Woman, found in Uppsala, 2009

Curious?

Lussekatt

Yesterday me and Fredrik met up with Camilla and Thomas from the Agitera Image Group (...and baking society) for some glögg and lussekatter. They brought this marvelous lussekatt as a gift to the FBlog and it's readers. Enjoy!

By the way, does anyone out there know of some way to preserve pastry? I'd love to keep this one. /markus a

jr doctor in action

This will be a great day

My friends call me crazy, but don't you agree with me that finding a perfect colourcoordinated spot to park your bike is a sign that this is will be a great day?

first attempt

first attempt for understanding and not being afraid of documentary photography

Otto Lilienthal

btw - do you remember of DOCU-08 project :)

IC Gliwice-Warsaw 17.10

Train trips became part of my life. Intensive trips give a chance to read, observe people and think some things over.

Few days ago, before leaving to the train station I received a letter with something expected but still surprising – brand new Pozytyw. Cult magazine about photography that died few years ago, now raised up again, by the team of friends from Gliwice. It has changed from photo magazine into “think it over” magazine – photography gives and important support to the words spelled by philosophers, writers, sociologists or maybe the opposite. The 00, free, test number of Pozytyw treats of Identity.

It was the fastest trip from Gliwice to Warsaw I ever made, still filled with reading, observing people and thinking the things over – this time with use of new tool making the brain working. I press my fingers for creators of new Pozytyw, I hope they will continue this difficult way, standing attacks and temptations of commercialized world.

One more word: you will find in this magazine material devoted to Sydney police mug shots – F blog also wrote about this excellent collection in December 07.

Lila is coming to town!

On 1 - 2 December Lila Downs will perform in Stockholm. Isn´t she just what we need in a deep and dark December? Lila...te quiero! /ulf

For program check this out.

So what´s the connection to photography. Well Frida Kahlo to start with. Lila is singing on the soundtrack of the film about Frida. And as you, dear reader of the F-blog, already know there are many small, but beautiful things to find in our archives about Frida. Check out Nickolas Muray and
Manuel Alvarez Bravo etc. The story continues...

educational aids

work of the lecturer of structural engineering is not really linked strongly with artistic photography. During preparatory works for new lectures of water tanks I realised, that those two of my passions are connected by two persons - Hilla and Bernd Bechers. Their typology of industrial buildings may serve till today for the SE lecturer as the base for the general characteristic of advanced industrial structures.
It's also the memento -even for making inventar I should take LF with me :)

pictures by Bernd and Hilla Bechers.

matters of taste

We have told you earlier on about a beautiful project, a collaborative
translation of Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert. This quote is
from an article about "taste" written by Voltaire, Montesquieu,
d'Alembert and Diderot. This piece is by Voltaire.

"It is said that one should not argue about matters of taste. This is true as long as it is only a question of sensual taste, of the revulsion one experiences for a certain food and the preference one feels for another. This is not subject to argument because it is impossible to correct a flaw that is organic. The same is not true in the arts: since the arts have genuine beauty, there exists a good taste that discerns it and a bad taste that is unaware of it, and often the flaw of the mind that produces wrong taste can be corrected. There are also cold souls and men incapable of sound reasoning; these can neither be inspired with feeling nor corrected in their thinking; with them one should not argue about matters of taste since they have none."

Darkest blue of all: organ

Joanna´s color photos made me think of a book I read some years ago; Concerning the Spiritual in Art by Wassily Kandinsky originally published in 1911. A translation by M.T.H Sadler from 1914 is available on the net. Try also this gutenberg project page. "The inner need is built up of three mystical elements: (1) Every artist, as a creator, has something in him which calls for expression (this is the element of personality). (2) Every artist, as child of his age, is impelled to express the spirit of his age (this is the element of style)--dictated by the period and particular country to which the artist belongs (it is doubtful how long the latter distinction will continue to exist). (3) Every artist, as a servant of art, has to help the cause of art (this is the element of pure artistry, which is constant in all ages and among all nationalities)." Kandinsky´s color theory is interesting and the book is a joy to read. On this page from the Arnold Schönberg Center you will find the colours listed and their connection to music. For example you will find out about the color blue: deep, inner, supernatural, peaceful “Sinking towards black, it has the overtone of a mourning that is not human.” “typical heavenly color”

light blue: flute
darker blue: cello
darkest blue of all: organ



Kandinsky was born in Moscow in 1866 and died in France 1944.
The painting above; On White II 1923; Oil on canvas, 105 x 98cm;
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

Happy Halloween from Ann Texter

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Gil Scott Heron

Will it be photographed?

