Ramifications & Payback
Morning Comrades! A little today only because packing your orders has taken precedence over writing which I am sure you can excuse for a day or so.
Kicking today’s email off is a book recommendation that has just become available, and one that I have been waiting on for well over a year. 2 years ago I saw one of the best exhibitions to date in Berlin at the HKW in Berlin, entitled: Para Politics, Cultural Freedom and the Cold War and the accompanying, 600 page plus book is finally available.
During the Cold War, modernist art became a flagship of freedom and democracy in the West, and took on the role of a symbolic overcoming of fascism. Parapolitics: Cultural Freedom and the Cold War examines the cultural diplomacy of this period, particularly the activities and magazines of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, an organization funded by the Central Intelligence Agency that was tasked with steering the left away from Soviet Communism and toward a new world order established under the aegis of the United States. This book analyzes how the organization’s activities in the non-European world were a major force behind the culturalization of economic liberalism on an international scale. With extensive archival documentation and recent responses by artists and writers, this book is a rich reference for readers interested in challenging the structural conditions of contemporary art and the prevailing canons of modernism. This is something that you do not want to miss. I learned more from this exhibit than I dare admit at times. It is meticulously researched and presented. It doesn’t require detailed knowledge of the era and if you have it, fills in some significant gaps as it was in my case.
Secondly, and something that has due to recent events slipped somewhat under the radar are the ramifications of Trump’s additions to the US Supreme Court that are now manifesting.
Judd Legum over on Popular Info has written a most excellent piece on the recent moves regarding the US’s antiquated, sexist and quite frankly bullshit ways regarding women’s right to choose, and well, you need to read this. Click the above picture to get taken to the article.
As I want to wrap up packing up all these orders and figure out some new gear for Black Lodges ( always open to suggestions here comrades ) I am going to leave you with a solid case of hot shots and the fuckening. For all the news cats on this train, by all means, share these. That’s what this is for. Until Friday my good people!