Category Archives: Culture

FBI- Trump Shooter Was Lone Gunman

Today, the aftermath of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump: a breakdown of the assassination attempt, and initial theories about the gunman. Via our friends at the Associated Press & The Epoch Times.

Highlights

A Breakdown of the Assassination Attempt Against Trump


It started at 6:02 p.m. with former President Donald Trump taking the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania. Ten minutes later Mr. Trump was lying bleeding on the stage and shielded by Secret Service agents.


Why It Matters: An attempted political assassination of a former and potential U.S. president impacts the world.


FBI Found ‘Suspicious Device’ in Shooter’s Car, Investigating Attack as Domestic Terrorism


The FBI has provided background on its investigation of the would-be killer of former President Trump and what else he may have been trying to do.
Officials said they don’t have a motive yet, but did find a suspicious device in the dead gunman’s car and continue to work with his family as the investigation continues.


Why It Matters: Many questions need to be answered, including what the shooter’s motive was, and how he was able to nearly kill a former president.

FBI Investigating Attack as Act of Domestic Terrorism

The FBI said a ’suspicious device,’ which was later defused, was found in the assailant’s car.

FBI Believes Trump Shooter Acted Alone, Investigating Attack as Act of Domestic Terrorism
State and local police block off roads surrounding the home of the suspected shooter of former President Donald Trump, as the FBI carries out an investigation, in Bethel Park, Pa., on July 14, 2024. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images) Joseph Lord

FBI officials say they believe the would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump acted alone.

The agency is investigating the attack as both an attempted assassination and an act of domestic terrorism, officials told reporters in a call with news media on July 14.

The new details emerged less than 24 hours after the United States saw its first major assassination attempt of a president or presidential candidate since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.

Authorities have identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, a resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. At a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, the assailant fired several shots from an elevated position near the venue. Witnesses saw a man with a rifle on the rooftop of a nearby building.

Former President Trump’s right ear was pierced by one of the bullets before he was rushed to his car by Secret Service agents. However, one of the attendees at the rally, 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comperatore, was killed. Two other rally attendees—identified by Pennsylvania State Police as David Dutch and James Copenhaver—were injured.

Both of the injured attendees are in stable condition, according to Pennsylvania State Police, which did not provide further details on their injuries. A GoFundMe effort established by the Trump campaign for the victims and their families had raised more than $3 million usd/ $4,090,000 cad as of the evening of July 14.

FBI Investigation

The FBI has not yet identified a motive. The assailant’s family is cooperating in the investigation, officials said.

Trump Says God ‘Prevented the Unthinkable’ During Assassination Attempt

Biden Says He’s Directed an Independent Review of Security at Trump Rally

Biden Says He’s Directed an Independent Review of Security at Trump Rally

Attorney General Merrick Garland called the assassination attempt on the former president “an attack on our democracy itself.”

“[The Justice Department has] no tolerance for such violence, and as Americans, we must have no tolerance for it,” Mr. Garland told reporters. “This must stop.”

The agency said a “suspicious device” was located during a sweep of Mr. Crooks’s car. It was later defused by bomb technicians.

FBI Director Christopher Wray vowed that his agency would “leave no stone unturned” in its investigation of the attack.

“An attempt to assassinate a presidential candidate can only be described as absolutely despicable and will not be tolerated in this country,” Mr. Wray told reporters.

Earlier on July 14, President Joe Biden said he asked that the investigation be “thorough and swift.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies about the bureau’s budgetary needs during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in Washington on June 4, 2024. (Allison Bailey/Middle East Images via AFP via Getty Images)
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies about the bureau’s budgetary needs during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in Washington on June 4, 2024. (Allison Bailey/Middle East Images via AFP via Getty Images)

Prior to the attack, officials said, the perpetrator wasn’t on the FBI’s radar as a potential threat.

The FBI’s screening of the shooter’s social media presence has so far revealed no ideology or political beliefs that could have been his basis for the attack, officials said.

The FBI has received more than 2,000 tips so far, they said.

Officials believe that the rifle used in the attack was a semi-automatic rifle similar to an AR-15.

Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office, told reporters that the weapon belonged to the shooter’s father, who purchased it legally. It’s still unclear how Mr. Crooks got his hands on the rifle, or if his father was aware that he had taken it.

“These are facts that we’ll flesh out as we conduct interviews,” Mr. Rojek said.

Independent Review

President Biden said that he has directed an independent review of the security present at the rally.

Speaking from the White House, President Biden said the assassination attempt was “contrary to everything we stand for as a nation.”

“It’s not who we are as a nation, it’s not America, and we cannot allow this to happen,” he said.

The president said that he had a “short but good conversation” with former President Trump on the evening of July 13.

The former president, meanwhile, was due to arrive in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention on July 14, as originally planned. He said in a social media post that he had wanted to delay the travel in the immediate aftermath of the attack, but ultimately decided against it.

Secret Service officials confirmed on July 14 that no changes have been made to security at the convention, which starts on July 15, noting that the event has already been given the highest-grade security.

“Currently, there are no known articulated threats against the RNC or anyone visiting the RNC,” Michael Hensle, special agent in charge of the FBI for Wisconsin, said at a news conference.

The Secret Service has refuted claims that the 45th president’s security team requested additional security for the July 13 event and was denied.

“This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi wrote in a July 14 post on X.

Former President Trump, in a statement on July 14, thanked his supporters, saying of the attack that it was “God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.”

The former president made a call for unity, saying, “In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans.”

Former First Lady Melania Trump, in her own statement, called on Americans to “ascend above the hate” and “simple-minded ideas that incite violence.”

“When I watched that violent bullet strike my husband, Donald, I realized my life, and Barron’s life, were on the brink of devastating change,” Ms. Trump wrote.

She said that she was “grateful to the brave Secret Service agents and law enforcement officials who risked their own lives.”

Over on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are vowing their own investigations into the matter.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Congress will probe if there were security lapses at the rally.

“We need to know: How could an individual be at that elevation that was seen by apparently bystanders on the ground—how could that not be noticed by Secret Service?” Mr. Johnson told NBC’s “Today” on July 14.

In a July 14 letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) revealed several pieces of information, including the security plan that was in place on the day of the shooting. The Secret Service falls under the umbrella of DHS.

A DHS spokesperson confirmed receipt of the letter.

“DHS responds to congressional inquiries directly via official channels, and the Department will continue to respond appropriately to Congressional oversight,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email. For the Silo, Joseph Lord.

Joseph Lord

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Traditional Family Fades In Canada As Some Women Advocate For Revival

On her fridge door, along with numerous family pictures, Danielle Brandt has a handwritten quote by Dr. John Trainer: “Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.”

A proud Calgary mother of three boys (Aiden, 10, Theodore, 4, and Silas, 2), Mrs. Brandt is a homemaker. Her husband, Adam Brandt, is the breadwinner. At the core of their parenting philosophy is the belief that strong families make strong societies, Mrs. Brandt says.

She was a music teacher before becoming a stay-at-home mom, but when she returned to work shortly after giving birth to her first child, she says she realized she wanted to be fully involved in raising her children.

“The idea that your identity is found at home with your family and not out in the world with your peers, and that your parents and your family are what matters first … that’s the reason I wanted to be home with my children.”

While Mrs. Brandt persists in adhering to her traditional role in the family, there is declining interest among young Canadian women to pursue the same path.

Canadians are “increasingly less likely” to form families, and if they do, they are choosing to have fewer children, if any at all, according to a May 2024 report jointly published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) and the Centre for the Study of Living Standards.

ANALYSIS: To Reverse Canada’s Declining Birth Rate, Cultural Changes May Be More Important Than Economic Ones

How Marxism Broke Down the Nuclear Family

How Marxism Broke Down the Nuclear Family

The same report, based on evidence from existing data and literature, found that traditional families enjoy more prosperity and better health.

Adults who are in a couple tend to earn more money per person than singles of the same age and, if married, they tend to live longer, have healthier lifestyles, and are less stressed. Similarly, children benefit from being raised by their two biological parents in a stable marriage, appearing to have a higher standard of living and educational attainment, and being less likely to engage in risky behaviour, the report found.

But a significant fraction of Canadian children will see their families break up by the time they are 14, and more than a quarter live in one-parent families, the report said. The author, Tim Sargent, deputy executive director of the Centre for the Study of Living Standards, concluded that the rates of family dissolution in Canada are higher than those in the United States and the UK, culturally comparable countries.

Janice Fiamengo, a retired University of Ottawa English professor who now gives talks on the role of women in society, says the downward trends in family formation are largely due to how women’s priorities are being redefined in Canada.

“Their primary goal in life is to be independent, to have a career, and to regard marriage and childbearing as secondary, if not undesirable in general,” Ms. Fiamengo told The Epoch Times, describing the trends and messages aimed at young women today.

Trends Among Canadian Women

Women are now taking longer to complete their higher education. From 2000–2022, the participation in education of women aged 20 to 24 rose by 12 percent (to 51 percent), according to Statistics Canada.

Only 37 percent of men in the same age range participated in education in 2022, and that rate grew by just four percentage points since 2000. Similar trends are seen among men and women aged 25 to 29.

Source: Statistics Canada 2023h, Table 37-10-0196-01. (Chart: Carolina Avendano/The Epoch Times)
Source: Statistics Canada 2023h, Table 37-10-0196-01. (Chart: Carolina Avendano/The Epoch Times)

Women’s participation in the labour market has also increased dramatically in recent decades, with fewer and fewer women choosing to be stay-at-home moms.

Employment among women aged 25 to 54 has almost doubled from 40 percent in 1976 to about 80 percent as of May 2024, according to Statistics Canada. Employment rates for women in general remain higher than they were prior to the pandemic in 2017 and 2019.

In addition, more women aged 25 to 34 now delay living with their partner. The proportion of those who live with their parents increased by 3.3 percentage points, from 12.8 percent in 2011 to 16.1 percent in 2021.

Marriage rates are on the decline while divorce rates are increasing, and women are waiting until later to have children.

At the same time, Canada’s fertility rate has been declining persistently for the past 15 years, with the national rate hitting an all-time low in 2022 at 1.3 children per woman.

A study by the think tank Cardus found that the top factors that diminish a woman’s desire to be a mother are wanting to grow as a person, wanting to save money, focusing on a career, and believing that kids require intense care.

“Any woman who decides that what she primarily wants to do is to marry and to have children, that woman is seen as having failed, having let down other women, and having failed herself,” says Ms. Fiamengo.

She says the prevalence of feminism in Canada has played a role in shaping these views.

Changing Views on Traditional Family Roles

It wasn’t until the second-wave feminism of the 1980s that an idea with communist roots took hold—the dissolution of the traditional family structure, Ms. Fiamengo says.

Feminism takes many forms and contains different ideas—in the 19th century, it was about women’s suffrage. The idea that the traditional family is at odds with gender equality and women’s fulfilment has its origins in communist ideology.

In his 1884 book titled “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State,” Friedrich Engels, based on notes by Karl Marx, made the first allusion to the monogamous family as “the world historical defeat of the female sex,” in which the woman was reduced to servitude and turned into an instrument for the production of children.

He thus advocated for the liberation of the wife, the abolishment of the family, and for the care and education of the children to become a public affair.

“[Engels] explicitly makes that connection, that the man—the patriarch—is the capitalist oppressor. The woman is in the situation of being the oppressed worker or the sex slave in the family,” says Ms. Fiamengo.

“He saw no distinction between prostitution, in which a woman is bought by a man to have her body used for the man’s pleasure, and the situation of a woman in a marriage.”

Betty Friedan’s 1963 book “The Feminine Mystique,” a precursor of feminism as a struggle between genders, urged women to break free from the domestic sphere and find their own identity outside the home. Friedan promulgated that fulfillment could not be found through marriage and motherhood alone.

Ms. Fiamengo says feminism’s lack of encouragement for women to start a family makes them miss out on what she thinks is one of the greatest joys of human life—childbearing.

“The fact that our government doesn’t encourage marriage … or encourage couples to stay together for the good of their children, is doing a terrible disservice to the future generations,” she says.

Peter Jon Mitchell, program director for Cardus Family, says the prevalent view of marriage in Canada is that “it’s nice, but unnecessary.”

“We don’t really talk a lot about marriage and the benefits of marriage in our culture.” Mr. Mitchell also that, compared to the United States, where the two-parent privilege—the fact that children fare better in two-parent rather than single-parent households—and the benefits of marriage are part of the public discourse, Canada lags behind.

The May MLI report cites some studies showing that children in two-parent households fare better. One published by the National Library of Medicine in 2014 found such children do better physically, emotionally, and academically.

Likewise, in a 2015 research paper, David Ribar, honorary professor at the University of Melbourne, found that children who grow up with married parents enjoy more economic and family stability. Mr. Ribar argues that the benefits of marriage for children’s wellbeing are hard to replicate through policy interventions other than those that support marriage itself.

Consequences of Putting Family Role Second

Sociologist Brigitte Berger noted in her book “The Emerging Role of Women” that work is important for both sexes. Yet liberation through work means different things to different people.

To the working-class women and the poor, for whom work is a necessity, liberation means freedom from financial burden and the freedom to devote time to things that matter outside of work, such as family, community, and hobbies. Among women for whom work is not a necessity, modern thinking has led them to find identity and liberation through paid labour.

According to a 2021 survey by the Canadian Women’s Foundation, 28 percent of mothers reported difficulty keeping up with work demands, and half of mothers felt exhausted trying to balance work and childcare responsibilities.

“I think most mothers would prefer to be part-time,” says Mrs. Brandt. “They don’t actually want to leave their kids 100 percent of the time with someone else.”

She says the widespread notion that women can do it all is not realistic and can lead many to burnout. “I can’t fully parent my children well and fully do another job [outside the home], at least not the way I want to,” she says. “Something has to give; there’s not enough of me.”

Mrs. Brandt says she is not worried about her chances of returning to work at some stage.

“We live a long time nowadays. You can’t always have kids, you can’t always be with your kids when they’re young or get that time back when they’re young,” she adds. “But you could do a career later, and that’s the amazing thing about our culture, too.”

Last year, a study by the think tank Cardus found that half of Canadian women are not having as many children as they would like, and that this group reported lower life satisfaction than women who achieved their fertility goals.

Cardus senior fellow Lyman Stone noted low fertility rates are not because women want few kids, but the timeline most of them follow for school, work, self-development, and marriage leaves too few economically stable years to achieve the families they want.

One of the most striking findings of the May MLI report is that Canada has seen a marked deterioration in the mental health of young women over the last decade.

More than three-quarters of women aged 15 to 30 reported excellent or very good mental health between 2009 and 2010. Throughout the following nine years, that figure dropped 22.5 percentage points, to 54 percent. For women aged 31 to 46, mental well-being also declined, but only by 10.1 percentage points.

Source: Canadian Community Health Survey, 2003 to 2019. (Chart: Carolina Avendano/The Epoch Times)
Source: Canadian Community Health Survey, 2003 to 2019. (Chart: Carolina Avendano/The Epoch Times)

Motherhood and Women’s Happiness

A Cardus 2023 study concluded that women’s happiness and fertility are linked. The think tank surveyed 2,700 women aged 18 to 44 about family and fertility, and found that mothers are happier than non-mothers everywhere (except when they are under 25 or living in poverty).

“The role of the mother really is to nurture and to develop children,” says Mrs. Brandt. “My husband is a wonderful nurturer, he’s fantastic at it, but my boys, even the ones that have the closest relationship with him, they still need mom … I’m still the safe place.

“I am not saying that men can’t do it, but sometimes women are built for it, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Danielle Brandt with her youngest son, Silas, at her Calgary home on June 1, 2024. Mrs. Brandt homeschools her oldest son, Aiden, because she saw he was falling behind in class. Seeing the positive response, she now plans to also homeschool her other two children. (Carolina Avendano/The Epoch Times)
Danielle Brandt with her youngest son, Silas, at her Calgary home on June 1, 2024. Mrs. Brandt homeschools her oldest son, Aiden, because she saw he was falling behind in class. Seeing the positive response, she now plans to also homeschool her other two children. (Carolina Avendano/The Epoch Times)

She draws inspiration from her mother, who was also a teacher turned homemaker. Mrs. Brandt says her mother was always available for her and her three siblings, and would show up at their most important moments, including sporting events, school functions or field trips. “We felt like we were the priority because we were,” she says.

But being a stay-at-home mom is also demanding, Mrs. Brandt adds. Although it’s rewarding, she says the challenge is that there is no time off. “But at the end of the day, when I look at my children and see them peacefully sleeping, [I think to myself] ‘That’s it, that’s what this is about,’” she says. “They are the future generation. I want to pour into that, and there is no more valuable work than that.” For the Silo, Carolina Avendano.

Featured image- Danielle and Adam Brandt with their sons Silas (L), Aiden (C), and Theodore at their home in Calgary on June 1, 2024. (Carolina Avendano/The Epoch Times)

Mid Century Native American Artist Mary Sully At The Met

(New York, July, 2024)—This summer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present the exhibition Mary Sully: Native Modern, opening July 18, 2024. Born Susan Mabel Deloria on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota, Mary Sully (1896–1963) was a little-known, reclusive Yankton Dakota artist who, between the 1920s and 1940s, produced highly distinctive work informed by her Native American and settler ancestry. The exhibition is part of The American Wing at 100, a series of gallery reinstallations and exhibitions marking the wing’s 2024 centennial.

Image: Mary Sully (Dakota, 1896–1963). Alice (detail), ca. 1920s–40s. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Morris K. Jesup Fund and funds from various donors, 2023

The exhibition is made possible by the Barrie A. and Deedee Wigmore Foundation.

“This compelling exhibition celebrates how Mary Sully’s cultural sensibilities influenced her unconventional body of work,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer. “Sully translated her life and experiences into a unique graphic language, culminating in an intensely creative perspective from which to consider Indigenous cultures and imagery.”

This first solo exhibition of Sully’s groundbreaking production highlights recent Met acquisitions and loans from the Mary Sully Foundation, works that call into question traditional notions of Native American and modern art.

The Met Fifth Avenue. 82nd Street New York, NY, 10028

Working without patronage, in near obscurity, and largely self-taught, Sully produced approximately 200 intricately designed and vividly colored drawings in colored pencil, graphite, and ink on paper that captured meaningful aspects of her Dakota community mixed with visual elements observed from other Native nations and the aesthetics of urban life. Euro-American celebrities from popular culture, politics, and religion inspired some of her most striking works, which she called “personality prints”—abstract portraits arranged as vertical triptychs.

Panel from Titled Husbands in the USA by Mary Sully (1896–1963), 1927–1945. Colored pencil on paper, 12 7/8  by 18 inches. None of Sully’s pieces are dated, but it is estimated that they were all created between 1927 and 1945. Except as noted, all objects illustrated are in the collection of Philip J. Deloria. via themagazineantiques.com

Featuring 25 rarely seen Sully compositions—primarily her “personality prints”—as well as archival family material and other Native American items from The Met collection, the exhibition offers a fresh and nuanced lens through which to consider American art and life in the early 20th century. 

Sylvia Yount, Lawrence A. Fleischman Curator in Charge of the American Wing, said: “We’re thrilled to present Mary Sully: Native Modern as a special feature of the department’s 100th anniversary in 2024. Born of particular Native and Euro-American cultural entanglements, Sully’s work is highly relevant and resonant for the American Wing, The Met’s historic department of a broadly defined American art by diverse makers, with a deepening concentration of work by women and artists of color.”

Portion of Mary Sully’s The Indian Church (around 1938-45)Collection of Philip J. Deloria

Bottom of Sully’s The Indian Church (c. 1938-45)© Collection of Philip J. Deloria via theartnewspaper.com

About Mary Sully

As a great-granddaughter of the successful 19th-century portraitist Thomas Sully (1783–1872), Susan Deloria expressly adopted the name of her mother, Mary Sully (1858–1916), daughter of Alfred Sully (1820–1879) and the Dakota woman Susan Pehandutawin (dates unknown), an artist in her own right. Deloria grew up in a distinguished family of Dakota leaders. Her sister Ella Cara Deloria (1889–1971), with whom she primarily lived, was a linguistic ethnographer trained by the esteemed Columbia University anthropologist Franz Boas. Her nephew, Vine Deloria, Jr. (1933–2005), was an author, theologian, historian, and activist for Native American rights. And her great-nephew, historian Philip J. Deloria, is the author of Becoming Mary Sully: Toward an American Indian Abstract (University of Washington Press, 2019), the only scholarly investigation of her art and life.

Related Presentation in Art of Native America Installation

In late June, the American Wing unveiled a new rotation of works by Native American artists focusing on intergenerational knowledge and their critical role as knowledge keepers. These include recent acquisitions by contemporary basket makers Jeremy Frey (Passamaquoddy) and Theresa Secord (Penobscot), in addition to painter Rabbett Strickland (Red Cliff Ojibwe).

Credits and Related Content

Mary Sully: Native Modern is curated by Patricia Marroquin Norby (P’urhépecha), Associate Curator of Native American Art, and Sylvia Yount, Lawrence A. Fleischman Curator in Charge of the American Wing.

The exhibition is conceived in partnership with the Mary Sully Foundation and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Featured imageMary Sully, “Good Friday” From Philip J. Deloria, “Becoming Mary Sully; Toward an American Indian abstract” (Seattle, University of Washington Press: 2019) ISBN 978-0-295-74504-6. Courtesy University of Washington Press.

Found Objects & Waste Transmutation Dominates African Art?

Found Object, Recycled Art, Readymade or Junk Art?

Abstract

The phenomenon of found objects and waste transmutation into works of art, dominates contemporary African art ostensibly as the new continental creative identity. Majority of contemporary African artists experiment with waste as their preferred artistic medium and find in them (waste), potent metaphors for creative expressionism. However, although this art form is rapidly gaining prominence and international acclaim, it is surrounded by equivocations emanating from available literature sources.

Calixte Dakpogan – between tradition and modernism | AFRICAN CONTEMPORARY ART NOW (wordpress.com)

Discourses have emerged which attempts to theorize this genre of art but such discourses have only created varying levels of ambiguities which impedes understanding of its history, conceptuality and context in contemporary art-space. This article reviews recent literature dealing with found object appropriation in Africa, to expose the obscurities inherent in such studies. Using discourse analysis, this review indicates the existence of ambiguities ranging from terminology devising and classification to issues of hegemonic exclusivity and problems of contextualization. On the premise of these existing gray areas, I propose an in-depth study into this modern African art type, such study should adopt a particularized system to investigate the methodology of African found object art, its ideology and cultural motivation as basic criteria to enable our understanding and establishing of this modern art form as traditional to Africa in form, content and context and subsequently differentiate it from those of European art conventions to which it is currently erroneously likened to.

Keywords: Found Object, Readymade, Ambiguity, Junk Art, Upcycling, Surrealistic Object, Bricolage.

