Latest news with #surrealism
ABC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Feature Video: Foxwarren - Deadhead
Decapitation! Loincloths! Bizarre unsettling puppetry! Magical sky-babies! 'Deadhead' by Canadian quintet Foxwarren has all of that and more, in this highest-fantasy adventure that will take you way, way beyond the most uncanny of valleys. Born from the brain of renowned animator and director Joe Cappa (who has made original work for Adult Swim, Toro y Moi, Judd Apatow, Giphy and more), the clip for 'Deadhead' blends Joe's signature surrealist style with Foxwarren's indie-folk sensibilities.'I've been a long-time fan of Andy Shauf and Foxwarren so I was honoured to make something for them' says Joe. 'If I had it my way the video would be about a bunch of golfers in their mid 30s doing celebratory dances after sinking putts, but I was trying to keep it within the aesthetic of the album which was a little more rustic and nature-y. I'm happy with the end result.' 'I bought a bunch of wigs and medieval costumes and sort of came up with the premise of the video as I was dressing the puppets. When I put the blonde wig and mustache on the main character it really spoke to me. Those legs on the flute playing baby are my 10 month old son's.' Foxwarren's Andy Shauf says that this music video is 'definitely the first time I've been brought to tears by a music video for my own song', which is high praise given that Shauf is a rage favourite specifically for the ambitiously weird (in the good way), usually animated music videos that have always accompanied his solo work. The fantastical clip serves as a final preview for Foxwarren's new album, 2, and was created in the bands' own home studios across four Canadian provinces with band members Shauf, Avery and Darryl Kissick, Dallas Bryson, and Colin Nealis all collabing on shared song ideas, melodic phrases, and rhythmic bits in an online shared folder. Never let anyone tell you that WFH doesn't produce results. A parting message from Foxwarren, to intrepid travellers: 'To all the deadheads, we say 'don't stop dancing.''
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The lesbian artist who used 'paper bullets' to defy the Nazis on occupied Channel Islands in WWII - until she and her secret lover got caught
As someone who was not afraid to pursue her individuality against the spirit of the age, she was one of a kind. But Jewish-born surrealist writer and photographer Claude Cahun defied more than social convention. A new two-part Channel 4 documentary reveals the extent of her bravery resisting the Nazis in the occupied Channel Islands during the Second World War. Britain Under the Nazis: The Forgotten Occupation, tells how Cahun spent years penning 'paper bullets' - propaganda notes intended to sap the morale of German troops - and leaving them where they would be found by the enemy. But her brave acts of resistance - carried out with her secret lover and stepsister Marcel Moore - eventually caught up with her. She and Moore were caught by the Nazis in 1944 and sentenced to death, only to win a reprieve at the last moment. Tonight's documentary draws from diaries and letters to reveal the extent of the hardships suffered by ordinary islanders living under Nazi rule, which began on July 1, 1940. The Channel Islands were the only part of British territory to be occupied by Adolf Hitler's forces in the whole of the Second World War. Cahun, who was born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob in Nantes, France, in 1894, was living in Jersey when the Nazis invaded. Recounting the moment that German forces arrived, she wrote: 'I was standing on the lawn in front of the house watering the flowerbeds, when planes appeared. 'Flying so low that not only the crosses and other markings could be seen, but the pilots themselves. 'I think for the last three years I felt the war coming without wanting to believe it.' The Bailiff of Jersey, Alexander Coutanche, was allowed to stay on his role under German supervision. He described his mood of 'deep depression' when the new occupiers made clear the situation. With France having been overrun and British forces roundly humiliated at Dunkirk, the future looked bleak for the Channel Islanders. But Cahun was determined to fight back. Her paper bullets were and made to look as though they had been composed by rogue German soldiers. In them, she tried to incite mutiny and undermine troops' morale by disparaging Hitler's rule and highlighting Nazi atrocities. Cahun also called on the soldiers to lay down their arms. Historian Dr Louise Willmot says in tonight's programme: 'They are quite varied. 'Some are typed and they are typed really with great care. 