Latest news with #JezFielder
Euronews
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
High buildings, loose morals: Art Deco movement celebrates its centenary
ADVERTISEMENT The French capital experienced the first emergence of the art and design phenomenon that was later termed Art Deco in the 1910s but only truly blossomed at the Paris World's Fair of 1925. An artistic and philosophical response to the Art Nouveau movement of the late 19th century meant that, after the brutality of war and destruction during World War One, intricacy, whimsy and romanticism gave way pretty quickly to clean lines and geometric design. But there was also a sense of the need to enjoy oneself in style now it was possible again. So, 100 years later to the very week, let's find out more about it. How did Art Deco emerge? The 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes inspired what became the more snappy name of Art Deco in a 1968 text by Bevis Hillier. The fair took place in the French capital and showcased the latest in modern design. Thus, the new movement became the embodiment of Modernist principles in the arena of art and design. Having many elements in common with Cubism and Russian Constructivism, Art Deco moved the focus from the ephemeral to the practical and the engineered. A craving for order after chaos, one might say. But that's not to imply it was in any way banal or down-at-heel. Quite the opposite. The Savoy (Strand side), London Jez Fielder Where can I see Art Deco? London's Savoy Hotel began life as very much an Art Nouveau entity but one of the company attended the Paris fair in 1925 and came back with some very different ideas for design. British designer Basil Ionides' reworking of the private dining room ' Pinafore ' in 1926 embodied the stylistic change to Art Deco and is still untouched to the present day. Then, in 1929, architect Howard Robertson unveiled the iconic stainless steel 'Savoy' sign which runs the width of Savoy Court, above. Brussels is also full of Art Deco. And not just in its celebrated municipal buildings such as the Villa Empain, the Basilica of Koekelberg, and elements of Stoclet Palace, but also in some of the Belgian city centre's residential areas. And of course the city that kicked it all off, Paris, is a haven for Art Deco lovers. The Palais de Tokyo and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées are two notable landmarks for this style. But the movement outlived its European genesis to take the US by storm as evidenced by the imposing edifice below. Chicago's Merchandise Mart opened in 1930 with a staggering four million square feet of floor space. Chicago's Art Deco Merchandise Mart AP Photo 1998 What defines Art Deco? An art movement is often hard to define as, even if it has a manifesto, that's usually only written by a handful of people at most, and later, others develop or even disown the early form. Emma Bastin, historian and treasurer of the Art Deco Society in the UK says this is one of the reasons a definition is hard to pin down. "It had so many influences feeding into it, from the very old, such as Ancient Egypt and Greece, to the very modern - for example, the most avant-garde art of the early twentieth century. It also draws from mass commercialisation, the work of artisans and the use of new-fangled man-made materials. Finally, it emerged in many different European countries at a similar time, all of which added to its eclecticism." Ancient Egypt may seem a world away from the 'roaring twenties' but Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 brought antiquity back into the contemporary conversation. Only a short boat ride down the Chicago river stands the Riverside Plaza (completed in 1929) which, if you look closely enough, has an image referencing the pharaoh beneath its clock face. The face of antiquity on the former Chicago Daily News building Jez Fielder But don't all these influences make these landmarks impossible to recognise as part of any specific movement? "There is something which makes Art Deco instantly recognisable," Bastin insists. "Geometric shapes, clean lines and bold colours are often used. There are also repeated motifs in many forms of art deco such as zig-zags, sunrays or human figures. Anything decorative is normally very simple and pared-back, rather than being photo-realistic. The upshot of this simplicity is that objects/buildings/art often looks very modern and glamorous, and this is why it also has such an enduring appeal - think of the glamour of Gatsby, the use of art-deco inspired interiors in luxury hotels, or the long-lasting appeal of posters which are now popular as art in their own right." ADVERTISEMENT The Knickerbocker Bar inside the ocean liner 'The Empress of Britain' May 16, 1931 AP PHOTO 1931 References to geometric shapes and clean lines don't simply apply to architecture, of course. Fashion leaps to mind. An Art Deco red and black galalith and chrome necklace, Bonhams, London, Jan 2008. AP Photo And the release of perhaps the flagship Art Deco text 'The Great Gatsby' as a film over a decade ago was