Wednesday, March 24, 2010

post-louis kahn architecture


as i've said elsewhere, architecture, which is more vulnerable, is gone for now. art is next. there are certainly architects that i don't know of, but the ones i know of internationally are almost all terrible, except perhaps tadao ando of whom i know little. mario botta has recently designed an art museum for san francisco which establishes him solidly among the terrible. art museums are the best form of fake architecture since neither the clients nor the architects take art seriously. and then many artists obligingly add fakes to those made by ignorance. the art museum becomes exquisitely pointless, a fake for fakes, a double fake, the inner sanctum of a fake society. of course hans hollein is good at this. he and the guggenheim museum of new york plan a negative and fake guggenheim for salzburg, a hole in the ground. what is the public and what are students supposed to think of the horrifying design of frank gehry's museum of design for vitra? these buildings make a joke of architecture, of art, of culture, of the community, and of the whole society.

donald judd from nie wieder krieg found in the book donald judd: architecture - hatje cantz - 1991
(all i can say after reading this and looking at his wonderful architecture in marfa, and his truly stunning library is : to quote charles mingus : solid)
((image - judd's "classics" library - from the sagas of the icelanders to franco borsi's leon battista alberti [harper and row - 1977] to the complete loeb classical library, meaning : he didn't fuck around))

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

dark farm houses against our eyes



some spinning cameras north of marfa. getting practice for a new spinning camera magic hour film where camera spins in different directions at once, partly using the camera, partly using multiple exposures

Monday, March 22, 2010

vanishing point







a few abstracts from marfa, big bend and fort davis
thinking a bit of two-lane blacktop or other road movies,
remade by bela tarr, hiroshi sugimoto
or gerhard richter

Sunday, March 21, 2010







abstractions of landscape in the merchant ivory film howards end, through camera movement, flares, weather, lack of light (magic hour), filters (?) and camera focus

cinematography by tony pierce-roberts

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

judd the shaker architect











in marfa now mostly to see the landscape (and to clear my head),
but was very taken today by the architecture of donald judd, especially looking at it through the eyes of henry plummer's new book stillness and light: the silent eloquence of shaker architecture.
more to come on the landscape and light of west texas, from the eyes of a western director.
(scouting locations for a new western taking place in the marfa area, and possibly kraków poland, with a limitation of one word every 5 minutes, and each shot not to be less than 4 minutes and not to exceed the length of the film. in addition, 4 animals [as actors] for each actor, on and off-screen violence to be equal. inspired by lonesome dove, john ford, robert bresson and ingmar bergman/sven nykvist, chantal akerman/michael snow/ernie gehr, howard hawks, la monte young and the border trilogy)

1 - 2 : shaker light / minimalism
3 : western
4 : chinati kitchen
5 - 7 : shaker light / minimalism
8 : exterior (military minimalism)
9 : window
10 : untouched building

Thursday, March 11, 2010

(sounds like dirt ix)


do what you gotta do
come on back see me when you can
man i can understand how it might be
kinda hard to love a girl like me
i don't blame you much for wanting to be free
i just wanted you to know
from the very start it's my own fault
what happens to my heart
you see i've always known you'd go

so you just do what you gotta do
my wild sweet love
though it may mean that i'll never kiss
those sweet lips again
pay that no mind
find that dappled dream of yours

(nina simone - roberta flack - meg baird, thanks to t. for alerting me)
((rust and dirt found here))

(out of town a bit, back soon)

Sunday, March 7, 2010

(sounds łike dirt viii) "watch out young fellow" he said to the errant deer








recently discovered photograph (with details) of bolesław okoniewski
(late in life he lived with the deer, they took little notice of him)

when i wake up early in the morning,
łift my head, i'm still yawning
when i'm in the middle of a dream
stay in bed, float up stream

płease don't wake me, no
don't shake me
leave me where i am
i'm only słeeping

everybody seems to think i'm łazy
i don't mind, i think they're crazy
running everywhere at such a speed
till they find, there's no need

płease don't spoil my day
i'm miles away
and after all
i'm only sleeping

keeping an eye on the world going by my window
taking my time

łying there and staring at the ceiling
waiting for a słeepy feeling

please don't spoil my day
i'm miles away
and after all
i'm only słeeping

keeping an eye on the world going by my window
taking my time

when i wake up early in the morning,
lift my head, i'm still yawning
when i'm in the middłe of a dream
stay in bed, float up stream

please don't wake me, no
don't shake me
leave me where i am
i'm only sleeping

******

turn off your mind, relax
and float down stream
it is not dying
it is not dying

lay down all thought
surrender to the void
it is shining
it is shining

that you may see
the meaning of within
it is being
it is being

that love is all
and love is everyone
it is knowing
it is knowing

that ignorance and hate
may mourn the dead
it is believing
it is believing

but listen to the
color of your dreams
it is not living
it is not living

or play the game
existence to the end
of the beginning

images and tunes inspired by "slowly"

