Hernâni Reis Baptista

Why so serious / narcissus
Why so serious / narciso
___



[ENG]
Wood, nails, glue tape, paper, lamps, rope, nylon string, air fans, iron, zinc, (...)
2014

The work series “Why so serious” is composed by site specific installations, built and unbuilt at the exhibition site. These are installations that have their beginning and end on the same place in which they are presented, due to being constructed and aggregated according to the characteristics of their surroundings. The materials used are collected during several months in places like abandoned houses or construction sites, consisting mainly of wood, as well as objects that already belonged to the exhibition site, such as monitors, fans, lightning equipment and automatons. In each installation a series of archived images is included, also collected for several years on the internet, having in its vast majority a bizarre appeal or representing behaviors that are somehow considered deviant from what’s expected to be the social norm. They allow a symbiotic relationship between the comical and tragic atmosphere, according to their content.
These installations express a strong precarious aspect in their production, reflecting simultaneously the deconstruction that they seem to show; these (de)constructions alter themselves throughout the period of the exhibition, being the assembly procedure one of the main focal points for these works. Despite the seemingly random disposition of the parts, all of them are carefully placed and distributed on the entire infrastructure. The content of the images attached to the multiple surfaces, aims to highlight the exploitation of different notions of decay: if on the one hand there’s a precariousness and deterioration of the old material, a result of the passing time, on the other hand we have the use of images found on the internet, deprived of their moral values, being perpetuated by the massification and anonymity, allowing therefore a reflection about technological advancements. It’s important to underline the identitary component in its whole: on one side we have the unknown memory of the majority of those old or used materials, on the other, the identity of those characters emerging from the images, as a result of the dissemination of social networks. The own identity of each installation becomes individualized, despite the recurring conceptual basis, each one develops according to the space and so happens to each analysis.

////////////////////////// //////////////////////////

[PT]
Madeiras, pregos, fita-cola, papel, lâmpadas, cordas, fio nylon, ventoinhas, ferro, zinco, (...)
2014

A serie de trabalhos Why so serious, é composta por instalações site specific, construídas e destruídas no espaço expositivo. São instalações que têm o seu inicio e fim no lugar onde são apresentadas porque se constroem e agregam mediante as características envolventes. São utilizados materiais recolhidos ao longo de vários meses em locais como casas desabitadas e restos de construção, maioritariamente madeiras, assim como materiais pertencentes ao espaço de exposição, como televisores, ventoinhas, autómatos e sistemas de iluminação. Em cada uma das instalações é incluída uma serie de imagens de arquivo, recolhidas ao longo de anos na internet, na sua maioria com um carácter de estranheza ou representativas de comportamentos que se desviam de uma certa norma social. Estas possibilitam uma simbiose entre o carácter cómico e simultaneamente trágico, mediante o seu conteúdo.
Estas instalações apresentam uma forte componente precária na sua construção, reflectindo simultaneamente a desconstrução que aparentam; estas (des)construções vão-se alterando durante o próprio período de exposição, sendo a componente processual um dos principais factores nestes trabalhos. Apesar de uma aparente aleatoriedade na disposição, esta é fruto de uma criteriosa escolha e colocação dos diferentes materiais em toda a estrutura do trabalho. O teor das imagens que se agregam às superfícies, pretende sublinhar a exploração de diferentes noções de decadência; se por um lado existe a precariedade e deterioração do material velho pela passagem do tempo, por outro, a inclusão de imagens encontradas na internet, destituídas de valores morais e que se perpetuam pela massificação e anonimato, permitem uma reflexão sobre a própria evolução tecnológica. É importante frisar a componente identitária no seu todo: por um lado existe a memória desconhecida da maioria dos materiais velhos ou usados, por outro a identidade das personagens que surgem nas imagens, fruto da proliferação das redes tecnológicas sociais. A própria identidade de cada instalação torna-se individualizada; apesar de possuírem sempre a mesma base conceptual, ramificam-se no que concerne ao espaço e por consequência às suas análises.

