Back in February of 2008, I attended a concert with a good friend of mine. For a relatively casual afternoon affair, all the stops were pulled out. Headlining the show was then-quintessential Canadian songstress Feist, supported by the complete Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. The party was hosted by Ben Mulroney, and played host to all the goofy Olympic mascots: Quatchi, Miga, Sumi and Gordon Campbell.
It was the starting point for the events of what VANOC called the Cultural Olympiad — a two-year running program of dance, music, theatre, music and installation art that showcased for the world the diversity and creativity of BC’s artistic community. Two years to the day after Feist wowed the crowd at the Orpheum, the 2010 Winter Olympic Games were officially opened at BC Place. On display was some of the finest culture BC and Canada had to offer. The centrepiece of the opening ceremonies was BC’s own Shane Koyczan, whose impassioned spoken word piece brought damn near everyone to their feet. Our Olympics were to celebrate our creative prowess as much as our athletic grit.
But running alongside this celebration of BC arts was the spectre of massive financial cutbacks. Before the games even opened, the BC Liberals projected a 90% cut to provincial arts spending provided through the BC Arts Council for the 2010 budget (for what is still one of the best articles on this scheme, read this piece by Mark Leiren-Young of The Tyee). When the March 2nd Budget Lockup announcement rolled around, these cuts had been scaled back to 50%, a devastating blow to an arts sector that already received the least per capita funding of any Canadian province, at a mere $9.67.
South African visual artist Nicholas Hlobo creates large sculptural works that are expansive masses which at once feel oozey, voluptuous and highly structured. The contrast of femininity and masculinity is created by his use of dissimilar materials such as rubber inner tubes, ribbon, organza, lace and found objects.
Hlobo has accumulated an impressive portfolio since graduating from Wits Technikon in 2002. Born in Cape Town in 1975, he is now based in Johannesburg and is represented by Michael Stevenson Gallery.
“Through my works I attempt to create conversations that explore certain issues within my culture as a South African,” says Hlobo of his work in his Artist Statement. “The conversations become a way of questioning people’s perceptions around issues of masculinity, gender, race and ethnicity.”
This weekend Vancouver’s Under the Volcano Festival of Art and Social Change, held annually at Cates Park in North Vancouver, will celebrate its 20th anniversary and, in the same event, wrap up their long running festival dedicated to celebrating the arts and social activism.
Speaking of the festival to the Westender (which gives a lot of background and context, a good read), the festival’s artistic director Meegan Maultsaid explained: “The most important thing, as a festival, is that we support social activism, that we stand in solidarity with movements and community groups that are fighting and struggling and agitating for change. I don’t think that aspect has been a struggle for us. I think we’ve been able to maintain the popularity of our festival and have it continue to grow while not really participating in corporate culture.”
The festival is organized by a core of 6 people who work year round and do it all unpaid. The team does it ‘as a labour of love’ because they support the work of local activists, community groups, and individuals struggling to find social justice. Click to continue »
With a myriad of problems facing the planet and humanity, it’s ripe time for some political super heroes to come to the rescue. Enter Super Amigos, a disparate group of politically-committed activists in Mexico who dress up in classic wrestling costumes and fight for the environment, for gay rights and more. Super Amigos the documentary never really grew the legs it needed to be seen as much as it could have when it came out in 2007, but lucky for us, Hot Docs has made it available at their free streaming online site. Here’s the Hot Docs synopsis:
Director Arturo Pérez Torres returns to his hometown to show that superheroes do exist. In Mexico City, five real-life “social wrestlers” have capitalized on the popularity of Mexico’s larger than life Lucha Libre wrestlers to fight for social justice rather than trophies. Wearing custom masks, costumes and capes like the wrestlers who inspired them, these anonymous grassroots superheroes protect their metropolis against injustice. Super Animal challenges bullfighters to leave the bulls alone and fight him instead. After a savage beating kills his boyfriend, Super Gay becomes a champion of gay rights, fighting rampant homophobia. Ecologista Universal battles environmental destruction of every kind, all on foot. Super Barrio is the defender of poor tenants, helping them resist evictions by slumlords cashing in on gentrification. With a mixture of live action, comic book-style animation and a surf guitar soundtrack inspired equally by mariachi music and Batman, Super Amigos shows that with a little imagination, a good heart and the right mask, anyone can activate their communities to triumph over evil. In Spanish with English subtitles – Official Selection, 2007 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
The first official visit by UK Prime Minister Cameron to the White House on July 20, 2010 was watched closely by political pundits around the world. They both wore blue ties during their meeting — did this signify unity on foreign affairs? Was their body language cold or comfortable? Did they walk in stride? During their visit the media analyzed every move, but it was the traditional gift exchange that took the world by storm.
