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by Michikazu Matsune and Naeem Mohaiemen
An insight into H.O.P.E. Archive #2. A series of photographs taken by Michikazu Matsune, accompanied by a chat between N. M. in Dhaka and M. M. in Vienna.
No. 078
| Naeem:
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I love this image. It's one of my favorites.
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| Michikazu:
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Haha ...
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| N:
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It reminds me of as usual culture refs.
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| M:
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Creativity.
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| N:
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Greg Louganis book "Breaking The Surface" which was his post-olympic swimming career memorial plus coming out of the closet. Hence it was breaking surface, except it was reverse of diving into the pool, it was actually about coming out...out of the water, out of the closet, etc. http://www.sourcebooks.com/images/covers/9781402206665-m.gif I mean the decor here is uber kitsch and maybe a little bit like Michel Gondry's set decor for SCIENCE OF SLEEP.
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| M:
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Fantastic, isnt it? Also the head is towards up.
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| N:
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And her fashion sense is either hideously rich wife or thrift cool, cannot decide.
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| M:
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I am surprised that the manequine could form this gesture.
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| N:
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Well if you look at Louganis image, he also heads up and then flips over. Oh mannequins can do many naughty things if you put your mind to it. Ha. Not that I know anything about that of course.
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| M:
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Haha ...
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| N:
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There's a brilliant story in Rana Dasgupta's TOKYO CANCELLED about the Japanese (I think) man who is making obsessive love with his meticulously built doll.
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| M:
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Yotsuya Shimon? Japanese love dolls.
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| N:
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Something like that.
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No. 523
| Michikazu:
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This is just at belly height. Can you see?
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| Naeem:
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What do u mean?
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| M:
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The wall is very low. Like at our belly height.
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| N:
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Oh, I could not tell ...
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| M:
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How tall does the wall look? Safety camera legend, anyhow.
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| N:
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Oh I presumed it was a normal wall because of the camera. Whoever heard of a wall low enough you can jump over, yet with a security camera? Don't tell me this is in Kassel too!
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| M:
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Vienna. It is so easy to jump over the camera, that's why I took this image. And believe it or not, this is entrance to a small police office near Karlsplatz where all the junkies are gathered.
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| N:
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So the junkies come to pose for candid camera? 15 minutes of narco-fame.
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| M:
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No, they are so drunk or junked that they have no orientation and sense of what's around them.
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| N:
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I saw an image in some Euro paper where these thugs had mugged (robbed) a guy on the bus, and then they were mugging (posing) in front of the security camera on the bus. Which of course made it very easy to catch them. It seemed so crazy, but I wondered if it was also a death wish.
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| M:
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Performance for the camera. I know cameras make you do more than you are expected to. Girls start taking off clothes, etc.
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| N:
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You have a dirty mind.
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| M:
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Thank you. But the safety camera is a legend ...
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No. 709
| Naeem:
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Creepy image. Elongated spider woman. Looks like one of the alien characters from the 1970s sci-fi movies. And that tan looks super unhealthy and dangerous. Jesus, I don't understand tanning machines. I mean don't people get as soon as they get near it that, that shit is bad for you.
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| Michikazu:
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White people try to be at least brown.
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| N:
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There was a great trashy horror film, I think the sequel to one of the FINAL DESTINATION films.
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| M:
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And?
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| N:
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Anyway, the two very blond cheerleader types are going to tanning salon.
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| M:
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Yes.
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| N:
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And in FD the deaths are always quite macabre (Grand Guignol) and also complicated (Rube Goldberg). So then somehow the door gets jammed. So the attendant cannot get in to turn off the machines. And they cannot get out of the machines (I think something has fallen on them).
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| M:
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Shit.
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| N:
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So eventually they burn to a crisp, eyes popping out, etc. Quite nasty.
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| M:
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Strange that we havent heard that kind of story for real.
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| N:
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But you know with horror films there's this guilty pleasure of the sick death, and audiences have been known to scream with pleasure (not agony) at even nasty bits (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE was one of the first times for this phenom). And I recall the audience was kind of giggling. And you know there was this visceral thrill of "serves you right, little blond cheerleader from hell..." If ever there were stereotypes in a horror film destined for gory death, its the blond cheerleader.
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| M:
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Death of innocence?
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| N:
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Which is why the TV show HEROES turns that convention on its head, because the cheerleader is indestructible and cannot die, and in season 1, the slogan is "save the cheerleader, save the world."
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No. 354
| Naeem:
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354, I don't have much to say here. What is this? Is there pee coming from the statue? That's what that stain looks like. I really don't have much to say about that one.
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| Michikazu:
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HP Feldmann like.
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| N:
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That's just nature's stain, right, as opposed to Human Stain. Who is HP Feldmann? (excuse my ignorance) Well, not much to say here.
