David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


05 May 2014

SERF SELFIES and the EYE-CON O' ME

         
In recent months, we've noted a number of fresh re-views of Capital and Economy.

The first of these was in a TV documentary series about attitudes to sex, in different countries. In the Cuba episode, the investigator while speaking with a group of women made an aside reference to "advertising". The woman being interviewed did not know what an advertisement was, and had difficulty understanding the explanation. (A shock moment of re-cognition, as when driving through East Germany in 1992 and 'seeing' an absence of advertisements.) An older woman in the group explained it very simply : "Advertising is commercial propaganda."
        

          
Since then, the publication in March of Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, a professor at the Paris School of Economics.

Thomas Piketty: the French economist bringing capitalism to book  by Larry Elliott, Economics Editor at The Guardian, 3 May 2014
     

        
And today we've been listening on ABC.RN to another French contributor, Peter Szendy, who is presently in Australia to give a series of lectures :
Peter Szendy : The Aesthetic Supermarket for Thinking Out Loud: The Sydney Lectures in Philosophy and Society at the State Library of NSW.
       
Lecture 1 :
From the department store to the shopping mall: cinema and its markets - Monday 5 May
Lecture 2 :
The value of images - Wednesday 7 May
Lecture 3 :
The commodity gaze - Friday 9 May

Today's radio program Peter Szendy : The new iconomy of images and exchange can be listened to online at The Philosopher's Zone. Recommended!

"This is what I would call Iconomic Capitalism"
- Peter Szendy
        

           
stilled image of "Spiritual" movement
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frames-perception
The Ladder of Divine Ascent
Eastern Orthodox ikon at Saint Catherine's monastery, Mt Sinai.
Into the mix, our own economy graphic statement :
     
 

stilled image of "Economy" movement
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frames-perception
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ... 

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