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Leonardo Reviews

LEONARDO REVIEWS this book’s ability to convey the world- aid the organizational structure in the Editor-in-Chief: Michael Punt wide connectivity that was emerging in effort to present basic themes. These, Managing Editor: Bryony Dalefield the second half of the 20th century. in turn, allow us more easily to place One of the stronger points of the book the recent art history of Argentina, Associate Editor: Robert Pepperell is the way the research translates the Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela, A full selection of reviews is regional trends of the mid-1940s into Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary published monthly on the LR web site: an environment that was setting the and Poland in relation to that of the . stage for the international art world of West. the 1960s to take form. In effect, the The range of artists is equally local communities gave way to a global impressive. Included are (among vision, due, in part, to inexpensive air others) Josef Albers, Bernd and Hilla BOOKS travel, the proliferation of copying Becher, Max Bill, Lucio Fontana, Eva technologies and the growing ease Hesse, On Kawara, Sol LeWitt, Bruce of linking with others through long Nauman, Hélio Oiticica, Blinky distance telecommunication devices. Palermo, Bridget Riley, Jesus Rafael BEYOND GEOMETRY: Authored by six writers (Lynn Soto, Frank Stella, Jean Tinguely, and XPERIMENTS IN ORM E F , Zelevansky, Ines Katzenstein, Valerie Victor Vasarely. Among the noteworthy 1940S–1970S Hillings, Miklós Peternák, Peter Frank contributions are the sections integrat- edited by Lynn Zelevansky. MIT Press, and Brandon LaBelle), each chapter of ing significant artists. For example, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A., 2004. this book is filled with an abundance of I was particularly taken with Max Bill’s 232 pp., illus. Trade. examples. These range from European influence and compositions. No doubt ISBN: 0-262-24047-5. and Latin American concrete art, others were as well, for Bill’s name Argentine Arte Madi, Brazilian Neo- comes up often throughout the book. Reviewed by Amy Ione, The Diatrope Concretism, Kinetic and Op Art, Born in Switzerland in 1908, he trained Institute, Santa Rosa, CA, U.S.A. Minimalism and various forms of Post- at the Bauhaus with Josef Albers before E-mail: . Minimalism, including systematic forms of process and conceptual art. Topical As we enter the 21st century, it is themes delineate the book’s scope and strange to think that the highly experi- offer a sense of the survey: “The For- Reviews Panel: Nameera Ahmed, Peter Anders, mental work of the mid-20th century is ties and Fifties,” as the name suggests, Fred Andersson, Wilfred Arnold, Kasey Asberry, now historical. Many of these projects introduces influential modes of abstrac- Jan Baetens, Niran Bahjat-Abbas, Curtis Bahn, remind us of the distance between our John F. Barber, Marc Battier, René Beekman, tion employed during the first decade David Beer, Roy R. Behrens, Martha Blassnigg, accelerated, wired lives and the quite and a half after World War II. “The Barry Blundell, Alex Brown, Paul Brown, Annick animated, perceptually exciting work Object and the Body” examines the Bureaud, Chris Cobb, Donna Cox, Sean Cubitt, of the last century. Yet, what is often move from two to three dimensions. Nina Czegledy, Andrea Dahlberg, Victoria de lost when we look at this history is how “Light and Movement” is not confined Rijke, Shawn Decker, Margaret Dolinsky, Dennis much of it formed the art world we Dollens, Luisa Paraguai Donati, Victoria to projects made with light; it also Duckett, Maia Engeli, Anthony Enns, Enzo know. Beyond Geometry: Experiments in extends to perceptual aspects of Kinetic Ferrara, George Gessert, Elisa Giaccardi, Thom Form, 1940s–1970s ably points this out, and Op Art. “Repetition and Seriality” Gillespie, Allan Graubard, Dene Grigar, Diane demonstrating that we can discern is an examination of projects that elimi- Gromala, Rob Harle, Craig Harris, Josepha more similarities throughout the globe Haveman, Paul Hertz, Craig J. Hilton, Coral nated the need for traditional composi- Houtman, Amy Ione, Jude James, Stephen Jones, in the 20th century than is often tion. “The Object Redefined” examines Richard Kade, Nisar Keshvani, John Knight, thought to be the case. works that undermined the traditional Veronique Koken, Judy Kupferman, Jim Laukes, Showcasing the work of artists on art object and constituted a breaking Mike Leggett, Katia Maciel, Roger Malina, three continents, this book (actually a down of barriers that was commensu- Jacques Mandelbrojt, Malcolm F. Miles, Rick catalogue for an exhibition of the same Mitchell, Robert A. Mitchell, Martha Patricia rate with the social mores of the late Niño Mojica, Christopher Morris, Michael name at the Los Angeles County Art 1960s and 1970s. Finally, “The Problem Mosher, Alex Mulder, Frieder Nake, Maureen A. Museum) abundantly demonstrates of Painting” reminds us of the peren- Nappi, Angela Ndalianis, Marcus Neustetter, how artists in Europe, South America nial question whether painting is dead. Simone Osthoff, Jack Ox, Narendra Pachkhede, and the United States explored com- Robert Pepperell, Kjell Yngve Petersen, Cliff Although the authors of the six chap- Pickover, Alise Piebalga, Patricia Pisters, Michael parable forms despite their minimal ters are guilty of some repetition from Punt, Kathleen Quillian, Harry Rand, Sonya awareness of similar aesthetic develop- essay to essay, this overlap also served Rapoport, Trace Reddell, Alex Rotas, Henry See, ments elsewhere. Integrating 200 works to underscore the degree to which the Bill Seeley, Basak Senova, Aparna Sharma, by 139 artists, the survey’s geographic visions included in Beyond Geometry defy George K. Shortess, Joel Slayton, Yvonne and stylistic reach is impressive. No Spielmann, David Surman, Eugene Thacker, Pia classification. Indeed, since many of the Tikka, David Topper, René van Peer, Stefaan Van doubt all readers will discover treasures artists and, by extension, a great deal of Ryssen, Zainub Verjee, Ian Verstegen, Claudia previously unknown to them tucked in the research are outside the boilerplate Westermann, Stephen Wilson, Arthur Woods, these pages, while also delighting in chronology, the repetitive portions Soh Yeong, Jonathan Zilberg.

