A collection of writings about place space writing and art …
Brassaï’s close-ups of graffiti carved and painted on Parisian city walls were first seen in the Surrealist magazine Minotaure in 1933, however he would continue to photograph images of graffiti for the next three decades, culminating in the publication of the book, Graffiti, in 1961. With this project, ‘the eye of Paris’ as he was called […]
I write because I passionately want to speak. Even though writing is only giving me the great measure of silence.
— Clarice Lispector, Água Viva. (New Directions, June 13, 2012) Originally published August 1973.
A gladness in the air feels almost too cool against the skin. The day is ending not in grey but in pale blue. A hazy blue is even reflecting off the stones of the street. It hurts to live, but the pain is remote. Feeling doesn’t matter.
— Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet. (Penguin […]
Ghost signs, as we have seen, haunt the margins of many zones. Here, fixed categories blur before our eyes. These faded imprints, inked or carved on shop face or wall, elide past, present, future, materiality, insubstantiality, presence and absence. To those that care to listen, they murmur of long-forgotten brands — cigarettes, flour, razors — […]
they thought I had guts they were wrong I was only frightened of more important things
— Charles Bukowski, from “Wall Clock,” Open All Night: New Poems. (Black Sparrow Press, September 1, 2000)
I don’t do anything with my life except romanticize and decay with indecision.
— Allen Ginsberg, The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice: First Journals and Poems: 1937-1952. (Da Capo Press; 1st Da Capo Press Ed edition November 1, 2006)
Ma colère ne changera pas les choses du tout au tout, si, elle les changera du tout au tout, ce qui veut dire que j’en viendrai à ce que je ne cesse de regretter de ne pas être : un homme différemment conformé, capable de trouver le verbe rétensif, réservé, recoudé, abstensif, affirmatif, dont toutes […]
via Antonin Artaud – Ma colère… — BEAUTY WILL SAVE THE WORLD
In March 1970, a traveler now living in Rotterdam paid a visit to New York City. Jaap Breedveld was in his 40s at the time. Like many tourists, he took photos that reflect the typical itinerary of a sightseer from overseas, like Times Square (above, with the old Howard Johnson’s at 46th Street on the […]
via What a tourist saw on a trip to New York in 1970 — Ephemeral New York
Naked Cities Journal 
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