5. Sixteen Google Street Views
The images are captured by the roving Google vehicle, depict solitary individuals in a variety of con-
temporary landscapes. Despite Walter Benjamin’s argument that photography’s ability to repro- duce strips
even the unique of its uniqueness, I chose these images precisely because they assert their uniqueness and re-
sist categorization. I invite you to consider with me, through these words and the images themselves, how the
artist and photography itself can point a way out of this paradox.
Street View photography presents a different perspective on the individual’s relation to his external
world than the art of previous historical periods. For example, when the Romantics portrayed solitary figu-
res within landscapes, the framework was often an encounter with the sublime. In these land- scapes, man felt
both in awe of nature but also transcendent over it. The encounter with the sublime, however, also pointed to-
wards the individual’s inner powers and towards his freedom.
In Street View photography, Google cars, mounted with nine cameras, roam the earth recording auto-
matically whatever comes within their purview. The detached gaze of their cameras witness but do not act in
history. Street View photography, artless and indifferent, without human intention, ascribes no particular si-
gnificance to any event or person. Bereft of context, history or meaning, the only glue holding the Street View
images together is geospatial contiguity. Such a perspective does not easily contain the sublime.
Unlike the landscapes of the Romantics, the landscapes of this Street View collection are neither raw
nor savage. They are often vast or suggest interminable progression. Empty roadsides, urban projects, and go-
vernment institutions, social and economic contexts that constrain inner powers and freedom, are the settings
in which our subjects are thrust.
And yet the very instruments that alienate us can also inform us about the nature of our alienation.
Does not Google’s mode of recording the world make manifest how we already structure our perception? Our
own experience often parallels this detached, indifferent mode of recording with consequent questions about
our own significance. By becoming aware of Street View’s way of conceptualizing our experience, however, al-
ternative perceptions become possible.
The artist, in the act of framing the images, undoes familiar conventions and alters our vision of the
world. Despite the often-impersonal nature of these settings, the subjects in these images resist becoming pu-
rely objects of the robotic gaze of an automated camera. For in the act of framing, the artist reasserts the im-
portance of the individual. This altering of our vision challenges the loss of autonomy and in the transforma-
tion of our perceptions, a new possibility for freedom is created.
Jon Rafman, 2009
22. The Park
[Yoshiyuki it’s a pseudonym - his real name is still unknown].
In the early seventies, Mr. Yoshiyuki prowled around the parks of Tokyo looking for lovers
groping in the bushes. The Shinjuku, Yoyogi and Aoyama parks were notorious meetings
grounds where young Japanese couples came together for nightly public rendezvous as well as
the numerous spectators hiding in the bushes who liked to watch. In these black-and-white
shots there is a little nudity, hands reaching under uplifted skirts, spectators crawling to see
couples. With their raw, snapshot-like quality, these images not only uncover the hidden
sexual exploits of their subjects, but also serve as a chronicle of a Japan we rarely see; as
Martin Parr writes in The Photobook: A History, Volume II, The Park is “a brilliant pie-
ce of social documentation, capturing perfectly the loneliness, sadness, and despera-
tion that so often accompany human relationships in a big, hard metropolis like Tokyo.”
33. A contract of mutual self-delusion exists between the caller and
phone sex operator. The caller imagines he is speaking to his most
secret fantasy-and the operator willingly plays the part.
A phone sex operator must be able understand the caller’s wants.
But more importantly, they must be able to decrypt the unspoken
desires. Those things that are too preposterous, too scandalous, or
humiliating to articulate.
From a few mumbled words, a phone sex operator must weave and
finely detailed fantasy encounter. It requires a vivid imagination, ac-
ting ability, and above all, a deep understanding of the human ap-
petite. What do we crave? What words have the maximum yield?
What tone will most effectively reach into a man’s trousers?
Phone-sex is theatre. An artificial passion-play in real-time, directed
by a skilled verbal fantasist, with only one possible conclusion.
2008-2009
Published by Twin Palms Press in 2009
To see more of the project, please go to
www.phonesexthebook.comv
36. To the caller, when I first answer, I am the inanimate Barbie.
They do not know what I look like, who I am, how I am feeling, or
how I feel. They can only imagine. It is my job to indulge their
fantasies, to convince them that I am not a doll. I am their dream
turned real.
If they ask if I am blonde, I become a blonde. If they ask how wet I
am, I tell them that my panties are drenched. I respond to every
sound the caller makes with an affirmation, I encourage them, I
breathe life into the fantasy, I carve the doll out of flesh.
