How does Berlin compare visually to New York, the epitome of the modern metropolis? German photographer Gerrit Engel has lined the walls of Munich's International Design Museum with nearly 70 images of both, but it's not just a contrast in skylines.
Berline - which next month marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall - can't match Manhattan's array of skyscrapers, but in Engel's survey, its buildings have character to spare.
Engel, 44, is an Essen native who trained in architecture and photography in Munich and New York. His acclainmed 1997 debut as a photographer involved images of grain elevators, a theme that had previously drawn Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier.
In the current exhibition, continuing through Novermber 1, Engel examines his subject buildings like a scientist studying exotic beings.
His "portraits" of houses present individual faces that become a panorama of the city.
Photos from both cities are gathered in groups according to similar characteristics and history. There are massive enlargements of some images mounted in the middle of the gallery, among them such familiar edifices as the Trump Tower, Sony Plaza and Rockefeller Centre.
Anything but postcards, the pictures carry all the realism of broad daylight - no pretty red glow or even a blue aky. The soft, milky grey and white shades of the sky allow the details and nuances of colour to stand out in even greater clarity.
The show is a breath of fresh air, a chance to see these cities as never before. New York is renowned for its magnificent skyline, but it's remarkable to see the components singled out, such as the aptly named Majestic Apartments, built in 1931.
There are many such surprises, such as the fact - little known to outsiders - that Manhattan has white wooden houses. Engel's shots of the Morris-Jumel Mansion and the romantic Engine Company No 31, resembling a little castle, give New York a homier perspective than is usually depicted in the news media.
The exhibition is rather small but lots of fun ride. You can visit two great cities in the space of an hour and see both in a whole new light.
Find out more at www.Die-Neue-Sammlung.de.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
BURMESE MONKS FACE PERSECUTION, SAYS RIGHTS GROUP
Burmese monks continue to face intimidation, repression and severe jail sentences two years after the junta's crackdown on anti-government protests, a rights group said yesterday.
Airport from Human Rights Watch (HRW) said some 240 monks were serving tough jail terms, while thousands have been disrobed or live under "constant surveillance" following their role in the 2007 demonstrations.
The protests began as small rallies against the rising cost of living but escalated into huge demonstrations led by monks, posing the biggest challenge to junta rule in nearly two decades.
The new report said the potential for a repeat of the protests is "very real" if the international community does not put pressure on the regime to enact credible political reform ahead of elections planned for 2010. It details the arrest, beating and detention of individual monks after the 2007 uprising, in which at least 31 people were killed as security forces cracked down on protesters in the country.
The junta has since closed down health and social-service programmes run by monastic groups nation wide and intensified surveillance of monasteries, according to the report.
It said many monks - who also face repression for their important social service role after the devastation of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 - have left heir monasteries and returned to their villages or sought refuge abroad.
The cyclone killed 138,000 people and prompted international criticism of the government's slow response.
"The stories told by monks are sad and disturbing, but they exemplify the behaviour of Burma's military government as it clings to power through violence, fear and repression," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
"The monks retain a great deal of moral authority, making principled stands by monks very dangerous for a government that doesn't."
Meanwhile the rights group accused the junta of using Buddhism as a tool to gain political legitimacy - for example by lavishing gifts on selected senior monks and monasteries.
"It would not be surprising to see monks on the streets again if social grievances are not addressed," Adams added.
On Friday, Burmese authorities freed two journalists who helped victims of last year's cyclone and released several opposition activists as part of an amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners, according to witnesses.
Their release followed another HRW report on Wednesday that said the number of political prisoners in Burman had doubled to more than 2,200 in the past two years.
Airport from Human Rights Watch (HRW) said some 240 monks were serving tough jail terms, while thousands have been disrobed or live under "constant surveillance" following their role in the 2007 demonstrations.
The protests began as small rallies against the rising cost of living but escalated into huge demonstrations led by monks, posing the biggest challenge to junta rule in nearly two decades.
The new report said the potential for a repeat of the protests is "very real" if the international community does not put pressure on the regime to enact credible political reform ahead of elections planned for 2010. It details the arrest, beating and detention of individual monks after the 2007 uprising, in which at least 31 people were killed as security forces cracked down on protesters in the country.
