In the Culture of One World Randy Gener

A Global Media Project | Arts Economy, Cultural Diplomacy and Critical Thinking

GPS | AZERBAIJAN | Puppets from around the world raise hopes for the future in Baku

Why was the opening ceremony of the second international puppet theater festival in Azerbaijan so damn solemn an occasion? Probably because the organizers have put so much hope in it. In November 2011, when the first international theater festival opened in Baku, the Azerbaijan State Puppet Theater turned 80 years old. It is a venerable institution. It was the first time such a large-scale international festival was organized in the history of Azerbaijani theater.

November 13, 2022 · Leave a comment

GPS | RUSSIA | In protest of the Kremlin, Russian performance artist nails his scrotum on Red Square cobblestones (NSFW)

Pyotr Pavlensky’s bodily public actions “involve the actual power mechanisms.” His performances of sewing his mouth closed in protest against the arrest of Pussy Riot, or lying naked in barbed wire to protest harsh laws, have had wide international resonance.

November 10, 2022 · Leave a comment

GPS | OUTER SPACE | Watch live: Russian cosmonauts take the Olympic torch on a spacewalk

Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky took the unlit version of the silver-and-red torch through the hatch of the International Space Station. While gripping the torch in the gloved fist of his spacesuit, Kotov crawled out of the hatch and waved it triumphantly 261 miles (420 km) above the planet Earth.

November 9, 2022 · 1 Comment

GPS | CZECH REPUBLIC | A church of bones in Kutna Hora

This is not Tolkien’s Mines of Moria. This is not an image from Peter Jackson’s upcoming Hobbit film sequel subtitled The Desolation of Smaug. This is Sedlec’s Church in the city of Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic.

October 28, 2022 · Leave a comment

GPS | THE AMERICAS: Florida | Spectacular photos of Port Everglades Power Plant demolished

For more than 50 years, the power plant’s four 350-foot, candy-cane-striped stacks and four 7,500-ton boilers marked South Florida’s skyline. The power plant demolition, pictured here, is the largest in Florida’s history and the company’s third in three years.

October 17, 2022 · Leave a comment

GPS | THE AMERICAS: New York City | Epic “Noli Me Tangere” opera takes a bow in New York City

GPS | THE AMERICAS | NEW YORK CITY | The cast numbers 30 singers. The pit houses 35-piece orchestra musicians. On sheer numbers alone, the Noli Me Tangere Opera is a large-scale … Continue reading

October 5, 2023 · Leave a comment

NAKED DIPLOMACY | 450 naked runners race as part of Free Pussy Riot campaign

The prompt to begin the naked run in the Netherlands was given 14:30 via Skype from Russia by a Pussy Riot member. Runners wearing nothing but helmets and sneakers in the Netherlands show support for Russian punk band Pussy Riot.

July 28, 2023 · Leave a comment

GPS | NEW YORK: Rainbow colors flood Empire State Building on Gay Pride

It’s been an amazing week for gay rights. The U.S. Supreme Court dumped the federal Defense of Marriage Act and declined to reinstate a ban on same-sex marriage in California. … Continue reading

June 30, 2023 · Leave a comment

GPS | ROMANIA: Horia-Roman Patapievici, curajos erou, a declarat că va demisiona de la conducerea Institutului Cultural Român”

A gallery exhibition at the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York displayed the Cărtureşti spirit. Cărtureşti is a cultural venue that functions as a bookshop, tea studio, and project space, taking direct action towards revitalizing the Romanian artistic life, urban pleasures and social responsibilities.

August 2, 2023 · 1 Comment

GPS | Romania: Acting workshops of Andrei Şerban Traveling Academy in Mogoşoaia

“Brancovan Palaces” Cultural Center in Mogoşoaia hosted the workshops of this traveling academy. The actors worked on Shakespeare and Romanian classic playwright Ion Luca Caragiale (the centenary of whose death is celebrated this year)

July 26, 2023 · 2 Comments

GPS | Philippines: Puerto Princesa Underground River officially named one of the new 7 wonders of nature

The underground river, which measures about 5 miles, is a popular tourist destination in the country and has previosuly been declared as a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

February 2, 2023 · 2 Comments

GPS | Panama: A view of the Panama Canal from the dizzying heights of a cable car

Because of the proximity of the Gamboa to Panama City, this upper section of the Chagres River Basin, which is protected by Chagres National Park (founded in 1985), is quickly becoming a family-fun adventure and ecotourist destination.

January 27, 2023 · Leave a comment

GPS India | A sad vision of India’s world heritage site in Gujarat

In the past, these step wells were frequented by travelers and caravans as stopovers along trade routes. But lately they have not been maintained very well.