38. My first night was on a Saturday at midnight.
It was a gentleman who I believe called himself Bob.
He told me about his first experience with a glory hole.
He explained that he had no-one he felt comfortable telling this to,
and I felt a strange intimacy between us, though it was rooted in a
fantasy.
I think it’s easier to release repressed desires to a non-judgmental,
fictional person, because there are no consequences in the outside
world.
40. I have a naturally high voice. I’m also immature and submissive. The
voice I use on the phone is somewhat a representation of those
qualities.
There’s one specific voice tone I use when pretending to be
sexually aroused.
Imagine a catholic school girl getting de-virginized by her history
teacher. “Oh, oh, Mr. Johnson, it’s so big! You’re gonna hurt me!”
43. I got into phone-sex because I thought: ‘Why not get paid for
talking dirty, instead of doing it for free?”
It brings up my self-esteem up so much, knowing guys are looking
at my pics and wanting to talk to me.
45. I am a straight male who speaks to women.
They want me.
They want me to talk to them, and to take them to another world.
I’m good at it. I’m a pro. A ladies man.
I speak to younger women. I speak to older women. I speak both
spanish and english. I have been thrown offers left and right.
They want me to meet up and have my way with them, but I keep it
only to phone conversations.
47. Just last night I received possibly the most disturbing phone-sex call
I’d had in a long time.
A caller shot himself with me on the phone.
The unmistakable sound of a gun-shot followed by the heavy and
wet sound of a body falling with a thud to the floor.
Things like this always scare me.
My current track record stands at one confession of incestuous
sexual abuse, being asked to perform fellatio on my younger brother,
and two other suicides.
50. I never thought I would work in the phone sex industry.
All those years doing customer service, my customers would
comment on my sexy voice.
I thought I was being professional, not sexy.
This work is customer service. It’s just your customers leave with
more than a smile.
52. I’m 60 years old, have a BA in Cultural Anthropology from
Columbia University, and married for 25 years.
Men call me for an infinity of reasons.
Of course, they call to masterbate. I call it “Executive Stress Relief ”.
It’s not sex; it’s a cocktail of testosterone, fueled by addiction to
pornography, loneliness, and the need to hear a woman’s voice.
I make twice the money I made in the corporate world. I work from
home, the money transfers into my bank account daily.
53.
54. Limit Telephotography
A number of classified military bases and installations are located in some of the remotest parts of the United
States, hidden deep in western deserts and buffered by dozens of miles of restricted land. Many of these sites
are so remote, in fact, that there is nowhere on Earth where a civilian might be able to see them with an una-
ided eye. In order to produce images of these remote and hidden landscapes, therefore, some unorthodox vie-
wing and imaging techniques are required.
Limit-telephotography involves photographing landscapes that cannot be seen with the unaided eye. The tech-
nique employs high powered telescopes whose focal lengths range between 1300mm and 7000mm. At this le-
vel of magnification, hidden aspects of the landscape become apparent.
Limit-telephotography most closely resembles astrophotography, a technique that astronomers use to photo-
graph objects that might be trillions of miles from Earth. In some ways, however, it is easier to photograph the
depths of the solar system than it is to photograph the recesses of the military industrial complex. Between
Earth and Jupiter (500 million miles away), for example, there are about five miles of thick, breathable atmo-
sphere. In contrast, there are upwards of forty miles of thick atmosphere between an observer and the
sites depicted in this series.
55. Trevor Paglen (courtesy Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne /Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco)
56. Trevor Paglen (courtesy Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne /Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco)
57. Trevor Paglen (courtesy Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne /Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco)
58. Trevor Paglen (courtesy Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne /Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco)
59. Trevor Paglen (courtesy Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne /Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco)
61. “why?”
Some book, on some page, let’s say few years ago, by some writer.
