Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Another Tibetan monk dies in China protest

Tibetan monks at a Buddhist ceremony. Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty
By SHARON LaFRANIERE (NYT)
In the latest deadly Tibetan protest against Chinese rule, an 18-year-old Buddhist monk set himself on fire outside his monastery in Sichuan Province, a Tibetan support group said.

Monday, February 20, 2012

One night only art exhibit for Hayatt Breast Cancer Foundation

One night only event on Tuesday, February 21, 6-9PM
15% of all paintings proceeds will be donated to Hayatt Breast Cancer Foundation
"Memoirs" by Kuwaiti artist Amira Behbehani

Saturday, February 18, 2012

"Pop Art Paintings" exhibit opens tomorrow in Kuwait!

Please check out the "Pop Art Paintings" exhibit by one of AUK's best art students, Shahad Al-Terkait:
The entrance to Salwa al Sabah Hall is on the Gulf Road after the Hard Rock Cafe, if you were coming from AUK going towards Kuwait city.  It is huge so you cannot miss it!


Another Tibetan monk dies in anti-Chinese protest, hundreds detained...

Another Tibetan monk, Tamchoe Sangpo, dies in anti-Chinese protest  - Reuters/Carlos Barria
By IAN JOHNSON (NYT)
A Tibetan monk died after setting fire to himself Friday, another sign of the trouble in China’s western border region.  

China Detains Tibetans After Trip to India, Rights Group Says
By REUTERS (NYT)
Several hundred Tibetans who had attended teaching sessions overseen by the Dalai Lama were being forced to undergo political re-education, Human Rights Watch said.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

18-year-old Tibetan nun set herself on fire – twenty secondth Tibetan since March last year – in desperate protests against China


www.voanews.com
A Tibetan nun has set herself on fire – twenty secondth Tibetan since March last year – in desperate protests against China. 
Tenzin Choedron, 18-year-old, nun at Mamae nunnery, Ngaba, Kham, set herself on fire at 6 pm today, February 11.

World’s biggest buyer of contemporary art?

A leading art paper has called the tiny peninsula the world’s biggest buyer of contemporary art, spending around a billion dollars since 2005.
Takashi Murakami’s exhibition “Ego” opens at the Qatar Museum.
youtube
From the $250mn purchase of Cezanne's The Card Players to investment in Takashi Murakami's Ego exhibit - first in Versailles and now Doha - Qatar's elite are spending hundreds of millions of in making the country a world-class destination.

Friday, February 10, 2012

More Deaths and Anti-Chinese Protests in Tibet

A Tibetan woman outside a monastery in the Sichuan province of China. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/09/another-monk

By RICK GLADSTONE (NYT)
Chinese security forces shot and killed two Tibetans on Thursday who had been involved in antigovernment protests, the American broadcaster Radio Free Asia reported.

By IAN JOHNSON (NYT)
The latest report brings the total number of Tibetans who have taken their lives to protest Chinese rule since March 2009 to 20.  

Also see previous posts on Tibet:

Jan 28, 2012
By DAN LEVIN (NYT). Far from the eyes of Beijing technocrats, students learn to write Tibetan and get their first formal introduction to a history, culture and religion that many call embattled. Posted by William Andersen at 3:22 ...
Feb 06, 2012
Since March 2011, as many as 19 Tibetans have set fire to themselves in Tibet; 7 since 6 January 2012. There was a further self-immolation in 2009. http://standupfortibet.org/ ...
Oct 26, 2011
By RICK GLADSTONE (NYT). The group Free Tibet said the self-immolation happened outside a monastery in Garze, and that the monk's identity, condition and whereabouts were not known. For more on Tibet in this blog see ...
Apr 25, 2011
I don't think you will receive this letter. I know that you're being watched, monitored and controlled 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But deep down I have this stubborn hope that maybe you will hear us. Maybe you'll see us ...

Sep 26, 2011
Lobsang Kalsang and Lobsang Konchok of Kirti Monastery are the 3rd and 4th monks to have self-immolated in the last six months, an act that Tibet had never seen before 2009. The two young monks, both aged 18, called for ...
Jan 24, 2012
Police officers opened fire on Tibetan protesters in western China on Monday in the largest violent confrontation in ethnic Tibetan areas of China since 2008. HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR??? Posted by William Andersen at ...
Dec 03, 2011
A former Tibetan monk set fire to himself on Thursday as an anti-China political protest in Tibet's Chamdo township. Posted by William Andersen at 6:12 PM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook ...
Nov 21, 2011
The image is taken from a video released by protest group Students for a Free Tibet, who smuggled it out of southwest China following the incident. Posted by William Andersen at 7:51 PM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to ...

Nov 04, 2011
Tibetans-in-exile hold placards showing the monks who had set themselves on fire to protest against the Chinese rule in Tibet during a protest march in Dharamshala. (AFP Photo/Lobsang Wangyal) ...
Nov 12, 2011
High Peaks Pure Earth, 100 Thousand Poets for Change, Split This Rock, members of the Tibetan community, and human rights/freedom of speech supporters... Posted by William Andersen at 9:09 PM · Email ThisBlogThis!
Apr 17, 2011
The current situation prevailing at Kirti Monastery in Ngaba in northeastern Tibet is extremely grim because of the stand-off between the Chinese military forces and the local Tibetans... Posted by William Andersen at 12:19 AM ...
Aug 02, 2011
Lecture: Palace Tantra: Emperor Qianlong's Fascination with Tibetan Buddhism. THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2011, 6:15 PM. Lubar Auditorium of the Milwaukee Art Museum. Free with Museum admission (first Thursdays of the ...

