#pattison nation rise!!

[creative-news-alert]

Playground Hybrid Turf Market is Estimated to Witness Strong Growth Due to Rising Popularity of Hybrid Turf Fields

Hybrid turf fields are durable and resilient artificial surfaces that are ideal for active use in playgrounds and recreational areas. Hybrid turf consists of synthetic fibers that are mixed with natural grass and sand infill to create a playing surface similar to natural grass but with greater durability. This allows the fields to withstand heavy foot traffic and environmental wear much better than regular grass. Hybrid turf fields require little maintenance and have longer lifespan compared to natural grass fields. They do not get worn out easily and can be used for various activities throughout the year regardless of weather conditions.

The global playground hybrid turf market is estimated to be valued at US$ 7079.83 Mn in 2023 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 4.5% over the forecast period 2024 to 2031, as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights. Market Dynamics: Rising popularity of hybrid turf fields is one of the major drivers of the playground hybrid turf market. Hybrid turf fields offer various advantages over natural grass fields such as durability, low maintenance and longer playing seasons. They provide a safe and consistent playing surface for a variety of activities and sports. This has increased their adoption in playgrounds, parks and athletic complexes globally. Additionally, growth in sports infrastructure projects especially in developing countries is also fueling the sales of hybrid turf for playgrounds. For instance, modernization and up-gradation of playgrounds and recreational facilities in schools and public parks is driving the demand. However, higher initial installation and replacement costs of hybrid turf compared to natural grass fields may limit its widespread adoption. SWOT Analysis Strength: Playground hybrid turf offers superior cushioning and drainage compared to natural grass. Its durable blend of synthetic fibers and sand provides a safe playing surface for children. Playground turf minimizes injury risks and requires little maintenance. Weakness: The initial investment cost of playground hybrid turf can be higher than natural grass. Some parents may prefer a natural playground surface. Playground turf must be replaced every 7-10 years which creates recurring expenses. Opportunity: Rising health consciousness is increasing demand for safe outdoor play areas. Population growth in developing nations means more communities need new playgrounds. Hybrid turf allows playgrounds to be used year-round and in all weather conditions. Threats: Economic downturns may reduce municipal and school playground budgets. Negative publicity around synthetic material safety could hurt sales. Lower-cost artificial turf alternatives continue to emerge. Key Takeaways The global playground hybrid turf market size is expected to witness high growth. The global playground hybrid turf market is estimated to be valued at US$ 7079.83 Mn in 2023 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 4.5% over the forecast period 2024 to 2031.

Regional analysis related content comprises The North America playground hybrid turf market is expected to continue dominating due to presence of leading manufacturers and widespread awareness about benefits of hybrid turf over natural grass. Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness fastest growth due to increasing emphasis on child safety and expansion of commercial and residential construction in countries like China, India. Key players operating in the playground hybrid turf market are Frinsa, Thai Union Group PCL, Century Pacific Food Inc., Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, Jealsa, Grupo Calvo, PT. Aneka Tuna Indonesia, American Tuna, The Jim Pattison Group, Bolton Group, Dongwon Group. Market leader Frinsa has patented technologies that improve hybrid turf durability, draining and UV resistance. Thai Union and Century Pacific dominate the Asia Pacific market with manufacturing and distribution reach across various countries.Get more insights on this topic:https://www.newswirestats.com/playground-hybrid-turf-market-size-and-outlook/

[rockislandadultreads]

Anthropology: Newer Books on Human Evolution

Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes

Since their discovery more than 160 years ago, Neanderthals have metamorphosed from the losers of the human family tree to A-list hominins. In Kindred, Rebecca Wragg Sykes uses her experience at the cutting-edge of Palaeolithic research to share our new understanding of Neanderthals, shoving aside clichés of rag-clad brutes in an icy wasteland. She reveals them to be curious, clever connoisseurs of their world, technologically inventive and ecologically adaptable. Above all, they were successful survivors for more than 300,000 years, during times of massive climatic upheaval. At a time when our species has never faced greater threats, we’re obsessed with what makes us special. But, much of what defines us was also in Neanderthals, and their DNA is still inside us. Planning, co-operation, altruism, craftsmanship, aesthetic sense, imagination... perhaps even a desire for transcendence beyond mortality. It is only by understanding them, that we can truly understand ourselves.

Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind by Kermit Pattison

Fossil Men is the first full-length exploration of Ardi, the fossil men who found her, and her impact on what we know about the origins of the human species. It is a scientific detective story played out in anatomy and the natural history of the human body. Kermit Pattison brings into focus a cast of eccentric, obsessive scientists, including one of the world's greatest fossil hunters, Tim White--an exacting and unforgiving fossil hunter whose virtuoso skills in the field were matched only by his propensity for making enemies; Gen Suwa, a Japanese savant who sometimes didn't bother going home at night to devote more hours to science; Owen Lovejoy, a onetime creationist-turned-paleoanthropologist; Berhane Asfaw, who survived imprisonment and torture to become Ethiopia's most senior paleoanthropologist and who fought for African scientists to gain equal footing in the study of human origins; and the Leakeys, for decades the most famous family in paloanthropology.

An intriguing tale of scientific discovery, obsession and rivalry that moves from the sun-baked desert of Africa and a nation caught in a brutal civil war, to modern high-tech labs and academic lecture halls, Fossil Men is popular science at its best, and a must read for fans of Jared Diamond, Richard Dawkins, and Edward O. Wilson.

Transcendence: How Humans Evolved through Fire, Language, Beauty, and Time by Gaia Vince

In the tradition of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Sapiens, a winner of the Royal Society Prize for Science Books shows how four tools have enabled humans to control the destiny of our species.

What enabled us to go from simple stone tools to smartphones? How did bands of hunter-gatherers evolve into multinational empires? Readers of Sapiens will say a cognitive revolution – a dramatic evolutionary change that altered our brains, turning primitive humans into modern ones – caused a cultural explosion. In Transcendence, Gaia Vince argues instead that modern humans are the product of a nuanced coevolution of our genes, environment, and culture that goes back into deep time. She explains how, through four key elements – fire, language, beauty, and time – our species diverged from the evolutionary path of all other animals, unleashing a compounding process that launched us into the Space Age and beyond. Provocative and poetic, Transcendence shows how a primate took dominion over nature and turned itself into something marvellous.

First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human by Jeremy DeSilva

In First Steps, paleoanthropologist Jeremy DeSilva explores how unusual and extraordinary this seemingly ordinary ability is. A seven-million-year journey to the very origins of the human lineage, First Steps shows how upright walking was a gateway to many of the other attributes that make us human—from our technological abilities, our thirst for exploration, our use of language–and may have laid the foundation for our species’ traits of compassion, empathy, and altruism. Moving from developmental psychology labs to ancient fossil sites throughout Africa and Eurasia, DeSilva brings to life our adventure walking on two legs. First Steps examines how walking upright helped us rise above all over species on this planet.

[marketinformation]

Industrial Silica Sand Market to Reflect Steady Growth Rate by 2027 | Market Size, Market Trends, Market Insights Report (2021-2027)

Industrial Silica Sand Market is valued at USD 6.47 Billion in 2018 and expected to reach USD 10.80 Billion by 2025 with the CAGR of 7.58% over the forecast period.

