http://cixa.org/ephemerides/ajeeb-o-gareeb.php
On Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 6:24 PM, Aditya Mandayam <[email protected]> wrote: > http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5085/5312124987_54df5afee7_z.jpg > > This image is derived from a photo made by my friend Myriam > Belzille-Maguire. It was shot at a party. > > The image you see here is a scan of a print exhibited at the gallery > L'Escale in Levallois, Paris, France, as a part of Photo-Levallois > 20107. > > The orginal photo was taken in low ambient light with a flash. This > resulted in red-eye in every pair of eyes you can see in the image. If > you look closely, you can see the pinholes I made at the centers of > these red-eyes. > > The 18th century saw the rise of the peep-show or the rarekiek: these > were boxes with images that were "able to create the depth illusion > through viewing architectural & topographical engravings with linear > perspective via a large bi-convex lens using our two eyes"4. > > Common subjects included pornography, exotic objects and beings, > scenes from classical works, famous landmarks, and often, disolving > transformations between two views of the same vista1 6. > > Often, the pictures within peep-show boxes and rarekiek were pierced > with pinholes at the appropriate locations : "windows, street lights, > moon & stars, artificial fire work..., etc. and ameliorated with > coloured transparant paper for enchanting effects."6 > > The reason I pierced my red-eyes is an inverted cousin of the > peep-show: light being flashed onto the subjects, full-frontal, the > banisher of darkness. A perverted complement of the sanduk al-ajayib > or "wonder-box", meant to reduce all traces of exoticness, meant > merely to make clear the obscured. > > I was shown this photo by a friend of mine on the Internet. It showed > up on one of Myriam's many feeds. In colour the red-eyes are quite > striking. I saved the image and made a laptopogram with it. The > relationship with the peep-show was multiplied further: a luminous > screen with these red-eyes, and me behind the paper, waiting for the > right moment. > > This image started its life as a photo to be put on a metaphoric wall. > It did indeed end up on a wall, of a gallery, many months later. In > between birth and display, it passed through a peep-show. > > References > > 1. Mair, Victor H. Painting and Performance: Chinese Picture > Recitation and its Indian Genesis. Honolulu: University of Hawaii > Press, 1988. > > 2. Mandayam, Aditya. cixa: Ephemerides: (sic{sic[sic]}). 2010.12.31. > NetBehaviour. > http://www.netbehaviour.org/pipermail/netbehaviour/20101231/018881.html > (accessed 2010.12.31). > > 3. Mandayam, Aditya. cixa: Ephemerides: Ajeeb-o-Gareeb. 2011.01.01. > NetBehaviour. (accessed 2011.01.01). > > 4. Thomas Weynants, "From the Rarekiek, 17th. & 18th. Century optical > entertainment, to the birth of Television". > http://www.visual-media.eu/vue-optique.html (accessed 2011.01.01). > > 5. Adventures in Cybersound: The Peep Show and Toy Theatre. > http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/PEEP_SHOW.html (accessed 2011.01.01). > > 6. Thomas' Optical Raree Show "Oh. You shall see vat you shall see" > Rare views from the new world. > http://www.visual-media.eu/vue-optique.html (accessed 2011.01.01). > > 7. Mandayam, Aditya. The Tangible Ephemerides of the Ha-Ha Preterite. > 2010.11.23. Photo-Levallois. > http://www.photo-levallois.org/edition-2010/accueil.html (accessed > 2010.12.30). > > 8. Mandayam, Aditya. Laptopogram. > http://cixa.org/works/laptopogram.php (accessed 2010.12.30). > _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