The junta has since closed down health and social-service programmes run by monastic groups nation wide and intensified surveillance of monasteries, according to the report.
It said many monks - who also face repression for their important social service role after the devastation of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 - have left heir monasteries and returned to their villages or sought refuge abroad.
The cyclone killed 138,000 people and prompted international criticism of the government's slow response.
"The stories told by monks are sad and disturbing, but they exemplify the behaviour of Burma's military government as it clings to power through violence, fear and repression," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
"The monks retain a great deal of moral authority, making principled stands by monks very dangerous for a government that doesn't."
Meanwhile the rights group accused the junta of using Buddhism as a tool to gain political legitimacy - for example by lavishing gifts on selected senior monks and monasteries.
"It would not be surprising to see monks on the streets again if social grievances are not addressed," Adams added.
On Friday, Burmese authorities freed two journalists who helped victims of last year's cyclone and released several opposition activists as part of an amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners, according to witnesses.
Their release followed another HRW report on Wednesday that said the number of political prisoners in Burman had doubled to more than 2,200 in the past two years.
Eid gatherings fuel fears of flu contagion
Muslims across the world celebrated Eid al-Fitr yesterday to mark the end of Ramadan, but authorities urged caution as large social gatherings and returning Mecca pilgrims fuelled fears of swine flu spreading.
In Cairo, where two people have died from the H1N1 flu virus and nearly 900 cases have been reported, preachers suggested that worshippers perform the traditional dawn prayer at home rather than at crowded mosques.
"We ought to cancel Eid prayers ...there should be a national campaign to keep crowded places clean and ensure they are safe for people," Suad Saleh, head of Islamic Jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University told the Englishlanguage Egyptian Gazette .Cairo airport authorities have reinforced swine flu testing measures as the end of Ramadan means the return of thousands of pilgrims from Saudi Arabia.
Fear of the virus spreading in the crowded conditions during the pilgrimage is shared by many other countries who are considering cancelling the annual Hajj pilgrimage this year.
Jordanians have been urged to refrain from kissing each other in a bid to combat the contagious disease.
"People should not kiss at social events and gatherings. Instead, they should just shake hands," the government's fatwa department said in a statement ahead of the Eid holiday.
In Jakarta, thousands of people queued for hours outside the presidential palace to pay their respects to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Indonesian officials fearful of the spread of swine flu set up thermal scanners at the open house event, which is part of a tradition whereby people throughout the country ask forgiveness from others for slights and offences.
In the world's largest Muslimmajority country, nearly 30 million people were estimated to have emptied out of cities and towns in a yearly exodus to celebrate the holiday.
The Transport Ministry said 184 people have died in the traffic chaos already.
The start of Eid is traditionally determined by the sighting of the new moon, often dividing rival Islamic countries and sects over the exact date.
In Iraq, Shi'ites loyal to the Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, the nation's top Shi'ite cleric, continued fasting yesterday, observing nationally televised and locally delivered messages that the new moon had not yet risen.
However those who follow the Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ended the holy month of Ramadan early yesterday.
Iraq's minority Sunnis ended Ramadan on Saturday.
In neighbouring Iran, politics overshadowed prayer, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei taking aim at Israel, Western powers and the foreign media. In his sermon, Mr Khamenei said a "Zionist cancer" was gnawing into the lives of Islamic nations.
In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai extended an olive branch to Taliban militants trying to overthrow his Western-backed government.
"On this auspicious day once again I ask all those Afghan brothers who are unhappy or are in others' hands to stop fighting, destroying their own land and killing their own people," he said at the presidential palace in Kabul."They must come to their houses and live in peace in their own country."
Pakistani families uprooted by conflict with the Taliban face a miserable Eid, with no cash to splash on celebrations and desirous of returning to homes they fear no longer exist.
The UN said about two million Pakistanis were displaced as a result of fighting between the army and Taliban militants.
Meanwhile, residents of restive Indian Kashmir jammed markets in defiance of a rise in militant violence to stock up for Eid.
