#Alicia Merz

[enterprisewired]

Elon Musk Triumphs in Critical Tesla Pay Package Vote

Source – Arab News

Small Investors Rally Behind CEO Despite Institutional Opposition

Elon Musk celebrated a significant victory on Thursday as Tesla’s CEO secured a crucial shareholder vote in favor of his $56 billion pay package, overcoming resistance from major institutional investors. Despite typically low engagement in voting, small retail investors, who hold a significant portion of Tesla’s shares, rallied behind Musk in an unprecedented show of support.

Retail Investors Drive Momentum

At the shareholder meeting held at Tesla’s Austin factory in Texas, Musk expressed gratitude to his supporters, proclaiming, “We have the most awesome shareholder base. Hot damn, I love you guys,” amidst applause from the assembled crowd. The vote, which reinstated Musk’s pay package after a Delaware judge previously voided it in January, underscores the active participation of retail investors in shaping Tesla’s future.

Omar Qazi, known on social media as @WholeMarsBlog, highlighted the impact of Tesla’s retail shareholders, noting, “They vote. They tell their friends. It’s not just about investing. It’s a movement.” This grassroots mobilization played a pivotal role alongside partial backing from institutional investors in tipping the scales in Musk’s favor.

Institutional Divide

While some institutional investors supported Musk’s pay structure, others, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services, criticized the compensation as excessive and urged shareholders to vote against it. Despite this divide, Musk’s outreach efforts and social media influence proved decisive in swaying the vote.

John Lawrence of the law firm Baker Botts commented on the rarity of such outcomes, noting, “When both institutions and proxy advisory firms lean in one direction, it’s very rare for the vote to come out the other way. It shows in this case the company’s understanding of the power of social media.”

Social Media Mobilization

Social media platforms played a crucial role in galvanizing support for Musk’s pay package. Users like Alexandra Merz, posting as @TeslaBoomerMama, actively campaigned for voting participation, prompting international banks and brokerages to facilitate voting for Tesla investors who were previously unable to do so. Merz, who received a standing ovation at the meeting, emphasized the significance of retail shareholders’ votes in addressing perceived injustices.

Musk’s Strategic Campaign

Musk himself engaged extensively on social media, setting up dedicated platforms to educate shareholders on the proposals and the importance of their votes. Tesla’s board underscored Musk’s pivotal role in the company’s success and the risks associated with losing his involvement if the pay package was rejected. Musk’s outreach efforts, including factory tours for supportive investors, further solidified his backing among shareholders.

Despite potential legal challenges ahead, including ongoing disputes with a Delaware judge and potential new lawsuits, Musk’s victory in the shareholder vote marks a significant triumph supported by small investors. “Shareholders have spoken, again, and hopefully now our votes can officially count,” said X user Alicia. “@elonmusk, we’ve always believed in you and will continue to do so. We have your back!”

Curious to learn more? Explore our articles on Enterprise Wired

[kaltsektion]

Alicia Merz of Birds of Passage

[kolajmag]

THIS WEEK AT KOLAJ MAGAZINE

Fault Lines, Smaller Memories, & a Call to Artists

COLLAGE ON VIEW Fault Lines Art and the Environment at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

CALL TO ARTISTS Collage Artist Residency: Scotland at MERZ Gallery in Sanquhar, Scotland

COLLAGE ON VIEW Liberated Rashad Ali Muhammad at The Mansion at Strathmore in North Bethesday, Maryland, USA

COLLAGE COMMUNITIES The International Collage Guild

FROM KOLAJ 35 Images Are Like Actors

FROM THE ARTIST DIRECTORY Smaller Memories: Emily Geirnaert, Paris, France

FROM THE ARTIST DIRECTORY Those Who Listen Carefully: Alicia Saadi, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Read the full update

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Kolaj Magazine, a full color, print magazine, exists to show how the world of collage is rich, layered, and thick with complexity. By remixing history and culture, collage artists forge new thinking. To understand collage is to reshape one's thinking of art history and redefine the canon of visual culture that informs the present.

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[shamanshowmen]

15.11.2021

Finissage di Brindisi Centrale, mostra personale di Matteo Pizzolante, sound performance di Francesca Petrolo.

