Brazil in the art spotlight

“The same people who rest in hammocks can, whenever necessary, build a new capital in three years' time.” 

The Brazilian Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale brings a homage to Brasilia’s co-architect Lúcio Costa…

…and an homage apparently to soap-opera by architect and movie director Marcio Kogan.

Meanwhile in Brazil, Spanish artist Jaume Plensa erects an enormous head out of the Guanabara Bay, part of art project OIR (Other Ideas for Rio).

PSB not Facebook friends

 

“We’re not on Facebook. We think it’s sinister and horrible. Pet Shop Boys are but we’re not.”

Neil Tennant, interview with The Art Desk

Pre-Elysium

The Boys are hustling with the upcoming release of Elysium, which is sounding more and more intriguing from the samples available on the net. The album, referred by Neil as their most "beautiful" and "deep", has a lot of references to middle age apparently, even though they are aging quite well after an awkward phase in the early 2000’s.

They will be playing the entire album live next week in Berlin and have just announced a new single, “Leaving”, another rather subdued choice, with more-sad-than-happy lyrics and some totally throwback PSB sounds. Potential for huge remixes.

In a recent interview to Vanity Fair, Neil talks about the being involved in the Olympics, the new album and how the video for Domino Dancing might have ruined things in America for them. He also talks about how pop music isn't always given its proper credit:

"There’s always been this ancient war between pop and rock. Rock is meant to be significant, therefore people write about it in terms of significance. Pop is meant to be throwaway."

And on an exclusive video for The Huffington Post UK, Chris can barely disguise his boredom. Classic.

Compare to 1986.

The life and death of books

“The printed book’s main enemy is not the digital book, but the games and social networks that gross billions of dollars today.  (…) We are not watching the end of the book-form, but its continued support in another platform, as notes Umberto Eco, for whom the book is a definitive invention. (…) The conviction remains that the book will not die but will gain new and expanded boundaries.”

Arnaldo Niskier, Brazilian journalist and writer