A Garden in Northamptonshire

The Bloggist and his friend, Alfred Jarry, admire the topiary in this garden in Northamptonshire but, while looking at the combination of tree and shrubs, wonder if it is them or the garden’s gardener that would benefit from Freudian analysis.

New unfinished works by Olivier Messiaen discovered

Intended as movements in Messiaen's Chants de Terre et de Ciel, three cans of 16mm film were recently discovered with the composer's hand written note, "Trois morceaux appelé Les Oiseaux, Les Cloches et L'éternité".

Les Oiseaux

 

 

Les Cloches

L'éternité

 

Dance Piece: “The Orange Man”

This photographic still from Dance Piece is performed by the Salisbury Audio Visual Group and relies on the element of chance to shape the ultimate outcome of the piece. In Dance Piece the performer of “The Orange Man” would indiscriminately expel sounds according to his whims and had no qualms about standing still for any length of time. In "The Feathered Hat Interlude" the feather hatted man would sit benignly extolling the value of Dance Piece to small audiences across the south-west. In Dance Piece there is never any attempt to agree on aims or methods; individuals with a common aesthetic perform the work at any time and all times of the day. Anyone can perform Dance Piece. The value of this artwork is in it's collaborative element. No single moment is to be considered more important than another, each moment of Dance Piece should be performed with conviction. In this way Dance Piece becomes transformative, dynamic and democratises art. Dance Piece is self-referential Post-Minimalist Process Art.

The Feathered Hat interlude from Dance Piece

The Path to Film

"We believed it would go on forever", remarked Hollis Frampton. Malcolm Le Grice nods in agreement. "Too short", he mutters. But Stan Brakhage wasn't having any of it, "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!". 

In Memoriam

Ivor Cutler (15 January 1923 – 3 March 2006)
On the twelfth anniversary of his elevation to another place

Presence and the production of song sounds
Close observation and an awareness of meanings
Mr Cutler bangs his head against a hard door

Navigator of cultural backgrounds
Pithy and instructive songs
Sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic
Behavioural traits with synchronous sound

Ivor Cutler, which parts did you find compelling?

The gift of education
The improvement of invalid youth
Mr Cutler kept a packed suitcase by the front door

Gruts for tea, again
Amusing songs and whimsical patter
Never knowingly understood
Creativity with Thalia and Phyllis

Ivor Cutler builds a bird's nest and comments, “That’s nice”

Perceptive and responsive but asleep when the phone rang
Harmony and a harmonium, instruments of defense
Mr Cutler escaped from a Glasgow sitting room

Befriending bacteria using pens, poems and paper
Fortunate in the grip of Scotch water
Strange stuff for the really left-field thinkers
A narrow foot-path

Ivor Cutler and the theatre of the absurd

Good News for the Blind and Near Sighted

Science has been responsible for some wonderful discoveries in the medical world, but few have been more remarkable than the development to its present pitch of efficiency of the Dr Fausterol ’Pataphysic System of treatment for eye afflictions. This system, which is practiced with such marked success by John Brown (as proved by hundreds of letters of appreciation from patients whose eye troubles have been permanently cured by John Brown) was first practiced by the ancient Greeks, and carried to a high degree of efficiency by the Romans who taught the Gauls, from whence it came to Britain. In its present form, the treatment is perfectly painless and ensures permanent cures. It is very far from being a quack remedy and can only be practiced by highly skilled eye specialists, of whom John Brown is one of the most successful.

One of the most notable features of the treatment is that sufferers from eye-troubles can safely discard their glasses after a short course of treatment by the Dr Fausterol ’Pataphysic System, and, the cure is lasting and beneficial. Success is unfailing. Moreover, FEES ARE MODERATE.

John Brown has been practicing the highly developed Dr Fausterol ’Pataphysic System of painless healing for over two decades and has specialised in the study of the eyes for over fifty years or three decades.

Dear John Brown

After twenty years of suffering eye troubles it is needless to say the great appreciation I feel at the benefit I have received with your treatment. It is with great relief to find a cure without going into the Tate. I have been in three different Galleries but thanks to you my visits are marvellously better.

Wishing you every success, yours very gratefully, M. Tilley (Mrs), Salop Road, Oswestry.

Further Testimonials can be seen on request.

Consult John Brown without delay.

Dr. Faustroll's Boat

 

The boat with which Dr. Faustroll, Panmuphle, and Bosse-de-Nage sailed, now preserved in the grounds of the Palais de Justice and the Cour d'appel d'Angers on the Place Saint-Tugal in Laval, France.