Highlights include Germán Rojas in Wedgewood-Houston and Julian Rogers in East Nashville
Crawl Space: Narrative Paintings and Astrophotography Illuminate December’s First Saturday
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Deane center offers look of food, beverage photography
“Food and Beverage Photography,” the Grand Canyon Photography Club’s December display on The Gallery Wall at the Deane Center, features images taken by Mia Lisa Anderson.
It’s free and open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Friday and Saturday, Dec. 1 and 2 and Mondays through Saturdays, Dec. 4-9, 11-16 and 18-23 and Tuesdays through Saturdays, Dec. 26-30 and Jan. 2-6.
The Gallery Wall is located just off the Deane Center’s main lobby at 104 Main St., Wellsboro. Anderson’s photographs range in size from 12 by 18 inches to 16 by 24 inches.
Anderson, a photographer since the 1980s, enjoys photographing and displaying scenes of downtown Wellsboro and still life because it gives her total control over the composition, lighting and background. This is the first time she has exhibited her food and beverage images.
“In 2016, I set a goal to learn food and beverage photography. I began watching video tutorials and studying food and drink images in magazines and books,” Anderson said. “My first images utilized natural light from a window, but I soon realized I needed to learn to use off-camera flash to achieve the results I wanted so I purchased an inexpensive speedlight.”
Initially, Anderson created the props and accessories for her shots, including scrims, bounce cards and a stripbox. Now, seven years later, she has a room at home dedicated to her photography and more professional light stands, softboxes, and backdrops.
“I tend to prefer dark and moody images so many of my works feature dark backgrounds. I’ve also gravitated to mostly beverage photography since I’m not a very good cook or baker,” said Anderson. “One of my favorite projects during this time has been my annual snowflake cookie photo. I have a friend who bakes beautiful and delicious snowflake cookies. Each holiday season I try to come up with a new way to photograph her cookies.”
Anderson is a Wellsboro native and charter member of the Grand Canyon Photography Club. The club will meetTuesday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Gmeiner Art and Cultural Center at 134 Main Street in Wellsboro.
For more information, call 570-724-6220.
Racine’s 16th Street Studios hosting open house, art market
Sarah Andersen paints in her bright, sun-filled space at the 16th Street Studios in Racine.
RACINE — There are two things to know about Saturday’s open house at the 16th Street Studios in the Racine Arts and Business Center:
- The resident artists are excited to welcome the public to tour their studios.
- You can find a little bit of summer inside the expansive space.
That instant shot of summertime is thanks to Sarah Andersen, who fills her bright, sun-filled third-floor studio with her colorful acrylic paintings.
Sarah Andersen’s paintings are inspired by her love of gardening.
The retired art teacher, who taught at Forest Park elementary School in Kenosha, loves working in a space with 70-some artists.
“There’s so much energy, and everyone is so happy to be here,” she said. “I call this my happy place.”
Sarah Andersen talks about her works in her bright, sun-filled space at the 16th Street Studios in Racine.
Her work is influenced by nature.
“I’m a big-time gardener, and the environment is really important,” she said. “When I’m working here, I’m in a summer garden all winter long. People can stop in here and escape from the cares of the world for a while.”
People are also reading…
She’s always loved painting — “you can do anything with paint” — and is hoping “for a good turnout on Saturday. Each of the artists here has their own style and way of looking at the world. It’s a good thing, and we need good things.”
Since the beginning
Susan Sorenson, who also works on the third floor, has been showing her paintings at the open house since 1986, when she was a guest artist.
Susan Sorenson fills her studio with her paintings and collage work.
She’s been in her own studio since 2004.
“I’ve always done art,” said Sorenson, who’s been drawing and painting since childhood. “It’s a different way of looking at life, and all artists create their own reality.”
She does a lot of collage work, which requires “composition, improvisation, rhythm and problem solving.”
The 16th Street Studios, she said, “is a great community of artists. I’ve met so many friends in this space over the years.”
Ceramic artist
While Sorenson is a longtime resident artist in the studios, Nate Hunter is somewhat of a new kid on the block.
