2012 03/52

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Stefano Mirtis

facebook wall

03/52

2012

timeline archive:

a personal collectionof curiosities

Stefano Mirtis

facebook wall

https://www.facebook.com/stefano.mirti.3
https://www.facebook.com/stefano.mirti.3

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Stefanos facebook timeline 03/52 2012

Isola Del Giglio

If I was the Italian prime minister, I would leave

the Costa Concordia wreck exactly where it is, as a

perennial monument to "sprezzatura" (or, if youprefer, Italian attitude to perform things being

apparently cool but actually totally stupid). It

would be a great monument, it would make Giglio

Island a very special place, and people from all

over the world would find it an interesting way toreflect on cultural weaknesses. Here more images

about the shipwreck: http://www.facebook.

com/media/set/

By the way, what is "sprezzatura"? Wikipediadefines like this: "Sprezzatura is an Italian word

originating from Baldassare Castigliones The Book

of the Courtier, where it is defined by the author

as 'a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art

and make whatever one does or says

Sprezzatura (Perennial

Monument to)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.283292631729670.66575.268422276550039&type=1https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.283292631729670.66575.268422276550039&type=1https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.283292631729670.66575.268422276550039&type=1https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.283292631729670.66575.268422276550039&type=1https://www.facebook.com/pages/Isola-Del-Giglio/119165404829834?ref=stream&viewer_id=1344697023

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Oslo, Norway

Talking about new media taking over on old

media, the best explanation comes from this

Norwegian videoclip, written by Knut Nrum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ

Helpdesk (Or: Time is a

Circle, Not an Arrow)

appear to be without effort and almost without

any thought about it". It is the ability of the

courtier to display an easy facility in

accomplishing difficult actions which hides the

conscious effort that went into them'.

The word has entered the English language; the

Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "studied

carelessness". If you want to know more, here is

the link: http://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Sprezzatura
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprezzaturahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprezzaturahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Oslo-Norway/110848678937314?ref=stream&viewer_id=1344697023

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Mainz

New Media?

At this design education saloon in Breda, a lot of

talks on the relationship between new and old

media.

Mmmmmhhhhh

Think to design schools, circa 1450. When the new

media department was enthusiastica about the

movable type (just invented by this German lad

called Gutenberg). And the older people sayingthat the new media won't work and it will

disappear in few years. Much better to keep

working with feather quill pens & scrolls

I am always impressed by this fact that 99% of thepeople don't get this very simple truth: all the old

media used to be new (and all the new media will

become old).

Here a link to some nice images related to
https://www.facebook.com/mainz.touristik?ref=stream&viewer_id=1344697023

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Gutenberg's invention:http://www.facebook.

com/media/set/

And here a link to Gutenberg Museum's website:

http://www.gutenberg-museum.de/index.php?

id=29&L=1

Grand Bank, Canada

"If I honestly sort out my memories and disregard

what I have learned since, I must admit that

nothing in the whole war moved me so deeply as

the loss of the Titanic had done a few years

earlier. This comparatively petty disaster shocked

the whole world, and the shock has not quite died

away even yet. I remember the terrible, detailed

accounts read out at the breakfast table (in those

days it was a common habit to read the

On the Titanic, Orwell

wrote...
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grand-Bank-Newfoundland-and-Labrador/108202135868745?ref=stream&viewer_id=1344697023http://www.gutenberg-museum.de/index.php?id=29&L=1http://www.gutenberg-museum.de/index.php?id=29&L=1https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.306010186124581.70478.268422276550039&type=1https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.306010186124581.70478.268422276550039&type=1

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newspaper aloud), and I remember that in all the

long list of horrors the one that most impressed

me was that at the last the Titanic suddenly up-

ended and sank bow foremost, so that the people

clinging to the stern were lifted no less than three

hundred feet into the air before they plunged into

the abyss. It gave me a sinking sensation in the

belly which I can still all but feel. Nothing in the

war ever gave me quite that sensation"

~Georg Orwell, My Country Right or Left, 1940

Here some images about the Titanic thing: http:

//www.facebook.com/media/set/...

Grand Bank, Canada

We've dressed up in our bestand are prepared to go down

like gentlemen.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grand-Bank-Newfoundland-and-Labrador/108202135868745?ref=stream&viewer_id=1344697023https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.299607870098146.69433.268422276550039&type=1https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.299607870098146.69433.268422276550039&type=1

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Thinking to this (shameful) captain Schettino, I

couldn't resist to go and check the story related to

Benjamin Guggenheim and the Titanic sinking.

Mr Guggenheim (the father of ms Peggy), died on

the Titanic (and this was the reason why ms Peggy

had so much money so early to be spent in art).

