Oh So Colson

I saw an exhibition at the Musée d’art contemporaine de Montréal by Vik Muniz. I’ve found both the exhibition and the accompanying documentary quite thought provoking. He stated, in his documentary, that he was more interested in the photographs of the object that he’d created after he’d taken its photograph. I was particularly struck by several portraits which he’d made using images of important celebrities from glossy magazines, that he’d cut up. Muniz stated that wanted to examine the idea of celebrity since celebrities are an important facet of life in Brazil. Essentially he’d cut up the glossy magazine pages and used them to recreate new portraits of himself since he’d discovered that he’d become a celebrity himself. He said that he found this an odd sensation. These portraits, made me remember some of the art works that I’d seen in some expensive art galleries in Belgrade, Serbia. These were also constructed from glossy expensive fashion magazines such as Vogue, Elle and the like. I found these particular images far more fascinating and memorable than the State run museums and galleries that we visited. However, I’d say that what we saw at the State run museums and galleries really reflected how archaeology, enthnography, and history were analysed. The exhibits that we saw reflected the culture - history paradigm which was predominant in the old ex-Soviet bloc. Everything we saw was clearly described in great detail. But for us, myself and a friend, every object we saw whilst labeled was static and devoid of a clear way that we could connect it to a more meaningful context. 

Well, this is really odd having a blog. I decided, after much thought, that it might be a good idea to have one. It was an odd concept since it seems to me that a blog is probably the twenty-first century equivalent of a paper diary. I like paper diaries. I like looking at them in stationary sections in bookstores or stores that specialize in paper. I’m always amazed at the amount of work that’s put into producing them - the covers and the paper can vary from diary to diary. Some of them are so pretty that it strikes me as a shame to write in them. Indeed, the idea of a diary is essentially having the possibility of using a specific notebook to write random stuff in it as different and a way of compartmentalizing a section of thoughts from a given day. I used to write a diary when I was doing archaeological fieldwork in remote parts of northwestern Ontario. I did it because it was part of a day where I knew that I could get away, mentally, from my colleagues since we not only worked together for up to 21 days at a time but we often had to put up tents and live in close proximity to each other. Writing a diary meant that I had time away from fieldwork and all the associated activities of living in the bush in a tent. However, I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy working in the bush or working with the people that I was working with. I thoroughly enjoyed working in the bush..there’s nothing like it. I also liked the people that I worked with. Anyhow I’ve got to rush and do something else now.