Wednesday, 31 July 2013

More Disappearing Act, at FJM

 Classification    Pintura
Author    Joan Miró
Title    Painting I
Year finished    1973
Media    Oil on canvas
Measurements    24 x 16 cm
Credits    Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona 

 Classification    Pintura
Author    Joan Miró
Title    Painting II
Year finished    1973
Media    Oil on canvas
Measurements    27,1 x 19,3 cm
Credits    Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona 

 Classification    Pintura
Author    Joan Miró
Title    Painting III
Year finished    1973
Media    Oil on canvas
Measurements    27,1 x 19,2 cm
Credits    Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona

Classification    Pintura
Author    Joan Miró
Title    Painting IV
Year finished    1973
Media    Oil on canvas
Measurements    33 x 19 cm
Credits    Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona

from http://www.fundaciomiro-bcn.org/colecciojoanmiro.php?idioma=2

Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Disappearing Act, at Joan Miro Foundation, Barcelona


The story of the sword and the clavicle, in Tarragona, as told by Paco


1510. Femme, oiseau III (Woman, Bird III)
August 3, 1973
Acrylic and oil on canvas
261 x 65 cm / 102 4⁄5 x 25 3⁄5"
Signed lower right: Miró. Inscribed on the back: MIRÓ. / 3/VIII/73. / Femme, / oiseau / III.
Barcelona, Fundació Joan Miró.
 http://catalogue.successiomiro.com/catalogues/paintings-v/femme-oiseau-iii-26879-177.html


1508. Femme, oiseau I (Woman, Bird I)
August 3, 1973
Acrylic and oil on canvas
377 x 95 cm / 148 2⁄5 x 37 2⁄5"
Signed lower right: Miró. Inscribed on the back: MIRÓ. 3/VIII/73. / Femme, oiseau / I.
Barcelona, Fundació Joan Miró.
http://catalogue.successiomiro.com/catalogues/paintings-v/femme-oiseau-i-26879-175.html


Cliquez sur l'œuvre pour agrandir Joan Miró
Titre : Femme et oiseau I
Année de production : 1967
Technique : Pochoir
Dimensions : 28,8 x 9,0 cm.
Source : L’oiseau solaire, l’oiseau lunaire. Étincelles. New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1967. Extrait de l'exemplaire 35/1200.
Provenance : collection privée
Commentaires : Composition en noir sur fond vert (support de papier verre contrecollé) procèdé Jacomet. L'album constitue une des plus belles réalisations des établissements Jacomet.
Prix demandé ($Can) : 250.00$


 
Titre : Femme et oiseau II
Année de production : 1967
Technique : Pochoir
Dimensions : 28,8 x 9,0 cm.
Source : L’oiseau solaire, l’oiseau lunaire. Étincelles. New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1967. Extrait de l'exemplaire 35/1200.
Provenance : collection privée
Commentaires : Composition en noir sur fond mauve (support de papier verre contrecollé) procèdé Jacomet. L'album constitue une des plus belles réalisations des établissements Jacomet.
Prix demandé ($Can) : 250.00$ 
  

 Femme oiseau (Mujer pájaro)
Joan Miró Barcelona, España, 1893 - Palma de Mallorca, España, 1983
Fecha: 1978
Técnica: Tinta y óleo sobre papel
Dimensiones: 210 x 62 cm
Categoría: Obra sobre papel, Dibujo
Año de ingreso:  1988
Nº de registro: AS08871
http://www.museoreinasofia.es/

 Joan Miro - Femme, Oiseau 1955 • Watercolor, China ink, and crayola • 77 x 16 inches
http://www.operagallery.com/ny/ny18/abstractions.html

The scrutinized soul, at fundacio joan miro

Perplexity. 

Curated by: David Armengol 05/10/2012

Perplexity takes, as point of departure, the feelings facing the shortcomings of our understanding, and the subsequent thoughts that push us beyond the limits of our judgement and keep us teetering endlessly between doubt and belief.

The title of the program is in reference to the concept «small reason», used by the Spanish philosopher Javier Muguerza when trying to include situations where the strength of self-critique and of non-prescriptive arguments is required to construct a successful dialogue. We are talking, in other words, about a non-authoritarian «reason» —and, in consequence, a flexible reason, not locked into itself—, one that invites us, in this case, to follow a visual narrative built around five autonomous but complementary chapters.