The ceramic artist moved to the building about two years ago — and he’s already in his second space, now on the first floor.
Nate Hunter makes ceramic art, including these pet food bowls, at 16th Street Studios in Racine.
“I needed a bigger space here,” he said, walking around the expansive studio No. 1470.
The Kenosha artist, who does his art full time, describes his work as “functional and sculptural ceramics.”
Hunter started working in ceramics in 2001.
“I took a class at UW-Parkside and fell in love with it on the first day,” he said.
A big part of his work is making pottery pet bowls.
“I started that in January, after buying the business,” he said. “It’s wholesale. I sell the bowls to stores all over the country.”
During Saturday’s event, he’ll be selling “overstocks and seconds, with good deals on pet bowls here in the studio,” along with his ceramic art, too.
The best part of his new space … besides all the space? He was a door “leading to my own loading dock. I can drive right up and unload items.”
The open house, he added, “is such a fun event, with lots of food and artwork all over. It brings people into our building and shows that we really do have n art scene here.”
Keep on pushing
Robert Mayer works out of a second-floor art studio.
Robert Mayer, who does ceramics in his second-floor studio, enjoys “sharing ideas here with other artists. I like the team aspect, which helps with the creative process. We critique each other’s works and feed off that. It makes you a better artist.”
Mayer, who was an art teacher and then a landscape architect for 38 years, is always “challenging myself to do something different. I try to do work that takes me out of my comfort zone.”
The open house “is a great way to get people here. A lot of people who live in Racine don’t even know this place exists, but it’s really a great building and a great community of artists.”
The year of the metal
When you walk into Rebecca Bissi’s studio, you never know what you’ll encounter.
Rebecca Bissi, a multimedia artist at 16th Street Studios in Racine, stands in front of a large-sale piece covered in Swarovski crystals.
The retired fashion designer started off painting florals — which she still does — and also creates 3D works by pounding carpenter nails or stainless steel bolts into a canvas and adding Swarovski crystals.
“I don’t look at this as a sales event,” Rebecca Bissi said of the open house. “It’s just a really nice way to welcome people to come and see a working art studio.”
Bissi works out of a 1,200-square-foot fourth floor studio that offers ample space — and light — for her large-scale works.
This year, she’s been working in metals.
“CM Routing Co., next door here, had these little metal cubes in their garbage,” she said. “I went over and talked to them and bought some to incorporate into these new pieces.”
The metal works, and the Swarovski crystals, take on different looks depending on the lighting.
Rebecca Bissi made these pieces using paint and a pendulum. It’s a technique she also used for an art class with elementary school students.
“It’s a fresh take on this whole concept,” Bissi said.
She’s been working on items for the holiday open house since June and designed her studio space around the pieces for a cohesive look.
As for 2024? She’ll be busy “working on room dividers and black-and-white flowers.”
‘A great space’
Kenosha artist Missy Isely-Poltrock has worked at the building for four years and loves “the history of this building.”
Her artwork includes abstract collages that often feature images of angels.
Missy Isely-Potrock holds one of her angel pieces in her 16th Street Studios space.
“I think there are all kinds of signs of angels in the world,” she explained, “and I like to bring them to people’s attention.”
One of her latest projects includes adding Pennoyer Park sea glass to her angel pieces.
“I have a great love for Lake Michigan,” said Isely-Poltrock, who says working on art “is a sanity issue for me. I get things out of my system that way. Sanity is one of my main reasons for loving art.”
As for the historic building itself, Isely-Poltrock even likes the smell of the place, which has housed various businesses for more than 150 years.
“I just love this space,” she said. “It’s got that ‘old building’ smell, and I love the energy of the place and all the people here. I hope people come on Saturday and wander around, going into different studios.
Other stops
Also in the 16th Street Studios:
- Draw Joseph in Suite 1204 is an art figure drawing studio. Tuesday Night Open Draw, is 6 to 8:30 p.m. every Tuesday. There is also a monthly portrait session from 1 to 3:30 the second Sunday of each month. Sessions are open to the public and are free. Art supplies are provided.
