FORKUSTIK: Seni Untuk Sebuah Revolusi? @ Annexe Gallery

Public forum & music performances on Sunday evening at Annexe Gallery.

Nurul Izzah Anwar (yang skema) was there — “Jangan sampai Politik membelakangi Seni.”

Hishamuddin Rais (NGI a.k.a Non-Governmental Individual) — “Kita masih dalam bingkai pemikiran melayu”. Just like the couple behind me, who just can’t stop fucking (I learn this curse word a lot from Haekal-muthafucka-Talib — kesian kat budak kecik kat depan tu) talk. To that guy behind me: Siapa poyo, lu ler poyo brudder, duduk dalam bingkai yang bingai.

Hasmi Hashim (writer and politician) — “Apa yangs saya paham, Seni untuk Revolusi Politik, bukan untuk Revolusi Sukan — Revolusi ni, bapak kepada Reformasi.”

Fared Ayam (theatre practitioner) — “Lepas ni kita tunggu Che Det the Musical (di Istana Budaya) — Dan lagu yang ada perkataan revolusi bukan ‘sincere’ pasal Revolusi!”

Haekal Taleb (musician and former band member of Komplot) — “Mawi tak reti nyanyi — $%&*#!!!”

Founder of Music Forum and music activist Mazir Ibrahim (forum moderator) — “Dipersilakan Liyana Jasmay!”

Liyana Fizi (of defunct Estrella) came to play the ending performance. She’s also at the opening performance after Meor Yusof and Nikbindijan.

Beeha play three playlist — “Encik Hishamuddin, eh, Abang Hishamuddin Rais”; Fared Ayam, “Aku tak marah, tapi kurang setuju la, dia (Beeha) kena pikirlah” — on lovey-dovey music to appease the ‘market’ of crass commercialisation; and Hishamuddin Rais, “Panggil saya abang *wink*,” “Dah kahwin belum?” — Nurul Izzah rolled her eyes to her ex-political campaign manager.

The exchange between Nurul Izzah and Hishamuddin Rais — priceless.

I max out the 16GB SanDisk Extreme IV CF that day — on HD video of the talks, Liyana Fizi and Beeha performance. No video for Meor Yusof and Nikbindijan since the preliminary seating I was at have a limited view of the stage. Then I changed my seating next to the guy who use Nikon DSLR and bounce flash every picture he took — which is quite annoying. I’ve to put on the lens hood for my 135mm f/2 to deflect the flash.

Word of advice: crank up the ISO, play with the available light. It’s not that dark in there! And you’re 3-5 meter away with 10 meter high ceiling.

And yeah, I eff-up the white balance. Hahaha.

Uploaded raw file. Too lazy to do tone grading.

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Two exhibition at the Annexe Gallery: BEYOND OUR CITY: LIGHTS & MYTHS (Photography Exhibition) and TRADITION: Student Art From Botswana (Visual Art Exhibition). Entrance is free.

Nadia artwork is there. Who is a friend of my Flickr contact list: Daniel, strobist and available light experimenter. Her artwork usually in monochrome and tell the gritty urbanism and the derelict outpost of modernism. Showcase at the gallery is her usual trademark — dark and voyeuristic.

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Bought Joby Tripod for DSLR, 5D Mark II Wireless Transmitter for Bulb Function, 3″ hard plastic cover for the view screen and spare CF — 8GB (60mbps) SanDisk Extreme CF.

Just RM50 shy from RM1k for photography gear alone.

Not bad for someone who just got back from anti-capitalism forum.

HD video will be uploaded on Vimeo or YouTube — later — once I upgraded to new MacBook Pro Core i7.

What not to love about consumerism?

On the Road, On the Map

The work of Stefanie Posavec during the On the Map exhibition. Her pieces focused on On the Road, by Jack Kerouac (New York Times: “the most beautifully executed, the clearest and most important utterance” during the Beat Generation).

