Muhammad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus's speech after recieving the Nobel Prize.

Albers & Moholy-Nagy

The whitney has an exhibit of two modernist graphic artists Josef Albers and Lazlo Moholy-Nagy. Albers works was focussed on the interactions of colors with each other. Moholy-Nagy used geometric shapes like circles and lines intersecting with each other, and the colors that were created. Both artists were part of the Bauhaus School in Germany.

The Tate Modern hosted this exhibit before the whitney. This article talks about the exhibit.

Josef Albers and László Moholy-Nagy were two of the greatest pioneers of modernism in the twentieth century. This exhibition focuses on their individual accomplishments as well as the parallels in their work and examines their groundbreaking development of abstract art beginning in the early 1920s. Though their paths only overlapped for the five years between 1923 and 1928 when both were teaching at the Bauhaus, their artistic practice was informed by similar concerns, including an emphasis on material properties, the subversion of traditional boundaries between media and high and applied art, and a probing into the status of the work of art in an age of mass production. The artworks on view, including painting, sculpture, photography, film, and design objects, highlight each artist's most important and innovative work

Moholy-Nagy successfully sued for breach of contract in Chicago at the New Bauhaus School and used the money to open a new school, the Institute of Design, with a more overt industrial orientation.the Institute of Design. His holistic approach to education and belief in the transforming power of technology continued - with John Cage teaching music and university professors lecturing on maths and physics as part of the design curriculum. But the Bauhaus insistence on breaking down barriers between disciplines seemed doomed to fail in America. Architecture remained centred firmly on Mies's Illinois Institute of Technology, while Moholy's much smaller Institute of Design became synonymous with an experimental approach to photography which stemmed directly from Moholy's own preoccupation with light.

The ethos was experiment, experiment, experiment," says Barbara Crane, an acclaimed alumna of the school who now works with digital imagery. "Rather than aiming for the perfect shot, you developed your ideas through a series of images, with all your mistakes and accidents becoming part of the work."

Their is a book to go with the exhibit.

The beautifully illustrated book highlights the contrasts and correspondences in the lives and work of two of Modernism’s greatest innovators, Josef Albers (1888–1976) and László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1947). Beginning in the 1930s, Albers and Moholy-Nagy each developed a rigorously abstract language that condensed art to its visual fundamentals: line, color, texture, light, and form. This language experienced a creative explosion during their Bauhaus years, when both artists moved freely between media and disciplines. Essays by leading scholars follow the artists’ separate paths through to their emigration to the United States, where each continued to push tirelessly the conventions of artistic practice—Albers at Black Mountain College in North Carolina and then at Yale University, and Moholy-Nagy in Chicago at the New Bauhaus School and the Institute of Design. As highly influential teachers, Albers and Moholy-Nagy became important catalysts for the transmission of Modernist ideas from Europe to America.

Info on the Whitney Exhibit
More here

Kiki Smith A Gathering 1980-2005

Kiki Smith A Gathering 1980-2005

I visited the Kiki Smith’s exhibits at the Whitney Museum, and was excited by her originality and her interaction with the human form, more often the female form and its various manifestations.

“Best known for her descriptions of the human form-both in anatomical fragments and in full figure-she is a remarkable innovator in sculpture, printmaking and drawing...she uses the body as a metaphor, drawing upon science, faith and folklore to consider our strengths and frailties”
She uses diverse materials like Nepalese handmade paper, paper mache, glass, terra-cotta, plaster, wax or bronze.

The first image, is the All Souls exhibit. The numerous images of the fetus reminds me of lots of ultra sounds drawn and celebrates the birth of the human baby.
All Souls
1. 1988
screen print on handmade Thai tissue paper
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Riva Castleman Endowment Fund, 2003
Smith has always been concerned with the human body, and among her earliest preoccupations were the subjects of birth and death. Many of her first pieces are composed of multiple components in varied configurations. For All Souls, Smith screen printed numerous copies of a fetus image that she found in a Japanese anatomy book. The individual sheets are glued together to form a curtain of delicate paper that hangs, unframed, on the wall. While often interpreted as referencing the anti-feminist and anti-abortion backlashes of the late 1980s, this work also has a more metaphorical meaning for the artist, who notes that every individual must undergo the process of being born. The title alludes to All Souls' Day, a Catholic feast day celebrated on November 2, when the faithful pray for the souls of the dead who have not yet fully atoned for their sins.

