Kim Jong Il Looking at Things
by Joao Rocha
Photographs: various photographers; edited by Joao Rocha
Text: Marco Bohr
Publisher: Jean Boite Editions
190 pages
Pictures: 74 color illustrations
Year: First published in 2012
ISBN: 978-2-36568-002-8
Price: 65 €
Comments: Sixth edition; Hardcover; Collection "Follow Me, Collecting Images Today"; 16,7 x 24 cm; Graphic design by Renaud Othnin-Girard; Bilingual edition English and French.
Kim Jong Il Looking at Things is one of the most followed, shared and imitated monothematic Tumblr in recent years. Collected by João Rocha, this uninterrupted series of photographs of North Korea's Dear Leader looking at things fascinates with its formal rigor and intensity. Without removing these photographs their primary function - to raise Kim Jong-Il to an iconic rank - this series forces a shift in the purpose of propaganda. The icon changes to taxonomy, the viewer is being watched, and the meaning of this images beaks away.
Accompanied by an essay by Marco Bohr entitled Looking at Kim Jong-Il Looking at Things, the book reveals the springs of our fascination for these accumulated images on the Internet - these memes - analyzing how a series of photographs apparently innocent becomes viral and attractive. By publishing Kim Jong Il Looking at Things in the collection FOLLOW ME, Collecting Images Today, Jean Boîte Éditions continues to highlight another art scene, which establishes the online collector as a creator, and the ephemeral in the perennial.
« [The book] ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous, but the unconscious humour in the images derives from the fact that, no matter how humble the object, each picture has been given the same portentous, formulaic treatment. »
– Martin Parr and Gerry Badger in The Photobook : A History Volume III, Phaidon Press Limited, 2014, London
« The spare, almost clinical look of the images (…) coupled with the often profoundly mundane nature of the objects at hand lend the entire portfolio a tone that is one part humorous and three parts crazy. […] Fortunately for all of us, the Dear Leader lives on in Rocha’s book, where we can look at him looking at things to our collective hearts’ content. »
– Time
« Are these pictures the works of North Korean photographers? Of Joao Rocha? Or of the web swarm that shares, reblogs, and forwards them? Memes owe their existence to multiple authors, while the book as a definite composition necessarily has an identifiable author. »
– Texte Zür Kunst
More books by Joao Rocha
more books tagged »Portuguese« | >> see all
-
Lisboa, Cidade Triste e Alegre
by Costa Martins & Victor Palla
sold out -
Amazonia
by Paul Cupido
sold out -
A Portuguese Story (signed - last copy)
by Fausto Giaccone
sold out -
Open Space Office - Special Edition
by Tito Mouraz
sold out -
JAPAN DRUG (signed)
by António Júlio Duarte
sold out -
Regata Do Infante
by various photographers
Euro 95 76.00
more books tagged »documentary« | >> see all
-
Congo Belge en Images
by Carl De Keyzer
Euro 315 -
Our Ancestral Home (signed)
by Rob Hornstra
Euro 9.50 -
Our Ancestral Home Special Edition (signed + print)
by Rob Hornstra
Euro 132 -
Gathered Leaves Annotated (signed)
by Alec Soth
Euro 66 -
Beautiful, Still (signed)
by Colby Deal
Euro 60.50 -
The Unknown - Russia 2003 (signed)
by Rob Hornstra
Euro 75
more books tagged »North Korea« | >> see all
-
3DPRK (signed)
by Matjaž Tančič
Euro 44 -
North Korea - The Power of Dreams
by Xiomara Bender
sold out -
3DPRK (signed)
by Matjaž Tančič
sold out
more books tagged »Korean« | >> see all
Random selection from the Virtual bookshelf josefchladek.com
Kim Jong Il Looking at Things
by Joao Rocha
Photographs: various photographers; edited by Joao Rocha
Text: Marco Bohr
Publisher: Jean Boite Editions
190 pages
Pictures: 74 color illustrations
Year: First published in 2012
ISBN: 978-2-36568-002-8
Price: 65 €
Comments: Sixth edition; Hardcover; Collection "Follow Me, Collecting Images Today"; 16,7 x 24 cm; Graphic design by Renaud Othnin-Girard; Bilingual edition English and French.
Kim Jong Il Looking at Things is one of the most followed, shared and imitated monothematic Tumblr in recent years. Collected by João Rocha, this uninterrupted series of photographs of North Korea's Dear Leader looking at things fascinates with its formal rigor and intensity. Without removing these photographs their primary function - to raise Kim Jong-Il to an iconic rank - this series forces a shift in the purpose of propaganda. The icon changes to taxonomy, the viewer is being watched, and the meaning of this images beaks away.
Accompanied by an essay by Marco Bohr entitled Looking at Kim Jong-Il Looking at Things, the book reveals the springs of our fascination for these accumulated images on the Internet - these memes - analyzing how a series of photographs apparently innocent becomes viral and attractive. By publishing Kim Jong Il Looking at Things in the collection FOLLOW ME, Collecting Images Today, Jean Boîte Éditions continues to highlight another art scene, which establishes the online collector as a creator, and the ephemeral in the perennial.
