Перуница

Цель современного образования – отупление общества? (Fri, 18 Oct 2019)
Храмова Надежда Григорьевна полтора десятка лет проработала завучем в школе. Новая серия программ с ее участием ставит своей целью объяснить родителям, что стоит за реформой образования, что такое "укрупнение школ", чем отличаются школьные образовательные программы, каков новый подход в школьной педагогике.
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Минздрав назвал прививки, способные привести к смерти даже через месяц (Fri, 18 Oct 2019)
Список серьезных осложнений после прививок, требующих расследования, составил Минздрав. Ведомство отметило, что негативные последствия некоторых вакцин могут проявиться даже через полтора-два года.
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Костюм молодой женщины «Обруга» Орловская обл. «Красно-Кросно»: серия 4 (Wed, 16 Oct 2019)
Орловская область, Новосильский район, деревня Сорочий мост. Костюм молодой женщины: «Обруга» из собрания русского народного костюма Сергея Глебушкина.
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Норвежская вышивка (Mon, 14 Oct 2019)
Знаете ли вы, что в норвежской вышивке столь любимый нами русский досюльный шов (шов "роспись") также был в ходу, и украшали им, например, полотенца, передники, рубашки. Зовётся он у норвежцев Holbeinsting (видимо вслед за англичанами - у них тоже этот шов называется Holbeinstitch, т.е. гольбейновый шов), техника выполнения - такая же как и у нас, то есть по обеим сторонам полотна узоры одинаковы.
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Про Покатигорошка и царя Гороха. Следы племенного эпоса в фольклоре восточных славян (Fri, 11 Oct 2019)
В теории, вероятность бытования у восточных славян эпоса до образования Киевской Руси допускают многие историки, в статье предпринимается попытка раскрытия этой темы. Автором исследованы данные русского, украинского и белорусского фольклора, касающиеся персонажей с «гороховыми» именами с целью выяснения их взаимосвязей.
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Альбом «РУССКИЕ ИГРУШКИ» с картинками и описанием (Wed, 09 Oct 2019)
В книге-презентации кратко рассказано о русских народных традиционных игрушках.
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Молоко и животноводство в СССР. Фото, которое сейчас не увидишь (Wed, 09 Oct 2019)
Моя семья жила в городе, где был молочный комбинат, выпускавший широкий ассортимент молочной продукции от обычного молока в бутылках с крышечкой из фольги до сыров, занимавших призовые места на международных ярмарках.
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Костюм девичий праздничный «Девичья шупка» Рязанская обл. «Красно-Кросно»: серия 3 (Tue, 24 Sep 2019)
Рязанская область, Скопинский район, село Секирино. Конец XIX века. Костюм девичий праздничный: Наряда «Девичья шупка» из собрания русского народного костюма Сергея Глебушкина.
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Чайник Рассела бороздит просторы космического театра (Tue, 24 Sep 2019)
Чайник Рассела – это известная аналогия о том, что надо доказывать существование явления или предмета, а не не-существование.
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Юные герои ВОВ и их подвиги (Sun, 22 Sep 2019)
Юные герои Великой Отечественной войны — сколько их было? Если считать — а как же иначе?! — героем каждого мальчишку и каждую девчонку, которых судьба привела на войну и сделала солдатами, матросами или партизанами, то — десятки, если не сотни тысяч.