1. Introduction

Incorporation of materials from pop culture into African visual practice may have existed since the continent’s encounter with the west during slave trade and even earlier, as evidenced in the use of European spirit bottles assembled to build deities and shrines (Shiner 1994). But very little is found in literature that provides an account of any in-depth investigation into the historiography of this African art convention. This art genre (waste and found objects appropriation) has proliferated across the entire continent and now dominates contemporary art practice. As observed by Sylla and Bertelsen (1998), “found object art dominates modern African visual practice and very few are those who have not practice found object appropriation art in the continent”.

Numerous reasons are responsible for the fast propagation of this art type and subsequent adoption of ‘bricolage’ creative methodology by African artists, but the most noticeable factor is globalisation (Shiner 1994, Sylla & Mertelsen 1998). While through 21 st century advances in technology and innovations the world is becoming a global village, it conversely leads to increased consumption and accompanying generation of varieties of waste. These waste and found materials occasioned by modernity, become materials for artistic use (Kart 2009). Modern waste (the bye products of modernity and civilization) are employed by Africans as effective visual metaphors for creative explorations and expressionism. This interconnectivity between globalization, modernity and waste generation, accompanied by technological advancements in contemporary Africa, results in waste uniquely adapted into art to a high level it has even been argued that, discarded objects incorporation into art originated from Africa. Evans (2010, p.1) posited that, “through found object transformation, African artists have created a truly unique art form and have bequeathed a new art context to the world”. Reasons being that, for many contemporary African artists trained in western art education systems and equipped with such artistic conceptualism, interrogating the rich meanings locked in waste and found objects is considered quintessential for artistic self expressionism and creation of heighten multifarious layers of meanings since according to Aniakor (2013), “images and objects are plaited with meanings and only by interrogating them, that knowledge is extended and certain messages and ideologies expressed”. Thus, such artists tailor their creative experimentations towards achieving artistic self expressionism and higher codified meanings. This is because as observed by O.Connor, found object artworks are believed to be enriched with superlative double fluidity of meaning (Op cit 2013).

Mamiwata, 2006 Calixte Dakpogan

It is perhaps achieving that fluidity of meaning which has driven modern African artists to position themselves as material experimentalist to creatively interrogate waste and found objects, exploring their artistic qualities and meanings, as well as using such works to reflect societal circumstances and issues in contemporary Africa, as the basis for their art. They do so because, according to Fontaine (2010, p57), “by engaging with ready-mades from pop culture, the artist becomes an agency through which the inherent beauty and art qualities trapped in found/waste materials are brought to lime light via transmutation”.

From an African

Arts and Design Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-6061 (Paper) ISSN 2225-059X (Online) Vol.12, 2013 42 trajectory, not just the beauty in waste is considered but the circumstances creating these waste (globalization, modernity and consumption) forms the ideological/conceptual framework for waste transformation into new art conventions. Whilst this genre of art is gaining prominence and widespread international recognition, it has stirred up scholarly interest from both African/western art historians and critics. Available literature with regards to this contemporary African art form, consist of numerous ambiguities which impedes understanding of its contextual artistic existence. Such literatures have sprang up in the 21st century by scholars [African and western] who, ignoring the historiography of this African art form, only problematically treat found object transmutation into art in Africa as a recent artistic endeavour.

A lot of hasty generalizations and confused contextualizations exist, pointing to the fact that no in-depth research has been conducted to provide clarity to existing gaps in this body of knowledge. Some scholars have struggled with devising a rubric for this art form that will define and categorize it as African. Others have adopted what may be considered a problematic discourse of likening this art form in parallel morphological and ideological terms with European Readymade, Dadaism, Surrealism and Found Object Art, indicating the extent to which scholars have grappled with this subject.

The rubric ‘Recycling in Contemporary African Art’ has been problematically adopted by scholars to holistically describe this African art form in the past two decades, a rubric which Binder (2008) argues that is “misleading”. Binders view point is supported by Van-Dyk who observed that “A lot of artists have made art out of found materials before the word ‘recycle’ was even known in our society… the term Recycling in African Art therefore is a misconception” (Van- Dyk, 2013. P2). This paper reviews recent articles and catalogues which deals with waste transmutation into art, in order to reveal the ambiguities surrounding this modern art genre in Africa, it goes further to posit that for proper understanding to be attained, an in-depth research into found object art is exigent.

Providing solutions to these existing gaps is beyond the scope of this paper, however, in the course of this discourse, insights will be provided into ways through which studies can be effectively directed using cultural perspectivalism of particularised methodological investigation which will enable the possible establishing of this contemporary art convention as African in form, content, and context and, distinguish it from those of western art culture.

2. Articles, Submissions and Gray Areas on waste ‘Upcycling’ into contemporary Africa art:

Four literature sources (three papers and a book) are reviewed in this section to bring to lime light gray areas and gaps in the body of knowledge with regards to found object appropriation in contemporary African art.

African Folk Art Recycled Tin Can Turtle Tanzania

2.1 Globalizing East African Culture: From Junk to Jua Kali Art.

By Margaretta Swigert-Gacheru 2011 Swigert-Gacheru’s paper focuses on waste transformation into art practiced in East Africa, using Kenya as case study. The main idea from an economic and innovative view point purported by the author is that, Jua Kali Ingenuity which culminates into Kenyan Junk Art is a contemporary East African renaissance movement which not only defines a unique genre of art, but contributes to boosting the economy through its bricolage productivity. Also, the author pointed out that Jua Kali is the most dynamic contemporary art form in Kenya which exists as a heighten level of creative ingenuity inspired by the presence of global waste/throw-away and poverty (Swigert- Gacheru 2011. P129).

She further observed that, by virtue of its appropriation of global waste, Jua Kali Junk Art bridges the gap between African and western art worlds by creating a global flow through such hybridization which in turn defies the myth of tribal art and primitive order (Swigert-Gacheru 2011. P127). Another submission made by the author is that, through creative resuscitation of discarded materials deposited in East Africa from Europe, Jua Kali Junk Art combines makeshift creativity with entrepreneurship as a strategy for survival (Swigert-Gacheru 2011. P129). Thus, poverty is cited as the motivation for the innovation of Jua Kali Junk Art in Kenya, whilst various artists inspired by economic hardship are listed. Although Swigert-Gacheru presents evidence of how makeshift creativity in the arts can boost the economy of both the artists and the nation, and also brought to lime light the fact that this ingenuity in East Africa was relegated to the background before now by scholars, the authors classification of what constitutes junk and debris is very confusing and especially problematic because this classification is the proviso for her dubbing of this art form as Junk Art.

The author stated that Junk Art is made from electronic garbage and found natural objects, while environmental debris and old clothes are used in installation (Swigert-Gacheru 2011, p. 131). This classification brings about various unanswered questions which subvert this genre of contemporary African art. For instance, can all art made from junk in Africa be classified as Junk Art? How does natural found object like stones, sea shells etc which are not electronic garbage justify their inclusion in the categorisation Junk Art? Or, does the inclusion of discarded materials into an artwork in this case as the author enumerated (old clothes and environmental debris), automatically transform such works into installation art? Is discarded material Upcycling into art, the-same as installation art? By using media as the criterion for devising the rubric ‘Jua Kali Junk Art’, one will assume that all artworks in East Africa or Africa at large made from found, discarded or readymade

Arts and Design Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-6061 (Paper) ISSN 2225-059X (Online) Vol.12, 2013 43 objects will ideally fall into this category (junk art) but this isn’t the case. Castellote (2011) observed that Olu Amoda uses discarded materials and junk which he prefers to call ‘Re-Purpose Materials’, and that his art be looked at as ‘Repurpose Material Art’. One observes that, Olu Amoda and other African artists even though make use of junk, devise different names for their waste materials and refuse that their artworks be called junk art. This is why Swigert-Gacheru’s adoption of the term junk art to generalize found objects transmutations in Kenya is problematic because other waste appropriation artists in Kenya have different names for their waste materials. Furthermore, by using numerous names for waste materials, devised by different artists as the main trust or generic mode of investigation to explore and interrogate this genre of African art, such line of enquiry as adopted by Swigert-Gacheru and other scholars has only lead to different confused classifications. Two issues stand out from Swigert-Gacheru’s study.

Firstly, the fact that the categorization of what constitutes waste and what falls into the typology debris is problematic means the terminology adopted for this art form is equally problematic. From the author’s submissions, it implies that natural objects, old clothes or environmental debris are excluded from the typology Junk art and by virtue of their waste composition, have become installation art. Also, classifying electronic garbage as the material used for making Junk Art, means they can’t be used in installation art by the author’s submission which makes her proposition very confusing. Secondly the author’s problematic waste categorisation culminates in an inability to differentiate junk art from Installation art. We are thus left with a rubric (Junk Art), which doesn’t even encompass all of Kenya’s found object appropriation, neither does it, reflect or encompass found object transmutation practiced elsewhere in East Africa, nor the entire African continent, and submissions which leaves us unaware of the boundaries between this art (Junk Art) and Installation Art. These unanswered questions and issues stated above, indicates the presence of more than a modicum of gray areas and uncertainties in Swigert-Gacheru’s paper.

2.2 Zimbabwe: The Lost and Found Art.

By Knowledge Mushohwe 2012 This article provides peripheral insights into contemporary African found object appropriation and possesses accompanying obscurities. The main purport of the article is the branding of art that utilizes available waste or ready-mades as ‘Found Object Art’, with the author positing that Zimbabwean artists use found object art as a way of finding meaning in thrash to communicate encoded messages. One major assertion made by the author is that, found object works of art are superlative to the more mundane forms of sculptures which are the old conventions. Arguing that, the punctuated coding system within found object art gives such sculptures a contemplative challenging quality which is an edge over traditional forms of sculpture (Mushohwe, 2012. P1). That additive aesthetic edge is born out of the complex creative process which the author describe as ‘Organised Vandalism’, a process which involves displacing old meanings and forms of objects to create and accord them new forms and meanings (Mushohwe, 2012. P1).

Whilst pointing to the fact that, found object art involves re-contextualisation of objects by dislocating them from their original context and locating them in higher realms of artistic existence, the author equally draws ones attention to the fact that its vandalising nature constitutes a cause for concern as critics question the legality of such practice. Most noticeably and ambiguously so too, is the fact that the author describes and associates found object art in Africa to those of western rebellious art movements. He stated that, “the rebel nature of this found object art is traced to Dadaism and its principal exponent is Marcel Duchamp” (Mushohwe, 2012. p2). Such a bold assertion however, is not proven with adequate facts which make it confusing and problematic as will be enunciated in the next paragraph. Although this paper provides some new insights into this genre of contemporary African sculpture, especially by branding it ‘Found Object Art’ and establishing the fact that, because this art form dislocates discarded objects from their original context to a new creative realm, it assumes contemplative/challenging qualities which accord them aesthetic/creative edge over traditional forms of sculpture such as modelled statues, carvings etc, the article notwithstanding, constitutes further ambiguities and raises various questions.

The author’s likening of this African art convention to Dadaism and purporting that Marcel Duchamp is the founder of Dadaism is shrouded in obscurities without sufficient scholarly evidence to support such claims. Firstly, in as much as Duchamp, Ricaba and Man Ray started anti art in America, Duchamp is not the founder of Dadaism.

Dadaism began in Zurich with artist like Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco, Jean Arp, etc credited for stemming the process that lead to Dadaism (Hans 1965, Uwe M 1979, Sandqvist 2006). However, Duchamp a pioneer member of anti-art in America originated the ‘Readymade’ which varies from Dadaist Surrealistic objects in various respects. Therefore, his linking of Duchamp’s Readymade and Surrealistic Found Object in same category is problematic. This is because, he implies by such proposition that Duchamp’s Readymade and Surrealist found objects are same art types which from literally evidence is not the case. Duchamp’s Readymade is a conceptual art style arrived at through his disinterested art ideology and experimentation with his ‘Creative Order and Infrathin’ [aesthetics of indifference] emphasizes the intellectual/conceptual content of an artwork over its visual form, to question what defines/constitute art and the entire art institution. Furthermore, such Readymade were unaltered by the artist and only assumed the dignity of art through ‘Dislocated Contextual Description’ (Read 1985, Obalk 2000, Arts and Design Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-6061 (Paper) ISSN 2225-059X (Online) Vol.12, 2013 45 El Anatsui’s works and practice methodology.

Her main submission is that Anatsui’s works frequently interpreted principally in relation to clothe, should instead be read as conceptual contemporary sculpture, and a localized reading be adopted in discussing his practice of incorporating locally available or sourced materials into his art. The author also argues that the rubric ‘Recycling in Contemporary African Art’ used to describe all modern African art involving material reclamation is misleading. Also, the term Found Object Art is said to be inappropriate and a wrong reflection of Anatsui’s practice and works since the artist himself chooses to refer to his materials and works as “Objects the Environment Yielded” (Binder 2008, p.27). Thus, she refers to Anatsui’s works as ‘Transformations’ instead of Found Object Art on the premise that the term ‘Found Object’ was born to art history of a particular European movement not relating to Africa, so the term ‘Transformation’ is more appropriate and not only signifies ownership but also an elevation of the material form of Anatsui’s art.

Citing Dilomprizulike (The Junk man of Africa) who works with discarded materials and always requires his works whether they are transformed or not to be called ‘Junk’ as an example, Binder argues that although many artists in Africa work with discarded materials, they are dissimilar in many ways thus, the dubbing of this art type “Recycling in Contemporary African Art” is cloaked in misconceptions. Another valid contribution in this paper is the advocating for a ‘Localized Reading’ of discarded material appropriation in modern African art as the most appropriate method of investigation for understanding its individual cultural peculiarities, since studies and categorizations with emphasis on material rather than practice methodology is inadequate. (Binder 2008, p.35)

By proposing a ‘Localized Reading’, the author indicates that dissimilarities exist between African artists practicing found object appropriation and between this African art convention and those of western art cultures. This view is supported by Olu Oguibe who observed that “the found object for Anatsui was not complete in and of itself, but required the transfiguring intervention of human agency in order to be translated into sculptural form thus, his works differ from others” (Oguibe 1998, p.48). This is why Binder proposed a localized reading into individual’s practices to be able to understand this art phenomenon.

What this reiterates is the fact that, the individual/cultural ideology, methodology and motivation behind found object creative manipulation are key to understanding the works produced and determines the way we perceive and appreciate such oeuvres. This is because “ones aesthetic responses are often functions of what one’s beliefs and perceptions about an object are” (Danto 1981. p99). Furthermore, the suggestion for a localized reading into this genre of contemporary African art is one that will provide a possible vantage point towards really understanding its modern art qualities and conceptuality. If a localized methodological reading is adopted perhaps alongside cross cultural comparison, then Binder’s argument that the adopted rubric ‘Recycling in Contemporary African Art’ for this art genre by western and African scholars is ambiguous and misleading will properly be understood and addressed.

This is because, only by understanding the practice methodology, cultural inspiration and ideology upon which these works derive the potency for their artistic being that the point of departure can be established that will lead to a comprehensive understanding as to why this art form may be peculiarly African. This said, propositions in Binder’s article raises a lot of issues that further contribute to the obscurity ubiquitous on this subject matter. The author classifies Anatsui’s artworks as ‘Transformations’ and her decision to adopt this terminology as appropriate for this style of art, hinges on two hypothesis; on the one hand is the fact that the found materials are manipulated creatively and the degree of such manipulation is employed as a vital coefficient and on the other hand, the ideology and intended codified messages locked in the piece to be expressed or communicated to the general public.

This paradigm of thinking though insightful, leads to the following lines of questioning; If the degree of manipulation of the discarded is the basis for devising the rubric and classification ‘Transformation’, how is Anatsui’s works different from Jua Kali Junk Art which adopts even deeper levels of material manipulation? By adopting the degree of artistic manipulation of the discarded as the sine qua non for classification, it is apparent that Anatsui’s assemblages or constructions are not different from Kenyan Junk art nor are they different from those of other Nigerian and African artists who work with found objects. On this premise, can those other works be classified too as Transformations? Or, the other way round, Anatsui’s works as Junk Art? Furthermore, by citing technique of making (Construction) as the basis for differentiating Anatsui’s works from others, does it mean that artworks made with this same technique (Assemblage/Construction) using different materials are or not qualified for this sobriquet Transformations?

Another trajectory in Binder’s investigation is the use of intent/metaphoric content (ideology) behind the works as a criterion and reason for underpinning the exclusive categorization of Anatsui’s works as Transformations. If the conceptuality, and metaphoric content are central to terminology devising for art types, then it becomes very confusing why Anatsui’s art should be treated as exclusive from others nor is there any need for discussing and differentiating found object appropriation in Africa under numerous terminologies by scholars because, almost all African artists who engage in this practice uses their art for same purposes; which according to Peek (2012), “is to create aesthetic objects for appreciation or to comment on the present condition of modern societies”. Issues relating to over consumerism, socio-economic and political ills and cultural/moral decadence are regular Arts and Design Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-6061 (Paper) ISSN 2225-059X (Online) Vol.12, 2013 46 themes associated with this art genre in Africa, which is equally the conceptual feature in most postcolonial art.

Which is the aesthetics of humanity that engages with the current and transforming state of human race and defined by such extend of engagement with these concerns (Young 2010). As this is the case, based squarely on ideology and messages conveyed like in most post colonial African art, there are no major differences between Anatsui’s art and those of other African artist who work with waste and convey same contemporary concerns in visual form.

Olu Amada “Trois Jeunes Filles

Conversely, will it then be a misplaced submission, if Anatsui’s art is called Junk or Found Object art? Or can Jua Kali Junk Art or that of Zimbabwe, those of Delomprizulike or the works of Olu Amoda qualify to fall under the typology Transformations? While Binder’s article provides great insights into Anatsui’s practice, as well as pointing out the fact that, attempting to generalize this genre of African art under the rubric ‘Recycling in Contemporary African Art’ as is often the case is misleading, and further observing that, adopting Euro-American terminologies and likening African found object art tradition to those of the west is a faulty proposition, her assertions in this article equally bellies lots of uncertainties observed above which hasn’t help provide clarifications needed on this subject.

3. Ambiguities Identified

This brief survey indicates the presence of gaps in the knowledge and discourse of found object appropriation in modern Africa. Thus, various issues emanating from the reviewed literature sources are categorised into the following problems subheadings:

3.1 Muddle Terminologies and Classification Problem

From the foregoing, it is apparent that the first ambiguity is the problem of classification. Terminologies such as Junk Art, Trash Art, Found Object Art, Recycled Art, Transformations, Readymade, Objects the environment yielded, Re-purpose Material Art, etc have all been adopted by scholars and artists alike to exclusively discuss and describe their art as products of individual ingenuity even though their artworks like those of others, equally involves the use of same creative methodologies and ideologies for waste and found object appropriation from pop culture into art in Africa. This trenchant attempt at carving out a unique individualistic identity or for ethnic groups or gilds working in this modern African art convention as is the main purport in many literary discourses, is an evidence of classification ambiguity which constitutes into grappling with devising or coining a suitable terminology for this art form which will effectively categorize it as individually exclusive or holistically encompassing to accommodate all African art forms made from readymade or found materials into one typology.

3.2 Hegemonic Exclusion of the Historiography of African Found Object Appropriation

There is also the problem of hegemonic exclusion which is made manifest in the writings of western scholars on African contemporary art. In an attempt to co-opt other art traditions into western art mainstreams, these scholars have refused to investigate or make any references to the origin of found object art in Africa and have concentrated in treating this art form as a recent artistic endeavour. In doing so over the years, that is ignoring the historiography of this African art convention, western scholars have fashioned a discourse on African found object transmutation art, which problematically excludes its historic context (origin). The resultant effect is evidenced in the fact that, even African scholars and critics have adopted this paradigm and thus, problematically treats African found object appropriation as simply an extension of European modernism rather than an art form with any cultural particularities/inspirations or determined by traditional philosophies.

So long as this remains the case and the origin of this art convention in Africa hegemonically excluded from contemporary discourse, the ambiguities surrounding it will continue to impede any comprehensive understanding of its contemporary artistic existence.

3.3 Problem of Contextualization

“There has been much debate surrounding the applicability of Euro-American terminology and classification to systems of art production outside of that specific history. While I am in no way arguing that these terms are not also applicable to practices other than those in Europe and America, I am suggesting a considered application rather than a catch-all grouping of the work as either recycling or found object. The answer is to acknowledge the local while assessing the reciprocity of art practices in a global historical context” (Binder 2008, p36) Binder’s argument is on the premise that, Euro-American terminologies may not effectively reflect or apply to art traditions or styles that fall outside the specific history which generated such terminologies.

If this happens, that is, Euro-American terminologies applied to outside art traditions, it will deprive such art forms or traditions drawn into European art mainstreams, of their true cultural artistic value, identity and conceptuality. Binder’s observation exhibits another level of ambiguity surrounding found object appropriation art in Africa as equally observed in the studies surveyed earlier in this paper, which is the problem of contextualization. Most writers both African and western, have applied Euro-American terminologies to describe this genre of art and in the process contextualize it based on western art movements of the 1900s like Readymade, Found Object, Dadaism etc. This application has not proven to be exceptionally adequate because, the ideological and conceptual frameworks that gave birth to those art forms and movements in the west are not responsible for the innovation.

Arts and Design Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-6061 (Paper) ISSN 2225-059X (Online) Vol.12, 2013 47 of this modern African art form. This means that such Euro-American terminologies cannot effectively reflect and encompass this art type in Africa. Other writers have invented terminologies to treat this art type as uniquely African yet they fall into the pit fall of making references to and likening this African art convention to western terminologies/theories and modernists art movements attempting to justify their course, but in the process, do not provide enough evidence to establish why this art form is uniquely African and different from those of the west. Such multifarious terminology devising and faulty contextualization for exclusivity purposes by these scholars and artists end up excluding others in the continent who work in same style convention and beclouding their art practices in ambiguities.

This problem exists because contemporary African artists and critics as well as their western counterparts have consciously and continuously engaged in the discourse of treating found object art in Africa as a very recent artistic endeavor and have avoided any trace of history to establish the origin of this African art form. If an in-depth research into the origin and growth of found object art in Africa is conducted, then the problem of contextualization of this art genre will be addressed.

4 Conclusion

Whilst found object appropriation into art in Africa has become the core of almost all contemporary creative experimentation, artist’s inventions of numerous rubrics to describe their materials in unison with some African and western scholars, has lead to problematic and obscured submissions. Such problematic propositions as this paper illustrates, has created various levels of obscurities (muddle terminologies/classification problem, problem of western hegemonic exclusion of the historiography of this art form in Africa and the problem of contextualization) which impedes understanding of this modern art convention.

Available literature sources reviewed in this discourse which contextualizes this art type in analogous aesthetic context with European art movements are misleading, while those that treat it as traditional to Africa provide insufficient information to underpin their assertions. Conversely, it is my opinion that for clarity to be attained, an in-depth research into found object transmutation into art in Africa is exigent. The point of departure firstly for such investigation will be to examine the origin and history of found object art in Africa. If the origin is established, it will determine if this art convention is inspired by traditional culture or occasioned by western influences.