« [The book] ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous, but the unconscious humour in the images derives from the fact that, no matter how humble the object, each picture has been given the same portentous, formulaic treatment. »
– Martin Parr and Gerry Badger in The Photobook : A History Volume III, Phaidon Press Limited, 2014, London
« The spare, almost clinical look of the images (…) coupled with the often profoundly mundane nature of the objects at hand lend the entire portfolio a tone that is one part humorous and three parts crazy. […] Fortunately for all of us, the Dear Leader lives on in Rocha’s book, where we can look at him looking at things to our collective hearts’ content. »
– Time
« Are these pictures the works of North Korean photographers? Of Joao Rocha? Or of the web swarm that shares, reblogs, and forwards them? Memes owe their existence to multiple authors, while the book as a definite composition necessarily has an identifiable author. »
– Texte Zür Kunst
More books by Joao Rocha
more books tagged »Portuguese« | >> see all
-
Lisboa, Cidade Triste e Alegre
by Costa Martins & Victor Palla
sold out -
Amazonia
by Paul Cupido
sold out -
A Portuguese Story (signed - last copy)
by Fausto Giaccone
sold out -
Open Space Office - Special Edition
by Tito Mouraz
sold out -
JAPAN DRUG (signed)
by António Júlio Duarte
sold out -
Regata Do Infante
by various photographers
Euro 95 76.00
more books tagged »documentary« | >> see all
-
Congo Belge en Images
by Carl De Keyzer
Euro 315 -
Our Ancestral Home (signed)
by Rob Hornstra
Euro 9.50 -
Our Ancestral Home Special Edition (signed + print)
by Rob Hornstra
Euro 132 -
Gathered Leaves Annotated (signed)
by Alec Soth
Euro 66 -
Beautiful, Still (signed)
by Colby Deal
Euro 60.50 -
The Unknown - Russia 2003 (signed)
by Rob Hornstra
Euro 75
more books tagged »North Korea« | >> see all
-
3DPRK (signed)
by Matjaž Tančič
Euro 44 -
North Korea - The Power of Dreams
by Xiomara Bender
sold out -
3DPRK (signed)
by Matjaž Tančič
sold out
more books tagged »Korean« | >> see all
Random selection from the Virtual bookshelf josefchladek.com
Kim Jong Il Looking at Things
by Joao Rocha
Photographs: various photographers; edited by Joao Rocha
Text: Marco Bohr
Publisher: Jean Boite Editions
190 pages
Pictures: 74 color illustrations
Year: First published in 2012
ISBN: 978-2-36568-002-8
Price: 65 €
Comments: Sixth edition; Hardcover; Collection "Follow Me, Collecting Images Today"; 16,7 x 24 cm; Graphic design by Renaud Othnin-Girard; Bilingual edition English and French.
Kim Jong Il Looking at Things is one of the most followed, shared and imitated monothematic Tumblr in recent years. Collected by João Rocha, this uninterrupted series of photographs of North Korea's Dear Leader looking at things fascinates with its formal rigor and intensity. Without removing these photographs their primary function - to raise Kim Jong-Il to an iconic rank - this series forces a shift in the purpose of propaganda. The icon changes to taxonomy, the viewer is being watched, and the meaning of this images beaks away.
Accompanied by an essay by Marco Bohr entitled Looking at Kim Jong-Il Looking at Things, the book reveals the springs of our fascination for these accumulated images on the Internet - these memes - analyzing how a series of photographs apparently innocent becomes viral and attractive. By publishing Kim Jong Il Looking at Things in the collection FOLLOW ME, Collecting Images Today, Jean Boîte Éditions continues to highlight another art scene, which establishes the online collector as a creator, and the ephemeral in the perennial.
« [The book] ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous, but the unconscious humour in the images derives from the fact that, no matter how humble the object, each picture has been given the same portentous, formulaic treatment. »
– Martin Parr and Gerry Badger in The Photobook : A History Volume III, Phaidon Press Limited, 2014, London
« The spare, almost clinical look of the images (…) coupled with the often profoundly mundane nature of the objects at hand lend the entire portfolio a tone that is one part humorous and three parts crazy. […] Fortunately for all of us, the Dear Leader lives on in Rocha’s book, where we can look at him looking at things to our collective hearts’ content. »
– Time
« Are these pictures the works of North Korean photographers? Of Joao Rocha? Or of the web swarm that shares, reblogs, and forwards them? Memes owe their existence to multiple authors, while the book as a definite composition necessarily has an identifiable author. »
– Texte Zür Kunst
More books by Joao Rocha
more books tagged »Portuguese« | >> see all
-
Lisboa, Cidade Triste e Alegre
by Costa Martins & Victor Palla
sold out -
Amazonia
by Paul Cupido
sold out -
A Portuguese Story (signed - last copy)
by Fausto Giaccone
sold out -
Open Space Office - Special Edition
by Tito Mouraz
sold out -
JAPAN DRUG (signed)
by António Júlio Duarte
sold out -
Regata Do Infante
by various photographers
Euro 95 76.00
more books tagged »documentary« | >> see all
-
Congo Belge en Images
by Carl De Keyzer
Euro 315 -
Our Ancestral Home (signed)
by Rob Hornstra
Euro 9.50 -
Our Ancestral Home Special Edition (signed + print)
by Rob Hornstra
Euro 132 -
Gathered Leaves Annotated (signed)
by Alec Soth
Euro 66 -
Beautiful, Still (signed)
by Colby Deal
Euro 60.50 -
The Unknown - Russia 2003 (signed)
by Rob Hornstra
Euro 75
more books tagged »North Korea« | >> see all
-
3DPRK (signed)
by Matjaž Tančič
Euro 44 -
North Korea - The Power of Dreams
by Xiomara Bender
sold out -
3DPRK (signed)
by Matjaž Tančič
sold out
more books tagged »Korean« | >> see all
Random selection from the Virtual bookshelf josefchladek.com