Taryn Simon at The Photographer's Gallery

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

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

Visiting Abbey Road

Vandal turns water in Rome's Trevi Fountain red.

"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

Imperial War Museum

It's amazing to see a Bansky alive.

In my favorite place in London, old street.

I've seen in Bricklane Street.

Free Burma

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

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

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

Thanks Ju!

Images that change the world

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

My First Exhibition in London

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

Found at: Wooster Collective

Kiss, by Me!!!

A draft from my Notebook.

Braile Street Art

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

Unicef Ads

Waiting for my UK Visa interview, I spent hours looking a nice book published by Phaidon called Graphic Agitation 2. It´s a collection of Social and Political Graphics at the digital age. It inspired me to post these great Unicef Ads.

Mexico, By Andres Af

Documenta Kassel 2007. Photos By Rafahell

Remembering 9/11

My friend Puga has sent me a very interesting link (Gothamist) about the 9/11 remembering. Look at that:

Six Years Later, Are People 9/11'd Out?
The other day, the NY Times examined the various feelings about September 11 commemoration events, as next Tuesday is the sixth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, and the interesting phenomenon of tragedy fatigue. One woman, whose opinion wasn't that uncommon, said, "Doesn’t grieving have a shelf life? We’re very sorry and mournful that people died, but there are living people. Let’s wind it down.” Perhaps that's why some people get frustrated when they hear about families being unhappy with ceremony changes.
But what do those families, the ones who have lost a loved one on that day? Well, they are divided, too. One woman who lost her brother told the Times, "I would no sooner tell survivors of the Holocaust how to mourn or how to commemorate their atrocity, so why do others feel they have any right to dictate how family members should feel or memorialize our loved ones on Sept. 11 or any day, for that matter." But one widow said, "I still get so many letters from people that even I suffer from 9/11 fatigue to some extent. People who don’t want to do anything on 9/11, they shouldn’t be forced to. I never thought I’d say that.”

Are you tired of events remembering September 11? Or do you think there should be other meaningful ways of remembering the day?

Photograph of a World Trade Center mural by wallyg on Flickr