The forgotten spaces

At work I have a desktop computer that’s dedicated to long-running processes—currently doing OCR on magazine archives—while I use a laptop to write and debug code. I have a few go-to videos I play on top of the background tasks, to offer a kind of virtual window out into the world when I need to look away from my text editor.

Two of my favorite options, both deemed “too fast moving” by nearby colleagues, are Bergensbanen: minutt for minutt (the 7 hour single take, the purest form of Norwegian slow television I’ve found online) and The Gunhilde Maersk container ship timelapse. The latter of these makes me think of Allen Sekula, who gave a good interview on the role of shipping in the global economy.

The container ship timelapse is shot by Toby Smith, who’s also posted a slower moving 90 minute view from a container ship, as seen in real time. Nothing is visible but the ocean and a distant horizon. Played at HD on a large screen, it has an amazingly soothing effect. This has emerged as the best option all around, and coincides nicely with my maritime-themed name plate (see also: The Loop).

Link via Jason Kottke (This post’s title is borrowed from Allan Sekula’s excellent film, The Forgotten Space.)

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What is a border?

From Jason Kottke’s weblog:

Today I learned that the US government considers the US border as extending 100 miles into the country. This means that states like Maine, Michigan, and Florida are entirely within the border area and 2/3 of the US population lives within the border.

constitutionfreezonemap

In an update to the post he explains that the border is actually more complicated than that. “Precise” and “linear” seem not at all how you would describe how borders actually behave in the world. There’s the 100 mile wide extended border, the functional equivalent border, and within those, the physical terrain where border stops occur and humans start getting involved. What your rights to privacy are in these areas seems pretty open to legal interpretation, and those rights are often abused by border patrol officers.

In addition to the This American Life episode he links to, it also reminds me of the On The Media series about the experience of being detained. It also makes me think of Francis Alÿs’s performance/video The Green Line where he physically traced the “green line” border through Jerusalem using a can of green paint.

Link

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