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momus
Momus -- born Nick Currie in Scotland, but since then a resident of London, Paris, New York, Tokyo and......read more

eight legs
Young rock romantics take their turn in the spotlight

Despite being either 18 (singer......read more

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[random inspiration]

icons
The American visual artist and writer David Wojnarowicz is among the most daring artists of our generation, who managed to be an iconoclast in love with an iconography addicted world that had already plasted the faces of Marilyn Monroe or Liz Taylor to museum walls, but was still somehow interested in the power of glamour art kept on playing within this system. Wojnarowicz then congregated more rebellious icons to rejoin our century and commit the crimes they might be bound to commit if among us. In his series "Arthur Rimbaud in NY", he photographed friends, lovers or himself, wearing a mask of Rimbaud, and performing such activities as shooting up heroine or hustling by street corners. Not the glossy party activities that some photographers in the 90s got in the habit of documenting, trying to portrait themselves and their friends as leading the amazing life even Hollywood could not have dreamed, as New York started exporting and the world consumed. All that, as if Nan Goldin, Diane Arbus, Nobuyoshi Araki or Walter Pfeiffer had never existed, with their much more questioning work. In such an environment, there would be no room for the work of an artist like David Wojnarowicz, who might be called a party pooper by the photographers perpetrating glass-eyed vice for baby dolls. - Ricardo Domeneck

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NEWS

10-08-07 Why Can't We Get Past False Cultural Equivalency? In recent years, says Minette Marrin, "it was genuinely hard to point out that cultures that treat women as irresponsible inferiors, that hang young gay men, mutilate criminals and silence debate are not equal to ours. They are inferior and it is not self-evidently racist to say so... We have moved on since then, supposedly, and surprisingly suddenly. [But] there are still signs that many people are in the grip of the old orthodoxy; its hold on public institutions and the public mind seems to be remarkably persistent. Read all about it on The Times.
10-08-07 Stolen Da Vinci Portrait Recovered Four men have been arraigned in a Scottish court in connection with the recovery of a stolen da Vinci masterpiece in Glasgow. The Madonna with the Yarnwinder was taken from Drumlanrig Castle, in Dumfries and Galloway, in August 2003. Police officers recovered the Ł30m painting at a solicitors' office in the centre of Glasgow on Thursday. More information on BBC.
10-08-07 India's Art Boom The Indian art world has more than changed. It has exploded. Prices have increased tenfold since 2002. In the last two years alone, they have nearly doubled. Read more on The New York Times.
10-05-07 UK Police - More To Do Than Censor Art That Offends Even if complaints from religious groups are already leading to widespread self-censorship by individuals and organisations who prefer to avoid persecution, and thus help save police time, there will always be some inadvertently offensive work, or more deliberate piece of mischief requiring investigation, prior to the issue of a ban... Read more on The Guardian.
10-05-07 Daniel Libeskind - Between Idealism And Concession So how did an intellectual purist become a developer's pet? Has the real-estate business found enlightenment? Or has Libeskind refashioned himself as a high-class hack, peddling a facsimile of the avant-garde to developers who wish to disguise their rapaciousness with a few aesthetic fripperies? Get more information on New York Magazine.
10-05-07 What Would You Pay If You Didn't Have To Pay At All? In the days since Radiohead released its new album for download under a pay-what-you-want policy, the band's fans have been participating in what amounts to a fascinating study in consumer behavior. Each donation is a sort of commentary: on the nature of fandom and band loyalty, on the indier-than-thou current rock scene, and on the worth of buying -- not sampling or stealing -- new music. Find out more about this on The New York Times.
10-04-07 Nureyev's Quest From adolescence on, Nureyev demonstrated an insatiable hunger for the arts -- dance, of course, which he pursued with a future saint's sense of vocation -- but also music, painting, theater, books and architecture. He was equally curious about people from foreign milieus, forging acquaintances the Soviet system would strictly forbid. Find out more on Bloomberg.
10-04-07 Tunisia's Secret Film Boom Their films are rarely show in Tunisia's 17 movie theaters. They are hard to find even in cinemas or video stores throughout the Arab world. But the productions of a group of pioneering female moviemakers have drawn international acclaim to film in Tunisia, where most are oblivious to their home-grown version of Hollywood. Read more on The Christian Science Monitor.
