Real Estate

July 2007: Le Monde Diplomatique publishes an aritcle called "Individualisme de masse en Californie: Le Conformisme, c'est la transgression" by Christian Ghasarian, an Anthropoligist at the Swiss university of Neuchâtel. He asserts -

Assertion I: Counter-Culture (in terms of physical appearance and "identity") has become wideley accepted, even the norm, in Northern California cities such as Berkeley and San Francisco

Assertion II (going further): Conformity is becoming less and less acceptable

Assertion/Fact III: It has a histroy. FSM (beat culture too, though Ghasarian doesn't mention it).

Assertion IV: This is a good kind of environment for kids to grow up in. Generation Next will have healthily open minds.

[Tangent, but worth noting: "Une contre-culture institutionnalisée demeure-t-elle une contre culture ?" "Does an institutionalized counter-culture remain a counter culture?" It depends on the frame of reference, of course. Counter national culture? Counter local culture?]

Sounds to me like the start of a San Francisco Renaissance. Depending on the '08 election, the Bay Area might become a haven for creative expats who read articles like this one in academic periodicals. A San Francisco Rennaisance? Wouldn't that be nice.

I Have Since Learned That You Like Tomato Soup

Imagine a corporation sending a letter like this to an artist today. See the latest issue of Paper Magazine for Kim's insights (and a copy of this letter).

Richard Kalvar: Anti-Photojournalist

June third marked the close of "Terriens" at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, a view of photos from Kelvar's book.

The Paris Review also ran a feature in the current issue, no.180: Spring 2007. (Not to mention some great fiction and an interview with Oulipian Harry Mathews)

Kalvar is called an anti-photojournalist because he makes photographs that capture the ironic and the absurd within contexts of banalities. No, there is no photoshop involved. Kelvar lives and works in Paris and is associated with Magnum Photos.

By the way, Magnum Festival '07 is on this month in NYC, so check the special events calendar and see what interests you. Werner Herzog aside, rumors are flying of possible Helmut Lang involvement in the festival. (!)

Palais de Tokyo Now Has a Magazine

It's a quarterly bilingual publication with contributions from "art critics or philosophers, writers, footballers, artists, etc." marketed as "an essential tool for mapping the territories of contemporary art" (un complément essentiel pour saisir les enjeux de l'art contemporain). The Palais de Tokyo is known for its cutting-edge curation, and if PALAIS's editorials are on par with the museum itself, the magazine should be a worthwhile read.

The third issue to be released June 12 is dedicated to the oeuvre of Steven Parrino, whose work is currently on display at the museum.

A feature called "Pirate Spectrality" addresses the modern image of a pirate (in a context not limited to the theater of the open seas) and the resurgence of skull and crossbones motifs in fashion. Razmig Keucheyan writes, "Could this reemergence be regarded as a symptom of a transition phase and a new hegemonic decline?" Oh my.


Palais Magazine

What has this world become??

Today, I was looking at telescopes. On one box, I read: "It Finds Things For You!"

Remind me, why, then, am I taking an Astronomy class next year?