Category Archives: New Utopia

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TALKS and OPPORTUNITIES

Delivered virtually over four days, the Know My Name Conference celebrates women (cis and trans) as artists, activists, researchers, intellectuals and mentors, now and into the future. Foregrounding diverse voices and with First Nations perspectives embedded across the program, the event will bring together leading and emerging Australian and international voices from arts and academia.

Presented by National Gallery of Australia from Tue 10Fri 13 November. Registrations essential.

AOC Initiative Scholarship Panelists. Image supplied.

To qualify for the AOC Initiative, applicants must identify as Bla(c)k, Indigenous or as People of Colour; be pursuing a career in musical theatre; be aged between 17 and 30 at the time of submission; be an Australian citizen or resident; not have previously secured a leading or supporting role in a mainstage musical theatre production, and not be engaged in or scheduled for performance-related work in a leading or supporting role at the time of submission.

Donations are being raised via GoFundMe with 100% of the prize money being awarded to the six finalists. So far, the AOC has raised over $10,000 with the winner receiving 50% of the donations; the runner up receiving 20% of the donations and the final four receiving 7.5% of the donations each. All donations support a step forward in the dialogue of inclusivity and social awareness.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has released new dates and funding for the UK/Australia Season 2021-2022.

The Season is a joint initiative by the British Council and the Australian Governments Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to strengthen and build cultural connections. Australia-based arts organisations and individuals are invited to submit project proposals for inclusion in the UK/Australia Season 2021-22.

The application deadline for Australian applications to present work in the UK has been extended. The new closing date is Monday 5 October 2pm AEST. More information relating to the Australian Cultural Diplomacy Grants Program (ACDGP)for the Season is now available on the DFAT website.

Australian individuals and organisations can apply for grants of up to $60,000 AUD. A reminder that organisations are also eligible to bid for up to $40,000 AUD as part of the UK/Australia Season Grant.

This will be the first time the Australian Government and the British Council have collaborated on a reciprocal Season, which will take place from August 2021 to March 2022.

DFAT recently hosted a webinar for Australia-based arts organisations and individuals looking to find out more about the Season. The panel included representatives from the Australian High Commission in the UK, DFAT and British Council Australia, who shared key information around the Season concept, funding opportunities and eligibility criteria. There was also an extensive Q&A session for live participants. Listen on Youtube.

Utopia Art Centre is a community-led initiative. The artists, with the help of Urapuntja Aboriginal Corporation (UAC) have lobbied, saved and put their own resources into getting started. Two years ago, UAC approached Desart for support and direction in finally establishing an art centre.

Were all really excited for the artists and their community. People might think that a region like Utopia has had lots of art services and an art centre set up for years, but it hasnt; the artists have fared for themselves, making this a really important project, said Philip Watkins, CEO of Desart.

With over 100 artists in the region, there is strong demand for access to the benefits of an Aboriginal owned and managed enterprise. The Utopia artists have long seen the success and services a strong art centre brings to other communities and have long advocated for such a model for their homelands.

The nationwide search for the Utopia Art Centres foundation Manager has started. Recruitment is led by Desart, with a competitive package for the right person. The new Manager will be crucial to the start-up of Utopia Art Centre, in equal parts exciting and problem-solving.

Learn more about the position. Applications close Monday 21 September 2020.

FESTIVAL UPDATES

On the eve of wrapping up this weekend, Parrtjima has announced 2021 dates off back of this years success. Parrtjima - A Festival in Light will return to Australias Red Centre and Alice Springs from 9-18 April 2021.

Parrtjima is the only event of its kind in the world, celebrating Aboriginal arts, culture and storytelling through extraordinary light, art and sound installations.

ON STAGE

The City of Ballarat has created what appears to be a world first a 1300 hotline where residents can dial in to express their emotions and have those feelings transformed into a specially composed piece of music.

1300 ROAR is a project of the Creative City Strategy of the City of Ballarat and has been developed as part of the Citys ongoing commitment to supporting the arts and culture sector, as well as integrating creativity into the Citys response to recovery from the pandemic.

Mayor, Cr Ben Taylor said: We understand that our community needs to have an avenue to voice their emotions whether they are feeling frustration, sadness, grief, hope or joy. The 1300 ROAR project gives everyone an outlet to express their emotions in a healthy and productive way.

Residents will be able to call the hotline on 1300 728 760 from now until mid-October. The service also has the capacity to connect residents to Lifeline.

Residents will be able to dial an answering machine and have three minutes to voice their feelings. Everyones submission is anonymous. The files are not listened to instead they are compressed into a single file. The total compressed files are supplied to a local digital sound engineer and composer to craft a soundscape or a piece of music designed to lift spirits and encapsulate this important time.

Ballarat has proven to be ahead of the curve in both managing community wellbeing and injecting much-needed funds into the vulnerable creative sector during lockdown times. This lockdown is no different, added Taylor.

Queensland Symphony Under the Stars 2019. Image supplied.

Symphony Under the Stars is set for 24 and 25 September, when Queensland Symphony Orchestra will return to Gladstone for the eighth consecutive year. For the first time, two concerts will be held in Gladstones picturesque Marina on Thursday 24 and Friday 25 September 2020 at 7pm.

The spectacular event is part of the Gladstone Enrichment through Music (GEM) initiative. Fifty-nine musicians will take the trip north of Gladstone for the two performances.

