v a l l e j o n o c t u r n o

What is Torture?

Slate has created a set of sites that deal with the ABC's of torture. During this confused time, it is important to set the record straight and call a spade, a spade. Not sure how many of the confused will go and seek out this site. Certainly none of those individuals who have been busy trying to confuse things and who happen to be in the press relations business. Here's the helpful introduction:

Every few months a new story of torture by American troops or agents emerges in the media. Usually it is misunderstood, spun for propaganda, or ignored altogether. Yet understanding U.S. interrogation practices is vitally important, now more than ever, because these events (and their coverage) have a decided impact on our national security. Whether through an account of a savage prisoner-killing in Afghanistan or a Quran being desecrated in Guantanamo Bay, the world sees and judges us based on these stories.                   

Many Americans feel uneasy about the idea of torturing prisoners; others accept that desperate times may call for desperate security measures. Either view leaves open hard questions. For those who are ready to countenance torture to prevent the detonation of a "ticking time bomb," who should be authorized to decide when that situation has arisen and how far interrogators should go? The number of official inquiries into whether the interrogation practices in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo rise to the level of torture—as many as 10 to date—demonstrates the difficulty of determining who in the chain of command bears responsibility for tactics that exceed the military's traditional limits.

                  

The very word "torture" encompasses too many possibilities. Is scaring a prisoner with a dog really torture in the first place or just a modified fraternity prank? Is hooding a terrorist all that bad? Without a larger context, it's impossible to know how to frame these issues. Which explains why the American public finds itself either "for" or "against" torturing alleged terrorists, without having developed nuanced ideas of what such positions mean. We are debating in black and white instead of recognizing shades of gray. And much of the official thinking has taken place behind closed doors, preventing public understanding of where the relevant government actors have drawn the lines and why.

                  

This series provides the facts and law to illuminate and add depth to the torture debate—not to persuade you to support or oppose it, but to help you formulate your own views on where the acceptable boundaries may lie. We've tried to separate facts from analysis, using principally the primary documents made available through government reports, leaks, or Freedom of Information Act requests. The aim is to inform the national conversation about the way America acts in the war against terror.

Continue reading at Slate

Julie Heffernan

Self-portrait as a flame-Julie Heffernan at Paul Kopeikin Gallery

Lynn Jadamec

QBix Art Gallery artist Lynn Jadamec

Michael Allen

Artist House artist Michael House's Twins

August Sander

From Galerie Priska Pasquer: August Sander, born 1876 in Herdorf (Siegerland), Germany, created next to his principal work in portraiture and landscape, a great number of architectural photographs. The main body of work was produced in the 1930s and extends from a time period of almost 20 years, from 1920 to 1939.

Religion

Vallejo nocturno 2005 - Religion

Carmina Burana with my son

Vallejo Nocturno 2005 - Orff evenings

It is rare that one experiences a classic day and knows it at the time. Yesterday was such a day. If years ago some one would of told me that a day of beauty would be composed of a sporting event and then a concert in the evening-I would have been doubtful but simple things with clear delineation begin to resonate with greater depth as one ages. So my son and I who are by ourselves for two weeks as "the girls" experience Rio and Sao Paulo each day have to construct a day of worthy activity for our nimble and curious minds. Yesterday, we saw Hopkins play U of Mass at Homewood in one of the most dominating games of lacrosse that i've witnessed. We got there several minutes before the game and the had to park fairly far from the field. But it gave us an opportunity to walk about the side streets near Hopkins and see the charm of Roland Park. Afterwards, as we relished the 19 goals and close to 50 shots on goal, we went to Video Americane-the best cinema/DVD store in the area. We went for classics - The Fouth Man, etc. Later that evening we made our way to see Carl Orff"s Carmina Burana by the Washington Chanber Orchestra and chorus. I know the piece is well-liked and popular but it is so much fun to listen to it live. And in the end it is such good music-so good that we stuck a CD version on the way home and listen to the piece for the 4th time that day-almost like children with a favorite jingle. From an Orff site:

"The goddess Fortuna must have been smiling on me when, as if by chance, she put a copy of a catalogue in my hands. It had been published by an antiquarian book dealer in Würzburg, and one title in the list attracted me as if by magic: Carmina Burana," wrote Carl Orff in his memoirs about the discovery of the manuscript in Benediktbeuern Monastery that was to serve as the basis for his best-known work.  Orff excerpted a selection of songs of love, hedonism and drinking from the manuscript and turned them into a scenic cantata that would eventually become the most successful work in contemporary music-theater.  After its premiere in 1937, Orff told his publisher: "Now you can take everything that I've written thus far and you've already printed unfortunately and dump it." A few years later Orff wrote Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite, two works which he combined with Carmina Burana to form Trionfi - Trittico teatrale.

