It Takes Longer To Fully Unravel Than It Does To Live

Fig. 1. Liza Lou - Continuous Mile, 2007–2008


'There is an optimism that consists in saying, "In any case, it couldn't be any better." My optimism would consist in saying, "So many things can be changed, being as fragile as they are, tied more to contingencies than to necessities, more to what is arbitrary than to what is rationally established, more to complex but transitory historical contingencies than to inevitable anthropological constants."'

Michel Foucault

The Sunday Six: It Ain't No Carnival For The Animals

Fig. 1. Sue Coe - Elephant Slaughter in Sudan, 2007

Fig. 2. Scott Robert Hudson - Bison, 2005-2007

Fig. 3. Xavier Veilhan - Shark, 2008

Fig. 4. Steve McQueen - Running Thunder, 2007 (film still)

Fig. 5. Bill Hammond - Jingle Jangle Morning, 2006

Fig. 6. Damien Hirst - Tranquility from the “Butterfly” series (2002-)

The Janjuweed (Death on Horseback) using high powered rifles slaughter 100 elephants in one afternoon to sell the ivory to China. The money buys more weapons for the war in Darfur.

When Courage Takes To The Dance Floor, Joy Leads*

Fig. 1. John Brack - Latin American Grand Final, 1969


'There is no greater joy than that of feeling oneself a creator. The triumph of life is expressed by creation.'

Henri Bergson

* 'Joy prompts courage.' (Hans Christian Andersen)

For Thy Part, I Passionately Wish Thou Wert A Dog*

Fig. 1. Michelangelo (di Lodovico Buonarroti Simon) - The Last Judgement, 1534-1541


'To think ill of mankind and not wish ill to them, is perhaps the highest wisdom and virtue.'

William Hazlitt

* 'I am misanthropos, and hate mankind,/For thy part, I do wish thou wert a dog,/That I might love thee something.' (from Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare)

Only At One End Of Their Alimentary Canals, Mr. C

Fig. 1. Luis Meléndez - Still Life with Melon and Pears, c.1772


'The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.'

G.K. Chesterton

Note: Capitalism Does Not Come Fitted With Airbags

Fig. 1. Aernout Mik - Middlemen. 2001 (single-channel video installation, looped)


'Art is always and everywhere the secret confession, and at the same time the immortal movement of its time.'

Karl Marx

What Has Ever Been So Horrible It Can't Be Imaged?

Fig. 1. Vija Celmins - To Fix The Image In Memory XII, 1977-82


'To suffer is one thing; another thing is living with photographed images of suffering, which does not necessarily strengthen conscience and the ability to be compassionate. It can also corrupt them. Once one has seen such images, one has started down the road of seeing more and more. Images transfix and images anaesthetise. An event becomes more real than it would have been if one had never seen a photograph. But after repeated exposure to images it also becomes less real.'

Susan Sontag