)

Glenn Brown
A new collection of etchings from the artist.

Karsten Schubert, 5-8 Lower John Street,London W1F 9DR
Ends on the 8th May 2009, Monday to Friday 10am – 6pm

An exhibition of works by Paul Bennett and Ellie Good

Paul Bennett: expressionist paintings using oil and graphite on canvas.
Ellie Good: In this series of oil paintings and portraits exploring light.

Lauderdale House, Highgate Hill, London N6 5HG
28th Apr – 10th May 2009, Tue – Fri 11-4pm, Sat 1.30-5pm Free entry

Written by Roisin Conway and Violette Nlandu Ngoy on Thursday April 30th, 2009 5:30 pm

Categories ,animation, ,corsetry, ,embroidery, ,feminism, ,film, ,illustration, ,knitting, ,painting, ,sculpture, ,talks

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