The festival to celebrate the close of the holy month will be held Monday or Tuesday, depending when the new crescent moon is sighted in the restive Himalayan region where Islamic militants have been fighting against New Delhi's rule for 20 years.
Shopkeepers set up extra kiosks to cater to the mad shopping rush.
Muslim separatists who are leading the movement to break away from India and join Pakistan, or declare an independent state, called on followers to show austerity.
In Cairo, where two people have died from the H1N1 flu virus and nearly 900 cases have been reported, preachers suggested that worshippers perform the traditional dawn prayer at home rather than at crowded mosques.
"We ought to cancel Eid prayers ...there should be a national campaign to keep crowded places clean and ensure they are safe for people," Suad Saleh, head of Islamic Jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University told the Englishlanguage Egyptian Gazette .Cairo airport authorities have reinforced swine flu testing measures as the end of Ramadan means the return of thousands of pilgrims from Saudi Arabia.
Fear of the virus spreading in the crowded conditions during the pilgrimage is shared by many other countries who are considering cancelling the annual Hajj pilgrimage this year.
Jordanians have been urged to refrain from kissing each other in a bid to combat the contagious disease.
"People should not kiss at social events and gatherings. Instead, they should just shake hands," the government's fatwa department said in a statement ahead of the Eid holiday.
In Jakarta, thousands of people queued for hours outside the presidential palace to pay their respects to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Indonesian officials fearful of the spread of swine flu set up thermal scanners at the open house event, which is part of a tradition whereby people throughout the country ask forgiveness from others for slights and offences.
In the world's largest Muslimmajority country, nearly 30 million people were estimated to have emptied out of cities and towns in a yearly exodus to celebrate the holiday.
The Transport Ministry said 184 people have died in the traffic chaos already.
The start of Eid is traditionally determined by the sighting of the new moon, often dividing rival Islamic countries and sects over the exact date.
In Iraq, Shi'ites loyal to the Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, the nation's top Shi'ite cleric, continued fasting yesterday, observing nationally televised and locally delivered messages that the new moon had not yet risen.
However those who follow the Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ended the holy month of Ramadan early yesterday.
Iraq's minority Sunnis ended Ramadan on Saturday.
In neighbouring Iran, politics overshadowed prayer, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei taking aim at Israel, Western powers and the foreign media. In his sermon, Mr Khamenei said a "Zionist cancer" was gnawing into the lives of Islamic nations.
In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai extended an olive branch to Taliban militants trying to overthrow his Western-backed government.
"On this auspicious day once again I ask all those Afghan brothers who are unhappy or are in others' hands to stop fighting, destroying their own land and killing their own people," he said at the presidential palace in Kabul."They must come to their houses and live in peace in their own country."
Pakistani families uprooted by conflict with the Taliban face a miserable Eid, with no cash to splash on celebrations and desirous of returning to homes they fear no longer exist.
The UN said about two million Pakistanis were displaced as a result of fighting between the army and Taliban militants.
Meanwhile, residents of restive Indian Kashmir jammed markets in defiance of a rise in militant violence to stock up for Eid.
The festival to celebrate the close of the holy month will be held Monday or Tuesday, depending when the new crescent moon is sighted in the restive Himalayan region where Islamic militants have been fighting against New Delhi's rule for 20 years.
Shopkeepers set up extra kiosks to cater to the mad shopping rush.
Muslim separatists who are leading the movement to break away from India and join Pakistan, or declare an independent state, called on followers to show austerity.
Monday, September 21, 2009
TRYING TO PRESERVE A CULTURAL INHERITANCE
Can the kingdom reconcile the need for housing withits Bronze Age past By Michael Slackman
There is a great clash of values taking place in Bahrain, as it has throughout a region where fabulous oil wealth and the intoxicating influence of globalisation have often overwhelmed heritage and tradition.
The question confronting this small archipelago kingdom in the Persian Gulf is this:Can Bahrain protect the heaviest concentration of graves dating from the Bronze Age found anywhere in the world and still meet the contemporary needs of its people? Can it preserve its past while accommodating its present?
"People are demanding housing, they want development," said Al-Sayed Abdullah Ala'ali,a member of Parliament."They want everything relevant to their lives today."
