lunes, 31 de agosto de 2020

40 AÑOS DE LA MUERTE DEL PINTOR PHILIP GUSTON. EL MICRÓFONO DE ALICIA PERRIS



AUDIO:



Llamado en realidad Phillip Goldstein, de origen ruso judío, había nacido el 27 de junio de 1913 en Montreal, Canadá, y falleció el 7 de junio de 1980 en Woodstock, Nueva York. De nacionalidad americana, fue un célebre artista de la Escuela de Nueva York, donde se encuentran numerosos pintores del expresionismo abstracto como Jackson Pollock y Willem de Kooning. En los años 60, Guston llevó a cabo la transición del modernismo hacia el postmodernismo en pintura, abandonando lo que se llamó la «abstracción pura» del expresionismo abstracto en favor de un estilo más cercano al tebeo, para rendir homenaje a diversos símbolos y objetos personales de la vida cotidiana y, de esta forma, volver a representar al hombre común en la escena artística de entonces.  

Entre sus influencias destacan conocidos creadores de la tradición italiana y, entre otros, José Clemente Orozco y Dana Schutz. Estuvo vinculado a instituciones de arte como el  Art Students League de New York y el Otis College of Art and Design de Los Angeles.

Esta no está siendo, no ha sido, una temporada para celebrar con “El vino del estío”, como titulaba Ray Bradbury, también de aniversario, una de sus novelas. La fragilidad y la situación de un estado de permanente vulnerabilidad nos acerca a las confluencias de un creador como Guston, mortificado, puesto a prueba, perseguido, con una historia personal dramática, que merece todo el respeto, como su obra. 
Hemos abandonado, por fuerza, casi todos, nuestras magníficas “zonas de confort” y navegamos ahora por aguas procelosas.

La pandemia nos ronda de nuevo con contumacia e impiedad, mientras nos preguntamos con cierta angustia, hacia dónde exactamente nos dirigimos, nos dirigen.

Bettany Hugues, una experta arqueóloga británica, hubiera dicho que, en nuestro caso, los griegos hubieran realizado sacrificios a los dioses para pedir su misericordia. Como somos pasajeros del siglo XXI, supuestamente cosmopolitas, Guston en esta ocasión, puede ser un excelente cómplice para el viaje. Un nuevo, aunque efímero punto de partida. Cuídense más que nunca, porque los demás necesitan también que los cuiden. Shalom! Y ¡Salud!

Alicia Perris

domingo, 30 de agosto de 2020

AND CHADWICK BOSEMAN: BLACK PANTHER STAR DIES OF CANCER AGED 43


The actor died at his Los Angeles home after being diagnosed with colon cancer four years ago

Ryan Gilbey on meeting Boseman
Peter Bradshaw’s appreciation of Boseman
Steve Rose on how Boseman changed cinema forever
Actor Chadwick Boseman, who played black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel cinematic universe, has died of cancer, his representative said. He was 43.

Boseman died at his home in the Los Angeles area with his wife and family by his side, his publicist Nicki Fioravante said on Friday.

Boseman was diagnosed with colon cancer four years ago, his family said in a statement.



Black Panther's Chadwick Boseman: 'Everybody’s minds are opening up'
 Read more
“A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much,” his family said.

“From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilsons Ma Raineys Black Bottom and several more – all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy. It was the honour of his career to bring King TChalla to life in Black Panther.”

Boseman had not spoken publicly about his diagnosis. It is believed he married his long-term partner, the singer Taylor Simone Ledward, earlier this year. The couple had no children.

Boseman paid tribute to Ledward in his acceptance speech at the 2019 NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles, where he won the trophy for outstanding actor in a motion picture. He said: “Simone, you’re with me every day. I have to acknowledge you right now. Love you.”
Born in South Carolina, Boseman graduated from Howard University and had small roles in television before his first star turn in 2013. His striking portrayal of the stoic baseball star Robinson opposite Harrison Ford in 2013’s 42 drew attention in Hollywood.


Boseman died on a day that major league baseball was celebrating Jackie Robinson day.

“This is a crushing blow,” actor and director Jordan Peele said on Twitter, one of many expressing shock as the news spread across social media……………

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/aug/29/black-panther-actor-chadwick-boseman-dies-of-cancer

UNE RUPTURE EST UNE DÉCHIRURE | CLAIRE MARIN


Contrairement à la séparation qui laisserait chacun revenir à la part entière qu'il était déjà auparavant, la rupture est une déchirure. Expérience physique et corporelle, sa douleur est un arrachement. Peut-on vraiment passer à autre chose après une rupture ?


Pour la philosophe Claire Marin, qui a publié Rupture(s) aux éditions de l'Observatoire en 2019, la rupture implique une profonde mutation où le corps joue un rôle central. Les ruptures nous appartiennent, qu'on les décide ou qu'on les subisse. Comment faire cohabiter ces « bifurcations » de nos vies avec l'idée d'une identité constante ? En quoi nos ruptures sont-elles révélatrices ou fondatrices ? Le sujet risque-t-il de s'y perdre ?

