Contemporary Art: Summer Camp @ GR Gallery New York

(Drivebycuriosity) - New York City is still fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. But at least some art galleries survived and are open, giving me the chance to continue my series about contemporary art gallery shows. This week I saw again an interesting group exhibiton @ GR-Gallery on Manhattan´s Bowery (gr-gallery).

 

 

The show is called "Summer Camp" and features "34 fresh works executed in the last months by seventeen trendsetting artists from all around the world" (summer-camp ). I display my favorites here, a very subjective selection as usual.

 

On top of this post you can see Tania Marmolejo Andersson`s "YOU WOULD LOOK PRETTIER IF YOU SMILED" followed by Park Sun-Kyo`s "crossed legs No 4"; Leo Park`s "Ice cream"& Therese Mulgrew`s "emani and tangina hands".

Unfortunately not all works are tagged. So I post these images above and below without naming the artists. I find them interesting anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued

Economics: The European Union Behaves Like Medieval Robber Barons

(Drivebycuriosity) - It`s hard to believe, but recently the European Union (EU) hit Amazon with a $886 million fine for an alleged data law breach ( bbc.com). The fine was issued by Luxembourg's National Commission for Data Protection, which claimed the tech giant's processing of personal data did not comply with EU law.

Holly cow. The EU behaves like medieval robber barons. They decide that Amazon has done wrong and they force Amazon to pay what ever they want, otherwise they could shut down Amazon`s business in the European Union. The medieval robber barons put swords on the throats of business travelers who traveled through their territory. The effect was the same.

The purpose of this fine is to extort lots of money from a huge international company. Big Tech has a lot money - and the EU has the power to extort that. The giant fine is also a part of the anti-business attitude of the giant administrations, who rule Europe. Europe behaves like China`s communist government which does the same with their leading tech companies - harassing them with new regulations and extorting tons of money (techtarget   wsj).

The powerful European administration decides about more and more European matters, without being democratic legitimated. This reminds of Byzantium and Kafka`s castle ("Das Schloss"). Herbert Giersch coined once the term "Eurosklerosis". The anti-business and hyper-bureaucratic stance of Europe`s administration is the cause that Europe did not develop global tech companies who could play in the same league as Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Alibaba or Microsoft.

If the byzantine and anti-business behavior continues Europe`s consumers will have to pay for this. Big Tech will have to raise prices/and or reduce their services in Europe.

 

 

Books: Vengeance By Benjamin Black

 (Drivebycuriosity) - A man commits suicide which causes a lot consternation with family & business partners. This is the begin of the novel "Vengeance" by Benjamin Black ( amazon). The book - set in Ireland in the 1950s - is part of a series around Quirke, a pathologist who works in a morgue

Quirke is twisted and very curious. He develops interest in cases which are not really his business. When Quirke believes that something is not right he starts a personal investigation, whatever it may cost him. This time he snoops into the families of the suicide and his business partner, discovering their secrets (this is a spoiler free blog).

"Vengenance", the number five in the Quirke series, is a pleasure to read. The plot plays only a secondary role, more interesting are the described characters and their opaque connections. I indulged into Black`s elaborate style and his descriptions of persons, environments & situations. And as usual in the series the author sprinkled some erotics on the plot.  

Benjamin Black is the pen name of the Irish writer John Banville. I loved his novels "Kepler" and "Wolf on a String" (here my reviews Kepler & wolf ) and enjoyed the other books of the Quirke series as well. I plan to read more by Black/Banville. 

Covid-19: The Curse Of The Greek Alphabet

 (Drivebycuriosity) - The world is still struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic. In spring we seemed to make a lot of progress, thanks to a series of vaccines. Especially in Great Britain the number of new infections dropped sharply, a result of a swift vaccination campaign (drivebycuriosity ). 

But then came the delta-variant, which is now common. The graph above shows that in many countries most of the recent infections are caused by the delta-variant (  ourworldindata ). Unfortunately delta is more aggressive and causes more infections. There are reports that people who a fully vaccinated (after receiving 2 doses) got infected anyway. As a result the number of news infections are climbing again, even in the UK which is still vaccination leader in Europe.

To make things worse, there is already another variant around: Lambda (yahoo ). This mutation may be even more infectious than delta, challenging the vaccines even more.

