SO, 2015 is nearly up and instead of making a list about the best things that did happen, I'm focusing instead on the best things that didn't happen again this year. Let's face it, it was a shitty year. But it could've been worse.
1. EVERYBODY STOPPED TALKING ABOUT MICHAEL SAM OK, don't get me wrong. Michael Sam is F-I-N-E. Now, I don't know anything about the NFL, but after more than a year of reading about Michael Sam I'm still none the wiser. How is it possible that in this day and age so much media hype was devoted to someone who never got given the chance to do what he was trained to do? Instead he was reduced to a DWTS contestant, a possible Grindr user and a target for more blatant homophobia from industry and media alike. 2. FROZEN BECAME A DISTANT MEMORY I'm chalking this one up to ice bucket territory. You know, global warming actually achieved something positive. I think Global Warming should've been Time's 2015 person of the year for making all the Frozen stuff stop. Not Angela Merkel. 3. GREECE'S AND EUROPE'S ECONOMIC WOES SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED Speaking of Merkel, wow, what a difference a year can make. She went from being the devil to Europe's savior. That actually happened during 2015. But I'm really happy for Greece. Because if you trust the media, the Greek/EU financial crisis went the way of Ebola. It just disappeared. Seems like we can only handle one international crisis at a time. 4. BAE WENT THE WAY OF HASHTAG Okay, I hate BAE. Really. Talk about the dumbing down of society. BAE is the literary equivalent of your Facebook friends who post unquantified research that makes all kinds of claims. You know, like yoghurt cures cancer or that sprinkling dirt on your toast reverses Parkinsons. BAE turned out to be 2015's hashtag. Glad people stopped using that. Except Merlene from Project Runway. I loved her for doing it. 5. WE STOPPED TALKING ABOUT BEN AFFLECK'S PEEN Instead we focused on how much of a dick he is. See, we can make progress as a race. What are you thankful for.
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THANK goodness this year is almost over. I just can't anymore! I've run out of patience for everything this week! It's like my brain has decided it's already December 31 and the year is over. Of course I have lists and lists of things that I'm happy about that have happened in this last year, and I'm also looking forward to the next few weeks and the year ahead. But, let's face it. This year was, for the most part, a giant turkey. The world's not in a great place. It may seem to you like there's little to be thankful, but actually, I've got a heap of them. 2015 may have been a shit, but it wasn't all bad! I'm not going to bore you with a top ten list of the best things that have happened, though. I'm going to remind you of the things that didn't happen as they did in 2014. I mean, as a race, we are moving backwards, but culturally at least, we made some tiny progress. Small mercies, people. Small mercies. Here are the first five things that we should be thankful for not having recurred in 2015. 1. GLOBAL WARMING MADE THE ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE DISAPPEAR
Oh and thank God for that one. If I had to see one more idiot getting their thrills on ice I would've had a stroke. Seriously, I'm all for a good cause, but it seemed like 2014 was full of lost causes who just wanted to be the centre of their own attention. Thankfully we are approaching frightfully high temperatures around the globe, and ice has finally become a commodity that we can't afford to waste in these useless, self-centred kind of ways. 2. SELFIES GOT A BIT OF A STICK UP THEIR A** I love to invent a new word every now and then, but I hate selfies. And I hate selfie sticks even more. But you know what I hate even more than that? Celebrity selfies and the media crapping on about how selfies was the word of the year in 2014. Well thank god that ain't the case anymore. I don't think I can handle yet another douche-bag with a camera. 3. THE KANYE WEST AND KIM KARDASHIAN SIDESHOW SOLD LESS EVERYTHING Speaking of douche bags. 2015 looked like it was a step up because we didn't have to put up with a Florentine wedding, a Vogue cover story, a baby, a beef with Taylor Swift (but we got one with Beck), or Kim Kardashian's ass, like, everywhere. But, not sure if this one counts or not because instead we've not only had to put up with Kylie and the other Jenner , but also Caitlyn. And they all still have something to sell that nobody is that interested in. 4. YOUR ITUNES ACCOUNT WASN'T DIGITALLY RAPED BY AN UNWANTED U2 ALBUM Speaking of selling something no-one was interested, U2 couldn't even give away their Songs of Innocence album and get people interested. They couldn't even force feed that stuff without making everyone chuck or *delete* it. Nobody tried that automatic download shit again. Not even Adele. We progressed as a race. 5. PEOPLE STOPPED WHISTLING HAPPY OK, I don't know where you are, but where I am, they still play that shit on the radio. It's inescapable. But at least people have stopped whistling and singing that shit all the time. And although we had to endure that hat, at least we didn't have to endure Robin Thicke this year. I blame Pharrell for that brief hot minute where RT was everywhere. So did the courts. I've got my next five ready and waiting... but you? What are your thoughts? Does art still have the capacity to heal? I'd like to think so. But as always, it still has the ability to reflect the world that we live in, the world that we want, and the mistakes that we make that separate these two spheres.
