human tide...

the making of...

the final film

a roll of packing tape and...

Mark Khaisman's talent...

Dissimilated Vision...

movie by Katayama Takuto selected at DOTMOV, a digital film festival organized by online magazine "SHIFT", aiming to discover unknown talented creators and provide an opportunity to show their works. With a total of 206 works from 18 countries this year's festival will take place in several cities in Japan and overseas from November 2013 throughout 2014. All the selected works are presented on the website.

Animation : KATAYAMA Takuto
Music : KIKUCHI Ryota
Mixer : HAMANAKA Shun

«Though short and minimalistic, Katayama Takuto's Dissimilated Vision is delicately animated work that is amazingly intriguing and somewhat grotesque.  Katayama Takuto uses lines to split the planes and switch from one scene to another. Along with this brilliant technique, the sparse and plodding piano score that accompanies Dissimilated Vision makes the work beautifully hypnotic and surrealistic.The mesmerizing effect comes to an abrupt end when the music disappears and the line is broken. Yet, the impressions from the work lingers long in the minds of viewers. Katayama Takuto must have intended to present his unique vision as an artist rather than simply displaying our eyes as mere organs of sight. This is a true masterpiece, one that impresses the viewers every time they watch.» Ki Young Park

nido...

by the Finnish designer Robin Falck...

«In 2010 I wanted to build a place of my own. I found this beautiful slot and I set out to design a compact get-away for myself. The idea was to stay under 9 square meters which allowed me to build without a permit. I also wanted to maximize this space, use local/recycled materials and build it myself. After designing the cabin I contacted an architect (Bruno Erat) who took a look at my plans and he gave me a green-light. ​In june that summer I started building my cabin. It took me two weeks to build it (only thing missing was the door and window which arrived a week later). All the materials are local or recycled and carried to the spot by hand to keep the nature untouched.» R. Falck

stop the (human) traffik...

STOP THE TRAFFIK... campaign
people shouldn't be bought and sold

“Every year, thousands of women are promised a dance career in Western Europe. Sadly, they end up here. Stop the traffik. People shouldn’t be bought and sold.”

The advertising campaign was created by Duval Guillaume for Stop TheTraffik, a global movement aimed at putting an end to human traffickin:

1.2 million children are trafficked every year

— Estimate by UNICEF 

Human trafficking is the second largest source of illegal income worldwide exceeded only by drugs trafficking.
— Belser 2005

600,000-800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year. Approximately 80 per cent are women and girls. Up to 50% are minors.

— US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2007

People trafficking is the fastest growing means by which people are enslaved, the fastest growing international crime, and one of the largest sources of income for organised crime.

— The UN Office on Drugs and Crime

the ancient and noble tribe of Most People...

«It needs to be recognised that having brownish skin and a gap between the front-teeth does not necessarily mean a person possesses a deep understanding (or any understanding) of any particular African culture, complexity, needs, ways of thinking, ways of thinking about thinking, or notions of home etc.

Fronting a constructed group identity such as the ‘Afropolitan’ backs-up a reductive narrative of Africa and the African, which in turn continues to be an important part of neocolonial power structures. As an individual who happens to have one parent from the African continent I am offended by being put in a group and perceived to have certain interests and affiliations because of the nationality of one of my parents.

I do not have a drum beating inside me. The motherland is not calling me home. “We” are not a one-love tribe, yearning for the distant shores of Africa, or indigo or whatever the hell you imagine Africa as these days.

“We” are a random sample in a huge pool of disembedded, modernised, travelling global citizens who each carry with us a unique jumble of cultural inputs and influences from a range of places. In other words, we are like most people. And the most equity-promoting, barrier-breaking, racism-fighting thing we can do is see ourselves as just that – part of the noble and most ancient tribe...of Most People.»

Marta Tveit

NAI Forum, Nov 19, 2013

we should all be feminists...

Because culture doesn't make people... people make culture...

«A feminist is a man or a woman who says "yes, there is a problem with gender and we must fix it, we must do better"»

It's not impossible... for me to cry

The celo -instrument of and for the soul, catches you from inside and squeezes your soul and your emotions- added to the talent and voice of Ben Sollee... enjoy this simple as beatiful video (though it's not the video quality!)...

