Reconstruction

Burma Installation

2011-06-20T03:58:00.000-07:00

Beautiful JWT New York 'Burma' campaign for Human Rights Watch

Françoise Nielly

2011-06-14T04:32:00.000-07:00

Françoise Nielly didn't come from a tough background. She grew up in South of France, between Cannes and Saint-Tropez. Her paintings, though, exhibits a brute force. What fascinating colours and expressions.

Fashion Made in Prison

2011-06-12T05:30:00.000-07:00

Cultural centre Itaú in São Paulo organised a fashion show days before the opening of São Paulo Fashion Week. The difference is the outfits below were made by 70 female prisoners from Butantã's Prison. "To create and produce something makes me feel free. It's like being back to society." said one of the designers. The initiative is from the ngo FNAP. The foundation ensures that in 18 months, none of the prisoners who participated in the project have committed any crime since they left prison.

Stool Lady

2011-06-01T03:50:00.000-07:00

This lady walks around the streets of Recife, in Brazil, selling stools. She collects wood from a landfill, cuts it at a friend's workshop and paint it, transforming the dirty wood into small stools which she sells for 5 reais (2,50 euros). The difference is that she sings to sell them. And she has one of the most powerful voices I've ever heard.
Please share this video. A record company should hear this and help this woman.

Café Argana Explosion

2011-05-12T03:00:00.000-07:00

I was very unlucky to be in Morocco when Al Qaeda terrorist bombed Café Argana, but very very lucky to leave the country alive.

Some pictures I took of Place Jemaa-el-Fna with my Diane +

Where Children Sleep?

2011-04-12T23:18:00.000-07:00

Via Le Bloge

Great work by James Mollison. He travelled around the world capturing where different kids sleep:

Roathy, 8 ans, Cambodge

Kaya, 4 ans, Tokyo

Jamie, 9 ans, New-York

Lamine, 12 ans, Sénégal

Dong, 9 ans, Yunnan (Chine)

Douha, 10 ans, Palestine

Jasmine, 4 ans, Kentucky (USA)

Prénom / âge inconnu, Roumanie

Thais, 11 ans, Rio de Janeiro

Waste Land

2011-04-12T23:09:00.001-07:00

Few weeks ago, I wrote about JR and his ‘paper and glue’ projects that could show awful local truths to the whole world. And then accidentally I found Waste Land on Itunes. The film about Vik Muniz, an artist who went to world’s largest garbage landfills to find inspiration, was nominated for this year’s Oscar. Just like JR, Vik Muniz had an objective: to change the world. Impossible, as JR’s mission. I think the difference is that he changed a whole community for real. He didn’t just glued posters on walls, but he took a few people that worked on a waste landfill and made them be involved in his art work. He gave them the chance to create. And that chance to put your hands in something other than garbage, drugs and poverty is what can really change reality in poor areas. it’s a life changing documentary.

WASTE LAND Official Trailer from Almega Projects on Vimeo.

The Day Roses Fell From the Sky

2011-03-21T04:51:00.000-07:00

Beautiful!

The Day Roses Fell From The Sky from Rafael Rizuto on Vimeo.

Inside Out Project

2011-03-17T03:24:00.000-07:00

Graffiti artist JR had a very difficult task when invited to talk at TED conference: to change the world. He obviously couldn't do it, but in my point of view, he helped a lot of people to see it in a different angle. And all he needed was a camera, a printer and some glue. He posted giant portraits from people going through political or social problems in the streets and slums of Rio, Liberia, india, France. His project Womens are Heroes (previously posted here) shocked Brazil and made the whole world aware of horrible atrocities Brazilian police were doing at the favelas.
You can change or own image here, so he can glue it. Beautiful project!

Eighteen

2011-02-27T00:12:00.000-08:00

Photographer Natan Dvir is a jew. He grew up and spent most of his photographic career in Israel. One day he realised he didn't understand the Arab society. He became interested in the stories of the minority of the people living in a country defined by majority's religion. He focused on men and women at the age of 18, considering the a crucial turning point in their lives.
"Eighteen is an artistic point of contact serving as an invitation to get closer. A project aimed at reconciliation through understanding and respect. An inside view by one who is typically regarded as an outsider. If I, a Jewish Israeli man, have been accepted and was allowed into my subjects' personal lives — so can others." he says.

Via Lens Culture.

Bansky - now in Hollywood.

2011-02-17T04:16:00.000-08:00

Laugh Cures

2011-02-16T01:00:00.000-08:00

Beautiful work comedy group Olaria GB (some of the clowns are my dear friends from Uni) is doing at São Paulo clinics. I'm very proud of you guys!

You don't need to speak Portuguese to feel the vibe:

Rio on Fire

2011-02-12T02:39:00.000-08:00

Carnival in Brazil is not just fun. It’s an industry that creates more than 300.000 jobs and pumps $500.000 dollars into the city’s economy annually. Not counting it’s an absolute national passion. Millions of citizens, usually from least benefited areas, put their heart into it throughout the whole year, sewing costumes, building floats, creating sculptures and composing new samba songs.

