Old Periodicals Online

An advert in this 1910 The British Journal Photographic Almanac declares the Regent Street Polytechnic - a former incarnation of the University of Westminster - as having, "The first, largest and most successful school of photography in the world."  You will find it here.



This e-copy resides on the Internet Archive. 

Thanks to Jo Barker for sending me the link to the photography periodicals section of The Digital Book Index.  There are also links to early copies of Photograms of the year (copies of which are also in the library), which are gems! (see here for example). And there are other sections to explore: the Photography Collections page looks particularly interesting.

The "objectness" of art books

According to an article in The Telegraph in November, Steidl have opened a new bookshop in Soho – well not a bookshop, rather a “forum for books.” This is called Q Book but as the website only has a picture of empty shelves, I am not sure whether it has opened yet, so I will need to investigate and report back.

The Telegraph article is well worth a look, as it discusses the recent trend for art books – and specifically photographic art books – to be released in expensive limited editions (see the winner of the Lucie’s for example).

Iwona Blazwick, the director of the Whitechapel Gallery, is quoted as saying:

The pleasure for me is that if you can't afford to buy a work of art, you can afford to buy a book as a work of art. There is an interest in the "objectness" of art books.

As well as Q Book, three other bookshops in London get a mention – Marcus Campbell, Claire de Rouen, and another newly opened one at Somerset House – Rizolli.

References

Beyfuss, Druisilla (2010). 'Speaking volumes; Limited-edition art and photography books are increasingly treasured as works of art in themselves'. The Daily Telegraph, 13 November, 11, 12, 14. Available from Factiva [Online Database] [Accessed 18/12/2010].

See also

Steidl special editions [PDF]

Related posts

Useful libraries and bookshops in London

A Plagiarism Carol

Its almost Christmas, its cold outside, you have assigments due... So, what you need is the University of Bergen's pastiche of A Christmas Carol... featuring the not very Norwegian sounding 'James.'



The Library Services produced guide to 'Referencing your work' is available for free in the library or online.

Heart of darkness - the back of beyond

We looked at the venerable stream not in the vivid flush of a short day that comes and departs forever, but in the august light of abiding memories. And indeed nothing is easier for a man who has, as the phrase goes, “followed the sea” with reverence and affection, than to evoke the great spirit of the past upon the lower reaches of the Thames.

Joseph Conrad, Heart of darkness (1902)

This powerful section of Heart of darkness was alluded to by Frank Watson in his conversation with Dr Eugenie Shinkle on the 10th of November at London Gallery West. This event was to discuss Frank Watson’s current exhibition entitled The Back of Beyond at the Harrow gallery, bringing together work from three projects: The Hush House: Cold War Sites in England; Soundings from the Estuary and Isles of Grain.

Ideas of history, time – and crucially – events that never happened or have not yet happened and their relationship to the landscape were discussed.

The military encampments are ‘monuments to things that never happened’ and ‘symbols of the American military colonisation of the English landscape.’

There is a passage in Heart of darkness on the Romans, Frank told us;  and reading this later was fascinating in the context of reading some of the photographs in the exhibition: 

They were conquerors, and for that you only want brute force – nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.

‘Was this a political project?’ he was asked.

‘Yes’ was the straightforward answer – ‘driven by ideological concerns’ and the fears of the cold war, manifest, for example, in the films of the era – Dr Strangelove, The Ipcress Files, and even the James Bond films. The demonstrations at Greenham Common were also cited (and cited too in the essay accompanying the book The Hush House).

However, a move from overtly political to more allegorical and ambiguous work was noted.  It was also suggested that the fears of the nuclear showdown that were prominent during the Cold War have largely been replaced by fears of environmental Armageddon.  This is reflected in the ongoing project Soundings from the Estuary.

Ideas of impermanence and a sense of the tenuousness of the relationship between building and landscape were also discussed. Robert Adams’ photographs of Colorado, and the work of other ‘New Topographics’ photographers were mentioned in this context.

David Campany, in the audience, suggested that ‘photographs were representations of a landscape quite unlike being in that landscape’ and that they were ‘a way of renegotiating one’s relationship with [the landscape]'

One might also argue that they are a way of renegotiating one's relationship to the past.  The landscape of the Thames estuary is one that is familiar to Watson from childhood and although resistant to the idea of the project having an autobiographical spur, he did, I think, concede the possibility. Ideas of the uncanny or un-homely were discussed in this context. The repetitive visits to these places were a way of revisiting the past – a way of quelling a sense of unease or paradoxically of amplifying it...

In the end, though, Watson’s concern was with the future and if I have understood correctly, the potentiality of the landscape. Not that this is necessarily an optimistic stance, but one that could be ominous.  Here we go back, one final time, to Heart of darkness. With deep irony, Conrad puts the following words into the mouth of Marlow:

The conquest of the earth...is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; and an unselfish belief in the idea – something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice too...”

The exhibition is on until the 10th January 2011.

Further reading

Adams, R. (2009), Summer nights, walking : along the Colorado front range, 1976-1982, New York : Aperture ; New Haven, CT : Yale University Art Gallery.

Apocalypse now redux (2009), Directed by Francis Ford Coppola [DVD].  Great Britain: Buena Vista Home Entertainment [a contemporary interpretation of Heart of darkness].

Barthes, R. (1982), Camera lucida : reflections on photography, London : Cape.

Campany, D. (2003).  'Safety in Numbness. Some Remarks on Problems of 'Late Photography'', in: Campany, D. (ed.), The Cinematic, Cambridge/Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2007, p. 185-194.

Conrad, J. (1902), Heart of darkness, Harmondsworth : Penguin.

Isles of grain (2009), Frank Watson and Dave Lawrence [DVD], Great Britain.

New topographics, 2009, Göttingen : Steidl.

Watson, F. (2004), Frank Watson : the hush house : Cold War sites in England, London : Hush House Publishers.

Websites

Soundings from the Estuary
The Hush House

Additional

Frank Watson was interviewed by Malcolm Hopkins on Resonance FM on 16th December.  A podcast of the interview can be found here.

Why the Kindle is better than the iPad

The iPad has a lot going for it, but for me the more exciting product is Amazon’s Kindle. It is the first product that has taken ‘Electronic Ink’ to a mass market.

Using electronic ink means no screen flicker, since the text does not need to be refreshed other than when you are turning the page. This makes it the perfect device for reading books or journal articles – a reasonably similar experience to reading from paper. There is less glare (not no glare as they claim) and no backlight.

Electronic ink also has major benefits for battery life, since energy is only needed to change the text: one majorly quick charge can last for one month (less if you leave the free 3G connectivity on).

Yes – that’s free 3G connectivity – be constantly online for nothing; download books from the Amazon store in 60 seconds; or email PDFs of journal articles direct to your Kindle.

Kindle books are often cheaper than the paperback equivalent, and out of copyright books tend to be free.

It is cheaper, lighter, needs less power and is far superior for sustained reading than the iPad.

Find out more at the Kindle Store: www.Amazon.co.uk/kindle