Posted inNews/Politics

The Echo Chamber

The new monsters are different. Like Frankenstein’s creature, they are composed of the philosophical offal of the past century, with all its intellectual hurts and grievances. They have been reanimated, sewn together with the black thread bought in bulk by the far right. Intelligent, eloquent, urbane, they plow their considerable energies into forging new identities […]

Posted inLifestyleNews/Politics

Kristallnacht

At the Harrington Street drop-off today, there was a woman sitting on the floor, her legs stuck out straight in front of her in that peculiarly African pose. She was staring at her limbs, as if she could not believe that they had carried her here, that the same legs had carried her over moss […]

Posted inLifestyleMedia

High fidelity

Embroiled as I am in an argument with a furious member of the artistic community, I’m feeling the need to clear up some issues about art in this country. And before anyone starts saddling up the old high horse preparatory to riding me out of Dullsville, let me point out that just about the only […]

Posted inLifestyleMedia

New York is Nooit

This weekend I saw DJ Spooky take one for the team. It was an ugly but necessary procedure, and the kind of thing you never — but never — see happening to an artist at an exhibition opening. Especially an American one. We have a troubled relationship with all things international, we South Africans. On […]