////////////////////////// //////////////////////////

Site specific
@ Fundação Escultor José Rodrigues

see also / veja também
Why so serious
Why so serious II
Oh so serious

Now that enough time has passed since #FineFelon Jeremy Meeks went viral, reality has (hopefully) settled in and you can calmly admit to yourself that you don’t have a chance with him. Don’t worry though, this isn’t the first instance where being ‘out of one’s league’ coincides with being locked up. We present to you a fine list of criminal poets that will serve as both consolation and cultural enrichment in one fell swoop.

 

Referring to prison as his “criminal university” and turning his cell into a salon, Pierre François Lacenaire may have been the original “bad boy” archetype romanticized by bourgeois housewives behind closed boudoir doors. He wrote a few songs and authored Memoirs, Revelations and Poems before being executed at the age of 32.

Son to a young prostitute and put up for adoption at the age of 1, Jean Genet authored such works as Prisoner of Love and Un Chant d’Amour. It is often forgotten that this famous Frenchman spent his early life as a vagabond and petty criminal.

What can be said about William Burroughs that hasn’t been said already? One thing’s for sure — I had never seen that picture of him before writing this — and that’s a fine felon if I’ve ever seen one. Definitely finer than his familiarly old face.

One of history’s greatest ironists, Oscar Wilde uncannily wrote, “No crime is vulgar, but all vulgarity is crime”, before eventually being convicted for what at the time was considered vulgar. This dapper dandy did not deserve his reactionary incarceration for “sodomy.”

Okay, appearance-wise, I wouldn’t count Paul Verlaine among the finest of felons, but his words are pretty handsome. Again, imprisoned for sodomy, Verlaine is remembered as a major influential figure of the French Symbolist movement. I wonder what the beautiful Rimbaud saw in him.

It’s well known that Antonin Artaud was a full-on psycho, confined to various mental institutions, etc. But he was properly incarcerated as well: at the infamous Mountjoy Prison in Ireland, no less. An earth-shattering theatre pioneer and founder of the Theatre of Cruelty — you should listen to his original To Have Done With the Judgment of God here.

Last but not least, the antediluvian Fraçois Villon predates every fine felon in the history of fine felons. It’s vaguely documented that he murdered someone with a dagger and a stone before fleeing, ever vaguely, to some unknown refuge. Props for holding it down in the 1400s.

♦ via venirhere ♦

Ole Ukena, “Cher/Chair/Share” (2011).

The gaping flame-filled crater has been this way since 1971, when Soviet geologists tapped into a cavern of natural gas and decided to burn it off so it wouldn’t poison anyone. They thought it would take a few days. Four decades later, locals refer to this pit as the Door to Hell.

Photography by Matt Hill Title: Richard Francis Burton Atley

It Wasn’t Supposed To End Like This

Russia in 15 seconds

Best comment: “Im glad they filmed this during the summer, in the winter it gets depressing sometimes.”

Follow Your Hard-On: An Interview with Scot Sothern

By Paul Kwiatkowski

Photographer Scot Sothern’s debut memoir Curb Service empathetically captures the pathos of an aspiring provocateur adrift in contemporary America. Beginning in the 1980s, the book recounts Scot’s initial drive to photograph prostitutes and his path to single fatherhood on the skids. The interactions between the photographer and his subjects are the device through which solace and introspection flow. Along the road, there are intermittent flashbacks to Scot’s tainted adolescence in rural Missouri during the late ‘60s and ‘70s.

Scot’s photography had largely gone unnoticed until the inception of his first body of work, Lowlife, an elegant black-and-white photo collection of horny tension with the base level of the sex-for-cash pyramid. This was followed by New Low, an upcoming exhibit of recent color photographs documenting Sothern’s return to form after an almost 20-year hiatus due to financial anxieties and a debilitating motorcycle accident.

In Curb Service, there’s no hooker with a heart of gold. Scot’s work remains a testimony to the battering that American life can be, while simultaneously leveling the playing field between viewer, subject and photographer. By combining fluid text with sordid behind-closed-door images, Scot’s vision has merged into a perilous sweet spot: an eviscerating self-examination in which readers are allowed to ride shotgun down his unique journey to recognition as an original voice in contemporary American art.

