Wednesday, February 6, 2013

JEUDIS D'APOLLO


Éric Sicotte, fondateur et organisateur  Agence Apollo
 Jeudi le 31 janvier 2013, j'ai fait une visite au premier Jeudi D'APOLLO de la nouvelle année. C'était l'inauguration du site au hall bancaire de l'ancienne Banque Royale situé au 360 rue Saint-Jacques dans le Vieux Montréal. ÉRIC SICOTTE est l'entrepeneur derrière cette agence de promotion très ingénieuse. Plus de 1000 personnes sont venues échanger des conversations et présenter leurs produits variés. Dans cette atmosphère congéniale et élégante, j'ai rencontré quelques artistes que je vous présente plus bas. Pour en savoir plus, suivez le lien.

-Lena Ghio

À gauche, la charmante chanteuse MARIDEE nous a charmé avec son répertoire musical vibrant. Au centre, l'artiste SYLVIE LEBEL présente des pièces captivantes à partir de photos couvertes d'un enduit qui les transforme en image 3D et à droite, CÉDRIC TAILLON crée deux toiles en direct. Photos Lena Ghio

Friday, January 25, 2013

CHAOS & ORDER @ SAT

ROCCO HELMCHEN & JOHANNES KRAAS
Français plus bas

Last Friday I was invited to the opening of CHAOS & ORDER, a phenomena of technology created by ROCCO HELMCHEN and JOHANNES KRAAS. The work is presented @ SAT  until February 8 2013. Rocco is the visual creator while Johannes is the music composer. The result of their two year collaboration took us on an inspiring journey into other dimensions. The piece is structured on the most sophisticated mathematical concepts of our time. The speciality of these two creators is to do art that will be viewed in a planetarium setting. We sat on big rolled up cushions so we could lay back and travel. IT IS A MUST!!!!! You can plan your whole evening around the show as the SAT and their FOODLAB offer a specially conceived menu for the exciting event!

I LOVED IT!!!!!

-Lena Ghio

FRANÇAIS

Vendredi dernier j'étais invitée à l'ouverture de CHAOS & ORDER, un phénomène de technologie créer par ROCCO HELMCHEN et JOHANNES KRAAS. L'oeuvre est présentée @ SAT jusqu'au 8 Février 2013. Rocco est le concepteur visuel tandis que Johannes est le compositeur de musique. Le résultat de leur collaboration de deux ans nous transporte dans un voyage inspirant dans les autres dimensions. La pièce est structurée sur les conceptes mathématiques les plus sophisticés de notre temps. La spécialité de ces deux créateurs est de faire de l'art qui sera visionnée dans des dômes style planétarium. Nous étions assis sur des immenses coussins roulés pour pouvoir s'étendre pendant le voyage. C'EST UN MUST!!!!!! Vous pouvez planifier toute votre soirée autour du spectacle puisque la SAT offre un menu exclusif au LABOCULINAIRE pour cet événement excitant!

J'AI ADORÉ!!!!!

-Lena Ghio

Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Young Philanthropists Circle / Le Cercle des Jeunes Philanthropes

FRANÇAIS EN BLEU

Last Tuesday January 15, I was invited to attend an evening with the Young Philanthropists Circle at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. I was delighted at the opportunity to see what this project was all about. MARC-ANTOINE SAUMIER, president of the steering committee, shared the views of many young professionals who wish to network, learn about fine arts, and at the same time help the Museum achieve its mission of diffusing the artistic heritage of humanity and keeping it alive in our city. The Circle calls the events they organize "edu-tainment".

Ce Mardi le 15 janvier, j'étais invitée à une soirée avec le Cercle des Jeunes Philanthropes au Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal. J'étais enchantée par l'opportunité de voir en quoi consistait ce projet. MARC-ANTOINE SAUMIER, président du comité de mise sur pied, a partagé l'intention de plusieurs jeunes professionnels qui désirent faire du réseautage, affiner leurs connaissances des beaux-arts, et en même temps aider le Musée dans sa mission de diffuser l'héritage artistique de l'humanité et le faire vivre dans notre ville. Le Cercle nomme les événements qu'ils organisent "edu-tainment".

