freeDimensional
Attention! Turkish democracy needs you!
Posted on June 6, 2013 | No Comments
After a series of peaceful demonstrations for preserving a recreational area in Istanbul city centre, which is planned to be demolished for the construction of a shopping mall, Turkish police attacked the protesters at 05:00am on Friday morning violently with tear gas and water cannon, directly targeting their faces and bodies. Dozens of protesters are wounded and are being treated by doctors outside hospitals as they are not welcome there or are not able to reach the Emergency Rooms. Some are even reported dead.
The access to the park and other important areas is blocked without any legal basis. The riots have spread out to other major cities as Ankara and Izmir. In Ankara police is using pepper spray to attack civilians. Turkish media, directly controlled by the government or have business and political ties with it, refuse to cover the incidents. Press agencies also blocked the information flow. Since Saturday evening, social media such as Facebook and Twitter are not accessible to prevent information spreading among protestors.
Please share this message for the world to become aware of the police state created by AKP of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, which is often considered to be a model for other Middle Eastern countries. Nevertheless, the prime minister is being considered a dictator by the protestors that takes the democratic way of decision making little into account. Turkish democracy expects your help. Thank you!
Reposted from http://occupygezi.com/
2013 ART for HEALTH Benefit – May 24, 6:30-9:30PM @ Project Reach NYC
Posted on May 20, 2013 | No Comments
Save the Date: Friday, May 24 6:30-9:30PM
Join us at Project Reach in Chinatown, New York City for an art exhibit, silent auction and performance to fund a mobile clinic this summer in rural villages in Cameroon.
Since 2009, the partnership between the U.S. charity organization Bush Medicine Partnership (Drexel University) and Hope International For Tikar People – a Cameroonian community based organization – have served more than 8000 people in the isolated communities in the rain forest of Cameroon.
Art For Health was launched informally by Issa Nyaphaga 5 years ago. An artist, performer and the founder of HITIP, Issa is himself native Tikar and has been living in exile for more than 15 years. To remain in contact with his homeland, Issa founded Hope International For Tikar People. HITIP brings together a wide range of global activists who travel to Tikar country in Cameroon every summer to provide direct support to indigenous communities.
Watch the video of health care in Tikar villages here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUCMKh-GDiA
Admission by donation (suggested donation $10 – $20) to HITIP
Project Reach NYC : 39 Eldridge Street, 4FL. New York, NY 10002
We look forward to seeing you there!
But, if you don’t make it to NYC you can still make your donation here:
http://www.hitip.org/en/donate
Tags: Art for Health > HITIP > issa nyaphaga > Project Reach > Tikar
fD selected as 2013 Grant Recipient by A Blade of Grass
Posted on May 8, 2013 | No Comments
A Blade of Grass, established in 2011 as the first grant-making organization solely dedicated to socially engaged art, today announced its second round of organizational grantees. The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) and The Laundromat Project were selected to receive project support in the amount of $20,000 each, and freeDimensional has been selected to receive $20,000 in general operating support. A Blade of Grass will honor these grantees at a private reception in May.
A Blade of Grass’ stake in socially engaged art is organized around two key concepts: amplifying the role of artists as leaders and change agents, and assisting artists who operate in everyday life—particularly at ambitious scale. Through an open application process, A Blade of Grass awarded three, one-time grants to “New York City based public charities that are finding new audiences and purposes for contemporary art by actively engaging communities.” Organizations were able to request funding of up to $20,000 for projects that illuminate the organization’s mission and values, and demonstrate excellence in socially engaged art. Applicants also had the option to request general operating support. A distinguished Advisory Committee evaluated the proposals in terms of their artistic excellence; their ability to position artists in leadership roles; and their relevance to communities.
This year’s grantees demonstrate the political and social value of artists within local neighborhoods and globally! We look very forward to working with CUP, Laundromat Project and freeDimensional in the coming year,” said A Blade of Grass Executive Director, Deborah Fisher.
