enigmas - SFU.caandrewf/books/catalogue_enigmas.pdf · The walker in the city sees many things and understands few of them. Snatches of conversation, glimpses of hap-penings, intuitions

enigmasPhotographs by Andrew Feenberg

Copyright © 2005 by Andrew Feenberg

Design: Soyoung Park

enigmasPhotographs by Andrew Feenberg

The walker in the city sees many things and understandsfew of them. Snatches of conversation, glimpses of hap-penings, intuitions of relations pass in kaleidoscopic varia-tion. Amidst this cascade of mostly trivial experiencesthere are a few gems, moments of significance thatdeserve to be remembered or perhaps photographed.The significant moments are signalled by a shock, theshock of the unexpected or bizarre or profound.

Shock appears in the writings of the culture critic WalterBenjamin as an essential category of modern life. The cityis the place of chance encounter, of the stimulus of thenew, of the visible movement of time as fashions changewith startling rapidity. With Baudelaire as his guide,Benjamin explores the world of the flaneur. Shock is theemphatic presence of the crowd, the sudden glance ofrecognition between strangers, the vacant lot where usedto be a building, the parade of bums and beggars.

The flaneur with a camera can record a small sample ofthis rich field of urban life. The photographer edits reali-ty, leaving context on the cutting room floor. Only theessential moment remains, and it is often as incompre-hensible as it is evocative. If its original shock value pass-es through the lens something is preserved from theephemera of the street. This exhibit presents the enig-matic results.

Enigmas

Photographs by Andrew Feenberg

Painter Painted

Paris

1enigmas Andrew Feenberg

2 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Hidden Beauty

San Jose

3 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Blue Buddha

Santa Fe

Buddha Watches La Jolla

4 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

5enigmas Andrew Feenberg

California

Reading

San Diego

6 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Before

the Show

Paris

7enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Pride on Show

Paris

8 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Dance of Color

San Diego

9enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Cafe Color

Paris

10 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Line of Sight

Rome

11enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Steady Aim Nara

12 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Long and

Winding

Marin

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Big Deal Santa Fe

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Father and Daughter Napa

Saudade

Paris

15enigmas Andrew Feenberg

16 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Flying Fish

La Jolla

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Shut Out

Mexico City

18 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Sweet Dreams

Paris

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Light and Shadow La Jolla

20 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

PatienceSan Diego

21enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Kenzo

Paris

22 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Wedding

Coronado

No Stopping

San Jose

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24 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Notre Dame Paris

25enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Romance

La Jolla

26 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Before the Concert Tokyo

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Hands Paris

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The Point

La jolla

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Writ Large

Paris

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Larger Paris

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Masks

Paris

32 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Eclipse

Paris

33enigmas Andrew Feenberg

A-paco-lypse

Paris

34 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

The ConstantSpectator

Paris

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Cine Citta

Rome

36 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

The Powerof Art

Tokyo

37enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Success

Tokyo

38 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Anima

Paris

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Girl Power

Tokyo

40 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Little Devils

Paris

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Mc Do

Kyoto

42 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Nude

Paris

43enigmas Andrew Feenberg

The Apero

Vaison-la-Romaine

44 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Drinking Buddies

La Jolla

45enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Boshi

Tokyo

46 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

Kimono Time

Tokyo

47enigmas Andrew Feenberg

So Lovely

Tokyo

48 enigmas Andrew Feenberg

The Guys

Tokyo

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Book End

La Jolla

The enigmas exhibit opened February 3, 2005

at the Exposure Gallery851 beatty street, Vancouver

British Columbia, Canada.

Andrew Feenberg is Canada Research Chair in the Philosophyof Technology in the School of Communication of SimonFraser University. He has taught at San Diego State University, the University of California, Irvine, the University of Paris, the University of Tokyo, Duke University and the StateUniversity of New York at Buffalo.

He is the author of Heidegger and Marcuse, TransformingTechnology, Questioning Technology, Alternative Modernity,Lukács, Marx and the Sources of Critical Theory, co-author ofWhen Poetry Ruled the Streets, and co-editor of Technology andthe Politics of Knowledge, Community in the Digital Age, andModernity and Technology. He lives in Vancouver, BritishColumbia and La Jolla, California.

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