Miss World 2011

Miss World 2011

Miss World 2011 and the celebration of 60 years of Miss World competition took place on Sunday the 6th of November 2011 in Earls Court, London, the city where it all began 60 years ago. Miss World competition debuted during the festival of Britain on the south bank of the river Thames in 1951. The aim was to find the most beautiful woman in the world. The first winner was Kiki Hakansson, from Sweden. Since then, the competition has become extremely popular and has aided in building positive links between participating countries. Throughout history, it is one of the few international events that has not been disturbed by any other global affairs or events. Another goal of the Miss World’s pageant is to contribute to charitable projects. It has raised hundreds of millions of dollars through its charity programme called Beauty with Purpose. There were one hundred and thirteen countries that took part in the Miss World 2011. Over half of this year‘s representatives are in full time educational programmes and speak three or more languages. This is just one aspect that reflects how bright and talented they are. The live show in Earls Court was hosted by the USA TV star Jason Cook and the presenter of Good Morning China, Angela Chow. The show broadcasted live in one hundred and fifty countries around the world, attracting more than one billion viewers. Diversity, the winner of 2009 Britain’s Got Talent show, kicked off this years show with a bang. Then all contestants walked out in extravagant dresses and the prejudging marks were revealed. These marks reflected the previous stages of the competition where contestants faced various challenges during their trip around the UK. Meanwhile, the British group Blue and Ramin Karmillo’s solo performance of a song from Phantom in the Opera spiced up the show. Per Nelson Mandela’s wishes, his grandson then delivered the important message of humanitarian action. This year’s panel of judges was comprised of previous Miss World winners. Miss England, Miss Korea, Miss Venezuela, Miss Philippines, Miss Puerto Rico, Miss South Africa and Miss Scotland made it to the final stage of the competition and had one last chance to convince the jury by delivering a short speech. The speeches revealed one of the main purposes of the competition - to make the difference to the world‘s most burning problems. Eventually, they announced the winners. Third place was granted to Miss Puerto Rico, second place to Miss Philippines and first place, somewhat unsurprisingly, to Miss Venezuela, Ivian Lunasol Sarcos Colmenares. Previous Miss World, Alexandria Mills from the USA, crowned the new winner and the show was closed with the song performed by all the contestants. Although the competition itself attracts criticism from various activists groups, its underlying charitable purpose and symbolism of peace between the countries still exist. At the same time, the competition promotes the idea that young talented women are able to fulfill their dreams and make a difference in the world. To this end, the winner is not only the most beautiful woman in the world but most importantly the one who is willing to commit her talents to being a part of the solution to the social problems around the globe. review published:  http://www.eventsandtrends.com/index.php?menuid=17&content=1784

