Cara Phillips has picked up on Christian Patterson’s recent post that announced, essentially, that he is quitting blogging for the indeterminate future. Unlike Cara, I don’t see that much elitism in Patterson’s decision, or, if I do, I more or less agree with it. There ARE a lot of people writing very similar […]
The New Scientist reports that computers may be better at recognizing faces as visual averages–the sum of a number of images of a person, from a number of different perspectives in different lighting–rather than in a single passport or ID photo. Scientists at the University of Glasgow tested an advanced facial recognition program, FaceVACS, […]
Does anyone really want a close up? Martin Schoeller’s latest exhibition of new work at Hasted Hunt continues his quest to present the human face writ large. The first examples of this work premiered in his 2006 exhibition, “Close Up.” Schoeller’s images are shot with a large format camera placed extremely close […]
Something in me didn’t want to warm to Bertien van Manen’s photographic exploration of post-Cold-War Russia at Yancey Richardson. I like photography with a strong conceptual backing. I distrust “street shooters” and their ilk (see my post on Alex Webb here), and documentary, as a genre, feels cluttered with photographers who depend on […]
291 stupidly missed the Jeff Wall retrospective when it passed through MoMA last year. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw that, as a part of my holiday travels to London, I’d have the chance to see both Jeff Wall and White Cube, Mason’s Yard at the same time–Wall’s show at White […]
Three variations on the theme:
1.) Stumbled across an interesting site a few weeks back: Strictly No Photography. In its current state, the idea may be more interesting than the execution–users register and upload their photographs of people, places, and things that are not supposed to be photographed. The site advertises itself as featuring […]
Last night 291 stopped by Aperture to see old friends and catch the talk and book signing by Hans Eijkelboom.
Eijkelboom is an amazing and ridiculously underappreciated Dutch conceptual photographer. Aperture just published a book of his work entitled Paris|New York|Shanghai, which represents a selection from a larger body of work called “Photo Notes.” […]
291 has featured unusual portrait commissions before—namely, MoMA’s offer to sell you your genetic portrait for $550. Now the ever-entertaining (and rather brilliant) Vik Muniz is offering something different: your portrait with a loved one in chocolate for $110,000.
Sound like a lot of money? Well, work by Muniz generally sells for quite a […]
Christine Finn at the Guardian recently wrote a post about the genetic portraits offered by MoMA to anyone willing to shoulder the $550 fee and a quick cheek swab. It’s a cool concept–selling people portraits of themselves that can only be obtained through a lab.
While MoMA is the first place I know of where […]
Over the weekend, the Times reported on the surprising importance of “stuff”–material goods, especially luxury goods that confer social status on their owners–in Second Life, the massively multiplayer virtual world.
I’m not convinced this is so surprising. What makes a place like Second Life unique is its visual aspect. AIM, Gmail, and other messaging […]