Ben Sollee - It's Not Impossible
From the CD "Learning To Bend"
Directed By -
Featuring the modern dance artists from Empujon

Music avalilable at bensollee.bandcamp.com

Ben and crew tour by bicycle without the use of support vehicles, carrying all instruments, band merchandise, film equipment for documenting, and personal effects on their bikes. Ben talked about the “beautiful limitations” of bicycling, the vast difference in pace of life and valuing small communities on the road.  You don’t just jump on a plane to hit the next large venue that will have you, instead you value–rather than overlook–the places right where you are.

August 2010-February 2011: The Ditch the Van Tour is an experiment in sustainability and community oriented music touring by bicycle. In this first chapter, film-maker Marty Benson introduces all the characters on the road. See Katie Benson, Jordon Ellis and Ben Sollee weigh in their gear and ride out on the first leg of their 1500+ mile self-supported tour by bike. Follow their adventures at www.ditchthevan.tumblr.com

 «By introducing the bicycle, I had this beautiful limitation. People could not ask me as an artist to drive through the night to do media the next morning in the next town... It also comes from this desire: I was going through these towns playing a show hoping people would show up and really not playing any role in the community other than being a place for people to gather. I wanted to do more, be more a part of the community as I drove through. So in doing this I’ve been able to connect with different bicycle groups, alternative venues and a different promotion style. We’ve been able to cross-promote with sports outfitter companies, different companies like Oxfam America. It’s been a real treat to use bicycle touring as an opportunity to exploit media that musicians don’t usually get to exploit. » Ben Sollee

« My grandfather was an Appalachian fiddler, banjo, guitar, whatever was laying around and so it’s definitely been a big part of my musical vernacular growing up. My father was also an R&B guitarist and my mom sang. I was also studying the cello and the conventional music that’s taught on cello is classical music. So in studying Bach and Brahms and the stuff that’s more part of the institution of the cello through college, I always had all this other music going on when I’d sit down to play with my family and friends. It was never classical. So all those sort of informed each other. But I’ve definitely spent a lot of time in the bluegrass world. » Ben Sollee

La evaluación de Darwin...

fantástica esta 'fábula' del 'complejo' y endogámico mundo de la Academia...

ACREDITACIÓN FRUSTADA, 

resumido por Jose María Tortosa 

del texto de Eduardo Gudynas (20/11/13):

El  caso podría haber sido muy sonado. No lo fue. Se trata del intento de un inglés para ser aceptado como profesor en una universidad latinoamericana, todas preocupadas, como las españolas, por la excelencia, por la aportación del conocimiento universitario al crecimiento económico y por la “empleabilidad” de sus titulados. Tomo el texto, resumiéndolo, de un artículo publicado por Eduardo Gudynas en el periódico ecuatoriano La República el pasado día 20. Veamos lo que, según Gudynas, allí han dicho los evaluadores de lo que aquí sería la ANECA encargada de aceptar o rechazar la postulación del candidato.

Lo primero que llamó la atención a los evaluadores fue la avanzada edad del solicitante: 50 años. Parece un poco tarde como para meterse en una universidad donde, todo el mundo sabe, hay que empezar de jovencito.

En segundo lugar, su nivel de estudios, según constaba en su expediente, era muy incompleto: ni máster ni, consiguientemente, doctorado. Solo un título de grado medio en ciencias básicas en un centro religioso. Solo por eso ya podía ser rechazado ya que dicho requisito ya constaba en la convocatoria de la plaza.

