noemi-jakubowska-blog

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

Major Project -Evaluation.

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In the last year, the state of the world, economy and future became heavier and more problematic than ever, at least in my perception. We are facing a new world wide problems and we seem to be descending into chaos. The inequality is rising and it is causing the world disorder. 

My study contributed to my bigger interest and understanding of the processes and mechanisms that are at work in the world and that what is easily available through media is painted through the prism of someone else’s business. If you want information you need to look for it, you need to look for credibility and you also need critical thinking skills. 

My view at the world and social problems have developed and expanded. Sometimes I think that I am only learning to fully be a human being now. Finally recognizing that you do not have to accept everything as it is and just put your head down and get on with it. I can have my opinion and I can express what I do not agree with. And there is a lot to disagree with. 

After a couple of years of studying and working to sustain myself I ended up with no real time for anything else. My contact with others have suffered. For my final major project, I was compelled to do work about what was very important to me, and to do it about the world I have connection with. I decided to do a project about my parents who in their life had to go through communist regime and the following political and economic changes. I, myself feel like I am in a somewhat relative situation and I feel frustration.

It started with the old box of family slides that I had brought to me from Poland. The photos mostly come from around the year 1982 when my brother was born and a few years before the fall of communism. The slides do not show anything that would suggest the timing and political circumstances. They portrait a happy new family and friends. But the story ends in 2017 in UK. That is what I look at within the project. I knew that I did not have the visual materials to talk about certain aspects of the story and I also thought there is a problem of becoming overtly dramatic if I tried to create such material. Hence, I anticipated from the beginning to use extra material which happened to be just text in this context. 

I have photographed my parents in Bristol where they live currently and I also accompanied them in a visit at home in Poland. I mean, when I say ‘them’ it ended up being only my mum due to the difficulties that I described earlier. I was lucky to have some previous material from an earlier visit to Poland. I was already thinking about doing something with the other material but was not yet sure how, so this project also grew out of that instance.

I had an idea of what it is I am doing a project about and what I want it to be but I was not able to fully verbalize it yet. Nevertheless, for the first time I felt strongly about the project and I did not feel like I am doing it only for submission. I was doing it because it was important to me. It affected how confident I was about it and that I wanted to talk to people about it too. The interest I got from people when describing what I am doing met with a lot of interest, especially with people of my age group. I guess it sounds cosmic and exotic to people that you do a project about someone who lived in communism but also how that someone was then not saved by the capitalism either. I think a lot of young people who do tend to think about the world and future, can relate to this story. 

I had to do my research about communism and its history in Poland, especially events in Gdańsk that contributed to the fall of the regime as well as being directly tied to the history of my family. On the other hand, I also had to research to understand economy and neoliberalism and current problems better. The knowledge was needed for me to understand where the story comes from and why it happened the way it happened. 

I also had to research how to make photo books and look at others’ work to make informed decisions when putting the project together. What I was very much lured by was the promise of artistic freedom that self-publishing has facilitated to a certain extent. I decided to make a photo book, though, because of the nature of the story and the volume of materials I was planning to use and how books allow you an intimate immersion into the story lead by the sequence. With the finished product, I still consider it the most suitable form for the project but I also plan exhibitions of the work.

While studying, I did not only have to learn how to do things from the photography professional perspective. I also had to learn myself. You always hear ‘you have to do things like this if you want to be in the business’ or ‘things are done this way’, or ‘always look at others’. That is great and can be useful but also can prove to be very limiting at times. I think it is very hard when a person does not yet have enough confidence in themselves and their work and looking for approval you can lose yourself and the track of what you are doing by listening to others too much. On top of that, certain modes of working are not suitable for everyone, especially in creative work. I would go as far as saying that certain aspects of creative education are more extinguishing than nurturing for creativity. I have learned about myself that I require more time and need to reach certain level of focus and concentration and engagement while working. Otherwise, it does not feel honest to me and I will not gain confidence and sense of direction in my work. 

Starting this project, I already felt that the time frame of the module will not be enough for me to bring the project to the end and up to my satisfaction so I did not want to put that pressure on myself. Not that I did not have any pressure on me, though. Unfortunately, some life circumstances also stood in the way of fully immersing myself in the work. I have though, carried it to a satisfying point and ready for presentation, even if I do not consider it fully finished. 

The problem I have internally is maybe that the form seems very classic and I am not sure I feel completely comfortable with that but looking at the printed book I think it works very well and I can relate to other contemporary artists, like Leonie Hampton for example. I only have objections to the flattening of colours by the blurb printing. I would also prefer the paper to be more matte. As mentioned before, my final submission consists of a photobook with a text insert which is situated at the end and is supposed to fill in the story that is initially told visually with photographs. The format of the book was dictated by the choice from the printing service and the scale of images was adjusted to that. Most of the images are in landscape format so I decided for a landscape book format too. The size of the book I find very suitable as it is easy to handle and the images’ size is big enough to have an impact on the viewer- I would not consider significantly bigger or smaller format. Regarding the number of images, I think it would be hard to edit it down more without losing certain subtleties to the story which are very significant, especially that there is a mix of photographs that I shot for the project and the old slides.