The program features a movie music repertoire, with works from blockbusters such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, E.T., and Cinema Paradiso under the baton of conductor Dane Lam.

While the event is free, bookings are essential, and must be made via Gladstone Entertainment Convention Centres website.

arTour and Flipside Circusare rolling their first large-scale arts and entertainment tour since COVID-19 hit.

arTour Producer Laura Bonner said they were excited to once again hit the road to bring arts and entertainment to regional and remote Queensland. This trailblazing tour with Flipside Circus is a positive indicator of Queenslands post-COVID recovery and a hopeful sign of more regional tours and performances to come, said Bonner.

arTour has teamed up with Flipside Circus, Queenslands largest youth arts company, to present their community youth engagement program from 12 September to 16 November. They have tailored a program of youth workshops to present a unique two-day training residency in 10 western Queensland communities.

Eugene Choi, Rainbow Chan, Marcus Whale will present a new song cycle inspired by Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love. Photo: Daniel Boud

The Sydney Opera House has commissioned a new work by Sydney artists Rainbow Chan, Eugene Choi and Marcus Whale to be presented as part of its free weekly digital program,From Our House to Yours.

In the Mood, A Love Letter to Wong Kar-Wai and Hong Kongwill feature a theatrical set, 60s style costumes, and sax-drenched renditions of the films romantic soundtrack. New music by Chinese-Australian artists Rainbow Chan and Marcus Whale against a backdrop of narration by Eugene Choi will present an audiovisual journey that guides the audience through a heartbreaking cycle of longing, intimacy and forbidden love.

The performance will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wais landmark film In the Mood for Love, with a new song cycle performed on the Joan Sutherland Theatre stage with visuals evoking Wongs iconic romance through the lens of 2020.

The event will be livestreamed at 9pm AEST on Saturday 26 September and will be available to watch on demand thereafter. Free to watch live online

AROUND THE GALLERIES

Award winning artist Michael Zavros will have his first Sydney exhibition in more than a decade, with a new body of work, A Guy Like Me, to be presented at Sullivan+Strumpf Sydney October 15 to November 14.

Melbourne Art Fair has announced the cancellation of the 2021 edition. With ongoing uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, both in Australia and overseas, Melbourne Art Foundation has made the choice to focus on delivering an exceptional art fair to mark the start of the Australasian cultural season in 2022 from 17-20 February at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Stage 4 is a new online gallery launched 20 September, and exhibiting work created during the COVID-19 pandemic by Australian artists.Exhibited works will be rotated every two weeks. Artists will be able to sell their works through a connected online Shopify store, currently under development.

Stage 4 is currently taking submissions of painting, drawing, digital art, dance, performance, spoken word, and written works. Work must be created after 1 March. Stage 4 was created by Ronan MacEwan, a digital communications specialist for contemporary art galleries and organisations, based in Hobart.

The team at Sydney Contemporary have been busy creating a bespoke online platform that is more than just an online viewing room.Sydney Contemporary presents 2020features over 450new artworks from Australasia's leading galleries, created by contemporaryartists from around the globe. Sydney Contemporary presents 2020will launch on1st Octoberand will run until the end of the month, with new works added weekly.The new digital initiative showcases 450+ new artworks by more than 380 artists, created during - and in response to 2020.

Imaginary Territories - A Feminist Surrealist Visual Art Exhibition features new works by five accomplished Western Australian artists. Presented by Dark Swan Exhibitions for PS Art Space, Fremantle, it runs from 17 October to 14 November.

The works include film projection, sound, installation, photomedia, and visual art by Jo Darbyshire, Lucille Martin, Rebecca Patterson (33 POETS), Dr Toni Wilkinson, and Dr Kelsey Ashe (pictured top), who is also the curator.

Explaining the inspiration behind the exhibition, Ashe said: In an era of environmental/world crisis and political divisiveness, to conceive new realities has become critically important.The exhibition explores the concept of a "territory" as a domain of the inner world a representation that expresses an "internal truth". Through this Surrealist lens, the artists territories are simultaneously real and imagined, explored into being; a place where both conscious and subconscious realities are envisioned.

Kawita Vatanajyankur becomes a traditional beam scale in The Scale of Justice, holding baskets which fill up with luscious green vegetables, as her balance and composure are increasingly tested.

Part of the artists Mechanized series, in which Vatanajyankur acts as a moving part of a machine, she transforms herself into food production equipment in performance videos that restage everyday processes.

A Horsham Regional Art Gallery digital exhibition touring with NETS Victoria. Curated by Olivia Poloni.

Jonny Niesche,Public Intimacy, 2020. Photo credit: Kate Collingwood.

oOh!media has launched a campaign exclusive to Melbourne, showcasing works from contemporary commercial gallery STATION across its street furniture and rail sites. As Melbournes lockdown continues, the campaign highlights meaningful art that reflects on the current conditions in Victoria, reaching the citys commuters and essential workers at multiple points throughout the day.

Artworks created for the campaign focus on COVID, the artists interpretations of emotions felt during lockdown, and some of the possibilities and positives to come out of Victorias isolation.

Neil Ackland, Chief Content Marketing and Creative Officer at oOh!, said the campaign was a small gesture to help Melburnians through difficult times.

The campaign features works from Adam Lee, Dane Lovett, David Griggs, Jason Phu, Jonny Niesche, and Nell, and will run throughout September.