« Il faut parfois une première rupture pour être capable de voir et de supporter toutes les autres. »

La rencontre est animée par Camille Riquier, philosophe et membre du conseil de rédaction d'Esprit.

https://esprit.presse.fr



THE KACPER KOWALSKI: AERIAL ABSTRACTION – IN PICTURES


  Waste from the salt production process at Janikowo sodium plant in Poland Photograph: Kacper Kowalski/Galerie XII
A trained architect and pilot, the Polish photographer Kacper Kowalski frames the landscape in terms of human impact and formal patterns within nature, from views of autumn forests and spring fields in bloom, to the alien abstraction of industrial landscapes

OVER/Side Effects at Galerie XII Los Angeles, 1 December – 12 January

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2019/jan/07/kacper-kowalski-aerial-abstraction-in-pictures

ATTENTION: NHL HIT WITH CRITICISM OVER ENGLISH-ONLY VERSION OF "O CANADA" ON SATURDAY


Singer Michael Buble sings the Canadian anthem on the big screen from his hometown of Vancouver prior to NHL Eastern Conference Stanley Cup playoff action between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens in Toronto on Saturday, August 1, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

MONTREAL - The National Hockey League says it presented an English-only version of the Canadian national anthem on Saturday night because the Montreal Canadiens were considered the road team in their opening game of the league's restart against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Toronto.

The decision to use an English-only version of “O Canada” drew the ire of some on social media, including former Montreal mayor and federal politician Denis Coderre, who blasted the league for the lack of French on Twitter.

“O Canada” was performed by Canadian crooner Michael Buble while an instrumental version of the “Star Spangled Banner” was played at Scotiabank Arena ahead of Game 1 of the best-of-five series between Pittsburgh and Montreal.

The anthem by Buble, a Grammy Award-winning singer, was recorded at an empty Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

It was also used before the Edmonton Oilers-Chicago Blackhawks game at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the other NHL hub city, earlier Saturday.

A spokesman for the NHL said in an email an English version of the anthem was used because Montreal was technically the road team for its opening games against Pittsburgh.

“Game 1 and 2 of the series are ”road“ games for Montreal,” wrote Gary Meagher. “When they are the home team (Games 3 and 4) - the game presentation and hockey operations will include a number of the elements of a game at the Bell Centre.”

A senior spokesperson for the Canadiens organization said ultimately those kinds of decisions in the bubble fall to the league.

But Paul Wilson, the club's vice-president of public affairs and communications, told The Canadian Press that team owner Geoff Molson noticed the lack of French during the anthem, asking Wilson to inquire about why it was the case in a text message.

Some social media users piled on when they realized the lack of French in the anthem - especially given the Canadiens were playing.

The always outspoken Coderre, an ardent Habs fan, also brushed off a fellow Twitter user's suggestion it was a Pittsburgh home game.

Coderre said he'd heard a bilingual Canadian anthem performed at a game played in Pittsburgh previously.

https://www.cp24.com/sports/nhl-hit-with-criticism-over-english-only-version-of-o-canada-on-saturday-1.5049054

MANIFESTA 13 IN MARSEILLE


Marseille is:

The most emblematic city in terms of its historical positioning in the Mediterranean and within the rest of Europe.


The perfect city in terms of its cultural network and communities, as a harbour city.


The most relevant host city at this stage to follow up on the success of Palermo in 2018.


Marseille is the fitting city to reflect upon global social, economic and political developments together with its citizens due to the presence of a multitude of cultural backgrounds.

Manifesta is the European Nomadic Biennial, which originated in the early 1990s in response to the political, economic, and social change following the end of the Cold War and the subsequent steps towards European integration. Manifesta has developed into a platform for dialogue between art and society by inviting the cultural and artistic community to produce new creative experiences with, and for, the context in which it takes place. Manifesta rethinks the relations between culture and society investigating and catalysing positive social change in Europe through contemporary culture in a continuous dialogue with the social sphere of a specific place.


Manifesta was founded by the Dutch art historian, Hedwig Fijen. Each new edition is fundraised individually and managed by a mix of permanent international team and local specialists. Manifesta is working from its offices in Amsterdam and Marseille.

Previous Editions: Rotterdam(1996), Luxembourg (1998), Ljubljana(2000), Frankfurt (2002), San Sebastian (2004), Nicosia(2006 – cancelled),Trentino-South Tyrol (2008), Murcia in dialogue with northern Africa (2010), Limburg (2012), St. Petersburg (2014), Zurich (2016) and Palermo (2018). The upcoming editions will take place in Marseille (2020) and in Pristina (2022).

For its thirteenthedition, Manifesta takes place for the first time in France in Marseille in 2020. There could be no better city than Marseille to further expand Manifesta’s research and discussion about the challenges Europe is facing today. Manifesta 13 Marseille proposes to work with existing cultural institutions and associations, both symbolically and practically, by introducing different voices while expanding their narratives. With this ambition, Manifesta 13 Marseille will unfold through site-specific artistic commissions, performances, and urban interventions to imagine new forms of being together: Traits d’union.s.