Monday, March 1, 2010

(sounds like dirt vii)


do i hear
21 21 21

i'll give you
21 21 21

this night you
are mistaken

i'm a farmer
in the city

dark farm
houses
against the
sky

every night
i must wonder why

harness on the
left nail keeps
wrinkling wrinkling

then higher above
me - e e so o
e e e so o o

can't go by
a man from
rio

go by
a man from
vigo

can't go by
a man from
ostia

hey ninetto

remember that
dream

we talked about
it
so many times

do i hear
21 21 21

i'll give you
21 21 21

and if i'm not
mistaken
we can search
from farm to
farm

dark farm houses
against our eyes

every night i
must realize

harness on the
left nail

keeps withering
and withering

then higher above
me - e e so o
e e e so o o

can't go by
a man in
this shirt

go by
a man in
that shirt

can't go by
a man with brain
grass

go by his long
long eye
gas

and i used
to be a
citizen

and i never felt
the pressure

i knew nothing
of the horses

nothing of the
thresher

take me with
you

it was the
journey of
a life

Sunday, February 28, 2010

ingenting, and there is nothing







one (demon) could be called the "demon of nothingness."
this is quite simply...
...when my creativity or my imagination... abandons me.
it means that things go totally silent, get totally empty.
and there's nothing (ingenting) there.

but that has never happened to me...
...which is something for which i'm profoundly grateful.


bergman discussing demons and nothingness
in marie nyreröd's
bergman's island - 2004
plus images of fårö

Friday, February 26, 2010

(sounds like dirt vi) heroin, it's my life






i hurt myself today
to see if i still feel
i focus on the pain
the only thing that's real
the needle tears a hole
the old familiar sting
try to kill it all away
but i remember everything

what have i become?
my sweetest friend

everyone i know
goes away in the end

and you could have it all
my empire of dirt
i will let you down
i will make you hurt

i wear this crown of thorns
upon my liar's chair
full of broken thoughts
i cannot repair
beneath the stain of time
the feelings disappears
you are someone else
i am still right here

what have i become?
my sweetest friend
everyone i know
goes away in the end
and you could have it all
my empire of dirt
i will let you down
i will make you hurt

if i could start again
a million miles away
i would keep myself
i would find a way

(t reznor / johnny cash - the cash version specifically)

*****

i don't know
just where i'm going
but i'm gonna try for the kingdom, if i can
'cause it makes me feel like i'm a man
when i put a spike into my vein
and i'll tell ya, things aren't quite the same
when i'm rushing on my run
and i feel just like jesus' son
and i guess that i just don't know
and i guess that i just don't know

i have made big decision
i'm gonna try to nullify my life
'cause when the blood begins to flow
when it shoots up the dropper's neck
when i'm closing in on death
and you can't help me now, you guys
all you sweet girls with all your sweet talk
you can all go take a walk
and i guess that i just don't know
and i guess that i just don't know

i wish that i was born a thousand years ago
i wish that i'd sail the darkened seas
on a great big clipper ship
going from this land here to that
on a sailor's suit and cap
away from the big city
where a man can not be free
of all of the evils of this town
and of himself, and those around
oh, and i guess that i just don't know
oh, and i guess that i just don't know

heroin, be the death of me
heroin, it's my wife and it's my life
because a mainer to my vein
leads to a center in my head
and then i'm better off and dead
because when the smack begins to flow
i really don't care anymore
about all the jim-jim's in this town
and all the politicians makin' crazy sounds
and everybody puttin' everybody else down
and all the dead bodies piled up in mounds

'cause when the smack begins to flow
then i really don't care anymore
ah, when the heroin is in my blood
and that blood is in my head
then thank God that i'm as good as dead
then thank your God that i'm not aware
and thank God that i just don't care
and i guess i just don't know
oh, and i guess i just don't know

(vu)

terrence malick - the thin red line - 1999
cinematography by john toll

Thursday, February 25, 2010

(sounds like dirt v)


they asked me how i knew
my true love was true
oh, i of course replied
something here inside cannot be denied

they said someday you'll find
all who love are blind
oh, when your heart's on fire
you must realize
smoke gets in your eyes

so i chaffed them and i gaily laughed
to think they could doubt my love
yet today my love has flown away
i am without my love

now laughing friends deride
tears i can not hide
oh, so i smile and say
when a lovely flame dies
smoke gets in your eyes
smoke gets in your eyes

(jerome kern and otto harbach)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

(sounds like dirt iv)


there was a boy
a very strange enchanted boy
they say he wandered very far, very far
over land and sea
a little shy
and sad of eye
but very wise
was he

and then one day
a magic day he passed my way
and while we spoke of many things, fools and kings
this he said to me
"the greatest thing
you'll ever learn
is just to love
and be loved
in return"

(eden ahbez)

there was a boy
he had a toy
to play with

he made it from the mud
dried it in the sun
someone in his household
didn't like it
destroyed the only thing
he'd ever done

come on you can take it
if you need to
all this happiness
is not just mine

i think i know the dark
as well as you do
i think i know it very well

the sun is like a pain
it's like my father
sometimes it gives me strength
sometimes it makes me cry

i was born to follow
like no other
i was bound to loose
i was bound to die

(kath bloom)

Monday, February 22, 2010

(sounds like dirt iii)


same but different

i'm in a boat
on the sea
and i see
you on the shore
so sure
of yourself

you're in a boat
on the sea
and you see
me on the shore
so sure
of myself

we're in a boat
all at sea
and we see
we are the same
the same
but different

vashti bunyan from not alone - 2006 (works better aurally with image - her delicate voice)
kazuumi takahashi - high tide wane moon #25 - 2002

Sunday, February 21, 2010


philip kaufman - the white dawn - 1974
stock footage, and
footage from cinematographer michael chapman