Get Free Exclusive Sample Report Copy: To Know the Impact of COVID-19 on this Industry @ https://brandessenceresearch.com/requestSample/PostId/1257?utm_source=AR&utm_medium=AR

Industrial Silica Sand Vendors:

Industrial silica sand market report covers prominent players are, Emerge Energy Services LP, Hi-Crush Partners, Preferred Sands, Premier Silica, Pattison Sand, Minerali Industriali, Covia, Fairmount Minerals, Sibelco, US Silica, Quarzwerke GmbH, Badger Mining, Others

Industrial silica sand is a construction material and performs as a main structural component in a number of construction products. Widely used in Flooring, mortars, cement, roofing shingles, asphalt, and other industrial materials all use silica to improve durability and structural integrity. Silica sand is used as a primary ingredient in numerous industries like glass, foundry, construction, oil & gas and fillers & extenders and many more.  Also, Silica sand used for water purification and manufacture of glass, synthetic foundry moulding catalysts, disodium ultramarine etc. Industrial silica sand is also used for acid heat resistant ceramics, pottery glaze, refractories, enamel etc.

Industrial silica sand market report is segmented on the basis of end-user industries and by regional & country level. Based upon end-user industries, industrial silica sand market is classified into glass manufacturing, foundry, chemical production, construction, paints & coatings, ceramics & refractories, filtration, oil & gas and other.

Industrial Silica Sand Market Segmentation –

By End-user Industries: Glass Manufacturing, Foundry, Chemical Production, Construction, Paints & Coatings, Ceramics & Refractories, Filtration, Oil & Gas, Other

Industrial Silica Sand Market Dynamics –

Increasing development of the glass industry is key impacting factors deriving the growth of the global industrial silica sand market. Moreover, rise in investment in the global construction sector, specifically in the residential and commercial sector, growing population and urbanization, these factors will increases the market growth in forecast period. According to the Our World in Data, more than 4 billion people live in urban areas across the globe and United Nation expected that 68 % of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050. 

Key Benefits for Industrial Silica Sand Market Reports –

·         Global Market report covers in depth historical and forecast analysis.

·         Global Market research report provides detail information about Market Introduction, Market Summary, Global market Revenue (Revenue USD), Market Drivers, Market Restraints, Market opportunities, Competitive Analysis, Regional and Country Level.

·         Global Market report helps to identify opportunities in market place.

·         Global Market report covers extensive analysis of emerging trends and competitive landscape.

Regional & Country Analysis North America, U.S., Mexico, Canada , Europe, UK, France, Germany, Italy , Asia Pacific, China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, South America, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, The Middle East and Africa, GCC, Africa, Rest of Middle East and Africa.

Get More Information@ https://brandessenceresearch.com/chemical-and-materials/industrial-silica-sand-market-industry-analysis

About: Brandessence Market Research Inc.

Brandessence market research publishes market research reports & business insights produced by highly qualified and experienced industry analysts. Brand Essence Market Research report will be best fit for senior executives, business development managers, marketing managers, consultants, CEOs, CIOs, COOs, and Directors, governments, agencies, organizations and Ph.D. Students. We have a delivery center in Pune, India and our sales office is in London.

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[discreetinvestigate-blog]

Is the COVID-19 Changing the Pattern of Criminal Activity in Canadian Cities?

Notwithstanding lockdowns and remain at home requests from the specialists, it appears as though another example of neighborhood wrongdoing is rising in Canada. The police are revealing less rates of alcoholic driving, misrepresentation, petty criminal offenses, and different violations, however has been seeing a stamped increment in aggressive behavior at home for as far back as scarcely any weeks generally speaking. 

Crisis assertions of impediments on work, development, business, and entertainment across a large portion of Canada changed the ways of life of a large number of Canadians. Families and people are in self-seclusion with just the individuals they live with for friendship, putting more anxiety on connections as the weeks haul by.

Fascinating Crime Patterns in York

Police powers revealed to National Post that new highs and lows are being recorded and that their powers are extremely bustling attempting to maintain control. York police detailed a 13% reduction in by and large wrongdoing for March 2020 contrasted with that month a year back. Debilitated driving was somewhere around 29% and routine petty criminal offenses was somewhere near 32% because of bars being shut and individuals remaining at home. Weapons offenses was somewhere near 13% and cheats was somewhere around 16% as well; lamentably, business break-ins rose by 45% in March and robbery of vehicles rose by 44% as more vehicles and stores lay void without individuals close by.

Inside the home, it is a lot of more terrible. Local grievances rose by 22%, with individuals announcing anything from verbal squabbles to really rough local ambush. Different zones in Canada are seeing a similar general pattern however may not be as articulated for what it's worth in York.

Toronto Reports Crime Patterns

The week after week insights in Toronto show practically no adjustment in manslaughter however with a checked decrease in other significant wrongdoing classifications. Meaghan Gray of Toronto police says that this example might be ascribed to self-detachment and social separating in spite of the fact that the occurrences of different wrongdoings, for example, break-ins and vehicle robbery additionally declined in Toronto.

Vancouver, Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton Share Their Numbers

Psychological wellness considers saw a 52% in Edmonton for March 2020 contrasted with March 2019 as shared by their Police Service representative Scott Pattison. Calls related with genuine aggressive behavior at home expanded by 62% for the principal quarter of 2020.

Ottawa reports that their primary wrongdoing concerns are stunt driving, business break-ins, and local maltreatment. Insp. Jim Elves shares that their area of expertise is additionally worried that survivors of residential maltreatment may likewise be not revealing their abusers nor getting treatment in centers or emergency clinics for their wounds. Contact Discreet Investigation Background Agency for more details.

[nfl2sevensummits]

Benjamin Alexander: From being an international DJ to trying to make the Jamaica Olympic Ski Team. What are the odds?

182: Benjamin Alexander: Soon-to-be Olympic Alpine Skier representing Jamaica and former International DJ discusses his journey from being a financial analyst to traveling all over the world as a DJ and his current pursuit to represent Jamaica in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

  Benjamin Alexader

  What is Benjamin Alexander’s connection to the Jamaican Olympic team? “I’m half English, half Jamaican. My father was born on the south side of the island. that’s actually why this whole thing came about. The funny thing is, as a mixed-race person, half-white and half-black, whenever you’re in a group of white people, you’re the black guy; when you’re in a group of black people, you’re the white guy. So, skiing is obviously a very very white pursuit, so that means I am the token black guy in any group of friends when we’re skiing. I’m also Jamaican, so then there’s also this movie Cool Runnings about the Jamaican bobsled team in 1988. Everyone knows this movie so there’s people always talking about Cool Runnings and Jamaican on ice. So, honestly, this whole thing just started off as a joke.”

On this episode of Finding Your Summit Podcast, we talk with Benjamin Alexander, Expert Alpine Skiier and former international DJ. “Sometimes failing is not a failure. Sometimes failing is a pivot into something that 10 years from now you look back and realize that maybe that was the better thing that you didn’t even think about because you were so focused on the first goal I don’t think there’s anything more positive than a human that is on a mission that they’re really really pumped up and jazzed up about. When you have this thing in life that is a burning passion, it creates a better version of you.” 

