Got to admit watching Matrix Resurrections didn’t give me the thrill of the first three films (and I kept thinking of Keanu in his John Wick incarnation—it’s the whole beard/hair look, minus the cool suit) but I’m a sucker for a love story and mind-bendy ideas, and one of the big central themes still hits home: Free Your Mind.
And this line from Bugs: “If we don’t know what’s real, we can’t resist.”
Truth. And timely.
Artwork: Paste-up by @marshal.arts_streetart, June 2021
A fave from @marshal.arts_streetart. Some days I feel as weird and alien (yet oddly cool) as this…
Artwork: Mural by @beefreeart, Melbourne
It’s hot and humid today and this work by @befreeart in Melbourne captures a carefree, summery and quietly joyful kind of moment that makes me smile. 😊
Artwork: Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Lovers, 1988
Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s sketch and letter, Lovers, 1988, featuring two clocks in sync is a beautiful and haunting testament to his relationship with the love of his life, Ross Laycock. Both lost their lives to AIDS. This sketch/text relates to Gonzalez-Torres’ artwork featuring two actual clocks, Untitled (Perfect Lovers), 1991. Both these works were an inspiration for writing the art story for Gonzalez-Torres’s installation, Untitled, 1991-3, and light string Untitled (Couple), 1993.
Poster created by Petropolis Editions featuring Emily Dickinson’s poem If I can stop one heart from breaking
The wonderful Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris worked with the letterpress printer Michael Caine (@petropoliseditions) to create this poster last year featuring Emily Dickinson’s poem “If I can stop one heart from breaking”. Beautiful.
The Linda Lindas’ track Oh! is just a joyful, electric jolt of energy. Love the song, love the band. Check it out.
Artwork: C215 (Christian Guemy), l’amour, Vitry, 2013
This year—more love, freedom, unity, justice, compassion, kindness, hope, truth, art, music, stories, creativity, connection, joy…more of all that’s good and necessary. ❤️
Simply gorgeous remix by Paradox of Synkro’s track Luminous. Check it out.
Artwork: by Emeli Martensson for 5Preview
Feel this right now. Drawing created by 5Preview founder/designer/artist Emeli Martensson. Break down the walls. Freedom forever.
Artwork: by @bobaccesories via @escif
Could use some magic right now—this will do. ❤️ unicorns.
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have collaborated yet again on an original score for the forthcoming film La Panthère Des Neiges (Dec 2021). The film follows wildlife photographer Vincent Munier and novelist Sylvain Tesson as they explore the valleys of the Tibetan plateau looking for unique animals. Ellis said this about the project:
“There is something about the heart of this film that draws you in. I realized after a day, that I wanted to do whatever it took to compose an entire original score. The film deserved to have its own musical voice. I booked five days and asked Nick if he could come in for a day to write a theme song and play some piano. He saw the film and stayed for four days. In the end we made what I think is one of the most beautiful films we have ever worked on. One of my favorite experiences ever working on a project. The stars are the animals in all their wild glory, as we have never seen them before, and man in reverence and wonder.”
Here’s the theme song We Are Not Alone.
Artwork: Luzinterruptus, Life goes on between white leaves, 2021, Madrid (@luzinterruptus for more images)
Spanish cooperative Luzinterruptus (@luzinterruptus) recently installed their current art project in the Plaza Mayor, Madrid, Life goes on between white leaves. The work features a large wall mounted with hundreds of white notebooks with the trademark illumination the group’s projects are known for. The installation is interactive, the artists inviting people to write their thoughts and concerns “during these dark times”.
The power of people and the power of words shapes this engaging and evolving artwork.
Artwork: Installation by eL Seed, Like Her, Nepal, 2021
Artist eL Seed’s recent installation, Like Her, spanning the roofs and walkways of houses in the village Giranchour in Nepal is a stunning tribute to the women who live there. This is what eL Seed had to say about the project, its inspiration and meaning:
“In 2015 an earthquake rocked Nepal, destroying hundreds of homes and tearing many families apart. As the country began to build itself back up again women took a leading role in the reconstruction of the society around them.