Considering the audience for my book I think it is mainly aimed at people who can relate in any way to an experience of migration or difficult stories that push people into such circumstances. I also think of the audience for the book to be people, especially Eastern European, who are interested in what the experience of migration might be like for others. Another group of audience could be people interested in the history of communism and post communism life. I am intending to do a Polish language version and possibly to look for an exhibition in Poland. I am also considering looking for an outlet for the book at events that talk about migration.

All in all, I am fairly happy how the book turned out even though, I do not think I can ever be truly and fully satisfied with anything that I will do. You can always see something you could improve or do differently. Sometimes you just have to draw the line. I always like to bring up this anecdote about Roman Polański that he never goes back and watches his films because he always only sees all the faults he has made. 

For now, I want to leave this project to breathe a little (just after the shortly upcoming exhibition) so I can detach from it for a moment and come back to it with a fresher view and decide whether I want to make any further changes. I am also looking to finally have more time and less constraint to do more personal work. I understand that people understand success in terms of money and recognition but I do not think that appeals to me. You can call me young and naive but I also think those are the best circumstances to do something good and honest. 

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

Remedios Zafra

Absolutely great essay by Remedios Zafra which talks about the problem of growing precariousness in today’s art world and education. 

For some time now vocation and enthusiasm have been exploited to justify the drift towards labour precarity. This tendency is on the increase in contexts related to art, culture and knowledge, where the advantages of a hyper-connected world coexist with the maintaining of old forms of power that make people vulnerable and deny them spaces where they can rethink the working logic of which they form part. A logic that ranges from the fallacy of equating life with work to the bureaucratisation of working life, and also includes the feminisation of cultural bases or individualisation induced by fierce competition, among others.

Zafra, R. (2017). The Precarious Individual. Cultural Workers in the Digital Era. [Online] Available at: http://lab.cccb.org/en/the-precarious-individual-cultural-workers-in-the-digital-era/ [Accessed: 4 January 2018]

But to counterbalance the pains of current days let’s dream big for the future as there has to be a solution to the growing apathy:

Work has ruled our lives for centuries, and it does so today more than ever. But a new generation of thinkers insists there is an alternative.

Beckett, A. (2018) Post-work: the radical idea of a world without jobs. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jan/19/post-work-the-radical-idea-of-a-world-without-jobs [Accessed: 19 January 2018]

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

Book design.

Very big influence on how I decided to layout text and images in my book came from Leonie Hampton’s ‘In the Shadow of Things’. I understand that she has very strong images in the book, as far as I know they were taken with a large format camera. I know that such formal elements affect the design and my images and the story are completely different. Although, I see certain similarity in the sensitivity of approach, visual, and the topic. Actually, after seeing this book long time ago and revisiting it now and also being under the influence of it being discussed in ‘Understnding Photobooks’ I just have the idea stuck in my head that I don’t want any text with images. I was suggested by one of my course mates to put the text at the beginning because that will make people understand what they’re looking at and also that many people are lazy and can’t be bothered to read a text in the back. 

https://vimeo.com/24109771

I oppose. I feel strongly about the experience of looking at the visual and the impact of the story told in images not to be bias by the text, at least not initially. The text will be provided at the end of the book to fill up the story but not to precondition the reading of it. The information will be provided and available for the curious. I think at this moment that putting text with images would have been too journalistic to my taste and I don’t want that. Putting the text in the beginning would be too much of a compromise. I need to get my idea made tactile first and seek further feedback and advice. See how people perceive it. This book is still not completely finalised but it is in advanced work in progress. I have also considered putting maybe an introduction why I made this book but I’m not sure this wouldn’t be too much explaining and that, I think, is never good. This is also something that maybe is worth putting on website or talk about but not to be put within the book. I can’t decide on this one. I think I need to show the book to people more before I decide about it. I have for now decided to put text in a separate little booklet inserted at the end of the book. This decision came after having to consider typography for the better perception and comfortable reading of the text. I believe the format is more attractive and easier, more approachable. Being a separate booklet it also allows the viewer to revisit the story and images without the need to flip the book back and forth which I know many people find annoying. I also put the list of plates in this booklet for the same reason. On top of that, this decision is cost effective in production.

Also, designing the book I had different kinds of images- the old slides and the images I shot this year. I decided to do the slides smaller so the different size will signify the difference between the photos. There are some photos which I wanted to go full bleed because I think I really want the viewer to immerse in a big picture and more detail. I’m not going for it in my submission version because I’m afraid the gutter will cut out too much of the image so I do need to get more knowledge in printing facilities as for now I will use the most convenient service of Blurb. Blurb has very limited formats for photo books so that’s very limiting for the creative autonomy but a printed version will be something good to progress the work to another level.

Another book that I found and felt like this is something very much along the lines of what I had in mind with this project, but is not necessarily representing it now, is a book called ‘Disquiet’ by Amani Willet. The book is about a life and new family within the context of then current events of occupy Wall Street etc. This was one of those bingo! moments when I saw it- when you feel like you really understand and identify with what went through the author’s head or what he feels and is expressing through the book. Book contains an essay- at the end. There’s a lot of darkness and contrasty but warm light in the images. 

Anyway, I don’t think the author could describe me very well but I’m certainly his audience. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyyL5tAKLaE

Also, because I feel like I’m constantly presented with issue of the image count which is addressed in strict numbers- this book has around 60 images. Is it too much? I will argue. But there comes the question of artistic freedom and the limiting fear of failure. 