What makes him a pretty cool chap are the reports

and the messages he left. Quoting from Wikipedia:

Guggenheim and Giglio slept through the Titanic's

encounter with the iceberg only to be awakened

just after midnight ship's time by Aubart and

Sgesser, who had felt the collision. Sgesser later

quoted Giglio as saying, "Never mind, icebergs!

What is an iceberg?"

Guggenheim was persuaded to awaken and dress;

Bedroom Steward Henry Samuel Etches helped him

on with a lifebelt and a heavy sweater before

sending him, Giglio, and the two ladies up to the

Boat Deck.

As Aubart and Sgesser reluctantly entered

Lifeboat No. 9, Guggenheim spoke to the maid in

German, saying, "We will soon see each other

again! It's just a repair. Tomorrow the Titanic will

go on again."

Realizing that the situation was much more serious

than he had implied, as well as realizing he was

not going to be rescued, he then returned to his

cabin with Giglio and the two men changed into

evening wear. The two were seen heading into the

Grand staircase closing the door behind them. He

was heard to remark, "We've dressed up in our

best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen."

He also gave a survivor a message saying, "Tell my

wife, if it should happen that my secretary and I

both go down, tell her I played the game out

straight to the end. No woman shall be left

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Isola Del Giglio

Eh...

-detail of: Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of

Earthly Delights-

"Heaven is where the police are British, the

aboard this ship because Ben Guggenheim was a

coward."

Guggenheim and his valet were last seen seated in

deck chairs in the Staircase sipping brandy and

smoking cigars. Both men went down with the

ship. Their bodies, if recovered, were never

identified. Guggenheim's chauffeur, Ren Pernot,

was also lost in the disaster.

One of his final acts was to write the following

message: 'If anything should happen to me, tell my

wife I've done my best in doing my duty.'
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Isola-Del-Giglio/194309063948521?ref=stream&viewer_id=1344697023

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lovers French, the mechanics German, the chefs

Italian, and it is all organized by the Swiss.

Hell is where the chefs are British, the mechanics

French, the lovers Swiss, the police German, and

it is all organized by the Italians".

Here the link to see some images about the left

panel (Paradise): http://www.facebook.

com/media/set/

And here the link to see some images from the

right panel (Hell): http://www.facebook.

com/media/set/...

Free Knowledge

What exactly is Wikipedia doing?

Wikipedia is protesting against SOPA and PIPA by

blacking out the English Wikipedia for 24 hours,

beginning at midnight January 18, Eastern Time.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.299588800100053.69430.268422276550039&type=1https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.299588800100053.69430.268422276550039&type=1https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.299577650101168.69427.268422276550039&type=1https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.299577650101168.69427.268422276550039&type=1

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Readers who come to English Wikipedia during the

blackout will not be able to read the

encyclopedia: instead, they will see messages

intended to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA,

and encouraging them to share their views with

their elected representatives, and via social

media.

Nothing like this has ever happened before on the

English Wikipedia. Wikipedians have chosen to

black out the English Wikipedia for the first time

ever, because we are concerned that SOPA and

PIPA will severely inhibit people's access to online

information. This is not a problem that will solely

affect people in the United States: it will affect

everyone around the world.

Why? SOPA and PIPA are badly drafted legislation

that won't be effective in their main goal (to stop

copyright infringement), and will cause serious

damage to the free and open Internet. They put

the burden on website owners to police user-

contributed material and call for the unnecessary

blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have

sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big

media companies may seek to cut off funding

sources for their foreign competitors, even if

copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be

blacklisted, which means they won't show up in

major search engines. And, SOPA and PIPA build a

framework for future restrictions and suppression.

More at: http://en.wikipedia.org/.../Wikipedia:

SOPA.../Learn_more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_morehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_morehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_morehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more

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London, United Kingdom

London Calling

-photograph by: Pennie Smith, The Clash concert

at the New York Palladium, September 21st, 1979-

I can't really complain about myself going around.

In December I've been to Tokyo, then the

Netherlands + some short trips in Italy. Still, the

place to go, it should have been London.

There are now in London three exhibitions.

Generally I am not so excited to go to a museum

to watch stuff, but: Post-Modern / Tacita Dean /

Gerhard Richter it's quite fantastic. Anyway. As

much as I wanted, I didn't go.So I asked my friend Emanuela De Cecco(who was

smart enough to make a blitztrip there) to send

me a report to share.
https://www.facebook.com/emanuela.dececco.3https://www.facebook.com/pages/London-United-Kingdom/106078429431815?ref=stream&viewer_id=1344697023

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Ps.

Ms Pennie says (about one of the most important

images of the history of rock music): "I remember

thinking something was wrong, realising Paul was

going to crack - and waited. The shot is out of

focus because I ducked - he was closer than it

looks"

Here the link about Post-Modernism at V&A: http:

//www.guardian.co.uk/.../postmodernism-at-the-

v-and-a

Here the link about Tacita Dean in the Turbine

Hall at Tate: http://www.guardian.co.uk/...

