Meet Epictetus

Greek Stoic thinker Epictetus(50-138) believed humans are disturbed by the irrational and attracted to the rational. With a calm psyche the endless possibilities of the ratio become visible.

A layman in the art of life is discontented with what he has and spends his time on bodily matters such as drinking, overeating and sexual actions. A good man tolerates everything with bravery, makes the best of his life.

The aim in life is to desire nothing but self control, freedom and contentment.

Epictetus divided reality in two crucial categories: what is in and what is beyond our power. The only good is the accurate insight in what we can and can not control. Good and evil are only present in our opinions about events, not in the events themselves.

All unpleasant impressions should be analyzed on accuracy. Fear and confusion are caused by our negative opinions on what is beyond our power. Once an individual realizes that things are beyond his power, they can not affect him anymore.

Each individual is responsible for his sadness or negative emotions. This means we can influence and control our own mind. When we engage in avoiding negative reactions which equal negative emotions, we are able to positively want each and every event. We can always be free, righteous, reliable, honest and thoughtful.

Each striving(orexis: everyone strives for the good) is fixed on the good while avoidance(ekkisis: avoidance of the bad) focuses on the bad. Success in striving and avoidance leads to happiness. Apatheia, a necessity to live a serene life, occurs when the well balanced, developed mind bans negative emotions and is successful in striving.

There's one way to happiness: to stop worrying about matters beyond our will. The essence of a happy life is to want things as they are instead of what you would like them to be. A wise man wants to accept. The elimination of desire results in freedom of the mind. The renunciation of what is not within one's moral choice leads to imperturbability.

" All human beings seek the happy life, but many confuse the means with that life itself. Wisdom is revealed through action, not talk".

Retrospective Harry Gruyaert at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris

Copyright uitgeverij Kannibaal

Belgian Magnum photographer Harry Gruyaert(Antwerp, 1941)

has been living in Paris since 1962. After his studies at the School of Film and Photography in Brussels (1959- 1962), he combined commercial work with freelance television work.

When the photographer was living in London(1970- 1972), he broke through with his TV Shots series, pictures of TV shots to criticize the medium's power to manipulate. The experimental series include images of comedy series, the Apollo flights, the Olympics, ... .

His best known work are the series Made in Belgium(1975-1990). In 1976, he was awarded with the Kodak Prize. The artist also documented his trips to Morocco, India, the USA, Middle East and Russia.

Since 1981 Gruyaert may call himself a member of Magnum Photos. From 1986 to 2001 Gruyaert engaged in taking daily pictures of his daughters growing up.

His main motive is the lonely individual in the urban landscape. His colourful magic realist images rarely show people in front view, often covering them with balloons or shadows.

His enchanting work has been shown at the Magnum Gallery in Paris(2013, 2009), the Moscow Photo Biennale(2012), the Photography Museum in Antwerp(2000), Palais de Tokyo(1986) and Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels(1980).

The retrospective of Harry Gruyaert, curated by François Hébel, can be admired at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris until June 14th 2015. Seventy of his photos are simultaneously shown in Parisian metro stations.

Yes, Slum Village

Yes features Jay Dilla's and Young RJ's beats along with contributions by Bilal, a Tribe Called Quest's Phife Dawg, De La Soul, Hay D's brother Illa J, Jon Connor, BJ The Chicago Kid and J Ivy.

Tracklist:

1. Slum Village - Love Is (Feat. Bilal)

2. Slum Village - Tear It Down (Feat. Jon Connor)

3. Slum Village - Bonafide

4. Slum Village - Expressive (Feat. Bj The Chicago Kid)

5. Slum Village - Push It Along (Feat. Phife Dawg)

6. Slum Village - Windows (Feat. J Ivy)

7. Slum Village - Yes Yes

8. Slum Village - Right Back (Feat. De La Soul)

9. Slum Village - Where We Come From

10. Slum Village - Big City

11. Slum Village - What We Have

Exhibition Parra at Alice

Dutch visual artist Parra is well known for his Bret Eastin Ellis illustrations.

