Unknown photographer, May 1945, Berlin
A Russian soldier in the Reichstag surrounded by walls covered in Russian graffiti, the Soviets having left their mark on the Third Reich’s headquarters.
(thanks to / via: itsjohnsen)
Unknown photographer, undated, Portrait of Robert Moog
Today would have been Robert “Bob” Moog’s 78th birthday. The synthesizers he created influenced electronic (and other) music tremendously in the past decades. May his SAWl rest in peace.
Google released a Moog doodle on their homepage. For one day only you’ll find an interactive, playable synthesizer-based logo inspired by the instruments with which Moog brought musical performance into the electronic age. You can use your mouse or keyboard on the Moog doodle’s keys and dials to make nearly limitless sounds. Keeping with the theme of 1960s music technology, there is also a 4-track tape recorder so you can record & play back the sounds you create.
The Bob Moog Foundation’s resident synth expert, Marc Doty, has created a “how-to” video to help get full use of the “Goog” and get started making your own composition.
If you’re already synth savvy and ready to start recording your electronic masterpieces be sure to post the link to them in the “comments” section of the BMF-Blog. They are giving away one Dr. Bob’s Collector Pack (valued at $300) to the best composition posted there. Enjoy!
Unknown photographers, undated, Pictures from the Secret STASI Archives
The Berlin-based photographer Simon Menner has dealt extensively with the subject of surveillance, and his research here has led him to conclude that there isn’t much available pictorial material showing the activity of surveillance from the perspective of those doing the surveillance rather than those under surveillance. Of course we are all familiar with the blurry images of surveillance cameras; but Menner suspected that there must be more. He was intrigued by the question of what the Orwellian ‘Big Brother’ sees when he has us under observation.
It is indeed astonishing that this field has not attracted more research. After all, the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) was home to the State Security Service (STASI)—one of the largest surveillance apparatuses in history. Relative to the size of the population, the East German STASI had far more agents than the KGB or the CIA. After the wall dividing Germany was torn down most of the archive materials were opened to the public, and although access to these documents is subject to certain limitations, the sheer scope of this access is unparalleled among all the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. Even in the West, nothing like this exists. So it was only natural that Simon Menner approached the authorities responsible for storing the STASI archives with his request to see more. The authorities proved to be both kind and helpful. Menner received permission to sift through the photos at the archive and to make several reproductions.
Perhaps the most disconcerting photos Menner found—when he began his research, he had no idea such things existed—were the photographs made by STASI spies photographing other spies. Among the allied powers there were small units who were allowed to move freely between East and West Germany: the Military Liaison Missions (MLM). Both sides to the East and West considered these ‘Missions’ an ideal opportunity to spy on each other. Whenever a unit of MLM soldiers travelled through East Germany, the STASI did their best to observe them. Each side was well aware of the fact that the other side knew what they were up to. And that’s exactly what we see in these photos: an endless circle of reciprocal awareness. In Simon Menner’s opinion, this is a prototypical image of the Cold War. And that is why the artist is currently investigating whether comparable photographs are extant in the archives of the Western allies. Exhibited together, they would reveal the closed circularity of these activities. (read more)
Unknown photographer, Dec. 3, 1915, Brooklyn Bridge, NYC
Brooklyn Bridge painters at work high above the city.
About three weeks ago, the New York City Municipal Archives released a database of over 870,000 photos from its collection of more than 2.2 million images of New York throughout the 20th century. Their subjects include daily life, construction, crime, city business, aerial photographs, and more.
Unknown photographer, 1958, Elvis Presley at the RCA recording studio in Nashville
The Tennessean has an extensive photography collection from the 1960s and 70s, documenting Nashville’s Civil Rights Movement and country music. Former Tennessean photographer Ricky Rogers did an amazing job organizing and digitizing thousands of negatives from Nashville’s past. These photographs have historical value and still resonate today.
© Swiss National Museum, Unknown photographers
#1: Using boats to transport wood and stone on Lake Lugano, 1940
#2: Frozen Lake Biel, 1941
#3: Swimming lessons for schoolchildren at the Wollishofen lakeside swimming area, Zurich, 1943
The photographs from the 1940s are poignant, especially when we remember what was happening in the rest of Europe at this time. Contrary to popular opinion, the Swiss did not have an easy time of it during the Second World War: threatened with invasion by Hitler on one the hand, this landlocked country relied heavily on imports to survive. Many of its citizens were near starvation during the course of the war but they became more self sufficient, growing their own food. They also built up their military (ironically using pre-war German assembled Messerschmitt planes as a basis for their air force). The Germans knew that Switzerland would be a hard country to conquer so they did not force the issue.
The photograph ‘Swimming lessons for schoolchildren at the Wollishofen lakeside swimming area, Zurich’ is especially foreboding of the conflict that was swirling around Switzerland in 1943, the child’s heads in a noose as he tries to stay afloat a metaphor for the conflagration that was occurring all around. One slip for Switzerland, and the world, and it was over. (read more)
Above photos are part of the exhibition: ‘C’est la vie. Press photography since 1940′ at the Swiss National Museum, Zurich.
Exhibition dates: Jan. 11 – May 6, 2012
(thanks to ArtBlart)
Unknown photographer, ca. 1900s, Römisches Bad, Praterstern, Vienna
From the book “Wien am Anfang des XX. Jahrhunderts – Ein Führer in technischer und künstlerischer Richtung (2. Band)”, published by “Österreichischer Architekten-Verein, Verlag von Gerlach & Wiedling”, Vienna, 1906.
