—Dutch saying… (ramping up for Movember)

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The picture of a fly in the urinals at Schiphol Airport has been touted as a simple, inexpensive way to reduce cleaning costs. Where does it come from, and how effective is it really?

There’s something of a surprise waiting at the bottom of the urinals in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport: an etched image of a fly. At first glance, one might be forgiven for thinking it real. Then one notices that all the urinals have one, and the fly is always in the same position, just above the urinal drain and off to the left. It turns out that men, in their urinal behaviour, cannot resist peeing on things, especially if they look as though they might wash away…

(read the whole article here)

—Jane Austen (1775-1817)

—C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)

Moscow, Russia

“Created between 1958-1963—when the U.S.S.R. was well ahead of the U.S. in the space race—these posters are wonderful examples of mid-century Soviet art.”

Rendered unflinchingly in the style that came to be known as Socialist Realism, the posters sport headlines such as, “We were born to make the fairy tale come true!,” “Socialism is our launching pad,” and “Glory to the workers of Soviet science and technology!” See more examples, including translations, here.

(Thanks to Chris Pointon for the link.)

Mexico City, Mexico

The iconic Jorge Alderete, aka Dr. Alderete, is a Patagonian-born artist, pop illustrator, designer, animator, record-label owner, entrepreneur, and publisher who “uses trash culture, 1950s science fiction films, wrestling, and surf music imagery in his psychotronic illustrations, animations, and comics.”

Jorge is a frequent judge at international award shows, a prolific lecturer in the Spanish-speaking world, and his work has been exhibited around the globe. View more of his “in your face” work at www.jorgealderete.com or www.vertigogaleria.com

Jorge wrote me last week to inform me that he hates my blog… apparently it distracts him from doing his work. This post is my reply. (-:

—Ernest Hemingway

London, UK

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. It has now been confirmed that the Central Intelligence Agency used American modern art — including the works of such artists as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko — as a weapon in the Cold War, beginning in 1947.

“In the manner of a Renaissance prince (except that it acted secretly) the CIA fostered and promoted American Abstract Expressionism around the world for more than 20 years.”

Why did the CIA support these artists? “Because in the propaganda war with the Soviet Union, this new artistic movement could be held up as proof of the creativity, the intellectual freedom, and the cultural power of the US. Russian art, strapped into the communist ideological straitjacket, could not compete.”

Read the full article, entitled “Modern art was CIA ‘weapon,'” from The Independent, here.

—Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926- )

Winnipeg, Canada

A few days ago, my colleague Adrian Shum sent me a link that is now up to a presentation I gave at Winnipeg’s first PechaKucha event, on 17 February 2010.

Organized by GDC Manitoba on a regular basis over the past three years, tonight (12 September 2013) will feature the 15th Winnipeg PechaKucha at The Park Theatre and Movie Cafe, 698 Osborne Street… doors open at 20:00 and the show begins (of course) at 20:20, seating limited to 250.

For anyone not yet familiar with the concept, PechaKucha 20×20 is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images advance automatically and you talk along to the images. Begun by several young architects a decade ago in Tokyo, PechaKucha Nights now take place in over 500 cities around the world. Why the name PechaKucha (pronounce it Paw-Chalk‘-Ahh-Cha)? It derives from a Japanese term meaning “chatter.”