One agent represented the talent for these fascinating films. According to the agent, the initial choice to play the central character in ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ was peter O’Toole until Maggie, this agent – now retired and writing books in the desert near Palm Springs – suggested Bowie as the only guy made for the role.
Mim became one of the leading artist’s agents in music and film in London from the 60s onwards. He put together director and talent for the film Sympathy for the Devil for producer Michael Pearson’s company Cupid Productions. Mim then set out for Morocco in search of the roots of Blues music, a trip he’d planned to undertake with his friend Brian Jones, before the legendary musician passed away. Michael and Cupid went on to produce the classic car-chase movie Vanishing Point, an iconic piece of Noir somehow pure in its portrayal of a modern driven but also random world.
Truth and veracity is not the point here, quite the opposite… it is rather about reinstating disbelief in the datafication system and drawing attention to the possibility of error, to the amplification of bias. The project is carnivalesque in its use of amplification…. or rather, by demonstrating that the algorithm itself is a source of grotesque amplification of bias. Is Father Ludo Vicarious that far-fetched from our current use of AI judgement in the judiciary system?
It felt a bit like we were interrupting something private as we filed in and saw this classical looking figure sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor, already free-associating and answering questions, while we went to look over his shoulder at his notebooks and marvelled at the detail in the notes and illustrations around his photos.
Where I meet bandleader Spencer Davis, among a bunch of other artists. The island is a nature reserve and has a unique history, feel and character, in part because there are practically no cars on the island – only golf carts, which you can rent by the day or the hour.
