St. Petersburg days in Helsinki

EU-MAN’s Permanent Gallery - St. Petersburg days in Helsinki

The European Union Migrant Artists Network (EU-MAN) cordially invites you to attend the grand opening of the permanent EU-MAN Gallery in Helsinki’s Cable Factory on Tuesday April 14th. Since the launch of EU-MAN in January 1997 there have been countless exhibitions in many countries displaying a huge variety of artworks created by the Network’s many active members, but this is the first time that a permanent exhibition has been established and it is an exciting prospect for everybody involved.

As a special part of this first exhibition, there will be a celebration of 200 years of relations between Finland and Russia. EU-MAN is participating in the “St. Petersburg days in Helsinki” event with a painting exhibition that includes works from 13 Russian artists and five artists that are members of EU-MAN in Finland. The certain exhibit will be open between the 14th and 24th of April.

The gallery’s opening and the exhibition is going to be attanted by Mr. Goubankov Anton Nikolaevich, Chairman of Culture committee of SPB and Mrs. Larisa Skobkina Curator, Chief of the Department of the newest currents of the Central exhibition hall of St. Petersburg “Manege”, so you have the opportunity to meet and talk with them.

So please join us as the 12 year-old EU-MAN organisation celebrates another first and is finally able to display an impressive selection of its members’ work.

The Russian artists:
Oleg Frontinsky
Larisa Golubeva
Rashid Dominov
Boris Zabirohin
Alla Geguerey
Lada Panyukova
Stas Kasimov
Nikolay Vasilyev
Andrei Chezhin
Lyudmila Chezhina
Dmitry Konradt
Dmitry Shaguin
Andrey Kouznetsov

The EU-MAN artists:
Andrea Bauer
Tigneh Negash
Nastaran Nasirzadeh
Amir Khatib
Thanos Kalamidas

EU-MAN Gallery Grand Opening
Tuesday April 14th
Cable Factory
Block B, Floor 3
Tallberginkatu 1
00180 Helsinki

Bob Dylan wins Pulitzer

Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has received an honorary Pulitzer Prize for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture".

The special music award recognised the 66-year-old's "lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power". Prize administrator Sig Gissler said the honour "reflects the efforts of the Pulitzer board to broaden the scope of the music prize".

The time has come!

Street art to Tate's walls

A series of giant graffiti-style murals are to be painted on the walls of London's Tate Modern gallery for its summer season.

The works, which will adorn the river-facing wall of the building, will be created by six artists including Blu, who is interested in death.

The artworks will be displayed for three months from 23 May.

Only Tate could be open to any kind of contemporary art!

Jules Dassin dies

American film director Jules Dassin has died in an Athens hospital after a short illness, at the age of 96. Blacklisted in Hollywood after WWII, he went to Europe where he married the late Greek actress and later culture minister Melina Mercouri.

Melina Mercouri starred in Mr. Dassin's most famous film, Never on Sunday. After her death in 1994, Mr. Dassin fought to realize her main goal: the return of the Parthenon, or Elgin, marbles from Britain to Greece.

A spokesman for Hygeia hospital in Athens said Mr. Dassin had been admitted for treatment two weeks ago. "Greece grieves the loss of a rare human being, an important creator and a true friend," Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said in a statement.

Art is going to miss a great creator!

The Ovi magazine today

Noam Chomsky on the Politics of the Essence of the Human Mind by Emanuel L. Paparella

Noam Chomsky is considered one of the pivotal linguists of our time. He follows a long heritage on the nature of language which begins with the ancient Greeks and continues with Giambattista Vico in the 18th century.

Whither Democracy in America? Part 3: Myths and Lessons of Athenian Democracy by Dr. Habib Siddiqui
The word democracy derives from the ancient Greek dēmokratia (literally, rule by the people) formed from the roots dēmos "people," "the mob, the many" and kratos "rule" or "power."

"Charles Darwin and a pool party" by Alexander Mikhaylov
"Perhaps no person can be a poet, or can even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind." - Thomas Babington Macaulay

"I wish" by Bohdan Yuri
"Poets are mysterious, but a poet when all is said is not much more mysterious than a banker." - Allen Tate

Blade runner composer’s birthday

Vangelis Papathanasiou, born March 29, 1943 and he is mostly known through just his first name, has made a remarkable career in music composition.

The musical talents of Vangelis first became obvious at a very early age. His parents tried to encourage him to study with a professional teacher, but he did not respond well to formal education, as he was generally unwilling to follow instructions. At the end of his school years, he and some friends formed a band called "Formynx", which became popular. In 1968 Vangelis moved to Paris.

Together with Demis Rousos and Lucas Sideras, he formed "Aphrodite's Child". This group scored an immediate world wide hit with their first release, "Rain and Tears". Later on, the band split and he continued solo in Paris writing music for movies.

His career launched and Vangelis received an array of awards, among them an Oscar in 1982 for the soundtrack of the film "Chariots of Fire". The music of Vangelis is too diverse to be described as pop, rock, classical, jazz, or new age.

Explaining his music, Vangelis says, "All I try to do is let people know what I think through my music. I just bring the music to you and it is up to you to do what you want with it".

Gallery piece 'owned by Hitler'

A painting owned by The National Gallery was once in the possession of Adolf Hitler, an expert has claimed.

Dr Birgit Schwartz, who is researching Hitler's art collection, says Cupid Complaining To Venus once hung in the Nazi leader's private gallery. She made the discovery while studying photographs from his personal library. A gallery spokesman said they had "no reason to doubt the claim" and appealed for anyone with information about the Lucas Cranach painting to come forward.

The gallery bought the painting in 1963 from New York dealers E&A Silbermann. It shows Cupid holding a honeycomb and telling Venus that he has been stung by bees. The National Gallery said it had only recently learned that the portrait was acquired in 1945 by Mrs Patricia Lochridge Hartwell, an American war correspondent in Nazi Germany.

Turner paintings head for Moscow

An exhibition of the works of J.M.W. Turner is to go ahead at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow later this year. Tate Britain is lending over 100 of the artist's works for the show which will run from November until February.

The Pushkin exhibition, which is being sponsored by billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov, will feature over 100 of Turner's works. It marks the first time any of Turner's paintings have been seen in Moscow since the 1970s.

"The generations have changed since Turner was last in Moscow and it's important that the young see him," said Ainaida Bonami, the Pushkin's deputy director. The paintings on loan will include Norham Castle, Sunrise, one of Turner's most popular works, and a self-portrait.