  What You Will Learn:

Benjamin Alexander dives into his love for electronic dance music and how that took him all over the world. “So, I actually started DJing 20 years ago...before YouTube. I had come across this genre of music, this underground form of electronic dance music that was really only available in nightclubs, at raves, or illegal pirate radio stations in London. Because I wasn’t of legal age, so I couldn’t get into the night clubs or the raves, the only way for me to really recreate that experience was to buy turntables and just go out there and buy the records myself and recreate it in my bedroom. This week, actually, is the 20-year anniversary of one of the first mixtapes that I put out. It just started as a hobby. My interest in it just kind of came and went. It wasn’t until I moved to Asia that I started to collect the music that was super popular at that moment.”

How did Benjamin take his basement hobby and turn it into a career? “I really enjoyed performing for people. Something that I would do casually at afterparties then turned into a bit more of a serious hobby. I was invited to play at the best nightclub in Hong Kong called Club Voila. It got to the point in early 2010 where I was working 50 hours a week in the industry of finance and wealth management, and working 5 or 6 hours a week across 2 or 3 gigs in Hong Kong and Macau, and making enough money from the djing alone to scrape by but having far more fun with the djing than the suit and tie 9 to 5. I decided to take the leap of faith in just going full-time with the creative pursuit and I just wanted to see what happened. My eyes were opened to this event called Burning man and from then everything exploded and I before I knew it I was playing all over the world. I was living in Ibiza for my summers and by the time I retired from djing at the end of 2018, I had the opportunity to perform in almost 35 countries.”

Where did Benjamin’s creative bug find him? Or did he find the bug? “Definitely was the class clown. Definitely the trouble maker. I never thought of being a performer of any sort. When I started to collect records, I really did it out of necessity. The energy that I was listening to out of these cassette tapes that were being recorded from pirate radio was like nothing else id experienced. The only way that I could get access to this thing that had this allure, this energy that I hadn’t experienced anywhere else was really just to recreate it myself. I’m an engineer by trade and I just kind of approach these problems by brute force. After a while, you find yourself in a place where without even realizing it, you’re better than 95% of everyone else that’s doing it. You weren’t doing it with the anticipation or the expectation or the desire to be doing it on stage. You were doing it because you just loved the trade and after a while, you were just so much better than everyone else that you naturally just have to follow this through.”

When did the light go off that inspired Benjamin’s goal of getting to the Olympics in 2022? “In 2018, I went to the Olympics in South Korea as an attendee and I noticed that there were only 3 Jamaicans representing the entire country and I was kind of taken by surprise by that fact. We put the Cool Runnings movie on and a lightbulb kind of went off. If there’s only 3 athletes  representing the country of Jamaica, maybe I can be plus one when we get around to the Olympics.”

What is Benjamin trying to show people about skiing and achieving their dreams in general? “The story that I’m’ trying to tell here is not only that minorities can do well in winter sports, it’s also that you can do really well even if you pick up something as athletic as skiing later on in your life. But it’s also trying to tell that skiing doesn’t have to be expensive. How many pieces of sporting equipment sit idle in a garage. If you are unafraid to just ask the people around you for help, for gear, it’s incredible. I looked at a photo of all of the things I was wearing in July and every single piece of clothing that I was wearing was a gift, a hand-me-down, or something that I was sponsored. So there are ways to make this thing inexpensive?”

  Heli-Ski Trip

Where did Benjamin find the inspiration to not only get into skiing but skiing at an elite level? “So, at the end of 2015, I was invited to a heli-ski trip. I had never skied before. Without embellishing the lavishness and how amazing this thing was, on one of the days, the housecats as they called us, the 8 of us that were not skiing, had the opportunity to jump into a helicopter and join the skiers on top of the hill for lunch. I got up there, and I was just blown away by the scenery by the beauty, by the remoteness of being the only people for tens of miles if not further. Then at the end of lunch, just watching all of my skiing friends hop on their skies and just disappear down the side of the mountain. It just blew my mind. From that moment, there and then I set the intention that I would not return to that place without joining the skiing contention.”

  Qualifying for The Olympics

During this episode of Finding Your Summit Podcast, Benjamin Alexander discusses his improbably rise from a 12-year-old in his room, to an international DJ, to his current pursuit to make the 2022 Olympics as a Jamaican Alpine skier. “How can it be possible that someone who just started skiing in 2016, especially someone who started skiing later in life, that he believes within 5 years he’ll be able to qualify for the Olympics? The spirit of the Olympics is that you have as many nationalities represented in as many disciplines as possible. What the Olympics does to make that possible is every nation has the ability to put forward 1 b-standard athlete. What that basically, means is, if I can get myself to the level of a really good 16-year old ski racer, you know, the cookie-cutter ski racer started skiing at the age of 2 and started racing at the age of 7 and by 16, they’re going to be at that level if they’re good that I need to get to for me to qualify for the Olympics.”

  Links to Additional Resources:

Mark Pattison: markpattisonnfl.com

Benjamin Alexander: Instagram | Website

Mark Pattison: Instagram

Check out this episode!

[replica-eames-barcelona-chairs]

BARCELONA CHAIR SHOOK MODERNISM AND CHARMED HOLLYWOOD

Long an icon of the modern movement, the Barcelona chair has in recent decades taken on a surprising new role as Hollywood actor. So potent a symbol of elevated taste, privilege and authority has Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s classic perch become that it’s now often cast as a signifier of those qualities in the movie characters to whom it belongs, both villains and heroes.

In the James Bond film Casino Royale (2006), several Barcelona chairs are in the mix, making up the emphatically eclectic decor of the penthouse of M (Judi Dench), the tough, caustic, yet inherently decent head of MI6. And in the epic teen romance Twilight (2008), the mesmerizing Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison) dwells along with his clan of high-minded vampires — altruists, they feed only on animal blood — in an airy contemporary house outfitted with Barcelona chairs and other sleek furnishings.

Mies would certainly take deep satisfaction in learning that nearly a century after its creation, the allure of the Barcelona chair endures. After all, his stated aim as an architect was to capture “the spatially apprehended will of the epoch. Alive, changing, new.”

To decipher what accounts for the chair’s continuing mystique, you have to understand how integral it was to that pavilion, still considered the quintessential expression of the modern movement. In the 1920s, Germany was at the forefront of the avant-garde in architecture, and as one of its rising stars, Mies was selected to design the national pavilion. For this cerebral architect, it was the commission of a lifetime. 

At once sculpture and structure, the Barcelona chairs and ottoman is a perfect fusion of form and function. And it is this clarity of expression, this distilled elegance that makes it so visually compelling to this day.

[minpsone]

Where are the curators in Myanmar’s art scene?

[featured in Frontier Myanmar ]

By Min Pyae Sone , Photos by Thuya Zaw - February 9, 2020

The development of contemporary art in Myanmar has been hampered by a paucity of curators, with most galleries asking artists to arrange, fund and promote their own exhibitions.

Arts reporters in Yangon have plenty of artists and gallery owners to interview, but one art world actor seems to always be missing.

Myanmar has been short on curators since the arts scene began a revival of sorts about 20 years ago. The word “curator” lacks a direct Burmese translation, and the role itself is little understood in Myanmar. Though attitudes are changing, the government and much of the public tends to view contemporary art as a novelty, with little precedent in Myanmar culture, and as an amateur passion where professional curatorship isn’t required.

Those wishing to become curators – or to work with galleries exercising a degree of curatorship – have few options. The national universities of art and culture in Yangon and Mandalay offer a degree in “Painting” that asks students to memorise only a few select details of global art history while focusing on painting techniques.

