New statue of Tsar Samuil

Sofia Bulgaria

Surrounded by controversy, a four metre high statue of 10th century Bulgarian ruler Tsar Samuil was to be unveiled in central Sofia on June 8, amid calls for a postponement and rethink of the placing of the statue and with the row extending even to the appearance of its “glow in the dark” eyes. Critics have likened the statue - the height of which is further augmented by a 2.2 metre pedestal - to something out of Nikola Gruevski’s grandiosely kitsch Skopje 2020 project, with one suggesting that Gruevski be invited to Sofia to unveil the Tsar Samuil statue. Bulgarian head of state President Rossen Plevneliev was to preside at the unveiling ceremony at the statue’s spot outside the historic St Sofia basilica, with Bulgarian Orthodox Church head Patriarch Neofit scheduled to pronounce a blessing, and with other VIPs attending including Prime Minister Boiko Borissov, Speaker of Parliament Tsetska Tsacheva and Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandukova. The placing of the sculpture is part of commemorations of 1000 years since the death of Tsar Samuil, a figure who is - as part of a longstanding controversy - also claimed by Bulgaria’s neighbour, the former Yugoslav republic. Samuil was the Tsar of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 until his death in October 1014. Read more… LINK Independent Balkan news

First Lichting (De Eerste Lichting)

Saturday june 27th 19:30  @  Huis Oostpool, 
Nieuwstraat 58, Arnhem, The Netherlands

This year students, of the first batch Creative Writing at ArtEZ Institute of the Arts are ready. We are: Lauranne van Grinsven, Ian Jansen, Jasmijn Kam, Jorina van der Laan, Roos Vlogman and Lisa Weeda. We present our thesis in House Oostpool during the literary festival in Arnhem New Types. What you can expect?: an ongoing program of prose, poetry and non-fiction. We not only show our own work, but also collaborate with other disciplines. There speaks a professor antrozoölogie, interviews are being conducted at the clitter and displayed there secret video diaries. Mail to: eerstelichting@gmail.com Entrance is free, but we have a limited number of places available. Reservations are required. 
LINK De Eerste Lichting (First Lichting)

EX-MÊKH @ Platforms Project Art-Athina 2015

Curated by Artemis Potamianou
design poster Ben Faydherbe

The Platforms Project @ Art Athina was started in 2013 with the aim of charting the artistic actions produced by collective initiatives of artists who decide to join forces in seeking solutions to art matters through what is known as platforms. The 2015 Platforms Project @ Art-Athina is to present 48 important platforms / art group actions from 15 countries with over 700 artists, making up a programme that attempts to offer viewers an insider’s look into visual creation, into the aspect of chemistry and collaboration in artistic practice, without focusing on sales. As in the two previous years, the art groups/platforms will have the opportunity to present an art project in a specific space -booth- so as to provide viewers with an experience of the way they work. 
EX-MÊKH is the name for the collaboration of visual artists Ellen Rodenberg, Maarten Schepers and Kees Koomen. These artists all have their individual professional practices as an artist but next to that they show their works in their mutual contexts and they try to develop a relation with the spaces in which exhibitions are held. 
LINK Platforms Project Art Athina  LINK EX-MÊKH

Topp & Dubio

We hereby invite you to the opening of the exhibition
Topp & Dubio 'A Hilarious Picture in Glass' bij JCA DE KOK 
on Friday, May 29th from 19:00 to 23:00 hours.

This exhibition is the result of a Topp & Dubio investigation into the origin and meaning of the work 'Bust of Stalin Haring "now at the GEM / Fotomuseum in The Hague, but in 1986 by the Russian Jewish artist duo Komar & Melamid (New York) was created for the Hague Geleenstraat.  The installation in a'alarmtelefooncel', including houses a bust of Stalin, a herring and a red light diffusing lamp. Topp & Dubio have been very fan of this work and consider the installation as the most relevant artwork in public space in The Hague Topp & Dubio have investigated thoroughly and make it work in this exhibition unabashedly compare with one of the most famous works of the twentieth century: the Large Glass Marcel Duchamp. With the title 'A Hilarious Picture in Glass' have Topp & Dubio stuck a thought of Duchamp on the alarmcel to set it as a masterpiece discussed. With new installations, photographic works and a publication are made possible new perspectives on this iconic work of art. LINK Topp & Dubio LINK JCA DE KOK

launch EXITING

Allicyn Henning and Dolf Pauw

For our own visual identity we wanted to show a certain position that is ever present in our other work. We wanted to find a way to create a visual identity that is both luxurious, minimalistic, modernistic and which even incorporates the ever present fun that's visible in what we make. We believe that this position helps create original design without pretence. Our company name ’EXITING’ (Exit, till seeing again) immediately sends you to a place where you drink a nice coffee and talk to family. A color feeling we wanted to enhance by the usage of red (yes, it's really red) in the design, while at the same time contradicting it in the coarseness of the bold capital spacing of our company name It's part of our philosophy that we never sell our customer something he or she doesn't need. We'd rather help them figuring out how to be as effective as possible in their wishes In our own visual identity we stick to that philosophy as close as possible. You know the drill, anywhere in your home are photobooks, videotapes and movies. Where you and family members are documented on. Twenty years ago capturing your life changed from analog to digital. We would like to help you to capture chronological all that old stuff. And record it on modern material so that your children and grandchildren can still enjoy it today. 

