The Word Magazine » Office

The throw away project: Jimmy Edgar

Ulrike Biets — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 07:36:41 +0000

When we met Jimmy Edgar at Dour festival, he was holding a bottle of whiskey in one hand and his buddy Otto von Shirach with the other. We asked him to let go of Otto and take our disposable camera instead. Which he did. The first single of Jimmy’s new album ‘XXX’ is called Hot Raw Sex and by the looks of the pics he shot for us, the man is for real.

Photography and captions Jimmy Edgar

"Should I put on some lipstick before we do this?"

"Stay like this while I show you my 'intensions'"

"Re: 'look what I did to you', perfection too bad it's not permanent"

"Despite falling out of bed head wounds, cigarette burns and chest xrays we are actually quite normal bloodsuckers"

"When the flash is too bright black nails licking bleeding lips"

"Re: 'can I wear your shirt?' yes, can I wear your everything?"

"Don't scare me like that, xoxo"

"From this angle is how I will steal your heart"

"And this is how I will steal yours"

"I have a cardboard play house in Berlin, and this weekend I don't give a fuck about being in complete disarray"

The throw away project: The Black Box Revelation

Randa Wazen — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:20:48 +0000

When we caught up with Jan and Dries of two-man band The Black Box Revelation at Les Ardentes, they were in the midst of their summer festival marathon. The boys were happy to capture their gypsy lifestyle with a disposable camera and got so carried away that when we ran into them a few hours later, they had already gotten through the entire film. We gave them a second one, and both cameras just arrived in our mailbox this week, along with a handwritten note. Here’s the result of their recent adventures throughout Belgium, Germany, France and the Netherlands, clearly demonstrating that life on the road is not half as glamorous as one could imagine, but it sure looks like fun times.

Looking for a portrait photographer with a twist

Nicholas Lewis — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:06:58 +0000

We’ll be throwing a prom-influenced party in September, to mark the begining of the school year (and give us a good reason to bring out our dust-covered tuxedos and cheesy pick-up lines). As such, we’re looking for a portrait photographer we could work with to create a yearbook, along the same lines as the photographs you see below. If you think you can pull off what will surely be an ambitious and head-twisting project, drop us a mail at n.lewis@thewordmagazine.be. We’re looking to get the ball rolling on this by end of August at the latest.

The throw away project: Pete Doherty

Randa Wazen — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:46:22 +0000

Imagine getting a festival headliner to take part in our “Throw away project” but not being able to get hold of the camera once he’s filled his part of the deal. Frustrating, right?

Well, that’s exactly what happened when Pete Doherty snapped the entire journey from his dressing room until the moment he hit the stage with Babyshambles at Les Ardentes, even inviting the massive crowd that gathered to say “cheese” for a few photos (scroll down for footage of the epic moment). Sadly, he left the disposable camera on an amp and when we rushed there in search of it, it was nowhere to be seen. Suspecting it ended up packed with the rest of the band’s gear, we approached him via Twitter, asking him to send it back to us. He kindly replied: “I def. will, if I find it. Cheers!” In the meantime, here are some shots picturing him with our beloved camera, starting with us explaining its various functions such as triggering the flash.

Here’s our man capturing the audience as he steps onstage. Fast forward to 1.00 for a load of the action.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The throw away project: HEALTH

Randa Wazen — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:09:11 +0000

Following up on Jamie Lidell’s backstage shots, here’s part two of our Throw Away Project with HEALTH. The American noise-rockers happily snapped each other with one of our disposable cameras after their mind-blowing gig at Les Ardentes festival. Upon returning the camera, drummer BJ warned us that there would be “some crazy shit on there”. We’ll leave it up to you to guess what’s pictured on the last photo…

Here’s what the boys took with our disposable camera right after the gig:

The throw away project: Jamie Lidell

Randa Wazen — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:00:43 +0000

What would happen if we handed out disposable cameras to some of the acts touring the country’s festivals this summer and asked them to click away from every angle possible (backstage, on stage, whatever)? This is exactly what we did, starting with Belgian festival Les Ardentes, where Jamie Lidell and his girlfriend (Lindsey Rome, director of the wicked videos for The Ring and I Wanna Be Your Telephone) were only too happy to oblige (she spent the better part of her man’s showcase hiding beneath his table, capturing all the action). Shots include backstage posing, pre-gig hugs and even a close-up of Jamie’s beat-down funky golden shoes. More to come very soon…