When COVID 19 forced the cancellation of Design Eye Creative paper on skins live gala event, Burnie Arts Council made an instant decision to shift to a digital format.

Design Eye Creative paper on skin connects Burnies papermaking heritage to a community of Australian and international artists. Their challenge is to design a wearable garment made from at least 80% paper. Filming took place in Burnie over a ten-day period in late June. The film features 31 works from 7 countries and is free online.

Boroondara Arts final exhibition for 2020 is A Family Album. Through painting, photography, textiles and video works, the featured artists illustrate the myriad experiences that bring families together and pull them apart, creating a collage of contemporary Australian communities.

The exhibiting artists include: Donna Bailey, Julie Dowling, Hannah Gartside, Pia Johnson, Hoang Tran Nguyen and Selina Ou. Showing Saturday 31 October Sunday 13 December 2020 at Town Hall Gallery and online.

More arts news you may have missed.

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ICYMI: The week's top news in the arts - ArtsHub

When people think about the things that could bring about the end of humanity, the short list tends to include global thermonuclear war, asteroid impacts or deadly pandemics (sounds familiar). Of course, these are not the only existential threats faced by humanity. The people of some developing nations are sadly more familiar with other issues: drought, famine and socio-political collapse. Yet there is one threat that humanity faces that is far more insidious than the others, as it is right in our faces: uncontrolled Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Im not the only one sounding the alarm about the potential dangers of AI; Elon Musk, world renowned engineer-entrepreneur, has repeatedly done the same. At the National Governors Conference in 2017, Musk said, AI is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization in a way that car accidents, airplane crashes, faulty drugs or bad food were [sic] not.

For Musk and others, like Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking, proactive measures to prevent a disaster are better than reactive measures after one. In fact, Musk founded his nonprofit OpenAI for the purpose of ensuring that artificial general intelligence (AGI) by which we mean highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work benefits all of humanity.

But what exactly is AI? What is AGI? Whats the difference? Simply put, AI is used in reference to machines that can perform tasks that mimic those of the human mind, like solving problems or learning new information. Self-driving cars are a great example of AIs potential use in daily life; Tesla, Google and Uber are all expanding their reach into this new market.

While this artificial narrow intelligence (ANI) can be used to streamline a specific process and thus improve quality of life for both businesses and individuals, artificial general intelligence (AGI) has the potential to do much more, both good and bad. Artificial general intelligence is any AI that would have the capability to learn, interpret and apply knowledge about the world in a manner exactly akin to, or even better than, a human being. It is important to note that AGI does not currently exist. It is, however, the aspiration of many AI developers, and many organizations have dedicated themselves to the task (the most high-profile of these being Googles DeepMind AI project).

With the added advantages of instantaneous calculation and perfect memory, AGI would be able to replace almost any human task. While AGI-operated machines would initially be extremely expensive, as a matter of course the technology would become cheaper and cheaper over time, eventually allowing AGI to completely replace human labor. This is where things could get interesting.

At this crossroads, one path leads to utopia and the other to dystopia, or even Armageddon. In the utopian vision, AI acts to benefit humanity, freeing human labor and time across nations and cultures. With human labor almost completely freed up and leveraging the power of advanced AI, technological breakthroughs would occur at an exponential rate and the global standard of living would follow suit. Many of the worlds largest problems would cease to exist as new technologies and means of employing them are developed.

The dystopian road is quite the opposite; AGI could develop to the point where its own level of intelligence increases exponentially. The AI gathers information, using it to create more and more knowledge. It is not hard to see how AGI could quickly become more intelligent than humanity; this is a phenomenon referred to as the singularity. A particular problem at this point is ensuring that the new super intelligent AI remains friendly to humanity by means of ensuring that the AIs goal structures do not change; a rapidly developing AI could easily change its goals from the original, beneficial set to a new set of goals that may be dismissive of or even detrimental to man. Even with these and other precautions, there exists a multitude of ways that humanity could easily lose control over a super intelligent AI, and beyond that point, the future is unclear.

So when, exactly, might we expect such super intelligent AI, given the current rate of technological development? Well, that is anyones guess. Elon Musk has said that he believes AI could become more intelligent than humanity by 2025. Others, including Ray Kurzweil, believe it could happen closer to 2045. In a series of polls conducted by AI researchers Nick Bostrom and Vincent Mller, the median prediction fell between 2040 and 2050.

The point of all of this is to recognize that AI, while being an immensely promising emergent technology, also poses extreme (read: existential) risks at the far end of the development horizon. I do not intend to come across as a luddite, trying to dissuade further development for fear of one of many possible outcomes. However, it is necessary to note that the risks are real and that it would serve us well as a society to temper our obsession with whether we can with a consideration of whether we should.

Read the rest here:

AI: The Massive Problem No One is Talking About - Villanovan

Our guest for this show is Dr. Jasmine Mitchell. Dr. Mitchell is Assistant Professor of American Studies and Media Communication at SUNY Old Westbury.

Dr. Mitchell will talk about her book, Imagining the Mulatta: Blackness in U.S. and Brazilian Media.

Brazil markets itself as a racially mixed utopia. The United States prefers the term melting pot. Both nations have long used the image of the mulatta to push skewed cultural narratives. Highlighting the prevalence of mixed race women of African and European descent, the two countries claim to have perfected racial representationall the while ignoring the racialization, hypersexualization, and white supremacy that the mulatta narrative creates.

