London exhibition 'The aftermath of the December riots in Greece' cancelled one day after it opened

From “The Aftermath of the December Greek Riots” by John Vassilipoulis and Paul Mitchell

Photographers George Kasolas and Spiros Christofi spoke to the World Socialist Web Site about the cancellation of their exhibition “The aftermath of the December riots in Greece” just one day after it opened at the Hellenic Centre in London earlier this year.

George explained that he had worked at the centre previously and asked permission to show the pair's pictures. He even agreed to pre-submit them to the centre for approval. The photos were well received at the opening night and reception, but the next morning they were taken down. No explanation was given by the Centre's management as to why the photographs were removed.

George said they were surprised that the event was cancelled and angry that they have unable to find out who took the decision or why. He said they had received legal advice that suggested the centre had reneged on its contract with the artists. The only conclusion the artists were able to draw was that the reason for withdrawing the exhibition was political.

Since then the two have resisted attempts by the Hellenic Centre to silence them, but despite approaches to the British media only the Art Newspaper publicised their case.

Both are deeply sympathetic to the youth who took part in the December events in Athens and see the link between the riots and the bleak prospects for Greek young people. As Spiros explained the police shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos on December 6, 2008, was the “the drop that made the glass overflow” and became the catalyst for resentment over poverty wages and rising joblessness (one quarter are currently unemployed) to explode.

[ ... ]

Spiros explained, “The images that we have shown are a realistic visual representation of Athens at the time when the city was under disruption and at a point in time where the economic crisis has reached the people.”

George added, “The photographs themselves weren't taking an explicit political position. They don't contain any depictions of the riots themselves, but scenes of Athens after the riots.”

“Perhaps it was the picture of the entrance to the National Bank of Greece sprayed with red paint that they objected to.”

Spiros described how the Hellenic Centre has strong links to the Greek embassy and Orthodox Church and is patronised by rich Greek and Cypriot businessmen and bankers in London, who use it as a vehicle for making tax deductible donations and as a platform for promoting “a safe and acceptable face” of Greek culture. “They just want to see landscapes, blue seas and skies and whitewashed buildings.”

He also talked of the double standards the Centre employs, since it has a permanent exhibition on its premises devoted to Conservative Prime Minister Karamanlis—thus providing his government with a political platform.

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Goodbye bland affluence

Peggy Noonan writes in The Wall Street Journal :

A small sign of the times: USA Today this week ran an article about a Michigan family that, under financial pressure, decided to give up credit cards, satellite television, high-tech toys and restaurant dining, to live on a 40-acre farm and become more self-sufficient. The Wojtowicz family—36-year-old Patrick, his wife Melissa, 37, and their 15-year-old daughter Gabrielle—have become, in the words of reporter Judy Keen, "21st century homesteaders," raising pigs and chickens, planning a garden and installing a wood furnace.

Mr. Wojtowicz was a truck driver frustrated by long hauls that kept him away from his family, and worried about a shrinking salary. His wife was self-employed and worked at home. They worked hard and had things but, Mr. Wojtowicz said, there was a "void." "We started analyzing what it was that we were really missing. We were missing being around each other." So he gave up his job and now works the land his father left him near Alma, Mich. His economic plan was pretty simple: "As long as we can keep decreasing our bills we can keep making less money."

The paper weirdly headlined them "economic survivalists," which perhaps reflected an assumption that anyone who leaves a conventional, material-driven life for something more physically rigorous but emotionally coherent is by definition making a political statement. But it didn't look political from the story they told. They didn't look like people trying to figure out how to survive as much as people trying to figure out how to live. The picture that accompanied the article showed a happy family playing Scrabble with a friend.

Their story hit a nerve. There was a lively comment thread on the paper's Web site, with more than 300 people writing in. "They look pretty happy to me," said a commenter. "My husband and I are making some of the same decisions." Another: "I don't know if this is so much survivalism as a return to common sense." Another: "The more stuff you own the harder you have to work to maintain it."

To some degree the Wojtowicz story sounded like the future, or the future as a lot of people are hoping it will be: pared down, more natural, more stable, less full of enervating overstimulation, of what Walker Percy called the "trivial magic" of modern times.

The article offered data suggesting the Wojtowiczes are part of a recent trend. People are gardening more if you go by the sales of vegetable seeds and transplants, up 30% over last year at the country's largest seed company. Sales of canning and preserving products are also up. Companies that make sewing products say more people are learning to sew. I have a friend in Manhattan who took to surfing the Web over the past six months looking for small- and farm towns in which to live. The general manager of a national real-estate company told USA Today that more customers want to "live simply in a less-expensive place."

