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Post by Bonobo on Jan 14, 2009 20:54:26 GMT 1
The Czech who head the Union in this year have organized a campaign against stereotypes and prejudice in Brussels. Each country`s artist gave an idea and the Czech s implemented them all. Most are very controvercial and diplomatic protests have already started. E.g., Poland is symbolised by figures of priests holding a gay flag, an imitation of the famous scene from Ivo Jima. There is an artist`s description attached: Stand by your faith Journalistic photographs capturing American soldiers raising a flag on the island of Iwo Jima in 1945. Instead of soldiers, the figures of Catholic priests faithfully copy the positions of the men in the photograph. A rainbow flag where all the colours of the spectrum coexist side by side. A surreal vision of the interconnection of that which cannot be interconnected.See all country`s symbols: slimak.onet.pl/_m/TVN/tvn24/entropa.pdfOops, it seems Czechs have duped all of us. None country has actually sent its artist to participate in the art enterprise. It has been revealed today that the construction presenting some countries` stereotyped visions was construed by a single man, a Czech artist. He says he knew the sham would be revealed one day but wanted to check if Europe is able to laugh at its stereotypes. Czech mistification. It seems that Poland was the most clever idea in it. The rest are simply boring. www.tvn24.pl/-1,1581346,0,1,czeska-mistyfikacja-unijna,wiadomosc.html Italy France Artwork in full: www.tvn24.pl/-1,1581172,0,1,polska-to-zakonnicy-z-gejowskim-sztandarem,wiadomosc.html Well, maybe the so called post-modernism type of culture went too much under my skin (against my will if actually), but I love the Czech presentation.
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Post by Bonobo on Jan 14, 2009 21:03:51 GMT 1
Well, maybe the so called post-modernism type of culture went too much under my skin (against my will if actually), but I love the Czech presentation. I don`t like it. Firstly, it is a bit unjust. Countries are presented on different levels of controvercy, e.g., Poland is controvercial with its gay issue, so is Bulgaria presented as Turkish toilet, while Italy is a neutrally boring one, with soccer stereotype. I am sure we could find a more controvercial stereotype for Italy too, e.g., Italian mafia, camorra etc etc. Secondly, it is too far from the viewer and too small. I wear glasses and I need to look at the piece of art from a short distance. Thirdly, it requires a guide to explain particular details. Wsate of time looking for one in the vicinity.... Fourthly, this is the major shortcoming of this art - it is boring, probably except for this Polish aspect. Artist creates sensation by mocking EU nations By HOLLY FOX 1/15/09
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — Is it a joke? A very expensive art hoax? A sly, shockingly satirical look at the 27 nations that make up the European Union?
Bulgaria is depicted as a squat toilet, which it has formally protested. Germany is shown as laced by autobahns roughly in the shape of a swastika. The Netherlands is covered by floodwaters pierced only by minarets of mosques.
And Sweden is — what else? — a box of prefab furniture.
Whatever one's reaction, the new installation celebrating the Czech Republic's six-month presidency of the European Union has achieved the ultimate accomplishment of any piece of art: it created a sensation.
The artist says it is just tongue-in-cheek stuff. But he apologized Thursday for insulting individual countries.
On Thursday, the Czech deputy premier, Alexandr Vondra, came to Brussels to see for himself what the brouhaha at the EU's headquarters was all about.
"Entropa" — by David Cerny, a Czech artist who is no stranger to controversy — dominates the lobby of the EU's Justus Lipsius Building. Measuring 25 x 25 meters (yards) it bears the outlines of EU nations on a tubular grid showing each nation, warts and all.
The work was switched on for Vondra and journalists on Thursday. Toy cars on Germany's autobahns immediately started moving, Greek forest fires lit up, the eyes of famed Romanian Count Dracula began flashing a diabolic red and Italian soccer players did unspeakable things with the ball.
The installation also shows France as being on strike, while Polish clergy raise — Iwo Jima-style — the rainbow flag of the gay community in their arch-Catholic country. The Czech Republic itself is represented by an LED screen streaming quotes from its euroskeptic president.
Britain is completely absent, reflecting its traditional aloofness from European integration.
While he agreed to remove items that offended any nation's pride, Cerny insisted Britain cannot come into his Europe. Unaccountably, there was no immediate hint of a British protest.
The Czech government says Cerny lied to them because he was paid euro50,000 ($65,870) to round up the works of European artists representing all 27 EU nations and create a joint project, according to Vondra.
The Czech deputy premier was careful to defend artistic freedom when he spoke to the media after viewing the exhibit. "Entropa is just art, nothing more, nothing less," he said — but added that any country that wants to be taken from the work will be.