In only a few decades, petrodollars and modernity have seen Arab states in the Persian Gulf experience increasing living standards while eroding practices that have defined identity for generations. Fishing and pearl diving have been replaced by petrochemicals and financial services. English has challenged Arabic as the language of business. Traditional crafts have become novelties. What little architecture of the past existed has often been bulldozed to make way for the glass and steel skylines of the present."It is a struggle between old and new, between cultural identity and recent developments that confront it, between authenticity and modernity," said Ahmad Deyain, a writer and publisher from a regional neighbour, Kuwait.
Bahrain is a collection of 36 islands in the Persian Gulf, though most of its 730,000 residents live clustered around the capital,Manama. Half a century ago, there were tens of thousands of burial mounds that linked Bahrain's citizens to the islands' ancient past.The graves rolled out under a baking hot sun, most about the height of a car, covered in small jagged slate-grey stones. Bahrainis commonly say there were as many as 300,000.Karim Hendili, a Unesco adviser to the culture minister, said the number was closer to 85,000.
He said that at most there were about 6,000 left in 35 burial fields. That is a figure everyone seems to agree on. And those remaining sites, he said,"are under severe,severe threat".
Built from about 2,500BC to 500AD, they offer a window into what Mr Hendili called "a lost civilisation of the Bronze Age". Bahrain is believed to have been the capital of Dilmun,which lay along a trade route linking the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia. Most of the graves contain a death chamber shaped like a boot on its side. The body was placed in the foetal position while personal items, ceramic pots, personal seals and knives were stored in the toe. The value of the graves is not,necessarily, in what they contain but in what they tell about the lives, values and funerary practices of an ancient civilisation.
"There is a saying here:'You cannot give priority to the dead. You must give housing to the living,"' said Mr Hendili, who calls the graves "burial ensembles of Dilmun and Tylos".
The minister of culture and information,Mai Bint Mohammed al-Khalifa, has been the driving force behind trying to preserve and promote Bahrain's past. She was instrumental in the first World Heritage designation in Bahrain and is working with Mr Hendili to try to have 11 of the 35 remaining burial fields listed as a World Heritage site, too.
But with graves, she confronts not only the existential push and pull of building versus preservation, but also the challenge of vested interests. In essence, it boils down to this:Bahrain's most disenfranchised have been asked to bear most of the burden of preservation, local officials said, because the rich and connected have often been allowed to build on their lands.
Even those who support preservation acknowledge that it has made it hard to convince lower-income communities of the value of such graves when they see, right next door,the houses of the rich and connected rise where graves once stood.
"The problem is, it's a game of interest,"said Yousif al-Bouri, president of the Northern Municipal Council, a body that represents more than 30 villages."There are all these signs that say 'You cannot do this, you cannot do that', and all of a sudden the signs are taken down and the mounds are taken out.These were government lands given to connected people who sold them."
Mr Bouri represents the village of Bouri,about 16km from the capital. Directly across a modern highway is another village, A'ali,population about 9,000. Both are majority Shiite villages and both are bordered by large fields of graves that remain untouched.
There are much larger grave sites in A'ali,too, called Royal Tombs, mountains of sand and rock often taller than the two- and threestorey breeze-block homes people live in. It appears that all of the Royal Tombs have been looted, turned to rubbish heaps years ago. The village has grown up around them.
"The village of A'ali is a unique place in the world where you have the interaction of contemporary life and funerary elements from the Bronze Age," Mr Hendili said. But, he added:"Their protection now is not guaranteed."
The issue of the graves adds to the perception among Shiites that they are secondclass citizens, discriminated against by the ruling Sunni elite."They say it's historic,and that we can't remove them. But in other places, where there are people with power,they can remove them," said Abbas Hamid Ali, 32, who lives next to one of the Royal Tombs."If we remove them, we can make space for cars," said his neighbour, Ali Hassan,30.
