Delta communities decry lack of consultation

Posted on 18th May 2012 in The monuments of world

Delta communities decry lack of consultation

GOTHATAONE MOENG
Staff Writer

MAUN: Communities around the Okavango Delta have decried government’s lack of consultation on its intention to have the natural wonder listed as a World Heritage Site.

At a consultation conference held yesterday, representatives of Jao, Ditshiping and Xaxaba said they were not consulted prior to a submission being sent to UNESCO to nominate the Okavango Delta for listing. Bontsheditswe Saxago, a resident of Jao and member of Letloa Trust, said that he was hearing for the first time that there were intentions to list the Okavango Delta. He wondered whether the residents would continue enjoying the benefits that come with the natural resource if it is listed. In February the Department of National Museums and Monuments (DNMM), which is overseeing the nomination process, sent a dossier to the World Heritage Centre to nominate the Okavango Delta as an area of Outstanding Universal Value, and to have it listed as a World Heritage Site.

Nonofo Mosesane of the DNMM, who is also a member of the Site Working Committees on the listing of the delta, said out of the over 30 communities that they planned on consulting, they have managed to talk to 28, and were unable to consult with the other three concerned because of lack of access to the areas during the high-water season.

He said plans to consult the communities are ongoing. Mosesane said they decided to submit the nomination dossier, despite not consulting all communities because they needed to meet the February 2012 deadline. He argued that the majority of the communities they consulted had agreed with the intention to list. 

Out of these, 27 communities agreed, three had poor or non-attendance (Toteng, Etsha 13 and Tsao), while two (Boro and Nokaneng) refused, but for reasons unrelated to the World Heritage Convention. Boro refused because they are still ungazetted while Nokaneng residents were not happy with the positioning of the Buffalo Fence. Maun was the only village that was undecided.

Mosesane said even villages that agreed to the listing were suspicious of the project, as they are generally suspicious of government.  Villagers also were concerned about the lack of development in the area, even though the area brings in a lot of income through tourism. Officially opening the conference yesterday, Dr Ebenezario Chonguica of OKACOM, said as the largest inland delta in the world in a desert environment, the Okavango Delta is exceptional and outstanding and worthy of being listed as a World Heritage Site.  If the nomination is successful, a fact that will only be known next year, it is expected to raise the prestige of the delta and increase tourism opportunities. Other advantages expected from the listing include the fostering of social cohesion and pride in local communities, Mosesane said.

On the other hand, if it is listed, developments deemed unsustainable as well as  those that could adversely affect the value of the site  are discouraged. Residents raised concerns about whether this includes the development of schools, clinics and roads, but Mosesane assured them that it does not. “Developments will be subject to environmental impact assessments to assess how to mitigate adverse effects. What we are really concerned about are things like mines,” he said. If the Okavango Delta is listed, it will be the second World Heritage Site in Botswana after the Tsodilo Hills which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year.

comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Forth Bridge memorials unveiled

Posted on 18th May 2012 in The monuments of world

18 May 2012 Last updated at 07:42 ET

Forth BridgeThe memorials were unveiled in North and South Queensferry

Memorials to workers who died building the world famous Forth Bridge have been unveiled.

The event marked the end of a 10 year restoration project on the rail crossing over the Firth of Forth.

Thousands of “Briggers” have worked building, maintaining and restoring the bridge over its 129 year history.

Twin monuments to 73 men who died in the process were unveiled by First Minister Alex Salmond at sites in both North and South Queensferry.

The stone base of the 7ft bronze monuments is engraved with the words: “To the Briggers, past and present, who built, restored and continue to maintain this iconic structure.”

Local historians

Mr Salmond said: “The Forth Bridge is perhaps the single most inspirational structure ever to have been built in Scotland.

“Above all, we honour the sacrifice of those who lost their lives during the bridge’s construction.

“They helped make possible what remains perhaps Scotland’s greatest-ever engineering achievement and these memorials are worthy tributes to their skill and courage.”

David Simpson, route managing director from Network Rail Scotland, paid tribute to the “hard graft and sacrifice” made by all those who have worked on the bridge.

He added: “It made perfect sense to us to celebrate our modern day achievement by supporting this community driven memorial which will stand side-by-side with the bridge for many years to come.”

360 degree view of the bridgeNetwork Rail has created a series of 360 degree views of the bridge

The memorial plan was devised by a team of local historians and enthusiasts who have researched the project and raised funds over the past seven years.

Network Rail and contractor Balfour Beatty became principal sponsors and the monuments were designed by local artist Gordon Muir.

