For those interested I will be in Bradford giving a talk on 8th December, at the National Media Museum start time 6pm. It’s a public talk and its free of charge. You can find the details here.
The Talk is billed as:
David Malone examines the work of the documentary film maker in the digital age and how global geopolitics is affecting artistic expression in the 21st century.
So no pressure there. Nice and contained.
It will be a chance to see some film clips and discuss them as well. For those interested in film or who just want to meet up this will be fun.
hey david i will be there really looking forward to meeting you
Likewise!
the work of the documentary film maker in the digital age
alright, that might be contained, but
how global geopolitics is affecting artistic expression in the 21st century.
that hardly is !!
there are some analogies/jokes to be made about the contemporary art market – art object as securitized asset – "inverse art" consciously erasing traces of " skill" ( actual work ) to increase value – art market as investment alternative to bond / metals markets – chinese artists such as AI weiwei " framing the artisan"/"reflecting the west"
and then there's all the internet malarkey, "zero value ( in $ ) for pruducer free for consumer" as the old guard claim but as you yourself are with this blog ( from hints you drop) currently experiencing otherwise…
i should like to hear your lecture !!
but bradford is abit far from paris !
have a good one
a
a bit far from Lower Normandy too …:-)
Professor Jim Al-Khalili's The Secret Life of Chaos. now that is a very fine work indeed.
There is too much of everything these days thus the crème gets lost in the milk
Sean,
I'll take a look at it if I have the chance. I have to admit I stopped buying books on chaos some time ago. They start to get very repetative after a couple of decades. But Jim is a nice man and his book on time was worth reading.
Thanks for the recommendation.
Go easy on the snide factor, it's unattaractive.
Its a fact, take the new series of Horizon. The first episode "Back from the Dead" brilliant followed by dross. They would be better with one of specials.
Sean,
I no longer watch Horizon. I find there is a slavish adherence to a set story structure which makes whatever they are telling me have the air of predictability. I can no longer stand the hyperole of the commentary and I find the house style of direction reminds me of expensive corporate film making. Lovely pictures but without meaning.
Just not my cup of tea.
I suspect your definition of brilliant and mine might be quite different. I hope you find yours.
Exactly it is corporate film making…"we need 6 episodes for next January" ect.which in turn, turns the process into a production line. BUT that is not to say that they cannot produce now and then a gem.
I Have already found mine, C4s Eqinoxe about 10 years ago did a brilliant one on "risk" and human perceptions of risk and then there is your "forbidden knowledge" a good strong narrative (madness driven by maths) on a very difficult issue to explain, but sadly High Anxieties was too muddled, interesting but a weak narrative.
So speaking at Bradford where they have an Imax maybe your thoughts should say something about technology and imagery, and how that can alter our perceptions, and how documentary can put our feet back on the ground so to speak? Avatar V Forbidden Knowledge!
Just a suggestion, don't take it too seriously. There is nothing wrong with lovely pictures btw.
I too found "The Secret Life of Chaos" good – not so much because of the pictures and the direction – for some reason he was wandering around the Settle and Carlisle Ribblehead viaduct at some stage in a snow storm, there were an awful lot of old clocks grinding round to illustrate Newtonian physics, and do they always use the same music for every documentary nowadays? – but because of the thesis.
The idea of the universe having been set up with various mathematical equations in place seemed to have echoed your own progamme, Golem, interviewing physicists on the likelihood and nature of God.
Incidentally, are you religious at all?
The one name neither Al-Khalili's programme or your's mentioned, however, was Plato. Strange, I thought, because, from memory, he believed the whole universe was based on mathematical principles.
mirandola,
I am not at all religious and do not belive in god but I am a Quaker. I am what is konwn as a non-theist quaker.
As for Plato you're right he is threr but never named. Penrose has often said he is a sort of Platonist.
Part of me would like to start to write about science again. But I haven't done so.
Sean,
I will talk a bit about how documentary uses imagery and how it tries to be both 'objective' but also can't help "alter our pere ptions." Shame you won't be there. We could get at each other in person too.
"Part of me would like to start to write about science again. But I haven't done so."
Its probably best sticking to what you're doing at the moment.
How do you know I am not coming, I am only down the road.