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Think before you shoot (November 22 2012) Think before you shoot (November 22 2012)

Kevin Macdonald the 45 year old Scottish director, best known for his films One Day in September, State of Play, The Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void and Marley; has been profiled by Ian Burrell for The Independent in an article titled ‘’The world is full of opinion. What we need is people who go out and find the facts’. Burrell states “Think before you shoot,” is the advice of the Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald to anyone with a newly acquired video camera who fancies themselves as a bit of a film-maker. …at the forefront of exploring the internet-driven phenomenon of amateur documentary making – celebrated in his crowd-sourced film Life in A Day, which was based on 80,000 clips submitted to YouTube, all recorded on 24 July 2010. Yet the remarkable snapshot of modern life, later shown on BBC1, did not convince Macdonald him that the age of the amateur is upon us. “You would find beautiful little moments and very talented people who had done something really special but that was the needle in the haystack,” he says. “It has become as easy to write a blog as it is to make a film or take a photograph – you don’t need any particular skill, you can just do it. There’s a democratising side to it but it also means that a lot of stuff gets sprayed out there. Nobody thinks before they switch on the video recorder.” …Documentary making has become harder than ever, Macdonald maintains. “These days if you had £120,000 for a documentary you would say that’s unbelievable. Today, 18 years later, you are expected to make something for BBC4 on the same subject for £40,000, which is the equivalent of £20,000 back then.”

 

Inspired by Ian Burrell ow.ly/fmTBk image source BBC ow.ly/fmTt3

Must put the marginalised at the centre (October 25 2012) Must put the marginalised at the centre (October 25 2012)

Pauline Rose the British Director of the EFA Global Monitoring Report and former Senior Policy Analyst with the GMR team has published an article on Aljazeera titled “’Education First’ must put the marginalised at the centre” stating there is a need to draw attention to unacceptable levels of education inequality across countries and between groups. Rose states “Goal-setting often leads to attention being paid to low-hanging fruit – those easiest to reach, making it possible to show progress most quickly. Unfortunately, in education, this approach has left 61 million children – many of them poor, girls and those living in remote rural locations – missing out on the push towards getting all children into school by 2015. It is welcome that one of the three areas being addressed by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, in his new global initiative launched on September 26, 2012, “Education First” is putting every child into school. To achieve this important intention, future goals and any discussions of a post-2015 agenda must include equity-based targets so that the marginalised benefit from progress. This is a remediable injustice and one which we must all work to resolve. …Some children or young people may have been disadvantaged by more than one factor in their access to school. …A key reason for the likely failure to reach the 2015 deadline of the six Education for All goals is because marginalised have not been given enough attention.  For this reason, education goals set after 2015 must include equity-based targets.”

 

Inspired by Aljazeera ow.ly/ezw0M image source Twitter ow.ly/ezvYT

Daniel Gros the German Director of the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies, and former economic adviser to the European Commission, believes that only determined action by EU governments that is strongly supported by their citizens will save the common currency. Gros published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘Democracy versus the eurozone‘ in which he states “The reality is that the larger member states are more equal than the others. Of course, this is not fair, but the EU’s inability to impose its view on democratic countries might actually sometimes be for the best, given that even the Commission is fallible. The broader message from the Greek and French elections is that the attempt to impose a benevolent creditors’ dictatorship is now being met by a debtors’ revolt. Financial markets have reacted as strongly as they have because investors recognise that the “sovereign” in sovereign debt is an electorate that can simply decide not to pay. This is already the case in Greece, but the fate of the euro will be decided in the larger, systemically important countries like Italy and Spain. Only determined action by their governments, supported by their citizens, will show that they merit unreserved support from the rest of the eurozone. At this point, nothing less can save the common currency.”