‘Winter of Discontent’ screening @ 2013 Alwan Film Festival
Posted on April 29, 2013 | No Comments
Winter of Discontent screening @ 2013 Alwan Film Festival Thursday May 2, 6:30 PM – Anthology Film Archives
Co-presented by freeDimensional
Ibrahim El-Batout, Egypt, 2012, 94 mins
Set against the momentous backdrop of the mass protests of Cairo’s Tahrir Square that began on January 25, 2011, this film takes us on a compellingly raw and moving journey into the lives of an activist, a journalist, and a state security officer. Winter of Discontent poetically explores the anguish of a victim of state terror in 2009, presaging and intertwining with the pivotal events in 2011 that changed the face of Egypt. As the stories of the characters unfold, we are propelled headlong into the heady, often surreal atmosphere of terror and uncertainty that characterized the last days of Mubarak’s rule.
About the director:
Born in Egypt in 1963, Ibrahim El Batout started his filmmaking career in 1985 as a war cameraman. In 2005, El Batout made his first low budget feature film Ithaki(2005) reflecting on his return to his homeland. His second film Ein Shams (2008) won the Golden Tauro, the top prize at the 54th Taormina Film Festival in 2008. Ibrahim’s third feature film Hawi (2010) won the Best Arab Film Award at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival and premièred internationally at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
(click here to buy tickets now)
Tags: Alwan Film Festival > Anothology Film Archives > Arab Spring > Cairo > egypt > Ibrahim El-Batout > Tahrir Square > Winter of Discontent
SAVE THE DATE! APRIL 25 – fD Exhibition Fundraiser – FRAGILE STATES
Posted on April 10, 2013 | No Comments
freeDimensional in partnership with the Brian Morris Gallery invites you to attend a group exhibition launch and fundraiser, Fragile States, on April 25, from 6-9PM.
Fragile States is an exploration of the physical and psychological experiences of persecution and forced displacement. The artists featured in the exhibition share a common experience of having to leave their country of origin after facing threats, violent assault, imprisonment or torture as a result of using their creative practice to voice the concerns of their communities.
Featured Artists: Owen Maseko (Zimbabwe), Zunar (Malaysia), Kianoush Ramezani (Iran), Chaw Ei Thein (Burma), Kardash Onnig (Armenia), Khaled Barakeh (Syria), Arahmaiani Feisal (Indonesia) and Issa Nyaphaga (Cameroon).
Admission by donation (suggested donation $10 – $20) to freeDimensional. fD supports culture in the service of free expression, justice and equality by protecting critical voices through creative safe haven residency programs, mobilizing critical resources and services and quick-response funding to remove cultural activists from dangerous situations. fD will receive 60% of proceeds from exhibition sales to further regional artist safety initiatives and to support the needs of artists in distress.
Tags: Arahmaiani Feisal > Brian Morris Gallery > chaw ei thein > Fragile States > issa nyaphaga > Kardash Onnig > Khaled Barakeh > kianoush ramezani > owen maseko > Zunar
ARTRAKER AWARD 2013: Call for Submissions
Posted on March 19, 2013 | No Comments
DEADLINE: 1 May 2013
submissions@artraker.org
The Artraker Fund awards art that makes a direct positive change in countries that have experienced social upheaval and violent conflict. The Fund was created in 2012 by International Conflict and Security (INCAS) Consulting Ltd.
The prize of GBP2500 is awarded to the winning submission in London on International Peace Day (21 September) each year.
An international panel of judges from both the art and peace-building disciplines assesses submissions for the Artraker Award. They look for experimentation and engagement, audacity, change and capacity to inspire.
The Artraker Award Jury for 2013 includes: Dr. Bernadette Buckley, Convenor of the MA in Art & Politics at Goldsmiths, University (United Kingdom), Adrian Harewood, Canadian television and radio journalist, Sidd Joag, visual artist and Director of Free Dimensional, Htein Lin, Burmese artist and former political prisoner, and Olufemi Terry, an award-winning fiction writer and Associate of INCAS Consulting Ltd. from Sierra Leone.
The ten most inspiring submissions to this year’s Artraker Award will be invited to join the Artrakers Network. These projects and their initiators are promoted to peace-builders, curators and other art world professionals.
