IN.TRANSIT _ 3 exposições em simultâneo
VITOR REIS _ UNDERCOVER
PAULO MENDES _ NUMA CIDADE TALVEZ
CARLA FILIPE _ PESQUISA NO CAMPO, DESERTAR, ANTES QUE GANHE UM CANCRO
segunda-feira, 28 de maio de 2007
CARLA FILIPE _ PESQUISA NO CAMPO, DESERTAR, ANTES QUE GANHE UM CANCRO
domingo, 27 de maio de 2007
ISRAEL PIMENTA _ expo no APÊNDICE
Projecto Apêndice apresenta
Patera Travels site-specific de ISRAEL PIMENTA
inaugura a 28 (segunda-feira) de Maio pelas 18h00
até 09 de Junho.
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Projecto Apêndice gerido por Carla Filipe e Isabel Ribeiro.
Patera Travels site-specific de ISRAEL PIMENTA
inaugura a 28 (segunda-feira) de Maio pelas 18h00
até 09 de Junho.
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Projecto Apêndice gerido por Carla Filipe e Isabel Ribeiro.
Centro Comercial de Cedofeita, Loja nº 100
Rua de Cedofeita _ Porto
Rua de Cedofeita _ Porto
GUSTAVO SUMPTA _ performance
GUSTAVO SUMPTA apresenta
Ser artista em Portugal
performance n' a Sala
Rua do Bonjardim, 235 2º _ Porto
Dia 30 de Maio às 22h30
programação por António Lago e Susana Chiocca.
PERSEPOLIS _ prémio do júri no Festival Cinema de Cannes
A adaptação em animação da banda desenhada auto-biográfica da iraniana Marjane Satrapi - PERSEPOLIS - foi hoje galardoada com o prémio do júri no festival de cinema de Cannes.
Marjane Satrapi est née en 1969 à Rasht, dans la région de Guilan, sur les bords de la mer caspienne. Elle grandit à Téhéran où elle étudie au lycée français, avant de partir à Vienne puis à Strasbourg en 1994 pour suivre les Arts déco. Même après ces 13 années passées en France, elle se dit très iranienne. « La France est comme ma femme et l’Iran comme ma mère. Ma mère, même si elle est folle et hystérique, n’empêche que c’est ma mère. Ma femme je l’ai certes choisi mais je peux la tromper, divorcer ou faire un enfant avec une autre femme en cachette. » C'est en arrivant à Paris qu'elle rencontre des dessinateurs qui la font entrer à l'Atelier des Vosges, repère des grands noms de la bande dessinée contemporaine. Elle leur raconte ses histoires de famille, d'ancêtres émasculés, d'oncles suicidés, de coups de fouet, bref un certain quotidien de l'Iran. En entendant ces histoires, ils lui demandent ce qu'elle attend pour les raconter en bande dessinée... Dans un premier épisode, Persepolis 1, paru à L'Association en novembre 2000, Marjane retrace une partie de l'histoire de sa famille à travers le récit de ses dix premières années, jusqu'à la chute du régime du Shah et le début de la guerre avec l'Irak. Ce livre connaît dès sa parution un énorme succès (Prix Alph'art Coup de Coeur à Angoulême 2001, Prix du Lion en Belgique, près de 20 000 ex. vendus en un an). Dans Persepolis 2, qui paraît à L'Association en octobre 2001, elle raconte la guerre Iran-Irak et son adolescence jusqu'à son départ pour Vienne à l'âge de 14 ans (Prix Alph'art du meilleur scénario à Angoulême 2002, Prix France Info 2002). Persepolis 3 et Persepolis 4, qui ont été prépubliés dans Libération, racontent son exil en Autriche et son retour en Iran. Elle a reçu, au mois d'octobre 2004, le prix de la "BD de l'année" à la foire du livre de Francfort. La vente des quatre tomes réunis dépasse aujourd'hui les 400 000 exemplaires en France et plus d'un million deux cent mille pour le monde entier. Persepolis a été traduit à ce jour en une vingtaine de langues. La série est déjà un succès aux États-Unis où Persepolis est même rangé dans les rayons politique de certaines librairies. Là-bas, le livre est au programme de plus de 160 collèges et universités. Son dernier livre, Poulet aux Prunes, a obtenu le prix du Meilleur Album à Angoulême en 2005. Depuis, elle se consacre à l'adaptation en dessin animé long métrage de Persepolis, dont elle a écrit le scénario et qu'elle met en scène avec Vincent Parronaud (auteur de bande dessinée lui aussi, plus connu sous le pseudonyme de Winshluss). Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux et Simon Abkarian prêtent respectivement leur voix aux personnages de Marjane elle-même, sa mère, sa grand-mère et son père. Le film est entièrement produit et fabriqué en France.
