Shell, Hannah Rose; Hide and Seek: Camouflage, Photography and the Media of Reconnaissance (2012) ICI Shelf: Barthes’ Tear FIRST LINE: “Here’s one way of not showing up.” LAST LINE: “What predators, real or imagined, might be revealed by a stenciled outline?” ICI HISTORY: First Line: Today at … Continue readingLIBRARY SHELF: Hide and Seek
Leach, Neil; Camouflage (1996) ICI Shelf: Current Project First Line: “In his movie Zelig, Woody Allen depicts a character, Leomard Zelig, who quickly assimilates to those around him, growing a beard in a matter of seconds when surrounded by men with beards, and changing his … Continue readingLIBRARY SHELF: Camouflage
A small plaque on the side of the Great Eastern Hotel in London marks the site of the old Bethlehem Hospital. The sign obscures the other name for the site. As W. G. Sebald schooled us in Austerlitz, at this same place, “the insane and … Continue readingThis is Bedlam
A red palm print near an otherwise immaculately maintained doorway in Santa Monica. It resists inclusion in the visual marginalia that defines most urban sites. The red palm is the sign of the gypsy, of the palm reader, of the anarchist, and is used in … Continue readingThe Red Hand
Accession #: ICI-21300
We are the Associates of the Institute of Cultural Inquiry.
What happens when we apply western constructs to non-western archives?When the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún set out to record the world of the Aztecs in 1540, he complained about “hidden meanings that are unrecognizable.” In Book X of his 12 volume Florentine Codex, written in native Nahua with sections translated to Spanish, he … Continue readingFlorentine Codex … Continue readingFlorentine Codex
The ICI Associates contemplate the contents of the Manual of Lost Ideas. Parts of the Manual were eventually published in the ICI’s second major title, Benjamin’s Blind Spot: Walter Benjamin and the Premature Death of Aura. You can explore the Manual in an article written … Continue readingICI Research Team
When we became incorporated in the state of California we received an embosser with our corporate seal. We never understood the intended use of the seal but over the years we have experimented with the embosser on a number of surfaces in search of a … Continue readingICI Corporate Seal
The ICI Research Team for the Manual of Lost Ideas.