Augenblick - Blog on Photography by Daniele Mattioli

Augenblick : Award , World Press Photos 2011

2011-02-11T23:02:00.003+08:00

Somebody asked me what is my favorite winner for the 2011 World Press Photo , so I went through the winner's list and I was really good impressed with the language and continuity of Filip Cwick from Poland. His photos is a good series from the National Mourning. . I like this winner from "People in the news" third prize stories.

Augenblick , Profile : Simone Casetta

2011-01-10T10:30:00.000+08:00

I have met Simone Casetta several times, last time in his "Cascina" outside Milan, I was nearby to take photos and I had the great pleasure to see big prints of the project "Fanno finta di non esserci" a poetic portrait of a difficult subject such as dead body preserved under formaldehyde for medical studies. I found the project also quite unique and strong. His web site indeed contain different other project as Simone is also involved in Social reportage.

Augenblick, Book : Pagan by Andrei Liankevich

2011-01-02T10:14:00.003+08:00

Belarusian Photographer Andrei Liankevich has produced a book on Pagan Culture in his native country. It is an interesting look at some ancient ritual , a black and white view full of an interesting mysticism and poetry which I do advise to buy. The book is on sale at Anzenberger book gallery .
Here an extract from the text written by Svetlana Poleschuk :

Christmas, Strechannie, Summons of the spring, Palm Sunday, Easter and Funeral rites, St.George’s Day, Whitsunday, Midsummer, the Saviour, Zazhynki, Dazhynki, Dziady. Nowadays they are called folk holidays or rites and are even depicted in schoolbooks. In the units “Belarusian legends, myths, and stories” our ancestors are described to explain all nature and life phenomenon by the existence of living creatures – spirits. House, forest, and field had their spirits. Brownie mastered the house, wood-goblin mastered the forest, and mermaids mastered the river. Lightening is an enraged God, and stars are people’s soles. People worshipped stumps and stones, sun and thunder, animals and birds, plants and ponds; these were respected, afraid of and asked for help. Sometimes at schools and folk hobby groups the brightest rites are reconstructed to achieve better knowledge of traditions, just as the amateurs of medieval culture reconstruct knight tournaments. Examples of such rites installed are: Shrove-tide together with ceremonial burning of man of straw or Christmas walk of the dressed up mummers group singing Christmas songs and wishing people rich harvest asking presents for it. It’s also possible to take a great interest in Midsummer romanticism by once visiting the festival in the city park or by going to the country for a corporative party. Midsummer is the shortest night of the year when people search for the fern-flower, jump over the fire, sing and dance in a ring, twine wreaths, and foretell the fate. Perhaps these are all the options for the city inhabitant of Belarus of today to get acquainted with folk holidays. However in contrast to the knight culture, that remained in the past, folk or pagan traditions still exist in the villages. These traditions by some miracle survived seventy years of communist atheism that reorganized all the fields of people’s everyday life. Peasants continue bringing home birch twigs on Whitsunday, they do not send the herd to pasture before St. George’s Day, and do not eat apples before the Savior, or leave an unreaped sheaf in the field binding the ears in so called “beard”, they do not go to the forest and do not bathe during the “mermaid week”. One should at least once face with such peasant’s way of thinking, to which many unusual restrictions and rules are appeared to be important, to understand that the school material concerning our ancestry do not resemble folk tales any more.

Augenblick , Profile : Hua Weicheng

2010-12-27T10:28:00.000+08:00

I often see good project from one of the most interesting city in China , Chongqing, this time is from Hua Weicheng who has produced another Black and white project on the city . Something which reminds Muge but with some impressive photos which I like to share in this blog.

Augenblick, Profile : Qi Ying

2010-12-23T09:58:00.000+08:00

I like some photos from Qi Ying although is hard to see proper projects in Flickr he has done some interesting series of portrait combined with country landscape. Worth to follow his progress.

Augenblick , Book : The Merci Project / Inochi by James Whitlow Delano

2010-12-20T09:32:00.000+08:00

The Merci Project / Inochi is a book created and curated by american photographer
James Whitlow Delano which has put up a good list of 118 photographers
which accepted to donate their photos for a special fund raise. Worth to buy if you look for a good photo book . Here more from the statement of the project which is
possible to purchase also on Amazon.
"The Mercy Project / Inochi features the work of 118 photographersfrom 28 countries from Magnum, VII Photo, Noor, National Geographic, to emerging talent worldwide coming together to create awareness and raise funds for hospice and palliative care. Eleanor Clift, a Newsweek writer who has also been a beneficiary of hospice care when her husband was in need, wrote the postscript for the book. I posed one question to photographers I’d met all over the world (through my reportage work), after the untimely passing of hissister, Jeanne, and last member of his nuclear family to renal cancer: “share with me one photograph that says to you, ‘MERCY’”. I hoped that this collection of photography could contribute in a meaningful, concrete way in the effort to expand awareness about the critical role that hospice care can play, as it is likely to touch the lives of most of our families during the course of our lives. Hospice care, the most humane care I have ever encountered, allowed our family to come together and freed Jeanne from pain so that we could focus more on her final 5 months of life. I have partnered with San Diego Hospice and the Institute for Palliative Medicine in California, which has a tremendously effective outreach program to the community and the medical profession. The Japanese partner is Japan Hospice Palliative Care Foundation."

Augenblick , Back on track with my blog

2010-12-18T21:48:00.003+08:00

After a period of silence I am getting back on track in writing and posting on my blog. It is a very busy
time with work and I could not follow much photographers , books review and things to add. Indeed I am also agreed with one article (from another blog ) which describe the sort of inflation of photographers who decided to blog on photography and ... I am one of them... but the good thing is that at least I dont speak much of myself (and this can make it more interesting for a start) basically is not a "me me me" blog but mostly about people who are able to create their own language. Haven't say that... for this post I use one of my photo taken with my iphone... I will be back soon with more posts, hopefully to be more constant than the last period..

Augenblick, Exhibition : Un'Impero in Posa

2010-10-13T09:34:00.001+08:00

I was invited to an interesting exhibition here in Shanghai, "Un'Impero in Posa" is a showcase of photos done by italian Missionaries who travelled in China between the 19th and the 20th century. The Exhibition is organized by Univercity of Bologna together with the Italian Ministry of Cultural affair and the Consulate General of Italy in Shanghai. Starting from the 14th at Tongji University in Shanghai (Zonghe Building).

Augenblick, Profile : Thierry Girard

2010-10-04T19:42:00.001+08:00

"Voyage au pays du Réel" is one of the most interesting photographic essay from French photographer Thierry Girard. The photos depicting China following the same route done in 1913 by archeologists Victor Segalen and Augusto Gilbert. The project is also resulted in a book edited by Beaugeste Design solution with texts by Christian Doumet and Lin lu.

Augenblick , Profile : Giovanni Lami

2010-10-01T10:33:00.001+08:00

Apnea is a portrait series on transgender community done by Italian Photographer Giovanni Lami . The series were done around the area of Rimini, famous touristic spot for the summer.

Augenblick, Magazine : Orte magazine

2010-09-27T09:33:00.000+08:00

Orte Magazin is a German publication which has a great visually concept and which is a great to read. I am presenting and discovering at his 7th issues (from where I took the snapshots).

Augenblick, Exhibition : The Cuban Revolution at ICP

2010-09-23T08:03:00.001+08:00

If you like how does it look a revolution and in particular the Cuban Revolution you should not miss (while in New York) the new exhibition at the International Center of Photography (ICP) , a collection of some unknown photos which depict the Cuban uprising and the revolution which took Che Guevara to become an icon.
Here a note from the Exhibition curated by Brian Wallis and independent curator Mark Sanders.
The Cuban Revolution of 1959 was one of the most spectacular political events of the twentieth century. A dramatic chapter in the Cold War, the improbable overthrow of the dictator Fulgenico Batista by a ragtag band of young Communist guerillas and intellectuals occurred just ninety miles from the United States. Tracing the movement from the triumphal entry of the rebels into Havana on January 1, 1959, to the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, this exhibition shows the tremendous influence of photography in recording and encouraging the revolutionary movement in Cuba. Among the most outstanding works in this exhibition of rare vintage prints are Alberto Korda's famous portrait of Che Guevara titled "Heroic Guerrilla" and never-before-seen images of Che's death in Bolivia in 1967. The show features work from over thirty photographers, including important images of pre-Revolutionary Cuba in the 1950s by Constantino Arias as well as classic images by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Raúl Corrales, and Burt Glinn, among others. Cuba in Revolution explores everyday life in Cuba before and after the Revolution and considers the ways in which both Cuban and foreign photojournalists helped construct the image of the revolution abroad.

Augenblick, Exhibition : Cosplay in China

2010-09-15T08:46:00.001+08:00

Curator and Professor Gu Zheng has invited me to exhibit my portrait series on Chinese Cosplay together with Zhen Han and Chang Hong which they worked on an interesting project Called Soul Stealer that focus on the idea of adopting a costume in China and make a distinction between Old traditional Opera house and modern Cosplayer. I am very happy to be part of the exhibition which take place at Epsite Gallery in Moganshan rd in Shanghai. Opening this coming friday from 4pm on and exhibition will last until the 17th of October.