Marjane Satrapi talk:
Why I Wrote Persepolis
From the time I came to France in 1994, I was always telling stories about life in Iran to my friends. We'd see pieces about Iran on television, but they didn't represent my experience at all. I had to keep saying, "No, it's not like that there." I've been justifying why it isn't negative to be Iranian for almost twenty years. How strange when it isn't something I did or chose to be?
After I finished university, there were nine of us, all artists and friends, working in a studio together. That group finally said, "Do something with your stories." They introduced me to graphic novelists. Spiegelman was first. And when I read him, I thought "Jesus Christ, it's possible to tell a story and make a point this way." It was amazing.
Writing a Graphic Novel is Like Making a Movie
People always ask me, "Why didn't you write a book?" But that's what Persepolis is. To me, a book is pages related to something that has a cover. Graphic novels are not traditional literature, but that does not mean they are second-rate. Images are a way of writing. When you have the talent to be able to write and to draw it seems a shame to choose one. I think it's better to do both.
We learn about the world through images all the time. In the cinema we do it, but to make a film you need sponsors and money and 10,000 people to work with you. With a graphic novel, all you need is yourself and your editor.
Of course, you have to have a very visual vision of the world. You have to perceive life with images otherwise it doesn't work. Some artists are more into sound; they make music. The point is that you have to know what you want to say, and find the best way of saying it. It's hard to say how Persepolis evolved once I started writing. I had to learn how to write it as a graphic novel by doing.
sexta-feira, 25 de maio de 2007
IN.TRANSIT _ inaugurações _ SÁBADO 26 maio _ 3 EXPOSIÇÕES EM SIMULTÂNEO
IN.TRANSIT # 29 / 30 /31
3 exposições individuais em simultâneo em 3 salas _ na Rua Miguel Bombarda _ Porto
> CARLA FILIPE _ VITOR REIS _ PAULO MENDES
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em exibição_
CARLA FILIPE
PESQUISA NO CAMPO, DESERTAR, ANTES QUE GANHE UM CANCRO
edifício artes em partes
rua miguel bombarda 457
4050-379 PORTO
terça a sábado. 14.30h. às 19.30h até 26 maio
inaugurou a 21.abril e vai estar em exibição até 30 junho.
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Instalação site-specific para a sala IN.TRANSIT. Apresentação se uma série de aproximadamente 100 desenhos que relatam viagens realizadas pela artista entre 2002 - 2005. Esta é a primeira apresentação pública deste conjunto de trabalhos.
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inauguram_
No dia 26.maio.07 abre na Rua Miguel Bombarda um novo e amplo espaço dedicado a actividades culturais e comerciais - C.C.BOMBARDA - o projecto IN.TRANSIT associa-se inaugurando duas exposições em duas salas deste novo complexo.
VITOR REIS
UNDERCOVER
centro comercial bombarda
rua miguel bombarda 285
4050-379 PORTO
terça a sábado. 12.00h. às 20.00h até 23 junho
inauguração. 26.maio.sábado. 16h.
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Apresentação de novos trabalhos em escultura e instalação deste artista que estudou nas Caldas da Rainha.
PAULO MENDES
NUMA CIDADE TALVEZ
centro comercial bombarda
rua miguel bombarda 285
4050-379 PORTO
terça a sábado. 12.00h. às 20.00h até 23 junho
inauguração. 26.maio.sábado. 16h.
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Apresentação inédita no Porto do trabalho em vídeo ABANDONADO - TRÁFICO / TRÁFEGO (ENTRE IMAGENS) PORTO MARÇO 2006, a sua primeira exibição ocorreu na SOLAR galeria de arte cinemática em 2006 durante a exposição individual que ali realizou designada THE ART OF FICTION - PLAYTIME RESEARCH COMPLEX.
Numa segunda fase da exposição será apresentado um novo trabalho em vídeo - CINEMA - PORTO ABRIL 2007, já realizado este ano.
