Aesthetics and Politics (surprise at the end!)
September 2022
Hey everyone!
Been incredibly busy this last month—I came back from my trip to Romania and immediately got sucked into the school year. I am essentially completing most of the materials I need to graduate (a different process at Gallatin!) this semester - it’s a lot to keep track of while taking care of myself. I’ve found it necessary to reduce the amount of content I ingest and work on my filter… just for the sake of having more headspace. A highlight this month has been letting my mind wander a bit more by listening to more fiction!
Nonetheless, I’ve still found some interesting articles this past month, while looking at dramatically less content overall.
Of temporal note — this site is tracking the election results live in Brazil!
Also, Portland Timbers Football Club is immense. That is all.
Photography
Learned about the work of Gregory Crewdson this month. I think it is astonishing how he had entire sets (they look like movie sets?) created to take these photos. Many of you know that I love when photo and cinema merge as mediums and aesthetically, and this gets really close to that in all sorts of ways. This book would make a great gift 😉.
I especially liked this quote of his:
“If I knew exactly what that story was, I wouldn't have to make the pictures. I do feel that part of the story, or part of the central tenor of that story, is a search for connection or a search for home, a search for some kind of connection outside of yourself some sensible sense of order. Photography is a lonely endeavour, and I think all photographers are in one way or another drawn to the medium by kind of an alienated viewpoint. Just the act of looking through a lens, a view- finder, is an act of separation. It's an attempt to try to find the connection outside of yourself"
I also liked this Instagram account’s Hockney-esque collages.
Proportions in this shoot of Taylor Hill by Yorgos Lanthimos is so interesting to observe through the set.
Just some fresh photojournalism on Seoul’s Animal Cafes from the NYT 😊.
Politics
Two Baffler pieces stood out to me this month. Both of them are excellent and I hope you all read them, no matter your interest in politics or technology, but as voters:
‘Tell Me It’s Going to be OK’ by Miya Tokumitsu (2018) elegantly summarizes neo-liberalism’s destruction of much of American society and how technology relates to that.
“Point. Click. Occupy. Warfare as white-collar tech job“ by Sophia Goodfriend (2022). Tech gone wrong 🙃.
Learned about Thomas Sankara, Burkina Faso’s enigmatic leader during the 80s. This YouTube (a France24 English survey of his political impact and legacy) was interesting to me. I am taking a class titled ‘Africa, China, and Globalization’ and it is making me rethink many things about ‘the West’s’ and ‘the East’s' position in global political economy…
Columbus (film) and Polshek
I rarely rewatch movies, but felt inspired to rewatch Columbus, directed by Kogonada (2017). I honestly love the feeling of the film, the dialogue and visual de-syncing, architecture nerds 😎. It makes me want to cry in the best way possible. One of the architects mentioned in the movie is James Polshek, who recently passed. I thought this NYT obituary for him (on him?) was interesting - I like his POV.
Quotes to Chew On
Society with markets or market society?
You can be pragmatic and an idealist at the same time, this is called being progressive.
“Will you remember that I existed, and that I stood next to you here like this?” - Murakami
Honestly, this entire article about Kurt Steiner (a very serious and special stone skipper) is worth chewing on for some time. It is a long read, but worth mulling over at your own pace.
I leave you with Kurt — that’s all for September! I’m already foreseeing a rowdy and tiring October, and am not sure if I’ll be able to publish an edition next month. I hope you are all pacing yourselves and staying healthy.
‘Till next time,
Andrei