Ko Aung Khant Kyaw, 23, who graduated from NUAC Yangon three years ago with a bachelor’s degree in Painting and teaches Visual Arts at SKT (formerly Horizon) International School, participated in a group discussion at a workshop on curating hosted by the Japan Foundation last November in Yangon, which I attended. “I’ve been in many group exhibitions, but I have yet to participate in something I’m proud of,” he said, attracting agreement from the assembled artists and gallery managers..

After the event, Aung Khant told me about the exhibitions held at NUAC for graduating students. “There were no curators there, just students, parents, and other relatives,” he said. “Exhibitions in Myanmar are just for socialising; people come to drink, talk and enjoy themselves. Nobody even looks at the art anymore.”

Government patronage of the arts, such that it exists, has done little to raise standards or increase public appreciation of contemporary art. In the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the government allocated more than K35 billion (US$24 million) to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture.

Though most of this was spent on religious monuments and ceremonies throughout the country, the ministry is also responsible for funding the national universities of arts and culture and the National Museum in Yangon. However, the museum asks artists to donate works to its staid permanent display of contemporary art and curates just a handful of events each year, mostly about history and traditional culture.

With little help from the government, the contemporary arts milieu relies almost entirely on commercial galleries. Many of the owners of these galleries, who struggle to even pay the rent, see a curator as a luxury they cannot afford. Instead, they hand their spaces over to artists, or artist groups, to supply and display the artwork as they see fit, charging them rent and taking a cut of sales, and often leaving artists to do most of the promotion.

“We let the artists do what they want and do not interfere in any way; they are the ones who pay for our space,” said one downtown Yangon gallery owner, who asked me to leave when asked if I could interview him and record his name. “No hard feelings, but you really should be asking bigger galleries, not me,” he said as I reached the door.

However, a small number of talented curators in Myanmar have been behind a number of high-concept exhibitions in Yangon in recent years, which have taken place in large public venues like the Secretariat building rather than conventional art galleries. This rise in curatorial practice has been encouraged, directly and indirectly, by grants and funding from foreign cultural organisations in Myanmar.

Sai Htin Linn Htet, 28, is a Yangon-based curator, multimedia artist and human rights activist whose work addresses the themes of empathy, pollution, gender equality, identity and discrimination. He is also programme manager of the biennial My Yangon My Home: Yangon Art & Heritage Festival and co-curated the July 2019 edition, called “Building Bridges Yangon”, with Indian curator Ms Ushmita Sahu at the newly renovated, colonial era Tourist Burma Building opposite the Sule Pagoda.

Helped by a team of volunteers, Htin Linn Htet was responsible for curating many of the Myanmar artworks featured in the international exhibition. In an email interview, he described the challenge of developing an exhibition design “that is suitable to the venue” while also providing room for “the voice of the artists”.

Htin Linn Htet, who has now worked with several foreign curators, sees it as his role to advise them on the tastes, values and sensitivities of the Myanmar public, making space for stimulating foreign subjects and styles while making sure local culture is represented.

However, despite frequently conservative and dismissive attitudes from the public towards contemporary art, he insists that “things are rapidly changing here”.

“We are going no way but up,” he said. “I’ll continue to promote emerging artists, stepping between their artworks and the public, as a mediator, curator, and a friend, as long as there is a need for one to materialise their unrealised projects.”

Yet, Htin Linn Htet says the dividing line between professionalism and amateurism in Myanmar art remains thin. Artists, who have to depend largely on self-promotion, have little recourse to feedback or guidance from galleries and other institutions. However, River Gallery, which opened in downtown Yangon in 2006, bucks this norm.

“Rather than telling the artists what to do, we focus on helping the artists articulate the 'story' behind the artwork if they need assistance on that,” said River Gallery owner Ms Gill Pattison, a New Zealander who has been living in Yangon since 2002. “The language of art does not always readily translate into regular language, and sometimes we can help the artists find a way of conveying more of their thoughts and feelings about their works.”

Pattison and River Gallery work with some of the most internationally recognised Myanmar artists – most of whom have experience working with overseas curators and sometimes curate their own shows. Pattison said that when she was planning to open River Gallery in 2005 as a professionally curated gallery in the international mould, “I really didn't have much idea of whether it would be successful, whether anyone would visit, or whether anyone would buy.”

However, it helped that she knew many talented artists.  In 2004, Pattison had organised the now defunct Myanmar Contemporary Art Awards in cooperation with Myanmar Times. “The artists entrusted me with their works at the outset, and then I think we repaid this trust through professional, transparent business practices and we did our best to promote their careers,” Pattison said.

An artist often featured at River Gallery is U Htein Lin, 53, a star in Myanmar’s contemporary scene, who has a satirical and sometimes controversial approach to social and political issues. His “Skirting the Issue” exhibition at River Gallery last year tackled misogynist taboos by featuring canvases made from htamein (a women’s longyi), which are traditionally seen as polluting for men and are handled only by women.

When I interviewed Htein Lin at a Yangon teashop late one evening in early January, he began on the subject of curatorship by talking about his six-and-a-half years as a political prisoner.

“In prison, I painted and even organised a solo show there for the prisoners. I suppose you can call it my first time curating,” he said. It was a risky venture because organising such an event in prison was prohibited.

“Dealing with the guards and prisoners for space and logistics was very hard,” he said. “First of all, it isn’t an art gallery, it’s a prison. Second, there’s the problem with the timeframe and finding the opportunity. Third, how we would invite people to my show.”

Htein Lin hand-drew the invitations on used snack packets and distributed them around the prison, a task made easier by the fact that inmates in each block of 15 cells had to change cells every day. “We asked a single-cell inmate to let us use his cell when everyone was getting ready to switch cells. The cell was nine feet by nine feet,” he said.

Htein Lin and some fellow inmates had to negotiate with the guards and arrange times when occupants of the 15 cells could view the works, which were displayed on torn plastic bags attached to the walls with toothpaste. When the day finally came, inmates showered, dressed up and visited the cell to view Htein Lin’s works.

Soon after Htein Lin’s release in 2005, one of his close friends, fellow artist Daw Chaw Ei Thein, curated and displayed a selection of the hundreds of works he created in prison. The exhibition at her house in northern Yangon, near the airport, ran for only one day because it attracted the attention of plainclothes intelligence officers.

When he returned to Yangon in 2013 after living in Britain for seven years, he started to curate exhibitions using ideas and curatorial principles gleaned from galleries in London, Paris and elsewhere. “A proper exhibition should make you feel and think differently about the things you saw after you leave,” he said. “That’s the curator doing their job.”

[mikemortgage]

China halts shipments from Canada’s biggest canola exporter amid rising tensions

Richardson International, Canada’s largest exporter of canola, says it has become a target in the escalating political dispute between Ottawa and Beijing after China revoked its authorization to export the crop to its vast market.

“I think that we are being caught in the middle of a much larger dispute,” Jean-Marc Ruest, senior vice president of global affairs and general counsel for Richardson International said in an interview. “As a large Canadian corporation, there is a certain motivation to target Richardson.”

China’s move to halt canola imports from Winnipeg-based Richardson, first reported by Reuters, comes amid rising tensions between Beijing and Ottawa following Canada’s arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on Dec.1, on a U.S. extradition request. That arrest was followed by the detentions of Canadian citizens in China, in apparent retaliation.