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adopting theories of concrete art saw as the emotional excesses of opment of movies and animation in the associated with the Dutch modernist abstract expressionism was not a uni- United States in the 1930s and 1940s. Theo van Doesburg. These theories form expression. All in all, the different Anime is not, however, restricted by were based on mathematics, which authors successfully place the work the age and subject matter constraints Bill believed “enable[d] certain prob- discussed in the context of art history often imposed on Western animated lems to be solved without compromise, and the aesthetic and social issues of stories. Additionally, where the audi- in a world that is full of compromises the time. Still, the limitations within ence for Western animation is primarily and failed speculations.” One who this book’s format and design remind children, anime is viewed and enjoyed was influenced by his work was the the reader that a catalogue can add to by men and women of all ages. self-taught French painter François an exhibition, but in order to appreci- Nor is anime dependent on Western Morellet, who encountered Bill’s work ate the words a first-hand exposure to animated films for its look and feel. in 1951 on a visit to Brazil. the works is unbeatable. According to Drazen, anime often Despite all its positive attributes, reflects high creative values, shows serious readers should note that this great attention to artistic detail, utilizes NIME XPLOSION HE book falls short as a research work. For A E : T the latest production technology, and example, when Peternák compares WHAT? WHY? & WOW! draws attention to itself through its François Morellet’s Random Distribution OF JAPANESE ANIMATION sophistication. In contrast, until of 40,000 Squares Using the Odd and Even by Patrick Drazen. Stone Bridge Press, recently, familiar Western animations Numbers of a Telephone Directory, 1960 Berkeley, CA, U.S.A., 2003. 382 pp., have seemed similar to newspaper with Béla Julesz’s Random Dot Stereo- illus. Paper. ISBN: 1-880656-72-8. cartoons: simplistic, lacking in details, gram (RDS), he demonstrates that he childish. does not know the difference between Reviewed by John F. Barber, School of Arts As for what it represents, Drazen Julesz’s RDS and the autostereogram, and Humanities, The University of Texas argues that anime was developed and is which was invented in 1979 by Christo- at Dallas. E-mail: . still utilized as a methodology for inter- pher Tyler. There are also perceptual nal cultural communication, a way to limitations that speak more to the The popular culture cachet of Japanese reinforce Japanese cultural myths and failure of translating the varieties of art animation, or “anime,” both entertains preferred modes of social behavior. The into a book than a failure on the part of and confounds its audience and fact that anime was never developed, anyone involved in the project. Finally, observers; it is at once familiar and originally, for export adds now to the this survey repeatedly brings to mind strange. Its themes are both broad— confusion suffered over specific refer- the value in engaging with the artistic war and peace, love and death, the ences and markers sharply fixed in one imagination in real time and on its own history of the past and the potential of culture being translated to another. terms. the far future—and specific—history, Because of, or despite, these differ- Many of the small images are hard horror, humor, reincarnation, religion, ences, anime is both popular and lucra- to decipher due to the book’s organi- sex, spirituality, sports, technology, tive outside Japan, and Drazen posits zation. Caption details accentuate nature, advice to the lovelorn, respect anime as quite capable of communicat- this problem. They are inconsistent for the elderly, the way of the warrior ing essential truths from the Japanese throughout, often not including infor- and the way of the teenage girl. culture to other cultures. Anime Explo- mation about the size or medium of the As with each new addition of litera- sion is, then, a primer of these essential depicted work. This casual treatment ture or art form to popular culture, truths, providing, as its title promises, left me thinking that this book is not a one is inspired to ask questions. What the what, the why and the wow. publication that reaches out to grab us. are the origins of anime? What does Drazen divides his book into two From the text it is clear that many of anime represent? Why does anime parts. The first focuses on major Japa- the works are freestanding, and it is look and feel so different from our own nese cultural themes portrayed in unfortunate that the production team animated films? And what are we sup- anime, and Drazen examines each did not include full descriptive infor- posed to make of this social expression theme as a carefully balanced combina- mation for each reproduction. This that has, like a viral meme, seemingly tion of old and new Japanese culture. approach would have aided us in trying jumped from Japanese culture to our The second part of the book examines to envisage what the art might actually own? several classic anime: Wings of Honne- look like. More to the point, since A new book by Patrick Drazen may amise, Sailor Moon and Ghost in the Shell. many of the motifs at first glance help provide answers to these ques- In each of these examples, the notion appear as if they could be paintings, tions. Anime Explosion: The What? Why? of “classic” is not based on popularity sculptures, installations, or hybrids I & Wow! of Japanese Animation is an but rather the extent to which the would have liked to have seen a more authoritative and engaging refer- respective anime reflects Japanese life reader-sensitive layout, particularly ence that can help fans, viewers and and attitudes. Drazen’s discussion of the since many of us cannot visit the exhi- observers of anime sort out the details pertinent heroes, monsters, storylines bition in person. and learn how anime effectively reflects and cultural insider jokes provides As a first step, however, Beyond Geome- Japanese cultural life, both historical background and context for better try does an excellent job in expanding and contemporary, on many levels. understanding the translation of these our knowledge of minimalism and At the outset, Drazen notes that stories from one culture to another. various forms of post-minimalism. This anime, as a visual narrative media, was The reward of Anime Explosion is expansive and comprehensive survey inspired by manga ( Japanese comics) threefold. First, readers understand reminds us that the rebellion against and other forms of cartoon caricatur- that anime is a communications the mathematical purity of earlier ing dating back to the 6th century as medium or art form that intends to geometric modernism and what many well as by the invention and early devel- speak to an audience about certain

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aspects of Japanese culture. Second, tive analysis, Mosco proposed a synthe- finance capital. Enmeshed in corrup- rather than being a forecast for massive sis of political economy with critical tion from the start (the fireproofing change within Japanese culture, it is cultural studies, which is at the center subcontractor was found bobbing in more useful to say that anime serves of the book published this year. concrete boots at the bottom of the to reinforce Japanese cultural myths There appears to be something Hudson), the ambitious, ugly buildings and preferred modes of behavior. special about the Canadians; perhaps never made commercial sense, which is Third, we can learn from the anime it is the geography that leaves them at why City of New York offices occupied experience as a viable form of popular once subsumed into the North Ameri- floor after floor. The architectural culture, because it can provide insights can media market and marginalized equivalent of the dot.com crash, the regarding how one can be guided along within it. Innis, Smythe, McLuhan WTC was symbolic, all right, but not of a path of socially acceptable thought and Grant, Theall, the Krokers, the community that formed in its ruins. and action. Berland, Marchessault, Straw, Attalah The point of the detailed history of In the end, Anime Explosion is both and Raboy, and younger scholars like the real estate that crashed and burned a timely and fascinating guide to the Laura Marx and Acland have consis- in 2001 is that myths have the peculiar world of anime. Drazen’s book is an tently brought together disparate capability of becoming realities. Alvin essential reference for understanding streams of philosophical and empirical Toffler’s Progress and Freedom Foun- the landmarks, themes and history research to propagate their own rich dation may be dotty, but it has sponsors contained in this intriguing form of hybrids. A mature figure in this constel- to burn. Al Gore’s information super- popular culture. lation, Mosco has extended his analyses highway still inspires politicians years of cash and exchange into the turbu- after he and it have proved their redun- lent domain of futurological rhetoric dancy. Legends of the end of atoms, THE DIGITAL SUBLIME: MYTH, in The Digital Sublime. hard energy, geography and history are POWER, AND CYBERSPACE The core of the book is the rhetoric all absurd, as the hurricanes produced by Vincent Mosco. MIT Press, of “endings,” especially the end of by global warming battering Florida Cambridge, MA, U.S.A., 2004. 232 pp. space, the end of ideology, and the end and the Caribbean in 2004 should ISBN: 0-262-13439-X. of history. Indeed, in a typically astute surely prove. What we do has physical and witty trope, Mosco reviews the titles consequences; and even Amazon has Reviewed by Sean Cubitt, Arts and Social of every book received by the Harvard to use FedEx to deliver the goods to its Sciences, The University of Waikato, New Library between 1998 and 2002. Over one-click shoppers. However, the myths Zealand. E-mail: . the millennium, over a hundred books of cyberspace, absurd as Mosco shows announced the end of everything from them to be, are myths because they In his previous book, Vincent Mosco change to imagination, from baseball satisfy other cravings than rational made the most significant intervention to modern medicine. Francis Fuku- ones. Perhaps only economists still in research on the political economy of yama’s End of History, like Frances believe in rationality. Here at least is the media in the last decade. Drawing Cairncross’s Death of Distance, imagined one who knows that perfectly well- on the geographical analyses of scholars the world reconfigured around the loss informed consumers making rational Loe, Sassen and Castells and on Gid- of something crucial: the sense of des- choices is a really stupid description. dens’s sociology, Mosco singles out tiny or the differences that geography commodification, spatialization and makes. Mosco’s quest is to read through structuration as the critical processes of the avatars of digital radicalism, to THE BOOK OF PORTRAITURE: the contemporary telecom and media spot the myths they build, and to offer A NOVEL regimes. Not content with an innova- critiques that bring their flights of by Steve Tomasula. FC2, Normal/Talla- fancy back towards the sweat and strife hassee, FL, U.S.A., 2006. 327 pp. Paper. of the real world. ISBN-10: 1-57366-128-7; ISBN-13: 978-1- Not that Mosco is without an interest 57366-128-7. in the ways that cultures change. For this reader the richest and deepest vein Reviewed by Eugene Thacker, School of he taps comes in the final chapter. Like Literature, Communication & Culture, many books written in North America Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, in the early years of the century, the GA 30332-0165, U.S.A. E-mail: long shadow of the Twin Towers looms . over these pages. The difference is that Mosco has researched the World Trade As a form of fictional writing, the Center. Disregarding the thriving light historical novel has always struck me as industries of Radio Alley that used to incredibly boring. I recall, as a student, be there, the Rockefeller dynasty—not having to slog through Dickens or only bankers but longtime governors of Scott, all the while wondering why I did New York State—set about building not not just go and actually read a history just skyscrapers but also a global center book. In other words, it was the “histori- for the trade in financial services. The cal” part of the historical novel that WTC was to be the hub of a new New proved troubling for me. The inverse York; one grounded not in the mix of of the historical novel is, as Frederic docks and advertising, culture and Jameson reminds us, science fiction. commerce, industry and services, but Now, science fiction is something I have one fit for the neoliberal triumph of always liked—I am more willing to give

