Eman Ali: Succession
PhotomonitorBook review
Photomonitor
Book review
2020
Elvia Wilk: Oval
C MagazineBook review
C Magazine
Book review
2020
Anja and her two friends Dam and Laura look out over Berlin from the top of the Berg, an artificial mountain and eco-community built on what was once Tempelhof Airport. Beneath them, they can see how Berlin has turned into one endless, debauch party, induced by the drug Oval, developed by Anja’s boy- friend, Louis, to induce generosity in anyone who takes it. For Anja, Laura and Dam, this moment provides the answer to a question that has been lingering on their minds: is Berlin over? (...)
Andrei Tarkovsky may seem far removed from the modern day experience of smartphones, Instagram, and the near constant proclamations of diminishing attention spans. But in a new book from Dutch design duo Metahaven, Digital Tarkovsky, they want to make the case that our modern tech experience is in fact deeply Tarkovskyen, and is a new form of interface-based cinema. Metahaven’s opening gambit for such a claim is simple: in the US, the average time an adult spends on their mobile is two hours 51 minutes, just 8 minutes longer than Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979). In China, the average time spent on a mobile is 4 minutes less than the film. They suggest you may even be reading Digital Tarkovsky on your mobile. I could only get hold of the e-book. (...)
Jean Baptiste Del Amo: Animalia
Review 31Book review
Review 31
Book review
2019
At her father’s funeral, a young girl watches on as the villagers discuss what to do about a toad that has made its way into the open grave overnight and has been swimming back and forward in the mud. As the toad sits on top of the lowered coffin, the crowd agree it is a bad omen and the man cannot be buried with it there. The toad, one protests, is the devil. It is decided that the young girl is the only person small enough and in a bad enough state, in her scraggy, unwashed clothes, to be lowered down into the pit to pull the toad out. (...)