post-war blog

from Susan Sontag's On Photography

2011-02-22T13:35:00.004+03:00

This is an extract from Susan Sontag's collection of essays On Photography, from the essay In Plato's Cave.Recently, photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing - which means that, like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as an art. it is mainly a social rite, a defense against anxiety, and a tool of power. Memorializing the

as described by Jean Genet in ‘The Thief’s Journal’

2011-01-25T00:57:00.000+03:00

His temple bled. Two soldiers had just fought for some long forgotten reason, and it was the younger who fell, his temple smashed by the iron fist of the other, who watched the blood flow and become a tuft of primroses. The flowering spread rapidly. It reached the face, which was soon covered with thousands of those compact flowers, sweet and violet as the wine vomited by soldiers. Finally, the

The Thief's Journal by Jean Genet

2010-12-27T19:56:00.006+03:00

Jean Genet is my new discovery. A french writer, but formost a criminal, from 1930's. The book that I am reading right now is called 'The Thief's Journal'. With Jean Genet I experience the other side of the morality, which we, the common people, usually call immorality. Genet was the first homosexual to write openly about it. Both his homosexuality and crime are his literary subjects. 'Only a

on escaping separateness

2010-09-06T00:19:00.003+03:00

A fragment from Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving, The Theory of Love… the human race in its infancy still feels one with nature. The soil, the animals, the plants are still man’s world. He identifies himself with animals, and this is expressed by the wearing of animal masks, by the worshipping of a totem animal or animal gods. But the more the human race emerges from these primary bonds, the more

John Berger on Pirosmani

2010-07-27T10:40:00.005+03:00

This is an extract from the essay On the Banks of the Sava by an acclaimed art critic John Berger written in 1972. The essay appears in the collection entitled The Sense of Sight. In Russian cities the food displayed in shop windows often consists of painted wooden models, wooden chops, chickens, eggs. From a distance they sometimes look more convincing than real food because their colours are

One Night in Strasbourg - an essay by John Berger

2010-07-23T17:46:00.004+03:00

I find this piece of writing simple and at the same time extraordinary. It is very visual and emotional, as almost everything John Berger writes. Fantastic thoughts about passion from his book The Sense of Sight. I hope he will not be angry if I post it here. The Kiss by Edvard Munch I had gone to the cinema. When I came out it was cold and wet. You

happiness - She Came to Stay - episode

2010-06-30T13:08:00.002+03:00

Françoise followed the gypsy who produced a little piece of light-colored wood from her pocket. "I'll tell you a secret. There's a dark young man in your life, you're very much in love with him, but you're not happy with him because of a blonde girl. This is a charm. You must put it into a small handkerchief and keep if on you for three days and then you'll be happy with the young man. I wouldn't

Tropic of Cancer - the beginning

2010-06-24T09:20:00.002+03:00

These are the very first lines of one of my favorite books Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. 'I am living at the Villa Gorghese. There is not a crumb of dirt anywhere, nor a chair misplaced. We are all alone here and we are dead. Last night Boris discovered that he was lousy. I had to shave his armpits and even then the itching did not stop. How can one get lousy in a beautiful place like

The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller (small extract from the beginning)

2010-06-11T01:18:00.005+03:00

...'By God, yes, I like it,' I was saying to myself over and over as I stood at the rail taking in the movement and the hubbub. i leaned back and looked up at the sky. i had never seen a sky like this before. It was magnificent. I felt completely detached from Europe. i had entered a new realm as a free man - everything had conjoined to make the experience unique and fructifying. Christ, I was

Imagining Reality (extracts from essays on documentary filmmaking)

2010-05-02T18:55:00.010+03:00

I recommend Imagining Reality, a magnificent collection of essays constructing a history of documentary filmmaking, to those interested in documentary films as well as the history of mankind of the 20th century. As far as I can perceive it, the book unveils some extraordinary details of human brutality and the filmmaking that has tried to cope with it. The essays open for discussion on the

Ways of Seeing by John Berger (extract on feminine nudity in painting)

