National - Western Short Stories

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National - Western Short Stories

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Square

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"A round man cannot be expected to fit in a square hole right away. He must have time to modify his shape."

--Mark Twain

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5 cats and a chicken

Five cats and a chicken

and also a very interesting question...

If Your Cat Tasted Like Chicken, Would You Eat Her?

more: here 

Alfredo Jaar

The Way it is. An Aesthetics of Resistance

Alfredo Jaar

In cooperation with the Berlinische Galerie, the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK) is showing the first retrospective exhibition in Germany of the internationally acclaimed artist Alfredo Jaar (* 1956 / Santiago de Chile). The artist, who lives in New York, received a grant from the DAAD and spent some time in Berlin 20 years ago (1991). He made a name for himself in Germany with some spectacular individual projects - for instance, an DAAD/NGBK presentation in the Pergamon Museum (1992) or his participation at the documenta (twice, in 1987 and 2002).

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Berlinische Galerie

15.06.–17.09.2012

The emphasis of the exhibition in the Berlinische Galerie will be on works produced in and for Berlin. These include "A New World", a series of five large-format photographs, which were taken at the Brandenburg Gate shortly after the fall of the Wall and are now being presented for the very first time. The Berlin projects will be supplemented by works on Africa-related themes, which have been a key emphasis of Alfredo Jaar's creative work for many years. 

His impressive works on genocide in Ruanda, Nelson Mandela's politics, and the tragic fate of South African photo journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Kevin Carter are being presented in Berlin for the first time. Lesser known early pieces, highly political interventions into public space that were made in Chile between 1974 and 1981, will also be shown as part of the retrospective, in a parallel presentation in the rooms of the NGBK. Both sections will be supplemented by a pointed intervention in the Alte Nationalgalerie.

An exhibition of the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK) in cooperation with the Berlinische Galerie, the Nationalgalerie - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin-Program. Realised with funding from the Capital Cultural Fund and the Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin. Supported by the artEDU Stiftung, Zurich.  [ more ]

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NGBK

15 June – 19 August 2012

An exhibition of the NGBK [RealismusStudio]

The Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (New Society for Visual Arts) presents an exhibition by Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar (Santiago de Chile, *1956) simultaneously at three Berlin institutions. The monographic show offers a retrospective survey of an artistic production spanning close to four decades. It gives insights into the political topicality of the works by the two-time documenta participant and elucidates the critical methods of archiving, research and intervention employed by the artist.

The artist, trained as architect and filmmaker, works with urban spaces and spaces of the museum. He dissects surfaces and structures, producing artistic statements related to spatiality and society. The main focuses of the show is the artist’s observation of the language and programme of the image, as well as its deconstruction, what the artist has called the politics of the image. They address the artistic strategy of refusing images, present Jaar’s research work and display his considerations on the presentation and accessibility of various public spheres. Investigations of the visualisation of political and social events and the treatment of the resulting images demonstrate Alfredo Jaar’s critical approach to the media and media publicity. 

The point of departure and reference point of Alfredo Jaar’s art is formed/informed by the careful methodology of the architect, a systematic and thorough analysis of the backgrounds and effects of concrete events and situations. His early works from the 1970s already deal with forms of resistance in public and semi-public spaces, thus criticising the conditions in Chile without becoming subjected to state censorship. After Jaar moved to New York City which was followed by an international artistic career, he continued to apply the poetic methods developed and tested in Chile.  [ more ]

The Science of Imaginary Solutions

And though you thought you won the race

working up was such a waste

A perfect day with a frigidaire's charm 

A pretty picture twisted be gone.