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Trotsky's ashes stolen and baked in cookies

As posted on Infoshop News :

Monday, April 13 2009 @ 02:52 PM CDT

Contributed by: Anonymous

Views: 11,160
Direct Action

Eighty eight years of the day Trotsky directed the suppression of the anarchist uprising in Krondstadt, a group of bandits scaled the walls of his former house in Mexico City during the late hours at night. We broke the lock on his mausoleum and we expropriate the content inside it: a silver large vase that bears the inscription of his name, wrapped in the red scarf that he carried around the neck, containing the ashes of the corpse inside. We replace with care the lock in the monument with a reproduction that was similar in the appearance and escaped into the night.

Repost of english translation:

Eighty eight years of the day Trotsky directed the suppression of the anarchist uprising in Krondstadt, a group of bandits scaled the walls of his former house in Mexico City during the late hours at night. We broke the lock on his mausoleum and we expropriate the content inside it: a silver large vase that bears the inscription of his name, wrapped in the red scarf that he carried around the neck, containing the ashes of the corpse inside. We replace with care the lock in the monument with a reproduction that was similar in the appearance and escaped into the night.

The vase along with its content then was taken far away to a place where the vase was discarded and the content (a combination of ash and bone) were baked in cookies. These cookies then were sent, along with a letter that explains our actions, to newspapers, to organizations of Trotskyists, and to the groups of anarchist around the world.

While we will not repeat everything of our full letter, briefly we propose to give new light to the idea that history does not end with the past and still a small group of bandits can give new direction to fights thought long to be frozen in the time. We want to expand the fight to include dead objects of the past that hold hostage us in the present.

Nevertheless, if Trotsky is right about the history, we do not determine anything, but we are only characters whose actions were written in the revolution of October. As was his destiny, coincidentally, to come to be a cookie.

The ones that receive these cookies have a decision. Through time, the act to consume enemies have been seen as a way to absorb their powers. On the other hand, consuming the body and the blood of the dead person as a sacrament have also been a form of worship. We would want to indicate that, at any rate, the result is always shit.

For those a little delicate, we have tried them, and although they be a little sandy, they are delicious. The green dots, by the way, they are just candies. 

[ Photos of Trotsky Robbery Released ]

Theros by Cherouvim

CREATED BY
Georgios Cherouvim

INFO AND FESTIVALS
Theros - 3rd year major project
[May05] (2'38'')
(harvesting in ancient Greek)
A short film which criticises an issue of the modern human society. It is a nonnarrative character based piece, which through the use of strong imagery and repetitive animation delivers the message.
The piece has an original sound track composed and engineered by Ioannis Cherouvim.
The whole project lasted about eight months. From the concept development to the final post production renderings.

Theros was awarded the Best Major Project (NCCA Graduation 2005)

Screened at
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SYNCH 2007 FESTIVAL OF ATHENS
(Athens - GR)
SIGGRAPH 2006
(Boston - USA)
OneDotZero10 2006
(London - Uk)
artFutura 2006
(Barcelona - Spain)
New Music & Art Festival 2006
(Bowling Green State University - USA)
Animex 2006
(Teeside - Uk)
The Global Student Animation Awards (GSAA) 2005
(Vancouver - Canada)
GSAA Roadshow at HypeFest
(Hollywood - California)
Animago 2006
(Munich - Germany)
Australian International Animation Festival (AIAF) 2006
(Sydney, Adelaide, Darwin, Pert, WaggaWagga - Australia)
Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF) 2006
(Melbourne - Austalia)
London International Animation Festival (LIAF) 2006
(london - Uk)
Intro Out 2005
(Salinica - Greece)
Platforma 2005
(Athens - Greece)
T-Short 2005
(Athens - Greece)
Athens Video Art Festival 2006
(Athens - Greece)
Micropolis 2006
(Athens - Greece)
Cardiff Film Festival 2005
(Cardiff - Uk)
Presented at
-----------
3D World (issue 72)
2 pages Interview
Stash DVD (issue 13)
It's Art (#0006)
4.5 pages Interview
Mtv Uber
Short of the week
Sto Kokkino 105.5 fm
Live interview
www.cgtalk.com, www.xplsv.tv, www.cgunderground.com, www.maxunderground.com

Pennywise