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February 28, 2011

I was wondering...

... if you did you random generous action today
If you did not, its about time. Suprise someone with an unexpected gesture, make he-she happy and let me know about it... I would love to know..

February 27, 2011

Antoinette-Fleur's Video



Today, I received an e-mail from Antoinette-Fleur, a French drawer, thanking me for posting about her art work a while ago. (You can check the post at this LINK). Antoinette is a wonderful drawer who focus her pieces in portraits and fashion figures.






In her e-mail, Antoinette-Fleur provided us an "art reference": an animation video showing her drawings. Please, check below:




I am also adding here another video I found in Youtube about her work:


Votre Portrait by Antoinette-Fleur


Thank you, Antoinette, for inspiring us with your inspirations.
We love your work. Please, keep the good job!
We will always be a fan!

Bonne journée à toi aussi, Antoinette-Fleur!


Artists' website: http://antoinettefleur.fr/



February 25, 2011

Brazilian TV Dance Contest

A Brazilian TV Channel is hosting a Dance Contest called "If you dance, I dance", which is also the name of a Brazilian song. As the singer contest in many countries, this contest received towands of people from every where in Brazil. Poor people, rich people. All kinds of dances including funk, street dance, ballet, classic, etc. Well, the jury got surprise with a dance called John Lennon da Silva (Silva is a Brazilian surname such as Smith in USA, you know what I mean). John Lennon da Silva is a poor guy that studies in a community school and created the coreography himself.

In my opinion the jury was really bad to him at first. They asked about his costume choice pointing out that it had nothing to do with his song choice and also making sure he knew his own song choice "Dying Swan". John, good choice...and good timing as the movie Black Swan is currently on the movies in Brazil. I felt really bad for him.

When he started dancing the jury quiet themselves and saw the big mistake they did by pre-judging the guy by his poor ways and his clothes. John Lennon danced pretty well and the jury literally cried. I think Lennon taught them a lesson! Good job! Ops, good dancing....

Please, you've got to watch this show:




If you don't know this ballet, I am also pasting here the video of Sarah Lamb performing the Dying Swan at the 2010 Vail International Dance Festival. Its a different approach. Enjoy! 




Check here other Brazilian dancers in this contest:

JAZZ



REBURN





February 23, 2011

By Heart

Hi dear readers,

I come here today to talk about something really important to me: a good heart. In the last years I have been facing sad and insecure sittuations due to people who lack of heart. Unfortuantelly, I bumped into some bad hearted people who made (and are making) me and my family suffer a lot. In my opinion, one of the most important things in life is to have a good heart, white character, clear eyes and to be honest to yourself and to others. The core values in life such as loyalty, honesty, integrity, character, friendship, should be set as rules. I definitely do not know how to deal with people with a bad heart or intentions. After a series of events, I kind of lost faith in humans and created a survival wall arround me which protects me but also keeps good things away, principally, spontaneity. My bad! I am still learning how to deal with it and heal...

But that's not my point here, my point is that an artist should have a transparent soul in order to deal with the daily quest. An artist should shine energy and good will, even if, through that, he/she wants to reach a darker side. His/her heart should be his/her skin. If you don't wear your own heart. If your pulse does not pump outside yourself. If you have a bad heart, please, don't bother being an artist. Do us a favor. be a Mc Donald's hamburger maker or whatever. You've got to be an enlighted person in order to be able to give yourself entirely and purely to art.

This is a campaign in favor of the transparent souls in a quest for a valued art.
Good souls, good art, good artists, to infinite and beyond!


                                   Picture taken from De bubuia na bubuia (link)

Thank you.
Best regards.

February 22, 2011

Study on the Entrepreneurial Dimension of the Cultural and Creative Industries

European Commission
The Study, commissioned by the European Commission, responds to the growing importance of the creative economy, and more specifically of the role of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), as tools to tackle Europe’s current and future challenges.