Below are your usual festival pictures taken from the front stage area:

And here’s your exclusive peak at what was happening backstage:

Exclusive download

Nicholas Lewis — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 06:19:14 +0000

We got a little treat for you guys, courtesy of Converse. The cult sneakerbrand managed to lock Bethany Cosentino (Best Coast), Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend and Boys Like Us) and the ever so ubiquitous Kid Cudi in the studio, asking them to record an exclusive track under its ‘3 artists 1 song’ initiative.

Download the exclusive song here (starts from 16h00 today), and feel free to consider yourself lucky – only 150,000 downloads will be allowed in the entire world.

Lynch: Saying it without words

Renasha Khan — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:42:26 +0000

David Lynch’s career has spanned over 40 years, directing critically acclaimed films like Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (2001). What is less known is his parallel and extensive oeuvre of surrealist artwork. The Max Ernst Museum in Germany held a major exhibition this past winter, presenting more than 150 pieces by the American filmmaker. If you’re gutted you couldn’t make it to Brühl, the extensive book David Lynch: Dark Splendor is the perfect fix you’ve been aching for.

Words Renasha Khan

Emily Scream #1, 2008, Digigraphie

The book is a celebration of this exhibition and contains detailed essays giving a lucid insight into the cineaste’s creative vision – a vision extended beyond cinema, to animation, lithography, digital print, drawings, photography, installation and painting. What is clear from the book is that his allure and success as a filmmaker is rooted in a love and understanding of painting and fine arts.

The reproductions in Dark Splendor are comprehensive and remarkably captivating, engaging not only fans but also a wider audience too. The Distorted Nudes series (2004) displays Lynch’s obvious fascination with the macabre, something that is undoubtedly evident throughout his dramatic works such as his much lauded TV series Twin Peaks (1990). Such fluid diffusion of concepts across media can also be seen in the remarkably detailed pen and ink matchbook drawings. These depict surreal landscapes and dreamlike interiors inside matchbooks and are suffused with the same sense of foreboding and atmospherics, which are so characteristic of his cinematic offerings and are resonant throughout the prints in the monograph.

David Lynch: Dark Splendor is a fan’s dream in that it illustrates the sheer breadth of Lynch’s artistry and stands up to claims of his genius. One thing is for sure; Lynch’s place is secure as one of the most enigmatic and quixotically creative energies of the 20th century.

David Lynch, (1946-)

Untitled from the Industrial Motives series, undated, photographs

Untitled from the Distorted Nudes series, 2004, digital print

Buy here

David Lynch: Dark Splendour
Edited by Werner Spies, texts by Dietmar Dath, Stefanie Diekmann, Thomas W. Gaethgens, Andreas Platthaus, Peter-Klaus Schuster, Werner Spies, graphic design by KOMA AMOK
English 2010
352 pp., 346 ills.
Published by Hatje Cantz, Berlin

Skin, the videos. Skin, the pictures.

Nicholas Lewis — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:35:04 +0000

The lovely folks at Sep Stigo Films directed and produced two short films for the photography exhibition and after-party we organised back in April.

The first, shot at Delvaux, was projected during the party, greeting and entertaining guests whilst waiting to get in.

The second, shot during the exhibition’s Collectors’ Brunch, gets some of the exhibiting artists talking.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And here are some pictures Melika took at both the opening and the party itself.

Rolling rolling…

Nicholas Lewis — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:01:41 +0000

We’re quite often given cars to test out and toy around with, but very rarely do they warrant a mention on these here pages. Given the sheer power of this one, the unbelievable amounts of envious looks we were given (yes, even we were suprised how much cachet people seem to attach to four-wheelers) and the, lets face it, pointy relevance of being given what can only be described as an urban tank on the day our Breakthrough Issue hit the street, we couldn’t help but gloat at little. The make is Toyota, the model type is the Land Cruiser and by golly did we enjoy looking down on all you minions for an entire week. That’s until we had to give it back and hop back into our…we won’t tell.

Photography Yassin Serghini