Si conclude con questa mostra un'avventura durata dieci anni negli spazi di Corso di Porta Ticinese, iniziata con la prima mostra di John Baldessari che diede vita all'idea del poster (manifesto) e che ha visto come protagonisti Alighiero Boetti, Marijke van Warmerdam, Marta Dell'Angelo, Rosemarie Trockel, Mario Schifano, Fischli & Weiss, Jamel Shabazz, Carl Andre, Ed Ruscha, Mario Merz, Sol Lewitt, Giovanni Anselmo, Gino De Dominicis, Richard Prince, Antonio Marras, Andreas Schulze, Cindy Sherman, Alicia Frankovich, Sascha Brosamer, Gus van Sant, John Giorno, William Eggleston, Lisetta Carmi, Karin Kneffel. Quindi un finissage molto particolare perché segna anche un momento di transizione dello spazio come già avvenuto dal 1986 ad oggi. Spazi che sono in continuo mutamento, spazi che invitano l'artista alla sfida e a misurarsi con l'architettura, la luce, l'aria. La galleria come luogo mutante, la pancia di una balena che nonostante le mille avversità continua a sopravvivere. Un grazie a tutti gli artisti e collaboratori che mi hanno seguito e sostenuto, in modo particolare un grazie ed un pensiero a John Giorno che in questo spazio con la mostra Space forgets you ha lasciato una testimonianza indelebile. Dedico questa ultimo evento con un brindisi speciale a tutti gli amici che ci hanno lasciato in questo difficile anno, in particolare un pensiero va ai due cari Pierluigi.

Pierluigi Remotti e Pierluigi Tazzi.

The show must go on!

Thank you all!

Pas

[thenewobjective]

Birds of Passage ~ The Death of Our Invention

Birds of Passage ~ The Death of Our Invention

Alicia Merz cultivates wilderness within vulnerability. The New Zealand singer-songwriter known as Birds of Passage creates faded folk frayed by silvery drones, attic songs whispered while one’s parents quarrel downstairs. But The Death of Our Invention doesn’t sag with what’s stagnant; it soars with what’s sore. By the time her words are sung, all pain has been tamed, blooming like wildflowers…

[theseventhhex]

Birds of Passage Interview

Alicia Merz

Photo by Dominic Merz

With Birds of Passage, New Zealand based Alicia Merz presents us with an endearing invitation into her fragile world, a captivating journey through the landscapes of her emotional euphoria and agony, a further commitment to musical experimentation. The cold minimalist-drones, distorted field recordings, and sparse instrumentation, illustrate an icy, desolate and dark world. Her fourth full length ‘The Death of Our Invention’ entails allusions to dark-pop and classic broken-folk with reverb drenched instrumentation, metaphorical fairy-tale lyrics and stunning compositions... We talk to Alicia Merz about minimalism, field recordings and positive advice…

TSH: You’re back after four years since your last release. In what ways has getting married and having kids impacted your overall view on life and music?

Alicia: There was a time when I thought I knew things. Then there suddenly was a time when I realised I know pretty much nothing and probably never will. The process of pregnancy, birth and raising children is so amazing and beyond anything I can explain. Marriage has broadened my view on relationships. Also, sometimes things are easy to look on as mistakes, but I feel it’s important to realise nothing is a mistake, it’s all part of a journey; good things can come out of things that don’t seem good at the time, and we can learn valuable lessons from everything, good and bad. As with everything, I’m still learning, and I’m still learning in the beautiful realms of music. There is so much more going on than we can’t explain and music is a whole world, so much of it still waiting to be explored.

TSH: Are there certain new triggers that help you to create new music?

Alicia: I think in the past I wrote more about memories and past experiences. I still use what I’ve learnt from the past, and as I always have, I want to write honestly about things, how they are and not paint things with a happy cloud. With this album, many of the triggers were seeing the unjustness and sadness in the world. And also how much of it seems to be ignored in our everyday lives. Because I actually think it has a lot to do with us, (though we don’t see a direct connection), even with the little decisions we make.

TSH: What does ‘The Death of Our Invention’ signify to you with the current stage of Birds of Passage?

Alicia: This album is material written over the past few years and so it’s some of my thoughts and views on things over that time. The state of the world seems to be coming to a rapid and crazy head of late, and this album touches on some of those things.

TSH: How has your songwriting stance evolved over the years?

