Directory — Arts — Blog Details for "Art Threat - Political Art Journal"

Art Threat - Political Art Journal

Art Threat - Political Art Journal
Art Threat is a journal of political art. We embrace art that confronts, interrogates, or even shrugs off the status quo, and explore pressing issues affecting art and culture, stimulating debate on the world around us and how it is interpreted.

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Articles

Aboriginal Activist Causing Stir in New Zealand ? Police Arresting Artists
2007-11-29 05:29:00
It seems just a phone call from this fellow is enough to get your flat ransacked by the police. At least two New Zealand artists have experienced state intimidation, confiscation of their property, and criminal charges for their association with Tuhoe and Maori activist Tame Iti. In a coordinated series of raids in October, Tame Iti and 16 others were arrested and detained by state agents. Ite has come to the attention of state authorities as a high-profile advocate for an independent Maori state. He gained notoriety for baring his butt at public officials at the Waitangi Tribunal, the official treaty resolution process in New Zealand, and for shot-gunning a New Zealand flag. Ite travels in many circles, counting among his acquaintances wealthy art patron Jenny Gibbs and millionaire car-dealer John Murphy, while also co-hosting a television program for emotionally distraught Maori boys on Maori TV, and running sessions for adults with drug and alcohol problems through the Tuhoe...
More About: Police , Artists , First Nations

Wal-Mart the Musical: Coming to a Town Near You?
2007-11-27 06:03:00
Walmartopia, the Off-Broadway musical that targets the happy yellow face, has been playing in NYC since the end of September. As the good reviews keep coming in on this political comedy for the stage, I wonder, will it take off? This is a challenge to any theatre directors out there - bring the Big Box farce off Off-Broadway, way off, to other cities and towns. This topic is way more universal than Miss Saigon, so lets see some franchising! Jeremy Thal of the Indypendent had this to say: The campy absurdity of the musical only works because our present reality is so bleak. The lyrics of many of these songs could be used by the Bush attachés to promote their next surge in Iraq or an invasion of Iran. Musical theater is disarming and audience friendly, but the message in Walmartopia rings through as serious and urgent. Rohn?s songs have a home-grown sound, true to Walmartopia roots in community theater. Expertly arranged by August Eriksmoen and sung by a skilled cast, the songs are...
More About: New York , Mart , Wal-Mart , Town

Lifetime Achievement Award for Political Artist Vibiana Aparicio-Chamberlin
2007-11-26 15:29:00
Long-time activist artist Vibiana Aparicio-Chamberlin was given a life-time achievement award by the city of Los Angeles last week. Aparicio-Chamberlin started her career in the 1970s doing street theater in East LA, and has spent most of her life teaching and continuing to use art to address social injustice. She is a painter, print-maker and mural artist. Most recently, Aparicio-Chamberlin has focused her attention on the immigrant community in the US. In February, she conducted workshops for immigrant children, many who live in trailer camps, introducing them to the works of Frida Kahlo and Matisse. In late August, Aparicio-Chamberlin joined other activists in a march in support of Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant with an 8 year old (US born) son who was recently arrested by immigration officials. She also recently coordinated an art auction for conscientious objector Augustin Aguayo, a US Army paramedic who refused a second deployment to Iraq. At the awards ceremony...
More About: United States , Political , Artist , Achievement , Lifetime

Revenge is a Dish Best Served By Email: How To Get Someone Spammed to Death
2007-11-24 00:08:00
Ever wondered if villains get their inboxes filled with spam, too? Now you can play a hand in your favourite villain's e-fate. PleaseSpam.Us promises to put the emails of the most popularly unpopular people in a prominent place on their website (i.e. homepage) specifically designed to attract spambots. Here's the democratic catch. Not just any email will get posted. It must receive enough votes from the general public before the webmaster will make the email address spambot bait. PleaseSpam.Us is yet another clever intervention by Johnah Brucker-Cohen who works out of Eyebeam Gallery in New York. The intention, according to artist Brucker-Cohen, is to critically re-examine the proliferation of electronic communications systems such as email as well as to question the advent of collaborative filtering (used by sites like DIGG and all of the "DIGG copycat sites" and "Reputation Systems" (as found on many commercial and community oriented sites). The ultimate intention with ...
More About: United States , Email , Death , Revenge , Dish