This week, Rio cried. On Monday, a fire destroyed a huge area of ‘Cidade do Samba’: the warehouse where Samba groups store their material. With the Carnival big parade set to begin on the 4th of March, it hurt to see people involved among ashes of their own creative work.

What impressed me was that less than 24 hours after sad event, the venue where Grande Rio, one of the samba groups, rehearse was on fire. This time, a different kind of fire, thank God. It was completely full of people dancing, playing the drums, shouting the theme lyrics. ‘I have nothing, but when I look at this crowd I feel I have everything’, said Grande Rio’s director, who promised, no matter how, everyone will have a costume for the big day in March.

I do not know where this people take so much strength from.

Rachel Papo photographs Israeli female soldiers

2009-05-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

WHAT IF A GIRL COULD SAVE THE WORLD?

2009-05-05T07:07:00.001-07:00

YOU MUST SEE THIS!!!

Girl Effect, from Nike. By W+K

Wonderful Town

2009-05-04T13:25:00.000-07:00

Interesting to see how is life in Thailand 5 years after the Tsunami.

Film of the Month: Wonderful Town
"An engrossing and poetic debut from Thai director Aditya Assarat, Wonderful Town coolly sets the progress of a doomed love affair against the backdrop of a community devastated by the 2004 tsunami."

It's on CNN, but it's worth watching!

2009-05-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

I really hate CNN. I hate the sensationalism, the stupid reporters (specially the guy from Questions means business), the way they force people to twitter... It's ridiculous! But last week I was fortunate to switch on Screen Room. The program host met directors who fight to make to make films about human rights.

Viva Favela project

2009-03-31T03:03:00.000-07:00

Favela dwellers has photographed their communities to exhibit at the Open Society Institute, NY.

I've seen along Regents Canal...

2009-03-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

Solveig, a girl graffiti artist, aged 10, is the female Banksy

2009-03-17T05:19:00.000-07:00

I'm very fed up with graffiti lately, but really like this girl:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/4680634/Solveig-a-girl-graffiti-artist-aged-10-is-the-female-Banksy.html?image=3

Give paper a second chance.

2008-12-16T11:41:00.000-08:00

It is because of campaigns like that I believe working in Advertising sometimes can be very fulfilling. Use both sides, by JWT London.

Little girl spreading some love.

2008-12-15T05:26:00.000-08:00

Last week at Trafalgar Square.

Staying Alive

2008-11-30T14:28:00.000-08:00

Photographer Kalpesh Lathiga portraits Mumbai's red-light sex workers who have to lower prices (1.30 pounds an hour) if demanding costumers to use condoms.
Read more here.

Bad news for Brazilian Art Biennial

2008-11-23T04:02:00.000-08:00

The Arts Newspaper article on the 19th of november:

Latin America’s big biennial at risk
This year’s São Paulo Bienal shows almost no art: is this a conceptual choice or just lack of funding?

SÃO PAULO. Since it was founded in 1951, the São Paulo Bienal has been the most important international art exhibition in Latin America. But after years of corruption scandals and chronic lack of funds, the continued existence of the biennial is under threat.

The result is that the 28th edition (26 October-6 December), is less an art exhibition than a colloquy on the biennial and its future. The programme consists mainly of lectures, discussions and performances that examine the history and potential of biennial exhibitions. The intention is to lay the groundwork for life-saving reforms of the failing institution, but with only a handful of works of art on display the biennial appears to be on its deathbed.

“There is a huge question mark in the air,” says São Paulo dealer Daniel Roessler, noting that “visitor numbers from abroad have dropped substantially”. Twenty museum groups visited his gallery during the last biennial, but this year he expects only two or three. He contrasts the São Paulo Bienal with the Mercosur Biennial, founded in 1997 in Porto Alegre. “The local business community in the south of Brazil is very supportive of their local biennial,” he says, noting that Mercosur is more professionally run and is growing. “One is going up and the other is in a big crisis.”

Read whole article here.

São Paulo by my dear friend Jorge Sato

2008-11-05T02:38:00.000-08:00

See more at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hampos

Rio by dear friend Jorge Sato

2008-11-05T02:37:00.001-08:00

Conflict in Congo

2008-11-04T05:50:00.000-08:00

Sarah, my job partner, send me this link today. Quite impressive. Thanks girl.

"Conflict in Congo, refugees on the move
In the eastern mountains of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), a rebel army led by Laurent Nkunda - a former General of the DR Congo armed forces - recently launched attacks and captured territory after a peace treaty had failed with the government. Nkunda's forces are Tutsi rebels, fighting against the DR Congo government forces and U.N. peacekeeeping forces. The U.N. has over 17,000 troops in the Congo right now, but they are widely dispersed, and have been unable to fully protect civilians or even defend their own bases. Nkunda's rebels forced government soldiers to retreat from intense battles up to the edges of the provincial capital of Goma. The biggest losers in this conflict are the hundreds of thousands of civilians caught in the middle - forced to relocate repeatedly, many victims of looting, rape and murder by both advancing rebels and some government soldiers - looking to thinly-spread U.N. forces for help. The humanitarian crisis and threat of further regional destabilization, has made this conflict a top U.N. priority recently."

