The Antarctic Biennale
CNN / VICE / MONOCLE 24: A pioneering expedition to the seventh continent sought to break down boundaries between art and science.
Chisinau: the real media revolution is underway
MONOCLE: The so-called “Twitter Revolution” of April 2009 proved to be misleading – but now Moldova’s media landscape has been truly shaken up.
Chaotic justice – a therapeutic election post-mortem
After a long day of attempting to simultaneously translate a chronology of the Soviet art world while taking in the BBC’s excellent election coverage at the corner of my screen, I felt the need to release a few thoughts into some kind of vaguely coherent shape. First of all, this election – mangled and muddy...
Terror Reflections
Monday, March 29 was just the start of another working week in Moscow. Huge crowds of people descended into the metro system – a rumbling, winding maze of tunnels, walkways and escalators. Within a single hour, two suicide bombers struck at the heart of the Russian capital. Blasts shook key stations on the busy red...
Christian Scott: Breaking Boundaries, Crossing Lines
ALL ABOUT JAZZ: The prodigious trumpeter pulls no punches in a vicious critique of the jazz establishment.
Barbacana / Troyka – Vortex, 5/3/10
The bassless Anglo-French quartet Barbacana made strong impressions right from the start: James Allsop’s supple tenor sax led the way, as the others gradually joined in to create a compelling collective improvisation with tight melodic interludes. This was the story of their set. A constantly shifting dynamic spectrum, ranging from full-volume, rowdy sax blasts and...
Downhill with a Difference: Moscow’s Real Wacky Racers
An unclassified dispatch from the 2009 'Tazovy Downhill' annual bowl race, a colourful event organised by Muscovites to raise their dreary winter spirits.
Acoustic Ladyland // Pete Wareham
Vortex, London, 6/2/10 myspace.com/acousticladylandmusic Click here to read my interview with Pete Wareham, published May 2008.
Requiem for a jazz great
George Garanian, 1934-2010 On January 11, Russian jazz icon George Garanian – a musician who nourished jazz as part of Soviet culture – suffered a fatal heart attack while on tour with his popular big band. He was 75. A productive career spanning more than half a century has ensured that Garanian, a highly renowned...