More about Gil Scott-Heron

Alexandra Kollontai once wrote:

Alexandra Kollontai, portrait, 1888.

"The paths pursued by women workers and bourgeois suffragettes have long since separated. There is too great a difference between the objectives that life has put before them. There is too great a contradiction between the interests of the woman worker and the lady proprietress, between the servant and her mistress... There are not and cannot be any points of contact, conciliation or convergence between them. "

More about Kollontai
Related story on The F Blog

early human artistic activity

Homem de Piscos / Human Figure
(Ribeira de Piscos)



Cabra montês (pormenor)
Mountain goat (detail)
Rego da Vide

A concentration of rock carvings in the Coa valley, Portugal
(the oldest dated 25 000 BC) is according to the Unesco
"the most outstanding example of early human artistic activity in
this form anywhere in the world."

The carvings are found in the open air, not in caves as other
paintings in south of France and elsewhere. This has
made archeologists beleive that the cave paintings were
exceptions and the Coa way of exhibiting art was predominant.

Read more at the Unesco World Heritage site
and at the site of the Instituto Portugues de Arqueologia where
the pictures above where found (the site also in English)

Clemente's Kalighat Crimes

A conversation with a friend the other day starting with Vermeer´s
camera obscura also touched the subject of Franscesco Clemente.
I found a great blog (Art&Chocolate) out there about this story.
Interesting. I will probably return to this subject some day.

This is the beginning of the blog post from Art&Chocolate:
In May 2006, Art in America magazine published a critical essay, on artist of Francesco Clemente's works written by the Paris based art critic Brooks Adams titled “Demon Iconographer" in which two works of Clemente were reproduced that were almost identical copies of two ancient Kalighat paintings.

Link:
Art & Chocolate: Clemente's Kalighat Crimes

Things that are super tough...

...although they´re not really

"We´re one fork short!"
" Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

(Having to do the dishes in order to be able to eat)

artwork by Jojo Falk
for more have a look here

How to enjoy Pakistani Chaunsa mango

Well, have a look... I was unaware of the fabulous Chaunsa mangos, until
they suddenly showed up in my local supermarket. Yummi.

Four core principles

From the Convention on the Rights of the Child: non-discrimination; devotion to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and respect for the views of the child.

Read more
http://www.unicef.org/crc/

Universal declaration in 366 languages

Some of the postings lately on the F blog, not least by Arek Gola,
have made me think of an important document; The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations
adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this
historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to
publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be
disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools
and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the
political status of countries or territories."

Here are three of the articles in English and Article 1 in Spanish,
Polish, Portugese and Swedish.

Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act
towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in
this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race,
colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national
or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political,
jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to
which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust,
non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression;
this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference
and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through
any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 1 (Spanish,Polish,Portugese, Swedish)

Todos los seres humanos nacen libres e iguales en dignidad
y derechos y, dotados como están de razón y conciencia,
deben comportarse fraternalmente los unos con los otros.

Wszyscy ludzie rodzą się wolni i równi pod względem swej
godności i swych praw. Są oni obdarzeni rozumem i sumieniem
i powinni postępować wobec innych w duchu braterstwa.

Todos os seres humanos nascem livres e iguais em dignidade
e em direitos. Dotados de razão e de consciência, devem agir
uns para com os outros em espírito de fraternidade.

Alla människor är födda fria och lika i värde och rättigheter.
De har utrustats med förnuft och samvete och bör handla
gentemot varandra i en anda av gemenskap.

For more languages see www.unhchr.ch

-urbano

Sgt. Pepper celebrations

Listen to this documentary on BBC about the Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Heart Club Band released 40 years ago.