Not a Collection of Cool Stuff: On The Bidoun Library

27 Nov 2011, Posted in Articles, Back Issues, 0 Comments

“The thing is, the library is not a collection of the coolest or best art books coming out of the Middle East—although we may possess many of them—it is in fact a material critique of cultural production and the discourses that presuppose such books…They are no longer just the transparent envelopes for discourse, they are objects—and as objects are subject to the pressures and incentives of material production and a wide range of material objectives; economic, historical and political.” -Babak Radboy (Bidoun Library)

Contemporaneous Archaeologies

18 Nov 2011, Posted in Articles, Back Issues, 0 Comments

Film curation and exhibition necessarily become essayistic practices, critical programs in poetic dialogue with social reality. While history offers innumerable instances in which the imperialist impulse of commercial film distribution and exhibition has used the developing world as grist for its mill… —Aliza Ma

Any Celebration is Premature

11 Nov 2011, Posted in Articles, Back Issues, 0 Comments

A striking aspect of the Egyptian revolution is the frenzy of creative response and accelerated cultural production that has gripped Cairo and other parts of the country. The creativity and sense of urgency expressed in the streets continue on as competing groups give voice to their visions for the country’s future. —Joseph Banh

The Form of Struggle

04 Nov 2011, Posted in Articles, Back Issues, Featured, 0 Comments

By embodying social antagonism within urban space, riots such as the Battle of the Camel often fall prey to the accusation of destructiveness, a claim that overlooks the far more destructive role played by capital within social relations on an ongoing basis. Riots shift the power to disrupt urban space from capital and the state to the riot’s collective body. —Olive McKeon

Anything But Its Own Uncovering

28 Oct 2011, Posted in Articles, Back Issues, Featured, 0 Comments

“I think institutions perform their independence in order to survive and be able to receive the little financial support that is available. I think that as an institution there is a certain performativity of independence that calls for constant posing as the alternative to the official discourse. But with ACAF, on a working level, we’ve tried to avoid that as much as we can.” —Bassam el Baroni (Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum)

Current issue: 34-4/EGYPT

30 Sep 2011, Posted in Back Issues, 0 Comments

Contributors: Nahed Mansour and Bassam El Baroni (ACAF); Denise Ryner and Babak Radboy (Bidoun Library); Damon Kowarsky; Olive McKeon; Joseph Banh, Moataz Nasreldin (Darb 1718), Mia Jankowicz (CIC) and William Wells (Townhouse); Themba Lewis; Aliza Ma, Rasha Salti and Gabe Klinger; Anna Feigenbaum; Francisco-Fernando Granados; Leila Timmins.

States of Postcoloniality/Egypt

30 Sep 2011, Posted in Back Issues, 0 Comments

To describe our state as postcolonial is not to say that colonialism is over, a thing of the past, but instead to insist on a certain historical continuity. It is a gesture against willful forgetting, a taking account of particular lineages of subjugation in order to underscore the importance of resistance, sovereignty and solidarity in the present. It acknowledges an extended age of empire…

FUSE 33.4: Fall 2010

01 Sep 2010, Posted in Back Issues, 0 Comments

IMAGINED COMMUNITIES

The fall issue of Fuse sees writers and artists considering how they imagine, participate in
and construct their communities. Creating alternatives despite opposition or interference, or simply using unexpected methods, contributors explore how they shift their own circumstances and broader belief systems by going DIY.

FUSE 33.3: Summer 2010

01 Jul 2010, Posted in Back Issues, 0 Comments

LOCAL ALTERNATIVES

In this issue of Fuse, we consider the different ways in which community-based
interventions and collaborations can create alternatives at the local level. In Microfunding: A little goes a long way, Amber Landgraff reflects on the importance of
community dinners, especially when they lead to alternative systems for funding art.
Looking outside of established systems and toward community funding initiatives,
Landgraff considers artist projects that facilitate the redistribution of community
money in order to effect positive change within that community.

FUSE 33.2: Spring 2010

01 May 2010, Posted in Back Issues, 0 Comments

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Amy Zion begins her article in this issue with a discussion of how over the past two years the arts in Vancouver have accessed a lot of money through the funding initiatives of VANOC. She points out that there are very few people, herself included, who have not benefited from VANOC’s patronage. Given this patronage, it is unsurprising that while many artists have been vocal about the impacts of the Olympics on Vancouver communities, many others are conflicted about vocalizing their opposition — particularly since many forums exist as a direct result of VANOC’s funding. Of course, discussing the money in art practice often returns us to the fact that there never seems to be enough to go around (see below) — but following the money raises interesting questions regarding who and what kind of work gets funded and the benefits and problems that come with money: problems that can follow from both having and not having enough.

Featuring:
BIKES, BOATS, AND BIG IDEAS: Radical Research at the Front Lines
Amy Zion: Art Courtesy of The Olympic Games
The Aboriginal Curatorial Collective: Changing the Artistic Landscape in Canada
Michael Wheeler: Why Shutting Down Parliament Was a Bad Idea.