Sights & Sites
Notes and miscellanea toward my thesis as I round out my MFA in Graphic Design. For more information on my work and process, visit my homepage.
April 2, 2008
“ Several days later Murray asked me about a tourist attraction known as the most photographed barn in America. We drove twenty-two miles into the country around Farmington. There were meadows and apple orchards. White fences trailed through the rolling fields. Soon the signs started appearing. THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED BARN IN AMERICA. We counted five signs before we reached the site. There were fourty cars and a tour bus in the makeshift lot. We walked along a cowpath to the slightly eleveated spot set aside for viewing and photographing. All the people had cameras; some had tripods, telephoto lenses, filter kits. A man in a booth sold postcards and slides—citures of the barn taken from the elevated spot. We stood near a grove of trees and watched the photographers. Murray maintained a prolonged silence, occasionally scrawling some notes in a little book. “No one sees the barn,” he said finally. A long silence followed. “Once you’ve seen the signs about the barn, it becomes impossible to see the barn.” He fell silent once more. People with cameras left the elevated site, replaced at once by others. “We’re not here to capture an image, we’re here to maintain one. Every photograph reinforces the aura. Can you feel it, Jack? An accumultion of nameless energies.” There was an extended silence. The man in the booth sold postcards and slides. “Being here is a kind of spiritual surrender. We see only what the others see. The thousands who were here in the past, those who will come in the future. We’ve agreed to be part of a collective perception. This literally colors our vision. A religious experience in a way, like all tourism.” Another silence ensued. “They are taking pictures of taking pictures,” he said. He did not speak for a while. We listened to the incessant clicking of shutter release buttons, the rustling crank of levers that advanced the film. “What was the barn like before it was photographed?” he said. “What did it look like, how was it different from other barns, how was it similar to other barns? We can’t answer these questions because we’ve read the signs, seen the people snapping the pictures. We can’t get outside the aura. We’re part of the aura. We’re here, we’re now.” He seemed immensely pleased by this.
from Don DeLillo’s White Noise, via: Mary-Jo
2 years ago
Photographer John Schabel’s Passenger series captures people through airplane windows, taken from the tarmac. A reversal of what we normally expect as passengers looking outward, in transition between places.
2 years ago
“ There has continued to be massive growth of international tourist flows… This internationalization of tourism means that we cannot explain tourist patterns in any particular society without analyzing developments taking place in most other countries. The internationalization of tourism especially in Europe means that every tourist site can be compared with those located abroad (especially via the internet). So when people visit somewhere in their own country they are in effect choosing not to visit a site abroad. The internationalization of tourism means that all potential objects of the tourist gaze can be located on a scale, and can be compared with each other, often now more or less instantaneously via the internet.
John Urry, The Tourist Gaze, p. 45
Not that I needed any justification to make all of them.
2 years ago
April 1, 2008
The Path of My Electricity
For David Reinfurt’s Distribution class I charted the path of electricity to a lightbulb in my apartment.
2 years ago
March 23, 2008
As Tibet Erupted, China Wavered - New York Times
“In Lhasa during the recent riots, a tourist who requested anonymity took this photo of Chinese goods being burned.” (from the photo caption on the NYT website)
In the midst of the riots in Lhasa, tourists are filling in with eye-witness accounts where the media has been banned. An interesting twist on the lens of the tourist gaze.
2 years ago
March 11, 2008
Postcards from Warren - The Animated Life - Opinion - New York Times Blog
Jeff Scher’s animated assemblage of postcard imagery in remembrance of a friend. Thanks Leslie
2 years ago
“ I remember the time when I thought that Graphic Designers were the people who work at Kinkos and lay out resumes.
Jerlyn
2 years ago
March 6, 2008
