Photos from the attacks on Gaza - NYTimes

Salvem os ricos (contemporâneos)

Em tempos de crise uma musiquinha natalicia para nos animar!
MERRY XMAS TO ALL!!!

Frequency and Volume meets Babel

For its eighth Curve Art commission, the Barbican Art Gallery has invited the artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. The artist has taken over the awkward curved space and created the installation Frequency and Volume.

When entering the curve, there is a ninety-metre long interactive installation. Walking through this installation, ones own body becomes the instrument of tuning and volume for each of the 48 radios that Lozano-Hemmer has incorporated into this complex, computerized system of broadcasting. “Without the public, the pieces cannot unfold”, said the artist. Each step gives way to a different frequency – music, news, white noise. At the same time the viewer’s shadow is being projected on the gallery’s wall, working as the volume setter for the radios - the closest to the wall the higher the sound.

Being there twice on different days I had two completely different experiences. One was a quiet introspective walk through the installation, where it was my choice what to hear, where to stop, how to manage the work. On the other hand, experiencing it on a Sunday packed with people, it was like being in a shadow theatre, there was no control whatsoever of people’s movements and the cacophony in the installation was unbearable – in some way it felt as being in Babel.

Not far from the Barbican, just across the Millennium Bridge in Tate Modern’s far West End, is currently the exhibition of Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles. Standing tall in a corner room is the impressive five-metre tower built of radios, Babel. The base is made of very old radios that could probably belong to our great grandfather’s collection, the rest of the tower is completed by a wide variety of all kinds of radios. The artist found them in flea markets around Brazil. The room is lit in a very celestial blue, a tone that doesn’t exist in real life. The radios are all turned on, each one in is tuned in a different frequency and their dials produce innumerous points of light throughout the room. It varies from pop music, to news broadcast, to sometimes only the white noise of an untuned radio. Coming into the room, its title’s analogy is completely obvious. It could be the real thing.

Two different artists, from two different backgrounds, working under two different medias that speak to the public in two very different ways, end up creating, for the viewer, a thin line of concurrence.

Although having a 30-year gap between their making, both the works equally appeal to a sense of liberty and freedom over the political order, something that in many ways has remained immutable. They equally criticize the amount of information that is sent out through the media and the chaos this creates in everyday life.

Meireles builds a symbolic monumental tower that comes as a conduit for so many critiques of society; at the same time, Lozano-Hemmer describes himself as a designer of anti-monuments that are critiques to the fetish of power representation. Be it coincidence or paradox, there is without doubt an encounter between both installations.

BEETLEJUICE Banana Boat Song Harry Belafonte

Tim Burton at his best - oh childhood memories...

Barack Obama Elected 44th President of the United States of America

One of the most inspirational moments of my life!... I believe in change!

frieze/strina/lucas - and why it can still be worth it

Installation view, Courtesy Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo

As I entered the big white tent in Regents Park, nothing seemed different than before. It was Frieze week in London and the big opening day had arrived.
Collectors – check! Galleries – Check! Curators – Check! Artworks – Check! Everything was in place. Everyone was present.
The 8000 people that strolled around the various booths, drinking their cocktails, gave the impression that everything was just like any of the fair’s past four editions. Effectively, the “credit crunch” seemed far away from this scenery.

In the midst of this social gathering, something rather discreet came to my attention; it was Renata Lucas’ window piece at Galeria Luisa Strina. Going through the booth’s entrance two glass structures in rectangular shape boxes were built into the wall on each side, forming two different sized parts of the same window. Inside of them the artist placed beautiful see through white curtains and a plant. So, when entering the booth, it felt almost as if entering someone’s home – the window becoming an element of the architectural design of the space.
The artist appropriated the booth to play with the notion of creating new environments within the existing ones, as she so often does in her works. Lucas achieves this in very subtle ways, leaving the passer-by to wonder if it was already there, if it is an artwork or maybe just ornament, if you are supposed or not to touch, smell, feel.
What is definitely interesting in this specific work is the way in which she plays with the social and architectural structure of a fair booth, making it something different from what it normally is supposed to be, transforming its regular circumstance of being a commercial white cube with an agglomerate of works, to a new condition, that of a white cube with a glass window garden structure within it.

Coming back to Frieze on the second day, the inevitable happened. Wandering through the fair, the difference to past years was after all undoubtedly noticeable.
In a “normal” year, when entering the space of any of the “hype” galleries of the moment, it would be practically an impossible task to get some, if any, attention from one of the three, four, sometimes even five staff, who would be always busy with ten thousand different requests from upcoming collectors. Now, as in other times, these people were there, but their condition had changed dramatically - chitchatting to each other, waiting for time to pass, as if it were the last Sunday of the venue.