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contactos. 936396964_ paulomendes@plano21.net
http://www.paulomendes.blogspot.com
www.plano21.net
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projecto IN.TRANSIT
produção_PLANO 21.associação cultural
apoio_ARQUITRAVE.arquitectos associados lda.
WONDER _ na cidade do Porto
WONDER é um projecto concebido por LUIS ALEGRE actualmente já com uma loja em Lisboa e que agora abre no Porto no novo espaço C.C.BOMBARDA.
É um espaço comercial em que objectos diversos, t-shirts e outras criações deste designer e artista podem ser vistas.
Na loja que agora vai inaugurar no Porto pretende-se também alargar o conceito existente á divulgação e venda de múltiplos de artistas, sejam livros, serigrafias ou objectos.
Já nessa lógica foi convidado ANDRÉ LEMOS para intervir com um mural original que abrange todas as paredes da loja, estabelecendo o ambiente visual do lugar.
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INAUGURAÇÃO_ 26 maio.07 _ 16h_ Rua Miguel Bombarda 285 _ Porto
domingo, 20 de maio de 2007
IN.TRANSIT _ no próximo sábado 3 exposições em simultâneo
O projecto IN.TRANSIT apresenta 3 exposições em simultâneo.
CARLA FILIPE já em exibição
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VITOR REIS e PAULO MENDES _ duas exposições individuais que vão inaugurar no próximo sábado também na rua Miguel Bombarda no Porto.
CANNES 2007 _ talvez brevemente em portugal
DEATH PROOF directed by Quentin TARANTINO
ALEXANDRA directed by Alexander SOKUROV
MISTER LONELY directed by Harmony KORINE
MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS directed by WONG Kar Wai
THE MAN FROM LONDON directed by Béla TARR
quarta-feira, 16 de maio de 2007
INTRO _ artistas portugueses em Bruxelas
INTRO é uma exposição em Bruxelas de um conjunto de artistas plásticos portugueses _ PEDRO BARATEIRO _ ANDRÉ CEPEDA _ CARLA FILIPE _ EDUARDO MATOS _ JOÃO MARIA GUSMÃO e PEDRO PAIVA _ MANUEL SANTOS MAIA.
Projecto organizado por Eduardo Matos e André Cepeda para o ESPACE PHOTOGRAPHIQUE CONTRETYPE e sem apoios institucionais por parte do Estado português.
Acontecerá ainda uma conferência para discutir o contexto da arte portuguesa contemporânea.
CARLA FILIPE no IN.TRANSIT _ texto crítico na ARTE CAPITAL
Na publicação on-line sobre arte contemporânea ARTE CAPITAL foi publicado um texto - Da emergência do desenho no Porto - da autoria de AIDA CASTRO sobre a importância do desenho na criação plástica contemporânea na cidade do Porto, onde entre outras exposições destaca a de CARLA FILIPE em exibição no Projecto IN.TRANSIT.
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(...)
No conjunto dos aproximadamente 100 desenhos a artista reconstrói uma memória, necessariamente narrativa, dessas passagens através de reconhecimentos locais, experiências pessoais, assim como, recuerdos visuais de jornais, flyers de todo o tipo, cartazes, revistas, excluindo o acto de fotografar como auxiliar de memória subjectiva. A apreciação, e a transformação dos conteúdos no desenho reside na experiência pessoal real e na experiência visual local que trouxe consigo, e não na experiência visual subjectiva retida na memória fotográfica. Aqui a subjectividade e a memória são apenas da responsabilidade do desenho, sem ser uma exposição de um “caderno de bordo” mas antes uma reorganização pós-viagem. E por isso aqueles desenhos tanto se assemelham a páginas web, uma das plataformas favoritas actuais para a reorganização, a difusão e selecção autoral de informação. Não se sabe, ou não interessa saber, se de facto as viagens foram reais ou fictícias, existem alguns elementos que vão conferindo ora a veracidade, ora a falsidade dos factos. Sabe-se de uma necessidade de desertar, de eleger um lugar possível em contrapartida ao presente.
(...)
Aida Castro in Arte Capital
>
(...)
