freedom in society can be measured by the distribution of orgasms

the clitoris was discovered in 1998

the internal clitoris is a complex structure composed of:

– two erectile corpora cavernosa which wrap around the vagina when stimulated,

– two erectile bodies connected to the body of the clitoris

– two vestibular bulbs

– the glans of the clitoris

the clitoris at rest, which is largely internal, can measure up to 9cm long

the real female sexual organ is virtually invisible

About cliteracy by Sophia Wallace, a New York artist:

the artwork includes 100 natural laws about the clitoris

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2013/09/01/clitoris-sexe-orgasme-sophia-wallace_n_3851364.html

the king (of contemporary art) is naked and it is time to claim it? really?

a month ago, Luc Ferry (a French philosopher and former education minister) denounced in Le Figaro “these temples of ignorance that are the regional contemporary art funds (FRAC)” and, in general, public subsidies in favour of contemporary art.

“The truth, he wrote, is that state aid often allows vulgar impostures to be considered as masterpieces.”

He continued further:

– some artists repeat and rehash ad nauseam, one hundred years later, but with no courage and thanks to taxpayer money, what Marcel Duchamp had already done a thousand times at a time when, at least, he ran the risk to “shock the bourgeois”.

– Let’s face it: if these disgusting things were in the lobby of my building, I would ask my caretaker to call urgently the City public services to get rid of it.

– Those who want to buy this kind of artwork are free to do so, it is their choice, but, please, may them do it with their own money! Some snobbish and ignorant people could agree to buy this junk for a golden price, but it is unacceptable that they pay it out of “our” pockets on behalf of their aberrant conception of culture. Reading these lines, the “Red Guards of contemporary art” will cry fascism. Whatever, the king is naked and it is time to claim it.

 

Source:

http://www.franceculture.fr/emission-revue-de-presse-culturelle-d-antoine-guillot-luc-ferry-le-fric-et-les-frac-2013-06-12

 

bookstores: “buy local” networks, a militant approach for local consumption and preserving employment

In France, selling books is a “mature” market. It is going down for 3 years.

selling books has become the less profitable retail business.

The average net income is 0.6%, against nearly six times more for other businesses.

independent books retailers represent more than 40% of book sales and between 12,000 and 13,000 jobs. They are 2500 to 3000. To avoid closing their shops in quantity, the booksellers modulate their own wages.

 

Globally, the trends are almost the same:

– an increase in online shopping,

– the closure of large retail chains

– the majority of shopping is always in bookstores

– independent bookstores are trying to diversify by playing a more important cultural role or become a stakeholder in the “buy local” network, such as Germany and the United States, where a professional survey also shows even better the last year. This move is part of a militant approach for local consumption and preserving employment.

 

Source: http://www.franceculture.fr/2013-06-02-des-librairies-de-plus-en-plus-fragiles

So Roy Lichtenstein is now a “classic”

Today Roy Lichtenstein is considered as one of the “stars” of the pop movement as well as a great master of American painting.

But after a few years performing to the forefront of pop art, Lichtenstein goes well beyond.

It was quickly seen as a postmodern artist since he cited in his works the artists and styles of art history

Then, in the last years of his life, returning to the kinds of naked and landscape, it became almost a tradition painter.

So Roy Lichtenstein is now a “classic”

But what makes the strength of his art  is also the amused distance, sometimes critical without becoming cynical, he held both on himself and on arts, from its beginnings to the end of his life.

source:

exploration of novel gestural interfaces for musical expressions

The “MO” (research project Interlude) allows for the exploration of novel gestural interfaces for musical expressions. The interaction paradigms are centered on collaborative use of gestures, body movements and touch.

The interfaces can be assembled to form an ensemble of connected objects communicating wirelessly. A central concept is to let users determine the final musical function of the working objects, favoring customization, assembling, repurposing. This includes assembling the wireless interface with existing everyday objects or existing musical instruments.

The central module MO contains motion sensors (3D accelerometers and 3axis gyroscopes) and transmits the data wirelessly. Moreover, two accesorries, i.e. other sensors can be added to both side of MO.

Source: http://interlude.ircam.fr/wordpress/?p=229

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xikfx1_mo-modular-musical-objects_creation

how a handful of conformists of the non-conformism booed Stravinsky

70 years ago, Igor Stravinsky was almost molested at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris,  by a furious mob. Does this famous theater , which is celebrating its centenary, house a microclimate that is likely to push the public to violence? We could think so by reading its history which is full of scandals.

The first of them has held on May 29, 1913, a few weeks after the opening of the theater. Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, causes ” Oh ” and ” Ah “, supported by whistles and various type of  horns: bicycle horns, small pocket horns hidden in tuxedos.

Stravinsky will be booed again on 22 March 1945 by a handful of apprentices composers who stood against the neo-classical orientation of his “Norwegian Impressions” presented, that day, at the Theatre des Champs-Elysées. Led by Serge Nigg, the young protesters use roulette whistle … They belong to the class of Olivier Messiaen at the Conservatoire and will then returned to their beloved schoolyear, while the press accused them of “conformists of the  non-conformism.”