We were greeted at the entrance of "Exhibition Unplugged" by gorgeous ballerinas to evoke the delicious work of  EDGAR DEGAS.

Nous sommes acceuillis à l'entrée de D-Vernissage par de superbes ballerines pour évoquer l'oeuvre délicieuses d'EDGAR DEGAS.

Then we took our time to visit with some of the worlds most famous impressionist painters from RENOIR to TOULOUSE-LAUTREC and more!

Nous avons ensuite pris notre temps pour visiter certains des plus célèbres artistes impressionnistes de RENOIR à TOULOUSE-LAUTREC et plus!

After the tour, we head out to the cocktail part of the event where the conversation comes alive.

Après la visite, on se rend à la partie cocktail de la soirée où la conversation s'anime.

I took the opportunity to dialogue with young art collectors to ask them about their passion for art. I was pleased to discover a group of interesting

individuals who knew about the contemporary art scene, who bought the works of known and emerging artists with their hearts! I tested their knowledge of Quebec artists, and again was very pleased that they knew some of our best known like NICOLAS BAEIR and DAVID ALTMED.
I had an in-depth conversation with DACIL KURZWEG, an art historian based at PARISIAN LAUNDRY  where you can see the brilliant work of JENNIFER LEFORT this month. We discussed the concerns of contemporary art, a very young art movement so rich in diversity it is difficult for anyone to predict where it is leading the global culture.

J'ai pris l'opportunité pour dialoguer avec un
groupe de jeunes collectionneurs pour leur demander ce qui les passionne pour l'art. J'étais heureuse de découvrir un groupe d'individus intéressants assez savant sur ce qui se déroule sur la scène de l'art actuel, qui achètent les oeuvres d'artistes bien connus et émergeants. J'ai mis à l'épreuve leur connaissance sur les artistes Québécois, et encore j'étais heureuse qu'ils connaissaient nos mieux connus tels NICOLAS BAEIR et DAVID ALTMED. J'ai eu une conversation en profondeur avec DACIL KURZWEG, une historienne de l'art basée à la galerie PARISIAN LAUNDRY où vous pouvez admirer l'oeuvre brillante de JENNIFER LEFORT ce mois-ci. Nous avons discuté sur les préoccupations de l'art actuel, un mouvement très jeune et si riche en diversité que c'est difficile pour n'importe qui d'en prédire les enjeux pour la culture globale.

Finally, you can get all the information you need to participate in future events at lecercle, a site designed by an ingenious firm, FOLKLORE, headed by DAVID MONGEAU-PETITPAS and MARC-ANTOINE JACQUES.

Finalement, vous pouvez obtenir toute les informations nécessaires pour participer aux événements à venir à lecercle, un site conçu par une firme ingénieuse, FOLKLORE, développer par DAVID MONGEAU-PETITPAS avec MARC-ANTOINE JACQUES Directeur Artistique.

-Lena Ghio
Photos: Lena Ghio

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

THE PHENOMENA OF EVOLUTION CAPTURED



Introduction

“Imagination is more important than knowledge” quoted Albert Einstein. It was through my work as an artist that I stumbled on a path that would lead me to the most exciting discovery about how gravity operates on the evolution of life on Earth as it flows through the solar system. Scientists have already established the important role of gravity on life forms, that is not new. What is new is the evidence that it is propelled to living organisms on Earth, affecting their development , via the Alignment Geometries  of Celestial Mechanics (AGCM).

Meet Normand

In my yet to be published science paper « How the chemistry of life is entangled with Celestial Mechanics », I formulate the hypothesis that “ gravity propelled forward by AGCM overrides DNA, and may have created DNA on our planet.”  Normand, the young gravitropic mutant lemon tree featured in this article, is the most striking evidence to support my hypothesis and also to help us understand why it is so difficult to seize scientific evidence of the implication of AGCM in the process of evolution.