The program includes the participation of Jordi Mitjà, Gabriel Pericàs, Julia Montilla, Arrieta/Vázquez and Samuel Labadie. These five artists, even though working from very different perspectives, share a similar attitude: the «perplexity» we confront when facing artistic evidence, the same that forces us to question social structures and conventions.


Samuel Labadie

The Examined Soul. 12/07 - 01/09/2013

The Examined Soul consists of an installation of small format drawings, sculptures and video that take, as point of departure, Daniel Paul Schreber’s memoirs, an example of an extreme case of paranoia in Germany at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, made popular by Freud’s studies on neurosis.

[backgrounder: Schreber reported in a systematic and coherent manner th einternal logic of his delerieums.  the memoir became the declaration of lega self-defense by which the Supreme Court of Dresden ruled Schreber's exit from the Sonnestein asylum in 1902.]

From those memoirs, Memorias de un enfermo de nervios [Memoirs of My Nervous Illness] [a 2006 film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479098/], Samuel Labadie builds a visual translation of paranoiac thought filtered through an art perspective. In it, we encounter a delirious world full of physical connections to the divine —the soul, for instance, becomes an organic element— that helps the artist construct his personal cosmology, one that translates Schreber’s texts into a world of images and objects.

alternate book links:

http://proxy.library.brocku.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=1955-08712-000&site=eds-live&scope=site
http://proxy.library.brocku.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=1987096895&site=eds-live&scope=site
http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints/classics/memoirs-of-my-nervous-illness/

see: Le Lieu du Crime
Abadie's blog, with pictures: http://www.lelieuducrime.blogspot.com.es/

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Old Religion = Witch Cult / Dianic Cult?

The new religion in this legend is very clearly catholicism, but figuring out what EXACTLY the old religion is has been more of a struggle. It is clear that it is based in ritual connected to nature but something I have read is a theory that this religion itself, which we have all discussed as being very stereotypically 'feminine' was arguably a witch cult; more specifically The Dianic Cult (this information is also referenced in Gini's research package, Casey!).

"According to Margaret Murray's 1921 book The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, the witch-cult had been a pre-Christian, nature-based religion that the Christian authorities had labelled "witchcraft" and persecuted. She claimed that the religion had been based around sexual polarity as the key force behind nature, and they displayed this by having male and females practising together in their rituals.[19] Murray claimed that the deity of the Witches could appear in both male, or female form, who had been seen as the Roman deities Diana and Dianus. For this reason she called it the Dianic cult.[20] However, Murray noted that over the centuries, Diana's role in the faith had diminished, and Dianus, who was depicted as a horned god, became the main deity, explaining why in the accounts of the witch persecutions, worship of a goddess was not mentioned". 

Interesting that we connect the old religion to much to the feminine but Murray does not disregard male participation in it. 

"Murray followed her initial book with The God of the Witches in 1933 [pretext to our Jehanne], which was similar to her previous book but was more populist in tone. She added new research on the subject of the Horned God, which she claimed was a deity worshipped in the paleolithic and depicted on rock paintings, and also by many ancient peoples, such as the Celts with their horned deity Cernunnos, and the Greeks with their Pan."


 And all theorizing aside about what that old religion is, do we really know to what religion Joan belonged to (new or old?). She consistently refers to her King of Heaven but do we really know if she is referring to Christ? The voices are saints, saints that she has named herself based on her Christian understanding but how do we know who these voices really were? They could very well be from this pagan witch-cult for all we know. But, this is just a theory. 


Ps, MORE TO COME. As I mentioned to Gini I have been very busy with work stuff the past month and haven't been able to work on this much. However, I have research regarding old vs. new religion and the hundred years war from before my busy period at work that I have not posted to the blog, my apologies. I am just unsure of how to post my disjointed scraps of information here in a comprehensive way. But don't worry, I promise you'll see the research! :P Thanks for patience, all.