10-04-07 Artists Busted For Setting Up House In Mall The leader of an artists' cooperative has been sentenced to probation for setting up a secret apartment inside a shopping mall's parking garage as part of a project on mall life. Michael Townsend, 36, said he and seven other artists built the 750-square-foot apartment beginning in 2003 and lived there for up to three weeks at a time. The artists built a cinderblock wall and nondescript utility door to keep the loft hidden from the outside world. Read the entire article on Washington Post.
10-03-07 Video vs. Text: we need both It was interesting yet disappointing to read the Guardian article claiming that text is better than video in conveying information. Flasher publisher Ran Jak lashed out at the piece, stating, "Video is the unfiltered response to decades of misinformation that used to come only in text form." He went on to say, "Flasher viewers want to know what artists, musicians and film makers have to say, and they want that information without censorship or a writer's prejudices to get in the way." Flasher, he continued, believes that "text remains the best source for information on events as well as the irreplaceable form for literature. Video and text need to be combined carefully, as our editors do with increasing success each day."
10-03-07 Gallery Closes Nan Goldin Show Per Elton John Request The BALTIC Center for Contemporary Art in northeastern England, has closed an installation of 149 pictures by American photographer Nan Goldin, at Elton John's request. "After the removal of one image from the series it was no longer possible for BALTIC to exhibit the collection of works as the artist intended," the gallery said. More information on this case on Yahoo!.
10-03-07 UK Artist On Trial In Turkey For Art Work British artist Michael Dickinson is to go on trial next week accused of insulting the Turkish Prime Minister's dignity. Dickinson "was arrested for displaying a poster of his work entitled Good Boy. It shows Recep Tayyip Erdogan - the Turkish Prime Minister - as a dog on a leash made from the American flag." More about this on Northern Echo.
10-02-07 The Life Rudolf Nureyev Nureyev's influence on the world of ballet changed the perception of male dancers; in his own productions of the classics the male roles received much more choreography. Another important influence was his crossing the borders between classical ballet and modern dance by performing both. Today it is normal for dancers to receive training in both styles, but Nureyev was originator, and the practice was much criticized in his day.Nureyev, as a friend of his put it, did things that are “absolutely out of our habits.” He dropped ballerinas on the floor, threw dinner plates at people, and blew his nose on hotel towels. But Julie Kavanagh, in her “Nureyev: The Life” doesn’t go for the bait. Nureyev may have behaved badly, she says, but he was bigger than that. Read more about this on The New Yorker.
10-02-07 First File-Sharing Case Goes To Trial A group of record companies says Jammie Thomas has illegally shared music files including Enya and Swedish death metal online. Today, she will become the first of 26,000 people who have been sued by the recording industry to take the case to trial. Find out more about this on Los Angeles Times.
10-02-07 Do You Buy What You Say? Phonetic symbolism, as researchers call it, refers to phonemes - small units of sound - and the meaning each one conveys. Basically, sounds have meanings that are separate from the word that contains them. This symbolism may have an impact on consumers' choices, according to a study at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Read all about it on Philadelphia Inquirer.
10-01-07 Why Reading Is More Efficient Than Watching Video When you think of it, the time compression between reading and writing is quite astonishing: the thriller that lasts for half a plane journey will have taken half a year to write. By contrast, audio and video are not lossy compression. They are lossy expansion. They take more time to convey less meaning. More about this on The Guardian.
10-01-07 Explicit Sex In Dramas Has A Name: Hard-Core Art In the last few years, two American filmmakers, Vincent Gallo and John Cameron Mitchell, have depicted actual sex in their films -- and have not been shy about admitting it. Recently, the Oscar-winning director Ang Lee earned an NC-17 rating for his 'Lust, Caution.' These films and (HBO show 'Tell Me You Love Me') fall under 'hard-core art,' said Linda Williams, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of books on both pornography and cinema. Read more on The New York Times.
10-01-07 Wikipedia's Mounting Growing Pains Having just passed the 2-million article mark last week, Wikipedia is not the virginal expanse it once was. As Wikipedia's knowledge base has expanded to cover the highest-profile people, places and things, making an original contribution becomes a lot tougher. Get more information about this on Los Angeles Times.
09-28-07 Are Audiences Ready For Hollywood's Anti-War Fare? In the question of whether Hollywood can sell its antiwar agenda, perhaps the issue isn't liberal versus conservative, but earnest versus escapist. ... But Hollywood may not be the most reliable of institutions to serve as a national conscience. Movies are a business first, a harbinger second. And whether there's a substantial audience willing to fork over cash to see the new anti-war films is an open question. Read the entire article on Christian Science Monitor.