The autodidact also makes music with his band Le Le, designed for Nike and has his own clothing label, Rockwell.

His graphic work of bird people in pink, blue and red is now shown at the Alice in Brussels.

Parra

28 th of May- 11th of July at Alice, Brussels

Jedi Mind Tricks: The thief and the fallen

Philadelphian Stoupe and Vinnie Paz released their 8th Jedi Mind Tricks album entitled The thief and the fallen, based on the literary works of Clive Barker.

The follow-up of Violence Begets Violence(2011) is entirely produced by Stoupe and features A-F-R-O, The Rugged Man, Eamon, Dilated Peoples, Yes Alexander, Lawrence Arnell and Thea Alana.

Track list:

1. Intro

2. Poison In The Birth Water

3. Rival The Eminent featuring Lawrence Arnell

4. Hell's Messenger

5. Merchant Of War

6. La Montagna Del Dio Cannibale (interlude) featuring Yes Alexander

7. Fraudulent Cloth featuring Eamon

8. And God Said To Cain featuring A-F-R-O (aka All Flows Reach Out);
R.A. The Rugged Man; Eamon

9. Destiny Forged In Blood

10. Il Tuo Vizio E Una Stanza Chiusa E Solo Io Ne Ho La Chiave
(interlude) featuring Yes Alexander

11. Deathless Light

12. No Jesus, No Beast

13. The Kingdom That Worshipped The Dead featuring Dilated Peoples

14. The God Supreme

15. In The Coldness Of A Dream featuring Thea Alana

16. Lemarchand's Box featuring Yes Alexander

Oddissee The Good fight

The Good Fight(Mello) is an honest reflection of  Oddisee’s philosophy.

The album features guest appearances from Gary Clark, Jr., Nick Hakim, Tranqill and Maimouna Youssef.

Tracklist

1. That's Love 

2. Want Something Done 
3. Contradiction's Maze 
4. Counter-Clockwise 
5. First Choice 

6. Belong To The World

7. A List of Withouts
8. Book Covers 
9. Meant It When I Said It 
10. Fight Delays 
11. What They'll Say
12. Worse Before Better

Tim Burton's Big Eyes

 

Big Eyes is director Tim Burton's newest on the life of artist Margaret Keane.

The maker of Beetlejuice, The Nightmare before Christmas, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Alice in Wonderland and Corpse Bride is a fervent collector of Margaret Keane's artworks of big eyed children, women and animals. The sad children are a result of Margaret's miserable childhood days, when she started painting.

In 1955 Margaret met Walter Keane at an exhibition in San Francisco. At that time Walter painted Parisian street scenes. They soon got married. When the duo held a show at a local jazz club, Walter claimed he had painted Margaret's popular Big Eyes and made up a story that they referred to the orphans he had seen after World War II.

Her deranged, controlling, violent husband earned a fortune with the oeuvre whilst Margaret was cooped up in the house, keeping her mouth shut and taking care of the children.

After their divorce in 1965 the fraudulence was finally revealed. In 1970 Margaret told her story to a journalist. In 1986 Margaret took the case to court, where they both had to paint.

Walter died in 2000. Margaret Keane, aged eighty seven, now depicts happy, bright coloured subjects.

In the making are Tim Burton's Peregrine's Home for Peculiars and the follow up of Beetlejuice.

 

Heems Eat Pray Thug

Former Das Racist member Himanshu Kumar Suri's debut album comments on a migrant's identity crisis in a hostile country. 

1. Sometimes
2. So NY
3. Damn, Girl
4. Jawn Cage (featuring Rafiq Bhatia)
5. Flag Shopping
6. Pop Song (Games)
7. Home (featuring Dev Hynes)
8. Hubba Hubba
9. Al Q8a
10. Suicide by Cop
11. Patriot Act

Nosaj Thing Fated

Nosaj Thing's next album Fated will be available on May fifth. The single Cold Stares features Chance the Rapper.