The method I used to “create” Normand is a precise calculation of the distribution of mass within the solar system and how this mass was geometrically aligned with the Sun, Moon, and Earth at the moment I would plant the seed that became Normand. I predicted that somehow the human form would be expressed in the one to thirty lemon seeds I planted at the precise moment the approaching New Moon would form  similar angles to the distribution of planetary mass in our solar system as the ones that produced the photo of the water particles in the clouds (fig 1) forming human features in front of another approaching New Moon with similar AGCM. Astrophysicists have recognized that gravity has a tendency to repeat motifs in space.  Celestial mechanics is the repeating patterns occurring in our solar system that involves every body within it. It was a probability that this motif could be transferred to the plants if my hypothesis was sound. I recognized that an alignment similar to the ones that  had produced human features in the water particles of the clouds in front of the Sun at the approaching New Moon was approaching. In three different experiments in which clouds with anthropomorphic  features occurred, the gravitational field was intensified by the approaching New Moon. The link between my impending experiment with lemon seeds and the anthropomorphic cloud formations was the intensified gravitational field produced by the alignment of the Sun Moon and Earth and the probability human features would manifest in the one to thirty lemon plants.*

At the appointed time, I planted 30 lemon seeds. After a month of incubation, and within an interval of two weeks, five seeds had sprouted. Each demonstrated unique physical features, yet Normand stood out. His leaf and stem looked like a tiny human hand breaking out of the soil (fig 2). Eventually one of the sprouts died of brown root disease. As the four that were left grew, Normand demonstrated another unique feature, a feature I had never seen displayed in the vegetal reign, a thick white  midvein stood out in the predominant leaf of the unusual five leaf formation that again evoked the human hand. (fig 3)

For many months, all the lemon sprouts grew along normally expected lemon sprouts parameters while each maintaining their uniqueness until October 2012, a few days after the one year anniversary of their seeding/birth day. Again it was Normand who behaved out of sort. Around October first, as I watered the plants, I noticed that his new leaf had bent over backward, that the midvein of the leaf was thick and white and the blade was contorted. I found it odd but I did not make much of it. On the day of the next watering, October 7 2012,  I was astonished to observe Normand had worked very hard all week to sculpt human features in his newest leaf, ( fig 4 ) manifesting human features as I had predicted!

I marveled at the intelligence of his structure. He did an excellent figurative representation of a human face that surpasses the works of many contemporary visual artists. He showed concern for the inclusion of eyes! He appears to understand the use of negative space to round off the contour of his face. He had surpassed all my expectations! The remarkable event is not just the fact his leaf produced human features, many people have observed plants, fruits and leaves assume unusual features, it is that he worked very hard to forge it in his leaf, bending it, intending it, like a true artist. The human features subsided within a few days as Normand's leaf uncurled, yet the traces of his effort still scar the midvein of that leaf.

This suggests to me that living beings have the ability to not only detect and use the Earth's gravity to evolve and survive, but that they have the ability to detect and use the gravity fields generated by the entire mass within the solar system and perhaps beyond.

What happened to Normand is that when I planted his seed, in a moment where the gravitational field was intensified by the approaching New Moon, it was loaded with instructions from that field that included the possibility to form human features as established with my experiments with cloud formations. The gravitational loading at that precise moment of time and point of space provided just enough of a shift in the Earth's G Force to alter Normand's chemical biological processes. He adjusted to the “gravity vectors, lines of force” provided by the AGCM to develop an adaptive mechanism to cope with the shift of GF of his seeding moment, the moment the spark of life activated his biological processes. As he continues to adjust to his original gravitational loading, we observe how he moves his fluids and structures to adapt to his creative intention in an exciting and innovative way outside the boundaries of his DNA programming. It is striking that he uses his leaf as his tool because the leaf is the part of the plant that absorbs the light from the Sun and transforms that light into food. In other words the leaf is the creative organ of plants.

