Photography Focus on Watabe Yukichi's A Criminal Investigation

Blogger: Greg Hobson, Curator of Photography

Watabe Yukichi’s book A Criminal Investigation, arrived in the office this week.



This is a brilliantly conceived publication that affirms my belief in photography's possibility to challenge and excite.

Yukichi (1924-1993) shadowed a team of Japanese detectives investigating the 1958 murder and dismemberment of Sato Tadashi. Then a young photo-journalist, Yukichi mapped the unfolding investigation with a humanist eye.



His interest and involvement with his subjects draw the viewer into a sequential narrative that feels more closely related to a 1950s film-noir than a photo-documentary.

The editing in the book is superb and the design brilliantly echoes a period police notebook, or manila file containing evidential photography and notes.



Hessian hard-back covers fastened with an elastic band, investigation notes made on a manual typewriter and printing that subtly suggests vintage press prints, all combine to make a book that functions as both a fascinating and involving record of a criminal investigation and, a stunning photographic object.

A Criminal Investigation is published by Éditions Xavier Barral.

Be part of our Life Online gallery

Blogger: Tom Woolley, Curator of New Media

Yet another UPDATE...UPDATE...UPDATE...

We've managed to extend the deadline for this project to 25th November 2011 to give more Tweeps the opportunity to get their face in the gallery. Now there are no excuses, so please send this out to all your friends and help us get thousands of @MuseumMosaic followers to create the biggest ever Twitter mosaic.

UPDATE...UPDATE...UPDATE...

The wall will be 5 metres long and 2 metres high and feature every profile picture of everyone who follows the @MuseumMosaic Twitter account before 11th November 2011.

As you can see from this test, the mosaic starts to repeat. We can randomise the pattern to make it look less repetitive but the more followers we have the better it will look. So please tell all your followers to join in!



The wall won’t be completely dedicated to the Twitter mosaic though – other content elements such as an interactive terminal, video screen, text panels and images will also be included on the wall and the Twitter mosaic will act as a background wallpaper.

This part of the gallery is dedicated to the internet today and will explore how the modern web is created from the contributions of millions of people. We hope the mosaic reflects the colour and vibrancy of the evolving social web.



Set to launch in March 2012, Life Online is our brand new gallery that explores the history and social impact of the internet. Spread across two floors, Life Online will trace the history of the internet, uncover how it has changed people's lives and track the latest trends.



For one wall of the gallery we'd like to create a giant mosaic of Twitter profile pictures like this one.

If you'd like your profile picture to appear in our new permanent gallery then please follow @MuseumMosaic before 11th November 2011.

Photography Focus on Taryn Simon: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters

Blogger: Greg Hobson, Curator of Photography

I’ve always been a huge fan of Taryn Simon’s An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar so I was very excited to receive the book of her latest work A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters.



Produced over a four year period, the work maps a series of 18 ancestral bloodlines and investigates the unpredictable events that determine the histories of her subjects’ lives.



The exhibition at Tate Modern (closes 2 January 2012) is breathtaking in its ambition and scale but for me, the real legacy of this project is in this remarkable book. Meticulous and serious, yet extremely engaging, Simon’s work compels the viewer to pay attention to complex layers of information and, combinations of text and image. To be able to do this at leisure and with the work, as it were, in my hands, is a real delight.

www.tarynsimon.com

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

Blogger: Tom Woolley, Curator of New Media

Saddened to wake up to the news of Steve Jobs' death this morning. After a long battle with cancer the CEO and co-founder of Apple passed away at the age of 56.



A true visionary, Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. From the Apple 1 to the iPod, iPhone and iPad, Jobs creativity, vision and ability to think ahead has led Apple to become the second most valuable company in the world today.

Simple, elegant design is at the heart of Apple's products and Jobs led a company that rose to the top by making technology easy and desirable. Long regarded as a niche, high-end computer company in the shadow of the giant Microsoft, the release of the first iPod in 2001 changed the way we listen to music and ushered Apple products into the mainstream.

Spearheaded by Jobs, Apple then targeted the mobile phone market and introduced the iPhone in 2007. So much more than just a device to make phone calls on, the iPhone was a powerful computer in your pocket that reshaped the technology and communications industry.

An inspirational leader and public speaker, Jobs transformed the way we use technology in every day life and will be remembered as an industry pioneer.

http://www.apple.com/uk/stevejobs