Contact Editions

Richard Mosse’s, Another Green World, Kisangani to Bukavu, Eastern Congo, 2010, discussed in the essay ‘The Flash made Flesh’

There are some excellent online magazines cropping up which really try to use innovative formats. I recently came across Triple Canopy, an arts funded site which is full of fresh and intelligent approaches to conveying arts practise and thinking online.

Their series of essays ‘Thinking through Photography’ encourage analysis of the way we use imagery. Each essay is funded through a small commission grant and the writers are given artistic, editorial, and technical support to build on their ideas during it’s creation over 3 to 6 months. This is a slow approach to internet journalism and the results are stronger for it. See for example ‘The Flash made Flesh’, an academic conversation about imagery and war.

I also really enjoyed the mix of media in Ellie Ga’s essay on her experiences stuck in the POlar icecap on the boat Tarka; A hole to see the ocean through.

There is a call out now for proposals (deadline Feb 13th) in catergories including Immaterial Literature, Internet as Material, Thinking Through Images, New Media Reporting, and New Programming. More info on the categories and submissions here.

We are happy to see the brilliant Natasha Caruana going from strength to strength. Natasha’s energy in setting up studioSTRIKE (alongside Afshin Dehkordi) was a sight to behold and we were very lucky to work with her on the big studioSTRIKE VS Contact night last year.

Her own work and personal take becomes stronger and stronger as each project builds on the last. Starting with her own examination of her feelings about seeing a married man she has gone on to produce 3 very strong bodies of work examining her (and our) feelings about marriage in ways which are in turns playful, poignant, warm, angry, deceptive and despairing.

Natasha has an exhibition of all 3 projects at Photofusion until 23rd March, with a special Speed Meet for Photographers, hosted by Natasha this Thursday. Based on the idea of speed dating, each photographer will have the opportunity show their work to a member of the photography industry for three minutes only, before moving on to the next reviewer. Expect a high energy review!

Also this Friday is the launch of Natasha’s book ‘ONO’ published by HERE press, of her ‘found’ wedding dress images (pictured here), used to advertise second hand wedding dresses on ebay and gathered by Natasha by posing as a bride to be. Launch is at Hanbury Hall, Spitalfields from 6.30pm.

I like the compression of space in Jean-Christian Bourcart‘s series ‘I Shot the Crowd’. Especially those on elevators play with scale and distance, so you feel like there is less depth in the scene than there is.