Len Saunders, from the Forth Bridge memorial committee, said: “We are immensely pleased that Network Rail and Balfour Beatty have chosen to celebrate the completion of the decade long bridge restoration in such a fitting way.

“And that the support, together with our many other sponsors has resulted in a fine public memorial to ‘The Briggers’.”

The event comes as a decision on whether the bridge will be proposed for Unesco world heritage status is due this summer.

Network Rail is examining the idea of building a viewing platform for visitors to be hoisted more than 300ft to the top of the bridge and the operator has also created a set of 360 degree views taken from around the structure.

comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rescue deal to bring William Adam mansion back from brink

Posted on 15th May 2012 in The monuments of world

By BRIAN FERGUSON

Published on Wednesday 16 May 2012 00:00

THE future of one of Scotland’s most important listed buildings has been secured under a rescue deal set to trigger a £12 million overhaul for the crumbling 18th-century mansion in the Lothians.

Mavisbank House, a stately home designed by the renowned architect William Adam, will be turned into self-catering holiday accommodation and its grounds transformed into a community park under a new vision for the site.

Campaigners have fought for more than a decade to find a future for the building, which is often cited as one of the finest examples of neo-classical architecture in Scotland.

Midlothian Council has now agreed to pursue a compulsory purchase order (CPO) for the site and to then transfer ownership to a charitable trust once it has the £12m funds in place. It has been uncertain for years who has legal ownership of the site, and the CPO move is planned to end that uncertainty.

The Scottish Government has stumped up a £500,000 grant to kick-start the appeal, which will target public, private and charitable sources. Four years ago, Historic Scotland paid out £2m to allow vital stabilisation work on the building to go ahead.

The government agency, the local authority, the Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust and the Mavisbank Trust, which has campaigned to secure the building’s future for years, have all signed a concordat agreement.

Alex Hammond-Chambers, chairman of the Mavisbank Trust, said: “We are delighted that the concordat will enable the trust to take forward the project, removing previous barriers to progress and demonstrating a firm commitment to its success by Historic Scotland and Midlothian Council.

“Whilst securing the project funding will be a huge challenge in such difficult economic times, the grant from the Scottish Government is an important step towards reaching our goal.”

The rescue deal has been agreed almost a decade after the mansion, which has been virtually a ruin for the past 30 years, featured in the television series Restoration.

The mansion, at Loanhead in Midlothian, dates back to 1723 but was devastated by fire in 1973, although the exterior of the building survived the blaze. It had been commissioned by leading Enlightenment figure Sir John Clerk of Penicuik.

Culture secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “With its architectural beauty, history and international significance, the plans for Mavisbank House will not only enhance Scotland’s rich historic environment but also have the potential to become one of the most beautiful landmarks in the Lothians.”

Under the concordat agreement, a programme of regular open days will be held at the house, while parts of the building will be opened up for community use on a regular basis.

In 2007 the house was also added to a list of the world’s 100 most endangered places compiled by the World Monuments Fund.




comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Filming 'Saving Hallowed Ground' – The Radnor War Memorial project

Posted on 12th May 2012 in The monuments of world

 For generations the charging Dough Boys on the bronze relief of the Radnor War Memorial have been frozen in time.

But on Thursday they came to life as World War I soldiers marched among the memorial grounds.

And there were soldiers from other wars, too: World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the War Against Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was all part of a film production for “Saving Hallowed Ground,” a project spearheaded by Radnor American Legion Posts 668 and 418 to draw attention to the 120 names etched on the 1922 memorial as well as the need to preserve memorials like Wayne’s throughout the country.

 Video Plays Below:

“For the last three years we have been dealing with issues of the conservation and preservation of this memorial,” said Eugene Hough, a member of Post 668 and a preservationist of military cemeteries and monuments. “The most important thing we are encapsulating in this project is that we want to template this project in other communities across Pennsylvania and across the United States. From experience I can attest there are numerous markers and monuments like this one that aren’t being taken care of. Hopefully by involving the military academy, community, students, businesses we can bring to life what these truly are, living-history memorials.”       

The production is slated to debut at Radnor Memorial Library on Tuesday, May 15, after a 7 p.m. public re-dedication ceremony of the refurbished Radnor War Memorial, which is across from the middle school.

 The video, produced by Radnor Studio 21, involved cadets from the Valley Forge Military Academy.

Many of the garments used in Thursday’s production were actual vintage military uniforms. The actors were students from 2nd Lt. Adam Messinger’s U.S. history class. Continued…

“They’re also the same age of a lot of the men who wore the uniforms,” he said.  

