Facebook 'aving a laf

Pirate English gives a refreshing take on something which is usually mundanely boring... I especially love "What be troublin' ye?" in the status box and "34 shots o'rum ago" indicating the time of the post.

To check it out yourself: Scroll to the bottom of your Facebook page where it says in little blue letters, "English (US)." Click on it. When the language box pops up, click on the arrow next to "English (US)" and select "English (Pirate)."

Diana Thater: Chernobyl (DazedDigital)

The renowned film fanatic and artist presents her new video installation about the tragic nuclear accident in northern Ukraine.

Image: Production Still; ©Diana Thater

Growing up in New York in the 1960s and 70s was bound to leave its mark on self-confessed film fanatic and artist, Diana Thater – most notably in that the word impossible doesn’t seem to register in her mind. Constantly pushing technology to its limits, this acclaimed video installation artist has just tackled her most difficult project to date: an abstract look at the post-nuclear landscape of Chernobyl.

Chernobyl – a village in northern Ukraine – is today a shell of it’s former self. Twenty-five years ago, in the midst of a bustling purpose built Soviet city, Pripyat, a nuclear power plant exploded, registering level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (the only level 7 event in history). It allegedly released 100 times more nuclear debris than Hiroshima did and is responsible for the deaths and illnesses of thousands of its former inhabitants. Today, the area stands completely deserted of humans, but in a remarkable feat of nature wild animals are slowly settling there. This is what attracted Diana Thater to the area – her interest in the conflict between human life and the natural world meant Chernobyl was the perfect place for her and her camera to explore.

Dazed Digital: How did you decide to become an artist?
Diana Thater: I honestly don’t know! I just was an artist. I didn’t make any conscious decision to become one. I grew up in New York and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art from when I could walk. I always loved art from when I was really little.

DD: Where do you get your inspiration from?
Diana Thater: There are two things I love, one is art and the other is film. I take inspiration from wherever I can – I read, I watch films, I look at art. I’ve made work that was inspired by Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, John Ford’s Westerns, shots of Dolphins – literally any number of places. I get ideas from everything.

DD: You’ve said in the past how interested you are by the relationship between the human and natural world. What is it that you find so fascinating?
Diana Thater: The natural world is the only true unknown. There is always this discussion of the Asian person, or the black person, or the-this-or-the-that person being the ‘other’. But they are not ‘others’ at all. The only ‘other’ we actually have is animal. They are completely unknowable – we don’t know anything about their consciousness. We can speculate, but we don’t really know.

DD: Is this interest the reason why you decided to do a project on Chernobyl?
Diana Thater: Yeah, of course. Chernobyl is the only post-apocalyptic, or post-human landscape on earth. Today it’s falling into ruins, but it still looks like a city; there’s stores, apartment buildings, schools. And even though it’s completely deserted and falling apart, animals are moving into the city. So, on the one hand you have this perfectly preserved Soviet city from 1970, and on the other hand you have this post-apocalyptic landscape where animals are living.

DD: How long where you there filming for?
Diana Thater: Seven days, and a preliminary visit of two days in the summer.

DD: While you were there what kind of feelings did you experience?
Diana Thater: It was one of the hardest things I’ve done. I’ve worked in Central Africa, I’ve worked with tigers and done things that people consider ‘dangerous’, but this was the hardest. When you go to Chernobyl it’s incredibly depressing. It has something of a concentration camp feeling because there are things like piles of children’s shoes and rusted baby beds in maternity hospitals. My assistant had to leave – it was too much for her. She was living in Chernobyl in 1986 when the explosion happened, and we went back to her apartment and found a calendar from that year. She remembered it all.

DD: Is this piece political? Does it say that something good can come from such a horrific and terrible event?
Diana Thater: I think it’s both political and cultural. Chernobyl represents the failure of lots of things – a massive political system, a way of life, of science. Yet even with the human failures, nature continues to persist. Not because it wants or chooses to, but because it must.

DD: Is the video trying to say that nature will always persist then?
Diana Thater: That’s a hope!

DD: Why do you choose to convey your art through video and motion picture?
Diana Thater: I think that film is the only place – other than music – where you can experience duration, and I am very interested in that. I also like to invent little techniques and make cameras do what they’re not supposed to. When I think of new work I’m thinking about what I’m going to do with a camera or edit system that I’ve never done before.

DD: What’s next for you?
Diana Thater: Have a long nap! No, but seriously, I’m always thinking about the next thing. As soon as a piece is done, I’m always thinking about what’s next.