Tracklist

1 Sci

2 Don't Mind Me [ft. Whoarei]

3 Realize

4 Varius

5 Cold Stares [ft. Chance the Rapper]

6 Watch

7 UV3

8 Let You

9 Moon
10 Erase
11 Medic
12 A
13 Phase IV
14 Light #5
15 2K

Ghostpoet Shedding Skin

On his new album British mc Obaro Ejimiwe exposes his inner life, doubts and insecurities by means of dark spoken word lyrics.

Tracklist

1. Off Peak Dreams
2. X Marks the Spot (feat. Nadine Shah)
3. Be Right Back, Moving House (feat. Paul Smith)
4. Shedding Skin (feat. Melanie De Biasio)
5. Yes, I Helped You Pack (feat. Etta Bond)
6. That Ring Down the Drain Kind of Feeling (feat. Nadine Shah)
7. Sorry My Love, It's You Not Me (feat. Lucy Rose)
8. Better Not Butter
9. The Pleasure In Pleather
10. Nothing in the Way

Vhils destructs to construct

Vhils copyright

Portugese artist Alexandre Farto(1987) grew up in an industrialised suburb, affected by the 1974 Carnation revolution. The destruction of the war influenced his work and way of thinking.

Vhils has been active in urban interventions since 2000. First trains around Europe were bombed, then stencils and pastes appeared.

In 2008 his carving pieces of the Scratching the Surface series were shown at the Cans Festival in London, on invitation by Banksy.  

The artist uses an innovative cutting technique to remove multiple layers of a wall or billboard posters to form a poetic artwork. The action of the method is the message: destruction and decay are used to create unpredictable artwork as he never knows what the underlying images will turn out to be. The history of urban space, revealed by the destruction of walls with explosives and drills , shows the textural contrast with contemporary public space.

Projected or painted photographs of unknown individuals are used as humanizing icons to criticize advertising ideals and the distressing urban environment. The carved layers symbolize the socio cultural influences and our individual struggle in society.

Vhils' work has been shown at the Sao Paulo Biennial, the Lazarides Gallery in London and Magda Danysz Gallery in Paris. He expresses himself with a variety of media: from stencil painting to wall carving, from collage to screen printing, from works on metal( the erode, apathy and ferrugem series), cork, styrofoam or wooden doors to video installations.

Still Vhils' fascination with dissection remains primordial.

J -Live: His Own Self

J-Live's entirely self produced album entitled His Own Self is another absolute must. S.P.T.A. Said Person of that Ability's follow-up will be released on the seventeenth of March.

The underground MC and deejay always succeeds in amazing us with his skills, depth and self realizing tendencies.

Tracklist

1.Peace, Be Still

2.Mic Singletary

3.Pay It Forward

4.Old Shit

5.I Just Don't

6.Get It Together

7.I Am A Man (American Justice)

8.Red & The Kid

9.Be Still, Peace

10.I Am A Man

11.The Greatest Thing

Collective narcistique

In 2009 Niemand( Yivic Fiers, 1981) and Russian Sergej Andreev hung canvasses in the streets for others to take home. Their Kunst Op Straat( art in the street) project evolved towards Collective égoïste, which combined individual canvasses and stencils. Their name refers to their clashing ego's on exhibitions in squatting buildings.

Sergej Andreev is known for using icons to criticize consumerism and politics. He depicts religious images with Gucci glasses and superheroes. His sculptures are composed of relics and self made robots.

As a sixteen year old Yvic Fiers( then using artist name Scum) had his first spray paint experiences with his friend Freddy D. Niemand stands for a fat victim of consumerism.

Since 2012 Niemand and Andreev collaborate in Collective Narcistique, an anarchist, left wing group which focuses on socio-political criticism on topical subjects. Henk De Ruddere and Michel Clair often take part in their street interventions.

Carrots and tape were the main ingredients of their carrot bombs , installed at the door of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Ghent and the surrounding park. In the red light district they shared their Love, take as much as you need leaflet.

