Islamic Last Supper

In “Last Supper – Gaza”, artist Vivek Vilasini concentrates on social structures in the Indian society. His photograph shows women wearing a chador, depicting the last supper. Vilasini has turned apostles into prophets of islam. The bread, used to symbolize the body of Christ, is now accompanied by pomegranates: the fruit that symbolizes fertility, but that is also associated with death because of its intense red color (the grenade-bomb was named after this fruit).



Vivek Vilasini: Last Supper - Gaza, 2008.



Cube on Tour

Brussels has hosted the Electrolux Cube between April and June. A unique temporary dining concept, the Cube has been place atop the thriumphal arch in the Parc du Cinquantenaire.
In this atmosphere of cutting-edge design and never-before seen views of the city, Electrolux presents its kitchens.
Two Electrolux Cubes will travel across Europe offering a memorable dining experience for 18 guests per setting in landmark locations. The semi-transparent structures will be seen atop of monuments, buildings and even water platforms in Belgium, Italy, Russia, Switzerland and Sweden but only for three months at each location. Next up are Milan and Stockholm, just in case you missed Brussels.
A different top-chef will be present at each venue, giving the guesets hints and tips on how to get the maximum out of theyr cooking experience.

Chairs. A lot of chairs...

Colombian artist Doris Salcedo is mostly known for making works that function as “political  and mental archaeology”. Her work, which has become increasingly installation based, is often inspired by specific historical events.

 For her installation for the Istanbul Biennale in 2003 she placed 1600 chairs in the empty space between two buildings. She did this to commemorate anonymous victims (in  Colombia and elsewhere) and in order to evoke something like  a mass grave.

With her work “Noviembre 6 y 7” she commemorates the violent seizing of the supreme court in Bogota, by lowering wooden chairs against the façade of the building for 53 hours straight.

Doris Salcedo: installation at Istanbul Biennale 2003.

Doris Salcedo: installation 'Noviembre 6 y 7'

Is this the new leader of the free world?

With the U.S. elections soon aproaching a new candidate has emerged
The sculpture of a cow made from butter, shown at the biggest agricultural exhibition in Iowa proved to be so popular that Jack Mathews has begun a campaign to get the Butter Cow in the presidential running. He started a website, buttercow2012.com, which is currently conducting its own pole. Here Butter Cow received 62% of the votes, almost four times more than President Obama's 16%.
The website describes the candidate as "udderly fantastic" with strong "grass roots values". The candidate hasn't made any comments yet, but one thing that he will be out to prove is that being inhuman isn't all that bad.

Official campaign T-shirt

The Toaster

English photographer Mac Adams is especially known for his "mystery environments": photographs in which he creates imaginary, narrative situations that often seem to point towards a criminal act. Take a look, for example, at his work "The Toaster":  in the first picture you can see a shiny toaster and mixer that mirror a woman. In the second picture you can see the same woman lying dead on the floor. The toast is burned.



Mac Adams, The Toaster



Hyperrealist sculpture



Ron Mueck is an Australian hyperrealist sculptor who started his career as a puppeteer for children’s television programmes and later transitioned to fine art. In his sculptures, Mueck reproduces every little detail of the human body.

The key change, however, is the change of size (most sculptures are oversized while others are on a much smaller scale).  The artist has been hailed by some critics as ‘the greatest thing to happen in sculpture’, while others merely view him as a model maker.

Ron Mueck: Head of a baby (2003)



Ron Mueck: In bed (2005)



Ron Mueck: Boy




 Mueck’s most well-known sculpture is a work titled “Dead Dad”:  a hyperrealist sculpture of the corpse of his father. Mueck works with various materials such as fiberglass resin, latex and silicone. 

Ron Mueck: Dead Dad







Bones of Kallat

We’d like to introduce you to Indian Mumbai based artist Jitish Kallat: Kallat –whose  work includes various media such as photography, video, painting and sculpture - often uses bones (don’t worry they’re fiberglass, nobody was dug up) in his works. His piece “Public Notice 2” recalls the historic speech delivered by Mahatma Gandhi  on the eve of the renowned Salt March. In this speech, the Mahatma called  for complete civil disobedience, but also for  non-violence and peace. The work, which exists out of 4500 bone shaped letters, stands in haunting contrast to the call for peace.

Jitish Kallat "Public Notice 2"

Kallat is also known for his collection of ‘bone cars’: various cars and trucks all made out of fiberglass bone.  Like “Public Notice 2” these cars are simply haunting.  Anyone who’s familiar with Indian traffic can understand these works

Jitish Kallat: Auto-rickshaw

Jitish Kallat: bone car

Palio di Siena

One of the greatest spectacles Italy has to offer is the Palio in Siena. The horse race is held twice each year in the Piazza del Campo. Competitors from the 17 contrade( city quarters) take part bearing their areas colours. Siena’s 17 contrade were armies created in the Middle Ages to defend the city after they won their independence from Florence. Ten contrade take part in the first race on July 2.The other seven plus three from the July race compete on August 16. The historical costumes worn throughout the festivities bring back the atmosphere from the golden age of the Republic of Siena.

Piazza del Campo

The Indian underground scene

We'd like you to meet two key players in the contemporary Indian underground scene: Karsh Kale and the Midival Punditz.
Karsh Kale is an Indian musician, producer, composer, world renowned tabla player, but most importantly: the pioneer of the Indian underground genre. Kale is known for mixing various genres, such as electronic, ambient and Indian classical folk music.
The Midival Punditz -Kale's partner in crime-  is an Indian fusion group consisting of Delhi-based Gaurav Raina and Tapan Raj. Their style revolves around electronic, jungle and features traditional Indian instruments such as the tabla and sitar.

On the move

One great journey compiled into 1 minute by Rick Mereki.

Royal Blood

“Royal Blood” is a controversial photographic series made by the dutch Amsterdam-based photographer Erwin Olaf.  Olaf, whose images usually show an edgy lust for provocation has worked for Diesel Clothing, Microsoft, Heineken, has had numerous exhibitions worldwide and can often be found back in magazines such as the New York Times Magazine.

The “Royal Blood” series consists out of 8 photographs of famous people that we remember especially because of the brutal way in which their life ended.

The depiction of Lady Di, was received with unbelievable controversy in the USA, UK and Australia.  The photograph shows a Diana look-a-like with an innocent look in her eyes and a Mercedes star – the car in which she was involved in a fatal collision in Paris- in her upper arm, with blood flowing out.

Other pictures of this series include Julius Caesar, Marie Antoinette, Sissi, Jackie Onassis, Tsarina Alexandra



Jackie Kennedy Onassis, with her husband's blood splattered over her face and clothing



Julius Caesar

photo sources: http://www.erwinolaf.com/

Grand Scale Opera

Each summer, the Bregenz Festival in Austria presents stunning opera stages, set on Lake Constance. Whether its a giant eyeball for Tosca, during which performance a part of the James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace" was filmed, or a skeleton opening a book for Verdi's Masked Ball, the festival's creativity doesn't cease to amaze. This year, for Umberto Giordanos French Revolution opera "Andrea Chenier", the organisers have erected the statue of Marat, murdered in the bathtub, as seen in the famous painting by J.L.David. A giant staircase runs from Marats eye down to his neck and shoulder. To his right there is an over-sized open book of Cheniers poems and to the left a guilded mirror on which images are projected. One thing this stage is not, is discrete. But opera purists should be appeased by the spectacle it offers. 
The festival runs until August 21st, but if you miss it you have another chance next year, as the stages are built every two years.

Stage for Andrea Chenier 2011



Aida 2009-20010

A masked ball 1999-2000