Contraband is Taryn Simon’s new series of portraits depicting various items confiscated at Terminal 4 at JFK Airport.  It provides an in-depth and curious look at what happens when one culture encounters another.  Simon spent five mostly sleepless days at the airport, photographing over 1,000 contraband objects ranging from the relatively unsurprising (counterfeit designer bags, bongs) to the  flat-out strange (cow-dung toothpaste, insect larvae). While many of the photographs’ subjects are shocking, they open a discussion about the  material values of different cultures and what happens when one set of cultural beliefs is dominated by another. Though the series portrays contrasting cultural values, the repetition of some items demonstrates the universality of certain societal norms, such as the mass-market appeal of cheap, knockoff material goods. The exhibit opens September 22 at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills and at Lever House in New York September 30.

Link to more work by Taryn Simon.

At the recent US Social Forum in Detroit, we got our first look at the Beehive Collective‘s amazing new campaign graphic: The True Cost of Coal, a project Provisions commissioned as part of its Brushfire initiative.  It was a sensation, as throngs of social change activists not only got an amazing education on coal, they witnessed how a great arts and social change project functions.

http://www.dailymotion.com/videoxe1knq

Last week, Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize same sex marriage, joining a small but growing number of countries in the international community to do so. The video above showcases a unique expression of the joy and passion in Tango dance, which has found a new home in Argentina’s gay community.

BLDGBLOG came across some amazing items in the archive at the Canadian Centre for Architecture…

Complement to an earlier post on a panel on sports, politics and race at the US Social Forum in Detroit, below is a link to the audio of the event.

KPFA | Hard Knock Radio

Featuring Author Dave Zirin, hard knock contributor and artist Favianna Rodriguez, South African Trevor Ngwane, an activist and organizer, and Mike James, co founder of Athletes United For Peace. The panel is moderated by  Davey D.

Listen

[Graphic from HKR website. NB: catch it while you can – KPFA notes that the audio archive will only be available until July 12, 2010. Cross-posted to the blog of Goal 2010!, a soccer and social media project. Thanks to HP for the tip. ]

Foreign Policy has published Dulce Pinzón’s streotype-busting photograpghs.

I saw a Spiderman costume in a store in November 2001, and that’s when everything came together in my head. Comic-book superheroes have an alter ego, and so do immigrants in the United States. They may be insignificant or even invisible to much of society, but they are heroes in their homelands.

[Meanwhile, halfway across the globe:]

US Social Forum 2010

Thursday, June 23
Presentation: World Cup, Sports and Social Justice
Cobo Hall
Detroit, Michigan USA

* Dave Zirin – Author “A People’s History of Sports in the U.S.” The Edge of Sports
* Favianna Rodriguez – Presente.org‘s “Move the Game”
* LIVE from South Africa via Skype – Trevor Ngwane, Organizer for the Anti-Privatisation Forum and the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee
* moderator: Davey D

“The World Cup will is now playing live and a billion people are watching. Join us to learn about sports as a dynamic site of resistance, popular expression and community transformation.

Massive workers’ strikes, brutal sweeps of the homeless, more than 20 assassinations of whistle blowers: one version of the World Cup is now playing live on TV and more than a billion people are watching.

While the U.S. Left has largely dismissed sports as a distraction from serious organizing and the pursuit of social justice, across the globe sports are seen as a crucial site of both struggle and transformation – as a vehicle for popular expression and resistance.

In recent weeks, activists across the U.S. have been rallying wherever the Arizona Diamondbacks play to protest the racist immigration law SB 1070, demanding that Major League Baseball “move the game” – the 2011 All Star Game slated to be played in Phoenix. In an unprecedented and highly-publicized move, the NBA’s Phoenix Suns wore “Los Suns” jerseys to draw attention to the unjust legislation.

Less well-known are the community coalitions across the country that work every day to challenge public financing of corporate-owned stadiums, replace racist team mascots, and foster non-sexist practices by school districts and personnel. Sports also provide organizers with huge opportunities to build bridges “beyond the choir” and impact the dominant messages of the day.

Patrick Bond from the Center Civil Society in Durban has said: “Anytime you have [a] billion people watching, that’s called leverage.”

Join us for this inspiring session on the intersections of sports, social justice and community transformation.”

[Cross-posted to the blog of Goal 2010!, a soccer and social media project. Thanks to HP on site in Detroit for the tip!]

A favorite American teenage past-time seems to have found a new home in the most unlikely of places: Afghanistan. Photographer Noah Abrams set out to document the country’s emerging skateboarding scene last summer, and the result is an illuminating set of photographs. Abrams says,

“The smiles and genuine excitement the kids had for skateboarding were quite simply one of the most pure expressions of joy I have ever had the privilege to witness. To see that kind of happiness exist in a place that has seen such hard times, for me, was really humbling. I can really only speak from the time I spent in country, but in my experience, life there certainly isn’t easy. However, spending time there was a great reminder that although culturally we may be very different, at the end of the day our goals as people are pretty much the same. We all want to be happy, and no one wants to suffer.”

More here.

Below and above, excepts of a somewhat flat data-visualization of World Cup economics. Although it fails to go very far with the information it is an interesting starting point for some follow-up analysis and discussion.

“On June 11, nearly 100,000 soccer fans from around the world will gather at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg to watch the opening game of the 2010 World Cup. Millions more will tune in their television sets at home. During the four weeks to follow, the world’s eyes and ears will be directed towards South Africa, following one of the world’s premier sporting events. Soccer may not be overwhelmingly popular in the United States, but on a global scale, the World Cup is the largest sporting event in terms of viewership. Collectively, more than 26 billion viewers watched the games of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany…”

Full Visualization

Note that a link in the article to a Fifa Facts & Figures Marketing site proves to be just as interesting.

[Cross-posted to The Data Stream and to the blog of Goal 2010!, a soccer and social media project. Thanks to CDN in Napa for the tip.]

Capital City Arts Initiative
CCAI Courthouse Gallery
885 East Musser Street
Carson City, Nevada

June 7 – September 10 • 2010

Goal 2010 !
The FIFA World Cup Fine Art Poster Portfolio

To celebrate the first football World Cup in Africa, the Capital City Arts Initiative in association with David Krut Publishing, Johannesburg | Cape Town | New York will exhibit the complete portfolio of seventeen posters.

Exhibition Reception: Friday June 11 • 5 – 7pm
Gallery Hours: Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm
Free admission

[Cross-posted to The Data Stream and to the blog of Goal 2010!, a soccer and social media project. Graphic: "Bicycle Kick," 2009, by William Kentridge. Kentridge is a leading South African artist internationally famous for his prints, drawings, films, animations, theatre and opera productions. Click on graphic to enlarge.]