The aim of this Study is to provide a better understanding of the operations and needs of companies in the CCIs, especially small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). The intention is not to provide a comprehensive overview but rather to describe some of the problems and provide recommendations.


The Study highlights transversal problems common to all these CCIs. It indicates specific challenges that could hamper entrepreneurship and prevent CCIs from benefiting from the internal market and the digital shift.

The Study provides an understanding of the key determinants for strengthening entrepreneurship for CCIs, such as:

- access to finance;

- market barriers;

- intellectual property rights;

- education and training;

- innovation;

- and collaborative processes.

From these key challenges, the Study suggests general approaches for developing a conducive environment as well as specific recommendations to provide support for each determinant, highlighting best practices and taking into consideration sector differences, the different levels of policy as well as the different development phases in which the CCIs find themselves.

Throughout the Study, around 40 Best Cases illustrate key approaches and initiatives (Appendix 1) - (Appendix 2). Similarly, anonymised relevant comments from the many experts interviewed during the study are presented where appropriate.

A bibliography of sources can be found at the end of the Study.

Check the study here: http://ec.europa.eu/culture/key-documents/doc3124_en.htm
 

February 21, 2011

New Podcast by Art Tactic



In this episode of the ArtTactic Podcast, we're joined by Adriano Picinati Di Torcello, Senior Manager at Deloitte Luxembourg. Adriano begins by sharing with us Deloitte's latest initiatives pertaining to Art and Finance. Meanwhile, have wealth managers started to embrace the concept of art as a financial asset? Adriano tells us to what extent they have incorporated art within their services for their clients. Adriano then looks into the future and predicts what types of financial products and transformations to the marketplace are possible. Also, he discusses both the positive and negative aspects of speculative money returning to emerging and established art markets. Lastly, Adriano analyzes the split in the art world between having a more regulated marketplace versus the non-transparent nature that some argue can lead to superior returns for investors,

LINK: http://arttactic.com/podcast.php?id=63

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Press article: When pleasure and profit go hand in handLuxembourg for Finance -
November 2009


Equity and bond funds are well known asset classes; funds investing in art and other collector items much less so. Yet the rise of art as a financial asset is a reality. Deloitte Luxembourg is convinced that these “emotional assets” or “passion investments” have a serious role to play as a new financial niche. But why invest in paintings, wine, jewelry, diamonds or musical instruments? Adriano Picinati di Torcello, Senior Manager at Deloitte Luxembourg, provides some answers.

The art market is becoming a financial commodity, thanks to two phenomena : globalisation and research. «Not so long ago, there was a perception that the art market was the reserve of the rich and the very rich. However, alongside growth in knowledge about the art market and an increase in transparency thanks to the publication of indices and information about sales being held and prices achieved at auction, we have noticed growing interest in art as a financial asset. Adriano Picinati di Torcello adds that investment funds investing in art have emerged over the last few years.

This trend is not limited to the art market but equally concerns other collector items. He adds that whereas there were some precedents in the last century, this has now become a global phenomenon with funds being set up, for instance, in the United States, England, Austria and India. In general, these funds are only open to “qualified investors”, but some are open to much smaller investors.

Paintings and wine are the categories you most often see in the portfolio of these new funds. Beside these categories, jewels, photographs, diamonds, stamps, old coins and musical instruments – notably violins – are other “collectable assets” that you come across. Some funds diversify their portfolios by investing in several categories of collector items.

Why invest in art?

According to Deloitte, there are several reasons why a client might invest in art and collector items: the potential performance generated by the inefficiency of these markets, protection against the risk of inflation, reduction of risk because of its low correlation with other financial assets, a reserve price at sale and the possibility of earning extra revenue by rending out the work or of participating in events such as exhibitions and meetings of experts, hence adding aesthetic pleasure. “Many investors who unfortunately lost a lot of money in the financial crisis, investing in products they did not understand, are turning back to things that are closer to their heart and which at the same time offer protection and a return on investment. Picinati di Torcello adds that you do not have to be an expert in art or wine, for example, to invest in this type of fund. “However, you must be confident that the people who are proposing such products are experts and have the competence necessary to ensure an appropriate selection of works, verification of their authenticity, due diligence on their origin, and so on, in order to avoid certain risks that are intrinsic to the sector.”