The Manifesta 13 headquarters, Espace Manifesta 13, are located in one of the most iconic historical and central building in Marseille, former Espace Culture in 42 la Canebière. The space is one for encounters and exchange, welcoming the neighbourhood and its habitants. Manifesta 13 Marseille creates a programme consisting of exhibitions, lectures, debates, artist talks and invites actors from across the cultural sphere to take over the former Espace Culture.

https://manifesta13.org/about/?gclid=CjwKCAjwnK36BRBVEiwAsMT8WDqURHyBlMV2jOPwGNXU4Ql7Rm_W2d5IEG2tueeoZhQ5a3q7Sn3PnRoCvWAQAvD_BwE

sábado, 29 de agosto de 2020

ARTEMISIA EXHIBITION. NATIONAL GALLERY



 Image above: Detail from Artemisia Gentileschi, 'Self Portrait as a Lute Player', about 1615-18. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT Charles H. Schwartz Endowment Fund 2014.4.1 © Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

3 October 2020 – 24 January 2021

Location: Sainsbury Wing

"I will show Your Illustrious Lordship what a woman can do"

In 17th-century Europe, at a time when women artists were not easily accepted, Artemisia was exceptional. She challenged conventions and defied expectations to become a successful artist and one of the greatest storytellers of her time.

Artemisia painted subjects that were traditionally the preserve of male artists and for the male gaze; transforming meek maidservants into courageous conspirators and victims into survivors.

In this first major exhibition of Artemisia’s work in the UK, see her best-known paintings including two versions of her iconic and viscerally violent ‘Judith beheading Holofernes’; as well as her self portraits, heroines from history and the Bible, and recently discovered personal letters, seen in the UK for the first time.

Follow in Artemisia’s footsteps from Rome to Florence, Venice, Naples and London. Hear her voice from her letters, and see the world through her eyes.


https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/artemisia

AU MUSÉE DU LOUVRE, PROCHAINEMENT: EXPOSITION ALBRECHT ALTDORFER. MAÎTRE DE LA RENAISSANCE ALLEMANDE


DU 1 OCTOBRE 2020 AU 4 JANVIER 2021
EXPOSITION REPORTÉE DU 1ER OCTOBRE 2020 AU 4 JANVIER 2021


Peintre, dessinateur et graveur actif à Ratisbonne, Albrecht Altdorfer (vers 1480-1538) est un artiste majeur de la Renaissance allemande. Il reste cependant moins connu que d’autres maîtres de sa génération, Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach ou Hans Baldung Grien. Organisée en étroite collaboration avec le musée de l’Albertina de Vienne, l’exposition ambitionne de présenter pour la première fois au public français toute la  richesse et la diversité de son oeuvre peint, dessiné et gravé, en le replaçant dans le contexte de la Renaissance allemande.

Artiste proche des cercles humanistes, Altdorfer est à la fois très original, doté d’une grande capacité d’invention formelle et iconographique, et parfaitement au fait de la création artistique de ses contemporains allemands et italiens. Le parcours de l’exposition, avant tout chronologique, réserve des sections thématiques aux grandes commandes de l’empereur Maximilien, ainsi qu’à l’orfèvrerie, au paysage et à l’architecture, genres dans lesquels Altdorfer fit oeuvre de pionnier.

Commissaire(s) :

Hélène Grollemund et Olivia Savatier Sjöholm, musée du Louvre et Séverine Lepape, musée de Cluny.

https://www.louvre.fr/expositions/albrecht-altdorfer-maitre-de-la-renaissance-allemande

"PERPETUAL MUSIC" CONCERTS LAUNCHED TO SUPPORT PERFORMERS DURING CRITICAL TIME





The first of a series of Rolex Perpetual Music Concerts to support singers and musicians during this critical time has taken place. It was led by celebrated Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez, who handpicked the stellar cast of performers.

AND BANKSY FUNDED A SEARCH AND RESCUE SHIP TO HELP REFUGEES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.


The rescue ship Louise Michel. Courtesy Louise Michel.

The elusive artist Banksy has financed a boat to save refugees trying to get to Europe from north Africa. The ship, named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, was launched in total secrecy from the Spanish seaport of Burriana on August 18th, and is now traveling in the central Mediterranean Sea. The ship rescued 89 refugees yesterday, including 14 women and four children, and is currently looking for a safe location to remove the passengers or to transfer them to a European coast guard boat.

The vessel, a former French Navy boat, is captained and crewed by a team of European activists and rescue professionals. The Louise Michel is painted with a vibrant pink and features a Banksy artwork: a painting of a child in a life vest reaching for a safety buoy in the shape of a heart. (The boat painting references Banky’s belovedGirl With Balloon image, a version of which shredded itself after selling at a Sotheby’s auction in 2018.)The boat was purchased with proceeds from the sale of Banksy artworks. The artist became involved with the rescue mission in September 2019,when he contacted Pia Klemp, the former captain of various non-governmental organization boats that have rescued thousands of refugees in recent years.

Banksy wrote to Klemp in an email quoted by The Guardian:

Hello Pia, I’ve read about your story in the papers. You sound like a badass. I am an artist from the U.K. and I’ve made some work about the migrant crisis, obviously I can’t keep the money. Could you use it to buy a new boat or something? Please let me know. Well done. Banksy.
Banksy’s involvement with the operations of the ship are limited to providing financial support. As the artist mentioned in his email to Klemp, he has created several works centered around the European migrant crisis. In 2015, he created a mural of the late Apple founder Steve Jobs (the son of a Syrian migrant) at a refugee camp in Calais in northern France.