In Giranchour, a small village three hours away from Kathmandu, some women got trained in construction work, when others learned how to produce their own earthquake resistant bricks.
In this new project, I explore the topic of women empowerment by bringing light to the stories of admirable women. During four weeks, I worked with a team of 12 women who helped me create a giant art installation that spread all around the village connecting each house to another, linking each women’s story to the other.
The art installation depicts the words of Yogmaya Neupane (1867-1941) one of the first female activists of Nepal, a woman who has become a modern icon in the contemporary fight for gender equality and social justice:
“There is nothing between us, nothing at all. Your eyes have tears, just like my own.”
Single, married or widows, this group of women carries the legacy of Yogmaya Neupane. The art installation becomes an echo of their stories and aims to amplify their voices.
I believe artists have a great social responsibility to inspire, ignite and implement change. 'Like Her' intends to raise up the women in this remote community that was devastated by the 2015 earthquake, and bring to light issues facing these women, and women all over the world, while sharing their beautiful stories of wisdom, strength and resilience.”
Anicka Yi’s current installation at the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall is very, very strange. In Love with the World features floating, moving, helium-filled forms Yi calls “aerobes”. These aerobes are based on ocean life forms and mushrooms, that float and propel themselves around the hall. The premise for the exhibition is the question: What would it feel like to share the world with machines that could live in the wild and evolve on their own?
The bulbous aerobes are called “planulae” and the aerobes with jellyfish-tentacles are “xenojellies”. Yi has also created “scentscapes” in the Turbine Hall, notably scents inspired by the history of the Bankside area surrounding Tate Modern, including marine scents from the Precambrian period; odours of vegetation from the Cretaceous period; the scents of spices that were used to counteract the Black Death in the 14th century, and the smell of coal and ozone from the Industrial Revolution.
This re-imagining of artificial intelligence has produced a quite surreal installation/experience. Merging technology and biology the aerobes are programmed to float towards heat, namely the human bodies visiting the space. They have a homing instinct, returning to a “pool” of technicians who recharge the aerobes’ batteries, readying them to fly once more. In one sense they are simply kinetic sculptures, but the effect is not unlike being immersed in an ocean pool, or suspended in air. Yi’s almost peaceful creations subvert the notion of AI as aggressive, potentially harmful, and primed to take over humanity. Instead these aerobes are encountered as if finding them in the wild, a strange mutation to be wondered at, to potentially live alongside as part of an evolving and entangled ecosystem.
Artwork: Illustration by Maurice Sendak for Where the Wild Things Are
Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are is one of my all-time favourite books. So this story recounted by Sendak about one of his readers made me laugh:
"Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters...I sent him a card and I drew a picture...I wrote, 'Dear Jim: I loved your card.' Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, 'Jim loved your card so much he ate it.' That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it."
(source: @_nitch)
Watched the brilliant V for Vendetta. A reminder of how ideas, truth, hope, love and the power of people uniting around freedom from oppression, tyranny, surveillance, discrimination, control and fear matters.
Freedom Forever.
Artwork: Yoshitomo Nara, 旅する山子 Traveling Yamako, 2019
Dreaming of the sea…
Wow, this made my day! Four Tet’s epic set at Lost Village Festival 2021. Recommend listening to it on SoundCloud here . Truly awesome 😊
Artwork: Paste-up by seiLiese, It’s time to repair the 🌎, 2021
Gorgeous and poignant paste-up by street artist seiLeise, “It’s time to repair the 🌎”.
Love these guys! Here’s the Ebinum brothers (Victory and Marvel; @ebinumbrothers) newest dance performance , All Day. Choreographed as part of a series titled, Beautiful Life, the brothers wrote this abut the piece:
“We should love all day, trust all day, help all day, smile all day and do what we love all day so we can be happy all day.”