Amateur art collector or not, all investors are looking for an acceptable return on investment. According to academic studies, the long term performance of works of art is probably around 6%, and in a period of economic boom can reach 10-12% without taking inflation into consideration. But how can an art fund generate returns? Picinati di Torcello lists several potential strategies. These include "profiting from market inefficiencies in order to buy and sell advantageously, also by finding interesting opportunities when objects are sold in the event of a death or a divorce, for example, and by anticipating trends. Insider dealing is not a crime in the art market.”

Luxembourg as a centre of competence

London and New York are the two big capitals in the art market, but they are being given a run for their money by the Asian markets. According to Picinati di Torcello, England is probably more engaged in the sector because of the presence side by side of experts in art and finance. However, it is quite possible for the fund to be domiciled elsewhere, such as in Luxembourg. “The idea we are trying to promote is that Luxembourg, thanks to the SIF (Special Investment Fund), has a role to play attracting promoters and fund managers to domicile their schemes in Luxembourg. There are funds already established in Luxembourg that invest in collector items, such as wine, violins and art. The SIF vehicle is a structure that is very flexible and perfectly adapted to this purpose.” He does not think that the lack of experts is a competitive handicap for the Grand Duchy. “Just as in the equity and bond sectors, we do not necessarily have the specialists, like fund managers, based locally. On the other hand, for knowledge about anything to do with domiciliation, administration or distribution of the product, this can be found in Luxembourg.”

Investment funds: an art in itself


It is undeniable that art and other collector items, as a new asset class, have some solid reasons to attract high net worth investors. Picinati di Torcello is convinced that the Luxembourg financial centre holds all the necessary cards to become a competitive player in the field. With this in mind, Deloitte recently organised two conferences on the rising importance of the art market and other collector items as a new financial asset. The second of these took place in October 2009 in London, in cooperation with the University of Maastricht, twelve months after the first conference organised in Luxembourg at the Philharmonie. Given the positive impact of these events, a third event will be organised in October 2010 in Paris. The formula will be similar to that held in 2009: there will be an academic stream in which specialists discuss the latest academic research and papers in the field, and a part that is open to the public. In London, fund managers came to talk about their experiences, as did specialists from international auction houses, insurance companies and consultants specialising in the field. In order to inform the public about this evolving market sector, Deloitte has created a web page www.deloitte-artandfinance.com where more information on these conferences is available.

Source: www.lff.lu

Art is what we call...by Seth Godin


... the thing an artist does.

It's not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky. Something human.
Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It's in the soul of the artist.

February 13, 2011

Istanbul Biennial




It has being one year since the Brazilian Curator, Adriano Pedrosa, goes to Istambul (Turkey) for a week every month. From Istanbul, he goes to Jerusalem, Beirute, Chile, Peru, Callamallah, Buenos Aires, Ramallah and, sometimes, he comes to Sao Paulo (Brazil). Adriano works as the 12 Istambul Biennial curator which will take place from 17th of September until 13th of Novmber 2011.

One curious fact is that, since 1997, the Istanbul Biennial does not incorporates the regional quota structure being one of the first Biennials to abolish the representations by nations. The quota was also abolished by the Sao Paulo Bianniel in 2006, but Venice's still adopts it. A second fun fact is that the Istanbul Biennial was the first to invite a non-european professional to its command in 2001, the Japonese Yuko Haseqawa. And for the first time, in 2011, it also invited latin-americans curators: Adriano Pedrosa (Brazil) and Jens Hoffmann (Costa Rica).


