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The challenge of walking and getting lost in unsafe paths

Photography that moves new eyes, risks itself and allows itself to be lost. Opening your mind to see what you haven’t seen, thinking about what you haven’t thought, and creating what you haven’t created yet. Deconstruct and construct in a reflection that proposes unconventional postures. Photographic expression based on conflict and irregularity. Renoir said that “regularity, order, desire for perfection (which is always a false perfection) destroy art.” For Baudelaire, “What is not a little distorted has no emotional appeal; It follows that irregularity - that is, the unexpected, the surprise and the astonishment - is an essential and characteristic part of beauty. ”

The challenge of putting several pieces together in an anagram to tell a logical (or illogical) story. Unlike cinema, photography reveals itself in flashes, mosaics, connections that allow each of us to create our own story, and to feel emotions stored in his memories.

Eleven (a complete team) beginner photographers, and some not so much, agreed to walk these unsafe, sometimes tortuous paths, and as Antonio Machado says in Cantares: Foot on the road. What we see here in the publication are only the first steps of this path, of this walk. But the seed of discord has already been planted.

A. Assaoka

page 6

Beyond Eisenstein’s theory of montage: general principles of the construction of works of art.

The beginning of the conflict

Cristina Paiva

Eisenstein is at the same time the heir and founder of a chain of semiotic studies known as Russian semiotics or semiotics of culture. This chain “has as central object of the research the sign series or the sequential text, under a markedly diachronic and evolutionary angle”.

The Russian filmmaker directed his art studies in the spirit of modern bionics, “science that studies some general principles of the construction of biological systems for the purpose of transferring them to the construction of other systems.” Eisenstein sought to operate the transposition of the laws governing the constitution of natural, organic phenomena for the construction of unnatural, artificial works such as works of art. This aspect is fundamental to understanding Eisenstein’s thought as it permeates his theory of montage.

The dialectical system finds its origin, for Eisentein, in the split of primitive consciousness between logical and pre-logical thinking, projecting itself as a fundamental problem of art and philosophy under various formulations of opposites derived from the former. Conflict is essential for Eisenstein, because it is what determines the dynamic principle of things: without the conflict of opposites, there is no movement. And for Eisentein, as for the constructivists, the notion of movement and dynamism is fundamental to the definition of the vitality (and even truth) of art. Thus, it is up to the artist to perform the synthesis of opposites in the form of dynamic conflict in art.

The principle of conflict finds its main formulation in Eisenstein’s theory in the notion of montage. Montage is the phenomenon of collision or juxtaposition between independent or even opposite parts that generate new concepts and is not restricted to their application in cinema. For the Russian filmmaker, editing is a principle present in all artistic creation and, from a broader perspective, could be extended to every movement of natural and human life. Eisenstein considered art one of the methods and paths of knowledge. For him, the works would be constructed according to the norms of the thought that produces it, and would consolidate, in its structure, the representations that express the very form of this thinking. The same principle of construction of the work of art would be valid for its perception: the viewer reconstructs the course of the psychological process that occurs in the creator. Thus, if montage, for Eisenstein, is the constructive principle of all art, it will be primarily responsible for articulating this dynamic of functioning. Therefore, the work of art should not be viewed statistically as a result, but dynamically as a process. The principle of the juxtaposition of two different elements, which determines the mechanism of montage and even movement in the cinema (with the overlapping of incongruent frames), also generates the intensity of the impression on the viewer. The irregularity of art, as of all languages, is a determining factor in the quality of representation, since dynamic movement and rhythm, essential in expressiveness, are born of incongruity and irregularity. To support his thesis on the importance of irregularity in art, he quotes artists and critics who discussed the subject, such as Renoir:

“The beauty of any description will find its charm in variety. Nature hates both vacuum and regularity. For the same reason, no work of art can really be called that if it was not created by an artist who believes in irregularity and rejects any established form. Regularity, order, desire for perfection (which is always a false perfection) destroys art. The only possibility of maintaining the flavor of art is to inculcate in artists and the public the importance of irregularity. Irregularity is the basis of any art”. And yet, for Baudelaire, “what is not a little distorted has no emotional appeal; It follows that irregularity - that is, the unexpected, the surprise and the astonishment - is an essential and characteristic part of beauty”. Therefore, for Eisenstein, art should move away from the attempt at realistic mimicry, doomed, according to him, to failure to represent ideas and feelings, and to seek a kind of intellectually constructed representation that produces as much effect as possible on the viewer, obtained by incorporating the irregularity and the unfinishing.