Next to All Souls are science experiment like jars with gothic handwriting with labels like Semen, Urine, Blood, Pus and Vomit. It connects to all souls as being the source of creating the baby.

Haber Arts describes it below.

In fact, the work that one sees first contains nothing but air. Twelve large, empty water bottles look as if they should hold specimens from an antique laboratory. A later room indeed arranges objects from throughout her career in what she calls a cabinet of wonders. Here only the Gothic lettering on each bottle identifies its contents with what a certain film character calls his "precious bodily fluids," from semen and blood to pus and vomit. The curator, Siri Engberg of the Walker Arts Center, identifies some as life sustaining and some as disease bearing. Like the implicit calendar of months, however, they suggest not a division but a continuous cycle between the body and the world—and they do nothing to make it sound pretty.

At first, the frankness reflects literal studies of anatomy. She worked on an emergency medical team and saw her sister die of AIDS. Bronze casts represent the male and female uro-genital system, another confluence of waste and generation. Before long, though, her approach to the body turns on the transformation between object and image. Human hair and sheep wool join in a Dowry Cloth. A wall of small, thin aluminum plates represents torn and beaten skin.

Dowry cloth made by Human hair and sheep wool created a textural element to the exhibit.

Another interesting bronze sculpture was a flock of birds that had been preserved. It seemed they were sitting on an electrical pole. Each bird was uniquely different, but they looked the same if you saw it from a distance.

Flock
1. 1998
bronze
Collection of the American Contemporary Art Foundation Inc., Leonard A. Lauder, President
Images of animals, particularly birds, have appeared in Smith's work since 1992. In many of these pieces she examines the relationship between humans and animals as seen through scientific study, religion, and literature. Birds have often served as symbols in art, representing such intangibles as the Holy Spirit, freedom, love, and enlightenment. Flock comprises more than two hundred bronze reliefs, which she traced from preserved bird specimens at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. Although their arrangement on the wall is random, the more or less orderly rows of tightly bound bodies remind us that human manipulation, rather than the natural instincts of the birds themselves, assembled this particular flock. By making animal sculptures that are equal in importance to her human representations, Smith creates her own system of classification that rejects the idea of a hierarchical order among living organisms.

Her work was had a handmade quality, but also metaphorical as the images of birds and the jars of human wastes. Her placements of objects next to each other was interesting, for instance the womb was a bronze shaped cavity that opened like a box, next to a rib cage. The sculpture Rapture (2001) depicts a woman emerging from the belly of a wolf, alludes to the narrative of rebirth and the story of “the little red riding hood”. Her multi layered objects and study of the female form was novel and fresh.

See an interview with the artist.

NPR has a multimedia exhibit of her work

Orhan Pamuk & Salman Rushdie

Here is Orhan Pamuk’s speech while accepting the Nobel Prize for literature.

Salman Rushdie was on Charlie Rose last night. His book, Shalimar the clown is out in paperback, so he was discussing it. He writes about Kashmir, because it is like a paradise that has been lost. When he visited their in 1987, he met folk theater people. His book was inspired by their lives. His book deals with universal themes, like a love triangle, death, and a murder. Kashmir was a place where different cultures and religions learnt to get along, similar to what Bosnia and the Middle East used to be like. India is a great success story for religious tolerance, but Kashmir has been caught in the crossfire between Indian Army, Pakistan Army and the jihadists.

He grew up with a secular upbringing, with not much need for religion in his life.

When asked if Islam needed to go through more debate.

He responded and said that it was already happening but not vocally enough. The modernizing movement is happening often outside Muslim majority countries. Women were leading the way, by challenging the interpretations of the mullahs.