If the world could vote...

2008-11-03T10:04:00.001-08:00

Obama would obviously win. Good luck tomorrow!

Check the website.

This is War! at Barbican ArtGallery

2008-10-26T01:33:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I was expecting more from this exhibition. Not more pictures. It fails for the excess of rooms. I reckon most of Robert Capa and Gerda images was too photojournalistic, nothing but a document from what happened at Spanish Civil War, Leipzing and D-day. It lacks some kind of Lee Miller's emotion. Paul Chan videos were tremendously boring. Omar's Fast shoot was the only extreme memory I'm going to carry over.

"Robert Capa (1913–1954) is one of the leading photographers of the twentieth century and defined how modern warfare was photographed.

This exhibition, which includes over 150 images, some never-before-seen photographs and newly discovered documents, illuminates Capa’s working process and features many of the photographs that have become iconic images of war."

My favorites from Robert Capa:

Bollywood Diary

2008-09-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

Dear friend Nataly Cabanas Galeazzo is member of a Brazilian film crew which is shooting in India at the moment. She has been posting wonderful pictures of the country on her Facebook Profile and I'm happy to spread her point-of-view all over :)

Undeclared War

2008-09-11T16:08:00.000-07:00

Bosnian writer Zlata Filipovic was one of the main guests of the 20th International Book Biennial, taken place in Sao Paulo this month. She became recognized after launching “Zlata Diary”, which I’ve mentioned about it before here. Throughout 1991 to 1993, she reported her dreadful daily life under the Siege of Sarajevo. From the description of the first bombshell to the period of starvation, it is painful to observe the aspirations of an innocent child colliding with unreasonable military choices. It scares me just to think of myself discontinuing third grade in order to run away from snipers, being imprisoned 24/7 in a dirty cellar, unprovided of Math classes and dance practices. I’ve got more impressed by Zlata’s narrative than Anne Frank’s; for the silly reason that she was my peer. In 1991, I was enjoying my first trip to Disney, filling up my Hello Kitty bag with a dozen of Barbie dolls. After reading the book, I felt bad and guilty for that.
Last Friday, a Brazilian TV channel broadcasted Zlata giving a moving speech regarding the tough situation of children in the country. She highlighted the importance of every civilian to be aware of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights. After her feverous discourse, it seemed that the TV presenter wasn’t touched enough as me. “Bla…bla…bla… As if anyone in Brazil will ever give a damn about Human Rights”, she said.
Holy Jesus! I’ve never seen someone pronouncing such sharpened words on TV. It is good to notice that at least we have freedom of speech. The lady has completed: “Every time I see a fire from my flat window in Rio, I’m not sure if it is wood or someone being burnt.” The other guest added: “It’s been 15 years since I started driving to the food shop situated one block from where I live. It is too dangerous to walk.” The debate was on. Do Brazilians live under an undeclared war?
It was not necessary more than 2 seconds for me to answer the question. As the debate had given a short break for commercials and I quickly changed to the news channel, I paid attention to a horrible headline: a 16 year-old thief killed an 82 year-old lady that same day. He shot the women in the head after asking her to squat and give him her purse. She couldn’t move down, as she suffered from rheumatism. So he pulled the trigger.
Then I realized that taking news as reference is going a bit further to confirm that I have ever lived at a cellar in the shape of a country. Now I’m back to my hometown, Fortaleza: a city of 2 million people situated at the Northeast of Brazil, framed with wonderful natural beaches and clogged by Italians looking for sexual adventures. My flat is placed 30 seconds from an incredible white sandy beach, covered by a blue shallow sea. And do you know why I never go there? It is too dangerous. As I’m warming up for a run at the beach sidewalk, my dad advised me: don’t take your Ipod with you; you’re going to look “kidnappable”. I’ve bought a nice camera in the UK and was longing to take lovely pictures from the fish men and boats. I haven’t. I’m going to be robbed if I do this. Why the hell our president keep saying that Brazilian economy is improving, that people’s purchase power is increasing, if we simply cannot make use of what we buy?
Another little secret: I have never driven a car without carefully lock all the doors and windows. Forty seconds on the red light it is an eternity. It is the favourite instant for the bad guys to rob you. I’ve been threatened with a knife once. A skinny boy was shouting on my years, demanding my radio. Luckily, the traffic light became green and I crazily pull the accelerator pedals and cried, thinking that if he was carrying a gun, I wasn’t been conscious at that moment.
And who will forget the August 13th of 2006? The day the PCC, the most active criminal organization in the territory, decided to set fire to hundred of buses around Sao Paulo and throw Molotov cocktails on to bank agencies and shop windows? I received an email from my Creative Director asking: “Please, everyone must go home as soon as possible. And be careful.” I drove back home watching the people frightened, struggling to commute and be safe at home. At evening, Sao Paulo was like a desert. There was not a single shop or restaurant opened. Everyone was at their sofas watching a video à là Bin Laden showing the leader of the PCC announcing he would only bring the attacks to an end if the police stop torture his partners inside the prisons.
It is just like Zlata’s war. And we don’t even have Red Cross, Humanitarian Aid and ONU interventions. An undeclared war it is tricky, cause you are never aware of when a catastrophe can happen.
I wish I had started to write diary. But to be honest, no one would ever have persistence to read a war history that it is never going to end.