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You Will Be With Us In Paradise (Fri, 18 Oct 2019)
You Will Be With Us In Paradise During the 1970s and ’80s, Italian fashion label Fiorucci was synonymous with the sweaty glamour of disco-era New York and attracted artists and social luminaries such as Andy Warhol, Madonna, Keith Haring and Jackie Kennedy. Before the fashion emporium closed its operations in 1985 it had become an emblem of cultural excess and playfulness. Not only was it the world's first concept store and the birthplace of skinny jeans, but the brand was widely considered a shooting star in fashion retail never to be seen again. This fashion documentary charts the brand's rebirth and is a hilarious study of hubris, hope and the hype game directed by British filmmaker Isaac Lock. “Fiorucci was an emblem of culture, attitude and rebellion,” says the London-based director. “Even though the first iteration of Fiorucci was driven by countless units of product that flew out of its stores around the globe, it somehow represented something totally counter-cultural in the popular imagination.”   In 2017 a British couple bought the keys to Fiorucci in a last-minute deal with a Japanese holding company. You Will Be With Us In Paradise follows Janie and Stephen Schaffer, an entrepreneurial high-street divorcee duo who made their fortune with British underwear brand Knickerbox, as they embark on the most ambitious project of their lives—resurrecting the iconic Italian brand for a new century. “They were so bold, candid and open about the difficulties they were facing in taking on the project,” says Lock, who captured their marketing plans, performances and missing stock in the days leading up to Fiorucci’s relaunch during London Fashion Week 2017. “They readily admitted it was not any of their business. In their words they weren’t Italian, they had never worked in high fashion, and they certainly weren’t young.”  Lock’s documentary includes candid interviews with PR maven Karla Otto, photographer Oliviero Toscani, early Fiorucci art director Philip Monoghan, fashion powerhouse Diane von Furstenberg, and Joey Arias, former lead salesperson and performance artist for the brand. As they discuss Fiorucci’s legacy and the viability of the Schaffers’ new venture, the film raises the pertinent question of whether or not money can buy zeitgeist.  “I went in curious about whether or not the Schaffers would be able to bulldoze their way to success with a chronically online youth market,” says Lock. “Thanks to their openness and generosity with their time and space, I left with a study of two unconventional, hysterical and entirely unique characters—totems of a different time boldly trying to find their way through a completely new world.”
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Composed Of: Ding Ke (Wed, 16 Oct 2019)
Composed Of: Ding Ke London-based director and writer Edward Paginton shares this visual portrait of Chinese composer Ding Ke in his adopted home of Paris. By exploring the film musician's interactions with the world around him, Paginton visualizes Ke’s ability to create music for cinema inspired by the noise and activity of everyday life.  “We live in a richly dense visual world,” says the director. “Every image we encounter carries a unique emotive value.” Paginton echoes this sentiment by presenting the film as a kaleidoscopic snapshot of different locations around Paris that eventually combine to represent Ke's multilayered and creative mind.  “I wanted to communicate how fleeting these images and interactions can be,” the director continues, “but also how significant they are in shaping our world view and expression of it.”
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My Place: Massimo Vitali (Mon, 14 Oct 2019)
My Place: Massimo Vitali An assortment of inflatable alligators, damp bodies and candy cane-colored umbrellas typify Italian photographer Massimo Vitali’s ongoing Beach Series, which he began in 1995. Born in Como, Italy in 1944 Vitali’s internationally recognized panoramas of busy ski resorts, clubs, pools and piazzas explore the multilayered stories present in communal leisure places.  This Barbara Anastacio-directed episode takes us away from the crowds and into the tranquil Tuscan city of Lucca where Vitali lives with his wife and son. The photographer's home is a fourteenth-century church, which—in one of it's most recent incarnations—was used a boxing and fencing gym for young fascists during the Mussolini years. Even though the image-maker’s large color works are held in galleries around the world, Vitali chooses not to display any photography in his home. Instead, the crumbling walls, sky blue vaulted ceilings, eroded slogans, frescoes and marble archways of the church provide as much narrative as any image. Vitali has long used the camera as a tool for social research and his choice of home further reflects his intrigue in the spaces that people chose to congregate in. "My photography comes from a deep curiosity that I possess for people," says the photographer. "For what they do and how they think."
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NOWNESS Shorts: Radiator (Fri, 11 Oct 2019)
NOWNESS Shorts: Radiator “This film is the result of the stories I recorded while traveling around rural Ireland where opiate addictions are tearing families apart,” says Portia A Buckley, the director behind this hauntingly brilliant portrayal of two addicts looking to finance their next hit.  Radiator explores drug abuse from the perspective of a young working-class man living with his grandmother while struggling to get off prescription methadone. Filmed near Cork, Ireland, Buckley’s sensitively directed piece explores the young man’s relationship with a wayward friend who leads him on a path to self-destruction and isolation. “As a filmmaker I’m interested in blurring the line between documentary and fiction as a way of highlighting contemporary socio-economic issues,” says the director. “I engage with challenging subject matters, immerse myself within the communities I portray and build a narrative around my observations.”
