Posts from — October 2008

Exact Change* has re-released Chris Marker’s CD-ROM Immemory for OS X. This is great news, as the earlier versions (both the French original and the port by Exact Change to English) were unplayable on “modern” Macs and thereby stuck in kind a technological cul-de-sac, languishing. (The background to this lies, at least in part, in the history of Marker’s beloved multimedia authoring tool Hyperstudio, but that’s another story). It sounds as well that we are to be treated to some “extras” on this edition (perhaps some of the images that appear in Pictures at an Exhibition?). Thanks to Michel Hardy-Vallée for bringing our attention to this exciting news for Marker fans.

Immemory: A CD-Rom
by Chris Marker
ISBN 1-878972-39-1
$17.95
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
For Macintosh computers only, running OS X version 10.4.11 or later, including 10.5 Leopard

“I claim for the image the humility and powers of a madeleine.”

In Immemory, Chris Marker has used the format of the CD-Rom to create a multi-layered, multimedia memoir. The reader investigates “zones” of travel, war, cinema, and poetry, navigating through photographs, film clips, music, and text, as if physically exploring Marker’s memory itself. The result is a veritable 21st-century Remembrance of Things Past, an exploration of the state of memory in our digital era. With it, Marker has both invented a literary form and perfected it.

This 2008 revised edition features additional “X-Plugs,” and has been updated for OSX.

– Exact Change

* “The press was founded in 1990 by Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang, known outside publishing as musicians from the bands Damon & Naomi, and Galaxie 500. […] Exact Change authors include Guillaume Apollinaire, Louis Aragon, Antonin Artaud, John Cage, Leonora Carrington, Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dalí, Morton Feldman, Alice James, Alfred Jarry, Franz Kafka, Lautréamont, Gérard de Nerval, Fernando Pessoa, Raymond Roussel, Philippe Soupault, Gertrude Stein, Stefan Themerson, Denton Welch, and Unica Zürn.”

The following three videos, taken deep within Marker/Guillaume territorealities of Second Life, were made available on YouTube this month by a user named FITEIROCULTURAL from Argentina. As the initial credits state, we are witness to “a visit with Millagrosa Vella and Gianni Motti’s assistant, for Fiteiro Cultural on SL and Casa Millagrosa, directed by Haveyouseen Lubitsch for Michel Favre.”

To see if we can have some fun here, we call on readers to help identify bits and pieces that make up this memory palace. We’ll start with one: PacMan from Sans Soleil has grown up here to become a little sculpture – the afterlife of pixels in a hirez world. As for the title Ouvroir, it recalls Marker’s penchant for compact neologisms & multivalent titles that gave birth an era or so ago to the title Immemory and a few eras before that to Coréennes.

A Michel Favre Film

A Michel Favre Film

A Michel Favre Film

What else do you lack to make it right,
But cats down under the stars tonight?
– Jerry Garcia

Well, quickly on the heels (or paws) of Colin Powell, un certain chat qui s’appelle Guillaume – the infamous ironist and stylish dresser (here sporting the T in OG style) – has weighed in on the upcoming election in the disunited, dysfunctional states of america, where hope springs eternal but empire can’t last forever. His brand spanking new t-shirt is being offered by the Wexner Center for the Arts in their Chris Marker store. Hmm, a t-shirt within a t-shirt – that’s getting pretty metaphysical. Reminds me of some French filmmaker, or an Arnolfini Marriage… Congress is currently debating whether they will allow cats to vote, but don’t hold your breath. If you’ve got two legs, a unicycle or a friend with a passenger seat, get to the polls. Les citoyens EU seront, nous savons et esperons, nos majorettes ce jour-là, pendant que Guillaume sert comme Ministre des Affaires Étrangères.

Details from Wexner: Available Now! 6.1 oz 100% Cotton White Tee Shirts. Featuring Guillaume-en-egypte [sic]. Very limited quantities available.

Chris Marker: Owls At Noon Prelude: The Hollow Men

The Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia has published a volume entitled Chris Marker: Owls At Noon | Prelude: The Hollow Men. Their site offers the following description:

A heavily illustrated study of French filmmaker Chris Marker’s portentous video installation Owls At Noon Prelude: The Hollow Men, with essays by Adrian Martin and renowned French film theorist Raymond Bellour, introduced by Robert Leonard. / $20

Thanks to Adrian Martin for the tip. He mentions that the book features “an incredible pictorial layout largely designed by Chris [Marker] himself.” He also drew our attention to the current issue of Rouge, which publishes his translation of an insightful & prophetic essay on Marker from 1963, “Markeriana: A Scarcely Critical Description of the Work of Chris Marker” by Roger Tailleur.

UPDATE 23 October 2008

Thanks for the plug on your website. We don’t have US distribution sorted as yet. But we can sell the OWLS AT NOON book direct for $20 Australian plus $10 Australian post and packaging. We’ll send it anywhere in the world for that. And with the current exchange rate, that’s an especially good deal! It was about $20.00 US, when I looked earlier today. Easiest thing is for your readers to send credit card details to anna [at] ima.org.au
– Robert Leonard, Institute of Modern Art