24 January, 2012

Podcast: Daniel Meadows discusses his Early Photographic Works

Daniel Meadows gave a wonderfully insightful, lively and engaging talk on Thursday, which formed part of an events programme that accompanied the showing of Daniel Meadows' first retrospective exhibition Daniel Meadows: Early Photographic Works in Gallery Two.

The talk was a sell out event, but you can hear it here.

19 January, 2012

Introducing Life Online [open source]

Blogger: Sarah Crowther, Life Online Content Curator

March 2012 – February 2013

[open source] will be the first exhibition to open in our brand new Life Online exhibition space on the 7th floor. The gallery, which opens to the public on Friday 30th March 2012, has been created to explore key issues surrounding the internet and our relationship with it. A series of annual exhibitions will enable our visitors to further explore a number of the themes presented in the Life Online gallery in the foyer.

[open source] focuses on the internet's open culture of sharing and collaboration, while also considering threats to the neutrality of the network. If we fail to preserve net neutrality could we be facing the end of online culture as we know it? The exhibition will include a series of brand new commissions by internationally-renowned artists alongside an artwork created by the gallery's younger audience.

We'll be keeping you up to date on all the latest Life Online developments on this blog, so keep watching this space!

15 January, 2012

If you're looking for a photograph, try the Daily Herald Archive

Blogger: Caroline Dempsey, Collections Assistant

Ever wondered what your sister or father looked like on the day they emigrated to Australia? Looking for photographs of how your town looked 50 years ago, or searching for images of David Attenborough in his youth. There's a good chance that the image you're searching for is in the Daily Herald Archive.

The Daily Herald archive comprises over 3 million photographs covering a period from 1911 through to the 1960s. The archive is broadly split into three sections: places, events and people.

Requests are many and varied, and although the photograph you are searching for may not be in the archive, a search is always conducted and often we find just what you were after.

Here are some of the photographs we found for members of the public last year:

Caroline Williamson emailed from Australia, her grandfather was the Welsh politician Siegfried Owen Davies who accompanied the then King Edward around the Dowlais Steel Works in 1936. Her grandfather's file of photographs, taken over the many years he spent as a Member of Parliament, included one of him at Dowlais taken by the Herald photographer Edward Malindine.

S-Davies-in-Aberfan-1935

King-Edward-&-S-O-Davies-at-Dowlais-1936

Another Australian Stephen Mole contacted us, he was looking for a photograph of his father, Patrick, on the day he emigrated to Australia in 1949. His dad was 14 at the time and kept a diary recording his trip down under. We managed to find a photograph of the whole family as they set sail for Tasmania in time for a family celebration.

The-Mole-Family-1949

Barry Flynn remembered a Daily Herald photographer coming to his house in Liverpool in 1959. The paper was writing an article about the training of police dogs and Barry, aged 8 at the time, was photographed with his father's police dog "Jet" at their Allerton home.

Barry Flynn & Police Dog Jet 1959

So whether you have a relation who was a Past Miss Ireland, an artist, pilot, sports star, boxing referee or model we may have a photograph of them in the archive. Did your relative play host to Mahatma Gandhi when he toured England in 1931? A Mrs J P Davies did and her photograph is here in the archive.

Did your parents emigrate to New Zealand on board the "Rangitata" in 1947? Were you one of the 14 members of the Jones family of Chatham, Kent who moved to New Zealand in 1960 or one of the many Over-Seas League Child Migrants?

Perhaps you are a member of the Reading based Torpedoes Football Club who emigrated to Australia on masse in 1969. Or one of the Finnegan's from Dublin who in 1966 were bound for Ontario. Or a Templeton from Kingston, Jamaica on their way to the UK. If you think we might have the image you're after contact us and we'll conduct a search for you.

10 January, 2012

Life Online gallery starts to take shape

Blogger: Joe Brook, Media and Galleries Manager

We've moved into the really exciting final phase of the Life Online gallery build, where the 2D concepts are finally coming to life.

The team worked for five years from drawings and plans; tweaking, adjusting, testing - sometimes throwing an idea away and starting again.

Once our concepts are fixed and we know that we can afford to build everything, the construction drawings are produced and issued to various contractors, and the physical gallery starts to take shape.

While the build progresses, the team continues to refine the content of the gallery: graphics, video, text, interactive elements and objects. Every single surface, image, seat, touch-screen, projector, object, case and video has to be carefully considered, designed and put together in time for the opening. Meanwhile, the project managers work very hard to ensure that everyone gets paid, contracts are signed, everyone is safe and that we stick to our schedule.