Furthermore, such study should adopt a particularized reading system to examine the practice methodologies of African found object appropriation artists, the ideologies and cultural motivations behind this art convention. If a particularized reading is conducted into these three key aspects of African found object art, both the colonial, cultural and contemporary context of waste and found object appropriation into African art will be accorded much needed clarity and the problem of contextualization addressed. If this is done, it will effectively establish it (found object and waste appropriation genre of art in the continent), as African in form, content and context as well as differentiate it from European art movements/art cultures for which it is currently erroneously likened to. Providing solutions to these ambiguities is beyond the scope of this investigation.

Rather, what I have done is simply bringing to lime light the various obscurities surrounding this modern art type and suggesting directions for further investigations. For the Silo, Clement Emeka Akpang, School of Art and Design, University of Bedfordshire, Luton, United Kingdom.

Featured image- Dadaab Refugee Camp :: Behance

References

Adewunmi, A. ed (2008) Art is Everything 7: International Waste-to-art Workshop Catalogue. Nigeria: Timex Press Aniakor, C. (2013) ‘Interrogation of Objects and Images as means for Postgraduate Visual Enquiry in Environmental Sciences’ [Oral Interview]. Cross River University of Technology Calabar-Nigeria. 20th June, 2013 Arthur, D. (1981) The Transfiguration of the Commonplace. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Breton, A (1938) Surrealist Situation of the Object, in Manifestoes of Surrealism, trans. R. Seaver and H. R. Lane Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 272. Breton, A. (1987) Mad Love, trans. Mary Ann Caws. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Binder, L. M. (2008). ‘El Anatsui: Transformations’. African Arts, 41(2), 24-37. Castellote, J (2011) ‘Olu Amoda’ A View From My Corner [Online] Available at: http://jesscastellote.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/olu-amoda/ Accessed on: 10 th June 2013 Emgin, B. (2012) ‘Trashion: The Return of the Disposed’. Design Issues, 28(1), 63-71. Evans, B (2010) ‘Contemporary African Art’ Contemporary African Art Newsletter [Online],

Available at :http://www.contemporary-african-art.com/contemporary-african- art.html#sthash.wGlqQyzZ.dpuf….14 Accessed: 3rd June 2013 Hans, R. (1965), Dada: Art and Anti-art. Oxford: University Press. Iversen, M (2004) ‘Readymade, Found Object, Photograph’ Art Journal Vol. 63, No. 2, pp. 44-57 Kart, S. (2009). ‘The Phenomenon of Récupération at the Dak’Art Biennale’ African Arts, 42(3), 8-9. Mushohwe, K. (2012) ‘Zimbabwe: The Lost and Found Art’. The Herald [Online]

Available at: Arts and Design Studies www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-6061 (Paper) ISSN 2225-059X (Online) Vol.12, 2013 48 http://www.allafrica.com/stories/201210240435.html?viewall=1 Accessed: 8th April 2013. O’Connor, L., (2013) ‘El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa’ CAA Reviews [Online] p.1-3. Available from: Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson), Ipswich. Accessed June 5, 2013. Oguibe, O. (1998). “El Anatsui: Beyond Death and Nothingness,’ African Arts 21(1):48-55. Sandqvist, T. (2006) Dada East: The Romanians of Cabaret Voltaire. London: MIT Press Shiner, L. (1994) ‘`Primitive fakes,’ `Tourist Art,’ and the Ideology of Authenticity’, Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism, 52 (2), pp.225. Swigert-Gacheru, M. (2011) ‘Globalizing East African Culture: From Junk to Jua Kali Art’, Perspectives on Global Development & Technology, 10 (1), pp.127-142 Sylla, A., Betelsen, M. (1998) ‘Contemporary African Art: A Multilayered History’, Diogenes, 46 (184), pp.51- 70. Uwe M, S. (1979), George Grosz, His life and work: Universe Books Van Dyk, M. (2013) ‘The Transformer: Mine Hill artist Re-imagines Found Objects as Art’ Daily Report [Online].

Available at: http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20130509/GRASSROOTS/305090005/The- transformer-Mine-Hill-artist-re-imagines-found-objects-art?nclick_check=1 Accessed on: 29 th August, 2013 Young R. J. C. (2010) Explorations – What do we mean by Postcolonial Art [Video]. Edinburgh: British Council. Available Online At: http://vimeo.com/15559912 Accessed: 5th June 2013.

4 Canadian-Built Classic Cars That Are Unusual and Attainable

A charming read about quirky and rare Canadian built cars from our friends at Hagerty

Less than a week ago, we all celebrated Canada Day, aka Fête du Canada, the anniversary of Canadian Confederation that occurred on July 1, 1867. It’s a day to “reflect on what it means to be Canadian, to share what makes us proud,” and it “highlights the richness of our land, our diversity, our culture, our contributions, but above all, our people,” according to our government’s official website. It’s a glorious day for Canada, and though we are a little tardy on the dateline, we’re looking at some of the popular classic vehicles to come from the Great White North, and how much they’re worth in today’s market.

Starting in the early twentieth century, the big Detroit automakers south of the border built factories in Canada to sell to Canadians, rather than ship U.S.-built vehicles north.

This was because of tariffs between the two countries, and while many Canadian-built Ford, GM and Chrysler products were similar to the ones driven by Americans, others were rather uniquely Canadian. There were Meteors (Ford), McLaughlin Buicks, Fargo (Dodge) trucks, and Plymouths trimmed out as Dodges, and Acadians and Beaumonts (both GM). After the Canada-United States Automotive Products Agreement in 1965, though, cross-border trade loosened up. The specifically Canadian models and marques gradually disappeared, although promising independents like the Bricklin SV-1 or Manic GT continued to pop up. Today they’re all interesting, somewhat obscure classics. Below are the Canadian vehicles we most often see on the market.

1960 Frontenac

Canadian Frontenac Car ad
Flickr/Michael

When Ford introduced its compact Falcon in 1960, Ford Canada brought out an all-new marque to bring the compact party up north. They called it the Frontenac, short for a 17th-century Governor General of New France (I guess Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau was too long to fit on a badge) and built it in Oakville, Ontario. Frontenacs were essentially a mildly restyled Falcon, and were available in two- and four-door sedan body styles as well as two- and four-door wagons. All were powered by the 144-cubic inch Thriftpower straight-six. Ford Canada sold over 9500 Frontenacs for 1960 but discontinued the brand after only one year, replacing it with the Comet for 1961.

Frontenac prices differ by body style, ranging from $13,100 (CAD 17,900) for a four-door wagon at the bottom to $23,000 (CAD 31,400) for a two-door wagon at the top.

1948–52 Mercury M-Series Pickups

1951 Mercury Pickup front
Mecum

To American eyes, pickup trucks with a Mercury badge seem a little Twilight Zone, like a budget city car sporting a Rolls-Royce grille or Kia making a mid-engine exotic. But from the postwar years up until the late 1960s, Mercury M-Series pickups were a very real thing for Canadian buyers.

At the time, many parts of the country didn’t have a Lincoln/Mercury dealership and a Ford dealership, so the Mercury M-Series gave truck-buying customers an option even if there was no Ford store around. The first-generation 1948-52 M-Series followed the same format as the first-generation Ford F-Series. Mercury M-Series trucks came in most of the configurations available on the Ford versions down south, but with fewer engine options. Currently, we only have the 1/2-ton, 239-cid eight-cylinder M-Series in the Hagerty Price Guide, and their #2 values range from $44,600 (CAD 60,900) for the earlier 1948-50 M-47 to $40,800 (CAD 55,700) for the 1951-52 M-1 model. Condition #3 values currently sit in the mid-$20K (CAD 27,300) range.

1968–69 Beaumont

1969 Beaumont front
Mecum

Of all the special Canadian market versions of Big Three vehicles, General Motors’ Acadian and Beaumont lines were arguably the most distinctive.

In 1962 GM launched Acadian, referring to the 17th- and 18th-century French settlers of eastern Canada, as its own brand. Its first model was based on the Chevy II/Nova compact but with different grille and trim, and different models included the mid-tier Acadian Invader and the range-topping Acadian Beaumont. In 1964 when the mid-size Chevelle came out, then Acadian added a Chevelle-based model to the lineup, recycling the Beaumont name. Then, in 1966, Beaumont became its own brand. When the second-generation Chevelle arrived for 1968, Beaumont followed suit. This was short-lived, however, as GM Canada axed the Beaumont brand after 1969 in favor of the Americanized Chevelle and Pontiac LeMans.

Built in Ontario and sold at Pontiac/Buick dealers, the 1968-69 Beaumont looks like a Chevelle with a few scoops of Pontiac mixed in, and generally followed the Chevelle in terms of trim and powertrains, which included 283, 307, 327, 350 and 396 cid engines as well as three- and four-speed manuals or Powerglide and Turbo Hydramatic automatics. Equivalent to Chevrolet’s Super Sport (SS) trim on the Chevelle was Beaumont’s Sport Deluxe (SD).

The average condition #2 value for a 1968-69 Beaumont is $24,200 (CAD 33,000) but, like their Chevrolet-badged cross-border cousins, prices vary widely depending on drivetrain and body style. The cheapest V-8 model in the Hagerty Price Guide is the 1968 307/200 hp sedan with a #2 value of $9600, while the most expensive is the extremely rare 396/350 hp L34-powered convertible with a #2 value of $81,800 (CAD 111,700).

1974–75 Bricklin SV-1

bricklin front three-quarter doors raised
Joe Ligo

Seven years before John DeLorean came out with his own ambitious but under-powered, ill-fated gullwing sports car, Malcolm Bricklin built one in New Brunswick, Canada. Bricklin, the serial automotive entrepreneur who brought Subaru to North America, imported Fiat sports cars under the Bertone and Pininfarina brands and was the man behind the Yugo, envisioned a small and reasonably priced sports car with gullwing doors when planning his next business venture in the early 1970s. As the concept developed, Bricklin snagged a few million dollars in funding from the government of New Brunswick and set up two facilities in Saint John and Minto. The company officially unveiled the production version of the Bricklin SV-1 at the Four Seasons in New York in 1974.

By its looks, one might think that SV-1 stands for “Sports Velocity-1” or something wild like that, but it actually stands for “Safety Vehicle”.

The frame of the Bricklin includes an integrated roll cage, and each bumper is designed to absorb 5-mph impacts, both forward-thinking steps at the time. The bodywork is color-impregnated (five shades available) acrylic resin bonded to fiberglass, and the famous doors raise via hydraulic cylinders in about 12 seconds.

When Bricklin went looking for a parts bin to raid, it settled on AMC, so the SV-1 borrows its suspension from the Hornet, and early SV-1s have AMC’s 360-cubic inch four-barrel V-8. Later ones got Ford’s two-barrel 351 Windsor. Most SV-1s got a three-speed automatic, but a few buyers selected a Borg-Warner four-speed manual. In the end, Bricklin suffered the same fate as a lot of upstart carmakers, including the later DeLorean, minus the sting operation and tired Back to the Future redemption arc. There were quality control problems and supplier hold-ups, while a ballooning price and Malaise Era V-8 performance in a nearly 3500-pound car made the SV-1 difficult to sell. Only about 3000 were built.

1974-75 Bricklin SV-1, condition #2 (“excellent”) values

Canada’s sports car has never been particularly expensive, but some strong sales for clean cars have seen prices surge surprisingly to a current median condition #2 value of $38,000 (CAD 51,900).

The current #3 value sits at $23,000 (CAD 31,400) and the #4 value at $9,000 (CAD 12,300). The later Ford-powered cars would theoretically be easier to service, but the 351 was rated with lower grunt than the AMC 360 (175 hp vs. 220), so the two carry similar values. Add a few grand for the four-speed.

Hagerty maintains a Canadian version of our popular online valuation tool, complete with prices shown in Canadian dollars. It can be accessed here.

Happy Canada Day- Remembering Canada’s Penny

Twelve years ago, the Canadian mint circulated fresh pennies for the very last time.

Back then I looked out the window at my favorite Café , I noticed one of the employees was sweeping the pavement. He had one of those stand-up dust pans in one hand, and a pole-like brush in the other. In the dustpan were wrappers, cigarette butts, and coins. I couldn’t believe it. Yes, it was money! I watched with disgust and dismay as pennies (which were the majority of the money) and nickels and dimes were swept into the waiting dustpan.

Brief flashes of light came from the dust as the sunlight reflected off the coins’ surfaces.

The employee was very efficient and obviously had done this before. He walked around to the side of the Café where he emptied his dustpan filled with garbage and the “change” into a larger plastic container. “I can’t believe it!” I said out loud. “Give me a break. How can anyone just throw away change?”


The local Humane Society had a campaign asking for pennies. This was a fundraiser toward building a permanent structure for the stray animals they house, feed and adopt out. While running their campaign a few years ago, they had a large old trailer as their “shelter” and office. The fundraiser  “Pennies for Paws” was successful and with the end of the penny it may be difficult to find a replacement. With the news that the government has decided to stop minting pennies, it is even more important and applicable to see the importance of what “small change” can do for others.

Instead of throwing away all those pennies that I felt had no worth, I just put them in a container with a lid and added the label “Pennies for Paws” that I printed off from the Society’s website. I started collecting pennies in January of 2012  when I first heard of the campaign and had filled one coffee container and was working on my second one by June. My father-in-law had one at his house in Hamilton. Somehow soliciting friends and neighbors for pennies isn’t as daunting as asking for donations for other causes but with the end of the penny, charities have seen a downturn in contributions.

A friend of mine only uses paper money to pay for things.

He saves all his change which ranges from pennies up to Toonies. He deposits this money into jars and cans. When his vacation time comes around in August, he has enough money to take his wife and four kids away for much needed “family time.” He has accumulated $1,500-$2,000. Making a habit of saving “change” not only helps with expenses later, but it makes you feel as if you are getting a “bonus” every year from your work.

A few years ago, I parked at the end of the large parking lot of my favorite grocery store and was walking toward the front door. As I neared the entrance, I noticed people going in the store seemed to be streaming to the left or right of the main entrance. I soon saw why. A group of kids in their early 20’s were standing with their backs to the center of the front entrance flipping quarters, dimes and nickels onto the payment. These kids were throwing away all their loose change as if they were playing “Tiddly Winks” or “Beer Pong”.  “Are you throwing them away?” I asked as I got closed to this group. I’m sure I sounded upset and looked very bewildered.

“It’s only change man,” the larger kid replied to me unaware of why this would draw attention. I swooped down and picked up two handfuls of coins in front of them.

“This is stupid!” I declared. “Didn’t your parents teach you about the value of money?” As soon as I said it, I realized I sounded just like my parents. The response from the group was shrugs as they walked quietly away unaffected by my actions and questions. I counted the change and it was almost $8.00.

I had another friend several years back that I stopped associating with because his wastefulness upset me so much. One of his worst habits I witnessed was when my wife and I went over to have supper with them. He threw all the supper leftovers into the garbage along with his change he had taken out of his pockets.

I wouldn’t have believed it if I had not personally witnessed this.

He let his kids play with loose change he took out of his pockets and placed on the kitchen table, then at the end of the week, he would take it and any other coins lying around the house on other tables, floor, or on the couch, and throw it into the weekly garbage he put out on the curb. I was so upset. So, I gave him a large jar to fill and would collect it every week showing him the error of his ways, and how much money he had saved. His reply was, “Blair, you are so silly.”

For months, I would visit weekly and collect the jar of money which my friend put his loose change into, tally up the amount, and tell him the total. He didn’t care and didn’t want the change. I would replace the jar and take the filled one to the local Food Bank. They appreciated this very much and bought baby food which they always had a shortage of for the mothers who came on a regular basis.

Eventually, I felt I could no longer be involved with a person so wasteful in his life, and who set such a poor example for his children.

So everyone out there, keep and collect all your unwanted change.

There are many charities that would gladly take it. It is simple to collect with containers left by your front door, on your dresser in the bedroom, by your flat screen, or other places where you spend a lot of your time. You would be helping others, and teaching your children the importance of giving to others. All money, including “change” has value. For the Silo, Blair Yager.

Canadian Actor Relished Role In Fan Made Series Star Trek Continues

CAS ANVAR RELISHES HIS “VULCULAN” ROLE- Silver screen and small screen actor Cas Anvar couldn’t believe he was stepping onto a soundstage in a STAR TREK CONTINUES  episode when he first emerged in costume as Sentek in Episode 10 (“To Boldly Go: Part I”).

After playing opposite Ben Affleck in Argo, an Oscar winner for Best Picture, Anvar has stayed busy with Hollywood in film and TV roles in productions like the Princess Diana biopic Diana, the sci-fi adventure Source Code and suspense thriller The Factory. He has also appeared in Steve Spielberg’s The Terminal and then there’s a long list of TV roles on Anvar’s resume, including appearances on NCIS:LA, In Plain Sight, Boston Legal, Castle, and 24.

But to emerge in full Romulan garb on a planet set in rural Georgia? That was one of his personal career highlights – so far.

“On my very first scene, they brought me to the planet set. And it was amazing. I’d never really seen a real STAR TREK set before. You don’t realize how those sets were constructed back then. This thing was so authentic with its fake boulders and sparkly mineral dust and the elevator on the surface of the planet. Then I had my first exposure to holding a disruptor and doing the big fight scene. It was everything you’ve ever imagined when you watch STAR TREK!”

Cas Anvar Anvar is a Canadian born and trained actor whose big break came with his role 2003’s Shattered Glass with Hayden Christiansen, and his professional career began following graduation from Canada’s prestigious National Theatre School. Anvar is also a well-known voice actor, whose talents can be heard in some of the world’s most popular video games (including Call of Duty: BO2, Halo 4, and Assassins Creed: Revelations.)

As a voice actor, he was familiar with STAR TREK CONTINUES executive producer Vic Mignogna. Anvar learned about the opportunity to join the cast as a guest star following a fortuitous meeting with STC director James Kerwin and through a connection with STC make-up artist Lisa Hansell.

“I’d been exposed to STAR TREK CONTINUES before I found out about the opportunity to participate. Their reputation was very high, and the production really is amazingly impressive and very high quality. I like the way STC uses technology to make it possible to produce ‘new’ episodes of The Original Series without losing authenticity,” Anvar said.

Anvar is a fan of all flavors of STAR TREK, noting that “there’s not one that I’ve missed. I’m a Roddenberry fan – a fan of the universe that he created. But each of the STAR TREK series is like a movement in a symphony. Each one has a place and a purpose and its own unique flavor.”

The “Vulculan”

To prepare for the role of Sentek (“I call him a ‘Vulculan,” says Anvar), he thought about what would be required for a cool and collected Vulcan to appear as a hot-headed Romulan.

Cas Anvar in makeup chair for Star Trek Continues

“This is a character who grew up on Vulcan with emotional suppression. And he’s masquerading as a Romulan, who is much more emotional and volatile. So how does this character allow himself to pass as a Romulan? He has to behave in a way that is a little less Vulcan, trying to find the balance. You have a lot of imagery and a wealth of knowledge of Vulcans by watching Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Of course, Sentek was performing in a very non-Vulcan way. That made for an interesting challenge to try to figure out how he could rationalize such impulsive and dangerous behavior. It was fun to figure it out.”

In the Steps of Bill Shatner

“I studied psychology and sciences at McGill, and I think Bill Shatner did as well. He started in theater and did some Shakespeare, and of course everyone knew that he was an alumnus of the school. He went on to perform at Stratford in Toronto.”

That connection to Shakespeare proved very fortuitous.

Christopher Plummer as Star Trek villain Chang

“I actually got Bill Shatner to endorse a fundraising effort for a Shakespeare campaign, along with Christopher Plummer (an honorary McGill graduate.) Both of these famous actors came from my hometown. But after 9/11, our Shakespeare company had a financial problem. These great actors were sympathetic and helped us raise the money we needed. Later, of course, I also worked with Shatner on Boston Legal and saw him as the incredible Denny Crane.”

“Honestly, it was a surreal experience. Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be on STAR TREK and play some sort of an alien – ever since I was a kid. To getting to realize that dream was exciting,” Anvar says.

Supplemental-
Questions & Answers with STC Director James Kerwin

How did you get involved with STC and express your interest in directing an episode — something that led to directing several episodes?

I’d known Vic Mignogna for several years, and cast him in a short film I directed. While we were on set, he mentioned that he was producing a STAR TREK fan series, and asked me to check out “Pilgrim of Eternity.” To be honest, I was wary at first. Although I wasn’t very familiar with fan films, those which I’d happened to catch ranged from great to amateur, from a production perspective. That’s not a “knock” at all — God bless anyone with the gumption to make a fan film. So Vic opened his laptop and said “Just watch.” I did, and I was hooked! The production value was top-notch.

While we were in post-production on the short, Vic mentioned that he was thinking about doing a “Mirror Universe” story for STC episode 3, and asked me if I’d like to come aboard. I was drawn in by his overall goal and philosophy for the show: namely, to produce a Trek webseries made by fans who also happened to be film and TV industry professionals, both behind the camera and in front of it… professionals who agreed to set their busy schedules aside, without fame or financial incentives, to express their love of TOS and share it with the world. So we tossed around a couple plot ideas, but ultimately felt that his initial instinct — to do a fast-paced story that picks up moments after “Mirror, Mirror” and explores Spock’s immediate actions — was the strongest. The rest is history.

That episode still holds a special place in my heart because it was my first — and the Mirror Universe is just so much fun! Wired came to set for that one and shot “behind-the-scenes” footage of the project; I encourage everyone to check that out as well:

I assumed “Fairest of Them All” would be my sole trip on the TOS Enterprise… but a few months later, Vic asked if I’d be interested in coming back to direct episode 4. At that point, I needed to make a decision as to whether I’d be willing to set aside my career for a couple years to focus on STC, because writing and directing episodes isn’t a part-time job. It wasn’t a difficult decision, simply because this entire endeavor was so rewarding!

After “The White Iris,” I settled in as the series’ “story editor” — that’s the person who works creatively with the showrunner (executive producer) to decide on overall storylines and which scripts to produce. I eventually became a co-producer (and later producer) on the show. In addition to directing and/or co-writing most of the episodes, it was necessary for me to work in post as well, helping Vic decide on music and sound cues, etc. I performed what’s called the “online edit” — I took Vic’s cut of each episode and readied it for color grading by our cinematographer Matt Bucy — and then performed the “DI conform” after the graded footage was returned. That involved adding film grain, comping in ungraded opticals (i.e., viewscreen shots), and even adding “judder” to the end titles to simulate the 1969 optical film printing process. I also scheduled shoots, helped Lisa Hansell and Linda Zaruches with some of the social media and publicity, cut together “blooper” reels, and authored the DVDs and Blu-ray discs. But my focus remained primarily on directing. I’m quite proud of what we accomplished, needless to say!

How do you describe the role and activity of a director to someone not familiar with filmmaking. In other words, what does a director do?

