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Facebook: the art censor
Gustave Courbet’s The Origin of the World – his clinically voyeuristic 1866 oil painting of a woman shown literally and solely as a sex object, with all distractions, such as her face, ruthlessly removed – hangs in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, opposite his far larger canvas A Burial at Ornans (1849–50). It is an incredibly powerful juxtaposition, an unforgettable double act. The small, yet white and bright and unavoidably shocking Origin looks across a shadowy space at the huge, dark, funeral scene, with its enigmatic rural faces gathered around the black void of a grave. If you could ask Courbet what he believed in, this display makes it plain…
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Narcisistici !
Siamo tutti più o meno narcisistici. Chi non si è mai preso in fotografia da solo con il suo cellulare ? Chi non ha mai pubblicato una foto di se stesso (solo) su Facebook, Instagram, o ancora Snapchat (piuttosto utilizzato per mandare brutte foto visto che le possiamo solo vedere 10s massimo). C’è in ciascuno da noi, questa volontà, questo bisogno di mostrarsi, di catturare un momento, un periodo della nostra vita, uno stato d’anima. Aspettiamo sempre (incoscientemente o no) una reazione degli altri, un complimento, un “like”. E sono sicura che abbiamo tutti la stessa reazione quando ce l’abbiamo : CONTENTI. Pero niente di nuovo. Sono già dei millioni…
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Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur
One of the top Internet trends is undoubtedly cats. Pictures of felines wearing absurd clothes or doing funny stunts run rampant in the virtual world. Becoming the crazy cat-lady was everyone single girl’s worst nightmare, but owning cats is now the cool thing? I mean, if you don’t instagram a photo of your cat wearing tights, do you even exist? If fifty people don’t like the video you posted of your cat chasing its tail, does that mean your Facebook friends aren’t actually your friends? It seems that people have to validate their existence by constantly posting pictures and videos online. And for some reason cats are the best subject.…
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Cuando el artista se mira de cara
Un artista, bueno o malo, no deja de retratarse nunca. Da igual que pinte un bodegón, escriba unos versos o toque estos acordes o aquellos: cada obra de arte es un resumen más o menos explícito de una manera de ver el mundo. De igual modo, cuando un buen pintor -o fotógrafo, o escultor- retrata a alguien, debe esforzarse por hacer de su representación una suerte de resumen biográfico. Sin contar con las facilidades descriptivas del escritor, el artista plástico debe, ante todo, volver visible el ser profundo del retratado, o sea, lograr casi lo imposible: que, al mirarlo, uno sienta empatía hacia un total desconocido.
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Diamonds in the Rough
Arabian nights, like Arabian days, more often than not are hotter than hot in a lot of good ways. The Arab culture has gone from gross underrepresentation in television, art, and film to an intense misrepresentation over the past twenty years or so. While film directors and screen writers are helping the media plague the minds of the public about the Middle East, it’s far less often that I experience outward hatefulness from the group of people whom are relentlessly demonised as threatening, violent, and dangerous. Children are brought up with quirky yet adorable “street-rat” Aladdin, who steals to eat and falls in love well outside of his league. We’re…
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Mein Haus, mein Auto, mein Boot – Der erste Eindruck zählt!
Brauchen wir heutzutage eigentlich noch die Porträtkunst, wo doch eigentlich jeder eine oder sogar mehrere Digitalkameras besitzt? Und wo doch jeder, der seine Kamera mal zu Hause vergessen hat, unterwegs Schnappschüsse mit seiner Handykamera machen kann? Was unterscheidet die Fotografie und die Porträtmalerei? Und wer nutzt diese heute noch? Das Fotografieren gehört heute zum Alltag. Fotografiert wird alles und jeder: die Geburtstagsfeier mit Freunden, die Geburtstagspost, die Geschenke, der Hund der Gastgeberin, die einzelnen Schritte vom Teig zum fertigen Schokoladenkuchen – alles, einfach alles wird klitzeklein dokumentiert und stolz bei Facebook oder anderen sozialen Netzwerken der Welt präsentiert. Die persönlichen Informationen, die Anzahl der Freunde und die von Freunden geposteten…
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In Love … With Myself
Online profiles are essentially shameless self-promotion – things you like, things you do, endless photos of yourself, etc. However, I find when my skinny friends post too many photos of themselves in swimsuits, or newly-engaged friends post endless photos of rings and partners, and my married friends post hundreds of photos of their new babies, I start to feel badly about myself. That’s not to say that I’m not doing cool things or that I want children (Any. Time. Soon.), but sites like Facebook have opened many doors to jealousy, self-loathing, and endless comparison of ourselves to others. Stop it! You know who would have been shamelessly good…
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Weltuntergang mit anschließender Aftershow-Party
Der Weltuntergang scheint dieses Jahr wieder einmal zum Greifen nah und selbst bei Facebook lädt eine Gruppe zum Weltuntergang mit anschließender Aftershow-Party ein. Zittern oder Zelebrieren wir diesem Tag entgegen? Der 21. Dezember 2012 wurde aufgrund des endenden Maya-Kalenders zum letzten Tag der Erde erklärt. Dass dieser Kalender aber nur das Ende eines Zyklus‘ bedeutet und laut den Maya logischerweise ein weiteres neues Zeitalter beginnt, verschwiegen viele Interpreten und Katastrophenforscher. Nur einige kompetente Wissenschaftler widerlegten diesen vermeintlichen Untergang anhand des Dresdner Codex. Doch nicht nur endende Maya-Kalender, sondern vor allem zahlreiche Weltuntergangspropheten versprechen und versprachen immer wieder die Apokalypse. Neben zahlreichen Astronomen finden sich religiöse Glaubensgemeinschaften wie die Mormonen und…
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Love and Passion in Their Time and Place
What is your least favourite thing about Facebook – the most popular social networking tool in existence? I would have to say, just barely beating the 12 engagements a week which are really just a reminder of how lonely I might be someday, it is undoubtedly the mushy, gushy, self-taken photos of a lip-locked couple. That’s nice, I’m happy for you, but do you really need to plaster it all over my newsfeed? But when did a couple in love start to produce this shuttering, nearly vomit inducing feeling? Certainly artists from the 15th century and beyond were able to find beauty and romance in such imagery. How many of…
This is an interactive art blog in multi languages, you will find new articles on artists, art history, exhibitions, etc. Contributions welcome.
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