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April 26, 2008
Indifference is a Pact with Impunity
A center and memorial in Floresta for the disappeared in the Dirty War. Bottom photo is of one of the hundreds of sites where people were tortured before taken elsewhere, members assassinated included over 30,000, beginning with trade unionists.
Las Madres (the mothers) of the disappeared still protest at the Plaza de Maya every Thursday in Buenos Aires. Las madres pics I got off an internet search... They often embroider the name of their children or grandchildren on their head scarves. I had seen the film Official Story that helped further grasp one aspect of the missing (the state selling children for adoption), but I am sure there is a better doc out there.
Posted by cat at 05:40 PM
Ex-pat studio in Monserrat
Friends of friends make friends. Eliza is an ex-pat who has a beautiful studio in the Monserrat neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She does printmaking, sewing and a bunch of other crafty things. See/buy her works here
Continue reading "Ex-pat studio in Monserrat"
Posted by cat at 05:39 PM
La Murga
Last week in Buenos Aires Jim and I visited a neighborhood in Floresta, after meeting Gabriel near Plaza de Mayo at a street protest against the loss of funding for city-wide cultural initiatives. Gabriel organizes La Murga - a street theatre that performs at low cost or for trade, run in a socialist manner. Gabriel also toured with us his neighborhood where there exists blocks and blocks of clandestine factories. Above are the sequence and beaded crafts stitched onto the murga costumes. Notice the mix of Che, Tinkerbell, the Andean flag and San Cayteno.
Posted by cat at 05:39 PM
Street art in BA, Argentina
pic taken from a taxi
Posted by cat at 05:36 PM
April 23, 2008
Keyboard Pants
Designed by Erik De Nijs
via Yankodesign (Thanks zulma)
Posted by cat at 08:56 PM
Charges against Steve Kurtz DROPPED
Buffalo, NY - A process that has taken nearly four years may be coming to an end. On Monday, April 21, Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara ruled to dismiss the indictment against University at Buffalo Professor of Visual Studies Dr. Steven Kurtz. In June 2004, Professor Kurtz was charged with two counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud stemming from an exchange of $256 worth of harmless bacteria with Dr. Robert Ferrell, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Dr. Kurtz planned to use the bacteria in an educational art exhibit about biotechnology with his award-winning art and theater collective, Critical Art Ensemble.
Read more
Posted by cat at 06:14 PM
April 21, 2008
Play Fair 2008
"Workers making the goods sold by brand leaders such as adidas, Asics, New Balance, Nike, and Puma are still earning poverty wages despite the fact that company profits are soaring into the hundreds of millions, sometimes even billions of dollars," said Neil Kearney, general secretary of the ITGLWF (International Textile Garment and Leather Workers Federation), one of the organizations coordinating the Play Fair 2008 campaign in the lead up to the Beijing Games. "This report presents clear targets for industry to work towards to make progress - we're urging industry leaders to step up to the challenge."
Continue reading "Play Fair 2008"
Posted by cat at 09:27 AM
April 17, 2008
RUSTBELT / BAYOU
A new work by Julia Christensen, Rust Belt / Bayou is an aural exploration of two cities: Cleveland, Ohio, and New Orleans, Louisiana. For the past several years, Christensen's artistic practice has been based in extensive travel throughout the United States, surveying the ways in which communities are changing in the shadow of corporate real estate development. During these travels, she has often been struck by the similarities between Cleveland, a city of the Rust Belt, and New Orleans, a city of the bayou. Both cities dwell on the shores of bodies of water with global reach: Cleveland on Lake Erie, New Orleans on the Mississippi River. Both cities have seen the boom and bust of industry and population throughout their histories ‹ past and present. Cleveland and New Orleans look remarkably different, but Christensen has often noticed that they have sounds in common: industry, birds, water, tourists. Rust Belt / Bayou offers an interactive document of aural snapshots from recent trips to both New Orleans and Cleveland. [Needs Flash Player and audio]
Posted by cat at 04:36 PM
April 12, 2008
Stitch for Senate Blog... New!
This is the first post on the NEW Stitch for Senate blog
I have decided to blog documentation of the Stitch for Senate project as it progresses. Occassionally I get an email me asking if we still need knitters and I always answer YES! It will be finished when we have one hundred helmets. I am hoping this will keep people posted on the current aspects of the project, though I must forewarn I will be in South America from tomorrow April 13 - May 5, researching radical and artisan craft practices in Argentina and Peru. However, the Stitch for Senate PO Box will still accept mail and I will check email as much as possible to answer any questions. This blog will also document related wartime creative resistance, as well as things I collect about the history of wartime knitting. Above is a recent picture of the stack of helmets. After being labeled, the helmets are stored safely in a fiber box in my studio. Thanks to all who have participated.
I don't think I ever posted the interview I did with Regine Debatty of We Make Money Not Art (one of my most fav blogs!!) which kind of sums up the chronology of microrevolt projects and Stitch for Senate too...
Posted by cat at 06:58 PM
April 11, 2008
Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting in Indianapolis
The Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting exhibit curated by David McFadden and organized by the Musuem of Arts and Design (NYC) is travelling to Indianapolis. There is so much great work in this show and I hope people in the midwest come out to see it. I'm going to try to go this summer on a trip west. See details here.
Posted by cat at 11:28 AM
April 09, 2008
Adidas: Re-Employ Mistreated Workers
In its glossy and well-designed publications, Adidas expresses its commitment to improving its social and environmental performance, acknowledging its responsibility to "take action and encourage others in our supply chain to take action if we are to make a difference and become a sustainable business." Now is the time for Adidas to take action in Indonesia, where systemic violations of international labour standards - like those at Adidas suppliers PT Spotec and PT Dong Joe - profoundly affect the lives and well-being of workers.
Continue reading "Adidas: Re-Employ Mistreated Workers"
Posted by cat at 11:14 AM
April 04, 2008
Falsely Accused "Bio-terrorist" Steve Kurtz
Presents Strange Culture
My favorite former college professor is talking tonight in Troy and screening a movie about his case. Kurtz and Critical Art Ensemble were awarded the 2007 Andy Warhol Foundation Wynn Kramarsky Freedom of Artistic Expression Prize in recognition of their 20 years of artistic practice. See also this short video about Steve:
7 PM, Friday, April 4
Christ Church United Methodist
35 State Street, Troy, NY
Admission to this event is by donation
($10 suggested, $5 student/low income)
Continue reading "Falsely Accused "Bio-terrorist" Steve Kurtz
Presents Strange Culture"
Posted by cat at 01:11 PM
April 01, 2008
SL: a Second Life documentary
Independent Filmmaker Jason Spingarn-Koff is hosting a Unique Fundraiser to Help Underwrite Documentary on Second Life. See the trailer and more info on fundraiser.
Posted by cat at 11:43 AM
American Apparel Ads Causing Controversy Again
Via LA curbed Thanks, Zulma
Posted by cat at 11:32 AM