While the author is dead and art is finished maybe the right thing to do is to look for understanding
of the situation and its in-betweens. When Walter Benjamin in “The work of art in the age of mechanical
reproduction” was writing about “presence in time and space” that art was supposed to loose, he
probably expected this to go further then just photography, cinema and the other charlatanistic
invention’s of the industrial revolution that existed in his time. The internet would probably horrify
those who claimed that using a camera was a blasphemous form while they were taking the-
ir first naive steps to forming a criticism of photography as a valid art form. So maybe the pictures that
finally found their place in the most respected of galleries and museums are now surrounded by
website layouts and advertisements. They can be found on the tube surrounded by people with
their ipads and those waiting at the next station to get in, this is not a situation to approve, but
to appreciate. Maybe in this certain state of mind, the din that surrounds the spectator will turn in to a
perfect background which is more sincere then the more and more doubtful contemporary art
galleries that more and more prosper like shopping malls. And I am writing those words as a
conservative that a month ago would look for those whitest walls and empty spaces in galle-
ries to admire a single piece of art. So it is not about making people watch movies on their cell
phones or drug mumble discussions of Leonardo Da Vinci’s genius while admiring some bad repro-
duction of the “Mona lisa” in some club toilet (which is still not so bad as some might say). It is more
concerned with keeping attention on this “aura” which is still a phenomenon which is not
reproducible, and maybe thing worth looking for.
But my purpose is not to repeat J. Berger and to remind of the great role of
context in terms of art reception. It is to question what we can actually catch from the
masses. Not in the way that pop-art did, but things that may seem to be more sincere and real
now. To capture that which has been drowning in this mass since the beginning of its existence.
piiter
62.
63. Sharon Core; „Five Hot Dogs” ; 2003 (Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery)
64. Sharon Core; „Candy Counter, 1963” ; 2004 (Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery)
65. Sharon Core; „Candy Counter, 1969” ; 2003 (Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery)
66. Sharon Core; „Pie Counter” ; 2003 (Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery)
67. Sharon Core; „Bakery Trucks” ; 2005 (Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery)
68. Sharon Core; „Steak” ; 2005 (Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery)
71. Sharon Core; „Ice Cream” ; 2006 (Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery)
72.
73. PORTRAIT WITH A CURATOR, 2002, DVD, 8’
Four Polish artists on the brink of a great artistic career. Members of the Azorro super-group appear at
various openings and - not asking for permission - photograph themselves with important personas from
the Polish art world: directors, curators, gallery workers, critics.
89. “Beautiful Crystal Filled Small Size Iowa Natural Geode. Cracked nicely and ready to be a awesome show
piece for you. Great collecting~yard~pattio or garden. Add to your gem and quartz collection with beauty.
Crystals~!!!”
94. „Real nice crystal filled brilliant gem small size cracked Iowa geode. This is a beauty. Full of beautiful shining
quarts. Add this gem to your collection or a great spruce up in the garden or yard. Awesome. A great Show
Piece~!!!”
95.
96. Memoria
Series “memoria” is an attempt to recover past that was never photographed in its present. Memories that exist
just in Junpeis head seem to be transformed by new experiences. The ambiguity of memory and scenes and
things he sees in ordinary life mixes up in his head unconsciously, when you try to remember something or so-
meone. As if he himself became a camera to photograph these imprints.
105. YOSSI MILO GALLERY YANCEY RICHARDSON GALLERY
245 Tenth Avenue 535 West 22nd Street 3rd floor
(between 24th & 25th St.) New York NY 10011
New York, NY 10001 tel 646-230-9610
mail@yossimilo.com fax 646-230-6131
www.yossimilo.com info@yanceyrichardson.com
GALERIA RASTER GALERIE THOMAS ZANDER
ul. Wspólna 63 Schönhauser Straße 8
00-687 Warszawa 50968 Cologne / Germany
POLAND Phone +49 (0)221 934 88 56
raster.gallery@gmail.com Fax +49 (0)221 934 88 58
www.raster.art.pl www.galeriezander.com
mail@galeriezander.com
106. Photographer’s index
Jon Rafman
www.jonrafman.com/
www.9-eyes.com
Kohei Yoshiyuki
www.yossimilo.com
Phillip Toledano
www.mrtoledano.com
www.phonesexthebook.com
Trevor Paglen
www.paglen.com
www.galeriezander.com
Sharon Core
www.sharoncore.com
www.yanceyrichardson.com/artists/sharon-core
Grupa Azorro
http://raster.art.pl/gallery/artists/azorro/azorro.htm
Jordan Tate
www.jordantate.com
Peter Happel Christian
http://peterhappelchristian.com
Junpei Fukushi
http://fukushijunpei.jp
107. Thanks to all the artist and galleries
supporting Us with this issue.
Poncz Magazine
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Maja Dabrowska (maja@ponczmagazine.com)
DEPUTY EDITOR Piotr Winiewicz (piiter@ponczmagazine.com)