Mr Hendili and the culture minister, Mr Khalifa, have some support in the villages.But it may just be that the confluence of interests - the rich who want to sell their land, and the poor who need to build on their land - may be the force that prevails,some experts said. Those in favour of preservation say the government's strategy appears to be to do nothing, and hope that the problem will just go away."The government has turned a blind eye to this because of personal interests," said Mr Ala'ali, the member of Parliament. But that, he said, misses the much larger point, that the conflict should never have been defined as either-or. Preservation and advancement are, in fact, dependent on each other, he said.
"Anyone who has no past," he said,"has no future."
There is a great clash of values taking place in Bahrain, as it has throughout a region where fabulous oil wealth and the intoxicating influence of globalisation have often overwhelmed heritage and tradition.
The question confronting this small archipelago kingdom in the Persian Gulf is this:Can Bahrain protect the heaviest concentration of graves dating from the Bronze Age found anywhere in the world and still meet the contemporary needs of its people? Can it preserve its past while accommodating its present?
"People are demanding housing, they want development," said Al-Sayed Abdullah Ala'ali,a member of Parliament."They want everything relevant to their lives today."
In only a few decades, petrodollars and modernity have seen Arab states in the Persian Gulf experience increasing living standards while eroding practices that have defined identity for generations. Fishing and pearl diving have been replaced by petrochemicals and financial services. English has challenged Arabic as the language of business. Traditional crafts have become novelties. What little architecture of the past existed has often been bulldozed to make way for the glass and steel skylines of the present."It is a struggle between old and new, between cultural identity and recent developments that confront it, between authenticity and modernity," said Ahmad Deyain, a writer and publisher from a regional neighbour, Kuwait.
Bahrain is a collection of 36 islands in the Persian Gulf, though most of its 730,000 residents live clustered around the capital,Manama. Half a century ago, there were tens of thousands of burial mounds that linked Bahrain's citizens to the islands' ancient past.The graves rolled out under a baking hot sun, most about the height of a car, covered in small jagged slate-grey stones. Bahrainis commonly say there were as many as 300,000.Karim Hendili, a Unesco adviser to the culture minister, said the number was closer to 85,000.
He said that at most there were about 6,000 left in 35 burial fields. That is a figure everyone seems to agree on. And those remaining sites, he said,"are under severe,severe threat".
Built from about 2,500BC to 500AD, they offer a window into what Mr Hendili called "a lost civilisation of the Bronze Age". Bahrain is believed to have been the capital of Dilmun,which lay along a trade route linking the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia. Most of the graves contain a death chamber shaped like a boot on its side. The body was placed in the foetal position while personal items, ceramic pots, personal seals and knives were stored in the toe. The value of the graves is not,necessarily, in what they contain but in what they tell about the lives, values and funerary practices of an ancient civilisation.
"There is a saying here:'You cannot give priority to the dead. You must give housing to the living,"' said Mr Hendili, who calls the graves "burial ensembles of Dilmun and Tylos".
The minister of culture and information,Mai Bint Mohammed al-Khalifa, has been the driving force behind trying to preserve and promote Bahrain's past. She was instrumental in the first World Heritage designation in Bahrain and is working with Mr Hendili to try to have 11 of the 35 remaining burial fields listed as a World Heritage site, too.
But with graves, she confronts not only the existential push and pull of building versus preservation, but also the challenge of vested interests. In essence, it boils down to this:Bahrain's most disenfranchised have been asked to bear most of the burden of preservation, local officials said, because the rich and connected have often been allowed to build on their lands.
Even those who support preservation acknowledge that it has made it hard to convince lower-income communities of the value of such graves when they see, right next door,the houses of the rich and connected rise where graves once stood.
"The problem is, it's a game of interest,"said Yousif al-Bouri, president of the Northern Municipal Council, a body that represents more than 30 villages."There are all these signs that say 'You cannot do this, you cannot do that', and all of a sudden the signs are taken down and the mounds are taken out.These were government lands given to connected people who sold them."
Mr Bouri represents the village of Bouri,about 16km from the capital. Directly across a modern highway is another village, A'ali,population about 9,000. Both are majority Shiite villages and both are bordered by large fields of graves that remain untouched.
There are much larger grave sites in A'ali,too, called Royal Tombs, mountains of sand and rock often taller than the two- and threestorey breeze-block homes people live in. It appears that all of the Royal Tombs have been looted, turned to rubbish heaps years ago. The village has grown up around them.