 

Inspired by Aljazeera ow.ly/bzDeO image source World Economic Forum ow.ly/bzD9E

Carne Ross the 45 year old British director of a diplomatic advisory group ‘Independent Diplomat’, founded after he resigned from the British Foreign Office having giving then-secret evidence to a British inquiry into the Iraq invasion. Ross has published an article in The Nation titled ‘Occupy Wall Street and a New Politics for a Disorderly World’. In the article Ross states “The global financial crisis has provoked a profound and necessary questioning of the prevailing political and economic orthodoxy. So pervasive is this disillusionment with the current order that it is hard to find anyone prepared to defend it. Disorder is the new order; disequilibrium rules, and old assumptions no longer hold. …The defenders of the status quo claim that only their methods can maintain order. They are, in fact, achieving the opposite. The politics proposed here, and already evident in Occupy and elsewhere, can foment a deeper order, where people are connected to one another, reweaving our tattered social fabric, where work is fulfilling and responsible, and where everyone in society is given their proper voice and their interests are accounted for. Our current political and economic forms have made avowal of these ideals seem archaic, almost absurd. How ridiculous to wish for such virtues! We cannot let such cynicism triumph. A new way is possible, but it has to be enacted, not asked for.”

 

Inspired by The Nation ow.ly/aYfXd image source Jenny Diamond ow.ly/aYg9u

Antonio Manfredi an Italian artist, curator and director of a Naples museum, the Casoria Contemporary Art Museum has set fire to a painting valued at €10,000 to protest the under-funding of arts in Italy. Before cameras, he set fire to a painting by French artist Séverine Bourguignon watching the spectacle via Skype. In an interview with John Hooper of the Guardian, Manfredi stated “There’s no money for upkeep. We were flooded recently. And there are tons of garbage mounting up outside. …This is a war. This is a revolution, an art war to prevent the destruction of culture, and in a revolution, there are winners and losers. …There are about 1,000 works, so this could go on for years, I tell you, it’s not nice setting light to works of art. It’s terrible. Each one has its own story. …You can’t …ask for money from companies in the area that are in the grip of the Camorra, some pay [the mobsters] protection money. Others are actually controlled by them. … in this area, if you don’t have backing from the authorities, you’re in serious danger. My fear is that they’ll let me go ahead and burn the lot.”

 

Inspired by John Hooper http://ow.ly/awOgA image source http://ow.ly/awOz3

Irina Aleksandrovna Antonova the 90 year old Russian Director of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow for the past 50+ years has been the subject of an article by Anna Somers Cocks published in The Art Newspaper titled ‘Firmly in the saddle at 90’. Cocks states, “She has served there for 67 years, joining it one month before the end of the Second World War. “It was August 1945”, she remembers: “The works of art confiscated from the Dresden museums were arriving as war reparations [most were returned in 1955 as part of a political treaty with East Germany]… Since 1961, she has been the highly respected director of the museum, which is only ten years older than herself. Its centenary and her birthday will be celebrated together in great state at the Bolshoi Theatre on 31 May. Directors of the leading museums of the world, members of the exclusive and discreet Bizot Group, a kind of museum summit, are coming to pay homage to a woman who has skillfully navigated the dangerous political shoals of her country and has represented it with distinction abroad.”

 

Inspired by Anna Somers Cocks http://ow.ly/a80H3 image source http://ow.ly/a810j

Neil deGrasse Tyson the 53 year old US astrophysicist and the director of the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History appeared before the US Senate Committee hearing submissions on NASA’s 2013 budget request & space program. Tyson stated “Exploration of the unknown might not strike everyone as a priority. Yet audacious visions have the power to alter mind-states — to change assumptions of what is possible. When a nation permits itself to dream big, those dreams pervade its citizens’ ambitions…  Epic space adventures plant seeds of economic growth, because doing what’s never been done before is intellectually seductive (whether deemed practical or not), and innovation follows, just as day follows night. When you innovate, you lead the world, you keep your jobs, and concerns over tariffs and trade imbalances evaporate … At what cost? … The 2008 bank bailout of $750 billion was greater than all the money NASA had received in its half-century history; two years’ U.S. military spending exceeds it as well… How much would you pay to “launch” our economy. How much would you pay for the universe?”

