“Independence Day 1936-1967″, 2009 by Maryam Jafri features archival photos mainly from the first Independence Day ceremonies of various nations including Indonesia, India, Ghana, Senegal, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, Malaysia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Vietnam (South), and Algeria.
World’s largest signed and numbered limited edition artwork. In September 2002, ten artists gathered at the Whitechapel gallery to create the largest signed and numbered limited edition artwork of one million. Video.
A stillframe from Wood, a video by Sean Rogg. In certain parts of rural Sweden an old traditional law still stands. If a child under the age of 18 commits a serious offence and is convicted of the crime, he or she is not sent to a correctional facility. Instead, state firemen show up at the child’s home and ceremonially burn the house to the ground. It is hoped that by being made an example of, other parents will keep control of their children’s behaivour. The system seems to work as a house is only burned once every 12 to 15 years.
Balkan Erotic Epic is a multi-channel video installation based on Marina Abramovic’s research into Balkan folk culture and its use of the erotic. According to her, it is through eroticism that the human tries to make himself equal with the gods. People believed that in the erotic there was something superhuman that doesn’t come from them but from the gods. Obscene objects and male and female genitals have a very important function in the fertility and agricultural rites of Balkan peasants. They were used very explicitly for a variety of purposes. Women would show in the rituals openly their vaginas, bottoms, breasts and menstrual blood. Men would show openly in the rituals their bottoms and penises in acts of masturbation and ejaculation. Video excerpts: Men with Erections in National Costume, Women Massaging Breasts, Women in the Rain, Group of Men Copulating with the Earth.