In July, he donated his 2017 triptych, Mediterranean sea view 2017, to Sotheby’s “Rembrandt to Richter” sale to raise funds for a hospital in Bethlehem. The work, which sold for £2.2 million ($2.8 million)—Banksy’s second-highest auction result to date—featured a 19th century style seascape, as well as abandoned lifejackets and buoys, in reference to the migrant crisis.
Daria Harper
https://www.artsy.net/news/artsy-editorial-banksy-funded-search-rescue-ship-help-refugees-mediterranean

ALSO IN SPANISH: HILARY MANTEL’S NEW NOVEL THE MIRROR & THE LIGHT TO BE PUBLISHED BY HARPERCOLLINS CANADA, MARCH 5, 2020


In March 2020, HarperCollins Canada, will publish The Mirror & the Light, the final novel of Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy. It will be published simultaneously in the UK by 4TH Estate and in the US by Henry Holt.

Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power, offering a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferocious contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man’s vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion and courage.


Hilary Mantel on The Mirror & the Light:

‘When I began work on my Thomas Cromwell books back in 2005, I had high hopes, but it took time to feel out the full scope of the material. I didn’t know at first I would write a trilogy, but gradually I realised the richness and fascination of this extraordinary life. Since then I have been on a long journey, with the good companionship of archivists, artists, booksellers, librarians, actors, producers, and – most importantly – millions of readers through the world. I hope they will stay with me as we walk the last miles of Cromwell’s life, ascending to unprecedented riches and honour and abruptly descending to the scaffold at Tower Hill. This book has been the greatest challenge of my writing life, and the most rewarding; I hope and trust my readers will find it has been worth the wait.’

Hilary Mantel’s literary agent Bill Hamilton of A M Heath says: ‘It is hugely exciting to see Hilary’s masterwork, written over 14 years, brought to its triumphant conclusion. This is a great literary landmark.’

Hilary Mantel is the two-time winner of the Man Booker Prize for her best-selling novels, Wolf Hall, and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, which also won the 2012 Costa Book of the Year. Playful Productions / Royal Shakespeare Company adapted Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies for the stage to colossal critical acclaim.

Wolf Hall has been translated into 36 languages, Bring Up the Bodies 31 languages and sales for both books have reached over 5 million worldwide.

Following on from the success of the BAFTA and Golden Globe winning television adaptation of Wolf Hall, Playground Entertainment is in active development with the BBC on the adaptation of The Mirror & the Light to be written by Peter Straughan and directed by Peter Kosminsky. The production team is standing by and eager to return.

Oxford Films has been commissioned by the BBC to make a film exploring the life and work of Hilary Mantel, to coincide with the publication of The Mirror & the Light. What connects the Wolf Hall trilogy with Robespierre, the friendship of teenage girls, Jeddah and the life of a giant? The film will uncover the many worlds of Hilary Mantel.

Hilary Mantel is the author of fourteen books, including A Place of Greater Safety, Beyond Black, and the memoir Giving up the Ghost. In 2014 she was appointed DBE.

HarperCollinsCanada:

Known worldwide for the quality of its list, HarperCollinsCanada is the proud home of many bestselling authors, including Esi Edugyan, Heather O’Neill, Lawrence Hill, Kamal Al-Solaylee, Mark Sakamoto, Ayelet Tsabari, Emily St. John Mandel, Tracey Lindberg, Tara Westover, Hilary Mantel, Rachel Cusk, Anthony Horowitz, Uzma Jalaluddin, Kim Fu, Carrianne Leung, Ellen Keith, Jael Richardson, Emma Donoghue, Helen Humphreys, and Thomas King, among many more found at harpercollins.ca.

HarperCollins Publishers is the second largest consumer book publisher in the world, with operations in 17 countries. With 200 years of history and more than 120 branded imprints around the world, HarperCollins publishes approximately 10,000 new books every year in 16 languages, and has a print and digital catalog of more than 200,000 titles. Writing across dozens of genres, HarperCollins authors include winners of the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Newbery and Caldecott Medals and the Man Booker Prize. HarperCollins, headquartered in New York, is a subsidiary of News Corp (Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) and can be visited online at corporate.HC.com.
https://www.harpercollins.ca/press-releases/hilary-mantels-new-novel-the-mirror-the-light-to-be-published-by-harpercollins-canada-march-5-2020/

martes, 25 de agosto de 2020

CLAUDIA SCHIFFER, EXHIBITION ON MARCH 2021 AND 50 YEARS OF A UNIQUE TOP



“When he appeared in the fashion world it was like watching the sunrise and that sun is still shining,” Karl Lagerfeld once said about Claudia Schiffer which is for many the best of those iconic mannequins of the nineties which were baptized as top model. The German turns 50 today away from the media spotlight, but with a busy work schedule: you already have a new capsule collection of eight basic garments for the signature of Être Cecile, and is also preparing a exhibition on fashion photographers of his time: “I will share my personal journey as well as the incredible work of some of the most important artists in the industry,” Schiffer announced last week on his Instagram, before a table full of magazines
Fashion.


