Rise Up, Fallen Angel: a Performance Work by Victoria Gibson at the Center for Performance Research, Brooklyn, May 26-28, 7.30 pm

Rise Up, Fallen Angel

The ephemeral strands that connect us; a gesture, a sound, a touch – may trigger cascades of meaning.

A glimpse of something peripheral to the main event, catches attention, and is gone -- slipping into the

crowd. “Play the Moment Composers' Collective” weaves together strands of light and sound to form a

tapestry of improvised narrative. The integrated media exhibition, Rise Up, Fallen Angel, brings

together a diverse collection of visual creators from many countries who have sent their angels through

the internet. We invite you to a primal, emotional experience designed to create an organically resonant,

sensory immersion. Satisfy the need for spiritual renewal and tribal ritual in a contemporary context;

myth and symbolism invoked using the latest in modern technology. We seek to reinforce the resilience

of the human spirit: rise up and overcome the problems we all recognize in our lives, our communities

and our planet.

Contact: Victoria Gibson (vixmedia@gmail.com)


Protest the University of Sydney’s Book Cull: Mass Book Borrowing Bonanza and “Read-In,” 18 May

Carving gargoyles at the University of Sydney, 1857.

In order to protest the University of Sydney's planned culling of half a million books from its library, a "book borrowing bonanza and read-in" is planned for 18 May at 1pm in the Fisher Library Foyer. The university announced this week that it would be getting rid of the books in order to make room for a coffee cart and other indispensable paraphernalia of 21st century university life.

The university plans to remove books which have not been borrowed in over five years, applying a "dust test" to identify those books not in its in-crowd. Holders of library cards are asked to borrow as many of these endangered books as possible. Those without cards can participate too, "disturbing the dust" by rescuing an old book from the stacks and reading it as part of the public read-in. I would bring a cloth as well, in order to dust as many volumes as possible. Perhaps we could have Berkshire Review dust cloths made up in time...

Mass Book Borrowing Bonanza & READ IN

University of Sydney, Fisher Library Foyer

1pm Wednesday 18th May 2011.

Read the notice on the Berkshire Review, an International journal for the Arts!






Protest the University of Sydney’s Book Cull: Mass Book Borrowing Bonanza and “Read-In,” 18 May

Usyd_1857

In order to protest the University of Sydney's planned culling of half a million books from its library, a "book borrowing bonanza and read-in" is planned for 18 May at 1pm in the Fisher Library Foyer. The university announced this week that it would be getting rid of the books in order to make room for a coffee cart and other indispensable paraphernalia of 21st century university life.

"Disturb the dust" at the Berkshire Review, an international journal of the arts.

Alan Miller

Towards Bikeopolis, Part 2: The Berkshire Review Guide to Enjoying your Bicycle, by Alan Miller


All who pedal are cyclists. Photo © 2011 Alan Miller.

What follows are highly subjective opinions about the highly subjective subject of bicycles.

STUFF

1. The worst bike in a proper bike shop is a thousand times better than the best bike in a department store.

2. Many first time (or first time in a while) bicycle buyers walk into the local bike shop unsure of what they are looking for. As a result many end up on hybrids, bikes which attempt to combine the characteristics of a mountain bike and a road bike. Many riders enjoy their hybrids, and I wouldn’t want to put anyone off a bike they enjoy, but I recommend against them. The shortcomings of the hybrid are quickly revealed to those who find they like cycling and want to try mountain biking or more serious road rides. They are too flimsy for the former and too clunky for the latter (clunky at best; I raced my first mountain bike race ever on a hybrid equipped, in homage to 1990s mountain bike legend John Tomac, with road bike drop handlebars. The first lap went fine until the course suddenly descended a ski slope. I reached the bottom, just not on my bike.)

Read the full article on the Berkshire Review, an International journal for the Arts!






CAPIThetical Competition Celebrates Canberra’s 100th Birthday, byt Alan Miller


The judges of the Capital Design Competition on site, 1912.

The question of Canberra remains, if not the most urgent, one of the most interesting in Australian urbanism. The city was shaped by its time, sited in a paddock to placate a rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne which still exists and a threat of Russian invasion which now seems unlikely. For all who have ever found themselves haunted by the city, either in the form of nightmares or dreams, the launch of the CAPIThetical, “a competition for a hypothetical Australian capital city,” is exciting news. CAPIThetical is timed to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the capital design competition in 2012, and is backed by the federal and ACT governments, the Australian Institute of Architects and a gaggle of universities and professional organizations.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an International journal for the Arts!






CAPIThetical Competition Celebrates Canberra’s 100th Birthday by Alan Miller

3b-judges

The question of Canberra remains, if not the most urgent, one of the most interesting in Australian urbanism. The city was shaped by its time, sited in a paddock to placate a rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne which still exists and a threat of Russian invasion which now seems unlikely. For all who have ever found themselves haunted by the city, either in the form of nightmares or dreams, the launch of the CAPIThetical, “a competition for a hypothetical Australian capital city,” is exciting news. CAPIThetical is timed to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the capital design competition in 2012, and is backed by the federal and ACT governments, the Australian Institute of Architects and a gaggle of universities and professional organizations.

Read the full article on the Berkshire Review, an international journal of the arts.

Alan Miller

London Sinfonietta perform Louis Andriessen’s Anaïs Nin and De Staat at Queen Elizabeth Hall, by Gabriel Kellett

Plato and Anaïs in the School of Athens

London Sinfonietta perform Louis Andriessen at Queen Elizabeth Hall

Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre
April 14th, 2011

Louis Andriessen

Anaïs Nin
De Staat

London Sinfonietta
David Atherton, conductor
Cristina Zavalloni, soprano
Synergy Vocals, singers
Sound Intermedia, sound projection

Years before I ever picked up any of their books, I was fascinated by the idea of the 'Lost Generation' of American writers in Paris between the World Wars; now that I've actually read The Great Gatsby, theTropics of Cancer and Capricorn, The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms and even a couple of Anaïs Nin's books (Gertrude Stein's going to have to wait, though), I felt I couldn't pass up the chance to hear this UK premiere of the Dutch composer Louis Andriessen's piece inspired by Nin's relationships with several of her many lovers from that time—among them her father.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an International journal for the Arts!






Towards Bikeopolis, Part 1, by Alan Miller

The bicycle is its own argument for itself. Photo © 2011 Alan Miller.

One recent morning I witnessed a rare sight; two children, almost certainly brother and sister, were riding their bikes to school. They wobbled along the sidewalk of a busy road. The boy pedaled ahead on his BMX while the girl’s bike was too big for her, its chain rusted to the point where, rather than shift gears, she walked the slightest rise. Commuters alone in their cars sped by on the way to work, their kids’ schools, gym or supermarket. This being outer Sydney, the street made not the slightest accommodation for the two kids and their healthy, intrepid mode of transportation

Read the full article on the Berkshire Review, an International journal for the Arts!







(download)

Towards Bikeopolis, Part 1 by Alan Miller

Cycling_1

One recent morning I witnessed a rare sight; two children, almost certainly brother and sister, were riding their bikes to school. They wobbled along the sidewalk of a busy road. The boy pedaled ahead on his BMX while the girl’s bike was too big for her, its chain rusted to the point where, rather than shift gears, she walked the slightest rise. Commuters alone in their cars sped by on the way to work, their kids’ schools, gym or supermarket. This being outer Sydney, the street made not the slightest accommodation for the two kids and their healthy, intrepid mode of transportation.

Read the full article on the Berkshire Review, an international journal for the arts.

Alan Miller