Augenblick, Festival : Sifest 2010, Savignano Festival

2010-09-07T10:09:00.003+08:00

One of the most interesting festival for photography will open soon in Savignano Sul Rubicone.The Sifest 2010 is curated by Stefania Rössl and Massimo Sordi which have prepared a very interesting program and a great list of photographer to look closely. The Sifest is also an happening with a so called "White Night" of photography, portfolio Reviews and projection. Among all the photographer that will exhibit Roger Ballen, Andrew Phelps and Paola De Grenet.
Also very interesting the collective Global Photography which will include also Vanessa Winship, Rafal Milach, Muge, and Amy Stein .
There is also a good opportunity to look at new Italian photographers such as Patrizia Zelano and Cesare Cirardini which I am going to talk later on in my blog.

Augenblick , Profile : Walter Niedermayr

2010-09-01T07:57:00.001+08:00

Italian photographer Walter Niedermayr combine architecture photography contributing to major Architectural studio and also large scale landscapes which presents in many exhibitions. Some of his work can be seen at the Venice Architectural Biennale which opened last weekend.

Augenblick , Profile : Ken Kitano

2010-08-26T10:17:00.001+08:00

Ken Kitano has some good impressive portraits in his series.

Augenblick, Profile : Kirill Kuletski

2010-08-23T09:31:00.000+08:00

Speleotheraphy is what i like most about Russian Kirill Kuletski .

Augenblick, Profile : Sanaz Mazinani

2010-08-18T09:22:00.001+08:00

I have posted already 6 different photographers from Iran, a country which I would like to travel and know more. Today I will present Sanaz Mazinani which has done different projects among one focussing on her mother land called Iran Revisited from which I took the cover photo of this post.

Augenblick, Profile : Mona Simon

2010-08-09T08:05:00.003+08:00

"Memories" is a beautiful project done by German Mona Simon in which she explores her own cultural heritage of being Transylvanian-Saxon a minority which has lived in Romania for centuries. Her project is a personal journey focussing on people and details of Life.Here some notes from her:

Transylvania has traditionally been a multicultural place where Romanians, Saxons, Hungarians and Gypsies lived next to each other. Many Saxons have left Transylvania after the Communism collapsed, almost all of them immigrated to Germany. This project deals with exile and remembrance and shows a world in the way I saw it as a child.

Augenblick , Profile : Muge

2010-08-02T10:06:00.001+08:00

Muge is becoming one of the most interesting Chinese photographers to watch , his photos are already being shown in many venues. I know his works since some time and I am happy to share his work. Muge is a passage of what Chinese photography need to explore and fill up a gap of years of disclosure to what western photography produced after Diane Arbus or Robert Frank. If you happen to be in Italy you can visit his work which will be shown at the Sifest Photo Festival in Savignano from the 10th of september while his photos are visible at Arles Photo Festival.

Augenblick . Profile : Erika Larsen

2010-07-26T17:42:00.001+08:00

"Young blood" is a great project based on portraits done by American Erika Larsen .The photo described young hunters in America.

Augenblick, Exhibition : Tatjana Loh at Beaugeste

2010-07-22T21:00:00.000+08:00

"My Cousing fom America" is a series from Tatjana Loh which will be presented at the Beaugeste Gallery managed and curated by Jean Loh. Opening on the 24th of July from 3Pm

Augenblick , profile : André França

2010-07-19T14:00:00.001+08:00

Brasilian photographer André França has developed a series called "Vanishing" in which he explore the disappearing beauty using dolls.I found it quite interesting , here some notes from the statement written by Alejandra Hernandez Munoz:

To vanish means to disappear, to undergo a process of decaying or finishing. At first, I thought about what could promote or accelerate the corrosion or disintegration of a body: incineration, caustic lime, acid, bacteria, worms. But the bodies, immersed in a liquid texture, do not display any traces of chemical action or deterioration of matter. Therefore, the title of the work made me think of a brand of soap powder well known in Brazil, which promises in its ads to“eliminate all stains, even the most resistant, and make your clothes whiter than the brand most people buy.” In his sense, the series may be regarded as another artistic contribution to what I call “pop lineage of domestic hygiene”, founded in 1924 by Davis with Odol, made big in 1964 with Warhol’s boxes ofBrillo, and currently trivialized with the giveaway cans of Omo designed by Romero Britto. Nonetheless, differently from Odol or Brillo, here not only we see the image of the product Vanish, which could have produced the foam we see in the pictures, but the action is in present continuous tense, vanishing, a progressive, still uncompleted action supported by a narrative sequence of images of objects in a foamy medium.

Augenblick , exhibition : Erwin Olaf at Forma in MIlan

2010-07-15T00:22:00.000+08:00

There are few fashion photographers I like to watch, although i do accept their inevitable usage of photoshop as part of a culture and idea of photography.
Milan celebrate one of the few I like , Erwin Olaf, at Forma , until the 21st of September is possible to admire some interesting photographs. Not to miss.

Augenblick , exhibition : George Georgiou

2010-07-07T05:40:00.000+08:00

I am also happy to introduce George Georgiou which accept to present his work "Fault Lines : Turkey/East/West along with the work of Vanessa Winship to exhibit at the CIAC museum in Foligno as part of the program of Canti&Discanti festival . The two exhibition will be opened on Thursday the 8th of July at 9PM. Here an introduction of the project :
Turkey is a strategically important nation, poised geographically and symbolically between Europe and Asia and is seen as the country that will bridge the gap between East and West.
But Turkey itself is at a crossroads, a crossroads that will define it’s very future. British photographer George Georgiou spent 5 years living in Turkey. Travelling across the country, Georgiou’s photographs explore and question the concept of East/West, the meaning and consequences of modernity and the many complex and contradictory fault lines at play in contemporary Turkey.

Augenblick , exhibition : Vanessa WInship

2010-07-05T22:34:00.005+08:00

I am happy to present Vanessa Winship exhibition "Sweet Nothing" as part of the program of Canti&Discanti world festival in Foligno . I was asked by the organization of the festival to curate photo exhibition with the topic of Turkey and therefore I was pleased that Vanessa accepted to be exhibited. The exhibition will start with an opening at the CIAC Museum in Foligno on thursday 8th of July at 9.30PM

here some note from the series "Sweet Nothing" :

Until very recently many girls in these remote parts never stepped over the doorstep of a school playground. Attitudes about sending girls to schools is a complex mix of reasons, with traditional values being part of that compexity.

Increasingly conscious of this situation, the Turkish government and several other organisations launched a series of campaigns to get more girls into schools.Slowly the numbers of girls enrolling into the schools rose.

I wanted to make a series of portraits these girls on the borderlands. Knowing their status I wanted to give a small space for the girls to have a small moment of importance in front of a camera.

I decided to use this slower, formal way of making the pictures to create this space. Every frame was made at the same distance to ensure a kind of equality to each girl.I hoped symbol of the uniform, the distance in repetition, and the austerity of the landscape would represent one thing, but I also hoped more than anything, in the expressions of the girls faces, to draw attention to the idea of these young girls poised at the moment “just before”. The moment where possibility lies, a time where the presentation of self teeters into consciousness. I asked the group of girls to come forward with their chosen friends or with their sisters. Occasionally they come forward alone. Sometimes I asked to make another frame of an individual girl. The girls were a mix of emotions about this event, this small moment of theatre in front of them. They were excited and curious all at the same time. Many things touched me during the making of these images. I was touched by the gravity in their demeanour at the moment in front of the camera, their fragility, their simplicity, their grace, their closeness to one another, but most of all I was struck by their complete lack of posturing and their complete innocence.

Augenblick , Books : New Photography From China

2010-07-02T09:12:00.001+08:00

Interesting look into modern China by different artists. "New Photography from China" edited by Wu Hung and Christopher Philipps explore the different aspect of Photography also through interesting statements from artist such as Al Weiwel, An Hong, Bai Yilou, Cao Fei and others.
Here a note from Wu Hung
"During the past twenty-five years, Chinese artists have reinvented photography as a art form. Before 1979, and especially during the Cutural Revolution mobilized by Mao Zedong to reinvigorate Communism in China between 1966 and 1976, publications and exhibitions of photographs served strict propagandist purposes; unofficial photography remained private. The apperances of the first unofficial photo club and exhivition in Beijing in 1979 changed this situation fundamentally. Since then, many such clubs have been organized by independent curatiors and artists. In the process, contemporary Chinese artists' use of the medium has evolved from imitating Western styles to developing an original language and character."

Augenblick, Profile : Michele Cera

2010-06-16T07:18:00.000+08:00

The controversial issue NO-Tav (a movement which oppose the construction of a new train line which will connect more rapidly Italy to France) has been faced with a good vision by italian Michele Cera. The series are photographs of composition of landscape affected by the new construction.

Augenblick , Books : Chinese Interior by Robert Van Der Hilst

2010-06-11T10:55:00.001+08:00

Robert Van Der Hilst will introduce his new book Chinese Interior at the Glamour Bar in Shanghai this coming sunday 13th of June. The book is a long term project which has took him to visit many houses and places in China. Is an excellent work which is rare to find among foreigner photographer who visit or live in China.

Augenblick , Exhibition : True Fables Philipp Engelhorn

2010-06-09T11:39:00.000+08:00

True Fables is the name of the exhibition of photos from German Photographer Philipp Engelhorn which will open today at No Borders Gallery in Hong Kong. The event is organized by the Fundraiser Show for Vision First Charity . The exhibition will display photos from different remote countries.

