BLOG - Archivo SEPTIEMBRE de 2009
João Gilberto Noll in Madrid
Although he is still relatively unknown in the Spanish-speaking world, Noll is gradually finding the position he deserves among us, thanks to the translations of his work that the Adriana Hidalgo publishing house has been producing over the last few years (up to now they have published Lord, Harmada, Bandoleros, and A cielo abierto). In Brazil, Noll’s books have become classics, and he is an example for the country’s new generation of innovative and radical authors. He is currently giving workshops and lectures at the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid.
Read more...Rubem Fonseca: Scratch and Win
Google, which does not always find everything, almost limits Rubem Fonseca to crime novels. The Brazilian writer resorts to the genre’s clichés in order to subvert them: once we have scratched off a first layer of pulp entertainment, we are met with a genuinely inconvenient truth. In his work, which includes short stories, novels and screenplays, Fonseca uses his detectives and bullets as elements with which to build a sociological portrait: although we can recognise the time period and the location (Brazil, second half of the 20th century), a change in the stories’ coordinates would not detract from the verisimilitude of these aimless, rudderless characters.
Read more...Oliver Stone in Venezuela. Reflections on how to make a documentary without too much documentary research.
South of the Border, by Oliver Stone, illustrates the changes in recent Latin American history, and the crucial role played by the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, in these developments. Chávez is the central character in Stone’s documentary, which examines the achievements of his 10 years in power, and the Venezuelan and U.S. media campaigns against him. Disparaging news items speak of the impossibility of accepting Chávez’s thinking, which they present as being at least as dangerous as that of Bin Laden, Hitler and Castro. These comparisons, which are unsurprising when coming from U.S. sources, are hard to take seriously, not just because of their implications but also because of the Citizen Kane-esque tone of the news items.
Read more...A few biennials for the next few months
The first of these events, the Turkish 11th Istanbul Biennial, will take place between the 12th of September and the 8th of November, 2009. The title of this edition of the biennial has been taken from a text written by Bertolt Brecht which has been turned into a song: “WHAT KEEPS MANKIND ALIVE?” The curatorship of this event has been carried out by the collective What, How and for Whom/WHW, which is made up of four female curators who have selected 120 projects by 70 artists from 40 countries. As is well-known, this Biennial takes place in a range of historical spaces in the city which, along with its gradual internationalisation, is one of its most attractive features.
Read more...El Siglo del Jazz [The Century of Jazz], a highly recommended exhibition.
If you live in Barcelona or are thinking of visiting the city before the 18th of October, make sure to see the excellent exhibition on the history of Jazz at the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea de Barcelona (CCCB). As well as taking a look at the history and evolution of this musical genre by means of a wealth of sound and documentary material, it explores the influence it exerted on other cultural expressions in the 20th century, particularly cinema, illustration, painting and literature, with the most innovative artists finding inspiration in Jazz right from its beginnings. In addition, it offers a chronological journey through the different Jazz currents and trends in seven chapters which examine its influence on the world of culture: Before 1917 –the year in which the New Orleans Chinese Quarter was shut down, putting pay to its seedy bars and brothels, and causing the emigration of the city’s musicians to Chicago and York–, The Jazz Era in America, Harlem renaissance, Crazy Years in Europe, The Era of Swing, War Time, Bebop, Jazz-Art in Barcelona, The West Coast, The Free Revolution and Contemporary.
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