#with the photographs taken by Charles Marville in the 1860s of those very places

[secretmellowblog]

I hope tumblr doesn’t die because No other social media site is as good for long, thoughtful, nuanced analyses of media. Yeah tumblr is also full of dumb shallow hot takes and shitposts, but you can make dumb shallow hot takes and shitposts anywhere —-there are no other popular social media sites that let you easily format and share long essays on the media you enjoy, and then have conversations around those long essays.

Fandom on all the other big social websites just seems so utterly …shallow. And it’s not because people on other websites aren’t thoughtful or don’t have deep things to say, but because these sites’ formats do not allow for any kind of long nuanced conversations.

Tiktok? Things have to be crammed into a super short video with an attention grabbing headline, and you can’t hyperlink sources. Instagram? Everything has to be in an image format with strict limits on length, and nothing will be shown to your followers anyway because of how Instagram’s algorithm works, and also no hyperlinks. Twitter? Strict character limits, and if you split it into threads it means someone can retweet a part of your essay completely out of context, and also very little freedom with formatting.

It frustrates me so much. If I go into the Tumblr Les Mis fandom I’ll find really compelling long essays on the original novel (including essays being written for the ongoing book club) on the story’s historical context, or the parallels between different characters and their narrative foils, or the way the politics were defanged for certain adaptations, or the way Victor Hugo’s personal life and failings affected the novel. But on tiktok I’ll get the same five shallow stale jokes from 2013 over and over, or maybe the same “DID U KNO THAT IN THE MUSICAL JAVERT AND VALJEAN SING THE SAME LEITMOTIF” style of basic Intro To Les Mis 101 For Babies media analysis (which is what Tiktok considers deep media analysis), or stale “LOL JAVERT ACTS GAY” style jokes as if we’re living in the early 2000s and calling a character gay is still a funny punchline. And it’s impossible to have any kind of deeper thoughtful discussions than “DID U KNOW <x Kool Fact>” or “lol <shallow observational joke>” on tiktok because the platform just isn’t built for building niche communities around in depth conversations. it’s built to churn out bland generic content for as wide an audience as possible, which means pointing out a small detail like an Easter egg and calling it “cool” is deep media analysis, because you cant have longer more in depth conversations without alienating people. And I hate it. Bc like, it’s not because there aren’t smart clever thoughtful people on Tiktok— there are—it’s because Tiktok isn’t built for these conversations, and anyone who wants to have them has to really fight against the things the website encourages or prioritizes!

Or like, if I go into the LOTR fandom on Tumblr, I’ll find tons of extremely long analysis and fanfic, and analysis of queer readings of the story. On Instagram people will still shriek in terror if you suggest the characters are gay, and most of the popular lotr posts are stale memes recycled from like 2007. There’s really no room for thoughtful media analysis, and even if you did create it, instagram’s algorithm would make sure no one saw your post anyway.

And everyone’s going to say “the algorithm shows you what you’ve seen before so maybe it’s your fault ~” or whatever but i do look for things I want! I do! “The algorithm” doesn’t know me or what I want or value or care about beyond this meaningless surface level.

The only thing that was worthwhile about these sites was the great visual art people were creating, but now the websites are overwhelmed with meaningless soulless machine-generated AI glurge, and it sucks. It just really, really sucks.

I’m honestly confused about why people don’t use tumblr….There’s no character limits! You have freedom with post formatting, and can insert images throughout textposts to illustrate specific points you’re making beneath the paragraphs where they’re necessary! You can add hyperlinks, linking to your sources! People can reblog your entire essay and share it, and then add on with commentary that then becomes part of a larger conversation! People can find your stuff through the tagging system! Reblogging means posts stay in circulation for years instead of being dead 30 minutes after they’re uploaded! If you want to have genuinely interesting text conversations about a piece of media, there really isn’t a better social media website for it anywhere.

To be clear, I’m definitely not saying Tumblr media analysis is *always* clever and thoughtful or etc etc. there are shitposts and nonsense here too (plenty of which I’ve created lol.) I’m saying that Tumblr gives people the tools for in-depth insightful analysis to happen. Whether people choose to do it or not is their own decision XD. But the reason lengthy in-depth conversations and book clubs are even possible here is because Tumblr is built for allowing these conversations to happen, in a way other sites simply aren’t.