He thought he was improving as a writer. He was hoping for clarity in his writing more and more. In the past he had tried to be clever with language, but was no realizing that simplicity is the hardest thing. To tell a gripping story, the writer needs to write about what they feel most connected with. He writes about India, and then, he brings in themes of love, violence and revenge. He said young writers measure themselves in comparison with other great writers, but the older he gets he feels writing is more about who he is.

words of wisdom

Though countless stars illumine the night
And the moon brightly ornaments the earth,
Only the sun provides light for the day
And gives meaning to the terms "east" and "west."

The man who accomplishes completely
One single act
Excels all sentient beings.
The moon when full illumines the earth ­
The multitude of stars have not this power.

~ Nagarjuna

Glenn Beck

CNN has been going downhill for some time now, but this seems to prove it can go no lower. It's new Headline News host Glenn Beck, has threatened Muslims with concentration camps.

Fair has given examples below.

Flirting With Fascism on CNN Headline News
Host Glenn Beck threatens Muslims with concentration camps

12/5/06

The New York Times (12/4/06), profiling new CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck, called him "brash" and "opinionated," with an "unfiltered approach." The conservative talk-radio host-turned-cable news announcer, the paper reported, "take[s] credit for saying what others are feeling but are afraid to say."

The Times mentioned one of the things Beck has said recently, to newly elected U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), a Muslim: "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies." But as press critic Eric Alterman pointed out (Altercation, 12/4/06), as offensive as that question is, it doesn't begin to suggest the poisonousness of Beck's rhetoric about Muslims.

On his August 10 radio show, distributed by Clear Channel's Premiere Radio Networks, Beck told listeners, "The world is on the brink of World War III," then issued this warning:

All you Muslims who have sat on your frickin' hands the whole time and have not been marching in the streets and have not been saying, 'Hey, you know what? There are good Muslims and bad Muslims. We need to be the first ones in the recruitment office lining up to shoot the bad Muslims in the head.' I'm telling you, with God as my witness... human beings are not strong enough, unfortunately, to restrain themselves from putting up razor wire and putting you on one side of it. When things�when people become hungry, when people see that their way of life is on the edge of being over, they will put razor wire up and just based on the way you look or just based on your religion, they will round you up. Is that wrong? Oh my gosh, it is Nazi, World War II wrong, but society has proved it time and time again: It will happen.

On September 5, Beck took the same message to his CNN Headline News audience, declaring, "In 10 years, Muslims and Arabs will be looking through a razor wire fence at the West." He explained:

Since 9/11, Americans have gotten so fed up with the "yes, but" Muslims. The "yes, but" Muslims are the ones who show up on talkshows and in the media and say, "Yes, terrorism is bad, but"�and then they go through a list of reasons on why we should try and sympathize with people who fly planes into buildings.... If, God forbid, there's another attack, we won't have anymore patience for the "yes, buts." The Muslim community better find a spokesman who isn't a "yes, but" Muslim. They shouldn't even understand the word "but," because if they don't, when things heat up, the profiling will only get worse, and the razor wire will be coming.

Beck went on to say:

You want the profiling to stop? Then, here's an idea. Stop murdering innocent people. Stop excusing the people who do. You do that for a while, and I guarantee you won't have any more problems at the airports. Stop blowing stuff up and the world just might be your oyster. Otherwise, it's going to be like that movie, The Siege. You remember that movie? The Muslims will see the West through razor wire if things don't change.

He concluded:



Look, I'm not saying all Arabs and Muslims are anti-American. Far from it. We should get to know these people and embrace the good Muslims, and eliminate the bad ones. Here's what I don't know. I don't know if the Muslim community will ever step to the plate like the Japanese-American community did during World War II. You know, it was absolutely disgraceful how we rounded innocent people up then and, sadly, history has a way of repeating itself no matter how grotesque that history might be. The Muslim community can prevent this if they act now.