'They range from a few lines to quite complex arguments, but they are all inciting the troops to lay down their weapons, so it is incitement to mutiny. 'She knew that is punishable by death. 'When we think about the choices people made and the dilemmas they faced, I don't think she felt that she had a choice. 'She did write that poets and artists had a duty to act, so I think she did feel it out of a sense of duty, she had to take action against the Nazis. Staggeringly brave.' The academic also highlights how Cahun and Moore were 'hiding their relationship' while living together as step-siblings. 'They were together from very early on and stayed committed to one another all their lives,' she added. 'So it is a romantic story but it is a hidden romantic story, because the times were different and they wanted to blend in in the background. 'If you had met her before the occupation or in France in her earlier life, you would see somebody who would shave her head, the wearing of masks, concealing identity, playing with gender identity. 'She says I don't think of myself as masculine or feminine. They both had already been politically very active in the surrealist anti-Fascist movement. 'By choosing to do this work, they were saying I am prepared to die in order to do this work which is so important.' Cahun's notes proved effective. The Germans were rattled and left convinced that there were several people involved, including rogue soldiers. Meanwhile, other acts of resistance were bubbling up. In June 1941, islanders responded to a radio appeal for people living under Nazi occupation to put up 'V for Victory' signs. And journalist Frank Falla was an integral part of the Guernsey Underground News Service (GUNS), which circulated BBC news around the island after radios were confiscated. In August 1942, Cahun was confronted with the sight of slave labourers who had been brought to Jersey to build a huge sea wall that was part of extensive fortifications of the islands. The artist's home was just yards away from where the emaciated prisoners were forced to work. The Nazis also deported 2,300 islanders to internment camps in France and Germany. And on Alderney, concentration camps were built to house forced labourers. Between 641 and 1,027 people - among them Jews, prisoners of war and some Romanis - are known to have to have died amidst the brutal conditions and savage treatment at the hands of SS guards. Some Jewish islanders - including nurse Therese Steiner - were deported to death camps including Auschwitz. In the summer of 1944, Cahun and Moore were arrested by the Gestapo at their home. The couple decided to fight their corner at trial. But they were handed a death sentence, as well as six years of hard labour and nine months in prison. But Bailiff Coutanche appealed for mercy and their death sentences were commuted. The Channel Islands were occupied until May 9, 1945 - two days after German forces in mainland Europe had surrendered. After their ordeal, Cahun and Moore went back to living together on Jersey. Cahun died there aged 60 in 1954. Moore took her own life in 1972 aged 79. Jersey Heritage, the trust which cares for the island's historic sites, has one of the biggest collections of Cahun's work in the world. Britain Under the Nazis: The Forgotten Occupation, begins tonight on Channel 4 at 8pm. The horror of the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands In June 1940, the Allied forces were defeated in France. The UK government decided the Channel Islands would be too costly to defend and began evacuating military personal and equipment. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was reportedly reluctant to simply abandon the oldest possession of the British crown but succumbed to the reasoning of military advisers. Thousands of residents of the channel island fled to mainland Britain to avoid the incoming Nazis. On Alderney, the most northerly of the main Chanel Islands, the vast majority of the 1,400 natives left the rock that is just three square miles in size. Many people evacuated from the larger Guernsey and Jersey but a large portion of the population opted to stay. The Nazis were unaware the Allied forces had stopped protecting the islands and over the next two weeks began reconnaissance fights over their shores. In total, 44 islanders were killed in a sequence of raids on the ports by the Luftwaffe. The Nazis soon occupied the islands, which became the only part of the British Empire conquered by the German Army. German authorities changed the time zone from GMT to CET in line with the rest of the Third Reich. German occupation also saw the island change to driving on the right hand side of the road. Residents were forced to sell their cars and houses; speak German in schools; give up weapons, boats and cameras; and had limited access to beaches. Hitler