I’ve only recently came across a book called ‘Duty Free Art’ by Hito Steyerl and it seems like dealing with all the topics that I am curious or concerned about so this one is definitely on my list: 

What is the function of art in the era of digital globalization?

How can one think of art institutions in an age defined by planetary civil war, growing inequality, and proprietary digital technology? The boundaries of such institutions have grown fuzzy. They extend from a region where the audience is pumped for tweets to a future of “neurocurating,” in which paintings surveil their audience via facial recognition and eye tracking to assess their popularity and to scan for suspicious activity. In Duty Free Art, filmmaker and writer Hito Steyerl wonders how we can appreciate, or even make art, in the present age. What can we do when arms manufacturers sponsor museums, and some of the world’s most valuable artworks are used as currency in a global futures market detached from productive work? Can we distinguish between information, fake news, and the digital white noise that bombards our everyday lives? Exploring subjects as diverse as video games, WikiLeaks files, the proliferation of freeports, and political actions, she exposes the paradoxes within globalization, political economies, visual culture, and the status of art production.

from:https://www.versobooks.com/books/2553-duty-free-art 

http://www.e-flux.com/journal/63/60894/duty-free-art/

https://artreview.com/reviews/ar_september_2017_book_review_duty_free_art_hito_steyerl/

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

Kahneman memory and experience

Daniel Kahneman is a psychologist and a founder of behavioural economics. His work explore the irrationality of human behaviours and choices and how it can be affected putting it in contrast with current economic assumption of rationality of human behaviour. He was awarded a Nobel prize in Economic Sciences in 2002 for this work. His book ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’ (2011) became a bestseller. It talks about 2 systems of thinking, ‘system 1′ and ‘system 2′ which the latter one is conscious and effortful and the former one is unconscious, fast and determines a lot of our decision making destroying the myth of our total free will. 

I came across Daniel Kahneman while talking with people about my book and the reasons where the project comes from. It has it’s roots in economy in one way or another, it stems from my thinking about current situation and vision for the future. Human brain and psyche is the most interesting, exciting and thrilling thing for me and I’ve was always been drawn towards better understanding of ‘how we work’. That is why I mention dr Kahneman in here. It is funny that after him being mentioned to me I discovered I already had his book at home but have not yet found time to read it. Coincidence? No. Probably just system 1. As another psychologist Dan Ariely summarises behavioural economics: it’s goal is ‘to understand our cognitive limitations the way we understand our physical limitations’.

I want to mention dr Kahneman as well because he also describes the difference between our experiencing and remembering selves which are very different from each other. In simple words, our actual experiencing of life or any moment/event not necessarily affects how we will remember it. On the other hand, how the experience ends will have a big impact on how we will remember it, whether good or bad (this comes from researching hapiness- more study on this topic is also available by Daniel Gilbert)

‘The remembering self does more than remember and tell stories. It is actually the one that makes decisions (...).  We actually don't choose between experiences, we choose between memories of experiences. And even when we think about the future, we don't think of our future normally as experiences. We think of our future as anticipated memories. (...)

I have that sense that when we go on vacations this is very frequently the case; that is, we go on vacations, to a very large extent, in the service of our remembering self. And this is a bit hard to justify I think. I mean, how much do we consume our memories? That is one of the explanations that is given for the dominance of the remembering self. And when I think about that, I think about a vacation we had in Antarctica a few years ago,which was clearly the best vacation I've ever had, and I think of it relatively often, relative to how much I think of other vacations. And I probably have consumed my memories of that three-week trip, I would say, for about 25 minutes in the last four years. Now, if I had ever opened the folder with the 600 pictures in it, I would have spent another hour. Now, that is three weeks, and that is at most an hour and a half. There seems to be a discrepancy. Now, I may be a bit extreme, you know, in how little appetite I have for consuming memories, but even if you do more of this, there is a genuine question: Why do we put so much weight on memory relative to the weight that we put on experiences?’

He points out some really interesting information about the difference between the experiencing and remembering self but also about the function of memories and even photographs in affecting memories. I think this is something worth bearing in mind as a photographer and possibly exploring this knowledge further.

Ariely, D. (2008). Are We In Control Of Our Decisions? Ted Talk [online]. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions [Accessed: 21 November 2017].

Gilbert, D (2004). The Suprising Science of Happiness. Ted Talk [online]. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.  [Accessed: 21 November 2017].

Kahneman, D. (2010). The Riddle Of Experience Vs. Memory. Ted Talk [online]. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_experience_vs_memory/transcript [Accessed: 21 November 2017].

Kahneman,D.(2012) Thinking Fast and Slow. London, Penguin Books Ltd..

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

spy radio stations

I have in the meantime attended two artist’s talks at Arnolfini which were organised by the ICVL. One of them was Natasha Caruana talking about her projects from Married Man to Timely Tale which is a VR installation made using 360 camera system and is the expression of author’s commentary on the crisis of the NHS which was a crucial part of her mum’s live. Her mum had a kidney transplant and her new kidney is currently starting to fail but with the cuts to NHS and services closure it might be with fatal consequences to her mum.

The next talk I went to see was Shadow of the State about spy radio stations around the world by Lewis Bush. Lewis Bush teaches and writes about photography and is very critical in the field. This project was something that he pursued out of interest and the final outcome was a book. The project was crowdfunded and had diverse audience. People who were mainly interested were people who are deeply interested and part of the community of people spotting and listening to those radio stations. It’s a very niche thing. The talk was prepared with an idea of being interactive so we as the audience were provided with files with photos, graphs and magnifying plastic sheets. We were playing the detectives by trying to spot hidden radio stations in satellite photos of particular areas. 