The director makes the creative decisions about what’s seen on-screen. He or she works with the actors to craft performances, and composes the shots (i.e., collaborates with the director of photography to determine camera angles, lighting, etc.). The overall “feel” and “pace” of the piece is the responsibility of the director.

Now, there are significant differences between directing for film — which was my primary background before STC — and directing for series television. On a film, the director is usually “top dog,” so to speak. The buck stops with him or her. He or she establishes the overall vision and style of the movie, from the broad strokes to the finest details. That involves making decisions in every department — makeup, costumes, art / set design, sound, camera, lighting, acting, editing, music. A film director is basically the general in charge of a large army. It requires a lot of pre-planning; and that involves everything from casting roles to storyboarding (drawing) shots to making judgment calls on wardrobe. Time is money when you’re on-set or on-location, and — while it’s important to be malleable and be able to think on one’s feet — films ultimately run much more smoothly if the director has pre-visualized everything (either on paper, digitally/virtually using pre-vis software, or even simply in his/her mind). Films involve large crews and complex camera moves, lighting, and shot composition. One typically shoots about 2 or 3 script pages a day on a feature or short — and even that is pushing the limits at times. A theatrical film can have a shooting schedule anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.

Directing for TV is rather different. By the time a director comes onto a series, many of the creative decisions have already been made: primary cast, sets, costumes, and — perhaps most importantly — the overall “style” and “feel” of both the camerawork and the actors’ performances. With few exceptions, most series have multiple directors, and each one can’t bring his/her own personal vision to the table — you’d have a show that looks totally different from one episode to the next! That’s why, in TV, the executive producer is ultimately in charge. Individual directors must conform their styles to the overall vision of the showrunner. In the case of STC, I also had to honor the rich legacy of TOS, and shoot the episodes in a style reminiscent of 1969 network television. So a lot of my 21st-century directorial instincts had to “take a back seat” in order to serve the overall series. On top of that, unlike films, a television episode has a much quicker production schedule. On STC, we usually shot 5 or 6 pages a day — sometimes even 7 or more! That’s definitely a challenge to pull off.

How does the all-volunteer aspect of a fan production like STC make things more difficult — or easier — for a director?

Fortunately, on STC, our so-called “above the line” positions (main cast and guest stars, producers, writers, directors) and our primary department heads had a lot of experience working in film and/or television, and that helped tremendously. I didn’t have to “reinvent the wheel” or show people the ropes.

That cut both ways, though. Since we were dealing with working industry pros, getting everyone together on a volunteer basis was often quite difficult. For example, unlike a “normal” series, we didn’t have the luxury of putting our main cast under series-regular contracts. So if certain actors were working on another film or TV series at any given time, we either couldn’t film during those weeks, or I’d have to shoot “around” their absence. Same thing for our behind-the-scenes crew.

Plus, understandably, we just didn’t have the budget to put our people up in hotels in Georgia — and feed them — for weeks on end. So our production schedule was often pretty tight. The more script pages one must shoot per day, the more stress one is under. There’s no way to avoid that. I suppose that having a background in indie film — where one often must work with lower budgets and tighter schedules — helped me cope!

Ultimately, though, having people who came together out of love for the material was a huge plus. Our team members were all motivated to do their best work, simply because that’s why they were there. And every night after photography, we’d all go out for dinner and drinks together. It really was a family… and one that I already miss.

What are some of the films and television series which influence you as a director?

I think Kubrick is probably my all-time hero. I love the specificity and patience of his films, and how his composition and pacing both inform and reflect his actors’ performances. 2001 is wonderful. I also love both Blade Runner movies, Solaris… but in addition, I have a soft spot for the late-60s aesthetic. The early Bond films, Flint, Barbarella… there’s a fun, sexy style there that we don’t see often any longer. As for television, I thought Ronald D. Moore’s version of Battlestar Galactica was wonderful. And there’s so much great content on right now. Black Mirror, for example. And Mr. Robot just blows me away.

What’s your background, and what are you doing professionally now that STC has finished its final episode?

Growing up, I used to make Doctor Who fan films and amateur movies with our family’s old video camera. If I was assigned to do a term paper, rather than writing a boring old report, I’d shoot it as a narrative film! So it was probably around high school when I first started thinking seriously about a career in directing. I also had — and still have — a passion for cosmology, so I was a bit indecisive. I went to T.C.U. in Dallas / Fort Worth, and started a double-major… but when I realized I’d be in college for many, many years, I ultimately decided to focus on filmmaking (although I did earn a minor degree in astrophysics). My student thesis film wound up winning a first-place Telly Award, so I stayed in Texas for a few years after that, directing shorts, music videos for local bands, etc.

When one of my films started to make a splash on the festival circuit, an assistant agent at talent agency APA offered to rep me, and I moved to Los Angeles. When I first got here, I wound up falling into a lot of stage directing, both classical and modern — which was unusual for me because I had relatively little background in live theatre at the time. But it’s an amazing process, and very different from filmmaking. My work at the Blank Theatre Company in Hollywood — a wonderful venue run by Daniel Henning and Noah Wyle — gave me a lot of “in the field” experience with actors, including many accomplished television and film veterans who’ve retained their passion for live theatre despite their on-screen success.

Ultimately, though, film is my first love, and I was fortunate to get the opportunity to direct a cerebral science fiction noir feature for Entertainment One studios called Yesterday Was a Lie (www.yesterdaywasalie.com), starring Kipleigh Brown as well as Chase Masterson from STAR TREK: Deep Space Nine. After YWAL, we started working on a film based on the science fiction Czech play R.U.R. from 1919. We originally shot a short (www.rurfilm.com) loosely based on the story — that’s where Vic and I first connected re: STC — and we’re developing it into a high-concept feature set in an alt-history, late-60s world. And Kipleigh and I have a couple other things in the works as well. But immediately next for both of us (as well as for Vic and Lisa) is a short psychological character drama called When the Train Stops — also starring Trek actors Michael Forest and John de Lancie. Lisa’s producing, and she did an excellent job successfully crowdfunding the film. We’ll be shooting in 2018, and I’m very much looking forward to it!

Website: www.jameskerwin.com
Twitter: @jameskerwin
Facebook: /jameskerwin

Supplemental-

A Profile with Producer and Make-Up Supervisor Lisa Hansell
How did you get involved with STC, and how did that relationship grow to be more than providing make-up services?

Once upon a time, August of 2012 actually, I was in the process of turning Tim Russ into Tuvok when this guy named Vic Mignogna walked in. We were introduced, exchanged pleasantries and went about our business. At the end of the day, he asked for my business card. The very next day, he called and asked to have lunch to discuss a project he was launching.

Over lunch, he began to explain his vision for STAR TREK CONTINUES. His excitement for STC was palpable, and we established that we both dearly loved STAR TREK and had been lifelong fans. Now, I have been a professional in the entertainment industry for years and had been pitched “passion projects” many times (read: no pay). I had to turn them down because my bills don’t get paid with “great opportunities for exposure,” but this felt different somehow…special. Vic’s passion was contagious!

In The Beginning, there weren’t very many people on board, but all the usual pre-production details needed to be handled. Vic was trying to do it all himself, so I volunteered to take over social media for starters and helped source costumes for our first shoot, which was the final scene for “Pilgrim of Eternity.” There were a million details to take care of, and I offered to help share the load. Over time, this deepened my friendship with Vic and my involvement with STC. I have given input on script and story development (the ending for “Lolani” was my idea, for example), wardrobe choices, sound design, etc. I did whatever needed to be done without regard to whether or not it was “my department” all for love of the project.

What are some of the challenges you faced as Makeup Supervisor on STC?

Of course, the whole series was a period piece with the goal of recreating the look and feel of late 1960’s STAR TREK. They used heavier, more theatrical makeup back in the day, but we were shooting in HD which is much less forgiving than film. Finding a balance of makeup looks that would fit the period and yet not be distractingly obvious was not an easy task!

Several episodes brought their own unique challenges, which I LOVE! In Episode 1 we had to vary the age appearance of Apollo several times throughout the story. Episode 2 was a LOT of green for our Orions, and that green had to be something that wouldn’t transfer onto costumes, props and sets. We custom mixed something called PAX, which is a combination of medical grade adhesive and acrylic color. Consequently, it was very time consuming to apply and remove. Episode 3 was all about recreating every character’s look from “Mirror, Mirror.” In Episode 4, we recreated three known loves from Kirk’s past.

Then there was Episode 8. The ‘Old Kirk’ prosthetic makeup was equal parts long, hard work and a lot of fun! Special effects makeup is my absolute favorite thing because I get to watch the actor use my work to enhance and inform their performance. Episode 9 was a color theory workout! I tested many color combinations for our guests stars before settling on schemes that would read ‘normal’ in black and white and not look completely ridiculous in color. Me to Vic: “I can’t have our guest stars looking like a bowl of hard candies.” For our finale episodes, I got to create an Andorian and…Romulans! So many pointed eartips…glorious! I’m incredibly proud of the work my team and I did throughout the series.

What’s involved in being the Social Media Manager and keeping people informed about STC activities – on Facebook and otherwise?

I could really write a novel here, but I’ll try to summarize. Our main Facebook fan page has grown to nearly 200K “Likes,” and our Facebook Group now has 14.5K members. We have a Twitter following of nearly 22K and 4.5K on Instagram. That’s a lot of eyeballs on our activities! For our main Facebook page, I have an angel volunteer named Linda (I LOVE you, Linda!) who combs through our behind-the-scenes photos and schedules out a ton of posts. I go in daily and check through them, tag people, monitor comments, etc. I check in on the group, and the other platforms several times a day, and have done so every day for the last 5 years.

Social media really is our main liaison with our fans, which is incredibly important. Early on, I wanted to establish a ‘voice’ for STC that included professionalism, class, courtesy, enthusiasm and the principles of IDIC. How STC is perceived is extremely important to me because I believe it reflects on everyone involved – on our family – so I’m very protective of it. I have been so gratified when hearing from fans that we have achieved an excellent public perception.

Vic consults with James Kerwin and myself pretty much daily on STC activities and decisions that he has to make regarding the direction of the production. You could say James and I are the “Bones” and “Spock” to his “Kirk” off-screen. Ha! (We’ve had a group Facebook chat going since episode 4!) Whenever we have an event coming up, we three hash out the plan of execution and release, Take our Christmas gift of downloads for the fans, for example. That has been in the works for months! Then it’s all about choosing the right wording, imagery, etc., and coordinating the exact date and time of release so that it happens as seamlessly as possible.

I’m sure you’ve been touched by the stories that people have told about how STC has affected them. What are a couple of examples that really stand out?

I’m always thrilled to hear stories about STC bringing people together. Parents and children reconnecting to watch new Star Trek episodes like they did years ago, or fans who may no longer have that parent around but can feel their presence each time they watch STC are some of my favorites.

I have to say, though, that the messages and emails I received after “Come Not Between the Dragons” were the most profoundly moving. We had adults who were abused as children write in to say that they were able to heal and let go of the anger they had harbored for years against an abuser who had long since passed. We even had abusers write to us and tell us they finally saw themselves through their children’s frightened eyes and vowed to change – to break the cycle. We never could have imagined having the affect we have had on some of our fans, and I find it profoundly humbling to be a part of something that could invoke that in others.

Is working on STC like working on other fan productions?

There are similarities in that almost any fan production is driven by a passion and love for the source material. I have very much enjoyed working on other things and have made lifelong friendships as a result.

That said, STC is unlike any other production I’ve worked on, fan or otherwise. I’ve been fortunate enough to work on quite a few films that were filled with wonderful professionals who’ve become friends and had a fantastic time doing it, but STC is very different. Everyone is doing it for love and not for money. When you’re pouring your heart into something vs waiting for a paycheck, it shows!

Also, from very early on I have had a much deeper involvement with STC than on most other productions. As a producer, I have input on the final product that I wouldn’t normally have as a makeup artist, and I find that I am much more invested as a result. This has moved me to pursue more of an active role in producing other things as well, because I enjoy being a part of the creative team for the whole project and not just for one department.

When you look back on your experiences with STC, what has been most personally rewarding?

I would have to say that the relationships I’ve built with the cast and crew of STC are #1 for me. We throw the word “family” around a lot, but there just isn’t a better word for it. I deeply and sincerely LOVE each and every one of the crazy nerds on our team, and I know that is for life – there’s no question in my mind. This is my ‘chosen’ family.

A close second would have to be the chance to spend so much time living INSIDE my lifelong love of Star Trek. I’ve walked the corridor of the Enterprise. I’ve sat in the Captain’s chair, stared into Spock’s scanner, dusted the table in Kirk’s quarters, climbed the ladder in engineering and even got to ‘drive the ship’ in a couple of episodes. I’ve napped in sickbay, on the transporter pad, in a turbolift, and in the warp core (yes, really)! I’ve stood at the monitor watching new STAR TREK being created before my very eyes. It doesn’t get any better than that!

What’s your background in the entertainment world, and what’s next on your professional horizon?

I began doing special effects and beauty makeup 11 years ago. I’ve worked on everything from micro budget independent films to multi-million dollar theatrically released features. I’ve worked with names like Ed Begely, Jr., Sean Young, Eric Roberts, Martin Kove…and I absolutely love what I do. The artistry of it combined with storytelling is what I find most compelling.

I’m currently in pre-production on a short film with some STC alumni. The film is called When the Train Stops, and it stars John de Lancie, Michael Forest, Vic Mignogna, Kipleigh Brown, and my dear friend Darren Jacobs. Darren is a Shakespearean Theater-trained actor whose talent always blows me away. I can’t wait for you to see him in action! Of course, our readers already know what brilliance the rest of the cast is capable of. I’m excited to also bring back Emie Morissette, who you will recognize as the relief navigator from STC’s finale episodes.

The film will be directed by our very own James Kerwin, and I’m producing it. It’s a drama with a twist – think Twilight Zone. We will no doubt bring on more STC folks as we get closer to production and start filling out the crew. When you find your “A” team for filmmaking, why look any further! You can check out our website for more info: www.whenthetrainstops.com

In closing, I’d like to thank Vic for bringing me aboard this wonderful journey. His vision gave birth to STC, and my time working on it has truly been one of the most memorable and remarkable experiences of my life. Thank you, Vic, for being a wonderfully insane geek to the extent that you created this beloved masterpiece, and for letting me play on your starship! It was a great ride…

Frequently Asked STC Questions
Weren’t you going to make 13 episodes? Did CBS make you stop?

CBS is not responsible for the decision to end the series. We are doing 11 episodes instead of 13 because another fan group took advantage of the good graces of the copyright holders forcing them to protect their property and the interests of their license holders. In deference and gratitude to CBS, we wrapped up earlier than planned and are very proud of what we’ve accomplished.

What will happen to the studio/sets? Will set visits/tours be available?

We don’t have a definitive answer on this right now, but we’re considering all our options.

So, you can’t make more full-length episodes due to the guidelines, but can you make more vignettes?

Yes, short films are allowed by CBS’s guidelines, but the run time is not the only limitation that would preclude us from continuing. We finished our mission and are grateful to have been able to do so.

How about making some other fan film (Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Lost in Space, etc?)

STC was born from Vic Mignogna’s love of STAR TREK and not any other franchise. It’s the kind of love required to do this kind of work for 5 years for free. While the other shows are favorites, they aren’t “devote-5-years-of-your-life” favorites!

The Importance Of Fog In Film

Weather has been used for dramatic effect since fiction began, so much so that the term ‘pathetic fallacy’ is probably one of the main things you remember from your English Literature classes. But how does this apply to Hollywood cinema and film?

Hands down, the most dramatic of all meteorological phenomenon is fog.

It can be used to ratchet up tension, conceal terrifying creatures and even provide important characters with a suitably dramatic entrance.

Spanning genres from horror to sci-fi, mist and fog are more versatile than mere set dressing; they dominate scenes and often make them the most memorable part of their respective movies.

So, without further ado, let’s investigate the importance (not forgetting the scare-factor) that fog brings to the silver screen in this infographic from our friends at vapingman.

Which films are we missing? Which scenes have stood out for you? Please comment below.

Most & Least Successful Movie Remakes

Most Successful Movie Remakes

Movie remakes have been a staple of Hollywood for decades. They can reintroduce classic stories to new generations and update them with the latest technology, much like how online casino and online slots platforms reimagine traditional casino games for the digital age.

On the other hand, more cynical viewers might view movie remakes as easy “cash grab” attempts. Whatever your view on movie remakes, they come in all shapes and sizes, spanning genres, eras, and styles. While many fail to live up to the originals they’re based on, they occasionally match or even exceed them.

Charleton Heston scoping out mutants with an infra-red scope rifle in The Omega Man. More on this film below.

So, which are the most (and least) successful movie remakes of all time? To find out, our friends at Spin Genie ranked some of the biggest movie remakes based on their critical reviews, box office revenue, and Google searches. We’ve then done the same (sorry some of the figures shown on the charts below are in US dollars but with today’s exchange rate you can multiple by 1.37 for CAD) for the original movies they were based on and worked out the difference in scores.

The most successful movie remakes

Top 3 most successful movie remakes

1. I Am Legend

Original movie score: 3.34

Remake movie score: 7.78

Score difference: 4.44

The 2007 adaptation of I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, stands out as a significant improvement over the 1971 version, The Omega Man that starred Charleton Heston. The remake received good reviews (particularly for Smith’s performance) and, at the time, was the highest-grossing non-Christmas film to ever release in December. On the other hand, The Omega Man received a much more mixed reception and grossed just $7.7 million USD (adjusted for inflation). A sequel to the remake is currently in the works, with Michael B. Jordan set to appear alongside Will Smith.

2. Ocean’s Eleven

Original movie score: 3.55

Remake movie score: 7.92

Score difference: 4.37

The 2001 remake of Ocean’s Eleven transformed the original 1960 Rat Pack classic into a modern heist film with an all-star cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts. It improved on the original in each factor, being praised for its stylish direction, witty script, and ensemble cast. The remake’s success led to two sequels and a spin-off with an all-female lead cast. It also influenced the wider movie industry, with numerous heist films produced in the following years.

3. Dune: Part One

Original movie score: 4.81

Remake movie score: 8.81

Score difference: 4.00

Canadian director Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 adaptation of Dune brought Frank Herbert’s epic science fiction novel to life with stunning visuals, a stellar cast, and a faithful yet innovative approach. The remake vastly improved (debatable to those that grew up loving the original version) upon David Lynch’s 1984 version, which had been criticized for its convoluted plot and lacklustre special effects. (Also debatable to original fans, especially when a new much longer cut of the film exists to tackle these complaints.)

The sequel, Dune: Part Two, came out earlier this year and improved even further on Part One in its critical reception and box office revenue.

1st to 5th most successful movie remakes
6th to 10th most successful movie remakes

The least successful movie remakes

least successful movie remakes

1. Peter Pan

Original movie score: 8.37

Remake movie score: 5.04

Score difference: -3.33

The 2003 adaptation of Peter Pan failed to capture the magic of the original 1953 Disney classic, scoring significantly worse for reviews and revenue. The remake received ok reviews, but they were nowhere near the animated original, which is beloved for its timeless charm and classic story. Financially, the remake was a failure, grossing $207.9 million USD, which resulted in a financial loss compared to the film’s budget. 

2. Carrie

Original movie score: 7.26

Remake movie score: 4.08

Score difference: -3.18

The 2013 remake of Carrie failed to live up to the 1976 original, which is considered a horror classic. The remake’s attempts to modernize Stephen King’s tale didn’t impress critics or audiences, with an average review score of 55.5 and inflation-adjusted revenue of $114.1 million USD. The original film, known for its intense atmosphere and Sissy Spacek’s iconic performance, set a high bar that the remake could not reach.

3. House of Wax

Original movie score: 4.59

Remake movie score: 1.78

Score difference: -2.81

While the original House of Wax didn’t score very highly, with 4.59, that’s still an improvement of 2.81 on the 2005 remake, putting it in third place. Despite its modern special effects and star-studded cast, the remake couldn’t match the original’s eerie atmosphere and Vincent Price’s memorable performance. The original has an average critic score of 69, and its reputation has improved over the years, unlike the remake.

Much maligned- The Remake of Planet of The Apes by Tim Burton. Not as bad as you remember.

1st to 5th least successful movie remakes

Which remake has the best reviews?

Best Reviews - A Star is Born

A Star is Born – 82 out of 100

The movie remake that resonated with movie critics the most is the 2018 version of A Star is Born, with an average score of 82 out of 100. The musical romantic drama was Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut and is the third remake of the 1937 original. It was one of the biggest films of 2018, and critics raved about the performances of Cooper, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliott, and the soundtrack. It also won numerous awards, getting eight nominations at the 91st Academy Awards.

Which remake made the most money?

Made the most money - Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast – $1.6 billion USD / $2.2 billion CAD (inflation-adjusted)

Financially, Disney’s 2017 Beauty and the Beast is the most successful movie remake, with an inflation-adjusted box office total of $1.6 billion USD. It opened to a record-breaking debut, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2017 and the tenth-highest of all time. The enduring popularity of the original and the nostalgia of adults who grew up with no doubt helped the film’s incredible box office success.

Which remake is the most searched?

Dune: Part One – 52.3 million annual searches

The remake with the most online popularity is Dune, with over 52 million searches. This is undoubtedly helped by the fact that the series is currently extremely popular due to the release of Part Two earlier this year, but it shows just how successful the remakes have been. The series has been considered a tough one to adapt due to the intricate nature of the novel, but the films have proven hugely successful.

Dune Part 1 remake was released on 3D Blu-Ray for even more dramatic effects.

Methodology

We compiled a list of movie remakes and their originals using IMDb, looking at the most-reviewed remakes. We included the original version of each movie and compared it to the most recent adaptation. For movies remade multiple times with multiple popular remakes, we included each popular remake. We did not include spinoffs, prequels, or sequels. We did not include TV films, streaming releases, or rental earnings. We removed all movies for which the relevant data was unavailable.

We calculated each movie’s average review score using IMDb and Metacritic review scores on 03/06/24.

We sourced the box office earnings of each movie using Box Office Mojo. Where unavailable, we used Wikipedia, The-Numbers, IMDb, Variety, Den of Geek, Or of Involving Motion Pictures, and AFI Catalog. We included earnings from the original release of each movie, looking at worldwide earnings wherever possible. All figures were sourced in USD and adjusted for inflation as of 2024 using the US Inflation Calculator. Figures were converted to CAD using Google Finance on 07/06/24.

We sourced the number of Google searches for each movie using Google Ads Keyword Planner, looking at global Google searches from 1/05/23 to 30/04/24.

We gave each original movie and each movie remake a normalized score out of 10 for each factor before calculating the average score out of 10 for each movie. We compared the score out of 10 for each original film and its remake to reveal the most and least successful remakes. For the Silo, Charlotte Green.

What Is Argentina Week In Miami?

