“Jeunes filles au piano” by Renoir in Rio de Janeiro



RIO DE JANEIRO.- Visitors watch the painting “Jeunes filles au piano” by French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir shown at the Brazil Bank Cultural Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The exhibition “The Impressionists, Paris and the Modernity” displays 87 paintings from the D’Orsay museum collection. AFP PHOTO ANTONIO SCORZA.

Bat For Lashes - Whats a Girl To Do



I was lucky enough to attend the Bat for Lashes concert yesterday in London and it was absolutely amazing.

This creepy video is also amazing so I wanted to share it with you. It feels good to see so much creativity, not copying other people's music like we currently see to many times...

I look forward to the Martin Margiela's collaboration with H&M


Iranian artists Tabatabai and Afrassiabi present Seep at the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona



Nasrin Tabatabai and Babak Afrassiabi, Seep, 2012. Instal·lació. Fotograma Vídeo 2© Nasrin Tabatabai & Babak Afrassiabi. 

MACBA, the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, presents Seep, the first solo exhibition in Spain by the Iranian artists Nasrin Tabatabai and Babak Afrassiabi. Illustrating the Museum’s interest in contemporary art from North Africa and the Middle East, the show explores the introduction of modernity to Iran, from the British intervention and the industrialisation of oil extraction to the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Presented for the first time, the installation includes two video projections and a series of objects and images inspired, for the most part, by archival materials kept at two institutions: the archives of British Petroleum (BP) and the western art collection of Teheran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMOCA). Seep was produced by the MACBA Foundation in cooperation with the Delfina Foundation and the Chisenhale Gallery (where the work will be exhibited in spring 2013).

Nasrin Tabatabai and Babak Afrassiabi, who work both in Iran and Holland, have been collaborating together since 2004. The result has been several joint projects and the publishing of the bilingual magazine Pages, in Farsi and English. Both their projects and the magazine's editorial approach are closely linked, and often focus on specific moments in the modernisation of Iran, which they materialize as into meditations on art and contemporary artistic practices. Their works have been seen in solo exhibitions in South America, the US, the Middle East and Europe, including, amongst others, the 6th Seoul International Media Art Biennale (2010) and the 12th Istanbul Biennial (2012). At present, Tabatabai and Afrassiabi are working as researchers at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Rotterdam.

The inspiration behind Seep are materials from two archives related to the modernisation of Iran. The first is the archive of British Petroleum (BP), related to the company’s origins in Iran between 1901 and 1951, from the discovery and operation of the first oil fields in the Middle East to the nationalisation of the oil industry. The second dates to a quarter of a century later: this is the western art collection of Teheran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMOCA), which includes works from the late-19th century to 1979, when the museum was closed following the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini. 


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Caving Kalisuci

It's all started on another 'selo' Saturday. Lagi, ini cerita dari hari sabtu yang (sudah direncanakan) selo. Ii cerita dari tahun lalu lagi, sekitar bulan oktober 2012. Empat anak gadis, terutama Wida, teman saya yang manis ini (teman saya cantik semua kecuali saya, saya ganteng sih). Berawal dari mulut gue yang cukup ceriwis di hadapan orang-orang terdekat ini membicarakan perihal goa Jomblang yang merupakan goa dengan mulut goa yang vertikal, selain caving susur goa, juga memerlukan kemampuan untuk srt turun goa setinggi sekitar 20 meter itu. 

Akhirnya, dengan pertimbangan demi keselamatan anak-anak gadis rumahan ini, diputuskan mendatangi tetangganya saja, sungai Kalisuci, semacam dengan goa Pindul juag sebenarnya, caving dengan memasuki goa-goa gitu. Kami, empat anak gadis berangkat ke Kalisuci menggunakan motor dengan sok taunya, kembali menggantungkan harapan dengan GPS smartphone. Sempat beberapa kali kami sedikit nyasar karena bablas belokkan dan yang menurut gue banget itu gawat orang-orang di sana, orang tua yang sedang meladang sih (ngapain juga sih mon gangguin mbah-mbah di ladang :")) ) ditanya arah dan dijawab menggunakan bahasa jawa. Gue bengong, Sindy bengong, Mbahnya bengong, untung si Vina gak bengong, Thank's Vina! Aku akan lamar kamu! *salah fokus* 

Satu hal yang memang saya kurang suka dengan wisata di Indonesia, kurang informatif. Bukan plank-plank menuju Kalisuci maupun goa Jomblang yang kami temui, namun plank-plank yang mengatakan "Menuju Medan Gerilya". Oke. 

Kalisuci berada di ujung jalan melewati gang menuju goa Jomblang. Sesampainya di sana sekitar jam 9-10 pagi dan masih sepi. Kami disambut dengan mas-mas di basecampnya dan langsug dijelaskan mengenai caving itu mengenai biaya dan jaraknya. Dengan biaya 65.000 rupiah kami berempat dengan didampingi oleh dua prang pemandu laki-laki yang ternyata mas-mas yang hobi manjat gunung (saat itu saya belum senang mendaki gunung) dan dibawakan ban-ban kami layaknya tuan putri yang sedang wisata cantik.




yuk, perlengkapannya dipakai, sabuk dikencangkan, cantik ;)








Ini gue, sindy, wida diminta manjat batu itu yang entah apa esensinya, tapi kami nurut :|



Diminta pose sama mas-masnya yang entah pose apa di dalam air :|




Suasana sewaktu melewati mulut goa





Stalaktit yang ga boleh dipegang dan diinjak, bukan, bukan keramat, masnya bilang "kalo kita merusak alam kelak alam yang merusak kita" ciye masnya...

Kita diijinkan main-main sehabis keluar mulut goa dan pulangnya? Pulangnya kami menaikki tangga menuju tempat pick up menjemput kami dan (atau) ban-bannya menuju basecamp tadi. Hosh hosh aduh anak-anak gadis ini udah ngos-ngosan aja diajak jalan :D

Ada satu hal yang agak aneh. Saat kami sampai di basecamp ternyata wisatawan yang mau caving juga lumayan rame, yang saya lihat ada 2 rombongan yang berpapasang dengan kami. Rombongan pertama berpersonel 6 orang, 4 orang cowok 2 orang cewek didampingi 2 guide dengan ban yang cewek dibawain sama pemandunya. Rombongan ke dua 4 orang cowok didampingin hanya dengan satu pemandu dan bannya dibawa masing-masing. If you know what I mean ;) Oh ya, disarankan untuk membawa kamera poket saya, bisa dibungkus dengan plastik atau menggunakan underwater case, kameranya nanti akan dibantu pegang sama pemandunya kok.

*maaf untuk foto dengan celana jeansnya* *bows*






Picasso at the Guggenheim Museum of New York


NEW YORK.- Picasso Black and White, the first major exhibition to focus on the artist’s l
lifelong exploration of a black-and-white palette throughout his prolific career, is being presented at the Guggenheim Museum. In this image: Head of a Horse, Sketch for Guernica (Tête de cheval, étude pour Guernica), Grands-Augustins, Paris, May 2, 1937. Oil on canvas, 65 x 92 cm. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Bequest of the artist© 2012 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: © Archivo fotográfico Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid

I am back !


My dear friends and followers, I hope you'll forgive my absence. My life is now coming back to normal after several positive changes and I am happy to be posting again.

Hope you're still here, expecting my next articles...

Thank you for being so faithful !

Nicolas.