Skattered throughout Vancouver, bus stop shelters have been turned from ad space to sheet music. Adorno and Nose, as the piece is called, is a collection of ten songs composed and illustrated by Barry Doupe and James Whitman. Each poster contains a different song, notated as standard sheet music, the verse, and a drawn graphic.
“The songs are invitations to play and divertissement, whether private, humming or singing to oneself, or performance, singing out loud to friends or strangers. …People will be surprised, will wonder what they’re for,” explain the artists of the work.
A contemporary art exhibit at the Cultural Centre of the Philippines has been shut down amid accusations that the work is “blasphemous”. According to a statement, CCP management closed the controversial Kulo exhibition after board members and artists received numerous threats.
Approached by the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe to produce a public work for their event, South African designer Heath Nash built shade structures using scrap materials — largely discarded beverage containers.
God’s Lake Narrows is a new interactive narrative on the National Film Board of Canada’s increasingly interactive website. Exploring themes of longing and belonging, Winnipeg artist and former resident of the God’s Lake Narrows (GLN) reserve Kevin Lee Burton deploys photographs, text, and a layered soundscape to introduce audiences to his community and all the beauty and agony that it entails.
The text begins by situating reserves in a framework of proximity and (in)visibility – “For those of us who aren’t from one, or don’t know someone who is, our experience is limited to what we see and hear on the news: an endless loop of stories about poverty, illness, abuse and death.” Burton’s project—originally conceived as an art gallery instillation—sets out to challenge and complicate the way many (Canadians) view, think about, and form opinions of, reserves – all 3,063 of them (and by extension, the aboriginal peoples of Canada).
A Montreal artist collective is taking their public art to the streets of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. Billed as “The Pigeon’s Club”, an art festival for the homeless, the event will offer two days of revelry and amenities for Vancouver’s down and out, homeless and street involved.
The festival which runs May 20-21, is being organized by ATSA, the internationally acclaimed Montreal duo of Pierre Allard and Annie Roy who have held a similar although much bigger event in Montreal for almost a decade called Etat d’Urgence.
The idea is to offer an “all inclusive” vacation package to those who are traditionally excluded from such luxuries – food, health services, clothing give-aways, hair-cuts, live music and performances.
Bright blue trees in Port Moody, West Vancouver, and Richmond have been making some passersby stop in their tracks.
The Blue Trees, a recent work by international artist Konstantin Dimopoulos is part of a larger discussion on forests worldwide. The inspiration? Each year, an area at least the size of Belgium of native forests is cleared from around the planet. While we increasingly live in urban areas and are not directly faced with the implications of the loss, Kon wants us to remember that trees are the lungs of the planet and we must treat them with respect.
A few weeks before artist Ai Weiwei disappeared into police custody in Beijing (see link below), he was scheduled to present at a TED Talks Conference. He couldn’t make it, but he had a video statement delivered to TED Talks where it was presented with a slide show of some of his art work. In the presentation, he talked about his treatment by the Chinese government, the power of art to make social change and his need to speak out against injustice. Here it is.
Despite a growing number of countries including the US, Britain and Germany calling for Weiwei’s release, there is still no word on Weiwei’s whereabouts or well-being.
Art blogazine Hyperallergic is liveblogging developments relating to Weiwei’s disappearance. Visit them for the latest news on the situation.
Days after announcing his intention to build a new studio in Berlin, controversial artist Ai Weiwei has disappeared into Beijing police custody. Weiwei was apparently taken into custody sometime on Sunday after being prevented from boarding a plane to Hong Kong.
Also on Sunday, police detained eight people from his studio for questioning, and also his wife, who has yet to be released.
Weiwei’s detention and disappearance comes amidst what many observers are describing as one of the most severe crackdowns on dissidents in China in decades. The Chinese government has been detaining activists and critics of the government across the country in what is an apparently escalating fear about domestic unrest in the wake of the ‘Arab Spring’ uprisings in Tunesia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, Yemeni, Oman, and Jordan.
Terrible Karma (Terrible Karma: reverberations of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire created and curated by Adeola Enigbokan and Merle Patchett) is a mobile audio-visual installation exploring the global reverberations of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, on its 100th anniversary: March 25th 2011.
Decemberists Commemoration: An action against racism, homophobia and violence against LGBT
When Banksy offered to pay $133,000 US to get artists Oleg Vorotnikov and Leonid Nikolayev out of a Russian jail, the local court said “nyet!”. But Russians charged with murder are routinely released for a fraction of that amount. Oleg and Leonid belong to the artist group VOINA (which means “war”), and they have upset some very powerful people in Russia.
Without international support, their members face life threatening conditions in custody, a corrupt legal system, lengthy sentences if convicted, and the continuing harassment and intimidation of VOINA’s members many of whom have gone into hiding.
Contributors
Stefan Christoff, Colin Horgan, Julia Pyper
Michelle Siobhan Reid, Valerie Cardinal, Race Capet
Laurence Miall, Terry Fairman, Tyler Morgenstern