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a pulpish, Cold War–era SF novel about Neither the historical novel nor CYBERSOUNDS: ESSAYS ON mutant plants that attack human civi- science fiction actually enframe their VIRTUAL MUSIC CULTURE lization (Wyndham’s The Day of the own status as writing, however. The Triffids, if the reader is wondering) a historical novels of the 19th century, edited by Michael D. Ayers. Peter Lang, chance than I would a historical novel. for instance, presume the literary con- New York, NY, U.S.A., 2006. 282 pp. I will not claim that this is the case ventions of the time, as do the science Paper. ISBN: 978-0-8204-7861-6. for most people; arguably, both the fictional dystopias of the 20th century. historical novel and science fiction have While the historical or futuristic datum Reviewed by Stefaan Van Ryssen, always had small, “geeky” audiences. in the novels are presented in elaborate Hogeschool Gent, Belgium. E-mail: Indeed, part of the pleasure of each detail, little attention is paid to the . of these kinds of writing is in their historical or futuristic aspects of the engrossing details—historical accuracy novel itself. A truly historical novel In a book of twelve essays on music in the former, futuristic accuracy in would, in that case, actually be written and the Internet, one can imagine that the latter. A concern with progress is in the style of the period—likewise for copyright issues (Napster and KaZaa often the domain of historical novel, science fiction. et al.), fandom and on-line collabora- whereas the imagining of utopia is What Tomasula accomplishes with tion will be treated in depth; and so often the domain of science fiction. The Book of Portraiture is exactly this they are here, but there is a lot more in Science fiction, however, has its own resonance between the history in the this collection. What keeps the whole history, what Jameson calls a “future novel and the history of the novel. bunch together is an ethnographical history.” Every vision of the future is Tomasula has already done this for and anthropological viewpoint and a conditioned by and is indicative of science fiction in his earlier novel, VAS: high quality of scholarship. Editor the historical, political, social and eco- An Opera in Flatland. What VAS does for Michael D. Ayers, professor of sociology nomic moment in which that future is the genre of science fiction, The Book of and music critic, has kept up his end of imagined. Put simply, every future has Portraiture does for the historical novel. the bargain. What makes it an interest- a past, just as every past articulates its In doing this, however, The Book of ing book is the inclusion of a few essays own version of the future, often through Portraiture does more than simply mime that break new ground, which is a rare the ideological lens of progress. narrative style. In a sense, to say that quality in view of the high number of What would it mean to write a novel The Book of Portraiture references the recent publications on the sociology about this relationship between the historical novel is not entirely accurate. of music in the digital age and on the historical novel (the past) and science Certainly, its concern is with different influence of technological advances fiction (the future)? In a sense, Steve historical periods, and certainly it offers in the production and consumption Tomasula’s novel The Book of Portraiture itself as a reflection on those periods. of music. is an answer to this question. The book However, the context of the Spanish Markus Giesler contributes “Cyber- stitches together different narrative Inquisition or 19th-century psycho- netic Gift Giving and Social Drama: threads, all of which are, in a way, con- pathology is not simply “re-created” A Netnograpy of the Napster File- sumed by the idea of portraiture and through the transparency of narrative Sharing Community.” Borrowing from the face, language and the desire for prose. Instead, Tomasula assembles, anthropological theories of gift-giving, alterity. A desert nomad in ancient cites, appropriates and collates hetero- he stages the story of Napster and Egypt, the 17th-century Spanish painter geneous documents of the past. His- its descendents as a social drama (in Diego Velázquez (whose famous work torical documents, scientific articles, anthropologist Victor Turner’s sense of Las Meninas is itself a book of portrai- travelogues, diaries, advertisements and drama as a social process with relatively ture), a male psychiatrist treating a familiar narrative prose all constitute high visibility and very clearly recogniz- female patient for sexual neuroses in part of the historical settings of The able protagonists, developing around the early 20th century, and a post–9/11 Book of Portraiture. an issue that takes on high symbolic hacker, a drugstore manager, a Muslim One does not so much read this significance for both actors and view- husband caring for his sick wife and a book as one sorts, sifts and wanders ers). In a questionable but interesting geneticist with an interest in art are through it. There is no unmediated, argument, Giesler concludes that file- just some of the voices that constitute transparent telling of a story here— sharing is practically the only example Tomasula’s thoughtful, innovative and every telling requires an appropriate of gift-giving without a trace of egoistic often humorous study of the vicissi- form, in which what is told is rendered interest. This leads to specific moral tudes of language. as both contingent and artificial. I consequences and a high potential for Which brings us to another aspect think this is a worthwhile endeavor, social change, or at least some social of The Book of Portraiture worth men- especially as many publishing houses upheaval, which genuinely deserves the tioning. If indeed there is an overlap continue to create expectations for epithet “drama.” (By the way, he pulls between the historical novel and sci- standardized, novelistic forms. Toma- Moses Maimonides, Marcel Mauss, ence fiction, does this follow for their sula basically redefines the novel as Marshall Sahlins, Derrida and Caillé form as well? Historical novels are often less a narrative and more a dossier. If into the mêlée, so these are finger- quite epic, elaborating in great detail VAS conceived of science fiction as a licking pages for any social anthropolo- all the aspects of a given period in biotechnological field of data, lineage gist.) Giesler’s penchant for coining time—a “real” place through which and memory, then The Book of Portrai- new words and drawing in just a bit too fictional characters move. Interestingly ture conceives of the historical novel as many epistemologically diverse theoret- enough, science fiction novels often a dossier of discarded and preserved ical frames cast a shadow over the essay, do the same, especially in the works artifacts. but it offers undoubtedly a big step of the great dystopian authors of the forward in understanding the cultural 20th century (Huxley, Orwell, Burgess). dynamics of file-sharing.