Sometime during December, Richardson received a notice alleging that it and other Canadian exporters had been shipping vessels of canola to China that included “prohibited pests,” or weed seeds, Ruest said.

“We reviewed those allegations along with the Canadian government and came to the conclusion that they were unfounded,” said Ruest. “We absolutely did not agree that there were quality issues with the shipment.”

In the following months, inspections of all shipments continued to confirm the absence of the pests on the Canadian side, he added.

“But then on Friday March 1 we were advised by the Canadian government that it had been advised that our status as an authorized Canadian exporter was being revoked by China,” Ruest said. “China is alleging, notwithstanding those Canadian inspections, that weed seeds continue to be present in our shipments.”

Though other Canadian companies also received the initial notifications in December, Ruest said he didn’t know if any other companies have also had their authorization removed. Canadian-owned canola exporters Parrish and Heimbecker and Pattison Agriculture both declined to comment when contacted.

Though he declined to provide exact volumes, Ruest said Richardson sends several shipments carrying roughly 50,000 tonnes of canola each year to China, its largest market.

“It’s a significant part of our business and obviously we’ll have to find other outlets for our product,” he said. “This is an issue much larger than Richardson so we have to hope and expect that our government is going to take all the steps required to address the situation forcefully. These are early days and we’ll see how things progress but we are obviously very disappointed with the situation.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week that Canada would proceed with a U.S. extradition request for Meng, even as Chinese authorities made new allegations of espionage against the two detained Canadians.

China, the world’s largest importer of canola, has been known to use the power of its market to retaliate against other nations, said Neil Townsend, a senior analyst at FarmLink Marketing Solutions.

“We haven’t seen a lot of energy in the Canadian market in a while and if Richardson is being blocked that could partly be why,” he said. “Demand has been very slow and China, as the biggest importer, is obviously part of that.”

Canada ships roughly $2.5 billion of Canadian canola to China each year. A separate Chinese tariff on American soybeans has also seen Canadian canola displaced in a number of markets, he added.

More to come…

from Financial Post https://ift.tt/2SLH877 via IFTTT Blogger Mortgage Tumblr Mortgage Evernote Mortgage Wordpress Mortgage href="https://www.diigo.com/user/gelsi11">Diigo Mortgage

[kansascityhappenings]

Natural disasters will be a priority for incoming governors

Governors have a wide range of priorities they want to tackle in the coming year, from tax reform to education. Yet it’s a topic that receives less attention on the campaign trail and in their speeches that could determine their success — natural disasters.

In the last two years alone, storms and natural disasters have killed scores of people, damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of homes and cost tens of billions of dollars.

Wildfires in the West and hurricanes in the South have been especially destructive, and scientists say climate change is making this more common. As the severity escalates, governors are finding they have to make disaster planning a priority or risk the consequences of inaction defining their terms and enraging voters.

Handling disasters and emergencies was a prime topic last week when the National Governors Association held a three-day seminar in Colorado that most of the nation’s 19 governors-elect attended.

“As California’s wildfires, a spate of hurricanes, and unfortunate acts of mass violence have demonstrated, such events can occur at any time,” Scott Pattison, the nonpartisan association’s chief executive, said in a statement, “including a governor’s first day in office.”

For many Democratic governors especially, the main concern is how climate change appears to be worsening the effects of natural disasters.

In California, half of the 10 most destructive wildfires in state history have occurred since 2017, and the costliest have been in each of the past three years, according to the state firefighting agency. The state has spent $500 million from its emergency firefighting fund just since July 1, putting this wildfire season on pace to be among the costliest yet.

The state is dealing with its most destructive wildfire ever, a Northern California blaze that leveled a town of 27,000 this month, killed at least 80 people and left thousands homeless. That blaze, and another that roared through Malibu at the same time and left at least three dead, are the latest in a string of catastrophic wildfires that have put the state in what seems like a perpetual state of emergency.

Outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown has called California’s mega fires “the new abnormal” as climate change turns the state warmer and drier.

The escalating destruction prompted state lawmakers to pass a series of wildfire-related bills this year. Among other provisions, they provide millions of dollars to cut trees and brush, make it easier for property owners to clear their land and require the state’s utilities to step up their fire-prevention efforts.

During his campaign, incoming Gov. Gavin Newsom said wildfire planning would be a priority for his administration and outlined a number of steps he wants to take. Among them is a more aggressive approach to clearing trees and brush, particularly the state’s millions of dead trees.

“I’d rather see our National Guard working on those kinds of emergencies than being on the border,” Newsom told the nonprofit news organization CALmatters over the summer.

He also proposed deploying a network of infrared cameras to detect wildfires early, improving the emergency alert system and boosting funding for fire departments throughout the state.

A spokesman, Nathan Click, said Newsom is putting together a comprehensive wildfire strategy as he prepares to take office in early January. But the governor-elect also has been clear that the long-term goal must be reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

California’s fire season has been especially severe, yet other Western states also have experienced ever-intensifying wildland blazes in recent years.

In Colorado, the two most destructive wildfires in state history erupted within the last six years, killed a total of four people and destroyed more than 850 homes combined. Both are believed to be caused by humans, leading Democrat Jared Polis, Colorado’s governor-elect, to call for a public education campaign to reduce the possibility of manmade wildfires.

He also said the state should invest in programs to remove flammable debris and help communities and private landowners take steps to prevent the spread of wildfires.

Nearly 1 million people in Colorado live in areas considered to have at least some risk of a devastating fire.

Florida has been hit with two deadly and destructive hurricanes in roughly a year’s time. Hurricanes Irma last year and Michael in October caused tens of billions of dollars in damage.

Even without hurricanes, many coastal communities are dealing with flooding from high tides and storm surges. Incoming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has already said he will work with local governments to address rising sea levels, but has been criticized by Democrats for avoiding any mention of climate change in his environmental plan.

DeSantis has said he is neither a climate change “denier” nor a “believer.” That could be a problem for identifying long-term solutions to keep coastal communities safe, said Jen Hensley, the director of state lobbying and advocacy at the Sierra Club.

She said one reason Hurricane Michael was so devastating was a lack of strong statewide coastal development standards.

“We’re going to have to change zoning rules in coastal areas,” Hensley said. “The reality is that those areas are more flood prone than they’ve ever been.”

A massive federal report released Friday warns that disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes are worsening in the United States because of global warming.

It’s similar in Texas, which has seen widespread destruction from hurricanes and where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has been noncommittal about whether he thinks human activity is affecting the climate.

Texas has sought $12 billion from the federal government for a 60-mile coastal “spine” of concrete seawalls, floating gates and steel levees as a defense against future hurricanes and higher tides expected from climate change. That’s just a fraction of the work the state estimates need to be done over the next decade to reduce the impact of flooding.

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey left Houston underwater, killed dozens and left an estimated $125 billion in damage. Abbott named a recovery czar after the storm and wants to “future-proof” the Texas coast, but attention on the issue has faded.

Governors in New York and New Jersey pushed for changes after Superstorm Sandy devastated the region in 2012.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed a law requiring sea level rise projections to be used whenever the state considers approvals or funding for projects. Then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, pushed policies to buy homes in some flood-prone areas, although environmentalists criticized him for not addressing climate change.

Those groups cheered last year when Democrat Phil Murphy was elected to replace Christie, but they have been critical of him too since, saying he’s not taking action to address global warming.