Augenblick , Article : Stanley Wong on CreativeTourist

2010-06-01T07:23:00.000+08:00

Thanks to CreativeTourism.com to let me talk about Stanley Wong essay called "Unfinished Business". Is a project I saw some time ago and that I wanted to talk but the article from Kate Feld explained it more carefully.
here some note from Kate Feld:
In the late nineties, artist Stanley Wong often stayed in a hotel in Guangzhou whose rooms offered an unusual view: it was right next to a tall building that had been abandoned just weeks before completion. Whenever he stayed there, Wong would find himself staring out of the window, admiring its stark, postmodern lines and wondering what had happened. Over the next few years, as the country’s economy slowed and the frenzied property market began to collapse, Wong started to see more of these abandoned building projects in China. They became known as lan wei – decaying ends, buildings inexplicably aborted before completion, their owners overextended or mired in shady business dealings. In Hainan alone, some 16.3 million square meters of building space was left unfinished in 1998. And as the bust spread out across Asia, so did thelan wei. They seemed to say something compelling about society, so Wong began a project focused around them. He started with the building that had noticed first, photographing it and trying to uncover its full story.

Augenblick, Exhibition : Xu Peiwu in Dragons horses spirits and Gods

2010-05-21T09:37:00.000+08:00

Beaugeste Gallery, perhaps one of the best in Shanghai Scene will introduce a new exhibition of Xu Peiwu’s photo “DRAGONS HORSES SPIRITS and GODS". Here the words of presentation from curator Jean Loh :
“Dragons, Horses, Spirits & Gods, an Alpa diary” is an original photographic essay, in which critically acclaimed urban landscape photographer Xu Peiwu, sought out the invisible and the intangible spirits that have disappeared from our naked eye, amidst the accelerated urbanization of our living environment. Baudelaire’s “Painter of Modern Life” would have agreed with this pursuit of a philosophical imagination that makes the beauty of a modern black & white landscape even more striking and meaningful. 著名城市景观摄影师许培武的“龍，馬，精，神----阿尔帕日记”是一本超凡的攝影散文，探索今日我们生活环境加快城市化进程中，从我们的肉眼裏消失了的无形精神。像波德萊爾的“現代生活畫家”，許培武所追求的哲學想象力，使一組現代化的黑白風景攝影，顯示的更引人注目和更有意義。
Opening on the 22nd of May.

Augenblick - Profile : Simon Larbalestier

2010-05-17T12:08:00.000+08:00

British Photographer Simon Larbalestier has produced interesting fine art work and contributed to many cover of American Alternative Rock band "The Pixies".The work is also exhibited at the Snap Gallery in London until the 29th of May. Many interesting works from his galleries and also the Pixies Minotaur Limited Edition Box set which combine high quality photos and great design. I choose a portrait of "Spike" , the dog....

Augenblick, Exhibition : Juliana Beasley at Image Singulieres

2010-05-13T10:33:00.000+08:00

Juliana Beasley will present her new work at Image Singulieres in Séte, France . I am a big fan of Juliana's work and I will prepare an interview with her as soon we will both have time to talk more about her work and and her life which are often linked together. The project is a result of a residency where she has produced great images which ended up in a book called "Juliana Beasley, Séte #10"
The festival will introduce also many other photographers such as Jacob Holdt, Lars Tunbjörk, Chris Anderson and some others.
Here an introduction from the project written by Christian Caujolle :
Juliana Beasley, heir to a tradition of American photography (Arbus or Goldin), is interested in life on the margins. She is currently working in the deprived neighbourhood of Rockaway in New York, documenting a small community of destitute and forgotten whites. Before that, we learned of her through her 2003 book Lap Dance, a real journey into the world of striptease. But here in Sète, Juliana trains her lens on a city and its culture. More than that, she discovers the south itself! It was a journey of adventure for her, not without its challenges, given the divide between old Europe and America today. Her residency resulted in a book, the third in an exciting collection also featuring those by Anders Petersen and Bertrand Meunier. A different kind of book, revealing a different kind of Sète, full of baroque interiors and unusual stories.
13 MAY till 09 JULY Paul-Valéry Museum «Beyond The Walls» salle Tarbouriech

Augenblick, Exhibition : Fleeting Landscape by Rosa Chen

2010-05-10T09:59:00.001+08:00

Rosa Chen will exhibit her series "Fleeting Landscape" at Cafe Zarah in Beijing . I am happy to post this , Rosa has been an important help for my projects here in Shanghai, she is a very passionate photographer and this is her first Exhibition which I hope it will be a big success.
If you are in Beijing please visit the cafe' which is an interesting meeting point for Photographic exhibitions curated by Julia Hoffman and Zhang Lin.
Here the statement of the work which will be displayed from the 8th of May, Cafe Zariah Gulou Dongdajie no 42 Dongcheng District Beijing - (北京市东城区鼓楼东大街42号) Tel 010-84039807):
This Series of Photographer are " fleeting landscapes", which had been taken with hope to hold memories of the in between places on the way to somewhere. This idea of captureing a memory is a failure. In the end there is not place and person name to remember, only a nostalgic feeling lingers and the landscape is gone forever.

Augenblick , Profile : Dubravka Vidovic at European Photography Festival

2010-05-07T08:58:00.000+08:00

Croatian Dubravka Vidović is an artist ranging from Installation to Photography. She is currently exhibiting at the "Incanto" at the European Photography 2010 in Reggio Emilia (Italy) curated by Elio Grazioli and Gigliola Foschi, presenting her series of photos realized during a travel in India, in Rajasthan, that compose an imaginary landscape where the main element is water and coloured plastic buckets in a hostile sorroundings. She have worked on the images before taking the shots, arranging installations that transfigure the world in a poetic, playful deliberately utopian way. Landscape is not only a objective phenomenon, but a new and personal place.
"She set out the containers directly into the Rajastan landscape, she chose some places, and then arranged plastic buckets to create a figurative composition, and at the same time they become elements of her story about the water. They appear like silent colorfull points among a field surrounded by ruins; they hang like unlikely fruits from a feathery tree in the desert; they invade a half-destroyed shelter, surrounded by the Pespi logo; they take the place of the elements of an old watermill. They seem to wait the rain, or to be brought to a spring to “water”. There is a dry poetry in these pictures that are telling about the essence of life, about its fragility and its hardness. In the care for humility of the things, even the poorest as the more anonimous, Dubravka catches the birth of the shape with a steady hand, to photography and drawn it. Through the living landscapes of the boxed sea and these installations in the nature, the connection with art appears: to represent the real and its invisible relations with the perception, to identify a shape to grasp the experience of the world and its perpetual transformation."
Curator Francesca Pasini for solo show "Boxed Sea" at Gallery Artopia in MilanHere the statement presentation of the exhibition written from curator Gigliola Foschi:
"The images do not deny reality, nor do they remove the pain of it, but they are able to capture things differently in that they are sustained by the need to be fuelled by imagination, hope and engaged attention. In the works of the authors displayed at this exhibit there are no flights towards gratuitous worlds of the imagination. Reality is there, before their eyes, but it is given renewed vibrancy by the affective or imaginary dimension of their way of looking at it. Through extremely diversified visual or design strategies, with the power to effect a kind of sideways shift or displacement of what we normally see, the works become spaces of discovery and enchantment in which reality no longer appears in its “opaqueness”, but opens up to a hidden and evocative dimension instead. Some of the authors have worked on the images before taking the shots, arranging performances or installations that transfigure the world in a poetic, playful or deliberately utopian way. Others use a close up shot or a view dilated in time to transform fragments of reality (a donkey's face, a ship model in a bottle, a simple room, a landscape, an old photograph) into mysterious apparitions or presences suspended in time, stirring the viewer's imagination."

Augenblick , Magazine : Bite Magazine

2010-05-06T09:16:00.000+08:00

Regina Anzenberger will curate and present the works of 7 different photographers at Bite Magazine . The online magazine formerly called The Blacksnapper is supported by the Dutch Doc (portal for documentary photography of the Fund for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture).
I am honored to be part of the presentation with my essay on the UK Pavilion at Expo done with my iphone (and no photoshop) . Here the Presentation written by Regina Anzenberger on the Project :
A hedgehog in the dark of the night? Photographed in the style of Fritz Lang’s films of the 30ies. Iphone and polaroid makes it possible. A courageous step in direction of finding a new picture language according to new technology and internet standards. Is this the future of photography? Well, I like it. Easy, creative and good looking. Small and pretty fine art works in pinhole optic. Ready to get printed on fine art paper and sold to collectors who like contemporary art.

Augneblick , Profile : You Li

2010-05-05T08:36:00.001+08:00

Chinese photographer You Li has produced some good photos of landscape in China. Despite her folio has still no much of a line (no text and no direction somehow) there is a good attempt to look at his own country .

