Learning To Observe

This arch building, also known as Andropov’s Ears, was built in 1983 in Tbilisi as a place for Soviet parades and commemorative practices by the Soviet Government. The building was named after Yuri Andropov - the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party during the Soviet regime. Aside from its main purposes, the Soviet podium served as a symbol of repression and represented the idea – “Big Brother is Watching You” (or listening to you). The building was demolished in 2005 and was later rebuilt as a multifunctional event space –  “Republic”, hosting 3 different venues, including a concert hall and an upscale restaurant. Interestingly, the restaurant inherited the initial name of the place and was named – “Andropov’s Ears." These photos portray not only the changes in the building but also changes in the social reality in Georgia. While the same spot was used to be a place of commemorating rituals and parades, it is still used as a space of gathering, but wi...

The film was definitely hard to watch and left me with mixed feelings. Aside from the cruel and inhumane scenes, the passiveness of the filmmaker in the documentary was also disturbing. I agree with Grimwash and Ravez, the film is both open and closed (pg 12). Despite the fact that Wiseman directly exposes his observees without any context or chronology of the story, the viewer has to untangle the ambiguity of the filmmaker's choices: why did he choose this certain angle? why did he choose this specific sound for the scene? why is he showing this to us? The last question was especially on my mind while watching the film. What is Wiseman's goal by documenting this passive observation? Why didn't he intervene or try to understand the participants better instead of only showing the surface of the story? I think this also brings up the issue of ethics and it reminded me of a short film  One Hundredth of a Second (2006) by Susan Jacobson. The short story is  about the ethics of ...

  Looking at the pictures, it is apparent what the photographer is trying to show us. Leni Riefenstahl's photographs aim to illustrate the physical perfection of the 'godlike' people of Nuba. But based on whose perfection? Based on whose parameters of beauty? Riefenstahl's fascist aesthetics, as Susan Sontag addresses it (1975), does not really give us any insight into the lives of Nuba people. It seems to me that there is a lack of interaction between the photographer and the Nuba, despite the fact that Reifenstahl's stay with them was not a short one. Yet, the photos do not take us anywhere beyond their appearance. There is nothing ethnographic or anthropological in these visual documents; if there is, it must be immensely superficial.  Riefenstahl's way of documenting was evidently selective, not to mention the way she was capturing the moments. But most importantly, who was she filming for? The audience was clearly limited to the West alone, the part of the ...

    The ‘Iveria’ building was a popular luxury hotel in Georgia during the Soviet regime. It was built in 1967 and hosted all international guests, including officials from neighboring countries. Standing in the center of the capital, it was the highest building in Tbilisi and could be seen from different angles of the city. The building soon became a focus of interest for those curious about soviet architecture and aesthetics. As the hotel Iveria was located in the geographical center of Tbilisi, the building and its inhabitants witnessed many historical events occurring in the capital during the 80s and 90s. One of the turning points was the anti-USSR demonstrations and protests in Georgia, many of which were held on the Republic Square in front of the hotel Iveria. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Georgia slowly transmitted into a post-socialist era. The hotel Iveria now became a reflection of soviet memories. In the meantime, the 1992-1993 war between Georgians and Abkh...

      The sequence portrays one of the occasional events of the Eskimos life – bartering for different weapons and goods they can’t usually get in their daily lives in exchange for the products they acquire through hunting. The documentary Nanook of The North (1922) enables us to have a closer look at the life of Eskimos living in northern Canada. While the main character of the film happens to be Nanook, the viewers also get to see the lifestyle of Eskimo women, children and other Eskimo hunters. The film gives us insights into the Eskimos’ labor division, hunting rituals, homemaking practices, gender roles, social hierarchy, belief system and childrearing practices. Furthermore, it tells the story of the interaction between humans and nature, particularly, the process of Eskimos’ adaptation to the strict climate of the north. How can these people live in such a cold temperature and still be joyful and smiley? – was my first question after watching the documentary. As...