LIA 2011 Barbara Levy in interview

LIA 2011 Barbara Levy in interview

Interview with the Founder and President of London International Awards, Barbara Levy, during the London International Awards held in London on the 14th September 2011, by Olga Maczynska for events & trends. Olga Maczynska: Congratulations for this wonderful show tonight. Can you tell me how the London International Awards began? Barbara Levy: I was working at the CLIO Awards and I became the International director over there. Through that I met quite a number of luminary people in Britain, real characters in the industry. At the time, there was the company Creative Circle based in the UK. It did not have a London based office, they had the idea to go international so they approached me to think of it. I did not really want to leave my job completely but I did a lot of research and I decided to talk to some people. They convinced me to follow that idea. First year’s jury was such a good jury that we were even accused of being a scam, since nobody had a jury like that at the time. O.M.: Has the competition been successful since then? B.L.: In the first year of the running of the competition one of the agencies called me and asked for names of the winners and finalists from the previous year. I said that it was the first year of the competition and joked to let me check if maybe I sent them a bill for what they thought they entered. In the first year of the competition we had entries from around 35 countries which was extraordinary back then, and we just grew from there. Competition has been a success every year, except maybe three years ago at the time of economic recession. London International Awards is the only awards competition in the world where the same person is running it since 26 years. The competition was a challenge because it was London based, run by the American, with the biggest markets being Germany and Asia. So it was very confusing but that is how it became the international awards. O.M.: Could you explain the reasons for the creation of the NEW Category in this year’s competition? B.L.: The idea behind the NEW Category came out when the Chief Innovation Officer and I sat down together and tried to think of a new kind of medium. We could not really think about the name for it. When walking around the hotel in Las Vegas I thought why not call it simply ‘the new‘, because it does not define anything. Others thought I was joking but in the end we decided to call it that way. However, actually we had no idea what the category exactly was about. I was in the business for many years and the competition itself has always been engaged with the traditional media. Therefore, ‘new’ stands for something that people are creating in a completely new way, not only of advertising, but in connecting different forms of media. NEW Category defines a completely innovative mind set, based not so much on creativity, but on what the jury defines on the spot. O.M.: Is this the first year which has no maximum length limit for the entries and accepts longer, even documentary films? B.L.: We actually do not really take documentaries and we have given up having maximum lengths for the entries, because nobody really adhered to it. We actually did think of taking short films maybe in next year’s competition. In this year’s competition, Morgan Spurlock came up with his documentary film POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. When Morgan Spurlock was entering his film we did not realise that it was the whole film he is entering. We thought it was just a concept of the film that he was entering. It ended up in the NEW Category. After a few days the jury called me and said that they have a real dilemma because Morgan Spurlock‘s film was completely different than anything and did not fit into what LIA is about. They asked me to decide if they can create a new award, specifically for Morgan Spurlock’s film. They were talking about creating the award called The Greatest Award Ever Sold. I said that the industry might look at it as a kind of award which is ‘sold for price’. Therefore, the jury proposed to me to find a sponsor for the award, although we never had sponsors before and I said ‘why not‘. We had an idea for a white statute for this award, the statute manufacturer said it was possible and so the award has been created. O.M.: What do you think about his film itself? B.L.: We watched the film and I must say it is very much eye opening, and Morgan Spurlock’s work is very confrontational. O.M.: Looking into the future, could you say that next year’s competition will go more into the direction of social media? B.L.: We are talking about it, but the worst problem that the new jury has is that social media is not really what the competition should be about. So the Facebook page might get many hits but unless it has other reasons than to announce something it is not really what the jury considers to be a successful social media. O.M.: Any final conclusions about the competition and perhaps any plans in mind for the 30th anniversary of LIA? B.L.: (Laughing) I have not even booked a ticket for my next week’s trip so I cannot even think about the 30th anniversary yet. We are going to judge again in Las Vegas next September and I am not sure whether or not we should be doing another major show regionally due to budgetary reasons. O.M.: Thank you very much.

interview published:
http://www.eventsandtrends.com/index.php?menuid=27&content=1783

WILHELM SASNAL IN WHITECHAPEL GALLERY, LONDON

London has always been a hot spot for contemporary art. A feature packed October saw the return of the Frieze art fair, the opening of White Cube’s flagship gallery as well as the first major UK exhibition of the great Polish artist, Wilhelm Sasnal, in Whitechapel Gallery. Despite this busy schedule, Sasnal’s exhibition, which had its preview on the 13th of October 2011, really put itself on the London arts map.

Wilhelm Sasnal, born in 1972 in Tarnów, Poland is one of the most intriguing figures of contemporary art in our time. His art has been showcased worldwide in places such as Museum of Modern Art, New York and Tate Modern, London. The subject matter of his art transgresses all boundaries as long as it is honest, as he states himself: ‘There are no rules. The only rule is that you must not cheat.’

As the curator at Whitechapel, Achim Borchardt-Hume explained during the preview, the exhibition is divided into three sections based on Sasnal’s work from 1999 - 2011. The themes range from his extensive travels around the globe, Sasnal’s own family portraits and finally issues of political significance. The first section presents artwork from the last five years including family portraits, which all curiously keep the subject’s faces hidden, along with paintings inspired by music and art masterpieces. The second part of the exhibition explores the troubled history of his native country Poland. As the artist mentioned during the preview, he doesn’t wish to victimise Poland but he feels that he cannot be indifferent to the dark chapter of Polish history affected by the Holocaust and the Second World War. Although painting will always be Sasnal’s first love, the exhibition includes his recent ventures into photography and film. Third section demonstrates this with a selection of short features films including, ‘Kiss’, which seemed to draw the majority of attention. What is specific for Sasnal’s art is that his films, paintings and photographs remain closely connected in terms of content. During the preview the artist revealed that although he was trained as a painter, he does not want to limit himself with just one art form, as he wishes to retain a healthy distance between each form of expression and allow himself to discover new places.