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Andrew Whelan’s “Do U Produce?: sary. Actually, referring to Debord, Quite early in Technology Matters, Subcultural Capital and Amateur Musi- Bakhtin and their likes does not make Nye reminds us that one of the great cianship in Peer-to-Peer Networks” the whole thing more intelligible. Entia problems for scholars reflecting on presents a Bourdieusian analysis of non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessi- technology is quite where retailers and virtual communities of “amateur” musi- tatem, sayeth Occam. librarians put books like his. As he cians and, thus, establishes a solid basis points out on page 9, bookstores may for a discussion about the very nature TECHNOLOGY MATTERS: have a section on the history of science, of music. The fact that he distinguishes but histories of technology are often QUESTIONS TO LIVE WITH between amateur and professional is scattered “through many departments, echoed, if inversely, by the concluding by David E. Nye. MIT Press, Cambridge, including sociology, cultural studies, essay of the book: Jonathan Sterne’s MA, U.S.A., 2006. 280 pp. Trade. ISBN: women’s studies, history, media, anthro- “On the Future of Music.” Sterne quite 978-0-262-140935. pology and do-it-yourself.” This, he rightly points out that the analysis of suggests, reinforces the misconception the effects of the Internet on the pro- Reviewed by Michael Punt, University of that “technology is merely a working duction and consumption of music has Plymouth. E-mail: . out of an application of scientific prin- been too narrowly focused on the pro- ciples.” It is a misconception, he argues, fessional, or rather the industrial, field The first five chapters of Technology because in general the sequence is of production and on records and Matters are a must for all libraries and reversed: Theory (science) is a strategy mass media as distribution channels. a perfect undergraduate reader for all for making sense of practical results. Amateur and local production, with its students whose studies have anything Based on empirical evidence, it is diffi- much tighter feedback loops, tends to to do with technology, which means all cult to argue against this view, at least as be left out of the picture, while it is undergraduates. They are also a must far as the 19th and early 20th centuries exactly that part—a part where a lot for anyone who needs to think about are concerned. Of course, we know of pure fun competes with high levels technology in his or her daily life and what he means, but there is a slippery of uncensored creativity—that gets a has not given much thought to the idea logic to his argument that characterizes boost from the Net. that technology might not shape cul- what is a clear and profoundly valuable The feedback loop in industrial ture. It poses the key questions that book dismantling technological deter- music production is unquestionably technology as an idea presents and minism, which is all the more valuable mainly impersonal and purely func- proposes strategies for thinking about by virtue of being simply written. tional: Sales figures, airplay and (nowa- the answers. Each chapter opens a new Technology is a working out of scien- days) numbers of illegal downloads tell question: e.g. “Can We Define Technol- tific principles, of course. I mean this the managers, professional producers ogy?”; “Does Technology Control Us?”; not in the hierarchical sense that Nye and marketers something about the “Is Technology Predictable?”; “How Do opposes, that technology is the worldly audience’s appreciation of an album or Historians Understand Technology?”; handmaiden of an abstract philosophi- recording. Again, the Internet is chang- etc. These first four are the best and cal system called science, but in a more ing the situation, as Daragh O’Reilly most clearly argued, sober and thought- holistic sense (which I am sure he sup- and Kathy Doherty illustrate in “Music ful. So far so good. The difficulty with ports): Technology is, indeed, often a B(r)ands Online and Constructing such an accessible book is that it lacks working out of science not yet articu- Community: The Case of New Model subtlety and at times reiterates the lated or understood. Nye more or less Army.” How NMA’s branding leads to a slippery method of apparent causality argues this point in the subsequent feeling among fans of belonging to a and ill-founded assumptions that char- passage, in which he suggests that the virtual family and how that family feel- acterizes the slack argumentation that way we approach art may be a better ing again helps the brand is much more David Nye’s thesis opposes. way of thinking about technology. interesting than what we usually read Artists, interesting artists at least, have about Deadheads and their relationship always been worth listening to, not for with their grateful favorites. (I must their understanding of topics outside add that this has absolutely nothing to their practice, which is often woefully do with my personal taste—I dislike uninformed, but because art (interest- both the Grateful Dead and New Model ing art) is an expression of ideas yet to Army, but the composers I prefer would be codified. For this reason we have not have fan clubs, would they?) always engaged with artists not for what There are six more essays in the they intended to express but what they collection, but one needs to be men- expressed unintentionally. Without tioned separately. Trace Reddell’s this bifurcation between the painter piece, “The Social Pulse of Telharmon- and the viewer, art becomes “picture- ics: Functions of Networked Sound and making” (or market making) and view- Interactive Webcasting” is the odd one ing becomes trainspotting. In the same out because it mainly describes the way, technology as it appears in the work of the author and a number of world is text to be read as a partial music projects that specifically exploit understanding of what is to become the technical potential of the Web. I rather than (as I am sure Nye would heartily welcome his categorization of agree) the culmination of a scientific networked music projects and interac- endeavor. For this reason, the history tive webcasting, but wrapping it in a of technology should be understood as rather pompous rhetoric was not neces- an enterprise very different from, say,

