London Calling: D-10 - Art

 In Geneva, returning to Bristol tomorrow, in London in ten days.

A few rendez-vous:


I call it my favourite place on earth:

Victoria and Albert Museum

The world’s greatest museum of art and design

Opening times

10.00 to 17.45 daily
10.00 to 22.00 Fridays

Presents

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/all-of-this-belongs-to-you/

All of This Belongs to You - About the Exhibition

1 April – 19 July 2015

'All of This Belongs to You' Neon Invitation by Neon Circus 2015

At a time when Britain will be engaged in the democratic process of an election, the V&A will examine the role of public institutions in contemporary life and what it means to be responsible for a national collection. 

A series of specially commissioned interventions around the Museum will raise questions about the opportunities, obligations and limits to participation in this national institution. The exhibition will act as a laboratory for public life and explore the role of design and architecture in defining civic identity, technology, security, citizenship, democracy, the public realm and urban experience. 

On display:

Jorge Otero-Pailos

New York-based artist and architectural preservationist Jorge Otero-Pailos’s installation The Ethics of Dust: Trajan’s Column interacts with the largest object in the Museum. Using conservation latex, Otero-Pailos cleaned the hollow inside of the cast of Trajan’s Column, removing dust and dirt accumulated over decades in this usually unseen space. The result is giant latex ‘cast of a cast’ that is exhibited adjacent to the original, revealing the passage of time, and highlighting the Museum’s duty of care to the public collection.

For more information about Jorge’s work click here www.oteropailos.com/

'The Ethics of Dust' Installation by Jorge Oter-Palios, 2015

muf architecture/art

London-based practice muf architecture’s project titled More than one (fragile) thing at a time takes place within the Medieval and Renaissance galleries. This area of the Museum was originally designed as an archetypal public space, with daylight, sculptures of standing figures, and a fountain. muf’s installation will host a series of activities, all provoked by the existing contents of the gallery and the afterlife of the places those objects came from.

For more information on their work click here www.muf.co.uk/

More than one (fragile) thing at a time by muf architecture, 2015

Natalie Jeremijenko

Natalie Jeremijenko is an engineer, educator and ecologist, her work explores the larger natural contexts we exist within - from atmospheres to animals. Natalie’s created three related pieces under the title Re Public of Air, each considering the Museum within the wider ecology of the city. A Phenological Clock in the grand entrance will depict 12 months in the life-cycle of the flowering plants and pollinating insects that surround the V&A, Ag Bags on the low walls at the front of the museum will introduce plant life to the stone architecture, and a Moth Cinema will create a habitat for insects, celebrating their critical role in our daily lives.

For more information about her work click here www.nataliejeremijenko.com/

Phenological Clock by Natalie Jeremijenko, 2015

James Bridle

James Bridle’s installation Five Eyes takes its name from the alliance of major global intelligence powers. Using an algorithm of the sort employed by these agencies, objects have been automatically selected from an analysis of the Museum collection’s 1.4 million digital records. The resulting displays incorporate the Museum's archive files to create networks of objects that reveal the history and present state of surveillance and state power.

For more information on his work click here

hyper-stacks.com/ 

shorttermmemoryloss.com/ 

Five Eyes by James Bridle, 2015

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All of This Belongs to You: 

Visitor Information

Throughout the Museum
Admission: Free

Download: Guide map (PDF file, 471 KB)

Exhibition opening times

1 April – 19 July 2015
Daily 10.00–17.30
Friday 10.00–21.30

Late night opening

The V&A is open late every Friday. Take this opportunity to visit All of This Belongs to You. Meet friends and have a drink in our café-bar

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Also at the V&A this month:

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

14 March – 2 August 2015. The V&A is delighted to announce that it will present Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty in London in spring 2015. The first and largest retrospective of the late designer’s work to be presented in Europe, the exhibition will showcase McQueen’s visionary body of work.