The Fund welcomes submissions from artists of all nationalities and at any stage of their careers. See www.artraker.org for more information and our application guidelines.
Founded in 2003, INCAS Consulting Ltd. works at the intersection of security, development and corporate investment. It is a maverick consultancy that has a reputation for creative and impactful solutions.
Tags: Art and Conflict > Artraker Award > Artraker Fund > INCAS Consulting > International Peace Day
PERFORMANCE AND JUSTICE: Representing Dangerous Truths Symposium at John Jay College
Posted on March 11, 2013 | No Comments
March 13, 14, &15
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
524 West 59th. Street New York, NY, 10019
Independent Artists Projects, NYC
Chaw Ei Thein (Burma/NYC) “Living Monuments.” With respondent Emily Hue.
Kymbali Craig and Samuel Encarnacion (Bailey’s Café, Brooklyn, NY,) “Skin Deep, Skin Tight.”
Racquel De Loyola (Philippines,) “Blinded.”
Margit Edwards and Seth Baumrin (NYC) “Subpoetics – raw material, roots, and ethnodramaturgy.”
Vernice Miller, Soraya Broukheim, and Winsome Brown (A Laboratory for Actor Training, Brooklyn, NY) “Experimental Theatre and Social Transformation.”
Performance and Justice: Representing Dangerous Truths is an interdisciplinary symposium on the interplay between broad definitions of performance and justice. The project brings together expertise in the performing arts, humanities, and social sciences.
At John Jay College, the term “justice”now includes definitions beyond the “criminal,” to encompass the academic, cultural, economic, environmental, international, legal, moral, poetic, political, racial, religious, social, and theoretical. For this project, we take “performance” to include film, dance, performance art, and theatre. The intersections between performance and justice are characterized by sites of social activism that lend themselves to sociological readings and analyses. Thus the symposium interrogates the ways justice is construed and constructed in various contemporary works of art and through the deployment of performance-based work in various traditional and non-traditional spaces. The social justice impact of such art is not limited to academia, but extends itself to the court-room, home, prison, streets, and the democratic project at large. Through the lens of dramaturgy as is understood in both the social sciences and performing arts, the symposium explores theoretical and practice-based negotiations of justice as informed by artists’ prerogatives and the work of social activists.
http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/
Belarus Free Theatre, Taking up the death penalty in ‘Trash Cuisine’
Posted on February 14, 2013 | No Comments
Help Belarus Free Theatre tour an important piece of theatre, Trash Cuisine!
Click here to donate a few Pounds Sterling!
Trash Cuisine is a dynamic, affecting and innovative piece of theatre devised and developed from first degree research collected in Asia, Africa, U.S. and Europe by Belarus Free Theatre with the support of Amnesty International.
Hugely well received at its premiere in Stadsshouwberg, Amsterdam on 5 October 2012, supported by the European Cultural Foundation, Trash Cuisine explores issues behind imprisonment and torture with particular focus on the death penalty to create a challenging and nerve shredding performance.
Using live music, choreography, actors from Belarus, the U.S., UK and Australia and stunning visual imagery BFT have created an inventive and moving drama.
WHY THIS PROJECT?
Incorporating testimonies of inmates and executioners from Bang Kwang jail in Thailand, of the families of death penalty victims in Belarus, of Liam Holden, the last man in the UK to be sentenced to the death penalty and of Clive Stafford-Smith, noted British human rights lawyer, Belarus Free Theatre have created a performance that will change modern perceptions of this barbaric practice.
We want to bring this extraordinary performance to the UK in order to raise awareness among British people to call for change around the world and to show the power of art in issues of huge international importance.