- Madam D’s, Suite 2390, is a store featuring vintage jewelry, vintage and boutique clothing and accessories.
- The Old Book Corner, Suite 2343, features a large variety of fine bindings, poetry, vintage and classic children’s, Wisconsin history, Civil War history, general history, Scottish and Celtic, classic novels, biography and books on theology and worlds religion.
- Dale’s Upstairs Gallery, Suite 4612W, buys and sells vintage art, antiques and artifacts.
——————-
What: 27th anniversary open house and holiday art market
Where: 16th Street Studios in the Racine Arts and Business Center, 1405 16th St.
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2
Admission: Free
Details: More than70 artists who have studios in the 550,000-square-foot mixed use industrial building open their spaces to the public. Visitors can meet with the artists and purchase paintings, drawings, collage, pottery, jewelry, sculpture, photographs and more.
Food: Chit and Chaat will be serving Italian and Pakistani food, including sweets, in the building’s second floor café, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Also on Saturday: The “Spirit of Racine Entrepreneurs Exhibit,” also at the Racine Business Center, hosts an open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2. The exhibit features Racine memorabilia, including an original toy Mitchell wagon, a candy-making machine from the Racine Confectioner’s Machinery Co., the original Nelson Dime Store sign, political posters and an old pinball machine, all made in the building. Donations of old Racine memorabilia are always welcome.
Getting there: Free parking is available on the street and in the east and west lots. Visitors should enter the building on its north side at either of its two entrances, identified by canopies carrying the avenue numbers, 1405 and 1515. Greeters will provide maps and directions to elevators and stairways.
About the building: The Racine Arts and Business Center bills itself as “the oldest business incubator in the United States.” The brick complex was constructed around 1865. In 1995, artists began occupying space in studios that boast exposed brick and beams and large windows.
More information: facebook.com/16thstreetstudios
Racine’s 16th Street Studios hosting open house, art market
There are two things to know about Saturday’s open house at the 16th Street Studios in the Racine Arts and Business Center:
- The resident artists are excited to welcome the public to tour their studios.
- You can find a little bit of summer inside the expansive space.
That instant shot of summertime is thanks to Sarah Andersen, who fills her bright, sun-filled third-floor studio with her colorful acrylic paintings.
The retired art teacher, who taught at Forest Park elementary School in Kenosha, loves working in a space with 70-some artists.
“There’s so much energy, and everyone is so happy to be here,” she said. “I call this my happy place.”
Her work is influenced by nature.
“I’m a big-time gardener, and the environment is really important,” she said. “When I’m working here, I’m in a summer garden all winter long. People can stop in here and escape from the cares of the world for a while.”
People are also reading…
She’s always loved painting — “you can do anything with paint” — and is hoping “for a good turnout on Saturday. Each of the artists here has their own style and way of looking at the world. It’s a good thing, and we need good things.”
Since the beginning
Susan Sorenson, who also works on the third floor, has been showing her paintings at the open house since 1986, when she was a guest artist.
She’s been in her own studio since 2004.
“I’ve always done art,” said Sorenson, who’s been drawing and painting since childhood. “It’s a different way of looking at life, and all artists create their own reality.”
She does a lot of collage work, which requires “composition, improvisation, rhythm and problem solving.”
The 16th Street Studios, she said, “is a great community of artists. I’ve met so many friends in this space over the years.”
Ceramic artist
While Sorenson is a longtime resident artist in the studios, Nate Hunter is somewhat of a new kid on the block.
The ceramic artist moved to the building about two years ago — and he’s already in his second space, now on the first floor.
“I needed a bigger space here,” he said, walking around the expansive studio No. 1470.
The Kenosha artist, who does his art full time, describes his work as “functional and sculptural ceramics.”
Hunter started working in ceramics in 2001.
“I took a class at UW-Parkside and fell in love with it on the first day,” he said.
A big part of his work is making pottery pet bowls.
“I started that in January, after buying the business,” he said. “It’s wholesale. I sell the bowls to stores all over the country.”
During Saturday’s event, he’ll be selling “overstocks and seconds, with good deals on pet bowls here in the studio,” along with his ceramic art, too.