Visit the V&A exhibition Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

Prices

£17.60 Full, including donation* (+£1.50 booking fee per ticket)
£16.50 Senior citizens, including donation* (+£1.50 booking fee per ticket)
£16 Full (+£1.50 booking fee per ticket)
£15 Senior citizens (+£1.40 booking fee per ticket)
£9 Full-time students, 12 - 17 year olds, ES40 holders, disabled people (+£1.20 booking fee per ticket)
£25 (+£3.10 booking fee per ticket) Family of one adult & two 12–17 year olds
£41 (+£3.40 booking fee per ticket) Family of two adults & two 12–17 year olds

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At the incomparable Tate Modern:

The EY Exhibition: Sonia Delaunay

Tate Modern: Exhibition

15 April – 9 August 2015

The Eyal Ofer Galleries, Level 3
Adult £16.00 (without donation £14.50)
Concession £14.00 (without donation £12.70)

Help Tate by including the voluntary donation to enable Gift Aid
No booking fee on this exhibition
Under 12s go free (up to four per parent or guardian). Family tickets available by telephone or in the gallery.

Link:

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/ey-exhibition-sonia-delaunay

Sonia Delaunay Electric Prisms 1913 Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, Gift of Mr. Theodore Racoosin

© Pracusa 2014083 

Sonia Delaunay (1885–1979) was a key figure in the Parisian avant-garde and became the European doyenne of abstract art.

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, she celebrated the modern world of movement, technology and urban life, exploring new ideas about colour theory together with her husband Robert Delaunay.

This will be the first UK retrospective to assess the breadth of her vibrant artistic practice across a wide range of media. It will feature the groundbreaking paintings, textiles and clothes she made across a sixty-year career, as well as the results of her innovative collaborations with poets, choreographers and manufacturers, from Diaghilev to Liberty.

A knockout show
Adrian Searle, The Guardian

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More soon.

SUIVEZ ICI NOTRE CONFERENCE SUR LES MIGRANTS ET L'EUROPE

Perceptions et perspectives 

des réfugiés 

Politics & Society / Human Rights· More event details ...

Mon Apr, 20 2015 1:00 PM BST — Mon Apr, 20 2015 3:00 PM BST

Live stream here: 

http://livestream.com/GvaPressClub/CIPADH2015

Club suisse de la presse / Geneva Press Club

Perceptions et perspectives des réfugiés 

en Europe :

Quels droits pour les réfugiés des 

conflits en Afrique et au Moyen-Orient ?

Cette table ronde se propose de discuter des perceptions des réfugiés dans les pays d’accueil, étant donné l’importance des crises en Afrique et au Moyen-Orient qui interviennent à une période dominée par des questionnements sur le rôle de l’Europe. Cette rencontre débattra aussi du rôle des institutions politiques européennes et internationales dans cette crise. Enfin, cette table ronde se donne une double ambition : présenter les défis et les violations auxquels les réfugiés font face en arrivant sur le sol européen et réaffirmer leurs droits, tout en abordant les réformes possibles pour mieux les protéger. 

Plus d’informations sur : http://www.cipadh.org

Europe's policy towards migrants - Must read: playwright Anders Lustgarten's article in the Guardian

Comment by playwright Anders Lustgarten in the Guardian about migration and Europe's policy towards migrants:

Anders Lustgarten is a London-based playwright whose work includes "Lampedusa", and "If You Don't Let Us Dream, We Won't Let You Sleep".

His play "Lampedusa" is currently on stage in London at the Soho Theatre:

http://www.sohotheatre.com/writers/writers/anders-lustgarten/

Anders Lustgarten was a finalist for the 2007 Verity Bargate Award with his play The Punishment Stories. On the back of this, he was selected for our year-long attachment programme through which he was commissioned to write A Day at the Racists. This play was produced at the Finborough Theatre.

Anders went on to win the inaugural Harold Pinter Playwright’s Award in 2011 for If You Don’t Let Us Dream We Won’t Let You Sleep . He is currently under commission to the Royal Court and the National Theatre among others.

Lampedusa, his new play, was a straight submission to Soho, who then approached long-time collaborators and co-producers High Tide. It opens here on 8 April.

Anders’s journey captures the progression made by Soho writers from Verity Bargate Award through to production.