"The village of A'ali is a unique place in the world where you have the interaction of contemporary life and funerary elements from the Bronze Age," Mr Hendili said. But, he added:"Their protection now is not guaranteed."
The issue of the graves adds to the perception among Shiites that they are secondclass citizens, discriminated against by the ruling Sunni elite."They say it's historic,and that we can't remove them. But in other places, where there are people with power,they can remove them," said Abbas Hamid Ali, 32, who lives next to one of the Royal Tombs."If we remove them, we can make space for cars," said his neighbour, Ali Hassan,30.
Mr Hendili and the culture minister, Mr Khalifa, have some support in the villages.But it may just be that the confluence of interests - the rich who want to sell their land, and the poor who need to build on their land - may be the force that prevails,some experts said. Those in favour of preservation say the government's strategy appears to be to do nothing, and hope that the problem will just go away."The government has turned a blind eye to this because of personal interests," said Mr Ala'ali, the member of Parliament. But that, he said, misses the much larger point, that the conflict should never have been defined as either-or. Preservation and advancement are, in fact, dependent on each other, he said.
"Anyone who has no past," he said,"has no future."
A matter of taste
Perhaps no one in Thailand knows more about kitsch than the folks at Reflections.
Veteran designers Anusorn Ngernyuang opened the boutique hotel Reflection Rooms in Bangkok, letting artists give each room its own character.
The 29-room hotel on Pradipat Road in Samsen Nai even has a restaurant called Kitsch. How kitsch is Reflections? Have a look at www.Reflections-Thai.com.
Veteran designers Anusorn Ngernyuang opened the boutique hotel Reflection Rooms in Bangkok, letting artists give each room its own character.
The 29-room hotel on Pradipat Road in Samsen Nai even has a restaurant called Kitsch. How kitsch is Reflections? Have a look at www.Reflections-Thai.com.
IN SNGAPORE, STREET PERFORMANCES BLUR THE LINE BETWEEN THEATRE AND REALITY
Arts festivals offer more than ticketed performandces and free street shows these days-they give us new experiences in innovaive theatre. These take lace outside the arts centres and playhouses, in places we regularly frequent, like cafes, and sometimes it's the viewers who become the actors.
I experienkced three such performances at the recent Singapore Arts Festival.
British experimental group Rotozaza presented "Etiquette", which it categorised as an "autoteatro", indicating that the audience would be putting on the show.
Cafe guests seated at tables for twoeach received a headset linkked to a CD player. On the tables were small blackboadrds and chalk, sheets of paper and tubes of ink.
Everyone remained seated while playing a role, first in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" and then in Jean Luc Godard's "My Life to Live", using their props and sying lines
In this case, though, it was a while before I could adjust my ears to unkderstand the British director and differentiate between his derection and the suggested dialogue. I also wished the script had been adjusted to the setting-a cafe in Singapore rather than in the UK-so tha I could relate what I was seeing to what I was hearing.
Across the table, a playwright from Shanghai seemed to be having similar trounle, and we traded apologies for our limited command of English, which caused both of us to miss cues while we cncentrated more on the director's instructions than our interaction.
This wasn't entirely what "Etiquette" creator Silvla Mercuriali expected.
"There's somethjing very rare and special when two people find a bubble in a public space," she said in a 2007 interview with the New HYork Times. "It's like when two people hav a genuine exchange of ideas or when they're falling in love. It's that sense of event and of moment that we're trying to recreate."
On another visit to the island-state I attended a walking audio performance called "Dream-Work"by Bodies in Flight, another British troupe. Headphones were again required, but this time no acting skills.
About 12 of us gathered around a british man who carried portable audio equipment that fed us the prologue wirelessly.
A woman appeared, seemingly on her way to work. Listening to her recorded inner monoloure as well as live dialogue through our head-phones,we followed her, watching her react to an MRT map and a postbox and buying a cup of coffee.
She then stopped at a Chinese temple, where the performance eneded with our "sound engineer" joining her in a song.
That evening I was at another MRT station for "Dream-Home" bu th eSingaporean troupe Spell 7.
