Coltan - Blood diamonds v2.0 :( Von kristenmartingale, 06:26
The coltan (columbite-tantalite) is a mineral widely used in the manufacture of cell phones, video games and other electronic devices. In recent years, Congo has become one of the world's top producers of this mineral, which is also known as "blue gold".Human rights groups, however, indicate that the production of coltan has funded child slave labor and civil war in the country (drawing a parallel with the exploration of the famous "blood diamonds"). This is the subject of the documentary "Blood on Mobile" ("i Mobilen Blod", Denmark, 2010), from the director Frank Piasecki Poulsen, who was in the Congo in 2008 and investigated working conditions in the illegal mines of the country.
"The first time I climbed the mountain on the edge of Bisie mine, saw a crater 800 by 500 meters, and it was like hell on earth. It is impossible to describe this nightmare scenario and suffering, "says the director in an interview with the Danish Film Institute (DFI)."About 25 000 people, mostly children and adolescents, working in the mine Bisie. Not grown there. And everything is expensive.You have to pay for protection, shelter, tools for work and, of course, for food and drink. A beer costs $ 12, a soft drink costs 7.Children and young people go there thinking they will gain a dinherio fast, but they are swallowed by a system where the cost of living is so high that they can no longer go. They are trapped, "says Poulsen.
For the director, much of the responsibility for the existence of these illegal mines of Congo belongs to companies that buy coltan produced there. The director said he had spent more than a year trying to get in touch with Nokia, for example, to know the official position of the company and never received a response. Finally, he went to the headquarters in Espoo (Finland), where he half-hour interview. "They are the makers of the phone that I use, and I wanted to make sure I'm not funding child labor, slave," Poulsen says in the film. "Unfortunately, it is impossible to know because the company does not track where the ore is used, and if Nokia, which is a manufacturer of one-third of mobile phones, do not, let alone the others in the industry."
After the film's release, Nokia issued a statement saying it would inform the origin of the coltan used in their products."Unfortunately, the statement indicates that they are trying to put the blame on his chair suppliers. For a company that claims to have social responsibility, this simply is not enough, "muses the director of" Blood on the cell phone. "
Currently, the international Nokia site does not reveal who are their suppliers of coltan, a condition regarded as crucial by NGOs that are active in trying to ban the industrial use of coltan from areas of conflict. The company says vaguely on a page titled "supply chain" (supply chain) that has an ethical commitment to the environment and humanitarian values, and "hopes" that its suppliers do the same.
Alexandre da Cunha Rio, a great artist Von kristenmartingale, 06:38
For almost two years, the artist Alexandre da Cunha Rio made his gallerist, Luisa Strina, work "for free" for him, as an embroiderer. The result of this partnership, thirteen pieces of jute-embroidery is now in the exhibition "Fair Trade", on display in Sao Paulo, along with two other works of Alexander made with concrete. Passing through Brazil to mount the exhibition, the artist, who lives in London since 1998, this blog talked about his work and about the "injustice" of the art world.
In dealing with these jobs that you are showing in this exhibition in Sao Paulo?
The exhibition of Galeria Luisa Strina series is "Fair Trade" (which gives its name to the show) and also has two works in particular, that are inspired by quilts English (sort of patchwork). One uses concrete and foam ("Quilt Ivory"), the other, concrete and leather ("Sahara Quilt"). They are derivative works of the cylinder of concrete and foam presented at the beginning of last year, the SP-Art (art fair in São Paulo).
What is the series "Fair Trade"?
It is a work made from jute bags for transporting goods. And they bring printed illustrations, logos, brands. Most are also printed the words "fair trade", which I used as title of the exhibition. This "seal" it'll say that these products are supposedly being produced and managed sustainably in developing countries. I cut pieces of bags with evidence of the graphics of these impressions and sent to Luisa (Strina) embroidery, like those colorful embroidery templates. It is a commentary on the art market as well ...
Do you think the art market is unfair?
The art market is a game that builds its own rules and changes all the time. So think of "justice" in this context is quite complicated.I think there's a shame that great artists can not live of their own work, and have other bad they are millionaires. But I think it happens in many other areas, and try to believe that bad artists disappear with time. I was very interested in this subject and I think this discussion stimulating value. I try to approach this in my work with the appropriation of banal objects and everyday things, which, somehow, make a comment about the market and the value of things, both in their original context, as in the artistic context.
Where did these objects?
Many of these things, I can at auctions and bazaars taking place in the English countryside on the outskirts of cities, where people sell all kinds of junk at all. I also use many household items bought in stores 1.99.
The Tate Modern in London, his work has acquired two of the series "Fan" in 2005. Being on such an important marked his career?
I was very lucky they had purchased the work. But more importantly, was the fact that, soon after purchase, the works have been on display for months. It's not often that happens. This meant that they had much visibility. It was amazing how many people said to me he had seen. This was very good. At that time, many good things happened in my career. Log in to the collection of the Tate was another.
This work uses skateboards mounted like blades of a ceiling fan. This came from a collection of skateboard?
I had a collection of skateboards, but I'm not a skater. All were purchased at second hand stores. They have stickers, things written names. But many people came to ask me if they were mine, if I was a skateboarder. I think it's fun to "steal" a little of the personality of people who had these objects ...
What next?
Now I'm running back to London because my studio is being renovated, and because I am producing for an exhibition in Berlin on 29 to open as part of the Gallery Weekend, which is an event promoted by the city's galleries. But before that, on 16, opens an exhibition of mine in the Centro Cultural São Paulo, with works made in the last five years.
And I saw you on the cover of "Frieze"! ...
Yeah! But it's not a story on me! It is a work of Daniel (German artist based in London, Daniel Sinsel). The report speaks of an exhibition in his gallery Chisen Hale, London. In this issue of the magazine also has a story on Inhotim citing my work in there. But the cover image has to do with the text on Daniel.
Clockwork Orange in blu-ray! Von kristenmartingale, 06:30
"Clockwork Orange" ("A Clockwork Orange", 1971), a Stanley Kubrick’s film, turns 40 in 2011. The film, which portrays a future society where violence is widespread, works a maximum of U.S. director and win a commemorative blu-ray edition, which hit the market (U.S.) in late May.
The package includes two discs of new material on the production, the documentary "Turning Like Clockwork" (25 min.), A long interview of actor Malcolm McDowell, star of the film in the role of the troubled Alex DeLarge, the documentary "Still tickin ': The Return of Clockwork Orange "and a making of.
Based on the homonymous novel by Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange "has invented a language, the" Nadsat ", a kind of slangthat mixes English and Russian and is used by gangs of teenagers in the plot. The book also gives the term "Ultraviolence" ("ultra-violence" in translation Brazil), an extreme form of gratuitous violence practiced by the protagonist, his only source of pleasure.
The title "A Clockwork Orange" contains an encrypted and untranslatable pun. The word "orange" alludes to "orange", "man" inMalay (the root word "orangutan). According to the author himself explained in an essay, the title evokes "an organic entity, full of juice and sweetness and perfume, which is transformed into an automaton."
Both the book and the movie are an endless source of inspiration for the pop. Artists as diverse as David Bowie, Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga and Cavalera Conspiracy have made mention of characters or passages of the work, in their songs and clips.
And if you're a fan of "A Clockwork Orange, be sure to also watch the film" If.... "(Anyway, with four dots), also starring McDowell and found a reference to Kubrick in his film adaptation
