Washed Up by Alejandro Durán
The New Year is officially upon us, but we want to take one last opportunity to look in the rear view mirror. Here are 23 of our favourite stories and projects that took place in the world of political art in 2011.
Do you have any personal picks that we didn’t cover? Let us know in the comments below.
Visual Arts
• Litter made lovely: Washed Up by Alejandro Durán
• The deserted but beautiful homes of Detroit: Kevin Bauman’s 100 Abandoned Houses
• Michael Caines’ depictions of US leaders are sincere yet ridiculous
• Engaged devotion and care: the terrariums of Paula Hayes
• The things they carried: photographer Brian Howell explores shopping cart culture
• Politics play prominently at the 54th Venice Biennale
• Althea Thauberger’s photo mural speaks of Vancouver’s darkness
Film & Interactive
• Unsettling the settlers: an interview with Israel vs. Israel director Terje Carlsson
• 10 documentary films on capitalism and economics
• The beauty and agony of home: God’s Lake Narrows artist Kevin Lee Burton
• Hot Docs wrestles with the politics and popularity of documentary
• Ad nauseam: Morgan Spurlock cashes in on commercialism
• Multiculturalism, outcasts and superheroes: a survey of docs that explore education
Music & Audio
• Will Justin Bieber boycott Israel?
• George Orwell’s 80s remix: themes of surveillance and censorship sounded out in Frakture
• MC Emrical warns police and politicians on the anniversary of Fredy Villanueva’s death
• New old school: Rebel Diaz Arts Collective brings back NYC hip-hop
• Tapping into the treasures of fictional truths: an interview with Jonathan Goldstein
Books
• New Orleans and the culture of resistance: interview with Floodlines author Jordan Flaherty
• Wafaa Bilal: a portrait of an Iraqi artist in a time of war
• Paying for it: A review of the comics prostitution memoir by Chester Brown
• Stealing to save the world: Kenk is a dark graphic novel about Toronto’s notorious bike thief
• Understanding the Crash illustrates resistance to capitalism
