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Cartoon of Palestinian boy inspires, years after creator's killing
NEW YORK, NY.- When pro-Palestinian student protesters took over Hamilton Hall at Columbia University last month and renamed it “Hind’s Hall,” the banner they unfurled contained images of a cartoon character created over 50 years ago that symbolizes the resilience of Palestinians. On either side of the text were two images of a barefoot boy with tattered clothes and spiky hair, his back turned to us. The character is called Handala (variously transliterated as Hanzala or Handzala), a name derived from a native plant that is deep-rooted, persistent and bears bitter fruit, and has become a potent symbol of the Palestinian struggle. The image was created by Palestinian political cartoonist Naji Al-Ali in 1969, one of the most widely read cartoonists in the Arab world, who was killed in London in 1987. (The case remains unsolved.) Handala is 10 years old, the same age th ... More

Elba Cabrera, patron of Puerto Rican culture in New York, dies at 90
NEW YORK, NY.- Elba Cabrera, a beloved godmother of the Puerto Rican cultural diaspora in New York City and the last survivor of Las Tres Hermanas, three sisters who galvanized educational, social and arts programs in their community, died May 10 in the Bronx. She was 90. Her death, in a hospital, was confirmed by her son Paul Mondesire. Migrating to East Harlem from Puerto Rico with her mother before she was 2, Cabrera was trained in high school as a secretary and bookkeeper. After graduation, through the retail workers union, she had jobs selling hosiery and shoes. Hailing from a family steeped in public service, she earned a college degree in her 40s and emerged as a patron of the arts, helping to identify and nurture talented musicians, artists, photographers, sculptors, poets and writers. ... More

Alta, irreverent feminist poet and small-press pioneer, dies at 81
NEW YORK, NY.- Shameless Hussy Press was a shoestring operation in 1969 when the poet known as Alta began publishing books from her house on a hand-cranked offset printer. She was having trouble getting her own brash and sensuous free-form poetry published by the mainstream companies, as were her friends, and when she learned how simple offset printing was, she decided to do it herself. Few bookstores were willing to carry Shameless Hussy’s publications, not just because of the content — there was not, at first, an appetite for such bold feminist writing — but also because of the format: spineless, stapled chapbooks, like zines. (Many of its titles are now collectors’ items.) Still, Shameless Hussy (the name was a phrase Alta’s mother used for women she didn’t approve of) would go on to publish works by some of the most notable feminist ... More

Techno pioneer Jeff Mills blazes a trail to space, and beyond
NEW YORK, NY.- During a recent performance by Tomorrow Comes the Harvest that had some attendees dancing in the aisles at the Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn, a thrilling rhythmic conversation began between percussionist Sundiata O.M., who was playing African talking drums, and Detroit techno pioneer Jeff Mills, who tapped out beats on a Roland TR-909 drum machine. Over a 90-minute set, the musicians boldly blended techno, jazz and modern classical, embodying the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s famous credo “Great Black Music, Ancient to the Future.” Tomorrow Comes the Harvest began in 2018 as a collaboration between Mills and Afrobeat originator Tony Allen, Fela Kuti’s longtime drummer. Despite their stylistic differences, they created a sonic language — based around total improvisation, not typically a techno hallmark ... More

Emcee squared: Joel Grey and Eddie Redmayne on 'Cabaret'
NEW YORK, NY.- Eddie Redmayne had never seen “Cabaret” when, as a 15-year-old student at Eton, he was first cast as the Emcee, the indecorous impresario of the bawdy Berlin nightclub where the musical is set. So Redmayne did what anyone wondering about the character would do: He watched the 1972 film, and studied Joel Grey’s performance. Redmayne, 42, has played the Emcee three more times — at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe following high school; in London’s West End, winning an Olivier Award in 2022; and now on Broadway, where he has just picked up a Tony nomination. “Cabaret,” set in 1929 and 1930, is about an American writer who has a relationship with a British singer working at the Kit Kat Club; the queerness of some of that nightclub’s habitués and the Jewishness of some of its neighbors become risk factors as the Nazis gain power. Redmayne had never met Grey, ... More