Augenblick, Exhibition : Square of Rome at Moca Shanghai

2010-05-03T07:16:00.003+08:00

Achille Bonito Oliva together with Cecilia Casorati curated a exhibition called Squares of Rome where different italian photographer were assigned to shoot in different location of the eternal City. Good result and especially interesting to look at Gabriele Basilico or Olivero Barbero among the other here at Moca in Shanghai. Here a note from the curators:
Over the course of time the square has had various functions and signs, yet, it has always maintained as a constant its attitude of welcoming together and generating connections and correspondence of people. In Italy, the square had its beginnings at the start of the Middle Ages as the courtyard to the Cathedral or as the open space placed before the civil authorities and it thus became the barycentre of the development of the cities. It is with Michelangelo, but especially with Bernini, that the square assumes the modern characteristics as a place of relation between the urban structure and the architectural solution. The Baroque square, through the continuous exchange between external and internal, plays upon artifice: it is the stage for the representation of reality, work of art one may move through, symbol of opening towards the world. The fountains, the statues the monuments - located within the square - activate continual and suprising references to one another and they set the seal upon this new vision. Squares of Rome, by means of the placement of twenty large-format works of photographic art - that present a modern image of the most eloquent squares of Rome - and with the same number of sculptures, re-proposes the idea of the square as the space of dialogue and dynamic fulcrum of relations.

Augenblick, Magazine : Urbanautica

2010-05-02T08:26:00.000+08:00

I always keep an eye on Urbanautica, a web zine which display interesting photography, Thanks Steve Bisson for the dedication and commitment . Here some words from him about Urbanautica:
Urbanautica is a research platform centered on photography and the human landscape. A navigation by sight, a trip around the ideas, people and what makes them part of nature and the world. Established through a website with the aim of promoting a critical reflection on “social organization, cities, territories, planet”, the site has already received significant recognition among photographers, magazines, blogs and websites from all over the world. Each month Urbanautica publishs a selection of international photographers who have developed artistic research topics and fine art works that concern landscape, urban transformations, habitat, pollution, abandoned places and our relationship with nature.

Augenblick , Profile : Peter Dixie

2010-04-29T08:08:00.001+08:00

British Photographer Peter Dixie has explored the new "borders" of Shanghai by shooting photographs of each end of the metro stations.The project is called 上海Hinterland Since I visited Shanghai for the first time ten years ago around 11 metro lines has been completed giving a different shape of urban settlements. I want to present his work on the eve of the Shanghai Expo which will open his gate on the 1st of May.
Here the Introduction of the work by Peter Dixie :
Each metro station acts as a locus of development. Around these nodes cluster shops, restaurants and other small businesses, nearby are residential neighbourhoods. Within the city these run together forming a solid continuum. As the city expands the nodes become more distant, space opens up between them and this space is by its very nature ambiguous. Villages pre-dating the city are slowly surrounded, incorporated, cannibalised and replaced, industry sits side by side with the remnants of farmland and homes, pockets of wasteland are interspersed allowing birds and other wildlife a refuge and providing space for spontaneous and informal land use.
From each metro station occupying the terminal position on a line one can wander quickly into these areas of collision and flux. It is those landscapes that are represented here

Augenblick, Blog on photography - Books : Somewhere there's music by Larry Fink

2010-04-20T09:17:00.000+08:00

Beautiful book on Jazz by Larry Fink, the book offers a great view of photos from different Jazz musicians , here the introduction by George Panichas:
Larry Fink secured enduring fame with the book Social Graces, which mixed images from working-class Pennsylvania with a portfolio from upper-crust Manhattan, observing manners and mores on the long, curvy couches of Studio 54 and in the chaos of Pat Sabatine’s eighth birthday party, where the screen door is always just about to slam. Fink has always been interested in what high and low culture have to say to one another, and has continued to seek the best of both behind the scenes at fashion shows in Runway and in the ring with sparring fighters in Boxing.Somewhere There’s Music collects Fink’s mostly-unpublished black-and-white jazz photographs from the 1950s to the late 1970s. In these photos Fink captures the cool heights of the Beat era, from Harlem’s famous Lennox Lounge, where the reader can almost hear John Coltrane serenading with his sax, to the Village Vanguard, where Sonny Rollins and Miles Davis made history. Other legends captured by Fink’s lens include Marion Brown, Roland Kirk, Steve Lacey, Leroy Jenkins (Revolutionary Ensemble), Archie Shepp and Lightning Hopkins, among many others. Sit back and be transported to another time with the hip cats of the jazz era in this passionate book featuring more than 80 duotone prints.

Augenblick , Exhibition : Yongkang Lu Art

2010-04-16T09:51:00.000+08:00

I will exhibit 3 prints from my series on Chinese Cosplayer at the new renovated area of Yonkang road in a group exhibition . The opening will include three spaces in the same road
and all the exhibitions are curated by Zane Mellupe which is also presenting some artwork.
here the introduction of the exhibitions with the list of people who will present their work:

Asphalt Concrete at Yonkang Lu Openings (three galleries show in one road)
At Yongkang lu Art 83
Who pays the hidden costs of growth?
This exhibition explores in detail the pressures put on individuals, families and communities through different artistic mediums, and from local and foreign artist’s perspectives. From recent scandals to ever present problems, the artist unique approach tells us for once in a while to take a deep breath and consider where we currently stand.
The exhibition presents:
Lei Hua (CN), Sha Qin (CN) , Virginie Lerouge Knight (FR) ,Wang Lin (CN) , Daniele Mattioli (IT)
Zane Mellupe (LV) , Kaspars Podnieks (LV) , Krišs Salmanis (LV) , Rose Tang (CN)
curated by Zane Mellupe

C Individuals by Christophe Demaitre and Christin Kalweit
At Yongkang Lu Art 72 YK art space
C individuals - sea individuals - see individuals - is an exhibition of the artworks of Christophe Demaitre (Be) and Christin Kalweit (De). The exhibition reveals two different approaches of the perception of interaction between an individual and a crowd. Christophe has focused his work on portraying the crowd as a singular individual mass. The principal of his vision is to suggest that all individual elements assume equal importance. There is no central control and no autonomy within his composition. Christin’s work is highlighting the different individual emotional relationships that occur within a confluence. She draws particular attention to the unique elements of the singular individual, whether it is their emotions, mood, behavior or creations. She reveals the interaction between the singular entities in order to show the greater unity.curated by Zhu Ye and Zane Mellupe

aQuarium by Liu Dao
At Yongkang Lu Art 47

island6 shack
“Shush” she said and met herself for the 1389th time.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Book : Andy Warhol in China

2010-04-16T09:06:00.000+08:00

Andy Warhol in China is a book with pictures from the visit of the American Artist in China.
A short note from Publisher:
A documentation of Andy Warhol's 1982 visit to China, this volume offers a unique glimpse of the international pop star by Christopher Makos, his personal photographer. With the advantage of hindsight, this volume becomes complexly ironic-in China in the 80s, almost no one knew who Warhol was. Just a few decades later, in 2006, Warhol's 1972 'Mao' sold for $17.4 million to a Hong Kong real estate tycoon. And Chinese artists have, for years, been incorporating Western pop iconography into their work. Photographer Christopher Makos became known in the 1970s for his candid shots of Warhol. Henry Geldzahler, the former Curator of Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has written: 'It is a great asset in Chris Makos' photographs that they reveal new and unfamiliar faces of the legendary pop figure...'
Photographs of Christopher Makos. Foreword by Ai Weiwei.

Augenblick , Magazine : Monu , Real Urbanism

2010-04-14T09:16:00.001+08:00

I am not the first one who discover how Dutch are ahead in any form of visual and design art. Not only by the fact that here in Shanghai there is a big effort in promoting the design and architecture by renting the beautiful space at 800Show (Changde road ) but also the many publications and people involved . Today I will speak about Monu Magazine , real Urbanism, the magazine profiled an visual and written idea of modern urbanization creating a platform for artist, photographers , designer and architect focusing in key topics which are matter of discussion for a better idea of a city. I have looked into some names and some good photography in it . It is a Bi - Annual publication.

Augenblick, Books : Shanghai : a History in Photographs, 1842 - Today

2010-04-10T08:11:00.000+08:00

I will attend the launch of the Book : Shanghai : a History in Photographs, 1842 - Today and the speech of Karen Smith which together with Pulitzer Winner Shing Heung Liu have worked in compiling a remarkable collection of Photographs of the Chinese Metropole. I am also proud to be part of this collection with a contribution of 2 photographs from my archive on Shanghai. Here the note from the publisher Penguin :
Shanghai is a visual history that tells the story of modern China as witnessed by this romantic city. The end of the Opium Wars in 1842 effected a dramatic transformation, turning a sleepy backwater into a bustling treaty port. Over the intervening 160 years, Shanghai has been shaped by outside forces - foreign concessions, Japanese invasions, the arrival of the Communists and the cult of Mao, they have all played their part in sculpting today's Shanghai. China's turbulent history is traced through Shanghai's evocative, beautiful, and sometimes painful images. As we reach the present day with its helter-skelter development, lavish wealth is juxtaposed against grinding poverty, and documented through the lenses of Shanghai's most important contemporary artists. Told through rare official archive photographs, images taken from private collections, new commissions, and co-author Liu Heung Shing's own work,Shanghai is the definitive history of the most beautiful of China's cities. Shanghaiwill be available in both hardcover and paperback, and will be for sale inside the Shanghai hall of the World Expo 2010

