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The Arts Council of Wales and Mostyn are delighted to announce that Alfredo Cramerotti, currently Senior Curator at QUAD, Centre of Art, Media and Film in Derby, has been appointed as the new Director of Mostyn. He succeeds Martin Barlow, who steps down in September after 14 years at the helm during which he oversaw the Mostyn’s recent £5.1m prize-winning expansion and redevelopment.
Brian Howes, Chair of Mostyn gallery Council says:
“The appointment marks an exciting new phase in the evolution of the gallery and Alfredo Cramerotti brings with him a wealth of experience gained through leadership of some of the most exciting visual arts projects in Europe.”
At QUAD since 2008, Cramerotti has delivered an ambitious and innovative programme that includes the organisation of FORMAT International Photography Festival. As commissioner, art manager, and editor he has also played key roles in major international initiatives including recently co-curating Manifesta 8, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art in Spain and the Furla Award for Contemporary Art in Italy.
From Trento in northern Italy, Cramerotti studied ‘Art in Context’ at the Universität der Künste, Institut für Kunst im Kontext in Berlin followed by the Critical Studies Programme at the Lund University, Malmö Art Academy in Sweden. He has authored and published several volumes including ‘All That Fits: The Aesthetics of Journalism’ which accompanies his current exhibition at QUAD.
Alfredo is author of Intellect's Aesthetic Journalism and the editor for our Critical Photography series.
Intellect exhibited at the first London Film & Media conference, held at the Institute of Education in London, on 12-14 July.
The conference included a fascinating range of papers exploring different aspects of film and media from around the globe, from African cinema to celebrity in TV reality shows and from health in film and media to women in South Korean cinema. The keynote speeches addressed such issues as media censorship in the UK and the media’s manipulation of facts in news reporting of two high profile cases – both very topical in the wake of the recent phone-hacking scandals.
It was great to meet so many of you who came to the stand and discuss your work. There were some very interesting proposals discussed, and we look forward to hearing from you further. Many thanks to the organisers for a useful and interesting conference, and we look forward to next year.
Slate discuss Atomic Postcards
"Having a great time," reads the archetypical postcard. "Wish you were here." But what about when the "here" is the blasted, irradiated wastes of Frenchman's Flat, in the Nevada desert? Or the site of America's worst nuclear disaster? John O'Brian and Jeremy Borsos' new book, Atomic Postcards, fuses the almost inherently banal form of the canned tourist dispatch with the incipient peril, and nervously giddy promise, of the nuclear age. Collected within are two-sided curios spanning the vast range of the military-industrial complex—"radioactive messages from the Cold War," as the book promises. They depict everything from haunting afterimages of atomic incineration on the Nagasaki streets to achingly prosaic sales materials from atomic suppliers to a gauzy homage to the "first atomic research reactor in Israel," a concrete monolith jutting from the sand, looking at once futuristic and ancient. Taken as a whole, the postcards form a kind of de facto and largely cheery dissemination campaign for the wonder of atomic power (and weapons). And who's to mind if that sunny tropical beach is flecked with radionuclides?
Read the article in full at www.Slate.com...
Atomic postcards: Radioactive Messages from the Cold War is published by Intellect.
Late in the month of June a launch event was held at St George's English Bookstore in Berlin to celebrate the publication of Susan Ingram and Katrina Sark's mesmerising Berliner Chic: A Locational History of Berlin Fashion. Katrina Sark takes up the story on her blog, Suites Culturelles:
Susan Ingram and I dedicated our book, Berliner Chic: A Locational History of Berlin Fashion to the women of Berlin, and it was a very special honour and pleasure to be able to present the book in Berlin and to invite many of the women who made this project possible, inspired us, and continue to inspire us. The book launch took place at the St.George’s English bookstore in Prenzlauer Berg.Read on...
Intellect recently attended the 33rd InSEA World Congress at the ELTE University in Budapest, Hungary. The Congress happens every three years and brings together InSEA members, academics, art educators and students from over 60 different countries. The programme consisted of seminars, workshops, social events and an impressive exhibition complied by members. Many thanks to InSEA and the organizers for an engaging and inspiring four days.
Intellect would like to congratulate Dr Amanda Wrigley, whose article published recently in The Radio Journal, has won a prestigious award.
Dr Amanda Wrigley, Research Associate at the University of Westminster in the United
Kingdom, won the Philadelphia Constantinidis Essay in Critical Theory Award,
given by the Board of the (American) Comparative Drama Conference for ‘the
best comparative essay on any aspect and period of Greek drama or theatre that
was published in English in any journal in 2010’. Her article, ‘A Wartime Radio
Odyssey: Edward Sackville-West and Benjamin Britten’s The Rescue (1943)’,
appeared in Volume 8, Issue 2. Intellect would like to join the editors of the journal in congratulating Amanda, and we are proud to have published such a widely respected piece of work.
The development of atomic weapons ushered in an era of bomb shelters, duck-and-cover drills and general anxiety. It also inspired a specialized category of correspondence: the nuclear-themed postcard.
"Atomic Postcards: Radioactive Messages from the Cold War" by John O'Brian and Jeremy Borsos (Intellect Books) is a collection of 150 international cards depicting test explosions, missiles and power plants from 1945 through the 1980s.
The postcards stressed the power and benefits of nuclear energy—sometimes promoting peaceful uses, sometimes boasting of national might.
They often maintained the upbeat tone of the medium. "Spectacular Nuclear Explosion" reads the back of one postcard showing a mushroom cloud over the Marshall Islands. "Getting Bombed in Vancouver—wish you were here" reads another.
Atomic Postcards: Radioactive Messages from the Cold War is published by Intellect.
Intellect will be attending the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association annual conference in Hamilton, New Zealand this week between 6-8 July. The event will be hosted by the University of Waikato and the theme for this year will focus on 'communication on the edge'. We will be promoting a range of our publications in addition to commissioning new titles. If you are in the area why not drop by, follow the link for further details.
Cynthia Weber, author of 'I am an American' writes for OpenDemocracy
'Two important events occurred last week that challenge US citizens to rethink what it means to be an American – Filipino citizen and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas’s announcement that he is an undocumented immigrant and an American and the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York. Each event poses the question – how different can a person be from some ideal type of American and still melt into the American melting pot? Each case suggests that there are limits on who is and who is not a ‘meltable American’, someone whose individual differences melt away when they identify as an American.'' Follow the link to read more...
It was with pleasure that Intellect attended the Journal of Media Practice symposium 2011 'Postdigital Encounters', in our home town of Bristol. It was hosted by University of West of England at Bristol Arts venue and cinema, The Watershed - a venue familiar to Intellect staff.
We were lucky enough to hear several of the presentations, and were treated to a range of papers exploring how digital technologies have redefined creativity and media practice in teaching and research. We heard of exciting new projects in areas such as pedagogy and in collaborative film-making. Audience participation was a key part, which meant having a go at writing stories, and engaging in debate on the nature of creativity.
We look forward to reading more of some of these in future issues of the journal.
We would like to thank the organisers for a great event, and it was good to see both new and familiar faces. We look forward to next year's symposium!