Earlier this month, Murphy experienced the perils of falling short on the basics of emergency preparedness when an early season snowstorm hit without plows at the ready, bringing roads and the transit system to a standstill and stranding thousands of commuters.

He was hit with waves of criticism, and his transportation commissioner was forced to apologize.

Murphy said it was too simplistic to say his administration “dropped the ball.” But he added, “The buck stops with me, period.”

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2018/11/24/natural-disasters-will-be-a-priority-for-incoming-governors/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2018/11/25/natural-disasters-will-be-a-priority-for-incoming-governors/

[whiskytastings]

Review #206: Dewar’s 15 year old The Monarch

40% ABV, E150a, chill-filtered Producer: Bacardi Ltd. (through John Dewar & Sons Ltd.)

This review is part of a series of Blended Scotch reviews.

Like so many Blended Scotch whisky brands of today, the origins of Dewar’s date back to the Scottish whisky boom of the mid-19th century. The history of Dewar’s begins in 1846, when founder John Dewar opened at wine and spirits shop in Perth, Scotland. At the time, the mixing of whiskies from different sources was still illegal, and he would initially have sold single malts from distilleries that he sourced spirit from, and both aged and bottled it at his premises. When the blending of whiskies was made legal in the 1860′s, Dewar started to also blend his own whiskies. 

When John Dewar passed away in 1880, his sons John Alexander and Thomas “Tommy” Robert took over the family business, at the age of 24 and 16 respectively. After changing the company name to John Dewar & Sons, they greatly expanded the whisky blending business. In 1892 Tommy Dewar set out on a two year journey around the world, visiting some 26 countries, to establish business relations and promote the Dewar’s brand. Heavily investing into advertisement, Dewar’s commissioned one of the first ever movie commercials, that was screened on a New York rooftop around 1898.

While Tommy, the flamboyant marketing genius travelled thew world, his brother John Alexander was the hard-working business man and brain of the company. Remaining in Scotland, he commissioned Aberfeldy distillery in 1898, and the following year introduced the new Dewar’s flagship expression, Dewar’s White Label.

Following the Pattison crisis at the end of the 19th century, and the subsequent consolidation of the whisky industry, John Dewar & Sons merged with James Buchanan & Co. in 1915 to become Buchanan-Dewar Ltd. In an aim to compete against the rise of Distiller’s Company Ltd. (DCL), the joint venture went on a spending spree with the acquisition of Port Ellen and Lochruan distillery, and a short while later of Benrinnes distilleries. 

Alas, the company was taken over by DCL in 1925 and the brand remained with DCL and it’s successor United Distillers for over 70 years. Following the merger of UD with Grand Metropolitan in 1997, and the formation of Diageo Plc., the Dewar’s brand was sold to Bacardi Ltd. in 1998, amidst concerns over the formation of a monopoly. Alongside the Dewar’s brand, Bacardi took over the “Dewar’s distilleries” Aberfeldy, Craigellachie, Aultmore and  Royal Brackla, and started to develop the brand as well as the single malts, with an investment of $250 million to established a new headquarter in Glasgow and a maturation facility in Poneil, Scotland.

Dewar’s 15 year old was created by Dewar’s master blender Stephanie Macleod and introduced in 2010. Initially targeted at the Asian market and travel retail, Dewar’s 15 is now available more widely, albeit still less common than Dewar’s White Label, 12 year old and 18 year old. It is dubbed "The Monarch" after a 1851 oil painting by Sir Edwin Landseer, titled "The Monarch of the Glen", that depicts a red deer stag in the Scottish Highlands. The painting became hugely popular during the 19th century. It was purchased by John Dewar & Sons in 1919 and became part of the Dewar’s marketing and advertisement campaign. It remained in the property of Diageo when the Dewar’s brand was sold to Bacardi, and loaned to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, before being sold to the museum in 2016 for the sum of £4 million, half its valuation.

Eye: The golden metal tin with its embossed Celtic pattern gives this whisky a very luxurious presentation, and the distinctive Dewar’s logo makes the brand immediately recognizable. The whisky itself is ripe corn in colour with a slight orangey tinge. Nose: Sweet, floral and spicy, with heather honey, lemon peel, green apple, coconut, something flowery I can’t quite place, icing sugar, pencil shavings and a hint of sulphur. Palate: Fruity, woody and quite luscious. Sweet honey, citrus, apricot, vanilla, prickly wood spices, ginger, and white pepper. Finish: Short to medium, getting dier with lingering wood and a slight ashy bitterness.  Verdict: Light, sweet and very easy drinking, the Dewar’s 15 is a great beginner’s whisky. It’s a bit one dimensional for the age statement and price tag in my opinion, but sometimes an uncomplicated, straight-forward whisky may be just be what you’re looking for. 82/100

Other people’s reviews of Dewar’s 15 The Monarch:

http://whiskeyreviewer.com/2017/10/dewars-15-year-old-scotch-review-101917

http://whiskeyapostle.com/2014/12/dewars-monarch

https://www.whiskysaga.com/dewars-15-yo

http://www.coolhunting.com/food-drink/dewars-limited-edition-15-year

[caveartfair]

Embattled London Art Market Has Become a Testing Ground for New Gallery Models

Frieze London, 2016. Photo by Benjamin Westoby for Artsy.

“How’s London?” an American gallerist asked me over the summer. He was preparing for his umpteenth Frieze and I could hear he wanted good news. I hesitated to answer that London was more depressed that I’d ever known it in my 12 years in the U.K. From across the pond, the issue of Brexit can seem parochial—particularly in light of persistent political turmoil in the U.S.—but its impact could be felt worldwide.

Yet if you look at the London art world hard enough there are signs that the primary market has yet to lose its oomph. Frieze Week will usher in a fresh crop of new spaces to the capital, set up by galleries either moving in or consolidating their London presence. There’s a genuine feeling among the contemporary art crowd that people are rallying together to protest what can feel like madness all around. Brexiteers might accuse them of being a “liberal elite” preaching to the converted, but Londoners won’t let go.

At a national level, outside the art world’s bubble, the picture is grim. The delusion and arrogance of the British officials in charge of negotiating with the EU would be comical if they weren’t seriously risking the prospects of an entire nation. Hate crimes have increased by over 200 percent since the referendum. When we thought the tabloids couldn’t possibly get worse, they are now overtly “policing” the democratic process, labeling, for instance, High Court judges “Enemies of the People” when they ruled that only Parliament was able to trigger Article 50. European nationals like myself are getting used to being asked routinely if they’re going to get kicked out.

Banks decamping to the EU could seriously weaken London’s position as a financial center, a position key to its art-world stature. And as investors wait for developments in the Brexit negotiations to back the pound, the currency has fallen to an eight-year low against the euro. A weak British pound might be good for buyers of art, real estate, and other commodities from overseas, but for Londoners the city is still eye-wateringly expensive. Artists, curators, and their ilk are starting to wonder if it’s all really worth it—and are increasingly considering Brussels, Lisbon, and Prague as viable alternatives.

Brexit cannot be blamed for the string of recent gallery closures, among them Laura Bartlett and Wilkinson. But it certainly doesn’t breed confidence, and its effects on the art economy, which remains fragile at the lower end of the market, are still largely unknown. Yet London, ever multicultural and pragmatic, is clearly determined to fight the nationalist tendencies gripping much of the country and to maintain its prime spot on the global business map.

