Incidentally, Theatrically, For Screening Purposes Only

While in Milan, I was lucky enough to finally stand in front of some prints of one of my favourite photo series... Hiroshi Sugimoto's 'Theaters'. Aside from being based on a good, old fashioned, stroke-of-genius photographic concept (the lens is open, and the film exposed for the entire length of the film playing), the images are stunning, especially in the inky forest flesh.

There it is again, that symmetry... yet there is something tense and almost frustrating about this series', especially in print; Sugimoto's symmetry is not quite perfect... As a consequence, there is something post-apocalyptic and Lynchian about the atmosphere, sort of 28 Days Later meets Eraserhead...

Chris Cunningham Interview in Vice Magazine

As part of their recent interviews issue (and one of their best recent outputs), Vice interviewed the elusive Chris Cunningham.

With a reputation for being a bit like Larry David crossed with a cave troll, he is surprisingly lucid and upbeat.

However, that might all be a bit boring (/) if he hadn't included a stomach turning 'self portrait', which is interesting as well as disgusting.

Here

Much like the porn he discusses in the interview, the reality is, however clichéd, that people have become desensitised to shocking imagery, and demand more to trigger a reaction. The point of interest here is where it even crosses the limit of human possibility, and much like Lynch's infamous baby in Eraserhead, overtakes genuinely explicit real-life produced imagery (such as war photography and genetic mutation, for example).

Once again Cunningham proving himself to be worthy of his visceral cutting edge reputation. Can't wait for the feature films he mentions, imagine a horror in the style of Rubber Johnny or the 'Sheena Is a Parasite' (pictured) video.