October 6, 2023 · 1 Comment

GPS | Korea: Altar of a shaman for a ritual ceremony held on an island

GPS | ASIA:  In October 2005, I took a bus to Yangtze Island in South Korea and attended a private Daedong Gut (shaman ritual) by the Korean shaman, Kim Keumhwa, a … Continue reading

September 20, 2023

GPS | Panama: Two turtles adoring the sun

GPS | CENTRAL AMERICA:   Monkey Island lives up to its name.  Located at the Gamboa Rainforest in Panama, a boat ride tour around Gatun Lake, which surrounds Monkey Island, is a … Continue reading

September 14, 2023 · Leave a comment

GPS | Belarus: Vladimir Lenin Monument on Independence Square in Minsk

GPS| EUROPE:  Minsk was totally destroyed during World War II and rebuilt in classical social realist style by the Soviets after the war.  With the dissolution of the Soviet Union … Continue reading

September 14, 2023 · Leave a comment

“From the Edge: Performance Design in the Divided States of America” at LaMaMa La Galleria

On Smart Power, International Cultural Exchange and Performance Design | An Interview by Amanda White Thietje

3 Interviews by AMANDA WHITE THIETJE:
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RANDY GENER and I met in Prague this summer, where we were both attending the 2011 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (PQ). I was wandering through the exhibits, soaking up the inspiration and the beauty of the city; he was serving as both curatorial advisor of "From the Edge" (USITT’s USA National Pavilion) and Editor-In-Chief of this year’s PQ daily newspaper.
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Randy agreed to talk with me about the PQ, and there’s so much in this interview I want to share with you that I’m going to post it in three parts. Click on the titles of each article below so you can read each part of the interview:
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  • Interview – Part 1: "From the Edge"
  • Interview – Part 2: "Active Searching & The Value of the Prague Quadrennial"
  • Interview – Part 3: "A Ripple Effect."
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    “From the Edge: Performance Design in the Divided States of America,” the USA national pavilion at Prague National Gallery

    From the Edge: Performance Design in the Divided States of America

    Reflections on curating and creating national expositions in an international art-based mega-exhibition in Prague
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  • Curatorial essay: "Exhibiting a country on the edge: a U.S. approach to performance design"
  • USA exposition returns from Prague: "American performing garage under the sign of Obama"
  • Prague diaries: "Philadelphia theater-makers talk about how performance design affected their works and processes."
  • Interview with curators: "Curators speak about the thrills, challenges and obstacles of staging national expositions of design."
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    Praise and Commendations

    >> "A first-rate writer and editor. Randy Gener understands culture in the widest sense: as news, as art, as politics, as media," Margo Jefferson, Pulitzer Prize–winning writer.
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    >> "Mr. Randy Gener’s 'in the theater of One World,' a showcase of his own individual work, is taking up the slack that print journalism is leaving behind. You won’t find this in your local papers," Superfluities Redux.
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    >> "The visionary," Instinct Magazine.
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    >> "An internationalist, a champion of cultural exchange and dialogue," The New York Daily News.
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    >> "Randy Gener's command of theatrical subjects is unequalled among his contemporaries," American Theatre magazine/Theatre Communications Group.
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    >> "Randy Gener sheds light into censorship and repression of the arts," Judges of the Deadline Club Award, New York chapter of Society of Professional Journalists.
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    >> "Randy Gener is one of the most compelling voices of our era of globalization," Ioana Ieronim, author, poet and Fulbright Program Director of Fulbright Commission Romania.
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    >> "Gener draws our attention to largely ignored voices and visions on the international theatrical scene," Judges of the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism.
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    >> "Mr. Gener holds himself to a high standard in his long-form journalism — perhaps a model for young journalists," Superfluities Redux.
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    >> "Gener’s writing on theater, especially as it interacts with LGBT lives, is beautifully done, knowledgeable and almost lyrical in its language,” Judges of NLGJA Journalist of the Year.
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    >> "Randy Gener demonstrates the ripple effect that spotlighting artistic passion can have," Judges of the Deadline Club Award, New York chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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    >> "Randy Gener's 'Love Seats for Virginia Woolf' is a meditative homage. Gener has staged his play with a subtle grace that complements the art objects' sedentary ingenuity. Never has Virginia's room of one's own been so suggestively furnished,” The Village Voice
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    >> "Gener's accumulation of words in his play 'Love Seats for Virginia Woolf' are the feathery evanescence of the butterfly's wings clamped together with the bolts of iron that are the four loveseat sculptures. The actors become words personified. I was left astonished,” The Virginia Woolf Miscellany of the International Virginia Woolf Society.
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    >> "His essays wed critical intelligence with a love of the telling and unruly fact," Judges of George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism.
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    >> "Gener went above and beyond with regard to enterprise, resourcefulness and overcoming of obstacles in the pursuit of the story," Judges of Deadline Club Award, New York chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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    >> "Randy Gener has been a tremendous asset to American Theatre ever since he was selected as a Jerome Foundation Affiliated Writer back in 1995-96, and especially since he joined the staff full-time in 2001," American Theatre magazine/Theatre Communications Group.
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    >> "One of the leaders of the Asian American community," The New York Daily News.
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    >> "In conferring the Pamana ng Pilipino (Legacy of the Filipino Nation) Presidential Award to Randy Gener, the President recognizes Gener's excellence in the field of theater arts and creativity, and diligence in promoting Filipino-American interests and accomplishments to mainstream audiences in Europe and the United States of America," His Excellency Benigno Simeon Aquino III, President of the Republic of the Philippines.
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    Categories

    Biography

    Randy Gener is the Nathan Award-winning editor, writer, critic, curator, playwright and visual artist in New York City.
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    His conceptual installation, "in the garden of One World," debuted at La MaMa La Galleria in New York. He is the author of "Love Seats for Virginia Woolf," and other plays.
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    For his editorial work and critical essays as the senior editor of American Theatre magazine, Gener has received the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, the highest accolade for excellence in dramatic criticism in the United States; the Deadline Club Award for Best Arts Reporting from the New York chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists; five media awards for excellence in travel-writing from the annual North American Travel Journalists Association Awards competition; and the NLGJA Journalist of the Year 2010.

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    by randy gener

    randy gener pictured at columbus circle in manhattan

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