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Variant 22 Spring 2005
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Front cover: Rogue One's 'Juggler'
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Images at the Edge
Jamie Docherty
Documentation and reflection on the political nature and focuses of recent stencil graffitti art in the built environment in Glasgow.
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www.stencilgraffiti.com
www.thevacuumcleaner.co.uk
www.graffiti.org
www.ainfos.de/stencilgraffiti
http://ekosystem.org/
www.enrager.net/arofish
www.woostercollective.com/
www.stencilrevolution.com
www.banksy.co.uk
http://blekmyvibe.free.fr/
www.adbusters.org
www.duncancumming.co.uk |
| News. What is it good for?
Stephen Baker & Greg McLaughlin
A concise account of the misinformation of mainstream news broadcasting, its lack of historical and politcal context, and a questioning of its use to the democratic process.
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Ten Million Reasons to be Cheerful
Martin Cloonan
Operation Vendura: Just what is the cost to the tax payer of policing CD/DVD 'pirating', as compared to the alleged 'lost' record company, distributor and retailer revenue?
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“Don’t trust anyone, not even us.”
Radio B92 discussion
Much lauded by the west’s liberal-left, Radio B92 was the former Yugoslavia’s premier underground radio station in Belgrade under the rule of Slobodan Milosevic and the wars in the Balkans. During this period, they were repeatedly forced off the airwaves by the government, but managed to keep broadcasting until Milosevic was overthrown. Matthew Collin’s book ‘This is Serbia Calling’ and Doug Aubrey’s film ‘See You in the Next War’ both conscientiously document this period of struggle from the perspective of those immediately involved in the scene in Belgrade.
Following a screening of Aubrey’s film and a launch of Collin’s 2nd edition of the book, in the back room of the CCA bar in Glasgow, a discussion was held with Gordan Paunovic of B92 on Radio B92’s impact and legacy. This is an edited transcript.
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www.autonomi.tv
‘This Is Serbia Calling: Rock ’n’ Roll Radio and Belgrade’s Underground Resistance’, Matthew Collin; Serpent's Tail, 2nd Edition 2004, 256pp
www.serpentstail.com
Radio B92 
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Biting your tongue: Globalised power and the international language
Eilish Gaffey
The rapid expansion of English Language Teaching (ELT) around the world is usually regarded as at least a benign phenomenon, if not an absolute good: knowledge of English gives access to new opportunities and can help relieve economic 'disadvantage'. However, the spread of English is instrumental in the naturalisation of capitalist cultural and political values in the developing world. Eilish Gaffey examines the links between the 'ideology of English', the history of ELT and the growing dominance of a globalised culture.
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Independent Collaborative Hospitality
Dave Beech
A thoughtful clarification of the grounds for and actualities of "clearing intellectual and physical space for occupying culture differently", where "[t]he first condition of art’s independence is not art’s isolation but its re-occupation of the cultural field, whether in setting up alternative spaces or by doing alternative things in existing spaces."
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http://nickcrowe.net
www.sparwasserhq.de
www.dave.beech.clara.net
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Transfiguration of the Commonplace
Anna Dezeuze
Art, life and the everyday: a history of the mundane in modern art, via Arthur Danto, George Brecht and the ubiquitous Nicolas Bourriaud. Make a salad before reading this.
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Some notes on deconstructing Ireland’s Whitesness: Immigrants, emigrants and the perils of jazz
Suzanna Chan
Continuing our investigations of 'Irishness' and Otherness, Suzanna Chan traces the connections between the assumption of 'whiteness' in the 19th and 20th centuries, the early gendering of the State, the nascent evils of jazz, and the revival of racist fears of the Other in Ireland's citizenship referendum.
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Beautiful Struggles And Gangsta Blues
Tom Jennings
An outstanding overview of "some of the most outstanding mainstream releases of recent times in all regions of the Black Atlantic rap/R&B/reggae nexus appearing in the course of this benighted year. The fact that such intelligent, troubling, uplifting, hard-hitting, heart-warming, honest and challenging material can coexist with widespread popular appeal in musically sophisticated, exciting and imaginative formats is testament to the creativity and persistence of its makers as well as the appetites of sizeable publics of all ages and backgrounds."
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www.tomjennings.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
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Rappin in a Loki: Scottish HipHop
Interview
A quick dip into some of the lives in the Glasgow HipHop scene.
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www.misterlowkey.moonfruit.com
www.radiomagnetic.com
www.subcity.org
www.kriminal.co.uk
www.majorthreat.tk
www.respekba.tk
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The Map: The Nation waits
Leigh French
In this supposed era of freedom of information and transparency, against the increasing yet unknown volume and cost of financial sector consultation, an attempt to ascertain the levities leading to the Scottish Arts Council Visual Arts Dept. putting out to tender for a 'visual arts magazine for Scotland'—around £200,000 of public funding going to a private for-profit publisher.
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In on the Pitch
Peter McCluskey
A bolw-by-blow disection of Raymond Boyle's and Richard Haynes' book 'Football in the new media age'; its failings in adressing the goals it sets for itself, and exactly what and how it should have addressed the "wider cultural shift" resultant of deregulation, marketisation, branding...
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‘Football In The New Media Age’, Raymond Boyle and Richard Haynes; Routledge, 2004; ISBN: 0-415-31791-6
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El Cartel
Pocko |
Enough is Enough!
Esther Leslie
A pointed and playful review of two books that address themselves to the history and consequences of the instrumental government demands of cultural policy.
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Cultural Policy, Toby Miller and George Yúdice, Sage, London 2002, 246pp.
Rethinking Cultural Policy, Jim McGuigan, Open University Press/McGraw-Hill Education, Maidenhead 2004, 171pp.
www.radicalphilosophy.com
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Accompanied by Paul Bommer's homage to turn of 19thC French satircal cartoons. www.paulbommer.com |
