The Field Marshal, the artist, and an old edition of Walter Scott

Matters of the presence of the past — haunting presences. A couple of editions of Walter Scott’s poetry have arrived from my favorite bookseller – Barter Books of Alnwick, Northumberland UK. The first is an 1866 edition of Scott’s poem, Marmion, about the days before the disaster of Flodden Field in 1513. It is illustrated…

Ghosts in the Mirror

I was quite pleased with the special Blurb edition of the review of theatre/archaeology that Mike Pearson and I just published (good quality imagery, reasonable typography and layout) [Link] [Link] So I ran up a new portfolio of my rephotographed daguerreotypes – “Ghosts in the Mirror”. Ghosts in the Mirror by Michael Shanks   Here…

Thessaloniki – physiognomy

Mike Pearson and I have started a new collaboration around theatre/archaeology – the rearticulation of fragments of the past as real time event – [Link] to a prospectus. As part of this revival I am reviewing some of my photography projects from the last three decades, explaining and adding commentary. Many are at archaeographer.com. I…

rephotography – Road&Track

Photography frames and fixes This can be enabling – seeing things through a detail, microcosmic part for whole – synechdoche – the oligopticon, where macro ladidary detail ironically offers more than the wide angle or panorama (contrast the panopticon). The world in a grain of sand. And disabling – frames restrict and compress, and fixity can…

the politics of new media: it’s an old story

I am back at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, for the new exhibition Design Column #3 Likes – [Link] ([Link] to Design Column #2) Here is my commentary. It revolves again around my concern for human centered design, and under a long term view of history. My main point: new media are not so new…