He pointed out that all branches of the military are represented in the production except for the U.S. Coast Guard, the only uniform that could not be located for the shoot.

“We have a full spectrum of the history of the United States…the different services,” explained Messinger.

 

One uniform for the production belongs to Marty Costello, commander of Bateman-Gallagher Post 668 and owner of Joe’s Place in Wayne. He served in the Navy during Vietnam. 

 

Aside from the VFMA actors, Emily Rafferty, who bartends at Post 668, took part in the production representing Mary Holmes Howson.

Howson’s name is on the Radnor War Memorial. The Radnor resident and 1936 Radnor High School graduate was a teacher by profession, teaching at the former Booth School in Devon, before enlisting in World War II.

Howson, who lived on Parks Run in Wayne, was training to be a domestic military aviator in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). She died in April 1944 after an air-traffic controller’s error had her AT-6 training aircraft in the same air corridor as another plane and as a result the aircraft collided. Howson, who was only about a month away from completing her training, died as she did not have enough altitude to deploy her parachute before hitting the ground.  

 She earned her silver wings posthumously. She is buried at Washington Memorial Chapel’s cemetery in Valley Forge National Historical Park.     Continued…

 For generations the charging Dough Boys on the bronze relief of the Radnor War Memorial have been frozen in time.

But on Thursday they came to life as World War I soldiers marched among the memorial grounds.

And there were soldiers from other wars, too: World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the War Against Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was all part of a film production for “Saving Hallowed Ground,” a project spearheaded by Radnor American Legion Posts 668 and 418 to draw attention to the 120 names etched on the 1922 memorial as well as the need to preserve memorials like Wayne’s throughout the country.

 Video Plays Below:

“For the last three years we have been dealing with issues of the conservation and preservation of this memorial,” said Eugene Hough, a member of Post 668 and a preservationist of military cemeteries and monuments. “The most important thing we are encapsulating in this project is that we want to template this project in other communities across Pennsylvania and across the United States. From experience I can attest there are numerous markers and monuments like this one that aren’t being taken care of. Hopefully by involving the military academy, community, students, businesses we can bring to life what these truly are, living-history memorials.”       

The production is slated to debut at Radnor Memorial Library on Tuesday, May 15, after a 7 p.m. public re-dedication ceremony of the refurbished Radnor War Memorial, which is across from the middle school.

 The video, produced by Radnor Studio 21, involved cadets from the Valley Forge Military Academy.

Many of the garments used in Thursday’s production were actual vintage military uniforms. The actors were students from 2nd Lt. Adam Messinger’s U.S. history class.

“They’re also the same age of a lot of the men who wore the uniforms,” he said.  

He pointed out that all branches of the military are represented in the production except for the U.S. Coast Guard, the only uniform that could not be located for the shoot.

“We have a full spectrum of the history of the United States…the different services,” explained Messinger.

 

One uniform for the production belongs to Marty Costello, commander of Bateman-Gallagher Post 668 and owner of Joe’s Place in Wayne. He served in the Navy during Vietnam. 

 

Aside from the VFMA actors, Emily Rafferty, who bartends at Post 668, took part in the production representing Mary Holmes Howson.

Howson’s name is on the Radnor War Memorial. The Radnor resident and 1936 Radnor High School graduate was a teacher by profession, teaching at the former Booth School in Devon, before enlisting in World War II.

Howson, who lived on Parks Run in Wayne, was training to be a domestic military aviator in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). She died in April 1944 after an air-traffic controller’s error had her AT-6 training aircraft in the same air corridor as another plane and as a result the aircraft collided. Howson, who was only about a month away from completing her training, died as she did not have enough altitude to deploy her parachute before hitting the ground.  

 She earned her silver wings posthumously. She is buried at Washington Memorial Chapel’s cemetery in Valley Forge National Historical Park.    

 

As part of the Saving Hallowed Ground initiative, students from Wayne’s St. Katharine of Siena School’s David Heacock’s eighth-grade class are currently researching the life histories of the 20 fallen World War I soldiers whose names are on the Radnor memorial. Several St. Katharine students were involved in Thursday’s video production.    

The May 15 re-dedication of the war memorial will include an overview of the renovation by  Costello, commander of Post 668;  and Hough, who owns Heritage Guild Works, a company that specializes in cemetery and monuments restoration, will discuss the restoration process.

The program, co-sponsored by the Radnor Historical Society, will then move to the Winsor Room of the library where Costello will outline the rich history of the memorial and Hough will explain a national program for veterans to help restore war memorials. Julie Pierce will then talk about Gold Star Mothers.  