Built in 1872, the Roman Bath at Praterstern (Vienna) was established as a luxury facility for the upper classes for the World Expo 1873. It was one of the largest hot-air baths in the world at that time. Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria visited it shortly before its opening, many monarchs, emperors and celebrities followed later. Later, the bath evolved to an important meeting place for young and old, rich and poor, until it was damaged in World War II.
Unknown photographer, 1967, Kathrine Switzer running the Boston marathon
In 1967, Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston marathon. After realizing that a woman was running, race organizer jock semple went after switzer shouting, “get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers.” However, switzer’s boyfriend and other male runners provided a protective shield during the entire marathon. The photographs taken of the incident made world headlines, and Kathrine later won the NYC marathon with a time of 3:07:29. (read more)
Unknown photographers / Korean Central News Agency, Pyongyang / North Korea
#1: Kim Jong-il, who ruled North Korea from 1994 to 2011, with his father, Kim Il-sung, and his mother, Kim Jong-suk, in an undated photo
#2: Residents of Pyongyang’s Central District after the end of the Korean War, better known in North Korea as the Fatherland Liberation War. The K.C.N.A. caption: “People turning out in rehabilitation and construction after winning the Fatherland Liberation War” / 1953
David Guttenfelder has been able to gain more access as the wire service negotiated establishing a full-time news bureau in Pyongyang (see previous post), which finally opened in January.
“I represent the U.S. and the outside world to them,” he said. “But the big responsibility is representing them to the outside world through my pictures – to understand what I see, to try to be as fair as I can and to dig as deep as I can.”
As part of the agreement to open the bureau, the exhibit ‘Window on North Korea’ is being held in New York with images by The Associated Press and photographers working for North Korean state news media, or K.C.N.A. It celebrates the coming centennial of the birth of North Korea’s founder, Kim Il-sung.
But the photos by the K.C.N.A. are most telling. They are highly idealized images: everyone is well fed, and smiling. The workers are heroic and the leaders have a heavenly glow. There are no traces of the hunger, hardships and repression that exist in North Korea. They may be propaganda, but they do provide insight into how the North Korean government officials want — and need — their people to see their country. (read more)
Exhibition dates:
Mar. 15 – Apr. 13, 2012 at the 8th Floor in Manhattan, New York.
Unknown photographer, 1940, Frida Kahlo & Miguel Covarrubias, Mexico City
Frida painting on her bed recovering from one of her operations, with Mexican painter Miguel Covarrubias at her side. The artist found a way to work, even while in traction. She used a device that allowed her to look up and draw and paint, and affixed a strong light to help her do so. Covarrubias, a Mexican painter and influential caricaturist, was a longtime friend of Kahlo and Diego Rivera.
Unknown Photographers / The New York Times, Romance and Ruin, All in the Air
#1: The Akron passed over New York on its first flight over the cities of the Atlantic coast, Nov. 8, 1931
#2: One of the aluminum tanks that would hold the 33 tons of gasoline needed to bring the ZR-3 across the Atlantic Ocean
#3: A March 1931 article described the scene at the Goodyear-Zeppelin Company in Akron as “a corps of girls” busy stitching, Mar. 1931
#4: The Akron in Akron, Ohio, before its first flight, which was celebrated with the release of 48 racing pigeons, Aug. 1931
For the most part, the photographs recount celebratory moments plucked from a history riddled with tragedy. They chronicle the early days of the dirigible, or airship, up to the fateful 1937 crash of the Hindenburg over Lakehurst, N.J., which killed 36 and put a quick end to the age of the airship. (read more)
Unknown photographer, ca. 1955, Sizing a Suit
By means of mirrors at the sides and overhead, a man’s measurements are taken all at once on the “Yonkler Posture and Size Graph” by a tailor visible at the right edge of the photograph. This picture was surely made to illustrate the workings of the contraption, but it harks back to drawings, such as Leonardo’s, concerned with the proportions of the ideal man. In this efficient, inhuman, “advanced” vision of the mid-twentieth century, however, man is no longer the measure of all things. Instead, he has become the inglorious sum of his measurements.
“He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away.” (Raymond Hull)
Unknown photographer, ca. 1920s-1930s, Portrait of Hermann Hesse
Signed in German in the lower border in fountain pen:
“Wir glauben an keines von den Idealen dieser Zeit. Aber wir glauben, dass der Mensch unsterblich ist und das sein Bild aus jeder Entstellung wieder genesen kann. H.Hesse”
“We believe in none of the ideals of the time. But we believe that man is immortal and that his image from any distortion can recover. H.Hesse.”
Unknown photographer, 1925, Rockoway Beach, New York
Arrival in New York of the first direct cable from the United States to southern Europe. It runs from New York to the Azores and thence will be extended to Rome by way of Malaga, Spain. The system thus completed provides facilities for cheaper and speedier communication with the south of Europe.
The cable is laid on the ocean bed in a direct line from Rockaway Beach, where the Western Union cable station is situated, to Horta on the island of Fayal in the Azores, a distance of 2360 sea miles from Horta to the coast of Italy. The cable line will be completed by La Compagnia Italiana del Cavi Telegrafici Sotto-Marini, of Italy. This part will be in two sections; the first from Horta to Malaga on the southern coast of Spain, a distance of 1340 miles and the second section from Malaga to Anzio, in Italy, a distance of 997 miles. The total length of the new line will be 4704 sea miles or about equal to 5422 land miles.
(thanks to / via: sabrinacampagna)
Unknown photographer, May 23, 1934, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow posing with an early 1930s automobile
“This here’s Miss Bonnie Parker. I’m Clyde Barrow. We rob banks.”
(from the movie Bonnie and Clyde, 1967)
(thanks to / via: legrandcirque)