For starters, The Argentina Country Brand highlights distinctive values and attributes to promote exports, attract foreign direct investment, and boost inbound tourism.

Let’s begin with cooking.

Cooking is more than a daily practice: it is a gateway to understanding a country’s history, culture, and diversity. This is what Argentina is presenting right now at Argentina Week in Miami ending this Friday June 28 in Miami-Dade and Broward counties in Florida. The event will offer the opportunity to experience Argentine culinary culture and its most representative products, creating a unique experience that connects Miami’s culinary enthusiasts with potential consumers.

Considered one of the best cuisines in the world, with Italian and Spanish influences due to immigration, Argentina will showcase its most iconic dishes ahead of the Copa América through more than 80 establishments participating with exclusive promotions and prices. By visiting the Argentina Weekportal, www.argentinaweek.ar , participants can find each day’s value proposition from each establishment, making Argentina Week a unique experience.

The event launch began in the afternoon on Monday, June 24, at La Cabrera Grill in Sunny Isles. The following day, in keeping with the Euro 2024 Soccer excitement the Chile vs. Argentina match was broadcast live at La Birra Bar, and today, Wednesday, June 26, will feature a pizza night at the traditional Banchero pizzeria in Miami Beach.

On Thursday, June 27, Casa Vigil will host the week’s events, and on Friday, June 28, the new La Cabrera location in Coconut Grove will be the meeting point.

With unparalleled cultural heritage, great biodiversity, and a perfect blend of flavors and history, Argentine cuisine offers many recipes, traditional dishes, typical flavors, and high-quality local products.

In this regard, Argentina seeks to diversify its export offerings by strengthening the positioning of sustainable and competitive value-added products. Exclusive promotions and prices for participants to immerse themselves in Argentine cuisine will be available as Argentina seeks to diversify its export offerings and consolidate national products and ingredients. For the Silo, Kat Fleischman.

Home – Semana Argentin

Groudbreaking Italian Lamborghini Sportscar Set For Auction

1972 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV

June, 2024. Monterey Jet Center, California, USA

Estimate:$2,800,000 – $3,500,000 USD/ $3,834,000 CAD – $4,792,900 CAD

INQUIRE

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  • One of 150 Miura SVs (Sprinto Veloce) built from 1971-1973
  • One of just 96 late-production “split-sump” Miura P400 SVs, and one of a mere 76 examples completed during the final year of production
  • German delivery example originally equipped with rare factory air conditioning
  • Retains its matching-numbers engine benefitting from a rebuild by Top Motors Salvioli of Nonantola Modena, Italy and Team CJ Works of Austin, TX
  • Recipient of a meticulous restoration by ex-Lamborghini factory workers and original Lamborghini parts suppliers, overseen by legendary Lamborghini test driver Valentino Balboni
  • Well documented example of the groundbreaking Miura in its most desirable SV specification

Chassis No. 5048
Engine No. 30735
Body No. 835

Few cars deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the all-conquering Ford GT40, yet the Lamborghini Miura is just such a car.

Months before the mid-engined Ford would topple Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans in one of the most famous 1-2-3 finishes in motorsport history, precocious Lamborghini engineers Giampaolo Dallara and Paolo Stanzani set out to implement the radical mid-engined architecture into a road-going chassis. The unclothed P400 was presented at the 1965 Turin Auto Show with a massive Giotto Bizzarrini-designed V12 mounted transversely in the middle, appearing again just a year later at Geneva with coachwork that, to this day, is viewed by many as Bertone’s crowning achievement. The pen of 25-year-old Marcello Gandini was responsible for the Miura’s dramatic shape, which stunned attendees of the 1966 Geneva Motor Show with its impossibly low stance, voluptuous rear quarters, bulging air intakes, and distinctive “eyelash” headlights. Just as Ford had outclassed Ferrari with the ingenious packaging of the GT40, the Prancing Horse was caught flat-footed yet again when the P400 Miura went on sale in 1967, waiting until 1971 to respond with its own mid-engined 365 GT4 BB.

The disgruntled former Ferrari owner Ferruccio Lamborghini had achieved his quest of building a more outlandish and capable sports car than Enzo Ferrari.

In 1971, the industry-disrupting Miura reached its final and most developed iteration – the Sprinto Veloce, or SV. A mere 150 examples of the much-improved Miura P400 SV were produced between 1971 and 1973, characterized by their lack of headlight lashes and the addition of flared rear wheel arches to accommodate a five-inch-wider rear track. Less immediately apparent were its extensive chassis stiffening measures and its redesigned rear suspension architecture, which consisted of a conventional lower A-arm replacing the inverted A-arm and trailing link arrangement of the P400 and P400 S. Lastly, the SV received an additional 40 horsepower through altered cam timing and the use of four Weber 40 IDL30 triple carburetors, helping it achieve a production car record top speed in excess of 180 miles per hour.

The final and most significant improvement to the Miura during its production run came in the form of a split-sump lubrication system which alleviated oil starvation under hard cornering while also allowing for the use of different types of oil for the engine and transaxle. This particular Miura P400 SV, chassis number 5048, is one of just 96 late-production examples factory equipped with a split-sump system. A left-hand-drive, German delivery example, chassis 5048 was built by Marchesi & C. in Modena and dispatched to Bertone in Turin where it was clothed in body number 835 and finished in Giallo Fly (Fly Yellow). According to Bertone records sourced under previous ownership, this is one of only 19 Miura P400 SVs originally finished in vibrant Giallo Fly, and even fewer specified with a Nero leather interior featuring desirable contrasting beige cloth seat inserts, a Voxson stereo with an eight-track player, and exceedingly rare factory air conditioning. The car was sent from Bertone to Lamborghini in Sant’Agata for completion in May 1972 – making it one of 76 Miuras built during the final year of production – before joining its first German owner, Fischer Schulze, on 10 June 1972.

The Miura is understood to have remained in continental Europe until its recorded history resumes in 1983, when the car was imported to the United States via JFK International Airport by New York-based collector Stan Zagorski.

After a short time in Zagorski’s collection, the Lamborghini was relocated to the West Coast with Len Renwick of Fullerton, California, where it joined his collection of important classics including his Miura P400. While in Renwick’s care, the SV’s original engine was treated to a rebuild and its original Bertone coachwork was refinished in red with gold rocker panels and matching gold wheels. In 1990, chassis 5048 was shipped overseas yet again, this time to Kanagawa, Japan with new owner Tomohiro Utski. The SV remained in the island nation for the next 17 years, seeing only moderate use, until passing in 2007 to SPS Automotive in Hong Kong. Shortly thereafter, the highly original Lamborghini was purchased by an English collector based in Western Australia, who saw fit to conduct a comprehensive cosmetic and mechanical restoration to factory specifications. The monumental undertaking, which is said to have exceeded £130,000/ $225,100 CAD, encompassed a bare metal repaint in its original shade of Giallo Fly, retrimming the interior with correct beige cloth seat inserts, servicing the engine and transaxle, recharging the factory air conditioning system, and overhauling various mechanical systems in need of attention.

Tragically, while newly under the ownership of noted English collector Jon Hunt, chassis 5048 caught fire in the streets of London in 2013 shortly after leaving the shops of H.R. Owen following a recent service. All of the original Bertone body panels save for the passenger’s-side rear quarter, as well as the original engine were deemed salvageable and subsequently shipped to Italy by 2015 for a total restoration. According to a letter on file from legendary Lamborghini test driver and supervisor of the restoration, Valentino Balboni, chassis 5048 was entrusted to many of the same Lamborghini experts and official suppliers who manufactured the Miura at the time of its production in May 1972! This included S.C.N. Carrozzai of Nonantola Modena, an official Lamborghini supplier, responsible for repairing the Bertone coachwork and renewing it in period-correct Argento (Silver). The major mechanicals, including the engine, transaxle, brakes, and suspension, were all salvaged and carefully rebuilt by Top Motors Salvioli of Nonantola Modena, led by ex-Lamborghini Service Department Head Orazio Salvioli. Even the wiring harness – a highly specialized component – was sourced from Christian Gatti, son of William Gatti, Lamborghini’s original wiring supplier. And finally, the interior was trimmed in period-correct blue leather by Bruno Paratelli of Interni Auto Barbieri & Bussolai in Ferrara, the original upholsterer of Lamborghini interiors since 1972.

Rarely is this level of care and attention lavished by ex-Lamborghini factory workers and original parts suppliers on a restoration, never mind being overseen and fine-tuned by the very same test driver who would have driven the car prior to its delivery to its original German owner. Following its completion, the car was briefly in the custody of Joe Macari Classics before joining its current U.S.-based owner, a prominent collector and restorer of significant European sports cars. Under current ownership, there is a further $106,734.10 USD/ $146,162 CAD worth of invoices on file from work performed by Team CJ Works in Austin, TX.

As a matching-numbers, split-sump, factory air conditioning car, this exceptionally rare final-year example of the ultimate Miura variant would be a landmark acquisition for the dedicated collector of groundbreaking Italian sports cars.

True Cases Of Phantom Transmissions And Hijacked Television Signals

The call letters KLEE-TV had not been broadcast since July 1950, more than 3 years before a viewer in London, England picked up their transmission on his television set.

Adding to the mystery was the fact that while in operation KLEE-TV was based out of Houston, Texas- an entire continent and ocean away. Since this was an era before satellite t.v. transmission how could the images be picked up? Was it simply a hoax?

klee tv signal cardThough debunkers have stated that this story first appeared in Readers Digest, it actually was first reported in 1953 by TV Guide: a viewer based magazine that organized and listed television programming and reviewed highlighted television shows. Hugely successful and widely distributed- it seems counter-intuitive to consider how this might affect an already paranoid and anxious viewer body. After all, the Cold War and the Space Race were underway. Many Americans were building nuclear bomb shelters and keeping their eyes to the skies.

Television was still a new form of media and to many it transcended the boundaries of space of time.

It seemed possible that ghostly transmissions from another time and another place could occur. TV Guide pointed out in its story that at the time of the phantom KLEE-TV transmission, no other t.v. station in the world used those call letters.

For the next 12 year this enigma was forgotten but then in February 1962 Mrs. Rosella Rose of Milwaukee, Wisconsin witnessed the following. The KLEE-TV letters were flashed onto her screen as well as the images of an unknown man and woman arguing on a balcony, followed by the flashing of the word “HELP!” Then suddenly, her screen went blank. It seemed as though Mrs. Rose had witnessed an electronic netherworld. Could an alternate universe be superimposing its reality onto hers? The simplest answer is that Mrs. Rose was a victim of her time.

Phantom signal transmission in Stranger Things.
Phantom signal transmission in Stranger Things.

Perhaps as mentioned in Haunted Media Static and Stasis, “….The fleeting and inexplicable transmissions of KLEE are eerie in that they are symptomatic of a general loss of self presence felt socially in electronic communications as a whole.” I think it’s safe to say that Canadian Film Director David Cronenberg felt this way and successfully incorporated these themes into Videodrome. I think it’s also safe to say that the success of the recent Netflix series Stranger Things is due in some part to this notion of a technologically created netherworld. And what about the Australian reports of a Coke bottle and drinking flask being transmitted during the Moon Landing?

Today there are reports of phantom webcam transmissions, of strange beings quickly seen on a monitor or a tablet. If we are able to view images on our devices then is it so far fetched to imagine that we ourselves can be seen by others through our devices? And if that’s possible to what end are we being surveilled? For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.

The Max Headroom Signal Intrusion Incident of 1987

Captain Midnight HBO Transmission Hijacking

Recommended Reading- Haunted Media Electronic Presence From Telegraphy to Television by Jeffrey Sconce

Why Are More Canadians Moving Abroad?

An increasing number of Canadians can’t afford a house or find a decent-paying job. Some can’t find a date or are fed up with the bitter politics, while others are in search of adventure, are sick of the cold winters, or simply miss the feeling of ‘being home’.

The solution they seek? Leave Canada.

The rising cost of living, record-high immigration, a stagnating economy, and political tensions are prompting rising numbers of Canadians—both native and naturalized—to leave the country.

Canada is increasingly becoming a country of emigrants, as well as a country of immigrants, experts say.

“We’re definitely seeing a lot more interest from people wanting to leave Canada,” Michael Rosmer, founder of Offshore Citizen, a Dubai-based company that offers relocation services to people around the globe. “This is disproportionate to their numbers overall.”

He said many of his clients are motivated by the increasing ability to work from anywhere, plus political tensions within Canada accompanied by a feeling of lost freedoms. Also a factor is the rising standard of living of many countries that were once far below Canada in terms of health care, education, and other services.

While Canada was once considered among the best places in the world to live, “it’s like the world has flipped,” Mr. Rosmer said. “The alternatives have gotten meaningfully better. Today if you go to Kuala Lumpur you’re going to find that it is arguably better than any Canadian city.”

Canada’s Immigration Conundrum: Economic Boon or Bust?

Immigration Minister Tells US Public Broadcaster Canada an ‘Open Country’

Some 94,576 people emigrated from Canada from mid-2022 to mid-2023, an increase of 1.8 percent from 92,876 in the year-earlier period, and up sharply from 66,627 in the period from mid-2020 to mid-2021, which fell during the pandemic lockdowns, according to data from Statistics Canada.

A study released last year by the immigration advocacy group Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) showed  immigrants are also increasingly reluctant to stay, with the proportion who stick around to obtain full citizenship within 10 years of receiving permanent resident status plunging to 45.7 percent in 2021 from 60 percent in 2016 and 75.1 percent in 2001.

Cameron MacDonald, a 29-year-old from the Niagara Falls region of Ontario who left Canada in March for Japan, cited the high cost of living as the main reason for his move, which uprooted him from friends, family, and a job as an anti-fraud analyst with a major Canadian bank. He is now studying Japanese and looking for a job with a foreign firm, while living in Tokyo, which has a population density of 6,363 people per square kilometre compared to Toronto’s 4,427.8 per square kilometre.

“Here in Tokyo, the world’s biggest city, I pay $650 a month for a room that I would have had to pay $2,000 for in Toronto.” I had a routine and a cushy bank job and I was even living with my dad after a while but I still couldn’t get ahead financially.”

He said the high cost of housing in Toronto means that all of his friends of a similar age in Canada are still living with their parents and, as many of them consider starting families, they are watching his move with the thought of moving abroad themselves.

“My five-year goal includes a wife, a house, and kids and there’s no way I could afford that in Canada,” Mr. MacDonald said. “You can’t really date and find a wife when you’re living with your dad.”

“In Japan, I wake up with a smile on my face every day,” he said. “It’s like I have found a new passion—I can start a family here.

High Immigration

Like many people, Mr. MacDonald blames Canada’s rapid pace of immigration for driving up the cost of living and forcing him to move abroad.

As of Oct. 1, 2023, Canada’s population was estimated at 40,528,396, a record increase of 430,635 people in the previous three months alone, according to Statistics Canada. That growth rate, at 1.1 percent in a quarter, was the highest since 1957, amid Canada’s baby boom plus an immigration surge fueled by a refugee crisis in Hungary at the time.

In just the first nine months of last year, Canada’s population grew by 1,030,378 people, more than any other year dating back to confederation in 1867, the statistics show. And 96 percent of that growth came from immigration. Overall, the population grew 30 percent since it reached the 30 million figure in 1997.

Canada’s Plan to Welcome 500000 Immigrants by 2025. ascenda.com

Indeed, rapid population growth has outstripped economic growth in recent years, lowering the standard of living in Canada as more people compete for less housing space and place greater strains on health care, education, and other services, according to a study published in May by the Fraser Institute. The study shows Canada’s real gross domestic product per person dropped 3 percent between April 2019 and the end of last year, from $59,905 to $58,111. The only steeper drops in the 40 years covered by the study were from 1989 to 1994, with a decline of 5.3 percent, and the financial crisis of 2008 to 2009, when it dropped 5.2 percent.

Another factor propelling emigration may be the aging of the baby boomer generation. As more Canadians reach retirement age, emigration to the United States, particularly to sunny states such as Florida, is accelerating.

A study by Statistics Canada also shows that high immigration tends to push up emigration because some immigrants move back to their home country. The study showed that 15 percent of the people who immigrated to Canada between 1982 and 2017 returned within 20 years of admission.

Whatever the root cause, the interest in leaving Canada has caught the attention of the global industry of specialists offering services to wealthier emigrants around the world.

Videos created by people seeking to offer second-passport services and other relocation help are growing in popularity. “Nine Steps to Escape Canada,” a YouTube video watched 362,000 times, “5 Reasons to Leave Canada in 2024,“ watched by 261,000 and ”Canada is Dying!,” with 531,000 viewers are some of the most popular.

Jay Suresh, the founder of Goodlife Investor, which offers emigration services to people around the world looking to obtain second passports, foreign tax advantages, and other benefits, says the number of Canadians looking for dual citizenship jumped after the Canadian government banned unvaccinated people from flying or travelling by train in late 2021 until the summer of 2022.

“This was an eye-opener for a lot of people. They got frustrated with just that one citizenship and they wanted multiple citizenships,” he said in a video promoting his company. Now, he says, Canadians are nearly tied with U.S. citizens in searches for second passports, even though the United States has 10 times Canada’s population. For the Silo, Adam Brown.

Featured image: People line up to go through security screening at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Aug. 5, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)

Stunning Art Deco Tear Drop Coupe Features In Auction

THE MONTEREY JET CENTER AUCTION

When Anthony Lago went to Suresnes in September 1933 to salvage Automobiles Talbot-Darracq, he took on a company with massive financial problems and a rather ho-hum range of cars.

The mechanical legacy left by his predecessor Owen Clegg and chief engineer Walter Becchia was staid and pedestrian. The nicest thing that could be said about the cars was that they did no one any harm. Sporty, stylish or chic, they definitely were not. In addition, models had been allowed to proliferate needlessly: too many engine sizes were served up in a bewildering number of chassis lengths and body styles, none of which were selling. One could say that while Talbot could produce a car for every occasion, there was unfortunately not an occasion for every car. Something needed to be done, and quickly.

While the many problems had seemed daunting to Lago’s predecessors, he was not going to let them or anything else stand in his way. Full of confidence, he had just completed the careful construction of the absolute deal of his life with Talbot’s British owners. Now at the age of 40, Lago was a dapper Anglo-Italian gentleman with little in the way of money, but of some sophistication: full of energy and vision for the disintegrating French company that now confronted him. In addition, he was an accomplished wheeler-dealer, who had worked very hard to get where he was.

By late 1932, Automobiles Talbot-Darracq S.A. in Suresnes just outside Paris, which was owned by the British Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq combine (STD), was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Lago presented himself to the STD board as the “man to the rescue” and was sent from England to look Talbot-Darracq over and make a report as to what could be done. Upon examination of the moribund Talbot factory, Lago found a shambles. Chief engineer and fellow Italian Walter Becchia was on the verge of leaving, and the workers were uncaring and demoralized. The few cars being turned out were poorly put together. But beneath the dust and the cobwebs, Lago could see a plum ripe for the picking. So he went back to England, and instead of recommending liquidation, Lago suggested that he be made managing director of Talbot in France for a two-year period with a put option to buy the company and its holdings at any time at the 1933 value. Not knowing how hoodwinked they were, the STD directors accepted.

Lago then returned to France in the early fall of 1933 to rake the coals out of the fire with that doozy of a contract in his back pocket: potentially it would hand everything over to him if he played his cards right—which he did. The coals were raked out so ruthlessly that Antonio Lago, who in England had changed his name to Anthony, ended up owning Automobiles Talbot-Darracq S.A, once again without paying anyone anything.

When Lago finally exercised his option in 1935, he requested as payment that he might assume an old £500,000 debt that STD still owed the bank due to a loan taken in 1924, with the French factory as collateral. As the debt exceeded the book value of the company as well as that of the real estate, once again the STD directors accepted eagerly. Imagine: not only had Lago become a car maker without a centime to his name, but through this carefully laid out deal, he had also just become STD’s biggest creditor. And that was the devious plan. In 1936, Lago then let Talbot go bankrupt in connection with the great strikes in France. STD couldn’t very well call its remaining debt in with the liquidators, as Lago was first creditor in line, and his £500,000 would wipe the estate clean. In the end, Lago obtained Talbot scot-free.

While conducting these scurrilous financial dealings, he had set about transforming the company.

The plethora of available models, engines and chassis was pared down. Walter Becchia was given the job of redesigning the existing 14-CV six-cylinder engine in order to extract some much-needed extra power. The clunky non-synchronized three-speed gearboxes were supplanted by the advanced four-speed Wilson pre-selector for which Lago so conveniently held the patent rights.

And most important of all, in the summer of 1934, Lago paid a visit to his friend Joseph Figoni and talked him into designing a series of new, lithe and beautifully proportioned bodies to be built at the Talbot factory. As a result, the Talbot stand at the October 1934 Paris Salon featured a new, rakish Talbot prototype cabriolet by Figoni mounted on a 295 cm wheelbase chassis, fitted with a 3-liter engine redesigned by Becchia. It was called the T150 Grand Sport, and it was the talk of the Salon. Then, Lago went racing. Suddenly, Talbots were a hot commodity, and it is no exaggeration to say that the rest is history.

The T150 C and T150 C-SS Chassis

The T150 Grand Sport remained in production for roughly 18 months. At the October 1936 Salon, Anthony Lago and Walter Becchia presented the fruits of their continued labors in the form of two new and spectacular chassis. The first was an out-and-out sportscar chassis fitted with Walter Becchia’s new 4.0-liter high-performance development of the 3.0-liter six: the Lago T150 C-SS, placed at the very top of the market and only available as a bare chassis for the trade.

In all, less than 30 were made, yet the Lago C-SS would go down in history as one of the great pre-war chassis, on par with the legendary Bugatti 57S and Alfa Romeo 8C 2300. Wheelbase was 265 centimeters, which was identical to the Talbot T150 C GP cars from which the chassis was developed, and it was wide enough to accommodate two-passenger bodies with side-by-side seating.

The second chassis, named the T150 C, was equally formidable as it was mechanically identical to the C-SS, and fitted with the same great engine, but stretched 30 centimeters to a wheelbase of 295 centimeters. The benefits were two-fold. On the one hand, the extra length meant that two rows of seats could be accommodated if a four-to-five-passenger configuration was desired. But more importantly, the longer wheelbase made it possible for coachbuilders to achieve beautiful and harmoniously flowing lines of great elegance—especially on closed bodies with a single bench seat, such as 90034. The engine, gearbox, electrics and suspension specification would remain unchanged for the entire production run.

The construction and layout, as well as the mechanicals, were conventional and represented classic mid-1930s fast-car thinking. Both chassis were low, as the two rails passed under the rear axle and suspension. The engine, gearbox, firewall and suspension components were bolted directly onto the chassis. The steering was worm and nut, and the front suspension was independent with a transverse leaf spring. The live rear axle was suspended by half-elliptic leaf springs, with the suspension mounts on top of the chassis rails.