The experiment with the lemon seeds shows several things. It does show that gravity propelled by AGCM affects life forms, that it initiates a cascade of events leading to an altered physiological response and structure. It also shows how rare the evolutionary phenomena can be witnessed. In this study, it was one in thirty plants that created a human face. And the odds of that manifesting at all are incalculable! It is easy to imagine that in nature similar occurrences, that a living entity experiences a shift in DNA produced by gravitational loading propelled forward by AGCM, pile up unnoticed or do not lead to widespread evolutionary shifts in a species, and yet it is clear that nature reacts to the entire solar system via gravity and that the slightest shift causes an adaptive reaction in living matter.

Normand is the phenomena of evolution captured and expressed with genius.

-LENA GHIO

*The calculations and alignments are in my science paper « How the chemistry of life is entangled with Celestial Mechanics »

REFERENCES

« How the chemistry of life is entangled with Celestial Mechanics » © Lena Ghio 2012

« The Impact of Gravity on Life » Emily R. Morey-Holton © 2003 Evolution on Planet Earth

« Evolution and Function of Leaf Venation Architecture: A Review »
Anita Roth-Nebelsick, Dieter Uhl, Volker Mosbrugger and Hans Kerp
© 2001 Annals of Botany Company
Follow-up article

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

PROMISED LAND / TERRE PROMISE



En Français plus bas

The new GUS VAN SANT movie questions the complexity of our relationship with the Earth, its resources, and with each other. MATT DAMON and FRANCES McDORMAND are in a rural town to sign the citizens up for the drilling rights to the oil that is beneath their land and homes.

I wanted to see this movie because I felt a need to see every player's point of view in this real life complex issue we are all dealing with in one form or another. In this sense the film manages this coup very successfully. We each know in our lives people who are mirrored in the story. While some characters will change their position about what is happening in their town, others go along with the big corporations because, and we all do, they need the money!

I truly enjoyed Frances McDormand's performance as Sue Thomason, a divorced mother who is constantly worried about her son.

A reflective movie that raises questions we must address now!

-Lena Ghio

TRAILER

FRANÇAIS

Le nouveau film de GUS VAN SANT questionne la complexité de notre relation avec la Terre, ses ressources et nos interrelations un avec l'autre.  MATT DAMON et FRANCES McDORMAND sont dans une petite ville rurale pour faire signer les droits de forages pour accéder aux puits d'huile qui sont dessous les terres et résidences des habitants.


Je voulais voir ce film parce que je ressentais le besoin de réfléchir le point de vue de chacun des joueurs de cette dispute compliquée qui affecte notre réalité à tous d'une façon ou d'une autre. Dans ce sens le film réussit ce coup. Nous connaissons tous dans nos vies des personnes qui sont figurées dans cette histoire. Pendant que certains personnages changeront leur position sur ce qui se déroule dans la petite ville, d'autres suivront les directives de la corporation parce que, et nous en avons tous besoin, ils ont besoin de l'argent! 

J'ai beaucoup aimé la performance de Frances McDormand dans le rôle de Sue Thomason, une mère divorcée qui se soucie constamment pour son fils.

Un film à réflexions que nous devons adresser maintenant! 

-Lena Ghio

Saturday, December 22, 2012

DJANGO UNCHAINED



En Français plus bas

It took QUENTIN TARANTINO ten years to flesh out Django, played by JAMIE FOXX, a slave who becomes a bounty hunter in the American South two years before the Civil War. He is superbly matched with CHRISTOPH WALTZ who plays German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz. I was skeptical about this movie when I saw the 70's looking poster but IT IS FABULOUS! I did not see the time go by and would have stayed longer if there had been more. The cast is exquisite with LEONARDO DI CAPRIO, SAMUEL L. JOHNSON, SASHA BARON COHEN, appearances by DON JONSON and QUENTIN TARANTINO and more!

From the first scene onward I was entranced by CHRISTOPH WALTZ's character Dr. King Schultz who needs Django to catch three vicious brothers. He allows Django to reclaim his humanity and helps him look for his wife Brommhilda, a difficult part played with dignity by KERRY WASHINGTON.

JAMIE FOXX is magnificent! He succeeds in conveying the full measure of his character's emotions in spite of his very repressive circumstances. The final scene by itself makes me love this modern spaghetti western.