Augenblick, Books : Wien 2 by Annelies Oberdanner

2010-04-08T21:25:00.000+08:00

A book on Vienna, city where I lived for 6 years. Always good to look at the many interpretation and views of the city. This time from the book "WIen 2" by Annelies Oberdanner.
Here the presentation of the book from the publisher:
Photographer Annelies Oberdanner’s second book of images of Vienna, this volume deepens her exploration of this magical city, delving even further into its color and atmosphere. At first glance, Oberdanner’s photos seem to be telling only part of the story, but they reveal a mystery as the viewer studies each image. Don’t expect picture-postcard scenes: she focuses on non-descript areas of town, looking behind the obvious facades at the surprising beauty of bare-branched trees mantled in snow, a potted plant abandoned on a sidewalk, high-rises sprouting from rubble. These unembellished, almost casual, scenes give a truer portrait of Vienna than any glossy guidebook.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Aria Hyytiainem

2010-04-01T23:43:00.000+08:00

I really like the work of Finnish photographer Aria Hyytiainem, Check it out.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography - Profile : Hiroshi Watanabe on Suo Sarumawashi

2010-03-30T09:20:00.001+08:00

Again I am talking of Japanese Photographer Hiroshi Watanabe, is perhaps one of my favorite . Previously i have talked about his project "Ideology in Paradise" done in North Korea and now I will post something of his project "Suo Sarumawashi" . The series of portrait of "Dancing Monkey" are stunning .
Here the statement from the artist :
Sarumawashi, literally "monkey dancing" evolved over a 1000-year history in Japan. Ancient Japanese chronicles refer to it as a form of religious ritual designed to protect the horses of warriors. It later developed into a popular form of festival entertainment, and was performed all over Japan from temples to imperial courts. Today, Sarumawashi is ranked alongside Noh and Kabuki as one of the oldest and most traditional of Japan's performing arts. It features acrobatic stunts and comedic skits performed by highly trained macaque monkeys.
Despite its current popularity, Sarumawashi almost perished in the 1970's. The increasing urbanization of Japan and the rise of the automobile on Japan's crowded city streets threatened Sarumawashi's place in Japanese culture as a popular form of street performance. In 1977 a group of individuals throughout Japan, fearing the total demise of this ancient art form, gathered to effect the revival of Sarumawashi. They founded the Suo Sarumawashi association in present day Hikari City (also known by its ancient name of Suo) in Yamaguchi Prefecture in Western Japan. After a series of setbacks, the Suo Sarumawashi Association finally succeeded in bringing Sarumawashi back to life. Today the association in partnership with the Murasaki Corporation runs two 600 Seat Sarumawashi Theaters, one based in Kumamoto Prefecture and the other in Yamanashi Prefecture near the base of Mt. Fuji. The Suo Sarumawashi performing group also tours frequently throughout Japan.
The reason for Sarumawashi's ongoing popularity lies in the charm and agility of the Japanese macaque monkey. Sarumawashi showcases the natural physical prowess of the Japanese monkey by combining acrobatic stunts with comical skits and dances. The monkey and trainer perform as one unit to create a bond between man and primate

Augenblick , Profile : Simone De Iacobis

2010-03-26T00:06:00.000+08:00

Magic Realism, a new Skyline for Rome is the last project from photographer and Architect Simone De Iacobis. The work features on Monu Magazine it is a view into the delicate new Urbanization of Rome by the new plan which has built many satellite district around the city. The project is a series of portraits of people within their Urban contest. A different way to see Rome for those who think about the beautiful ancient and historical buildings.
Here some sentences from the statement of the project :
On the 13 February 2008, while the council of Rome approved the new master plan, a new urbanism season started for the eternal town, a season of a new deal between private and public interests. In this context, thanks to a planning instrument called “Accordo di Programma”, the real estate companies can be allowed to duplicate future building surfaces in exchange for something “useful” for the public community.
The companies are owners of strategically located land for the expansion of the city, so they often offer money to contribute to building new infrastructures such as underground lines, streets, etc… to connect these new areas with the rest of the town. In so doing, the council of Rome relinquishes this land, square meters that were supposed to be offices and services for the inhabitants of the district.
But which kind of companies are these? What are their aspirations?
Talking to TV journalist, Mr Scarpellini, who is building 1milion cubic meters in Rome, explains “this is like a game” - a game that we imagine involves a lot of work, risk and sometimes problems with legal issues – “a lot of people ask me: why are you doing this, if that makes you live as a poor man?”

Augenblick, Profile : Zane Mellupe

2010-03-24T09:40:00.000+08:00

Latvian Photographer and Artist Zane Mellupe has produced an interesting project called Found Family. The project done in Shanghai represent some "official" photos taken to a family which she has printed by negatives she found on the street.
Here more on the work :
Found Family is a series of work, where the photos are printed from negatives that among many others have been found along the alleys of Shikumen ruins. The act of finding appears random, but randomness is what this work is partly about when talking about arranged marriage, one child policy and the pressure from society to have both fulfilled. Calling it "Found Family" is an act of enforcement where the individual appears to be helpless in front of the family, society and government.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Francois Coquerel

2010-03-22T08:37:00.000+08:00

I like the portraiture series from French Photographer Francois Coquerel .

Augenblick , Publication : Zing Magazine

2010-03-19T08:59:00.000+08:00

Zing Magazine is a free magazine to pick in Shanghai. Is a good magazine which can help perhaps some foreigner to have a better culture in Photography. Promoted by Xintiandi management (a rich area for expats and rich chinese) has always layout some interesting photographers and text which is something rare here in Shanghai. In the current edition an article on Li Wei , in the past photographers such as Alessandra Sanguinetti, Andres Gonzales and many other.

Augenblick , Exhibition : Rafal Milach - Black Sea of Concrete

2010-03-17T10:49:00.000+08:00

Black Sea of Concrete if one of the latest project by Rafal Milach, the project which has won the Photography Book Now will be exhibited as solo Exhibition at Yours Gallery in Warsaw (Poland). I already spoke of Rafal on his "7 rooms" Russian Project when it was exhibited at the Pingyao Festival in 2009 and I will speak more later on (I am preparing an interview with Rafal) . The opening will be on the 18th of March , if you pass by dont miss it.

Augenblick, Blog on photography : Profile, Jessica Roberts

2010-03-15T08:37:00.000+08:00

Jessica Roberts has focused on childhood through interesting portraits. I like the series Before the Coming.

Augenblick , Exhibition : Michael Horowitz

2010-03-12T09:36:00.000+08:00

Austrian Photographer Michael Horowitz will present his collection of portraits at Anzenberger Gallery in Vienna. His portraits includes authors like Thomas Bernhard, Elias Canetti and actor like Klaus Maria Brandauer and a curious photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger at Famous Cafe Hawelka done in 1975.
Starting of exhibition will be on the 15th of March at Zeinlhofergasse 7 in Vienna

Augenblick, Profile : Man Yi

2010-03-10T09:15:00.000+08:00

Well I keep tell to Man Yi to edit better his work (non only)... In any case I saw some good work among the many different and disorganized material which he showed me some time ago. Man Yi (editor of most clicked photography portal in China , Xitek.com ) is shooting with a pure instinct with his Leica and has something to develop for the future.

Augenblick , Profile : Fabio Barile

2010-03-08T09:57:00.000+08:00

I like the series -"Diary n. 0 - things that do not happen" from Italian Fabio Barile.

Augenblick , Exhibition : Marc Riboud Retrospective in Shanghai

2010-03-05T09:23:00.000+08:00

Marc Riboud will be back in his beloved China to attend a big retrospective on his work at the Shanghai Art Museum which will open this coming week end. The Retrospective is a combined work curated by Li Ning and Jean Loh.
here a note from the press release :
A magnificent retrospective of the great French photographer Marc Riboud opens on the 6th of March at the Shanghai Art Museum. Composed of 130 classic dark room prints, with half of them about China, and including previously unpublished pictures, this exhibition showcases the Best-Of of Marc Riboud’s 50-year of photographic career. Featuring the personal style of the man who has “a compass in the eye “according to Cartier-Bresson, the carefully selected works demonstrate what makes Marc Riboud release the shutter: above all instinct, sensation, intuition and the pleasure of the eye.
"Beautiful picture bothers me, although I too fell into that trap. If we think too much about the form, you risk falling into a beautiful, well done, whereas photography is about changes; the instinctive moment, the snapshot. " Affectionately dubbed Ma-Ke-Lv-Bu by his Chinese peers and admirers, this great lover of China which he has visited over twenty times, is coming back at 87 years old for this unique occasion, where the audience will discover his “icons” that retrace his career in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, America & Asia, such as the painter of the Eiffel Tower, the flower girl’s face-off with the gun-toting soldiers and his memorable Yellow Mountain landscapes.

Augenblick , Profile : Ann Woo

2010-03-03T10:03:00.000+08:00

Hong Kong Artist Ann Woo mixing portraits and landscapes with some interesting series on different sunsets . I like the portrait "Tara" which I am also using in this post.