Gallery Wendi Norris opens a group exhibition exploring the idea of multiplicity, material and metaphorical
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.- Gallery Wendi Norris presents Multiple Voices, a group exhibition exploring the idea of multiplicity, material and metaphorical. Bringing together gallery artists Ambreen Butt, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Chitra Ganesh, Julio César Morales, Ranu Mukherjee, and Eva Schlegel, the exhibition features artworks that are multiples, with the state of multiplicity embedded into their very fabrication. On a conceptual level, each of the artists exhibited plays with the relationship between the multiple and the multitudes in their artwork, seeking to amplify voices beyond their own. The prints, sculpture, video, and performance photography exhibited work together like a Greek chorus, uniting as a collective voice to speak truth and bear witness. Multiple Voices addresses the vital need for diverse points of view and redresses ... More

Samm-Art Williams, playwright, producer and actor, dies at 78
NEW YORK, NY.- Samm-Art Williams, who made his mark in several fields — as an executive producer of the sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” as an actor on both stage and screen and as a Tony-nominated playwright for “Home,” died Monday in Burgaw, North Carolina. He was 78. His death was confirmed by his cousin Carol Brown. She did not cite a cause. An imposing 6-foot-8 (a lefty, he once served as a sparring partner to Muhammad Ali), Williams appeared in films including Brian De Palma’s homage to Alfred Hitchcock, “Dressed to Kill” (1980), and the Coen brothers’ neo-noir, “Blood Simple” (1984). He had a memorable turn as Jim in the 1986 adaptation of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” part of PBS’s “American Playhouse” series. Committed to expanding the Black presence in Hollywood, he was both a writer and an executive ... More

Margot Samel, New York opens group exhibition 'Breaking up of ice on a river'
NEW YORK, NY.- Margot Samel is presenting Breaking up of ice on a river, a group exhibition featuring artists Carolina Fusilier, Nina Hartmann, Jaanus Samma, Tai Shani, Anastasia Sosunova, and Johanna Ulfsak, curated by Lilian Hiob. In the confines of this exhibition space, we are greeted by a surreal spectacle—floating jockstraps, each adorned with an intricate set of Estonian national embroidery, appearing to defy gravity, their tethers bound to the gallery floor by a chain and a weighty concrete block. This initial encounter sets the tone for an exploration of the enigmatic, the unexpected, and the subversive. Nearby, a series of collages rests on the gallery walls. Combining offset lithography, intaglio, and woodcut techniques with digital prints and found materials, the imagery is a patchwork of found motifs sourced from the boundless expanse ... More

Exhibition by the winner of the 2023 Joan Miró Prize opens in Barcelona
BARCELONA.- The Fundació Joan Miró presents the first solo exhibition in Spain by Vietnamese-American artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen (Saigon, 1976), winner of the eighth edition of the Joan Miró Prize. The show includes some of his most poignant recent video installations, as well as a selection of his sculptures made out of fragments of bombs and artillery shells from the Vietnam War. Nguyen and his family emigrated to the United States as refugees after the end of the war and he uses his artistic practice to interweave his own personal story through the history of his country of birth. This exhibition explores the ways in which conflicts from the second half of the 20th century have impacted not only the people who lived through them but also their descendants. The show gets under way with three sculptures inspired by the mobiles of American ... More

Chia-Wei Hsu wins Eye Art & Film Prize 2024
AMSTERDAM.- Chia-Wei Hsu was selected as the winner by an international jury and receives a cash prize of € 30,000 as well as a (joint) exhibition in Eye Filmmuseum. This prize allows the winner to develop new work. The Eye prize is supported by Ammodo. In his work, Hsu intertwines geopolitical developments and local life in Southeast Asia, presently, and in the past. In the border region between Thailand and Burma, together with veterans of the Cold War and local soldiers, he created video installations that delve deeper into the history and mythology of the region, as well as into the personal experiences of the soldiers. Jury chair Bregtje van der Haak, director of Eye Filmmuseum: “We are delighted that Chia-Wei Hsu is the tenth winner of the Eye Art & Film Prize. The jury is intrigued by his highly original fusion of archaeology and technology. ... More

Does a smash hit like 'Lion King' deserve a $3 million tax break?
NEW YORK, NY.- There is no greater success story on Broadway than “The Lion King.” It is reliably among the top-grossing stage shows in New York, where it has brought in nearly $2 billion over its 26-year run; its global total is five times that amount. The musical’s producer is the theatrical division of The Walt Disney Co., an entertainment industry behemoth that earned $89 billion in revenue during its last fiscal year. And yet, the show was one of roughly four dozen productions that have received millions of dollars in assistance from New York state under a program designed to help a pandemic-hobbled theater industry in New York City. Over the three years since the program was established, New York state has bestowed over $100 million on commercial Broadway productions. “The Lion King,” along with other juggernauts such ... More