For the Study Guide

 This Study Guide Outline came from A&E and is based on 'Joan of Arc: Virgin Warrior'. I just thought it might be a nice model for study questions for high school students.
  
"This is a suggested curriculum outline for students learning about Joan of Arc (after watching the biography 'Joan of Arc: Virgin Warrior' on A&E). It forces the students to question her role in the war and in history - interesting questions to consider for the study guide.

Joan of Arc: Virgin Warrior
She is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic religion, yet she was burned at the stake as a heretic. Joan of Arc was a religious figure with a political message. She led the French in their victory over England in the 100 Years War, and restored the throne to King Charles VII. Her military prowess earned her the gratitude of the French people, but political intrigue conspired to defame her. As a woman involved in male military activities, she was vulnerable to accusations of heresy, and she paid the ultimate price for her gender transgressions. Joan of Arc: Virgin Warrior would be useful for classes on European History, Medieval History, Political Science, Women’s History, and Religious History. It is appropriate for middle school and high school.

OBJECTIVES
Students will learn the role of Joan of Arc in the turbulence of 15th century Europe. They will explore the influence of religion in the political and military events of the era, as well as the rigid gender roles and mores of medieval western civilization.

NATIONAL HISTORY STANDARDS (American though)
Joan of Arc: Virgin Warrior fulfills the following National Standards for History for chronological thinking, historical comprehension, historical analysis and interpretations, and historical research capabilities for World History era 5.

Vocabulary
Discussion Questions
  1. Joan of Arc was condemned to death as a heretic. What is a heretic? How can a person be a heretic in one culture, but not in another?
  2. Joan of Arc was canonized in the early part of the twentieth century. Why was she made a saint? Why did it take 500 years?
  3. The story of Joan of Arc has fascinated people for five centuries. Why has she become a legend? Why does her story continue to fascinate?
  4. How did Joan of Arc defy the gender conventions of her day?
  5. How do historians know the details of the story of Joan of Arc?
  6. After his ascent to the throne, Charles VII disagreed with Joan of Arc on how to regain lost French territories. How did their methods differ?
  7. Joan of Arc was a very religious woman, yet she was tried for heresy. Why?
  8. What role did politics play in the trial of Joan of Arc? Can it be deduced that she was really a political casualty?
  9. Joan of Arc’s conviction rested on the fact that she wore men’s clothing. What does this say about the role of women, and how women were valued, in Joan of Arc’s culture?
  10. There are some that believe that Joan of Arc escaped her fiery doom. What prompted the rumors of her escape?
  11. How was Joan of Arc used as a political symbol during the French Revolution? How was she used as a symbol in later wars, such as World War I and World War II?
Extended Activities
  1. Write a skit or play that recreates the trial of Joan of Arc.
  2. Imagine that you are a newspaper reporter appointed to cover the execution of Joan of Arc. Write a column for your paper that records the details of that day. Your account can vary according to whether you believe she was burned, or whether she escaped."

Bluebeard's Castle / The Diary of One Who Disappeared


Béla Bartók / Leoš Janácek

AÑO/TEMPORADA:
2007/08
DIRECTOR DE ESCENA:
Àlex Ollé y Carlos Padrissa (La Fura dels Baus)
ESCENOGRAFÍA y VESTUARIO:
Jaume Plensa
REALIZACIÓN DEL VÍDEO:
Franc Aleu
ILUMINACIÓN:
Peter Van Praet
COPRODUCCIÓN:
Gran Teatre del Liceu
Opéra National de Paris

more pictures here:  www.liceubarcelona.cat/es/servicios/alquiler-de-producciones/bluebeards-castle-the-diary-of-one-who-disappeared.html

realized by these chaps, who made a splendid presentation this evening . . . www.lafura.com/web/eng/home.php




Thursday, 18 July 2013

place notes

massive old trees
castle walls

so big you cant tell what it is, you are just aware of it

the space need to feel dangerous, to feel threatening - not a safe place to be - one wrong step and you might fall into a bog

except for moments we can isolate when it seems like everything is on terra firma . .

the sodium vapour lamps in the rooftop greenhouses of the Cairns building

Excerpt from "The God of the Witches" by Margaret Murray



This is from the book "The God of the Witches" by Margaret Murray and is the source book for the play.

