AMP

Mind you this was at the opening and I’m sure I had a few drinks in me…

If you haven’t checked out my website lately, I’ve updated it with my latest project ‘I Have The Need To Destroy’, the photographic record of my experience playing bass in a hardcore band for a year. I made a limited # of books (complete with 7″ record) and am selling them through my webstore. If you’re in New York City, you can pick them up at Printed Matter as well.

The audio that accompanies the book is a collection of field recordings made during the band’s practices, shows, and recording sessions. I tried to approach this project with a minimal style, adapting a snapshot aesthetic and lo-fi production quality. The book is pretty zine-ish and the 7″ is a staple of the punk-rock genre. If you want to hear what the actual band sounded like, you can download an MP3 here and here.

As far as my participation in the band went, I helped write a song or two, but I really tried to sit back and just observe. I recorded all our practices and shows not because I thought we were a great band (in hindsight, I think we were pretty average), but rather as a testament to recording and the documentary practice. In the end, my goal became to emphasize the quieter moments of a scene that is largely known for being loud and explosive.

I exhibited the large diazotype above at the Soap Factory this past summer as part of the Pay Attention: GM08 exhibition. There was an audible component as well–I had speakers playing a selection of the field recordings I had made–setting up equipment, opening beers, having quiet conversations about music and life. All-in-all my experience with hardcore music was special because of these little moments, both fleeting and insignificant (I’m instantly reminded of why I love John Porcellino’s musings on the 80’s punk scene). Let me know what you think.

I recently uploaded a video to Youtube and noticed that the website used the filename (PICT0002.AVI) as a tag. As a result, the ‘Related Videos’ column was a collection of videos who’s only relation was the randomly assigned filename. This gave me the idea to do a Google image search with pict0002.jpg as the search string. As expected, the result was a seemingly random collection of images that could only be related by the technology that created it. Delightfully carefree, I encourage everyone to do a search based on their [insert image capture device here]’s naming system. I’ve posted mine here.

I find image search / found image exercises like this to be helpful in the same way that sketching / journaling can stimulate the creative part of your brain. However, as final works I find them to be a bit lackluster. That said, don’t examine this series as you would a finely edited photo book, but rather as a creative exercise to keep the wheels greased.

I managed to make it over to the Museum of the City of New York last weekend and found myself mostly underwhelmed. It’s in a pretty nice building in East Harlem (or upper-upper east side depending on who you ask). There is, however, an absolutely stand-out exhibition up now until March 8th by Ray Mortenson, titled ‘Broken Glass: Photographs of the South Bronx‘.

The exhibition displays a series of images Mortenson made between 1982 and 1984 of the then-troubled region of the South Bronx. With an average of 30 ‘insurance’ fires breaking out in the region every day, Mortenson created a stark document of a neighborhood that makes Detroit look like a gated community. The crisp black & white imagery (completely devoid of people) only adds to the starkness of the images. Mortenson’s images lean heavily on the exterior facades of the buildings (almost eerily similar to Polidori’s document of post-Katrina New Orleans), produced in either two sizes–modest 8×10″ prints and luscious 40×50 images (image sizes are approximate…). Complementing these exterior images are studied & well-composed documents of the burned-out, smashed-to-hell interiors.

One of the greatest parts of the exhibit is the display of Mortenson’s book maquettes for the project. These ranged from an oversized version that looked like a Polidori/Becher mash-up to a tiny, more experimental model. My only complaint is that the maquettes were (understandably) under glass, preventing me from flipping through the books. There is a catalog that accompanies the show, but it sadly doesn’t live up to any of the book maquettes Mortenson had made. Hopefully this show will provide a launching point for getting Mortenson’s artist books reproduced for a larger audience. Until then, the next best thing is seeing this show.

Mortenson’s other major body of work ‘Meadowland’ (apparently about the same area as this hum-drum book and this amazing record) is hard-to-find (I have yet to see a copy of the book). Anyone know where to see this work online?