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the history of science or the history In the spirit of full disclosure it should be the polymath received much scholarly of art. Sooner or later, all bookstores mentioned that our first family cat was acclaim and international recognition, will have a section called the history of named “Explorador,” which was shortened which have only increased with time. to “X.” We felt it unfair to saddle the next ideas, and until that time histories of arrival with the doubt of “Y” so we called He died prematurely in 1650, at Stock- technology should be scattered through- him “Descartes.” [X and Y coordinates holm, while providing intellectual out the store as an antidote to the mate- are used to define a point in a plane by stimulation for Queen Christina. His rialist complacency that informs most two numbers. The Cartesian system was mortal remains have been moved three introduced by René Descartes in 1637, histories of technology, science or art. within part two of his Discourse on times and presently repose in Saint- Technology, science (abstract system- Method.] Germain-des-Prés (the oldest church atic thinking) and art are only occa- in Paris). His birthplace in the Loire sionally things in the world; they are, René Descartes was born at La Haye en Valley was renamed La Haye-Descartes first and foremost, aspects of human Touraine (France) on 31 March 1596. in 1802 and shortened to Descartes in curiosity, intimately implicated in desire His mother died of tuberculosis the 1967. and on which we base certain actions. next year, but his father Joachim (a Grayling has written a readable and Nye is one of the leading scholars judge) was able to arrange an otherwise entertaining book. He goes to some in a project to revisit technology as a comfortable and nurturing environ- pains to distinguish his “life and times” cultural and historical study that owes ment for René with relatives. He approach from previous biographies, much to the New Historicism move- received formal education at the Jesuit but admits from the start that there are ment of the 1980s. Much of the ground- College Royal Henry-Le-Grand at La still great gaps in documentation of breaking work in technology studies Flèche, followed by the University of vital aspects. Attempts to build plausi- that challenged the received histories Poitiers, where he earned a Baccalauréat ble hypotheses, not least of which is the of lone inventors is referred to, some- and Licence in Law by 1616. Two years possibility that René Descartes was a times in detail, and yet curiously the later the young man entered the civil Jesuit spy-at-large, are engaging but bibliography does not include this service of Maurice of Nassau, United sometimes tiresome and, in the end, literature. While some of the more Provinces (now part of The Nether- disappointing for lack of data. An unthinking commentaries on technol- lands), which were in and out of Span- example of Grayling’s method: ogy and science are included, ground- ish domination for decades. Between breaking and formative work by Bijker, 1619 and 1625, Descartes traveled Evidence suggests either that Ferguson, Latour, Schaffer or Shapin, Europe, all the while observing, absorb- [Descartes] was—as hypothesized— an agent, most probably for the Jesuits, for example, is overlooked. While it ing and analyzing the “great book of investigating or keeping an eye on is true that most of the work by these the world,” as he called it. actual or alleged Rosicrucians, or that scholars concerns science, Nye’s key In a wonderful body of work in he was indeed one of them (or for point about the interdependence physics, mathematics and philosophy, a time wished to be). ...First is the testimony of Descartes’ notebook, of these two is undermined by the Descartes adroitly separated all of these the Olympica, known to Baillet and omission. Given our predilection for from divine matters and thus avoided Leibniz but since lost [p. 81]. material evidence, which, more than conflicts, for the most part, with the anything, reinforces technological powers of the day. In 1628, however, he Here and elsewhere, Grayling’s determinism, the opportunity to fell out of favor in France and betook linked provisos and reservations are reinforce the idea of technology as a a self-imposed exile for a dozen years certainly required (although he almost consequence of the intersection of a to the lowlands, where he frequently begs for credit by his own admissions) network of determinants—including changed addresses. During his lifetime, but inevitably lead to a disappearance science—should not have been missed. in value for his message. By analogy, As a consequence Nye’s achievement a synthetic chemist may be delighted in foregrounding crucial issues so that with reactions that each have 80% we understand the social, economic yield, but he also realizes that after just and technological environment in three successive steps, the yield of the which we negotiate our curiosity and desired final product is 51%. So it is desires is somewhat undone. Technology with three successive and connected Matters is an ideal way to start thinking suppositions (each with a “good” prob- seriously about technology. It is a book ability of 0.8)—when strung together that is long overdue, but also one that (i.e. 0.8 × 0.8 × 0.8 = 0.512) the conclu- leaves the way open for further work by sion is about as good as that of a coin- other scholars. toss (0.5). In a different vein, but also relevant here, the late Bill Ober joked that the plural of anecdote is data. DESCARTES: THE LIFE AND Those who find this volume as a first TIMES OF A GENIUS encounter with Descartes will discover by A.C. Grayling. Walker & Co., New much of interest and particularly enjoy York, NY, U.S.A., 2006. 320 pp. Trade. the sections on his patrons, correspon- ISBN: 0-8027-1501-X. dents and critics; his only (and illegiti- mate) child; and the period in Sweden. Reviewed by Wilfred Niels Arnold, Univer- However, rather than embracing sity of Kansas Medical Center. E-mail: Grayling’s Jesuit-spy-at-large working . hypothesis, I believe that many readers

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will join me in wondering whether ranging from Wittgenstein (1988) to numerous awards, international screen- Descartes’ secrecy, his paradoxical Among the Dead Cities: The History and ings and cinema distribution agree- religious commitments, and the early Moral Legacy of WWII Bombing of Civil- ments. Nonetheless, this film deserves reluctance to put everything in print ians in Germany and Japan (2006). acclaim beyond the classical categoriza- were mainly driven by a fear of another tion of what commonly is thought to Galileo affair. Grayling, who admits to make a good documentary film. offering only hints on the science, has In contrast to the very common written for a general audience and will FILMS documentary film genres of reportage not attract a great deal of applause and ideology- or education-driven from Descartes aficionados. styles, Geyrhalter positions himself as a The assembled notes for each chap- OUR DAILY BREAD silent participating observer and shows, ter start on page 263 and include some by Nikolaus Geyrhalter. First Run/ predominantly through wide-angle items that might better have appeared Icarus Films, Brooklyn, NY, U.S.A., long shots and continuous tracking as footnotes. For example (with refer- 2006. Video-DVD, 92 min, color. shots, what happens behind the veils ence to the year 1629 and the continu- Distributor’s web site: . inside the mechanisms of the industri- ing Thirty Years War) note 1 for chapter alized food production throughout 6 begins, Reviewed by Martha Blassnigg, University Europe. The film follows the living of Plymouth. E-mail: . cells, artificial insemination, etc.) the war in the way hypothesized here— that is, as an intelligence operative; in- and outdoors, through the processes I [Grayling] make this claim because, The documentary film Our Daily Bread, of growth, feeding, pesticide treatment, continuing with reliance on circum- by Nikolaus Geyrhalter, is one of the etc., to the final machinery of the stantial evidence as before, I see rare examples of contemporary docu- harvest and slaughter and the various neither cause nor opportunity for him mentary filmmaking in which some of stages of cleansing, portioning, packag- to do so, but on the contrary so much concentration on his scientific and the most relevant discussions within ing, etc. What we see is activity in the philosophical work ...that it becomes film and cinema theory appear to close presence of the camera, avoid- quite implausible to think that he crystallize. In the already impressive ing sensationalism and the use of was continuing intelligence work, for oeuvre of this young filmmaker, Our extreme close-ups as affection-images the Jesuits or anyone else, in his new circumstances. . . . Daily Bread reveals another outstanding in a Deleuzian sense; instead the fre- example of the long-standing collabora- quent use of wide-angle views appear and ends a full page later, “Still: from tion of Nikolaus Geyrhalter (script, to create an optimal stage of projection this point on in his [Descartes’] story directing, cinematography) and Wolf- and reflection for viewers. the hypothesis plays no further role.” gang Widerhofer (script, editing), Through Widerhofer’s evocative The front image on the dust jacket applying a reflexive, subtle and intelli- editing style, various forms of intelli- is described as “Portrait, presumed to gent approach, here to the subject of gence interact and act upon each be René Descartes,” oil on canvas, by the industrialized production of food. other: the machineries and robots, Sébastien Bourdon (1616–1671). That The contemporary documentary film the organisms, the plants, the animals selection says something about either market, with its festivals, committees —alive and dead—and the human the author’s or the jacket designer’s and broadcasting networks, predomi- employees in their daily routines, all pluck in offering something new. nantly regards film form as subservient on an equal plane of observation. (We note that the accomplished Bour- to content. Our Daily Bread makes a These scenes of food processing regu- don also painted a portrait of Queen critical intervention against this tragic larly juxtaposed with employees (usu- Christina of Sweden, but it is not development and has already achieved ally one, sometimes several) taking reproduced in this book.) Overall, international recognition through their lunch breaks in fixed frontal this hardback is handsome, printed on medium-close shots, silently consuming good-quality paper, and includes an their “daily bread.” For brief moments interesting selection of 38 illustrations they—and we—are cut off from the on 8 pages ganged after page 144 of distinct noises and mechanisms of the the text. The volume is rounded out machinery (perhaps it is just as well with a “select bibliography” of four that Smell-O-Vision never really took compilations of Descartes’ works and off), and as viewers we can take a break 70 biographical and general references. from the stream of images and narra- There are 11 pages of index, with name tive structure of the sequences. and subject combined. One appendix The dramaturgical structure of the contains a note on Descartes’ philoso- film avoids providing any further fac- phy, and a second is a short discourse tual information; there are no num- on biographies of philosophers with bers, identified places or interviews, for a justification by Grayling for his per- example, nor are any uttered opinions sonal approach. or text in the form of subtitles or inter- Anthony C. Grayling is a Professor titles offered. As a consequence, viewers at Birbeck College, University of Lon- are not only stimulated but also con- don. He has written several books; the fronted with a whole range of open Library of Congress online catalog lists questions that provoke them to make 18 items of biography and philosophy Photo courtesy First Run/Icarus Films. up their own minds about what they