I think it is very important to go and see other practitioners to hear and see how people work and how they talk about their work, to get inspired and to discover new things, new methods, new attitudes (even if they are only new to you). This helps you to have a better image to what happens in the industry and what sort of discourses are present. 

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

editing

Makeshift working space in bed (with a bit of a cold) and working on further sequencing and cutting images out. Trying to limit the number of images and considering what tells the story, what the story needs. Trying to reject personal favourites and to have an objective look- this is a very demanding and not possible in full extent. There are questions about how do I see and understand the story knowing it and having the background knowledge. This one is very tricky. I can see by my Polish friends having completely different reading and understanding of the story. Where some people might say ‘this is bleak’ my Polish mates completely don’t see it this way. I guess that is possibly a very hard nut to crack- how do you show someone that what means bleak for their reality and perception, has a completely different, rather positive meaning to others?

We read images like everything else in our lives, through our own knowledge and experience of lives. Are there many universal things that you can convey? Should you try? Or should you leave the space and how much of it for personal interpretation? 

That brings the question of the audience. It’s very hard to specify the audience. I know that that is an important question to ask oneself while making a piece or a book because then it should inform how to make it concerning who and how would be the recipient of it. And I’ve been asking myself this question constantly. Who is my audience? People who are emigrants/immigrants and can identify with the story, the duality of ‘home’ and complexity of being torn between two places and two cultures? People who have strong sentiment to where they come from and life means a transition period for them when they live abroad but silently miss their home? People who have been forced by the circumstances in their lives to be torn out from their community to survive? Will anyone understand my fear of the fact that apart from the dreams we are being fed we have considerably much less power over our lives and are subjected to the decision making of those in power?

What I see in this book is not a statement but a question: what does matter in live then? What keeps it all together when we are met with the lives adversities. 

I think there are a lot small things which make up the meaning in this story but are very likely to be missed in the atmosphere of fast overworked lives when we very often don’t allow ourselves to be too sensitive and have ‘weaknesses’, to find beauty in the small insignificant things because the world in tv promises only polished beauty and perfection.

What I definitely don’t think about is making this for other photographers (as is made as a point in this magnum article about the future of the photobook: https://www.magnumphotos.com/theory-and-practice/future-of-the-photobook/ - really interesting and on point piece in general). I started noticing that I’m more excited to show this to my friends who are not in the arts because I know they will look at the story from a different point of view. I guess I subconsciously dread the idea of my book being perceived only in a formal and judgmental way by people from the industry (whoever it may be). 

I repeat to myself that I cannot be afraid to fail. Anything ever is hardly a complete failure but also every completed project is a step forward and we are never perfect so I will cherish the imperfect. 

Also some food for thought from Colin Pantall about his work, or maybe even struggle, on sequencing and telling the story in his first photo book ‘All Quiet at the Home Front’ which was produced by ICVL.

http://colinpantall.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/identifying-story-sequencing-isnt.html

On the other hand I came across this booklet about photo book market from the Unseen Festival:

https://www.docdroid.net/VBrMMun/market-what-market-booklet.pdf

whichis an absolutely great aid for people who are such newbies as me!

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

Shadow World, Dirty Wars

I have been ‘entertaining’ myself watching investigative journalism documentaries which with the pain in my heart I have watched on youtube but at the same time I’m super glad they’re easily available to the public. Of course one needs to want to find them.

Continuing the topic of how bad the world is I think these are great films and it’s great that someone has the courage to investigate and expose certain mechanisms which are not in favour of average citizens and have impact on international scale. 

‘Shadow World’ is a documentary by Johan Grimonprez based on the book by Andrew Feinstein and it explores the lucrative international arms trade. 

https://vimeo.com/160348859

I came across ‘Dirty Wars’ by researching on Jeremy Scahill who is one the interviewees in the Shadow World. He is an investigative journalists associated with Democracy Now! and the funder of The Intercept both of which are well known to me. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2YT0K2fb4E

Dirty Wars is actually the film where I got the quote by Eduardo Galeano from:

‘I mean, scientists say human beings are made of atoms, but a little bird told me we are made of stories.’ 

Even though I find Scahill’s narration in the film a bit irritating I think it serves the purpose and I can hardly imagine it done any different way. It is what it is, a one man mission to dig and investigate the truth and he is definitely condemned and ridiculed by some for it. Nevertheless, I think he delivers important information and important lesson. 

On the other hand, I have also watched the BBC documentary series titled ‘Masters of Money’. In this 3 episode series, Stephanie Flanders examines the influence of Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek influenced economics and whether we can look back to their ideas to look for a solution to nowadays crisis. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mzqw9

I have also watched lots of videos and crush courses, and have read articles on economics, neoliberalism and behavioural economics to get a better understanding of the history and what lead us to the current crisis.

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

sequencing. interview transcribtion, translation and editing. ethical questioning.

While working continuously on the sequencing I also had to sort out the interviews that I carried out with my family members. I knew they will give me more sense of direction when I will have this part of the story settled. It took me good few hours to transcribe it and translate it and then edit it into cohesive text as the conversations were slightly chaotic, non chronological and interrupted by whatever was happening at the time of conversation.