The maps visually represent the rhythm and structure of Kerouac’s literary space, creating works that are not only gorgeous from the point of view of graphic design, but also exhibit scientific rigor and precision in their formulation: meticulous scouring the surface of the text, highlighting and noting sentence length, prosody and themes, Posavec’s approach to the text is not unlike that of a surveyor. And similarly, the act is near reverential in its approach and the results are stunning graphical displays of the nature of the subject. The literary organism, rhythm textures and sentence drawings are truly gorgeous pieces.

[Source: NOTCOT – Stefanie Posavec “On the Map”]

A map of uniformed visualisation out of the chaotic humanity, as observed by Jack Kerouac.

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Literary Organism
A visualisation of Part One of On the Road, by Jack Kerouac.

Basic Structure
Each literary component can be divided into even smaller parts, the smallest in this diagram being words. The diagram is read clockwise, starting from the first chapter, paragraph, or sentence.

Part > Chapters > Paragraphs > Sentences > Words

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Rhythm Textures
Selected Quotes from On the Road, by Jack Kerouac.

Basic Structure
Variations in punctuation and pauses in the sentence create individual patterned diagrams for each sentence.

Diagram One
Beginning > italicized word > comma > semicolon > dashes > mid-sentence exclamation point > mid-sentence italicized word followed by an exclamation point > mid-sentence question mark > colon > parentheses > exclamation point.

Chapter One
Paragraph Fifteen
Sentence Seven

Besides, all my New York friends were in the negative, nightmare position of putting down society and giving their tired bookish or political or psychoanalytical reasons, but Dean just raced in society, eager for bread and love; he didn’t care one way or the other, “so long’s I can get that lil ole gal with that lil sumpin down there tween her legs, boy,” and “so long’s we can eat, son, y’ear me? I’m hungry, I’m starving, let’s eat right now!”—and off we’d rush to eat, whereof, as saith Ecclesiastes, “It is your portion under the sun.”

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Sentence Drawings
The entirety of On The Road by Jack Kerouac.

Basic Structure
After each sentence, the line turns right, creating the drawing.

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Sentence Length
Every sentence in On the Road, by Jack Kerouac, organized by words per sentence.

Colour Coding

Eleven thematic categories with colour coding for each theme.

• Dean Moriarty (Protagonist)

An insight into the character of Dean Moriarty, the protagonist. Background into Dean’s life, his friends’ perception about him, Sal Paradise’s (the narrator) observation about his behaviour, and description of how he acts of speaks.

• Bop & Jazz Music

Description of the bop music nights the circle of friends often attend, explanation of the history of bop or jazz in America, and vivid sketches of the music itself as well as the musicians who create it.

• Social Events & Interaction

Relate to times when Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty are meeting and spending time with friends in various social settings.

• Travel

Experiences had by Sal Paradise, Dean Moriarty, and the rest of their circle of friends while travelling.

• Sketches of Regional Life

Sal Paradise, the narrator, uses words to sketch a picture of the places he travels through, creating vivid images of the environment and the people who love in the locations in the mind of the reader.

• Parties, Drinking & Drugs

Detail the parties Sal, Dean, and their friends go to as well as scenes which involve drinking or drug-taking.

• Work & Survival

Describe the characters’ jobs of their experiences while searching for money to survive in their daily life or travels.

• Sal Paradise (Narrator)

Sal Paradise is the narrator of On The Road, describing his travel across the United States and Mexico as well as reflecting upon his friendship with Dean Moriarty, the main character. Sections of the novel that either give background into Sal’s character or his thoughts and beliefs about the people and places he meets on his travels.

• Women, Sex & Relationships

Any section of the novel that deal with sex, women, relationships with women, or a character’s personal philosophy about women.

• Illegal Activities & Encounters with the Police

Designate the passage within the novel where Sal and his friends commit illegal acts such as stealing food or cars; also, it designates the group ‘s encounters with the police or other self-imposed forms of law enforcement.

• Character & Sketches

The term “character sketches” refers to the sections in the novel when Sal Paradise gives background information about specific character in the book (except Dean Moriarty, who is referenced by his own colour). This background information aids the reader in learning more about the personality of the character described.

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Also, check out William Faulkner’s Intruder in the Dust (1948) and George Orwell’ Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) infographics.