Somewhere else

Thursday, April 22, 2010

An Irish piece of Art

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Sitting on a volcano

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

La Moda Animada, because it suits them to be depicted as dumb animals

from ELLE Espana

Monday, April 19, 2010

JR “Women Are Heroes” at Springmann.Varol Gallery

“The French photographer, activist, and artist JR, born in 1983, ranks amongst the world’s leading artists of his genre.  Starting on April 23, WOMEN ARE HEROES will be the first exhibition of JR’s works in Germany at the newly opened  Gallery Springmann.Varol.  WOMEN ARE HEROES is JR’s third project in the series 28 MILLIMÈTRES, after PORTRAIT OF A GENERATION and  FACE 2 FACE. As was the case in his other works, WOMEN ARE HEROES also supports the causes of peace and humanitarianism.  JR’s project pays tribute to the scores of women who are dealing with the effects of war, poverty, violence, and oppression on a daily basis.  He meets them in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, Phnom Penh, Delhi, and Kibera/Kenya and with his camera, he captures  their faces in moments of emotion. JR’s works document the personal histories of the people he photographs and his works in interior spaces – photographs and collages on various media – are already well-established and respected throughout the international contemporary art world.  The artist will be present for the opening of the exhibition on Friday, April 19, 2010 at 7 o’clock p.m. The exhibition  will be open for viewing until May 30, 2010 on Mo – Fr, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and by  arrangement with the Gallery Springmann.Varol. ”

Springmann.Varol
Muehlengasse 3
40213 Duesseldorf
Germany

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Workers stressed by technology

The much-touted "work/life balance" has been found to be riddled with paradox with new research showing work-related email invading workers' homes and leisure spaces, causing stress, anxiety, an inability to switch off, as well as potential damage to family relationships.
Dr Melissa Gregg from the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney carried out the study: "Working from home: New media technology, workplace culture and the changing nature of domesticity". The study was part of an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship Project in which in-depth interviews were conducted with 26 information workers from large organisations across different industry groups over three years. The research project coincided with the rise of online culture over the past three years: specifically social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Dr Gregg says until now many people have considered these platforms to be part of people's leisure practices that they engage with in their time off.

"But for workers in a range of office jobs, it's become part of the job. And largely this has happened without any discussion at the workplace about implications for workload," Dr Gregg says.

Dr Gregg found that many of the interviewees believed checking and sending emails from home did not constitute "work". They would check email at night in bed, and as early as 6am before children woke, so that they could focus on "real work" in office hours.

The study also found children using computers and other technology at home were affected by the workloads of their parents who seemed too distracted or exhausted with work to interact with them. Part-time workers were found to keep email accounts open on official non-work days to "keep things moving" and avoid "holding up" full-time workers.

"This study was designed to pick up all that extra work that goes on outside the office, which is generally sold to us as this new freedom to be in touch with work when it suits us," Dr Gregg says. "We found some surprising stories from people who said they were concerned that their children were addicted to the internet, but who were actually showing signs of addiction themselves. But these people didn't see their use of computers as a problem because it was to do with work."

"This hidden labour in the home also translates to a significant amount of unpaid work performed by women. It's another factor in the ongoing gender pay gap."

Dr Gregg says that many participants in the study reported increased signs of stress and anxiety.

"The evidence shows that most people think it is just their own individual failing that they can't keep up both with the technology and the amount of communication they are having to deal with. Once you see this message across industries you know that that is a problem that has to be dealt with structurally, not by forcing workers to adopt individual solutions.

from FastThinking
Source: University of Sydney