This image is perhaps one of the most powerful I've seen by an artist in a long time. It's by Imranovi, a Syrian artist who has been displaced by the ongoing conflict and who is now based in the UAE. Imranovi and the upcoming pop up exhibition in London of his work is covered over at CNN. More of his work over at his tumblr page. AS a lifelong fan of Keith Haring, I love stumbling across his ongoing influence, even now that he is long gone from this place. In the past I blogged about the mural in Melbourne that Keith produced in the early eighties and the attempts at conserving it for future generations. Keith made it to rarefied territory for a contemporary artist. His unique view at the world and the way in which he made it accessible to people made him one of the most loved figures of modern popular culture. It didn't hurt that he came up during New York's eighties renaissance. But there's something about Keith's work which has always resonated across the generations and the cultures. And the Keith Haring Foundation continues to spread his message through its partnering with all kinds of initiatives around the world. There have been events in Latin America, Europe, Australia among others that have kept his legacy alive for new generations. That makes me, as a fan of his, happy. So, I was really quite chuffed to see that the local chapter of the Arcigay association, Arcigay Salento, has partnered with the Keith Haring foundation for their second annual Viva La Vida contest. The idea behind the contest is two fold: it is designed to highlight contemporary art and issues which affect the LGBT(QI...) community. This year's theme is tied to Keith: artworks inspired (not necessarily mimicking his style) that highlight the main elements of the project. Selected works will then be voted for via the group's Facebook page and possibly be selected for inclusion at the exhibition which will be staged at the contest's end. I imagine the emphasis is on local artists, but I love the idea of this kind of project. It's inspiring and heartwarming. I'm happy that there will be a little piece of Keith for me to enjoy in the new year, and my little black heart is unexpectedly warmed by the whole thing. Who knew. I spent the weekend in Rome catching up with some of my nearest and dearest. And while I did that I had the chance to meet some friends of friends. They're currently working on a really cool project at Rome's biggest exhibition space, Palazzo Delle esposizione, which is on Via Nazionale. In recent years the multifunction site has become one of Rome's most important and has hosted some major blockbusters (some of which I was tasked to write reviews for). But the site is also home to a little known cinema which runs some of the most amazing retrospectives and mini film fests- often for free or for a pittance. Anyway, FOF (that's a new acronym I've decided I'm going to use; Friend of friend) was telling me about his rather ingenious project that he's currently involved in there. Way back in time, and I'm talking silent movie time, people, les vampires had tongues wagging. It was a kind of silent series with a crime bent that just had cinema goers going nuts. Musician by day and crim by night teams up with a reporter as they take on the dark, noirish (I think I just invented that word too) Parisian nights and the inbuilt criminal element. It's the kind of stuff that inspired a million copy cats and that continues to do so. Well, the PDE is currently running a brilliant series of events based around Les Vampires- using ten of the original episodes but partnering them with musical and visual interpretations. A series of musicians and groups have been invited to play alongside the footage and basically add their own interpretation to the old classics. What I love about the project is how it seems to be built around adding an appreciation to three different mediums, and bridging time as well as the visuals and sonics together. I think it's a really inspired idea which of course has been done with other things but, adding such an element to the silent films is effectively bringing them back to life in the face of a million other reincarnations and references. Sounds pretty brill if you ask me- and runs until November 15, so if you're in Rome over the next week or so, visit the PDE site which has a full run down of events in English in addition to the other things on at the complex. There are certain things that we all consider necessary in the big smoke. Transport, medicine, sanitation, utilities...these are the kinds of essential services that our cities tend to revolve around. Some get it right- and that's often a matter for Monocle or whoever to decide as to how well- and others have problems with even the basics. Having spent a really long time in Italy (and Rome in particular)I can tell you that some cities here get it right and that some...um...don't. Or can't. But if it's any consolation nobody seems to be happy about how things are run: those in service and those who use service are all often miserable. The most noticeable thing that goes wrong in a place like Rome is the transport. Let's face it. It's really shit. If you were to set your watch by the next due bus you'd be the new Marty McFly. Honestly, it's the worst public transport system I've seen in Europe, but whatevs. One of the annoying layers of