INSPIRATION: ART & DESIGN
Showing posts with label collection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label collection. Show all posts
Friday, 10 May 2019
Monday, 11 February 2019
Friday, 27 January 2017
Friday, 25 November 2016
BOOK 159: THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE: ORHAN PAMUK
The Museum of Innocence (Turkish: Masumiyet Müzesi)
is a novel by Orhan Pamuk,
Nobel-laureate
Turkish novelist published
on August 29, 2008. The book, set in Istanbul between 1975 and 1984, is an
account of the love story between the wealthy businessman Kemal and a poorer
distant relative of his, Füsun.
THEMES: Pamuk's work often deals with clash of culture between East and
West, which was cited as part of the reason for him being awarded the Nobel Prize
in Literature. This novel continuously references the influence of
the West (Europe and America) on Istanbul's culture, through both the idea of
museums and the film industry, which becomes a large part of the novel.
Female Identity & Turkish Culture: One of the key themes throughout
the novel is the role of the female in Turkish culture. The novel describes the
ostracism of women who have lost their virginity before marriage, despite the
fact that many claim to have a "more western" attitude toward this in
1970s Istanbul. Pamuk describes this as the taboo of virginity that is part of
an old system in Turkey.
In an interview Pamuk blended all of these themes as he commented on how
the role of the museum is also one of ownership, as Kemal looks to own Füsun as
a trinket in his own museum, rather than allow her autonomy of her own life.
MUSEUM: Pamuk has established an actual "Museum of Innocence",
based on the museum described in the book. It is housed in a building in the Çukurcuma
neighbourhood of Istanbul,
and displays a collection evocative of everyday life and culture of Istanbul
during the period in which the novel is set. Originally, the museum was
scheduled to be exhibited at Frankfurt’s
Schirn
Kunsthalle in October 2008, during the annual Frankfurt
Book Fair, but the exhibition was cancelled. In 2010, Pamuk still
hoped that the museum would be opened in 2011. After much delay, the museum was
finally inaugurated in April 2012. Although created later, the museum and the
novel were conceived of in tandem, displaying the obsessive romance between two
Istanbul families, as well as eternalizing a perspective on upper-class
Istanbul in the 1970s. The project was supported by Istanbul 2010 – European
Capital of Culture. According to the book, the museum allows free
entry to those who bring a copy of the book. A ticket placed in the 83rd
chapter of the book will be stamped before ushering the reader in.
(Information found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Museum_of_Innocence#Museum)
Friday, 22 July 2016
Wednesday, 6 April 2016
Monday, 13 April 2015
Thursday, 19 February 2015
Monday, 16 February 2015
Friday, 12 December 2014
Thursday, 13 November 2014
Saturday, 1 November 2014
Friday, 19 September 2014
Monday, 11 November 2013
A
few amazing documentaries I’ve watched recently…
Cracked
Actor
IMDB
calls this a look at Bowie’s drugs years but I think this is misleading. He’s not seen taking drugs and doesn’t talk
about them; it’s not a documentary about drugs.
It’s
a documentary about a very confused, creative, exhausted artist who feels the
demands of alter egos, superstardom, his public and critics.
It’s
on the list of the 50 best documentaries and if you’re a fan of Bowie there’s
lots of great songs playing pretty much over the entire thing. It’s not recommended if you’re used to very
easy documentaries that covers the whole of someone’s life and inane details
about their hometown etc.
The
World According to Parr
Another
‘Imagine’ documentary brought to us by Alan Yentob
(who is in my eyes a genius and I was lucky enough to stand a hairs breath from
him at a Bruce Nauman exhibition).
In
my eyes one of the most beautiful things about the imagine photographers series
is that the shots they chose to transition with are in the style of the
photographers photographs that at some points you think you’re looking at
another example of their work. It’s a
beautifully simple motif that I noticed in this documentary, and the
documentary about Vivian Maier.
I
am a fan of Parr’s and have been since College.
I think the thing I admired about him was his collecting nature, the way
he saw a connection between to things or in a certain place and brought them
together. The way he has tunnel vision
for kitsch teacups and awful wallpaper.
From this documentary I found out he actually collects wallpaper, and
all kinds of ephemera with photographs on them, from royal family tea trays to
Sadam Hussein watches. I admire him
because of the sheer amount of photographs he takes with such a keen and
interested eye.
Werner
Herzog: Beyond Reason
Another
Imagine documentary, another amazing character.
This time not a photographer but a filmmaker and someone who I admire
not for their eye but for their imagination, determination and coolness in
dramatic circumstances. Grizzly Man was
the first film I watched by Herzog and I was blown away. Certain films just get me, they pull me in,
they make me feel as if I was there and they give me a great amount of
inspiration despite not being related to anything I was doing at all. Werner Herzog for me is the king of the sound
bites, after being shot, during an interview for the culture show; he claimed
it was not ‘a significant wound.’ He
made a bet that if the filmmaker (then unknown) Errol Morris finished his first
film he would eat his shoes. Obviously
he did and Herzog ate his shoes in front of an audience at the premiere. When asked what it was like he said, ‘It is
easy to eat a shoe, it doesn’t do any harm to anyone.’
I
have boundless admiration for Herzog as a filmmaker, an artist and a man and I
would urge you to watch this amazing documentary whether you are a fan or he is
unknown to you. A fascinating watch.
Annie
Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens
For
me one of the most amazing things about this documentary is the fact that
Hunter S Thompson agreed to be interviewed for it. I had no idea that he worked with Leibovitz,
but of course they were at Rolling Stone together. They were not particularly keen on each other
either. I’m not the biggest fan of
Leibovitz’s work generally but some of are images are iconic, there’s
absolutely no denying it (John and Yoko for example.)
Leibovitz’s
work is a complete contrast to the other photographers’ work I’ve been
researching lately. Parr and Maier are
street photographers who snap on the go, they catch things that are real and
instantaneous. Leibovitz styles and sets
up a lot of her photographs (especially the celebrity portraits.) In this documentary
you do get to see a different side to her work, such as the photographs of fans
at the concerts of The Rolling Stones (she went on tour with them for the
entire tour, usually unheard of with photographers.)
Leibovitz’s
work is very contemporary, she portrays pop culture in whatever era she’s
working in and that is culturally important.
I think her work will be more classic as time goes on. This is an
interesting documentary and I found it particularly interesting as I am a fan
of magazines and editorial work and there is an insight into that industry.
Vivian
Maier: Who Took Nanny's Pictures
Vivian
Maier, infamous now, had been taking photographs, thousands and thousands of
them throughout her life but was not discovered until after her death. A nanny,
who in her spare time took amazing photographs of people on the street, the
children she looked after, markets, buildings, trains and herself. Yet she never showed these to anyone one and they
were found by accident when she could no longer afford the storage bills on the
containers where the thousands of films, negatives and prints were all
kept. It was only after someone posted
some of the photos that they bought at auction on the internet that interest
arose in the nanny’s pictures and now they are selling for thousands of dollars
each.
I
admire Miss Maier’s bravery at encountering people in the street, sometimes in
bad neighborhoods and taking their photo so close up and almost invading their
privacy. She, despite being an outsider
and seemingly rather lonely, must have had some real guts.
Sunday, 31 March 2013
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