My job is to ensure that all of the different elements work together harmoniously, that we achieve what we set out to do and, most importantly, that all the bits and pieces which make up the gallery tell a story in a way in which people will enjoy.

Today I visited the workshop of TTS Interiors - the fantastic guys who are translating the drawings into real objects that you will touch and see when you visit. Roy, our lead designer from NRN Design came along to make sure everyone was happy with what he'd drawn, to answer any questions and resolve any issues that inevitably crop up during the manufacturing process.

Working together we resolved any remaining decisions, like the height of uplights, access to the building's heating system, the positioning of some final power outlets and cable routing for a problematic projector. We looked over a prototype interactive kiosk enclosure, show cases and various wall structures, and finally, gave the approval for manufacture to proceed ready to be loaded into trucks and brought to the Museum in a few weeks for installation.

Here are some snapshots of the objects which you'll see in the gallery. Can you tell what they are?

TBL-case

screen

wall-M-case

wall-A

modem-case

06 January, 2012

Online moments of 2011

Blogger: Tom Woolley, Curator of New Media
"Well, they say a year in the Internet business is like a dog year - equivalent to seven years in a regular person's life. In other words, it's evolving fast and faster."
- Vint Cerf, father of the internet and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google.
I think Vint Cerf's observation about the rapid development of internet technology can also be applied to our everyday lives on the net.

Personally, I feel that the stream of updates through social networks and constant connectivity has had a strange affect on my time. Days feel like they pass more quickly than ever but thinking back to this time 12 months ago, seems, to borrow Cerf's comparison, like a dog year. Perhaps it's due to the fact that I'm rarely ever bored - those moments of being at a loose end when waiting for a bus have evaporated thanks to my iPhone. Or that I feel more connected to breaking news and analysis than ever - I'm consuming so much information that maybe my brain is being tricked into thinking time is expanding.

2011 has certainly been a monumental year online and January 2011 feels like a long time ago. This was the start of the Arab Spring and the real power of social media was demonstrated by helping to unite civilians to rise up against their tyrannical governments.

It could be argued that civil revolutions would have happened anyway without the use of Twitter and Facebook but never before have groups been able to organise themselves so efficiently and attract the attention of the world. The Egyptian authorities' nervousness came to a head on January 27th when the government made the unprecedented move of cutting the nation's internet.

FacebookEgypt
Credit: Khaled Desouki / AFP / Getty Images

#egypt was revealed as the number one trending hashtag on Twitter and #jan25 – the date the civil revolution started in Egypt - also appeared as the eighth most popular hashtag on Twitter's Year in Review.

In contrast, social media was held responsible for its role in August's London riots. A 7000-strong Facebook group mourning the death of Tottenham resident Mark Duggan quickly started to mention vows of revenge against the Metropolitan police, and the Blackberry Instant Messenger service proved a useful tool for the rioters to coordinate themselves without being traced.

British internet censorship was also considered by the government as a way to prevent future acts of violence and looting spreading. Conversely, the post-riot public cleanup was coordinated through the website www.riotcleanup.co.uk.

Another example of online people power was the high profile exploits of hacking collectives Anonymous and Lulzsec. Seemingly unstoppable and untraceable, Anonymous were successful in hacking Sony Playstation and the emails of Bank of America, whilst Lulzsec launched an attack on News International.

More anonymous behaviour on Twitter saw the release of the celebs behind the super injunctions and British Twitter users flocked to the site to read the gossip first.

Japan
Credit: Google Street View

The tragic Japanese earthquake and tsunami caused the #japan hashtag to be the fifth most used term of the year and Google's Street View cameras revisited the country's roads to reveal haunting images of the devastation.

Lieutenant John Pike became an internet target after a video of him casually spraying a group of protesting students at University of California Davis went viral. Hollywood actor Charlie Sheen also became a viral sensation after his appearance on Good Morning America and gave birth to new internet lingo such as 'tigerblood' and 'winning'.

JohnPike
Lieutenant John Pike became an internet meme in 2011

Rebecca Black became one of the net's fastest rising stars with the release of her 'Friday' music video in February, but one of the most truly shocking and uncomfortable watches for me was this video of a racist tirade on a London tram.

Other moments include the online public outpouring of grief for the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and watching celebrities and footballers duke it out on Twitter.




And of course, I couldn't let 2011 pass without mentioning Nyan Cat – 57 million views and counting!

These moments are really just scratching the surface of what happened online in 2011. What other memorable moments have I missed?

Many of these stories will find their way into our new Life Online gallery - a permanent exhibition at the Museum that will track the evolution and impact of the internet. The gallery has been designed so it can be updated easily and capture new landmark moments. I wonder what moments will define the coming year? Life Online is set to launch on March 30th 2012.