Chernobyl shows at Hauser & Wirth London, Piccadilly, 28 January – 5 March 2011

'Just For Kicks' (2005)

Here is a great documentary that was made in 2005, about the evolution of sneakers, with particular reference to their popularity boom in the 1980s. It doesn't simply talk about the designs, but also investigates the symbolic meaning of the footwear - what status symbols particular shoes can offer, how they can make someone feel and also the role music played in making trainers a staple in everyday wear. It's really well made and tells an interesting, original story.



(If the video doesn't work go to - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6444453634416523444# - to see it)

Room 101: Frankie Boyle

I am still stunned by the shocking display of nonchalance both the BBC and Channel 4 have shown this past year. Both British TV channels have in their own way supported the vile and grotesque jibes controversial comedian, Frankie Boyle, has made towards certain factions of society by refusing to publicly apologise for the offense he has caused.

Boyle, a Scottish comedian best known for his shocking and dark humour, has been a panellist on the BBC’s popular comedy show Mock The Week, and currently has his comedy stand-up show Tramadol Nights aired on Channel 4. This past year saw several of his sketches scrutinised by the public and media at their outrageous content.

One incident occurred when Boyle referred to the British Olympic gold winner, Rebecca Adlington, as someone whose face resembled the reflection you get when looking into the back of a spoon. This dig, made on the satirical and often offensive Mock The Week, was magnified in the media’s response to Adlington’s public call for an apology from the BBC and the comedian himself. The public, on the issue of the apology, were split. Many were supportive of Adlington’s claim, but thousands of people also thought that because the athlete is in the public eye, she has to accept that she is now open to public observation.

With this understanding, because she is by trade a swimmer who happens to have won international recognition for her abilities, is she now anyone’s game merely for the fact that she has been on TV a few times? More importantly, does she now have to accept that she can be made fun of on national television for something entirely irrelevant to her ‘fame’ in the first place?

This bizarre logic was used last month when Katie Price’s (aka Jordan) heavily disabled son, Harvey, was picked on once again by Boyle. His quips ranged from “Jordan and Peter Andre are still fighting each other over custody of Harvey – eventually one of them will lose and have to keep him” to him assuming that the reason why Price married a cage fighter was because she “needed a man strong enough to stop Harvey from f*****g her”.

The ‘price of fame’ logic would suggest that because Harvey has appeared in Jordan’s many reality TV shows he too now has to accept being publicly attacked because he is in the ‘public eye’. But why is it that even a disabled child, who has no means of defending himself, is not off limits? If we allow bullies, of which I would classify Boyle to be, to appear on TV and online for the world to see, what is stopping a child in the playground to laugh at a disabled or ‘different’ looking classmate? We would have to respect what the child had to say, and allow him to continue to say it, if we are to follow the example set by the BBC and Channel 4. And this example isn’t being set on obscure channels that no one watches, they are happening on mainstream television, and more disturbingly, these comedians are being paid to say these remarks.

I find it humiliating that in our society we still have set-backs to social progression in the form of bigots like Frankie Boyle and the bosses of institutions like Channel 4, and it is my biggest hope that in 2011 our moral compass will begin to re-align itself.

wishlist

Interview for Recognise Magazine's Winter Issue

'Carlos' - i-D online in August www.i-donline.com/i-spy/carlos

National Geographic's Photography Contest 2010

The annual National Geographic Photography compettition (2010) closed it's doors to submissions at the end of the November and the winner will be announced in the next few days. There are hundreds of fantastic photographs - it's going to be a tough job choosing the best. I think they all deserve to win! Below are one's that stood out for me... you can view the others at www.nationalgeographic.com

'A Ghost' by Julien Legrand




'Child's Play' by Carl Bertram




'Lightening Strike NY Harbor' by Jay Fine




'Inside a Hot Air Balloon' by Bakhtiyor Rasulev




'Supercell Thunderstorm' by Sean Heavey

'A dog is for life, not just for Christmas' (and don't I bloody know it)

For a few months now I have been living with my Mum's new dog. I am not naturally a canine lover; the smell, the constant attention and the jumping up are not qualities I have the patience for. With Skat (the dogs name - 'darling' in Danish) though, I have had to compromise. He is now a fixture of our home and has come to dominant our lives. It would be impossible and impractical to ignore his existence - I live in a basement flat so his presence (even if he is not visible) is always felt.

Looking at him he is the picture perfect puppy. A little black Labrador that you would find on a postcard. He does an adorable little dance around you when you're about to give him his food. He comes bounding up to you when you shake his treat box. And when he's waiting for his treat he always looks up at you and cocks his little head, his soft ears shaping his beautiful face. It is hard not to allow your heart to melt into his stare.