transport in Rome is that you often have to factor in strikes on a Friday (or Monday). Because transport is legally deemed an essential service though, even on a strike day there has to be a minimum service on offer and a minimum notice period advising of the upcoming disruption. Rome's traffic is like those annoying accordions that you get held hostage to on the metro. It expands, gets noisier and becomes more unbearable on any day there's a strike when services are limited to the essential.That happens on days when things have been reduced to a bus an hour or, as often happens in Rome, morning and evening peak with a limited service and the rest of the day with virtually zilch. Why the long talk about the minimisation of services to their essential? Because in recent days a new law has been passed in Italy. One which now deems cultural sites- or rather, access to cultural sites- as being essential. Going on strike in a country like Italy where working conditions can be testing to say the least is something that happens in nearly every sector. Last week supermarket staff were on strike. But what made the news was a day a few months back when the staff at sites like Rome's Colosseum also went on strike, making the city's landmark symbol off limits to tourists. Workers in the arts and heritage sector here have it rough. There's very little money invested in sites and their upkeep, the average Joe works for a pittance and pay is often backpaid in many cases. But in going on strike, the cultural industry workers did something that not even the transport workers can. They literally robbed visitors of the opportunity to visit a site that many would have purposely made the trip to Rome for. And in doing so, at least in this version of the interpretation, they harmed Italy's international reputation more than the endless train, airport and sanitation service strikes ever could. The Italian government has decided that this is unacceptable. And as such, a very clear majority decided to pass a law that now renders cultural sites as part of the network of essential services in the country. This means that workers, regardless of how their issues may differ to those in the transport or other sectors, will now be required to file notice of their intention to strike, communicate that, and allow for some contingency which will allow the sites to remain open even on a strike day. Is it a good thing? Tourists may argue yes. Nothing like a certainty when you're doing the greatest hits tour. But for workers in a field where competition for roles is fierce, remuneration is poor and there's a murkier distinction between public and private operation, does singling that sector of the tourism industry out as being essential really count as being fair or lawful? Enshrining the erosion of their bargaining power into law seems a little heavy handed in my books. Particularly because for all the wealth tourism brings into a city like Rome, I would hazard a guess that most Romans wouldn't see access to those kinds of sites as being part of the essential services the city needs to offer- particularly if the end benefit goes to foreigners rather than the locals who, for better or worse, manage the sites. Melbourne's NGV is gearing up for its next blockbuster exhibition. One which will see the pairing of current artistic cause celebre, Ai Weiwei with perennial art world favourite Andy Warhol. You've already been given the heads up on this exhibit due to all the fuss that has been created in the last week or so. For those who have been hiding away from the web, let me help bring you up to speed. Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei is being billed as a major show which will bring together over 300 works by Warhol and more than 120 by Ai Weiwei, with the aim of exploring their practices side by side. Weiwei, no longer passport less, but ever a parriah in the eyes of the Chinese government, had pitched the idea of creating an installation made of Lego at the space. He said the work would make reference to "Australian activists, advocates and champions of human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of information and the Internet." Presumably, by using a commercially produced object that we immediately associate with childhood and innocence, the symbolism wouldn't be lost on viewers. Problem is that we don't live in a world where freedom of expression is as straightforward as it seems, especially in the commercial realms. There are always bigger factors at play when you're playing in the big leagues. The story has it that Ai Weiwei put in an order to Lego headquarters for Lego pieces, with which he planned to create the installation. Lego, declined to fulfill the order, indicating that they were an organisation that steers clear of having their products used for political purposes. A few days later, the organisation announced that they would be opening one of their flagships in Shanghai. Coincidence? Anyone smell a rat? It seems that Lego toys don't actually build anything despite the old copy lines. There are limits to expression, and not just in using squarish shapes that you have to batter into control with a mallet. Or in quashing expression in general. But this is an age where people mobilize through social media, and picking up on the unpleasant whiffs that the story was offering, and capitalizing