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The Prophet (Wed, 09 Oct 2019)
The Prophet Like a frenzied end-of-days preacher trying to save the lungs—if not the souls—of the commuters he meets, a lone Czech man has made it his mission to warn people about Prague’s polluted metro system.  Czech filmmaker Jaroslav Moravec directs this satirical allegory on how sensationalist data can sow the seeds of paranoia in the population. “Post-truth seemed like a distant Orwellian term when I first heard it,” says Moravec, who was partly inspired by the Soviet rule of Czechoslovakia during the 70s and 80s. "Nowadays hidden corners of the internet skew facts, science and ideology.” Growing up in the suburbs of Prague, Moravec has always been fascinated by the lines that separate the real from the abstract, giving his work a distinctive look. Whether it’s his subversive humor or delicate sense for building atmosphere, Moravec creates a self-contained universe for projects that range from surreal shorts to humorous commercials.
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New Foundation (Mon, 07 Oct 2019)
New Foundation On most nights of the week you can spot charismatic Guinean musician Falle Nioke writing or performing on the harbor in the English seaside town of Margate. Engaging with the community has always been at the heart of his work, having learnt to sing in Susu, Fulani, Koniag, Bambara, Malinke, English and French—languages that unite the coasts of West Africa to Western Europe. Margate-based director Tom Dream collaborated closely with artists from the coastal area to create a series of live portraits of artists, including Nioke, who had just moved to the region. New Foundation captures the Guinea expat at a “particularly exciting moment in his life,” says the director. “Filmed soon after the birth of his son, the center of his creativity now has a new foundation in family and community.”  Nioke’s music is the thread that weaves through this visual tapestry about his new world; showcasing the warmth of his hometown in Conakry, spotlighting his south London performance with Jungle musician Congo Natty, and celebrating his family life in England. “The filming process gave Falle an opportunity to reflect on his journey so far, while looking towards a new future in the UK,” says Dream. “I hope the project works both as an introduction to an emerging artist, and also a positive immigration story.” Listen to Falle Nioke's new single, Salia, here
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​Photographers in Focus: Aïda Muluneh (Wed, 02 Oct 2019)
​Photographers in Focus: Aïda Muluneh Set in East Africa’s Afar region, in the Danakil Depression—where temperatures regularly soar to 120°F—Addis Ababa-based photographer Aïda Muluneh explores issues around access to water in a new body of work commissioned by international NGO WaterAid.  Each of the images in Water Life features a strong female protagonist, highly saturated colors, and symbolic gestures signalling the daily hardships women endure across the globe to collect water for their families.  "When you look at climate change, scarcity of land, and overpopulation, there are many issues that lead back to water," says the photographer. "I didn’t realise how deep it went—all the way to education and how this impacts young girls, who often have to collect water rather than go to school. I wanted to use my artwork for a sense of purpose.” London-based director Adeyemi Michael captured this lyrical portrait of Muluneh at work and provides an elevated behind-the-scenes glance of the photographer's arresting series.  “Women who know their power are magical,” says Michael. “Aïda is certainly one of those, and her images are iconic. When I was asked to make a film about her process representing the plight of women without access to water, there was an instant synergy with themes in my work, which speaks to the empowerment of African women.” As the founder of Addis Foto Fest—a biannual arts festival in the Ethiopian capital—Muluneh is committed to uniting Africa and the world through photography. Water Life dismantles the single narrative told about the continent by incorporating visual references from African cultural heritage into a contemporary aesthetic. Water Life is on at Somerset House in London during the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, and through to 20 October 2019. Find out more here
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Define Beauty: Never Look At The Sun (Mon, 30 Sep 2019)
Define Beauty: Never Look At The Sun Using his trademark assemblage of esoteric costume and visual metaphors, Congolese-Belgian hitmaker and filmmaker Baloji explores the practice of skin lightening in black communities. Euphemistically described as ‘brightening’ or ‘toning’, skin bleaching takes many innocuous forms—such as creams, buffs and soaps—to deal with hyperpigmentation, but is more often used by women to emulate Eurocentric beauty standards. "Never look at the sun is an expression I heard growing up," says Baloji. "Never look at the sun and don’t play under it because you're dark enough. It's a way parents try to protect their children, but this has side effects." "Ancestral patterns combined with modern prejudices and stigma explain skin bleaching," Baloji continues. "We can’t criticize the practice because it’s rooted in cultural conceptions, interpretations, and questions of self-consciousness."  Baloji anchors Never Look At The Sun around a fictional lightening product that the film’s protagonist ceremoniously bathes herself in. The director covers the lead in both white lace and heavy fabrics, shadow and spotlight to play with themes of darkness and light. "I know a lot of people who have experienced skin bleaching," says Baloji. "It's never done to reject their Black or African identity but more to decrease the effect darker skin has in society." The film’s poem, narrated by decolonial thinker and race relations speaker Dorrie Wilson, is a declaration on the beauty of dark skin, with her words acting as a counterweight to the character’s chemical love affair with bleaching.  "Thandi Loewenson—the writer of the poem—made me discover some words of Christina Sharp that resonate deeply in me," says Baloji. "'Beauty is not luxury, rather it is a way of creating possibility in the space of enclosure.'" 