Laika: a graphic novel of the first dog in space
2007-11-20 16:53:00
I've always had a soft spot for Laika , the first dog in space, who tragically died upon the Sputnik II shortly after takeoff. I wanted to name my current pooch after the canine cosmonaut, but lost the naming battle with my partner. I can finally live out my space dog dreams through a beautifully illustrated biography of the most famous dog in the former Soviet Union . Laika, a graphic novel by Nick Abadzis, recounts the life of this furry victim of the Soviet space race. Based upon historical fact with flourishes of fiction, Laika's colourful characters bring life to a dark period of Soviet history. And for those with a cartoon dog fetish, Laika reminds BoingBoing's Cory Doctorow of the famed Tin Tin, a similarity that "nicely complements the subject matter, contributing much to the sweetness of the story, and serving as counterpoint to the exhaustive research."
More About: Space , Russia , Graphic

Image + Nation celebrates and reflects as it turns 20.
2007-11-14 23:48:00
Image + Nation , the week-long queer/glbt film fest in Montréal is celebrating 20 years of providing queers with something to get excited about as the days get shorter, colder. 20 Years: that's a long time... and opportunity to reflect back... to think ahead. This Friday, Activist-Academics, Trish Salah and Marc Lafrance will facilitate a workshop/conference panel "Gender/Transgender Dynamics: Then and Now". Featuring Julianne Pidduck (Canada), Kam Wai Kui (Netherlands), Chris Straayer (USA), and Paul Vek Lewis (Autralia). the panel will discuss issues of community, cinematic representations, and notions of performativity. Proving to be an interesting panel, i+n combines workshop and film to engage activists, filmmakers, queers, artists and filmgoers in a conversation about the community's evolution over the last two decades. In its "Gender Trouble" programming, i+n will feature the following films: Black Men and Me by Michéle Clarke, Dedicated to Rebelsexuals by Anita Schoepp, G...
More About: Image

Image + Nation celebrates and reflects as it turns 20.
2007-11-14 23:48:00
Image + Nation , the week-long queer/glbt film fest in Montr??al is celebrating 20 years of providing queers with something to get excited about as the days get shorter, colder. 20 Years: that's a long time... and opportunity to reflect back... to think ahead. This Friday, Activist-Academics, Trish Salah and Marc Lafrance will facilitate a workshop/conference panel "Gender/Transgender Dynamics: Then and Now". Featuring Julianne Pidduck (Canada), Kam Wai Kui (Netherlands), Chris Straayer (USA), and Paul Vek Lewis (Autralia). the panel will discuss issues of community, cinematic representations, and notions of performativity. Proving to be an interesting panel, i+n combines workshop and film to engage activists, filmmakers, queers, artists and filmgoers in a conversation about the community's evolution over the last two decades. In its "Gender Trouble" programming, i+n will feature the following films: Black Men and Me by Mich??le Clarke, Dedicated to Rebelsexuals by Anita Schoepp,...
More About: Image

America's War Against Democracy: A Story Whose Time Is Long Overdue
2007-11-13 17:06:00
The War On Democracy is the 58th (or so) documentary made by filmmaker John Pilger, and is his first feature length made for cinematic release. Piltger has been a TV director/producer since 1958, and has built a reputation and following for his investigative journalism into some of the world?s most difficult human problems. The War On Democracy is a history lesson tied to the present by Pilger?s bounding interest in the political potential of poor communities to transform national politics. His geographic scope in this film is the so-called ?backyard? of the United States: Latin America . And this shy bit of Orientalism (in calling a continent with 20 or so counties, more than half a billion people, a combined GDP of 2 trillion, and hundreds if not thousands of cultures far older than the American Republic a ?backyard?) goes to the heart of this compelling indictment of American foreign policy. America has been at war against democracy in the region seemingly since America bega...
More About: Story , Bolivia , Time , Chile