a fine platform for costume designers to revisit the styles of F. Scott Fitzgerald's heyday. Stocks reached record peaks, and Wall Street boomed a steady golden roar. The parties were bigger, the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the morals were looser, and the ban on alcohol had backfired F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby Dancers perform on the red carpet for the screening of The Great Gatsby in Cannes, May 2013 AP Photo How did the movement develop? Art Deco morphed into a more streamlined style as the 1930s progressed. Elements of excess were tempered and made less obvious. The focus was now on horizontal lines rather than vertical ones. St Olaf's House opposite London Bridge Station Jez Fielder The look was inspired by upgrades in technology, particularly those aspects of technology that developed the lives of the glamorous. Ocean liners, aircraft and increasingly sleek trains. And the "new-fangled man-made materials" that Bastin talks about were chromium plating and the ability to build much higher that the burgeoning use of steel enabled. The verticality of the American Skyscraper is the clearest testament to that, but closer to home the use of Portland stone and gilt lettering as seen with London's St Olaf's House are also hallmarks of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne. ADVERTISEMENT At the same time, urban development created the need for more municipal buildings in the expanding suburbs and so there were increasing opportunities to build using this style and these elements. In a way, then, Art Deco and its streamlined development could be seen as less of an art movement and more of a result of a changing society due to economic shifts and the need for a new environment with more services.
Euronews
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Tremor 2025: Can a music festival change the face of Portugal's San Miguel island?
ADVERTISEMENT Two hours from Portugal, five hours from New York, the Azores lie in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The clouds here are so low you feel you have to duck to avoid them. Small fishing boats hug the harbour wall while larger commercial vessels bob about in the perennial shadow of a cruise liner. Cargo ships dot the horizon and the occasional sight of a clipper evokes imaginings of the age of exploration. Fitting, then, that this place between the New World and the Old World is home to a festival that links the history of music and culture with its future, and strives to make that future brighter. António Pedro Lopes co-founded Tremor in 2013. "The idea was to bring life back to the city centre, to the city centre of Ponta Delgada, which is the main city of the island of São Miguel, and also the biggest one in the Azores," Lopes tells Euronews Culture, "which at the time was really set in a crisis... economical, social crisis. I mean, this was happening at the European level, and of course it was having consequences here, which means that the commerce was falling apart, lots of buildings empty, deserted, and even the city centre became a bit like a ghost town. So our goal with Tremor was this idea of bringing back life to these places by using those places that resisted the crisis, that could use a little push." More of a town than a city, Ponta Delgada is by turns quaint, warm, slippery and home to a handful of good bars and restaurants. This month it celebrates its 479th anniversary. Tremor is celebrating only its 12th birthday this year, but it's not just the capital that needed the push. Happy Birthday Ponta Delgada Jez Fielder Netflix, drugs and poverty The Azores is statistically the poorest area in Portugal and one of the poorest in the whole European Union with over 30% of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion. It is also the youngest area of Portugal with an average age of around 42. Basically, it changed everything Dina Oliveira Musician Festival organisers began with a 24 hour showcase in 2013 but over time developed a much broader platform that has changed lives in areas outside Ponta Delgada. And one of these areas will be familiar to some Netflix viewers. The harbour at Rabo de Peixe Jez Fielder The quiet fishing village of Rabo de Peixe has found fame as the location for a successful TV series of the same name ('Turn of the Tide' in English) due to an incident over 20 years ago. In 2001, a colossal amount of cocaine worth more than 150 million euros was recovered from a boat that sank off the coast. Tremor has worked with the young people of this village for over a decade. "We have a long relationship right now," says Lopes. "It's probably around 10 years. It's called Rabo de Peixe. It's a fishing village, and it's a place that is highly stigmatised, socially, but also in the media space. It's a place that has been getting a lot of attention, because it's called many times, it's one of Europe's poorest villages, because of high dependencies on public subsidies, drug trafficking, prostitution .There's that, and it's definitely not only specific to that place, but