Ben Wright - Slavoj Zizek: The Reality of the Virtual (2004)
Friday, May 18, 2007
Slavoj Zizek is one of the most distinguished and politically engaged thinkers of our time. In this tour de force filmed lecture, he lucidly and compellingly reflects on belief - which takes him from Father Christmas to democracy - and on the various forms that belief takes, drawing on Lacanian categories of thought. In a radical dismissal of today's so called post-political era, he mobilizes the paradox of universal truth urging us to dare to enact the impossible. It is a characteristic virtuoso performance, moving promiscuously from subject to subject but keeping the larger argument in view.
at 9:56 AM
Adam Curtis - The Mayfair Set (1999)
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Four Stories About the Rise of Business and the Decline of Political Power The Mayfair Set tells the fascinating story of four men who all belonged to a notorious 1960s gambling club called the Clermont and who would ultimately shape the climate of the Thatcher years. Through the interwoven lives of Colonel David Stirling, Jim Slater, Tiny Rowland and James Goldsmith, Adam Curtis BAFTA winning series explores one of the most fundamental changes we have lived through in the past 30 years the rise to power of the financial markets and the decline of politics.
Part 1: Who Pays Wins
The opening episode, Who Dares Wins, focuses on Colonel David Stirling, the man who in 1941 invented the SAS. After the Second World War, Stirling created a private mercenary army and, determined to harness the growing power of Arab oil money, began Britains arms trade to the Middle East. His aim was to keep Britain great. But what he didnt realise, was that this money would eventually take control of him and his beloved country.
Part 2: Entrepreneur Spelt S.P.I.V.
In the 1950s, Britain was dominated by a political and financial establishment that looked down on the stock market. But a suburban accountant called Jim Slater saw things differently. He realised that if he harnessed the sleeping powers of the shareholders, he would gain immense power.
Part 3: Destroy the Technostructure
This episode recounts the story of how James Goldsmith became one of the richest men in the world by taking over some of the biggest corporations in America.
Part 4: Twilight of the Dogs
By the 80s, the day of the buccaneering tycoons was over. Tiny Rowland, James Goldsmith and Mohammed Al Fayed were the only ones who were not finished.
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at 10:49 AM
Adam Curtis - The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear (2004)
This documentary argues that during the 20th Century politicians lost the power to inspire the masses, and that the optimistic visions and ideologies they had offered were perceived to have failed. The film asserts that politicians consequently sought a new role that would restore their power and authority. Curtis, who also narrates the series, declares in the film's introduction that instead of delivering dreams, politicians now promise to protect us: from nightmares. To illustrate this Curtis compares the rise of the American neoconservatives and radical Islamists, believing that both are closely connected; that some popular beliefs about these groups are inaccurate; and that both movements have benefited from exaggerating the scale of the terrorist threat.
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at 10:44 AM
Adam Curtis - Pandora's Box (1992)
For 15 years, Adam Curtis has concentrated on a cultural history behind the politics of the 20th century and beyond. In 1992, he made Pandora's Box, six "fables" on the consequences (often dangerous) of political and technocratic rationality, especially when used to crush common sense and a clear reporting of the facts. Nothing concerns Curtis more than the way public relations and spin doctoring have become ways of masking the true nature of modern history - and nothing is so vital to the new forms of modern bureaucratic totalitarianism, the dulcet "order" that has come to fill the ground left by fascism and communism. In other words, the "enlightened" problem solving favored in the most advanced countries, but employed to obfuscate democratic impulses.
01 The Engineer's Plot. The revolutionaries who toppled the Tsar in 1917 thought science held the key to their new world. In fact, it ended up creating a bewildering world for millions of Soviet people. In this light-hearted investigation, one industrial planner tells how she decided the people wanted platform shoes, only to discover that they had gone out of fashion by the time that the factory to manufacture them had been built.
02 To The Brink of Eternity. Focusing on the men of the Cold War on whom 'Dr Strangelove' was based. These were people who believed that the world could be controlled by the scientific manipulation of fear - mathematical geniuses employed by the American Rand Corporation. In the end, their visions were the stuff of science fiction fantasy.
03 The League of Gentlemen. Thirty years ago, a group of economists managed to convince British politicians that they had foolproof technical means to make Britain great again. Pandora's Box tells the saga of how their experiments have led the country deeper into economic decline, and asks - is their game finally up?
04 Goodbye Mrs Ant. A modern fable about science and society, focusing on our attitude to nature. Should we let scientists be the prime movers of social or political change when, for instance, DDT made post-war heroes of American scientists only to be put on trial by other scientists in 1968? What kind of in-fighting goes on between rival camps before one scientific truth emerges, and when it does emerge, just how true is it?
05 Black Power. A look at how former Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah set Africa ablaze with his vision of a new industrial and scientific age. At the heart of his dream was to be the huge Volta dam, generating enough power to transform West Africa into an advanced utopia. But as his grand experiment took shape, it brought with it dangerous forces Nkrumah couldn't control, and he slowly watched his metropolis of science sink into corruption and debt.
06 A is For Atom. An insight into the rise and fall of nuclear power. In the 1950s scientists and politicians thought they could create a different world with a limitless source of nuclear energy. But things began to go wrong. Scientists in America and the Soviet Union were duped into building dozens of potentially dangerous plants. Then came the disasters of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl which changed views on the safeness of this invisible fuel.
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at 10:38 AM
demonoid and more Adam Curtis
Friday, May 11, 2007
I wrote earlier that i could invite you, if you wanted to be a user at demonoid.com. But since i only have 1-2 invite's a month, you have to try on your own, i think demonoid is open for users every friday.
Later tomorrow, two or three work's by Adam Curtis will be redirected to this site from karagarga.
If you have any suggestions on what i should post on the site, please write me a mail at arttorrentsATgmailDOTcom.
All the best,
arttorrents
at 4:57 PM
Rosa Maria Frang - I Am the Slogan
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
at 12:03 PM
Amalie Sørensen - Sculpting in Time & Sculptures in Time
Two work's by danish writer and visual artist Amalie Sørensen.
Sculpting in Time - 1min & 15sec.
Sculptures in Time - 52sec.
View Sculpting in Time & Sculptures in Time at Amalie's site or share the two videowork's via demonoid.
at 2:12 AM