A South African art gallery has agreed not to display a controversial painting of President Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed after reaching a deal with the ANC.
The painting has sparked fierce debate about the balance between freedom of expression and the right to dignity.
Hundreds of ANC supporters protested outside the gallery on Tuesday.
The painting, The Spear, was defaced last week. It will also be removed from the Goodman Gallery's website.
Under the deal, the ANC has agreed to drop its legal action demanding that the gallery remove the painting from its exhibition and the website.
The red, yellow and black acrylic painting showing Mr Zuma echoing Soviet images of Lenin was taken down after it was covered in red and black paint.
On Monday, South Africa's City Press newspaper said it was removing the image of the painting from its website following threats by the ANC.
In a joint news conference, ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said: "Maybe we should not have gone to through lawyers, we should have talked directly."
Goodman Gallery director Liza Essers said: "I believe in the right to freedom of expression and the South African constitution."
"Brett [Murray, the artist] is very saddened by the hurt that the painting has caused," she said.
The ruling party said the painting was "rude, crude and disrespectful" towards President Zuma and wants all images of the painting online and elsewhere taken down.
In an affidavit served on the City Press newspaper, Mr Zuma said: "The portrait depicts me in a manner that suggests I am a philanderer, a womaniser and one with no respect."
President Zuma, who has four wives, has previously sued local media companies 11 times for defamation.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Student artwork on exhibit at Gallery 625 - Davis Enterprise
Student work from two special Yolo County art programs will comprise two group shows opening Friday at Gallery 625 in the County Administration Building, 625 Court St. in Woodland.
The gallery’s main floor will offer “Colorful Screenprints: The Artists of TANA” and feature the work of student and teaching artists practicing the art of screen printing at Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer.
The second floor will be home to “Ceramic Portraits: Students of Einstein and Midtown Schools” created by Einstein Education Center and Midtown School students.
Located in Woodland, TANA is a community art center managed by the Chicana/o studies department at UC Davis. TANA offers a fully functioning silkscreen studio, Chicano/Latino arts exhibition space, and is also a teaching center working to cultivate the cultural and artistic life of the community.
The artists featured in “Colorful Screenprints” include UCD faculty, emeritus faculty, UCD graduates or undergraduates, a community artist and a Woodland Community College student. They are Carlos Jackson and Malaquias Montoya, TANA’s directors; Jaime Montiel, TANA artist in residence; Maceo Montoya, affiliated faculty; and staff members Gilda Posada, Roque Montez, Olivia Hernandez, Jose Chavez-Verduzco, Rocky Rojas and Eddie Lampkin.
Also located in Woodland, the Einstein Education Center and Midtown schools are operated by the Yolo County Office of Education, and provide an alternative education to students from across Yolo County. This arts education program is offered to students through a partnership with YoloArts’ ArtMix program and Safe Schools Healthy Students.
Professional artists JuliAnn Blanco, MaryAnn Kirsch, Susan Shelton and Joyce Winter were hired by YoloArts to teach watercolor, printmaking, drawing and ceramics to students this school year. The project culminated in the school’s first student art show earlier this month. It was positively received by the community and now is moving to Gallery 625.
“The experience of working with a professional artist was fantastic for the students as they not only had the opportunity to learn new skills and techniques in several media but were able to take a project from an initial idea to completed artwork on display, making it an authentic experience and not just a classroom exercise,” said Susan Cassady, alternative education director for the Yolo County Office of Education.
“Ceramic Portraits” will showcase the ceramic portraits created by Shelton’s students. They learned multiple methods for working with clay and were offered the opportunity to “… explore the idea of the many pieces that make up a person, and the changing nature of those pieces …” according to Shelton’s teaching artist statement.
The exhibition’s opening reception will be attended by many of the featured artists and students and will run from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, coinciding with downtown Woodland’s First Friday Art Walk. The reception will also feature Turkovich Family Wines, sponsored by Roth Ranch.
At 7 p.m. Malaquias Montoya, professor emeritus at UCD, will offer a lecture and slide presentation on Chicano art and the murals of Yolo County, including his recently completed mural at the Student Community Center at UCD. The talk is expected to last about 45 minutes.
“Colorful Screenprints and Ceramic Portraits” will run through June 27 at Gallery 625, in the County Administration Building , 625 Court St. in Woodland.