With images, I was initially quite frustrated and felt lost how to go about further cutting down on numbers and sequencing. I was afraid of being too simplistic in how I tell the story. I started questioning it to myself what visual story telling is! And whether I might be just illiterate in this sense. I have got to the point when I tried to approach the images from a completely different perspective, try to look for less human and more balance. I also tried to cut down repetition not to create a boring sequence. I was trying to be brutal and very scarce for the number of images. After playing and shuffling the photos I was left with a selection of over sixty images. Then, I was playing with sequencing. I also started with dividing it into little chapters.

I really needed to look at the connections between the images in the sequence cause they felt a little bit random in the beginning.

I finally got to the point when further editing was becoming painful or impossible because the images became connected with each other and also containing important elements to the story. Moving images around or cutting them out became impossible not to loose my vision in my head. I have created some digital copies of sequencing and send it to different people for feedback. I have send it to few of my course mates with effect of almost no response from some up to a lengthy conversation over the phone discussing different aspects of my work with others. I have also send it to some of my Polish friends who have photographic or other kind of artistic background but also different understanding of Polish history and culture and possibly more susceptible to many nuances that I have intentionally planted in the book.

First digital sequencing version (still work in progress):

https://indd.adobe.com/view/d33066cd-68a2-4889-bb51-6cc6aa01c30c

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

Kult and their songs

Researching the background history and mechanism that are at play in the story of my parents, their life and migration is to get to know and understand the forces governing their lives in opposition to the myth of the self made man.

I go back to the creative output and criticism from the times of oppression. I started listening to an old Polish band created in the 80s called Kult who were criticising in their song the state of affairs and the hypocrisy of the power. For example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i00fmNRE-w0

Freedom, Why would you need that?

Speech from the seventh of the current year Freedom, Why would you need that? You've already have Television. Freedom, Why would you need that? You've already got Intervision, Eurovision Freedom, Why would you need that? You've already got so much money Freedom, Why would you need that? You're gonna have more and more Lets march side by side to the sun of the new world We'll build a new bridge In the name of our chairman x2 Freedom, Why would you need that? You've already have bus to work Freedom, Why would you need that? And assignation of free alcohol Freedom, Why would you need that? You've got someone to worship Freedom, Why would you need that? You've been given Football championship '86 Lets march side by side to the sun of the new world We'll build a new bridge In the name of our chairman x2 Freedom, Why would you need that? You've already have fantasy movies Freedom, Why would you need that? Sometimes you're allowed to street demonstration Freedom, Why would you need that? Prosperity flows from every storefront Freedom, Why would you need that? You've already have summer Olympics Lets march side by side to the sun of the new world We'll build a new bridge In the name of our chairman x2 Dou you hear it, can't you hear it Whats happens here for so many years How much fuss creates around itself this abysmal world What an abysmal world divided with country borders People that you love you talk reach only by letters You can feel them only through the stamp glue Only because they live in another country Everyone in this world is so damn greedy Everyone in this world wants only money and companies Few losers got to rule this worlds' politics Strongest of them start to think of ruling the galaxy What an abysmal world Speech from the seventh of.. What an abysmal world ...of the current year

There are many other of their songs but this following one has an iconic status in Poland and is about the divided Berlin. When it is being played publicly the whole audience always sings it and it has a very emotional meaning for people. It’s very melancholic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8d3QBMWUgs

Arahja

My home divided with a wall Staircase divided with a wall On the left is the bathroom On the right is the stove My home divided with a wall Staircase divided with a wall On the left is the bathroom On the right... My body divided with a wall Ten fingers* on the left So ten on the right Head's equal parts On each of the sides My body divided with a wall Ten fingers* on the left So ten on the right Head's equal parts On each of the sides My street divided with a wall Right side shines with neon lights Left side with all lights out From behind the curtain I watch them both My street divided with a wall Right side shines with neon lights Left side with all lights out From behind the curtain I watch them both Left! side never wakes up Right! side never falls asleep Left! side never wakes up Right! side never falls asleep Left! side never wakes up Right! side never falls asleep Left! side never wakes up Right! side never falls asleep Left! side never wakes up Right! side never falls asleep Left! side never wakes up Right! side never falls asleep Left! side never wakes up Right! side never falls asleep

* there is no separate word for toes in Polish hence ‘20 fingers’.

In the context of recent political developments in Poland when the current government’s attitude is seen as a throwback to before 1989 this song has been performed recently by other musicians as a reference to this criticism of the people in power.

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

With a look at history.

To understand better the dynamics going on in the world from the global perspective in my research I came upon a really good book called ‘Global Sociology’ by Robin Cohen and Paul Kennedy (2017). It is a good source of information concerning the impact of capitalism and neoliberalism on state and global economic and politics as well as topics of migration.

Here I include the table of contents for the book which summarises what topics are described in it:

https://www.macmillanihe.com/resources/CW%20resources%20(by%20Author)/C/Cohen-and-Kennedy/contents.pdf

Also the invaluable text on migration is ‘Migration (Key Ideas in Geography)’ by Michael Samers (2016). 

I also had a look on the work by Sputnik Photos from their “Lost Territory’ project which is also available on Lensculture: 

https://www.lensculture.com/articles/sputnik-photos-lost-territories-in-the-shadow-of-the-ussr

Their work touches on the same topic of post communist states and the impact of that history on current life reality and culture.