No conjunto dos aproximadamente 100 desenhos a artista reconstrói uma memória, necessariamente narrativa, dessas passagens através de reconhecimentos locais, experiências pessoais, assim como, recuerdos visuais de jornais, flyers de todo o tipo, cartazes, revistas, excluindo o acto de fotografar como auxiliar de memória subjectiva. A apreciação, e a transformação dos conteúdos no desenho reside na experiência pessoal real e na experiência visual local que trouxe consigo, e não na experiência visual subjectiva retida na memória fotográfica. Aqui a subjectividade e a memória são apenas da responsabilidade do desenho, sem ser uma exposição de um “caderno de bordo” mas antes uma reorganização pós-viagem. E por isso aqueles desenhos tanto se assemelham a páginas web, uma das plataformas favoritas actuais para a reorganização, a difusão e selecção autoral de informação. Não se sabe, ou não interessa saber, se de facto as viagens foram reais ou fictícias, existem alguns elementos que vão conferindo ora a veracidade, ora a falsidade dos factos. Sabe-se de uma necessidade de desertar, de eleger um lugar possível em contrapartida ao presente.
(...)
Aida Castro in Arte Capital
HOMEM SELVAGEM _ expo de ilustração na FBAUP
Partindo de um texto acerca "Do Mito do Homem Selvagem" e das suas diversas representações na História de Arte, de Maria José Goulão, foi proposta a um conjunto de ilustradores nacionais e estrangeiros a realização de uma ilustração.
Esta exposição será o ponto de partida para uma série de eventos futuros dedicados à Ilustração e os seus processos de actuação. Pretende-se que este evento inicie uma série de plataformas que possibilitem a exposição, reflexão e divulgação do trabalho dos ilustradores, tornando visível uma área em desenvolvimento, não só no seio da instituição, mas também no contexto nacional e internacional.
Esta exposição será o ponto de partida para uma série de eventos futuros dedicados à Ilustração e os seus processos de actuação. Pretende-se que este evento inicie uma série de plataformas que possibilitem a exposição, reflexão e divulgação do trabalho dos ilustradores, tornando visível uma área em desenvolvimento, não só no seio da instituição, mas também no contexto nacional e internacional.
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Organização do projecto _ Julio Dolbeth
"Homem Selvagem" na Galeria Cozinha da Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto entre os dias 7 e 31 de Maio 07
segunda-feira, 14 de maio de 2007
sábado, 12 de maio de 2007
APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL foi censurado na Tailândia e apresenta primeira exposição individual nos Estados Unidos
WEERASETHAKUL FILM CENSORED IN THAILAND
Apichatpong Weerasethakul's latest film has been censored in the director's native Thailand. As the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's Michael Althen reports, Sang Satawat (Syndromes and a Century)—which premiered at last fall's Venice Film Festival—did not please Thai censors, who requested four cuts to the film before its commercial release in the country. Instead of complying, Weerasethakul decided to cancel the release and raise questions about Thai film policies via an online petition. The censor board offered its own form of resistance by refusing to return its viewing copy to the director.
In an open letter to the National Legislative Assembly and the Thai government, Weerasethakul writes, "I, a filmmaker, treat my works as my own sons or my daughters. When I conceived them, they have their own lives to live. I don't mind if people are fond of them, or despise them, as long as I created them with my best intentions and efforts. If these offspring of mine cannot live in their own country for whatever reasons, let them be free. Since there are other places that warmly welcome them as who they are, there is no reason to mutilate them from the fear of the system, or from greed. Otherwise there is no reason for one to continue making art." (Jennifer Allen in Artforum)
Apichatpong Weerasethakul's latest film has been censored in the director's native Thailand. As the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's Michael Althen reports, Sang Satawat (Syndromes and a Century)—which premiered at last fall's Venice Film Festival—did not please Thai censors, who requested four cuts to the film before its commercial release in the country. Instead of complying, Weerasethakul decided to cancel the release and raise questions about Thai film policies via an online petition. The censor board offered its own form of resistance by refusing to return its viewing copy to the director.