America's War Against Democracy: A Story Whose Time Is Long Overdue
2007-11-13 17:06:00
The War On Democracy is the 58th (or so) documentary made by filmmaker John Pilger, and is his first feature length made for cinematic release. Piltger has been a TV director/producer since 1958, and has built a reputation and following for his investigative journalism into some of the world???s most difficult human problems. The War On Democracy is a history lesson tied to the present by Pilger???s bounding interest in the political potential of poor communities to transform national politics. His geographic scope in this film is the so-called ???backyard??? of the United States: Latin America . And this shy bit of Orientalism (in calling a continent with 20 or so counties, more than half a billion people, a combined GDP of 2 trillion, and hundreds if not thousands of cultures far older than the American Republic a ???backyard???) goes to the heart of this compelling indictment of American foreign policy. America has been at war against democracy in the region seemingly since ...
More About: Story , Bolivia , Time , Chile

Homosexual Baby Ad Triggers Reaction in Italy
2007-11-12 15:18:00
An ad designed by Canadian agency ??mergence and originally used in Quebec is causing an uproar in Italy . The ad (pictured at right) shows a baby with a hospital bracelet reading "homosexual." The regional government in Tuscany has recently put the ad up on billboards in a region-wide campaign to end homophobia. The ad has sparked criticism from the conservative community and the LGBT community, with some arguing that it may communicate that homosexuality is a disease. One thing is certain - ??mergence has stirred public interest, and it's not the first time. From le Fondation ??mergence (translated from the french): The next question will be asked: is homosexuality innate or acquired? So far, science has been unable to answer this question in the affirmative or consensual. However, there is consensus on one fact: one does not choose their sexual orientation, which has inspired the theme of the campaign. Read an article on this ad at gay.com.
More About: Europe , Baby , Triggers

Homosexual Baby Ad Triggers Reaction in Italy
2007-11-12 15:18:00
An ad designed by Canadian agency Émergence and originally used in Quebec is causing an uproar in Italy . The ad (pictured at right) shows a baby with a hospital bracelet reading "homosexual." The regional government in Tuscany has recently put the ad up on billboards in a region-wide campaign to end homophobia. The ad has sparked criticism from the conservative community and the LGBT community, with some arguing that it may communicate that homosexuality is a disease. One thing is certain - Émergence has stirred public interest, and it's not the first time. From le Fondation Émergence (translated from the french): The next question will be asked: is homosexuality innate or acquired? So far, science has been unable to answer this question in the affirmative or consensual. However, there is consensus on one fact: one does not choose their sexual orientation, which has inspired the theme of the campaign. Read an article on this ad at gay.com.
More About: Europe , Baby , Triggers

Abidin Travels: Book a Holiday to Remember
2007-11-08 21:52:00
Adel Abidin, an artist who left Baghdad for Helsinki in 2000, has created Abidin Travels, a satirical travel agency to promote vacation trips to his hometown. This artwork functions as both a website that locates flights and an installation. You can enter the mock agency to find brochures and advertisements absurdly combining horrific images of today's Iraq with typical commercial sales slogans. Book a flight and get details on hotels, rental cars and tours of Baghdad through Abidin Travels. Keep in mind you will probably only need a one-way ticket, as you may not be returning. Your tour will be full of surprises, maybe an explosion here or there, but "all the beautiful places that you might have read about have either been destroyed or looted. There really are no sights left." This information and other harrowing vacationing tips can be found at abidintravels.com. Abidin Travels is on view in the Nordic Pavilion of the Venice Biennale through November 21. This and other works cov...
More About: Europe , Middle East , Finland , Holiday

