5 pics

I've been trying to think about clones as an already-existing figure or body. If you have any ideas they are so so welcome here.



So anyhow, when I walked past this store in Utrecht I was happily surprised to see this guy repeating. Clones, eurika, but why him, I wondered? His line of sight picks up a rage of sidewalkers. One of him is probably looking at you -- he's picked you because whatever is slightly different about that one, sees what is slightly different about you?



And then, of course, her too. And this one caught the reflection of the far side of the street. You can see the opposing windows inside this one, and they repeat, like her. They also obscure or puncture the image while also giving it a strange dimension, like she is emerging from the seam of the two buildings.

Then, today I went to write in Amsterdam and I saw the same add and I decided it made sense to take the photos again. To record the reproductibility and its little game of difference.



Here, not only do the brunette clones have a pair of blond friends, but then, randomly and magically, the clone appears "in life" at the left of the photo. Perhaps that is not right, but is it virtually right? What are "her" rights, as a "real" person in "public" to not be compared, in image, to another image, in another "public"? I seemed to have crossed an ethical line.


And there he is again too, now with hair. Here the red baseball cap is reflected under an embedded and inverted red McDonald's sign. The store is called "Forecast" but you can read "recast" in bright blue within. In the upper left corner you can read "one" written backwards.



And here is a photo from the redlight district. I took it from far away, without zoom, because you are not supposed to take photos of the women in this area. (The ethics of this post, let alone the photos themselves, is something I'd like to discuss. I feel OK, but not great about it.) But here, virtually-speaking, we see a tall guy and a woman making arrangements through the window, which she has opened. There are the two little phallic concrete erections on the sidewalk and a vaginal canal below with a friendly duck swimming by. Perhaps, part of the uncanny panic this district induces (apart from the highly-contestable sexual politics going on) is simply the odd mode of imaginary consumption. You fall into the window, into where the clones (the images) are being reproduced in some, one suspects, totally non-sexual way. Lots of the men in this district look like clones too, packs of middle-age British men all in soccer jerseys and short hair, only too ready to reproduce their self-image. But, looking at it now, the scene above seems slightly different. It is daylight and they seems tentative. He doesn't look like a tourist.

Sounds of delhi

Here's clip I found seriously frightening. Is from the Raqs Media Collective. Loud with headphones for best results.
Invisible Cities - Delhi

New Delhi Junction

Sound Piece, 5 mins

Delhi is a city that wakes up to new arrivals everyday. Thousands of people step into the city, off trains that ferry them to a new life from a teeming hinterland. 'N-Dl Jn.' (the abbreviation that denotes 'New Delhi Junction' in standard railway time tables) is a sound work about moving into, and circulating within the city. The recurring motif of distinct train tracks, approaching and going away from the location of the listener punctuates the steady murmur of the quotidian, signalling the city as a magnet as well as a springboard for daily migrations.

Shown at: Invisible Cities, curated by Fallt designers Fehler. Commissioned by Queen's University, Belfast for Belfast Festival at Queen's 2002 and supported in its touring format by the British Council. It has exhibited in: Lisbon, Portugal; Naples, Italy; Brussels, Belgium; and Valetta, Malta. http://www.fallt.com/invisiblecities/

Some other good one are:
Beijing
Naples
Montreal

SAD

In Response to Post on Emily's blog: I do recall her apologizing for that 2004 comment, and I wonder what Obama or anyone else scrutinized over an extended period of time will be apologizing for in the next four years. Also, not "seeing her listening or thinking" seems a little inexplicable to me. Huh? I see her listen and think. And as for being out of touch - she's been winning the working class vote hands down so-far.

Here is my take for what it's worth: Policy-wise they're pretty similar. I think Hillary's energy policy is more thought through which I think will be a big issue the next few years. They have slightly different health care plans. Hillary's is universal mandated health care and Obama's is low-cost health care. Both seem good, and who knows which would be better but I lean toward Hillary on this one too. On Global-shit, I think Obama has a small edge, especially in the first few months when the world is all psyched we elected such an exciting figure. Over the long haul I'd guess Hillary has a steadier hand but Obama might make some good changes (or bad ones?). I think Obama has a longer honeymoon after being elected, which is good.

In a general election against McCain I can see it both ways. Some argue that Obama competes with McCain for independents and that he highlights McCain's age. Probably true. I do think they're going to attack Obama's thin resume, and scare the shit out of people about voting for someone with such a light record in such heavy times, etc, etc... Hillary is more polarizing, is conventional wisdom. She reinvigorates the conservatives. Also probably true, but they said that in New York too before she won big, real big. Also once the field falls to two candidates, its a different sort of contest and I do trust Hillary to win in that situation. I think she'd knock him back, and match him blow for blow and then some. It'd be more of a conventional election and I can see her winning that way. Obama probably wins big or loses big. This is all crazy speculation mind you. OK, but for now at least, Obama is exciting and he's getting more people to pay attention to politics which is good,so long as it doesn't turn into a cult of personality. Vote for either one because they're both great, but on the whole, and considering the issues, I lean toward Hillary.

But also, Iraq is a mess. I was against the war from the beginning, just like Obama, but getting out is going to be difficult. When she talks about withdrawing troops she knows what she's talking about. And in general, she knows what she's talking about. I know Obama knows a lot too but not down to the details like her, nobody knows it like she does. She masterful, hard-working, humble, driven. Its amazing and nobody notices at all. We take her for granted like we did Gore and (less-so) Kerry. I think that's sad. She is good at what she does but people don't like her because she "seems" disengaged. Ironically, she's deeply engaged. Sad. Very sad.

Utrecht Tonight

Do these three go together like I think they do?

They are photos from an unusually quiet late afternoon on the outskirts of downtown.  The fallen bike is sad and so are the empty tables, but she seems brave.  Is this the post-apocalypse of every city, every day?

Then there is an old street with new cars and a curvy building at the end.  These streets are everywhere, coming out of the central squares and major shopping canals.  You're happy to know these ways around, insulated by the city, from the city.  Always something new on the other end.

Where is everyone?  Scared of the sleeping dinosaur?  Repressed religious fear?  No.  More like a cliff, a mountain, an alp.  Too old to be man-made in china.  Another species or the wind and water put that there.  Just a wall for shade.

Clones

Everything here is just a little off.

Like Madison, Utrecht its a college town -- larger but with relatively similar demographics. And so after you've internalized all the obvious differences (the age and architecture of the city, etc...), it becomes possible to feel unwary, if not at home. But then, emerging creepily out of this safety, the strangeness of strangers becomes uncomfortably visible. If you had begun to think of this place as just another far flung state in the union, that young man's jacket is somehow inexplicably inside-out -- or something? This is the sort of low-level body-churning culture-shock that I really love. Anyhow, writing my proposal about clones probably isn't helping either.