The Hypnotic Tracking Shot

These are the last ten minutes of the movie ‘Syndromes and a Century’ (Sang Sattawat, 2006) by the Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The movie is mainly located in two hospitals: one in rural Thailand and and the other in Bangkok. The geographical distance between these locations is further emphasized by the temporal divide that separates…

Bridging Ideologies in Nadav Kander’s Yangtze

Nadav Kander, Yangtze, 2010 In Nadav Kander’s photographic series ‘Yangtze, The Long River’, depicting China’s largest and culturally most important river, bridges are a re-occurring theme. In above photograph the huge but yet unfinished structure of a bridge represents China’s economic emergence. The two sides of the bridge also signifies two ideologies, communist and capitalist,…

Tokyo Wanderers

Ryuji Miyamoto, Cardboard Houses, Tokyo, 20th April 1994. Tokyo is a city made for the homeless. In the winter, it rarely gets below freezing and the summers are hot and humid. The infrastructure of the city supplies abundant opportunities for shelter, whether its under a bridge, along the rivers or in the parks. Even the…