Alicia: In a sense it is the same. I never write with a certain sound in mind, and don’t think I ever have. My sound simply comes from the emotion carried with the song’s subject matter, and the atmosphere it carries. I’m not trying for anything in particular except to be honest, which is also why I make it quite minimalist. Hence my audience will probably always be quite small. I don’t think it will ever appeal to people who like (or need to) put music in a box or are looking for music to make them feel good.

TSH: Did you feel compelled to express certain viewpoints with this album?

Alicia: Yes. The state of the world and society and feminism.

TSH: What resonates with you most about the song ‘Without the World’?

Alicia: Freedom from caring about the conditions the world puts on us.

TSH: What sort of sentiment does a track like ‘The Love Song’ carry?

Alicia: I feel I’d like my songs to be interpreted however the listener needs to interpret them. If I explain them, then they’re not open to interpretation anymore, and I feel like I narrow their purpose. What is true for me is not necessarily true for someone else.

TSH: What sort of field recordings were you tampering with for this body of work?

Alicia: There are many beautiful and isolated parts of New Zealand and it’s usually the sounds in these places that I capture. I like to use particular things that have personal meaning to me - like certain times I’ve made recordings when something significant has happened around that time or at that place.

TSH: It’s been noted that there is ‘an ache’ throughout this record. Do you identify with this statement?

Alicia: I would agree there’s an ache, yes. Probably as with most of my music, there is an ache and I guess it comes from the sadness there is inside ourselves and therefore throughout the world.

TSH: You originally intended for your music to be played to just your friends and family. How pleased are you to have expanded to where you are now?

Alicia: I’m very surprised at the audience growth, and I am very grateful for any listeners at all.

TSH: How do you feel when you create songs and conjure up something from nothing?

Alicia: I like the song while I’m writing it and then while I’m playing it, and then I record it and usually by the end of the mixing stage I’ve had enough of hearing it! I usually find that I’m writing from some need/strong feeling inside myself and so the songwriting and recording process is some kind of helping or healing for me. I just feel, write and record, and then it passes after a while. And I’m really happy I can pass it on to other people.

TSH: What do you like to do outside of music to obtain a positive headspace?

Alicia: At the moment I’m focussing on trying to give my children a childhood that doesn’t give them the inner problems I have been trying to deal with as an adult. Being receptive to the constant reminders of how much I’m learning all the time and how much I still don’t know. Not expecting too much of myself, and remembering that the meaning of success has nothing to do with money or material achievements.

TSH: Have you seen many good movies lately?

Alicia: I saw The Shape of Water recently. Such a beautiful film. I really enjoyed it, and was very impressed by the beautiful set and sound design. It was also good to see Sally Hawkins triumph in such a challenging role.

TSH: Finally, what’s the best advice that you adhere to?

Alicia: Well, when I’m really struggling, it helps me to remember that our thoughts are only thoughts and that the only thing that is actually real for me is the now.

[neenu]

New Artist of the Week: The Boy and the Brook (Alicia Merz & Bruno Merz)

[soundarchitects]

Highwaymen in midnight masks by Birds Of Passage ( Alicia Merz ) 

[skaphander]

birds of passage: highwayman in midnight masks

[resonantstrata-blog]

Leonardo Rosado – Mute words

"Mute Words" is a fragile album. Gentle sounds of field recordings that are sometimes processed to tiny little flickers intertwine with floating drones, fragments of melodies and distant voices to form the eight tracks of "Mute Words". The voices of Barbara de Dominicis, Alicia Merz and Michelle Seaman – sometimes sung, sometimes spoken – are often not more than a faint whispers, which add a texture of  of nostalgia and intimacy to the pieces. Some words stand out though, and just as beacons in the mist of sound they add a notion, a signifier to the sounds, but without revealing the whole story. The vocal here are rather a subconscious way of hinting towards certain emotional states than straight storytelling – which works perfectly for this setting.

The drones, carrying those eight pieces, float along gently with light movements. They play a major role in the ethereal appearance of "Mute Words". The album is soft and welcoming like a lucid doze on a warm summer afternoon with the noises moving in an out of focus and comforting sounds of voices in the background. Surprisingly, a look at the lyrics reveal the opposite with their dark and beaten words holding inner discourses of sorrow and despair. And to be honestly the tension between those two states works beautifully for this release. One tiny thing, I would have preferred, if the words used in those tracks, would not have been used in the booklet. This way they take away a little bit of the eerie and mysterious feeling of the vocal mutterings. Nevertheless, "Mute Words" is a well and hauntingly beautiful executed piece of music.

