Thursday, March 28, 2024

Apathetic

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.” -Elie Wiesel

In order to remain a productive citizen of the world, we must engage. The moment we stop caring and assume the next person will pick up our slack is the moment we lose all rights to speak with any sort of authority on the current state of things. Unless one is actively participating, there is no recourse but to sit still and be quiet when things begin to slip sideways. Stand up and be heard. Don’t let your fears and doubts silence what you believe at your very core to be true. Your voice is valuable, your thoughts are unique, your contribution changes the world every day in a thousand small ways you may not even be aware of.

Amado Alfadni is an Egyptian-born Sudanese artist living and working in Cairo, Egypt. Over the last few years, Alfadni has witnessed tremendous change in Egypt as the political system has shifted. The culture today makes things more difficult for artists who have to ask permission to exhibit their work and must be very careful. Recently, he was forced to rewrite his artist statement twice before a show in order to be sure there was nothing that might upset the delicate balance of politics in the country.

His exhibition Black Ivory is an audio installation that has developed over the course of his career. It began when he was in school and confronting the details of both Egyptian and Sudanese history as told to children during school. He knew even at a young age that his teachers were skewing the facts of history and in so doing making him feel insulted as a Sudanese child.

To hear Amado Alfadni speak more about his work Black Ivory, life in Egypt for someone of Sudanese heritage and more, listen to the complete interview.

Adam Marnie is an artist and editor in LA. He recently exhibited a solo show titled Bad Reputation which featured wall-based sculptural works. Marnie moved from Brooklyn to LA only a few years ago and his studio work stalled out for a time. This show represents the first work he has produced for exhibition in three or four years.

Before relocating to LA, Marnie spent a lot of time there and had close friends who traveled between New York and LA. This familiarity helped him when he decided to make the move. He observes that the art scenes in New York and LA are perhaps becoming more similar than they once were.

Marnie is also the editor-in-chief of F Magazine. This bi-annual, self-published magazine is based in both New York and LA.

To hear more from Adam Marnie, listen to the complete interview.

A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket:

In life, we do not have the luxury of sitting this one out. Get up and get involved.

Interviews are available on iTunes as podcasts, and for Android please click here. All weekly essay pieces in a shareable format are here. The full archive of interviews here.

Books to Read

What are you reading? Add your titles to our reading list here. Chas Ray Krider’s nightstand supports The Western Lands by William S. Burroughs, which he is reading for about the fifth time, as well as a biographical volume about the surrealists.

Opportunities / Open Calls

De Appel invites international curators to apply to an educational residency in Amsterdam. The program runs for ten months from June 2019 to September 2020. Those accepted will be fully immersed in the arts scene in Netherlands with considerable opportunity for travel around the country. Emphasis is placed on positioning participants within the community in order to create an immersive experience. The residency includes workshops, sessions, studio visits as well as research travel. To learn more about this program and to apply, visit the website. Deadline is February 1.

Deadlines

Weekly Edited Grant and Residency Deadlines – review the list here.

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