En tercer lugar, sus investigaciones recientes mostraban una mayor deficiencia si cabe. De hecho, no había concretado, en su currículum, investigaciones de mérito y se había limitado a indicar que, a bordo de un barco, se había dedicado a tareas de “naturalista” recogiendo muestras que catalogaba y enviaba a museos. Un técnico, en definitiva, no un investigador, cosa que, además, se veía en el nivel de sus publicaciones: un catálogo de fauna observada en sus viajes en el barco y algunas monografías junto a un libro de viajes que no puede considerarse publicación científica. Le faltaban, evidentemente, publicaciones en revistas indexadas (JCR o JCI) y, las que tenía, no estaban entre las de impacto alto: no llegaban ni al cuarto “cuartil”. Además tampoco habían sido citadas significativamente por otros científicos o colegas: muy pocas citas y en contextos de bajo impacto. En definitiva, su producción científica era muy baja y de escasa calidad, cosa que, a mayor abundamiento, se veía en sus muy pocas aportaciones a congresos científicos en forma de ponencia o comunicación. En concreto,  la última comunicación (para más inri, con un coautor) no había recibido un respaldo favorable por parte de la comunidad científica y fue ignorada por los cargos académicos pertinentes.

Por otro lado, el candidato afirmaba en su currículum que estaba a punto de terminar un libro del que daba algunos detalles sobre su propósito y contenido. En su adversidad, dichos detalles no se convirtieron en un mérito, sino en un demérito. Para asombro de los evaluadores lo que parecía insinuar en dicho manuscrito y ya había afirmado en algún texto anterior eran ideas totalmente en contra de lo que estaba establecido en la ciencia contemporánea, es decir, en los centros de primer nivel en los Estados Unidos y Europa anglosajona. Sus extrañas ideas, pensaron los evaluadores, quizás se explicasen por el aislamiento que el candidato había tenido durante sus viajes, sin conexión con centros universitarios y sin acceso a la bibliografía reciente y pertinente, cosas, como es sabido, relacionadas entre sí: son los centros universitarios los que dictaminan qué bibliografía es la pertinente o lo que algunos autores llaman “ciencia normal”.

Los evaluadores añadían que sus escasas publicaciones ni habían tenido ni iban a tener un impacto en el crecimiento económico, la innovación y la productividad, que son los objetivos de toda la institución universitaria. “Por lo tanto”, concluían los evaluadores “que la calidad académica es muy baja, y la relevancia científica para el desarrollo nacional es escasa”. Así que se quedaba sin la plaza.

Eso sí, todo hay que decirlo, vistas sus capacidades, la comisión le aconsejaba que suspendiese la publicación del libro que estaría finalizando y que, en su lugar, buscase una beca, si la hubiere, para hacer un máster y un doctorado cuanto antes ya que, dada la edad del concursante y sus escasas contribuciones importantes a la ciencia, el tiempo se le venía encima. Lo de la beca, la comisión lo sabía bien, era problemático, dados los recortes dictados por la austeridad reinante. En todo caso, le aconsejaban que dejase de escribir libros y que, en su lugar, dedicase sus esfuerzos a publicar artículos cortos (no importa si repetidos) en revistas de alto impacto, en especial en aquellos temas que sirviesen para la explotación de recursos naturales y para el bienestar del país medido a través del crecimiento económico. Si así lo hacía, podría volver a presentarse dentro de cinco años. Y que no se preocupase si el mismo artículo lo publicaba en revistas diferentes, ya que lo que la evaluación mediría lo era “al peso” (cantidad) sin mayores referencias al contenido (calidad). Tampoco importaba si los artículos en revistas de alto impacto eran en esas revistas que hay que pagar tus buenos dólares para que tengan a bien publicarte.

El rechazo de la comisión fue unánime y así se le comunicó al supuesto aspirante del supuesto concurso a la supuesta plaza, un tal Charles Darwin que pretendía publicar El origen de las especies.

wind...

by Robert Loebel

WIND is an animated short about the daily life of people living in a windy area who seem helplessly exposed to the weather. However, the inhabitants have learned to deal with their difficult living conditions.  The wind creates a natural system for living. 