Click here to download the pdf.

Rain Room

Rain Room is an interactive exhibit currently featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York created by the art collective rAndom International. The piece is a room where water falls in a constant "rain" but if someone were to walk through the rain, they wouldn't get wet. 3D depth cameras watch from the sides and track where bodies are in the room and shut off the according valves, giving the illusion of walking between the drops.


With dramatic backlighting, the exhibit has created quite the stir on social media. Wait times to see the piece can get up to 9 hours, but people come to see it anyways.










Monday, 15 July 2013

Anzas Dance Studio: Infinite Space

Yoshimasa Tsutsumi is a Bejing-based Japanese architect. He was commissioned to create the Anzas Dance Studio in the corner of a Bejing building. Through using mirrors as walls, overhead lighting and a gradient of white dots, the architect created a fog effect; an infinite illusion.

The floor is a deep coloured tigerwood while the ceiling and dot gradient are white to give a stark contrast and blend the floor into the wall to create a loss of the sense of depth...






(Above details the gradual increase in the size of the dots to create that infinite illusion)





meeting with the Director: July 15

objectives: 
closed tight space that goes on forever
. . .flames reflecting on the glass surfaces of the beverage coolers in the Guernsey market
- -fire and ice . . .

phone meeting with Sally:

- she would like to come for both creative build and to see the production - requires CC grant, Gini will inquire
- nb permission for universities and colleges to produce the play had been pulled in the past, then Rick Knowles had made an inquiry . .
- she saw the Douglas College production and appreciated it
- she continues to write: Flotsam  . . may be produced at Douglas
- she connected the content from the reference book to the history of the Cathars
- running time: each act is 45-50 min: 1.5 h remains the target length, meaning that Gini will hold on making cuts until a more complete read
- our version is from the 1989 production - had negative reviews (***James to research)
- had a strong working relationship with Sky Gilbert at the time
- she begun changes after that production but did not proceed
- on the subject of Gini's work to expand the cast: ***Sally feels very strongly that the Mother and Margaret are to remain the same person
- Gini will proceed with a conversation about potential changes regarding the sensitive and authentic reading of the play . . .
- staging note - there will likely be multiple characters on stage (even though we do not hear from them . . there is a trace of them that lingers, that lurks) and there may also be some line doubling as it makes sense, following the line of thinking above

***see the source book for Sally Clark - Gini will copy exact pages re Gilles et al


-----
much excited about forthcoming contributions from Casey and Brittany :-D

Olafur Eliasson

Olafur Eliasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist known for sculptures and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, fog, and air temperature to enhance the viewer's experience.

Installed at Turbine Hall in London, UK was The Weather Project in 2003. There were over 300 mirrors installed on the ceiling of the space with hundreds of lights to create a "sun". Mist was created with sugar, water and humidifiers to create the right feel.








Another project he created with light and atmosphere was Your Blind Movement installed in 2010 at Nartub-Gropius-Bau in Berlin, Germany. Through use of heavy fog and overhead, coloured light fixtures, spectators were forced to use their other senses to move through the 90 ft tunnel.



Full list of projects here.

Friday, 12 July 2013

Camelot: Morgan's Exorcism

Camelot is a television series on CBC as a re-imagineing of the Arthurian mythos. Morgan (Arthur's half sister sometimes called Morgaine or Morgana la Fey in some texts/legends) is beset by some kind of supernatural illness that causes great pains, fever, hunger and tears of blood. A nun, who raised her, comes unexpectedly to her aid. It seems Morgan performed a "summoning" and this is the consequence of her actions. She seems "possessed" and the nun performs a kind of "exorcism" by placing what looks like 8 mirrors around a white circle (made of salt?) with 8 symbols (all germanic runes or bastardizations of them) that seem to summon the image of her father for her to fight. She shatters a mirror, ending her torment.


