FANTASY, some of it light-hearted, much of it dark, dominates the National Gallery these days, with four of its galleries devoted to the surrealistic paintings of Her Serene Highness the late Princess Marsi Sukhumbhand Paribatra that explore the dynamics of duality – beauty and ugliness, life and death. “Beauty and Ugliness: Aesthetic of Marsi” greets the visitor with a large-sized photograph of the princess and her pets at her studio in the mountain-ringed village of Annot in the south of France, where she lived for more than 40 years. Alongside is her quote: “Art reflects life and death, I will use my talents to convey it.” “Commedia della Morte” (“Comedy of Death”) Her passion is clearly reflected in her 1980 painting “Commedia della Morte” (“Comedy of Death”) in which the skeleton of a puppeteer is controlling a female actor in a stage play as if to point out that life is like a play – it … [Read more...] about Contrasts on the canvas
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Mayoral debate axed over demand all 35 candidates participate
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By David Rider City Hall Bureau Chief Sun., Sept. 30, 2018 Organizers have cancelled a major debate on seniors’ issues that was to be held Monday at city-owned Metro Hall, saying Toronto city staff belatedly insisted dozens of registered mayoral candidates all be invited to participate. Previously invited mayoral candidates who got the news Friday have also been told Heritage Toronto, a charitable agency of the City of Toronto, has cancelled its traditional debate, also scheduled for this week, citing “accelerated timelines we are all working under.” Besides 2018 city council races plagued by turmoil and confusion after the Ontario government slashed the size of council in mid-election, Torontonians will see their mayoral candidates debate ideas and promises a fraction of the number of times in past elections. On Friday evening, candidates invited to the Seniors Mayoral Candidates Forum, organized by nine seniors groups, received an email … [Read more...] about Mayoral debate axed over demand all 35 candidates participate
Examining our architectural navels at Venice Architecture Biennale
Inspired by National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin’s 1961 novel The Woman Who Had Two Navels, the country’s official representation at the 16th International Venice Architecture Biennale, billed as “The City Who Had Two Navels,” tackles how the Philippines’ colonial past and the neoliberal era — that affect the urban landscape of the present societies — work together to shape and alter the identity of the country’s built heritage and the culture of its people. Curated by Cincinnati-based P rofessor Edson Cabalfin, the exhibition is in response to the 16th Architecture Biennale’s theme “Freespace.” Curators Yvonne Farrel and Shelley McNamara, the curators of the 2018 Architecture Biennale, asked participating countries to focus their exhibits on the “question of space, the quality of space, open and free space.” “The City Who Had Two Navels” highlights two forces — colonialism and … [Read more...] about Examining our architectural navels at Venice Architecture Biennale
Trump cites ‘special bond’ at summit with Kim Jong Un
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By David Nakamura Philip Rucker, Anna Fifield and Anne Gearan, The Washington Post Tues., June 12, 2018 SINGAPORE—U.S. President Donald Trump capped a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un here Tuesday by sketching a path to prosperity for the isolated nation. But it remained highly uncertain whether the young dictator would embrace the offer by agreeing to eliminate his nuclear arsenal. Over the course of nearly five hours at the secluded and opulent Capella resort, Trump and Kim sough to establish what the president called “a very special bond” through a series of intimate meetings, including a stroll that culminated with the president giving the young dictator a peek inside the armoured presidential limousine. Later, the two men sat next to each other to sign a joint declaration pledging to work toward peace and to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. “We’re ready to write a new chapter between our nations,” Trump … [Read more...] about Trump cites ‘special bond’ at summit with Kim Jong Un
Inside the Ivy League’s new startup factory — the tech grad school trying to mint the next generation of Mark Zuckerbergs
caption Cornell Tech grad students John Quinn, Noshin Nisa, Kiyan Rajabi, and Carolina Peisch talk before their Startup Studio class. source Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider Cornell Tech is a new graduate school in New York City that wants to “build a better digital future.” The Studio Program, the school’s core curriculum, helps students build a company from conception to prototype. Over Cornell Tech’s six-year history, 40 startups have raised around $32 million in funding. “We are definitely not the startup school,” Daniel Huttenlocher, the dean of Cornell Tech, said to me recently. One might be forgiven for thinking so. Cornell Tech, a joint partnership between Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, the oldest university in Israel, was born from a public competition launched in 2010 by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg to develop an … [Read more...] about Inside the Ivy League’s new startup factory — the tech grad school trying to mint the next generation of Mark Zuckerbergs