2010-04-26T12:37:00.011+03:00

This is part of a chapter from Ways of Seeing by John Berger, which I found adorable. This extract here is for those who cannot have this small book and for those who will want to have if after reading this. Since illustrations are very important in understanding the context, I, in most cases, indicated the title and the author which you can google and match the text. ----- According to

The Snakeskin

2009-12-18T14:31:00.013+03:00

by Ingmar Bergman Artistic creativity in me has always manifested itself as hunger. With quiet satisfaction I have acknowledged this need, but I have never in my whole conscious life asked myself where this hunger has come from and why it kept demanding satisfaction. During these last few years, as the hunger begins to abate, I feel a certain urgency to seek out the very

just dead

2009-12-08T23:45:00.004+03:00

It was cold in Lit Cafe. They had opened the door. A man died outside in the street. He was sited on the sidewalk with legs stretched out and an umbrella covering his face.

მოკლემეტრაჟიანი ფილმები: ჟამთა ცვლა – 1989–2009

2009-11-09T12:55:00.003+03:00

ახალგაზრდა კინემატოგრაფისტები სალომე ჯაში და რუსუდან პირველი თავიანთ ახალ დოკუმენტურ ფილმებს წარმოადგენენ, რომლებიც მათ საქართველოს გოეთეს ინსტიტუტის ხელშეწყობით გადაიღეს. ეს ფილმები ("ლიდერი ყოველთვის მართალია" და "სტალბერი") ქართული საზოგადოების განვითარებასა და მასში არსებულ ტენდენციებს ასახავს, რომელიც ბოლო 20 წლის განმავლობაში განვითარებულ მოვლენებს უკავშირდება.2009 წ. 18 ნოემბერი, 18

Strangeland

2009-10-27T21:47:00.003+03:00

I got there at 11.30 - very nervous. About the prospects of changing my life for ever -To find out my appointment was for 10.30 -I just burst out in tearsLove TraceyThe useless(from Strangeland by Tracey Emin)-----Reccomend to read. This is the most brutal confession I have ever read.

My Booze Heaven (from Strangeland by Tracey Emin)

2009-10-27T21:25:00.004+03:00

The phone's ringing. My head's ringing. It's Wobbly (Gillian Wearing).'Wotcher, Wobs,' I said. 'Congradulations on winning the twenty grand'.She begins to relate her highlight of the night before. And even though she was dead chuffed to have won the Turner Prize, it was my Rock Maiden Rides Out TV appearance.'But I wasn't on TV,' I say. 'Last night I fucked up big time. I missed out on five

women with no name

2009-10-27T20:36:00.003+03:00

Walked back with a Finnish director who lives in Beijing. He said there are 400 000 millioneres in China but some have no name. Those he has heard of belong to a ethnic minority and all of them are women. They just have nicknames. They were not given a name upon their birth.

3 Men That Made Me Happy in One Day

2009-10-27T01:31:00.004+03:00

Finally Prague and out of metro for Florence Bus Station. A man is selling books right outside the metro. He stands with his back looking for something for two customers. Two Activias lie on the shelf next to the books. Maybe it's not worth asking and I can look around myself and find the bust station. I look around. No particular signs. He turns and I say excuse me, bus station? He tuns back and

Last Night

2009-09-15T13:27:00.000+03:00

A woman’s rhythmical screaming woke me up in the middle of the night’s silence. It sounded like a grief from a far away apartment block. I had a feeling that someone had just died. It must have been either a mother or a wife mourning loudly. The sound was very disturbing. I felt uncomfortable and attentive to every detail around me. I felt a slight quiver, a leftover illusionary feeling from the