 

 Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on Google+

comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

'Saving Hallowed Ground' The Radnor War Memorial project

Posted on 11th May 2012 in The monuments of world

 For generations the charging Dough Boys on the bronze relief of the Radnor War Memorial have been frozen in time.

But on Thursday they came to life as World War I soldiers marched among the memorial grounds.

And there were soldiers from other wars, too: World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the War Against Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was all part of a film production for “Saving Hallowed Ground,” a project spearheaded by Radnor American Legion Posts 668 and 418 to draw attention to the 120 names etched on the 1922 memorial as well as the need to preserve memorials like Wayne’s throughout the country.

 Video Plays Below:

“For the last three years we have been dealing with issues of the conservation and preservation of this memorial,” said Eugene Hough, a member of Post 668 and a preservationist of military cemeteries and monuments. “The most important thing we are encapsulating in this project is that we want to template this project in other communities across Pennsylvania and across the United States. From experience I can attest there are numerous markers and monuments like this one that aren’t being taken care of. Hopefully by involving the military academy, community, students, businesses we can bring to life what these truly are, living-history memorials.”       

The production is slated to debut at Radnor Memorial Library on Tuesday, May 15, after a 7 p.m. public re-dedication ceremony of the refurbished Radnor War Memorial, which is across from the middle school.

 The video, produced by Radnor Studio 21, involved cadets from the Valley Forge Military Academy.

Many of the garments used in Thursday’s production were actual vintage military uniforms. The actors were students from 2nd Lt. Adam Messinger’s U.S. history class. Continued…

“They’re also the same age of a lot of the men who wore the uniforms,” he said.  

He pointed out that all branches of the military are represented in the production except for the U.S. Coast Guard, the only uniform that could not be located for the shoot.

“We have a full spectrum of the history of the United States…the different services,” explained Messinger.

 

One uniform for the production belongs to Marty Costello, commander of Bateman-Gallagher Post 668 and owner of Joe’s Place in Wayne. He served in the Navy during Vietnam. 

 

Aside from the VFMA actors, Emily Rafferty, who bartends at Post 668, took part in the production representing Mary Holmes Howson.

Howson’s name is on the Radnor War Memorial. The Radnor resident and 1936 Radnor High School graduate was a teacher by profession, teaching at the former Booth School in Devon, before enlisting in World War II.

Howson, who lived on Parks Run in Wayne, was training to be a domestic military aviator in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). She died in April 1944 after an air-traffic controller’s error had her AT-6 training aircraft in the same air corridor as another plane and as a result the aircraft collided. Howson, who was only about a month away from completing her training, died as she did not have enough altitude to deploy her parachute before hitting the ground.  

 She earned her silver wings posthumously. She is buried at Washington Memorial Chapel’s cemetery in Valley Forge National Historical Park.     Continued…

 For generations the charging Dough Boys on the bronze relief of the Radnor War Memorial have been frozen in time.

But on Thursday they came to life as World War I soldiers marched among the memorial grounds.

And there were soldiers from other wars, too: World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the War Against Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was all part of a film production for “Saving Hallowed Ground,” a project spearheaded by Radnor American Legion Posts 668 and 418 to draw attention to the 120 names etched on the 1922 memorial as well as the need to preserve memorials like Wayne’s throughout the country.

 Video Plays Below:

“For the last three years we have been dealing with issues of the conservation and preservation of this memorial,” said Eugene Hough, a member of Post 668 and a preservationist of military cemeteries and monuments. “The most important thing we are encapsulating in this project is that we want to template this project in other communities across Pennsylvania and across the United States. From experience I can attest there are numerous markers and monuments like this one that aren’t being taken care of. Hopefully by involving the military academy, community, students, businesses we can bring to life what these truly are, living-history memorials.”       

The production is slated to debut at Radnor Memorial Library on Tuesday, May 15, after a 7 p.m. public re-dedication ceremony of the refurbished Radnor War Memorial, which is across from the middle school.

 The video, produced by Radnor Studio 21, involved cadets from the Valley Forge Military Academy.

Many of the garments used in Thursday’s production were actual vintage military uniforms. The actors were students from 2nd Lt. Adam Messinger’s U.S. history class.

“They’re also the same age of a lot of the men who wore the uniforms,” he said.  

He pointed out that all branches of the military are represented in the production except for the U.S. Coast Guard, the only uniform that could not be located for the shoot.

“We have a full spectrum of the history of the United States…the different services,” explained Messinger.

 

One uniform for the production belongs to Marty Costello, commander of Bateman-Gallagher Post 668 and owner of Joe’s Place in Wayne. He served in the Navy during Vietnam. 

