Canadian filmmaker and activist John Greyson is no stranger to controversy — whether haranguing Justin Bieber to pull concerts scheduled for Israel, supporting queer film festivals in hostile environments, or scuffling with TIFF over the erasure of occupation in special programming, the prolific auteur has seen his share of messy
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Art Threat: News Remix: Mar 23 – April1, 2012 – A bricolage of (some of) last weeks news stories
Nairobi graffiti by artists Uhuru B, Swift, Smokilah and Bankslave Kenyan graffiti artists are painting the walls of Nairobi with reminders of government corruption. Executions are up in the Middle East – in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Yemen – as governments there continue their efforts to quell political turmoil.
Continue readingArt Threat: Le 22, on ferme! – Artist-run centres across Québec support the student movement
Over the last month and a half, students across Québec have been mobilising against the dramatic tuition hikes being imposed by the Charest government and education minister Line Beauchamp. Emerging out of the 2005 student movement that successfully (if controversially) challenged the Liberal government’s proposed cuts to the loans and bursaries
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Bell to gobble up Astral Media
Cross-posted from Mediamorphis Sometimes I just wish I could wake up in the morning and not be thrust into the hurly-burly of all the stuff roiling the telecom-media-Internet industries in Canada. But no! If it ain’t copyright maximalists trying to lock up content (Bill C-11) or spooks trying to stuff
Continue readingArt Threat: The studios are killing independent film – A fantastic Q interview with filmmaker Alex Cox
Yesterday’s Q show on CBC Radio One had a great interview with the director of REPO MAN and SID AND NANCY, Alex Cox. An outspoken critic of the studio system and of government and corporate efforts to crackdown on “illegal” downloading, Cox argues that the corporate studio system continues to
Continue readingArt Threat: Artists invited to join Occupy Arts Committee – 3rd gathering in Montreal set for March 17
Bryant Park, Manhattan. Photo by Eric Walton Montreal artists are invited to join the growing collaboration of the Occupy Arts Committee, a gathering of artists from all disciplines who want to support Occupy Montreal with creative practice. According to organizers, this meeting will be a creation workshop to start imagining,
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Debunking Bill C-11: Why Canadians should be concerned
Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been away for a while. Sorry about that for those of you who missed me. Let’s just say that I learned the hard way the steep cost of blogging, twitter, facebook, writing for the Globe and Mail, all for free, while holding
Continue readingArt Threat: Education versus war – Friday Film Pick: War Made Easy
As students wage a massive strike in Quebec, over proposed tuition hikes that will nearly double rates in a few years, and with police responding like violent fascists—blinding the eye of one young student only two days ago—it seems an apt time to reflect on the hierarchy of values, matched
Continue readingArt Threat: Occupy Museums challenges Armory Show – Artists invited to join free art exchange at Piers 92 / 94 in NYC
New York’s prestigious Armory Show opens on March 8th at Piers 92 & 94 in New York. The Armory Show was created in 1913 amid the challenges and excitement of early 20th century avant-garde art and artists intent on denouncing the status quo. Today, the Armory Show is the status
Continue readingExponential Book: Whither scientific publishing ?
I come back to one of my favorite subjects, prompted by a recent comment asking for my opinion on the proposed boycott of Elsevier, a company publishing a number of scientific journals. In the eyes of many, some of Elsevier’s practices are incompatible with the ultimate goal of achieving the
Continue readingArt Threat: The challenge of exhibiting feminist art
A valuable collection of insight into the exhibition of feminist artwork is now available to the public. FeministDialectic.ca is a new website that features ten curators, artists and museum professionals speaking on the challenges and opportunities presented by the acquisition, preservation and exhibition of feminist artwork by public art galleries
Continue readingArt Threat: Gasland director arrested in Washington – Politicians have acclaimed filmmaker hauled away from hearing
Josh Fox is an American video artist who rose to critical acclaim for his 2010 documentary feature breakthrough, Gasland. The creatively funky, seriously personal, and lively-paced film chronicles Fox’s investigation into hydraulic fracking (where deposits of natural gas are extracted from the earth leaving poison and destruction behind) resonated with
Continue readingCanada II: An Alternate Economic Strategy
It has become clear that the Harper government is all about exploiting resources. In particular, there is a large push to shrink government, curtail government programs, and aggressively expand natural resource exploitation even at the risk of alienating a large segment of the population – which they are willing to
Continue readingCanada II: An Alternate Economic Strategy
It has become clear that the Harper government is all about exploiting resources. In particular, there is a large push to shrink government, curtail government programs, and aggressively expand natural resource exploitation even at the risk of alienati…
Continue readingCanada II: An Alternate Economic Strategy
It has become clear that the Harper government is all about exploiting resources. In particular, there is a large push to shrink government, curtail government programs, and aggressively expand natural resource exploitation even at the risk of alienating a large segment of the population – which they are willing to
Continue readingCanada II: Parsing the Crown-First Nations Gathering Speech
From the Canadian Government’s Stephen Harper blog: “Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is indeed a pleasure to welcome you on the traditional territory of the Algonquin, to this historic Crown-First Nations Gathering. And it is especially appropriate to do so in this building, a building whose name honours the memory
Continue readingCanada II: Parsing the Crown-First Nations Gathering Speech
From the Canadian Government’s Stephen Harper blog: “Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is indeed a pleasure to welcome you on the traditional territory of the Algonquin, to this historic Crown-First Nations Gathering. And it is especially appropriate to do so in this building, a building whose name honours the memory
Continue readingCanada II: Parsing the Crown-First Nations Gathering Speech
From the Canadian Government’s Stephen Harper blog:
"Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is indeed a pleasure to welcome you on the traditional territory of the Algonquin, to this historic Crown-First Nations Gathering. And it is especially appropriate to do so in this building, a building whose name honours the memory of a prime minister who cared deeply about the things we are gathered here to
Continue readingArt Threat: Is Enbridge using art to greenwash the Northern Gateway?
Enbridge Landscape, an illustration by Harpy. Protests voicing opposition to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines Project are quickly expanding. Public hearings on the controversial tar sands oil transport route — attracting hundreds of participants on the first day and igniting incendiary statements by Conservative politicians — provide evidence that political
Continue readingCanada II: Capital Gains Tax Arguments
Well, south of the border Mitt Romney released his tax records.
Death and Taxes
Guess what, everybody is discussing whether or not capital gains taxes should be at a higher rate or not. Of course, we have the usual douchebag economics arguments:
Do…
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