The exhibition will open in March 2021 at the Kunstpalast museum in Dusseldorf, the city where Claudia Schiffer, aged 17 and 1.80 m tall, fI was discovered by a talent scout, while dancing in a disco, and proposed to be a model: “I thought it was a joke (…) And in a few weeks … I found myself in Paris! So, I started to believe in guardian angels. There were too many chances that something like this wouldn’t happen. In fact, that night I didn’t even have planned to go out, “she explained to the magazine. She, in 2018, on the occasion of its 30th anniversary in the world of fashion.

Her rise was meteoric and at the beginning of the nineties that German girl was already the undisputed queen of the catwalks, of fashion magazines and the most desired model by firms. In its beginnings, two names are fundamental to its success: the American jeans firm Guess, with which he starred in his first advertising campaign with an image that reminded of the French actress Brigitte Bardot. And it was also fundamental his compatriot Karl Lagerfeld, which made her a muse for Chanel and raised her to the Olympus of fashion. “Karl was my fairy godmother, he transformed me from a shy German girl into a supermodel. She taught me everything about fashion, style and survival in this business, ”the German wrote after the designer’s death………….

https://www.en24news.com/2020/08/claudia-schiffer-50-years-of-a-unique-top.html

ESTRENO: YLLANA PRESENTA MAESTRISSIMO (PAGAGNINI 2), DONDE IRONIZA SOBRE EL ELITISMO EN LA MÚSICA CLÁSICA. LA OBRA ESTARÁ DEL 25 DE AGOSTO AL 6 DE SEPTIEMBRE EN LA SALA ROJA DE LOS TEATROS DEL CANAL


Tras el éxito de The Opera locos, Yllana vuelve a los Teatros del Canal, por segunda vez este verano y, de nuevo, por humor a la música, con Maestrissimo (Pagagnini 2), espectáculo que agota localidades a su paso.

Del 25 de agosto al 6 de septiembre, la compañía interpretará en la Sala Roja esta historia allegro e molto vivace, que está a mitad de camino entre el concierto de cámara, la comedia satírica y el retrato de época.


Cuenta las aventuras y desventuras de un cuarteto de cuerda que vive en un momento indeterminado entre los siglos XVII y XVIII, en el punto de inflexión entre el Barroco y el Neoclasicismo. Su objetivo es abrirse paso en la escena musical con un intéprete de relleno, un segundón sin apellidos pero con un talento descomunal, que quiere progresar en el escalafón y alcanzar el título de maestrissimo, y se adentra, para ello, en la vida cortesana, en territorios que le resultan desconocidos.

¿Será suficiente su genialidad para hacerse un hueco en un mundo tan jerarquizado? La pregunta sirve a Yllana, la icónica compañía de humor gestual, para abordar temas relacionados con la ética, la creación, la originalidad y el valor del arte en la sociedad, y para repasar momentos cumbre de la historia de la música: como The Opera locos, que obtuvo el Max al Mejor Musical 2019, en Maestríssimo (Pagagnini 2) la música culta es fuente de comedia, aunque el precedente más directo de este espectáculo es Pagagnini, uno de los grandes éxitos de Yllana.

Esta deconstrucción de todo puritanismo estilístico toma a Bach y a Vivaldi como referentes, y avanza por Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven, Sarasate y, cómo no, Niccolo Pagagnini. Así, suenan Asturias, de Issac Albéniz; la 5ª Sinfonía, de Ludwig van Beethoven; Danzas húngaras nº 5, de Johannes Brahms; o el Danubio azul, de Johann Strauss; obras, todas ellas, que están en la base de cualquier género musical. Pero también se interpretan versiones de Enter Sandman, de Metallica; Roxanne, de The Police; La lista de Schindler, de John Williams; y hasta Politonos sin tono ni sono.


Los violinistas Eduardo Ortega e Isaac M. Pulet, y el chelista Jorge Fournadjiev, un trío que los espectadores ya conocieron por sus interpretaciones en Pagagnini, conforman el elenco junto con el violinista Jorge Guillén Strad. David Ottone y Juan Ramos dirigen la batuta en la propuesta, que redondea un cuidadísimo vestuario, diseño de Tatiana de Sarabia y con una estética preciosista en la que los personajes se mimetizan con sus instrumentos, y que parte de la moda palaciega del siglo XVIII.

SEE NEWLY DIGITIZED, PUBLIC ARCHIVES ON RECITALIST MARIAN ANDERSON’S LIFE AND WORK


The University of Pennsylvania Libraries launched its publicly accessible archives of renowned contralto and Civil Rights activist Marian Anderson.

