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Call for Artists
Crystal City, VA

The Crystal City Business Improvement District is seeking qualified artists to help produce a temporary, outdoor art exhibit featuring illuminated sculptures in the Crystal City Water Park. Selected artists will receive a grant of $5,000 to build and implement their concept.

Deadline: Friday, January 14, 2011
Location: Crystal City Water Park

For participation visit: http://www.crystalcity.org/_files/docs/illuminationcfa.pdf

The Abraaj Capital Art Prize, established by the Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Capital, is opening up applications for independent curators and artists to apply for its 4th edition. One of the most generous art prizes in the world, the prize is extending its reach to provide the most dynamic creative collaborations between international curators and artists from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA).

Calling Curators
For the first time, curators can apply for the position of annual guest curator of the Abraaj Capital Art Prize. This position allows the winning curator to work directly with the five winning artists on the development of their artworks over the production period, culminating in an exhibition during Art Dubai 2012. The curator will also be responsible for editing and providing content for the catalogue. Curators can originate from any country in the world and be based anywhere. There are no specific curatorial qualifications required, but applicants are expected to have quantifiable experience in the field of curating on an international level, and have an active interest in the development of artistic practice in the MENASA.

Curators' applications accepted from:
1 – 31 January 2011

Calling Artists
Artists originating (first generation) from the MENASA are invited to apply with a proposal for an as yet unrealised project which is able to be created in advance of Art Dubai 2012. Countries in the MENASA are defined as: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman
, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Time spent within the MENASA during the production period is preferred, as is an engagement with the region. Proposals cannot be part of an ongoing series, nor be shown in public in advance of the official unveiling. The winning artworks go on to form part of the Abraaj Capital Corporate Collection, and need to be of a size and form suitable to be stored and shipped easily. Neither ephemeral artworks with a short lifespan nor multi-media artworks are encouraged. Applications are only accepted by individual artists.

Artists' applications accepted from:
1 February – 30 April 2011

Nominators
We are introducing a nominating system for this round of applications. Nominators consist of a wide range of art professionals based across the MENASA and internationally, who have no direct commercial interest in artists they nominate. Artists still submit applications themselves, but should consult an accredited nominator in advance to support their submission, who needs to be mentioned on their application. More details to follow when the application process opens.

More information:
Laura Egerton, Curator, Abraaj Capital Art Prize
abraajprize@artdubai.ae
Abraaj Capital Limited, Dubai International Financial Centre, Gate Village 8, 3rd Floor
PO Box 504905 Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tel: + 971 45064600
www.abraajcapitalartprize.com

Cost:3,500.00 AED
Photojournalists and photographers can apply for a course on digital photography and photo editing. The course will last for 18 hours, delivered over three Saturdays.

Participants will learn theories of exposure, contrast, composition and framing. They will also learn Photoshop basics.

For more information and to apply, click here.
http://tadreeb.twofour54.com/en/course/courses/course-34.html

Filmmakers in Latin America and Europe can participate in a workshop for fiction projects under development (preferably with 20 percent of the budget approved).

The workshop, titled Puentes, will be offered in two installments: the first one in Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 7 to 11, 2011, during Buenos Aires' Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente; and the second in
Gijón, Spain, in November, at Festival Internacional de Cine de Gijón.

For more information, click here.
http://www.eave.org/

Benefit Performance on February 4th, 2011 at 8pm: Tickets on Sale Now!
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/totem/promo/2010/zipzap.aspx

for the Zip Zap Circus School, Cape Town, S. Africa

At the Royal Albert Hall, London

What is Zip Zap Circus School?

Zip Zap is a circus school in Cape Town, mother city of South Africa. The
school doors are open since 1992 to all youth regardless of background,
culture, gender or financial status. The school is free of charge to all
students. Using circus as a social tool Zip Zap aims at bringing children
together in a safe and fun environment. Circus skills as well as technical
training (woodwork, sewing, rigging, prop building and repairs) will help
them embark on a path of sustainable living.
But, more importantly, life values such as team work, discipline, trust,
confidence and honesty will enable these children to become responsible
adults.

Zip Zap has been running various outreach programmes since 1994 with street
children, rural children, and school children. In 2005, their outreach
programme focused on children living with HIV and receiving ARV treatment at
the Nolungile clinic in Khayelitsha, the biggest township of Cape Town,
project on partnership with Cirque du Monde and Médecins Sans Frontières.

In 2009, the City of Cape Town entered into a partnership with Zip Zap to
extend their outreach programme to street kids living in shelters. The
programme has been inspired by "Second Chance," the success story of the
author Judy Westwater, who survived her youth in the streets.

Category 1 tickets: €85.00 (excluding a reservation fee of €2.25)

Book your tickets:
https://tickets.cirquedusoleil.com/zope/webshop/walkin?channel=8&seriesCode=TOTLON&language=en&lfMix=CDSGP&promoCode=ZIPZAP

For more information on ticket sales please visit
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/totem/tickets/london.aspx

For more information about Zip Zap Circus School: www.zip-zap.co.za

VIENNA.- The work of American artist, writer and experimental geographer Trevor Paglen centres on a political and aesthetic engagement with the covert activities of the U.S. secret services and military, collectively known by the name "Black World". His motto might well be: "Make the invisible visible". His work is based on attentive observation, meticulous research and extensive data collection. The exhibition at Secession is from NOV. 26, 2010 – FEB. 13, 2011.

