ecopolis

Cindy Sherman (American, b. 1954). Untitled (detail), 1975/2004. C-print. Printer Charles Griffin, Inc. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Linda S. Ferber, 2005.10. Courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures
The Brooklyn Museum Community Committee and the Director invite you to

Women in the Arts 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
11 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

Honoring
Cindy Sherman
Renowned photographer and artist

A special event to salute the many contributions women have made and continue to make in the areas of arts and culture.

A program offering an overview of the artist’s work and the award presentation will be followed by a reception and luncheon in the newly refurbished Beaux-Arts Court.

Tickets for the event: Friend ($150), Supporter ($200), Advocate ($1,800, table for ten)

For tickets or further information, please call the Community Committee office: (718) 789-2493

Proceeds benefit the Museum’s educational and cultural programs.

Shiva as Nataraja (Lord of Dance), eleventh century, bronze, height 111.5 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1930.331.

Shiva’s attributes are a trident and a battleaxe, his weapons of choice. His favourite companion, an antelope, invariably accompanies him, often transformed into an attribute poised on one of his rear hands. He is the lord adorned with serpents; apart from peeping through his dreadlocks, serpents serve variously as his loincloth, belt, scarf, necklace, armlet, wristband or anklet. Shiva’s mountain home is Kailasa in the snowbound Himalayas, and his consort Parvati (daughter of the mountains) is likewise from the north. The sixty-three Tamil Shaivite poet-saints who lived between the sixth and ninth centuries relocated this god, together with his consort whom they called Uma, to the lush paddy fields, sandy shores and coconut groves of southern India, singing of how he chose to take up residence in the temples of Tamil Nadu. In the sanctum itself, Shiva is always represented in the form of a pillar-like linga emblem but on the outer walls of temples and in the bronze images created for temple festivals, Shiva took on a number of manifestations, including Nataraja (Lord of Dance), Tripuravijaya (Victor of the Three Cities), Somaskanda (with Uma and infant Skanda), Shrikantha (Lord of the Auspicious Neck) and Chandrashekhara (Lord Crowned with the Moon).

In his snowbound mountain home of Kailasa, Shiva is said to have invented 108 types of dance as Nataraja (Lord of Dance), perhaps to be identified with the 108 karanas or poses of Indian classical dance. Shiva dances in triumph at defeating demons, or for the pleasure of his consort and, through his celebrated cosmic dance known as ananda tandava or dance of bliss, he is believed to dance the world into extinction only to dance it back into existence as part of the cyclical time system of India. As Nataraja (nata meaning dance and raja meaning king in Sanskrit), Shiva stands in theatrical splendour on his bent right leg, while his gracefully poised left foot is raised high across his body. In his left rear hand he holds fire, signifying destruction, while his right rear hand holds a damaru drum, whose sound denotes creation. His right front hand is raised in a gesture of protection. Closely associated with the sacred Chola temple of Chidambaram, dancing Shiva, hailed by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin as the perfect embodiment of rhythmic movement, appears to have become almost a symbol for the Chola dynasty.

In this bronze Nataraja, Shiva stands serene and assured, master of the universe, within a circular prabha aureole framed with five-tipped flames that represent the oscillating universe. The god rests his right foot on the back of the dwarfish demonic figure of Mushalagan, representing darkness and ignorance to be overcome, who meekly raises his head to look up at the lord. The detailing is finely executed and the skull, crescent moon and crane feathers crowning his head are clearly delineated, although his matted locks, usually shown splayed out through the movement of dance, have broken away. The sculpture reveals absolute mastery of the art of bronze-casting and exemplifies the mature iconography for Nataraja that remains the model today.

In contrast to images of Vishnu, seen by Tamil devotees as an actual manifestation of the god, a finely crafted image of Shiva is considered to be the perfect vehicle for the temporary descent of the deity during ritual worship, known by the term puja. The presiding priest invokes the god with an avahana or invitation to enter the image; when puja is complete, he performs a visarjana or sending away to permit the spark of divinity to depart. Devotees encounter the image after it has been enlivened and adorned and is presented to the world for admiration and worship.

1 Manikkavachakar, Tirucalal, 1, in Dehejia 1988, p. 6.

via: Royal Academy of Arts

from Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India : The exhibition of approximately forty bronze sculptures explores the artistic and cultural riches of the Chola dynasty of southern India between the ninth and thirteenth centuries (11 Nov 2006—25 Feb 2007). In the Sackler Wing of Galleries.

Just A Souvenir : beautiful and funky synth/clavichord organic work.
Squarepusher moves into improvisational, jazzy, progr and effected bass slaps over barely comprehensible vocoder blurbs “this album started as a daydream about watching a crazy, beautiful rock band play an ultra-gig.” http://squarepusher.net/justasouvenir/
Just A Souvenir is currently available as a digital download (in FLAC as well) from bleep dot com.

Do you wish to quit FACEBOOK ? Here’s a tricky way to do it without laboriously deleting all your wall posts and photos, according to WikiHow.

1. Make sure your Facebook account contains a contact email address (such as Yahoo or Gmail).
2. Delete any college, high school, or work email addresses listed in your Facebook account. Your contact email should be the only address listed.
3. Deactivate your Facebook account.
Register using an email address other than your contact email (a college, high school, or work email is fine).
4. Once you are signed into your new Facebook account, add your contact email address to the account. Open the link in the confirmation email that has been sent. This step will wipe out your previous Facebook account, rendering it inaccessible.

PS: It’s not clear whether your previous account’s data is still stored on Facebook’s servers somewhere If you really want to be secure, change the contact e-mail back to the new e-mail address and then remove your original contact e-mail from the list. Then deactivate the new account.
It should be noted that quite how deep your deletion goes is highly questionable: does facebook still store your information even though youve destroyed your way of accessing it?

Now you can permanently delete your facebook account by accessing this URL: http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account

I hope.

Gang Gang Dance are an experimental music group based in Brooklyn, New York City , well known within the New York indie rock scene for its distinctive sound in a sort of ceremonial function that has been variously referred to as “neo-primitivist” or “neo-tribal”.
Their new album Saint Dymphna has been release on Social Registry (US/CAN) and Warp (UK/EUR/AUS).

The title refers to St. Dymphna – also known as “Dimpna” or “Dympna”. Her feast day is May 15 and she is the patron saint of those who suffer from mental illnesses and nervous system disorders, epileptics, mental health professionals, happy families, incest victims, and runaways.

Happy Birthday Luca from Ilari
(Tobi Neumann rmx)