Sarah Rose Sharp


Philadelphia-born contralo Marian Anderson, ca. 1915 (All images courtesy UPenn Libraries)

Last month, University of Pennsylvania Libraries announced the newly-digitized and publicly accessible archives of renowned Philadelphia native and contralto Marian Anderson (1897–1993), a world-famous recitalist and interpreter of art songs and spirituals. The collection includes some 2,500 items from Anderson’s personal history, from letters, diaries, and journals, to interviews, recital programs, and private recordings; these now accompany a visual archive of more than 4,000 pictures. The digitization project was funded in 2018 by a $110,000 grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

“The Marian Anderson Archive is one of the most important archival collections housed in the Penn Libraries’ Kislak Center, and one of the most frequently used,” said David McKnight, Director of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, in an email interview with Hyperallergic. “Given the global impact of Marian Anderson’s musical career, there’s high demand from researchers and fans, but it can be difficult for individuals to travel to our physical space to examine the contents of her archive. We realized if we made more content available online there would be more for researchers to draw from — and from anywhere around the globe.”
Not only was Anderson famous for her musical accomplishments, she was also a staunch and vocal public figure in the fight for Civil Rights. After being refused permission by the Daughters of the American Revolution to perform for an integrated audience in Constitution Hall, Anderson performed an open-air concert for 75,000 people on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. She shattered further barriers in 1955, as the first Black singer to perform in a lead role on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.
“Marian Anderson’s excellence as a musician and her excellence of character opened doors for her and for all the American musicians of color who came afterwards,” said April James, Reader Services Librarian at the Kislak Center, and major contributor to the digitization effort, in an email interview with Hyperallergic. “At a time when racial segregation was widespread in the United States, she brought Black Americans into the international community as equals, programming music by Black composers in her concerts worldwide.”

The collection materials showcase both Anderson’s marquee public and professional accomplishments, as well as offering insight into her personal life, presenting a well-rounded portrait of an outstanding individual.

“I was surprised to also learn that she worked as a State Department Goodwill Ambassador and delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Committee,” said Andrea Nuñez, Digital Camera Operator who photographed many of the archival materials, in an email interview with Hyperallergic. She continued:

Reading through her journals, I learned about the daily rhythms of her professional life: in one day of journal entries, she wrote that she spent the morning recording at RCA, had lunch at the Russian Tea Room, and then performed at Carnegie Hall in the evening. While not on tour, she led a quiet life at her farm in Danbury, Connecticut. Her journals during those times often focused on everyday happenings. She enjoyed growing her own fruits and vegetables. She loved to write about cooking and recipes. She also raised puppies, which she adored.
Surely this newly enhanced and accessible archive has much to offer students of music, Civil Rights, and the details of daily life from the truly unique perspective of woman who struck a resounding note in history.

https://hyperallergic.com/582960/see-newly-digitized-public-archives-on-recitalist-marian-andersons-life-and-work/?utm_campaign=Daily&utm_content=20200824&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Hyperallergic%20Newsletter

HANK WILLIS THOMAS ON BLACK SURVIVAL GUIDE AND CREATIVE CIVIC ACTION

Thomas and fellow artist Ebony Brown talk about interdependence and How to Live Through a Police Riot, an archival handbook that inspired his 2018 series.

Karen Chernick

Hank Willis Thomas, “First stages” (2018), from Black Survival Guide, or How to Live Through a Police Riot, screen print on retroreflective vinyl with aluminum backing, photograph of Wilmington riots and National Guard occupation by Frank Fahey, 1968 (courtesy of the News Journal), text from Northeast Conservation Association, Black Survival Guide, or How to Live Through a Police Riot, c. 1960s (courtesy of the Delaware Historical Society), 62 x 48 inches; commissioned by the Delaware Art Museum (© Hank Willis Thomas;  all images courtesy the artist and Delaware Art Museum)

“IMPORTANT,” asserts the opening line of a pamphlet that contemporary conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas found a couple years ago at the Delaware Historical Society. “Because you are black, this booklet is important to you. It may help save your life.”

Thomas was doing research for a 2018 commission from the Delaware Art Museum (DAM) to mark the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination and Wilmington’s grief-stricken public response, followed by a nearly unprecedented nine-month-long occupation of the city by National Guardsmen. The artist had seen photographs of the 1968 occupation of Wilmington but was surprised by this 13-page handbook titled BLACK SURVIVAL GUIDE OR How To Live Through A Police Riot, typewritten on 8 1/2-by-11-inch office paper.

The guide was full of detailed practical information for worst-case scenarios, like how to stop bleeding and identify heart attacks, ways to communicate if telephone service was cut off, how much water to stockpile per person per day, and the importance of knowing all ways to exit one’s home. The pages were a testament to violence, fear, and perseverance.

Thomas transformed the pamphlet into a screen printed series on retroreflective vinyl called “Black Survival Guide, or How to Live Through a Police Riot” (2018), overlaying the complete text over images of the Wilmington occupation. When the DAM exhibited the series in 2018, it coincided with exhibitions of Danny Lyon’s photographs of the Southern Civil Rights Movement and drawings of the Montgomery bus boycott by Harvey Dinnerstein and Burton Silverman. The museum recently reinstalled “Black Survival Guide” when it reopened to the public in early July, in response to the recent wave of Black Lives Matter marches and protests.

I spoke with Thomas about the series this week over speakerphone, as he and his friend, artist Ebony Brown, were in a car headed to Brooklyn. They were going to an event organized by The Wide Awakes collaborative commemorating the ratification of the 19th Amendment with music, art, and voter registration assistance. This interview has been lightly condensed and edited for clarity.
Hyperallergic: What was your research process for the Black Survival Guide? What archival materials did you look at, and how did you decide to use the booklet and photographs? 

