Documentary-collections Books

"Long live the new flesh!" This quote from David Cronenberg's cinematic playground of perversion, Videodrome, announces the theme of Torture Garden, the inimitable London nightclub established in 1990. We are not allowed to categorize it as simply a fetish club, because it is "multi-dimensional, ever evolving and mutating." One way to get a handle is to peruse the strict dress code on its website. Your look better be: burlesque, fantasy, theatrical, period costume, glamour, drag, alien, cyborg, cabaret, mutation, cybersex, fetish, SM, body art, rubber, leather, PVC, or uniforms. Sounds like the East Village on a Saturday night.

You take the Angel Tube to get to the current site of Torture Garden's monthly parties. You really do. These partygoers don't engage in much actual BDSM play, although there is some walkabout bondage. It's mainly a Stand and Model venue, a nightclub/dance scene. There's no room to swing a cane anyway. There's a floor show by some of the top out-there acts in the world. There are performance photos here of (among others) Miranda Sex Garden, the Genitorturers, Ron Athey, Medieval Magick, and Angel Grinders & Chainsaws, who use industrial equipment to send fountains of sparks gushing from the groins of troupe members.

The production package of Torture Garden, the book, is superb. Chaplin's candids capture the feverish ecstasy of a world where nothing is true and everything is permitted. They are brilliantly grouped and sequenced. Sivroni's mostly larger format portraits bring you face to face with folk in costumes far beyond fabulous, exuding the potency of their homemade personas. The Videodrome quote above is one of many at the bottom of every page. These provide a quick, painless introduction to the TG philosophy. A few favorites:

"...sadomasochism enjoys all the forms of religious piety - kneeling, praying, worshipping, sacrificing, invoking and punishing." -- Terence Sellers, The Correct Sadist

"The first duty of man is to become artificial." -- Oscar Wilde

"The body is both a pleasure palace and a torture chamber." -- Charles Levin, Body Invaders

"It's your body, play with it." -- Fakir Musafar, Modern Primitives

"Your body is a battleground." -- Barbara Kruger

At Torture Garden, the concept of costume is raised to extremes of creative imagination, transcendent otherness and disgusting repulsion. By the time you get through this volume, your own definitions of these categories will have been severely mangled. On one night a performer named Franko paraded through the crowd on crutches, accompanied by a nurse. He was nude except for syringes, catheters, rubber tubes and various medical receptacles containing various bodily fluids. On the same night, completely independently, a female partygoer appeared wearing a brassiere consisting of two plasma bags filling with her own blood.

One man's features are covered by a remarkably lifelike effect of the flesh of his face pulled back and nailed to his skull. Hellraiser-style pinheads abound. Crazed male ballerinas, harem girls, rubber boys, sirens, harpies, transvestites, androgynes, hermaphrodites, naughty nurses, naughty nuns, naughty Nazis, welder's goggles, gas masks, catcher's masks, nine-inch nails, helmets, horns, spikes, wounds, rings through everything and to top it off, a spitting-image Laurel and Hardy. Happy Halloween in Hell!

From virginal Eden to lascivious lavatory, this frightening photo-document exposes the moral corruption in its most vivid form. Consider yourselves warned!

very interesting and informative book on the ww2generation and the world events surrounding that period in history

THE MANY HISTORIC PHOTOS ARE TRULY AMAZIN

This book is chock full of incredible photographs of the wonders of Antarctica. Any Diver, Swimmer, Marine Biologist or lover of the oceans will enjoy this book, its incredible photographs and well written text will add to your understanding of the underwater world of Antarctica. When people think of the southern continent, they picture the stark white ice fields and distant mountains. This book will let you see and appreciate the amazing life that goes on under the ice along the coasts. A rich and diverse ecosystem that very few have ever pondered, much less seen. You will be in awe of the amazing array of animals seen in this book. Penguins, Jelly Fish, Whales, and all manner of critters...

This is undoubtedly the most spectacular book ever written about the natural history of Antarctica. Wu's photographs are spectacular, and the text is a brilliant mix of scientifically accurate descriptions laced with thoughtful prose. If you're just looking for a picture book about Antarctica, this book will satisfy your every need. If you want to *learn* something about Antarctica, you'll treasure this book!

A truly inspiringly executed, well polished body of work that is large enough to comprehensively project a statement, though also small enough not to intimidate the viewer. Simply and elegantly presented, undoubtedly one of the most well observed photojournalistic vignettes I've ever come across.

My photography teacher gave this book to me after I wanted to do an assignment on abandoned amusement parks. This book was amazing. She really captures what this was all about and what it's all about now. There are pictures of peeling paint that make you feel like it's peeling before your eyes. There is pictures of different rooms with amazing lighting. She really captures great moments here that make you feel like you're not just looking at a picture; you feel like you're looking at the real thing. She has pictures of people in here also with special connections to this building. You can really feel what these people are thinking/feeling....This is a must have book!!!!!!