The video can be found here. The three scenes are:
22:58-23:37
25:04-25:47
26:01-27:44








Monday, 8 July 2013

A contemporary riff: Bloed & Rozen. Het lied van Jeanne en Gilles, Guy Cassiers

 Bloed & Rozen. Het lied van Jeanne en Gilles, Guy Cassiers © Photos : Koen Broos

Bloed & Rozen. Het lied van Jeanne en Gilles, Guy Cassiers © Photos : Koen Broos

T contre T (le match d’Avignon 2011)

par Jean-Paul Fargier


Contre ou tout contre ? Théâtre et télé, une fois de plus, cet été en Avignon, se sont frôlés, frottés, flattés, phagocytés. Pour le meilleur ou pour le pire ? Les deux.


Chroniques en mouvements


Naufrage en direct, Du sang et des roses, se fracassait contre l’image projetée. Téléfilm sophistiqué, Kristin ressuscitait le théâtre dans les plis de l’image instantanée. D’autres essais se perdaient en affèteries minimalistes, Karski, ou grandiloquentes, La Dispersion du fils. Tandis que Castellucci, fidèle à lui-même, interrogeait la fidélité à « nos » racines chrétiennes, érigeant un Dieu inimaginable dans une image (un Visage), comme ressort possible d’un tragique moderne. Mais c’est un outsider, Tony Sehgal, qui instruisit – et c’est un comble, sans caméra – le plus bel hommage de l’instance théâtrale au théâtre de l’instant : Welcome in this situation.


Hypothèse : les images sont au théâtre ce que les silences sont en musique. Vérification : un désastre, ce Chant… qui n’a su user des images que pour faire du bruit. Pourtant ça commençait bien. Mettre le Palais des Papes en abîme, personne encore ne l’avait fait sur la grande scène de la Cour d’Honneur. Imaginez des vues (escaliers, cloître, fenêtres, cours, jardins) du bâtiment papal avignonnais (que vous reconnaissez parce que vous l’avez visité au moins une fois dans votre vie) affichées sur des écrans de bonne taille (2 mètres sur 3) dispersés sur le plateau de cette Cour d’Honneur (dont le Festival a fait son lieu d’excellence) où vous êtes assis présentement en train de suivre un drame ayant pour héros Jeanne d’Arc et Gilles de Rais ; imaginez ensuite que soudain des caméras s’allument pour filmer les acteurs et agrandir leurs visages en les projetant sur le Mur immense où est accroché un écran géant fait de carrés métalliques ; imaginez enfin que le fond des images des personnages que l’on voit sur ce grand écran est une de ces vues intérieures du Palais des Papes que les écrans moyens affichent, car les acteurs au moment où ils sont filmés sont venus se placer juste devant ces vues… Quel superbe dispositif, vous vous dîtes, plein d’espoir, et puis vous déchantez. Hélas, ça ne marche pas. Qu’est-ce qui coince ? 

Que ces carrés rappellent des pixels démesurément agrandis : bravo ! Que les images réfléchies là soient molles, floues, poussiéreuses : excellent ! Vive la haute méfinition. Que ce rideau de scène se déroule au début, s’affaisse à la fin, laissant la paroi nue jouer la musique des pierres séculaires au moment d’accueillir un des plus beaux effets de mise en scène qu’on ait vu en ce lieu démesuré : magnifique ! Magnifique en effet cette ombre de Gilles de Rais devenant, au fil de sa dernière tirade, de plus en plus grande sur ce mur, jusqu’à l’égaler, tête au ras du toit, puis à le dépasser, tête tranchée, puis à l’envahir totalement, noir final. Rien ne pouvait mieux concentrer le parcours de ce héros, de ses faits de gloire, auprès de Jeanne d’Arc en particulier, jusqu’à sa mort programmée par tous les pouvoirs (Église, État) conjugués. Rien, c’est à dire aucune image. Seul un effet de lumière scénique a semblé pouvoir exprimer l’intensité du drame parvenu à son extrémité.