Blinded by my imagination 

Everything much better now

Eyes fixed on a stolen face

The copycats are all in place

It's all over now

It's all over now

It's all over now for you

You shipwrecked all and shed your skin

From trying to find yourself again

Eyes fixed on the human race

Now everyone thinks your dead

Today 

It's all over now

It's all over now

It's all over now for you

It's all over now

It's all over now

It's all over now for you

High as the moon, deep as an ocean 

You fall apart to pieces hit the ground 

I pick up all your inventions

but your science keeps you from being so

Fake it, fake it

Everybody knows

The lights dim, 

you've been exposed

Autolux

Forst

FORST 

Michael Sailstorfer

Vattenfall Contemporary 2012

26.04.-08.10.2012

Michael Sailstorfer (*1979 Velden/Vils), is the prize-winner of “Vattenfall Contemporary 2012”. This choice pays tribute to an artistic position that re-questions and extends the classical concept of sculpture. In his often lavishly produced works he creates new, unfamiliar relations between everyday objects and processes, so generating images with great poetic effect.

The central motif of his first major solo exhibition in Berlin is the forest. Five trees in the installation Forst, hanging upside down and revolving around their own axes, take up the whole of the 10-metre high exhibition space. While Sailstorfer brings nature into the exhibition space here, with his second work Schwarzwald (Black Forest) he takes art into nature: he produced a square field in an area of forest using black paint, which is reminiscent of Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square dating from 1914/15. Its slow disintegration, triggered by natural processes, is watched over by a video camera and transmitted via live stream to a screen in the exhibition space.

The prize "Vattenfall Contemporary" is a re-conception of the “Vattenfall Kunstpreis Energie”, which has been awarded annually since 1992, experiencing its 20th anniversary this year. The prize was re-conceived in collaboration with the Berlinische Galerie in 2010. Since then it has been presented to internationally acclaimed artists living and working in Berlin.   [ more ] 

The prize Vattenfall Contemporary represents a new conception of the “Vattenfall Kunstpreis Energie”, which had been presented on an annual basis since 1992. In 2010 the prize was re-designed in collaboration with the Berlinische Galerie. Since then, it has been awarded to internationally acclaimed artists living and working in Berlin. The accolade includes a solo exhibition in the Berlinische Galerie, the production of an exhibition catalogue, and a guaranteed acquisition for the Vattenfall Collection. Previous prizewinners have been Julian Rosefeldt (2010) and Angela Bulloch (2011). 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the art prize.

Z

Z
by Vassilis Vassilikos
Ziller Building – Nikos Kourkoulos New Stage / National Theatre of Greece

“Z”, a fictionalised account of the assassination of Greek MP Grigoris Lambrakis, was first published in 1966. With a mixture of journalistic accuracy and literary storytelling, internationally award-winning writer Vassilis Vassilikos records the crucial events from the arrival of Lambrakis in Thessaloniki through to the judicial inquiry into his killing and its first findings. Adopting a variety of narrative techniques, the writer highlights both the human and the political dimension of the events, focusing on individuals and situations that have played a defining role in the creation of present-day Greece.

Although associated with a specific and extremely important period in modern Greek history, Vassilikos’s novel captures the timeless political and social contradictions of his country. This explosive material has been adapted for the stage by Efi Theodorou, who also directs. Her production employs a cast of experienced actors to examine the interior life of the characters and in particular the ideological stance of an individual who envisioned a peaceful and just world and did not back down in the face of danger and threats.

Directed and adapted by Efi Theodorou
Set design Eva Manidaki
Costume design Ioanna Tsami
Music Nikos Platanos
Movement Ermis Malkotsis
Lighting design Sakis Birbilis
Assistant director Aspasia - Maria Alexiou
Assistant to the set designer Maro Tsanga
Assistant to the costume designer Dimitra Liakoura

Cast:
Thanassis Dimou
Haris Frangoulis
Nikolas Hanakoulas
Nikos Hatzopoulos
Maria Kechagioglou
Giannis Kotsifas
Christina Maxouri
Kitty Paitazoglou
Giannos Perlengas

Wild

My mother said to me that I would get in trouble

Our father won't come home cause he is seeing double

Out in the endless green

Your eyes are so misleading

That's when your car pulls up

Its hood is black and gleaming

And in a while

You start a smile

The earth is wild

You've got no time

Wild in our ways

What we are making

Heartless to say

You go, go on pretending

One chance to fall behind the lines that will not let you

Can I believe in how the past is what will catch you

And in a while

You start a smile

The earth is wild

You've got no time

Beach House