Read his column in The Guardian:

Refugees don’t need our tears. They need us to stop making them refugees

Anders Lustgarten

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/17/refugees-eu-policy-migrants-how-many-deaths?CMP=fb_gu

 A dinghy packed with migrants off the Libyan coast. ‘Five hundred people have already died this year; the figure for the equivalent period in 2014 was 15.' Photograph: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters

Extract from the beginning:

These are the people we are allowing to die in the Mediterranean. The EU’s de facto policy is to let migrants drown to stop others coming. Last year nearly four thousand bodies were recovered from the Med. Those are just the ones we found. The total number of arrivals in Italy in 2014 went up over 300% from the year before, to more than 170,000. And the EU’s response, driven by the cruellest British government in living memory, was to cut the main rescue operation, Mare Nostrum.



Extract from the conclusion:

"Our past work in Somalia, Syria and Iraq means those nationalities are top of the migrant list.

Not all migration is caused by the west, of course. But let’s have a real conversation about the part that is. Let’s have a real conversation about our ageing demographic and the massive skills shortage here, what it means for overstretched public services if we let migrants in (we’d need to raise money to meet increased demand, and the clearest and fairest way is a rise in taxes on the rich), the ethics of taking the cream of the crop from poor countries. Migration is a complex subject. But let’s not be cowards and pretend the migrants will stop coming. Because they won’t. This will never stop".

MIGRATIONS AND LOSS OF LIVES: WHAT CAN EUROPE DO?

Another migration tragedy affect the Mediterranean coasts:

700 migrants feared dead in Mediterranean shipwreck

The Mediterranean’s migration crisis worsened on Sunday morning as up to 700 more migrants were feared to have drowned just outside Libyan waters, in what could prove to be the worst disaster yet involving migrants being smuggled toEurope.

If confirmed, the accident means that at least 1,500 migrants have died so far in 2015 while on route to Europe – at least 30 times higher than last year’s equivalent figure, which was itself a record. It comes just days after 400 others drowned last week in a similar incident.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/19/700-migrants-feared-dead-mediterranean-shipwreck-worst-yet

Migrants: un nouveau naufrage fait craindre 700 morts en Méditerranée

Par RFI

Après un nouveau naufrage survenu au large de la Libye dans la nuit de samedi à dimanche 19 avril, le Haut Commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) redoute la mort de centaines de migrants.AFP PHOTO / GIOVANNI ISOLINO

Dans la nuit de samedi à dimanche 19 avril, un chalutier qui transportait des migrants a chaviré au large des côtes libyennes, à environ 120 miles nautiques (220 km) au sud de l'île italienne de Lampedusa. Vingt-huit personnes ont été repêchées. Leurs témoignages laisse craindre que jusqu'à 700 personnes pourraient avoir perdu la vie dans ce nouveau drame en Méditerranée, le troisième du genre en l'espace d'une semaine.

 Si ces chiffres étaient confirmés, il s'agirait de la « pire hécatombe jamais vue en Méditerranée », a déclaré aux télévisions italiennes Carlotta Sami, porte-parole du Haut Commissariat de l'ONU pour les réfugiés (HCR) en Italie. 

Le chalutier a lancé vers minuit, dans la nuit de samedi à dimanche, un appel au secours reçu par les garde-côtes italiens. Ces derniers ont aussitôt demandé à un cargo portugais de se dérouter. A son arrivée sur les lieux, l'équipage de ce dernier a vu le chalutier chavirer, a rapporté le HCR.

D’après la porte-parole du Haut Commissariat, c'est probablement quand les migrants à bord se sont précipités ensemble du même côté à l'arrivée du cargo portugais que le chalutier a chaviré. Une importante opération de secours a été mise en place avec le concours des marines italienne et maltaise, a indiqué un porte-parole de la marine de Malte.

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Tomorrow I'll be in Geneva, Switzerland to talk about solutions and answers to a growing and worrying international problem. Here's the programme, in French: 

Le CIPADH (Centre International pour la Paix et les Droits de l’Homme), en partenariat avec le Club Suisse de la Presse, a le plaisir de vous inviter à la table ronde :

Perceptions et perspectives des réfugiés en Europe

Quels droits pour les réfugiés des conflits en Afrique et au Moyen-Orient ?