StalinArt

2009-09-09T10:03:00.002+03:00

"Why not paint it in lovely rainbow colours - or allow it to be repainted by a competition winner once a year ... or have installations added to it" - as extract from the discussion on the Stalin monument.I came across the discussion on turning the Stalin monument into an artistic piece. Just view the blog here The Art Club Caucasus.It would be just GREAT to turn Stalin into art. What do you

la danza contemporanea

2009-09-06T20:35:00.003+03:00

რამდენიმე დღის წინ რობერტო გავიცანი. მოვიდა, რომ აეროპორტიდან ავეყვანე. სადღაც საათნახევარი იყო გზა. აღმოჩნდა, რომ გაბრიელას ქმარი იყო, წარმოშობით მექსიკელი. 20 წელზე მეტია იტალიაში ცხოვრობს და არის თანამედროვე ცეკვის ქორეოგრაფი – fa la danza contemporanea.პირველი, რაც დამამახსოვრდა და გვერდზე გავიხედე რომ თავში გამემეორებინა, იყო, რომ მსახიობობა ცურვის ცოდნაა ემოციების ზღვაში. მერე ამბობს, რომ

Change

2009-09-02T23:59:00.004+03:00

Tonight I decided to write about change. Is change anything that will every come to this place? I've been happy that I'm part of a process, part of a change. That it's interesting. And then I've realised that it has always been like that, it has always been a process without any actual change. Just a circle. No, not even a circle, one unmoving spot.This evening it struck back that there is a

A MR. MINISTER in Humburg

2009-09-01T19:25:00.015+03:00

If you happen to be in Humburg on October 1st, don't miss out screening of A MR. MINISTER, directed by Salome Jashi and Giorgi Tsikarishvili, first aired at Dutch VPRO. The film is presented within a festival about the Black Sea Region in five German cities with readings, discussions and a short film programme.Location: 'Europa-Lounge' at the KörberForum Körber-Foundation in Hamburg.In

SPEECHLESS at festivals

2009-08-31T13:04:00.003+03:00

After premiered at One World Human Rights International Film Festival in Prague this March, the film went to DocuDays: Human Rights Film Fetival in Kiev. The film is about to be screend at Ro-IFF Romanian International Documentary Film Festival held from September 26 to October 4; Ad Hoc: Inconvenient films 2009 held during October 22-30 in Vilnius, Lithuania; dokumentART - European Filmfestival

the Urals and thigs I did not know

2009-08-26T13:55:00.004+03:00

the film as a film was fine. Voiceover was a bit annoying. It was a nature film called 'The Urals'. It gave me some emotional information which I did not know.I did not know that the Urals is the place where European and Asian continents meet. I did not know that when tempreture drops down to -30C, treest start to burst, a rare acoustic experience.I did not know that red bugs (I don't know the

The Trip

2009-08-11T23:27:00.003+03:00

It was supposed to be a trip for work. We went to film the president visiting a patriotic camp. He never arrived. It was the August war 'anniversary'. We waited the whole day for his spontanious decision to appear there, at the place that was burnt down last year during the war. The spontanious decision was never made. It was mostly cloudy and I sat at the beach. The waves were dark and the space

ჩიფსები და პატრიოტები

2009-08-11T23:09:00.003+03:00

განმუხურის პატრიოტთა ბანაკი (მშვიდობისა და მეგობრობის ახალგაზრდული ბანაკი თუ ქალაქი, როგორც შესასვლელში აწერია), 7 აგვისტომუსიკა ჩაირთო Alarm, alarm... შეკრების მუსიკაა ეს. მზე ზღვაში ჩასვლისკენ იყო და პატრიოტები ბანაკის სხვადასხვა ნაწილიდან სტადიონისკენ მორბოდნენ. ასე 200 კაცი. რაზმებად დაეწყვნენ. ჩამწკვირდნენ. ყუთები ჩამოატარეს. DJ-მ თქვა – ვინც მე არ შემახვედროსო... რა არის–მეთქი. – ჩიფსებია.