Taking down the entire work would go too far, he said. "Twenty years after the fall of the Iron Curtain there is no place for censorship in Europe."
Cerny promised to repay his fee to the government.
"We are really sorry that we insulted individual nations," he told reporters, singling out Bulgaria. "That's a pity that some countries don't like it."
But the artwork has also drawn large crowds of spectators to the Justus Lipsius building, where art usually depicts a more saccharine Europe — French castles, Greek sunsets or Dutch canals.
Paul Gerard, a Frenchmen who works nearby, said he wasn't shocked.
"It's true. The French are always striking," he laughed.
Olga Capa, a Portuguese working at the European Commission, found the show "a bit shocking ... but not offensive, really."
Cerny said the Czech government asked him to produce a concept piece of "27 artists (but) I quickly figured that would be technically and financially difficult to do." The work in Brussels was created by "about 10 people" in the Czech Republic and abroad, he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Cerny noted that today's Czech leaders have a record of opposition to totalitarian rule.
"I really hope those guys have a sense of humor," he added.
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 13, 2009 17:52:42 GMT 1
Don`t you remember I refused to kick the Leaning Tower of Pisa??? I do and I think it is a shame you refused. You'd become one of the most reknowned artists worldwide would you have done that. Isn't it a contemporary way to become a celebrated artist? To 'pack' a buliding in foil, to put one dead animal on top of the other one, to tin own excrements, to place genitals on the cross. Kicking the Tower of Pisa, hard, to make it fall would be something even better. Herostrates would be Stuart the Little compared to Bo ;D Actor tried for lobster, hamster torture thenews.pl 06.04.2009
The southwest city of Wroclaw hosted the 13th Annual Europe Theatre Prize and a play was presented by the Spanish performer and director Rodrigo Garcia in which he killed and ate a lobster on stage – sparking controversy and a court case.
Garcia has been accused of torturing, killing and eating a lobster on Thursday 2 April and drowning a hamster on stage the following day. The local Animal Protection Services have taken him to court for animal abuse.
One hundred and fifty people witnessed the actor hang a lobster on a string, stab it with a sharp object and wait for it to die slowly. The play, entitled `Accidents: Killing for Food,' required the audience to listen to the amplified heartbeats of the lobster as it died. He presented a similar piece the following day, using a live hamster.
The Spanish actor claims, in his official testimony, that he has never before had any problems with this 25-minute one-man show and has never before been taken to court. Garcia maintains that this is art.
Garcia added that the Veterinary General officially agreed to the use of a live animal during both performances.
The Europe Theatre Prize, worth 60,000 euro, was started by the European Commission in 1986 as a prize to for those who have `contributed to the realization of cultural events that promote understanding and the exchange of knowledge between peoples.' The Prize is recognized by European Parliament and the European Council as an official `European cultural interest organization. '
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Post by valpomike on Apr 13, 2009 18:32:36 GMT 1
They must have more important things to do with they time.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Nov 11, 2009 1:00:28 GMT 1
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Post by valpomike on Nov 11, 2009 2:27:02 GMT 1
She looks to be hot, I would pick her flowers, any day. Even water them for her.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Nov 27, 2009 21:31:48 GMT 1
www.holycrossncc.org/the-art-of-fr-sr-madej/
15 years on a labor of love Woodcarving Polish priest attributes his ecclesiastical art to the hands of God By Jay Tokasz The Buffalo News November 20, 2009 The Rev. Walter Madej has carved out quite a legacy in Lancaster. It began with a statue of Saul, struck blind on his way to Damascus, and includes the Stations of the Cross, an ornate main altar, a lectern, a 26-foot-long balustered railing and an ambry for holy oils, among other furnishings.
Now, after 15 years of sculpting a stunning array of ecclesiastical art inside Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral on Broadway in Lancaster, Madej has completed his final and most complex installment — a shrine depicting the 20 mysteries of the rosary.
"The cathedral is complete now," said Madej, a priest commissioned by Holy Mother of the Rosary parish to fill the cathedral with original art.
The collection of Madej's work is unlike anything else in Western New York.
While many of the area's glorious older churches boast plenty of beautiful ecclesiastical art, newly built sanctuaries rarely contain commissioned pieces.
In that respect, Holy Mother of the Rosary, constructed in 1996, is an anomaly. The congregation and the Polish National Catholic Church have focused heavily on adorning the space in a manner befitting a cathedral.
"I know you don't find many new churches with this kind of elaborate artwork," said Bishop Thaddeus Peplowski, leader of the parish and of the Buffalo-Pittsburgh Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church. "We said, `Let's do something unique.'"
