artШПИОНКА

the iron curtain as art /or/ a double agent stalking & mocking the cultural intelligensia of New York and Russia

so, i don’t know if you’ve seen the ads on comedy central, or what (i certainly can’t sleep without jon stewart telling me what’s what), but yeah, russians are trying to ban south park from the airwaves.  just when my brain was being warped into thinking that nothing that didn’t somehow includ sarah palin was hilarious anymore, kenny reminded me of the charming russian for ‘horse fucker’ [koner yob!].  and as amerika wanes on it’s course toward liberty and justice for all, a 100 brave muscovites stood strong near the monument to Kirill last week to voice their support for south park, waving a banner reading “kenny lived, kenny lives, kenny will live.”

amen.

Thanks, music snobbery!

Heavily influenced by his idol Elvis Presley and the 1950s rock revolution, he is also known as the most famous dancer of the Hula Hoop fad. For the last 40 years he has retained his popularity in Italy, selling millions of records and appearing in numerous TV shows and movies. In the latter respect, he has also been a creator of a comic genre, with his characteristic walking and his facial expressions. For the most part, his films were commercially successful; indeed in the 1970s and part of the 1980s, he was the king of the Italian box office in low budget movies.

(when advertising rivals art)

danciti:

 Voltaflex | New Body Parts
Just what every dancer needs, a new elbow, knee or ankle. It’s an ad campaign for Voltaflex: “With our drug, you’ll feel like you have a new joint.” If only.

(when advertising rivals art)

danciti:

Voltaflex | New Body Parts

Just what every dancer needs, a new elbow, knee or ankle. It’s an ad campaign for Voltaflex: “With our drug, you’ll feel like you have a new joint.” If only.

My feminism, in case anyone still cares, is based in a larger humanism. It’s predicated in the idea that I have a fundamental right to live my life in a way of my own choosing, without having to submit myself to any man simply because he is a man. To the extent that men have conspired to create a society that demands that women do this in almost every interaction we have with men, women and their thoughtful male allies must conspire to break that system.

Sara Robinson

Orcinus

(via sexartandpolitics)

i’m so glad someone posted this.  my roommates and i were utterly nauseated a few months back when we watched this episode.  i also highly recommend the segment from episode 7 that they describe as “a young man’s struggle for independence from his mother.”  ira glass, thank you.

in other, somewhat related news of unbearable discrimination, nik’s parents took him (my  genderqueer boif) out for cheesesteaks in philly a few months back at a joint that is proud to hang signs that say “This is America— (when ordering) speak english”.  Fox news was (surprise) quick to come to the owner’s defense when the media picked up on this, and ruled the signs “not discriminatory”.  Sure— except that there are also signs that are openly anti-gay and otherwise racist hanging along side the “English Only” signs.  This is not a case of, ‘out of curtosy for others, please expedite your order’— more like, “no Irish need apply”.  But, like this Chicago joint, Gino’s Steaks has only gotten more business thanks to the press coverage, inciting bigoted glee from like-minded now-customers.

maybe time for a pilgrimage with some “steaks for bigots only” signs in hand?

sexartandpolitics:

toomuchawesome:

bg5000:

This American Life did a segment last year for their Showtime show on the Wiener Circle here in Chicago. I’m glad they don’t gloss over the obvious racist dynamic at work there. I think that’s why i’ve never gone there. That and the fact that i don’t like Chicago style hot dogs.

I guess I’m naive enough to be rather shocked by this. Maybe I think too highly of people. But between this and some of the things that Britt has written on her blog, I guess I just don’t see this stuff happening at all. It’s so funny how I’m from a part of the country that a majority of Americans consider a wasteland of racism and intolerance, and yet this happens in a northern metropolitan city, in the state of our first successful black president candidate. The irony is astounding, but I can tell you this much: this would never happen where I come from.

CAN FRIENDSHIPS BE SEALED WITH A BOOK?
Rebecca Porte + me + Eliot Weinberger’s An Elemental Thing = Yes
Awards for supporting roles and introductions go to Lisa Kraushaar & Michael Barron.
And the magnificent poetess herself is in town this week.
Read the book; read R’s words; you too could be a part of this equation.
We miss you, Lisa…

CAN FRIENDSHIPS BE SEALED WITH A BOOK?

Rebecca Porte + me + Eliot Weinberger’s An Elemental Thing = Yes

Awards for supporting roles and introductions go to Lisa Kraushaar & Michael Barron.

And the magnificent poetess herself is in town this week.

Read the book; read R’s words; you too could be a part of this equation.