Last April, Frieze entered the political fray. Hoping to assuage its exhibitors’ concerns over the U.K. exiting the EU, fair management sent a set of recommendations to Britain’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and to the Creative Industries Federation. Recommendations included the maintenance of the Temporary Admission policy (which allows artworks imported on a temporary basis to be tax-exempt) and of the freedom of movement for people, augmented, if needed, by “a specialist category providing artists and art workers fast-track entry for specific events.” Freedom of movement has been a particularly sore point in the Brexit talks, which have continued in Brussels this week. As the fair opens the doors of its 15th edition on October 4th, government reassurances on this or any other points are still a long way away.

Galleries aren’t waiting around to see what happens. The Berlin mainstay König Galerie opens a 3,750-square foot London space in a former Marylebone car park on Thursday; it’s perhaps the most highly anticipated event this season. The gallery-cum-shop, König Archiv & Souvenir, will feature artworks including Julian Rosefeldt’s filmic investigation of Germany’s past Deep Gold (2013–14), as well as books, “wearables,” and merch. According to London director Zhoe Granger, formerly of Arcadia Missa, the gallery saw Brexit as a potential opportunity.

“Despite being adverse to the decision politically, I feel that Brexit is propelling the art world forward with a new sense of anticipation, maybe giving it the kick that it needed in the U.K.,” she says. “Any time of political unrest always breeds powerful emotion and therefore interesting artwork.”

Image by @spruethmagers via Instagram.

Sprüth Magers’s London director Andreas Gegner says he’s also certain that Brexit won’t throw the London art world off pace. “London has worked its way up to be on a par with New York over the past decade, becoming the primary hub for the art market this side of the Atlantic,” he says. “The reasons for London’s rise were varied and lay beyond the benefits of its EU membership. Brexit won’t put an end to it.”

The German gallery has just strengthened its position in the capital, refurbishing its Grafton Street home. The elegant 18th-century mansion has doubled its exhibition space, which now spreads over two floors, and boasts another new, six-meter-high gallery in the basement. The choice of YBA Gary Hume (who left his alma mater White Cube a couple of years ago) for the opening show is meant as further proof of the gallery’s commitment to British culture.

Several homegrown galleries, big and small, are also making strides, and London’s gallery map is shifting. While Mayfair and the East End remain the two main hubs, dealers appear increasingly keen to explore other areas. The idea that you had to be within one mile of Claridge’s to do serious business is beginning to lose sway.

Project Native Informant founder Stephan Tanbin Sastrawidjaja has swapped his former garage behind London’s iconic luxury hotel for a recently converted high-rise in the City, an area which until now has had virtually no galleries. “Audiences in London are adventurous and willing to come to new destinations if they feel a strong incentive,” says the dealer, who is currently showing new work by rising star Juliana Huxtable. Dublin gallery Mother’s Tankstation will be joining PNI next week, opening a yearlong project space in the same building with a solo show by Yuri Pattison.

Installation view of Juliana Huxtable at Project Native Informant. Courtesy of PNI.

Artist Ed Fornieles, who has been strongly associated with the “post-internet” generation, has just resettled in the capital after a four-year stint abroad. Brexit and the subsequent marginal dip in Central London prices, Fornieles says, allowed him to secure a live/work space in Soho, which he intends to turn it into a “meeting place,” renewing with London’s tradition of artist-run-spaces.The Studio, as he’s dubbed the space, will officially open during Frieze Week with a two-day summit bringing together artists and Live Action Role Play practitioners.

“London has an intensity, an overflow of human beings, so it’s very useful and nurturing for the production of works,” he says.

Meanwhile, East End torchbearer Herald St has inaugurated a new space in Bloomsbury, a stone’s throw from the British Museum, with an exhibition by sculptor Michael Dean. The Sunday Painter has left the South London district of Peckham—something most of us would have thought unthinkable—and graduated to Vauxhall, joining Cabinet, Corvi-Mora, non-profit space Gasworks, and Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery.

This spurt of new openings shouldn’t overshadow the acute and well-identified problems many galleries are facing—issues that predate Brexit and afflict the art world internationally. Yet it suggests a spirit of experimentation particularly welcome in these dark times, a spirit to which established operations are also contributing. Both The Approach and Blain|Southern are launching project spaces: The Approach Annex will open with a display of works by Lisa Oppenheim and John Stezaker, while art critic Tom Morton leads Blain|Southern’s year-long curatorial experiment, Lodger.

This might be a case of adapt or die. Following the recent spate of gallery closures in London and New York, galleries are becoming increasingly aware that, in such a fiercely competitive environment, sticking to what they know is no longer enough. Head-scratching abounds about new gallery models, particularly those which could bypass crippling real estate costs.

The team behind the new venture Cromwell Place believes it has cracked that nut. Located in five period townhouses in the heart of London’s Museum quarter in South Kensington, the art hub will function as a WeWork-style members’ club when it opens in autumn 2019. Membership, which entails a £4,000 ($5,391) initiation fee will give galleries access to art spaces, including 25 offices and 16 exhibition halls of various sizes, charged on a pay-per-use basis. Services such as installation, shipping, and the marketing of members’ shows, will be pooled and managed on site.

Cromwell Palace interior Club Room. Photo by Dan Weill. Courtesy of Dan Weill.

The concept of a purpose-built gallery hub is not new. H Queen’s, which will soon host David Zwirner and Hauser & Wirth in Hong Kong, is a key example. But Cromwell Place, which cost £20 million ($26.7 million) to build, claims to be the first art business to offer flexible work space to the art world. It targets both out-of-town galleries looking to pop up in the capital, small and mid-size operations looking for alternatives to bricks-and-mortar, as well as fledgling businesses.

“The world is changing,” says Cromwell Place’s creative director, John Martin. “People don’t want huge financial burdens on their shoulders; they want to be nimble.”

The model encourages galleries to function like dealerships, staging shows as and when they need it. It also puts pressure on art fairs like Art Basel, which still insist that exhibitors have a permanent exhibition space. Martin says that this requirement was reasonable to expect of galleries 15 or 20 years ago.

“Now I don’t think it’s defensible,” he says. “I think it will change.”

The list of Cromwell Place galleries is yet to be announced, and it remains to be seen whether collectors will buy into the idea of their galleries becoming ad hoc showrooms. But if successful, Cromwell Place’s model could easily be scaled to other major and emerging art capitals and could bring significant changes to the nature of the business and the way art is consumed.

So, how’s London? It’s embattled, yes, but it’s not giving up. Londoners’ profoundly global outlook, can-do attitude, and ingrained business knowhow continue to thrive. I’ll never call Brexit an opportunity. It’s a fiasco brought in by petty political calculations, lies, and fear, and an insult to the 3.6 million European nationals that have chosen to call Britain home. But it’s forced all of us to choose our camp, and Londoners’ position is clear. Mayor Sadiq Khan’s post-Brexit campaign couldn’t have been more on point: #londonisopen.

—Coline Milliard

from Artsy News

[myphillyrealty]

5 Philly buildings and spaces designed by female architects

From private residences to public spaces

The architecture profession is one of many that is dominated by males, and has been that way for decades. In 1973, females made up just 1 percent of all licensed architects in the U.S., according to the American Institute of Architects (AIA). But that number has grown, and continues to rise: As of 2015, women made up 35 percent of the profession, according to NCARB.