There was a short transaxle between the engine and the Wilson gearbox, followed by the driveshaft. The gearbox created a hump in the middle of the floor of the cabin just in front of the seats. For repairs and maintenance, the gearbox could be accessed through the floor in the interior of the car. The chassis had a foot operated one-shot lubrication system with a pedal actuated by the driver. The gas tank was a large 120 liter affair mounted on the chassis rails behind the rear axle. The complete T150 C chassis with all components, Wilson gearbox and ancillaries remained relatively light. It was a genuine 100 mph car.

The T150 C-SS and T150 C Engine and Gearbox

Lago’s first brief for Walther Becchia had been the job of developing the 14-CV Talbot six. This engine was bored and stroked to 78 x 104.5 mm, giving 2,996 cc, or 17 fiscal CV, and mounted in a 295 centimeter Talbot chassis. This chassis had already been fitted with an independent transverse leaf front suspension since 1932, which had been patented by Becchia in 1928. Dubbed La Solution Talbot, this suspension gave the chassis the makings of a sports car. The chassis was also given the Wilson gearbox, and the Talbot T150 Grand Sport was born.

For the T150 engine, Becchia designed a new cylinder head with a pent roof that created a nearly hemispherical combustion chamber, inclined valves operated by a single camshaft in the crank case, pushrods and rocker arms. This T150 3-liter put out a very satisfactory 100 horsepower at 4,200 rpm on a 7.4:1 compression ratio with one carburetor, and 110 horsepower with three. It compared well to the 18-CV Delahaye 3.2-liter engine, which Lago saw as his main competition. Whether it was a reflection of the true build costs or Lago’s chronic need for money, the new model carried a peppery price tag. At 78,000 francs, the T150 was not much cheaper than an eight-cylinder Bugatti T57 and a lot more than a six-cylinder 18-CV Delahaye.

Racing was a major motivation driving the development of the new engine. In mid-1935 however, the Automobile Club de France published their new rules for the 1936 season, which stipulated a blown 2.0-liter and an unblown 4.0-liter class. Therefore, in August of 1935, Lago demanded of Becchia that he design a new T150 C racing car from “scratch” for the 4.0-liter formula. Becchia now increased the bore of the 17 CV to 90 mm, but retained the stroke of 104.5 mm. Capacity was increased to 3,988 cc, which equated 23 fiscal CV. The light alloy hemi head remained, and the crank now ran in seven main bearings. In racing trim with three carburetors, power was a considerable 175 horsepower from this normally aspirated engine, permitting a top speed around 210 km/h on the circuits when the chassis was fitted with a light barquette body.

T150 C racers premiered on the French circuits in spring and summer of 1936, while the long and short wheelbase race-derived road-going versions of the 4.0-liter T150 C and T150 C-SS were shown at the October 1936 Paris Salon. In all cases, the “C” was short for Compétition. In the spring of 1937, the long chassis was renamed Lago-Spécial and the short Lago SS. Both featured Rudge knock-off wire wheels and a slightly detuned version of the 23-CV T150 C engine, now putting out 140 horsepower for road use. Lago had entered the Bugatti, Delage and Delahaye market for bespoke, stylish grand routières and sports cars.

By 1939, the Lago SS engine could be ordered in various stages of tune, delivering as much as 200 horsepower for competition and 165 horsepower for road use, which made a top speed of up to 200 km/h possible. This was an absolutely extraordinary figure for a road car at the time. From 1937 through 1939 and the breakout of hostilities, close to 25 T150 C-SS chassis were built, along with approximately 40 to 50 T150 C. Both types were, and are, very rare cars indeed.

Figoni, the Coachbuilder

Guiseppe Herménegilde Louis Figoni was born on 29 December 1892 in a tiny crossroads named Le Moline di Montereggio, about 45 km southwest of Piacenza in the province of Parma in the Emilia-Romagna region. Life was hard, people were poor, and in 1906, like many from northern Italy, the Figoni family emigrated to France to find work. They ended up in Boulogne-sur-Seine, the “Little Italy” of Paris, a working-class suburb far removed from what has now become posh and trendy Boulogne-Billancourt. After having served in the Great War on the Italian side, Joseph was apprenticed as a panel beater, or tôlier, to the well-known coachbuilder Lavocat et Marsaud. In 1923, he opened a modest carrosserie under his own name in Boulogne-sur-Seine.

Sometime around 1931, Joseph became a personal friend of Luigi Chinetti who ran the small and underfunded Alfa-Romeo operation in Paris. In 1932, Chinetti sent the famous racing driver Raymond Sommer to Figoni to have his Alfa-Romeo 8C 2300 chassis 2111018 rebodied to Le Mans specifications. The car won the 1932 race with Chinetti and Sommer at the wheel. For 1933, Sommer’s body was transferred to 8C 2300 chassis 2211109 that then proceeded to win Le Mans once again, driven by Tazio Nuvolari and Sommer. Suddenly, Figoni was the hottest name in French racing circles. Clients became a who’s who of legendary drivers, and for the next three years, the Figoni works virtually became an extension of the French Alfa-Romeo enterprise.

Joseph’s 1934 collaboration with Anthony Lago was another major breakthrough, not only in terms of securing clients that wanted a custom-built Talbot, but also in making the Figoni name world famous—at least in France at any rate. With all this activity, the small Figoni premises were bursting at the seams. Still, profits were not sufficient to allow for necessary expansion, and financial restrictions made it necessary to find an investor. This investor was Ovidio Falaschi, a fellow Italian who became partner in May of 1935. The company was reorganized as the Établissements Figoni et Falaschi, and several surrounding premises were leased so that bodies could now be manufactured at a rate that was a good deal faster than before. It should be noted that Ovidio Falaschi took a strictly financial interest and was not involved in the designs made by the company.

Design 9222

The star, the Figoni design that eclipses all else, remains the streamlined, two-seater coupé body that has become universally known as the Goutte d’Eau, which means water drop in French, now translated as Teardrop. It is a design of such breathtaking beauty that it has become one of the most iconic automobiles of all time. A maximum of thirteen are believed to have been built on the T150 C-SS chassis, two on the T23 Baby 4.0 Liters chassis, and only one T150 C, namely chassis 90034, the subject of this discussion.

Yet it is a body that more than 85 years after its inception, and despite its age, is instantly recognizable to automotive enthusiasts all over the world. It is one of the very few designs that is aesthetically correct, balanced and in equilibrium from any angle. This absolute harmony of line is a rare achievement indeed, and one that the Goutte d’Eau shares with only a minute number of other automotive design statements that are equally famous and universally revered, such as the “coffin-nosed” Cord 810, the Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder, the Lamborghini Miura or the first series Jaguar E-Type. Exalted company indeed.

Interestingly, it was the media who gave the Goutte d’Eau its name. While no one will dispute that it was fitting, the design was simply called a Faux Cabriolet by Figoni, and this in spite of the fact that the style has no elements that relate to the look of a classic (faux) cabriolet. Two versions existed of Figoni’s basic faux cabriolet design, a fastback and a notchback, which makes definitions even more confusing: the designations Coupé Amérique or Modèle New York were used indiscriminately by Figoni for the fastback, named so because it was first shown at the 1937 New York Auto Show, and Coupé Jeancart for the notchback as an industrialist named Jeancart bought the first body constructed to this style.

There were three Jeancart designs: no. 9220 with enclosed fenders front and rear, 9221 with exposed front wheels and enclosed rear wheels with fender skirts, and 9222 with no fender skirts and all four wheels exposed. On T150 C chassis 90034 the wheels are exposed, and it was therefore bodied to design 9222 and not 9221 as has been stated elsewhere.

Enter Antoine Schumann

In 1925, Luigi Chinetti was working as a mechanic for the Alfa-Romeo racing team. Like Anthony Lago, he was unhappy with the rise of fascism in Italy. After the team had completed its racing efforts in France and was on the cusp of returning to the home country, Chinetti decided to stay. As mentioned above, he then worked out of the premises Alfa-Romeo had established in Paris in the rue Marbeuf, just off the Champs-Élysées, which led him to sell an 8C 2300 to up-and-coming race driver Raymond Sommer. Chinetti had the car rebodied to Le Mans regulations by Figoni, and being the consummate wheeler-dealer that he was, he secured the position as Sommer’s co-driver in the 1932 Le Mans race which they won.

This marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship between Luigi Chinetti and Joseph Figoni. After he left Alfa-Romeo, Chinetti became a sales agent for Talbot-Lago, and Joseph Figoni gave Chinetti the exclusive rights for France to sell Talbot-Lago chassis fitted with teardrop bodies by Figoni et Falaschi. As a result, it was Luigi Chinetti who sold 90034 to wealthy banker and gentleman racer Antoine Schumann for the princely sum of 165,000 francs.

The car was delivered to Schumann in Paris in January 1939. Antoine Marc Philippe Jacques Schumann was born on November 26, 1905, in the home of his parents who lived in an imposing building at no. 5 rue Beaujon in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It was a family of means. Antoine’s father, Robert Schumann, was a banker, and his mother Alice, née Lehmann, also came out of a banking family. Antoine’s birth certificate was witnessed by Paul Jaillot and Gaston Grainger, both employees of the bank: it was in the cards that baby Antoine would eventually follow in everyone’s footsteps and enter the world of finance.

Antoine married Eliane Louis-Dreyfus on April 13, 1929. It may well have been true love, but the marriage certainly buttressed the coffers of the young couple, as the Louis-Dreyfus family was equally well-to-do. Charles Louis-Dreyfus, Elaine’s father was a shipping merchant, while her grandfather was a banker, a former member of parliament and a recipient of the Croix de Guerre, a military decoration given for valor during World War I.

Important for this discussion, however, is that by this marriage, Antoine Schumann became brother-in-law to Pierre Louis-Dreyfus, as he was Eliane’s younger brother. Pierre was already a repeat customer of the Figoni and making his mark as a gentleman racer. Soon Antoine shared his passion for fast cars.

But before that, Pierre Louis-Dreyfus and Antoine Schumann had become their own racing team, a secretive privateer racing duo that would garner fame in French racing circles. As gentleman racers they desired no publicity surrounding their names. In addition, daredevil antics on the tracks could reflect negatively on their careers in business, and as a result they camouflaged themselves with a number of pseudonyms. However, since these pseudonyms were in the nature of acronyms, it is moot whether many, if any, were actually fooled.

As he was more active over the years than Antoine Schumann, Pierre Louis-Dreyfus had more than one of these assumed names. When racing alone or with other co-drivers, he used the acronym Heldé, which was a transcription of the French pronunciation of the initials of the Louis-Dreyfus surname: LD. But when Pierre and Antoine raced together, the duo facetiously called themselves Ano (Pierre) and Nime (Antoine) for driver and co-driver, a play on Anonime, which means Anonymous in French.

As this daring duo they raced at Le Mans in a Bugatti Type 43 in 1931, an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM in 1932 and a Talbot T150 C in 1939—not with outstanding results unfortunately as they were forced to retire on all three occasions. But that is the nature of gentleman racing. You are up against factory-sponsored teams, and it is the sportsmanship, the participation and the thrill of the race that is the essence of it all. It can therefore come as no surprise that Antoine Schumann was a connoisseur of fast road cars too. This included a massive 5-liter Bugatti Type 50 that was sold by the Bugatti factory to him on February 19, 1932.

Luigi Chinetti sold Talbot-Lago chassis 90034 to Antoine Schumann in September 1938. It was delivered that same month to the Figoni et Falaschi works at no. 14 rue Lemoine in Boulogne-Billancourt. The Carrosserie assigned body order number 738 to the build, and this number can be found stamped on body parts of the car. Perhaps Schumann bought the car for himself as a consolation prize of sorts, as by this time, his marriage to Eliane was on the rocks: they were divorced on 12 November 1938 by order of the civil court. He ended as the second of her four husbands. If this was his motivation for buying 90034, one may say that Antoine Schumann certainly knew how to defuse bad feelings!

For this very special chassis, Schumann selected Figoni et Falaschi design no. 9222, which with its open rear fender style was a good deal more sporting than the enclosed rear fender of design 9221. But while sportsmanlike, 9222 is nevertheless a style which in many ways remains the most elegant and tasteful of all Joseph Figoni’s streamlined efforts in the late 1930s. Features that link the exquisite body on chassis 90034 to the other Teardrops built by Figoni include the split windshield, integrated doorhandles, the smooth execution of the grille and front fender tips, the double row of side louvers on the hood, as well as the judicious use of chromed scallops.

The extra 30 centimeters of wheelbase compared to the T150 C-SS chassis made it possible for Joseph Figoni to create smooth, flowing lines of unparalleled harmony which in their execution were simply captivating to the eye. The length of the hood and the front fenders were much the same as the proportions used on the shorter chassis, but the notchback of the Jeancart greenhouse was subtly refined and the rear deck was transformed into a long delicately sloping tail that was a masterclass in balance and proportion. Longer, lower and wider than its siblings, the sporting stance of the T150 C Jeancart coupé is unparalleled. No one could be in any doubt that 90034 was a fast car.

As a true appreciator of fine cars, Schumann had Figoni incorporate a number of bespoke details that were special orders. The livery was specified as bleu “Tango” irisée noire, which was a metallic dark blue with a black tinge, a very expensive selection as metallic paints were rare and costly to make at the time. Traces of this original dark blue may still be found behind the dashboard and inside the glovebox. The three-abreast seat was upholstered in Havana (tobacco) leather with matching wood on the door cappings. The dash was fitted with a full set of Jaeger instruments with black dials and painted in body color, while the carpets and headliner were in a delicate shade of gray. Special curtains in Havana leather were made for the rear window.

Bespoke details to the body included free-standing headlights. The enclosed headlights seen on most Teardrops provided poor light for night driving, and a number were in fact modified by their early owners, simply because they couldn’t see properly in the dark. In addition, the body received a full sliding sunroof, detachable rear fenders, a Lago Spéciale script on the rear deck and opening rear windows to improve airflow in the cabin. Most importantly, however, Schumann specified a graceful, chromed sweep spear on the body side, a unique styling enhancement that was used on a number of Figoni designs in this period but was absent on design 9222. This started as a beltline at the trailing edge of the radiator shell, ran along the edge of the hood and then swept down in a supple curve along the side of the door, only to double back on itself at the sill. Pure aesthetic genius.

Antoine Schumann was able to enjoy his jewel of a car until the Nazi invasion of France which began in May 1940. The Schumann family was Jewish, and Antoine was forced to either leave France or face deportation to German concentration camps. As so many other cars during the Nazi Occupation, the striking Talbot-Lago was squirreled away as it would have been one of the first cars the Occupiers would have expropriated for their own use without compensation. Antoine fled to Egypt, took a pilot’s license and joined the French Resistance.

There, he flew for the Compagnie de l’Air au Moyen-Orient, a squadron operating out of Cairo that fought Nazi Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s Deutsches Afrika Korps and participated in the Battle of Tobruk. From 1943, Antoine Schuman served under François Dumont in the air force of the Forces Françaises Libres, the Free French Forces. For his bravery during the war, Schumann was made an Officer of the Legion of Honor and awarded the Croix de Guerre. On April 18, 1947, he married Jeanine Constantinovitch, and on June 25, 1948, for reasons unknown, he changed his last name to Saville. At seven in the morning on August 15, 1956, Antoine Schuman died as Antoine Saville in his apartment at no. 16 rue Paul Valéry in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. He was 50 years old.

Frédéric Damman and the 24 Hours of Spa

Paris was liberated on August 19, 1944, but fighting continued in Europe until Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 7, 1945. It is not known when Antoine Schumann returned to France, but it seems that he kept 90034 until sometime in late 1946 or early 1947. Paul Frère, the late racing champion and noted automotive journalist, remembered seeing 90034 in Brussels in 1946 or 1947 where it was for sale with the Garage Masuy, located in the rue de Stassart, close to the Porte de Namur in downtown Brussels. The car was apparently in nigh on perfect condition, which is consistent with the fact that it had been laid up during the War and had not seen much use since its delivery in January of 1939.

Sometime in 1947, chassis 90034 was purchased by Frédéric (a.k.a. Freddy) Damman, owner of the Magasins Butch clothing stores which provided him with the wherewithal to finance his hobbies as amateur pilot and race driver. 90034 received registration 2536, and Damman had the car repainted in gray, after which he prepared it for participation in the 1948 Belgian Grand Prix, Les 24 Heures de Spa, which took place on July 10 and 11. Chassis 90034 was entered in the 4-liter category and given race no. 92. With Damman and co-driver and mechanic Constant Debelder at the wheel, the car placed first and won its class—an impressive result for a nine-year-old car.

Freddy Damman’s daughter has recounted that it was love at first sight when he first spotted 90034 in the Garage Masuy showroom. There is no reason to doubt this, as it turned out to be a very long love affair on Damman’s part: he kept 90034 for 32 years until July 17, 1979, a few months after its 40th “birthday”, when he finally parted with his cherished Talbot-Lago in a private sale. His daughter said that Damman owned many cars over the years, only retaining one or two important cars at a time. This included a number of exotic Ferraris, but it was always 90034 that was the keeper, the car that stayed behind when the time came to buy something new. The Talbot was simply the car he loved the most.

Moving On

The lucky buyer in July 1979 was Gaston Garino who had worked at the Hispano-Suiza factory in Bois-Colombes. In the early 1950s, Garino purchased an old garage in Puteaux where he specialized in keeping Hispanos on the road. By 1979, Garino had partnered with M. Lerouvillois, and the enterprise had become a dealer in high-end classics. 90034 was registered 1551-HN-92 by Garino, using the chassis identity of T150 C-SS chassis no. 90121, a Pourtout-boded car, on the registration document. This subterfuge may have been performed for customs reasons. Chassis number 90121 was an obscure car at the time as it was not finished until October 1944 after the French Liberation and had been exported to the USA in 1953.

On May 14, 1980, and still using the identity of 90121, chassis 90034 was re-registered 543-DAL-75 and sold to film producer and businessman Michel Seydoux, a famous early French collector in Clausonne in the Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. The car was auctioned by Poulain-Le Fur on December 16, 1981, and passed from Seydoux to Yves Rossignol, an avid motoring enthusiast of little means. Once again, 90034 received a new registration, namely 1938-KB-13. Rossignol kept 90034 for 23 years. During that time, the car received a two-tone black and burgundy livery but was subsequently repainted in a single shade of black. Importantly, it remained unmolested and complete, and had never received an actual restoration. In 1998, thanks to the help of the Talbot Club and its President Dominique Dupont, the original identity of 90034 was re-established.

In 2004, Antoine Rafaëlli, the legendary author of Memoirs of a Bugatti Hunter, contacted Toby Ross, another car sleuth, telling him that he had seen a Teardrop in Marseille some years back, and that it belonged to someone called Yves Rossignol. They located Rossignol in a garage in Nice where he was making security bars for windows. A friendship was established, and eventually, Rossignol agreed to sell.

Yves Rossignol described himself as an “Adventurer”. In the past he had been the young boyfriend of Madame Coty of Coty Perfumes. At some point, she bought the Talbot for him at a Paris auction which can only have been the Poulain-Le Fur auction. He later married a lady from Columbia and spent time in South America. At some point, “La Noire” as he called 90034, was shipped to South America, where Rossignol used it. It starred in a long-forgotten film and Rossignol had a photo of the car being rowed across a lake on a wooden raft.

At some point, Rossignol and the car returned to France—he sans wife. She had gotten fed up with him being penniless. By the time Toby Ross was negotiating with Rossignol, La Noire was hiding in plain sight in a car museum close to Geneva airport. Toby Ross went to see it, took some poor-quality photos in the gloomy museum and set about selling it. In July 2004, chassis 90034 sold to Marc Caveng of 135 Route de Chêne, Chêne Bougeries, a collector-dealer based in Geneva, Switzerland, who repaired the engine head, renewing the valves. Yves Rossignol took his payout and went back to live with his wife in Columbia. In 2005, Caveng sent 90034 to auction in Monterey, where it sold to the late John O’Quinn.

90034 was then sent to RM Auto Restorations in Blenheim, Ontario, Canada for a comprehensive restoration. The body was refinished in a deep luminous black, while the original tobacco leather was renewed in the same shade and the original wood trim was kept and refinished. The car was extraordinarily complete, so virtually all body panels remain original. The engine and mechanicals were fastidiously reconditioned. After the passing of John O’Quinn in October 2009, chassis 90034 was sold to its current owner in August 2010 at the Monterey auctions.

For the past fourteen years, this deeply historic automobile with its ground-breaking coachwork of timeless beauty has been part of and curated by an important collection on the West Coast of the United States. This is the singular motorcar that is being offered. Highly original and authentic, in beautifully restored condition, it has a continuous and unbroken history of ownership since its inception in September 1938 when ordered by Antoine Schumann. Many years after the fact, Paul Frère remembered the unique engine and exhaust note he heard when this Talbot-Lago blasted by at the 1948 24 Hours of Spa. This is a car that makes memories, a car that stays with you. One word from Cole Porter’s famous song for the Grace Kelley, Frank Sinatra and Big Crosby film High Society sums up Talbot-Lago Teardrop chassis 90034: Unforgettable. For the Silo, Caroline Cassini.

  • Ordered new by gentleman race driver and banker Antoine Schumann as a replacement for his Bugatti Type 50
  • Sold to Schumann by Luigi Chinetti for the sum of 165,000 francs
  • The only Figoni Teardrop Coupé built on the T150 C Lago Spéciale chassis
  • Special-order body with unique features specified by Schumann
  • Class winner at the 1948 Belgian Grand Prix, the 24 Hours of Spa
  • Known provenance with ownership by prominent French collectors
  • An outstanding design icon of remarkable and enduring beauty

Chassis No. 90034

Chassis No. 90034
Figoni et Falaschi Design No. 9222

1938 Talbot-Lago T150 C Lago Spéciale Teardrop Coupé by Figoni et Falaschi

Auction Sale Estimate: $6,500,000 usd – $8,500,000usd/ $8,900,000cad – $11,600,000cad

Scott McCloud’s Worthy TED Talk On Science In Art: Variantology In Comics

Whether you are a fan of comic books or not, this is an entertaining TED talk and here is why:  it expounds the process of thought and observational connectivity in science and in the arts.  Uh- what does that mean?   In simpler terms, this short TED lecture explains how a scientific mind operates in the arts.

Narrator Scott McCloud is the son of a blind genius.

His Father was a rocket scientist and inventor for the US defense industry and his siblings are all working in the Sciences.  Scott on the other hand, is a comic book artist.

At the start of his TED talk, Scott refers to his Father and explains that the ‘apple’ really doesn’t fall that far from the ‘tree’- it’s tough to fight genetics. He came to realize that working in Comic Books is actually not that different from working in Science and that our contemporary understanding of how we define art and understand media is wrong. It is, he says,  one of interrelated connectivity based on thought and observation.  In other words- Variantology.

Scott McCloud. Comic creator and variantologist.
Scott McCloud. Comic creator and Variantologist.