Avec :

Mme Mélissa Chemam, Journaliste, RFI et BBC
Mme Manon Schick, Directrice d’Amnesty International, Suisse

M. William Spindler, Expert en communication et porte-parole de l’UNHCR, Division des relations externes/Communication et du Service d’Information Publique

M. Constantin Hruschka, Chef du service juridique de l’Organisation Suisse d’Aide aux Réfugiés, OSAR

Mme Clothilde Terrien, Juriste en droit d’asile, Comité d’Aide Aux Réfugiés, CAAR, ParisM. Aldo Brina, Chargé d’information/projet, secteur «réfugiés» du Centre Social Protestant

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More soon.

"Finding Gold"

 I'm in Bristol for music and arts. No ambiguity. Then the city has the most wonderful and adorable of the people, really... But that's another story.

A day like today was a perfect help in my research, as it was Record Shop Day. Thanks to Rise, record shop on Park Street. 

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Lovely and talented Ema Sierra band today in Rise Record Shop:

Just sharing a few songs:

Ema Sierra

Hexy Go Mouse

https://soundcloud.com/emasierra/hexy-go-mouse

Also discovered at the shop, her single being presented:

Lady Nade

Finding Gold (Live on BBC Introducing)

https://soundcloud.com/lady-nade/finding-gold-live-bbc



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Lovely day in my favourite British City!

Chère Méditerranée

Preparing myself to moderate a conference on migrants' perspectives in Europe, the recent news of more deaths and sufferance in our dear Mediterranean Sea is appalling.

North and South. 

Shall we ever reconcile? Treat each other as equal? With the same rights and the same chances of opportunities? 

Here are a few links for the latest details.

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Press Release

 Terre des Hommes International Federation (TDHIF)

Migrant Children: shipwrecked, rescued or disappearing?

2015: a year of expected tragedies for migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. Terre des Hommes planning to increase support and protection for unaccompanied children in Sicily. EU must operate a radical change of its migration policy. Destination Unknown, a program mobilizing NGOs in Europe to protect children on the move.

Easter break confirmed that the new season has resumed. Not the touristic one on the Mediterranean shores, but the one of smugglers and migrants tragedies. The pitch of the show is basically the same. As well as the consequences.

On Sunday 12^th April, another tragedy raised the number of 400 additional migrants dying in the Mediterranean Sea. Among them, probably children and youth. 150 have been rescued. Some 10 bodies were found, raising the official number of death migrants in the Mediterranean to 500 since beginning 2015.

We need a radical change in the upcoming European Agenda on Migration

EU institutions and Member States must understand that we need and we want a radical change in European’s migration policies, said Raffaele Salinari, Chair of Terre des Hommes International Federation.

Salvatore Parata

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Naufrage en Méditerranée: 400 noyés  
Réaction d’Amnesty International France :

Les 8000 personnes sauvées par l'Italie en fin de semaine, et si les faits se confirment, les 400 personnes  noyées, rappellent avec horreur que rien n'est réglé en Méditerranée. En demandant l'arrêt de l'opération de sauvetage Mare Nostum qui avait sauvé 17 0000 vies, pour la remplacer par une mission de surveillance seule, l'UE tourne le dos à ses responsabilités et menace clairement des milliers de vies humaines.

"Seule une opération de sauvetage coordonnée au niveau européen est à même de répondre aux défis immédiats qui se posent : sauver des vies de la noyade. Aucune autre proposition ne peut être une solution ! Nous en appelons d'ailleurs à François Hollande", s'indigne Jean-François Dubost, responsable du programme Personnes déracinées à Amnesty International France (AIF).

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IOM:

Migrant Deaths Soar in Mediterranean

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Posted on Fri. Apr-17-2015

Italy - As landings of rescued migrants surge in Southern Italy, IOM teams continue to gather evidence of at least 400 presumed fatalities earlier this week.

"While the number of arrivals this year is similar to that registered during the same period in 2014, so many arrivals in so few days is unprecedented," said Federico Soda, Director of the IOM Coordination Office for the Mediterranean.

Italian maritime forces carried out rescue operation of migrants in distress on the Mediterranean Sea throughout Thursday with landings recorded at the ports of Augusta and Trapani, where Italian authorities brought 600 and 580 migrants, respectively.