Umbanda

2008-09-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

Pictures taken by friend and photographer Jorge Sato in an Umbanda Centre in Sao Paulo.

Shit We're Diggin: The Photographs Of Li Wei

2008-08-27T08:23:00.001-07:00

Via Wooster Collective

JR inspires Favela in Rio

2008-08-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

This latest project is part of a series called “Women Are Heros”.

Via PSFK

Another ego post.

2008-08-13T04:43:00.000-07:00

I love this picture I took somewhere in London.
It looks so old...

Nikon FM2/ Digital Media

My picture and article at ArtKnowledgeNews.com

2008-08-12T03:32:00.000-07:00

The picture and text from this post was featured on today's Home Page of ArtKnowledgeNews.com in relation to an article about the Auschwitz Museum.

A Georgian man cries as he holds the body of his relative after a bombardment in Gori.

2008-08-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

If you flickered through tabloids web pages this weekend you might have seen this picture in one of the articles reporting violence in Georgia. I couldn’t find the name of the photojournalist who shot that. Reuters has its credit now. I just want to say that whoever took this picture could capture the essence of a dreadful and unreasonable conflict as no other war photographer has done lately.

Fashion Outraging

2008-08-09T16:02:00.000-07:00

Feted Brazilian stylist Alexandre Herchcovitch put across his concerns about territorial conflicts around the globe in an outstanding fashion show at the São Paulo Fashion Week 2009/2. In a pitch dark stage setting, including five black hoisted flags demonstrating bereavement in each continent, Alexandre mixed patterns from rival ethnic groups in a same outfit and was raved and highly praised by the critics.

Somewhere in Spain...

2008-07-31T13:42:00.000-07:00

Via WoosterCollective

After Nature - New Museum NY

2008-07-26T04:22:00.000-07:00

"After Nature" surveys a landscape of wilderness and ruins, darkened by uncertain catastrophe. It is a story of abandonment, regression, and rapture—an epic of humanity and nature coming apart under the pressure of obscure forces and not-so-distant environmental disasters. Bringing together an international and multigenerational group of artists, filmmakers, writers, and outsiders, the exhibition depicts a universe in which humankind is being eclipsed and new ecological systems struggle to find a precarious balance."

The Arles Photography Festival

2008-07-19T14:39:00.000-07:00

Anyone to be found at south of France from July 8 to Sept 14 can't miss the opportunity to visit the Arles Photography Festival. The event has been receiving rave reviews and it was curated by none other than Christian Lacroix, originally from the town himself.

Elite Squad, now in UK.

2008-07-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

Elite Squad is an out-of-date topic among newspapers and TV programs at the moment in Brazil. We can almost forget that 10 months ago, when the first bootleg copy of the movie was released to the pirate market, the production was a compulsory theme between every folk’s meetings throughout this country. Everyone got astonished due to the cruelty within BOPE (the police commando force which combats crime in Rio's slums), showed by José Padilha, film director.
Elite Squad is headline of today’s issue of The Telegraph. It seems that the gringo’s are also outraged with this dark reality that surrounds my country.

Read The Telegraph article here.

Cambodia by David Silveira

2008-07-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

At first, this place can intimidate visitors for its poverty and destruction. But it takes one or two hours for you to walk barefoot through the sandy pavements and have a long conversation with local people, as reported my brother, David Silveira.
From one view, kids wear T-shirts with the message: Adopt-me. From the other, religious buildings considered one of the Seven Wonders of The World. David described Cambodia as the most amazing place of all the countries he has visited on his enviable Asian Trip.

Street art Locator

2008-07-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

This website uses Google Maps technology to track the coolest graffiti s location.

http://streetartlocator.com

I've seen in the streets of Candem...

2008-06-03T10:52:00.001-07:00

Well good drawings :)

Dali around Thames

2008-05-30T03:54:00.000-07:00

Once more, with feeling.

2008-05-28T05:07:00.000-07:00

Colombia has lately surprised me with good contemporary photography. The country must be very proud of having 6 of his artists in the exhibition "Once more, with feeling" at Photographer's Gallery. The world is definetely recognising this very well-thinked art.