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| M:
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This was in Denmark. I just like the bad quality copy. But with a serious intention of making a good work or study, or copy.
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| N:
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Interesting accidental artefact, but since it's nature/rain/chemicals, don't have much to say here.
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| M:
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You're stuck on the pee. Let's go on.
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| N:
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I always stick on pee.
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No. 244
| Naeem:
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This is a recreation of a famous illusionist photo. Who is the original I am trying to recall?
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| Michikazu:
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Heh? Is this her mobile phone or camera? I imagine mobile phone.
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| N:
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Camera. U blind? It's her camera. See the strap. But what is the original image he is recreating?
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| M:
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You are right, you have a sharp eye. I dont know. Which age? New photo? Colour?
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| N:
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No, classic black and white. I googled "falling man" and I found this image from 9/11.
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| M:
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This is by the way, Henri Carter Bressons DECISIVE MOMENT!
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| N:
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http://garlinggauge.com/2007/09/11/another-911-passes
Which is NOT the one I am thinking of and I discover that Don Delillo has a book by the same name on 9/11 but no sign of Bresson. Google is not as smart as people think.
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| M:
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I saw a nice book by a photographer recently. He is famous but I forgot his name. Images of beaches with just one or very few persons in it, which he refers to the falling man of 9/11. What is his name? He makes a lot of desert images also. Bombs left unexploded in the desert somewhere in the US.
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| N:
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I don't know. But I can't find the original surrealist image of the man falling from the window or wherever.
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| M:
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Richard Misrach. You mean Andy Warhol's jumping out of the window?
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| N:
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Nooo I thought u said this was Bresson's defining moment? So what's the Bresson photograph, don't u have a link to it?
(this conversation is slowly driving me mad)
(shouting into the abyss)
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| M:
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Recently there was also this image in the papers. A house in fire and parents throw their baby from the 3rd floor and people caught him and he was saved. Did you see? Let me check Bresson. One sec.
http://pages.cthome.net/rwinkler/cartier.jpg |
| N:
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I know this image. Not this one. The falling man image. The one your image is copying ... or rather subjects in ur image.
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| M:
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Ok, lets find this out really. Where did you see it? How far up is he falling from?
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| N:
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From a first floor window. It is an exact carbon of the picture u have. Except the original is in black and white. And its from 1960s or 70s. That's what the tourists in your image are copying.
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| M:
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I just googled "falling man" and the first hundred are the image you sent me of 9/11.
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| N:
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Bingo!
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| M:
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Where is the photographer from? I don't know the image you are talking about. My pic is just a snap. I was walking and they were doing this on my way. Performance for camera. An entertainer. http://www.filmbank.org.uk/FIBA2006/documentaries/fiba_06_GGB.jpg
This is a popular place to jump off, by the way.
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| N:
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I cannot find it. surrealist+photograph+falling man comes up with MAN RAY.
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| M:
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Ok. Forget it.
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| N:
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Damn it. Google is so dumb sometimes.
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***
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| After note:
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Some days after our chat when I was showing these photos to my friend, he immediately realized that you were referring to 'Leap into the void' by Yves Klein. Of course, of course. Just a question: for what reason do they (or we) jump!
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No. 202
| Naeem:
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The Twins! So bright eyed and optimistic. Worlds ahead. A good positive picture that made me smile.
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| Michikazu:
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Yes. Hope.
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| N:
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Please don't tell me some dark story underneath.
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| M:
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There is no. Just twins. Bucharest.
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| N:
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Tell me more, the circumstances of the picture.
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| M:
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I saw them walking while me walking. And I asked them if I could take a pic. And here it is. But why do twins wear the same?
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| N:
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They seem so happy and optimistic. It's a nice image.
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| M:
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Yes.
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| N:
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After so many images that made me ambivalent, this one just made me happy. Should make it the main image.
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| M:
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Yes.
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No. 656
| Michikazu:
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"Because of rain, Closed!" This is a life style, isnt it?
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| Naeem:
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What is it for?
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| M:
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Rain is coming and this person feel like just going home and write this kind note on one of the cardboard from the goods they get delivered. This was a food stand.
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| N:
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That's cool. Like the SLOW FOOD movement in Italy.
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| M:
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Funny was it was not raining yet!
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| N:
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Antithesis of FAST FOOD.
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| M:
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Ja, slow business. Slow business but going home fast.
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| N:
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Slow business but going home fast is good line.
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| M:
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A life stile.
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Naeem Mohaiemen works in Dhaka+New York, using video, archive, text and autobiography to explore failed revolutionary movements, national security panic, and utopia/dystopia slippage [shobak.org].
Michikazu Matsune was born in Kobe and lives in Vienna, works as a choreographer and performer. His works include video and photography researching movements in a daily-social context. Has been dealing with the themes of art and business, art and entertainment in various collaborations with David Subal.
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