 

Aside from the VFMA actors, Emily Rafferty, who bartends at Post 668, took part in the production representing Mary Holmes Howson.

Howson’s name is on the Radnor War Memorial. The Radnor resident and 1936 Radnor High School graduate was a teacher by profession, teaching at the former Booth School in Devon, before enlisting in World War II.

Howson, who lived on Parks Run in Wayne, was training to be a domestic military aviator in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). She died in April 1944 after an air-traffic controller’s error had her AT-6 training aircraft in the same air corridor as another plane and as a result the aircraft collided. Howson, who was only about a month away from completing her training, died as she did not have enough altitude to deploy her parachute before hitting the ground.  

 She earned her silver wings posthumously. She is buried at Washington Memorial Chapel’s cemetery in Valley Forge National Historical Park.    

As part of the Saving Hallowed Ground initiative, students from Wayne’s St. Katharine School’s David Heacock’s eighth-grade class are currently researching the life histories of the 20 fallen World War I soldiers whose names are on the Radnor memorial. Several St. Katharine students were involved in Thursday’s video production.    

The May 15 re-dedication of the war memorial will include an overview of the renovation by  Costello, commander of Post 668;  and Hough, who owns Heritage Works, a company that specializes in cemetery and monuments restoration, will discuss the restoration process.

The program, co-sponsored by the Radnor Historical Society, will then move to the Winsor Room of the library where Costello will outline the rich history of the memorial and Hough will explain a national program for veterans to help restore war memorials. Julie Pierce will then talk about Gold Star Mothers.  

 

 Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on Google+

comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Film about Jerusalem Armenians to be shot

Posted on 11th May 2012 in The monuments of world

Film about Jerusalem Armenians to be shot

May 11, 2012 – 13:14 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The story of the Armenians of Jerusalem, a fascinating tale of courage, hope and endurance, sprinkled with the inevitable grains of turmoil and tragedy, is planned to be told, for the first time in a feature film, The Armenian Reporter says.

While there have been previous attempts to tell part of the story in a book or a film, the focus has always been too narrow to encompass the whole gamut of the Armenian presence in this city regarded by many as the centre of the world.

Australian-Armenian journalist/foreign correspondent Arthur Hagopian, the former Press Officer of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, who has been acting as consultant on a 3D IMAX film currently being shot in Jerusalem, is heading the project to bring the story of the Armenians of Jerusalem to the big screen.

“I have already had talks with leading film production companies and key players in the motion pictures industry, and they are ready to jump on board,” Hagopian says. “They have the chutzpah, connections and expertise necessary to bring this project to life.”

A few years ago, Hagopian launched a website project (http://arthur-hagopian.com/Armenians/Kaghakatzis/index.htm) aimed at preserving and maintaining the history, culture and traditions of the “Kaghakatzi” (native/city dweller) Armenians of Jerusalem, one of the three groupings of Armenians in the city. The “Kaghakatzi” bear the distinction of being the first Armenians to settle in Jerusalem, staking out the Armenian Quarter of the OId City as their choice of domicile. The other major grouping are known as the “Vanketzi”. They are mainly genocide survivors or their descendants and live within the confines of the convent (“vank”) of St James, seat of the Armenian Patriarchate.

The “Kaghakatzi” project is also tracing and cataloging the ancestry of the denizens of the Armenian Quarter, a community that is a genealogist’s dream: every single “Kaghakatzi” is related to every other “Kaghakatzi,” either directly or indirectly, in an unbroken chain that goes back centuries, according to Hagopian.

The “Kaghakatzi” enterprise has so far netted over 3,000 names, culled from the official “domar”s (records) of the Armenian Patriarchate, personal recollections, and the odd document or two: but at its peak, the whole Armenian contingent in Jerusalem, the “Kaghakatzi”, “Vanketzi” and the small number of Catholic converts, totaled more than 15,000.

“Armenians have left an indelible mark on the annals of the golden city of Jerusalem,” Hagopian remarks. “Their history is one of unbridled vigor and depthless vitality as manifested, for example, in the monuments they erected and the art they produced. The Cathedral of St James is unarguably the most magnificent Christian edifice in Jerusalem while their ceramics and pottery are incomparable in their artistry.”

“We are planning to tell our story through the medium of a feature film that will delve deep into the soul of this unique segment of humanity and answer the question: what makes the Armenians of Jerusalem tick?” Hagopian says.