on the attention at the same time, Weiwei attracted a lot of support and sympathy. There were stories circulating of how people were sending him their own Lego pieces to use, and his studio in Beijing became an official collection point. Well now the NGV, Melbourne's historic art gallery, has waded in. They've announced that as of today, visitors can pop by and donate lego pieces, by dropping them into the sunroof of a convertible which will be parked in their sculpture garden. Melbournians need to celebrate this. Why? Because it's a way of sidestepping the politics or counteracting them? No. Because it's Springtime in Melbourne, and being able to drop off your Lego pieces at the NGV is a fabbo way to get some more spring cleaning done - and to help a brother out. Just imagine it... you'll be able to go around saying that you have some artwork in the NGV! In the end, Lego's refusal to fulfill the artist's order seems to be a win win. It will render whatever installation Ai Weiwei can fashion from the donated pieces more potent than the simple commercial exchange could ever have done. And, NGV's support of the initiative will go someway in helping them in their quest to be seen as a contemporary venue, and not the stuffy, historical house that they were traditionally seen as. I plan on popping by to inspect the end results when I pop over to Melbourne over the new year. NGV press release here. Ok I know I am breaking the nerd code but somebody has to do it. Somebody had to refuse point blank to write about Marty McFly and the fact that the future was set in, what, October 2015? What a shitty and predictable future it turned out to be. It was a great film but let's get our bearings for a moment. At the time I also thought Short circuit, Splash and Desperately Seeking Susan were also brilliant. Actually I still stand by the latter two. In my mind I'm still a bit emotional about them- like I'm walking around battery park on my legs and wearing a jacket with a pyramid/eye on the back of it one moment, saying 'good going stranger' and then, whoops, I fall into the water and sprout a merman's tail the next. It's a disaster! Never has a glass of water been so menacing. Anyhoo, I'm really happy that the world's newspapers have devoted so much space and effort to commemorating the back to the future moment. (not) Personally anything that makes me think of Huey Lewis and the News does not make me want to celebrate, but that's just me. I say if we're gonna celebrate the future, then 2046 seems like a much more logical year to experiment (even if, and don't hate me people, I didn't love the film). I'm not a film critic, but I love Gong Li (yes yes it's always been all about Maggie), I love Wong Kar Wai and most of all I love an alternative (especially when back to the future is being forced back down my throat every time I open anything on the web). What's next? Will they pull out the old time capsules they had us bury in the school yard so we can see how primitive we were as ten year olds? Today's ten year olds would eat my former ten year old self alive. But, if you think about it aside from a general nastiness that has sunk in, and way more electronics, nothing much has really changed all that much since 1985. It's 2015 and we're still talking about a pope, Donald Trump, eighties fashion and trying to work out how long it's going to be until we can finally write Madonna off. Russia and the Middle East are still key players in geopolitics, ray bans are still in fashion and the world's best footballers are still Latinos. I mean, we're still in 1985 my lovelies. It's like a Groundhog Day only we don't have to listen to Huey Lewis anymore (nothing personal but I just have nightmare memories of hearing his music on a loop- on a five of six hour bus ride: cured for life). I don't get why we think the future we imagined thirty years ago means anything to anyone today. Wait another thirty one years and then come back to me. Sometimes I wonder if these days the Americans are the new Romans. In their day, the Romans had a political hand in almost every geographical area they touched, and because of this they were in equal parts feared, respected and despised. Their presence was always felt. In recent weeks, a lot of the international media's coverage has focused on America's culpability in the international arena. Time magazine recently published an article in which it posited that the US must bear some responsibility for the famine that is crippling Somalia, borne of its policies in the war against terrorism. Its foreign policy in the wake of prolonged campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, its uneasy relations with China and the still felt repercussions of 9/11, as we near its tenth anniversary, have absolutely hurt its international standing. Tariq Ali's column for the Guardian makes a lot of valid leftist points, that, along with the Time article, along with the usual China Daily coverage, just goes to show how now we are far quicker to our criticisms than we have been for a long time. Generally, culpability is something that has been widely protected with Freedom of Information acts that have sought to insert decades between documentations being made, and documentations being made available. Under the prism of Wikileaks, the empires are falling, and the information is increasingly