This time we followed a Malayman carying a bouquet of flowers, and then briefly met the same British woman. An Indian woman Ied us back, and the performance ended at a residential high-rise where we bid gopdbye to a Chinese man who called the place home.
Interestingly,and intentionally or not,the four thespians represented the four major populations of Singapore-Chinese,Malay,Indian, and Caucasian.
Deftly crearted,both "Dreams" reconffirm how life and theatre are interrelated,perhaps in the similar way as our personal and public selves.
Since the sidewalk was the stage, we could see [assers-by react to our floating theatre,adding a further layer to the performance.
The heat and humidit were annoying drawbacks,since we walked quite a distance, and this may be why we see fewer walking performances in this corner of the world.
Still, with such keen atention given t every audience member's personal experience,it's a form of theatre that Thai playwrights ought to investigate.
The writfer thanks the National Arts Council's corporate communi cations team for its assistance.
IKEAS IN FLIGHT
Check out these websites for more innovtion: www.Rotozaza.co.uk,www.BodiesInFlight.co.uk and www.Spell7.net.
"Dream-Work" by the British troupe Bodies in Flight, brings improvisational theatre to the streets of Singapore.
I experienkced three such performances at the recent Singapore Arts Festival.
British experimental group Rotozaza presented "Etiquette", which it categorised as an "autoteatro", indicating that the audience would be putting on the show.
Cafe guests seated at tables for twoeach received a headset linkked to a CD player. On the tables were small blackboadrds and chalk, sheets of paper and tubes of ink.
Everyone remained seated while playing a role, first in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" and then in Jean Luc Godard's "My Life to Live", using their props and sying lines
In this case, though, it was a while before I could adjust my ears to unkderstand the British director and differentiate between his derection and the suggested dialogue. I also wished the script had been adjusted to the setting-a cafe in Singapore rather than in the UK-so tha I could relate what I was seeing to what I was hearing.
Across the table, a playwright from Shanghai seemed to be having similar trounle, and we traded apologies for our limited command of English, which caused both of us to miss cues while we cncentrated more on the director's instructions than our interaction.
This wasn't entirely what "Etiquette" creator Silvla Mercuriali expected.
"There's somethjing very rare and special when two people find a bubble in a public space," she said in a 2007 interview with the New HYork Times. "It's like when two people hav a genuine exchange of ideas or when they're falling in love. It's that sense of event and of moment that we're trying to recreate."
On another visit to the island-state I attended a walking audio performance called "Dream-Work"by Bodies in Flight, another British troupe. Headphones were again required, but this time no acting skills.
About 12 of us gathered around a british man who carried portable audio equipment that fed us the prologue wirelessly.
A woman appeared, seemingly on her way to work. Listening to her recorded inner monoloure as well as live dialogue through our head-phones,we followed her, watching her react to an MRT map and a postbox and buying a cup of coffee.
She then stopped at a Chinese temple, where the performance eneded with our "sound engineer" joining her in a song.
That evening I was at another MRT station for "Dream-Home" bu th eSingaporean troupe Spell 7.
This time we followed a Malayman carying a bouquet of flowers, and then briefly met the same British woman. An Indian woman Ied us back, and the performance ended at a residential high-rise where we bid gopdbye to a Chinese man who called the place home.
Interestingly,and intentionally or not,the four thespians represented the four major populations of Singapore-Chinese,Malay,Indian, and Caucasian.
Deftly crearted,both "Dreams" reconffirm how life and theatre are interrelated,perhaps in the similar way as our personal and public selves.
Since the sidewalk was the stage, we could see [assers-by react to our floating theatre,adding a further layer to the performance.
The heat and humidit were annoying drawbacks,since we walked quite a distance, and this may be why we see fewer walking performances in this corner of the world.
Still, with such keen atention given t every audience member's personal experience,it's a form of theatre that Thai playwrights ought to investigate.
The writfer thanks the National Arts Council's corporate communi cations team for its assistance.
IKEAS IN FLIGHT
Check out these websites for more innovtion: www.Rotozaza.co.uk,www.BodiesInFlight.co.uk and www.Spell7.net.
