People's Pornography

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Since its establishment in 1949, the People's Republic of China has upheld a nationwide ban on pornography, imposing harsh punishments on those caught purchasing, producing, or distributing materials deemed a violation of public morality. A provocative contribution to Chinese media studies by a well-known international media researcher, People’s Pornography offers a wide-ranging overview of the political controversies surrounding the ban, as well as a fascinating glimpse into the many distinct media subcultures that have gained widespread popularity on the Chinese Internet as a result. Rounding out this exploration of the many new tendencies in digital citizenship, pornography, and activist media cultures in the greater China region are thought-provoking interviews with individuals involved. A timely contribution to the existing literature on sexuality, Chinese media, and Internet culture, People’s Pornography provides a unique angle on the robust voices involved in the debate over about pornography’s globalization.

Fuyuki Yamakawa at Big in Japan

Avant-garde khoomei singer and performance/installation artist Fuyuki Yamakawa at the Ksubi X Kirin presented Big In Japan events last month i. Yamakawa's performances use light bulbs, yogic breath, antiquated medical equipment, and modified musical instruments and involvesoutputting bodily functions (like his heartbeat, amplified with an electronic stethoscope) in synch with external sound and light so the space becomes an extension of his body.

Idols

Steven Kasher Gallery presents Gilles Larrain: Idols featuring 35 never before exhibited large-scale photographs of New York’s most wildly colorful, often scandalous denizens of style that he shot during the revolutionary early 1970s. Original copies of the book are coveted collectors items; a new edition by powerHouse will be launched simultaneously with this exhibition. On view until December 23 -Β 521 west 23rd street, New York.

You, Me, Something Else

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A piece entitled Strive To Set the Record Straight by artist James McLardy now on view at the exhibition You, Me, Something Else in Glasgow celebrating sculpture.

The Elegant Beasts

"Moody & Farrell’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection is inspired by fabulous creatures and is filled with shapes that evoke underwater leviathans, crouching beasts and giant crustaceans. During the Golden Age of exploring, sailors and adventurers would often return home with descriptions of wonderful new animals which illustrators would attempt to draw – with wildly inaccurate results, leading to fantastical depictions of giraffes, crocodiles and walruses. It is these mutant beasts which have informed this set of hats, the bastard off-spring of tall tales,improbable visions and things that go bump in the night. A diverse range of materials have been used, many of which would be more usually found on a galleon than in a hat. From fine cashmeres and silks in muted colours – to oak, leather and rope. With its wild shapes, bold colours and mythical silhouettes, this collection is exciting yet feminine, utterly original yet entirely flattering on the head." [....]

Warhol's Empire

In celebration of the opening of Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph, 1964–1977, the Art Institute of Chicago will project Andy Warhol’s 1964 film Empireβ€”a single, eight-hour-long nighttime take of the Empire State Buildingβ€”from the museum’s Bluhm Family Terrace across Millennium Park to the upper stories of the Aon Center. Warhol’s work thus sets the stage for the artists featured in Light Years who redrew the boundaries of both photography and contemporary art. On view December 9 through December 10.

Illuminance

Photographer Rinko Kawauchi on the shortlist for the Deutsche BΓΆrse Photography Prize 2012. Kawauchi is nominated for her publication Illuminance, published by Editions Xavier Barral (France, 2011). In her work, Kawauchi creates an imaginary space where the fantastical is possibleβ€” evoking moments of dreams, memory and temporality. The images in her book Illuminance, the results of both commissions and personal projects, span fifteen years of her practice and have the ability to turn the mundane into the extraordinary and poetic.

I Like Pigs & Pigs Like Me

Lately, artist Miru Kim has been spending a lot of time with pigs for her project entitled The Pig That Therefore I Am. Pictured above, Miru Kim spent 104 hours, nude, behind glass with two hogs for Miami, Basel. Part live performance, and part photographic series, Kim writes in her artist statement about the project: "Both a pig and I carry our exteriorized memories on our cutaneous garment–scars, blemishes, wrinkles, and rashes that manifest markings of time, anguish of the soul, wounds of love and war. We all live at the same time, naked and not quite naked. Underneath our exterior coverings, whether they are silk, cotton or leather, we humans carry our own skin, just as pigs do. Born with a blank canvas enveloping us, we accumulate more and more brushstrokes of memories as years pass, on our garment that cannot be literally cast off until death."

[NEXT] Danielle β€œDanz” Johnson is Computer Magic

Danielle β€œDanz” Johnson must have been realizing some kind of fantasy by wandering around New York in a spacesuit in the wonderful music video for the track The End of Times, a powerfully poppy single which was released last July on Roundtable Records, out of the UK.  The end of times sure, but not for Computer Magic – I can bet we'll be hearing a lot from this 22 year old DJ and blogger based in Brooklyn, New York.  Computer Magic is currently working on full length album with no set date for release.