Hank Willis Thomas: I was invited to do this installation at the Delaware Art Museum, and I didn’t know much about Delaware or Wilmington even though it’s really close to Philadelphia which is where my family is, where my mom grew up. My mother, Deborah Willis, she’s a historian and artist, and I grew up in libraries and archives. Through my mother’s work I learned that there’s so much hidden information in archives. So I asked the museum, and they shared with me all these photographs that they had from the newspaper.

The context was it being the 50th anniversary of the longest occupation of federal troops in an American city since the Civil War, after the assassination of Martin Luther King. So we went to the [Delaware] Historical Society to find images that we thought would be really good for that. We wound up in all these boxes and I pulled out this thing that said “Black Survival Guide” and I was like, what? What is that? It was literally a handbook on how to survive a police riot.

That was such a revelation that not only was the movement organized, but it was prepared for the worst at all times. That gave new context to all the photographs I saw of police and National Guardsmen occupying this neighborhood in Delaware. I wanted to highlight them both, and so I printed in black-on-white the text of the Survival Guide and then I printed white-on-white the photographs that I collected. I printed on a material called retroreflective vinyl, which allows the viewer to see both images when you take a flash photograph. So to the naked eye it’ll look like black text on white, whereas if you take a flash photograph a latent image is exposed.

H: You’ve used retroreflective vinyl in a number of your works. Was there a specific reason that you wanted to use that material in this series, or something specific you wanted the viewer to experience here?

HWT: There was no other way to show the photographs with contemporaneous content that was designed to respond to this police occupation. I’ve been working with retroreflective for a while because I love how it makes the invisible visible. And a lot of history, of course — most of it if not all of it — is invisible, truly.
H: What would a contemporary Black Survival Guide look like?

HWT: I have no idea because I’m not the kind of person who could write a handbook. I would definitely ask an organizer that question. Maybe that’s a good question for my friend Ebony — she/we are doing an event around joy and positivity as core tenets to what would probably be a guide. Or maybe joy and positivity as the guides themselves to all the destructive forces that keep us separated and divided in this movement. Here’s my friend “Wildcat” Ebony Brown, from The Wide Awakes.

Ebony Brown: The first thing that comes to my mind is my grandmother and knowing that you are protected. Knowing that there is someone watching over you, that your ancestors are always with you. That is, for me, a reminder that there are forces at work always guiding us and protecting us. We can always remind ourselves of that. It’s a guide and it’s also nurturing and comforting, and provides a source of sustenance that at some times we may not feel like we have.

HWT: Especially in facing unexpected adversity. I feel like connecting with the ancestors, it doesn’t have to be written. It looks like us under strike and stress and pain, and feeling connected.

H: Going back to your series, Black Survival Guide, what are your thoughts about it being re-exhibited now? It was originally created for such a specific place and anniversary.

HWT: Actually, it was shown for the reasons that Ebony pointed out. There was already a need, and there was already a space and opportunity for that need to be addressed. What I inferred from them wanting to re-show it was, ‘oh great, someone else has tapped into this, as Ebony puts it, this cosmic connection.’ And so I’ve been thinking it, but someone at the museum was like, ‘yeah, this is why we did that work.’
H: What are you working on now?

HWT: We’re working on a project called The Wide Awakes. It’s a federation of artists and activists — just heart-led people — building positively towards our evolution through creative civic action. And it’s an extension of a collaboration called For Freedoms, except it’s much more autonomous.

EB: Today we’re celebrating the ratification of the 19th amendment which gave some women the vote, not everyone.

HWT: The problem is universal suffrage.

EB: So today we’re gathering at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn and we’ve been creating events to share this concept of interdependence. That’s the understanding that we cannot live and survive in this society alone, it takes all of us working together for us to progress and evolve and heal. I think that’s where we need to be. All of these protests and rallies and marches are very necessary and effective. It’s also equally as important to balance it with harmony and joy as an act of resistance, and uplift the community and bring people together using music and art.

https://hyperallergic.com/583425/hank-willis-thomas-black-survival-guide/?utm_campaign=Daily&utm_content=20200824&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Hyperallergic%20Newsletter

sábado, 22 de agosto de 2020

RAY BRADBURY’S BIRTHDAY WITH FAHRENHEIT 451’S ANTI-TECHNOLOGY MESSAGE


By STEVE WEST
Today, August 22, is Ray Bradbury’s birthday. I can’t think of a better time to revisit Bradbury’s most famous work, Fahrenheit 451.


For me the most intriguing thing about Fahrenheit 451 is that it’s what I’d call an adolescent dreamer’s story. By that I mean the book is something that young teens read, and then latch onto the perceived surface ideals. It feeds the notion that those in charge are trying to tell you what to think, and if you’re not careful some time in the near future state sponsored censorship will become the norm. It’s the same mentality of those who erroneously think Catcher in the Rye is about a kid who bucked the system. The irony in both cases is that we, the young teens reading these stories, are the phonies.