Hagopian will be writing the script and is thinking of directing the film.

comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Maps and monuments define Gregor Turk solo show

Posted on 10th May 2012 in The monuments of world

By Felicia Feaster

For the AJC

You could say that artist Gregor Turk has two fixations: monuments and mapping. Over a long career working in the city’s art scene, the Atlanta native has often focused on the kind of historical markers that identify Civil War sites or landmark Atlanta buildings. Other work has focused on the kinds of strange icons that dot maps and provide reference points to roads or water features.

TRENDING NOW ON ACCESSATLANTA.COM

But in his solo show at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, “Terminal Velocity,” Turk has brought those two strains of his work together into a far more satisfying whole. Call it the advantage of time, space and an infusion of cash. Turk is the third recipient of this year’s Working Artist Project award, which affords local artists an exhibition at MOCA GA, a studio assistant and a stipend.

Part of the immediate appeal of Turk’s show are his materials of choice: rubber inner tubes and the metal car plaques that identify a car as a Cherokee or Mercury. Those materials conjure up a very specific modern reality, one defined by passive visions of exploration, historical touchstones, cars and the Atlanta highway system that reappears many times as a visual motif in “Terminal Velocity.”

In three works in his “Metronesia Series,” Turk has created maps of the Perimeter and its intersecting roadways. The first map is composed of those metal car plaques arranged to form the Perimeter; the second Perimeter is composed of inner tubes and the third of fall leaves. What remains overwhelming in those pieces is a sense of everything, nature, progress, even the rhythms of life defined by that highway grid. In a driving city like Atlanta, “Terminal Velocity” will hit many of us very close to home.

Turk has boiled down the fast-paced, modern world into something elemental and stark, akin to hieroglyphics or cave drawings.

The strangest, and also the funniest, pieces in the show are the monuments — also constructed of tire rubber — that Turk has placed in the gallery’s four corners. Like the Washington Monument, Turk’s obelisks sport that familiar spire-form but have all been rendered in black rubber. “The Aggrandizer” is a sad, partly deflated rubber obelisk attached to a bicycle pump for a quick infusion of air. The piece offers a funny riposte to the proud, unassailable obelisk form. Turk takes a similarly humorous road in a series of four works on paper formed from rubbings of those metal car plaques. “Cosmos” for instance, forms its perimeter shape from Pioneer, Aries and Mercury car plaques. “Menagerie” is formed from metal signs for Pinto, Lynx, Bronco and Colt.

Turk’s point is that for all that talk of animals, exploration and wild, open vistas in those aspirational car names, we are contained and cosseted explorers, locked within perimeters, stuck on our asphalt tracks.

While all parts of the show don’t always gel perfectly, there is an ambition and a grappling with big ideas that marks this as a significant step in Turk’s career.

Bottom line: A clever, visually appealing expansion of the artist’s fixations.

Art review

“Gregor Turk: Terminal Velocity”

Through July 14. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. $5 nonmembers; $1 students with ID; free to members. The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, 75 Bennett St., Suite A-2, Atlanta. 404-367-8700, www.mocaga.org.

comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Honoring veterans: one cause, two parks

Posted on 9th May 2012 in The monuments of world

Written by Susan Hunter
Wednesday, 09 May 2012 16:51

SEYMOUR — There are at least two veterans groups in Seymour, and Mike Kearney, commander of American Legion Emil Senger Post 10, doesn’t see why they can’t work together toward the same cause — honoring local veterans who served our country.

Al Yagovane, who established VFW Post 12084 and serves as its commander, recently marked the official groundbreaking of a project he spearheaded that aims to create a war memorial at the Broad Street Park.

The Broad Street Park Committee, made of up volunteers, is selling engraved bricks for $100 each that honor veterans, and the money will go toward park improvements.

They including installing a 550-foot brick sidewalk, benches and new lightpoles near the gazebo, in the park that borders the town’s waterfalls on the Naugatuck River.

Kearney said Yagovane’s project is more exclusive than unifying.

“Not every veterans organization is on board,” Kearney said. “He’s bypassing people.”

Post 10 is a strong presence in town, Kearney said, hosting Memorial Day services and conducting a ceremony at the reviewing stand at the Memorial Day parade.

Post 10 members also conduct Veterans Day services and act as mentors to first graders at Anna LoPresti School.

And there’s already a place to honor veterans in French Memorial Park, he said, just a mile across town.

“We’ve always had a veterans memorial in town,” Kearney said, and French Park has monuments honoring 3,000 Seymour veterans from World War I, World War II, the Vietnam and Korean wars, the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War.

Yagovane has said that when he came up with the idea of building a veterans memorial park in the 1980s, there were no memorials to Vietnam or Korean veterans.