For the viewer to reconstitute the psychological process that occurs in the creator, art should not emerge as something ready, but provide the necessary conditions for the path taken by the artist to be redone, reaching the feeling that moved the creator to build his work. The emphasis of the work would thus be on the dynamic processes of art construction, and not only on the presentation of the final result.

We can conclude some relevant aspects in determining the quality of the work of art for Eisenstein. The work of art, to produce the vivid impression of a feeling and make an impact on the viewer, as Eisenstein wished, could not be reduced either to the mimicry of the superficial aspects of the emotions represented, nor to the logical or documentary exposition of the facts, but to construct intellectually. the situations that would produce the desired effects on the viewers. This construction would be made possible by a basic principle of art: the conflict between opposites, embodied in cinema through the technique of montage. It is important to note that editing, to fulfill its mission, could not be restricted to the “mechanical procedure” of joining and pasting (as some filmmakers criticized by Eisenstein, who calls them “montage leftists”), but obeying a greater principle that drives it (which is the general idea and or the initial feeling of the author), constructing this larger whole through the joining of images, details or fragments, which carry a coherence and allow the construction of the whole. The use of the fragment, which does not seek realistic representation, but instead incorporates the irregularity and the unfinishing, allows the viewer to participate in the process of construction of the work and to be thrown into it, “dragged into the creative act in which his individuality is not subordinate to the author’s individuality, but is manifested through the process of fusion with the author’s intention, from “his fantasy”, “the warp and weave of his associations”, creating an image “conceived and created but at the same time also created by the viewer himself”.

(EISENSTEIN: 2002).

PAIVA, Cristina. Beyond Eisenstein’s theory of montage: general principles of the construction of works of art.

Graduated in Architecture and Urbanism - FAU USP MSc in Communication and Semiotics - PUC SP Email: crispaivarq@yahoo.com.br; crispaivasp@gmail.com

Waving & Creation nº 2 – dec/2011

Dário Gabriel

He is photographing, perhaps because he still seeks what is inside him. There is an inside out that he still gropes. It may be that all images captured, revealed and “sampled” are wishes to always complete something. To mingle with someone. There is vanity, there is a need to look at him too, there is generosity in sharing what he sees and how he sees it. Shooting will always be a part of him, that also brings with it his look.

About the photo shoot

Concrete is not made of hardness. The form is not linear, it is the one that draws the eye in the camera and the architecture itself in the retina of the observer. It is to know every day what the look of those who pass by can see. Gray, the dryness of lines, dashes, surfaces...

It is the rhinoceros that the photographer wanted to find discreetly moving in the apparent concrete of the architect and his creature.

Did you see the rhino?

Juliana Oliveira

Among so many possible definitions, photography can even be the way. In this direction, photographing has become a personal, nontransferable and unavoidable process; it is the search for identity and the contentment to give light to itself.

About the photo shoot

In the course of the Pacoti River, just arriving at the sea, Ivonete and Maria José “were created.” The “cumade” is like a sister, people are envious of our friendship, “they say. The words are mirrored and in the very course of life: they slide silently by the river, in the drag of the net, together. Craftwork shellfishs since adolescence, mix with the dark water, mud and roots, in the symbiosis with the beloved place of sustenance: ‘I prefer to stay in the river’.

Michele Correia is from Fortaleza and lives in the Netherlands. An accountant by education, her love story with photography is old, but it was only materialized in 2016, “at the right time” as she would say, to find the right people. She is discovering and reinventing herself day after day and in all of them photography is present, either in the form of a click or a feeling. For Michele, photography is a dive into self-knowledge.

About the photo shoot

In Netherlands, the country of bicycles, where I came to live, I was a bit lost: another culture, another climate, another type of cuisine. Who am I now far from everything that brought me here? It was the bicycle that emancipated me, with it I felt a little Dutch, pedaling, one spring afternoon, with a camera hanging around my neck. In these images is a bit of me, I find myself in each photo. I can call it a self-portrait?