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New Ways (Fri, 27 Sep 2019)
New Ways Swedish choreographer and movement director Benjamin Milan leads this visual ode on the transformative power of dance. “This film is about my journey in the ballroom scene,” says Milan. “This is about how voguing helped me accept myself and find a community that welcomed and understood me for who I am.” As father of the House of Mila in the UK, the dancer highlights the importance for LGBTQ+ groups, people of color and other marginalized communities to not just find a scene, but a home. Featuring rapturous music from long-term Nowness contributor Gaika, New Ways is Milan’s personal odyssey, which he choreographed and conceived with director Jonas Hegi from directing duo Jonas & Julien.  “For me, it was important to create an artistic and emotional portrait that talks about ballroom on a personal level while being respectful to its community,” says director Hegi. “The four chapters are poetic and surreal interpretations of different stages of Benjamin’s life.”  The London-based dancer has collaborated with Madonna, FKA twigs, Kylie Minogue, Mykki Blanco, Zara Larsson, Taylor Swift, Teyana Taylor, among others—making a name for himself by seamlessly integrating voracious voguing styles with boundary-pushing ideas and concepts. “I wanted to present voguing in a different context alongside Jonas, Gaika and my ballroom family,” says Milan, “and push where you can take this art form, while still staying true to the essence of ballroom.”
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Universal Machine (Wed, 25 Sep 2019)
Universal Machine Shot in the Arabian desert with a haunting backdrop of the Burj Khalifa, Universal Machine is set in a post-apocalyptic world where a gifted young girl must find a way to understand and overcome a violent encounter with a life-like android. New York-based director and artist Daniel Askill enlisted a host of international creative talent for this project. Renowned American minimalist composer Philip Glass scores an ominous orchestral piece undercut by a stirring mezzo-soprano. Belgian choreographer and Beyonce’s 2017 Grammy performance director Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui planned the elaborate  fight sequences, while the android was CGI mapped to Japanese dancer Tzuki Kozuki. The star of the film, Evnika Sadvakassova, is a boxer who gained the Guiness World Record for the most full contact punch strikes by a female in one minute. She won this accolade in 2018 at the age of 11.  NOWNESS reached out to Askill to discuss the themes present in his latest project: What inspired you to write this story? This film is actually from the third act of a feature length project that I have been developing also called Universal Machine. The feature is a science fiction mythology. It is inspired by the possibility of a spectacular evolution in human consciousness at the intersection of humanity, technology, spirituality and nature.  Why was it important for the android to resemble Evnika?  At this moment in the feature project there is a tipping point between humanity and technology. The young woman is beginning to harness all the power of her android counterpart and the android is beginning to feel human compassion… They are beginning to evolve into something greater.  Philip Glass is one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. How does his music enhance your project? Last year I was approached by Visionaire and Anthony Roth Costanzo to create a film for this piece by Philip Glass. Philip Glass has been an inspiration to me since my father gave me an album of his when I was 14. So when I was given the opportunity to make a film with his music it was a dream come true. Considering that Dubai is a city caught between technology and nature was the location significant to the messaging in the film? Yes. The feature film is a race across a landscape that moves from the ocean to the rainforest, into the desert and then on to a metropolis. This scene from the third act happens right where the desert meets the city. Dubai is one of the few places that has exactly that—a surreal metropolis that rises up out of the desert. How far has mankind come in its journey with AI? Are we still at battle or have we found peace? I think the answer to where humanity’s relationship with technology will land is very much an open one. But one of the ideas at the heart of this film is that there is a future we should all be striving for. A future where the ultimate fate of humanity’s relationship with technology is an evolved one grounded in peace and compassion.