As for their “Master” (Messaien), it does not take long to feel the pangs of a hall where the spirits seem to warm up faster than elsewhere. Twice. In 1952, as a performer, and ten years later, as a composer.

on June 7, 1952, Olivier Messiaen starred with one of his former disciples in an avant-garde score. The French creation of the first book of the “Structures for two pianos” by Pierre Boulez does not occur smoothly. A gentleman received a lady bag across the face, and a wench who protested against the new work, found himself interrupted by a masterful pair of (dodecacophonic) slaps. That day, the peculiar pressure of the atmosphere surrounding the music lovers from Avenue Montaigne (where is located the Theatre des Champs-Elysées) moved from the space to the theater of those of the Comédie des Champs-Elysées, usually devoted to drama productions.

On 13 February 1962, Messiaen unwillingly checks that the air of the great hall is no less harmful. A hysterical listener attack him backstage after the French creation of “Chronochromie”.

But nothing compares with the level of hostility recorded on December 2, 1954 during the creation of “Deserts” by Edgar Varese. Unfortunately programmed between two “tubes” by Tchaikovsky and Mozart, the work for instrumental ensemble and tape causes the ire of the public and the commentators.

“Mr. Varese should be shot on the spot. He is the “Dominici” of the music”, a newspaper wrote. However, if Gaston Dominici, a Frenchman convicted of the murder of an English family in Haute-Provence (Fr), has been sentenced to death, the guillotine is waiting for him, not the firing squad.

Source:

http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2013/06/10/de-stravinsky-a-dusapin-cent-ans-de-tapages-aux-champs-elysees_3427042_3246.html

 

The “Digital Dark Age” refers to a future situation where the electronic data will be unreadable because stored on obsolete media in forgotten formats

This issue affects all areas of knowledge and art, archiving and creation.

It grows as the memory of humankind is converted into bits.

What strategies against “digital forgetting”?

The crucial issue of sustainability concerns and today brings together researchers and artists around the sharing of transmission and the “price” of knowledge, as evidenced by the news of free software or cloud computing.

The creation of today also includes a number of technologies in constant and quick mutation.

Obsolescence immediately questioned the invariant of a work.

What future for works which technology is soon outdated?

Editing and archiving, and vintage remake, interpretation and reinterpretation report authentic artistic inventiveness in tune with the passage of technological time.

From music to visual arts, from cinema creation to video games design, from IT to engineering of knowledge, the challenge of posterity concerns both tools, languages ​​and works.

 

Source:

http://www.centrepompidou.fr/cpv/ressource.action?param.id=FR_R-41ded53a20a4da7a6d432dd63e30e&param.idSource=FR_E-41ded53a20a4da7a6d432dd63e30e

Notre-Dame of Lemboulari (Moissac) unearthed

The renovation and development of the abbey of Saint-Pierre in Moissac (Fr) led to the accidental discovery of tombs and walls.
The abbey is one of the most beautiful French architectural ensembles with its extraordinary Romanesque sculptures

Founded probably around the ninth century, the abbey is attached to the powerful abbey of Cluny in the middle of the eleventh century and became, in the twelfth century, the most eminent monastic center in the south-west of France.

The abbey church of Saint-Pierre is a major stop on the road to St Jacques de Compostela, halfway between Le Puy-en-Velay and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.

The current archaeological work unearthed a chapel of the twelfth century in an exceptional state of preservation.

Walls, preserved more than one meter in height, are trademarks of jobbers that are also found in the gatehouse of the abbey, signs that the same craftsmen worked for both buildings.

This chapel is distinguished by the presence of benches along the walls, they were used for meeting of the abbey chapter.

The floor presents with original terracotta tiles, under an apparent soil dated thirteenth century, which is decorated.

From the worn tiles and openings allowing access to other levels, we learn about the circulation spaces within the building.

This chapel, which all traces had disappeared, is not unknown to the inhabitants of Moissac.

Through oral tradition, a polychrome Pietà from the treasure of the abbey church of Saint-Pierre, dated fifteenth century, crossed the centuries with the name of Notre-Dame of Lemboulari. The relationship with the unearthed chapel can be advanced.

Source: http://www.inrap.fr/archeologie-preventive/Actualites/Communiques-de-presse/p-16008-Decouverte-d-une-chapelle-du-XIIe-siecle-aux-abords-de-l-abbatiale-Saint-Pierre-de-Moissac-Tarn-et-Garonne-.htm

the faddish slang of a younger generation. France -6

(source Wikipedia)

Queer is an umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. The term is generally controversial because it was reappropriated to an extent in the 1990s from its use as an anti-gay epithet. Furthermore, some LGBT people disapprove of using queer as a catch-all because they consider it offensive, derisive or self-deprecating given its continuous use as a form of hate speech. Other LGBT people may avoid queer because they associate it with political radicalism, or simply because they perceive it as the faddish slang of a “younger generation.”

(source: http://www.kingsqueer.com)

A nice electro pop song here: http://media.wix.com/mp3/e9f659_d5d969f2c382dd737c382ba1fb58be77.mp3

(source: http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/06/04/the-global-divide-on-homosexuality/)

This Caravaggio is not a painter

Caravaggio is the desire to bring in an amplified music band, instrumental, electronic and pop-rock inspired compositions combined with an element of improvisation.

Benjamin de la Fuente and Samuel Sighicelli are the composers, allied to an infallible beat by Eric Chevillon and Bruno Echampard. A French musical UFO made of rock, jazz, electronic, without any zapping between styles.