The film combines humor, violence, and love in a fast pace mixture only Tarentino can do so well!
It opens this Christmas and it is worth it!
I LOVED IT!

-Lena Ghio

Trailer

FRANÇAIS

Cela a pris dix ans à QUENTIN TARANTINO pour  créer  Django, interpréter par JAMIE FOXX, un esclave qui devient un chasseur de primes dans le Sud Américain d'avant la Guerre Civile. Il est superbement secondé par  CHRISTOPH WALTZ qui joue le rôle d'un chasseur de prime Allemand  le Dr. King Schultz. J'étais sceptique au sujet de ce film quand j'ai vu les affiches à l'apparence des années 70 mais IL EST FABULEUX! Je n'ai pas vu le temps passé et je serais demeurée plus longtemps si le film aurait continué. La distribution est exquise avec  LEONARDO DI CAPRIO, SAMUEL L. JOHNSON, SASHA BARON COHEN, des apparences  de DON JONSON et QUENTIN TARANTINO et plus!

Dès la première scène je suis transportée par le personnage joué par CHRISTOPH WALTZ, le Dr. King Schultz qui a besoin de Django pour capturer trois frères crapuleux. Il donne une chance à Django de recouvrer son humanité et l'assiste dans sa quête pour retrouver son épouse Brommhilda, un rôle difficile interprété avec beaucoup de dignité par  KERRY WASHINGTON.

JAMIE FOXX est superbe! Il exprime beaucoup d'émotions dans son personnage qui doit continuellement se retenir. La scène finale à elle seule me fait aimer ce spaghetti western moderne.

Le film combine humour, violence et amour dans cette pièce haletante épicée comme seul  Tarentino peut faire si bien!
Le film ouvre le jour de Noël et vaut le coup! 
J'AI ADORÉ!

-Lena Ghio

Sunday, December 2, 2012

E TÙ AKE Maori Standing Strong / Maori Debout

En Français plus bas
photo: Lena Ghio

On November 21 2012 I attended a ceremony at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts where a TOI MOKO, a mummified and tattooed head of a Maori elder, was returned to his tribe to be enshrined in the Te Papa Tongarewa de Wellington Museum of New-Zealand  . The photo above shows the people singing  the ceremonial song as they reclaim the lost member of their tribe. I had never heard such voices and such a song! It was terribly moving and hauntingly beautiful.

This rare event took place  in concurrence with a movement in the art world to elevate human remains above the level of anthropological artifact and return them to their inalienable human dignity. Since then five TOI MOKO have been returned to their people and a few hundred are still missing.

You may get a closer look at the New-Zealand Maori people this winter at the Musée de la civilisation in Quebec City that is presenting a major exhibit of Maori historical and contemporary art.
It is a dazzling exhibit!

-Lena Ghio

FRANÇAIS


Ce 21 novembre 2012 j'étais présente lors d'une cérémonie au Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal où un  TOI MOKO, une tête momifiée et tatouée d'un ancêtre Maori, était retournée à son peuple pour être enchâssée dans le  Te Papa Tongarewa de Wellington Museum of New-Zealand .  La  photo en haut montre la délégation spéciale en train de chanter des chants cérémoniaux pendant qu'elle reprend possession du membre perdue de leur tribus. Je n'ai jamais avant entendu des voix et des chants tels ceux-ci! C'était terriblement émouvant et  d'une beauté obsédante.

Cet événement rare a eu lieu en concurrence avec un mouvement dans le monde des arts qui veut élever les restes humains au delà de l'artifact anthropologique et de redonner au corps humain sa dignité inaliénable. Depuis, cinq  TOI MOKO ont été retournés à leur peuple et quelques centaines sont encore perdues.

Vous aurez la chance de voir le peuple Maori de la Nouvelle-Zélande de près cet hiver au  Musée de la civilisation  de Quebec qui présente une exposition majeure avec de l'art Maori traditionnelle et actuelle. 
L'exposition est éblouissante!

-Lena Ghio