In honor of Women’s History Month, Curbed Philly took a look back at five Philadelphia-based buildings and spaces designed by female designers between 1890 and 1980, carving a path for future female designers.

Photo by Melissa Romero

Mill Rae

Hidden away in Somerton, Mill Rae was designed by Penn graduate Minerva Parker Nichols in 1890 for a leading suffragist Rachel Avery Foster. Nichols had only recently established herself as the first female in the country to practice architecture independently—with no man attached to her firm. In Nichols’ design, she emphasized the importance of light and air, evidenced by the front-and-back porches and large windows found throughout the three-story home. Mill Rae was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places in January 2017.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Parkway House

Elizabeth Fleisher got her start in architecture working for Edward P. Simon. But her biggest claim to fame is designing the Parkway House, a 14-story luxury apartment building on Pennsylvania Avenue. When it was built in 1953, it was became one of the first post-war apartment buildings in the city. It’s a standout, thanks to its modern and angular brick facade and circular bay windows.

Courtesy of New Trend Realty

Anne Tyng Residence

Visionary architect Anne Tyng, lived in this home on Waverly Street for five decades, during which she became a long-time professional and life-partner of Louis Kahn. While influencing many of Kahn’s significant works, Tyng also transformed this 19th-century corner rowhome into a midcentury modern abode, adding smart space-saving details like built-ins, a Murphy bed, and a compact kitchen. A New York Times article wrote of the home, “Tyng’s architectural transformation beautifully displays her expansive ideas writ small.”

Courtesy of Flickr

Kahn Korman House landscape

Harriet Pattison’s career spans 50 years, and many of her most well-known projects as a landscape architect took place while working for Louis Kahn. One of her most notable local works involved designing the landscape at the Kahn Korman house in nearby Fort Washington in 1971. “Pattison used curves and slopes to create contrast between the land and the house’s geometry,” notes the home’s website. Notably, she created a “ha-ha” moment between the in-ground pool and the home: a dry trench that forms a boundary, but is designed so that “the lawn appears to extend seamlessly from the house to the horizon.”

Photo by Melissa Romero

Franklin Court House

There’s no denying the legacy of Denise Scott Brown, who co-authored the game-changing Learning From Las Vegas: the Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form with husband Robert Venturi. Her list of works, both in Philly and beyond, appears to be never-ending, and include a mix of writings, master plans, and public spaces, including Franklin Court in Old City. Built in 1978, Scott Brown and Venturi placed the main exhibit area of Ben Franklin’s house underground and designed a steel “ghost” structure to represent the original house. In 2016, Scott Brown received the AIA Gold Medal Award along with her husband, and this year the was awarded the Jane Drew Prize for Women in Architecture. Many would argue that her recent recognitions have been a long overdue.

Know of another important work of architecture in Philadelphia by a female designer? Let us know in the comments!

5 female architects who left lasting marks in Philly [Curbed Philly]

Mill Rae, once a retreat for suffragists, earns its place in history [Curbed Philly]

from http://philly.curbed.com/

The post 5 Philly buildings and spaces designed by female architects appeared first on MyPhillyRealty.

http://myphillyrealty.com/2017/03/06/5-philly-buildings-and-spaces-designed-by-female-architects/

[inbonobo]

In #Canada, the two richest businessmen -- media magnate David #Thomson and Holt #Renfrew owner Galen #Weston -- are worth a collective $33.1 billion (USD), according to figures collected by #Oxfam.

New economic analysis suggests that two Canadian billionaires own the same amount of wealth as nearly one-third of all Canadians. On a global scale, about half of the planet’s population owns the same amount of wealth as the world’s eight richest businessmen, including Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The alarming findings are outlined in Oxfam‘s annual report on the distribution of global wealth, released Sunday.

The report, based on 2016 data from the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Data book, includes new and better information from India and China, which helps paint a clearer picture of world poverty and the systemic barriers facing the poor.

That’s equivalent to the collective net worth of 30 per cent of Canadians, Oxfam reported. Women are among the poorest of the group, according to Oxfam Canada’s director of policy and campaigns.

“We’re really looking, in particular, at single, working moms – indigenous women in particular,” Lauren Ravon told CTVNews.ca.

The discrepancy can be attributed to several factors. Ravon says that workers’ wages have stagnated or declined in recent years while pay for CEOs have continued to rise. Oxfam reported that, between 1988 and 2011, the incomes of the poorest 10 per cent made up 3 per cent of Canada’s total income growth, while incomes for the richest 10 per cent made up 29 per cent.

Gender inequality is also a major factor. Oxfam cited Statistics Canada findings that women are paid less than men in more than 90 per cent of jobs tracked by the government agency.

There’s no single solution to shrinking Canada’s poverty gap. But, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tours the country speaking with ordinary Canadians, Oxfam laid out several federal policy suggestions, including:

Investmenting in social services, such as child care and services for First Nations;

Implementing federal pay equity legislation to pressure the provinces to increase minimum wage across Canada;

Continuing to crack down on tax evasion;

Discouraging tax policies, such as corporate tax breaks, that encourage inequality;

Following through on a gender analysis on the federal budget.

On a global scale, eight businessmen control the same amount of wealth as the 3.6 billion people who comprise the poorest half of humanity, Oxfam found.

North America accounts for a tiny portion of the world’s poorest half, at about 1 per cent. Developing countries in the global South make up the majority of the those living in poverty. One in four of the world’s poorest live in India, and one in five live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Ravon says that, because poverty is “internationally linked,” the federal government should increase its budget for international aid, which she says is “really disappointing” at current levels.

She also applauded Trudeau for his decision to forego the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to travel across the country speaking to ordinary Canadians.

“Prime Minister Trudeau needs to be speaking to the working moms, the hotel cleaners, the daycare workers, because ultimately we need to be making decisions based on their interests, and not on the interests of the super rich,” she said.

“These are the people who need to be influencing our decision making.”

A growing rift between the rich and poor has been cited as one of the factors that drove British voters to support Brexit and influenced American voters – particularly those in the Rust Belt states – to cast ballots for U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.

Asked whether inequality in Canada could trigger a similar political shift, Ravon said “it’s very risky.”

“Canada historically has been less unequal than other developed countries, but we’re still going down that same path of growing inequality,” she said.

The eight richest Canadian businessmen, compiled by Oxfam via Forbes' 2016 billionaires list in U.S. dollars, are:

David Thomson (net worth $23.8 billion)

Galen Weston, supermarket retailer with controlling interest in Loblaw Companies (net worth $9.3 billion)

Garrett Camp, co-founder of UBER (net worth $6.2 billion)

James Irving, owner of Brunswick News and J. D. Irving Limited, a conglomerate with interests in forestry, pulp and paper, tissue, newsprint, building supplies, frozen food, transportation, shipping lines, and ship building (net worth $5.4 billion)

Bernard (Barry) Sherman, created Apotex, Canada's largest pharmaceutical company (net worth $4.9 billion)

Arthur Irving, owner of Irving Oil (net worth $4.7 billion)

Jim Pattison, CEO, chairman and sole owner of the Jim Pattison Group (net worth $4.5 billion)

Emanuele (Lino) Saputo, owner of Saputo Dairy (net worth $4.4 billion)

(via Two Canadian billionaires are as rich as nearly 1/3 of Canada: report | CTV News)