Jasmine Mitchell investigates the development and exploitation of the mulatta figure in Brazilian and U.S. popular culture. Drawing on a wide range of case studies, she analyzes policy debates and reveals the use of mixed-Black female celebrities as subjects of racial and gendered discussions. Mitchell also unveils the ways the media moralizes about the mulatta figure and uses her as an example of an acceptable version of blackness that at once dreams of erasing undesirable blackness while maintaining the qualities that serve as outlets for interracial desire.

Send comments about the show to Brother Warren at nolawakeup@gmail.com

Original post:

Blackness in US and Brazilian Media 09/17 by New Orleans Wake Up | Current Events - BlogTalkRadio

September 16, 2020 During a virtual Q&A session hosted by the Broadband Bunch on Tuesday, a panel of open access enthusiasts discussed whether or not the United States is ready to embrace open access networks.

While the panelists tried to remain hopeful about the knowledge level the public has about open access news, audience participation during the webinar revealed that many do not fully understand the concept.

Open access networks are those that revert traditional vertically-integrated broadband networks by creating a layer of separation between ownership and service delivery.

Open access networks break up the model of incumbent internet providers. Instead, the open access model allows one entity to own a network, another to operate it, and even more to provide internet and other advanced services over the network.

A survey question posed to the audience, asking participants to define open access networks, received 30 percent incorrect answers. And this was on an already niche group of viewers!

The panelists did not expect the public to understand the model, or even recognize the name, indicating that explaining open access is full time job in itself.

While many internet service providers use open access middle-mile networks, last-mile open access networks are relatively new, said Heather Gold, CEO of HBG Strategies.

Kyle Glaeser, director of Emerging Networks, indicated that one of the barriers to completing open access projects is the lack of existing knowledge. Were competing against long-standing infrastructure projects, which have more existing evidence on how to de-risk them, he said.

More misconceptions that audience members held were revealed when the Broadband Bunch posed the survey question, What are the biggest barriers to open access? The majority of viewers choose the incorrect answer, selecting regulatory hurdles.

State regulations arent prohibiting open access, said Brian Snider, CEO of Lit Communities, arguing that there are less regulatory hurdles than people may think.

The regulations dont hurt, but they dont help, said Kim McKinley, UTOPIA Fiber's chief marketing officer.

The panelists said that funding is actually one of the biggest hurdles to deploying open access networks.

FCC funding is not designed for open access networks, said McKinley. She said that the exclusion from applying for state and federal funding, due to network design, has hindered potential growth.

She questioned why, as of yet, no government dollars have been spent on open access networks.

Why are we funding incumbent providers that are not delivering? said McKinley, the demand is there, right now we need political assistance.

Read the original post:

What's the Biggest Hurdle to Open Access Networks? Misconceptions About Open Access Networks - BroadbandBreakfast.com

Written by Khaled Ahmed | Updated: September 12, 2020 9:20:49 amPakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. (Reuters Photo/File)

Pratap Bhanu Mehta recently (Simply Vishwas, IE, August 26) wrote: Politics of belief (vishwas) is different from one based on fact and interest. It has an underlying cultural nihilism. In Pakistan, it has an association with ideology serving as the foundation of the Islamic State.

The word ideologie came into use during the French Revolution and postulated a sure and encyclopaedic form of knowledge upon which social engineering could be based. Ideology came on the scene as a champion of Enlightenment and rival of religion, but it soon acquired the status of a dogma. The principal voice of the ideologues and author of Elements dIdeologie, Antoine Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836), spoke frankly of regulating society.

Most ideologues possess a kind of certitude, not just that utopia can be built but that it is destined to be built. Nothing promotes aggression more than certitude. Yet, a fatalistic trust in the tide of history and the ideological frame of mind go together. However, history cannot be left alone to unfold the passionate intensity (W B Yeats) of ideology craves movement and deeds. It has been said that ideology is the transformation of ideas into social levers. During the month of fasting this year, ideology and its certitude once again threaten Pakistan with violence. Mehtas vishwas may be linked to certitude and consequent aggression.

The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, did use the word ideology once or twice during the Pakistan Movement, but it was in the Western liberal sense. The USSR had an ideology which was fixed. If you opposed Soviet ideology you could go to jail. In Iran, there is an ideology which no one can oppose. The only difference is that in Iran it can be done in the detail but not in principle.

In the USSR, the Communist Party looked after ideology. In Iran, the clergy appointed by the constitution does the same job. In Pakistan, ideology gained respect after 1947 and some of it, it must be confessed, came from the USSR and its great economic achievement. India was democratic. Pakistan was ideological. India was an ordinary concept as a state. Pakistan was something special. The Left thought ideological meant socialism. The Right thought it meant Islam. The utopia of the Right was falahi (welfare) state, somewhat akin to the communist utopia. Today, Imran Khan calls it the State of Madina.

Opinion | Rajmohan Gandhi writes: Amicable relations with Pakistan may seem remote but they are worth striving for

All politicians in Pakistan proudly claim to be nazriati (ideological). It can mean principled, but it also points to an Islamic utopia. Pakistan has tried to define this utopia. But under General Ziaul Haq, a committee called Ansari Commission said Islam did not allow opposition. So, the general had a non-party election and there was no opposition in parliament. It was clear that Pakistan did not equate ideology with democracy. There is a Federal Shariat Court in Islamabad to make sure everything happens in Pakistan according to Islam. That is very much like ideology.

