Tag Archives: Art and Revolution

For Paula Rego (1935-2022)

It seems to me that what you are often drawn to are the half-hidden stories – the stories that we can, as we look at your work, continue to unriddle in our heads. Is it possible to paint a secret? … Continue reading

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René Char: Poetry in/as resistance

… si nul n’est bon volontairement, nul n’est esclave du Bien. Emmanuel Levinas, Autrement qu’être ou au-delà de l’essence In old days men were absorbed in wars, filling all their existence with marches, raids, victories, but now all that is … Continue reading

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Surrealism: The Emergence of a Radical Experiential Reality

We share a rich essay by Luke Francis Beirne on the relations between surrealism and radical politics, published by the anarchist The Commoner (23/04/2022). ___ ‘Freedom is the only cause worth serving,’ Andre Breton, 1924 ‘It was in the black mirror … Continue reading

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Penny Rimbaud: The howl of life

Freedom is not an abstract noun to be tossed about in the semantic trash can by dusty academics looking for an intellectual fix. It is a birth; a verb. Like the air we breathe, freedom is free to us all, … Continue reading

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For Elza Soares (1930-2022)

Não tenho medo de nada. Temos que ensinar o medo a ter medo de nós./I am not afraid of anything. We have to teach fear to be afraid of us. Elza Soares For her courage and resistance, for her rebellious … Continue reading

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Viva l’anarchia: Lina Wertmüller (1928-2021)

In grotesque realism… the bodily element is deeply positive. It is presented not in a private, egoistic form, severed from other spheres of life, but as something universal, representing all the people. As such it is opposed to severance from … Continue reading

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The anarchy of a music: Niño de Elche

El Grito La elipse de un grito, va de monte a monte. Desde los olivos, será un arco iris negro sobre la noche azul. ¡Ay! Como un arco de viola, el grito ha hecho vibrar largas cuerdas del viento. ¡Ay! … Continue reading

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Jacques Rancière: “The issue is to manage to maintain dissensus”

Interview with philosopher Jacques Rancière on the Covid-19 crisis, contemporary political upheavals the experience of art and film over the past year, and social media. [From the Verso Books Blog]. We met Jacques Rancière at his home in Paris with some tenacious questions in … Continue reading

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The Paris Commune: In film

The Paris Commune of 1871 will have a life well beyond the historical events that mark the moment, politically, but also in various forms of artistic-political expression. The examples are many (music, poetry, literature, and so on), but in this … Continue reading

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In gratitude: For Chick Corea (1941-2021)

Music is our witness, and our ally. The ‘beat’ is the confession which recognises, changes, and conquers time. Then, history becomes a garment we can wear, and share, and not a cloak in which to hide; and time becomes a … Continue reading

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