More about it:

18 April - 15 June 2008 At The Photographers Gallery
"Once more, with feeling explores the interwoven themes of memory, repetition and performance found in each artists’ work. Using video, photography and performance, the artists explore all aspects of life in Colombia – from the violent internal conflict to the humour, youth and playfulness of this troubled country."

Hands at work, Gemeos.

2008-05-21T02:38:00.000-07:00

I love pretending to be a Tour Guide. I'm pleased to show London's greatest sightseeing to every friend from Brazil that comes visit me. On Monday I had a big surprise. Strolling around Millenium Bridge, me and my friends could see very talented Brazilian artists "Os Gemeos" graffiting Tate's building. The siblings and many other artists are preparing the gallery for its new exhibition "Street Art", starting today.

The present I did't get last Xmas.

2008-05-19T03:21:00.001-07:00

I'm happy. I've got a new camera. And suddenly everything has become shootable.

Seeing in the streets of Paris...

2008-05-13T01:34:00.000-07:00

(Via Wooster Collective)

Congrats, Reconstruction!

2008-05-13T01:07:00.000-07:00

It has been one year since I've started posting on Reconstruction Blog. It was 120 posts, hundreds of interesting pictures, art, exhibitions, politics, bad news, good news, good ideas, more than 2 thousand unique visitors from 749 different cities all over the word, loads of good comments, loyal visitors (Thanks Ju, Alex, Luiz, Fred, Puga, Tati, Bella, etc!!), one very grateful award (Thanks Uniqlo), a lot of research and curiosity.

Congratulations!!!!

Loo Installation

2008-04-23T01:39:00.000-07:00

The artist Nada Sehnaoui has installed 600 loos at Libano City Centre to remark the start of the Civil War.

Attention Chicken!

2008-04-22T01:23:00.001-07:00

Attention Chicken! is a three dimensional version of the collage that goes by the same title.
Nicolas Lampert and Micaela O’Herlihy created a ten-foot rotisserie chicken out of polystyrene foam, hard coated, and then painted with latex paint and final coat of high gloss varnish.
In October, 2006 Attention Chicken! made a number of unannounced public interventions throughout Milwaukee at Bradford Beach, the woods, Walmart, National Ave, and other locations throughout the city. Reactions ranged from laughter to attacks directed at the chicken (three in one day!) More interventions and a short film by Micaela O’Herlihy coming in the future.
Micaela’s website: http://www.anarchocinemalista.com

Thank you again, Per!

What is Art?

2008-04-22T01:12:00.000-07:00

Thank you, Per. That's really good.

Ireland shots

2008-04-16T01:08:00.000-07:00

My almost irish friend Isabela sent it to me:

Quick insight about the last post.

2008-04-08T03:26:00.000-07:00

I'm remembering the day I was leaving a club somewhere in Barcelona with a couple of friends, completely pissed. On the way, in the middle of a plaza, I saw a Doris Salcedo installation. It was not like the one that is on Tate main hall right now, it was just one of his usual ones: a distorted piece of furniture. I was delightful after seeing a work of the Colombian artist at that time, at that place. I shouted to my friends: look!!! How amazing! They just didn't get it. Maybe they were too drunk. Maybe a Doris Salcedo at a plaza doesn't make sense to everybody.

Warming up for the debate.

2008-04-08T03:21:00.001-07:00

Is public art a waste of space?
I'll think about it.

For University of The Arts London Students

2008-04-08T03:12:00.000-07:00

THE ARTS DEBATES - IS PUBLIC ART A WASTE OF SPACE?
Wednesday 7 May, 6.30 to 7.30pm
National Gallery, Sainsbury Theatre, Trafalgar Square, WC2B 5DN

University of the Arts London invites you to the last in a series of free, lively public debates exploring contemporary cultural issues.

Sir John Tusa, Chairman of University of the Arts London, will chair a panel including broadcaster Joan Bakewell, Director of the National Portrait Gallery Sandy Nairne, artist Mark Titchner and independent curator and writer Giles Waterfield, as they debate whether public art enriches our lives or wastes taxpayers' money.

Book your free place now at www.arts.ac.uk/events/arts-debates-booking-form.php

Read more at www.arts.ac.uk/events/40988.htm

The Arts Debates are inspired and supported by the Rootstein Hopkins Foundation.

Listen to audio podcasts or watch a live recording of the previous events at:
www.arts.ac.uk/events/arts-debates-live1.htm

www.arts.ac.uk/events/arts-debates-live2.htm

The Bosnian Pyramids of the Sun

2008-03-20T05:12:00.000-07:00

It must be only a coincidence, but after I've started to read Zlata's Diary, a journey of a 12-year-old girl from Sarajevo during the days of shells and destruction, I've been finding a lot of interesting stuff about the city in other books and mags.
The last one, was about the Bosnian Pyramids of the Sun. It is in Dazed and Confused latest issue. I've got impressed to know that there's a pyramid bigger than the one in Egypt in the middles of the Balkans and the archeologists just realize that years ago.