After 40 plus years of virtual obscurity, Scot’s body of work now stands firmly at the intersection of fine art, documentation, narrative and authenticity. His point of view brings us right up to the precipice without concession. In Curb Service, there’s no moral higher ground to look down from. Much like the prostitutes he photographs, Scot is a hustler who’s survived the game.

Scot’s compelling vision is one of few pieces of contemporary art that continues to give me a jolt with every viewing. During a conversation I recently had with Scot and Bryan Formhals of LPV Magazine, he offered up one of the most bona-fide words of advice an ambitious young man could heed: “Follow your hard-on.”

The post SCOT SOTHERN: “Follow Your Hard-On: An Interview with Scot Sothern” (2013) appeared first on Since 2008, AMERICAN SUBURB X | Art, Photography and Culture that matters..

From his series "Courts"

One Chinese man – Zhang Biqing – let nothing stop him from building his idyllic mountain retreat, not even government safety regulations or the concerns of his neighbors. Biqing, a successful practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, spent six years piling rocks and plants into and around his penthouse on the 1000-square-meter roof of a 26-story apartment building in Beijing.

With gardens and open terraces, Biqing has converted the rooftop property into a picturesque mountain resort. His neighbors don’t see it that way, however. They have complained about noisy construction and leaking cracks in the ceiling, and some residents even fear that the makeshift mountain has compromised the apartment building’s structural integrity. Others have complained of receiving threats or physical abuse from Biqing. Local planning officials have given him 15 days to either remove the structure or prove that it is legal, or else they will remove it by force.

Biqing certainly could have gone about things in a nicer way, but I can’t blame the guy for wanting to live in a mountain penthouse.

Source: South China Morning Post (via)

Professor Builds Illegal Mountain Villa Atop 26-Story Building in Beijing originally appeared on Bored Panda on August 14, 2013.

1. Old Clock Tower Transformed Into a Penthouse On Sale For $18 Million
2. Glass Floor Bathroom Over 15 Story Elevator Shaft
3. Walk of Faith: Glass Pavement for Tourists Built on 4,690ft Mountain in China
4. Defrosting a Frozen Building

Saiba qual é o salário mínimo oferecido em todos os países europeus. Descubra se vale a pena emigrar para aquele país que tanto queria conhecer. Aceda à lista de salários!

Hoje em dia vale a pena emigrar para trabalhar noutro país pois, além do ordenado ser maior que em Portugal – na maior parte dos países europeus, existem mais ofertas de emprego e em alguns casos as condições laborais são melhores. Por essa razão, decidimos criar este artigo onde é possível comparar o salário mínimo em todos os países europeus, para que no fim você possa decidir para que país deve emigrar. Antes de escolher um país e emigrar, é importante que também tenha em mente que o custo de vida poderá ser superior, sem falar que ao trabalhar no estrangeiro você terá custos como o transporte, alimentação e alojamento. Continue lendo para aceder à lista do salário mínimo na Europa.

Lista de Salário Mínimo na Europa

O salário é um factor decisivo no momento de escolher um emprego ou país, por essa razão nesta lista pode encontrar quais são os melhores e os piores países para trabalhar na Europa. Aproveite e decida para que país emigrar:

• Bélgica – 1501,82€
• Bulgária – 158,50€
• Croácia – 374,31€
• Eslováquia – 337,70€
• Eslovénia – 783,66€
• Espanha – 752,85€
• Estónia – 320€
• França – 1430,22€
• Grécia – 683,76€
• Hungria – 340,55€
• Irlanda – 1461,85€
• Letónia – 287,07€
• Lituânia – 289,62€
• Luxemburgo – 1874,19€
• Malta – 697,42€
• Países Baixos – 1469,40€
• Polónia – 376,58€
• Portugal – 565,83€
• Reino Unido – 1224,65€
• República Checa – 312,01€
• Roménia – 157,26€
• Turquia – 428,57€

É possível aceder à lista e comparar a evolução do salário mínimo dos vários países europeus entre 1999 e o ano atual através da página de dados Salário mínimo na Europa fornecido pelo Google.