Tags: Amnesty International > belarus free theatre > Trash Cuisine
A political refugee returns to his small village in West Africa to build a community radio station that educates and inspires
Posted on January 28, 2013 | No Comments
Radio Taboo is a development project and documentary film about Issa Nyaphaga, a political journalist in exile returning to his small village in West Africa to build a community radio station to educate his community about subjects that are often too taboo to talk about. Issa was a journalist in Cameroon in the 1990s where he was jailed and tortured for his political cartoons. He is now heading back to his village in Cameroon to build a community radio station to educate villagers about Public health, environmental issues, women’s issues and rights of gay and HIV infected people. Nditam, his village, has no running water, no electricity, no schools or hospitals and no public news service. The film follows his struggle to raise funds, get the materials, gather manpower, build the station, train citizen journalists and make the station work for the betterment of his community. It will be an adventure to travel with Issa as he fights against all odds to create this amazing project. The radio station will run on renewable energy and will feature citizen journalists reporting on local issues to 1 million people in the remote rainforest of Cameroon.
This is the first of two campaigns we are planning for Kickstarter. This initial campaign will help us to make an initial 20 minute film, build a radio tower and get the station started. We plan our first trip in June, 2013. A small seed grant from National Geographic has provided initial support for this project.
Don’t forget your donations are tax deductible via IssueTV 501c3. Kickstarter will provide you with a tax-deductible receipt.
If you would like more information give us a call or check out our website:
Issue Television 501c3
8202 Alcorn Circle
Austin, TX 78748
505-699-8948
www.issuetv.org
info@issuetv.org
Building a radio station in Cameroon and making a film about it is going to be a major challenge! The area is remote, we will have to charge our cameras on solar power, keep our equipment dry and clean and get all the shots right. There will be bribes to pay, cultural faux pas to work around and malaria to avoid.
Just getting to Nditam, Issa’s tiny village, will be days of travel over rivers that have no bridges, in one of the most corrupt places in the world. Wish us luck!
Tags: cameroon > issa nyaphaga > Radio Taboo
Zunar in protest of draconian Malaysian printing act
Posted on January 2, 2013 | No Comments
Zunar’s Press Release, 2nd January 2013
My latest cartoon book,”Lawak & Lawan” to protest Malaysian draconian printing act
My latest cartoon book, Lawak & Lawan (Fun & Fight) is produced to protest the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA). Among cited in this Act under section, 11 (2) requires the name of the printer to be printed in each publication. Failure to comply can be punished with imprisonment not exceeding one year and a fine not exceeding RM5000 ( about USD1800) or both.
Before this I have always complied the requirements by the Act to include the name of the printer in my books. What happens from that is that the printers, often times, get raided by the authorities. For example, back in 2009, the printer who printed “Gedung Kartun” was raided by the Home Ministry officials. In 2010, the printer who printed “Cartoon-O-Phobia” was raided by 20 policemen. In the raid, they searched the place and seized the printing plates.
It was reported that the printers were threatened that their licenses will be revoked if they continue printing my books in the future. There were also reports of these ministry officers demanding money. The actions by the government had instilled fear in the printers from printing my books.
For the book prior to this, “1 Moolaysia”, I had to search for theree months before finally found a brave printer who was willing to print my books.
These events proved that the requirement by the PPPA to include the printer’s name in books is used by the government not for the purpose of controlling but more of restricting freedom of speech by ‘killing’ books and printed materials that are critical of the Malaysian government.
Due to that, I have deleted the name of the printer in my new book “Lawak & Lawan” as a protest. I know this would be contrary to the law, but I have a moral obligation to fight against draconian laws such as the PPPA.
I am ready to face legal risk for my action.
I also know that, as a result, this book will be tough to sell since it cannot be sold in public premises, but I am also willing to bear that risk.
*****
Background:
Zunar’s cartoons unravel the issues of the Altantuya murder, the Scorpene scandal, election fraud, corruption, injustice, abuse of power and waste of public funds by the Malaysian gevernment.
Zunar’s six cartoon books are currently banned by the Malaysian government for allegedly “having contents that can incite public hatred and stoke riots against the government”.
Zunar was arrested on the 24th September 2010 under the Sedition Act for allegedly publishing a ‘seditious’ cartoon book.
Zunar was the recipient of the “Courage in Editorial Cartoon” from the Cartoonist Rights Network International, Washington DC in 2011.
Tags: Lawak & Lawan > malaysia > political cartoonist > Zunar
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