Bureaucratics
March 31, 2011 12:19 PM   Subscribe

 




Is there a way to see the gallery in the second link without having. to. click. through. every. single. picture.?
posted by Panjandrum at 12:26 PM on March 31, 2011


One thing's for sure...Whoever first came-up with the two-tone wall painting scheme should have gotten a patent or copyright or something.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:43 PM on March 31, 2011


Does "narcotics agent" mean something different in France? Perhaps more of a 'research and development' position?
posted by Kadin2048 at 12:50 PM on March 31, 2011 [3 favorites]


I wonder what all those bundled piles of papers are in the background of the first few photos
posted by slater at 12:59 PM on March 31, 2011


Father to 34 children. No wonder he has to keep working at age 71.
posted by Xurando at 1:00 PM on March 31, 2011


Why is that crazy Indian woman in my offinever mind carry on.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 4:18 PM on March 31, 2011


These pics are gold. My favourite: the solemn Indian administrator who, as the most senior official for his block, has a towel on his chair and a board with the names of his predecessors mounted on the wall behind his desk.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 5:33 PM on March 31, 2011


Bureaucratics is a spectacular series of photos and Jan's a pretty cool guy, too. I wish now that I could remember all the anecdotes that he told me about this series. I do remember that he visited Siberia in the winter; the Russians are all dressed lightly because every office had the heat cranked up to 70 or 80 degrees.

My own favorite is this one, the Sheriff of Tyler County, Texas. If you look closely (you may not see it at this resolution), you can see on his desk just what every Sheriff needs, several jars of candy and and a jar of vaseline.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:07 PM on March 31, 2011


Oh cool, you know the artist octobersurprise? Do tell :)
posted by puny human at 6:37 PM on March 31, 2011


These are so cool - there is a commonality there, reinforced by the structure of the photographs. I wonder how much I am being manipulated by the composition and the image selection...but there sure does seem to be resolute pleasantness about all of these, as well as...papers...and pictures of the boss.

I look around my office...man, I need to clean this place up.
posted by Xoebe at 7:00 PM on March 31, 2011


I wonder what all those bundled piles of papers are in the background of the first few photos

Those are the hopes and dreams of people, filed in triplicates, awaiting bureaucratic clearances.
posted by vidur at 7:31 PM on March 31, 2011


Is there a way to see the gallery in the second link without having. to. click. through. every. single. picture.?

Here you go.

You'll have to go back to the original website for the descriptions though.
posted by KirkpatrickMac at 9:55 PM on March 31, 2011 [1 favorite]


Oh cool, you know the artist

I met him a few times at an artist-in-residency where he was wonderfully generous with his knowledge and time. His books on Burma and his book on Vietnam (long since out of print, but available through your library, probably) are also very much worth looking at.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:56 AM on April 1, 2011


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