The best part of his new space … besides all the space? He has a door “leading to my own loading dock. I can drive right up and unload items.”
The open house, he added, “is such a fun event, with lots of food and artwork all over. It brings people into our building and shows that we really do have an art scene here.”
Keep on pushing
Robert Mayer, who does ceramics in his second-floor studio, enjoys “sharing ideas here with other artists. I like the team aspect, which helps with the creative process. We critique each other’s works and feed off that. It makes you a better artist.”
Mayer, who was an art teacher and then a landscape architect for 38 years, is always “challenging myself to do something different. I try to do work that takes me out of my comfort zone.”
The open house “is a great way to get people here. A lot of people who live in Racine don’t even know this place exists, but it’s really a great building and a great community of artists.”
The year of the metal
When you walk into Rebecca Bissi’s studio, you never know what you’ll encounter.
The retired fashion designer started off painting florals — which she still does — and also creates 3D works by pounding carpenter nails or stainless steel bolts into a canvas and adding Swarovski crystals.
“I don’t look at this as a sales event,” Rebecca Bissi said of the open house. “It’s just a really nice way to welcome people to come and see a working art studio.”
Bissi works out of a 1,200-square-foot fourth floor studio that offers ample space — and light — for her large-scale works.
This year, she’s been working in metals.
“CM Routing Co., next door here, had these little metal cubes in their garbage,” she said. “I went over and talked to them and bought some to incorporate into these new pieces.”
The metal works, and the Swarovski crystals, take on different looks depending on the lighting.
“It’s a fresh take on this whole concept,” Bissi said.
She’s been working on items for the holiday open house since June and designed her studio space around the pieces for a cohesive look.
As for 2024? She’ll be busy “working on room dividers and black-and-white flowers.”
‘A great space’
Kenosha artist Missy Isely-Poltrock has worked at the building for four years and loves “the history of this building.”
Her artwork includes abstract collages that often feature images of angels.
“I think there are all kinds of signs of angels in the world,” she explained, “and I like to bring them to people’s attention.”
One of her latest projects includes adding Pennoyer Park sea glass to her angel pieces.
“I have a great love for Lake Michigan,” said Isely-Poltrock, who says working on art “is a sanity issue for me. I get things out of my system that way. Sanity is one of my main reasons for loving art.”
As for the historic building itself, Isely-Poltrock even likes the smell of the place, which has housed various businesses for more than 150 years.
“I just love this space,” she said. “It’s got that ‘old building’ smell, and I love the energy of the place and all the people here. I hope people come on Saturday and wander around, going into different studios.
Other stops
Also in the 16th Street Studios:
- Draw Joseph in Suite 1204 is an art figure drawing studio. Tuesday Night Open Draw, is 6 to 8:30 p.m. every Tuesday. There is also a monthly portrait session from 1 to 3:30 the second Sunday of each month. Sessions are open to the public and are free. Art supplies are provided.
- Madam D’s, Suite 2390, is a store featuring vintage jewelry, vintage and boutique clothing and accessories.
- The Old Book Corner, Suite 2343, features a large variety of fine bindings, poetry, vintage and classic children’s, Wisconsin history, Civil War history, general history, Scottish and Celtic, classic novels, biography and books on theology and worlds religion.
- Dale’s Upstairs Gallery, Suite 4612W, buys and sells vintage art, antiques and artifacts.
BMW and Alex Israel will unveil REMEMBR at Art Basel in Miami Beach 2023. In a captivating fusion of art and technology, the AI-powered, participatory video installation guides visitors on a journey through time and memory.
Munich/Miami Beach. On the occasion of Art Basel Miami Beach 2023, BMW and Alex Israel will unveil REMEMBR, an AI-powered, participatory and interactive video installation that guides visitors on a journey through time and memory in a captivating fusion of art and technology. The new 100% electric BMW i5 played a fundamental role in inspiring Israel for this collaboration. REMEMBR will be exhibited from December 8 to 10, 2023, at Art Basel Miami Beach, the world’s premier art show for Modern and contemporary art. As a global partner of the Art Basel shows, BMW will once again provide the VIP car service.