there's also a lot of cultural richness." The Som Sim Zero project, which developed out of the relationship between the ondamarela music collective and the Deaf Association of São Miguel, were the entertainment in Rabo de Peixe but they've played on bigger stages such as the Lisbon edition of Rock in Rio. Dino Oliveira has been involved with the project since its inception and knows how much Tremor has done for the area. "Basically, it changed everything," he says. "Basically, these kids that never did anything or anything different, some of them, we went to Rock in Rio, with this project. Especially this project, a community project. So, now everyone wants to get involved." ADVERTISEMENT "It totally changed,' Oliveira goes on. "The first time they went into a plane, these people that would never probably in their lifetime go even near the airport." Joseph Keckler © Andre Saudade Secret concerts inspired coach trips to far flung parts of the Island where the natural world was the stage, but Ponta Delgada itself has an abundance of excellent venues such as the Teatro Micaelense , the Coliseu, and the Auditório Luis de Camões. 60 acts from 17 countries entertained a devoted festival audience of 1500 visitors. And the highlights included the quirky Joseph Keckler. Dressed so neutrally that he could have been on stage in any of the previous six decades, but his content is squarely in the 2020s. Keckler reminds us that you should just do whatever you like to express yourself, and that following a framework is probably a drab idea. His operatic range is impressive although a different amplification setup might be useful as a closely mic'd up opera voice can be hard to listen to. His multimedia elements were nicely executed and who doesn't like a tune centred around sexual liaisons with the supernatural? Space in-vader? Speaking of the supernatural, hailing from Argentina, the autotune punk circus that is Blanco Teta kicked off the festival with unrestrained brio, lead vocalist Josefina Barriex controlling the vocal pitch shifts on a contraption that resembles an 80s speak and spell machine. Barreix stalks the stage like a Star Wars hybrid of Darth Vader and Princess Lea while mad cellist Violeta García turns lab coat to lingerie. ADVERTISEMENT Blanco Teta's Josefina Barriex thrills in the marina venue Vera Marmelo I'm tempted to talk about performance art over music but let's remember the Sex Pistols. Attitude was king then, too. On stage left, Bassist Carlos Quebrada grimaces and prowls like an Argentine centre back while drummer Carola Zelaschi gets her Animal on. Part Rage Against the Machine, part White Stripes and a sprinkling of Tracy Bonham, it is altogether a very good noise. Thrash Jazz? Another discovery came in the shape of Azorean-born Eugenia Contente. Playing a set that traversed jazz, funk and blues, Contente was the epitome of the happy performer, and I have never seen a Strat so viciously spanked on a clean setting. Part Stevie Salas, part Aristocrats, she blasts into Cuban jazz before peppering her blues jazz with scalic licks, all supported admirably by her band. Eugenia Contente and her band bringing the house down Vera Marmelo While some of the acts fell victim to their own profundity, decreasing their impact through self-indulgence, Contente is completely free of pretension and effortlessly bonds with the audience through the shared joy. A green festival for a green island? Keckler flew in from New York and most of the audience flew in from somewhere or other. And yet the festival has extremely sound eco-credentials. ADVERTISEMENT In 2023, Tremor received the ' A Greener Festival (AGF) Certification ' which is setting the standard for sustainability in live events. Lopes thinks any argument pinned on the carbon footprint is a misunderstanding of what sustainability really is. "We've had conversations with sustainability experts in Central Europe to say like, oh, this festival is like one of those boutique festivals in the middle of nowhere, people have to fly there, but it's not sustainable. A lie!" he insists. "Sustainability applies to context, and context is most of all infrastructure, the one that allows one thing to be sustainable or not. But more important than this technical dimension, I think where we champion sustainability is really on the social and on the human dimension." The festival takes in hiking trails, lakes, thermal baths, mountains and forests. You see a lot of green. And with that comes a responsibility, a 'politics of care' to use Lopes' words, which takes the form of a 'leave no trace' ethos. ADVERTISEMENT It's certainly more of an avant-garde festival than any other I've attended, and, much like a fine dining tasting menu, the 'pairing' of acts with landscapes cannot help but thrill. I'm not convinced that the swarthy fishermen of San Miguel island are into the avant-garde, but I think they quietly enjoy an initiative that only wants to make a positive impact for islanders. And any trajectory that begins in hardship and ends up performing in Rock in Rio has to be a barometer for success.
