Worker and Parasite (Рабочий И Паразит)
August 5, 2007 7:41 PM   Subscribe

Recollecting a culture : photography and the evolution of a socialist aesthetic in East Germany.

"in contrast to Western histories built upon a foundation of works by modernist and early-modernist masters, the history of East German photography was built from a body of images by amateurs and artists, largely unknown outside Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, whose photographs depicted the world from the class perspective of the worker."

From a 1999 exhibition held at Boston University. 100 images, 10 essays. Sadly, a bad interface and small reproductions. Out of control : photography from East Germany. A 1993 project documenting "the uses of photography in Eastern Germany after the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR)" also, with small pictures.
posted by arse_hat (17 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
This "Recollecting" site looks really interesting, but yeah, it really is too bad about the interface: you have to step through the photos one by one, no thumbnails type overview, and there's not even a "back to home" button... Someone from BU should get in there and fix this site up a bit.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:51 PM on August 5, 2007


Link 1: Site has been static on the web since 2003. Search all around this splash screen and maybe you'll find the one graphic that hotlinks to actual content . . . a list of participating artists' names. ??

Link 2: Also sitting here since 2003, documenting a project from 1993. Looks like three essays and three gallery links, but there are only two galleries, as it turns out -- collecting thumbnails of c.1994 quality that link to . . . nothing.

"The uses of photography in Eastern Germany after the collapse of the GDR" is a fantastic topic. Here are several interesting sites that are in the top ten Google hits on that topic.

Why did you pick these two broken sites instead?
posted by gum at 8:18 PM on August 5, 2007


I dunno gum, I saw a lot of really good photos on the first link. Yeah the interface isn't great as mentioned in the FPP, but if you care to look, there's some interesting photography there. Since you want to be spoon fed, start looking at photos here. Hint: the arrows are used for navigation...
posted by Eekacat at 8:22 PM on August 5, 2007


Ugh, I don't want to be "spoon fed" -- I just think Metafilter ought to be, you know, a little better than the first few links of Google on a given topic. Sheesh!
posted by gum at 8:32 PM on August 5, 2007


You know, Eekacat, not wanting to step one-by-one in a predetermined order through the entire enormous collection doesn't exactly equal wanting "to be spoonfed". And I reckon gum knows what the arrows are for. It just so happens that in this case they are set up for an extremely primitive concept of "navigation".
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:39 PM on August 5, 2007


"Why did you pick these two broken sites instead?"

Because I came across these sites without benefit of Google and I liked them despite the fact that the nav sucks. They have never appeared on Metafilter and I had faith that sharing them with the metafolks would lead to a synchronicity that would send me more interesting links on the subject.

And, hey, it worked! Thanks for the linkage. (But the "Here", and the "interesting" links are quite tenuous without some sort of comment to tie them in to the point at hand.)
posted by arse_hat at 8:58 PM on August 5, 2007


And, hey, it worked!

Indeed! And that, in my opinion, is one of the greatest aspects of MeFi. At it's best it's like a good potluck dinner: lotsa folks bring lotsa dishes and everyone gets a little nutrition.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:08 PM on August 5, 2007


First link is fascinating - just getting film in 1945 must have been quite a trick and
"Ein Stein klagt an/A Stone Cries Out in Accusation, 1945" alone is worth the price of admission.
Thanks for posting.
posted by speug at 9:09 PM on August 5, 2007


"lotsa folks bring lotsa dishes and everyone gets a little nutrition."

Damn right fam!
posted by arse_hat at 9:17 PM on August 5, 2007


arse_hat: Truce, I honestly didn't mean to come out so hostile. I just thought the topic sounded really interesting and was not prepared for how dreadful the links were.

Here are some other images from the time and place that maybe belong here. Again, all from the top of Google, so I don't think I'm showing off or showing you up to link to them. I'm glad your post motivated me to go look at them.
posted by gum at 9:20 PM on August 5, 2007


Hey gum no prob!

" I'm glad your post motivated me to go look at them"

That's when I really love the Meta!
posted by arse_hat at 9:24 PM on August 5, 2007


flapjax, as was noted in the OP the navigation was poor, and gum only admits to finding the list of participating artists. gum's first link of "interesting sites" currently leads to a Yahoo news story about the Senate vote on the Terrorism surveillance measure, a top google hit for this? Frankly I don't mind going through in a predetermined order through these photos. They were fascinating enough on their own to keep me clicking. And, to be honest, not as bad as a lot of websites photographers put up.
posted by Eekacat at 9:38 PM on August 5, 2007


I dig the Simpsons reference in the title.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:53 PM on August 5, 2007


heh, Pope Guilty.
posted by arse_hat at 10:56 PM on August 5, 2007


OK Eekacat, I hear ya. Hugs all around!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:57 PM on August 5, 2007


Guten Appetit
posted by tellurian at 10:59 PM on August 5, 2007 [1 favorite]


tellurian, you totally kick total ass!

Check out the slamming Art Deco/Socialist Modern baby stroller in the lower left-hand corner on this page. Can you imagine what kinda dough you could get for that today from some Tribeca mom wanting to push her newborn down West Broadway in that?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:05 PM on August 5, 2007


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