Maybe, in a sense, we’re back to reality and back to art as what it really should be about. One thing is for sure, Luisa Strina’s space, always strategically positioned in the middle of this art jungle called the art fair, seems to, in some way, continuously rescue art from falling into any kind of 21st century cliché.

O Anzol @ Radio Macau

L. está de volta depois de atribulados meses de trabalho... e volta em grande com um clip SENSACIONAL!!!

Associacao Ines Botelho

Leiam abaixo, visitem o site da associacao e ajudem se puderem!
Estas iniciativas sao impressionantes. Por causa desta menina o numero de dadores de medula óssea em Portugal cresceu de 1.700 para 20.000. Impressionante!



"E se eu te dissesse como salvar uma vida, fá-lo-ias?

Já imaginaste se, de entre os milhares de pessoas que morrem diariamente, tu pudesses salvar uma? E se um amigo teu pudesse salvar outra? E se cada um de nós salvasse alguém? Admito que é ousado e talvez até pretensioso pensar que é assim tão fácil, mas... é mesmo fácil! É só preciso saber como...

Olá! Chamo-me Diogo Botelho, tenho apenas 18 anos mas quero fazer-te uma proposta que tenho a certeza te vai interessar:

Já ouviste falar em leucemia? E em transplantes de medula óssea?"... http://www.associacaoinesbotelho.pt/

SEVEN YEARS AGO...
HÁ SETE ANOS ATRÁS...

Rachel Corrie

Segue a história de Rachel Corrie que foi assasinada por um bulldozer Israelita em 2003 aos 23 anos.
Tenho esta ideia de que queremos todos mudar o mundo sentados no nosso sofá, mas a verdade é que é preciso sair e conhecer o mundo para poder ve-lo com outros olhos e tentar mudar qualquer coisa seja. A história dela é mesmo inspiradora e fascinante. Se todos pensassemos da mesma maneira que ela viveriamos de certeza num lugar muito mais justo e melhor.



Rachel Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) was an American member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who traveled to the Gaza Strip during the Second Intifada. She was killed by a Caterpillar D9 armoured bulldozer operated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during a protest against the destruction of Palestinian homes by the IDF in the Gaza Strip.[1] The details of the events surrounding Corrie's death are disputed; an Israeli military investigation ruled the death was an accident, while some of the ISM activists present at the scene allege Corrie was run over deliberately. ISM members have also stated that the driver lost sight of Corrie before she was injured, or did not see her at all.

Pop corn and Cell Phones: Surreal!

Se for verdade, dá muito que pensar...

SEX and the CITY!!!... A MUST GO!!!

Picture this:

L. tristissima porque quer ir ver a estreia mundial de Sex and the City dia 28 de Maio. Desespero total, porque quer ser a primeira a saber o que acontece afinal... Nao ha mais bilhetes, ta tudo esgotado... E eis que: Tcham Tcham Tcham Tchammmm... Goncalo arranja bilhetes!!! UUHhhhuuuu

23:50, as gomas estao numa mao, o wrap de atum feito em casa na outra (sim, nao ha guita para pipocas, temos que improvisar nos alimentos), na outra mao um kitkat e na outra um sprite (entretanto tenho 8 maos!!!)... o excitamento 'e total, as portas tao fechadas, o murmurio da galinhagem 'e incrivel.... ate que: As portas abrem!!!! E o coitado do homem do cinema 'e atropelado pela manada de elefantes histericos!!!
YES! Conseguimos um lugar maravilhoso!(sim, plural, melhor namorado de sempre, nao so arranja bilhetes como vem junto)!

Musiquinha sex and the city: tantarantarantantan..tututututututu...tantantan!!! Acho que neste momento tinha lagrimas nos olhos de felicidade!

'E UM MAXIMO!!!!! Sou suspeita porque sou uma fa de primeira fila, mas mesmo para quem nao gosta, vale a pena! 'E uma comedia romantica PERFEITA! O filme ta mesmo BRUTAL!!! Chorei, ri, quis comprar as malas todas e todos os vestidos, odiei os homens, quis mata-los, depois vi que nao da pra viver sem eles, abracei-me ao meu... mas o filme 'e acima de tudo uma grande "licao" de amizade! 'E um filme de amigas, sobre amigas, para amigas...

(nao, nao vos vou contar o que acontece, porque 'e mesmo tudo inesperado)

Mas posso garantir que sai da sala com um sorriso de orelha a orelha e uma felicidade indescritivel, isto tudo porque sei que alem do amor que tenho da minha familia e do meu super namorado, tenho AMIGAS com letras maiusculas, amigas que sao simplesmente amigas! Amigas para a Vida! Nao podia ser mais feliz!