For a deeper passionate understanding of the arctic, read and immerse yourself in this book. It's more than just pretty pictures. Wake up everybody! Global warming is real.

This is not an academic study of the Arctic but an artistic celebration. I was struck how this book pulled me in and made me feel like I had a real understanding for the lonely beauty of the with so little use of words. The book is predominately full spread photos with just a dozen pages of rather poetic prose that describes the annual cycle of the Arctic. It gives an intimate feel for the region that made me feel like I understood what life is like there. Although to be honest, it is a pretty removed understanding, I never felt like it was -50 with a punishing wind was cutting to my bones.

The photos are without captions and only loosely related to the brief text. This was frustrating at times when I had questions, but after a while, it helped the sense of discovery. Exploration of new environments doesn't come with instant answers.

Toward the end of the book there are a few more pages of text, one section dedicated to the environmental issues that face the arctic which seemed a little unsatisfactory. It abruptly loses the poetic feel of the earlier text and takes on a academic voice. It didn't seem to fit, although the photos that follow are made poignant by these pages, especially the photo of the free swimming polar bear.

The final section is a few pages about the author and photographer which are great. There is some talk of equipment, some anecdotes, so philosophizing about isolation, but it was all welcome. I am amazed at their project, they have put together a wonderful book here. Truly beautiful.

This book and its stunning photographs show us a beautiful world that is rapidly changing. "Vanishing World" is not only a tribute to the Arctic wildlife - we meet polar bears, foxes, seals, walrus, birds and whales - but also a fascinating tale of global warming. Words can not describe this extraordinary book. It is clearly the result of enormous patience and commitment, and deserves all the praise it is getting in the press. At a first glance, it is a magnificent coffee table book, but what this is more than anything else, is an urgent appeal to engage. "Vanishing World" is an impressive achievement, and probably the most beautiful nature book in years. Nearly unreal.

I have lived in the Holy City of Jerusalem for thirty years. But Steven Brooke gives in his remarkably beautiful photographs his own special way of seeing it. He does not see and photograph the people of the city but rather its great historical religious sites. And he does this often through panoramic vistas , striking and surprising.
I would have preferred that he focus a bit more on the Jewish sites. I would also have loved to see his visions of the new city, the city outside the walls. But he focuses on the religious monuments of the three monotheistic religions, and shows them in a way which create a certain wonder.
To really know Jerusalem I would certainly supplement this book with those that contain images of its people and daily life.
But this book is a special treasure a real delight to the eyes and the soul.

Like his earlier classic work "Views of Rome", Brooke presents visual poetry of the architecture and monuments of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. The composition and lighting are flawless; the images are stunning and unforgettable. Not just a "coffee table" book, but one to re -visit and appreciate over the years.

Superb book ... a trip with the new tekno traveller's generation. Beautiful pictures, retrieving a very special way of life. If you like underground world, you MUST have it.

"...perspectives change, priorities shift...like switching on a headlight, when you've been using a torch..."

this book highlights all the great parties from the likes of Spiral Tribe, Bedlam, Sound Conspirancy, Kamikaze and more... memories from the teknivals of italy, czech, rotterdam. pictures still says more than words..thanx Vinca for making this great book.

Systeminput

Beautiful images and masterful writing combine to give the reader a glimpse of the economically devastated but spiritually rich lives of the people in Haiti.

Pictures of Manbos, Oungans, and Bokos make the book come alive and speak to us of the beauty and wonder of the misunderstood religion of Vodou.

Phyllis Galembo's photographic skills are legend among those whose interest extends to African and Afro-Caribbean religions. In this area she never fails to impress and satisfy. I am happy to have this book.

In addition to her brilliant photographs, Galembo offers detailed, profound and soulful explanations of Vodou belief. She is one of only a very few authors to have done so. This book will serve to inform and enlighten both the curious and the expert. Bravo!

I stumbled upon this book in New York a few years back and was immediately stunned by its beauty and quality. The Gilman Paper Company apparently started their collection well before the current photography craze and amassed one of the most outstanding collections that you can imagine. Most of these photos are from the very earliest days of the medium and many are in the sepia tone that I personally love. The quality of reproduction is so good that you can actually frame some of the photos! It's astounding...well worth obtaining for any art book collector.

I purchased this book in conjunction with The Metropolitan Museum exhibit of the same name. I spent hours in the exhibit, and I spent hours pouring over the lush, and beautifully reproduced images in this book. I've always been fascinated with the photographic process, and this book explores it down to the roots. I've walked away amazed that someone figured out how to look at something, and through a chemical process tranfer ones vision onto paper. (Not to mention concocting the chemical formula) A stunning book, well worth the price.

