A journal by artist and designer John Coulthart.
I have a peacock-heavy piece of art out next month so with that grasping for spurious relevance here’s a few more peacock discoveries.
Antoine Helbert‘s untitled peacock man is one of a number of striking portraits turning humans into birds. Via Chateau Thombeau.
Peacock styles, Anchor Buggy Co. (1897) at the Library of Congress.
Ed Jansen writes again with news that no. 13 of his Dutch-language web magazine Passage is now online:
Number 13 of Passage contains stories about the Buddha Machine, a strange little box that emits music, then there is ‘Escape from the dollhouse?’, which is about the art of Hans Bellmer, surreal and strangely erotic, ‘The Skeleton that Climbed in Through the Window’ tells the equally strange and sad story of the life of Unica Zürn, companion of Bellmer and ‘Nomads of the Timestream’ is of course about the work of Michael Moorcock. This collection begins and ends with two sides of a story about the version of the visit of Odysseus to the Underworld, by Ezra Pound.
The customary eclectic mix, in other words. The Buddha Machine section is a nice overview of recent ambient music machines. I love the ad art for Zhang Jian’s Short-Wave of Bengal Bay.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Passage 12
• Gristleism
• Passage 11
• Buddha Machine Wall
• Passage 10
• God in the machines
• Layering Buddha by Robert Henke
Jean Michel as Fantômas.
Ernst Moerman’s Belgian short from 1937 is available for viewing at Ubuweb and is described on its title card as “Un film Surrealiste”. One might equally describe it as “un film amateur” since it’s very much in the home movie mould as was much of the independent cinema of this time. The direction may be perfunctory but the photography is surprisingly good in places. The action, such as it is, concerns an avatar of the Surrealists’ favourite anti-hero, Fantômas, in a series of farcical scenes many of which are filmed on a beach with a few spare props. The most notable moment for me is one which none of the online documentation mentions, a brief appearance by a youthful René Magritte who pretends to be painting Le Viol. Magritte was a great Fantômas enthusiast so his presence here isn’t too surprising.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• The Dark Ledger
• Judex, from Feuillade to Franju
• Fantômas
One of the entries from the Greenpeace competition to rebrand BP.
• What Kenneth Anger was doing inside the Pentagon, October 1967.
• Ghosts Of The Future: Borrowing Architecture From The Zone Of Alienation. Jim Rossignol on Stalker: the film, the game and the reality.
• Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s visionary music. A blog and a forthcoming book by Rob Young.
• Lesbian filmmaker Kiana Firouz isn’t wanted in the UK thanks to the iniquitous asylum laws of the previous administration; the Home Office intends to return her to Iran where gay people are flogged and executed. Coilhouse has details including recommendations of how people can help. Related: Britain’s immigration system is guilty of “institutional homophobia”, according to a new report.
• Cameron Carpenter, a prodigiously talented (and sequinned) concert organist.
• No Barcode: Javier Garcia’s graphic design blog.
• Shapeways: 3D printing from your own designs.
• Spintriae: brothel coins from Ancient Rome.
• Winq magazine: “global queer culture”.
• A steam-powered synthesiser.
• Among The Trees, Michael Chapman on the Whistle Test in 1975.
Being post number 2,000 here at {feuilleton}. The page above is a sample from Monograms & Ciphers (1906) by AA Turbayne at the trusty Internet Archive.
I’ll take the opportunity here to apologise for the continuing flakiness of my web connection. The advantage of WordPress is independence from the shackles of Blogger and co. but this can leave you at the mercy of webhosts with inadequate or shoddy resources. I intend changing host at some point but have been far too busy of late to deal with the matter. As always, your patience is appreciated. Thanks.