More here: http://iom.int/cms/en/sites/iom/home/news-and-views/press-briefing-notes/pbn-2015/pbn-listing/migrant-deaths-soar-in-mediterra.html

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RFI :

Parmi les plus de 5000 migrants débarqués entre samedi et lundi, tous partis des côtes libyennes, la majorité est originaire d'Afrique subsaharienne. Il y aurait une majorité d’Erythréens, de Somaliens, mais aussi des Maliens. Des femmes avec des enfants en bas âge, ainsi que de jeunes garçons, probablement des mineurs seuls, étaient à bord des embarcations qui ont fini par atteindre les côtes italiennes.

L’organisation Save the Children a recensé environ 450 mineurs, dont 317 non accompagnés. Elle rapporte aussi le récit de plusieurs d'entre eux qui racontent être restés séquestrés et battus pendant quatre mois dans des conditions épouvantables à Tripoli, le temps que les passeurs soutirent autant d'argent que possible à leurs proches

Les rescapés continuent de débarquer en divers points des côtes italiennes et notamment en Sicile. Le quotidien La Reppublica raconte que sur l’une des embarcations qui a atteint le port de Palerme, il y avait 102 Somaliens, essentiellement des hommes, mais aussi quatre femmes enceintes. Un deuxième bateau a rapatrié 95 migrants venant de Côte d'Ivoire, du Sénégal, du Mali, et du Nigeria.

L’autre région de provenance est le Moyen-Orient, en particulier la Syrie et l’Irak. 
Toutes ces personnes s'efforcent de gagner l'Europe à la faveur du chaos qui règne en Libye. Près de 1000 migrants ont péri noyés depuis le début de l'année.

La police italienne a arrêté jeudi quinze migrants africains soupçonnés d'avoir jeté à la mer une douzaine de leurs compagnons d'infortune de confession chrétienne. Par ailleurs, une quarantaine d'autres clandestins seraient morts noyés après le naufrage de leur bateau pendant la traversée de la Méditerranée. Des centaines de migrants rescapés sont arrivés ces derniers jours à Reggio Calabria, en Italie, la plupart venant d'Afrique subsaharienne.

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"Song to the Siren"

Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, Elizabeth Fraser, Tim and Jeff Buckley linked in one song...

"Song to the Siren"

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Tim Buckley's version:

Beautiful voice of Liz Fraser with the Cocteau Twins for This Mortal Coil in her version of the song:

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Live from 1983:

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Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren" performed live by Elizabeth Fraser. The song was rarely played live by the Cocteau Twins - the only time I saw it was in December 1983 when they played ULU in London. The 2012 version sees Liz singing it live in the style of the Tim Buckley original vocal from 1968, rather than Liz's recorded performance with This Mortal Coil in 1983:

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Jeff Buckley feat. Elizabeth Fraser - "All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun":

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Elizabeth Fraser later wrote the lyrics of "Teardrop" as an homage to her friend Jeff Buckley.

Massive Attack with Portishead and Liz Fraser- "Black Milk" / "Teardrop":

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"Sing A Song For You" - Jeff Buckley (cover his father Tim Buckley):

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The Siren is meant to be missing, like the sailor, like the fairy, right? And I am meant to be waiting if they're where my heart belongs. Where is my heart? I believed, this time, it was here with me. Still looking for it though.

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The song's lyrics:


Long afloat on shipless oceans
I did all my best to smile
'Til your singing eyes and fingers
Drew me loving to your isle
And you sang
Sail to me, sail to me
Let me enfold you
Here I am, here I am
Waiting to hold you

Did I dream you dreamed about me ?
Were you hare when I was fox ?
Now my foolish boat is leaning
Broken lovelorn on your rocks
For you sing
'Touch me not, touch me not
Come back tomorrow
Oh my heart, oh my heart
Shies from the sorrow'

I am puzzled as the oyster
I am troubled as the tide
Should I stand amid your breakers ?
Or should I lie with death my bride ?
Hear me sing
'Swim to me, swim to me
Let me enfold you
Here I am, here I am
Waiting to hold you'