Superficially, this book of over 120 colour plates of Walker Evans' Polaroids could be categorised as a 'novelty' piece, much like the recent 'Ansel Adams in Color,' (Harry Callaghan, ed). Adams' colour work, however, never represented much more than a curious footnote in the master craftsman's career; Adams' overwhelming importance is in how he brought breathtaking drama to his prints through his use of the zone system, and a refined, exacting, approach to the printing process.

Walker Evans, on the other hand, was almost the opposite of Adams in his approach to the finished photograph: His approach centered more on a refinement of composition, and of excising the non-essential and extraneous from his final prints. Yet, along with Adams, he shared a disdain for colour photography -- both found it to be 'garish,' 'vulgar.'

However, this work -- which represents the final chapter in Evans' artistic life -- is a radical departure from his stated aversion to colour photography. The story is equally intriguing.

As Walker Evans approached 70, divorced and in failing health, it seemed that his creative days were behind him. He had produced some images since the mid 1960s, but it became increasingly difficult for him to have to schlep around his cumbersome view camera and tripod. Quite fortuitously, though, the Polaroid corporation sent Evans its SX-70 auto-focus camera and an unlimited supply of film, hoping that the prestige of Evans' name would have help market its latest camera. Suddenly, Evans found his artistic 'second wind,' and began manically snapping up instant photographs with this simple camera he referred to affectionately as 'the toy.'

In the last two and-a-half years of his life, Evans would eventually take more than 2500 pictures with this camera. The photographs contained within are pure Walker Evans: Sometimes simple, sometimes complex, but always perfect compositions, always ruthlessly cropped within the camera. Evans commented about this camera "that nobody should touch a Polaroid until he's over sixty." Yet, viewing Evans' prints, which combines a colourful joy de vivre within the context of refined taste, it becomes obvious that anyone aspiring to the title of 'artist' or 'serious photographer' should not be permitted to advance to medium format or large format view cameras until he's mastered the art of composition with this seemingly innocuous 'toy.' Keep in mind that the photographs within are in the shape of a perfect square, a much more difficult canvas on which to let the compositional elements coalesce than the easy rectangle offered by 35mm cameras.

Many of the plates in 'Polaroids' were first published in earlier volumes, such as 'Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye' (1993) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2000 retrospective, which along with this volume, was also edited by Jeff Rosenheim. The only drawback to this book, is that the photographs are printed 1:1 to the actual prints (just 3-1/8" sqaure) and are somewhat darker than in the two previous volumes, obscuring some detail. Also, the colours have also faded since the two previous volumes' release, showing just how fragile the Polaroid medium is.

Nonetheless, this volume was worth every penny I paid for it: There is such a serendipitous element of wry humour, even whimsy, that is both intimate and charming, and relate to the viewer Evans' essentially benevolent outlook on life, much of which had been brought back by this 'toy.'

Many of the photographs are purely abstract, but some are also literal in nature: Breaking down lettering in signage and from traffic markings, Evans attempted to collect a series of all the letters of the alphabet in idealised form. There are also some photos of signs that are witty puns (such as the 'IQ' isolated from a 'LIQUOR' sign) or double-entendre, such as the railway placard 'DO NOT HUMP.'

But best of all are his simple compositions of ordinary objects, such as a garden spade, a half-eaten blueberry pie, kitchen utensils, a mailbox, a dress-makers manequin and -- of course -- signs. Evans took deceptively prosaic objects, photographing them in an almost 'objective,' documentary manner, yet endowed them with his intelligent sense of selective observation. In his introduction, Rosenheim noted Evans' 1971 comment in relating Evans' aesthetic method: 'The secret of photography is, the camera takes on the character and the personality of the handler. The mind works on the machine -- through it, rather.'

In his adolesence, Walker Evans dreamed of becoming an author, a literary man of letters. He found out, however, early-on that he was better-suited to photography. But in the twilight of his years, he left the world his final chapter in the story of his life, this collection of Polaroids. These delicate, sardonic and bittersweet images more than fulfill his early aspirations, for all their visual prose and poetry.

This is a near perfect, and very moving book. As the editor says in his introduction, Walker Evans was an ailing, elderly statesman whose best photographs were seemingly behind him when he decided to use a Polaroid SX-70 camera. The results obtained over the year or so that he photographed are startling. Here are examples of "seeing" in their purest form....the small intense prints are fading away as polaroids are apt to do, but they are exquisite and are simply the final amazing burst of creative activity of a master. The presentation here is great....one print per page, actual size and no text. Beautiful!
Please note...the book contains about 170 photos, and is 184 pages.
Recommended very highly, and "less is more".