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Archive: October 2012
True Stories: A Film about People Like Us
When David Byrne’s True Stories appeared in 1986, critics quickly identified it as a postmodern film. Byrne’s three-year project, his only full-length feature to date, was unique, though, in making the postmodern culture of the mid-1980s — including the visual environment — its subject. The entire film, set in the fictitious town of Virgil, Texas, is a kind of 3D illustrated lecture, delivered by Byrne in the role of quizzical, roving narrator.READ MORE | COMMENTS (2)
The Art of Punk and the Punk Aesthetic
In the past three decades, the 1970s punk movement has received many respectful assessments. There can’t be much left to say about the music, clothing, media outrage and legendary gigs, but the graphic expression of punk has received less critical attention. Now we have two thick, illustrated volumes: Punk: An Aesthetic and The Art of Punk. What conclusions do the authors draw about punk’s graphic history?READ MORE | COMMENTS (1)
The Museum of Communicating Objects
A while back, I wrote here about The Museum of Innocence created in Istanbul by the Turkish novelist and Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk. This beautifully realized display is a parallel project planned for many years by the writer as a development of his 2008 novel, also titled The Museum of Innocence. The Innocence of Objects, a richly illustrated book about the museum, has just come out, with an illuminating text by Pamuk.READ MORE | COMMENTS (3)
Rick Poynor is a writer, critic, lecturer and curator, specialising in design, media and visual culture. He founded Eye, co-founded Design Observer, and contributes columns to Eye and Print. His latest book is Uncanny: Surrealism and Graphic Design.Recent Book
Uncanny: Surrealism and Graphic Design
Rick Poynor
Moravian Gallery, 2010
More books by Rick Poynor >>
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DESIGN OBSERVER JOBS
BLOGROLL
Ballardian
Bldgblog (Geoff Manaugh)
Book Works
David Byrne
Centre for the Study of Surrealism and its Legacies
Click Opera (Momus)
Creative Review
D-Crit
E-flux
Emigre
Eye
Feuilleton (John Coulthart)
Frieze
Guardian: Art & Design
Kinoblog (Michael Brooke)
K-punk (Mark Fisher)
London Review of Books
Metahaven
Morbid Anatomy
Senses of Cinema
Shovelware (Mark Dery)
Sight & Sound
Sit Down Man, You’re a Bloody Tragedy (Owen Hatherley)
Strange Harvest (Sam Jacob)
21C The Future is Here
UbuWeb
Wellcome Collection
RICK POYNOR: RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Shoot! Existential PhotographyClément Chéroux, editor
Helios: Eadweard Muybridge in a Time of ChangePhilip Brookman
What is Contemporary Art?e-flux Journal
Iaspis Forum on Design and Critical Practice: The ReaderMartin Frostner & Magnus Ericson et al., editors
Volume: Writings on Graphic Design, Music, Art, and CultureKenneth FitzGerald & Rudy VanderLans
Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the PresentSytze Steenstra
Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?Mark Fisher
No Return: Journeys in the HolocaustRomek Marber
Turning Pages: Editorial Design for Print MediaRobert Klanten et al., editors
RemainderTom McCarthy
RICK POYNOR: OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
Inside JobCharles Ferguson
Blow OutBrian De Palma
Songs from the Second FloorRoy Andersson
Red DesertMichelangelo Antonioni
MisinforMationCOI/Mordant Music
Ace in the HoleBilly Wilder
The Pervert’s Guide to CinemaSlavoj Žižek