Now those exist at French Park, Kearney said, and having a veteran’s name engraved on a monument is free of charge.

Yagovane said his goal was a simple one.

“I’m a volunteer who wanted to clean up that corner and honor Korean and Vietnam War veterans, and all others who weren’t honored at French Park,” he said.

The Broad Street bricks would also honor those who left Seymour before they enlisted, or veterans from other Valley towns. French Park memorializes only soldiers who embarked for war from Seymour.

Kearney said he takes issue with statements he said Yagovane made about the Broad Street park not costing taxpayers anything.

He questions who pays for the lease agreement between the town and the state, the bricks, the electricity for the lights, and liability insurance.

The town “fronted” the cost of the lease agreement, Yagovane said, and a Katharine Matthies grant paid for 26 pallets of bricks.

The group also received donations from local contractors, businesses and individuals.

The town carries insurance on the land, he said, and pays the electricity bill, since it’s a town park.

The French Park monuments, flagpoles, stones, walkway and shrubbery were at first paid for through donations, but then the project was administered by the town, Kearney said. It cost more than $125,000 to complete.
The Post is planning to install another flagpole near the Civil War monument and engrave names of local people who served in Operation Desert Storm.

Commenting is reserved for registered users.

Log in or register a new account.

comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Staten Islanders notice monuments on the move

Posted on 7th May 2012 in The monuments of world

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Like thousands of Staten Islanders, Joe Sheirer sees it every day, on the way to work, from the express bus as he walks through Battery Park — the towering bronze sphere which used to grace a fountain in the heart of the World Trade Center plaza, and miraculously survived the attacks Sept. 11, 2001.

During lunch hour, the Eltingville 34-year-old sometimes strolls over to the “The Sphere for Plaza Fountain,” watching tourists click photos in the shadow of the 25-foot-tall dome created by German sculptor Fritz Koenig as a symbol of world peace through trade.

Nicked and battered but still intact, it was moved by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to Battery Park six months after the towers’ collapse. On the first anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks, an eternal flame was lit at the base of the Sphere as a tribute to those who perished.

But with a $16-million remake of Battery Park about to get under way, the Sphere will be moved again in upcoming weeks. And nobody has said to where.

“It’s a piece of history and it’s a symbol of what happened and it’s an absolute shame that we would hide it away in storage when it should be displayed,” said Sheirer, whose father, the late Richard J. Sheirer, was the city’s director of the Office of Emergency Management at the time of the attacks, and became a very public figure in the aftermath of the tragedy. “It’s got a special meaning.”

Sheirer launched an online petition beseeching the Port Authority, which owns the sculpture, to keep the potent symbol in a public space, rather than hauling it to its covered storage area for 9-11 mementos at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

His effort joins a growing chorus of voices calling for dignity for the sculpture. More than 7,000 have signed a petition launched by Bronx resident Michael Burke, the brother of Capt. William F. Burke Jr. of Engine Company 21, who was killed on Sept. 11, 2001. Save the WTC Sphere calls for the sculpture to be moved to the World Trade Center Memorial plaza, an idea previously nixed by city officials.

According to the Port Authority, there are no definitive plans as yet for the 25-ton sculpture, which must be disassembled and loaded onto a flat-bed truck to be transported anywhere.

“We have to find a temporary home for it while the World Trade Center is under construction and then we have find a permanent home for it,” said P.A. Spokesman Steve Coleman.

He declined to elaborate, or give any indication of sites being discussed as potential temporary or permanent homes for the work of art, including scuttlebutt that an ideal site would be Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, Livingston.

He would not confirm or deny talk that the eventual home for the Sphere will be a park across from the World Trade Center Memorial.

The time line for the Sphere’s removal — at some point in the next few weeks as Coleman tells it — is not negotiable however, as the reconstruction of Battery Park will begin in the summer.

Planned for the area around where the Sphere now sits, is a perimeter bike way and walkway. The internal path system will also be reconfigured, with landscaping, including a central “Town Green,” upgraded furnishings and paving and lighting.

Nine monuments, including the Sphere, will be restored or relocated as part of the project; construction on Battery Park is expected to last about a year and half. 



comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Pompidou plans to go global: focus is Brazil, India, China

Posted on 30th April 2012 in The monuments of world

Museums France

President looks to extend the brand through a network of rotating galleries

By Gareth Harris. News, Issue 235, May 2012
Published online: 30 April 2012

The Centre Pompidou is looking to expand abroad with a chain of galleries that will carry the flagship French institution’s brand. Alain Seban, the president of the Centre Pompidou, says that museums, universities and even shopping malls could host exhibitions of items drawn from the Paris-based institution’s 72,000-strong collection of modern and contemporary art. Seban plans to establish a network of sites, each measuring around 2,000 sq. m to 3,000 sq. m, for periods of between three and five years.