Alex Israel is a renowned contemporary artist based in Los Angeles, known for his innovative and thought-provoking work that often explores the intersection of popular culture, art and technology. His body of work, which includes paintings, sculpture and mixed-media installations, frequently draws inspiration from the vibrant culture and iconic imagery of his hometown. Israel’s unique artistic perspective allows him to capture the zeitgeist of modern life in a way that is both insightful and engaging. His collaboration with BMW on the REMEMBR video installation, using the BMW i5 as a pivotal inspiration, showcases his commitment to exploring the boundaries of what art can be in the digital age.
“It was a true pleasure to meet with Alex in Munich and explore the BMW i5 together. His fascination with our latest innovation mirrors our shared commitment to blending the worlds of technology, design and art to pursue something truly extraordinary. The BMW i5 is a vehicle that not only moves you physically but emotionally and imaginatively, much like Alex’s art,” said Domagoj Dukec, Head of BMW Design.
Israel worked closely with BMW to develop AI technology that will collect, filter, compose and choreograph the visitor’s phone’s camera content. In an immersive installation across seven custom-designed screens at Art Basel Miami Beach, guests are invited to discover the hyper-memories of Alex Israel and, equally, share their own.
“Working on REMEMBR with BMW has been an incredible learning experience. The electric BMW i5 played a significant role in the conception of this project,” said Alex Israel. “I always say that my real studio is my car. I get most of my ideas while I’m driving around LA and my memories stream and fuse with my imagination to bear new ideas as the radio shuffles and the city passes me by. The i5, with its AI technology and the My Modes feature, resonated for me as a milestone in the evolution of human-machine relationships. The i5 is a memory-making tool that encourages discovery, anticipates human need and tailors experience to each individual driver. Similarly, our phones have also helped to close this gap, evolving from mere communication devices into digital diaries-extensions of our memories and external hard drives in our pockets. REMEMBR asks: what if we could revisit and share all these memories in an engaging way? This project is a testament to the power of technology in shaping our memories and experiences, and I’m excited for visitors to explore it and themselves this December at Art Basel in Miami Beach”, continued Israel.
“For over 50 years now, BMW has initiated cultural collaborations and forged meaningful connections with world-renowned artists and by extension art lovers everywhere – while promoting the creative spirit that drives our brand forward and inspires us all,” said Marcus Casey, Chief Marketing Officer, BMW of North America. “We’re delighted to collaborate with Alex Israel on this project that seamlessly blends art, technology and design, much like the first-ever 100% electric BMW i5.”
REMEMBR reflects BMW’s commitment to innovation, cutting-edge technology and design, which are key features of the new BMW i5. The new BMW 5 Series is digital, dynamic and now, with the BMW i5, also fully electric. The i5 represents the joy of moving forward as a symbol of integration and an empowering mindset. It represents the emotional spearhead that combines tech magic and human-centric design in a fully electric vehicle. The BMW My Modes allow the car to respond to the driver’s mindset with different sensory environments, creating a human-centered approach to the use of technology.
Experience REMEMBR and the fully electric BMW i5:
December 8 – 10, 2023
BMW Lounge at Art Basel Miami Beach Collectors Lounge
Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Center Drive, FL 33139
BMW i5 M60 xDrive: Power consumption combined in WLTP cycle: 20.6 – 18.2 kWh/100 km. Electric range in WLTP cycle: 455 – 516 km
.
‘I am not an anti-Semite’: Pro-Palestine solidarity cancelled across Europe
In early October, when Israel began bombing Gaza, Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam was busy co-curating a planned photography exhibition in Germany.
Feeling worried, he took a break from his work and took to social media to decry Israel’s attacks on the densely populated Palestinian enclave.
Alam is no stranger to human rights abuses and speaking his mind.
In 2018, he was celebrated in Time magazine for his decades-long career documenting political unrest in Bangladesh. That year, he was detained for more than 100 days, accused of “false” statements after criticising Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in an interview.
Since the onset of Israel’s war on Gaza, Alam has posted about the conflict dozens of times on Facebook to his 114,000 followers.