Rommert Boonstra

Rommert Boomstra writes:

The way to creativity is narrow and winding. I believe it is identical

with the way that was to lead our god-fearing ancestors into eter-
nal life. There are no four-lane highways when dealing with the
creative process. Creativity is an adventure. One nevernknows
what to expect the next moment, and it is often questionable whe-
ther one is headed in the right direction. One must learn to devote
oneself, to surrender oneself without knowing for whom or for
what.Creativity means to grope in the dark.
Sometimes, in a moment of haughtiness, think I am able to handle
creative activity, but a few moments later all security mercilessly
torn from my hands and is followed by a difficult period of falling
down and standing up again. Life with art is at the same time the
most difficult and the beautiful thing there is.
I myself am subject to two different creative processes - photo-
graphy and poetry. My ideal is to unite these two processes so
that a combination of image and text emerges, an example of
which can be found in Chinese painting. But it's not that far yet.
Up to now poetry and photography have run completely separate
from each other. When working on a poem the words automatically
come to mind when l walk long and far enough through as untouch-
ed nature as possible. I just need to make notes. I come back from
each walk with a full notebook which then needs to be worked
out in the studio.
On these walks I take photographs as well. Although I do not con-
sider the results to be art. They are just notes, nothing more. In my
opinion photo-graphy only then becomes art when the photogra-
pher intervenes. He must do more than just reproduce. This is why
I photograph in a studio where I have enough time to make my own
reality visible. I myselt construct what I later want to have in the
picture. What especially fascinates me about it is the illusion of
authenticity which - unjustly - surrounds the medium of photogra-
phy. The eye is not an objective instrument of vision. lt is proramm-
ed. Especially concerning proportion it is very susceptible to all
sorts of suggestions. Spaces with the height of ten, twenty cen-
timeters, if presented in the right way, can appear as cathedrals.
A mole's head can become a mountain, a head of lettuce a jungle.
My photographs lie a blue streak. But I have the feeling they can
concoct more reality than the everyday reality can offer us.
Shortly before my fortieth birthday I came under the power of the
muse. Actually, I have always written poetry and photographed -
though more on the side. lt was only after a protracted illness,
which complelety paralyzed me to a point where I could only nod
with my head and a machine had t0 take over my breathing, that I
had the courage to devote myself complete- ly to art. I first had to
distance myself from life before I dared to get involved in art.
The artist must have the courage t0 stand off to the side. He must
be able to withdraw. Only when there is an endless silence, a mag-
nificent isolation and an ocean of time can the creative process
calmly take its course.

Palestine before '48

Arab Image Foundation

Len Jenshel

Len Jenshel-Copyright

From Paul Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles: Jenshel and Cook are intrigued by boundaries. There is, of course, the literal boundary of plexiglas that separates the pleasures and terrors on the inside of the tank from the security and comfort outside; at least that’s how we see it (a fish out of water may have a different point of view). There is also the metaphoric boundary where the glass is the curtain, the aquarium a theater and the drama is acted on both sides of the proscenium. The third boundary is the most important to the artists; the blurring of the boundaries between the real, the unreal, and the ideal.                

                As artists Len Jenshel and Diane Cook work intuitively, stay attuned to possibilities and collaborate with chance. In addition, they work with one another. But what sets their collaboration apart is that Jenshel’s vision is color while Cook’s is black and white. This counterpoint produces a unique dialogue; sometimes harmonious, sometimes jarring, and sometimes humorous. It’s a collaboration that accentuates the contrasts between description and abstraction, reality and artifice, truth and fiction.