#1 Marchi April 2010
Nov 18, 2014
#1 Marchi April2010
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Editors: Ben Rackstraw, Charlie levine
Editorial Interns Contributors: Ben Rackstraw ,Nabil Azadi, Gemma Jamieson, Frankie Nazardo
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Nina Singer [email protected]
Fashion Assistants
Elizabeth Fraser·Bell [email protected]
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! DAZED Ii CONfUSED
INTO THE
'HEART OF
Left: If Love Is A Balloon Then All You Need To Do Is Let
Go Of The String .. " 2009, Elizabeth Graham and Lewis
McGuffie, courtesy of LuckyPDF
DlIZED8CUNfUSEU 49
THE JUNDAY PAINTER
/I
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By AppoinllT'1I411 To Her Mi:ljesty The QUOEH
Mi:loofi:lcturersof Knilted OarmenlS
Pringle of Scotland ltd
THR.EADS
By any standards,
and despite the prot
estations of western
politicians, the clim
change summit in
Copenhagen failed
solemn commitments
to reduce emissions
developing nations.
The Danish text, a
pre-organised accord
between the wealthi
est participants, left
developing nations
seemingly voiceless
before proceedings
even began. The Bo
livian delegation de
scribed negotiations
as '~nti-democratic,
anti-transparent and
unacceptable.'
These allegations are,
at least in part, rati
fied by the outcome.
At the close, the
deal was brokered
between the wealthy '
and powerful- In
dia, South Africa , the U.S., Brazil and
China. The 2009
Copenhagen Accord
is non-binding and
not only fails to hold
the world tempera
ture rise at 1.5C but
also omits the origi
nal aim to cut world
emissions by 80% by
2050. These original
aims are not arbitrary
numbers-they are
widely agreed to be
the minimum required
to avoid climate
disaster for develop
ing nations and the
world. Funding for
developing nations
to adapt to climate
change was set at
$100 billion per year
by 2020. However,
as both the source
and legal status of this
funding are vague, a
little scepticism about
it actually materialis
ing is justified.
Lumumba Di-Aping
chair of the G77
group of 130 poor
countries described
the accord thus:
"[This] is asking Africa
to sign a suicide pact,
an incineration pact
in order to maintain
the · economic depend
ence of a few coun
tries. It's a solution
based on values that
funneled six million
people in Europe into
aces."
To describe the G77
group as dissatisfied
would not, it seems,
cut the mustard.
The blame game
which has been so
prevalent in the west
ern media is a futile
one. However, a
comment from Barak
Obama is particu
larly striking. On
the failure to reach
a wider agreement
he said that to wait
for a binding accord
would have resulted
in no progress being
made at all. Such a
stdtement of resigna
tion from the "Yes
I" President ofwe can.
the United States is
deeply troubling and
is evidence of a lack
of resolve and com
mitment f~om the most
powerful nation in the
world. If the U.S. is
unable, or unwilling,
to act how are third
world nations to make
Dan Smith, sec
retary general of
International Alert,
has formulated a
strategy to push the
multi-lateral climate
change agreement
forward. He asserts
that a major problem
with the current style
of climate discussions
is that those states
who choose to hold
out in order to obtain
more nationally fa
vorable agreements_
are allowed to win
by defauIt . To com bat
this attitude among
the most developed
nations, there must be
a change in the tone
of discussions from
factional adversary to.
problem solving and
from self-sacrifice to
the idea that climate
change accords can
be mutually benefi
cial. He suggests that
those nations who
have shown prom
ise at past climate
change talks such as
South Korea, Japan,
Mexico and Australia,
should agree to a
solution based around
creating a strong
green economy and
then sell it to the hold
outs- China, India and
the U.S. Progress by
bypassing those who
block it.
There is a lot to be
said to grass roots
projects and indi
vidual action in the
wake of international
failure. 1m proved
cook stove projects,
now widespread in
India and Africa,
seek to protect both
the environment from
deforestation and in
turn the livelihoods of
people who use them.
Grassroots groups
working in the Ama
zon aim to protect
the forest by demon
strating the economic
benefits of leaving the
environment intact.
In the UK too, the
benefits of having an
energy efficient home
and creating less food
waste have been
widely publicized.
However, in these
straitened times ideas
such as these appear
to me as drops in the
ocean, like trying to
put out a fire one ice
cube at a time. I must
admit to a personal
sense of cynicism
and demoralization.
Without international
accord, we can only
delay the inevitable.
Suggestions on a post
card please.
emmacvickers. blogs
pot.com
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odel Felix at M&p
Reports last week that
the BBC is considering
closing 6 Music and
the Asian Network
next month have
exploded over the
internet like only mid
dle class outrage can.
Mark Tran reports for
the Guardian that:
the BBC intends to
shrink overall services
and focus more on
quality over quantity.
Quality over quantity?
A selection of the
most played artists on
the 6 Music website
includes The Who,
The Cure, Blondie,
New Order, Mad
ness, The Rolling
Stones, Blur, Beck,
The Jam and The
Bea~es. Even though
the list also includes
U2, it's difficult to sug- ~
gest, by any objective ,
measure - and many ~
that are subjective
that this doesn't repre
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DAZEO&CDNfUSED 9
At the time of writing, three
tenths of the Hype Machine
top lOis being taken up by
songs involving the Xx: three
remixes, then another mp3,
'Intro', at #18. This is as im
portant, in this age of genre
schizophrenia, as any other
measure of cultural value,
surely marking this album out
as the biggest since Justice ap
peared on every single blog
Of course, sparse beats with
plaintive vocals are eminently
remixable, especially with a
fashionable dubstep aesthetic.