In an open letter to the National Legislative Assembly and the Thai government, Weerasethakul writes, "I, a filmmaker, treat my works as my own sons or my daughters. When I conceived them, they have their own lives to live. I don't mind if people are fond of them, or despise them, as long as I created them with my best intentions and efforts. If these offspring of mine cannot live in their own country for whatever reasons, let them be free. Since there are other places that warmly welcome them as who they are, there is no reason to mutilate them from the fear of the system, or from greed. Otherwise there is no reason for one to continue making art." (Jennifer Allen in Artforum)
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Unknown Forces: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Internationally recognized for his work in experimental and narrative cinema such as Mysterious Object at Noon (2000), Blissfully Yours (2002), Tropical Malady (2004) and Syndromes and A Century (2006), Apichatpong Weerasethakul presents his first solo exhibition in the United States. Weerasethakul’s films explore perception, impermanence and the imaginary, cultivating fanciful potential within the mundane. His abstract interchanges interrogate conventions of cinematic narrative while exploring desire, reality and a kind of melancholy perhaps peculiar to our times.
Weerasethakul’s exhibition at REDCAT features a newly commissioned video installation that expands upon characters developed in his previous feature films, shorts and video installations through comedy. Born in Bangkok in 1970, Weerasethakul holds a degree in architecture from Khon Kaen University and an MFA in filmmaking from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has worked outside the Thai studio system for a decade and, since 1999, has actively promoted and distributed experimental and independent films through his company Kick the Machine.
“The Thai filmmaker and installation artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul uses indeterminacy and incoherence as his aces in the hole. He frequently consults a fortune-teller for suggestions for key elements of his movies; he conceived a whole feature (Mysterious Object at Noon [2000]) around the Surrealists’ Exquisite Corpse game of chain writing; and even his more deliberately authored works are organized around puzzling narratives that offer few clues to their decryption. In a movie theater, Weerasethakul’s passing of the work of interpretation on to the audience can be maddening or paralyzing, but in an installation context it can have the giddy feel of a free-for-all. His leviathan UNKNOWN FORCES, 2007, boxes the viewer between four giant video screens that open out onto urban Thai landscapes shimmering with pleasure and freedom. On one side of the room, a young man and an elegant, sixty-ish woman—she looks like a Thai Charlotte Rampling—sit on the back of a pickup truck, the wind tousling their hair as they recount anecdotes we can’t remotely hear (but which seem, from the look of the speakers, sweetly nostalgic). On another, a shaggy-haired guy does a pop-'n'-lock number on the back of the same truck, mostly keeping his face from view. On a third, a giant, mysterious object is swaddled in fabric and lit with cheesy carnival lights while cheesier Thai techno pop, evocative of a small-town carnival ca. 1986, blasts this cryptic but oddly good-natured site. In interviews, Weerasethakul claims UNKNOWN FORCES is an allegory of the situation after last year’s political upheaval in Thailand. To Los Angeles viewers deprived of the author’s private Da Vinci Code, it feels like something even better: A quintessentially Weerasethakul space of obscene bliss.” (Matthew Wilder in Arforum)
In anticipation of the Los Angeles Film Festival premiere of Syndromes and a Century, REDCAT will present a selection of Weerasethakul’s films. Screenings include Mysterious Object at Noon, Blissfully Yours, Tropical Malady, and Worldly Desires and other shorts selected by the artist.
Weerasethakul has exhibited and screened his films widely and has been presented numerous awards for his art projects and feature films including the Prix Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival, 2002; the Prix du Jury, Cannes Film Festival, 2004; Age d’or Prize, Cine de’couvertes, 2004; and Grand Prize, Tokyo Filmex, 2004. In 2005, he received the Silpatorn Award from Thailand Ministry of Culture’s Office of Contemporary Arts.
Weerasethakul’s exhibition at REDCAT features a newly commissioned video installation that expands upon characters developed in his previous feature films, shorts and video installations through comedy. Born in Bangkok in 1970, Weerasethakul holds a degree in architecture from Khon Kaen University and an MFA in filmmaking from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has worked outside the Thai studio system for a decade and, since 1999, has actively promoted and distributed experimental and independent films through his company Kick the Machine.
