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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.38/12/2019 2012 03/52
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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=13446970238/12/2019 2012 03/52
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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=13446970238/12/2019 2012 03/52
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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=13446970238/12/2019 2012 03/52
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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=18/12/2019 2012 03/52
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Stefanos facebook timeline 03/52 2012
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=18/12/2019 2012 03/52
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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=13446970238/12/2019 2012 03/52
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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=18/12/2019 2012 03/52
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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_more8/12/2019 2012 03/52
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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=13446970238/12/2019 2012 03/52
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Stefanos facebook timeline 03/52 2012
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-a8/12/2019 2012 03/52
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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=13446970238/12/2019 2012 03/52
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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=18/12/2019 2012 03/52
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Stefanos facebook timeline 03/52 2012
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=13446970238/12/2019 2012 03/52
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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=13446970238/12/2019 2012 03/52
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Stefanos facebook timeline 03/52 2012
-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=18/12/2019 2012 03/52
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Stefanos facebook timeline 03/52 2012
-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/8/12/2019 2012 03/52
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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=13446970238/12/2019 2012 03/52
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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.