Sumadera (須磨寺) is a unique #temple full of iconographic #arts, at the western end of Kōbe (神戸). Perhaps because it's not in Kyōto or Nara, there is little information available online about Sumadera, even in #Japanese. It was founded in 886 and has its own branch of Kūkai's #Shingon#Buddhism: Sumadera-ha (真言宗須磨寺派). It is internationally active, and a place for #religious practices rather than an outdoor museum. By the same token, it's free to enter.
Suma appears in ancient waka poetry (和歌) of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables, and is associated with the Heike Monogatari (平家物語). I was determined to go, despite the rain, because I'd read an article clarifying wabi and sabi with a #waka coincidentally about Suma. The first photos show Sumadera's exchanges with #Nepal resulting in a display of Tibetan #Buddhist and #Hindu#iconography. Although there was light rain on the beach at first, later up at Sumadera the day turned bright.
The key to the Tories political strategy is the centrality of impoverishment - we can see it in the enforced poverty for austerity, in the dismantling of social provisions across local government & of course, we can see it in the dismemberment of the cultural sector in this country.
The Tories have impoverished us to capture society's (multitudinous) value(s) for the rich.
They are plunderers of the economy, of society & of culture...
#CfP for the #workshop "The Bourgeois Public Discusses #Art II: #Arts and their Publics in Central Europe Between Regional and European Centres", which will take place in Prague on October 17-18, 2024.
#CfP for the #webinar "Dire la fêlure. La #vulnérabilité dans la #littérature et les #arts contemporains. (webinaire Carnet critique)", which will take place on April 29-30, 2024.
My real worry with Google's voyage into enshittification (thanks to Cory Doctorow @pluralistic the term) is YouTube.
Through YT, for the past 15 years, the world has basically entrusted Google to be the custodian of pretty much our entire global video archive.
There's countless hours of archived footage — news reports, political speeches, historical events, documentaries, indie films, academic lectures, conference presentations, rare recordings, concert footage, obscure music — where the best or only copy is now held by Google through YouTube.
So what happens if maintaining that archival footage becomes unprofitable?
"If you don’t know a lot about art but you know what you like, and what you like is large-breasted elf maidens, you are entering the best possible future. You might think, Hey, that’s what the market demands. But humans get bored with everything. We’re just about done with Ant-Man movies.”
🆕 Eight new research contracts were awarded to the IHC under by the FCT: six in the Junior Researcher category and two in the Assistant Researcher category, which will result in five new members joining the Institute. 🥳
1,300 U.K.-based actors and artists including Olivia Colman and Harriet Walter have signed a letter accusing cultural institutions of censoring those who speak out on behalf of Palestine. The letter identifies a list of incidents including Melissa Barrera's firing from "Scream 7" and the cancelation of Ai Weiwei's London exhibition. The Independent has more.
Nearly four years after this all started, Covid is still hurting theaters. Playgoers everywhere haven't returned in the same numbers. The quirky dramas and groundbreaking new plays that are integral to our mission can be a particularly rough sell.
Have you changed your going-out habits since the shutdown ended (or has it not ended for you)? Do you experience the arts on a screen now?
Curious to hear Mastodon opinions, so please boost. Thank you!
#CfP for "Queering the #Family : Exploring Non-Normative Family Figures in #Literature, #Arts, and the #Media", which will be published in "#Whatever. A Transdisciplinary Journal of #Queer Theories and Studies, 7 (Summer 2024)".
#CfP for the #conference "Tangentiality: Passing Relations in the #Arts, #Literature, Music, and Performance", which will take place at the University of Copenhagen (#uni_copenhagen) on October16-17, 2024.
If you're interested in the politics of public subsidy of the #arts, then Lambert Zuidervaart's, Art in Public (2011), will be a good investment. While at times pretty dense, its a forensic discussion of the justification for subsidy, why it encounters political problems & the wider role of the arts in society. Its full of interesting insights & will offer #artists & arts administrators some helpful prompts for thinking about their work @bookstodon
When I first moved back to Kuching, I was frustrated by the tourism board’s (and pretty much everyone else’s) insistence to portray this place as all about jungles and loincloths. It’s not. Until I met the organisers of the What About Kuching festival. Proud to say I’ve been part of the organising committee and management of this month-long, community driven Kuching festival since 2017.
Any #rug hooking people out there? I want to make my first ever hooked rug -- a small one using #fabric strips. I bought a rug hook (2mmx1.25). Is this the right tool, and what washable backing stuff should I use? Should I get Monk's #cloth, or some sort of #canvas or burlap? The intent is for a small bathroom rug that I can sometimes wash (maybe by hand). #arts#crafts#hooking#rughooker#rughooking#fiber#fibrearts#fiberarts
Visual Activism in the 21st Century: Art, protest and resistance in an uncertain world
"Our investigation is concerned with two domains – relating to the visual and to activism – and is premised on the question of whether there is good reason to believe that there is an increasingly strong association between these two domains"
The art of protest. Culture and Activism from the civil rights movement to the present
"My title, The Art of Protest, is meant to suggest two related things: (1) that the arts have played a significant role in social protest movements,
and (2) that movements need a certain degree of strategic artfulness to be successful in the current age". (T.V. Reed)