"Visoko is named after the Visoki Castle and the town of Visoki, which occupied Visočica hill, Podvisoki, Mile (today's Arnautovići), Biskupići and Moštre — together known as Visoko valley. Visoki and its castle were the center of the once powerful medieval Bosnian kingdom. Many historical charters were made and written in Visoko valley, including the charter of first Bosnian king Tvrtko I Kotromanić in 1355, in castro nostro Vizoka vocatum.
A site known as Visočica hill, in the Bosnia-Herzegovina town of Visoko, northwest of Sarajevo, became the focus of international attention in October 2005, following highly controversial claims that it is actually an ancient man-made pyramid, the so-called Bosnian pyramids."
2The 213 metre Visočica hill, once the centre of the medieval Bosnian capital Visoki, has a generally symmetrical pyramid-like shape when viewed from certain angles. The idea that it constitutes an ancient artificial edifice was publicised by Houston-based expatriate Bosnian author and metalworker Semir Osmanagić, whose subsequent excavations at the site have uncovered what he claims to be a paved entrance plateau and tunnels, as well as stone blocks and ancient mortar which he has suggested once covered the structure. Osmanagić has claimed that the dig involved an international team of archaeologists from Australia, Austria, Bosnia, Scotland and Slovenia, however many archaeologists named have stated they had not agreed to participate and were not at the site. The dig began in April 2006."

Art at United Nations

2008-02-28T03:02:00.000-08:00

"Non-Violence"
This sculpture is a gift from the Government of Luxembourg presented to the United Nations in 1988. It consists of a large replica in bronze of a 45-calibre revolver, the barrel of which is tied into a knot. It was created in 1980 as a peace symbol by artist Karl Fredrik Reutersward, and is located in the Visitor's Plaza, facing First Avenue at 45th Street.

Mother and Child
The bronze sculpture "Mother and Child" was created by the Italian artist Giacomo Manzu, and presented to the United Nations by the Government of Italy on 16 October 1989. It is located in the North Garden of the United Nations Headquarters.
Location: United Nations, New York

Reclining Figure: Hand
"Reclining Figure: Hand," a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore, was given to the United Nations by the Henry Moore Foundation. The sculpture is located in the landscape area north of the United Nations Secretariat Building, and was unveiled in 17 September 1982.
Location: United Nations, New York

Vanity Fair Portraits at National Portrait Gallery

2008-02-25T05:52:00.000-08:00

Hard to get tickets (You have to book before you go). Hard to see the pieces (There's always someone at your front and you can't read the credits. I've never been to such a busy exhibition before). Except for that, it really worths the 8 pounds concession (18 if you are not student) to see the portraits of the most famous celebrity magazine in the world, since the days of James Joyce, Einstein, Man Ray, Charles Chaplin and Miles David until the days of Lady Di, Gisele Bunchen,Madonna, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts. Highlights for Annie Leibovitz and Mario Testino. Nothing more obvious.

Alexander Rodchenko

2008-02-21T05:18:00.000-08:00

Another exhibition that is running at SouthBank Centre is from the Russian designer and photographer Alexander Rodchenko. Althought I'm kind of tired of Soviet design (not because I think they are bad, but it's because I've seen a lot lately), his montages and photographs, especialy for their different angles, maked me think how many wonderful things you can do with a camera and pieces of paper.

Laughing In A Foreing Language

2008-02-21T04:47:00.000-08:00

Can humour transcend language and cultural difference? That is the issue of the exhibition "Laughing In a Foreing Language", running from now until the end of April in the Southbank Centre, London. I must confess that some pieces maked me laugh out loud, but some others, especialy from some Japanese artists, didn't make any sense to me. Cao Fei and Olaf Breuning were the only artists I knew. Shimabuku (born in Japan, based in Berlin) impressed me for his paper box laid on the corner, speaking to me "Life as a box is not bad... I can go to many places". Chazel (Born in Tehran, based in Paris) also catched me with her Husband Wanted posters. She was working in France and couldn't get a work permit, so she tried to get a visa by marring to some French guy. Kutlug Ataman (Born in Turkey, based in Buenos Aires) just disgusted me with his ridiculous belly dancing.

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS...

2008-02-20T04:53:00.000-08:00

I'm addicted to Amazon.com, Tate Bookstore, ICA Bookstore, Koening Books. Really. I can't see a bookshop window and there I go with my credit card. Just wanna share with you my last purchases. Maybe I'm gonna read it, maybe they'll only decorate my shelves. I don't care.

Best Wishes Get well Soon - by Ian Steveson

Doubled Game - by Sophie Calle and Paul Auster

Post Office - by Charles Bukowisky

Lee Miller's War

Free Burma during Rambo Premiere

2008-02-19T05:04:00.000-08:00

I took this pictures last Tuesday at Leicester Square during the Rambo Movie Inaguration. A midst of Burma people were protesting against the crashes in the country,

Lee Miller

2008-01-29T12:07:00.000-08:00

I don't know if she became famous because of his pictures documenting Picasso's life or because of her work as a war correspondent. Anyway, she catched me during my visiting at MACBA (Contemporary Museum of Catalunya). If I were a photographer I would like to be just like her!