The album is also incredibly
intimate, sometimes feel
ing like eavesdropping on a
private conversation, and this
intimacy translates nicely into
certain schools of downtempo
electronic music.
This success, then, is unsurpris
ing: hype is hype, the album
is great and the sublime
soporific wash of downtempo
dubstep continues unabated.
What is strange, though, is
how long it took me to realise
it was good. I loved Justice
as soon as I heard them, the
same with other blog-hyped
acts like Boys Noize, Burial,
Miike Snow and Animal Col
lective. But I hated the Xx:
boring, depressing and inex
plicably loved by everyone.
Maybe it's a lack of imme
diacy. I always hated The
Smiths, grating at Morrissey's
intonation and bored by the
:pace. And I'm from Manches
ter. It was only when, from the
molasses of popular culture,
a few songs had sli pped in to
y consciousness, and I was
to sit down with The
Queen is Dead that I realised
ow great they were. The Xx
like like the Smiths in a
mber of ways: subtle, nu
ced and deeply personal.
I have spent an adolescence
bouncing off walls and grin
ning to big silly drops, of
fensively crunchy synths and
unashamedly yobbish tunes,
but had always felt that some
thing was missing. A 'Sunday
Playlist' at Uni attempted
to address this void, filling
up with acoustic tunes and
minimal house, but that lost
its purpose when I graduated
and no longer had whole
days to sacrifice to lying in
bed and listening to soporific
indie music.
The Xx do fill this gap though,
and do it beautifully. They
deserve the plaudits on blogs
and in the press, and may
even teach me patience and
an appreciation of subtlety
lifeinflashback.blogspot .com ..
'
New Art Gallery Walsall went POP last night with their 10th Birthday celebrations. Bob and Roberta Smith kicked off the evening with a performance and ended it too, speeches were made, cake was eaten and mingling was made.
It was however the third floor exhibition that was the highlight for me. A retrospective of the gallery's past 10 years, it was so nice to see all this work together, a literal A- Z of past artists, from Jonatham Allen to Zhang Pengo
Highlights for me - Martin Creed's 'Half on the air in a given space' - it was more entertaining watching the poor invigilator trying to keep the massive purple baloons contained for the duration of the show, due to queues I did not go in .. .this time!
Bob and Roberta Smith's first works from his time in the Jacob Epstein archives - this room was crowded throughout the entire evening, my favourite 'Please send me £ l' one of a selection of quotes taken letters sent to Jacob Epstein from his son.
And David Bachelor's 'Disco Mecanique' - a room of disco balls made from pastic sunglasses.
For me this show highlighted not only the great work New Art Gallery Walsal! has been doing in bringing interesting and provocative contemporary and historical art works into the region but also how bright and kitsch most of the work was, a theme I had not noticed previous to this show in their programming - a characteristic however probably seen in Director Steven Snoddy, who gave a speech that was comica" passionate and appreciative.
~,--
.r---"-------~-.~
'Party' continues until 18th April 201 0 at New Art Gallery Walsall
ADIDRS
'Swimming Without Water' can be seen through till 15th March 201 0
Swimming Without Water is a new show that has opened at Moseley Swimming Baths c""rated by Maria Regia de Garcia-Bernal and Jimmy Lindqvist. It runs until March 15th. The artists are Debby Akam, Flora Gare and Tim Skinner.
The location of this show was amazing and, despite the snow, there was a great crowd at the preview, tentatively walking round the swimming pool with real life - not an art piece - swimmers as we nibbled on cake and sipped tea. The location was great and it was brilliant to see local curators seeking alternative spaces to work with. Some of the work wasn't to my taste, however, Flora's glass chandelier of the Union Jack fitted the site perfectly, it was a subtle piece that felt at home there and fingers crossed Moseley Baths buy it and keep it on site.
\ ' \
curatorcharlie .blogspot .com
Proiect DaHodil / Viburnum.
I am extremely excited.
Project SOlARDOME is but a
few days away. I'm not say
ing any more until after Satur
day, but good times for good
people - they are coming.
The daffodils are emerging.
If you cast your eye back
to my Blog in September, I
was paranoid I wasn't doing
it properly; those juicy lean
green stems speak volumes to
the opposite, however.
There are some other tenta
tive growths too, throughout
the garden. At first I thought
they were weeds ... but some
thing tells me otherwise. Gar
dening intuition! Now there's
a thought. I was talking to my
Charlie and Ben on Saturday
about how my instincts
were kicking in and the
schematics for the
garden were
sprouting
from
sub conscious! Thank G Unit
it's Spring, I feel so much
more in touch with things.
Mum and Dad brought me a
cutting from their Viburnum
tree in January. It's famous
for a Dad classic: 'Have you
sniffed the tree?' Draw your
own conclusions. Anyway,
this was planted at the bottom
of the garden where I hope it
will take nicely. I think there's
the option to move it if there's
not enough sunlight. So far,
more or less everything has
taken well, but having come
out properly for the first time
in many months, I see
that everything has
died back: it's all
sludge brown
foliage or
leaves as dryas a skeleton.
Cycles, yo.
Oregano out. There will be
much more hitting this space
soon! PROJECT SOlAR
DOME especially ... wow.
Payee. (Peace).
parsleyandorega
no.?-,ogspot.
com/