As installed for The Museum of Modern Art, New York
"Projects 34: Felix Gonzalez-Torres"
May 16 - June 30, 1992, in 24 locations throughout New York City



The 12 Istanbul Biennial called Untitled will be inspired in the Cuban artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres, who used not to give name to his pieces (like the one above). Pedrosa and Hoffmann's objetive is to rescue the conceptual and formal aspects of the political art. The Biennial will have 5 sections inspired in Gonzalez-Torres's pieces (notice that the pieces will not be physically at the exhibition), 5 small collective and 45 individual exhibitions carefully thought and disposed by the Japanese architecture Ryue Nishizawa - winner of the Pritzer Prize 2010.

Pedrosa and Hoffmann want to erase any connection the Biennal has with an especifc theme, that way the names of the exhibitors / artists will only be announced when the event starts. According to Pedrosa there is a pervese number of Biennials taking place nowadays which are consumed by its name, its artists and curators. His intention now is for the Istanbul Biennial not to be consumed, but only appreciated and seen.

Pedrosa does not announce the participants' names, but he does tell us the Brazilian artists that will participate in the 12 Biennial: Leonilson, Jonathas de Andrade, Rosangela Renno and Renata Lucas.

During his visits to Latin-America, Adriano tries to raise funds to finance the artists' participation in the Biennals. The Sao Paulo Biennal had 30 million reais (1 dollar is currently 1.7 reais) in funds. He mentions that his next stop is Brasilia, Brazil's capital. Adriano notices that the Peruan Govern never financed his artists and he hopes it finances Flavia Gandolfo this time.


Pedrosa says that the biennial does not have a lot of money, but it is giving the curators lots of time and freedom, allowing them to pick the frames and take the artists by their hands.


I bet it will be a good event!

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Curators





Adriano Pedrosa
Adriano Pedrosa, born in 1965 in Rio de Janeiro, is an independent curator, editor and writer based in São Paulo. He has published in Artforum (New York), Art Nexus (Bogota), Art+Text (Sydney), Tate etc (London), Exit (Madrid), and Frieze (London), among others. Pedrosa curated F[r]icciones (with Ivo Mesquita, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2000), was adjunct curator and editor of publications of the XXIV Bienal de São Paulo (1998), co-curator and co-editor of publications of the 27th Bienal de São Paulo (2006), curator of Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte (2001-2003), curator of InSite_05, San Diego/Tijuana (2005), curator of 31st Panorama da Arte Brasileira (Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, 2009), and artistic director of the 2nd Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan (2009). He was a juror of the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts (Istanbul Biennial, 2001), of the Prêmio EDP Novos Artistas (Museu Serralves, Porto, 2003), and of the Hugo Boss Prize (Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2004). Pedrosa is on the editorial board of The Exhibitionist: A Journal for Exhibition Making and is the founding director of Programa Independente da Escola São Paulo—PIESP.


Jens Hoffmann
Jens Hoffmann, born in 1974 in San José, Costa Rica, is a writer and curator of exhibitions based in San Francisco where he is the Director of the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts. Hoffmann has worked for a number of art institutions including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; KIASMA -- Museum for Contemporary Art, Helsinki; Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne; The Hugh Lane Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; DIA Center for the Arts, New York, Kunstverein in Hamburg; Kunst-Werke, Berlin; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles; Museum Kunst-Palast, Düsseldorf as well as for exhibitions such as Documenta X (1997), the 1st Berlin Biennial (1998), and the 9th Lyon Biennial (2007). He was the Director of Exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London (2003--2007) and co-curator of the 2nd Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan (2009). He is currently co-curating, with Harrell Fletcher, the 1st People's Biennial, taking place in five US museums in 2010. Hoffmann is senior lecturer at the Curatorial Practice Program of the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, a guest professor at the Nova Academia di Bella Arti in Milan and an adjunct faculty member of the Curatorial Studies Program of Goldsmiths College, University of London. He is the founding editor of The Exhibitionist: A Journal on Exhibition Making.
The curators of the 12th International Istanbul Biennial were appointed by the Advisory Board of the International Istanbul Biennial. The advisory board consists of the artistic director of dOCUMENTA (13) Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, contemporary artist Ayşe Erkmen, art consultant Melih Fereli, director of Exhibitions and Public Programs and chair of the Exhibitions and Museum Studies Program at San Francisco Art Institute Hou Hanru and director of the Sharjah Art Foundation and Al-Ma'mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem Jack Persekian.
The conceptual framework of the 12th International Istanbul Biennial will be announced by a press conference to be held in autumn 2010 by the curators; Adriano Pedrosa and Jens Hoffmann.