cynical, sharpened, published. I abhorr politics. I find it nauseating, repetitive and stagnant; more an arena in which politicians are serving themselves and their re-election hopes than the people that voted for them. That said, I find international politics fascinating, because unlike domestic politics, international politics is not very forgiving; new world orders rise and fall in the blink of an eye, and it can be like watching the zeitgeist, basically trying to plot where the energy, where the mood, where the new interests and power are going to be. The price of a high profile is increased scrutiny. Check out the Guardian's 9/11 coverage to see what I mean. In the current political and economic climate, much has been said of the erosion of the quality of life in Italy. It's probably safe to say that in this respect, Italy is not alone in the EU, as people generally lament the direction Europe is heading in, particularly with substantial obstacles in the way of currency, migration, employment and perceived distances between political representation and daily realities. That said, many of Europe's metropoli continue to forge ahead, even in the face of severe social funding cuts. Rome is a seasonal city, where climate and seasons play a large role in defining the social calendar. But although it can be expensive for visitors, its a city that by necessity is marked by thriftiness. Though the official population of Rome is listed as four million, it is widely believed that the real number is somewhere closer to six million. The disparancy is attributed to a huge transient population, mostly believed to be made up of people without official papers, permissions and residency, who although invisible, often bear the brunt of the frustrations of legalresidents. When you consider the amount of people who exist but don't exist, the picture of the economic realities of the city come sharply into focus. Italy, has the fourth largest economy in the EU, and yet its salaries are amongst the lowest in the OECD. The Economist recently reported that its GDP growth in the last decade was lower than all other countries bar Zimbabwe and Haiti. As in most western economies, there is a deep gulf between the haves and have nots, and those who don't have money contribute to the two tiered pereception of Italians; those who are highly visible, living the lavish dolce vita; and those who continue to personify the stereotype of a tight, cunning people who are out to save a euro at any cost. Being without official papers and permissions usually relegates you into the second category. But its a category filled with good company and from this perspective, a long held summer tradition was born. Estate Romana, now a broad term referring to a huge array of events that take place in the city throughout the summer months, was originally envisaged as a means to provide locals with entertainment and the possibility of recreation when their finances wouldn't allow them to head to the seaside or mountains as those who have the means do en masse every July-August. Museums opened their doors free of charge, transport was free and temporary outdoor cinemas sprung up throughout the many districts of Rome to occupy its citizens on the warm, balmy summer nights. This program eventually evolved into a city wide institution, augmented by summer concerts (that now attract headline acts) and other cultural events, that take place nightly throughout the city. The idea of Summertime Rome as being shuttered and closed works in favor of the Summer program, as the idea of deserted, traffic less streets adds additional appeal to residents who take great pleasure in enjoying the events in all manner of sites, ranging from local schoolyards through to the show stopping Roman landmarks that dot the city (this year sites that are hosting events include the Roman Forum, the Baths of Caracalla and Villa Ada). For a city which often seems to crumble under the lack of its infrastructure, this is a thoughtful and well executed program which is played out in all of its suburbs. In many respects, the Estate Romana offers a viable alternative that some residents actively look forward to in the same way others look forward to seaside vacations. In the spirit of the Roman Summer, I tagged along with a group of friends on Sunday night to a free event in one of the city's many burbs. Near Porta Furba, practically under one of Rome's sensational aqueducts, we, along with almost 200 other young Romans watched two DJs unfold their sets of ambient electronica, all played out on someone's rooftop. The host didn't ask for any money, just that we quietly and respectfully watched the performances, brought our own aperitifs and snacks, and that we cleaned up after ourselves at the end of the night. Both our host and the DJ's offered themselves up free of charge, out of passion for what they do, and what they believe in, and although the DJ set won't be found on any of the Estate Romana programs, it's an example of how a metropolis can very easily placate and satiate its inhabitants without a huge amount of effort, expense and fanfare. Happy summer! |
Dave
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Dave Di Vito is a writer, teacher and former curator.He's also the author of the Vinyl Tiger series and Replace The Sky.
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