I have found this video which highlights some aspects of post communism and the problems it created:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTXHtos6Dz4

Some experience of the post communism in Poland by the citizens and mention of the generation that didn’t have to fight for anything:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei2UjQWZgcU

I also had a look at Mark Power’s ‘Die Mauer Ist Weg!’ which was published for the 25th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall and presents photos taken around the accompanying events. The book was designed by Ania Nałęcka:

https://vimeo.com/116742334

There is also very interesting piece of review on it at the ASX website:

http://www.americansuburbx.com/2015/03/mark-power-die-mauer.html

There was a very spot on issue of BJP on Revolution which features Rafał Milach’s new, quite innovative in design, book ‘The First March of Gentlemen’.

It also features a very interesting interview with Boris Mikhailov who talks about the societal consequences of the fall of Soviet Union.

This brings to my mind the work of Mladen Stilinovič- Croatian conceptual artist, and his text The Praise of Laziness’ which since the reading of it resonates with me indefinitely. Upon reading it I felt like he describes in words the certain kind of dissonance that I feel especially in nowadays creative/art industries. 

MLADEN STILINOVIC

THE PRAISE OF LAZINESS

As an artist, I learned from both East (socialism) and West (capitalism). Of course, now when the borders and political systems have changed, such an experience will be no longer possible. But what I have learned from that dialogue, stays with me. My observation and knowledge of Western art has lately led me to a conclusion that art cannot exist... any more in the West. This is not to say that there isn't any. Why cannot art exist any more in the West? The answer is simple. Artists in the West are not lazy. Artists from the East are lazy; whether they will stay lazy now when they are no longer Eastern artists, remains to be seen. Laziness is the absence of movement and thought, dumb time - total amnesia. It is also indifference, staring at nothing, non-activity, impotence. It is sheer stupidity, a time of pain, futile concentration. Those virtues of laziness are important factors in art. Knowing about laziness is not enough, it must be practised and perfected. Artists in the West are not lazy and therefore not artists but rather producers of something... Their involvement with matters of no importance, such as production, promotion, gallery system, museum system, competition system (who is first), their preoccupation with objects, all that drives them away form laziness, from art. Just as money is paper, so a gallery is a room.

Artists from the East were lazy and poor because the entire system of insignificant factors did not exist. Therefore they had time enough to concentrate on art and laziness. Even when they did produce art, they knew it was in vain, it was nothing.

Artists from the West could learn about laziness, but they didn't. Two major 20th century artists treated the question of laziness, in both practical and theoretical terms: Duchamp and Malevich.

Duchamp never really discussed laziness, but rather indifference and non-work. When asked by Pierre Cabanne what had brought him most pleasure in life, Duchamp said: "First, having been lucky. Because basically I've never worked for a living. I consider working for a living slightly imbecilic from an economic point of view. I hope that some day we'll be able to live without being obliged to work. Thanks to my luck, I was able to manage without getting wet".

Malevich wrote a text entitled "Laziness - the real truth of mankind" (1921). In it he criticized capitalism because it enabled only a small number of capitalists to be lazy, but also socialism because the entire movement was based on work instead of laziness. To quote: "People are scared of laziness and persecute those who accept it, and it always happens because no one realizes laziness is the truth; it has been branded as the mother of all vices, but it is in fact the mother of life. Socialism brings liberation in the unconscious, it scorns laziness without realizing it was laziness that gave birth to it; in his folly, the son scorns his mother as a mother of all vices and would not remove the brand; in this brief note I want to remove the brand of shame from laziness and to pronounce it not the mother of all vices, but the mother of perfection". Finally, to be lazy and conclude: there is no art without laziness.

Work is a desease - Karl Marx.

Work is a shame - Vlado Martek.

From: http://www.guelman.ru/xz/english/XX22/X2207.HTM

I find Mladen’s text strong because it recognises the forced creation in contrast to free flowing ideas born without pressure for presence and productivity. It’s also the creative limitation that it brings with itself- the need for production, the need for sale- it becomes a censorship in a way. If you can’t produce what you want to talk about then that’s sad. 

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

BBC contemporary art bubble. BBC the worlds most expensive paintings.

Looking for documentaries about art I came across these two films and I thought it’s good to have a bit of a recognition of what is going on in the art market because after all it is governed by money as market always is. Both of the films expose certain mechanisms that rule the world of the art market and its participants. 

There is definitely a lot of criticism of the art world these days (always have been) and how not inclusive it is. 

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

spike island moving image symposium- writing about your work workshop.

I went to this free event in Spike Island about artists’ film. It was a whole day event with different speakers from different backgrounds- artists, curators, art institutions directors- all taking about the artists’ films from their perspectives. The artist talked about how the specific project came about, how the work was carried out and about the collaboration with the institutions that she was commissioned and funded by. There was an arts centre director talking about what they are looking for in work and artists, and about collaboration processes with artists as well as what artists could gain from such institutions especially if they are at the beginning of their careers. There was a lady telling us about the co-op she works at that is an archive and agency for artists’ films distribution based in London. The part that I probably took the most from was a writing workshop with a woman who used to be a curator and now professionally writes about art and for artists. The workshop was about going through the process of writing an artist statement or writing a proposal. It was very general and not film specific so that is something that I could use to try to verbalise and clarify the idea behind my project.