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see. Such questions concern, for exam- parent workings of the apparatus, in terfeiting is intimately tied into much ple, the quality of processed food, the an open yet inclusive dialogue with its larger and more significant criminal automation of labor, the ethics of mass audiences. abuses, such as human trafficking and livestock breeding, artificial insemina- The web site drug dealing. tion, slaughter and the application of offers additional information such as As the women move uptown, the insecticides. stills from the film and behind the designer handbags become more In addition, the choice of avoiding scenes, press extracts, awards and festi- expensive. At Prada they examine any interviews is obviously a very con- val participation, a trailer and inter- minute beaded handbags for $1,600. sidered one, which supports the clear- views. The film lingers in the Prada store, and cut style of Geyrhalter’s aesthetic handbags are forgotten as an architect approach; his cinematography and leads viewers on a tour of the shop, Widerhofer’s associative editing “show KNOCK OFF: REVENGE which was designed to “redefine the and tell” in sequences of images held ON THE LOGO shopping experience.” Huge spaces are together by a sophisticated dramaturgi- by Anette Baldauf and Katharina devoted to viewing art, and the inten- cal structure of contrasts, analogies, Weingartner. First Run/Icarus Films, tion is to encourage the shopper to interconnections and contradictions— Brooklyn, NY, U.S.A, 2004. VHS, associate the Prada brand with art or a complexity of observations that 45 min, color. Distributor’s web site: high culture. Hand-held computers viewers are invited to experience. . read information about the clothes In Our Daily Bread, the technology from tags inside them and play video at work and on display as well as the Reviewed by Andrea Dahlberg. E-mail: clips of them being modeled on the applied techniques in film style and . runway in Milan. The tour of the store form create a polyphonic dialogue is a lesson in how brand values are of a complex “apparatus” where the Knock Off is a short 45-minute documen- constructed and communicated to mechanisms of cinematography inter- tary that raises issues of copyright, consumers; it is the story of how a sect and interact by design with those piracy, branding, advertising and labor boring gray jacket becomes magically of the food production industry. Con- and looks at the ways in which con- endowed with the power to make its sequently, in the spectator’s perception sumers use, subvert and create iden- owner feel part of the cultural elite and the film operates within a framework tities from globally branded luxury of how such a dull object can inspire of tension between the visual aesthet- goods. The film is structured as a shop- confidence and create envy. ics and perceptual pleasures of color ping expedition starting in Canal By the time we reach Harlem, it is patterns, the formalistically appealing Street, Manhattan, where we see sweat- night. Some of the most interesting architecture, machinery and “food in shop laborers emerge from cardboard footage in the film is shot here. For process” on conveyor belts, and the shelters on the streets to begin their many consumers in Harlem, it is not subjective negotiation with ethical day, and ending up in Harlem, where a enough to wear a brand; logos and dimensions of possible interpretations. shoemaker describes some of his recent other brand-identifying characteristics The transparency of this conscious commissions, which include re-lining a are cut out, re-sewn, and new, highly application of the film style takes the pair of Louis Vuitton boots in scarlet individual consumer goods are con- viewer into the subject of investigation, leather. structed, which flaunt brands in not only with the purpose of making For most of the journey we are entirely new ways. The film provides the usually invisible processes of mass accompanied by two women shopping little analysis of these strange concoc- food production “audio-visible,” but for designer handbags. On Canal Street tions. They initially appear as highly also to ask us to make “sense” of what they search out the best fakes for $35. creative ways to assert an individual we see in relation to our own agency in Interviews with a labor activist reveal identity in an environment where this matter. In our daily responsibility as the working conditions of the people everything seems to have a brand consumers in our shopping habits and who make the bags, the countries they name inscribed on it. Many of these food choices, the contract between the come from, and how the authorities objects (most are footwear) would be spectator and the cinematic event, as will tolerate a certain amount of this extremely expensive to produce, as Jean-Louis Comolli proposed, here counterfeit activity because of its they require the destruction of two, turns into a conspiracy with no escape. appeal to tourists and its popularity three or more designer items to make Our Daily Bread is a film that allows with bargain hunters. Interviews with a new one. space and reflexive interaction with a couple of corporate IP (intellectual This highly extravagant form of the interior psychological apparatus property) lawyers provide an alterna- brand consumption is reminiscent of of the spectator’s mind with a minimal tive point of view; they claim that coun- the potlatch of certain Indian tribes amount of manipulation (considering of the Northwest American coast (such that every film in its foundation consti- as the Kwakiutl), who created and artic- tutes forms of manipulation, most ulated social superiority by creating basically through the application of huge bonfires of luxury goods. The visual frames). This is a rare achieve- economics behind such spectacular ment in the documentary film genre, displays, in which luxury goods are in which cinema comes to life, trans- aggressively destroyed, is always worth parently revealing its “dispositif” of examining. The potlatch was probably complex relations and meanings. In related to inflationary pressure that Our Daily Bread the cinema’s implied had gotten out of hand. In the case of ideological frameworks are put to the Harlem, it is likely to be related to a fore through the conscious and trans- Photo courtesy First Run/Icarus Films. black market; it is a way of consuming

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money that has a limited chance of Stone (saxophone), Kendall Eddy one to “interact” with the group via being absorbed into the mainstream (bass) and Austin McMahon (drums) e-mail. They even invite storyline ideas economy. In both cases surplus is con- all have master’s degrees in music and that they can set to music and perform, verted into social status through the impressive CVs. They have studied and promising the submitter a T-shirt if destruction of luxury goods. performed with a host of accomplished they become famous through the idea! The film suffers, in part, from far jazz musicians, such as Bob Brook- There is also a touchingly honest too many shots of people in the streets meyer, George Garzone and Jerry live performance review from Kelly wearing logos. The women shopping Bergonzi. However, jazz lovers will be Roberge’s grandmother: “It’s dreadful, for handbags also become tedious disappointed to discover that this DVD it makes me want to cry!” after a while. However, aside from is far more about absurdist theatre than Apart from performing and touring, these points, it is an entertaining and music. Certainly there are tantalizing the Quartet of Happiness has been provocative tour of some of the main snippets of impressive bebop in several taking their show into schools to teach issues raised by luxury branded goods pieces. Seeing them competitively role-playing, movement and improvisa- in a global economy. trading phrases over a II-V-I progression tion through music. It has been my leaves no doubt that these guys have unfortunate experience that music really got their chops down. The “Radio programs in public schools usually LIVE AT THE STAIN BAR Song” skit showcases the quartet’s abili- range from sadly lacking to nonexist- by Quartet of Happiness, 2006. ties across a variety of genres, including ent. If the zany antics of the Quartet of DVD, 38:22 min, color. Distributor’s rock, funk, soul, Latin, folk, classical Happiness can open the world of music web site: . is given only a taste of their high stan- their teachers, then it is indeed a wel- dard of musicianship, and those listen- come change. Reviewed by Kathryn Adams, Australia. ing for the music will certainly be left If by some strange chance the reader E-mail: . craving for more. has never wondered if there were a What Roberge, Stone, Eddy and DVD such as this out there, it still might For those who have ever wondered if McMahon manage to do, however, is be worth a look. It is experimental there is a DVD out there that features draw from their wide range of musical theater and, like all experiments, it four consummate jazz musicians, one experience and channel it into the sometimes works and sometimes does sleeping saxophonist, a monster, a one- Quartet of Happiness to produce a not. At only 38 minutes running time, legged lover, toilet paper and a garden variety of original pieces that fit per- however, it is not much of a loss if it hose ...here it is—the zany, madcap fectly with their inane storytelling and does not work for you. 38-minute role-playing DVD adventure crazy role-playing antics. Watching with the Quartet of Happiness, Live at Roberge and Stone act out their skits the Stain Bar. with the help of the occasional monster JOHN CAGE PERFORMS The ensemble, formed in 2003, plays mask or lame prop while playing saxo- JAMES JOYCE original avant-garde theatrical jazz phones is a bizarre experience at first, a by Takahiko Iimura. Takahiko Iimura while acting out a series of short, wacky bit like being a part of someone’s manic Media Art Institute, Tokyo, Japan, and often frantic skits. The result is a episode, but once viewers go with it, 1985/2005. DVD, 15 min., black and high-energy performance, both visually they will be taken on a journey where white. and musically, by four likeable and very anything is possible. talented musicians. This is not a slick production. Very Kelly Roberge (saxophone), Rick little energy has gone into costumes FLUXUS REPLAYED or set design. There are repeated by Takahiko Iimura. Takahiko Iimura wardrobe malfunctions. The lighting Media Art Institute, Tokyo, Japan, is poor and the sound is appalling in 1991/2005. 30 min., black and white. parts. Despite all this, however, the ISBN: 4-901181-24-6. Distributor’s web DVD has an unsophisticated raw energy site: . that gives a sense of what it would be like to see the Quartet perform live Reviewed by Mike Leggett, Creativity & in this intimate setting. The Stain Bar Cognition Studios, University of Technology in Brooklyn is a unique arts lounge Sydney. E-mail: . that has been described as more of a cultural/community center than a bar, Taka Iimura is a senior figure among where artists are invited to perform or contemporary Japanese artists and has try out their distinctive brands of art been working with film, sound and on audiences for a small donation. video since the 1960s. He was one of Our lively saxophonists use the entire several Japanese who, coming from a space as their stage, busting out of 20th-century tradition of avant-garde their disheveled set in various guises intervention [1], contributed to the to interact with their audience. Fluxus group in the ’60s. Like many The DVD is available on-line through media artists, Iimura made recordings the Quartet’s web site for $US10 + $5 of contemporaries and their work. shipping and handling. In addition to Alongside his film and video artworks, providing the usual information like such as the video Observer/Observed [2], news, bios and dates, the web site allows his use of portable video enabled

