The situation is under control…

…or not?

Michael Eddy filming from the paparzzi booth at the MMK.

The sound group kept on for two hours.

End of the parade, the sound group keeps on screaming.

The cheerleaders arrived…

So the the biker crew…

Sidsel and Ben looking smashing in the rain.

The director of the MMK hooking up with the cheerleaders.

A very engaged Yuki debating and recording thoughts on Heidegger with a wise Frankfurter.

Arto trying to get the beatbox-ball under control!

…go get them tiger!

Marisa joined the philosophers in the last minute.

Arto and Birnbaum.

The philosopher group had its fifteen minutes of fame: Birnbaum and the gang discussing Heidegger.

We had cheerleaders shakin´ it on front of us through the whole parade…

Ilya and his brother + partner were in charge of security?

The parade were divided into eleven parts, among them a philosophy group, a group of cheerleaders, glass-smashers, a sound group, bonsai-three carriers, balloon carriers and more…

The title of the parade is taken from signs carried in a demonstration led by Dr. Martin Luther King during the garbage workers strike in Memphis during the 60's and will feature various groups that allude, some more abstractly and some less abstractly, to the notion of a body both liberated by and at odds with improvements visited on it.

Arto Lindsay is an American musician and artist who lives in Salvador, Bahia in Brasil. He began performing in New York in the late late 1970's with his band DNA.

Lindsay has collaborated with visual artists such as Vito Acconci, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and, on a carnaval parade in Bahia, with Matthew Barney.

www.artolindsay.com

Preparations at the Portikus.

Magni Borghed, dressed for love.

Sean Kennedy with a white mustache for the occasion.

Yngve Holen, a modern handy!

Yngve and Sidsel and the glass!

The Darth Vader of Portikus, Daniel Birnbaum.

God and his poet!

Show em´ what you got boys!!!

Jackie doesn´t seem to happy with her hat.

The Board of Directors of the Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, held a meeting on 7th April 2008 in which it nominated Daniel Birnbaum as Director of the Visual Arts Sector, with specific responsibility as curator of the 53rd International Art Exhibition, to be held in 2009.

My recent exhibitions have all been close collaborations with artists, often individually, sometimes in larger contexts. The Venice Biennale is a new kind of challenge, but the principle remains the same: the artist's vision is at the center. How does one steer clear of the hierarchies dictated by commercial interests and fashion? As the director of an art academy, my interest has long been directed towards another kind of influence and another kind of significance. There are artists who inspire entire generations and these key artists are not always the most visibile in the world of museums and fairs. I would like to explore strings of inspiration that involve several generations and to display the roots as well as the branches that grow into a future not yet defined. The geography of the art world has been expanding rapidly with new centers emerging: China, India, the Middle East... It will be my ambition to create a show that, although articulated into individual zones of intensity, remains one exhibition.

video: Pirate Rabbit Attacks Biennale in Venice - coniglioviola on youtube.com

Wie oft habe ich mich schon über die Eintrittspreise geärgert, mich gefragt, wie viele weniger passionierte Museumsgänger sie vom Museumserleben abhalten. Mich gefreut, wenn in Mexiko am Sonntag (da ist freier Eintritt für MexikanerInnen) die Museen vor Leben nur so sprudelten. Jetzt fand ich ein art Interview mit Daniel Birnbaum, internationaler Kurator aus Frankfurt am Main. Die Forderung "Freier Eintritt für staatliche Museen"!
Die Argumente: Die anderen machen es vor - die Museen füllen sich in dem Maße, wie die Eintrittspreise fallen (dazu gibt es im Text ein paar interessante Zahlen). Zur Finanzierung der Museen tragen Eintrittspreise ohnehin nur einen Bruchteil bei. Und: Wir haben als Steuerzahler unseren Eintritt schon bezahlt (na ja, in Mexiko stimmt das nicht so richtig, da zahlt fast niemand Steuern :-;)
100 Punkte! Mehr Info findet sich hier.

Der allmendefördernde Effekt aus meiner Sicht: Commons sind eine soziale Beziehung. Sie entfalten ihre Kraft, ihren Wert, ihren gemeinschaftsstiftenden Sinn nur, wenn die Menschen sozusagen in Kontakt zu ihren Ressourcen stehen, sie erfahren, sie als "ihre" anerkennen... Und das geht im Falle unserer Kulturgüter besser, wenn die Museen vor Leben sprudeln.

In diesem Sinne: "Freier Eintritt für staatliche Museen". Jetzt!

PS vom 2.April 2008: Gerade fand ich den Hinweis auf die Aktion Öppna Stockholm, für freien Eintritt in schwedische Museen nach dem Motto: "Die Güter des Volkes gehören dem Volk, via. 

 foto by transcam on flickr