from looking to seeing

Art Power by Boris Groys

ALX — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:49:55 +0000

Art has its own power in the world, and is as much a force in the power play of global politics today as it once was in the arena of cold war politics. Art, argues distinguished theoretician Boris Groys, is hardly a powerless commodity subject to the art market’s fiats of inclusion and exclusion. In Art Power, Groys examines modern and contemporary art according to its ideological function. Art, Groys writes, is produced and brought before the public in two ways — as a commodity and as a tool of political propaganda.

Cloud Formations

admin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:09:48 +0000

Axel Antas’s recent works deepen his related investigations into the relationship between man and nature, and in new ways of conjuring time and space through image-making. These concerns might be best described as being a meditation on how the romantic traditions in modern picture-making might be remade for and continued in the twenty first century. Baudelaire argued that “romanticism and modern art are one and the same thing, in other words: intimacy [and] yearning for the infinite… romanticism is a child of the North… dreams and fairytales are children of the mist…The North, is suffering and anxiety, takes comfort in imagination.”

Antas seems to interrogate these propositions, by creating startlingly new images which nevertheless are inheritors of the romantic tradition. The artist offers us a series of apparent contradictions, conjuring infinite space and intangible atmosphere through novel and unexpected means. Intimacy and the infinite might seem incompatible qualities, but Antas’s recent works marry the two with grace.

The artist offers us a series of apparent contradictions, conjuring infinite space and intangible atmosphere through novel and unexpected means. Intimacy and the infinite might seem incompatible qualities, but Antas’s recent works marry the two with grace.
by Axel Antas

Rien ne va Plus in Maastricht (The Netherlands)

admin — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 23:11:40 +0000

Architectural instute NAiM/Bureau Europa in Maastricht (The Netherlands) presents Rien ne va Plus. This research resulted in an exhibition is developed by the Danish-Dutch architectural firm Powerhouse Company and examines the legitimacy of architecture against the backdrop of the current economic crisis. Powerhouse Company looks at the construction industry and the economic, social and cultural mechanisms behind it.

The reader Rien ne va Plus is a collection of texts by authors such as George Soros, Paul Krugman, Bruno Latour, Bart Lootsma, Saša Randić, Zvi Hecker and Nanne de Ru and Charles Bessard of Powerhouse Company. The graphic design is by Experimental Jetset. To obtain a free copy please contact rieke@powerhouse-company.com.

The exhibition Rien ne va Plus features 3D-diagrams designed and build by Powerhouse Company, along with films, texts and images. It will be on show until the 10th of January 2009. NAiM/Bureau Europa, Avenue Céramique 226, 6221 KX Maastricht, The Netherlands, T +31(0)43-350 3020.

During the course of the exhibition, Powerhouse Company will organize a range of debates between architects and other practitioners within the field, on the issues addressed in the exhibition and reader. Coming events will take place on 8 November 2009 and 10 January 2010.

via http://www.archdaily.com/

Maldives Cabinet Holds Underwater Meeting

admin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 22:37:06 +0000

The government of the Maldives has held a cabinet meeting underwater and the President Mohamed Nasheed of Maldives tried to call attention to the real possibility that his low-lying island will disappear due to sea level rise. Seated around a table and using hand signals and slates, the cabinet endorsed an “SOS” message from the Maldives to be presented at the U.N. climate change summit in Copenhagen. to highlight the threat of global warming to the low-lying Indian Ocean nation.

via: pruned.blogspot.com, news.bbc.co.uk

Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival

admin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:29:10 +0000

SKIF stands for Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival, it is dedicated to the memory of Sergey Kuryokhin the internationally acclaimed Russian composer, avant-garde artist and musician, performer, and an influential figure in Russian culture. In 1991 he caused a veritable media uproar with his appearance on the Russian TV show “5th Wheel”. It was one of his semi-improvised acts of performance art, broadcast live: he proved that anything was possible to prove, even that “Lenin was a mushroom”. According to the English Wikipedia, he thereby created one of the first popular media viruses in the Russian media. Here is English-subtitled version of this legendary piece of “Russia in the 90s history”.

Kuryokhin’s media virus thesis: Lenin is a Mushroom

After Kuryokhin’s death in 1996 his wife established the Foundation and Festival to continue to promote contemporary music and arts in and from Russia. SKIF-1 and SKIF-2 were held in 1997 and 1998 in New York City, SKIF-3 moved to Kuryokhin’s home town St Petersburg where it is held since then.

The concept of the Festival is derived from Sergey Kuryokhin’s legendary project “Pop-Mechanika” which gathered on stage artists from the most varied backgrounds: musicians of Rock, Jazz, Classical music, Folk as well as poets, dancers, clowns and even animals. One can get an impression of the “Pop-Mechanika” spirit here.

In his project Sergey Kuryokhin accepted no artistic boundaries, and this lies at the core of the SKIF festival concept. Each year the Festival presents new names in contemporary, progressive and original music from Jazz to Electronic Music, from World Music to Noise and Experimental.

Wow Russia

admin — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:27:29 +0000

I invite you to take a look at this stunning result of the graduate work from British Higher School of Art and Design student Elena Marus from Moscow. This web project portrays and explains with fresh style and humour Russia’s flagship symbols and emblems ranging from samovar and cheburashka to astronauts. It also includes a short survival dictionary, explaining for example how to attract as well as detract attention or lower the price on Russian souvenirs, which are as comic as they are useful.

Although the site is directed at the foreign visitor of modern day Russia, some of humour of Elena’s comments might get lost to the completely Russia-uninitiated English reader: many of the puns depend on some knowledge of the so-called Russian mentality and current issues. But this is why both Russians and non-Russian speakers will enjoy this refreshing piece of inter-cultural dialogue.

http://www.wowrussia.com/