To realize his works – mostly photographs and video pieces – Paglen uses technologically advanced equipment including the kind of special cameras and precision telescopes utilized in space photography. In this way, he is able to photograph, from great distances, classified military facilities buffered by huge areas of restricted land, or, using long exposures, to document the flight paths – and thus the existence – of satellites. Cooperation with international amateur networks of aircraft and satellite spotters and the information they provide form the basis for identifying the satellites and orbits used by the CIA for its seamless surveillance of the world. The artist's investigative approach is predicated on a critical examination of the historical and cultural conditions of perception.

On one hand, Paglen is interested in phenomena not visible to the naked eye, such as satellites, drones, and their flight paths. But his artistic activity also focuses on the hidden and concealed, such as the military facilities located in the deserts of the United States and surrounded by large exclusion zones, that do not feature on any official map. On the other hand, Paglen's attention (and that of the viewer) is focused on phenomena that are very much visible to the naked eye, but which, thanks to their being camouflaged as ordinary (e.g., the countless code and cover names for secret military programmes) or due to a lack of political awareness and interest, are simply not perceived by the majority of the population. Trevor Paglen is concerned, then, with heightening awareness of the fact that the so-called "Black World" really does exist.

NEW YORK, NY.- Galerie Lelong presents Five from L.A., an exhibition of paintings by five emerging and mid-career artists—Whitney Bedford, Kirsten Everberg, Alexandra Grant, Iva Gueorguieva, and Annie Lapin—who each uniquely employ bold and saturated colors, an elusive sense of space, and fluid movement between abstraction and representation. Currently working in Los Angeles, the artists hail from diverse backgrounds and explore a variety of themes, including language, turmoil, and the fragility of memory and perception. Five from L.A. opened to the public on December 16th.

In her enigmatic paintings of oil and ink, Whitney Bedford juxtaposes a traditional use of the horizon with unusual figures and hues, creating an ambiguous setting. Amid a sparse, serene background, tightly controlled yet wild brush strokes form a central figure that resembles an explosion or other sudden disaster. Through minimal means, Bedford examines the beauty and danger of the environment, chaos, and forces beyond our control.

For Kirsten Everberg, the ambiguousness of the space is more central to her subject. Her spaces are precisely rendered, yet there is also a liquid, tenuous quality to the images, as if they are fleeting. Everberg often depicts interiors such as homes, yet they are devoid of people, shrouding the scenes with mystery. Further drawing the viewer in is the application of thick layers of glossy enamel to create a richly tactile surface. With her technique and subjects, Everberg celebrates the act and history of painting while challenging the viewers' perceptions.

Alexandra Grant's exuberant, densely designed paintings incorporate myriad influences and facets—poetry, maps, Rorschach tests, Mexican art—and communicate a balance of emotion and rationality. The artist, who is trilingual, uses words as predominant elements yet presents them visually more as shapes amid her abstract, multi-dimensional patterns. Words are often reversed and are written in a font that is free of reference to time, place, or gender. Collaborators provide the text, further evoking the communality of language.

The Bulgarian-born artist Iva Gueorguieva also presents lively works with all-over composition, yet hers brim with motion and upheaval. The abstract patterns pulsate and reverberate, achieving a nearly synesthetic quality; within the patterns, enigmatic traces of figures emerge. Using acrylic, collage, and oil stick, Gueorguieva creates a dynamic texture. While largely non-representational, the paintings are inspired by art history, Celtic lore, and cultural customs. Like Be
dford, Gueorguieva treats the precariousness, disorder, and urgency of life with fascination and reverence.

The works of Annie Lapin compellingly merge imagination, memory, history and the contemporary. Lapin's colors are rich and intensified, just beyond what is natural. A powerful, unseen force pervades her works; whether it is benevolent or menacing remains uncertain. As with Everberg, Lapin displays an unmistakable love of painting and its history, particularly Romanticism. Through her abstracted landscapes, Lapin's interest lies in human interaction and unresolved, ambiguous narratives.

LONDON.- British publisher Mohawk Media has announced Eco Comics, a range of environmentally-friendly, paperless comic books.

The first digital comic book from the Eco Comics range available now to download or view online is Heroic High, an adventure set on an island superhero community, written by Chris Bunting and drawn by Kit Wallis.

Editor Stuart Buckley says: "Paper used in the production of comic books can have a damaging effect on the environment, and paying perhaps the biggest price is the tiger, whose habitat this threatens.

"As for sustainable forestry, world-leading environmental organisations have criticised its weak regard for social and ecological issues.

"We believe these downloadable, paperless comics are groundbreaking, having been deliberately designed to have a minimal carbon footprint.

"The added bonuses for the reader are lower cover prices for the same level of quality entertainment, while knowing that they're being eco-friendly."

To download Eco Comics go to mohawkmedia.co.uk/economics. Following a quick payment system, you can download or view the comics online in various formats, including a page-flip format. PDFs are also available and can be downloaded to iPad.

Buckley continues: "Buying Eco Comics only takes minutes. It's much faster and easier than going to a comic book store! We hope Eco Comics is the start of an evolution, taking advantage of the latest technologies to help minimise the impact of comic production on the environment."