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documentation (and general note- statement aided and amplified by THE DREAMERS OF making) more economically than film. Iimura’s collaboration in its making. ARNHEM LAND As the cycle of experimentation moves In Fluxus Replayed, also released in by Chris Walker, 2005. 50 min, color. through another generation, glimpses 2005, Iimura documents a 1991 event First Run/Icarus Films. Distributor’s of precursors through archive record- held to reproduce historical perform- web site: . ings of this kind help ground artists’ ances by NYC-based Fluxus artists of surviving words and artworks. the 1960s. The S.E.M. Ensemble, Reviewed by Jonathan Zilberg, Jakarta John Cage (1912–1992), the senior together with some of the Fluxus artists Institute of the Arts. figure of Fluxus (NYC), who was active themselves, perform works by Nam experimentally from the late 1930s, is June Paik, Yoko Ono, Dick Higgins, The Dreamers of Arnhem Land is a doc- the subject of a video portrait shot by George Brecht, Allison Knowles, Ben umentary account of a sustainable Iimura in 1985, released in 1991 and Patterson, Jackson Mac Low and Emett development project. It begins with made available on DVD in 2005. Cage Williams. Iimura has edited together imaginary film of Aboriginal life before had a long-standing fascination with the sounds and images captured by the European arrival and what seems the work of James Joyce, in particular two cameras as raw evidence of the like a parody of the cultural encounter Finnegans Wake, the book becoming the goings-on, with scant regard for the with Europeans, the encroachment of basis of many works, the best known of conventions of continuity editing, thus white settlement, the subsequent dis- which is the Roaratorio—An Irish Circus maintaining the document in the space possession of ancestral lands and the on Finnegans Wake. Commissioned by between the moment of recording and descent into poverty, both economic German radio and IRCAM in Paris, that of viewing. Time compression is and cultural. After depicting the depri- the sound recording was completed in only obvious in Ono’s Sky Piece for Jesus vations of modern life for such commu- 1979, lasted about an hour and was a Christ (1965) as the baroque instrumen- nities, it proceeds to tell the story of 62-track mix of the sounds referred to tal ensemble members are wrapped how two Aboriginal elders returned to in the text, the text itself as prepared up with white paper. Through a series their land to begin anew. The remain- (using a mesostic system), and read of jump cuts their music is reduced to der documents their apparently suc- by Cage, together with music played a series of bumps and scrapes before cessful attempt to reconnect the future by Irish traditional music players of ultimately the musicians are seen man- to the past through bringing the next the day. handled off the stage, still attached to generation back to their ancestral Roaratorio is one of the classics of their chairs and instruments. homes. Cage’s oeuvre [3], and in Iimura’s Again, Iimura gives younger genera- The strongest and main part of the 15-minute recording, John Cage Performs tions some idea of how these early documentary relates how Stuart and James Joyce, Cage presents the core of precursors to contemporary perform- Valerie Ankin set about working with the spoken part of the work. Its compo- ance art appeared to audiences, in a European technical advisors to provide sition, like many of his other works, is setting typical of the genre—church a better future for the North Coast aided by the I-Ching. Here he briefly hall ecclesiastical architecture, painted Aboriginals. Their idea is for their explains that none of the sentences walls, wooden floor. Though much of descendents to be able to live healthy (sic) in Finnegans Wake are selected, this work was sound-based, produced and productive lives in which they only words, syllables and letters from collaboratively for group performance harvest and market traditional natural different pages according to the chance using chance determinations and products in a sustainable fashion. It decisions made by consulting the framed with a sense of the aesthetics is an interesting example of how two I-Ching and its representational hexa- of noise, the written scores or instruc- elders have resolved to ameliorate the grams. In this way the 624 pages of the tions for each piece may well have book are compressed into 12 pages of satisfied many members of the audi- text, and it is one of these pages that ence. Glimpsed in the background, we see him holding. He reads from it, some walking around, others squirming sings it and then, hunching close to in their seats, the probably overlong the camera and its microphone, whis- evening has been bravely foreshortened pers it. At the bottom of the screen are into a useful 30-minute document by superimposed two lines of sub-titling the artist with the video camera. synchronized with the text he is using. Iimura’s presence is felt but not References and Notes seen, though we hear him responding 1. See Midori Yoshimoto, Into Performance: Japanese to Cage’s explanations at the outset. Women Artists in New York (Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers Cage’s voice is not strong; he is in his Univ. Press, 2005); Stephan von Wiese, Jutta Hulsewig and Yoshio Shirakawa, Dada in Japan: Japanische 70s, and we strain to hear him against Avant-Garde 1920–1970 (Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, the noise of New York traffic coming 1983). through the window in the background 2. See Mike Leggett, review of Observer/Observed by of a sunlit room. His demeanor remains Takahiko Iimura and Takahiko Iimura—Retrospective buoyant; at one point he makes light of de films et de video, Leonardo 35, No. 1, 107–108 (2002). a fumble he makes with a watch he is 3. An extensive discography now exists for Cage and holding, an event incorporated into the other sound artists, together with collected reviews, samples and the means to buy recordings at . initiatives, the line between the artwork and its making is blurred, articulating a Photo courtesy First Run/Icarus Films.