This is a short lecture weighing in at a little over 17 minutes. Scott does an artful job of breaking down the ‘modus operandi’ of curious minds.  He summarizes insight using a K.I.S.S.  quadrant grid that shows that our processes of thought are indeed interrelated.  Using a four-sectioned pyramid, he helps rearrange and reuse a mathematical formula- illustrating how the Classicist, the Formalist, the Animist and the Iconoclast are all just parts of the same formula of human experience and thought. As in scientific investigation and theorizing, creativity in the arts is powered by human experience and thought.

Things worth remembering.

Scott offers a “quick bake” recipe for meaningful results:  Learn from everyone. Follow no one. Watch for patterns. Work like Hell.  For the Silo, Jarrod Barker

More than what meets the eye and what doesn't meet the eye- the comic panel. Transcending time, transcending linear thought, transcending singularity. The panel has been used throughout the ages- it's a mystic form of communication. CP
Transcending time, transcending linear thought, transcending singularity. The ‘comic strip’ panel has been used throughout the ages- it’s a mystic form of communication.

 

Retailers Preparing for Imminent Hyper Experiential Renaissance

Retail is on the precipice of a renaissance, which will be characterized by great advancement and economic rebirth.

To get there, businesses need to start by acknowledging that no matter where they operate in the world there is a pressing need to exercise commercial discipline. And a recognition that the metrics of yesterday’s retail will not fuel the growth of tomorrow. However, this non-negotiable commercial pragmatism must be balanced with an appreciation that while exciting technology innovation still dominates C-suite and elevator conversations, the next big evolution is an imminent renaissance of hyper-experiential retail.

The Commerce Department in the US announced that consumer spending rose in February by its biggest margin in a year, while in the UK inflation was at its lowest level in two years as retailers compete for customers, here in Canada RBC reports that “consumer spending data marked a stronger start to Q2 than we expected. But one month does not make a trend. We are cautiously optimistic that consumer activity will improve this year- as adjustment to higher rates hits households less hard in 2024.”. However, whether conditions are favorable or challenging, brands simply must perform, and perform well, in an environment where there are more competitors than ever before. 

Beyond this, consumers can easily be described as fickle

For example, if they are not happy with one experience they’ll move on and there are dozens, hundreds, and if we think globally, thousands of other brands waiting in line to capitalize on their spend. While many consumers are traveling far and wide to experience the best from all around the world, TV and content across platforms is resetting what consumers want, need, and expect from brands by exposing them to new lifestyles and ways of living.

An example of how this brand we all know is re-inventing how customers experience their products…..museum exhibition style!

Retail dominated at CES earlier this year, and almost all conversations revolved around artificial intelligence (AI) technology to drive seamless and frictionless retail, personalization, and much more. Technology is enabling user experience that wouldn’t have been imagined a decade ago. However, rather than being seen as an end, technology should be understood as the means for giving consumers what they want.  

The NRF’s Retail’s Big Show this year showcased the best of technology, yet some key themes to emerge were that customer interaction in-store is as imperative as the transaction and that Generation Alpha, while not yet capable of earning money, has immense influence on their parents who do. While these true digital natives are technologically adept, they value in-store and physical experiences. Do not for a second underestimate their influence on their parents.

Gen Z, the first generation to have had a smartphone their entire lives, are also known to be digitally savvy.

While generalizations across entire generations are never helpful, it is widely agreed that this cohort researches brands and products online but – and here’s a surprise to those focusing only on technology – according to global management consulting firm Kearney, 81% of Gen Z prefers to shop in stores, while more than half of them do so because they say it helps them disconnect from the digital world. 

All the signs are there for retailers willing to see them. Our two youngest generations are telling us what they want. What does this look like in practice? Amazon launched its Just Walk Out technology a mere six years ago, accompanied by hyper-advanced ceiling-mounted cameras, shelf sensors and algorithms. Amazon has announced it is removing the technology because it alienated shoppers who felt that a trip to the grocery store felt like they were stepping into a high-tech vending machine. This speaks directly to what consumers want from an in-store experience.

Retail’s next big opportunity is hyper-experiential retail, and we are at the precipice of this explosion of customer experience driving consumer choice and loyalty because of a confluence of a few big forces at play.  

Shifting of the tectonic plates

The first is technology, which is enabling innovative and effective experiential retail. Another is that as the pandemic fades into memory, people want to be out, they want to spend moments with other people outside of their homes. According to insights from Canvas8 looking into what they call experience hunters, 58% of consumers believe that immersive experiences will influence their next purchase. In other words, six out of ten people place a high value on how retail makes them feel.

Artificial Intelligence will be used to supplement customers shopping experiences.

The third is that there is no longer a clear line between where retail starts and where it ends. Almost everything is a retail experience now, no matter if you’re at an airport, a fuel station, or commuting – retail is everywhere, meaning there are hundreds of different competition points for retailers across millions of different journeys. The last big force is that e-commerce has slipped into a holding pattern. Effective, efficient, and convenient, but boring and predictable. Influencers have taken over product choice even leading the conversations on behalf of brands. But consumers want more fun, they are seeking discovery – the magic of retail past.

This all has very real permutations for brands that have built their market presence on legacy retail experiences. They need to innovate quickly to keep up with pioneers who will keep raising the bar of experiential shopping. In addition to this they will be competing directly with startup brands and businesses that were direct-to-consumer, but are moving into the realm of retail experience without the baggage of the past. This area alone will likely see exponential growth in the next few years. 

From purpose to experience

Defining brand purpose has been front and center for a number of years, which is right because purpose is foundational. However, purpose doesn’t tell you everything about how a customer will experience a brand. In light of this, brands will be challenged to define how their brand is experienced across all dimensions. In other words, not just their voice, not just the words that they’re using or their personality and identity, but how they’re physically coming to life, how they’re meeting customers at the important moments across the retail journey and creating value, intrigue, excitement, attraction, and desire. 

This type of discovery is crucial for brands to drive longer-term loyalty in a hyper-competitive landscape. It starts with dimensionalizing the brand, in other words thinking about how it should look, feel, sound, smell, and taste – this is the cornerstone of an experience vision. Once a brand has done this it needs to be precise in how it chooses the moments where it wants to explode into life for consumers. Much of this precision will come from a deep understanding of consumer insights and experience barriers and how to overcome them, but also from creativity, imagination and innovation – a true path to differentiation.

Agencies and consultants need to help retailers by mapping out a diagnostic journey of consumers. This enables brands to understand a consumer’s entire journey, not just within an experience, but within the moments and choices leading up to an experience. How do they make choices, what drives them, what motivates them, what distracts or pushes them away from brands? When do they make these choices? 

The best technology can aggregate multiple data sources to help diagnose brand issues as well as predict where and why brands are losing consumers along their journeys. It is important for retailers to find answers about where they are not maximizing consumer desire in key moments. However, landing on the right answers requires asking the right questions.

The seeds to these questions were planted at CES earlier this year, when some of the biggest retailers and tech giants in the world made it abundantly clear that their vision of sustainable, long-term growth lay in marrying technology with humanity, signaling a return to appreciating the value of humans and how we feel. We all know what experiential retail is, and the world is awash with various case studies of highly successful campaigns. Expect this to turn up a notch to become hyper-experiential. Especially that according to Canvas8, quoting Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, 8 in 10 people globally are willing to pay more for elevated shopping experiences. 

Genuine human connection and personal interactions are going to drive retail growth, innovation, and brand loyalty this year and beyond. Brands need a plan to thrive in this renaissance of hyper-experiential retail. The rules of the past aren’t going to work in the new era of modern retailing where consumers are telling us what they want, we just need to listen, see around the corner and bravely walk through the door. For the Silo, Rhonda Hiatt

Rhonda is the global CEO at Clear, part of M&C Saatchi. Featured image: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan Italy- using historic storefronts and buildings in newly realized enclosed mall retail spaces.

Ancient Energy- Art Of Tai Chi Is Growing Fitness Trend

What will the next fitness trend be? Has it already arrived? 

Master Moy Lin shin

 

According to Bruce Frantzis, it is Tai Chi. Frantzis, called one of the Westʼs greatest living masters, holds authentic lineages in Taoist energy arts.

He calls Tai Chi an über-exercise because you can do it for health, healing, martial arts and meditation. In China they say, “Tai chi (a Qigong form) can be done by anyone, male and female, young and old, strong and weak, intelligent and slow, healthy or ill.”

An über-exercise for everyone.

Studies show that Tai Chi Qigong reduces stress, heals illnesses, increases mental and physical performance, and is an effective tool for aging well. This is of particular interest to Baby Boomers as they enter their 60s. It enables them to heal or prevent the aching joints, sore muscles, memory lapses, and many other issues that come after middle age.

This evidence is what is powering the surge of interest in the Chi arts. In my own experience, typical aches and pains related to aging disappeared when I resumed my Tai Chi practice after a lapse of years: achy sore knees are almost restored to normal; lower back pain is easily managed; migraines are rarer and deflected in minutes; sleep is deeper; eating properly is easier; and I have more energy. In fact, I have almost no physical complaints at all, and when something minor does arise I am more effective at self-healing.

Shoot-Hawk-with-Bow- the author demonstrating Tai Chi

These things are significant; but, even more important to me is the pure joy I feel from the movement, the rhythm, the flow, as I practice my set. And the fun and satisfaction I get in teaching others.

Many people try Tai Chi, enjoy it, but quit in frustration complaining that it is complex and hard to remember. It is complex. There are many subtle skills to remember and perform all at the same time: slow, relaxed, smooth, continuous, movements performed in a state of mental relaxation with slow, deep breathing; careful attention to the alignment of all joints; proper foot placement and and weight shifting; outer and inner focus.

In traditional teaching the student tries their best to follow along with the teacher, soaking up like a sponge all that the teacher has to offer. The teacherʼs curriculum is more important than students goals and needs. For some people this ‘teacher led’ style works well. But for many it does not.

As Tai Chi enters the mainstream this method is giving way to new learner friendly approaches. Older students respond with enthusiasm to methods which take into account their life experience and individual needs. Trained teachers are developing systematic ways to teach these subtle skills so that students know exactly what they are aiming for and when they achieve it. Students gain competency sooner and nearly every one notices benefits even from their first class. For the Silo, Jackie Davies. 

 

You Need To Protect Yourself From Germs At The Gym

The gym is a haven for germs.

Members are sweating and breathing hard over the equipment, only wiping it down quickly with a strip of paper towel — if they remember to wipe it down at all. To make sure you stay healthy every time you go for a workout, you should read these tips to protect yourself.

Wash Your Fitness Gear

Before you worry about the treadmills and locker rooms, you need to take a look at your gym bag. You could be harboring bacteria and germs in your athletic gear.

Moisture and bacteria will build up in your gym shoes, especially if you only wear one pair. This situation can lead to powerful foot odor, along with frustrating problems like foot fungus, toe fungus and blisters. Swap your shoes after every use to let them dry out. If you’ve been using the shoes for a while, you should replace the old dirty insoles. Click here to see where you can get custom orthotics in Toronto so that you can get the perfect fit for these supportive accessories.

Don’t re-wear clothes after a workout. Even if you think you didn’t sweat much, you should clean them. When you put those dirty clothes into the washing machine, toss your gym bag in there, too.

Wipe down Gym Equipment

If you think your equipment is dirty, just imagine what lies on the gym’s equipment. People have been touching it and sweating on it day-in and day-out, and you can’t be sure if they’ve been kind enough to clean up after themselves.

If you’re worried about getting sick, the microbiologist Jason Tetro recommends that anyone using gym equipment follows these simple rules to avoid bacteria and viruses:

  • Shower before and after the workout
  • Take 15 seconds to wipe down equipment before and after using it
  • Wash your hands often
  • Don’t touch your mouth or face

Don’t Go Barefoot

You need to wear shower shoes when you go into damp areas like the swimming pool deck, the locker room, the sauna, and, of course, the showers. These floors are covered with germs. The protective footwear will keep you from picking up an embarrassing infection like athlete’s foot or plantar warts.

You can get the same foot conditions from a borrowed yoga mat because people like to practice in their bare feet and they often forget to clean the material when they’re done using it. You should wipe down a borrowed mat before and after your yoga classes and use grippy socks as protective barriers. Better yet, buy your own mat and bring it from home.

Avoid gym mat germs.

These are all ways that you can protect yourself from germs at the gym. Luckily, they’re also ways that you can stop everyone else from catching a virus or bacterial infection. By cleaning up after yourself, you’ve given other members a better chance of staying healthy, too.

You should always avoid the gym when you’re not feeling well. Don’t push yourself to go for a jog or to do a round of sun salutations when you have the sniffles. Your determination to fight your illness and fit in a workout can make other members sick.

Crime In History- The Only Assassination Of A British Prime Minister

Political Assassinations: Behind the Killing of British PM Spencer Perceval

Artist’s impression of the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval by bankrupt businessman John Bellingham on May 11, 1812. (Public Domain)

One of the greatest difficulties in maintaining a stable democracy is keeping one’s political leaders from being murdered.

In the more excitable Latin American and Caribbean nations, presidents and would-be reformers are killed with depressing regularity, the most recent being the Haitian president Jovenel Moïse cut down in his own home in 2021. Four Lebanese prime ministers died from 1982 to 2005, three of those the victim of car bombs.

In Asia, attacks on politicians are a fine old tradition. In India, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in 1948, Indira Gandhi was murdered by her bodyguards in 1984, and her son Rajiv was killed by a suicide bomber in 1989. The president of Bangladesh was killed by army officers in 1981, while Pakistan lost two prime ministers: Liaquat Ali Khan who was shot to death in 1951 and Benazir Bhutto who was killed in a massive explosion in 2007.

The English-speaking world has a mixed record when it comes to political assassinations.

Generally speaking, the Anglosphere is slower on the assassination trigger but even so, there are distinctions to be made. American politicians have a high mortality rate: presidents Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy; governors Huey Long, Charles Bent, William Goebel, and Frank Steunenburg; and a host of judges, congressmen, and state officials.

Only two politicians have bit the dust in Canada. Thomas D’Arcy McGee, one of the Fathers of Confederation, was gunned down in 1868, and Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte was murdered during the October Crisis in 1970. Australia also records only two victims (both low-ranking members of legislatures), and New Zealand has no assassinated rulers on its watch. Clearly the difference is the presidential system—if you have a constitutional monarchy with an elected prime minister, you are pretty safe.

With one exception.

In 1812, the British Prime Minister was Spencer Perceval, a fierce proponent of the battle against Napoleonic France and an opponent of the slave trade. His harsh measures to finance the war had made him very unpopular in the country. On the evening of May 11, as he was entering the lobby of the House of Commons, a man stepped forward and fired a pistol at him, wounding him mortally. He was carried into the Speaker’s office where he soon died.

Perceval’s assassin was John Bellingham, an unsuccessful English businessman who had been imprisoned in Russia over a disputed debt and who for years had sought recompense from the authorities there. Back in England, when numerous British officials, members of the royal family, and politicians failed to answer his calls for support, he conceived a grudge against the prime minister. He bought two .50 caliber pistols and lay in wait for his victim. After the killing, he expressed no remorse, saying that he felt justified for his actions. Crowds in the street hailed the murderer as a friend of the people, but the government feared a conspiracy, called out troops to patrol the city, an ordered an immediate trial.

Bellingham’s only hope for acquittal lay in a plea of insanity—and indeed, his father had been declared mad—but his calm demeanour worked against him and he was allowed no time to summon witnesses who might have testified about a history of mental derangement. He made this statement to the jury:

“Recollect, Gentlemen, what was my situation. Recollect that my family was ruined and myself destroyed, merely because it was Mr. Perceval’s pleasure that justice should not be granted; …. I demand only my right, and not a favour; I demand what is the birthright and privilege of every Englishman.

“Gentlemen, when a minister sets himself above the laws, as Mr Perceval did, he does it as his own personal risk. If this were not so, the mere will of the minister would become the law, and what would then become of your liberties?

“I trust that this serious lesson will operate as a warning to all future ministers, and that they will henceforth do the thing that is right, for if the upper ranks of society are permitted to act wrong with impunity, the inferior ramifications will soon become wholly corrupted.

“Gentlemen, my life is in your hands, I rely confidently in your justice.”

Bellingham’s confidence was sadly misplaced. After a trial that had lasted a mere eight hours and after a scant 15-minute deliberation, the jury found him guilty. The death sentence was pronounced and he was hanged a few days later on May 18, leaving behind a wife and a baby. As was customary with the bodies of executed murderers, Bellingham’s corpse was sent to a hospital to be dissected by medical students.

Thankfully, Perceval is the only British prime minister ever to have been assassinated.

For the Silo, Gerry Bowler. Canadian historian and a senior fellow of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

Generation Z Job Advancement Difficulties Continue

Revealing reports are exposing the extent to which Gen Z is grappling with a far tougher job market than ever before, spurring overwhelming financial angst and uncertainty. Below Gen Z authority, attorney and legislative policy pundit Cheyenne Hunt, J.D. — a  TikTok influencer with 93.3K followers and 3.7M likes on the platform — provides front-line perspective on the trending topic. 

“The challenges we Gen Z’ers face in today’s job market are unique and complex as we navigate unprecedented economic shifts and evolving workplace dynamics,” she said. “A better understanding of the systemic hurdles and barriers hindering Gen Z’s professional growth is needed to spark dialogue and help employers, policymakers and career advisors develop strategies to support this highly consequential generation of talent.” 

6 Issues Stifling Gen Z Career Advancement

caucasian-businesswoman-looking-at-road-sign-d.jpgGen Z, of which I am a part, has been dealt a rough hand with regard to this generation’s entrance into the workforce at large. We’ve collectively experienced so many “unprecedented” events throughout our formative years that have caused many to lose their meaning and purpose in their professional and personal life. For executives seeking to understand, and aptly integrate, Gen Z into staff teams, it’s essential to recognize and address the unique challenges and needs of this consequential generation greatly influencing the workforce. While there are a litany of issues undermining Gen Z career prospects, there are a few key set of obstacles that must be overcome to bolster this generation’s advancement opportunities:

1. Economic Inequality
Gen Z enters the job market with significant financial burdens, including high costs of living, especially in urban centers. To attract and retain these young talents, consider implementing comprehensive benefits packages that alleviate these pressures. This could include competitive salaries, housing stipends, or student loan repayment programs. By addressing economic barriers directly, your company can become a more attractive and viable option for Gen Z candidates who are often forced to make career decisions based heavily on financial factors.

2. Job Market Instability
Gen Z values stability as much as flexibility. In response to the economic volatility they’ve witnessed, it’s important to emphasize job security and long-term career prospects within your company. Develop clear career pathways and foster a culture that rewards dedication and innovation. Regularly communicate these pathways and growth opportunities to ensure young employees see a future within your organization.

3. Lack of Internal Opportunities for Upward Mobility
As outside hires for managerial rolls continue to increase in popularity, Gen Z struggles to find a purpose in work that does not present opportunities to be recognized by a promotion in status or salary in conjunction with increased skill and responsibility. In fact, many studies have found that young workers are more likely to achieve career advancement by jumping ship to a new employer every three years or less. 

4. Technological Disruption
Rapid technological advancements lead to job displacement and the need for continuous upskilling, which can be particularly challenging for Gen Z entering the workforce. Automation threatens traditional entry-level roles, requiring Gen Z to adapt and acquire new skills to remain competitive in a job market they may not have even found a place in yet. Consider, leveraging Gen Z’s tech-savviness by involving them in digital transformation initiatives within your company. Offer roles that challenge them and allow them to work with cutting-edge technologies.

5. Lack of Mentorship and Networking Opportunities
Gen Z may lack access to mentors and professional networks that can provide guidance and opportunities for career advancement. Remote work creates fewer opportunities to make advantageous connections intentionally or even in passing. Traditional networking avenues may be inaccessible or less effective for Gen Z, who often rely on digital platforms for networking, which may not offer the same depth of connection.

6. Student Debt Crisis
Student debt is a pervasive concern for Gen Z, shaping their career paths and life choices. As an employer, offering programs such as tuition reimbursement or scholarships for further education can set your company apart. Additionally, support flexible work arrangements that allow for continuing education, enabling employees to pursue degrees or certifications that enhance their career growth while gaining valuable work experience.

Addressing these issues requires systemic changes in education, employment policies and societal attitudes to ensure more equitable opportunities for Gen Z career advancement. Given this generation is poised to soon become the largest sector of the workforce, it’s in everyone’s best interest to better set Gen Z up for success as a matter of public policy, economic stewardship and plain old good business practices. For the Silo, Cheyenne Hunt, J.D.

Cheyenne Hunt, J.D. is a progressive advocate and attorney specializing in progressive activism, legislative advocacy, communications and democracy-focused tech policy.  She currently serves as a Big Tech Accountability Advocate with Public Citizen. Hunt graduated from the University of California Irvine School of Law, has earned Dual Degrees in Political Science and Public Policy from the University of Denver and serves as a board member for The Women of Global Change. 

“Rhythm and Resilience: The Artistry of Sam Middleton” Exhibition

If you are able to travel to Georgia this Spring, the Hammonds House Museum located at 503 Peeples St SW Atlanta, GA continues its 2024 exhibition season with “RHYTHM AND RESILIENCE: THE ARTISTRY OF SAM MIDDLETON”. Curated by Halima Taha.

About the Exhibition

You’re invited to embark on a mesmerizing journey through the life and works of Sam Middleton, a pioneering mixed-media artist whose vibrant creations echoed the rhythms of Harlem jazz and the landscapes of Europe’s Low Countries. Born in New York in 1927, Middleton’s artistic odyssey transcended borders and he left an indelible mark on both sides of the Atlantic. Rhythm of ResilienceThe Artistry of Sam Middleton opens at Hammonds House Museum on May 17 and runs through August 18, 2024.

In Rhythm of Resilience, Middleton’s artistic evolution unfolds, tracing his self-taught beginnings amidst the vibrant culture and pulsating beats of jazz and classical music in Harlem. His encounters with creativity at the Savoy Ballroom ignited a lifelong passion for self-expression.

Venturing beyond his hometown, Middleton’s voyages with the US Merchant Marines provided him with inspiration, infusing his art with a global perspective. From the sun-soaked shores of Mexico to the tranquil landscapes of Sweden, each destination left an imprint on his ever-evolving aesthetic. Moving to the Netherlands in 1961, Middleton, joined a wave of African American artists drawn to its creative environment. Settling in Schagen, amidst the serene North Holland polder landscape, Middleton’s work blossomed, blending the vibrancy of jazz with the tranquility of his surroundings.

A master of collage, Middleton’s compositions pulsate with energy, weaving together musical scores, photographs, and graphic elements in a dance of color and form.

His art is a testament to the enduring influence of jazz, intertwining with the visual influence of his adopted homeland.

Through teaching positions at esteemed institutions Atelier 63 in Harlem and the Royal Academy of Visual Arts in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, Middleton’s legacy extended beyond his own creations, nurturing a new generation of artistic talent.