Photographs (from the LIFE archives) by Hugo Jaeger (Adolf Hitler’s personal photographer) The story of how LIFE came to own Jaeger’s collection of 2,000 photographs Folkert

y10k:

I don’t throw the term genius around loosely, but..

is that the new mac pro?

I wondered how the piece displayed at Still House’s Jogging show was done, and a now I know. Neverwet Waterproof Spray. A great use of a household spray to create something out of the ordinary. Probably causes cancer, but hey at least you won’t get wet. 

As a mere adolescent he cut his teeth at Cerruti, where he was reported to have shown a prodigious affinity for fabrics. From there he joined Armani in his men’s design studio; an experience one can only assume steeped him in the house’s codes: a retro classicism accentuated by a rigorous pursuit of modern masculinity. In 1995 he moved on to Prada and Miu Miu, think tanks for progressive fashion design, first heading up fabric R&D before getting involved in the design of Miu Miu’s men’s and women’s collections. He eventually found himself at Yves Saint Laurent, poached by Tom Ford to be lieutenant in the Texan’s campaign to reestablish the house as a vital and potent commercial force.

In 2004, with Ford and De Sole departing Gucci Group, Pilati found himself in what was then, and perhaps is still now, the most harassed high profile job in fashiondom: creative steward of the legacy of Yves Mathieu Saint Laurent. His take on Saint Laurent glamour and seduction was met with mixed reactions, earning due praise from the major magazines yet still hit by critics and those close to the house’s history. And though at many junctions he managed to stun and at times astound his critics with impossibly elegant and subversive collections brimming with moods and ideas that could propel a whole industry a decade forward with the weight of a single look, his tenure was still met with reluctant acceptance. His departure in 2012 was preceded by several seasons with what must have been defeating and esteem-crushing rumors of his eminent firing.

To say that Pilati was too intellectually inclined for the modern fashion game of masstige and profit margin hustling is an understatement. And one can even wonder if he channeled the house’s spirit as aptly as he could have (a fondness for color and the exotic were, along with being commercially viable, just some of the codes of the house that Pilati largely ignored). It wouldn’t even be unfair to say that Pilati’s influences, or at least the affections of his designs, skewed more Italian than French, more – let’s say – Gianfranco Ferre than Yves Saint Laurent. But what has been certain is that despite his translation of whichever house’s spirit, Pilati’s output has been profound. He has been a game changer and has introduced so many ideas that have only recently become a part of the contemporary fashion repertoire. He broached minimalism long before Phoebe Philo made it the mode at Celine. He tackled the volumes of Golden Age couture well before Raf Simon’s three part thesis on the matter at Jil Sander. And let’s not forget to thank him for the peplum, a silhouette he proposed with his debut and would reiterate throughout the years and that has now, finally, saturated the market at every tier. His accomplishments are undeniable and the only shame is that the impossible expectations placed on him at Saint Laurent eclipsed them.

Tomorrow Pilati debuts his first effort for Ermenegildo Zegna. To be overly sentimental it marks a return to his roots, back to the world of fine Italian menswear where he began as a young man. It is only fitting that a man who began at Cerruti and Armani would come back to Zegna, the oldest of the modern Italian menswear establishment. Pilati has always displayed a deft skill at continental style, often enhanced with his own unbridled and bold modernism, it’s a natural fit with immense potential. There has been little noise or hype leading up to the debut but this author can only assume it’s because the clothes won’t need it.

 

my hear will go on, but my ears are bleeding

[via mattnvryan]

Design based on the pure math of aerodynamics.

read more

lobotomyfail:

The anatomy of a Chihuahua.

“The Column” is a video installation by Adrian Paci. A raw block of marble was shipped from China to Paris and during the trip it was transformed into a classical column by Chinese sculptors.

found at pietmondriaan