It was a very good and informative meeting in a quite small group so the interaction had to be there. It was great to see a professional explaining the process of writing. I sometimes feel like we are being rushed and expected to do things but with no time to leave it and think about it which also is a crucial part of the process but superficially seems unproductive.

Why going to talk about film when I’m supposed to be a photographer?

I think Nathalie Herschdorfer (starts about 6:30) understands very well the shift between younger generation of artists and students that those stiff divisions are much less adequate for and people don’t like to limit themselves by such artificial divisions. I think people start perceiving themselves more through their creativity and not through particular forms or mediums and I think that it is very natural and instinctive. I can certainly identify with this. What sort of future it will bring for artistic/creative education? That is a very important question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR9UuqXLcBA

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

Interview with dad. History. Solidarity, working conditions then and now. What do we fight for.

I had arranged meeting with my dad to interview him for the book. I wanted to ask him about the life in a communist regime, what happened after and what lead to his/theirs emigration. I have recorded the interview and also made notes- for myself. I will need to transcribe and translate this interview.

In my parents experience, financially and work wise the times of communism were much easier: they earned more and had better work life balance. Simultaneously, the workers in shipyards and other national companies were struggling working long hours in very often health and safety measures lacking environment for an unsustainable pay. Hence the food price rises were usually a starting point of riots that finally contributed to the collapse of communist regime.

The main events on the path to ending the regime were the events of 1970 and 1980 when there were riots and strikes after price rises. In the 1970 it ended with violent suppression by the government and change of the leader. After re-occuring strikes, in 1979  an unofficial biweekly Robotnik (The Worker) published a Charter of Worker’s Rights.

In 1980 MKS (Inter-Factory Strike Committee) presents the government with 21 postulates- two boards with the postulates painted on them are first put up by the entrance to the shipyard to spread the information in the times of government controlled media and communication (the boards are now in the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk). MKS later became NSZZ Solidarność (Solidarity Union Trade).  

‘The list of 21 demands presented by the Inter-Factory Strike Committee to the government:

1. Acceptance of free trade unions independent of the Communist Party and of enterprises, in accordance with convention No. 87 of the International Labor Organization concerning the right to form free trade unions, which was ratified by the Communist Government of Poland.

2. A guarantee of the right to strike and of the security of strikers and those aiding them.

3. Compliance with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech, the press and publication, including freedom for independent publishers, and the availability of the mass media to representatives of all faiths.

4. A return of former rights to: 1) People dismissed from work after the 1970 and 1976 strikes, and 2) Students expelled from school because of their views. The release of all political prisoners, among them Edward Zadrozynski, Jan Kozlowski, and Marek Kozlowski. A halt in repression of the individual because of personal conviction.

5. Availability to the mass media of information about the formation of the Inter-factory Strike Committee and publication of its demands.

6. The undertaking of actions aimed at bringing the country out of its crisis situation by the following means: a) making public complete information about the social-economic situation, and b) enabling all sectors and social classes to take part in discussion of the reform programme.

7. Compensation of all workers taking part in the strike for the period of the strike, with vacation pay from the Central Council of Trade Unions.

8. An increase in the base pay of each worker by 2,000 zlotys a month as compensation for the recent raise in prices.

9. Guaranteed automatic increases in pay on the basis of increases in prices and the decline in real income.

10. A full supply of food products for the domestic market, with exports limited to surpluses.

11. The abolition of 'commercial' prices and of other sales for hard currency in special shops.

12. The selection of management personnel on the basis of qualifications, not party membership. Privileges of the secret police, regular police and party apparatus are to be eliminated by equalizing family subsidies, abolishing special stores, etc.

13. The introduction of food coupons for meat and meat products (during the period in which control of the market situation is regained).

14. Reduction in the age for retirement for women to 50 and for men to 55, or after 30 years' employment in Poland for women and 35 years for men, regardless of age.

15. Conformity of old-age pensions and annuities with what has actually been paid in.

16. Improvements in the working conditions of the health service to insure full medical care for workers.

17. Assurances of a reasonable number of places in day-care centers and kindergartens for the children of working mothers.

18. Paid maternity leave for three years.

19. A decrease in the waiting period for apartments.

20. An increase in the commuter's allowance to 100 zlotys from 40, with a supplemental benefit on separation.

21. A day of rest on Saturday. Workers in the brigade system or round-the-clock jobs are to be compensated for the loss of free Saturdays with an increased leave or other paid time off.’

taken from: https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/polish-workers-general-strike-economic-rights-1980

This got me really interested how much the demands and the circumstances of the situation resemble the current problems in western societies- hence the text I put at the beginning that mostly could be just a contemporary writing. I had to research the history of the events in Poland more as I had a very superficial idea what has happened. I don’t remember actually studying it thoroughly at school.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Solidarity

I do recommend watching the video in the above link- it ends with the words ‘When communists tell us- they speak for the workers- don’t believe them.’ 

In the context of current situation I think many people question the same thing about nowadays leaders but we hardly describe them by the ideology they are following and also because there seem to be lack of a visible contrast to that. Also it is easier to blame those who controlled economy in communist regime as a planned economy in opposition to todays believe in market force that is supposed to regulate itself.