Herzog while filming 'Fitzcarraldo'

2009-08-02T00:02:00.009+03:00

Of course we are challenging the nature itself... and it hits back. It just hits back. That's all. And that's grandiose about it. And we have to accept that it is much stronger than we are. Kinski always says it's full of erotic elements. I don't see it so much erotic. I see it more full of obscenity. It's just... Nature here is vile and base. I wouldn't see anything erotical here. I would see

The Patriotic Camp (predeterminations)

2009-07-26T12:43:00.004+03:00

What was my motivation to go there? It had been on my mind for the past four years – the patriotic camps. The camp – collectivePatriotic – one ideaNow I understand that collective one idea is just the means for something bigger. But this something bigger was yet to come to my mind when I stepped in that circle with some predetermination. The predetermination I didn’t like the idea of patriotism

responsibility list (incomplete)

2009-07-09T18:36:00.005+03:00

Responsible to love. Responsible to communicate. Responsible to appreciate. Responsible to kiss. Responsible to comment. Responsible to care. Responsible to react. Responsible to reply. Responsible to call. Responsible to talk. Responsible to behave. Responsible to say. Resposible to complete. Resposible to be. Responsible to be here. Resposible to adopt. . . Make other responsible to love. Make

I am the building

2009-06-20T18:23:00.003+03:00

I am made of false brick. I have three floors. I wish I was sold to a wealthy businessman to refurbish me. But now my pieces are taken by various people not caring about me as a whole, but caring about my separate corners which now belong to them. I am a tired being. I am both functionless and functioning. I am functionless because these different people who have nothing in common with each other

The Fish

2009-05-04T02:48:00.004+03:00

Now that I’m changing my attitude towards my life, towards who I am and what I represent, this gives me courage and this is because of a foreign city. Maybe this is once again an illusion and just a small blow of inspiration that will not last for long. A hotel, a modern brick building, a tiny room with no place for a suitcase, white walls, a view on tall buildings and a monitor – a TV hung on

Culture Houses - history made into art

2009-04-23T21:18:00.001+03:00

Symbol of a collapsed epoch and transient time – remnant culture houses are captured during the process of decay.

2009-04-14T00:51:00.001+03:00

'არ შეიძლება მხოლოდ და მხოლოდ ანალოგებით აზროვნება. დიგიტალური გახდა მსოფლიო ' ნათ

დღის მატარებელი

2009-04-14T00:20:00.008+03:00

გუშინ სამტრედიიდან დღის მატარებელს მოვყვებოდით. ბილეთი: 5 ლარი. გამოდიოდა 12:30–ზე, ჩამოდიოდაი 6:20–ზე. სამტრედიაში ერთდროულად ორი მატარებელი ჩამოდგა – ზუგდიდი–თბილისი და ოზურგეთი–თბილისი. ჩვენ ოზურგეთისაში გვქონდა ბილეთები და რომ ჩავსხედით მერე მიგვაჯახეს ზუგდიდს და ერთად დავიწყეთ გრძელი გზა დედაქალაქისკენ. მგზავრობა ისეთი რამეა, თან ამდენი საათი, უნდა დალიო. სანამ ჭუჭყიან ფანჯარასთან მე სიმონა

CULTURAL REVOLUTION!

2009-04-02T00:21:00.005+03:00

No, all these demonstrations in Georgia, all these the same, and then some fundamentalist orthodox fanatics holding a demonstration that they are deprived from their religion, that misha should go, that 'why', that 'jos', that 'dzirs', etc. are just stupid. It does not go anywhere. This political and religious shit. This new slogan 'Why?' is just oriented on past. 'Why' does govermnet stink?

Another one

2009-03-31T23:46:00.002+03:00

Tonight I saw one more dead body in Tbilisi. I don't want to count any more. If I count now, I will remember all of them. It's at least five, the ones I've seen with my own eyes. People gathered aroung the tree which the car ran into and next to it someone lying. He was not covered. No body I've seen was covered. And people staring.I think this is the strongest reason why I want to get out of