In 2014 the duo, dressed in white uniforms with nigger written on their backs to denounce a racist tag, installed a large scale version of Malhaize(sickness) at the docks in Ghent. The political piece shows the Belgian right wing political NVA party in combination with the adapted Delhaize logo.

Recurring laser stencils include the sheep Sheepo, skulls, mayor Daniel Termont, the humoristic What would Mac Gyver do? and House(Everybody lies).

Anarchism meets a bunch of friends.

Joey Bada$$: B4.DA. $$

B4.DA. $$ is the title of Joey Bada$$' official debut album.

At school he and his Progressive era crew friends engaged in happy music making. In 2012 furore surrounded the video clip of Survival Tactics, featuring Bada$$ and Capital Steez.

DJ Premier, MF Doom and Q tip wanted to work with the old school adept who loves Jay D, Biggie, Nas and A Tribe called Quest.

The young New York mc(1995) goes back to the hip hop of the nineties and its positive rhymes. Joey Bada$$ prefers traditional hip hop, the music which is not (yet)coloured by money. He believes music should have a meaning. Bada$$ sees it as a philosophy to be used for positive ends and keeps on producing music for himself in the first place. No one can object to this kind of intrinsic motivation.

Tracklist
1.     Save the Children      
2.     Greenbax (Interlude)      
3.     Paper Trail$      
4.     Piece of Mind      
5.     Big Dusty  
6.     Hazeus View      
7.     Like Me (met BJ the Chicago Kid)    
8.     Belly of the Beats (met Chronixx)    
9.     No. 99      
10.     Christ Conscious      
11.     On & On (met Maverick Sabre en Dyemond Lewis)
12.     Escape 120 (met Raury)    
13.     Black Beetles      
14.     O.C.B.      
15.     Curry Chicken 

Plagiarism versus parody

Throughout the history of art copying and interpretations play an important role. Artists were honoured to be copied.

Painter Luc Tuymans investigates the position of the image in society. He believes in authentic forging, as originality is no longer possible and he clearly sees painting as a concept. Irony and photographs are essential elements in the making of his faded oeuvre. Many of his pieces are based on self made Polaroids or Iphone photographs of photocopied pictures to neutralize their colour and make them hazy. The paintings based on these images hardly refer to reality. His renowned Der Diagnostische Blick series are based on images in a syndrome manual whilst The Secretary of State, a portrait of Condoleeza Rice, was also based on a photograph.

Controversy arose on A Belgian politician, which symbolizes and parodies politics' decay of power. As always, Tuymans used an adapted picture as a basis for the piece, which was sold to American art collector Eric Lefkofsky. Tuymans' parodied interpretation shows authentic additions and vale colours.

Photographer Katrijn van Giel sued Tuymans because the artwork was based upon one of her newspaper photographs of Jean-Marie Dedecker( De Standaard, 2010). The court of justice concluded the lighting and composition run parallel to the original's and sentenced the painter with a fine of 500 000 euros per reproduction. Notice of appeal has been given. The sentence led to a polarisation between the art of painting and press photography.

In 1992 Jeff Koons experienced a similar trial concerning his String of Puppies sculpture (1988, part of his Banality series), inspired by a photograph by Art Rogers. The Dutch photographer of the picture of Patrice Lumumba's widow felt honoured when Marlene Dumas based her piece The Widow on it.

A clear distinction between plagiarism, interpretation and derivatives should be made. It goes without saying that exact reproductions are not done. But the painterly invention of concepts is allowed to use the frozen photographical moment as a basis. Otherwise problems would arise over a photograph of an art installation, an interpretation of a poem, a sample used in a beat ...

Every artwork tells a different story, functions as a historical document, an adapted form, a personal societal reaction. Dramatic ego's easily feel threatened. Open-mindedness remains the starting point of freedom and innovation. 

Mark Ronson: Uptown Special

The sound architect of Amy Winehouse's Rehab album(2006) released the follow-up to Record Collection(2010): Uptown Special(Columbia), a party album with the sound of the funky seventies. Ronson and producer Jeff Bhasker succeeded in delivering a feel good record with the help of Bruno Mars, Mystikal and Stevie Wonder.

