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Love and Istanbul
Towards the end of the anti romantic comedy 500 Days of Summer (2009) by Marc Webb, Tom the protagonist of the story played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt holds a chaotic speech at the advertising company that he works for which specialized in greeting cards for all occasions right before he quits. In this speech he declares that he is incapable of writing something for a Valentine’s Day card because he doesn’t believe in love anymore. The reason for this defection is the discovery of the huge lie behind this concept, heavily imposed by movies, books and songs forming this belief of true love, a love whose kindness lasts a lifetime based on the existence of the perfect partner for every individual. To find this person is the key to happiness. When Tom thinks to realize that this idea is false he feels like a kid who just discovered Santa doesn’t exist. However, this illusion is falsely blamed on these movies, books and songs. In reality this idea has its eccentric Greek origin in the mouth of Aristophanes in the Symposium by Plato. Zeus punished the initial androgynous by parting them with his flash leaving us all doomed to walk the earth looking for the other half that we are missing. Although this myth has not completely diminished in our minds it is far from being an essential element in the western idea of love. Which is probably to be found in Love in the Western World by Denis de Rougemont, in Tristan und Isolde and the provencal poetry of the 12th century in general that not only links love and...
Punk concert: Sum 41 in Lisbon
One of the most famous punk bands in the world is, undoubtedly, Sum 41. The grouping from Ajax, Ontario, is active since ´96 and its current members are Deryck Whibley (voice and rhythm guitar), Jason McCaslin (who is on bass and the voices of the choir), Steve Jocz (drums, vocals) and Tom Thacker (lead guitar, keyboard and chorus). In ´99 the band started to become famous after signing a contract with record label Island Records and after presenting a series of singles that positioned them well in the punk scene they released their first CD called “All Killer No Filler “In 2001. But the moment they became famous and ceased to be an little underground band was undoubtedly when they wrote and submitted the song “Fat Lip”, the first single from their first LP. That song reached the top of the Modern Rock Billboard chart and remained to this day the most famous of the group. “All Killer No Filler” reached platinum status in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom and from that moment Sum 41 released three new albums: “Does This Look Infected?” “Chuck” and “Underclass Hero”, which all went platinum in Canada. The group performs more than 300 times per year and they go on very long tours around the globe, most of the time they last longer than a year. That is one reason why they released so few LPs in nearly two decades of work. More info: http://www.coliseulisboa.com/ Coliseu dos Recreios: Rua das Portas de Santo Antão, 96, 1150-269 Lisbon, Portugal MiLK They will arrive in Portugal on February 17 and will perform...
Love and Vienna
200 years after the unforgettable Opera by Mozart and De Ponte, the acclaimed movie by Richard Linklater Before Sunrise (1995) reinvented Vienna as city of love. The movie tells about the incidental encounter of two young people on a train in Central Europe: Jesse, an American played by Ethan Hawke whose plane back to the States leaves from Vienna the following day and Céline, a French student who returns to Paris after having visited her grandmother. They seem to like each other instantly and they begin a conversation that is interrupted abruptly when the train arrives in Vienna where Jesse is supposed to get off. With a genius speech he can convince Céline to get off with him and spend the evening in the city together – he doesn’t have money for a hotel, it’s a beautiful summer afternoon and she can take the next train to Paris in the morning without any major problems. With every minute that passes the attraction between the two increases – maybe this wouldn’t be the least merit of the movie, making us painfully aware of the passing of time – until it turns into love, a love gets more intense the less time they have, as she will go to Paris the next day and he will return to America. Without revealing the ending, this movie understand several of the essential elements that constitute the western idea of love, the one from Love in the Western World by Denis de Rougemont. Our idea of love is essentially based on tragedy. Deep passion is linked to death and the desctruction of the lovers,...
Tidelines at the KIASMA, Helsinki
On the 28th of January, KIASMA, Helsinki’s contemporary art museum, opens with “Tidelines,” an exciting new exhibition which will showcase a multidisciplinary collaboration of artists Raija Malka and Melek Mayici, and the composer Kaija Saariaho, whose work is inspired by the writings of Lebanese Amin Maalouf. With the aim of investigating the meaning of identity in today’s culture, the trio have developed an art project which pays homage to the ideas of Maalouf. The central theme of Maalouf’s work – humanity as formed of multiple different identities; a cultural construction of often conflicting, clashing elements – is the basis for the three artists’ work, allowing them to explore artistic identity and create a singular experience which still expresses this sense of a multitude of voices. An unforgettable artistic experiment where the concepts of diversity and interaction cross paths. KIASMA has always stood out for its innovative exhibitions and cutting edge ethos, and with this latest offering it has re-established itself as one of the most interesting art institutions in Europe. “Tidelines” introduces us to the work of some of the most promising Finnish artists today, whilst also masterfully combining different discliplines in a fusion of different medias and voices. The exhibition is on until 13th March and will no doubt be one of the must-see shows of the year – not only for the range of the artists featured, but also the fascinating creative processes and ideas behind them. For more information, visit: http://www.kiasma.fi/index.php?id=2721&L=1 Heloise Battista We suggest you rent with us apartments in Helsinki and visit this exciting new show – guaranteed to open your mind! Contact Me ...
