Filed under International

FESTIVAL WATCH | Performance actions teem in Bulgaria’s festival for independent theater

FESTIVAL WATCH | Performance actions teem in Bulgaria’s festival for independent theater

Of particular interest would the November 9, Open Space Forum, which organizers say “will explore several key factors in the development of contemporary culture that we consider important. They are: the development of international partnerships, the establishment of independent art spaces, as well as the development of new audiences and international mobility of artists and creative products.” Continue reading »

IN EXHIBITION | Philip Smith’s psychologically-charged canvases on view at New York’s Jason McCoy Gallery

IN EXHIBITION | Philip Smith’s psychologically-charged canvases on view at New York’s Jason McCoy Gallery

Painter Philip Smith works the canvas like a physicist’s blackboard. Using found imagery, he can postulate new image formulations and equations. The paintings in this Philip Smith: Sign Language, on view at New York’s Jason McCoy Gallery starting November 17, are characterized by slightly visible erased imagery. The effect is akin to memory and ghost-like. Continue reading »

INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM SEMINAR | LGBT issues and human rights coverage explored at Boston’s LGBT Media Summit

INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM SEMINAR | LGBT issues and human rights coverage explored at Boston’s LGBT Media Summit

My aim is to emphasize opportunities and strategies for the LGBT Media here in the U.S. to cover international issues and human-rights concerns that affect LGBT communities around the world. LGBT journalists have had few opportunities to work as foreign correspondents. That’s especially the case in today’s media environment, with sharp cutbacks by many news outlets in their international coverage. Continue reading »

BRAVE OR SUICIDAL? | What happened when a Russian gay rights activist staged a lone protest on an annual military holiday

BRAVE OR SUICIDAL? | What happened when a Russian gay rights activist staged a lone protest on an annual military holiday

Often it is worth questioning the democracy of social media by just re-viewing a second time and digging a little bit deeper. The video below which documents Kalugin’s confrontation with Russian airborne troops has gone viral. What’s also spread like wildfire is the outraged and sometimes ill-informed commentary on it. It is easy to lash out at Russian government officials. If you look closer at this story though, the surface is not what it seems. Here, the Russian special forces turned out to be the good guys. Continue reading »

PRO VS. CON #DUMPSTOLI | How does the boycott of a Latvian vodka change Putin’s anti-gay laws and save lives of Russian LGBT youth?

PRO VS. CON #DUMPSTOLI | How does the boycott of a Latvian vodka change Putin’s anti-gay laws and save lives of Russian LGBT youth?

The #dumpstoli campaign has been a global public-relations success. But have the protests for public awareness of repressive anti-gay laws in Russia been misdirected and unfairly targeted a long-time ally of the LGBT community? Will the Dump Vodka protests actually change the minds of the Russian parliament? Here is my on-the-ground investigation of yesterday’s protest in front of the Russian Consulate in New York. Continue reading »

FESTIVAL WATCH | Documentary theater seeks social change via international “Theater of the Voiceless”

FESTIVAL WATCH | Documentary theater seeks social change via international “Theater of the Voiceless”

To track this creative upswing, the Austrian Cultural Forum, Goethe-Institut Washington, Embassy of Switzerland and Georgetown University’s Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics have launched “Theater of the Voiceless,” an international symposium and festival on documentary theater that runs June 16 to June 19 at various venues in Washington, D.C. Continue reading »

Putin’s Pussy problem | Amnesty International demands that Russia release anti-Putin punk singers detained after church performance

Putin’s Pussy problem | Amnesty International demands that Russia release anti-Putin punk singers detained after church performance

Three young women are being detained by Russian authorities for allegedly performing a protest song in a cathedral as part of a feminist punk group Pussy Riot. If found guilty, they could be jailed for up to 7 years just for exercising their free speech. The three women are currently in pre-trial detention, which has been extended to January 2013. Continue reading »

Performance review |  Japanese artist Tadasu Takamine breaks glass, sexual taboos in his intimate video of a disabled friend

Performance review | Japanese artist Tadasu Takamine breaks glass, sexual taboos in his intimate video of a disabled friend

Takamine was Kimura’s caretaker for five years during the 1990s. Takamine says that he had learned to communicate with the disabled Kimura through gestures. He realized that Kimura’s sexual desires could not be met without the help of other people. Aiding Kimura in the satisfaction of his sexual needs was a gesture of friendship and affection of Takamine’s part. Continue reading »