09-28-07 Publishing's New Frontier: The Mobile Phone Love Sky (1.3m 'copies' sold, a film in the offing) is the latest of a new best-selling type of story, the keitai shosetsu, literally 'portable (phone) novel', read not on a page but on your phone screen. Armed with the latest in mobiles, Japan's 'oyayubi zoku' or 'thumb tribe' are lapping up these novels, often written by teenage first-timers, themselves reared on the fast-paced, melodramatic world of anime....More about this on The Guardian.
09-28-07 Operas in Miniature Toronto's Tapestry New Opera Works is putting on a unique set of performances this weekend: its seventh batch of 'Opera Briefs,' successful composer-writer fertilizations that have given birth to five-minute baby operas. This year, there are 12 bouncing comedies, dramas, tragedies, romances - and one labelled as 'suspense. Find out more on Toronto Star.
09-27-07 And They Still Don't Let Any Of Them Kiss Each Other The number of gay characters depicted on TV is falling on network series but rising on cable, a study by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation found. In particular, cable leads the broadcast networks when it comes to placing gay characters in leading roles. Read more about this on Denver Post.
09-27-07 Sir Elton Defends Goldin Photo Elton John is confirming that he is the owner of a photo seized from exhibit by British police under child pornography laws. The photo, by renowned photographer Nan Goldin, "shows two young girls playing together in front of a kitchen sink. One is skimpily dressed, the other is naked and lies beneath her, knees bent and legs splayed towards the camera. Read more about this on The Times.
09-27-07 Poetry Society In Turmoil The board of the 97-year-old Poetry Society of America, whose members have included many of the most august names in verse, has been rocked by a string of resignations and accusations of McCarthyism, conservatism and simple bad management. The recent turmoil was driven, partly, by fierce discussion among board members earlier this year after they voted to award the Frost Medal, an annual honor given by the society, to John Hollander, a prolific poet and critic. Read more about this on The New York Times.
09-26-07 Italy Drops Charges Against Getty Curator Civil charges concerning looted art have been dropped against Marion True. But the more serious criminal trial against True, 58, will continue. The announcement came after a subdued ceremony in Rome's Ministry of Culture, where Getty officials confirmed their August pledge to return 40 of the 46 ancient artworks that Italy has claimed were looted and smuggled out of the country before being purchased by the Getty. Get more information about this on Los Angeles Times.
09-26-07 Beyond Tang: How The Space Race Influenced Art The space race affected American popular culture and art, from movies and television to architecture and design. ... Deciding which cultural offerings from those post-Sputnik years were deep and lasting and which were probably not (space-age bachelor-pad music? 'The Jetsons'? 'Barbarella'? Tang?) will always be topics of impassioned debate among space aficionados. But a half-century into that once-imagined orbital future, it has become a little easier to put the era into cultural perspective. Find out more on The New York Times.
09-26-07 Police Seize Nan Goldin Photo From Elton John A photo in Elton John's collection has been seized by police because it might break Britain's child pornography laws. The image, which featured two young girls one of whom was sitting down with her legs wide apart, was taken by the renowned photographer Nan Goldin. Read more about this on The Telegraph.
09-25-07 Classical Music Future In A Download Though classical music makes a respectable showing in iTunes, executives for compact disc purveyors from ArkivMusic to Brilliant Classics say their consumers are suspicious of downloads, fearing their music will be somehow swallowed up by their computer. Or, given the often-superior sound quality of compact discs, they don't see the point. Yet given the low-margin, long-view profits that have made classical music almost un-American in its lack of market performance, the digital domain is the best news in years - especially since the demise of CD retailers that once sustained the classical industry, such as Tower Records. Read the entire article on Philadelphia Inquirer.
09-25-07 Citizen Journalists All It started with a trickle, but television news operations are now awash in video and pictures submitted by ordinary folks. The much-buzzed-about phenomenon of citizen journalism is firmly entrenched, thanks to the spread of digital and cellphone cameras and the rise of an interactive culture. It is one sweet deal for the networks: small armies of tech-savvy volunteers in places where reporters aren't, offering their services free of charge. Read more about this on Washington Post.
09-25-07 So Who Needs An Agent? The problem is that there are many more writers than the market can bear, and to most publishers writers are about as important as farmers are to Tesco - they know that there is an endless supply of produce. Of course most of the unsolicited writing that lands on agents' desks is rubbish, but how can we be sure that the occasional gem will be discovered? The short answer is that we can't and, sadly, neither agents nor publishers lose any sleep over it. Find out more about this on The Guardian.
