Hey Norway it is me, Asshat.

Have you ever wanted to yell out over a valley and a village?  To just let them know your alive and harsh their day?  Well you still can and all you need is a phone.

From Unsworn Industries…
Telemegaphone Dale stands seven meters tall on top of the Bergskletten mountain overlooking the idyllic Dalsfjord in Western Norway.

When you dial the Telemegaphone’s phone number the sound of your voice is projected out across the fjord, the valley and the village of Dale below. PH: +4790369389

Check it out here… http://www.unsworn.org/telemegaphone/

Pope Benedict Stops Frog Threat

Pope Benedict took the time this week to focus on one of the worlds largest menaces to civilized culture and faith, Martin Kippenberger’s Zuerst die Füsse.

The Green Frog measuring 4 ft. in height who is holding a mug of beer in one hand and a egg in the other while being crucified has been a thorn in the side of of the Church for over a decade. John Paul may have turned a blind eye to it’s existence at the Museion museum in the city of Bolzano but Benedict has had enough.

It is such an agregious work that Franz Pahl, the president of the regional government, being so enraged by the sculpture he went on hunger strike to demand its removal and consequently ended up in hospital during the summer.

“Surely this is not a work of art but a blasphemy and a disgusting piece of trash that upsets many people,” he told Reuters before the start of the board meeting.

In a letter of support for Pahl, the Vatican said the sculpture “wounds the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the cross the symbol of God’s love”.

Pope Benedict has set his sights on eliminating kitsch filled religiously sarcastic art, sexual abuse scandals and world genocide……… In that order and I applaud his steadfast dedication to this struggle and thank him from protecting me and others from religious work such as this and the “Where’s Waldo/Jesus” series, that really gets my mind a questioning.

Banksy Decends on New Orleans

Satirical stencil and graffiti artist Banksy has descended on New Orleans with spray can in hand and made a series of works on everything from abandoned buildings to levees.

In a recent interview he told the UK’s Sky News: “Three years after Katrina I wanted to make a statement about the state of the clean-up operation.”

Then went on to say that the levee wall offered “the best painting surface in the state of Louisiana.”

See more images here

Damien Hirst Cuts Out the Middle Gal’lery and Sells Direct

Back in mid September Damien Hirst decided to sell his art directly via Sotheby’s auction house. Bypassing his big-name gallerists: Larry Gagosian and Jay Joplin. Sotheby’s is enthusiastic and breathless needless to say.

Sotheby’s spokesman Oliver Barker has been quoted that “Damien is totally fearless. He’s not just an outstanding artist; he’s a cultural phenomenon.”

Gagosian & Joplin’s comment was not fit to print.

Sales are expected to range between $100 to $200 million. The most expensive of which is expected to be a cow with golden horns and hoofs encased in a formaldehyde filled gold display case.

Anyone that is familiar with the state of the film or especially the music industry will have a feeling of deja vu. As the middle market is continually in decline and producers and consumers are finding the distance and materials between them are either disappearing or rearranging in more direct value matchmaking oriented ways.

The conventional wisdom is that only blue chip artists could make this leap successfully but music has already show that even entry level artists can find that the old model of parent/child is less successful then a more community focused matchmaking system managed by independent investors or other like minded creators.

Art Overshadows Beijing Olympic Handoff to London

An uproar has grown over the inclusion of British artist Marcus Harvey’s massive portrait of child killer Myra Hindley in London’s promotional video showcasing well-known London landmarks.

The painting which was created using the handprints of children to recreate the portrait of the nationally reviled killer who died in prison in 2002, was exhibited at London’s Royal Academy of Art in 1997.

Visit London used the image as part of a montoge to promote London and it’s landmarks of industry, nature & culture.and was played on a loop at a private party in Beijing attended by British politicians, 2012 Olympic officials and British athletes.

Also it was the backdrop of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and London Mayor Boris Johnson’s speech they gave during the party that was transmitted back to the UK.

Visit London defended the video as “a general, three-minute video of London in which an artwork by Marcus Harvey very fleetingly appears.”

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