Mamiyaroid 16.5
Gimmicks
Recommendations:
Our Love-Hate Relationships with Gimmicks, by Merve Emre
The closer we come to the present, the easier it feels to enumerate genres of literary gimmick—once-fresh conceits about to curdle. In a world overrun by advertising and marketing, where “thought is simultaneously reified and fetishized,” Ngai writes, “ ‘gimmick’ and ‘concept’ are well-nigh synonymous.” There is the gimmick of metafiction, which, unwilling to part with its one-time trick of referring to itself, has recently been rebranded as autofiction; the gimmick of writing a novel with interchangeable parts or multiple endings; the gimmick of structuring a novel as an archive, with boxes, diaries, and found objects. “All art becomes intrinsically gimmick-prone after modernism,” Ngai observes, for the simple reason that all art risks undermining itself when it lays bare its technique.
I also read Jane Hu’s review of Ngai’s book and came across this photographer, Torbjørn Rødland. I haven’t read what Ngai says about his work, but I loved this photograph:
This photograph reminded me of this weird thing I did in spring 2019. I had an urgent desire to make a large flower embedded jello to photograph and then destroy. I also embedded individual flowers in clear gelatin. The destruction was part of the desire.
Here are photos and video of my project and the destruction of the jello.
fuji xpro2
fuji xpro2
fuji xpro2
fuji xpro2
fuji xpro2
fuji xpro2 (top-view of carnation embedded in clear gelatin)
collage made using Polaroid lab and itype film
Stephen Malkmus doing CAN, Spoon. From Ege Bamyasi Played by Stephen Malkmus and Friends - 2013
Until next time…
Adalena
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My email: adalenakavanagh@gmail.com
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Original photography prints: adalenakavanagh.bigcartel.com (I change out the shop every month of so. If you see something you like, let me know, I’m happy to make you a print.)
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-Adalena Kavanagh