Taking off

2009-03-30T04:03:00.011+03:00

One of those take offs. The airplane speeded on the grumpy asphalt and I leaned back straight, as I do always. And the second it took off, I closed my eyes and leaned even stronger to the back of the chair, feeling almost lying on it and this physical feeling was so strong, probably because of my emotional state. Together with that awkward physical sensation I felt overwhelmingly happy. So happy

maps

2009-03-26T12:53:00.001+03:00

In the inn where they had just dined, they were drinking a muderously stron white liquor. Dubreilh had already set up his paraphernalia at one end of an oilcloth-covered table. 'Yes', Henri said. His eyes obediently followed the pencil point along red, yellow, and white lines. 'How can you choose between those little roads?' 'That's the fun of it'. The fun of it, Henri thought, was

from Prague to Brussels

2009-03-19T14:59:00.001+03:00

I thought I would wait until the bus would get to Germany. I was enjoying the torment of keeping them in the head and promised myself would hold them on until Germany. But then it was the fear which has always come true. They just drip away…At one point, some long time ago, I realized I was not unique at all. I remember it was a disappointing feeling. But then it was also that I found myself more

2009-03-04T15:24:00.003+03:00

'I don't think it matters much what kind of tag you put on things that happened in the past,' I said. 'What matters is the future'.'That's just it,' he said spiritedly. 'To make something good of the future, you have to look the present in the face. And I get the distinct impression that these people here aren't doing that at all. Dubreuilh talks to me of a literary review, Parron of a pleasure

A restart. The suitcase story

2009-02-18T00:56:00.002+03:00

This is a hastily written story about the suitcase which carried years of the past.It was the end of my two weeks in Berlin. My flight was scheduled for 16.50. I was supposed leave the bike at Janina’s. It was snowing slightly. And I was riding this old rusty bike which used to belong to Janina’s grandfather. I met a man the night before. He suggested I don’t ride that night because of slippery

exploring mydeathspace.com

2009-01-25T00:42:00.003+03:00

There is this website called http://www.mydeathspace.com/. It puts up notices of death of http://www.myspace.com/ members. I am also a member there. So, I've been exploring this page for several days already. I don't know how to name the feeling I get reading the death notes and then looking at their myspaces.There is this girl - Amy, who was shot by her husband. Her space is open. Her myspace

2009-01-06T00:55:00.002+03:00

დღეს პირველად შევხედე ახალ ამბებს. თვალი მოვკარი, რომ თბილისში აქცია გამართეს ისრაელის მხარდასაჭერად. არც მომისმენია წესიერად. შემდეგ წავიკითხე, ისინი მხარს უჭერდნენ ისრაელის ბრძოლას ტერორიზმის წინააღმდეგ. დღეს მართლა პირველად შევხედე ახალ ამბებს, ოღონდ არა ტელევიზორში, არამედ ინტერნეტში. ორი კვირაა, რაც ისრაელი ღაზის სექტორს ბომბავს. ამას აღარ ქვია ბრძოლა ტერორიზმის წინააღმდეგ. მაგალითად ეს

2008-11-30T18:48:00.002+03:00

I don't care about stess any more. I spend time trying to experience feelings. I am like something extremely light on a river.

2008-11-30T18:32:00.002+03:00

"There are two ways to reach me: by way of kisses or by way of the imagination. But there is a hierarchy: the kisses alone don't work. I wondered at this last night as I closed Drake's book. I knew it would take me years to forget John (Erskine), because it was he who first stirred the secret source of my life. ""The hours I have spent in cafes are the only ones I call living, apart from writing.

A Mr. Minister

2008-11-15T19:36:00.006+03:00

A short documentary by Salome Jashi and Giorgi Tsikarishvili 'A Mr. Minister' is aired on Dutch VPRO television on November 17, 21:00.This film shows the character of Bakur Kvezereli, 27 year old minister of agriculture. He is the youngest member in the cabinet of ministers led by Mikhei Saakashvili in Georgia. This ambitious young man claims there is nothing he dislikes in himself. Balanced with

Meet Ossetian Gunmen in Perevi

2008-11-14T23:36:00.003+03:00

We drove on a winding rode along a river up in Imeretian villages. There was this village Jria and we saw Georgian police standing there. Soon EU monitoring mission guys arrived. This is now the last village, one of the last ones along the new 'border', by which Ossetian militia stand. We passed Jria and drove up towards Perevi. This village, with Georgian population, is now occupied by some