believed the occupation of the islands had value as a propaganda tool. As a result, they became heavily fortified. Hitler sent one-twelfth of the steel and concrete used in the Atlantic Wall defence network to go to the Channel Islands. The islands were some of the most densely fortified areas in Europe, with a host of Hohlgangsanlage tunnels, casemates, and coastal artillery positions. Forced labour camps were built on some of the islands, with so-called volunteer camps springing up on Guernsey and Jersey. This forced labour led to the creation of bunkers, gun emplacements, air raid shelters, and concrete fortifications. In 1942, camps on Alderney, called Sylt and Norderney, were built to hold a few hundred forced labourers. However, a year later, on March 1, 1943, they were placed under the control of the SS-Untersturmführer Maximillian List, turning them into concentration camps. He was succeeded by SS-Obersturmführer Georg Braun in March 1944. Both men were long-serving members of the Nazi party. List ordered the 'security to treat the prisoners harshly' and Braun was 'brutal to excess', according to archive information. The labourers were forced to build coastal defences as part of Hitler's 'Atlantic Wall' and it is thought 20 per cent of the camp's population died in the first four months alone. Sylt concentration camp was closed in 1944 and the SS destroyed much of it to hide their crimes. During D-Day on June 6, 1944 the British troops bypassed the heavily armoured islands. It took until May 9 1945 for the Nazis on the islands to surrender, 24 hours after VE day for most of Europe. Guernsey and Jersey were liberated by British troops and ships on this day. Sark was liberated on 10 May 1945, and the German troops in Alderney surrendered on 16 May 1945. Prisoners of war were removed from Alderney by 20 May 1945. Alderney was the last German garrison to surrender following the conclusion of the war.
Geek Dad
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Review – Absolute Martian Manhunter #3: Into the Fire
Absolute Martian Manhunter #3 cover, via DC Comics. Ray: This is by far the most offbeat of the Absolute books so far, and also one of the most intriguing. There are no signs of connections to a larger DCU, and it's street-level in a deeply surrealist way. We're just alone with this strange, haunted detective and the Gumby-esque psychic imprint of a Green Martian who's hitching a ride in his brain and giving him color-coded psychic powers. But now, the martian is giving John Jones hints of something horrible to come – a White Martian bound for Earth, with sadistic plans for the planet. And it seems to be manifesting in horrific crimes. After last issue's racist mass shooting, things only get worse when a homeless man is burned to death – by someone who's not sure why they did it. And making things worse, 23 other homeless people are killed in the same manner, at the same time, with the motive being a complete mystery even to the culprits. Dark fire. Via DC Comics. Deniz Camp is doing a great job of combining some surreal elements with crimes that feel all too real. The targets – Syrian refugees, street homeless – are exactly the kind of victims who often fall through the cracks, and Jones' doggedness when investigating even confuses his partner in the field. As the arsons escalate, targeting other people around the city, it becomes clear that there's a theme to whoever – or whatever – is doing this. As John's visions escalate and the colors become more surreal, the situation at home grows more and more strained, and the psychic imprints he gets of his wife sort of tell the tale. The story here is great, but it wouldn't work half as well without Rodriguez's surrealist art – the jarring use of colors makes us feel as disoriented as John does, and that's an experience that's hard to get in comics. This book is an experience in the strangest way possible. To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week. GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Edinburgh international children's festival review – naughty shadows, silly grown-ups and tongue twisters