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multiple problems facing Aborigines tentatively, in the same way as their ecotourism, could provide avenues for in Australia, namely unemployment, ancestors have, right there—for tens an even deeper cultural and economic poverty, chronic illness, alcohol abuse of thousands of years. Although these convergence, which could increase and drug addiction. It all came about children grew up in town watching the capital available for research and as the natural culmination of such television and listening instead to rock development of natural resources in people’s return to their homes after and country, and surely hip-hop and Arnhem Land and thus the sustainabil- the Australian government changed rap, they are finding their way home ity of this important project. its land policies and recognized their again here through their very bodies rights to their traditional estates in the and through sound itself. Through the late 1970s. re-embodiment of the past, of their LEONARDO The film will prove useful for educa- ancestral knowledge and experience, REVIEWS ON-LINE tors looking for an example of how they are developing a profound sense highly motivated indigenous peoples of local pride. In this, the proud young can team up with scientists and other rangers of Arnhem Land, and these The reviews published in print are but advisors to use native knowledge cre- children, will finally escape the down- a small selection of the reviews available atively to produce new products in a ward spiral of poverty and cultural on the Leonardo Reviews web site. Below sustainable and profitable fashion for degradation. is a full list of reviews published in LR the market. The dual purpose of this Perhaps the strongest form of cri- March–April 2007 . employment in which Aboriginal it to deeply nuanced and theorized people return to live on their lands as ethnographic studies of Aboriginal their ancestors did, to varying degrees, communities that engage the “Black- April 2007 but to do so in order to earn a living fella/Whitefella” debate, such as Paint- The Angelmakers, directed by Astrid and live more healthy lives. In this, the ing Culture: The Making of an Aboriginal Bussink. Reviewed by Kathryn Adams. Ankins, the Australian government and High Art (2002) by Fred Myers. Toward Classic Chic: Music, Fashion, and Mod- the universities and business commu- the end of the book, Myers describes ernism, by Mary E. Davis. Reviewed by nity are working together to provide people’s reactions to the show Papunya Richard Kade. hope and an alternative future to the Tula: Genesis and Genius in 2000, the bleak life of the settlements into which larger Australian culture wars and white The Jasons: The Secret History of Science’s these populations were forcibly settled anxieties, and, most pertinent to this Postwar Elite, by Ann Finkbeiner. when their lands were appropriated for film, the culmination of the show in a Reviewed by John F. Barber. ranching and farming in the 1950s. modern Aboriginal rock performance. It is an interesting film in that one Why are such studies so pertinent to Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popu- gets a sense of the powerful connection this film? Because this is as much about lar Culture, by Maria Elena Buszek. these Aboriginal peoples have to their Blackfellas, as Whitefellas working with Reviewed by Jonathan Zilberg. land and to their ancestors. Indeed, Blackfellas. the film succeeds in conveying this The lyrics for the celebrated Salvador Allende, directed by Patricio connection. It is not a particularly anthem “Blackfella/Whitefella” by Guzmán. Reviewed by Mike Leggett. compelling documentary. Nevertheless, the Warumpi Band are as follows: what makes The Dreamers of Arnhem The Sculpture of Ruth Asawa: Contours Land important is that it shows that Blackfella, whitefella. It doesn’t matter what your color in the Air, edited by Daniell Cornell. there is significant potential for sustain- As long as you’re a true fella Reviewed by Amy Ione. able development and cultural survival As long as you’re a real fella if isolated local communities work with They Chose China, by Shuibo Wang. universities, entrepreneurs and the The refrain is: “Are you the one Reviewed by Jonathan Zilberg. state to synergistically combine “black- who’s gonna stand up and be counted?” Water Sound Images: The Creative Music of fella’s” and “whiteman’s” knowledge. Here lies the larger significance of this the Universe, by Alexander Lauterwasser; From the women collecting female sustainable development project. Its translated by Gunter Maria Zielke. long-necked turtles to harvest their success lies in the common cause for a Reviewed by Rob Harle. offspring for the pet market to the men cultural future, new partnerships based planting and harvesting indigenous on mutual respect and cooperation. It fruit trees to produce a health tonic, is very much an experiment in intercul- March 2007 from men harvesting crocodile eggs for tural production, as is Western desert crocodile farmers to women harvesting Aboriginal acrylic painting. At a Distance: Precursors to Art and and preparing natural medicines for Lastly, if one compares the enor- Activism on the Internet, by Annmarie local use and potential future markets, mous economic and cultural success of Chandler and Norrie Neumark. there is hope in the land. Aboriginal high art to the less lucrative Reviewed by Michael R. (Mike) Mosher. The movie ends with a particularly harvesting of long-necked turtles and Bernie Boston: American Photojournalist, compelling scene of a musical event. such, it is clear that changes in lifestyle by Therese Mulligan. Reviewed by Amy After the MC’s quintessentially modern and labor associated with working Ione. invocation, “Let’s rock ’n’ roll,” the rather than representing the land are youngsters begin to dance to electroni- driving the kind of economic and social Bullshit, directed by Pea Holmquist and cally enhanced indigenous music. What changes that are so desperately needed Suzanne Khardalian. Reviewed by is so striking is how they do so, if at first in Australia. Perhaps music and art, and Aparna Sharma.

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Cinematic Prophylaxis: Globalization and The Laws of Simplicity, by John Maeda. Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Contagion in the Discourse of World Health, Reviewed by Michael R. (Mike) Mosher. Game Culture, by T.L. Taylor. Reviewed by Kirsten Ostherr. Reviewed by Martha by John F. Barber. Patricia Niño Mojica. Mapping Perception, edited by Giles Lane and Katrina Jungnickel with Mark Pretend We’re Dead: Capitalist Monsters Cutting Code: Software and Sociality, by Lythgoe. Reviewed by Mike Leggett. in American Pop Culture, by Annalee Adrian Mackenzie. Reviewed by Rob Newitz. Reviewed by Nick Cronbach. Harle. The New Typography, by Jan Tschichold; The Secret Life of Babies, directed by Designing Interactions, by Bill Mog- translated by Ruari McLean. Reviewed Bernard George. Reviewed by Kathryn gridge; foreword by Gillian Crampton- by Jan Baetens. Adams. Smith. Reviewed by Dene Grigar. Optical Illusions: The Science of Visual Tester: Nodes at Work, edited by the King of Infinite Space: Donald Coxeter, The Perception, by Al Seckel. Reviewed by Fundacíon Rodríguez. Reviewed by Man Who Saved Geometry, by Siobhan George Shortess. Michael R. (Mike) Mosher. Roberts. Reviewed by Paul Brown.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Leonardo Celebrates Leonardo da Vinci Special Section of Leonardo, 2007–2008

In celebration of Leonardo journal’s 40th anniversary, we are calling for essays related to Leonardo da Vinci and his concerns regarding the relationship between art and science. We are interested in submis- sions in which Leonardo’s own concerns serve as a springboard for looking toward the present. What, building upon Leonardo’s ways of thinking, can artists and scientists tell each other today? We also seek original accounts of his visual art, of his achievements as a proto-scientist and of the relation between his concerns with science and with visual art. Recommended length: 2,500–3,500 words. Illustrations per essay: 5–8 black-and-white images; possibly one color image. Prospective authors are encouraged to review the Leonardo Author Guidelines on the Web: www.leonardo.info. (Follow the links: Publications, Information for Authors, Leonardo Print Journals, Editorial and Illustration Guidelines.) All papers will be peer-reviewed prior to acceptance for publication. Submissions deadline: 30 September 2007. Please send inquiries and submissions to Guest Editor David Carrier: .

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A WORD OF THANKS

Thanks to Our Supporters

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