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January 30, 2011
!Women Art Revolution, by Lynn Hershman Leeson, premieres in the New Frontier lineup:
!Women Art Revolution/U.S.A. (Director: Lynn Hershman Leeson) — One part of a transmedia project that includes the interactive video installation RAW WAR presented at New Frontier, this seminal documentary depicts the history of women artists who have used art as an activist practice to fight oppression and protest gender and racial exclusion – creating what many historians feel is the most significant art movement of the late-20th century. U.S. Premiere in Sundance this week.
Posted by cat at 05:18 PM
THE TWITTER REVOLUTION MUST DIE
by ulises mejias
Have you ever heard of the Leica Revolution? No?
That’s probably because folks who don’t know anything about “branding” insist on calling it the Mexican Revolution. An estimated two million people died in the long struggle (1910-1920) to overthrow a despotic government and bring about reform. But why shouldn’t we re-name the revolution not after a nation or its people, but after the “social media” that had such a great impact in making the struggle known all over the world: the photographic camera? Even better, let’s name the revolution not after the medium itself, but after the manufacturer of the cameras that were carried by people like Hugo Brehme to document the atrocities of war. Viva Leica, cabrones!
My sarcasm is, of course, a thinly veiled attempt to point out how absurd it is to refer to events in Iran, Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere as the Twitter Revolution, the Facebook Revolution, and so on. What we call things, the names we use to identify them, has incredible symbolic power, and I, for one, refuse to associate corporate brands with struggles for human dignity. I agree with Jillian York when she says:
“… I am glad that Tunisians were able to utilize social media to bring attention to their plight. But I will not dishonor the memory of Mohamed Bouazizi–or the 65 others that died on the streets for their cause–by dubbing this anything but a human revolution.”
Read entire post by ulises mejias
Posted by cat at 05:14 PM
January 18, 2011
DANCING FOR DARA: In Boston January 27
Thursday 27 January 2011
8pm @ Spectacle
17 Edinboro Street #3, Chinatown, Boston
http://spectacle.nu
DANCING FOR DARA: a multi-city fund-raising screening for Dara Greenwald
Video Data Bank of Chicago has assembled a 75-minute video program composed of work by internationally recognized artists who have donated their work to raise money for Dara Greenwald, an artist and activist who is currently battling cancer. Please find detailed information on Dara below.
$5-15 suggested donation
All proceeds will go directly to Dara and her partner Josh.
PROGRAM:
Pink Bloque
Dancing in the Street (excerpts) (Domestic Violence Awareness Month Rally October 2003)
Ben Coonley
One Trick Pony, 2002
Tara Matiek
Operation Invert, 2003
Caspar Stracke & Gabriela Monroy
Kuleshov Sukiyaki, 2004
Melinda Stone & Igor Vamos
Suggested Photo Spots, 1997
Jim Finn
Sharambaba, 1999
Jem Cohen
Little Flags, 2000
Paul Chan
Untitled Video on Lynne Stewart and Her Conviction, The Law and Poetry, 2006
Dara Greenwald with Ona Mirkinson
The Package, 2010
Dara Greenwald is a 39-year old artist, activist, and curator living in Brooklyn who believes that art and other forms of expression can be a means toward a more equitable society. Through this work, she has met and befriended hundreds of people working in the creative and activist communities over the years, and is an important touchstone for many of them.
Dara’s recent projects include “Spectres of Liberty,” an ongoing public art project about the history of the movement to abolish slavery in the United States and a curatorial project, “Signs of Change,” which displayed historic posters and video that related a history of social movements as experienced through visual culture and is now a book on AK Press.
Dara’s large community has coalesced around her and her partner, Josh, to help them get through this very difficult time. We are providing care for her including cooking, cleaning, laundry, and company. We are raising money so that she can pay her daily living expenses, medical expenses not covered by her insurance, and so that Josh can take some time off of work to be her full-time caretaker. The enthusiasm and dedication of her community is a testament to her generous spirit, her sense of humor, and how important she is to us as a friend, organizer, and fellow-artist.
In June, Dara was suddenly diagnosed with cancer. When she was diagnosed, Dara was getting ready to complete her final year as a PhD student at Renssaleer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY.
Luckily, Dara has health insurance through RPI, but she will be unable to work for almost a year while she undergoes and recovers from multiple surgeries (three so far and one more scheduled) as well as several rounds of chemotherapy.
microRevolt interviewed Dara in May 2009. Come out and support! See you there.
Posted by cat at 06:11 AM
January 15, 2011
Cambodia: Garment Workers Sacked for Striking
Take action today to support over 300 Cambodian workers sacked for their participation in strikes for fair wages. The workers downed their tools in September last year to support trade unions in ongoing minimum-wage negotiations. They were dismissed from their factories as a consequence. Since then, efforts to get them reinstated have remained without success, despite a court order and the government calling on employers that the workers should be allowed to return to work.
Gap, Zara and H&M source from a large number of the involved factories. Please take action and demand that these workers are allowed to return to work immediately, with compensation paid for the time they have been dismissed.
Posted by cat at 03:21 PM
Johanna Blakley: Lessons from fashion's free culture
Posted by cat at 03:18 PM