/oct/10/tacita-dean-film-review

And here is Gerhard Richter at Tate Modern: http:

//www.guardian.co.uk/.../gerhard-richter-great

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzPbNvIzMf0

Here a curious version of the "Magnificent Seven",

just for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=ijiazWlawUY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijiazWlawUYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzPbNvIzMf0http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2011/dec/08/gerhard-richter-great-leonardo-degashttp://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/oct/10/tacita-dean-film-reviewhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijiazWlawUYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijiazWlawUYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzPbNvIzMf0http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2011/dec/08/gerhard-richter-great-leonardo-degashttp://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2011/dec/08/gerhard-richter-great-leonardo-degashttp://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/oct/10/tacita-dean-film-reviewhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/oct/10/tacita-dean-film-reviewhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/sep/20/postmodernism-at-the-v-and-ahttp://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/sep/20/postmodernism-at-the-v-and-ahttp://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/sep/20/postmodernism-at-the-v-and-a

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Tate Modern

Panorama and Some More

Lots of very nice things going on in London. But

then, I wasn't there. So I asked my friend

Emanuela De Cecco to write a report on a couple

of exhibitions she went to see.

This is what she wrote me about Gerhard Richter's

Panorama:

First, I went to see Richters exhibition. I know his

work quite well, I'm interested in his obsessionrelated to the image, the strange play he sets up

between family photographs, postcards, news and

images of paintings. A powerful play.

He says and writes misleading things. Like Warhol,he takes on some kind of neutrality towards his

work, that does not match (like Warhol, but

without cynicism) the position that emerges from

its production.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tate-Modern/188055217914213?ref=stream&viewer_id=1344697023

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The gap, the transfiguration of the everyday

image, is an exercise where the history, the

stories, but also seemingly insignificant details

become visible: they say something that lies deep

on the perception of the initial source, making

themselves a full body.

Its a contemporary painting where he lays bare

the poorness of a given idea of contemporary

world obsessed and fixed on an eternal present,

and therefore he redefines it as the presence of

multiple time registers.

It is not an easy task. Apart from himself and

Tuymans there are very few other artists /

painters able to play this game, competing head-

on with the power of the media, in a fight that

does not see them losing. They dont lose because

its a fight not based on a muscular challenge, but

rather on delays and suspensions imposed by the

clear consciousness that the playing field is at risk

of extinction.

Here a link to some images of the works on show:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/

Here is the link to Richter's great website: http:

//www.gerhard-richter.com/

And here the link to the exhibition website: http:

//www.tate.org.

uk/modern/exhibitions/gerhardrichter/
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/gerhardrichter/http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/gerhardrichter/http://www.gerhard-richter.com/http://www.gerhard-richter.com/http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/gerhardrichter/http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/gerhardrichter/http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/gerhardrichter/http://www.gerhard-richter.com/http://www.gerhard-richter.com/https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.298922230166710.69338.268422276550039&type=1

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Film at the Turbine Hall

-the image has been manipulated from the original

by Ian Nicholson / PA-

And this is what Emanuela De Cecco wrote

regarding Tacita Dean's Film at the Turbine Hall:

Obviously we start sharing this assumption thatboth (Tacita Dean and Gerhard Richter) are part of

a universe that I feel close to me. This is not just a

detail, in the sense that having their work in the

same place, it was a reason enough to go to

London. At the same time the exhibition onpostmodernism was included in my short trip

because of my interest in the very intellectual

feedback of that period. Emotionally, a corollary.

If these were the premises, the vision had to checkthe effects.

In this extent, Tacita, in other ways, follows a

similar path (to Richter's). Both are out of fashion,

both resist the digital world because of

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need. Its a position not dictated by ideology but

by an attachment to the physical features of the

media persistently used in their work.

In the film on show at the Tate Tacita moves

freely, does not develop a specific subject,

neither a narration (short concentrated elliptical

narrations, were the engines of all her previous

works).

After the first view I was puzzled, but then I

gradually realized that my concern was nothing

more than an effort - my effort - to keep up with

the freedom that he puts into play in this work. I

have to say I gave up: I let the mood made by the

alternation of so different images, completely

taking on me.

If you want a logical explanation or justification, I

stopped trying to find a story to refer to.

This decision led me to look with new eyes to the

succession of different moments, to feel the

rhythm of the different details appearing, without

any necessity of referring to anything but to their

presence. Still, unified by the media, being able to

register them with some kind of strange

effectiveness (the effectiveness not allowed by

video or HD).

Thinking to her (inevitably), the thought cant

avoid to go to some kind of resistance that is not

confined to work. The threat of the disappearance

of the analog film seems to me go hand in hand

with the condition we know. The concrete history

of some given limits in front of which there are no

possible miracles.

