h/t Seodin O’Sullivan
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Peck School of the Arts, UWM Open House this Saturday. Kenilworth Sqare East, Milwaukee Wisconsin
Come check out grad student and faculty art works at the Kenilworth Square East Open House this Saturday, part of Gallery Night and Day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin! I’ll be installing a guerrilla version of my award-winning interactive installation, stuttering, to help promote the new Interdisciplinary Arts & Technology program (currently known as DIVAS), and more specifically, my Interactive Installation and Performance class next semester. All 14 of my grad students will also be exhibiting work throughout the building, not to mention my amazing colleagues. Should be AWESOME.
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I voted early (John Kerry for Obama in Milwaukee)
 
After running some errands this morning, I remembered vaguely an email from the Obama compaign about voting early. I opened my laptop, and saw John Kerry was in town, promoting that very thing. I figured I had an hour before my next meeting, and so drove to downtown Milwaukee, ten minutes from my office. Granted, I had to giggle to myself about the fact that we met in Red Arrow park, in front of Starbucks, so there was – quite literally – a crowd of “latte drinking liberals” waiting to vote. And I admit the sign calling all Republicans liars, and the gentleman holding it screaming that that party was responsible for an “inside job” on 9/11, made even me, a die-hard liberal, uncomfortable (oh yeh, THAT’S gonna win over undecideds. Idiot.). Even still, I couldn’t help but get emotional, watching this amazing war hero, who was trampled on for his service in 2004, promote who will likely be America’s first black president, and first great president in some time. I’d been an expat for 8 years, watching from a distance with horror on 9/11 and the wars that followed. And so after just moving back, being in a crowd of individuals that care this much about what happens next, gave me a rush of enthusiastic patriotism and pride I hadn’t anticipated when I woke up this morning. John Kerry is a great man; and neither he nor I can wait until we call Barack Obama our president. (I should mention that Congresswoman Gwen Moore was also present and “firing up” the crowd. She got my vote as well)
A note on voting: I was already registered, so it took me all of 10 mins to vote in City Hall, from start to finish. People who needed to register on the fly took 15 minutes total. Go vote any time between now and election day – the Dems can take Wisconsin again!
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settled
Last week BMW and its advertising agency, Ireland Davenport, offered Marx an out-of-court settlement and apology for copyright infringement.
In 2005 Marx held a solo exhibition at the Warren Siebrits gallery in Johannesburg, in which he showcased a technique he had developed of creating line illustrations from roads on map fragments.
Ireland Davenport used the idea in a 2006 newspaper campaign advertising the BMW Z4. According to sources close to the artist he claimed R1,5-million in damages.
On September 25 some of South Africa’s top artists, including William Kentridge and Penny Siopis, donated their works to an auction to raise funds for Marx’s legal fees. The auction, held at Newtown’s Bag Factory art studios, raised about R450 000.
Legal fees were estimated to be R300 000, the balance will be used to set up a David and Goliath Fund, which will help artists in future plagiarism claims.
In a statement this week attorney Owen Dean said Marx, Ireland Davenport and BMW SA had “amicably” settled the case.
The agency said it had no intention of associating its campaign with Marx’s work, adding that it “fully supports the arts and regrets if any impression to the contrary was given”.
The apology contradicts a report in The Star earlier this week in which BMW spokesperson Benedict Maaga said the company “contests the assertion that it has infringed the rights of the artist Gerhard Marx or plagiarised his work”.
Pretoria-based Owen, who represented the family of deceased composer Solomon Linda in a royalties claim against Disney Enterprises over The Lion Sleeps Tonight, said that copyright infringement is on the increase in South Africa.
“There is a cavalier attitude, one of the problems is that it is now so easy to reproduce works — like downloading them from the internet.” Dean said.
The David and Goliath fund, he said, could play an important role because the Copyright Act is expensive to enforce.
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Tina Fey is my hero
(Not working in IE? Use this.)
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the child
New family photos online here.