IW: Kanye West’s Cruel Summer Debut at Cannes

Photography: Philippe Ruault

Cannes 2012 saw the debut of Kanye West's short film "Cruel Summer". To present the film a pyramid shaped, 200 seat, 7 screen, pavilion was a designed in collaboration between DONDA and OMA. Mr. West knows how to put on a show, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm endlessly inspired with Kanye's creativity, ambition, and willingness to change things up and try something new. Can't wait to see the film.

François Truffaut Interviews Alfred Hitchcock

In 1962, something magical happened. The 1950's to early 1960's saw Alfred Hitchcock's success soar. Looking at his filmography you can see why...

1950: Stage Fright

1951: Strangers on a Train

1953: I Confess

1954: Dial M for Murder

1954: Rear Window

1955: Begins "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" which runs until 1961

1955: To Catch a Thief

1955: The Trouble with Harry

1956: The Man Who Knew Too Much

1956: The Wrong Man

1957: Directed an episode of Suspicion titled "Four O'Clock"

1958: Vertigo

1959: North By Northwest

1960: Directed an episode of Startime titled "Incident at a Corner"

1960: Psycho

1962: The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

1963: The Birds

But with his success came attacks from the film critic communities. Thankfully, filmmaker François Truffaut didn't agree and sought to set the record straight resulting in a series of interviews by François Truffaut with the man himself. 

Through the glory of French Radio, the interviews were broadcast as a 25 part series eah over 25 minutes long. And through the glory of the internet, you can hear them all HERE for free.

The interviews were also compiled and printed as a book called "Hitchcock/Truffaut: The definitive study of Alfred Hitchcock by François Truffaut." which you can get HERE.

As a huge fan of both filmmakers this book and audio is a no-brainer. Filled with amazing stories and details about Hitchcock, his work, and indirectly the passion of François Truffaut. It's a treasure trove for anyone interested in these two fantastic artists, or to anyone interested in filmmaking at all.

So, until time travel is perfected or certain dark rituals in caves can pinpoint moments of the past more precisely, all we have is the content displayed in this post, folks. Trust me on this one.

Invisible

 Tom Friedman's "1000 Hours of Staring" picture courtesy of Petapixel

"Invisible Art will bring together works from the past half century that explore ideas related to the invisible and the hidden, including work by some of the most important artists of our time as well as younger artists who have expanded on their legacy. From Yves Klein's utopian plans for an "architecture of air" to Robert Barry’s Energy Field (AM 130 KHz) piece from 1968 —which encourages a heightened awareness of the physical context of the gallery—to the immersive experience of Jeppe Hein’s Invisible Labyrinth, the works in this exhibition span diverse aesthetic practices and concerns.  Many of the works in Invisible seek to re-direct our attention towards the unwritten rules and conventions that shapes our understanding of art. Other works invoke invisibility to underscore the limits of our perceptual capacities or to emphasize the role of our imagination in responding to works of art.  Still others use invisibility as a metaphor that relates to the suppression of information or the political disappearance and marginalization of social groups. 

Artists in the exhibition include Art & Language, Robert Barry, Chris Burden, James Lee Byars, Maurizio Cattelan, Jay Chung, Song Dong, Tom Friedman, Carsten Höller, Tehching Hsieh, Bruno Jakob, Yves Klein, Lai Chih-Sheng, Glenn Ligon, Teresa Margolles, Gianni Motti, Roman Ondák, Yoko Ono, and Andy Warhol."

Wish I could go!

Inspiration... Thursday?

Sorry about the lack of Inspiration Wednesday on an actual Wednesday, this week. Yesterday was incredibly busy and I didn't get a moment on the ol' computer. But I'm back! Thursday style!

One thing I find crazy inspiring is new information on things we previously thought we understood. Nothing sparks the imagination like someone discovering old maps of Antarctica drawn from before it was officially discovered or finding out that some ancient structure was aligned with stars that are invisible to the naked eye. The success of Ancient Aliens is a reflection that I'm not alone on this. Whether these new ideas are explained at a later date or become accepted as fiction, it doesn't really matter from the point of view of the imagination - it's the questions and the possibility of new possibilities.

