Author Archive for Caroline

Turner prize - everyone’s a winner

Published
by
Caroline
on December 4, 2007
in Arts and culture and In the news
. 3 Comments

Mark Wallinger has taken this years’ Turner Prize - not for his haunting video of nocturnal, bear-suit clad wanderings, ‘Sleeper’, but for ‘State Britain’, his recreation of Brian Haw’s peace camp display.
buy cialis
buy levitra
buy propecia
buy soma
buy viagra
cheap cialis
cheap viagra
generic cialis
generic levitra
buy levitra
buy levitra
generic viagra
online cialis
online levitra
online viagra
buy cialis
buy cialis
buy viagra
generic cialis
generic viagra
buy cialis
buy viagra
generic cialis
generic viagra
generic cialis
online viagra

Accepting the £25,000 award, Wallinger stated “It was the best thing that was shown this year, and I don’t think I should be humble about it.” Wallinger continues the precedent set by Madonna, the 2001 prize-giver, whose veneration for plain speaking caused almost as much controversy as the prize itself - “In a world where political correctness is valued over honesty I would also like to say, right on m****r f***ers, everyone is a winner.”

Financially, Wallinger is still some £65,000 short of winning, having spent around £90,000 recreating the posters and political paraphernalia which Haw had spent five years amassing as part of his protest against the economic sanctions against Iraq in 2001. Will Wallinger be graciously sharing his spoils with his muse? When asked, his response was certainly candid - “What I do with the prize money is my business.”

Free speech (for some)

Published
by
Caroline
on November 26, 2007
in In the news
. 10 Comments

The furore surrounding the proposed Oxford Union forum has intensified over the weekend. As the shadow defence minister, Julian Lewis, resigned his union membership in disgust over its decision to invite the Holocaust-denier David Irving, and BNP leader Nick Griffin, to speak in tomorrow’s debate, all sides of the liberal gamut have been busy publicly expounding their opinions. While Lewis has decried the arrogance of the Union, claiming that it is “sheer vanity” of the organisation and its members to imagine that any consensus it reaches will succeed in damaging the standing of the largely abhorred party, the Lib Dem MP Evan Harris, one of the speakers billed for the ‘limits of free speech debate,’ argues that it is the “views of these extremists which are a disgrace…not their right to hold their views.”

According to the tenth article of the European Convention on Human Rights, “everyone has the right to freedom of expression,” and that entitlement is a fundamental principle to the preservation of a democratic society. Lewis should be applauded for exercising his right; but it is rather paradoxical that he should do so (seemingly unaware of the irony) in circumstances that would forbid the extension of this right to all members of society - no matter how disgraceful - Irving’s in particular - their views. In light of the recent kerbs of democratic freedoms in Pakistan, the ECHR precept that it is a human right to hold opinions and “impart information and ideas without interference by public authority,” is something that should be safeguarded, rather than censured.

“Queen Cristina” trumps “La Gorda”

Published
by
Caroline
on October 29, 2007
in Foreign affairs and Latin America and Caribbean
. 0 Comments

News that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has become the first woman to be elected president in Argentina’s elections may come as little surprise to those who have been following the campaign closely over the last few months.

The sassily dressed Kirchner, whose glamourous appearance earned her the nickname ‘Queen Cristina’ and parallels with Eva Peron, stormed ahead in the polls with 45% of the vote. Fashioning her election in something of “a Hillary” - although not, fashionistas would stress, in a couture sense - Kirchner campaigned alongside her husband, Nestor, the outgoing president and the man credited for seeing Argentina out of its worst economic crisis in 2001, when it defaulted on $80 billion in loans. Indeed, Señora Kirchner is one part of the all-too familiar phenomenon on the international political stage; the powerhouse couple.

Nestor stood firmly by his wife’s side as she celebrated her success, however amidst the celebrations Cristina defiantly asserted that she saw her victory as an “immense responsibility for my gender.” Yet unlike her Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet, the single-mother who was sworn in as Chile’s president last year, Cristina’s inauguration doesn’t mark the rise of a female power surge across South America (a continent known for its machismo).

Kirchner’s principal rival, the left-centrist Elisa Carrió - a chain-smoking, mother of four, ‘fondly’ known as ‘La Gorda’ - had fallen behind the first-lady in the polls in recent months. Carrió’s election platform rested on an anti-corruption campaign, and accusations of “systemic theft” of ballots that have emerged in the hours since Kirchner’s victory, will do little to quell the notions that the incoming president is more about style than substance. Whilst the Argentine election has been fought mainly between the two women, Kirchner’s victory is more of a spousal gift than a feminist triumph. The Clinton’s, doubtless, know all about this type of ‘Giving.’

The world as a stage

Published
by
Caroline
on October 24, 2007
in Arts and culture
. 1 Comment

I have a confession to make. No matter how ridiculous the latest modern art ‘offering’ is, no matter how dire, I feel socially bludgeoned into saying something positive about it. Pete Doherty’s blood paintings? How subversive! So like Marc Quin’s ‘self’, but so much more, er, numinous and sublime? There seems to be a sort of subliminal pact between art goers to expound poetic verbosities at the drop of a hat; if you don’t have something extremely cerebral to say about the piece of string in the perspex box, then you are clearly a cultural moron, didn’t understand the subtle nuances of the piece, were looking at it the wrong way up, etc…

Now, I have nothing against modern art. I actually rather like it. But there is a lot of chaff amongst the wheat and when it comes to art commentary, honesty tends to take a back seat to ego. The Tate Modern’s new exhibition, ‘The world as a stage’, attempts to dispel some of the post-modern pontificating and reconnect art with its audience (and inject some fun back into the proceedings). Billed as an “intimation of the increasing theatricalisation of everyday life”, the exhibition explores the relationship between visual art and theatre. Large installations allow the gallery viewer to become both spectator and participator.

All good in theory. And in reality, wandering around Jeppe Hein’s mirrored ‘rotating labyrinth’, is actually quite good fun – a bit like being privy to what it would feel like if you were trapped in an old kinematoscope. Mario Ybarra Jr’s ‘sweeney tate’ also fits the bill well; the lurid, comic-book style colours of the mocked up barber shop work well with the spirit of the exhibit. You feel invited to become part of the spectacle, rather than alienated by the work. Which is what good, interactive art should do.

But sadly, much of the exhibition leaves the visitor wanting. Geoffrey Farmer’s do-it-yourself theatre kit of Victor Hugo’s ‘Hunchback of Notre-Dame’ falls short of its promise; props for an actor to become Quasimodo are littered around the space, but the props are separated from the spectator by wooden boundaries. So, unlike Antony Gormley’s work, you never feel fully authorized to interact with the art.

The Tate Modern is a great space for pioneering artistry and uniting people through art. Doris Salcedo’s crack in the turbine hall is truly awesome, and Louise Bourgeois certainly deserves a floor to herself. But ‘the world as a stage’ doesn’t really move away from cheap stunts, such as Roman Ondák’s ‘I’m just acting in it’ (sketches of himself as a spectator in the Tate, drawn by the exhibitions’ curators), and Cezry Bodzianowski’s performances feel a little bit trite too – the time when watching a man slide around a hamster wheel is considered art and demands a glowing response, is surely long gone?