Augenblick , Profile : Özant Kamaci

2010-03-01T09:08:00.001+08:00

Turkish Photographer Özant Kamaci has produced a series of photographs of planes and nature. The short but great selection included "Pause" and "Landing" from which I choose the opening of this article and the statement from the artist:
"Landing' is an exploration of the human connection to landscape and machines. The series depicts a visual interruption of the pastoral landscape. Man observes the machine in admiration and awe. The medium of photography captures the interruption on two levels: the interruption of the descending plane across the untouched pastoral landscape and the interruption of man’s admiration of the machine as more akin to the admiration of nature or creation versus a manufactured object"

Augenblick, Blog on Photography - Profile : Anna Kharina

2010-02-26T09:05:00.001+08:00

I like the portraits from Russian Anna Kharina, there is not much on the web apart her flickr collection and an article on feaverish Photography Blog.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography, Books : The Face of Forgiveness

2010-02-24T08:37:00.000+08:00

The Face of Forgiveness is an excellent book as a result of a project which took american photographer Steven Katzman in different places shooting the cult of religion on the matter of forgiveness. Here the introduction of the book:
Prayer is an interesting social phenomenon. At the basis of every major religion is found the admonishment to 'turn to God' and offer prayer. In that abstract sense it is universally upheld around the globe. But the particular manifestations of prayer-how groups of people have defined for themselves the proper practice of it-are wildly diverse. For some, it is an extremely private act, something to be performed in the privacy of one's own chambers. For others, though, the act of praying in public, in a group setting, is an intensely confirming experience. Katzman's photographs bear witness to this. Working with a flash equipped hand held 35mm camera, Katzman has frequented the prayer/revival meetings of western Florida, in particular the Brownsville community. The specific congregations are Southern Baptist; sociologically they are racially and economically diverse. But to look at this body of work objectively, from a position of distance, as though we are to 'learn' about a culture foreign to us, is to miss the uniqueness of the project. What Katzman offers is a view from someone who is part of the community, a participant, a 'believer' so-to-speak. This necessarily raises numerous questions. How does this affect his photographic abilities or sensibilities? And further, what can photographs tell us of an abstract, interior, spiritual experience (as prayer must surely be defined)? If nothing more, I can at least guarantee that this book will raise more questions than not, and that no two people will get the same thing from this body of work

Augenblick - Profile : Frauke Thielking

2010-02-21T09:12:00.001+08:00

German Photographer Frauke Thielking has worked in a project while visiting China by photographing people in uniforms and putting herself in the middle in a "camouflauge" attempt. Is a funny project called "My name is Frauke but you can call me Flauke" .
Here a statement on the Project :
Uniformity, integration and role taking are the thematic levels of this project, which has been developed during a workshop and cultural exchange program between the University of Applied Sciences Dortmund, Germany, and the Tshinghua University, Academy of Arts and Design, Beijing, China.
The concentration is on professional groups wearing uniforms who were portrayed in a group picture and me myself was part of this staging. For a limited time, I took the role of a waitress, a construction worker, a stuart, a High School student and a security guard and I posed with the respective uniform in this group picture.The integration of myself is favoured by the uniformity; if you look closer there is an irritation due to ethnical differences.The putative uniformity is questioned in depth, because every single picture allows looking for differences regarding the body language and other outer signs of people.
“We are all different“ - the uniformed people grow to individual personalities.

Frauke will also be part in a group exhibition at Raum.201 in Essen which will open today.

Augenblick , Blog on photography - My Blog

2010-02-19T08:54:00.003+08:00

I started to write this blog exactly one year ago , 18th february 2009, I started to write because I wanted to use it a reminder and as an educational tool for myself...
It has been a good tool for me and perhaps for some others. Well my written english did not improved... but more than 200 articles is at least a good rate of posting which has enriched Augenblick to a surprising good number of people who, daily , come to visit the blog.
It is not an easy task, looking at articles, photographers and choosing the right event to publish and in the meantime following my profession of editorial and corporate photographer.. but it is worth to keep posting. I discovered many things this year , that kept me away from the isolation derived by living in China. I never activated the comments box in my blog but I do have some feedback and discussion in my facebook page where my posts are automatically appearing.
For the cover of this post i choose a new photo from my never ending project on Chinese Cosplayer - Fallen Angels of China.
Thanks to all for the many visitors that have a look at my blog, it is a success if I think that in China blogspot is censured .. I am pretty sure I would have even double visitors without this censorship..

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Book : The Chinese

2010-02-12T08:58:00.000+08:00

Approaching Chinese New Year in China is like to look at a picture , elements of happiness but also element of movements , people reaching their homes , 700 millions of people on the road. China is a different "world" and perhaps hard to describe , also photographically speaking only Chinese can describe better themselves, the book "The Chinese" from Liu Zheng is a good project in that sense, showing the diversity of the society of this immense country.
Here a small introduction of the book from essay of Christopher Phillips and Gu Zheng:
In 1994, Chinese artist Liu Zheng conceived of an ambitious photographic project called The Chinese, which occupied him for seven years and carried him throughout China. Inspired by the examples of August Sander and Diane Arbus, he has captured a people and country in a unique time of great flux, providing a startling vision of the deep-rooted historical forces and cultural attitudes that continue to shape China and its people. Liu seeks out moments in which archetypal Chinese characters are encountered in extreme and unexpected situations. His photographs are divided among a number of topics which betray a dark vision, albeit one that is laced with mordant humor. His main subjects to date have included street eccentrics, homeless children, transvestite performers, provincial drug traffickers, coal miners, Buddhist monks, prison inmates, Taoist priests, waxwork figures in historical museums, and the dead and dying. This is the first monograph of his work to appear outside of China and will accompany Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, a major exhibition at the International Center of Photography, New York.

Augenblick, blog on Photography : Profile - Pablo Chiereghin

2010-02-10T09:43:00.002+08:00

Italian Pablo Chiereghin has produced different projects using photography as media . He is currently exhibiting in Vienna at the "Das Weisse Haus" presenting his latest "HI I'am Pablo Chiereghin I come from Adria". I like to post a photo from his concept "Birthday Suit" done in London where he has paid people to have a photo done by him while naked, here the statement of this project :
Birthday Suit is photographic action project that explores social acting boundaries. People have been paid to have portrait taken by a nude photographer, who stood inside a gallery shop window in a central street of London. Playing with voyeuristic attitudes and exploring cause-effect interactions of the photographic medium, Birthday Suit reveals, through models eyes, the nudity that is on the other side of the camera. The situational agreement is a dualism of power: the artist seduces the model engaging him in a voyeuristic situation where the spectator has a strong advantage: being dressed. On the other hand, the photographer has the power to determine the situation through the photographs. When the shutter opens, it is the spectator that suddenly looks naked.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Yijun Liao

2010-02-08T20:37:00.001+08:00

Shanghai born Yijun Liao got sick of being a graphich designer and ended up in an MFA in Memphis where she develop her talent for photography. She has produced interesting topics such as Stills from Unseen Film and Experimental Relationship. Have a look.

Augenblick, Blog on photography - Auction : Shijuku 1965-97 by Katsumi Watanabe

2010-02-05T09:06:00.000+08:00

I like to follow auction , especially on fine art photography, prints and rare books, reason is not because i can effort to buy some of these precious stuff but because is interesting to see how good photography can reset his value with years. Bad photography is often forgotten, used for one or two publication, perhaps fashionable photo editor who were able to make it famous for a couple of years and then out of fashion and not good anymore...
I was looking at this rare book of Japanese Photographer Katsumi Watanabe Shinjuku 1965-97 which has been put it on sale with an opening Bid of 150 dollars, I don't know how ended up (by the time i am scheduling this post the auction is still on ) .
Here a brief description of the book :
The subjects in Watanabe's photographs are the prostitutes, street people, Drag Queens, entertainers and gangsters (Yakuza) that populated Tokyo's notorious Shinjuku district at night. Essentially, Watanabe made his living by selling the photographs to his subjects. He would offer three prints for 200 yen. A modest gentleman, Watanabe had a keen sensitivity to the natural posturing of his subjects which allowed them to uninhibitedly reveal their identities. He saw Shinjuku as a kind of stage and his photographs as documents the performers.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Alison Brady

2010-02-03T09:43:00.000+08:00

Alison Brady explore women's world through some staged situation. Here the explanation from her Bio :

My work is a series of color photographs that work to stimulate unconscious emotions, desires, and sexual compulsions, all unified within a dynamic that vacillates between the real and the fantasized. I explore issues related to madness and alienation as they exist in contemporary culture, concentrating on expressions of neurosis, on feelings of anxiety, displacement, and loss of identity.These emotions are depicted in terms of visual conflict through my imagery, and manifested in terms of grotesque exaggeration. While investigating issues related to the unconscious, elements such as eroticism, twisted humor, and horror come across. I strive to create dichotomies between the sensual and the horrific, the beautiful and the destructive; the result, I hope, is a body of work comprised of deeply emotional and disturbing depictions of the unknown, staged imagery that functions on a metaphorical level, and inanimate objects and settings serving to illustrate the inner workings of the unconscious.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Riitta Päiväläinen