Peter Hujar at the ICA London

2008-01-13T07:18:00.000-08:00

I've been there. Delicate, shocking, intriguing.

Peter Hujar is one of the most important American photographers of the 70s and early 80s. He is best know for his black and white portraits of New York's avant-garde and underground stars, but his subjects also include nudes, animals and the night-time streets of downtown Manhattan.

Seen in the streets of Kuala Lampur

2008-01-11T05:59:00.000-08:00

Via WoosterColletive

By accident...

2008-01-09T09:09:00.000-08:00

...I've found this picture searching references for a layout at the agency. Has anyone knows something about? Pretty interesting.

I've seen in Quaker Street

2008-01-05T17:03:00.000-08:00

Sota la Bomba (Be Bomb)

2008-01-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity to visit this amazing exhibition at MACBA (Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona). The paintings, videos and animations document the post-war political and cultural life in the USA and France, in the particular period of 1946 to 1956, showing the euphoria of the liberation and reconstruction following Second World War and the shadows of the Cold War.

A frame from the video "Crossroads", by Bruce Conner.

Arshile Gorsky (Last Painting)

Lee Miller

Andrea Buttner

2007-12-23T17:40:00.000-08:00

She could hooked me in a monday morning lecture at the Uni. The work of this young German artist is intriguing. I couldn't find the one I think is the best, a video art where she gave a camera to nuns who had never deal with the equipament and ask them to shoot their lives in the convent. The result is unbelievable: they'd shot amazing scenes, very emotional. Here it is some other pieces that I've got interested by.

Os Gêmeos Hits Up Lithuania

2007-12-19T07:20:00.001-08:00

Via Fecal Face

Latest Amnesty Internacional Campaing

2007-12-17T04:41:00.000-08:00

I've seen in the streets of Lisbon.

2007-12-16T16:31:00.000-08:00

First Blood

2007-12-12T08:21:00.000-08:00

Recent work of Terry Richardson, my favorite fashion photographer.

Cao Fei

2007-12-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

Look at those pictures of the chinese artist:

Cancer Cells in acrylic ink

2007-12-09T14:05:00.000-08:00

Dying in a totally different way. That was the theme of my Fine Arts course exhibition.

I've seen in Bricklane part II

2007-12-03T05:05:00.000-08:00

Painting of Modern Life

2007-12-02T16:04:00.000-08:00

Saturday I went to this exhibition on South Bank Centre. My favorite pieces:

Franz Gertch, At Luciano's House.

Andy Wahrol, Big Electric chair.

Edward Burtynsky

2007-11-28T09:19:00.000-08:00

It is obvious that he would hook me with his latest work Quarries (I've been surrounded of granites and marbles since I was young, my parents are in the business), but visiting his website I've also found those wonderful pictures of Urban Mines.

Mauro Restiffe

2007-11-18T05:49:00.000-08:00

I've become aware of Mauro Restiffe's work while I was browsing the book Vitamin PH (Phaidon), which I really recommend. He is one of the few Brazilians who are in the list of those who had created new perspectives in photography on the last years. These pictures are an example of something that it's recently (the inauguration of Brazilian president Lula in 2003), but it was shot in a way can be placed in any time of history.

Robert Gober

2007-11-15T15:34:00.000-08:00

Researching about Matthew Barney, I've found out some of his contemporaries. And Rober Gober was the one who really impressed me.

Photoquai - First Bienal of Images of the World

2007-11-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

Taryn Simon at The Photographer's Gallery

2007-10-31T11:29:00.000-07:00

Really good exhibition. Makes me stay the whole week thinking about every picture.

Research Marijuana Crop Grow Room
National Center for Natural Products Research
Oxford, Mississippi

The National Center for Natural Products Research (NCNPR) is the only facility in the United States which is federally licensed to cultivate cannabis for scientific research. In addition to cultivating cannabis, NCNPR is responsible for analyzing seized marijuana for potency trends, herbicide residuals (paraquat) and fingerprint identification. NCNPR is licensed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and also researches and develops chemicals derived from plants, marine organisms, and other natural products.

While 11 states have legalized the medical use of marijuana, a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision allows for the arrest of any individual caught using it for this purpose. Nearly half of the annual arrests for drug violations involve marijuana possession or trafficking.