director: Robert Löbel
sound design: David Kamp
particles: Jochen Weidner

graduation project at the HAW Hamburg Department Design

AWARDS:
Audience Award - 56th DOK Leipzig 2013
Defa Foundation Award - Filmfest Dresden 2013
NW Animation Fest's "Best Student Film" 2013
Special Mention - National Competition - Filmfest Dresden 2013
Hamburg Animation Award 2013 + Harald Siepermann Character Design Price 2013
Special Mention - Young Animation - ITFS - Internationales Trickfilm-Festival 2013 Stuttgart
Special Distinction - SICAF 2013 - Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival
Special Mention - Supertoon 2013 - ŠIBENIK, Croatia
Jury + Audience Award - Kurzsuechtig Leipzig 2013
backup award - Animation Award - backup Festival Weimar 2013
Audience Award - Favourites Film Festival Berlin 2013
Special mention - Student Film category - 9th World Festival of Animated Film in Varna,
Best Animation + Audience Award - AHOI - International Student Shortfilmfest Hamburg
Audience Award - 56th DOK Leipzig
Special Distinction - PISAF 2013, Korea
Special Price - Animax Skopje, Macedonia
Special Mention - Expotoons 2013
"Veliki Brcko"Price PSSST! Silent film festival prize, Zagreb

SELECTIONS:
ITFS - Internationales Trickfilm-Festival 2013 Stuttgart
Pictoplasma Berlin
Filmfest Dresden
SEHSÜCHTE Potsdam
MIAF - Melbourne International Animation Festival
ANIFILM, Trebon, Czech Republic 2013
Annecy 2013
Northwest Animation Festival, Portland
Edinburgh International Film Festival
29. Internationales KurzFilmFestival Hamburg
SICAF 2013 - Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival
Anima Mundi 2013, International Animation Festival of Brazil
Supertoonfestival 2013, Šibenik, Croatia
9th World Festival of Animated Film, Varna
Ottawa International Animation Festival 2013
London International Animation Festival - LIAF 2013
4th Anibar International Animation Festival
ANIMATOU -Festival international du film d’animation - Genève
AHOI Festival Hamburg
56th DOK Leipzig
KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival 2013
Big Cartoon Festival Moscow
EXPOTOONS, Buenos Aires, Argentina
KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival 2013
Animateka, Ljubljana Slovenia
GIRAF Animation Festival
....

to Mandela...

'River flows in you' by Yiruma

the ‘lightly’ clothespin

designed by Idan Noyberg and Gal Bulka...

shadows and nails...

the beautiful work of Kumi Yamashita...

human urban creativity...

Confronting one of the previous post (the competition) 

this TED talk by Iwan Baan.... So the question may be...

do we really need architects?

«Any architect with complex ambitions must be acutely aware of the fragility of his/her initiatives». 
Rem Koolhaas, 1944

Ta đi Ôtô... the different lives of things

This mobile structure in Hanoi, Vietnam, by Swiss architects Bureau A has a bicycle fitted underneath so it can be cycled from place to place. Geneva studio Bureau A designed the project as a multipurpose structure, to be used for anything from a vertical street food restaurant to an exhibition space. The mobile structure can cycled anywhere is it needed, similar to this mobile town square that features a miniature clock tower on the back of a bicycle. The structure belongs to Tadioto, a local bar and cultural centre who use it for art and other social events. The bicycle was originally owned by the steel worker who built the structure, who adapted to fit in the bottom section it can be moved around easily.

«Everything is dense in Hanoi, including the milk in your coffee. Everything is used. In unexpected ways “things” live different lives, they reincarnate continuously into new functions, passing from one life to another without a moment of respite. In Hanoi, this magic of creativity ends up in everyday life as opposed to art museums. The blue, a vertical Bia Hoi for Tadioto accompanies this creative movement. Conceived as a support for small pieces of lives, as an ephemeral house or as a vertical street food restaurant, it might deviate from its original yet wide function and become something else, an unexpected urban animal. A mini-concert hall? A poetry podium ? It probably just needs to circulate, to stroll around the busy streets of Hanoi and then it’ll decide by itself which disguise to adopt...» Bureau A

Picture by Boris Zuliani

microflâneuries...

*(below in English)
Inicio el diario-visual microflâneuries con la intención de compartir mi micro-mirada sobre la ciudad contemporánea y crear una plataforma desde la que lanzar el proyecto de construir una red de flâneurs -flâneurs network project- en la que compartir diferentes miradas sobre las ciudades de y desde todos los rincones del mundo. Un mapa que construya una visión diversa y heterogénea de lo urbano...