Aveu d’échec, in fine, de tout un projet ? Peut-être. Car la mise en scène de Guy Cassiers, pendant les quatre heures qui précèdent cette montée de l’ombre, s’articule essentiellement sur les jeux d’images vidéo. Sur la dialectique du corps minuscule des acteurs sur scène et des gros plans de leur visage cadré par des caméras en direct. Comme au stade ? Oui, sauf qu’au stade les acteurs bougent tout le temps et qu’il y a donc un véritable suspense créé non seulement par le déplacement des sportifs mais par le jeu, plus ou moins adroit, vif, pertinent, des caméras, qui sont par ailleurs si nombreuses qu’on ne sait jamais laquelle va capter l’action, et si ce sera en plan fixe ou en balayage, en gros plan ou en plan large. Casiers lui, filme sa partie, avec des caméras de surveillance, fixes, au cadre définitif. Figées dans une posture immuable, elles figent en retour les actions qu’elles captent, actions elles-mêmes déterminées par la fixité de l’oeil qui les agrandit en images projetées. Cercle vicieux de la dialectique des deux T, empêtrée dans un parti pris néfaste : faire « Au théâtre ce soir » pour un public « vivant ». Les comédiens ne jouent que pour les caméras et plus en fonction d’une scénographie expressive des ressorts d’une intrigue, des circonvolutions d’un drame. Ils sont plantés, de profil pour les spectateurs, face à l’oeil électronique qui récupère leur image en gros plan, et la renvoie, incrustée dans un fond, sur l’Ecran mural, au dessous duquel les dialogues sont traduits (car la pièce est en néerlandais) !

La seule bonne idée (les fonds projetés sur des écrans derrière les acteurs filmés) finit par devenir un piège désastreux. Un gênant bruit de fond. Brouillant l’écoute du texte, entravant l’action. Une fois éteinte l’étincelle de surprise (ah ! le décor glissé par la vidéo dans le dispositif  de filmage est un détail d’architecture du palais des Papes, super, on y est, Jeanne et Gilles, et leurs ennemis, sont nos contemporains), on s’afflige vite du piétinement de la dénotation. Du manque d’écho, de connotation. Avec ses images bouclées une fois pour toutes, Cassiers tourne en rond, au lieu de mettre en scène. Certes, de temps à autre, surgit bien un heureux arrangement de cadre, provoqué par l’entrée d’un second personnage dans le dos du héros, et l’on se dit qu’il y a un sens à tirer de la disproportion prise sur le grand écran par le léger déplacement sur scène ; certes, parfois clignote un contrechamp attrapé par une seconde caméra et l’on a l’impression de voir enfin du montage, donc du sens ; mais ces évènements sont rares et, englués dans l’allure générale, ils ne brillent que d’être les maigres exceptions d’une règle pesante. Règle qui entend jouer l’effet tivi contre l’effet théâtral. Au lieu de le jouer tout contre.


Qu’est-ce que la vidéo allait faire dans cette galère ? Ramer ! Hélas, des rafiots, il y en avait d’autres.


from:

Turbulences Vidéo #73 

Showreel Abke Haring from Toneelhuis on Vimeo.

New York City Players: Ads



Richard Maxwell of the New York City Players produced the show Ads in Performance Space 122 in New York City early 2010. We watch videotaped images of men and women who step up onto a soapbox — or rather appear to — to offer their musings on the state of culture, the state of their minds and any number of other subjects circling loosely around the notion of beliefs. 

Maxwell removed the live actor from the theatrical recipe and replaced it with a "ghost" of a performer. Using an age-old theatre trick called Pepper's ghost illusion where an unseen actor or object is lit offstage and their reflection is caught in a pane of glass, invisible to the audience. Disney uses this effect in their Haunted Mansion attractions at their theme parks world wide.

Audience members would look through the red rectangle and see a ghost "appear" standing next to a table as the actor is lit.

Richard Maxwell describes the effect for his show Ads, saying "The [images of the people] are being projected onto a screen - an RP screen - a weird projection screen, and the reflection of that image is picked up on the glass...so it has this feeling of depth.



Jehanne: Notes from the Director July 08, 2013




 medieval late night imgur. Artist: Hieronymus Bosch

notes:

Sally Clark’s notes in the preface about the staging of his play at Orleans may be incorrectly understood.  His staging reflected current practice and is not an innovation of his own, fyi.

Challenge: medieval depictions of Hell

Concept: Gilles IS in Hell, and the play takes place there, condemned to forever relive this mess, to burn in hell . .

Research: paintings of the Last Judgement, Harrowing of Hell

Darkness
‘mossyness’
poster image from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, 1997.