Nuclear Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility Cherenkov Radiation
Hanford Site, U.S. Department of Energy
Southeastern Washington State

Submerged in a pool of water at Hanford Site are 1,936 stainless-steel nuclear-waste capsules containing cesium and strontium. Combined, they contain over 120 million curies of radioactivity. It is estimated to be the most curies under one roof in the United States. The blue glow is created by the Cherenkov Effect which describes the electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle, giving off energy, moves faster than light through a transparent medium. The temperatures of the capsules are as high as 330 degrees Fahrenheit. The pool of water serves as a shield against radiation; a human standing one foot from an unshielded capsule would receive a lethal dose of radiation in less than 10 seconds. Hanford is among the most contaminated sites in the United States.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Contraband Room
John F. Kennedy International Airport
Queens, New York

African cane rats infested with maggots, African yams (dioscorea), Andean potatoes, Bangladeshi cucurbit plants, bush meat, cherimoya fruit, curry leaves (murraya), dried orange peels, fresh eggs, giant African snail, impala skull cap, jackfruit seeds, June plum, kola nuts, mango, okra, passion fruit, pig nose, pig mouths, pork, raw poultry (chicken), South American pig head, South American tree tomatoes, South Asian lime infected with citrus canker, sugar cane (poaceae), uncooked meats, unidentified sub tropical plant in soil.

All items in the photograph were seized from the baggage of passengers arriving in the U.S. at JFK Terminal 4 from abroad over a 48-hour period. All seized items are identified, dissected, and then either ground up or incinerated. JFK processes more international passengers than any other airport in the United States.

Visiting Derry, Nothern Ireland

2007-10-29T05:20:00.000-07:00

This is Free Derry. The place where happened the massacre against catholitcs by U.K troops, known as Bloody Sunday

Visiting Abbey Road

2007-10-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

Vandal turns water in Rome's Trevi Fountain red.

2007-10-20T04:32:00.000-07:00

"ROME — A man threw a bucket of red paint or dye into Rome's Trevi Fountain today, coloring the waters of the 18th-century monument bright red in front of a crowd of astonished tourists and residents."

Frieze Art Fair

2007-10-11T08:20:00.001-07:00

Imperial War Museum

2007-10-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

It's amazing to see a Bansky alive.

2007-10-07T16:09:00.000-07:00

In my favorite place in London, old street.

I've seen in Bricklane Street.

2007-10-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

Free Burma

2007-10-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

Today, 4th October, is the Free Burma day. Post something about the country in your blog, and let people know what is happening in the country.

Burma sets conditions for Suu Kyi

The offer was made during talks with the UN's envoy
Burma's military leader, Gen Than Shwe, has agreed in principle to meet the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, state media has reported.

Click here to read more.

Refugee Wear City Intervetions

2007-10-03T06:33:00.000-07:00

It's not new, but as it was one of the subject of class today, I became a big fan of the work of Lucy Orta.

Materials:
Original Lambda colour photographs, laminated on Dibon, 9 modules (ed. 3)
Dimensions: 200x290cm (60x90cm each)
Exhibition history:
2006 9th Havana Biennale Cuba
Concept:
"Lucy Orta’s entire work concerns this « other » : This other which society has placed on the periphery ; this other which can become itself ; this other in which we are all found, and which is excluded from the Teatrum Mundi, the characteristic daily humdrum of sociality. This other is cloistered, deprived of role and function. Born at the end of the eighties, during a period of economic crisis, the work of Lucy Orta is defined with respect to this situation of unparalleled difficulty and exclusion, in the hell of the modern spiral. Today’s world is marked by an extreme fragility and precariousness. No one can be spared. The fall, with no safety net at the bottom, can be a long one or can follow a swallow dive trajectory. Deprived of work, money, shelter, the third world is gradually invading the major capitals. Survival is the new slogan of the decade. By involving individuals in difficulty, whether isolated or as part of a group, and encouraging them to participate in collective actions consisting notably of producing Refuge Wear or Survival Kits, the artist clearly raises the question of the citizen, underlining his role as a part of the whole. To be a citizen is to participate in society, even if in France a tradition of sharing social responsibilities does not really exist. Lucy Orta has developed an atypical attitude in the French artistic milieu, which is not normally given to social or political commitment." Jerome Sans

Gerald Laing

2007-10-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to see his exhibition here in London!

Thanks Ju!

Images that change the world

2007-09-28T03:37:00.000-07:00

My friend Tati Tsukamoto reccomend me this awesome blog: Weird World

My First Exhibition in London

2007-09-27T03:59:00.000-07:00

Jochem Hendricks at Hauch of Venison

Grains of Sand

"For the ongoing work Grains of Sand (1999-2007), the artist paid assistants, often ilegal immigrants in Germany, to count precise numbers of grains of sand, up to several million. The quantities of sand are presented in beautiful hand-made glass vessels, making it impossible to verify whether or not the numbers given are accurate ot not. Such work raise questions about the value and meaning of labour, as well as notions of truth and imagination. Are there in a given vessel, as the artist suggests, the result of hundreads of hours of work, or is this in fact an elaborate fiction?"

By TiTo, from Rio de Janeiro

2007-09-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

Found at: Wooster Collective

Kiss, by Me!!!

2007-09-19T11:48:00.001-07:00

A draft from my Notebook.

Braile Street Art

2007-09-17T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Blind is a Nantes-based artist who creates art for blind people.