Released in the early 50’s, when television was first starting to become significant, 451 was oddly prescient and pessimistic about what TV had to offer society. What I’ve never understood is the way in which so many people claim to love the anti-censorship message of the story, but fail to notice it’s we TV watchers who are the villains. Society, by turning from the printed word towards television, brought about the dystopian world of book burning firemen. Guy didn’t hide books to stick it to the state; he hid them because they offered the power of knowledge.
The idea that television, or the internet for that matter, will someday turn mankind into oblivious automatons is short sighted. The kid walking down the street texting on his cell phone is not a capricious youth; he’s just connected to his network of friends in a new way, a way that is misunderstood by the elder generation. This is not a bad thing, it’s just new. Those who brag that they don’t have a TV because they don’t see the value in it, are not as impressive as they seem. There’s nothing to gain by willfully ignoring an avenue for gaining knowledge based on unfounded bias.

The truth is that in today’s world, with hundreds of cable channels and millions of websites, the themes of 451 are more resonant than ever. The issue I have with the short novel is that it draws the wrong conclusions. Modern media will not kill books; as is evidenced by the mega success of series’ like Twilight and Harry Potter. Nor will it turn society into a brain dead swarm, willing to do whatever they’re told. TV has nothing on books when it comes to mindless entertainment. For every To Kill A Mockingbird there are a hundred Twilights. There are more books that aren’t worth your time than minutes of television used up on the Kardashians. Don’t laud the novel’s superiority over other forms of entertainment without first realizing that the pile of crap extends back a few hundred years.
Ideologically I just can’t get behind Fahrenheit 451 as an adult who understands all that television has to offer. Tell me that the episode of Firefly titled “Out of Gas” isn’t one of the best sci-fi stories told in the last 20 years, and I’ll slap your face for insolence. Television, movies, and the internet have not made mankind dumber or more disconnected. We’ve never lived as a species in such a globally charged world as we do now; and it’s because we took our nose out of the book and plugged in. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go re-read some Heinlein on my Kindle.

https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/scifi/celebrating-ray-bradburys-birthday-revisit-fahrenheit-451.html

CLASSICAL CYNDI LAUPER - GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN (1983)




Es una idea...¿por qué no?


SEMPRE/ ALWAYS SOPHIA LOREN + DOLCE & GABBANA + SICILY + MORRICONE + TORNATORE



Dolce Rosa Excelsa (starring Sophia Loren) Spot direct by Giuseppe Tornatore, Music by Ennio Morricone.
Location: Sicily (Italy)


FESTIVAL SEGOVIA: UMBERTO PASTI Y NGOC MINH NGO EN CONVERSACIÓN CON SOFÍA BARROSO


Cuando el nombre de Rohuna (localidad marroquí, 60 kilómetros al Sur de Tánger) se cruzó en la vida de Umberto Pasti para quedarse, él ya era un diseñador de jardines de fama internacional. Nacido en Milán y filósofo de formación, Pasti es además escritor, crítico de arte y literatura, coleccionista y esteta. Libros como Jardines. Los verdaderos y los otros, La felicidad del sapo o, el más reciente, Perdido en el paraíso dan cuenta de su forma de entender la vida ligada a una naturaleza que a menudo el hombre se empeña en destruir. “Cuando desaparece una planta, desaparece una forma de vida”, acostumbra a decir. De ahí que en su paraíso particular de Rohuna haya trabajado durante dos décadas para reunir más de 1.200 especies de flora autóctona, de las cuales casi un centenar estaban en peligro de extinción. Su vida transcurre entre Milán, Tánger, ciudad en la que conoció a Paul Bowles y Juan Goytisolo, y su paraíso particular de Rohuna, prueba de cómo los sueños pueden hacerse realidad.

Ngoc Ming Ngo, vietnamita nacionalizada norteamericana, es una fotógrafa autodidacta cuyo trabajo explora la belleza intrínseca de las plantas y la naturaleza. Su sentido de la estética se cultivó observando los cambios de la luz en el paisaje de la aldea costera vietnamita donde creció. Años después vería plasmada en la obra de maestros como André Kertész, Jacques Henri Lartigue o Robert Frank la afirmación de Saint-Exupéry de que “lo esencial es invisible a los ojos”, que es una guía en su trabajo. Su obra se publica en revistas tan importantes como T Magazine, AD, Cabana o House & Garden.

Conversarán con Sofía Barroso, gestora cultural y organizadora de viajes de jardines. Traducción simultánea del inglés al español.

Este acto forma parte del programa de HAY Festival Segovia.


Tras una larga caminata por los alrededores de Rohuna—un pueblecito remoto en la costa atlántica del norte de Marruecos—, Umberto Pasti se durmió bajo una higuera: al despertar supo que se encontraba en el lugar donde establecer su soñado jardín de especies en peligro de extinción. Rohuna era un lugar extremo e inhóspito, casi inaccesible, sin agua y sin luz, pero también un paraje único y solemne como el mismísimo Edén. Sólo el tesón y la esforzada labor de un jardinero podían completar la titánica empresa. Al cabo de los años el paraíso fue haciéndose realidad pese a las múltiples dificultades, y Rohuna sigue siendo hoy el lugar único e irremplazable donde aquel forastero, el nazrani, reconoció su hogar y a su familia. Perdido en el paraíso es un libro extraordinario, raro y delicado que nos recuerda que la aspiración a la belleza es una forma de bondad y sigue siendo vital para el ser humano.

http://www.acantilado.es/evento/hay-festival-segovia-umberto-pasti-y-ngoc-minh-ngo-en-conversacion-con-sofia-barroso/