It’d really suck if it died, because it’d be a huge blow to…being able to easily find long insightful in-depth media analysis written by fans. I currently don’t think there’s anything that could replace it.

[parisaftermarville]

The Project

Piercing Time – Paris after Marville and Atget – 1865-2013

The book Piercing Time presents a rephotographic project which has examined the archive of topographic photographs of Paris made by Charles Marville between 1865 and 1877, first under Georges Haussmann and then under the Third Republic. The book addresses photographic representation of urban history from a number of angles through essays by three authors and contains over 450 reproductions of photographs and maps. The book will be released in English in October 2013 by Intellect Press (UK) and distributed by the University of Chicago Press.

The collection juxtaposes Marville’s photographs with those made by Peter Sramek in identifying and revisiting 184 locations to make contemporary rephotographs using a large format camera. The selection of sites was made through archival research in the Musée Carnavalet and follows a line through Paris as a metaphor of the linear avenue, archaeological slice and of the percements des boulevards which typified the Haussmann renovation of Paris in the 1860s. Images by Eugène Atget from the early 20th century of the same sites add a temporal and methodological layer to the discussion.

Analytically, the book will allow for an examination of how the representation of urban space reflects attitudes towards the city, urban development and photography itself as a documentary medium. This has been accomplished through analytical commentary written by the photographer, essays by two art historians and the use of edited interviews with local Parisians conducted by the author. With the inclusion of period maps, the representation of cities through both photography and cartography can be examined. The advent of photography as a medium for representing, explicating and justifying 19th century urban development is addressed in the essay by urbanist Dr. Min Kyung Lee while attitudes towards the intrusive demolitions of the Haussmann plan are discussed by art historian Dr. Shalini Le Gall with reference to Marville’s photographs of the 1870s.

Rephotography as a methodology offers an approach which combines art practice with historical research. It is a form of visual archaeology. In addition to being a form of contemporary art production, the work contributes to the studies of photographic, architectural and urban history.

The comparisons between photographers and time periods allows for developing new thinking in relation to documentary methodologies. Marville is not well–studied and placing his work alongside Atget’s, which is so well–known, the project sheds new light on both archives. Through the act of remaking the images, many insights have come to light which are not evident when simply looking at the prints and these will hope to add to the knowledge of photographic history.

From a scholarly and archival perspective, the book will provide an accurate description of locations, labelling and cataloguing information which can aid future researchers. The Marville collection has not been well documented and published. Despite its importance for studies of 19th century photography, one primarily finds only a few images reproduced in historical overviews of photography. The few books which have been available on Marville are in French and many contain errors which have been identified by the author through the process of careful consultation of historical maps and the revisiting of the sites. Care has been taken to ensure that this volume will accurately reflect the historical archive and enable the reader to clearly gain insights into both the photographic materials and the urban topography which they record.

Although the concept of ‘then and now’ is not uncommon in popular publications, the potential for deeper analysis is often missed. The rephotographs are inaccurately made, the topographical data contains errors and there is little analysis of the photographic methodologies and usage of the medium from a historical and social perspective. Inclusion of accurate period maps is often missing, as is the discussion of the cultural meanings of photographs and mapping in the historical and contemporary contexts. This publication attempts to address these areas both in terms of presenting accurate data and providing contextual analysis. By basing the analysis in the physical process of remaking Marville’s views, new knowledge has resulted which will add to the understanding of both Marville and Atget’s methods. These outcomes are discussed in the texts.

Publications of Marville’s photographs have also been very few. The three available monographs do not provide colour reproduction of the collection showing the quality of the albumen originals. In fact, the only comprehensive book reproduces modern prints from the plates rather than period albumen prints. Piercing TIme will be made using new, high quality digital copywork provided by the Paris museums photography agency and printed in colour, thus aiming to provide a useful research tool which reflects the actual archive collection.

With Sarah Kennel curating the first major exhibition of Marville’s photographs and its opening at the National Gallery in Washington in October 2013, the time is opportune for this publication to add to her work. The exhibition will then tour to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, followed by Houston, Texas. PiercingTime will contribute to this new examination of the topographic representation of Paris in the nineteenth-century.