The clerical view is that the Pakistani utopia should be recreated in the light of the sharia, which also includes the fiqh (case law) of the medieval jurists of Islam. Alas, in the eyes of the clergy, the state remains incompletely ideological and, therefore, an unhappy state. It is a small island on which the non-clerical Right and a minuscule Left are surviving in Pakistan. Needless to say, the clerics are unhappy and denounce the state.

Muslims who want to be modern-Islamic are unhappy because the state cant move quickly enough to assimilate the new universalism. Muslims who want the state to be perfectly Islamic are unhappy with it for being tardy in rejecting modernity. You have to be a good Pakistani. That means you have to love the idea of Pakistan as a state that lives separated from India.

If you imply that Pakistan is not separate from India or that it should re-join it, you go in for rigorous imprisonment. This is a special shibboleth. An American can say America should join China and still be free. But in Pakistan, you can be hauled up for implying Pakistans un-separateness.

Ideology interfaces with nationalism. Ideology remains Islam, but dont ask to go into details. Pakistan is unhappy because of the inclusive constitutional principle of nothing repugnant to Islam. Pakistan is liveable today for some because it is insufficiently ideological. For some, this incompleteness is a source of unhappiness. Its constitution seems to promise two contradictory things at the same time. No one is really reconciled to the state as it is. Those not reconciled are all good Pakistanis or Muslims, but they may not consider each other good Pakistanis or Muslims.

The acme of nationalism is fascism, which then becomes ideology. Ideology, because of its utopian control, also aspires to fascism. Stalin fought against fascism but then created an ideological state, which was not much different from Hitlers Germany. Pakistan is like Caliban. It sees its face in the mirror and doesnt like what it sees.

This article first appeared in the print edition on September 12, 2020 under the title Divided by ideology. The writer is consulting editor, Newsweek Pakistan.

The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

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The Indian Express (P) Ltd

The rest is here:

Pakistan sees its face in the mirror and doesnt like what it sees - The Indian Express

By admin | on August 27, 2020

Editor, Roadrunner:

I love how our new lefty starts his rant by imagining a Utopian Society! Thats the dream of progressives, otherwise known as socialists. Yep, big government will fix it all, and we will sing kumbaya.

Leaning Left neglects to mention that our federal government already runs THREE single-payer systems: Medicare, the Veterans Health Administration and the Indian Health Service each of which is loaded with fraud, waste and corruption. Why would anyone want to turn over all of our medicine to these incompetent bureaucrats?

Rather than point out all the illogical statements in the column, I will mention the proper way to correct the finest medicine in the world: American medicine.

1. Get the consumer involved in the cost. When someone else pays, who cares how much it costs? Head to the hospital for a runny nose! We need Major medical insurance to cover serious illnesses etc, and a health savings account to take care of routine health care. End of the year, you dont spend it, you get to keep it, say, in your IRA. Heart attack? Insurance. Sniffles? Cmon. Empower individuals to control their costs.

2. Force all medical service providers to make PUBLIC their inclusive prices for ALL procedures. Transparency! Posting prices will force hospitals to become more competitive by becoming more efficient.

3. Remove regulations and policy obstacles that discourage choice and competition, and create a wide variety of plans and insurers to compete for my business. Allow me to choose a plan and my doctors, like I was promised. I dont need a plan that includes abortion and contraception since I am still male. Reform Medicaid and modernize Medicare.

Two quick stories to close: My old dentist now charges $245 for a cleaning and X-rays. My new dentist charges $99 for both. (I shopped with my wallet.) A friend in Australia needs a knee replacement; 50% of her paycheck goes to taxes, but she will get a free knee replacement once she gets to the top of the waiting list-about nine months. So you progressives can keep promising Utopia. Unfortunately, theres no such place.

BILL MACEY, Valley Center

*Note: Opinions expressed by columnists and letter writers are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the newspaper.

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Letter to the Editor: UTOPIA, THE DREAM OF SOCIALISTS - Valley Roadrunner

Banking has always meant bankers, the people who arrange everything from savings accounts to synthetic collateralized debt obligations. But what if computer code could take their place? Thats the goal of whats known as decentralized finance, or DeFi, a movement thats grown out of a decade of experimentation with cryptocurrencies. A DeFi world could be one where money flows more efficiently and more fairly, its proponents say, pointing to platforms where users are boasting of hefty returns. Critics say that DeFi is more likely reinventing the hype, wild speculation and money-losing possibilities of crypto.

DeFi revolves around applications known as dapps that perform financial functions on digital ledgers called blockchains, a technology that was invented for Bitcoin but has since caught on more broadly. Dapps let people lend or borrow funds from others, go long or short on a range of assets, trade coins or earn interest in a savings-like account. The transactions are governed by rules embedded in the software called smart contracts. Many of these apps can also hook on to each other and work together to create complex financial services.

Its an if x, then y agreement. You could consider an automatic payment plan with a traditional bank to be a smart contract -- it will withdraw money to send to your mortgage company on the first of every month till its told to stop. DeFi contracts can be far more complex. And instead of making an arrangement with a central intermediary, DeFi apps are meant to work independently, directly connecting counterparties. Once smart contracts are launched, they usually cant be changed or tweaked by anyone. Many of these smart contracts run on a blockchain called Ethereum, which was designed to include more information and the kinds of transactions performed by dapps, unlike the original ledger invented for Bitcoin, which mainly keeps track of the transfer of coin ownership.