Broken Boundaries: An Interview with VAL Desjardins
2007-11-08 15:35:00
VAL Desjardins is Montr??al-based photographer and a video artist who uses performance as a way to express her ideas about gender and queer sexualities. I was able to attend her Coming Home show, after she'd been away for years in New York , finessing her photography and becoming evermore involved in performance art. [Interview by M??l Hogan for Art Threat] AT: You are an artist who appears as much in front as behind the camera--can you talk a bit about what those different positions offer? VAL: Breaking down the boundaries that have traditionally existed between the camera/artist and the subject has been pivotal in my work. Being able to move between the back of the camera where I plan images and engaging my body in performance for the camera allows me the freedom necessary to express my ideas and include myself as a source of exploration. I love creating images but also feel a strong need to be seen, therefore I need the dance between the two positions to be extremely fluid and o...
More About: Quebec , Canada , Broken

Broken Boundaries: An Interview with VAL Desjardins
2007-11-08 15:35:00
VAL Desjardins is Montréal-based photographer and a video artist who uses performance as a way to express her ideas about gender and queer sexualities. I was able to attend her Coming Home show, after she'd been away for years in New York , finessing her photography and becoming evermore involved in performance art. [Interview by Mél Hogan for Art Threat] AT: You are an artist who appears as much in front as behind the camera--can you talk a bit about what those different positions offer? VAL: Breaking down the boundaries that have traditionally existed between the camera/artist and the subject has been pivotal in my work. Being able to move between the back of the camera where I plan images and engaging my body in performance for the camera allows me the freedom necessary to express my ideas and include myself as a source of exploration. I love creating images but also feel a strong need to be seen, therefore I need the dance between the two positions to be extremely fluid and ope...
More About: Quebec , Canada , Broken

CONFRONTation Art Exhibit Opens in Washington DC
2007-11-07 15:46:00
Three floors of artwork exploring connected themes around protest and confrontation are on exhibit at Washington 's Katzen Art Centre. From DCist: In an audacious presentation of political and protest art, the Katzen Arts Center???s Art of CONFRONTation showcases three separate exhibitions that share a confident outspokenness. Whether it???s the poignant reenactments of torture of Abu Ghraib by Fernando Botero, or the surreal depictions of the city-dominated human condition by Irving Norman in Dark Metropolis, or the multifaceted collection of some of the 1970s most important feminist art in Claiming Space, these works are united by a passionate and irrepressible yearning to speak and be heard. Despite their similarities, each exhibit has its own floor in the Katzen Arts Center???whose curved walls and pointed hallways make it a perfect venue for such a dynamic collection???so viewers are able to see each one independent of the others. Read the whole article here. Visit the Cent...
More About: United States , North America , Global

CONFRONTation Art Exhibit Opens in Washington DC
2007-11-07 15:46:00
Three floors of artwork exploring connected themes around protest and confrontation are on exhibit at Washington 's Katzen Art Centre. From DCist: In an audacious presentation of political and protest art, the Katzen Arts Center?s Art of CONFRONTation showcases three separate exhibitions that share a confident outspokenness. Whether it?s the poignant reenactments of torture of Abu Ghraib by Fernando Botero, or the surreal depictions of the city-dominated human condition by Irving Norman in Dark Metropolis, or the multifaceted collection of some of the 1970s most important feminist art in Claiming Space, these works are united by a passionate and irrepressible yearning to speak and be heard. Despite their similarities, each exhibit has its own floor in the Katzen Arts Center?whose curved walls and pointed hallways make it a perfect venue for such a dynamic collection?so viewers are able to see each one independent of the others. Read the whole article here. Visit the Centre's we...
More About: United States , North America , Global

All Your Heroes Will Wear Your Shitty Shoes: Rolling Stone Turns 40
2007-11-07 06:51:00
Rolling Stone Magazine has determined the future, and it is bleak my friends. Yes, we may be used to the patriarchal drivel emanating from the pages of a magazine clinging to a post 40-has-been epoch, so much that we should not be surprised when they print a cover that promotes the underpinnings of patriarchy so conspicuously. But the guys who run Rolling Stone Magazine do not give a shit about this critique: they are still, stupidly, myopically, listening to their advertisers. They are, alas, still jerking off to their air guitars while feeling purpose in what they do: the promotion of corporate music culture that truncates the white male over the Others. Rolling Stone, you have grown up, and you have displayed your culture badge to us all: the visionaries of your future, are, wait for it, all MEN and ALL WHITE. Reality check? You bet, with performances like this your days are numbered, and some of us can???t wait until the count is up. Take one second and examine THE 40th ANNIVERS...
More About: Europe , Heroes , Shoes , United Kingdom , North America