Voor onze eigen visuele identiteit willen we naar een vorm, wat altijd aanwezig in ons andere werk,  aan u tonen.  We willen een manier om een ​​visuele identiteit, die zowel  luxe, minimalistisch, modernistische en deze zelfs voorzien, van het altijd aanwezige plezier, wat zichtbaar is in wat we doen, maken en vinden. Wij zijn van mening dat deze positie helpt bij het creëren van oorspronke-lijke ontwerpen zonder pretentie. Ons bedrijf met de naam 'EXITING' (Exit, tot weerziens) stuurt je meteen naar een plek waar je een lekker kopje koffie gaat drinken om te praten met familie. Het kleurgevoel willen wij verbeteren door het gebruik van rood (ja, het is echt rood) in het ontwerp, terwijl tegelijkertijd, de grofheid van de gedurfde hoofdkapitalen, onze bedrijfsnaam doet uitstralen. 
Het is een onderdeel van onze filosofie dat we nooit onze klanten iets, wat hij of zij niet willen, te verkopen. 
We willen hen liever helpen uitzoeken hoe zo effectief mogelijk  hun wensen in onze eigen visuele identiteit is in te passen en we toch zo dicht mogelijk vasthouden aan die filosofie. U kent het wel, overal in huis bevinden zich fotoboeken, videobanden en filmpjes. Waar u en familieleden op gedocumenteerd staan. Twintig jaar geleden veranderde het vastleggen van uw leven van analoog naar digitaal. 
Wij willen u graag helpen al dat oude materiaal chronologisch vast te leggen op modern materiaal zodat uw kinderen en kleinkinderen ook vandaag nog kunnen genieten. 
LINK EXITING

Opera dull or hot?

Operadagen Rotterdam 
may 22 til may 31 

Operadagen Rotterdam is an international festival with a focus on new developments in opera and music theatre. More than ever before singers, musicians, actors, directors, and designers are moulding the classical opera repertoire to their will. Whilst keeping intact the spirit of the works, they find new interpretations that resonate with the world of today and tomorrow. Operadagen Rotterdam invites the audience to broaden their mind and experience the latest developments. Freedom, equality, fraternity. The famous slogan of the French Revolution has lost none of its relevance in the 21st century. After the central themes of Liberty (2013) and Fraternity (2014), equality is the leitmotiv of this year's festival. It runs from 22 through 31 May 2015 in various locations around Rotterdam. LINK operadagenrotterdam

Jacob Jensen

With a studio in a remote spot in Jutland, western Denmark, Jacob Jensen began collaborating in the 1960s with Bang & Olufsen for whom he created a look characterized by clean, flat surfaces with minimal protrusions such as buttons and switches. The technical quality of B&O record players, speakers and television sets was also considered superior and they were soon a must in wealthy households in the United States. Prior to his work with B&O, Jensen worked with industrial designers Bernadotte and Bjørn, where he created the Margrethe Bowl, a set of identical mixing bowls in bright colors and differing sizes which are ubiquitous in Danish households. Some of Jensen's pieces for B&O are held at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York following the "Design for Sound" exhibition in 1978, the fourth ever solo artist exhibition at MoMA at the time. LINK Danishnet

Rob Pruitt

The Obama Paintings and The Lincoln Monument 
@ MOCA Detroit

Two coming exhibits of New York artist Rob Pruitt will feature a flea market and a series of thousands of paintings of President Obama. Every day for the past six years, Mr. Pruitt has painted a portrait of Barack Obama, nearly 3,000 canvases since the start of his presidency. Mr. Pruitt said the series also began on a whim, as a way to chronicle Mr. Obama’s tenure. The artist plans to continue through the president’s final day in office. Every morning, he culls media images for inspiration and then spends “under an hour” painting in red, white and blue on 
a 2-foot canvas. In some, the president looks triumphant and in others, he looks fatigued. Mr. Pruitt said he wasn’t seeking to make propaganda. “I just wanted to make a complete portrait.” Collectively, “The Obama Paintings” will represent his longest series-and among the largest group of paintings the Detroit museum has shown in a single exhibit. Ms. Borowy-Reeder said Mr. Pruitt’s portraits will cover the 
14-foot walls of nearly 9,000 square feet of gallery space within the museum. Additionally, the exhibit will include “Lincoln Monument,” 
a 6-foot tower of tractor tires Mr. Pruitt painted in copper leaf. Around 200,000 pennies (that’s $2,000 worth) will cascade down the tires like a fountain. LINK MOCAD