All DeFi apps work differently, but heres the most basic way: People can connect an account on a cryptocurrency exchange to a DeFi app and then lend some of their coins, or borrow against their collateral. Many common transactions are far more complicated, with people buying things like wrapped Bitcoin, a token used on Ethereum that represents one Bitcoin, to speed up DeFi transactions, and entering into complex arrangements using multiple DeFi apps to amp up their earnings.

There are companies that allow whats known as peer-to-peer lending, which routs capital from investors to borrowers without a banks traditional intermediation, but they are still companies overseeing the process. The makers of dapps seek to create a platform they step away from, on which counterparties interact directly.

Collateral levels locked up in "dapps" show the scale of DeFi transactions, in dollars

Source: DeFi Pulse

Since many smart contracts require counterparties to post collateral as a guarantee, analysts track the growth of dapps by looking at the amount of money effectively locked in the DeFi ecosystem. In late August, the total amount of collateral people have poured into DeFi applications exceeded $7 billion, according to tracker DeFi Pulse. That was up from less than $1 billion at the end of May. (Even with that surge, DeFi is a drop in the $360 billion overall cryptocurrency market.) There are more than 200 DeFi applications, with more making their debut weekly. The first dapp to catch on broadly was MakerDAO, which has been evolving since 2015.

Several DeFi apps such as Compound debuted this summer with promises of triple-digit returns that pushed scores of speculators to dive in. Longer term, with global economies in turmoil amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the idea of global financial services independent of banks or other companies that can fail is gaining in appeal.

More than 1 billion people around the world still dont have access to even basic banking services. DeFi holds the promise of offering anyone with an internet connection and a mobile phone access to a full array of banking services -- and to earn a return on their savings, however small. One group in particular that turns to dapps is the so-called miners of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies -- mining is a computational process used to verify a currencys transactions thats rewarded with grants of the currency. Miners are often unable to get loans through traditional financial institutions.

Like everything else in the realm of digital currencies, or software in general, DeFi accounts can be vulnerable to hackers. Even buggy code can destroy value. Take Yam Finance, which quickly amassed $750 million in value -- and then crashed days after launch when a bug in its code made it impossible for the app to function properly. Speculators can also hype up a service -- and when they bail, bring an apps value down. A dapps internal logic can also potentially contract or expand supply, changing a coins value. Thats what happened with Ampleforth, whose coins market capitalization cratered by nearly two thirds in less than three weeks this summer. Theres no deposit insurance for DeFi apps, though that could change as teams like Nexus Mutual are building ways to provide a kind of insurance to the DeFi ecosystem. Users wiping themselves out by accident is dismayingly common, too.

Since there are no banks or other intermediaries to hold their hands, users of DeFi applications have to be very careful in everything they do: Their transactions cant be reversed. DeFi users had also better understand exactly how a particular service works, by perusing related white papers and tutorials -- or risk getting many unpleasant surprises. Another source of risk: many DeFi ideas are so new, its unclear whether they comply with existing regulations.

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

Read more from the original source:

Why 'DeFi' Utopia Would Be Finance Without Financiers: QuickTake - Bloomberg

All In: The Fight for Democracy

In the new documentary, Stacey Abrams examines rampant voter suppression across the United States. Referring to voter suppression as the new Jim Crowe 2.0, the documentary focuses on Abrams 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race, where voters were faced with five-hour lines, mismanagement, and gerrymandering. Abrams says in a clip, Thousands of people were told, No, and didnt have the authority to demand better. Now, the people are making demands. (September 18th)

Blackbird

Susan Sarandons character a family matriarch asks her family to behave as normally as they possibly can. Even in good times, that can be an impossible request to adhere to. But the occasion for which they are all gathered makes it even more difficult to do so. After battling ALS, Sandersons character has decided to end her life. The date has been set, and though shes made her peace with it, the rest of the family is still working on it. (September 18th)

Coastal Elites

This new HBO film is the first of its kind a socially distanced satire. Sarah Paulson,Bette Midler,Issa Rae,Kaitlyn Dever,andDan Levy all-star as the so-called coastal elites, as they go through living in isolation in either Los Angeles or New York City. Filmed remotely, the characters divulge their lives in largely confessional styled-shots. As Paulsons character suggests, Take a deep healing breath and imagine that youre not even on Twitter or Facebook or Xanax. (September 12th)

Death on the Nile

Detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) returns this time, to investigate a murder thats taken place during a picture-perfect Egyptian steam-boat vacation. I ask you, he says in a voiceover, have you ever loved so much, been so possessed by jealousy, that you might kill? Based on the Agatha Christie novel of the same name, the film is Branaghs follow up to Murder on the Orient Express.(October 23rd)

On the Rocks

For her latest feature, director Sofia Coppola focuses on Laura (Rashida Jones), who thinks her marriage is in a rut. Her husbands job is demanding more trips away, and shes starting to feel like a living daily planner. It isnt until her father Felix (Bill Murray) comes back to town that she starts to suspect the worst from her husband. After all, over drinks her father tells her that infidelity is part of a mans very nature: Males are forced to fight, to dominate and to impregnate the female. Felix, a womanizer himself, feels sure that he knows all the tricks Lauras husband could be pulling. Together, they set out to catch him in the act. (October)

