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Adrian Balseca’s Suspensión I inverts the logic of the old colonial game, the greasy pole. Digitally filmed in the Province of Morona Santiago among the last existing community at the entrance of the Sangay National Park, a native girl climbs a balsa tree trunk from which plastic containers filled with “local” fossil fuels hang (super, extra, eco-país, gasoline, diesel, etc.). The trunk – which is lightweight quality wood, typical of the subtropical jungle of Ecuador -– has been cut down and suspended vertically and the trophies of modern progress hang from it. A reference to the painting, The Greasy Pole (La cucaña) by Francisco de Goya (1786) lingers; the Spanish painter depicts a number of boys climbing to reach the top of the pole, where gifts and chickens have been arranged as prizes, while people cheer them on below.
Artist Adrian Balseca’s work broadly focuses upon extractivist practices in South America and across the globe, contemplating their ensuing environmental impacts. Producing installation, photographs and objects, the artist explores issues including the history of rubber extraction from the Amazon, the impact of oil spills, and the development of the car industry. His work tracks a trajectory through developmental history that allows for a reflection upon the physical, economic and epistemic violence contained within modes of production at the service of multinational capital. Often beginning with site-specific interventions based around banal yet symbolic objects, the car, a sewer, or a lamp for example, Balseca goes on to explore their manufacturing process, through which we might access questions of economy, nature, power and memory.
In Rogers’ Columbine works, the artist explores the 1999 high school shooting that took place in Littleton, Colorado, claiming 34 victims...
The Last Post was inspired by Sikander’s ongoing interest in the colonial history of the sub-continent and the British opium trade with China...
Michael Stipe on His Collection Exhibition at the Outsider Art Fair – ARTnews.com Skip to main content By Andy Battaglia Plus Icon Andy Battaglia Deputy Editor, ARTnews View All March 2, 2022 11:49am View Gallery 10 Images When Michael Stipe first started engaging with outsider art, he was a young buck learning the curious folkways of Athens, Georgia, while on the cusp of fronting the storied rock band R...
Global? 1 & 2 documents an annual event during which people of a particular religious group gather around Jejuri in Maharashtra, India...
Disturbing behaviour: "Deproduction" by Terre Thaemlitz | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Courtesy of Comatonse Recordings September 22, 2019 By Patricia Tobin (670 words, 4-minute read) Content warning: References to sexual content or situations Deproduction by musician-producer Terre Thaemlitz was released on December 28, 2017 as a multimedia album consisting of audio, video and text...
"One Two Jaga": Keberanian Baharu Sinema Malaysia | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles September 11, 2018 Oleh Daniyal Kadir (1260 patah kata, 5-miinit bacaan) Penyampaian kritikan sosial atau politik dalam filem-filem Malaysia jarang berlaku melalui suasana yang berani dan mendatangkan ghairah...
In her 2003 series “Better Lives”, Sue Williamson explores stories of immigrants in search of a better life in a historically contentious South Africa...
The strange mystery behind this lost X-Files song | Dazed â¬…ï¸ Left Arrow *ï¸âƒ£ Asterisk â Star Option Sliders âœ‰ï¸ Mail Exit Film & TV News For three decades, fans of the show have been trying to locate the unknown track – and now they’ve finally discovered the truth 12 December 2023 Text Dazed Digital Humankind is haunted by a number of mysteries, many of which are likely to remain unsolved forever...
Blockbuster Pop art show in Mumbai marks a new type of exhibition for India Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Mumbai blog Blockbuster Pop art show in Mumbai marks a new type of exhibition for India Pop: Fame, Love, Power at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre is an unprecedented but surface-level survey for a broad audience Kabir Jhala 9 February 2024 Share Installation view of Pop: Fame, Love, Power at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, Mumbai Courtesy of NMACC When Nita Ambani, India’s wealthiest woman, opened her eponymous cultural centre in Mumbai last March, many in the art world were intrigued...
Shifting Landscapes At Oxo Tower Wharf | Londonist A Free Exhibition Featuring Virtual Rainforests Is Coming To Oxo Tower Wharf By Hannah Newlon-Trujillo Hannah Newlon-Trujillo A Free Exhibition Featuring Virtual Rainforests Is Coming To Oxo Tower Wharf Sanctuaries of Silence, a virtual reality experience by Adam Loften and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee...
Golden Globes 2024 Snubs and Surprises: ‘Past Lives,’ Taylor Swift and More - The New York Times Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The nominations for the 81st Golden Globes , announced Monday morning, brought good tidings for box-office titans “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” though some of the other contenders hoping to break through were dealt an early setback...
The title of Rainbow Body by Chitra Ganesh refers to an elevated state of, or metaphor for, the consciousness transformation known as a rainbow body...
Gilded Lilies - Photographs by Tine Poppe | Interview by Sophie Wright | LensCulture Feature Gilded Lilies Norwegian photographer Tine Poppe’s portraits of cut flowers, shot against landscapes ravaged by climate change, propose a new take on the still life—one fit for the uncertain times we are living in...