 

Inspired by Carl Zimmer http://ow.ly/9E620 image source NASA http://ow.ly/9E6Ng

Patrick Doherty the US director of the Smart Strategy Initiative at the New America Foundation claims the US cannot become sustainable, nor can it induce global sustainability, without addressing the way it farms i.e. stop subsidies and switch to organic farming practices. In an article published on Aljazeera, Doherty states “Ill-conceived subsidies are at the heart of the obesity problem in the US and are undermining the family farm, depleting rural and maritime ecosystems, increasing our carbon emissions and suppressing agricultural exports from developing nations. The superiority of regenerative farming is now firmly established: organic agriculture outperforms and out-earns conventional industrial farming… Equally important, organic production produced slightly better yields than standard industrial techniques. Organic farming is also regenerative, rebuilding soils and retaining 15-20 per cent more water, in turn improving drought resistance… A shift from a policy of federally subsidised farmland depletion to regenerative agriculture would allow the farming families of the US to lead a prosperous life, caring for the land. Farmers would once again be stewards of the soil, rebuilding fertility, sequestering carbon, and protecting our waterways, all while feeding people wholesome food.”

 

Inspired by Patrick Doherty http://ow.ly/9eRid image source The Solutions Journal http://ow.ly/9eRcE

Josh Fox the US director and writer of Gasland a documentary film focusing on communities impacted by natural gas drilling and stimulation methods known as hydraulic fracturing has been arrested, handcuffed and forcibly ejected from a congressional meeting for attempting to film the hearing into the hydrofracking practices. Fox states, “I didn’t expect to be arrested for documentary filmmaking and journalism on Capitol Hill… We were there covering a very crucial hearing about a case of groundwater contamination … resulting in 50 times the level of benzene in groundwater and EPA pointed in this case that hydraulic fracturing is the likely cause.” Fox states on his website, “The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a “Saudia Arabia of natural gas” just beneath us. But is fracking safe?” Fox describes his film as “Part verite travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown.”

 

Inspired by James Crugnale http://ow.ly/8ZlBn image source Natural Gas Watch http://ow.ly/8Zmge

Jacob “Jack” J. Lew the 56 year old US Director of the White House Management and Budget recently was appointed the White House Chief of Staff after the resignation of William ‘Bill’ Daley. In an article published by Luke Johnson, Johnson describes how “As the White House’s budget director, Lew has received praise for working with Republicans, even from one of Obama’s harshest critics, “No one was more prepared and more in tune with the numbers than Jack Lew,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) … “He was always very polite and respectful in his tone and someone who I can tell is very committed to his principles.” Lew also previously served as Deputy Director and then Director of Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton Administration from 1995 to 2001. “…in 2008, he served as chief operating officer of Citigroup Alternative Investments, investing in a hedge fund that bet on the housing market to collapse… From 2009 to 2010, Lewworked for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as deputy secretary for management and resources.”

Inspired by Luke Johnson http://ow.ly/8BOsQ image source http://ow.ly/8BORz

Cindy Sherman the 57 year old US artist photographer has been named by Glamour magazine as one of the ‘Women of the Year’, referring to her as the “queen of radical reinvention”, honoring her works for challenging the traditional representation of women. Sherman’s work will be the subject of a major traveling retrospective by MoMA in 2012. Sherman works along in her studio taking on the various roles of cinema including wardrobe, hairstylist, makeup, director and model; to create series of images of herself in costumes recreating specific scenes from movies. Sherman’s interest in the visual arts began as a painter, however frustrated with the mediums limitations she turned to photography. “…there was nothing more to say through painting, I was meticulously copying other art and then I realized I could just use a camera and put my time into an idea instead.”