Time

Twenty years into her husbands six-decade-long prison sentence, Fox Rich relentlessly campaigns for his release. The mother, entrepreneur, and abolitionists ongoing video diaries craft a portrait of perseverance and fierce love as she tries to keep her family intact while having to navigate through the United States prison industrial-complex system. (October 23rd)

Utopia

Set to R.E.M.s Its the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine), a group of comic book fans realize that the plots theyve read over and over are actually coming true in the real world. Dismissed as fanatic fans, their warnings are mocked. However, as a deadly pandemic takes hold, they mobilize to take action. Expect bio-warfare, a seemingly sinister corporation, and a band of unlikely heroes. (September 25th)

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Trailers of the Week: On the Rocks, Time, Utopia, and More - Rolling Stone

TYLER MITCHELL, Untitled, 2019. | Tyler Mitchell

ALLURING, JOYFUL, AND TIMELY, the photographs of Tyler Mitchell center the Black experiences he didnt see represented in media when he was growing up. The images Mitchell came across focused on attractive white models at leisure and at play, having fun. Shifting how Black people are traditionally seen and represented, his empowering photographs emphasize freedom and hope, pleasure and delight, Black beauty, style, and individuality.

Tyler Mitchell: I Can Make You Feel Good, a newly published exhibition catalog, explores the concept of what the photographer calls a Black utopia. The fully illustrated volume documents Mitchells first U.S. solo exhibition. Currently installed at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York, the survey, also titled I Can Make You Feel Good, presents a selection of his recent photographs, videos, and installation works.

I feel an urgency to visualize Black people as free, expressive, effortless, and sensitive, Mitchell said in the introduction to the exhibition. I aim to visualize what a Black utopia looks like or could look like. People say utopia is never achievable, but I love the possibility that photography brings. It allows me to dream and make that dream become very real.

I feel an urgency to visualize Black people as free, expressive, effortless, and sensitive. Tyler Mitchell

Mitchells pictures of Black possibility, wonder, and everyday mundane include scenes of hula hooping; a couple relaxing in a meadow; a close-up focusing on the hands of two young men in white shirtsleeves as one helps the other button his cuffs; and a beach shot, a nearly abstract composition that frames a womans sand-covered back and blue swimsuit in dramatic light and shadow. The latter image is called Untitled (Heart). Look closely, the area of sand covering her back is heart-shaped.

Tyler Mitchell: I Can Make You Feel Good, by Tyler Mitchell, curators Mirjam Kooiman and Isolde Brielmaier, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Deborah Willis (Curator-at-Large, ICP),(Prestel, 206 pages). | Published Aug. 4, 2020 UK / Aug. 25, 2020 US

The title of the artists first major monograph (and the exhibition) comes from a 1982 song by Shalamar. Contributors to the volume include Deborah Willis, chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Hans Ulrich Obrist, director of Serpentine Galleries in London, conducted an interview with Mitchell. ICP Curator-at-Large Isolde Brielmaier curated the exhibition and contextualized his work in the fully illustrated catalog.

In an essay titled, A Marvelous Mundane, Brielmaier described Mitchells Utopian images. She wrote that they exude a seemingly straightforward tranquility and blissfulness.

She continued: Throughout the history of our imaging, this sense of limitless possibility is all too unique. It is something that is rarely represented with Black people as its protagonists. So often we are seen struggling, striving, pained, defeated, and surviving. While these states of being reflect aspects of our realities and experiences, Mitchells work offers us another necessarily human dimensiona critical prospect in which to envision ourselves. His compositions are considered, complex, and multilayered, yet tightly framed and always intentional. They are comprised of very specific signs, symbols, and motifs.

Mitchells work offers us another necessarily human dimensiona critical prospect in which to envision ourselves. His compositions are considered, complex, and multilayered, yet tightly framed and always intentional. Isolde Brielmaier

Speaking to the complexity of Mitchells images, a group shot of young black shirtless men with their backs to the viewer represents community, trust, and frivolity in a natural green space. At the same time, one of his subjects is wearing a thick chain-link necklace, conjuring references to prison chain gangs and enslaved bodies.

Titled Boys of Walthamstow (2018), the photograph covers the catalog. Set in an overgrown field with a thicket of dense trees nearby, the image is easily associated with the American South, but was captured in North East London.

Mitchell recently returned to the UK capital and spoke to Christiane Amanpour of CNN about the new book (see video below). The wide-ranging conversation covered the arc of his career.

TYLER MITCHELL, Sosa with Orange Hula Hoop, 2019. | Tyler Mitchell

The Brooklyn-based photographer and filmmaker grew up outside Atlanta in Marietta, Ga., where he got his start in image-making filming skateboarding videos with his friends. Mitchell earned a BFA in film and television from NYUs Tisch School (2017), where Willis was among his instructors.

A year later, Mitchell gained widespread recognition when he was tapped to photograph Beyonc for the September 2018 cover of American Vogue. Published since 1892, the worlds most prominent fashion magazine had never hired a Black photographer to shoot a cover before. Mitchell made history at age 23.

A 2020 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellow, Mitchell talked with Amanpour about growing up middle-class in the suburbs. He identifies with the freedom and physical, intellectual, emotional, and psychological space represented in his images.