If you think Peter Pan had problems with his shadow, you should see what Tangram Kollektiv have to contend with. In the German-French company's clever and understated Shades of Shadows, performers Sarah Chaudon and Clara Palau y Herrero find themselves in a landscape where shadows refuse to behave. Staged in the Festival theatre studio, it starts out looking like a standard-issue piece of shadow puppetry as the two performers project the silhouette of a Dr Seuss-like city on to a screen. They focus in on a room in one of the buildings where a couple drink at a table, lit by an Anglepoise lamp. Mimicking this image, carefully positioning themselves around the table, mugs in hand, they upturn the normal order of things: the shadow comes first, real life second. From there, matters grow increasingly surreal. A sinewy black puppet emerges from a lightbulb, the mugs float into the air, a spoon morphs into a fish and again into an aeroplane, blobs of light swell, contract and ricochet across the screens. In a spectacular piece of choreography, Chaudon appears in triplicate and gives each of her three shadows its own distinct gestures. The delightfully inventive show, co-created with director Tobias Tönjes, is not the only piece of surrealism in the opening weekend of the Edinburgh international children's festival, the annual benchmark of quality theatre for young audiences. The wonderfully funny Grown Ups by Compagnie Barbarie, resident at Brussels' Bronks theatre, begins on an empty Traverse stage where an assortment of random objects – a roll of tape, an unfurling cable, an arrow – cross in front of us to a soundtrack of tuneless whistling. Absorbed in an adult world of manual labour, Sarah Vangeel, Liesje De Backer, Amber Goethals and Lotte Vaes gradually appear, preoccupied by their mysterious tasks. They take a reckless approach to health and safety, wielding electric blades, scaling ladders and immersing live wires in water, but just as often busy themselves carrying large objects nowhere in particular. As water starts trickling perilously from the ceiling, Karolien De Bleser's beautifully timed production takes a turn. Suddenly, this backstage crew notice the audience and realise they should be performing something called theatre. Their wayward attempts at Chekhov, ancient Greek ritual and classical dance are not just comically eccentric, they raise a fascinating conceptual question: if this is what counts as theatre in the adult world, what are we watching the rest of the time? Still more everyday surrealism in Tongue Twister at North Edinburgh arts centre in which performer Greg Sinclair gets his mouth around the trickiest phrases from a dozen languages. Co-directed by Lu Kemp and Hannah Venet, the show keeps a stately pace, giving as much weight to the sensory pleasures of music, movement and design as to the tongue twisters themselves. Thanks to costume designer Alison Brown, these strange phrases find physical form in a multi-tiered skirt, a three-level cake, a brain/frog hybrid, a web of tin cans and an aunty in a tent. By the end, the stage is covered in colourful props, the visual wonder matching the playful possibilities of the spoken word. The festival runs at various venues, Edinburgh, until 1 June.
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Heat review – Paula Rego's dog women inhabit Becky Namgauds' frisky, feral dance-theatre
Among the eclectic entries on Becky Namgauds' CV are dancing for Harry Styles and Vivienne Westwood, and rolling around in mud in her outdoor festival piece Rodadoras. The Heat is something different again, a long way from Harry's House – although the house bit is right, as it's entirely set in one living room. But in this one a naked woman is crouched on all fours on the arm of the sofa, looking like things might go feral. Namgauds is clearly a choreographer with vision, and this is dance-theatre that's by turns unsettling, comic and mildly erotic. She is one of five female performers, of varying ages, inhabiting this domestic setting – sofa, coffee table, lamp, pot plant – where the ordinariness swerves into the surreal. Suddenly one woman is smooshing a tomato into her face. Another's head becomes disjointed from her body in an amusing bit of optical illusion. There's a blankness about these women, but also a hunger. The Heat is inspired by Paula Rego's Dog Woman paintings, depicting women behaving like dogs, with animalistic poses and bared teeth. It's an unpretty side of womanhood, but powerful too. Namgauds has also definitely watched some Pina Bausch (just look at all that long hair swishing luxuriously!) with these absurdist set pieces, only it's a more suburban version: admonishing a sofa cushion, feeling frisky while vacuuming and so on. The pivotal scene begins when one woman puts a fuchsia-pink vibrator on a table; switched on, it starts to do a little dance of its own. Across the room, a different woman suddenly starts vibrating. Then it's catching, soon they're all quaking: pure instinct, pure sensation-seeking, desperate for friction. Poor Henry the Hoover is all I will say. This is an unapologetic depiction of female instincts and what's suppressed beneath the surface. Namgauds has got something, for sure. But is there enough of it in this piece? It feels like a strong 40 minutes stretched to 60. Still, she's one to watch. At Sadler's Wells, London, until 23 May, then at the Lowry, Salford, on 3 June