09-24-07 How Prisons Are Changing American Culture America's prisons and jails now house some 2.2 million inmates - roughly seven times the figure of the early 1970s. For years sociologists saw prisons - with their disproportionately poor, black, and uneducated populations - partly as mirrors of the social and economic disparities that cleave American life. Now, however, a new crop of books and articles are looking at the penal system not just as a reflection of society, but a force that shapes it. Read more about this on Boston Globe.
09-24-07 Forgetting In An Age Of Memory As digital-storage capacities reach seemingly boundless proportions, some thinkers are becoming nervous about the unintended consequences of memory technology. New forms of memory are permanent and accessible from anywhere. As their reach grows, scholars are asking if now - perhaps for the first time in human history - we need to find ways to forget. Find out more on Boston Globe.
09-24-07 Internet Radio On The Edge Some 55 million people listen to internet radio each week, a 26 percent jump from 2006. For those who remember the heyday of the D.J. as a cultural curator, it's a return to a past where the airwaves were filled with personalities who mattered as much as the tunes they were spinning. But there is a shadow looming over this renaissance. More about internet radio on The New York Times.
09-21-07 Paving Over The Matterhorn The once untouchable Alps are being turned into a huge and haughty playground for the rich, featuring luxury tower blocks, pyramids, and revolving hotels, as Switzerland's cantons seek to produce ever bigger and better tourist attractions in a bid to outdo each other. Already home to the highest cable car in Europe, the smaller neighbour to the Matterhorn is soon to be topped with a 117 metre steel and glass pyramid which will take it to a height of 4,000 metres. Get more information about this on The Guardian.
09-21-07 What We Didn't Say About Pavarotti When Luciano Pavarotti died last month, eulogists and obituary writers the world over wrote of his singularly incomparable voice, and of his superstar status in an age when classical musicians are relegated to general obscurity. And yet ... and yet ... This most beautiful tenor voice in living memory seemed gradually to lose its bearings... Before his death, he said repeatedly that he wanted to be remembered as an opera singer, but that was the profession he seemed to have betrayed. Find the whole story on The New Republic.
09-21-07 The Man Who Lives In A Theatre Joe Patten was instrumental in saving Atlanta's old Fox Theatre movie palace from demolitionin 1974, forming a nonprofit to buy the property from Southern Bell. Today, at 80, he lives in a one-of-a-kind housing arrangement. He lives rent-free in a stately 3,640-square-foot apartment under the onion domes, with 20-foot ceilings, leaded glass windows and balconies overlooking Ponce de Leon Avenue. Read more about this on Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
09-20-07 Iran keeps Picassos in basement Ruled by one of the most vehemently anti-Western governments in the world, Iran is, by many assessments, home to the most extensive collection of late 19th and 20th century Western art outside the West. It is a treasure trove of masters that is all but forgotten outside knowledgeable art circles because, for all but a few of the last 30 years, it has been virtually unseen. Not just the Picassos -- the Kandinskys, the Miros, the Warhols. The Monet, the Pissarro, the Toulouse-Lautrec, the Van Gogh. Possibly the best Jackson Pollock outside the U.S. Find out more about this on Latimes.
09-20-07 Hollywood Taking Serious Anti-War Stand Over the next few weeks, the war will land at many more local multiplexes, thanks to prominent feature films starring Robert Redford, John Cusack, Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones - and co-starring the war either in the background or in your face. It is unprecedented for so many Hollywood films to depict a war in anything but flattering terms while the country is still fighting it... Why now? Filmmakers feel many Americans are seeing a sanitized, bloodless view of the war in the mainstream media. Read all about it on San Francisco Chronicle.
09-20-07 World's Languages Dying Linguists believe half the languages in the world will be extinct by the end of the century. The 80 major languages such as English, Russian and Mandarin are spoken by about 80 per cent of the global population, while the 3,500 linguistic minnows have just 0.2 per cent of the world keeping them alive. The pace of language extinction we're seeing, it's really unprecedented in human history. Read more about this on The Independent.
09-19-07 At Virtual Concerts, Technology Determines Experience As classical music performances, complete with visuals, go online on Second Life and elsewhere, there are some technical hurdles to leap. "'It's an odd medium,' said John Shibley, the director of organizational learning at the consulting company EmcArts, which helped manage (chamber ensemble) Red's performance. 'It's sort of like listening to the radio and watching a puppet show, and the puppet show is not synched to the radio.'" Read the rest of this article on The New York Times.
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