Jason Kottke twitted this video as "the craziest thing you'll ever see on the web". i'm not sure I agree (it depends on your definition of crazy), but I do think it's pretty amazing, and actually very cool if read through the prism of the performative context. It has elements of early classic 1970's performance work that focused on endurance and pain (Abramovic, Pane, Burden, Acconci, etc.), alongside a more contemporary dramaturgy we know from performance recent work, and the circus-like presentational strategy; And of course, we cannot look at it without at least a hint of orientalism. Anyway it's super entertaining. I especially like the Indian Paula Abdul and her reactions. Enjoy!
Showing posts with label Kottke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kottke. Show all posts
RIP Evelyn Mchale
23 year old Evelyn Mchale committed suicide jumping off the Empire State Building in May 1st, 1947. This unusual image was taken by a photography student the happens to be around a few minutes after her death. It haunts me since James showed it to me earlier today. A lot was written about it already, for example here in Jason Kottke's blog, where there's also a link to a caption from the original life publication of this amazing, eerie image. She looks like a hollywood star laying in her soft bed after a hard day on the set of some stupid comedy. The fact her suicide note was so desperately sad, writing about her fiancee "He is much better off without me … I wouldn’t make a good wife for anybody", only adds to the depressive glamour of this moment. A beautiful demonstration of the archaic, basic relation between death and aesthetics.
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