 

Inspired by artinfo http://ow.ly/7G896 image source Nathaniel Paluga http://ow.ly/7G8dn

David Hare the 64 year old UK playwright and director has been honored with the PEN/Pinter prize. The award established two years ago by the PEN writer’s organization in honor of the late Harold Pinter a Nobel prize recipient, is awarded annually to a UK writer of outstanding literary merit who casts an “unflinching, unswerving” gaze upon the world, and shows a “fierce intellectual determination … to define the real truth of our lives and our societies”. In keeping with the prize’s intent, Pinter’s widow in making the announcement stated, “In the course of his long, distinguished career, David Hare has never failed to speak out fearlessly on the subject of politics in the broadest sense; this courage, combined with his rich creative talent, makes him a worthy winner of the PEN/Pinter prize”.

 

Inspired by Ephraim Hardcastle http://ow.ly/6fhdN image source QUADS http://ow.ly/6fhec

Fabrice Stroun the 42 year old Swiss based independent curator has been announced by the board of the Kunsthalle Bern as the new Director effective from January 1st 2012. As an independent curator Stroun had organized numerous exhibitions at various major institutions, and published various catalogues including monographs and anthologies. Stroun who is a lecturer at the Geneva Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design, has been a reciptrient of the Swiss Art Award as art mediator. Wolf von Weiler the President of Kunsthalle Bern welcomed the appointment, stating “The appointment reflects … commitment to … Switzerland’s foremost institution of contemporary art and its international standing. Fabrice Stroun brings with him a wealth of expertise, both as a curator and as an art editor, at a key point in the evolution of Kunsthalle Bern.” Inspired by artdaily ow.ly/63foZ image source theartnewspaper ow.ly/63fil Stroun brings a wealth of expertise (August 21 2011)

Fabrice Stroun the 42 year old Swiss based independent curator has been announced by the board of the Kunsthalle Bern as the new Director effective from January 1st 2012. As an independent curator Stroun had organized numerous exhibitions at various major institutions, and published various catalogues including monographs and anthologies. Stroun who is a lecturer at the Geneva Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design, has been a reciptrient of the Swiss Art Award as art mediator. Wolf von Weiler the President of Kunsthalle Bern welcomed the appointment, stating “The appointment reflects … commitment to … Switzerland’s foremost institution of contemporary art and its international standing. Fabrice Stroun brings with him a wealth of expertise, both as a curator and as an art editor, at a key point in the evolution of Kunsthalle Bern.”

 

Inspired by artdaily http://ow.ly/63foZ image source theartnewspaper http://ow.ly/63fil

Rowan Joffé the 38 year old UK screenwriter and director has been chosen by HBO and the BBC to write a film script about the WikiLeaks saga based on a New Yorker article written by Raffi Khatchadourian titled ‘No Secrets: Julian Assange’s Mission for Total Transparency’. The script will focus on Julian Assange’s leaking of the US government secret documents via his website and through selected media outlets, and likely to embroil the counter allegations brought against Assange of sexual related crimes in Sweden and his pending extradition. Of interest will be how the script deals with the US attempts to silence Assange’s embarrassing leaks that still continue to disseminate from the WikiLeaks website. The resulting film is likely to be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. Inspired by James White ow.ly/5DhHv image source Zimbio ow.ly/5DhY0 Film script about the WikiLeaks saga (July 29 2011)

Rowan Joffé the 38 year old UK screenwriter and director has been chosen by HBO and the BBC to write a film script about the WikiLeaks saga based on a New Yorker article written by Raffi Khatchadourian titled ‘No Secrets: Julian Assange’s Mission for Total Transparency’. The script will focus on Julian Assange’s leaking of the US government secret documents via his website and through selected media outlets, and likely to embroil the counter allegations brought against Assange of sexual related crimes in Sweden and his pending extradition. Of interest will be how the script deals with the US attempts to silence Assange’s embarrassing leaks that still continue to disseminate from the WikiLeaks website. The resulting film is likely to be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall.