Is lambda the last of the virus mutations or are more variants following? The fresh history with Covid-19 gives the impression, that the virus is mutating all the time, and more variants are following, maybe getting more aggressive. Maybe these mutations will also be named by Greek letters. I call the risk of more and more mutations the curse of the Greek alphabet.

But I am still an optimist. I believe that we can deal with more Covid-19 mutations, even when they are getting more and more dangerous. Wearing masks (in closed rooms), being careful with social contacts and  handwashing should reduce the infection risks. I also believe that the creators of the vaccines, especially Moderna & Biotech, the maker of the RNA vaccines, are able to adept their products to the new variants. We may still win against the curse of the Greek Alphabet.

Science Fiction: Why Tomorrow`s Kin By Nancy Kress Is So Disappointing

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Nancy Kress belongs to my favorite science fiction writers. I loved her "Probability" trilogy, where she interwove weird quantum mechanic effects with a thrilling but plausible story and I enjoyed many of her short stories, often base on cutting edge physics. Apparently the admiration is shared by many. Kress collected tons of awards, including 6 Nebula and 2 Hugo Awards (wikipedia ).

Unfortunately Kress got very profolic and has been producing tons of books, including a series of trilogies, watering down the quality. I was disappointed by her novel "The Eleventh Gate" (my review ). I just finished her novel "Tomorrow`s Kin", the begin of a trilogy (amazon ). This book is even worse. Here aliens appear out of nowhere and warn about a coming catastrophe on earth. 

The book is full of clichés. The aliens aren`t really aliens and they resemble comic book illustrations for school kids. And Kress ignores basic physical facts. Aliens don´t just show up, they have to deal with limitations of the speed of light when they travel hundreds of light years and spaceship don´t land on earth because of the gravity (they are put in an orbit). Kress also developed ridiculous causality chains: Virus from outer space kills mice, mice don´t eat crop anymore, prices of corn & wheat drop because of rising supplies and the global economy crashes. Holly cow, what did this woman smoke? The novel is basically a family story about a grandmother and her children & grand children. Kress could do better.

Economics: Why Did The Price Of Canned Beer Drop Suddenly?

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - There is a lot talk about rising inflation. Indeed, the prices of many goods & services are going up, driven by the economic recovery. But one price dropped suddenly this year - the price of canned beer.

 

 

 ( source)

 

I found the graph above in the blog "Economist-writing-every-day ( economist). The author does not give an explanation. But I have (an educated) guess. 

During the pandemic many beer pubs were closed. People drank more beer at home and they bought more cans. In the recent months many pubs reopened, thanks to the ongoing vaccination. People went back to the pubs and they drank more draft beer. 

Therefore the price of beer kegs went up - as for almost everything else. But the pub visitors drank fewer canned beer - and the price responded to the falling demand. 

Books: Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir Brings Science Back Into Science Fiction

 (Drivebycuriosity) -  A man awakes in a strange white room, he is weak, bound on a bed, surrounded by robots and he doesn`t know who he is and what happened to him. This is the begin of an amazing science fiction novel: "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir ( amazon). I got hooked by the opening and I stayed hooked through the last page  (this is a spoiler free blog).

The novel follows a scientist with a broad knowledge and a can-do attitude. The plot is told in first person. When the narrator`s memory comes back - in flashbacks - we learn astounding things. The protagonist deals with a sheer unending row of problems & setbacks, but he responds with curiosity, stubbornness and an unbreakable will to survive, using his analytical skills and broad scientific knowledge.

Weir brings science back into science fiction. What is regarded as scifi today is often just a fairy tale - like Star Wars. Most science fiction authors also paint a dystopian picture of the future and display technology as danger. But in Weir`s novel science is the solution. 

The plot is built around tons of sciences (evolution, micro-biology, genetics,  chemistry, quantum physics, cosmology etc.), and the author knotted them together into original & astounding but plausible ideas. Weir has the talent to describe even the most complex phenomena in very easy words. Reading "Project Hail Mary" is good for refreshing school knowledge and to learn a lot more.

In spite of all sciences & engineering the plot stays exciting and kept me on the edge till the last page. The protagonist is very likable and has to fight a lot with his own flaws. "Hail Mary" is fun to read because surprise follows after surprise and the tale is flavored with a lot humor and includes even a quite untypical bromance.

Weir created a classic!