Mar 26, 2009
Although many of the students had very little knowledge of Tibet or the heavy-handed censorship of Tibetan culture and religion in China, they were very interested in censorship, especially of the internet. The Kuwaiti ...
Jun 04, 2011
-Tibet Post International. Hong Kong Residents to Hold Vigil Marking Tiananmen...‎ - Bloomberg. Tiananmen Square Anniversary: 22 Years Later - Huffington Post. Tiananmen legacy: Crush any hint of dissent‎ - Vancouver ...

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Peru update: National Protest in defense of Water planned for 9th and 10th February!

After re-posting about what I thought was good news: New rainforest and indigenous reserve established ... I had my parade rained on by someone much more familiar with the region.  She believes this is "just a smart PR move to turn the attention away from the ongoing and escalating conflict around the gargantuan mining operations in the Cajamarca Province. There, an access to fresh water is at stake. Apparently, people in the city have only access to water 1-2 hrs a day and the situation in the rural areas is often much more dramatic. National Protest in defense of Water is planned for 9th and 10th February."

I guess we need to be suspicious of all "good news" when "millions of dollars from the multinationals might be involved"  (it still must be "good" in someway though since another very large track of the Amazon has become a nature reserve (that also importantly connects to other reserves), no????).  But of course my heart is with the marchers!

"Beginning of the Water March" from:  http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/02/07/peru-following-the-great-water-march/
Here is a link to the group's webpage:  Marcha Nacional del Agua

And a link to decent info in English:  http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/02/07/peru-following-the-great-water-march/

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

New rainforest and indigenous reserve established in Peru!!!

I love good news!

news.mongabay.com
On February 4th, the Peruvian government and a small indigenous group created a new Amazon reserve, dubbed the Maijuna Reserve. Located in northeastern Peru, the 390,000 hectare (970,000 acres) reserve is larger than California's Yosemite National Park and over three times the size of Hong Kong.

Monday, February 6, 2012

3 Tibetans Self-Immolate in Anti-Chinese Protest

Since March 2011, as many as 19 Tibetans have set fire to themselves in Tibet; 7 since 6 January 2012. There was a further self-immolation in 2009.  http://standupfortibet.org/
By SHARON LaFRANIERE (NYT)
The latest cases bring the total self-immolations by ethnic Tibetans over the past year to 19.  

Sunday, February 5, 2012

More Damning Evidence Points to Pesticide as Cause of Mass Bee Deaths


More Damning Evidence Points to Pesticide as Cause of Mass Bee Deaths
www.commondreams.org
A new study published in Naturwissenschaften - The Science of Nature by a leading bee expert provides damning evidence that a widely used pesticide, even at low levels, is responsible for the recent catastrophic decline in honey bees. Dr. Jeff Pettis of the USDA's Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsvil...

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Lot's of big art events going in Qater - want to visit again soon!



A video teaser to Takashi Murakami's first solo exhibition in the Middle East. Murakami - EGO will be on view from February 9 to June 24, 2012 in the Al-Riwaq exhibition hall, located on the grounds of the Museum of Islamic Art on Doha's Corniche. The exhibition will immerse visitors in a fantasy world conceived by the renowned Japanese artist, capturing the way Murakami channels the ecstasy and anxiety of contemporary culture.
Behind the scenes with Takashi Murakami as he and his Kaikai Kiki team prepare to launch his first exhibition in Middle East. Opens 9 FEB 2012. For more info...
www.galleristny.com/2012/01/9597/ - Cached
The first solo survey of the work of Louise Bourgeois in the Middle East will open tomorrow at the Qatar Museum Authority Gallery. The show will “contextualize” ...


williamjandersen.blogspot.com
One of my favorite artists now has a solo show up in Qatar! I believe Doha's Mathaf, the Arab Museum of Modern Art, is really smart in bringing in a big name artist from outside the region, but also just as importantly, not the typical Western artist. I like Cai Guo-Qiang because he consistently comes up with thoughtful but unconventional ways to talk about his own heritage as well as historical and contemporary global trade and exchange. His artwork is smart but fun and easily appreciated by a larger audience. I hope to go soon!


www.artkuwait.org
Qatar has purchased a Paul Cézanne painting, The Card Players, for more than $250 million. The deal, in a single stroke, sets the highest price ever paid for a work of art and upends the modern art market. If the...

Jul 20, 2011
You may know Qatar as the home of Al Jazeera but this small kingdom in the Persian Gulf is a major contemporary art buyer, according to Art Newspaper. see also: more on Qatar as the world's biggest contemporary art buyer ...
Jul 20, 2011
Qatar as the world's biggest contemporary art buyer · www.artkuwait.org. see also: World's Biggest Contemporary Art Buyer? Qatar! Posted by William Andersen at 2:15 PM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to ...
Jun 15, 2011
Who's Afraid of Ai Weiwei? - Doha, Qatar. I got permission to put this "Who's Afraid of Ai Weiwei?" poster up in this little shop: Posted by William Andersen at 5:31 AM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook ...

CAP Kuwait to host print and mixed media classes with Thuraya Al Baqsami



www.artkuwait.org
Thuraya Al Baqsami was born in Kuwait in 1951 and is a dedicated artist and writer. She is a best known for her colourful paintings and prints that tackle women’s issues and include folkloric elements from a number of cultures....