All Your Heroes Will Wear Your Shitty Shoes: Rolling Stone Turns 40
2007-11-07 06:51:00
Rolling Stone Magazine has determined the future, and it is bleak my friends. Yes, we may be used to the patriarchal drivel emanating from the pages of a magazine clinging to a post 40-has-been epoch, so much that we should not be surprised when they print a cover that promotes the underpinnings of patriarchy so conspicuously. But the guys who run Rolling Stone Magazine do not give a shit about this critique: they are still, stupidly, myopically, listening to their advertisers. They are, alas, still jerking off to their air guitars while feeling purpose in what they do: the promotion of corporate music culture that truncates the white male over the Others. Rolling Stone, you have grown up, and you have displayed your culture badge to us all: the visionaries of your future, are, wait for it, all MEN and ALL WHITE. Reality check? You bet, with performances like this your days are numbered, and some of us can?t wait until the count is up. Take one second and examine THE 40th ANNIVERSAR...
More About: Europe , Heroes , Shoes , United Kingdom , North America

Consuming War: How Consumer Culture and Media have Influenced the American
2007-11-03 13:47:00
Consuming War is a provocative collection of artwork and installations by artists exploring how consumer culture and American media have influenced the perception of war in the United States . ???The artists were chosen,??? explained curator Barbara Koenen, ???because they have been compelled to address the war in their practice. They had to shift what they had been doing because they could not continue production without addressing aspects of the growing dilemma.??? The exhibition includes work by Lynda Barry (yes, the same Lynda Barry with a syndicated comic strip), Wafaa Bilal (who earlier this year allowed netizens to shoot at him in his studio with a remotely operated paintball gun), Mary Brogger, Adam Brooks, Burtonwood & Holmes, Michael Hernandez de Luna, Fred Holland, Harold Mendez, Michael Rakowitz, Ellen Rothenberg, Edra Soto, Paula White and Dolores Wilber (see below for artists bios). Despite the show???s provocative stance, public response to the idea of the show...
More About: Media , Middle East , Culture , Consumer

Consuming War: How Consumer Culture and Media have Influenced the American
2007-11-03 13:47:00
Consuming War is a provocative collection of artwork and installations by artists exploring how consumer culture and American media have influenced the perception of war in the United States . ?The artists were chosen,? explained curator Barbara Koenen, ?because they have been compelled to address the war in their practice. They had to shift what they had been doing because they could not continue production without addressing aspects of the growing dilemma.? The exhibition includes work by Lynda Barry (yes, the same Lynda Barry with a syndicated comic strip), Wafaa Bilal (who earlier this year allowed netizens to shoot at him in his studio with a remotely operated paintball gun), Mary Brogger, Adam Brooks, Burtonwood & Holmes, Michael Hernandez de Luna, Fred Holland, Harold Mendez, Michael Rakowitz, Ellen Rothenberg, Edra Soto, Paula White and Dolores Wilber (see below for artists bios). Despite the show?s provocative stance, public response to the idea of the show has been ...
More About: Media , Middle East , Culture , Consumer

Matthew Hays Publishes New Book of Interviews with Gay & Lesbian Filmmakers
2007-11-01 17:30:00
Arsenal Press has recently submitted Matthew Hay's new book, The View from Here: Conversations with Gay and Lesbian Filmmakers, for an Art Threat review. For our readers out there who can't wait for me to get to it in the stack, I thought I'd post about the title and let you know you can go out and grab a copy now. From Arsenal Press: The history of gay and lesbian cinema is a storied one, and one that became much larger with the recent success of Brokeback Mountain, Capote, and Transamerica. But the history of gay and lesbian filmmakers is its own story. In The View from Here, queer directors and screenwriters???some mainstream, others who work defiantly from the margins???speak passionately about the medium, in particular their personal experiences navigating through the often-cynical and cruel film industry. All of them offer fascinating anecdotes and opinions about cinema, and speak candidly about their attempts to combat studio apathy and demands of "the market" and still...
More About: Interviews , Book