 

Inspired by James White http://ow.ly/5DhHv image source Zimbio.com http://ow.ly/5DhY0

Bryan Fischer a director of the American Family Association (AFA) has created controversy and is battling accusations of racism following his posting on the association’s blog, citing that welfare destroyed African-American communities as they ‘rut like rabbits’. Fischer claims in his blog that “Welfare has subsidized illegitimacy by offering financial rewards to women who have more children out of wedlock. We have incentivized fornication rather than marriage, and it’s no wonder we are now awash in the disastrous social consequences of people who rut like rabbits.” The AFA has now slightly changed his blog entry to remove the reference ‘rut like rabbits’, but essentially remains the same content. Fischer has previously claimed the First Amendment of the US constitution only applies to Christian Americans and not to Jews or Muslims. Inspired by Courtney at feministing ow.ly/4z9X5 image source pinkmap ow.ly/4z9VQ People who rut like rabbits (April 14 2011)

Bryan Fischer a director of the American Family Association (AFA) has created controversy and is battling accusations of racism following his posting on the association’s blog, citing that welfare destroyed African-American communities as they ‘rut like rabbits’. Fischer claims in his blog that “Welfare has subsidized illegitimacy by offering financial rewards to women who have more children out of wedlock. We have incentivized fornication rather than marriage, and it’s no wonder we are now awash in the disastrous social consequences of people who rut like rabbits.” The AFA has now slightly changed his blog entry to remove the reference ‘rut like rabbits’, but essentially remains the same content. Fischer has previously claimed the First Amendment of the US constitution only applies to Christian Americans and not to Jews or Muslims.

 

Inspired by Courtney at feministing ow.ly/4z9X5 image source pinkmap ow.ly/4z9VQ

Tamir Pardo the 57 year old soon to be director of the Israeli secret intelligence service Mossad is claimed to be preparing to apologize to UK officials and pledge that fake British documents will no longer be used by Israeli agents in overseas operations. Meir Dagan who is Pardo’s predecessor refused to apologize for the use of forged British passports in an operation against Mahmoud al-Mabhouh a founding member of Hamas’ military wing that led to his assassination. The UK expelled the Israeli Mossad’s station chief from London after concluding that during part of the operation Israel had forged the country’s passports. 33 suspects using British, Irish, French, Australian and German passports were identified by Dubai police, most of whom acquired false passports to gain access to Dubai for the killing before fleeing to places of sanctuary.

Inspired by CNN wire Staff http://ow.ly/3wnWK

Political Arts | Ian Bunn Visual Artist

My digital art work is essentially politics and art. It’s about iconic people, places and events of our day.  Recorded visually through daily compilations of manipulated digital images, posted online and disseminated via online media and social networks. The works are diaristic in nature that metaphorically record a spectator’s experience of the contemporary digital age.  The resulting work intentionally has a painterly aesthetic acknowledging my historical painting practice.

Adapting Pop Art’s notion of mass media imagery into a context of the contemporary digital age, the work draws on a myriad points of reference. Utilizing fractured images to provide an allusion to the digital noise pounding away daily into our sub consciousness.  The work is essentially popular culture arts, diverging from the traditional Pop Art notion of a pronounced repetition of a consumer icon, instead this work focuses on the deluge of contemporary digital content. The compilation of the fragmented imagery is vividly distractive, not unlike cable surfing or a jaunt through Times Square.

This digital photo manipulation art work is premised on the basis that Pop art in its beginnings, freeze-framed what consumers of popular culture experienced into iconic visual abstractions. With the advent of the techno age, visual information circulates in such quantities, so rapidly and exponentially, that to comprehend a fraction of it all becomes a kind of production process in itself.  Hence this work considers fragmented elements of Popular Culture through an artistic and conceptual exploration of specific people and events of the day.

www.ianbunn.com

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