A suburban existence is about having space. Theres a big front yard. Theres leisure and a lot of the things in the pictures that I had growing up, he told Amanpour. And those kind of experiences and kind of freedom, I started to understand as I grew up more, was luxury. Having a summer to kind of think about what I wanted to do with my life, those things are freedoms that Im kind of posturing or gesturing or suggesting all Black folks should have.

Having a summer to kind of think about what I wanted to do with my life, those things are freedoms that Im kind of posturing or gesturing or suggesting all Black folks should have. Tyler Mitchell

Amanpour said she was fascinated with his contention that photographing Black people at leisure is radical. Why is that? she asked.

Mitchell responded: Well, it has to do with denied histories. Right? And this idea that visualizing and making images and projecting those and stating that visualizing Black folks enjoying their lives is important. Right? Whats central to that in my work is that existing in public space for Black folks in America has been denied. Psychically in our minds at any moment that freedom or that enjoyment that we are having or that pleasure could be taken away or stripped away. To me, this book stands for a beacon of that. CT

The exhibition Tyler Mitchell: I Can Make You Feel Good debuted last year at Foam, the museum in Amsterdam. In New York, it opened at the International Center of Photography (ICP) on Jan. 25, 2020, coinciding with the inauguration of the museums new space, and was scheduled through May 18. A few months after the exhibition opened, ICP temporarily closed in March due to COVID-19. The museum currently remains closed and the exhibition has been extended to Dec. 31, 2020.

FIND MORE about Tyler Mitchell on his website

CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour interviews photographer and filmmaker Tyler Mitchell about his new book I Can Make You Feel Good. | Video by CNN

TYLER MITCHELL, Untitled (Toni), 2019. | Tyler Mitchell

TYLER MITCHELL, Still From Idyllic Space, 2019. | Tyler Mitchell

TYLER MITCHELL, Untitled (Park Frivolity), 2019. | Tyler Mitchell

TYLER MITCHELL, Boys of Walthamstow, 2018. | Tyler Mitchell

FIND MORE Tyler Mitchell has collaborated with fashion, brands, corporations, and a variety of publications. A selection of projects includes photographing Spike Lee for Office magazine, Toyin Ojih Odutola for i-D magazine, and the student gun-reform activists from Majorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., for Teen Vogue; shooting American Vogues June 2019 cover of Zendaya, American Vogues April 2020 cover featuring a trio of models from around the world for its Beauty Without Borders issue, and GQs May 2020 cover of Kanye West; photographing the Fall/Winter 2019 campaigns for the fashion brands JW Anderson and Loewe, and directing and photographing the campaign for Copper, the unisex fragrance from Comme des Garons

BOOKSHELFTyler Mitchell is featured in The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion and his work also graces the cover of the exhibition catalog. In 2015, Mitchell self-published El Paquete, documenting his experience in Cuba. The limited-edition of 200 copies is now out of print.

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Excerpt from:

Finding Joy in the Everyday Mundane, Tyler Mitchell's Photographs 'Visualize What a Black Utopia Looks Like, or Could Look Like' - Culture Type

Made through Dennis Kelly, Utopia changed into the first transmission withinside the UK in mid-2013 and had a prompt effect. With a profoundly secretive trick plot, a setting and instinctive design, and an exciting encounter of dark humor, Utopia has become a faction hit, simultaneously as furthermore blending discussion in view of its fierce nature and stunningly darkish subjects.

The perfect world changed into dropped after seasons on a cliffhanger finishing, paying little heed to fans and Kelly himself, each plotting a couple of sorts of continuation to wrap up the story.

Amazon is yet to declare a genuine dispatch date for their Utopia change. Anyway, a couple of key data were uncovered. Initially, Utopia season 1 will incorporate nine episodes, as in sync with Amazons series request from April 2018.

Moreover, the recording is by and by progress, with on-place shoots expressed via web-based media as recently as an extreme month.

Since helping strong people had been regardless of being presented in May, in any case, obviously fabricating isnt generally close of whole basically, however. With recording, post-fabricating, and elevating in any case to come, fans can expect Utopia through mid-2020.

Javon Walton (Grant)

Farrah Mackenzie (Alice)

Rainn Wilson (Michael)

Dan Byrd (Ian)

Ashleigh Lathrop (Becky)

Desmin Borges (Wilson)

Christopher Denham (Arby)

Sasha Lane (Jessica Hyde)

Image Source-express.co.uk

The Utopia Experiments. The community decide to accordingly meet in individual after one in everything about cases to have a copy of an unpublished continuation comic, anyway it on the double transforms into evident that there are rare sorts of people who will visit breathtaking and deadly lengths to pick up the composition and now no longer essential to avoid spoilers releasing on the web.

Pursued through gifted killers, the conversation board people urgently attempt to find the insider facts and strategies of the original copy, fundamental them to a perplexing association alluded to as The Network, who concur with that extraordinary measures should be taken en route to holding the predetermination of humankind, and the Utopia funnies keep up the key.

New showrunner, Gillian Flynn, has just announced her motivation to situate her own exact stamp on Dennis Kellys unique Utopia. That is pondered withinside the recognized new strong people, particularly Josh Cusacks character. Given the fate of the British series, it potentially also would not be startling if Amazon took an extra smoothed out, reachable procedure to the change.

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Utopia On Amazon Prime: Release Date And The Casting Details Shared For The New Series - NationEditions