On October 8, one post read: “The news of semi-naked Israeli bodies being paraded is horrendous and cannot be justified … I feel for all Palestinians and Israelis lives destroyed.”
Another, on October 29, said: “This weekend’s horrific violence is the ugly reality of Israeli apartheid, the rotten fruit of decades of occupation of a stateless people divested of basic rights and freedoms.”
On November 21, the German Biennale for Contemporary Photography dropped the veteran shooter, accusing him of anti-Semitism.
“Various posts by Shahidul Alam on his Facebook channel after October 7 have given a platform to content that can be read as anti-Semitic and anti-Semitic content,” it said.
Alam’s two Bangladeshi co-curators, Tanzim Wahab and Munem Wasif, resigned in solidarity, prompting organisers to scrap next year’s exhibition tour of three German cities.
They said that among the allegedly anti-Semitic posts were an “uncommented interview by Shahidul Alam with the Palestinian ambassador to Bangladesh, a comparison of the current war with the Holocaust, and accusations of genocide by the state of Israel against the Palestinian population in Gaza”.
They also complained that Alam had not deleted “racist and other comparable comments” against Israelis from his page, ostensibly made by some of his followers.
Alam, Wahab and Wasif deny the allegations.
“We have a moral responsibility to decide which side of history we will stand on,” they said in a statement on Tuesday.
Alam told Al Jazeera: “I am an anti-Zionist which means I am against colonialism, settler colonialism, against racism, against apartheid and genocide.
“I am not an anti-Semite, and it’s most unfortunate that Germany chooses to conflate the two, [as this] serves and furthers the white supremacist agenda.”
The episode is one of many high-profile fallouts across the Western arts world in recent weeks over the Middle East war, focused on accusations of anti-Semitism.
Several tense cases are focused in Germany, which has a special responsibility to Israel given its history arising from the Holocaust. However, artists, protesters and activists say Berlin’s crackdown confuses criticism of Israeli policies with anti-Jewish racism.
‘Extremely distressing’
Israel began bombing Gaza after Hamas, which governs the densely populated Strip, attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping more than 200. To date, Israel’s strikes, officially aimed at crushing the Palestinian group, have killed more than 15,000 people, among them many children.
In the wake of the Hamas attack, the Frankfurt Book Fair “indefinitely postponed” an appearance by Palestinian author Adania Shibli, who was due to receive a prize for her novel Minor Detail on October 20.
On November 13, Haitian-born curator Anais Duplan was left “speechless” after his Afrofuturism exhibition at Germany’s Museum Folkwang was abruptly cancelled by the museum’s director Peter Gorschluter.
Gorschluter said Duplan’s social media posts “do not acknowledge the terroristic attack of the Hamas and consider the Israeli military operation in Gaza a genocide”.
Meanwhile, several artists have resigned from their posts at the renowned German modern art exhibition, Documenta, in a showdown that has dominated Europe’s cultural headlines for weeks.
On November 16, most of the exhibition’s six-member finding committee quit in solidarity with Ranjit Hoskote, who had quit days earlier after a German daily, Suddeutsche Zeitung, revealed that he had signed a 2019 letter published by the Indian arm of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
That letter prompted German accusations of anti-Semitism against Hoskote, a writer and curator.
Earlier, the managing director of Documenta, Andreas Hoffmann, publicly condemned two Indonesian artistic directors of the last Documenta in 2022 for allegedly liking, and then unliking, an Instagram post in support of Palestine.
The pro-Palestinian post had been published by British artist and activist Hamja Ahsan, who took part in Documenta’s 2022 edition as a solo artist. Ahsan’s Instagram account username, realdocumenta, was later suspended. He alleged that Hoffmann had complained to the social media platform citing a trademark violation.
Ahsan told Al Jazeera he believes Hoffman’s complaint was a pretext to censor his pro-Palestinian content, as he described the episode as “extremely distressing”.
Hoffmann said that Ahsan’s username “infringed the trademark ‘Documenta’ … Based on its terms of use, Instagram came to the conclusion that the account had to be blocked.”