Neiva Cardins

Philosophical thinking shows us a cyclical condition of life. In the theory of septenniuns, Neiva is at the beginning of a new cycle, believing herself to be more conscious of the world and of herself, she tries to find the humanistic and existential side of life through art. She experiences a new challenge in a quiet and positive way: photography! In this new universe, she seeks to use her energy in a mature, deep and spiritual way.

About the photo shoot

In a community of fishermen, I found the same sea, the same sky, the same moon and stars of other coasts, but the routine of its inhabitants is a true lesson of life. Men, women and children among dunes, ponds and mangroves struggle to preserve not only nature, but an entire ancestry. In their hearts pulsates very strongly the respect, love, welcome, and breathe resistance, work, memories of the sea, and the purity of children flying kites or playing in the sea. That is Balbino.

Kleiton Evangelista

Economist by education, he began in photography in the year 2012. In the development of his visual projects are present regent concepts such as dignity, honesty, lightness, strength and poetry. Whether it is in the picture of spectacles, of the daily life, or of the documentary,it is clear his interest in the human aspect.

About the photo shoot

A brief cut in space-time to reveal the poetics of a life led by those who make circus art a resistance movement.

Rosana Chaves

Piscies, 55, has an academic background in Education. At age 21 she won her first camera and never stopped shooting. She had no pretensions to “being a photographer” until two years ago, when she began to study and dedicate herself to photography. And it was in the photograph that she found space to speak of unseen beauties. To photograph is to feed the soul.

About the photo shoot

This essay is a tribute to my mother. In it they discuss the beauty and delicacy of two mothers: my mother Ana and our great mother Nature. A dialogue that seeks to humbly sensitize all who see it and, who knows, lead to a reflection on the feminine in the present day.

Leandro Castro

From Fortaleza, he was born in 1979. Systems analyst, studied photography in 1994 at the Federal University of Ceará. Through photography, he developed abilities to manipulate and capture lights and shadows, perpetuating the most valuable seconds of a single look.

About the photo shoot

Empty city… where the silence has no time, sounds characteristic of the dead of night make this “Fortress” of concrete even more mysterious, to take its mysteries by a different look, that enters its veins and feels the beat amphiguric of a city that, even empty, insists not to fall asleep.

Semmada Arrais

Dentistry, was the profession that embraced until leaving Brazil at the end of 2011. Tunisia then became her home for seven years. The impossibility of working in her profession, her curiosity about a country so unique and the need to rediscover herself at the age of 40, led her to photography, an old passion from her adolescence. The photograph turned it upside down. Today, back in Fortaleza, photography allows her new experiences and ways of seeing and understanding the world.

About the photo shoot

“Go, malandro!” It was killing or dying. He fought bravely under the feverish glances of those who bet and drank, the Sunday fun in that inland city of Bahia. Malandro went, bruised eyes, toe marks under the plucked feathers, jumped, struck the spur in the adversary. Sometimes he leaned on the other in an attempt to catch his breath. I speak of men and their fighting cocks.

Suelena Moreira

From Paraíba, based in Fortaleza, is a documentary photographer. It is through photography that she explores a world of possibilities, and the people she meets on this path are her inexhaustible sources of inspiration.

About the photo shoot

Balbino, a community of fishermen of great courage, they live and preserve an environmental area, respect nature and take from it their livelihood. Dignity, work, solidarity and culture are the values that permeate the life of this community.

Tony Ferreira

Who is from Uruburetama is a copyright photographer. The passion for photography has become a matter of eternal love. With light and shadow, he seeks to expel his demons and, through photography, to meet people mixing with them in the plasticity of the instant captured, which bothers, accommodates and goes far beyond the image.

About the photo shoot

This is a story with no beginning, middle and end, but images that mingle in points of reflection: How many masks do we have? What masks do we wear in every situation of our lives? What is shown is just what we allow to be shown? Mysteries of our perception

Claudia Xavier Photography, in Claudia’s life, is magic. She loves to look, see, feel and grasp the moment forever, and this relationship goes beyond feelings and literally drives away her ghosts.

About the photo shoot

Crack is a disease. A game that start with friendships, drinking, in night clubs, and suddenly, unnoticed, it takes over your life and affects an entire family. Many people think that crack is a refuge, but it is just a one way road.