A year after Nov7

2008-11-07T18:18:00.007+03:00

This sticker got popular last year - because of immediate reaction and a good source for the image. After a year, does Nov7 still carry the same meaning as it had last year?Today on TV there was this staged scene:Cameras lined in one end of a living room. At the table of this seemingly poor apartment a thin man stands. Reportedly, he was brutally injured last year. He was the worst case, they

2008-11-03T15:02:00.002+03:00

I returned home depressed today. I don't feel like smiling and I'm rude. I should change that. I wonder how I will live when I'm old and retired. How will I have money. I doubt I will have pension. I think the best is to buy some nice real estate by the end of my productive years and live on that income.

My towed box

2008-10-30T00:13:00.005+03:00

As my car was sitting on the back of a bigger car, I was sitting in front, in that bigger car, next to a thin talkative driver smoking a cigarette without putting ashes away. The seat was stinky, to be honest, and I had my window open and my ear covered with scarf not to get cold as we drove the embankment. There was this large car mirror reflecting me. And I was thinking that the hardest thing

Gori - August 10-12, 2008

2008-10-26T22:39:00.019+03:00

She was smoking a cigarette very intensely. She called me. Said that their doctor was shot last night and his blood is now covered with those tree branches.The military hospital was full the day before. That day it was only several pairs of military boots left behind and mattresses had blood stains. Visiting that hospital on August 10thwas my first impression on war. The yard was full of doctors,

Close to Tskhinvali

2008-10-21T11:17:00.004+03:00

I passed Gori yesterday. The apartment blocks that had been bombed were almost fully renovated. Some apartments that were completely destroyed and those that were damaged, all looked the same. Crumbling wooden windows were replaced with modern sound proof ones. The shop nearby that had been damaged, was also rebuilt as well as a house across the road. No physical trace of war there. These

Speechless. aka Silent Faces. aka dadumomebuli. aka i don't know yet

2008-10-05T23:33:00.004+03:00

“Speechless” is the working title of one of the 9 documentary shorts filmed in the framework of the project “10 minutes of Democracy”. Film director Salome Jashi has finished the production stage of her experimental short. 10 minute long documentary is an experiment with human faces. Can silent faces tell stories of horror that these people have gone through…The film is an attempt to tell the

Monopoly on truth

2008-10-02T10:59:00.004+03:00

Looking back in my notes I found an expression a friend of mine once used: "monopoly on truth".Some individuals, moreover, some institutions claim they have monopoly on truth. The church obviously claims monopoly on truth. People who follow the church in Georgia also claim this truth, relyin to their inspirer church. The political idology preached in Georgia also claims monopoly on truth and

2008-09-27T20:48:00.003+03:00

"I don't worry about happiness. It's an empty word anyway. Happiness, unhappiness, it's all the same. They should not be in the dictionary" - I think this is a fantastic quote among many others in Cronicle of a Summer by Jean Rouch and Edgar Morrin, an experiment for cinema verite.

Learning to fuck (reference to Cx.Sh. magazine)

2008-09-27T12:22:00.005+03:00

After month and a half war is still an issue. Of course. no surprises. But it has really faded away. Emotions have deffinitely faded away. But what's left after the emotions? The same routine life that was before the war. The same blaming against Russia, the same nationalistic self-satisfaction. And the government taking no responsibility for what has happened. Neither the majority of people

2008-09-14T23:44:00.001+03:00

Today I found a book entitled "Hard to Be Georgian, but Essential" written by Father Giorgi, a blind priest - "qartveloba dznelia, magram aucilebeli" (please tell me how to type in Georgian on this blog). I would love to read about the essentiality of being Georgian. I find this crazy and scary.

2008-09-14T16:45:00.000+03:00

Today I found one more person who shares my point of view. She suggested to do something. What? 'do something' is so abstract and does not lead anywhere.

my first blog

2008-09-13T22:22:00.000+03:00

A month has passed since the war is over. But it's not all over yet. This blog is to express how desperate I am living in this country. Here, I want to protest and explain.