Regular gallery viewing hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. For more information, call YoloArts at (530) 406-4844, or visit www.yoloarts.org.
Short URL: http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=180668
View this story on page A11
Source: www.davisenterprise.com
Painting Philadelphia green - Examiner
In the figurative sense, Philadelphia is getting greener than ever. Collaborations by the Philadelphia Water Department and Streets Department are advancing Philadelphia toward becoming, as Mayor Nutter likes to say, “the greenest city in America.”
The water department teamed with NovaThermal Energy to deploy the first commercial scale geothermal system in the United States for heating a building with domestic wastewater. This pilot project is taking place at the Southeast Water Pollution Control Plant.
The 1-million BTU/hr unit, accessing heat from the adjacent sewage channel, projects a 50% reduction in heating costs for the plant. Some $215,000 is expected to be gained over 15 years.
“We will be able to save on costs and energy resources at a city facility,” explained Mayor Nutter, “while commercializing a technology that can be used in large commercial and industrial buildings throughout the country.”
The project was made possible with funding largely from the city’s Greenworks Pilot Energy Technology Grant program and Energy and Conservation Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of SE Pennsylvania is supporting the measurement and verification of the project’s efforts.
Philadelphians can get involved in not only geothermal heating but the production of fertilizer by using waste disposals in their kitchen sinks. A new pilot program (Clean Kitchen, Green Community) is testing the effectiveness of diverting food garbage from landfills through household garbage disposals.
In this case, the Streets Department has partnered with INSinkErator officials and community groups to institute the pilot along garbage collection routes in West Oak Lane and Point Breeze. One hundred homeowners will be given free waste disposers and installation by local, licensed plumbers. The Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation and Diversified Community Services will lead the effort in their respective areas.
The Streets Department will assess the volume and composition of waste generated before, during and after the pilot. “Food waste disposers move food scraps out of trash trucks and landfills to the water department, where it’s converted,” said Terry Ferry, president of InSinkErator, “into clean water, renewable energy, and fertilizer products.”
That is right. Methane gas, generated as food waste breaks down, can be converted into heat and energy to power water plants, similar to the one in southeast Philadelphia. Solids that remain are processed into fertilizer pellets for use on regional farms. Therefore, much less soggy, heavy waste is trucked and dumped into landfills where methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide, builds up.
“This approach is sustainable,” declared Water Commissioner Howard Neukrug. Plus, it cuts down on unwanted odors in the kitchen. To learn more about Clean Kitchen, Green Community, visit www.philadelphiastreets.com, www.ogontzave.org, or http://dcsphila.org. The respective telephone numbers are 215.686.5560 citywide, 215.549.9462 in West Oak Lane, and 215.336.5505 in Point Breeze.
Another local advance is greening as many as 10 school yards and recreation centers starting this month. This marks the 2nd phase of the city’s Green 2015 Action Plan. One in 8 Philadelphians do not have a public park or playground within walking distance of their homes. This phase pulls the school district, water department, department of parks and recreation, the Trust for Public Land, and the Mural Arts Program into the action. The collaboration will expand public access to green spaces at a cost of about $9 million (about 2/3 from state, city, and school district sources).
“This program represents a triple bottom line for Philadelphia,” stated Dr. Janet Haas, board chair of the William Penn Foundation. “It repurposes existing city property, putting assets we already own to better use. And it brings communities together in attractive public spaces around their schools and recreation centers. In a time of economic scarcity, that level of impact is no small feat.”
The program initially focuses on redesigning and redeveloping the William Dick Elementary Schoolyard, Hank Gathers Recreation Center, and Collazo Park for expanded public use. Cost efficiencies are being gained from redeveloping locations in close proximity, and community engagement and education of students to adults are considered critical. Pending the success of this pilot, the greening of more recreation centers and schoolyards will be announced later.
In addition to increasing the natural world for public enjoyment, expanding green spaces reduces pollution in the storm water system caused by excessive runoff from paved areas during hard rains and heavy snows. “Win-win partnerships like these get real traction and deliver on-the-ground results,” said Will Rogers, president of the Trust for Public Land. The goal is to transform 500 acres of land in Philadelphia neighborhoods into green playspaces by 2015.
For more details, visit Greenworks Philadelphia by clicking here or call 215.686.1776.
All rights to this article are reserved by Gloria Blakely. Copyright 2012.
Source: www.examiner.com
No comments:
Post a Comment