President Obama presented the Prime Minister with a signed lithograph by the famed American pop artist Ed Rucha. In exchange, the Prime Minister presented Obama with a graffiti canvas painted by UK tagger-turned-street artist Eine. With this simple gift, Cameron had instantly challenged conventions and redefined the boundaries of contemporary art.
The success of prolific street artists such as Banksy and Os Gemos have catapulted street art into the spotlight in recent years resulting in evening art auctions and exhibits in prestigious galleries including the Tate Modern.
For years, seen as only vandalism, the scene has now been set to re-evaluate graffiti’s merit as an art form. But while the art world has been able to reflect upon this difficult aesthetic question, government authorities have been slower to change.
Let’s face it – “sustainability” is a ruined word. How many times do we suppose BP used it (and will, O Lord, in the future) explaining its green integrity to the world? The Sea Shepherd Society has a different approach: law enforcement as provided for in the United Nations World Charter for Nature.
The Sea Shepherd Society’s tactics are controversial – tree spiking, sinking whaling vessels (without loss of life; unlike the sinking of GreenPeace’s Rainbow Warrior by the French government that killed photographer Fernando Pereira), sinking drift nets, bombing whalers with custard, directly charging whalers and tuna fishers, putting its boats and crews between whales and industrial harpoons. But its modis operandi is consistent: monkey wrench the illegal destruction of nature.
In most instances of high seas piracy – piracy, that is, in the sense of unrestricted and unaccountable harvesting on the open oceans to the point of extinction – the Sea Shepherd Society is the only agency acting directly against the perpetrators of the wholesale slaughter of marine life. It is considered in some quarters to be a mature response to an economic system that refuses to police itself and to discipline its urges for short term reward and pleasure.
This Saturday July 31, the Riverside Municipal Auditorium in Riverside, California is hosting the See No Evil Art Auction in support of the Sea Shepherd Society’s busy agenda. There is a long list of donating artists, and music by ‘the crystal method’ and DJ Diabetic.
6 pm at the Corner of Mission Inn and Lemon in Riverside,3485 Mission Inn Ave, Riverside, CA 92501-3304.
For those who cannot make it to California for the thrill of rubbing shoulders with the glitterati of radical sustainability, check out the Sea Shepherd’s online store. You can even order the a Sea Shepherd VISA Platinum Rewards Card!! shop till you drop and help enforce the UN World Charter for Nature.
Artist Wu Yuren has been arrested, beaten and is being held in a Beijing jail according to his wife, Canadian Karen Patterson. Patterson decided to make her appeal through the Western media to draw attention to her husband’s plight.
According to the New York Times, despite his being detained, the Chinese government has yet to admit they even have Yuren in their custody.
Last winter Yuren joined other artists in their opposition to urban development in the neighbourhood of Beijing that housed their studios, District 8. The development plan subsequently allowed the seizure of their studios by authorities. Their highly visible protest went past Tiananmen Square, a particularly sensitive region of the city in connection with public demonstrations of dissent.
The Daily Telegraph (one of the UKs largest daily newspapers, owned by real estate billionaires David and Frederick Barclay) reported that the current arrest came about after Yuren – whose studio had been relocated – attended at a local police station to complain about problems with his landlord. After a fractious interaction with the police, he was beaten and detained.
The brutal police response may be linked to the activist histories of Yuren and some of the other artists involved in the original protest against the development plan, many of whom have signed Charter 08, a manifesto demanding a variety of political changes in China including an independent legal system, freedom of association and the elimination of one-party rule. Charter 8 is not so popular with the current administration.
Yuren’s work has been widely appreciated as an element of the most innovative art being produced in China today. In the Imperial Criminal (2001) series, for example, Yuren displays twelve passport-like blue tinted photographs with fluorescent brands stamped on their foreheads to indicate ancient/modern crimes – the brand is exposed when placed under ultra-violet light. In The Sparks Program (10,000 Years Art Exhibition, Oct 2005), seven labourers strike a pile of flint in a dark space for three hours with metal batons, producing a heavy knocking sound with flying sparks – a commentary on the situation of peasant construction workers in Beijing’s real estate boom. And in connection with his resistance to land development, he transformed White Box Museum of Art into a large demolition site. According to ML Art Source (a Beijing-based promotional website for contemporary Chinese art with the self-stated goal of serving as “a platform that will bridge the art to the people and the people to the art”) the controversial nature of Yuren’s installation at the White Box has ensured that there is little information available about it.
It may be that this story is being reported in such high profile mainstream media sites because of his wife Karen Patterson’s Canadian citizenship. For more information and to keep up to date you can follow Karen Patterson’s twitter feed @KPinChina.
The first official visit by UK Prime Minister Cameron to the White House on July 20, 2010 was watched closely by political pundits around the world. They both wore blue ties during their meeting — did this signify unity on foreign affairs? Was their body language cold or comfortable? Did they walk in stride? During their visit the media analyzed every move, but it was the traditional gift exchange that took the world by storm.
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