Lu Yao in Istanbul: New Landscapes
From January 19 until May 22 the Istanbul Modern, museum of contemporary art in Istanbul, takes us into the work of artist Yao Lu, one of the most important artists in China. Titled “New Landscapes” the Istanbul Modern presents one of the most recent Yao Lu’s works, winner of the BMW-Paris Photo Prize for contemporary photography in 2008. Like all his works, this work also prevents a formal classification, since it combines a number of techniques and media such as painting, photography and digital manipulation. Although it uses the conceptual line than the winning work in 2008, for exhibition at the Istanbul Modern he devised a unique and unprecedented series of 11 new works under the same title, which he presents us in a bleak apocalyptic landscape. To this end, he left pictures of mountains of garbage covered by a protective network to digitally manipulate them in a second step, introducing the typical characteristics of traditional aesthetics of Chinese art. Thus, the picture of apocalypses is invested in a bucolic air, creating a chimera between painting and photography, and between terror and calm. This tension serves to reflect on the mutations that have been affecting radical nature in its native country, whose ecosystems are in danger from the aggressive development of capitalist forces. One of the most interesting artists, he gives us an alternative and more authentic vision of the processes taking place in China today, without resorting to an imaginary and an overtly political symbolism. More info: http://www.istanbulmodern.org/en/f_index.html Heloise Battista For those interested in Asian art, and especially Chinese art, this exhibition is a revelation. We encourage you...
Timeless glamour of poker – Part 2
I recently spoke to one of the most famous poker world championships: the World Poker Tour, a yearly event consisting on several small tournaments (usually between ten and twenty) that run through cities around the world, especially in USA and Europe. Unlike other tournaments, the WPT is highly targeted to the television, not in vain its founder, Steve Lipscomb, works as a television editor apart from being an attorney. Perhaps for this reason the broadcast of the games are always spectacular, commented by world famous poker champs such as Mike Sexton and shot in casinos full of glitz and glamour. This approach to entertainment world is even more evident in the marketing of DVDs of each season of World Poker Tour, as if they were television series… Another of the attractions of the WPT is that taking part in their tournaments is available to absolutely anyone… Or rather, anyone who can afford the high price of a ticket to participate! For example, in the last European tournament this year, to be held in Vienna in March, anyone paying 3500 euros can participate. Sounds expensive, yes, but considering that the winner can take more than half a million euros, the idea begins to be truly tempting… Josep Lapidario So you know: if you have experience in this game, you think you have enough poker face and ability to bluff, you can go on renting apartments in Vienna to measure against the best players in the world… And though you do not dare to take part or not have now 3500 euros, we assure you that watching the show will be...
The Wombats concert in Roma
The indie alternative rock is now one of the most important musical styles around the world, but if there is a place where this movement is more important not only because there are so many people that follow it but also because there are many bands that are born it is in England. One of the most important representatives of this style is, undoubtedly, The Wombats. This group was founded in 2003 in Liverpool (home of no others than The Beatles) and is composed by Matthew Murphy, Dan Haggis and Tord Øverland-Knudsen. The three members met at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and soon became friends and started to jam together. Obviously the results were much better than what they had imagined, and in 2006 they already released their first single, called “Girls, Boys, and Marsupials” which ended becoming an LP that was released only in Japan. This production began to attract attention but the top of his career was not until they released the single “Let´s Dance To Joy Division”. This song became famous around the world and started playing on the radio and clubs and was remixed by many artists. This song catapulted them into the mainstream and they were able to do a European tour which ended in a show at the Liverpool Academy, one of the places where most recognized bands in the world are presented. But as if this were not enough, they also managed to win the prize NME Best Dancefloor Filler with the song “Let´s Dance To Joy Division”. With this award under their possession, everybody started talking of them and...
How can I know if I love my partner or not?
The story of the donkey. A king wants his donkey to talk, then a rabbi comes, he’s an old man, and he tells the king: “I can make your ass talk in five years, but give me so many millions” and the king said: “I give you this money but If the donkey does not speak after these five years cut your head off!” The king left and then the rabbi’s friends said: “but you´re crazy!?, donkey’s never going to speak”, and the rabbi answered them: “You don’t know anything, in five years the donkey will talk or I may die or the king may die, but let´s try”. This story teaches us something and you will wonder what. Well, a wise person would tell you: “”psychological law, between not doing anything and doing always what needs to be done. Because if you do not do it you will spend your lifetime thinking about what you did not do, if you do and you mistake, at least it teaches you. When a person gives advice to another one, it hast to be useful, otherwise it is better not to do it because it is not easy. If you’re wondering: “Do I love this man or not? I could tell you another wonderful store: The blue rose. There is a princess who does not want to get married and her father tells her: “You´re marrying someone!” Then she says: “I will marry the one who brings me a blue rose. He says: “But there are no blue roses in the world!” “Well -she says- whoever bring me a blue rose,...
Vorticism: rebellious artists in London and New York 1914-1918
For the first time in Italy, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (www.guggenheim-venice.it) presents an exhibition devoted entirely to Vorticism, a short-lived British art movement characterized by a style that combines the forms of mechanical time to the image suggested by the vortex, which took place in early twentieth century. This exhibition is curated by Commissioners Viviane Greene and Mark Antliff and will take place from 28 January to 15 May. Vorticism is generally considered as one of the most significant of British artistic production moments of that time, although it lasted for very short (approximately for three years). Its beginnings date back to the Rebel Art Centre, an art production founded by Wyndham Lewis, among others, in opposition to the Omega Workshops of Roger Fry, and finds its roots in the Bloomsbury Group, Cubism and Futurism. Cubism, especially, was a major source of inspiration for the group, but traditionally it is often associated with the future due to erroneous assumptions such as care for dynamism (a peculiarity almost absent in the vortex, with the exception of Nevinson, artist that in the course of his career approached to Futurism), the age of the machine (a futuristic veneration which most Vorticists distrusted) and the abstract style. But the most obvious difference between these two movements is undoubtedly the way in which they treat to represent the moving image. In Vorticistic art reality of the modern condition is shown by an order of bold lines and discordant colors that lead the viewer right into the center of the work. Hence the interest in the movement of the vortex, its inevitable attraction. The term...