2010-02-01T09:40:00.002+08:00

February is the month where Winter is going to speak its last word, it warns us that might be not over but that spring will arrive soon. I always loved the idea that is a short month to live and therefore make me feel positive that is over soon... well I went to look at some series on winter to put it as first post of this february 2010 and I found the interesting project from Finnish Riitta Päiväläinen . The series are different photo of clothes on the snowy landscape. I added her thoughts in this post :
Several years ago, an old black dress made of velvet caught my attention in a second-hand shop. I examined the garment carefully. There was no label. The style of the dress was from the twenties. The seams revealed the dress was handmade. The owner of the shop told me that she had bought it in Paris. I tried the dress on and it fitted me perfectly. I became intrigued by the history of the dress. Who was the woman who had had the dress made? What was her life story? Our daily life is full of history. I am fascinated by the history that you cannot find in library books, official files or archives. This "unwritten history" surrounds me all the time. I can feel its presence in various ways: as a rip in a coat; as a place worn thin in an armchair; as a light footprint on an inner sole of a shoe. The main theme and primary driving force of my work is my interest in old clothing. In my photographs, I use discarded clothes from second-hand shops and flea markets. I am interested in old garments, because they carry silent, unknown stories and histories. The unavoidable fact that I will never know the actual stories and personal histories connected with the clothes arouses my curiosity. The clothes remain silent withholding their secrets. Little by little, personal histories are absorbed into the collective history. Who or what is historically remarkable enough to be recorded or remembered. I do not want to emphasise the historical significance or the importance of remembering everybody and everything. As much as I need to remember, I need to be able to forget. The idea of having only "one historical truth" would not make alternative truths possible. In this sense, forgetting can be regarded as a positive potential. Instead of thinking what or who we have lost, I want, through my photography, to concentrate on what is still to be found. For me, a piece of clothing represents, above all, its former wearer. It tells you that somebody has been present. However, the person who wore it is now gone. The faded colours and tears in the fabric show the signs of the time passed. By freezing the garment or letting the wind fill it with air, I am able to create a sculptural space, which reminds me of its former user. This "Imaginary Meeting" represents, for me, the subtle distinction between absence and presence. In the series "Wind","Structura" and "Camouflage" landscape plays an essential role. Landscape is not only a topographical, objective phenomenon. For me, it is personal and subjective. Working with a landscape means going into it: experiencing and sensing the place. When I place clothes into a landscape, I create an installation. In this sense, landscape can be considered as a stage. Bringing these two elements (landscape and clothes) together, I create a dialogue - an interaction. My aim is to suggest and bring forth potential stories, mental images and associations.

Augenblick, Blog on photography - Exhibition : New Slovak Photography

2010-01-29T09:37:00.001+08:00

An exibition on "New Slovak Photography" will open on the 1st of February at the Anzenberger Gallery in Vienna. There will be showcased photographers such as Andrej Balco, Martin Kollar, Symon Kliman , Lucia Nimcova, Viktor Szemzö, Juraj Chlpik, Jana Ilkova, Petra Cepkova, Marek Kvetan.
Here the statement presentation of the exhibition written from curator Lucia L. Fiserova :
The exhibition „New Slovak Photography“ is a free continuation of the two shows on Slovak photography organized by the association FOTOFO – „Contemporary Slovak Photography“ and „Young Slovak Photography“ – these were mapping changing forms of this medium in the course of the 90’s. The current exhibition offers an overview of the situation in the Slovak photography after 2000, mainly in the last 3-4 years. Through works of presented authors it reflects new approaches in form, content, topics, and used technics as well.
What represents a big shift comparing to the previous decade is an increasing usage of a photographic image by authors who do not primary regard themselves as photographers, but for which photography is rather one of important means of expression. This phenomenon is closely linked to expanding of a topic frame; authors do not focus anymore exclusively on a formal and technical perfection of image (also because of a different artistic specialization and education). They introduce socially engaged topics from the field of politics, economics and contemporary lifestyle in their work, using colour photography above all. In these topics, authors often cope with recent political past and presence of Slovakia, as well as with global problems of the world; all as sort of a visual archeology.
The exhibition reflects a longer-term trend of genres merging and dissolving of their established definitions by still more frequent usage of digital manipulation as means testing medium limits (e.g. in the photographic document). In other digitally manipulated series, authors put also a purely formal question what it is exactly an image and what is its essence. A concept of photography as an image carrying information based on social relations has brought with itself also questioning of clear borders between the „amateur“ or „craft“ photography and the „artistic“ one.
Last but not least, the problem of identity, gender and intergeneration or social relations directed to face and body, either in an interiour intimacy or in an absurd situation of man in a countryside or urban environment characterizes the Slovak photography.
The current show of the new Slovak photography should serve as a kind of probe in the depth of this medium in Slovakia at the time when the long time ago disturbed waters of political and medial revolution have stilled.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Wang Jinsong in Standard Family

2010-01-27T08:47:00.001+08:00

Shanghai local government is thinking to adopt a "special" law for the municipality by introducing the freedom to family to have more than one child , is a controvertial issue in China, since the Child Policy has been adopted Chinese population DID not grew of around 400 million people in the last 30 years....

all this introduction to present the One Shoot Project : Standard Family by Chinese Photographer Wang Jinsong which has portraits different typical chinese family with the typical red backdrop.....

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Emiliano Larizza

2010-01-26T08:05:00.000+08:00

I dont like to talk about photojournalistic work but following a facebook discussion I went to have a look at the different photographers who jumped in the first plane to Santo Domingo and drive to Haiti to cover the devastating earthquake which caused already 150000 deaths.
All in all in general is a difficult task to cover such events, people need to forget humanity to be close to death without thinking why to shoot a photo instead of giving help..., I know is an hard debate in which i want to stay out and therefore I would think that the reportage from Emiliano Larizza from Contrasto is for sure the best i have seen. There is perhaps too much of "Highlight and Shadow" from Photoshop but nevertheless composition and close distance to the mess of the terrible aftermath has produced an intense view of what happened. For the rest i saw the regular work from many assignment photographer, they did what u need to do, perhaps in few days we will see a post processed edition of that photos which will produce a stronger impact and in the same time some ethical question on how Photoshop is nowadays widely used.

Augenblick, Blog on photography : Profile, Rebecca Veit

2010-01-25T08:48:00.000+08:00

Another interesting photographer emerged from the shortlist of the Hyeres 2007 competition. Rebecca Veit, american, has a particular eye on details of female life.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Francesco Giusti

2010-01-22T10:40:00.000+08:00

Italian photographer Francesco Giusti has worked on a story on old transvestites in Italy . I like the intimate approach of this feature mainly shoot in Via Del Campo a famous street in Genova title of a famous song from Fabrizio De Andre'

Augenblick, Blog on Photography, Profile : Dmitry Medvedev

2010-01-20T08:16:00.001+08:00

If you want to make money by selling prints then become a president or better a Russian President... Dmitry Medvedev sold a print from an aerial shot of the Tobolks Kremlin in Western Siberia. The prints has been sold at 1,2 Million Euros and perhaps is one of the most expensive prints sold in history. The photos is quite good especially when i think at the landscape prints sold at Ikea....

Augenblick, Blog on photography : Profile, Benjamin Roi

2010-01-18T08:42:00.000+08:00

Funny portraits series on women at the hairdresser by French Photographer Benjamin Roi

Augenblick, Blog on Photography, Profile : Nino Calamuneri

2010-01-15T09:23:00.001+08:00

The "instability of an hammer" is one of the best composition from Sicilian Photographer Nino Calamuneri. No one could describe visually the tormented life of the former communist party in Italy... Nino Calumeri works in advertising and portrait photography and is an excellent chef (he loves wines but who does not ??) . Looking forward to have a glass and some talk on photography with Nino.

Augenblick, Blog on photography - Exhibition : Alla Esipovich at Reflex Amsterdam

2010-01-13T08:12:00.001+08:00

Russian Photographer Alla Esipovich is presenting her work at Reflex Gallery in Amsterdam. The project presented is called "No Comment".

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Liu Yiqing

2010-01-11T09:25:00.000+08:00

I dont know much about Shanghainese Photographer Liu Yiqing , a web site with different galleries and not a clear idea of project, perhaps a better editing and better preparation to a topic but nevertheless there are some photographs which make me pay attention and write it about it. I do like some from his portraits link.

Augenblick. Blog on Photography , Profile : Maïmouna Patrizia Guerres

2010-01-08T08:23:00.000+08:00

Italian Maïmouna Patrizia Guerresi is an artist ranging from Scultupures to Photography . She presented her work in the Rencontree De Bamako (festival of photography in Mali which I talked about in a previous article ) and also at the Lucca Digital Photofestival.

I found interesting her latest photography series on African Muslims from which I use the cover photo for this article.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Article : Paul French on the Newsreel Wong Bombed Boy

2010-01-06T08:59:00.000+08:00

I love to read Paul French Blog China Rhyming, Paul is a great writer and great connoiseur of China and in particular Shanghai. An old article i found is about the famous photo of a Baby in a bombed South Station in Shanghai in 1937 done by H.S. Newsreel Wong , the photos published by Life Magazine and had a profound impact on American Society . Was taken during the Sino-Chinese war when Japanese invaded China. The article of Paul French discovered that the photos might have been staged. Paul French describe the fact on his book "Through the Looking Glass", here a small note from the article which you can view it here : In my book I included the famous photo but did not get release rights for the other photo that indicates the shot may have been staged somewhat – not that a baby wasn’t caught in the raid and left distraught in the Station but that the baby may have been repositioned or encouraged to stay in place while a photo was taken.

I include the famous photo and also the photo where is possible to see how the child has been placed in that position .