The success of the preview was attested by the large gathering of art enthusiasts from all over the country and beyond. Not only has Sasnal proven himself to be a truly exceptional international artist but has managed become an icon of Polish contemporary art. The hidden stories in Sasnal’s paintings can mesmerise viewers for hours as they ponder the delicate mysteries within each work. Wilhelm Sasnal once said ‘painting is not a game, not something you do just for fun; it comes with a responsibility that I take very seriously’ and though his paintings usually follow his signature style, the variety within the exhibition clearly demonstrates his sense of responsibility. The different forms of expression adopted by the artist always manages to surprise making this a must see exhibition.

Visit information:

Tuesday-Sunday 11-6 Thursday 11-

Whitechapel gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street London E1 7QX

Eds: Benjamin Bhattacharya-Ghosh & Mozam Khan

Opening of White Cube Bermondsay

On the 12th of October White Cube Gallery opened its new and biggest exhibition space White Cube Bermondsay in London. The accompanying exhibition for this event is Structure & Abscence featured artists such as Andreas Gursky, Wade Guyton, Eberhard Havekost, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Sergej Jensen, Jacob Kassay, Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, Gabriel Orozco, Eileen Quinlan, Sterling Ruby, Robert Ryman, Erin Shirreff, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Jeff Wall. Art has been exhibited in three different rooms. First room included natural forms and colours. Second room shown brighter colours and geometrical abstraction whereas third room exhibited paintings with more shadow colours. Such structure of the exhibition resembles a musical composition which has its rise, climax and fall alike. What makes the exhibition truly outstanding though is that it takes look at contemporary abstraction from the completely different angle. Geometrical shapes, vivid colours and horizontal lines on the paintings looked particularly impressive in the clear and very spacious space of the White Cube gallery in Bermondsay. New White Cube Bermondsay is one of the biggest commercial galleries in the UK and even in Europe. The opening of White Cube Bermondsay along with very impressive exhibition was attended by the crowd of people which promises that the gallery will be very successful and might become one of the most remarkable art spaces in the UK and possibly internationally.

Gerhard Richter in Tate Modern

On the 6th of October, Gerhard Richter’s exhibition in Tate Modern has been officially opened. Gerhard Richter was born in Dresden in Germany on the 9th February 1932. On the occasion of artist’s 80th birthday exhibition Gerhard Richter: Panorama in Tate Modern shows a retrospective of his career. To many, Gerhard Richter is known to be one of the most remarkable artists of the 20th and the 21st century. Exhibition itself features artist's paintings based on photographs, portraits, landscapes, history but also beautiful abstract paintings with artist's signature style of ’blurring’ of the colours. Artist's historical paintings reflect history of Germany featuring his family members who were both members and victims of Nazi party, the destruction of his home city-Dresden and also the period of socialism. Subject matter of artist's work shows that he is not afraid to touch upon controversial topics, such as war in Iraq or Nazism. It is remarkable that Gerhard Richter was one of the first Germans who presented art concerning the dark history of his country after the Second World War. The artist still continue to respond to major historical events, such as attacks on the World Trade Center. Painting of that catastrophe is shown in the last room of the exhibition. In artist’s view, blurred image of twin towers suggest that painting has its limits in representing history as it is almost impossible to include all the human suffering on one canvas. Gerhards Richter’s extraordinary abstract paintings on one hand and photorealistic black and white paintings on the other hand, presented together in one exhibition, show artist’s unique style and the fact that he never fails to surprise the viewer. Exhibition will be opened till 8th of January 2012.

More information about the artist:

http://www.gerhard-richter.com/

Rancinan in London Opera Gallery 12th September till 2nd of October 2011

Gerard Rancinan is a French artists born in Bordeaux and one of the highest ranked photographers in France. He travels around the globe and witnesses events of historical and political importance such as ethnic wars, natural catastrophes, urban riots. In his pictures he explores burning issues of human condition in contemporary world, for which he was awarded a World Press Award.

Opera Gallery in London presented his first London show of his latest series of photographs. Gallery presents four series of photographs.