We miss you, Lisa…

Also, a funny thing happened while I was at the American Dance Festival.  I was hanging out with my Russians, playing the role of mysterious American liason, as usual, and started chatting with fellow New Yorker Andrew Champlin, a dancer who was performing with one of the guest companys.  I made some vain effort to explain my role as host, program coordinator, meeting organizer, social lubricator, logistical negotiator, cultural and linguistic translator, event planner, publicist, and all around mother to my group.
“Oh, are you a producer?” he asked…
I think, in response, I said no.  But, ultimately, yes, thank you Andrew.  That is exactly what I am.  And, in fact, a much better description of the aspects of my job that I sincerely enjoy doing— i.e. organizing, curating, and publicizing events— than, say, my actual job description.  Not that a spy would ever disclose his/her actual job description…
Point being that, here I am, 24-year-old double agent, and oh, look— last week I produced a major dance event at the Baryshnikov Arts Center.  I mean, obviously, as an artist, I’ve been producing events for myself and my friends since just about forever (Many thanks to Anne Krauss and As The Crow Flies, circa 1998).
Anyway, you still have a chance to check out my latest, ahem, production— a performance by the charming Vanya & co at The Living Theater on Monday.  These guys are only 29, and they formed their own dance company five years ago.  Their work sits somewhere on the border of dance, performance, and theater, and it has that superbly Russian quality of being both hilarious and gut wrenching at the same time.  Definately, they are two people who know that an audience receives the most when you leave almost everything out, reducing your narrative to its essence.

Hair, Silence and Violence, and A Deal
Russian Contemporary Dance Duo Debut in New   York

Monday, July 21st at 6:30 pm
The Living Theater 
21 Clinton Street between Houston and Stanton 
Free with RSVP to chartblay@cecartslink.org 


 “… Dialogue Dance Company presents images with light wit[,] sharp mimicry, [and] absurd humor.” (Kultura, Malmo, August 2005)
 
 
Ivan Estegneev and Evgeny Kulagin, founders and co-directors of the Dialogue Dance company (Kostroma, Russia), will perform three signature duets: Hair, Silence and Violence, and A Deal.
This singular event is brought to you by CEC ArtsLink, a New York based not-for-profit arts organization encouraging and supporting the exchange of artists and cultural managers between the United States and Eastern and Central Europe, Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus. In 2007 Ivan Estegneev attended the American Dance Festival as a participant in the Open World Cultural Leaders program hosted by CEC ArtsLink.  The Open World Cultural Leaders program is an initiative of the Open World Leadership Center at the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Also, a funny thing happened while I was at the American Dance Festival.  I was hanging out with my Russians, playing the role of mysterious American liason, as usual, and started chatting with fellow New Yorker Andrew Champlin, a dancer who was performing with one of the guest companys.  I made some vain effort to explain my role as host, program coordinator, meeting organizer, social lubricator, logistical negotiator, cultural and linguistic translator, event planner, publicist, and all around mother to my group.

“Oh, are you a producer?” he asked…

I think, in response, I said no.  But, ultimately, yes, thank you Andrew.  That is exactly what I am.  And, in fact, a much better description of the aspects of my job that I sincerely enjoy doing— i.e. organizing, curating, and publicizing events— than, say, my actual job description.  Not that a spy would ever disclose his/her actual job description…

Point being that, here I am, 24-year-old double agent, and oh, look— last week I produced a major dance event at the Baryshnikov Arts Center.  I mean, obviously, as an artist, I’ve been producing events for myself and my friends since just about forever (Many thanks to Anne Krauss and As The Crow Flies, circa 1998).

Anyway, you still have a chance to check out my latest, ahem, production— a performance by the charming Vanya & co at The Living Theater on Monday.  These guys are only 29, and they formed their own dance company five years ago.  Their work sits somewhere on the border of dance, performance, and theater, and it has that superbly Russian quality of being both hilarious and gut wrenching at the same time.  Definately, they are two people who know that an audience receives the most when you leave almost everything out, reducing your narrative to its essence.

Hair, Silence and Violence, and A Deal

Russian Contemporary Dance Duo Debut in New York

Monday, July 21st at 6:30 pm

The Living Theater

21 Clinton Street between Houston and Stanton

Free with RSVP to chartblay@cecartslink.org

“… Dialogue Dance Company presents images with light wit[,] sharp mimicry, [and] absurd humor.” (Kultura, Malmo, August 2005)

Ivan Estegneev and Evgeny Kulagin, founders and co-directors of the Dialogue Dance company (Kostroma, Russia), will perform three signature duets: Hair, Silence and Violence, and A Deal.

This singular event is brought to you by CEC ArtsLink, a New York based not-for-profit arts organization encouraging and supporting the exchange of artists and cultural managers between the United States and Eastern and Central Europe, Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus. In 2007 Ivan Estegneev attended the American Dance Festival as a participant in the Open World Cultural Leaders program hosted by CEC ArtsLink.  The Open World Cultural Leaders program is an initiative of the Open World Leadership Center at the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Kendal Henry has been working with CEC ArtsLink to conduct public art workshops with artists in Russia and Central Asia.  Seriously… what does public art look like in a place where bride-napping isn’t the stuff of fantasy and where people really shop at a market bazaar?  Anyway, he’s a great writer, and the photos are amazing, I recommend checking it out.  The photo is a clickthrough link.

Kendal Henry has been working with CEC ArtsLink to conduct public art workshops with artists in Russia and Central Asia. Seriously… what does public art look like in a place where bride-napping isn’t the stuff of fantasy and where people really shop at a market bazaar? Anyway, he’s a great writer, and the photos are amazing, I recommend checking it out. The photo is a clickthrough link.