Dorandi’s Converse All Star

Dorandi 1976

If you were alive in the 80s, your shoe wardrobe wasn’t complete without a pair (or five) of Chucks (otherwise known as Converse All Star high tops). It didn’t matter if you were a guy or a gal - this particular 80s fashion trend crossed the gender barrier (and the age barrier too). The 80s can’t claim the Chucks fashion trend as its own. The Converse All Star High Tops have been around for quite a while. The Converse shoe company has been making them since 1917. It wasn’t, however, until world-famous basketball player Chuck Taylor began wearing (and selling) the shoes in the 1920s that they really caught on. By the 1980s the shoes had become a fashion statement and were available in dozens of colors. Black, white, pink, blue, yellow, red - you name it, you could get it. LINK youtube

Hajo Rose @ Bauhaus

Hajo Rose - Bauhaus Foto Typo focuses primarily on the Hajo Rose’s time at Bauhaus as well as his period in exile in Holland during the Second World War. Primarily remembered as a graphic designer and exhibition stand designer, Hajo Rose was also a highly talented photographer and drawer. Although Hajo Rose studied at Bauhaus Dessau and Berlin under Walter Peterhans, Josef Albers and Joost Schmidt, one of the greatest influences on his work was without question Laszlo Moholy-Nagy.
Not only was Moholy-Nagy instrumental in the development of the photography department in Dessau, but as the leading light in the typography department he also influenced Rose’s master Joost Schmidt. In addition, following the dissolution of Bauhaus in 1933 Hajo Rose briefly worked as am assistant for Moholy-Nagy in Berlin. 
LINK minimumblog

Kerry James Marshal

Kerry James Marshall is one of the leading contemporary painters of his generation. Over the past twenty-five years, he has become internationally known for monumental images of African American history and culture. Marshall attributes his interest in these subjects to the geography of his upbringing. Born in Birmingham, Alabama just as the bus boycotts were beginning, the artist and his family moved to the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, in 1963 (two years before the race riots) and finally settled in South Central Los Angeles at the height of the civil rights movement. The experience of growing up at the epicenter of socio-political change has yielded a body of work deeply rooted in personal biography and historical detail. LINK American art

Nikita Kadan

@ Biennale di Venezia, 
Pavilion of Ukraine

"Новоутворення 2" 
інсталяція, 2010 Робота створена у співпраці з архітектором Олександром Бурлакою. Друга версія інсталяції, реалізованої у 2010 році для Уральської Індустріальної Бієнале в Єкатеринбурзі. Інсталяція в київському Арсеналі складається з восьми кіл двометрового діаметру з картами міських ділянок, на яких публічний простір знищується новими торговими та офісними центрами, "елітними" житловими будівлями з підземними паркінгами. Ці карти - результат дослідження процесів, які відбуваються із простором сучасного Києва. Водночас, карти відсилають до практик радянського авангарду, зокрема до ПРОУНів Еля Лисицького. Нові ПРОУНи демонструють капіталістичну трансформацію пост-радянського міста. Вони проблематизують стосунки між утопічним поглядом з минулого та пост-утопічними реаліями сьогодення. 
 "Neoplasm 2" 
Installation, 2010 The work was created in collaboration with an architect Alexandr Burlaka. The second version of installation, realised in 2010 for The Ural Industrial Biennale in Ekaterinburg. Installation in Kyiv Arsenal consists of eight circles (d 2 meters) with maps of city areas where the public space is ruined by new-built shopping malls, office centers, "elite" buildings with underground parking etc. The maps are a result of the research of Kyiv recent city transformation processes. These maps refer to geometric abstractions of the Soviet avant-guarde, especially to PROUNs of El Lissitzky. They emerge like new PROUNs representing capitalist transformations of post-soviet cities. They are questioning the relations of utopical views from the past and post-utopical conditions of the present. LINK Nikita Kadan LINK Hope, Biennale di Venezia, Pavilion of Ukraine

Felice Varini

Felice Varini paints on architectural and urban spaces, such as buildings, walls and streets. The paintings are characterized by one vantage point from which the viewer can see the complete painting (usually a simple geometric shape such as circle, square, line), while from other view points the viewer will see ‘broken’ fragmented shapes. Varini argues that the work exists as a whole - with its complete shape as well as the fragments. LINK Felice Varini