First of them is Metamorphoses which is the artist’s testimonial of the mutations shaking our world today. His photography is inspired by artistic masterpieces. By drawing on from ancient art he revisits mankaind‘s most significant troubles and historical events to reveal how important they still remain today. By extremely controversial set of portraits and photographs he addresses planet’s most profound issues such as globalisation, ecology, migration, human rights, freedom, fast foods and starvation. Series Wonderful world portraits world as a big amusement park and Portraits is a set of portraits of famous artists living in a creative world, such as Moncia Belluci, which unravel parts of their artistic souls.

Gerard Rancinan is a must-see artist not only due to highest professional quality and realisation of his photographs but most of all because of the problems which he addresses which his photographs so powerfully reveal and about which we so easily tend to forget.

http://www.rancinan.com/2010/ART-RANCINAN/__WORK___RANCINAN.html

Elad Lassry, White Cube Hoxton Square, 23 September-12 November 2011

Last week I had a pleasure of attending the preview of the exhibition of Elad Lassry exhibition in White Cube Gallery in Hoxton Square in London. It is his first solo exhibition in London. Elad Lassy was born in Tel Aviv in 1977 and currently lives and works in Los Angeles, his work has been shown in many international exhibitions such as in Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Elad Lassry works mainly with film and photography, the subject matter of his art is pop and visual culture and the nature of the perception of image in the present world. He portrays still and motion pictures such as landscapes or animals. When looking at his photographs one cannot escape wondering about the story and history behind the picture. All his photographs are of the precisely same dimensions, no bigger than a magazine page. The theme of his pictures are banal and somehow random, however representing the range of different colours, materials and surfaces. Photographs are framed in a way which extend the object from the photographs into spaces outside of them, which was especially impressive on the perfectly white walls and with the very bright lightning in the White Cube gallery. This created the impression  of seeing object and the image at the same time, which deliberately challenges the way by which art is presented visually nowadays.

                                                                                        

Exhibition presents also few sculptures: two cabinets and eight foot long panel. At first glance sculptures are merely functional objects, however details such as wooden eggs make them become representations of functional objects from the other world.

Exhibition will opened until 12of November 2011.

Hong Kong film week in London

Hong Kong film week in London took place between 12-16^th September 2011 under the Think Asia Think Hong Kong, to promote the cinema industry of Hong Kong. Five movies were screened for free in the centre of China Town in London; Overheard 2, IP man, Echoes of the Rainbow, Love in a Puff and Beast Stalker. This event was extremely popular and even though I tried to book my ticekts very early I only managed to get places for two films: Ip man and Love in a Puff, which was a perfect combination as the first movie is a historical drama and the second one a romantic comedy showing a modern life style of young people in Hong Kong.

Ip Man was released in 2008, it is a story based on the life of the grand master of Wing Chun, a style of kung fu, it is set in the city of Foshan and takes place during the Sino-Japanese War. This authentic story shows Ip man as a man of incredible character, caring about the others and determined to achieve the perfection in his passion- martial arts. Story about love and the sadness of war which was accompanied by a beautiful music and incredible martial art choreography together make a very good and moving film.

Another film, Love in a Puff is based on anti-smoking law which bans smoking in all indoor areas, which was implemented in Hong Kong in 2007. Because of the ban the office smokers take their cigarette breaks in the street and have the opportunity to meet the others. This is how Cherie, a sales girl in Sephora, met Jimmy. They gradually become closer to each other, leaving their old friends behind and sharing cigarettes in different places in Hong Kong. This film was full of jokes and small talk between the characters, their night strolls and car rides, in the city which is so unknown to me and the city which I might never have a chance to visit. Yet after 1,5 hours in the cinema I felt like I have been there and I wish I could come back!

3rd Brazylian Film Festival of London, 6th-7th of September 2011

While I was wandering around Covent Garden one afternoon, my friend asked me to pick up Evening Standard for him. When I was looking for it next to the tube station, I also picked up Covent Garden newspaper, where I read about the upcoming London Brazylian Film Festival. Some would say that I heard of it by chance, but I am sure that I would find out about it sooner or later- I visited Brazil last year and since then I have been fascinated by Brazilian culture.  Right after finding out about the festival I booked the tickets for the opening night and also took part in the competition in which I won a pass for all of the festival films!

