In Conversation with Lim Sokchanlina
Lim Sokchanlina has his audience sit in a 'pop-up' narrow corridor; pop-up because Sokchanlina created it in a room of Sa Sa Bassac using a brand new, racing green fence. Confronting this steel fence in the middle of the room establishes the emotions which are about to be questioned and transformed as the conversation between the artist and his audience develops.
- Read more
- 10318 reads
Morakot Island Update
A while ago, I wrote a post about the Grand Opening of the New Sihanoukville Bridge. Except for a brief re-opening, the bridge has been closed since then while developers focus on infrastructure and development.
- Read more
- 10100 reads
When expats rap you say “Oi Gioi Oi”
Three Hanoian expats have dug into Vietnam’s musical past to create a hip hop single entitled “Oi Gioi Oi” — a track that hails the joys and pains of living in modern day Hanoi.
British MC Ian Paynton, known by stage name EP, the Hanoi Sessions duo of the enigmatic Hanoi Funkmaster (Japan) and JC Smith (UK) have teamed up to in their spare time to create an entertaining and positive take on the capital, which often takes its fair share of criticism from expats, tourists and locals alike.
- Read more
- 16474 reads
After the International Women's Day 2012
Good traditions – but looking towards the future – should be developed. The following is such an attempt, following on publications during the past years. On 11 March 2007, I had written about the origins of the International Women's Day, related to the first all women’s strikes in the garment industry, in Lowell in Massachusetts/USA. What I consider worthwhile here is to think about the fact that the first strike of women textile workers, as described above, took place in Lowell/USA,
- Read more
- 8963 reads
Picking up the pieces
Full Circle is an unusual artwork: a durational performance piece which will challenge and transfix both artist and audience. For six consecutive days, Amy Lee Sanford will sit amid a circle of 40 Kompong Chhang clay pots. Slowly and deliberately, she will break one pot by dropping it on the floor. She will then gather the pieces and meticulously glue the pot back together, binding the fragments with string and returning the remade pot to the circle. Over six days, all 40 pots will be broken and remade in this way.
- Read more
- 10503 reads
The Freedom of Expression – China and Cambodia – and the Internet
The UN Human Rights Council - an "inter-governmental body within the United Nations system made up of 47 States responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe" - had decided, in September 2011,
“to convene, within existing resources, at its nineteenth session, a panel discussion on the promotion and protection of freedom of expression on the Internet, with a particular focus on the ways and means to improve its protection in accordance with international human rights law.”
It further requested “the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to liaise with relevant special procedures, States and other stakeholders, including relevant United Nations bodies and agencies, with a view to ensuring multi-stakeholder participation in the panel discussion.”
- Read more
- 4697 reads
Punk Is not dead
In early 1974, a newly opened dive bar in downtown Manhattan became the epicentre of a movement that would ultimately sweep the globe. The address 315 Bowery, then the site of CBGBs, would soon become known as The Birthplace of Punk – the ground zero of a worldwide counter-cultural phenomenon. This was where the Ramones famously played their first gig; where Patti Smith made her name; and where Television, Blondie, and Talking Heads took off.
- Read more
- 12252 reads
Trash Uncle
This story won the grand prize for "Story by an individual” award in the LIN Volunteer Stories Competition 2011. The competition was organised by LIN Center for Community Development, a philathropic institution that supports grassroots non-profit organisations in and and around Ho Chi Minh City. Words by Nguyen Huong Dao. Translated by UNV volunteers
I would like to tell you a story about the Nam Dinh Trash Team. It is special for me, and hopefully for you too. I am pretty sure about this.
- Read more
- 13717 reads
Myanmar's Roadmap to Democracy
Developments in Myanmar start to get more and more attention in the international press, and also in what is being reflected into local publications in Cambodia. The Cambodia Daily reported – quoting Reuters: In Burma's Kachin, Suu Kyi Stirs Hopes for Peace for Rebels.
If I had not been in Yangon on 12 February 2012, I would probably not have know that this day was dedicated to an important historical memory: it was the 65th Anniversary Union Day.
- Read more
- 13760 reads
Stereoptik
The fusion of live action with animation dates backs to the turn of the 20th century, when US newspaper cartoonist Winsor McCay created pioneering short Gertie the Dinosaur. During vaudeville performances, McCay would stand on stage, dressed in a tuxedo and wielding a whip, and instruct the animated brontosaur – projected onto a screen behind him – to perform various circus tricks. In a clip from 1914, McCay can be seen tossing a real apple to Gertie, who promptly ‘catches’ a cartoon version of it on-screen (the real apple never left McCay’s palm).
- Read more
- 8338 reads