Matisse

Behind The Cut - Outs
@ Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

As part of the Public Program, in conjunction with the exhibition The Oasis of Matisse (March 29 - August 16, 2015), the Stedelijk Museum proudly presents a review of the most complex conservation projects on Henri Matisse’s work. During the last decade of his life Matisse deployed two simple materials-white paper and gouache-to create works of wide - ranging color and complexity. He used an unorthodox implementa pair of scissorsto transform the paper and paint into a world of plants, animals, figures, and shapes. Preserving these so-called cut - outs, some of impressive scale, has been a true challenge for conservators all over the world and will be the focus of a discussion by conservators Karl Buchberg (MoMA, New York) and André van Oort (previously with the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam). LINK Stedelijk AMS

Waiting for Doko

LINK …

Photo

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Concert Levee Dwellers

Concert Levee Dwellers 
@ Get Rhythm 
DPhoto

LINK Get Rhythm
LINK Levee Dwellers

Hans Emmelkamp

Unity, balance and perfection are the main criteria for Hans Emmelkamp when creating his artwork. He is aware of the significance and importance of simplicity, silence and tranquility. These are the elements that he likes to sublimate his work. This observation seems to contradict the fact that the artist than anyone knows the turmoil of the viewfinder. However, this is less paradoxical than it seems. 
The desire for peace and accepting unrest, meet in the pursuit of perfection and balance. LINK Hans Emmelkamp

Mariette Linders

For Mariette Linders draw is the most direct way to bring something into view. Where a painting both equally take the art on his neck as a word and as a form, the drawing seems that even without charge to. A drawing can take the form of Doodle, note, floor plan, size designation, et cetera. 
Link Mariette Linders

Blues magazine

Levee Dwellers - Leveling Up

Format: CD / Label: Blueshinerecords

Design Blueshine design, Photographs Dolf Pauw 
Releasedatum: februari 2015

The album 'leveling up' of the Levee Dwellers is a wonderfully funky uptempo album with jazz and bluesy flavor. A very surprising CD where the songs are performed in their own way. The songs on the album have a nod to the original versions and are easy to sing along. The uptempo songs immediately invite you to sing along, which can also been busy.The band has a unique sound and fit both musically and in terms of voice perfectly. The numbers Kick It Around and Hoodoo Man contain beautiful and technically well executed saxophone solos. Furthermore, a compliment to the singer; a beautiful warm voice that both uptempo song as in the slow blues well comes into its own! Especially with the song Tell Me More, which is a gem of the album as a whole, becomes the hot and beautiful deep sounding voice from beginning to end. Rarely has a singer of this generation with a sensitive song to keep the attention so firmly know if at this number. The album is highly recommended for both blues and jazz enthusiasts this time. Old songs are transformed into the unique sound of this band. Read more (in Dutch) LINK Levee Dwellers 

Wouter le Duc

The God Machine

Wouter le Duc tells fiction and nonfiction stories about people who are on the fringes of society. He gets his inspiration from an interest in people with an unusual life story, current trends, personal experiences and historical figures. In his projects, he focuses on the core of the people; where they come from, how do they interpret life and what the future will bring them. LINK Wouter le Duc

EL BALANCÍN

By ludus ludi

This game is based on two of the oldest and most basic play activities known: stacking and balancing. People have been playing with these elements since the dawn of time. Both possibilities - standing up or falling over - can be equally exciting. The first swing was created when one crossed branch was positioned over another branch. Soon after came the balancing scale, the wheel, the ball-bearing, articulated joints… Read more

Uffington White Horse

Lithograph Dolf Pauw 1980

The Uffington White Horse is a highly stylised prehistoric hill figure, 110 m long (374 feet), formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk. The figure is situated on the upper slopes of White Horse Hill in the English civil parish of Uffington (in the county of Oxfordshire, historically Berkshire), some 8 km (5 mi) south of the town of Faringdon and a similar distance west of the town of Wantage; or 2.5 km south of Uffington. The hill forms a part of the scarp of the Berkshire Downs and overlooks the Vale of White Horse to the north. Best views of the figure are obtained from the air, or from directly across the Vale, particularly around the villages of Great Coxwell, Longcot and Fernham. The site is owned and managed by the National Trust and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. LINK National Trust UK

North Korean Perspectives

Kims Utopia 
@ Drents Museum

One of the landmarks in the Drents Museum in the new cultural season is the exhibition Kims Utopia - Paintings from North Korea. From 7 April to August 30, 2015 can be seen approximately 80 paintings, made in the period 1960 - 2000 by professional North Korean painters in state service. These figurative works give an idealized image of North Korea, as dreamed and imagined by the great leader. For the first time shown North Korean art such a large collection in the Netherlands. 
The works are from the private collection of the Dutch collector RJCM the Groen. The exhibition shows that art is not voluntary in North Korea, but always at the service of the Leader, the state and society. 
Essential is the glorification of the system and the regime, even in images with the subject's family, agriculture and industry, war and confrontation with enemies like the US and Japan. Kims Utopia is the fourth largest exhibition in the series "International" Realism in the 
Drents Museum. LINK Drents Museum (in Dutch)