BlindCopyRMartonBan

An Overview

Currently the Unlearning Specialist at the School of No-Media, P.M. is a speaker/writer/artist and an educator. Born and raised in Paris, he moved to the U.S. in the early seventies to live and teach in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco and, more recently, St. Louis. In parallel to teaching media at major universities, his many video-art activities have included documentaries, video installations […]

MartonErvinBanner05

ERVIN MARTON 1912-1968

took portraits of major cultural figures like (L to R) PICASSO, COCTEAU, CHAPLIN, LOUIS ARMSTRONG, CHAGALL AND CAMUS, cf. WIKIPEDIA entry • Others include Bachelard, Léautaud, Jacques Prévert, Jean Genet, Yves Montand, Juliette Gréco, Foujita, et al • A photographer and artist born in Budapest, Hungary, he moved to France in 1937 • Received the Libération medal • Blaise Cendrars called him “l’as du noir et du blanc” (the ace of b&w) …

ScreensCprghtMarton2010Ban4

Pier Marton & The Shoah

The fact that two-thirds of European Jewry were methodically murdered is bound to create a variety of aftershocks. Some ignore it all while others barricade themselves behind a self-righteous “Never Again!” To keep one’s eyes open to the specificity, the unicity, and the viciousness of the antisemitism is not easy. To remain aware of the violence, the demagoguery, and the limits of representation that surround us takes much work.

ScreensCprghtMarton2010Ban4

Undoing Media-cracy

Pseudo-Urgency-stop-Media Omnipresence-stop-Currency Engulfing Independence-stop-Colonization Secured-stop-Audience Consumes Molds-stop-Mimicry of Stale Themes-STOP-PRETENSE-STOP • We are to be consumed, but in other ways. “Non-media” is what air is to the flying fish as it escapes mortal danger: an existential exploration & revelation. Our tools to save lives – silence (occasionally vociferous), slowness, kindness, and time.

BlindCopyRMartonBan

BLIGHT: Blinded by Sight

1. When we believe our eyes (and ears), all we do is verify what has been stored in our cataloged universe, and end up knowing only what we know & recognize. 2. Every age has its icons: photographers freeze that moment, cinematographers capture that movement. The traces of those fetishistic rituals are revered in museums, theaters and online. 3. Picture-perfect… Captive audiences…

HeadNobody03b

We Are Nobodies

The clamor is everywhere: BE SOMEBODY!… but those efforts are illusory. Beyond our names and our affiliations lies the same eternal nobody that we were when we were born – and that we will be when we die. What surrounds us – all the stuff, the concepts… – blinds us and entraps us into a fortress, a coffin. These facts, though, do not constitute any reason to become pessimistic, merely realistic. And freer.

PMSchoolNoMedBan04-960x332

The School of No Media

Our “fullness” and busyness belies a systematic cover-up: as in a sleight of hand, we are blinded by speed and the surplus of images and sounds. Marton’s lifetime of teaching and working in media has made it clear that a search for “non-images” & “non-media” is vital to our existence. The School of No Media represents a last-gasp-effort toward the elusive goal of standing outside a prescribed universe, surrounded by too many assumptions.

PMBlogBan2

PM’s News & Olds

THE UNBALANCE BETWEEN: 1. excellence and a kind, singular & porous identity that contains some of the scruples, humor, musicality & the beauty of a harsh and confusing, yet benign and rich reality – away from distractions. 2. the stupidity & blindness of complacency, violence, injustice, pretense, egos, short-term/wishful/group “thinking” & empty talk – in all of their surprising embodiments…

“Against oblivion, the present is our present!” — P.M.

THROUGH MYTHS, WISHFUL THINKING, TRANSFERENCE, PROJECTIONS AND ENTROPY, WE WANDER… WILL KINDNESS LESSEN THE DAMAGE?
Attention: Gallery at Bottom is still Starting Up

NEWS & OLDS

Flotsam & Lagan

The “What Is” Series

Projects to Appear Here

NEWS & OLDS

Gloria Steinem Supports Obama (+ More)

Music(a)/Musique Indigenous Tradition Indigène/Avant-Garde/Tradicíon Indígena

Footnote: DNA Methylation, Cancer and the Cedars’ Deep Connection

Meditation (Without Magic/Sans Magie)

After/Après RU486 & DHEA…. FKBP52 AGAINST/CONTRE ALZHEIMER!

The Present/Future of Teaching is Online and Free (01): The Khan Academy

Alexander Sokurov

(some of) the Baron Cohen Gene(ous)

Joe Pollack, 81, dies today.

To Forget Is To Kill Twice. Pier Marton

Alter Goldman Interview (Le Père de Pierre & Jean-Jacques’s Father)

Picasso à/et la Télévision

The “What Is” Series

Platitude

SPEED LIMITS

Creative Juices

emory

Opening Soon!

Presence of the Past

Fall