The ambitious move will draw comparisons with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, which has established a global network of museums in New York, Venice, Bilbao and Berlin, with another outpost due to open in Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat cultural district in 2017 (see below), and another proposed in Helsinki. “The Guggenheim model of expansion was based on replicating the New York original: flagship architecture, cutting-edge temporary exhibitions, a modest display of the permanent collection and the fantastic appeal of the brand,” Seban says. “We are taking a more modest approach, with temporary projects in existing venues like museums [and] universities, but why not historical monuments, former industrial facilities or shopping malls? We will draw on the scope of our collection, [which is] the best in Europe, and the strength of our own brand.”

He would not be drawn on exact locations abroad but indicates that he is targeting Bric (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries with growing economies—and art scenes. “This is a strategy for expanding internationally into territories that can aim to create their own contemporary art brands. Countries such as China, India and Brazil, for instance, can develop such brands in the future.” Such ventures abroad would require a “fee” to facilitate funding, Seban says.

This is not the first time the Pompidou has tried to branch out overseas. In 2007, the then president Bruno Racine said he expected a museum carrying the Pompidou’s name to open in Shanghai before 2010. The programming was to be determined by the Pompidou. The location chosen for the new museum was a former fire station in the Luwan district’s Huaihai Park. But the scheme never materialised because of difficult negotiations with the Chinese authorities: the main obstacle was the lack of a legal framework for a non-profit foreign institution to operate in China (The Art Newspaper, October 2007, p15). A joint attempt by the Guggenheim and the Centre Pompidou, in conjunction with the developer Dynamic Star International, to operate the planned cultural facilities in the West Kowloon cultural district in Hong Kong by 2018 was also thwarted.

The Pompidou’s partnership with the King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture, an arts complex incorporating a museum to be built in the Saudi Arabian city of Dhahran by 2013, also seems to have stalled. “Saudi Aramco [the state-owned oil company behind the project] is reviewing the proposition; this process is currently slowed down by a general budget review,” Seban says. The Centre Pompidou originally agreed to assist in two areas: temporary exhibition programmes and training.

At home, though, the Pompidou’s profile has never been higher. In 2011, the Beaubourg gallery drew a record 3.6 million visitors, an increase of 40% in five years. The Centre Pompidou-Metz, the northern French satellite which opened in May 2010, had 555,000 visitors last year.

Seban is talking to local authorities across France about creating an equivalent chain of Pompidou-branded galleries, which, he says, would be part of “le service publique” and therefore mainly state-funded. He is buoyed by the success of the mobile Centre Pompidou, which began touring the French provinces last year. The travelling exhibition, drawn from the collection, of 15 works by artists including Picasso, Léger and Calder, attracted more than 35,000 visitors over three months during its first stop in Chaumont (Haute-Marne), northern France. The mobile museum moves on to Boulogne-sur-Mer in June with plans to visit Le Havre and Nantes in 2013.

Rolling out the Pompidou brand at home and abroad is key to Seban’s strategy, especially as, he says, there are restrictions on enlarging the Paris mothership. “We cannot build permanent satellites because of the economy and we cannot expand the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Our aim is to focus on the main building, which needs renovation.”

Arguably the real revolution is taking place online, with Seban saying that the Virtual Centre Pompidou, due to go live later this year, will differ from other museum websites in that it adopts “a content-driven approach. Any content produced by the Centre Pompidou, from catalogues to interviews with artists and curators, will be transferred automatically onto our new web platform, which will act as a digital mirror to the Centre Pompidou.”

This strategy also includes re-evaluating how shows of works from the collection dovetail with big temporary exhibitions. “We need to rethink the model of blockbuster shows and focus more on the idea of the permanent collection. We could, for instance, rotate the collection more quickly to create a series of ‘mini-shows’ that will blur the boundaries between temporary exhibitions and the permanent collection,” Seban says. Talk of dividing the collection is also premature, he stresses. “In 2013, we will focus on globalisation on the modern and contemporary art floors of the Centre Pompidou. It would be a huge mistake to split the collection into two now since our collection of non-Western modern art is among the best in the world.” Meanwhile, a Jeff Koons retrospective organised with New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, is due to open at the Centre Pompidou in 2014.

Submit a comment

Please provide your email address. This is in case we wish to contact you – it will not be made public and we do not use it for any other purpose.

comments: 0 » tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Previous