Eve Arnold: 21 April 1912 - 4 Jan 2012

Blogger: Greg Hobson, Curator of Photography

It is with great sadness that we have heard of the death on 4th January of legendary photographer, Eve Arnold at the age of 99.

Eve Arnold was a remarkable documentary photographer whose extraordinarily long career produced many memorable photo stories; a result of her empathic and friendly nature, and tenacious work ethic. She had a fruitful relationship with this Museum, sitting for a time on its Advisory Board and exhibiting solo shows here on two occasions.

A master of the photo essay, Arnold's enthusiasm for photography and her adaptability, meant that she excelled in all her work, whether photographing the world's poor and disenfranchised, or making intimate, behind the scenes portraits of some of Hollywood's biggest film stars.

Useful Links:
Eve Arnold obituary - Amanda Hopkinson, The Guardian
Magnum Photos

03 January, 2012

Our favourite films of 2011

Blogger: Tom Vincent, Film Programme Manager

The results of our poll of Museum staff's favourite films of 2011 are in! Each contributor was asked to name five favourite new films that played in UK cinema in 2011. Beginning with an interesting tie for first place, our list of most-loved films is, as usual, broad and varied. Eleven people cast their 55 votes for 41 films, with 32 of those either shown at the Museum, or coming here early this year.

Please use the comments section below to let us know your favourites, or tell us what you think of ours.



Blue Valentine

  • The whole thing is such a genuine look at married life. It's not harrowing and relentless, nor is it Hollywood convenient; it's just very honest. (Mike McKenny, Museum Volunteer and Director of Minicine)
  • Great natural chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. (Tom Woolley, Curator of New Media)
  • Heartbreaking. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are simply brilliant. You will not find two more accomplished performances this year. (Ben Haller, Customer and Colleague Service Champion)



Le quattro volte

  • Went into this not knowing what to expect and was seduced by its beautiful, slow-paced nature. Lingered on my mind for months. (TW)
  • The finest canine sequence in years, and the goats were good as well. (Keith Withall, Film Extra tutor)
  • True craftsmanship. Moving, heart warming and real. (Toni Booth, Collections Manager)



Animal Kingdom

  • "Do you come from a land Down Under? / Where women glow and men plunder / Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? / You better run, you better take cover." (Neil Young, Co-Director, Bradford International Film Festival)
  • This was my special mention for 2011 on last year's list and it's still up there, what a mother... (Jen Skinner, Film Education Officer)



Essential Killing

  • A total surprise. Very powerful with a great central performance by Vincent Gallo. (TB)
  • Terrorism reduced to sheer effort; a film with very little story information that somehow achieves total clarity. (TV)



Meek's Cutoff

  • Perfect example of anti-genre. Completely aware of its mythic Western context, but strips away the spectacle to criticise and deconstruct. (MM)
  • A women's viewpoint on the West, and one exquisite lap dissolve. (KW)



Melancholia

  • Sardonic, sarcastic and complex but still generating great emotion. (KW)
  • Armageddon takes very much a back seat in this enigmatic examination of depression and reactions to a crisis. (Sven Shaw - Assistant Gallery Developer)



A Separation

  • Beautifully produced and the cast deservedly swept the acting awards at the Berlin Film Festival. (KW)
  • Incredibly mature filmmaking that looks understated but held all those different characters' complex and contradictory feelings in play throughout the whole film. (Rona Murray, Film Extra tutor)



Shame
(Leeds International Film Festival; London Film Festival)
  • A stylish and compelling observation of personal detachment. (TW)
  • No-one clapped, too uncomfortable. I'm still thinking about it – I think that's part of what Steve McQueen does best. (RM)
Shame is showing in our cinemas from Friday 20 January. There will be a special preview featuring a Live Satellite Q&A with Steve McQueen and Abi Morgan on Tuesday 10 January.




The Skin I Live In

  • Deliberate 'trash' and high art megamix from the master. They slagged it at the BBC4 World Cinema Awards – which makes you love it more, somehow. (RM)
  • Very original and surprising tale of revenge and personal identity. (SS)



Source Code

  • Much like Rodrigo Cortes' fine Buried last year, Source Code built upon breaking the confines of one-shot film-making. Refreshingly inventive and story-driven, I was gripped throughout. (BH)
  • Superb Hollywood sci-fi. (TW)



We Need to Talk About Kevin

  • Disturbingly beautiful and it's by Lynne Ramsay who is just brilliant, so deserves a place on my list. (JS)
  • Wonderful combination of beauty and horror. (TB)
Wuthering Heights
  • No it's not a straight adaptation, so what? Its quality of silence and visuality were just intensely felt and amazingly consistent across a whole feature. (RM)
  • It captured the passion and violence that I felt when I first read Emily Brontë's novel, and it was filmed in Yorkshire. (KW)