I am not sure if I want to say this, but failing to

follow commons sense she had a child, and in front

to the disappearance of the analogue film, she

built a small hymn to life. I'm not so sure this is

happened just by chance.

If the first viewers of Lumiere brothers movies

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Tate Modern

Mr Richter Meets Ms Tacita

Last comment by Emanuela De Cecco on TacitaDean and Gerhard Richter exhibitions in London:

were terrified by the arrival of the train, when I

was at the Tate a group of children near the

screen kept playing with the images of the giant

soap bubbles.

More images of the show at: http://www.

facebook.com/media/set/

Here the webpage on the show: http://www.tate.

org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unilever2011/

And here some more: http://channel.tate.org.

uk/media/1211868281001
http://channel.tate.org.uk/media/1211868281001http://channel.tate.org.uk/media/1211868281001http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unilever2011/http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unilever2011/https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.298945290164404.69347.268422276550039&type=1https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.298945290164404.69347.268422276550039&type=1https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tate-Modern/188055217914213?ref=stream&viewer_id=1344697023

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Finally.

Knowing of being myself in a delicate territory,

perhaps you can say that Richter and Dean are

sentimental. As I'm concerned their works also act

on that sphere.

Somehow this confirms an idea of

contemporaneity inhabited by different formats

and attitudes to time. Moreover (being always in

the field of personal opinions), this attitude seems

to be able to seize an implicit distance from the

widespread practice of desire founded on the fake

absence of constraints. We can say they move

toward a deeper desire, just because it is

generated in a reverse flip, from being conscious

ofa complete loss and disorientation.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Postmodernism and Other

Stories
https://www.facebook.com/victoriaandalbertmuseum?ref=stream&viewer_id=1344697023https://www.facebook.com/victoriaandalbertmuseum?ref=stream&viewer_id=1344697023

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-Mendini's performance, 1978-

And here the third big exhibition I missed in

London: Postmodernism at V&A.

Only this image here above, it tells you all. : (

Here some more images: http://www.facebook.

com/media/set/

Postmodernism: the 10 key moments in the birth

of a movement: http://www.guardian.co.uk/...

/postmodernism-10-key-moments

And here an interview with Glenn Adamson, the

shows co-curator (with Jane Pavitt): http://www.

dwell.com/.../Glenn-Adamson-on-Postmodernism.

html

China

Year of the (Water) Dragon
https://www.facebook.com/pages/China/107769809246142?ref=stream&viewer_id=1344697023http://www.dwell.com/articles/Glenn-Adamson-on-Postmodernism.htmlhttp://www.dwell.com/articles/Glenn-Adamson-on-Postmodernism.htmlhttp://www.dwell.com/articles/Glenn-Adamson-on-Postmodernism.htmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/sep/20/postmodernism-10-key-momentshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/sep/20/postmodernism-10-key-momentshttps://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.299078986817701.69370.268422276550039&type=1https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.299078986817701.69370.268422276550039&type=1

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-Peter Chan, from the series: "Lucky Brownies"-

Happy new year (especially if you are Chinese). To

be precise, it should be tomorrow, but I know the

new year gets celebrated today.

According to Chinese Five Element Astrology

Calendar, 2012 is the Year of Water Dragon. The

color of Water in the five elements system is

related to Black. Therefore we can say 2012 is a

Black Dragon (or, if you prefer, Water Dragon or

Black Water Dragon) year.

Dragon is a legendary animal and it is symbol of

emperor in China. Since the Dragon is coated with

mysterious color, Chinese consider that the dragon

is unpredictable,untouchable and people cannot

see its head and tail at the same time. Therefore,

we can might see something unexpected

happening in 2012.

Here the link to Peter Chan stuff: http://www.

peterchanart.com/
http://www.peterchanart.com/http://www.peterchanart.com/http://www.peterchanart.com/http://www.peterchanart.com/

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Rochester, NY, United States

Here, a very interesting article where it is

explained how can be that two similar companies

(Kodak and Fuji) face technological and culturalrevolutin in such a different way (and with such

different results).

Kodak is at deaths door; Fujifilm, its old rival, is

thriving. Why?: http://www.economist.com/node/21542796

Also interesting to read what Wikipedia explains:

From the company's founding by George Eastmanin 1880, Kodak followed the "razor-blade strategy"

of selling inexpensive cameras and making large

margins from consumables film, chemicals and

paper. As late as 1976, Kodak commanded 90% of

film sales and 85% of camera

Darwinism Applied to Mass

Consumption Market
http://www.economist.com/node/21542796http://www.economist.com/node/21542796http://www.economist.com/node/21542796https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rochester-New-York/107611279261754?ref=stream&viewer_id=1344697023

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sales in the U.S., according to a 2005 case study

for Harvard Business School. This seemingly

unassailable competitive position would foster an

unimaginative and complacent corporate culture.

2012 03/52

Documents