“The Thai filmmaker and installation artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul uses indeterminacy and incoherence as his aces in the hole. He frequently consults a fortune-teller for suggestions for key elements of his movies; he conceived a whole feature (Mysterious Object at Noon [2000]) around the Surrealists’ Exquisite Corpse game of chain writing; and even his more deliberately authored works are organized around puzzling narratives that offer few clues to their decryption. In a movie theater, Weerasethakul’s passing of the work of interpretation on to the audience can be maddening or paralyzing, but in an installation context it can have the giddy feel of a free-for-all. His leviathan UNKNOWN FORCES, 2007, boxes the viewer between four giant video screens that open out onto urban Thai landscapes shimmering with pleasure and freedom. On one side of the room, a young man and an elegant, sixty-ish woman—she looks like a Thai Charlotte Rampling—sit on the back of a pickup truck, the wind tousling their hair as they recount anecdotes we can’t remotely hear (but which seem, from the look of the speakers, sweetly nostalgic). On another, a shaggy-haired guy does a pop-'n'-lock number on the back of the same truck, mostly keeping his face from view. On a third, a giant, mysterious object is swaddled in fabric and lit with cheesy carnival lights while cheesier Thai techno pop, evocative of a small-town carnival ca. 1986, blasts this cryptic but oddly good-natured site. In interviews, Weerasethakul claims UNKNOWN FORCES is an allegory of the situation after last year’s political upheaval in Thailand. To Los Angeles viewers deprived of the author’s private Da Vinci Code, it feels like something even better: A quintessentially Weerasethakul space of obscene bliss.” (Matthew Wilder in Arforum)
In anticipation of the Los Angeles Film Festival premiere of Syndromes and a Century, REDCAT will present a selection of Weerasethakul’s films. Screenings include Mysterious Object at Noon, Blissfully Yours, Tropical Malady, and Worldly Desires and other shorts selected by the artist.
Weerasethakul has exhibited and screened his films widely and has been presented numerous awards for his art projects and feature films including the Prix Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival, 2002; the Prix du Jury, Cannes Film Festival, 2004; Age d’or Prize, Cine de’couvertes, 2004; and Grand Prize, Tokyo Filmex, 2004. In 2005, he received the Silpatorn Award from Thailand Ministry of Culture’s Office of Contemporary Arts.
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CalArts Theater / REDCAT GALLERY
CalArts Theater / REDCAT GALLERY
April 18 _ June 17, 2007 Los Angeles US
ANDRÉ LEMOS novo mural _ parte 2
André Lemos continua atrabalhar no seu novo mural na cidade do Porto.
Mais informações e imagens brevemente.
Condolezza Rice meets Iranian Artists
Unease As Rice Meets Iranian Artists
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was all smiles Thursday (10 may) as she met Iranian artists at an event intended to promote cultural links with Iran. Still, there were currents of unease.
Ten of the 14 Iranians who received special visas for the exhibition refused to be photographed with Rice, and two would not even accompany her through the gallery because they were ``uncomfortable,'' two organizers said.
``Art moves above politics and I didn't want to be a part of politics,'' said Behnam Kamrani, a 39-year-old digital artist from Tehran.
Bahar Behbahni, a 33-year-old mixed media artist from Tehran, added, ``It doesn't mean that the artists aren't political or don't (care) about politics. Artists don't want to make political gestures. Our language is our art, we express ourselves through art.''
What was billed as a unique and open expression of culture bridging vast political differences between the U.S. and Iran became an exercise in crowd control as the State Department scrambled to prevent reporters from even glimpsing Rice's tour.
All journalists, including those without cameras, were kept in the final room of the exhibit behind two immense wooden doors that opened only when Rice finished and appeared with four of the Iranian artists to say how much she enjoyed the show.
``This is really a great day,'' she said in brief remarks. ``I have so enjoyed seeing the work of these great artists.
``They are representing so well the great culture that Iran has, the great culture that goes back for so many centuries but that is being brought here today so that the American people can see another side of Iran.''
Rice's visit was announced Wednesday by State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. He said its importance was ``the symbolism of the American secretary of state reaching out and demonstrating for the Iranian people an appreciation for products of Iranian culture.''
The United States broke diplomatic ties with Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
Relations have remained frozen amid mutual recriminations and animosity, notably over Iran's nuclear program, which Washington claims is a cover for atomic weapons development, and alleged Iranian support for insurgents in Iraq and anti-Israel groups.
The cases of three Iranian-American dual citizens detained in Iran and that of a retired FBI agent who has been missing in Iran since early March have further strained the situation.
Still, the State Department has placed great emphasis on cultural, educational and sports exchanges with Iran. The ``Wishes and Dreams'' exhibition that was to open to the public Friday is just the latest in a series that has already involved doctors, wrestlers and teachers.