Featured Image: Newport by Sam Middleton, 1992.

A Historical Look At Robots In Cinema

You probably just heard a robot in your head right? And depending on when you grew up there is one particular robot voice that you heard. Perhaps you grew up in the 1960’s and heard “EXTERMINATE!!!” or you grow up instead in the 1970’s and it was Mel Blanc’s “Twikispeak” or maybe you grew up in the 1980’s or the 2000’s (and later!) and heard Anthony Daniel’s charming English butler like C3P0 voice.

Tell us in the comments below if this was the case.

Evolution Of Robots In Film Infographic

Convert your voice or audio to a robot’s voice.

Did we miss any? Which ones are your favorite and why? We’d love to hear from you.

Museum Celebrates Banksy- An Artist Who Hates Museums

(NEW YORK) – The presence of The Banksy Museum in New York City has been confirmed. SoHo is now the home to the world’s largest collection of Banksy’s life-sized murals and artwork. Located at 227 Canal Street (at Broadway), NYC The Banksy Museum is now open, in preview, to the public. The official press opening is Wednesday, May 15. Tickets are now available online at MuseumBanksy.com and on site at the museum. Advance reservations are strongly encouraged.
Displaying over 160 works by the world’s most famous-yet-anonymous street artist, The Banksy Museum recreates the revolutionary and often ephemeral art that Banksy has painted on surfaces in London, Bristol, Paris, Venice, Bethlehem, New York, Los Angeles, and beyond. Visitors to the museum will immerse themselves in an environmental experience, giving viewers access to Banksy creations, much of which has long since been whitewashed or dismantled. Beyond the iconic street art, the exhibition also features some of the artist’s studio work, as well as animated visual and video elements.
The New York Banksy Museum experience, an American premiere, follows successful exhibitions in ParisBarcelona, Kraków and Brussels. The new exhibition, a New York premiere, is expanded to over 160 recreations, making it the largest display of Banksy work ever seen in a single setting.
Is it even possible to create a museum that celebrates the work of an artist who once said “the only thing worth looking at in most museums of art is all the schoolgirls on day trips with the art departments”?  Banksy Museum founder Hazis Vardar initially had his doubts. “Street art belongs in the raw setting of the streets,” said Vardar. “But if people can’t see it, is it even art? Little of Banksy’s works are visible to the public at large. Most have been stolen for resale, inadvertently destroyed, or erased by overzealous city cleaning teams. Most of this transient art could only be viewed on tiny smartphone screens, which is no way to experience the scale or emotion of Banksy’s work. So we knew that we needed to create an exhibition that would bring Banksy’s art back before the public.”
Creators of The Banksy Museum faced the challenge of mounting an exhibition that was as unconventional and transgressive as the art within. “If we only trapped Banksy’s work in guilt frames on a wall, this would antithesize all that Banksy’s art represents,” says Vardar. “So we set out recreate the artworks in a life-size, re-imagined space that reflects the street experience. We employed a team of anonymous street artists, like Banksy, to recreate the work. The outcome was, truly, a magnificent reflection of Banksy’s energy, defiance, and raw talent.”  
Banksy is undoubtedly, the world’s most celebrated and elusive guerrilla street artist. Armed with little more than spray paint and stencils, the man behind the pseudonym Banksy has fostered an alluring identity that doesn’t embrace tradition, but shreds it. There’s still much we don’t know about the mysterious artist since he first made his mark in the ’90s, but what we do know is that Banksy’s striking, satirical work always delves into political and socio-critical discourse. Banksy’s artwork is characterized by striking images, often combined with slogans.  His work often engages political themes, satirically critiquing war, capitalism, hypocrisy, and greed. Common subjects include rats, apes, policemen, members of the royal family, and children. In addition to his two-dimensional work, Banksy is known for his installation artwork. A hero to some, a vandal to others, Banksy’s artwork has been known to sell for record-breaking sums, with landowners rushing to profit from – or whitewash – buildings chosen as his latest canvas.  Banksy maintains an oxymoronic relationship with the art world, demonstrating hostility to capitalism while being one of the most sought-after and collected contemporary artists. Celebrities who’ve collected Banksy art include Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Christina Aguilera, and Lance Armstrong to name a few. 
Banksy was nominated for an Academy Award for his 2010 documentary feature Exit Through the Gift Shop, an examination of the relationship between commercial and street art. 
In Wall and Piece, one of his four books containing photographs of his work complemented with his own thoughts, Banksy says “copyright is for losers” and encourages non-commercial use of his work for activism and the public’s personal enjoyment.
Banksy’s art has been further amplified by worldwide media coverage of his rebellious pranks. Between 2003 – 2005, Banksy made headlines by covertly placing his artwork beside masterpieces at The Tate and The British Museums in London; The Louvre in París; and The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum and The American Museum of Natural History in New York. In 2018, Banksy shook the art establishment when he orchestrated the self-destruction of his canvas, “Girl with Balloon,“ having it drop through a shredder built into the bottom of its gilt frame just moments after it sold for $1.4 million usd / $1.92 million cad at Sotheby’s. The first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction, the work was renamed “Love Is In The Bin” and resold for $25.4 million usd/ $34.9 million cad just three years later.
The art world has coined the phrase “the Banksy effect” to illustrate the increased interest in other street artists, largely due to Banksy’s overwhelming international success.

Where / When: The Banksy Museum, 277 Canal Street, NYC 10013 (at Broadway) is open daily, 10AM – 8PM.
How to get there by subway: N, R, Q, W, A, C, E and 6 trains to Canal Street.
Family friendly: All ages are welcome to The Banksy Museum. This is an experience that all family members can enjoy.
About the venue: The Banksy Museum is an indoor, air-conditioned venue. The museum is located on the 2nd & 3rd floors.
Accessibility: Located on the second floor, the venue is accessible, with an elevator. Guests requiring assistance throughout this experience are entitled to apply for one free pass for their personal assistant/support worker.
How long does the experience last?: Visitors are welcome to enjoy the exhibition at their own pace. The exhibition, on average, takes an hour to experience.Parking: There is no parking at this venue, but parking is available in the neighborhood.

For the Silo, Brett Oberman.

New Historical Novel-The Boy With The Star Tattoo

From the award-winning Israeli-born author, activist, and acclaimed speaker (formerly worked at Redbook magazine) Talia Carner, comes THE BOY WITH THE STAR TATTOO, her new book which centers around an assistant to an Israeli naval officer stationed in Normandy, tracing orphan roots to the rescued French village from post-WWII.

When she identifies the mother, Sharon is unprepared for the shock of her discovery. Her historical novel THE BOY WITH THE STAR TATTOO was released by HarperCollins in February 2024.

Currently on her book tour, the epic historical novel weaves two yet-untold events set in France.

The first is set in 1946 in the aftermath of the Holocaust when agents from Eretz Israel roamed the European countryside to rescue hidden Jewish orphans (Youth Aliyah). The second is set in 1969, relating to the daring escape of the boats of Cherbourg, in Normandy, which were commissioned and paid for by Israel but whose delivery was blocked by a French arms embargo. Carner wrote the book after seeing a road sign leading to Cherbourg, which reminded her of the 1969 event.

In November 2023, Algemeiner magazine named Talia Carner as one of the Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life 2023.

Formerly the publisher of Savvy Woman magazine, Carner was a marketing consultant to Fortune 500 companies targeting the top of the pyramid of the women’s market.

Talia says, “The research on the social and political mood in France in that period and later, the Franco-Israel relationship, was exhaustive and included 30 interviews, five trips to France, and the use of drones during the pandemic.”

From worldwide violence against women and questions of contemporary Jewish identity to the plights of children, Talia Carner gives a voice to those without one. Talia says, “Of all the public dramatic events that Israel has executed, the Cherbourg Project is only second to the 1976 Entebbe Raid. The 1969 story of the Boats of Cherbourg has rarely been told—and never in fiction. The second story woven into the novel is that of Youth Aliyah, the rescue of Jewish orphans after WWII who were brought to then-Palestine, the first and only such project in human history. The novel offers a back-to-basic narrative about Israel in its earlier years. It is a poignant reminder of the courageous spirit of those who committed themselves to survival.”

From teaching business to women in Russia to participating in women’s economic forums in Beijing, Talia is engaged in the global realities of denying women their dignity and human rights including clitoridectomy, gendercide, sexual enslavement, and maternal mortality of child brides to the stoning of women, and the use of rape as a tool of war. Alternately, she demonstrates the growth of a society that opens its public arena to women—and how a community thrives when women are educated, participate, and lead.

More about the author 

Talia Carner’s heart-wrenching suspense novels, (published by HarperCollins) THE THIRD DAUGHTER, HOTEL MOSCOW, JERUSALEM MAIDEN, CHINA DOLL, and PUPPET CHILD, have been hailed for exposing society’s ills. She is a committed supporter of global human rights and has spearheaded projects centered on the subjects of female plight. A Toastmasters’ Gold Level speaker, she has participated as a panelist or keynoted over 500 events and 350 Zoom presentations to civic, religious, and cultural organizations. Talia Carner is a board member of HBI, the Jewish women’s research center at Brandeis University, and an honorary board member of several anti-domestic violence, child abuse intervention, and anti-sex-trafficking organizations.

Books:

PUPPET CHILD (2002) launched The Protective Parent Reform Act, which passed or is under consideration in two dozen states—and was the platform for two State Senatorial candidates. CHINA DOLL (2006,) became the platform for her presentation at the U.N. in 2007 about infanticide in China—the first ever in U.N. history.  JERUSALEM MAIDEN (2011,) won Forward National Literature Award in the historical fiction category. HOTEL MOSCOW, (HarperCollins, 2015) won USA Best Book Award in the “multicultural category.”

For The Silo, Kat Fleischman.

Muhammad Ali’s Beautiful LA Mansion

Widely regarded as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali was named “Sportsman of the Century” by Sports Illustrated in 1999.

Born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, he started boxing at the age of twelve. At eighteen, he took home gold in the 1960 Olympics before going pro. In 1964, he upset Sonny Liston to become the heavyweight champion of the world, converted to Islam, and changed his name. Citing his religious beliefs, he refused to be drafted during the Vietnam War, fighting a draft-dodging conviction all the way to the Supreme Court. His stance against the war and his prominence as a black sportsman during the civil rights era made him a hero to African Americans and the counterculture. His fancy footwork and unorthodox movement made him the world heavyweight champion three separate times between 1964 and 1978, while his brash style and poetic trash-talking influenced hip-hop music.

Outside the ring, he was nominated for two Grammys for his spoken word albums. The superstar retired from boxing in 1979 and died in 2016.

Muhammad Ali’s former mansion, a beautiful Italian Renaissance home in a prime Los Angeles neighborhood, is set to be auctioned by Concierge Auctions. Built in 1916 by John C. Austin, architect of the Griffith Observatory and LA’s City Hall, the estate much like the Champ exudes charm and grandeur. A stained glass personally designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany tops a collection of priceless architectural features, including antique fireplaces, French Empire chandeliers, and imported Italian marble.

Ali owned the home from 1979 to 1984.

Stone steps lead up to a European-style facade. Set up for entertaining in style, the mansion’s lower floor features a grand entry hall, a sun room with a glass roof, a spacious salon, an ornate formal dining room, a living room with oversized bay windows, and a den with a wet bar. The estate has hosted a parade of luminaries, including Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood and President Obama. 

Upstairs, find bedrooms and offices, including a massive primary suite with its own fireplace. The suite opens onto a columned deck that overlooks two beautifully landscaped gardens. The park-like grounds include a swimming pool, lush lawns, a pergola terrace, stone fountains, and patios. Sitting on a 1.5-acre corner lot, the 10,500-square-foot mansion and 1,000-square-foot guesthouse are surrounded by privacy hedges and nestled behind the guarded gates of Fremont Place, an exclusive gated community in Hancock Park.

Hancock Park is an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood known for its architecturally important homes.

A haven for Golden Age celebrities, some of Ali’s neighbors included Mae West, Clark Gable, and Nat King Cole, plus titans of industry A.P. Giannini (founded Bank of America) and King Gillete of Gillete Inc. Contemporary stars who call the region home include Margot Robbie and Fred Savage. Nearby options for entertainment include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Wilshire Country Club. 

Previously listed for $13.5 million usd/ $18.5 million cad, the estate will be auctioned with a reserve. Bidding will close on May 15th. 

Photos: Concierge Auctions. Article courtesy of friends at toptenrealestatedeals.com

The Met Roof Garden Commission-Petrit Halilaj

Abetare Petrit Halilaj (born Kosovo, 1986) is known for immersive installations that express a desire to alter the course of personal and collective histories, creating complex artistic worlds that claim space for freedom, intimacy, and identity. Halilaj was inspired by children’s doodles, drawings, and scribblings found on desks at the school he attended in Runik, Kosovo.

For The Met commission, he expanded his research to other schools in Albania and countries from the former Yugoslavia, which are now undergoing significant cultural and sociopolitical change. Furtive drawings from kids’ desks have been enlarged into three-dimensional metal sculptures, each retaining the trace of the original. Together, they bring to public view the collective memory and imaginative power of generations of students whose lives were marked by traumatic conflicts and territorial divisions.

Kosovo experienced the last of a series of wars in the Balkan region in the 1990s, during which many children were denied access to education on ideological grounds. Abetare borrows its title from the book the artist and his peers used to learn the alphabet at school, each letter linked to a lesson in pictures and text. In Abetare, culturally specific references to different political ideologies, religions, and local heroes coexist with more universal symbols and playful nods to pop culture, art history, and sports.

Spread around The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, the “drawings in space” merge with the surrounding architecture and landscape to create a multi vocal scenography with an open-ended narrative. A celebration of the shared impulse for personal expression and mark making, Abetare is an opportunity for discovery and an invitation to expand our capacity to imagine transformative futures. For the Silo, Alexandra Kozlakowski.

#CantorRoof #MetPetritHalilaj Exhibition Dates: running now until–October 27,2024 Exhibition Location: The Met Fifth Avenue The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, Gallery 926

MODERNISM ADORED: 20th Century Art A New Online Exhibition Now Open

“Art cannot be modern. Art is primordially eternal.” Egon Schiele 

New York City, New York, April 2024. Our friends at Helicline Fine Art proudly announces the opening of its new online exhibition, Modernism Adored: 20th Century Art, a celebration of the revolutionary artistic movements that defined the 20th century. The exhibition runs through June 30 and features a curated selection of paintings, drawings and sculptures from important to rediscovered artists, Modernism Adored explores essential movements that shaped the artistic landscape during the 20th century from ashcan, cubism, art deco, Vorticism, WPA, abstraction, abstract expressionism, caricature and outsider art. It brings together a diverse range of artwork that reflects the spirit of innovation and creativity that defined these pivotal periods in art history. As we are a NYC based gallery, the history of New York inspires us to include art that glorifies our great city.

“We are thrilled to present Modernism Adored: 20th Century Art. This is stuff in our hearts and we are honored to share it with collectors and curators throughout America and worldwide,” said Helicline proprietors Keith Sherman and Roy Goldberg. They continued, “This exhibition is our “eye,” it exemplifies the enduring impact of modernism in art and provides a unique opportunity to witness the evolution of artistic expression over the course of the 20th century.” 

Highlights of Modernism Adored: 20th Century Art include three early Stuart Davis drawings, Vorticist linocuts by Sybil Andrews and Lill TschudiMaurice Guiraud-Riviere’s breathtaking “La Comete” silvered bronze, several works by Al Hirschfeld, abstracts by Florence Henri and O. Louis Guglielmi, a Charles Demuth drawing of bathers, an early Daniel Celentano oil, a precisionist industrial scene by Simon Wachtel, and much more. 

Artists in the exhibition include: Sybil Andrews, Maurice Becker, A. Aubrey Bodine, Jo Cain, Staats Cotsworth, Daniel Celentano, Robert Cronbach, James Daugherty, Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Donald Deskey, George Pearse Ennis, William Gropper, O. Louis Guglielmi, Harold Haydon, Florence Henri, Al Hirschfeld, Mervyn Jules, Max Kalish, William Kienbusch, Georgina Klitgaard, Henry Koerner, Leon Kroll, Vladimir Lebedev, Carlos Lopez, James McCracken, Alfred Mira, Irene Rice Periera, Antonio Petruccelli, Arthur Rosenman Ross, Hilla Rebay, Maurice Guiraud-Riviere, Joseph Solman, Lill Tschudi, Gerrit Van Sinclair, Samuel Wachtel, Katherine Wiggins, John Winters and Purvis Young. 
Florence Henri (1893 – 1982)Composition18 ½ x 12 ½ inchesGouache on paper Monogrammed F.H. and dated 1926 lower rightGeorge Pearse Ennis (1884 – 1936)Forging a Gun Tube #146 x 37 inches, 1918 Signed lower right
There is great debate about what modern art is.
Numerous descriptions abound. It is a series of genres from the mid-19th century to the present that challenged the Western standards of fine art and embraced new forms of expression. It is often seen as beginning with realism, which rejected the traditional subjects of art and focused on common people. 

Others say modernism was a movement in the arts in the first half of the 20th Century that rejected traditional values and techniques and emphasized the importance of individual experience. A broader perspective, which we at Helicline embrace, modernism was a break with the past and the concurrent search for new forms of expression. It is in fact, constant reinvention, and it’s significant because it fundamentally asks us to change our perspectives as time passes.  

“The strangeness will wear off and I think we will discover the deeper meaning in modern art.”  Jackson Pollock
Daniel Ralph Celantano (1902-1980)Long Beach8 x 10 inchesOil on artist boardSigned lower leftTitled in pencil, versoHarold Haydon (1909 – 1994)History of the US Postal Service21 x 25 inchesoil on canvas, c. 1938

Why Modern Art Continues To Influence Contemporary Artists

The 20th century distinguished itself from the previous century with a new form of industrial revolution- one tied much more intimately to an advancing technology that propelled society into a state of speed and frenzy. Not just the streamlining of railway trains and automobiles or the advancements in transcontinental travel brought on by first lighter than airships, then seaplanes and jet airliners- the motion of advancement and relocation had a seminal effect on culture and thought. The skyscraper and new vertical constructions created its own influence and metamorphosis: hundreds of families could now be housed in a singular structure adding a homogeneity and imposing bold linear designs and influences. Two world wars and a multitude of others pushed existentialism into the minds of many academics and thus filtered into other areas of discipline such as literature, music and design. The development of the transistor created miniaturization and gadgetry that became an essential component to living spaces and personal effects. Television became a manifestation of any imaginable visual image and transfixed society into another state of readiness- a state ready for instant and dense media served quickly and directly. All of these things (and more) gave rise to new forms of art- most often recognized by the general public in modern abstract paintings. The ‘sense’ of all the above was captured by artists using new ways of communicating through their work: immediacy (action painting) and abstraction were more aligned with the zeitgeist then earlier classical forms of artwork.

Untitled abstract 11 Jarrod Barker 2024

The 21st century has seen many parallel and analogous developments. Though we are ‘only 24 years’ into this latest age, the concept of quick advancement and speed is in full effect. From the maturation of the digital age (the internet) and digital communication (email) to rapidly advancing personal communication (smartphones) and powerful and inexpensive computers to today’s exhilarating advancements in AI (artificial intelligence) and robotics. These ‘re-mapped’ and repeated driving forces from the last century continue and their effects most readily recognized are still key components of contemporary ‘neo-modern’ artwork.

MORE ABOUT HELICLINE FINE ART:
Helicline Fine Art, founded in 2008 by Roy Goldberg and Keith Sherman, specializes in American and European modernism. The gallery’s core offerings are works from the WPA period. Additionally, Helicline offers American scene, social realism, mural studies, industrial landscapes, regionalism, abstracts, and other artwork. Located in a private space in midtown Manhattan, Helicline is open by appointment. The artworks on the site represent a sampling of available works. Helicline’s offerings are also available on artsy.net and 1stDibs.com.
Caption for image at the top of this article: Simon Wachtel (1900 – 1965)Factory Yards N. 336 x 24 inchesOil on canvas, c.1930s Signed lower right

Florida Pirate Island Hideaway Now For Sale

This feature via our friends at toptenrealestatedeals.com

Black Sam Bellamy was one of the most notorious and wealthiest pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy in the early nineteenth century. In his short pirate career, he captured fifty-three ships, including the English slave ship Whydah Gally, which he used as his flagship.

The famous pirate’s island hideaway, now a stunning resort property, has been listed for sale at $50 million usd. Black’s Island is a seven-acre gem off the coast of the Florida Panhandle, sporting a four-star resort with twenty-six waterfront bungalows. Accessible only by boat, seaplane or helicopter, the white-sand island is about ten minutes from the mainland, offering a spectacular Caribbean adventure without leaving the United States.

The property can be operated commercially or retained as a family compound.

Born in Devon, England, he sailed with the Royal Navy before joining a crew of treasure hunters who turned to piracy when their mission to find a Spanish shipwreck failed. Bellamy served initially under Captain Benjamin Hornigold and his first mate, Edward Teach, later known as Blackbeard. When the crew became frustrated with Hornigold’s refusal to attack English ships, they mutinied and elected Bellamy as their captain instead.  He was generous with those he raided and loved by his crew, who called themselves “Robin Hood’s Men.” This “Robin Hood of the Sea” or “Prince of Pirates” developed a distinctive style, favoring long black coats and forgoing the then-fashionable powdered wig for a dark ponytail tied with a black satin bow.

His favorite weapons were four dueling pistols carried in his sash.

The pirate prince’s reign ended when a nor’easter storm capsized his ships, drowning the captain and most of his crew. The wreckage of the Whydah Gally was discovered in 1982, yielding over 200,000 artifacts, including a cannon loaded with gold and precious stones. 

1982 discovery of Black Sam’s booty made headlines worldwide. image: Irish Sun

The fully furnished bungalows come in one- and two-story models, 1,225 and 1,425 square feet respectively. Each unit includes two bedrooms, a loft bedroom area, two full bathrooms, a spacious kitchen with an island and top-notch appliances, a living room, a dining area, a laundry room and a balcony, while the two-story bungalows have an additional half bathroom. Boasting a classic look with blonde wood walls and grey stone floors, the bungalows were recently remodeled. A round floorplan offers 360-degree views of the gorgeous island from sunrise to sunset. 

In addition to the bungalows, the resort includes a four-story luxury clubhouse, a cabana with bar, beach volleyball courts, and a forty-by-sixteen-foot swimming pool. The island is in the middle of a marine estuary, offering sparkling clear water and numerous opportunities for bird-watching and duck hunting, plus kayaking, paddle boarding, jet skiing and relaxing on the beach. 

Private islands are all the rage among celebrities and the world’s elite. Beyonce and Jay Z are said to own two private islands in Florida, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Eddie Murphy, David Copperfield, and Mel Gibson just a few of the A-listers with private islands outside the USA. 

The listing is held by Jon Kohler of Jon Kohler & Associates. Photo credit: Jon Kohler & Associates.