A great example of this is the recent Easter Island Statue Project's excavations of the famous "Easter Island Heads". They're much larger than previously thought creating questions on how they were created and transported, their purpose or function, what clues their costumes might give us, etc. Pretty amazing stuff, I say! 

Head over to eisp.org to find out more info on this enduring mystery.

Lessons From Hal

Shameless Plug Alert!

In 2011, my beautiful wife gave birth to our wonderful son, Hal. In an effort to not only document the experience, but to help me process the new changes fatherhood brings, I started Lessons From Hal.

Lessons From Hal is updated daily with all the thoughts, suspicions, and well, lessons that having a child on this planet brings. Turns out there's a lot.

So, if you're a parent and want the comfort of knowing you're not the only one who suspects your child is a mind reading extra-terrestrial, you've finally found the place for you. If you're a non-parent and want a glimpse into all the irrational accusations parenthood brings, this is also the place for you.

You can check it out, follow it on Twitter, or ignore it completely at:

www.lessonsfromhal.com


UPDATE: I'm pleased to announce Lessons From Hal will be available in book form in the near future! It work's great as a gift, emotional guide, and replacement manual for that baby book all doctor's recommend* (*Note: Not to be used as a replacement manual for that baby book all doctor's recommend).


Stay tuned for more info!

IW: My Hometown

My Hometown is a wonderful short film produced and directed by Oscar nominee Jerry Levitan and Terry Tompkins and was written and narrated by Yoko Ono. To find out more info click HERE



From imaginepeace.com:

"Yoko Ono’s timeless message of home, peace and love, “MY HOMETOWN”, is now an acclaimed animated short, produced and directed by Jerry Levitan (Producer of the Academy Award nominated and Emmy winning “I Met The Walrus”) and Terry Tompkins and The Eggplant.

“MY HOMETOWN” is narrated by Yoko Ono and features her song “Remember Love” (the B-Side of Plastic Ono Band’s “Give Peace A Chance”) as the soundtrack for the film.

Jerry Levitan says: “To think that my meeting with John Lennon and Yoko Ono back in 1969 when I was 14, has taken me to the Oscars, the Emmys and now a project based on Yoko’s work is simply incredible.”

The film opened the prestigious Without Borders Film Festival (Senza Frontiere) in Spoleto, Italy in July, 2011 and is circulating among film festivals around the world."

Home Away From Home

My life has unexpectedly become linked with Japan through both business (more on this later) and pleasure. I was introduced to Japan through my wonderful wife (who was born there) back when we started dating. I didn't know much about it then, so visiting was a pretty amazing experience. Not to mention I snapped about a million photos, like I was documenting an undiscovered world. Turns out it's already very discovered. Anyway, if Japan interests you (or you just like pictures) here's a few from some trips:

IW: Katsuyo Aoki

Katsuyo Aoki is an artist from Japan (get ready for a series of Japanese artists - super creative place) who creates these stunning ceramic pieces. The above image is just 1 of 25 from her Predictive Dream Series. Incredible, incredible work.

Here's a statement from Katsuyo:

"Currently, I use ceramics as my material in my method of expression, incorporating various decorative styles, patterns, and symbolic forms as my principal axis in creating my works.
The decorative styles and forms I allude to and incorporate in my works each contain a story based on historical backgrounds and ideas, myths, and allegories.　Their existence in the present age makes us feel many things,; adoration, some sort of romantic emotions, a sense of unfruitfulness and languor from their excessiveness and vulgarity.
And on the other hand, they make us feel tranquility and awe that can almost be described as religious, as well as an image as an object of worship.
By citing such images, I feel I am able to express an - atmosphere- that is a part of the complex world in this age.
In fact, the several decorative styles and forms I cite simultaneously hold divine and vulgar meaning in the present age, having an irrational quality that contradict each other, which I feel express an important aspect in the contemporary age in which we live.
Also, the technique of ceramics has a tradition that has been a part of the history of decoration over a long time, and I feel the delicateness and fragile tension of the substantial material well express my concept."

To see more of these amazing pieces head over to her webpage at: http://katsuyoaoki.s1.bindsite.jp/