However, a lesson I quickly learned, is that he is not looking deeply into your eyes and thinking what a lovely creature you are too - these little moments of calm are not because you are sharing a special 'bond'. Rather, he has momentarily been hypnotised by the possibility that soon he will have something delicious in his stomach. He is a 'dog driven by food' as our trainer puts it (and nothing else it seems). In fact, Skat will eat pretty much anything in sight; socks, plastic, nails, wood and even his own business have all made appearances in his digestive system.

I am more of a cat person. So on his first display of 'anything goes' in terms of whats edible, my initial reaction was 'how unsophisticated'. You would never see a little kitty munch on some of the things the dog will. And this is pretty much how our relationship has continued. He lacks charm and class, he just thunders into a room, wreaks havoc and then charges off. He will respond to anything that can be eaten and never enjoys or seems to want to enjoy the 'quiet moments in life'. Perhaps this is because he is still a puppy (we're nearly celebrating his sixth month mark) and hopefully this is true.

What I must add though, that with all his lack of elegance, he is one of those things you love to hate. He can be the most irritating, tiresome and tactless of animals, but he is ours now. We must embrace his 'odd ball' qualities and love every inch of his dark fur. As the days pass by, this is getting easier to do. He is beginning to at least hesitate before he charges off after something while you are screaming his name and telling him to stop in his ear. This, however small, is an improvement that we must take as encouragement. Although I would never admit it, I do hope he manages to stay on after Christmas...!

A Room with a View

Last term I heard about a talk and screening that the Women’s Group were putting on, looking at pornography and a woman’s place in it. I immediately thought: ‘haven’t I heard this one before?’. However, in a desperate attempt to leave the library, I brushed my preconceptions aside and went along.

Arriving a little late, I sneaked in amongst the moans and groans of what was being shown on the film: predominantly a female look into adult entertainment. Although sometimes a little clichéd, the film on the whole was interesting; it looked at numerous sides of the porn industry and shed some light on filmmakers trying to focus on female pleasure, and not simply male eroticism. The discussion that followed was what really sold the event to me though – young, confident women (and a few men!) talking about the film without fear of being labelled or scoffed at, which helped the talk flow with zest and honesty. I left intrigued.

After meeting last week with one of the women who held the talk, Lauren brown, I am still surprised at how passionate she is on the subject of gender, and more specifically its place on campus (something that I hadn’t really thought about before – which is exactly her point). She explains, “the sexism on campus isn’t the blatant one we are familiar with; rather it is much more subtle. It happens in seminars. Men even dominated the talk about the rugby attack on those women. It is on the posters dotted around campus.” The examples she gives are of a recent sexual harassment awareness campaign run by the Metropolitan police: the posters are blue for men and pink for girls. Another poster, promoting an R&B night in Brighton, features a heavily sexualised picture of a woman. Lauren points out how upsetting it is to women on campus knowing that the University approves such posters. (In response, the Women’s Group have designed their own campaign which is gender neutral, and encourages people to think carefully about sexual violence in different contexts.

“This is why we have a women’s room on campus – a place for women, and only women, to come and voice concerns such as these”. The room, located in Falmer House, which is open to transgender women too, was set up when the university opened in the 1960s. Discussions are regularly held on subjects such as sexual health, women in the media, and other women’s groups across the country. But most importantly, it is somewhere for women to come and feel safe and relaxed, away from the “male gaze”.

I begin to see her point, and wonder what can be done to improve the situation. Many would argue that women are now equal enough, and those who push for more are deemed “radical feminists” or even “bra burners”. Lauren stresses the importance of education, and “conscious raising”, ensuring that women aren’t afraid of the people – usually men, but increasingly women too – who give them these labels. “Women shouldn’t shy away from the label ‘feminist’. It shouldn’t be understood as something that states your position on subjects. Instead, it can be used as a way of understanding; it can help put things into perspective; it can help put feelings into context”.

Outside of the room, the Women’s Group are very successful in holding events to raise awareness for their causes. For example, an International Women’s Day event was held in the meeting house last year, during which vagina monologues were read out, and painting of the female body (and sometimes their more intimate parts) took place. To celebrate it this year, they are putting on a pop night, where the theme will be women. An event that also stands out is Reclaim the Night, which is a cross-country campaign aiming to make the night safer for women. On this, Lauren emphasises improvements that could be made at Sussex inspired by this campaign, such as more lighting to make campus less intimidating: “It is something that wouldn’t seem a priority considering other needs on campus, but is important”.

It appears, after talking to Lauren and since becoming more attuned to the subtle sexism that can be found on campus, that the group is an important organisation for this university. The Women’s Group are welcoming and non-threatening; they promote individuality and confidence amongst females without having to shove a megaphone in your face. They want women to feel empowered, not afraid.

To get in touch with the Women’s Group on campus you can email them at womensgroup@riseup.net, or visit their Facebook page (Sussex University Women’s Group).