Mark Ronson — Uptown Funk

1. Uptown’s First Finale (feat. Stevie Wonder & Andrew Wyatt)
2. Summer Breaking (feat. Kevin Parker)
3. Feel Right (feat. Mystikal)
4. Uptown Funk! (feat. Bruno Mars)
5. I Can’t Lose (feat. Keyone Starr)
6. Daffodils (feat. Kevin Parker)
7. Crack In the Pearl (feat. Andrew Wyatt)
8. In Case of Fire (feat. Kevin Parker)
9. Leaving Los Feliz (feat. Jeff Bhasker)
10. Heavy & Rolling (feat. Andrew Wyatt)
11. Crack In The Pearl II (feat. Stevie Wonder & Jeff Bhasker)

d'Angelo Black Messiah

Michael Eugene Archer(40) has come back fifteen years after his last studio album Voodoo.

His third album entitled Black Messiah contains referrals to his naked chest in Untitled, false friends and the spirit of times. Q-Tip and Kendra Foster (Funkadelic) contributed lyrics, Questlove plays the music. 

Black Messiah:
1 Ain't That Easy
2 1000 Deaths
3 The Charade
4 Sugah Daddy
5 Really Love
6 Back in the Future (Part I)
7 Till It's Done (Tutu)
8 Prayer
9 Betray My Heart
10 The Door
11 Back in the Future (Part II)
12 Another Life

The hug: the rise of commercial hugging

American neuro economist Paul Zak, referred to as Doctor Love, studies the relation between neurology, morality and economy. He pleads for more affection.

A hug is a fundamental human daily interaction. When we hug, neurotransmitter oxytocin is released in the posterior portion of the pituitary gland, making us feel connected and happy. Oxytocin is also released after social interactions.

Hugging makes us more sociable and healthier. Tender feelings entail a relaxation response: a general state of calm and contentment, which facilitates cooperation.

American professional hugger Samantha Hess(30) started her business "Cuddle Up to me" a year ago in Portland. Initially she did house visits, now she owns her own hugging shop. For sixty dollars an hour, Hess and her employees cuddle and caress the needy. Hess' business idea arose when she was feeling down and was in need of affection.

This market for intimacy indicates a societal deficit. Shortage in time tends to stimulate haste and the disappearance of warm, human behaviour. The preoccupation with virtual actions in a continuously changing, individualist society could indicate we have less time to interact with the people we truly care about.

Social exchange is an economic theory of human behaviour. It assumes a person's behaviour in the marketplace is motivated by the desire to maximize profits and minimize losses. The same motives determine social behaviour. Social exchange gives a perspective for analyzing all kinds of relationships.

Doctor Love believes it's positive that people acknowledge their need for physical contact. Especially during stress one's need for physical contact increases. Richard Stevens believes we lack physical contact, which is the language of love.

Roberts Sternberg's triangular love theory(1988) offered an analysis of love. Intimate relationships involve components as emotional attachment and feelings of affection, fulfilment of psychological needs such as sharing and gaining reassurance and interdependence between individuals.

Intimacy, the emotional component of love, involves feelings of closeness. Intimacy and love are not synonyms.

Some criticize this paid affection because they believe it increases a cold society, others accept these commercial cuddles as being a temporary solution for honest expressions of an unsatisfied need for affection.

Female MC Kate Tempest

Kate Esther Calvert(1985) grew up in London. Under the name of Kate Tempest she publicizes poetry, writes theatre plays and does spoken word. Passionate about wordplay, her chosen semantics seem to always grasp the appropriate atmosphere.

As a teenager, while studying at the prestigious Brit School for Performing arts, Tempest engaged in rap battles, resulting in this year's unique album Everybody Down, which tells the story of three characters and the big city's loneliness. The album, produced by Dan Carey, has been nominated for the Mercury Prize.

Seen as the female counterpart of Mike Skinner, her album even stands up to his A Grand don't come for free. Her praised work is regularly awarded. In 2013 her Brand New Ancients was awarded with the Ted Hughes award.