Augenblick, Blog on Photography, Profile : Luo Yang

2010-01-04T08:39:00.000+08:00

I want to start the new year with a post on a young photographer in China : Luo Yang , I dont look into Flickr, the way the photos are proposed and also the comments make me mad... but nevertheless is a place where among million of users is possible to find new young talent.
I dont know much of Luo Yang and I would like to see more about her.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography : On vacation

2009-12-23T10:29:00.000+08:00

Well is time to have a break from the blog, Christmas time which I will use to go back to my beloved Yunnan in south China ( away from all the bad habit humans developed during these festivities).
I will be back next year with more post and more interesting photographers , plenty already in my list to be listed. I choose this beautiful image from Joseph Mougel from Series "The Day before" .
Merry Christmas to all the readers....

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Magazine : Lapus #03

2009-12-21T00:12:00.000+08:00

Lapsus magazine , one of my favorite web-zine on Photography is out with a new edition, the number 3, always a pleasure to navigate through .

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Chris Jordan

2009-12-18T08:00:00.000+08:00

Chris Jordan Latest work Midway, message from the Gyre is amazing and sadly shocking, I think is for sure one of the most important documentation on Environmental issues which should be looked closely:

These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking. To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world's most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Simone Donati

2009-12-16T12:42:00.000+08:00

Italian photographer Simone Donati explored the Berlusconistan so called Italy, interesting project which I hope some magazine will pubblish... The projects show how many idiots (sorry I meant italians) following one of the most corrupted person alive... I wish this could be only a nightmare but is all true.... (cover photo of this article a model during a political meeting from the Berlusconi Party)

Augenblick, Blog on photography - Exhibition : Ouka Leele

2009-12-14T08:20:00.001+08:00

Spanish artist Ouka Leele has opened an exhibition in Shanghai called "Delirous Reality" which is a collection of Painted Photographs. The showcase has been presented by the Cultural Section of the Spanish Consulate at 198-208 Anfu road.
here some not on the artist:
Ouka Leele´s artistic career begins in a Spain undergoing a severe transition, where a spirit of renewal pushes to leave behind the old and face a future with a new attitude, which is able to strike a spontaneous and uninhibited
movement, called Movida Madrileña (Madrilenian groove) in the case of Madrid. This breakthrough provides an arena where to conceive modernity as a fiction of reality. The artist became a relevant documentarian of this period, in front and behind the camera, and today, three decades later, she continues to portray magic-realist scenarios.Her lens is provocative and curved with a suggestive sense of humour able to establish Ouka Leele as an icon of her time, a feminine voice to counterbalance the predominating male art panorama. In the creative field, her work strikes out for the personal method of blurring the limits between photography and painting, as well as for the continuous exercise of the imagination to search for beauty as the main subject matter in her photos.

AUgenblick, Blog on Photography : Profile , Kurt Tong

2009-12-12T09:56:00.000+08:00

"People Square" is a remarkable project by photographer Kurt Tong. The Honk Kong born Photographer explored the desolated landscapes of Chinese City parks . People Parks were so named after the cultural revolution and still are considered the main green area on each city. I like the work and the showing of his parent's photos from the 70s.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Andrew Miksys

2009-12-10T08:42:00.000+08:00

I like the series Bingo from American photographer Andrew Miksys

Augenblick, Blog on photography : Profile, Matthew Sleeth

2009-12-08T08:23:00.000+08:00

Australian photographer Matthew Sleeth has done different projects in Japan such as Kawaii Baby and Women in Uniform and for sure the funniest web site for a photographer... click here to see... (tricky).

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Exhibition : Akent'annos by Mauro Bottaro

2009-12-07T10:49:00.000+08:00

Happy to introduce an exhibition from my friend Mauro Bottaro . The exhibition "Akent'annos" is a showcase of the many people who overcross the 100 years of age over in Sardinia . The prints will be displayed at the Piola Libri Bookshop in Bruxelles.

Augenblick, Blog on photography , Books : Assignment Shanghai by Jack Birns

2009-12-06T08:07:00.001+08:00

My friend Rosa Chen, photographer and great help for my current project on Cosplay series has brought me to look at a interesting book from Life Magazine's photographer Jack Birns called "Assignment Shanghai", I have to be honest I did know his name and I cannot find much from him in the net. The book shows the City of Shanghai in the eve of the Revolution which took Mao Zedong in power and he witnessed the terrible years of the civil war . The photos were done with a Rolleiflex depicting the end of the golden days of the Chinese metropole. The book was published in 2003 and it is an important document for Shanghai history.

Jack Birns worked one year in China at the age of 28 and he has done many assignment for Life Magazine. He died in 2008

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Orang-Utan Nonja

2009-12-05T09:02:00.001+08:00

Well i do like some photos taken from Orang - Utan Nonja , she is a female photographer living in a cage, often being visited by zoo fans, I have spoken about a great body of work from Korean photographer Jeong Mee Yong done in a zoo. Now is quite unusual to speak about the other side of the barricade ... although i would love to see a series from Nonjia to portrait visitors... we will see next projects.. she does not have a web site but a fan page in Facebook here we go (her photos also there.. )
I think she will get some work here in Shanghai, she is social enough (it is enough to work as commercial photographer here in shanghai .....)

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Zhu Feng

2009-12-04T08:10:00.000+08:00

Zero Shanghai is perhaps the most interesting project of photographer Zhu Feng, in his web site you can view many different approach , different techniques and different idea on how use the camera.

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Martin Kollar

2009-12-02T10:11:00.000+08:00

European Parliament is the latest project from the Slovak Photographer Martin Kollar . It is interesting and funny expecially...

Augenblick. Blog on Photography , Books : Italian Riviera by Mark Cohen

2009-11-30T14:40:00.000+08:00

Book on Italian Riviera with photographs by Mark Cohen released last year

here the note from publisher :

Mark Cohen adheres to the fundamental principles of street photography. He uses small format equipment and chooses the urban context as his unique field of action. Despite this he does not haunt large metropolises but, almost without exception, produces his work in small towns and, above all, in his hometown of Wilkes-Barre, a coal mining suburb of Pennsylvania, where he was born and where he has always lived. This is also true of the series he produced along the Levante Riviera in Liguria, during his stay in Rapallo. The scale of places in which the American photographer moves, as well as his attitude, is essentially unchanging. Unlike fellow photographers working on the streets of New York, Paris or London, Cohen is actually unable to disappear into the crowd and remains constantly visible. The act of photography becomes a veritable performance for him, made up of ambushes, agility and a rapid encounter/collision with his subjects the moment the shutter is released . . . The aesthetics and the content of the American artist’s photographs are essentially the same on the Ligurian coast as they are just a few steps from home. Wherever he is, Cohen continues to use the same method and remains sensitive to similar influences. His work presupposes a strong ability to plan. Although, as we mentioned earlier, his work contains the street photographer’s instinctiveness, this acts within the boundaries of a plan which corresponds to his idea of the world and of photography. Beyond the genius loci (geography, even if recognisable and typical, proves to be a chance element in his work) and the decisive moment, in Italy as elsewhere, Cohen uses photography to tell his own story.

Photographs by Mark Cohen. punctum, Rome, 2008. 96 pp., 35 black & white illustrations, 6x8½".

Augenblick. Blog on Photography , Profile : Zhang Xiao

2009-11-28T11:17:00.000+08:00

Was really a pleasure to meet up with Chinese Photographer Zhang Xiao in Pingyao festival. Zhang Xiao is one of the most interesting iconographer in China , he can combine the reality of life in city like Chongqing (one of the most interesting and massive experiment of Chinese Urbanization) with the surreality of people using the Holga Camera. Was hard to choose a photo from the cover of this post , I do have many I like. I am also waiting for his latest project as he told he has 150 rolls still to develop.....

Augenblick, Blog on Photography , Profile : Pawel Jaszczuk

2009-11-26T07:14:00.001+08:00

I spoke about Steven Ahlgren which has done a series on corporate office life and today I will talk about polish photographer Pawel Jaszczuk which has worked on after work life of so called "Salary Man" . Is quite common in Tokyo as in other big cities in Japan to see typical employee getting pissed and drunk.

Apart from this project also have a look at Kinky City... quite interesting nightclub life in Tokyo....

Here a note on Salary Man:

Same suit, same tie, same suitcase. Hundreds of thousands of individuals. 8 AM jump in the train packed with dozens of salaryman. Arrive in the office in some fancy building in central Tokyo. Sit on their desk, don´t share their own ideas, never question their boss´s judgement. Accepted boring jobs without question. Salaryman’s lifestyle revolves entirely around work at the office. Nobody challenge the system and the system will provide for all.

If some coworker senior to you (sen pai) wants to go drinking after work, you go. Hang out with colleagues and clients into the night in outdoor standing bars in Shimbashi. Karaoke in Shinjuku, cigarettes, sake or shochu everywhere.

It´s already midnight and salaryman not even thinking of the last train. Exhaust, death-drunk collapse after a night of heavy drinking. Some of them manage to get to a capsule hotel if they know one, some make it to a taxi, and some others just try to make themselves as comfortable as they can wherever they fall.

In Japan heavy drinking is a naturally accepted and sometimes compulsory catharsis for the hard working salaryman. They don’t really care about having their suitcase or they mobile phone stolen. This is Japan, and as easy as it may seems to pick their wallet, drunk salaryman are part of the urban landscape, respected by everyone. A million ways different from the West, where young people get wasted and break the limits as an accepted crazy young attitude, but where for respectable family men it’s shameful to be cought totally drunk by a neighbor.