Para colaborar en la construcción de esta cartografía virtual urbana sólo hay que enviar una imagen -tu particular flâneurie- con el lugar y fecha en que fue tomada y tu nombre (opcional) a microflaneuries@gmail.com y 'subirá' a formar parte del mapa de flâneurs network project...

Estas son algunas de mis micro-miradas sobre diferentes ciudades que he ido coleccionando a lo largo de los años y que periódicamente iré publicando en microflâneuries.com donde puedes seguir mi mirada... 

flâneurs network project cuenta, a los pocos días de sus inicios, con las siguiente 'colección' de flâneuries (ver mapa o photoblog)... Únete a la red de flâneurs y envía tu colaboración, tu mirada personal y única de la ciudad en la que vives o por la que hayas 'vagabundeado' en cualquier parte del mundo... 

Mapa de Flâneuries (a 21 de Noviembre de 2013):

construyendo ciudad virtual... fugitiva e infinita


ENGLISH VERSION

I start the microflâneuries visual diary with the intention of sharing my micro-gaze on the contemporary city and at the same time create the platform flâneurs network project from where collect different gazes on the cities of and from the wholeworld. A map that generates a diverse and heterogeneous vision of the urban...

To collaborate in this virtual urban mapping you just have to send an image (your particular flâneurie) to microflaneuries@gmail.com  including the place and date it was taken and your name (optional) and it'll be 'uploaded' as part of the flâneurs network project map...

To see what micro-flâneuries is about these are some of my micro-gazes on different cities I've been collecting over the years and I'll be publishing periodically in microflâneuries.com where you can follow my gaze...

flâneurs network project has already collected some flâneuries after few days of being launched (see map below or photoblog)... Join flâneurs network and send your contribution, your personal and unique gaze on the city you live in or where you have 'wandered' around the world...

Mapa de Flâneuries (a 21 de Noviembre de 2013):

building a virtual city... fugitive and infinite

indígenas urbanos...

una mirada a cómo es ser indígena en el contexto de la globalización...

INDIGENAS URBANOS.
Cambio Cultural y Urbanización en la Amazonia
indigenasurbanos.info

CREDITS/
Directed and Produced by Alba Mora Roca
Duration: 8 min.
Country and Year: Colombia, 2009
Language: Spanish with English subtitles.
Cinematography: Alba Mora Roca
Sound: Carlos Davalos Barbabosa
Editing: Alba Mora Roca
Etnographic Adviser: Enric Cassú Camps
HD Native. Shot with the Sony PMW-EX1.

mantras...

by James Wyper

"I see a painting as the record of a performance, and I like to share the performance with others. Painting for an audience encourages risk-taking which doesn't necessarily occur when I'm alone in a studio." James Wyper

Soliloquios y Soledades...

por Miguel Palomino quien acompaña estas series de 'micro-narrativas' fotográficas con las simples acepciones que de ambas palabras da la RAE... Micro-narraciones con una enorme carga emocional (de emoción: 1. f. Alteración del ánimo intensa y pasajera, agradable o penosa, que va acompañada de cierta conmoción somática)

SOLILOQUIOS

soliloquio.
(Del lat. soliloquĭum).
1. m. Reflexión en voz alta y a solas.

SOLEDADES

soledad.
(Del lat. solĭtas, -ātis).
1. f. Carencia voluntaria o involuntaria de compañía.
3. f. Pesar y melancolía que se sienten por la ausencia, muerte o pérdida de alguien o de algo.

'Soledades' (junto con la serie 'Espejo') forma parte de la exposición temporal sobre la valla de una obra organizada recientemente en Madrid por La Galería de Magdalena dentro del proyecto #RegalosUrbanos 

* mi agradecimiento a Miguel por permitirme usar sus fotos en mi blog!

** la última foto es de Escrito en la Pared y corresponde a  la exposición temporal en La Galería de Magdalena.