1. Nation Branding: http://blog.sfmoma.org/2012/
"So, even in this (supposedly) more enlightened age, shouldn’t we still be slightly unsettled by top-down nation branding? Why do governments need to convince through PR and promotion that they are doing a good job? Or that their state is a great place to live (or at least visit)? Shouldn’t leaders just walk the walk rather than spend taxpayer money on talking the talk? And exactly whose vision and values are we promoting here?
“Attracting tourist dollars” is the easiest line of defense for such an endeavor—let’s get the word out about how great this place is!—and when cash-poor countries are now commonplace in even western Europe, who can blame them? Isn’t the innocuous “Greetings From _______!” postcard a form of nation branding? And what’s so unsettling about that? To point, if we’re going to rebrand Thailand, who better to hire than Mr. Monocle and Wallpaper himself, Tyler Brulée, and his creative firm, Winkreative, stripping away that sleazy veneer often associated with Bangkok to reveal the more streamlined, industrious and benign paradise (complete with Euromodern styling) that really exists? Still, a question that lingers is if the campaign actually illuminates previously unearthed Thai treasures or is a whitewash sanding down of the country’s rough edges. It’s one thing to exaggerate a product’s effectiveness, another to misrepresent an entire sovereign state."
2. Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Jorige: http://hadjithomasjoreige.com/
THE STORY OF A PYROMANIAC PHOTOGRAPHER
"The story of a pyromaniac photographer is the first part of this project.
Between 1968 and 1969, Abdallah Farah was commissioned by the Lebanese State to take pictures to be edited as post cards. They represented the Beirut Central District and mainly the Lebanese Riviera and its luxury hotels, which contributed to form an idealized picture of Lebanon in the sixties.
Between 1968 and 1969, Abdallah Farah was commissioned by the Lebanese State to take pictures to be edited as post cards. They represented the Beirut Central District and mainly the Lebanese Riviera and its luxury hotels, which contributed to form an idealized picture of Lebanon in the sixties.
Those same postcards are still on sale nowadays, although most of the places they represent were destroyed during the armed conflicts.
As of the autumn of 1975, Abdallah Farah systematically burned the negatives of the postcards, in accordance with the damages caused to the sites by the shelling and street fights. Abdallah used to photograph the image after each new burn he inflicted on it, producing a series of evolving images, which we call the “process”.
We distinguish two types of processes: The first, which we called the ‘historic process' follows very faithfully the events. Several battles have been documented this way among them 'The battle of the hotels' that occurred from 1975 to 1976. In Beirut. The second derives from the impacts which Abdallah inflicted willfully or accidentally to certain images which we grouped under the name 'plastic process'."
We distinguish two types of processes: The first, which we called the ‘historic process' follows very faithfully the events. Several battles have been documented this way among them 'The battle of the hotels' that occurred from 1975 to 1976. In Beirut. The second derives from the impacts which Abdallah inflicted willfully or accidentally to certain images which we grouped under the name 'plastic process'."
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