February 3, 2011

Art Project by Google


Van Gogh Museum





Partners

•Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin - Germany

•Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian, Washington DC - USA

•The Frick Collection, NYC - USA

•Gemäldegalerie, Berlin - Germany

•The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC - USA

•MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC - USA

•Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid - Spain

•Museo Thyssen - Bornemisza, Madrid - Spain

•Museum Kampa, Prague - Czech Republic

•National Gallery, London - UK

•Palace of Versailles - France

•Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam - The Netherlands

•The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg - Russia

•State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow - Russia

•Tate Britain, London - UK

•Uffizi Gallery, Florence - Italy

•Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam - The Netherlands

February 2, 2011

I am tired!


I am sorry, but I am too tired today!
Yesterday, I presented my Busines Plan (final project) on my MBA
at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), a good business school in Brazil.
Do you think it is over? Nope! I still need to deliver the TCC, trabalho de conclusão de curso
(trabalho = work; de= of; conclusão = conclusion; curso = course), which is a mini-thesis.
I have already chosen the theme: e_marketing.
But I need one week of no studies at all...just work, movies, beach & sleep!

What about going to the beach tomorrow morning before work?
If my bed allows, I will try!
Sounds good...


February 1, 2011

Hippie Fair in Copacabana - Rio de Janeiro

Every Sunday from 9am to 18pm, Copacabana´s Square called General Osório hosts a singular Hippie fair which is visited my locals and turists. There you can find handmade goodies, fashion products and also food. The food is typical from the Northeast of Brazil, a state called Bahia.


I suggest you try the acarajé which is a dish made from peeled black-eyed peas formed into a ball and then deep-fried in dendê (palm oil). It is found in Nigerian and Brazilian cuisine. It is served split in half and then stuffed with vatapá and caruru – spicy pastes made from shrimp, ground cashew nuts, palm oil and other ingredients. The most common way of eating acarajé is splitting it in half, pouring vatapá and/or caruru, a salad made out of green and red tomatoes, fried shrimps and home made hot sauce. A vegetarian version is typically served with hot peppers and green tomatoes. In Nigeria, it is commonly eaten for breakfast with gruel made from millet or corn.

As a dessert, I suggest the aipim cake or the cassava cake as below:

I love it! It is a light and wet cake...


Please, check the photos I took from the fair:




Check the musical instruments made my wood.

Check out the tourists...

Leather Bags...




Ok, you can´t see in this picture, because I am not a good photographer,
but this girl with the white t-shirt has a
Marc Jabocs orange bag and she is buying fair bags...
That´s the most interesting thing about fashion art!
Wether it costs $300 or $30 it does nto matter!


I HEART RIO bags!!!

Ok, If i were to buy something on this fair, it would be this ledder bag.
I think the design is really good and different. The bag is also practical!


Inside the square there is a little art exhibition with local artists..

  


I know, its big, but they ship them!



Capoeira Fight - Dance!

If I were to buy an art goody, this would be the one!
The wood sculpture is really interesting.

I heard a foreigner saying that this looks a lot like Brazilian (old time) art and it does...
I aggree.






Hair Bows..this is the ultimate fashion here is Brazil.



The HIppie Fair is a good suggestion of visitation if you are in Rio. It is one block from Ipanema & Copacabana beach. You can have a nice day at the beach and just walk there later.
A good tip is to visit two cool street stores that open just on Sundays...they are the Favela Hype (Hype Slum)