Matthew Hays Publishes New Book of Interviews with Gay & Lesbian Filmmakers
2007-11-01 17:30:00
Arsenal Press has recently submitted Matthew Hay's new book, The View from Here: Conversations with Gay and Lesbian Filmmakers, for an Art Threat review. For our readers out there who can't wait for me to get to it in the stack, I thought I'd post about the title and let you know you can go out and grab a copy now. From Arsenal Press: The history of gay and lesbian cinema is a storied one, and one that became much larger with the recent success of Brokeback Mountain, Capote, and Transamerica. But the history of gay and lesbian filmmakers is its own story. In The View from Here, queer directors and screenwriters?some mainstream, others who work defiantly from the margins?speak passionately about the medium, in particular their personal experiences navigating through the often-cynical and cruel film industry. All of them offer fascinating anecdotes and opinions about cinema, and speak candidly about their attempts to combat studio apathy and demands of "the market" and still cre...
More About: Interviews , Book

Sunshine Film Ignites the Sun
2007-10-23 06:35:00
Danny Boyle's Sunshine is a surprisingly effective appeal to identify with suicide bombers. But in his film Boyle has engineered a narrative that frames secular science as the True Belief that drives the faithful. Sunshine tells the story of a future earth that circles a slowly dying star, and a concomitant mission to save the world by dropping a bomb into the center of the sun, reigniting its dimming burn. It is easy, watching Sunshine, to begin to imagine sacrificing one's own life for such a cause. The anxiety around sun worship is profoundly old. It haunts the very earliest moments of monotheism (see Philip Glass's Akhnaten). The Abrahamic tradition grew up in the shadows of an ice age. These are stories from mankind's childhood, when the approach of the winter solstice must have accompanied a grim anxiety - that the sun would not return. Sun worship is the ur heresy - the original distraction. The old testament made Sol a creature like ourselves: "Sun and moon fall down b...
More About: Europe , United States , Film , North America , Global

Racializing Fonts
2007-10-22 22:24:00
An oldie but goodie: an article in a 2004 issue of Letterspace tackles the history of racializing fonts, up until present day: By the mid-1940s, long after Art Deco had left, Neuland's use in African-American texts remained. Famous African-American books such as Richard Wright's Native Son and Wulf Sachs' Black Anger use Neuland on their covers. Critic Ellen Lupton notes, "Neuland has appeared...on the covers of numerous books...about the literature and anthropology of Africa and African-Americans". Even today, books that fit into the category that Lupton outlines bear Neuland or Lithos on their covers. While the stereotypes associated with the fonts have remained, their applications have, in fact, increased in the present day beyond just book publishing. Neuland has found its way into Hollywood, used in such films as Jurassic Park, Tarzan, and Jumanji. Subaru used Lithos prominently in the logo for their new car, the Outback. Both fonts appear frequently on all sorts of extrem...
More About: Fonts

Join the Hungarian Revolution with this Interactive Graphic Novel
2007-10-17 22:38:00
Do you dream of going back in time and joining the Hungarian Revolution ? Would you like to recuse wounded revolutionaries, duke it out with the secret police, and escape the onslaught of the Red Army? Interactive gaming company Lauer Learning provides a reasonable—and much safer—facsimile of the experience through FF56, an "interactive graphic novel" that throws you into the midst of the 1956 uprising. The innovative game "mixes rich, historically-accurate narrative with first person gaming. Learn through this immersive story as it literally drops you into the streets of Budapest to struggle alongside the heroic characters that fought for Hungary 's freedom, despite the overwhelming odds." The game is also available packaged with The Hungarian Freedom Fighters of 56 a traditional graphic novel telling the story of three young freedom fighters during the revolution. I'm going to try to get my hands on a review copy, and will let you know how it goes.
More About: Join

More articles from this author:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7