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Define Beauty: K-Pop Men (Mon, 23 Sep 2019)
Define Beauty: K-Pop Men For the latest episode of Define Beauty, Seoul-based music video director Dee Shin reached out over FaceTime to members of the biggest K-pop groups around to discover how the entertainment industry is rethinking the aesthetics surrounding traditional masculinity. Commanding over 16 million Instagram followers between them, Suho (Exo), Joohoney (Monsta X), Hyunsik Im (BtoB), Taehyun Nam (South Club) and singer-songwriter Jeong Sewoon discuss both the liberalization and commodification of the male beauty industry. To better understand the career journeys that the icons have taken, the director invited K-pop “trainees” to also feature in this episode. Children as young as 10 sign lengthy entertainment contracts in the hope of becoming the next Suho or Joohoney. Like Olympic athletes, these stars-in-training can spend up to a decade performing, perfecting and pruning themselves before they ever debut a song. South Korea has become the largest market for the sale of male cosmetics in the world, and the country’s music corporations share no small part in this phenomenon. Smokey eyes, tinted lips, contoured cheeks and a “chok chok” look—what Koreans colloquially call plump, dewy skin—may be a form of genderless self-expression for the young acts, but for the older stars, beauty and style have simply become their stock-in-trade. 
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Retour Aux Sources (Wed, 18 Sep 2019)
Retour Aux Sources French creative team Mouawad Laurier have been commissioned by historic champagne house Ruinart to illustrate the temporality of the Earth, by combining art and artificial intelligence. This immersive project marks the start of a ten-year countdown to Ruinart’s tricentenary, in 2029, and declares their commitment to nature. Maya Mouawad and Cyril Laurier planted their installation 38 meters underground in Ruinart’s UNESCO World Heritage chalk cellars in Reims, France. Retour aux Sources is an AI root system that imitates the grapevines that burrow deep into the surrounding hillsides. Instead of water, the artificial organism feeds off data concerning the winemaking cycle as well as local atmospheric pressure, wind speed, humidity, and cloud cover. What turns this intrepid technological venture into an innovative art installation is—as Mouawad Laurier describe it—the AI’s “emotional” reaction to the data. The structure’s bulbs and valves change color and luminosity in real-time, depending on the intensity of the sun, hue of ripening grapes, and factors related to the winemaking process. This carte blanche commission not only provides a rich and unique sensory experience for visitors, but celebrates the interdependency of different ecosystems in the face of changing climates. From commissioning Art Nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha for the first-ever champagne advert in 1896, to working with Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek on limited edition packaging in 2013, Ruinart has long been a trailblazer in the worlds of art and design. Harkening back to almost 300 years of history, Retour aux Sources is an emblem of the champagne house’s origins and future.
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Define Beauty: Everybody's Type (Mon, 16 Sep 2019)
Define Beauty: Everybody's Type With 30-inch hair, razor-sharp nails and a sensational sashay, Swedish make-up artist Daniel Sällström is every bit the perfect blonde bombshell. After collaborating with director Isaac Lock on Fashion Disciples: Black, he returns in this provocative project to celebrate his siren alter ego, Innitbabes. Everybody’s Type challenges the viewer’s understanding of beauty and picks away at the femme/masculine tropes that govern the rules of attraction.  “The gender binary is a trap that harms everyone,” says London-based Locke. “It's conceived to perpetuate the economic inequality that underlies our culture. Daniel plays with these archetypes and questions the limits that binaries put on people’s potential fullness.”  As the camera floats over heels, pec muscles, eyelashes and an untucked package, spellbound male voiceovers dissect the ineffable allure of Sällström’s scarlet-lipped femme fatale.  “What I find beautiful is when people manage to—despite the unfairly stacked obstacles of race, sex, economic standing and body type—fully possess themselves and express it openly,” says Lock. “Although it’s not always easy, Daniel lives according to his own rules and expresses himself as he wishes, avoiding the traps of labels and limitations.”  “This might sound clichéd,” Lock continues, “but there is a potential for extreme beauty in every single person on the planet. It becomes apparent when that person feels free, safe, and confident to be their whole selves.”
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