Brazilian Film Festival has taken place for 15 years, all around the world, in cities such as London, Madrid, Barcelona or New York. 3^rd edition of the festival in London promoted contemporary Brazilian cinema abroad. Apart from that, the festival also included Crystal Lens Award ceremony for the Best Feature Film chosen by the audience.

The opening ceremony took place at BAFTA (British Academy Film and Television Arts) on the 6^th of September. Together with my friends we first joined a drink reception, which was also attended by stars such as Rolling Stones   guitarist, Ronnie Wood. After the drink reception all the guests joined the screening of Claudio Torres’ film Man from the Future, which had its premiere in Brazil the same week.  Film was about a lonely scientist who traveled in time into his past and tried to fix the mistake of his youth, which as he believed, was the reason for his unhappy life. This however complicated and confused his life even more. Funny and light comedy shows that perhaps it is better to leave things as they are and face the problems in our lives because they are and will always be a part of everyone’s existence.

Between 7^th and 10^th of September 2011 Odeon Covent Garden hosted screenings of ten feature films and nine shorts Brazilian films. Very much impressed by the Brazilian film City of God, I wanted to discover something more about the Brazilian culture and cinema. I managed to see Beyond the Road by Charly Braun, a Brazylian and Uruguayan production, which was about the Argentinian boy and Belgian girl travelling together through beautiful landscapes in Uruguay and meeting people who seemed to be lost in time. Another film which I saw- Boca do Lixo by Flavio Frederico was set in Sao Paulo in 1950s and touched upon recurring themes in well-known Brazilian films: street gangs, drugs and prostitution. It is nevertheless the last film which I saw, The supreme Happiness (A suprema Felicidade) by Arnaldo Jabor,  which will stay in my mind for a long time. It is the story of a middle class family in Rio de Janeiro in late 1950s, looking for happiness which also uncovered an amazing friendship between teenage Paulo and his grandfather.

The audience at Odean Covent Garden was a mix of locals, Brazilians living abroad and tourists. The festival presented a set of inspiring and moving films and made me more familiar with Brazilian culture and cinema. Brazilian Festival was a great way to promote evolving Brazilian cinema and it surprised me in a very positive way.

For more information see:

http://www.brazilianfilmfestival.com/index.html

Mark Rothko in Whitechapel Gallery

From 9th September till 26th of February 2011 Whitechapel Gallery in East London shows exhibition Rothko in Britain. Every good exhibition makes a visitor who came with little knowledge about the artist and his art leave with a feeling of astonishment over artists life and familiarity with her/his work. For me, every impressive exhibition made me rediscover the artist yet again and become truly absorbed by the art and especially by artist's life. Rothko’s abstract paintings made a very big impression on my while visiting the permanent exhibition in Tate Modern last week. However only this small and narrow in its focus exhibition in Whitechapel Gallery encouraged me to engage more deeply with artists biography and the relationship between American and British artists. Mark Rothko was born in 1903 in Latvia and in 1910 together with his family emigrated to New York. In New York Rothko has been taught by such admirable persons as Max Weber and Arshile Gorky. Later on, his work evolved into the style known as Abstract Expressionism, being dominated by colour and light.

Rothko in Britian in Whitechapel Gallery revisits Mark Rothko’s exhibition shown in Whitechapel Gallery exactly 50 years ago. Alongside Rothko’s painting Light Red Over Black (1957) it displays original letters, photographs and reviews from 1961 exhibition. It uncovers how precise Mark Rothko was in giving directions concerning for example lightning and distance between the paintings. As different reviews describe, the effect was incredible and audience truly thrilled and impressed. Original letters also reveal artist's attitude towards Europe and European art, shedding a light on the relationship between British and American art at the time.

Exhibition in Whitechapel Gallery in 1961 presents itself as fundamentally important in connecting British and American art. Although one can only imagine now how wonderful 1961 Rothko’s exhibition was, Rothko in Britain is surely an invitation to see Rothko’s incredible paintings on the permanent exhibition in Tate Modern. Possibly, Rothko's positive experience from displaying his art in Europe led him to the donation of the Seagram murals to the Tate Modern. This gesture is marked by the sad event of artist's tragic death. His art including Light Red Over Black, arrived in Britain on 25 February 1970, the very same day that Mark Rothko committed suicide.