I also got really interested what sort of impact the system change had on the Eastern Bloc countries, especially Poland. The obvious reason is the visible outcomes of the story of my family but I was also impacted by watching the documentary ‘The Shock Doctrine’ based on Naomi Klein’s book by the same title. The film states that the state of shock in the Eastern Block was used to introduce the neoliberal agenda and Mikhail Gorbachev was deprived of his vision of transforming Soviet Union/Russia into a more Scandinavian model of social democracy. That of course didn’t work out so well for the working classes. Russia legislatively and regulatory not ready for the new system entered a period of ‘wild capitalism’ which resulted in the creation of oligarchs and concentration of wealth and power. Here’s a very good article about this topic spanning across Eastern Europe:

 1989 Twenty Years On: The End of Communism and the Fate of Eastern Europe

Of course there is much more to say about this but I don’t really want to embark on writing an essay about it to collect all my notes and thoughts (not yet at least).

Nevertheless, what is the visible factor in both situations now and then, especially in comparison of communist Poland and current state of affairs in England (or West in general) is the concentration of power which affects the circumstances and the created ‘illusion’ of doing things for the interest of people. 

How hopeless can we feel about the situation in the West, especially in the US, is highlighted by Noam Chomsky in the documentary ‘The Requiem For American Dream’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI_Ik7OppEI

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

rosa luxemburg leonid tyrmand

This project reminded me a book that I have read once when I was a teenager. It is a book that is, in quite sarcastic way, describing what the reality of life and the system was in Communism. The book is called ‘The Rosa Luxemburg Contraceptives Cooperative. A Primer on Communist Civilisation’ (’Cywilizacja Komunizmu’) by Leopold Tyrmand.

The author claims that it’s not academic or journalistic but it is a pamphlet. 

It is quite amusing but it is only amusing in a way it describes the ‘indignities and insanities of life in a Marxist society’.

I put the list of contents to give the idea of the satirical form in which the issues and what issues are being addressed. It also concerns the main areas which presented how dysfunctional the system was.

Here is an excerpt which is very valid to my research and my concerns. I think in the current situation in the world and especially in America it forces rethinking and critical reconsidering of how we view and perceive the attitude, power and function of the government. 

I’ll finish with the starting quote from the book:

Tyrmand, L. (1972). The Rosa Luxemburg Contraceptives Cooperative: A Primer on Communist Civilisation. New York: The Macmillan Company.

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

Martin Parr’s Foundation

It was a big news, in the local photography world at least, that Martin Parr is opening his foundation in Paintworks in Bristol which will comprise of a gallery space and and archive devoted to and promoting British Photography. I met up with Vicky for a trip to check the place out. Martin Parr’s Black Country stories work was on exhibition- it wasn’t very big, I think there were about 10-12 images on the walls and video from the sweets factory on a tv screen. There was also a table with some Parr’s photo books to browse. I went through them especially paying attention to the sequencing of the images. It was very visual and formal. Sometimes the connections between consecutive images were really strong, sometimes really vague but I could see the overall idea. I also had a look through The Photobook History by Parr, looking at books, topics, ideas, sequencing.

The archive was not open so it is rather accessible by appointment. There is also a shop with books and other merchandise. 

Afterwards we went to see Grayson Perry’s exhibition. It was nice to revisit the exhibition in a less crowded circumstances when one is able to spend more time looking, reading and contemplating. I like Grayson’s work, I think he deals with topics that are very contemporary problems not necessarily dealt with in public sphere. I like how he bridges between art and communities. He doesn’t seem to be pretentious in what he does and I think that’s what makes him so digestible for many people. 

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

meet up with girls

We have met up with Chris, Vicky, Becky and Lisa and showed some work and talked about it. 

When you’re working with the same material for a longer period of time and you see the same images over and over again you get to the point where it’s too much and you also loose the distance towards them. You cannot look at the photos with a fresh clear mind. Instead you start to find them boring, very average and you start to doubt the sense of everything so it really is good to meet up and listen to what others have to say, as well as, to see others’ work. I also think that with peers there is less pressure and performance anxiety so it’s much easier to be more relax and honest about things.

[noemi-jakubowska-blog]

More shoots

I have done more shoots than this but it usually was when my brother was visiting with his family and it was difficult to shoot because of the little one, I wasn’t really keen on flashing him too much and it would usually be quite dark in the room (even with all the lights on). I also avoid putting photos which include my sister-in-law because she is very averse of having photos taken. Some of the shoots didn’t really work out.

Also I want to highlight that the contact sheets I present on my blog are actually images after the first rough selection and not all the images I have shot- there’s no point and no space for all of it.

Below are contact sheets from my parents disposable cameras. Unfortunately my dad forgot to bring the last one back from Poland so there is another undeveloped one waiting in there. The quality of the images is quite poor, which was to be expected, but some images are absolutely hilarious, I think. In the times when people go crazy on instagram and social media, among all the selfies, pouts and perfect images of perfect lives, I absolutely adore how simple and honest these photos by my parents are. I’m still yet to sit down with my parents and ask them about these images- what is it in each photo that they wanted to capture. Maybe a side project. Or maybe not. I guess I just love the stories. Although it makes me wonder sometimes what, for example, prompted my mum to take a picture of a bus timetable... I like how they were snapping those photos without any fear, without much posing. I also love the fact they couldn’t see them straight away and be critical about them. Maybe I’ll get them some more disposable cameras and ask them to photograph at work or in everyday life. It presents opportunities!