‘Propaganda against Palestinians’
Cultural sectors from the United Kingdom to the Netherlands have been impacted, too.
Earlier this month, several filmmakers withdrew from the world’s leading documentary festival, held in the Netherlands, after organisers criticised a pro-Palestinian protest on opening night during which activists raised a banner on stage reading “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.
The artistic director of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Orwa Nyrabia, initially applauded the protest, but later condemned the slogan.
Palestinian filmmaker Basma Alsharif, who was among those to abandon the festival, accused Nyrabia of peddling misinformation.
“This kind of propaganda against Palestinians of being anti-Semitic is the thing that has been used widely against us for a long time,” Alsharif told Al Jazeera of the “river to the sea” slogan, which is deemed a rallying cry by pro-Palestinian protestors, but a call to destroy Israel by supporters of the Jewish state.
“There have been decades of fighting to get that [misinterpretation] cleared up and clarified but it’s very clear that it’s not working, because [accusations like this] are being used very aggressively against us right now.”
Nathan Thrall, an acclaimed American author based in Jerusalem, was looking forward to the London launch of his book, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: A Palestine Story, on October 12, but the event was abruptly cancelled by police on security grounds.
The Palestine Festival of Literature, which was set to host him, announced the measure, which London’s Met Police force did not deny; “We do not comment on security advice given to individuals,” they told Al Jazeera.
Thrall’s work of narrative non-fiction details the challenges faced by Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
He told Al Jazeera that his London appearance had been the “biggest event of my book tour”.
“This was a time when the atmosphere in the UK was very [politically] hostile to expressions of sympathy for Palestinians,” said Thrall.
The writer, whose US book events were also cancelled, added, “Obviously, I wouldn’t want to hold an event if there really was an issue of safety” but questioned whether “events centred around a pro-Israel book would have had the same safety concerns”.
After almost two months of cancellations and condemnation, pro-Palestinian creatives in Europe see an uncertain future.
“Being an artist is already so precarious,” said Alsharif. “So how is it possible that someone’s personal political view on something in the cultural sector [can be] punished?
“That’s a very dangerous precedent. And if you don’t stand up then it means that anything [you say or do] can be scrutinised if it doesn’t fall under an agenda.”
Seminole Tribe’s Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum To Host Art Basal Pop-Up
BIG CYPRESS, FL – The Seminole Tribe of Floridas Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum will participate in Miami Art Week, showcasing a special pop-up exhibit at the Seminole Okalee Indian Village & Venue in Hollywood, Florida on Saturday, December 2. The exhibit marks a milestone for the museum as it debuts at Art Basel for the first time, presenting the exhibit “EeLitchKo” under the category of cultural institutions. Art enthusiasts holding a 2023 Art Basel VIP pass can access this exhibit for free, featuring the latest works from Seminole artists like Samuel Tommie’s dynamic acrylics and Durante Blais-Billie’s intricate natural fiber art. “EeLitchKo” offers a unique chance to engage with Indigenous Floridian artists and their creations. For further details, visit the museum’s website at Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum Pop-up.
In addition to the Art Basel participation, the museum will host two holiday markets. The first, the Hollywood Holiday Marketplace, will take place on Saturday, December 2, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Seminole Park, located at the Seminole Okalee Indian Village. Following this, the third annual Big Cypress Holiday Market is scheduled for Friday, December 8, and Saturday, December 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, at the Museum Festival Grounds. These markets will feature a wide array of Native arts, crafts, clothing, and jewelry for sale, along with Seminole food vendors.
Admission to both the holiday markets and the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum will be free, offering a perfect opportunity to experience and purchase authentic Seminole creations.
This Josh Allen Horse Collar Snow Sculpture Is Amazing
Eric Jones has captured the controversial horse collar tackle with a perfect snow sculpture.
Lee Bul’s sculptures to be featured at Met’s facade
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York will install four new sculptures by Lee Bul, one of Korea’s leading contemporary artists, in front of its building, the museum said Wednesday.
Kinetic sculpture represents Northland’s efforts to protect environment
A controversial climate-change-themed public artwork 13 years in the making is due to be completed in Kerikeri this week.