Many of the artists whose work is on display at Washington's Meridian International Center said they hoped its presence in the United States would have a positive impact among people in the U.S.
``I am just an artist, I am not an Iranian terrorist and if I can do anything for the peace of the world, that is something I would be proud of,'' said Mitra Kavian, 43. She was less certain when asked if she thought the exhibit was a step toward better U.S.-Iran ties.
``I don't know,'' she said. ``Maybe, I hope. I don't like war, I like peace everywhere.''
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was all smiles Thursday (10 may) as she met Iranian artists at an event intended to promote cultural links with Iran. Still, there were currents of unease.
Ten of the 14 Iranians who received special visas for the exhibition refused to be photographed with Rice, and two would not even accompany her through the gallery because they were ``uncomfortable,'' two organizers said.
``Art moves above politics and I didn't want to be a part of politics,'' said Behnam Kamrani, a 39-year-old digital artist from Tehran.
Bahar Behbahni, a 33-year-old mixed media artist from Tehran, added, ``It doesn't mean that the artists aren't political or don't (care) about politics. Artists don't want to make political gestures. Our language is our art, we express ourselves through art.''
What was billed as a unique and open expression of culture bridging vast political differences between the U.S. and Iran became an exercise in crowd control as the State Department scrambled to prevent reporters from even glimpsing Rice's tour.
All journalists, including those without cameras, were kept in the final room of the exhibit behind two immense wooden doors that opened only when Rice finished and appeared with four of the Iranian artists to say how much she enjoyed the show.
``This is really a great day,'' she said in brief remarks. ``I have so enjoyed seeing the work of these great artists.
``They are representing so well the great culture that Iran has, the great culture that goes back for so many centuries but that is being brought here today so that the American people can see another side of Iran.''
Rice's visit was announced Wednesday by State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. He said its importance was ``the symbolism of the American secretary of state reaching out and demonstrating for the Iranian people an appreciation for products of Iranian culture.''
The United States broke diplomatic ties with Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
Relations have remained frozen amid mutual recriminations and animosity, notably over Iran's nuclear program, which Washington claims is a cover for atomic weapons development, and alleged Iranian support for insurgents in Iraq and anti-Israel groups.
The cases of three Iranian-American dual citizens detained in Iran and that of a retired FBI agent who has been missing in Iran since early March have further strained the situation.
Still, the State Department has placed great emphasis on cultural, educational and sports exchanges with Iran. The ``Wishes and Dreams'' exhibition that was to open to the public Friday is just the latest in a series that has already involved doctors, wrestlers and teachers.
Many of the artists whose work is on display at Washington's Meridian International Center said they hoped its presence in the United States would have a positive impact among people in the U.S.
``I am just an artist, I am not an Iranian terrorist and if I can do anything for the peace of the world, that is something I would be proud of,'' said Mitra Kavian, 43. She was less certain when asked if she thought the exhibit was a step toward better U.S.-Iran ties.
``I don't know,'' she said. ``Maybe, I hope. I don't like war, I like peace everywhere.''
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By MATTHEW LEE Associated Press in GUARDIAN
quinta-feira, 10 de maio de 2007
o que significa ser artista em portugal ?
(...) a propósito de alguns comentários que aconteceram durante a conferência de lançamento em Serralves do livro Propostas da Arte Portuguesa. Posição: 2007 editado por Miguel von Hafe Pérez está a acontecer uma discussão em lume brando na blogosfera artística portuense, partindo da pergunta colocada pelo autor do livro como mote para a conversa na noite do lançamento - O que significa ser artista hoje em Portugal?
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Para já deixo uma sugestão para a banda sonora que deveria acompanhar o trabalho de reflexão de boa parte dos participantes da discussão.
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Para já deixo uma sugestão para a banda sonora que deveria acompanhar o trabalho de reflexão de boa parte dos participantes da discussão.
quarta-feira, 9 de maio de 2007
ANDRÉ LEMOS novo mural na cidade do Porto
ANDRÉ LEMOS encontra-se actualmente no Porto a desenhar e a pintar um novo mural de grandes dimensões, do qual apresentamos aqui uma imagem parcial do inicio dos trabalhos, a execução deste trabalho surge no contexto de um projecto cultural e comercial que irá abrir no final de Maio.
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Brevemente mais desenvolvimentos sobre este mural e este projecto.
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