Nadim Karam Visiting artist lecture Nadim Karam is by far my favorite of the visiting artists. Nadim is from Beirut and was there during political unrest with Lebanon. During that time, he received a scholarship in which he utilized by going to Tokyo and studying architecture. He remained in Tokyo for 10 years and received a PhD. He then moved to London where he began working in making public art installations. Nadim is interesting in that these monstrous forms and installations combine both the figures/figurines that he doodles in his sketch-book with his knowledge for architecture. The installations are very large. When he discusses them he talks in measurements of meters. He happened to be in the United States to propose a project for the city of Chicago. The project he is proposing is a large wheel (24 meters) that will sit out on Lake Michigan. Nadim discussed the process by which he comes to a proposal for a city. He said that first he researches the city via topographies and maps and finds locations that seem to be receptive to his ideas of installation. For Chicago he chose the wheel, there were several reasons in choosing the wheel, and one of those being the introduction of the Ferris Wheel at the Worlds Fair over a century ago. Nadim said that he also considered the values of the people. He spoke about the idea of raising the spirits of the people in a certain area. He enjoyed the idea of art as a mechanism for inspiration and to help people to recognize the beauty of their surroundings. Nadim also discussed the ideas of failed projects, or projects that were not approved. He gave the example of a project that he proposed in Australia. He had pitched an idea for a giant kinetic sculpture with metal figures placed on a track would move out over the water and return based on time. It worked as a sort of non-traditional clock and was placed right beside train tracks. The project had gone stale and over the course of four years the design firm that Nadim owns had forgot about the project. The city of Sydney contacted them out of the blue. And suddenly the project was on again. He encouraged students not to give up on ideas, that over time they could develop into something else, or could come to fruition in an offer. My favorite installation of all the installations came as a proposal to a monastery. I have taken this information from a website in order to provide details of the project. http://www.onefineart.com/en/artists/nadim_karam/nara_project.shtml “‘The Three Magic Flowers of Jitchu’ on Kagami Lake in the Todaiji Temple complex of Nara, Japan, an art installation, 2004. The project consisted of seven hundred different steel sculptures (45cm) ‘scattered’ over the surface of the lake, and three large (8m height) flowers, made of steel and fabric. The installation took place from August 5th -20th , during which time the temple received nation-wide attention from Japanese media. It was the first contemporary art installation ever to take place on temple grounds. Kagami Lake, the location of the art installation, is in front of Daibutsuden, the main temple of Todaiji which is not only the oldest wooden structure in the world but also home to the largest seated Buddha in the world.” Nadim had proposed this installation on the lakes for years. It was a place that he had lived during the time he spent in Tokyo. It took close to ten years (and lots of coercing) before the monastery finally allowed to project to move forth. Images from the project follow this essay. The big highlight from Nadim Karam’s visit was definitely his visit to my studio. We discussed my branching out and diversifying of concepts into that of the organic and disease. He was very helpful in suggesting different ideas that he felt would be efficacious in expressing the ideas behind my concept. My work was quite unsuccessful at the time and we looked at some of my other work. He helped me to understand or gain confidence in the ideas behind my concept and suggested I move forward with processes and experimentation to create something unique and contemporary. I also was able to have my picture made with Nadim, and he gave me a business card for him and his design firm in Beirut. I was enamored in being able to meet him and engage with him on a personal level.

Russian Ark Review Thomas Green DM-270 Russian Ark is a 2002 film by Russian director Alexander Sokurov. Sokurov’s film is an hour and half time based piece that jumps to different eras of Russian history. The film is shot inside the Hermitage Museum which provides fabulous imagery complete with lavish gold finials and light fixtures, marble staircases, floors and archways. The museum is equipped with a multitude of abysmal hallways that provide a great the opportunity for the film to run without encountering the same room twice. The film starts in what seems to be ancient times. We see gold chariots and characters that appear like they were stolen from a Grecian urn. The camera passes over a short railing and dips downward to reveal a symphony. Then we are introduced to an audience area where Catherine the great observes the characters. It appears that the characters of ancient Greece were acting a scene from a play. She approves of the play and scumbles off to pee. The camera seamlessly follows her up the stairs and into a room where she gleams out onto the streets in the middle of winter. The camera continues down the hall and enters into a gallery. The main character, the Marquis, seems to be carrying on a conversation with the character whose point of view the whole movie is shot. As they enter the hallway, a discussion starts about the artwork. This discussion pops up several times during the film. Comments are made that it (the Hermitage) looks like the Vatican. The Marquis comments “This is Petersburg, better than the Vatican.” The Marquis recalls a time 111 years ago when different paintings hung in this grand gallery. It suggests to the viewer that we are traveling in time. The whole film is just one absolutely mesmerizing camera shot that can’t really be described. With there being so many takes on a general film set even for one short scene, it’s astonishing to try and fathom how this picture was made and in just one continuous shot. I think the odds of lightening striking the same place are better than this film going off right. The only thing similar I can recall seeing is a television episode of ER that was done LIVE. Even then, with all the orchestration of characters, there were several cameras that shot the hour of TV drama. Mr. Sokurov is a very gutsy man to even think of attempting it. At one point, the camera leaves the building out into the snow. It somehow flows seamlessly (and quickly) through the terrain to meet the Marquis at a perpendicular doorway from a courtyard area. Towards the finally, there are hundreds of characters dancing in the midst of a grand ballroom. The camera seems to flow with the dancers as they waltz. It moves in and out and it swirls around and seems to mingle with people in its own narrative as it glides throughout this film. I think I can honestly say, if it isn’t Downton Abbey, I’m usually not interested in historical accounts of fancy people in fancy places doing fancy things. If it were just an ordinary film about that, I really wouldn’t have been so captivated to watch. But, the film was able to carry me based solely on the idea of how the filmmakers were getting the shot, the complexity of keeping the actors organized. What an orchestration! It’s hard to get 5 people out of an elevator together without the door starting to close, and so, I can’t imagine how you could get 300 people clad in tightly sewn Victorian bodices and tuxedos with long tail-coats to dance and move together and move in unison out of that grand ballroom down a flight of stairs and into a large clerestory lined hall. Wow, nice finally. My first initial thought is that the camera is places on a fixed tripod with caster (wheels) positioned to the base of each leg. This would explain the fluid motion as the camera pivots, heads through doorways, and glides freely down hallways. But this would be far too easy. The camera seems smooth regardless of what it is doing. And it tends to be doing a lot of different things that would not be allowed if it were fixed to just a tripod. During a segment at the dance, when the orchestra is being featured, the camera seemed to magically rise up (smoothly) about 5 feet while it was also moving in a lateral direction simultaneously. Part of me thinks also that it could have been attached to some sort of cable and that is how it went up into the air like that. Or maybe, there were some hydraulic lifts in the tripod that assisted in elevating the camera. After the camera hovers a while over the orchestra while the it descends again into it’s original position at about 5 feet off the ground. This motion is also unexplainable. During several segments, one in the hallway with children running and the other as the great multitude descends the stairs, the camera moves really quickly, much faster than a standard human walk. The biggest mystery of all seems to be in the stairwell. If the camera is on wheels, how does it navigate the stairs so smoothly? I’m thinking that as it reaches the edge of the stairs, I liked the film. I’m not sure the subject matter has great interest, and I’m sure that I caught the reference to all the various characters historically. But, it was a stunning “you gotta see this” kind of experience. I can only imagine months and months of planning and rehearsals in order to pull this all off in one fell swoop. Amazing.