Pre-cinema optical devices ~
Quite a few observers of my work have asked about and or assumed an initial influence of the work of Joseph Cornell. I kind of find it humorous and irritating that in the minds of the art viewing public there is basically only one artist representing this rich and varied method of art making, boxed assemblage. I do find it a complement to be compared to Cornell, however there are just as many differences as similarities between our artwork. In actuality I stumbled upon Cornell's work only after having ventured headlong into this means of art making.
My initial inspiration came from investigating the optical devices of the late ninetieth century. In school at the time and a devoté of the arts journal October, I read an essay by Jonathan Crary, later to become his book Techniques of the Observer. At the time I was exploring post-modern concepts of how and why we are a visual oriented culture and the nexus of this and the domination of a technological world view. I developed my own work initially as a response to pre-cinema devices such as dioramas, phantasmagoria, phenakitiscopes, peepshows and the like. And the fact that they were categorized as 'philosophical toys' intrigued me greatly. For those interested in exploring these topics there is an incredibly resourceful web site that has information and links to every aspect of this chapter of our visual culture history: Early Optical Toy
From there I'd suggest visiting the links pages to other sites that further specialize in all the multi-faceted aspects of pre-cinema and early photographic technology.
Speaking of Cornell, I could not come up with a web site that was wholly dedicated to him and his works. There are several very good books that I'd highly recommend. Shadowplay Eterniday offers a DVD-ROM through which you can interact with his work. Just what lay behind the bottles and compasses in his boxes? I'd also recommend Theater of the Mind, a collection of Cornell's essays and diary entries. For some scholarly writing on the source material used by Cornell and the precursors to him (as mentioned above and below) you might want to look at Joseph Cornell. And should you want to probe deep into the minutiae of ephemera of his daily life, sketches of his work as well as legal documents from close relatives (!) then you might want to visit the on-line collection at the Joseph Cornell Papers at the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art.
Victorian Taxidermy
One of the earliest forms of assemblage as a popular art was taxidermy. Combine this and a fixation on oddities both artificial and real and we are overwhelmed to discover a web site dedicated to this elegant craft.... and if you'd like to look for similar books related to Curiosity Cabinets, wunderkammers and the like you should peruse the book selections on this subject by wunderkammer keeper .
Bibliodessey is an incredible treasure trove of turn-of-the-century and older printed illustrations. Arranged by topics with very resourceful commentary and footnotes. If you wanted to spend hours marveling at engravings, lithographs, scientific diagrams, architectural schemes and art anomalies I would send you here. The main page will show you the current topic, from here click on the "annotated archives" to see all of the past topics.
Seldec Ossuary in Kunta Hora
Many years ago I saw, at the end of a Svankmejer compilation tape, a silent film short about a 'church' in Bohemia that totally captured my imagination. See this website put together by another fan with several photos of this most macabre beautiful of architectural spaces. I'll leave it to your own curiosity to discover what makes this ossuary so incredible.
Jarry and Pataphysics
There are about a half dozen sites that offer up fairly good general biographies the entry in Wikipedia (Jarry Pataphysics) is a good place to start and follow the links from there. But if you really want to head into the Jarry territory that most interests me I would pick up a copy of The Exploits and Opinions Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician and Adventures in Pataphysics: Collected Works v.1 If your only exposure to Jarry is the ubu plays then you must read these English translations of the essentials of pataphysical writing.
Edgar Allen Poe
part of my search for esoteric knowledge from the 19th century an an interest in misunderstood intellect has led me to the universe of Edgar Allen Poe. A "focused interest" not quite yet an obsession I have found some of Poe's marginalized work such as his "humorous" short stories and his science parodies quite revealing of the thoughts on our science driven culture that are still keen observations to this day. At the E.A. Poe Society's web site you may read any of Poe's short stories and essays. Some of the lesser know ones are mind boggling to read. My initial recommendation would be The Angel of the Odd.
Guy Maddin
You can do a web search an piecemeal put together a bunch of information and reviews, but I was hard pressed tot find a one sole site that gave a really good overview of Guy Maddin's movies. I'd recommend just seeing his movies. If you want to be impressed by Mr. Maddin's knowledge of cinema and gain insight to his neuroses I'd recommend reading Atelier Tovar and also the perversely autobiographical book of the film Cowards Bend the Knee.
Brothers Quay
As with Maddin, best to see their movies that to try to explain. I first saw a collection of their short films back in 1986 and the images have been with me and influencing me ever since. A new 2-disc DVD collection will be coming out in 2007.
Avant Music
I am blessed an honored to have one of the best record label for new avant/noise/improv/extended technique/sonic-vocal performers and self publishing recording label all within spitting distance from me. One Id M Theft Able whose label Mang Disc the sounds of which have been my constant companion for the past several years. (The recently release [Dec. 2007] Star Guts has accompanied much of the time spent revising this web site.) You may contact his web site of stop in locally at Strange Maine to acquire his recordings . The label Mang Disc features other local luminaries such as Shea Mowatt and the inconsolable Crank Sturgeon.
I would be remiss not to mention my own avant improv trio Mystic Out-Bop Review.
If you can suggest other websites that may be of interest to me and or other visitors to the ubu studio website then feel free to contact me.
~Frank Turek, Jan 2007