talk

Go to www.wooloo.org and submit you pictures before May 1st, it’s all about traveling pictures, Urban Spaces is a collective exhibition open to everybody who want to participate. Wooloo online creative circle built for artists to feature their works online. To create your own basic “Wooloo art exhibition” is free and the processing fee for Urban Spaces is just 10$. They also have a wide range of activities that are conceptually amazing. Check them out.

There are few presidents that can act as flamboyantly as our dearest Hugo Chavez. Last Sunday, during his program Aló Presidente, Chavez declared in classic Chavez style: “Mr. Defense Minister, move me ten battalions of tanks to the border immediatelly. Send tanks and military aviation”.

All this after Colombia’s military had ventured a mile into Ecuador on Saturday to kill the number two FARC leader Raul Reyes . It could actually be a sketch from SNL if it weren’t true: President X gets mad at President Y for going into President Z’s country and killing a guerilla leader from country Y.

Hard to follow? That is what makes Garcia Marquez a genius, he takes every day life from Latin America and shares our craziness with the rest of the civilized world. Makes for excellent drama and magic realism.

Both Uribe and Chavez suffer from macho egos but neither can afford an armed conflict, still, it seems Latin America is undergoing a escalating arms race. Political tensions are on the rise day by day with commentaries from Chavez such as: “President Uribe is a criminal, not only a liar, he is a gangster – a paramilitary that leads a terrorist State. He is a criminal, that leads a band of criminals at the Presidential Palace”. Strange choice of words coming from Chavez… I guess it takes one to know one.

Our very mixed group includes both Colombians and Venezuelans living in close quarters, I wonder what this conflict should mean for us. Should we send a battalion to the creative team? We could bombard them with paper planes flying through the office. Maybe close our PR department and send our account executive back to her country as has been done with the embassy staff?

As tensions run high during this ridiculous situation, our only recourse is to laugh laugh laugh. We have to remember we all speak the same language, eat the same food, dance to the same music, have the same background and prefer a cold beer at the beach on a slow day than to get up in arms. No matter how ‘bravo’ a pueblo we are – the ‘rumba’ comes first.

From a simple labeling technique to an art form, stenciling has become a branding trend in this last decade: How is that this happened?

I think much of it has to do with the use of this technique for political propaganda. In all societies reactionary individuals go out in the dark printing messages in public places that they feel need to be read to generate a change in a system they feel oppresses them.

But what happens when those individuals take a step forward in the use of a technique and create an iconography with a message that goes beyond practical uses. Then the technique becomes a way of self-expression in many cases intimate and disconnected of any cause or function. The technique becomes an art form.

Many times an art form is appreciated by a select group of people to whom that individual expression mean something. But in this case, being the result of the evolution of a propaganda technique, the art form by nature is able to transcend art communities and appeal to masses, evolving once more into a branding tool.

Retailers like Virgin Megastore have proven how an art expression like “the urban stenciling culture” can be successfully translated into a marketing tool that helps position its brand as a leader in an industry in danger of extinction. Virgin Megastore is now considered more than a record store, a lifestyle shop where consumers go to find much more than just a CD.I believe the secret behind the success of brands that use art as a marketing platform lays in the ability to identify the Artistic expressions/Trends that better represent their values and better reflect where they want to go. For me is exiting to see brands with aspirations, as a young professional and consumer, I like brands that are continuously looking to evolve and l love to see them using art to promote their business.

Author: Pulpolux!!!

Title: Not a place to pray

Click on picture to see more Pulpolux!!! photos

As of February 24^th Fidel Castro is no longer the president of Cuba. Can you hear the chants? “Cuba si, Castro no!” “Cuba si, Castro no!” He has stepped aside and let his younger brother Raul assume the title of “America’s largest thorn in the side of democracy”. While the United States hopes that Raul Castro paves the way for more liberal reforms, certain prominent figures like Felipe Perez Roque (a longtime confidant of Fidel Castro) feel that Raul is merely Fidel the 2^nd. I, like many Cuban Americans, beg to differ.

In the interim period that Fidel the 2^nd has held office there were signs of hope that this regime may be one of hope and reform for the Cuban people. Raul has sought the opinions of his countrymen on Cuba’s high unemployment and stagnant economy. He has acknowledged that the $19 a month government wages do not satisfy basic human needs for an individual, so one can only imagine families trying to survive on the same income. Fidel the 2^nd himself has commented on Cuba’s inevitable transition from a communist country to an evolved form of socialism with the possibility of democracy on the horizon.

So how has the United States of America responded to hints of progress? The Bush administration has classified Raul Castro as “Fidel Lite” which means that the nearly five-decade U.S. embargo of Cuba will remain in place for now. I, like many Cuban Americans, dream of the day when trade with Cuba is not a dream but a reality. Trade will not only improve their economic well being but with favorable regulation may balance out the ridiculous trade deficits that we are currently experiencing in this country. The United States should be a catalyst for change, not an oppressor to the oppressed.

DVNO, the latest mv from the sudden super stardom djs, Justice. A truly amazing music video and a flawless tribute to 80’s and early 90’s title sequence. Beautiful display of motion graphics and awesome sound of new French electro house. Motion design by Machine Molle and artworks by So me. Inspiring work. Take a look!

Conservatives who are anti the war will vote for Obama instead of McCain. Obama is less polarizing than Hillary and more acceptable to conservatives who are not so anti-immigration and want to get out of Iraq. He seems to have an independent take on issues that feel honest and refreshing and projects an image of someone who is not spouting political rhetoric. He has also managed to stay on the high road when most politicians start to get ugly. He’s shown judgment, education, class and polish so far, if not as much experience as some would like. I think a lot of republicans that want out of Iraq will be wearing those buttons…