Heart and Soul Publisher Leonardo Rosado

[subterminal]

[shamanshowmen]

Le Case D’Arte

Image is a Virus. Group Show

Dal 12 aprile al 21 maggio 2018

Una collezione privata costruita a partire dalla fine degli anni ‘70: da qui nasce l’idea di creare una fantasmagorica quadreria sulle tracce della mostra appena conclusasi (Not Sure – Gus Van Sant): in quell'occasione delle immagini racchiuse entro dei balloon adesivi si rincorrevano lungo tutta la parete della galleria mentre William Burroughs faceva risuonare la sua voce cupa riechieggiando "Image is a Virus" come fosse un mantra. Ora a quei balloon si aggiungono quadri, disegni, fotografie... Tutte immagini della nostra Arte Contemporanea, a partire dal Minimalismo di Sol Lewitt fino ai Jokes di Richard Prince e alle foto di Wolfgang Tillmans e Jacopo Benassi.

Essere liberi da schemi e movimenti, appropriarsi del significato dell’immagine in maniera non condizionata: questo vuol dire collezionare oggi. L’opera unica, l’originale, l’edizione, la copia, il multiplo, il vintage, la stampa, il vero, il falso altro non sono che convenzioni. I nostri nuovi feticci, oggi, sono le immagini, in qualsiasi modo esse ci si presentino. 

La lezione di Andy Warhol con le sue immumerevoli Marylin è perciò più che mai attuale. Artisti: John Baldessari, Jacopo Benassi, Alighieri Boetti, Lisetta Carmi, Vincenzo Castella, Larry Clark, Marlene Dumas, Alicia Frankovich, Fischli/Weiss, Sol Lewitt, Mario Merz, Lisa Ponti, Richard Prince, Andreas Schulze, Jamel Shabazz, Cindy Sherman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel, Gus Van Sant.

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La tanto attesa Art Week si è presentata con un tempo a dir poco londinese: nuvoloni e pioggia ma che non hanno però fermato i fans e gli amici de Le Case D’Arte. La serata inaugurale è stata piena di sorprese, tra cui la presenza del Maestro Roberto Cacciapaglia, reduce dalla sua tournee in Russia e Jacopo Benassi, che ha conversato a lungo con Massimo Torrigiani, la collezionista Natalina Remotti ha sfidato le intemperie e ha incontrato Giulia Currà di Traslochi Emotivi. Domingo Milella è stato colpito da un lavoro di Alighiero Boetti per una citazione su graffiti preistorici. Mr. Pipoli ha riservato in tv painting di Andreas Schulz e pagherà il canone annuale. Tommy Simoens da Anversa, giovane gallerista che segue Le Case D’Arte da anni, ha apprezzato i lavori di Sol Lewitt. Silvia Motta di DRY ha particolarmente apprezzato il lavoro Good Revolution di Richard Prince; Laura Pessina, che ormai lavora in galleria e si occupa delle pubbliche relazioni, ha sfoggiato il suo repertorio di culinarie con dei deliziosi tramezzini accompagnati dal vino Primitivo offerto dalle Cantine Miali di Martina Franca. Lo sforzo di Pasquale Leccese nel ribadire che l’Arte va vista nelle gallerie, pensiamo abbia avuto riscontro!

Posted by Alessandra Morganti

[subterminal]

cover artwork by Bruno Merz.

FLUID RADIO review of Dear and Unfamiliar my collaboration album with Birds of Passage, to be released the 28th October at Denovali in LP, CD and digital versions. Pre-orders very soon. And if you want follow us at Facebook and/or Souncloud, for updates.

"...There are hints of classical Indian drone in the music you are listening to now – more classical than those European and American ambient soundscapes that often lay claim to the name ‘drone’. And yet there is a woman’s voice, she sings about Paris and lullabies and kisses, not in Hindi nor Brajbhasha but in English. The voice hangs heavy over fuzzy guitars, synths and manipulated acoustics like a heat haze over the horizon. The lush, warm sounds leave you unsettled and disarmed. They are as vague and intense as a dream, and they will not let you rest easy. “Dear and Unfamiliar” would seem a strikingly appropriate title..."

Nathan Thomas