When Beck is talking about "razor wire," he's talking about concentration camps�in the original sense of the word, places where masses of people are imprisoned "just based on the way you look or just based on your religion." Despite his (perfectly accurate) observation that such camps are "Nazi, World War II wrong," comparable to the "absolutely disgraceful" wartime interment of Japanese-Americans, Beck is clearly using the threat of such camps to coerce Muslims into behavior he approves of, like volunteering "to shoot the bad Muslims in the head."

Since the overwhelming majority of U.S. Muslims are neither "murdering innocent people" nor "excusing the people who do," there's really nothing that they can do to avert Beck's threat that "the razor wire will be coming." And Beck is explicit that there's nothing non-Muslims can do to avoid locking Muslims up en masse.

The New York Times, in its profile about Beck, refers to his criticism of the animated film Happy Feet, but fails to mention that he uses his Headline News slot to issue threats that he himself compares to Nazi behavior. For the Times, CNN's decision to give Beck a TV show is a "success," because he "has increased the ratings in his 7 p.m. time period 60 percent among all viewers, and 84 percent among viewers aged 25 to 54."

The Times article quoted CNN executive Kenneth Jautz as saying that the network did not take Beck's politics into account when it hired him. "We did not set out to have anyone from any particular view fronting these shows," he said. In fact, CNN hired Beck knowing that the host's repertoire included hateful attacks--the Hurricane Katrina refugees seen on TV and the father of a terrorism victim were both "scumbags" (Mediamatters.org, 5/17/04, 9/9/05)--as well as a disturbing preoccupation with violence: Beck has told his listeners that he was praying for a gruesome death for Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich (3/6/03), and that he was fantasizing about strangling filmmaker Michael Moore to death (5/17/05). As FAIR predicted (FAIR Action Alert, 1/18/06), Beck has not changed his repellent tune simply because he's been hired by a major media outlet.

Contrary to Beck's suggestion, there are things that the people of the U.S. can do to avoid repeating the "grotesque" history of Japanese-American internment. One of these things is to take people seriously when they start threatening people with concentration camps�rather than looking the other way because of their ratings "success."

ACTION: Please contact CNN/U.S. president Jonathan Klein and urge him to condemn Glenn Beck's chilling threats against Muslims.

CONTACT:
CNN/U.S. President
Jonathan Klein
Phone: 404-827-1500
Web: www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form1.html?39

Little Hotties Barbies & Bratz

Margaret Talbot, has a fascinating article, in the New Yorker, on the Barbie doll and her close competitor with 40% of market share the Bratz doll.

Bratz dolls have large heads and skinny bodies; their almond shaped eyes are tilted upwards at the edges and adorned with thick crescents of eye shadow, and their lips are lush and pillowy, glossed to a candy apple sheen and rimed with dark lip liner. They look like pole dancers on their way to work at a gentleman’s club. Unlike Barbie, they can stand unassisted.

Bratz dolls feed and play upon this culture’s obsession with girls being sassy (euphemism for sexy) and therefore discarding traditional toys at a younger age. The dolls tend to look ethnically indeterminate with names to match like Nevra, Kiana, Jade and Yasmin.

M.G.A or Micro Games of America is run by an Iranian immigrant, Isaac Larian, and he owns the Bratz doll copyright. He thinks that Barbies represent a “mommy figure” and young girls don’t particularly want to play with their mommies. His company wants to hold on to the six to twelve year old market, by playing up the celebrity and diva aspect of the dolls.

“Bratz are not merely dolls but ‘fashion icons’ that look to the runways and what kids wear in and out of school for inspiration.”


Mattel introduced My Scene Barbie, which kept Barbie’s basic dimensions, but had bigger eyes, plumper, shinier lips and hotter clothes. This was to corner some of the market that the Bratz dolls had been taking over.

There are other dolls that do not play with the “sassy” theme so much, like the historical dolls from American Girl, and Groovy Girls

The class divide is clear, American Girl dolls sold at American Girl Place are expensive, innocent looking and old fashioned, appealing to well off white parents willing to spend whatever it takes to prolong their daughter’s childhood. Bratz and My Scene Barbie are catering to the world’s version of gangsta chic.