MetaFilter posts tagged with modernization

Let me Take a Photo of Everything You Own

modernnomad — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 06:21:06 -0800

Photographer Travels China, Taking Pictures of Families and All Their Possessions Huang Qingjun has spent nearly a decade travelling to remote parts of China to persuade people who have sometimes never been photographed to carry outside all their household possessions and pose for him. The results offer glimpses of the utilitarian lives of millions of ordinary Chinese who, at first glance, appear not to have been swept up by the same modernisation that has seen hundreds of millions of others leave for the cities. Next year marks the 10th anniversary of the first photograph, and Huang plans to mark it by returning to the places he visited - or those that are still recognisable - to see what has changed.

Not Dali But An Incredible Simulation

oneswellfoop — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 09:32:59 -0800

The art/design blog Booooooom (with 7 O's) held a contest "to remake famous works of art using photography". No Photoshoppery allowed (but ironically, Photoshop was part of the Adobe-provided prize). A couple hundred entries were received and shown off on the blog (all on this big page, some NSFW), and the winner is... ...this re-imagining of a Dali painting (no photo effects but a lot of construction involved). Larger image. But there were a lot of entries I liked* including... a youthful edition of El Greco's “Gentleman with his hand on his chest” an obvious (but still welcome) real-life version of Van Gogh's “Skull with a burning cigarette” an appropriately modernized but still beautifully similar “Starry Night over the Rhone” one of the most creative substitutions of contemporary people with Raphael's “Two Cherubs” a very whimsical “Ugly Duchess” the un-abstracting of Joan Miro's “Young Woman Escaping” a precise re-creation of “Loie Fuller in La danse blanche” the most subtle but nicely-done of many gender-swaps was of Caravaggio's “Bacchino” another nicely done Caravaggio remake is “Medusa” somebody got quite 'dotty' with Lichtenstein's “Ohhh…Alright…” best use of small plastic toys goes to this version of Goya's “El Tres de Mayo” winner of 'most obvious updating' (so obvious it was done twice) is Magritte's “Son Of Man” a standout for group effort (and group nudity, NSFW) is Matisse's “Dance” another good group shot (no nudity except for an exposed wound done with skillful makeup) is “The Incredulity of Saint Thomas” the most whimsical of several loose interpretations of “Creation of Adam” (although I would have swapped the two figures for historical accuracy) “American Gothic” got remade way too often (most often with 'hipsters') but this one was appropriately non-serious somebody stripped out the irony and added humor to Magritte's “The Treachery of Images” I'd call this an actual improvement on Duchanp's “Bicycle Wheel” a nicely scaled-down version of Christo's “Umbrellas” more than one good version of “Narcissus” (how come Caravaggio got so many of the best faithful re-creations) Vermeer's “The Girl With The Pearl Earring” got a LOT of remakes, most very pretty, but I have to go for this gender-swap earring-swap. Lots of “The Last Supper” too - it's an obvious theme, but none quite match MetaFilter's Own. Still, the surfer, academic, independent movie and what I keep thinking of as 'business meeting' themed ones are worthy additions to the meme. somebody took the stress out of Dennis Openheim's “Parallel Stress” it's a toss-up between this and this for Botticelli's “Primavera” a lot of portrait models had solid resemblances, but the most striking was of Van Gogh's “Self Portrait 1889″ a good non-arbitrary modernization of Carl Spitzweg's “Der Arme Poet” “Luncheon on the Grass” by Manet got urbanized (SFW) and gender-swapped (NSFW) a proper update for Hopper's iconic “Nighthawks” somebody can actually sleep in this version of Van Gogh's “Bedroom in Arles” probably the funniest gender swap (NSFW) was of Ingres' “Grande Odalisque” there were almost too many re-creations of Frida Kahlo's eyebrows, but by far the best was this vivid re-creation (NSFW) of “The Two Fridas” how do you do a photographic version of Picasso's “Weeping Woman”? like this and last but not least, turning abstraction into organization with Mondrian's “Composition With Red, Blue and Yellow” *because it's MY post. If there are some you like better, put 'em in the comments, art critic.

"When Kabul had rock and roll, not rockets."

availablelight — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:49:50 -0800

Once Upon a Time in Afghanistan. "It is important to know that disorder, terrorism, and violence against schools that educate girls are not inevitable. I want to show Afghanistan's youth of today how their parents and grandparents really lived."

Plow Monday, Historic and Updated

filthy light thief — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:12:44 -0800

On January 11, 2010, Canon David Parrott blessed laptop computers and mobile phones during the Plow Monday service at St Lawrence Jewry Church in the City of London. Plough Monday is the traditional start of the English agricultural year, and the Church was involved with blessing of tools for the coming year. Before it was involved with church services, Plough Monday was a time for folk plays and dancing (associated with other Mummers plays), with regional variations. Some new Molly Dancers have revived the traditions, complete with plow. There were also races to see who would start their work the earliest, to show their readiness to commence the labors of the year. So sing out now and walk your plough (or play a ring tone on your mobile phone). Keep digging and you'll find a wealth of region-specific information, such as Plough Monday in and around the City of Nottingham, and ploughwitches and the straw bear at the Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival. Also available online in one form or another: volumes of historic writings related to Plough Monday and related events throughout England. Previously: more of British traditions in Old Weird Brittanica.

The Music Notation Modernization Association

persona non grata — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 17:52:45 -0800

The Music Notation Modernization Association ... or possible ways to simplify reading chromatic music (as opposed to diatonic music). Of course, Arnold Schoenberg beat them to it.

Air-conditioned Islam

languagehat — Thu, 09 Oct 2003 10:24:26 -0800

The new Islam. Husam Tammam and Patrick Haenni in Le Monde (English version) describe the new forms of Islamic culture taking shape in Egypt. I follow the Islamic world fairly closely, but this was news to me. Does it herald an Islam that can live with the rest of the world (and vice versa)?

This entry, both with the hijab [veil] and the nashid [religious chant], into consumerism and syncretism with non-Arab models, has led to an implicit questioning of the old puritanism of the 1970s and 1980s - and above all a questioning of the principle of the ideologisation of religion. The change is important: we could trace similar patterns in the Islamic economy, increasingly affected by the ups and downs of international finance; or in Islamic charity, which has been rethought, within a framework of neoliberalism, as a security net to replace the state's withdrawal from this area (a withdrawal the Islamists have widely supported).

(Via Path of the Paddle.)

The Challenges of Modernizing Mexico,

o2b — Mon, 18 Mar 2002 09:49:24 -0800

The Challenges of Modernizing Mexico, or, How Do We Keep Our Village Elders From Burying People Alive?