"Dream-Work" by the British troupe Bodies in Flight, brings improvisational theatre to the streets of Singapore.
A Rembrandt, hidden for 40 years, could fetch $41m
Christie's will offer for sale what it calls a Rembrandt "masterpiece"in December, and expects to fetch up to ฃ25 million ($41 million) in what would be an auction record for the artist.
The painting, titled "Portrait of a man,half-length, with his arms akimbo", was painted in 1658 and has been unseen in public for nearly 40 years.
The last time it was sold at auction was in 1930 when it fetched ฃ18,500 pounds, or today's equivalent of nearly ฃ6 million.
"We look forward to welcoming international collectors and institutions from around the world to what will be a landmark auction in the history of the European art market on Dec 8 at Christie's in London," said Richard Knight, co-head of old masters and 19th century art.
With a pre-sale estimate of ฃ18-25 million, one of the most valuable paintings to come to auction for some time will be seen as a key barometer of the strength of the art market, which has contracted sharply during the financial crisis.
The work will go on public display from Dec 4-8.
Soon after the painting was sold at auction in 1930, it was acquired privately by George Huntington Hartford II, an art collector and heir to a large fortune.
Hartford donated the work to Columbia University in 1958, and when students occupied the president's office in 1968 during a demonstration, it was removed and put into storage.
It was sold again privately in 1974 and has been in the same collection since. It was last seen in public in 1970 at the "Rembrandt After 300 Years" exhibition in Detroit.
In 1658, when the work was painted,Dutch master Rembrandt was forced to sell his house in Amsterdam and move to a smaller studio, having been declared bankrupt two years earlier.
Only one other painting by the artist dated from 1658 is known to exist:"Selfportrait" in the Frick Museum in New York.
According to Christie's, the auction record for a Rembrandt is ฃ19.8 million (then $29 million) set at Christie's in London in 2000. The top price at auction for an old master picture was ฃ49.5 million ($77 million) for "The Massacre of the Innocents" by Peter Paul Rubens set at Sotheby's in London in 2002.
Also on offer at the Christie's December sale will be "Saint John the Evangelist"by Italian artist Domenico Zampieri, also known as Il Domenichino.
The Baroque work has been valued at ฃ7-10 million.
The painting, titled "Portrait of a man,half-length, with his arms akimbo", was painted in 1658 and has been unseen in public for nearly 40 years.
The last time it was sold at auction was in 1930 when it fetched ฃ18,500 pounds, or today's equivalent of nearly ฃ6 million.
"We look forward to welcoming international collectors and institutions from around the world to what will be a landmark auction in the history of the European art market on Dec 8 at Christie's in London," said Richard Knight, co-head of old masters and 19th century art.
With a pre-sale estimate of ฃ18-25 million, one of the most valuable paintings to come to auction for some time will be seen as a key barometer of the strength of the art market, which has contracted sharply during the financial crisis.
The work will go on public display from Dec 4-8.
Soon after the painting was sold at auction in 1930, it was acquired privately by George Huntington Hartford II, an art collector and heir to a large fortune.
Hartford donated the work to Columbia University in 1958, and when students occupied the president's office in 1968 during a demonstration, it was removed and put into storage.
It was sold again privately in 1974 and has been in the same collection since. It was last seen in public in 1970 at the "Rembrandt After 300 Years" exhibition in Detroit.
In 1658, when the work was painted,Dutch master Rembrandt was forced to sell his house in Amsterdam and move to a smaller studio, having been declared bankrupt two years earlier.
Only one other painting by the artist dated from 1658 is known to exist:"Selfportrait" in the Frick Museum in New York.
According to Christie's, the auction record for a Rembrandt is ฃ19.8 million (then $29 million) set at Christie's in London in 2000. The top price at auction for an old master picture was ฃ49.5 million ($77 million) for "The Massacre of the Innocents" by Peter Paul Rubens set at Sotheby's in London in 2002.
Also on offer at the Christie's December sale will be "Saint John the Evangelist"by Italian artist Domenico Zampieri, also known as Il Domenichino.
The Baroque work has been valued at ฃ7-10 million.
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