LET IT SNOW...LET IT SNOW...LET IT SNOW!...

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Can you believe it? It's April the 6th (kind of 7th already)... and it snowed!!!
The weather is definetly WACKO! On Friday I was wearing shorts and sabrinas... two days later back to 0 degrees. Yes my friends, no doubt it's global warming.
But it was fun as snow always is!

A view from my balcony...:

JUNO - a must see!!! Best soundtrack in a while...

Barry Louis Polisar lyrics:

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, let the cold winds blow

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

Now every week... Agora todas as semanas...

Dear Readers of our Blog (I just discovered this last week that you are more than I expected)...

I have decided to compromise that we will write at least one post per week - always on the weekends.

There is some complaints about the language in use at the blog, regarding this issue I can't do much - sometimes the inspirations comes in english, or portuguese, or italian, spanish, french, arabic... we do describe ourselves as citzens of the world so this should be expected. :)

L. (and G. the guy who has one post in the entire blog)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Caros Leitores deste Blog (que descobri nesta passada semana sao mais do que esperava)...

Resolvi comprometer-me que iremos fazer pelo menos um Post por semana - este sempre aos fins-de-semana.

Ha alguma discussao quanto a lingua usada no blog e quanto a isto nao posso fazer nada - as vezes a inspiracao vem em ingles, ou em portugues, ou em italiano, espanhol, frances, arabe... Como nos consideramos "Citzens of the World" 'e o mais normal :)

L. (e G. o desnaturado que tem um post no inteiro blog)

------

Duchamp, Man Ray and Picabia at Tate Modern

Review do Publico

EDIÇÃO IMPRESSA

MY TWO FAVOURITE PLACES IN THE WORLD!!!:)

We have Proof!

As you can see in the photographs below... I wasn't lying! They exist! Our friend, the famous photographer MICHA, was very kind and gave us these pictures that he took on his own balcony! Can you believe them??? In the first one you can actually see the little felow sing! Nature has some weird creatures... Birds with Insomnia, who would've thought of that?!

Birds having Insomnia

Everyone knows I like late nights in the computer doing my things and watching my series... Well, here in London it seemed like I had some company... every night from aprox. 1 am when everything is extra quiet, these birds start to sing really passionatly and loud... At first I found it really weird. It became very intriguing until I found out they were Robins... Anyway here is their story:

Robins are rarely seen or heard during midsummer (July-August) when they are moulting and become rather retiring.

At other times they can usually be heard singing their melodious warbling song from strategic perches, often quite high up; it sounds like "twiddle-oo, twiddle-eedee, twiddle-oo twiddle". In the winter, it can sound wistful, some say mournful, but around Christmastime the song becomes stronger and more passionate.

They will sing all through the night and this often leads to them being incorrectly identified as a Nightingale. This has been thought to be caused by streetlights making them believe it is still daytime, but the latest theory is that they are singing when it is quieter, when the hubbub of urban life has quietened and their song can be heard.

I finally found an explanation and nowadays I really love the company!

Para voce o que voce gosta: Diariamente by Marisa Monte

Não há melhor cantora de MPB!
E este é uma das músicas e dos clips mais bonitos que existem. Como a simplicidade faz a diferenca!

2008

Receita de Ano Novo
(Carlos Drummond de Andrade)

Para você ganhar belíssimo Ano Novo
cor de arco-íris, ou da cor da sua paz,
Ano Novo sem comparação com todo o tempo já vivido
(mal vivido ou talvez sem sentido)
para você ganhar um ano
não apenas pintado de novo, remendado às carreiras,
mas novo nas sementinhas do vir-a-ser;
novo até no coração das coisas menos percebidas
(a começar pelo seu interior)
novo espontâneo, que de tão perfeito nem se nota,
mas com ele se come, se passeia,
se ama, se compreende, se trabalha,
você não precisa beber champanha ou qualquer outra birita,
não precisa expedir nem receber mensagens
(planta recebe mensagens?
passa telegramas?).
Não precisa fazer lista de boas intenções
para arquivá-las na gaveta.
Não precisa chorar de arrependido
pelas besteiras consumadas
nem parvamente acreditar
que por decreto da esperança
a partir de janeiro as coisas mudem
e seja tudo claridade, recompensa,
justiça entre os homens e as nações,
liberdade com cheiro e gosto da manhã,
direitos respeitados, começando
pelo direito augusto de viver.
Para ganhar um Ano Novo
que mereça este nome,
você, meu caro, tem de merecê-lo,
tem de fazê-lo de novo, eu sei que não é fácil,
mas tente, experimente, consciente.
É dentro de você que o Ano Novo
cochila e espera desde sempre.