The Guardian believes the MC is one of the greatest new talents.

Red Bull Flying Bach: break dance combined with classical music

Red Bull Flying Bach, a street style performance on two hundred and fifty year old music, has been touring the world since 2012. The show invites youngsters to listen to classical music.

Choreographer Varcan Basil works with Flying Steps, a formation of break dance world champions, to break the boundaries between classical and urban culture on Das Wohltemperierte Klavier by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The break dance visualisation of Bach compositions is made complete with a ballerina and classical musicians directed by opera director Christopher Hagel. 

Sleeping disorders: social media influence teenagers' sleep

Tablets and smart phones increase sleeping disorders amongst teenagers. A study in Finland, led by Erkki Kronholm, revealed one fifth of the teenagers nod off in the classroom, leading to worse school results.

The past twenty years the amount of youngsters with a sleeping disorder has doubled. Twenty percent of the girls and ten percent of the boys suffers from chronic fatigue.

Wrong-doers are smart phones, tablets, television and computers.

The exposure to screens is still increasing, leading to problems as restless minds and the blocked production of sleeping hormone melatonin by the brain. The bright, blue light of I pads and I phones seems to be even worse than the light of digital television. The closer one sits in front of a phone, laptop or tablet, the worse the sleeping rhythm will be.

These sleeping disorders are noted amongst teenagers and adults, who all suffer from social jetlag during the week end caused by the built up sleeping shortage during the week. In the week end they then tend to sleep in too long, which leads to a fragmented sleep and intense, energy costing dreaming. The last sleeping cycles can not provide a deep sleep, which is essential for physical recuperation.

The more time one spends in front of any screen, the worse one will sleep. The screen time right before going to bed seems to be the most crucial indicator for sleeping disorders.

In any case teenagers are more vulnerable to sleeping disorders because their hormonal imbalance and puberty influences the production of melatonin.

Where an adult needs seven and a half to eight hours of sleep, a child needs between eight and nine. During sleep, muscles relax and responsiveness to external stimuli decreases. Energy is stored, bodily tissues are allowed to grow. The sleep cycle takes place in five stages: four non-REM and the last REM stage, in which dreams occur and memory is thought to be organized.

Sleeping disorders have a severe impact on daily functioning, increase the risks of mental and physical problems such as obesitas and diabetes. Touchiness can easily evolve towards anxiety disorders and depression.

Experts advise to put out all screens one and a half hour before bedtime and never to put any screen on the bedside table. A sensible sleeping hygiene is crucial: close the curtains, put out the lights, eliminate all screens.

Steve Mc Curry

copyright Steve Mc Curry: Sharbat Gula

After working two years for Today's Post, Steve Mc Curry(1950, Philadelphia), who studied film and literature, decided to tour South East Asia. While living in India, the photographer's portfolio grew, which soon led to orders by Newsweek and The New York Times.

The New York citizen soon won the Robert Capa Gold medal.

During the nineteen eighties National Geographic assigned the photographer to go to Pakistan for two months, where he stayed four months longer. While working for National Geographic, Mc Curry switched to colour photography. The Magnum member(1986) is principally known for his award winning World Press Photo of Afghan refugee girl Sharbat Gula(1984, on cover in 1985), whom he photographed again seventeen years later.

Eight employees assist the artist in his two Philadelphia and three New York studios, his business is managed by his sister. In 2013 his creations were shown in Siena, in 2014 he was asked for the Lavazza calender.

Joseph Koudelka, Albert Watson, Don MC Cullin, James Nachtwey and Elliott Erwitt, the latter being the main reason for wanting to work for Magnum, are Mc Curry’s main icons. Painters Rembrandt and Caravaggio are other stated inspirations. His dear friends Henri Cartier-Bresson and Erwitt taught him to look. The artist also knew and admired Elliott, Eve Arnold, René Burri and Bruno Barbey.

His travels taught him what he needed to know about people, his photographs reflect the things that move him. Each and every one of us desires the same thing: to be respected.