13 Assassins

  • Takashi 'four-a-year' Miike is a compulsive lunatic genius. Like fellow great subversive John Waters, he has glorious fun on the banks of the mainstream. (TV)



Archipelago

  • If Joanna Hogg spends the rest of her career making films about posh families on awkward holidays overseas, why should anyone complain? (NY)



Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975

  • Fine, free edit work on Swedish film crews' recordings of the unravelling strands of U.S. Black Power movements. This film proved the maxim: 'show, don't tell'. (TV)



Captain America: The First Avenger

  • Intelligent and thoroughly enjoyable, terrific performances and original action sequences make this the best of the Avenger series by far. Hayley Atwell is mesmerising as Agent Carter. (BH)



Cave of Forgotten Dreams

  • The ever reliable and idiosyncratic Herzog. (TB)



The Descendants
(London Film Festival)
  • 35 years ago America produced mature, emotionally complex films like this every week. Alexander Payne is my favourite American director working today. (TV)
The Descendants is showing in our cinemas from Friday 27 January.




The Divide
(Leeds International Film Festival)
  • Frontière director Xavier Gens bounces back from the studio peril that was Hitman with an intelligent, visually rich and outstandingly acted horror film which suggests hell really is other people. (Sarah Crowther – Life Online Content Curator and Director, Fantastic Films Weekend)



Drive

  • The most exhilarating couple of hours I've spent in a cinema all year, terrific! (BH)



The Future

  • Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... (NY)
Hobo With A Shotgun
  • Absolutely true to its Grindhouse origins, Hobo... is outrageous, visually rich and the most fun to be had in a cinema this year. (SC)



How I Ended This Summer

  • Desolation and isolation pushed to the very extreme. There have been some fantastic patient films this year, but few - if any - as patient as this one. (MM)



Hugo

  • Martin Scorsese's ode to the magical Georges Méliès and a celebration of cinematic dreams. What's not to like? (JS)
Kaboom
  • The most fun we had in a cinema this year with our clothes on. (Optional) (NY)



Kill List

  • British horror as it should be. (SC)



The King's Speech

  • A moving tale of friendship across the class divide with great lead performances. (SS)
The King's Speech is back by popular demand until Thursday 5 January.




LiTTLEROCK
(Bradford International Film Festival)
  • Beautiful depiction of adolescent communication. Invokes a sense of unease throughout. A touching love letter to small town America, so often either simplified or demonised by mainstream American cinema. (MM)
Masks (Leeds International Film Festival)
  • German director Andreas Marschall's love letter to Giallo. An atmospheric study in Argento and Lamberto Bava, Masks features the best opening sequence of the year. (SC)



Never Let Me Go

  • A love story and sci-fi rolled into one. I found the film detached, cold but totally compelling. (SS)



Pina

  • Feel-good film of the year! The fluidity, grace and passion of the dancers were completely inspiring. (RM)



Rango

  • Some irony in the fact that Johnny Depp's finest hour (and a half) involves no glimpse of his fabled visage. (NY)



The River Used to be a Man
(Leeds International Film Festival)
  • This film utilises masterful cinematography in order for you to soak in the natural beauty - and natural peril - of the African wilderness. (MM)



Senna

  • I had no interest in Formula One but was totally gripped to this film. Asif Kapadia played this epic story out in a fascinating way. (JS)



Submarine

  • I'm a sucker for a misfit film. Great cast, visually very pleasing, a fantastic soundtrack and Paddy Considine with a mullet - what more could you want? (JS)
Submarine is back by popular demand until Wednesday 4 January.




Super 8

  • Was this a satirical take on 80s action movies or an overblown mishmash of genres? It doesn't really matter when a film's this much fun. (SS)



Symbol
(Leeds International Film Festival)
  • Just about indescribable, and more profound than The Tree of Life (and with a great sense of humour) (TB)
Traces of a Diary (Bradford International Film Festival)
  • Watching this fluid, expressive documentary on five highly individual Japanese photographers is the kind of experience that makes organising film festivals worthwhile. (TV)



True Grit

  • A rollicking Coen brothers remake. Loved every minute of it. (TW)
Wake Wood
  • British horror as it should be. (SC)



Win Win

  • Quirky, funny, true and passionate! A life-affirming insight into nowhere-America and a glimpse of hope for middle-age men everywhere. Tom McCarthy has now written The Station Agent, The Visitor, Up and Win Win! (BW)