The congregation also chose to decorate primarily in wood, as a reflection of its Polish heritage.
Churches throughout Poland typically are built with beautiful woodwork, as opposed to stone or marble, said Peplowski, and the faces depicted in Madej's work have Slavic features.
The parish soon will begin promoting the cathedral as a pilgrimage site, and it is producing a book explaining all of the artwork.
The congregation is grateful that Madej, who lives in New York Mills, near Utica, was able to devote so much time to their church.
Parishioner Christina Giczkowski, of South Buffalo, said Madej's art was something the church would be able to show to future generations.
"Anybody can go out and buy statues that are manufactured, and those are beautiful, too," she said.
But with a sculpture by Madej, she added, "we know it's an original, and it's ours."
Madej, a native of Poland who has been carving for more than 40 years, was equally thankful for the opportunity to be a Michelangelo of sorts for the cathedral.
"They were blessed years. I'm really grateful I was able to accomplish that. I was grateful to the Lord that he chose me to do it," said Madej, 67.
Madej crafted the carvings out of various species of wood: oak, cherry, basswood, white sugar pine, maple and walnut to name a few.
He uses hundreds of chisels and a variety of power tools, including chain saws, in a studio in Sauquoit, outside Utica.
The carvings were done during his free time. Madej also is full-time pastor of two Polish National Catholic parishes, one in New York Mills and another in Syracuse.
Madej spent four years on the final installment, a moving portrayal of the 20 mysteries of the rosary that includes biblical scenes such as the Nativity and Jesus dying on the cross.
It is a fitting last piece, considering the cathedral's name.
"I wanted to express the profoundness of the mystery of the rosary," Madej said. "I would say it's like a finale for that church. If we want to understand Jesus and his message and his Gospel, the best understanding is to go through his mother, Mary."
The shrine is 20 feet across and 10 feet tall and is set off from other pieces by its colorfulness.
Normally, Madej prefers to let the color of the wood speak for itself, but in this instance, "It's almost like I heard a voice saying I need to express in color."
The hues are used to highlight the range of emotions associated with the four kinds of mysteries: joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious.
Madej, who has created sculptures for other churches in New York and Poland, said he would get up in the middle of the night at times to jot down ideas and drawings for the cathedral sculptings.
And always, the work was accompanied by prayer.
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Post by Bonobo on Aug 24, 2010 19:10:05 GMT 1
A young boy makes detailed models of towns out of plastic clay. See the film: www.tvn24.pl/-1,1670649,0,1,ulepil-torun-z-plasteliny,wiadomosc.html
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Post by valpomike on Aug 24, 2010 22:47:43 GMT 1
This young man, does a great job. How old is he?
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Aug 24, 2010 23:16:44 GMT 1
This young man, does a great job. How old is he? Mike 13. He doesn`t hang around like others but prefers modelling.
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Post by Bonobo on Jan 8, 2012 17:13:29 GMT 1
Isn`t it normal? First, a piece of art provokes a scandal and evokes disgust and contempt. Later on, it becomes a museum exhibit. ;D ;D ;D ;D Lego concentration camp bought by Warsaw museum 04.01.2012 12:48 Warsaw’s Museum of Modern Art has purchased one of the most controversial Polish artworks of the 1990s, Zbigniew Libera's Lego Concentration Camp. According to a statement released by the museum, a Norwegian collector was paid 55,000 euros for the work. Almost two thirds of the sum came from a donation by the Society of Friends of Modern Art in Warsaw. Following an announcement in early December, the society managed to raise 22,300 euro from members of the public. The remaining portion was paid by the Museum of Modern Art. Zbigniew Libera's 1996 work includes crematoria rendered in Lego, as well as toy versions of camp personnel abusing inmates. Lego, which provided the artist with the material free of charge, claims that it was unaware of the exact nature of Libera's intentions, and the company later attempted to persuade the artist to desist from exhibiting the work.
Lego Concentration Camp was ultimately shown around the globe, including at the Mirroring Evil: Nazi Art/ Recent Imagery exhibition held at New York's Jewish Museum in 2002.
The work will go on display at The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw in the second half of 2012.
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Post by pjotr on Jan 8, 2012 18:35:32 GMT 1
Bo,
Thank you for this interesting and controversial threat about Modern art. I watched and read it this afternoon.
Cheers, Pieter
P.S.- I read more than I post recently. That also has to do with my job. I stil enjoy this Polish culture forum, because culture, history, images, Polish humor and the Poland of today is represented, shown and respected here.
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