Creative Pyrotechnics in Paris

Thus far, my blog has 2 earlier posts about the antics of the radical political performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky, with enticing titles Flaming Testicles and Tastefully Nailed Testicles, both named in reference to Pavlensky’s favorite creative media — his own scrotum. That’s right, Pavlensky gained notoriety for anti-Kremlin stunts including nailing his scrotum to the Red Square cobblestones, as well as slicing off part of his ear and sewing his mouth shut. This isn’t for nothing he is known internationally as the “Russian scrotum artist.”

Pavlensky spent 18 months in pretrial detention after he doused a large wooden door at the FSB headquarters on Moscow’s Lubyanka Square with gasoline and set it on fire in November 2015. He was released in June 2016 and ordered to pay a hefty fine, which he refused to do.

Soon thereafter, in May 2016, France granted Pavlensky and his partner Oksana Shalygina political asylum.The couple claimed they fled Russia with their two daughters to escape a false sexual assault case against them. Pavlensky and Shalygina, who both advocate for open relationships, dismissed the allegations, claiming that their relationship with an alleged victim was consensual. However, a Moscow actress had accused them of raping her. They maintain that she filed her complaint under the orders of the Russian security services. If found guilty, the couple could be jailed for up to 10 years. Whatever.

Paris welcomed them with open arms, while Russians, particularly law and order authorities, breathed sigh of relieve — brazen provocateurs became a tremendous pain in their collective hinds.

Early Monday morning, Pavlensky, so-called “mind, balls and conscience” of Putin’s Russia, was arrested in Paris after setting fire to the doors of the Bank of France.In a statement made to Divergence Images Pavlensky explained that “bankers have taken the place of the monarchs” and called for a great French revolution. The ‘performance’ caused the bank to shut down on Monday, according to a note attached to the door. “Igniting the Bank of France shows the truth the authorities forced us to forget. The Bastille was destroyed by rebels as a symbol of despotism and power. There, they built another hotbed of slavery, which betrays the revolutionists and sponsors a bandit Versailles. The Bank of France took over the Bastille, bankers became monarchs,”  Pavlensky reportedly said in a statement, posted by Femen.
 

Br Exited

Well, then. Britain exited, all right. One would suspect — or hope — that British people were well informed of every one of the five subjects listed below BEFORE the Brexit referendum, rather than AFTER the result has been officially announced. Abandon all hope, Google Trends tell us. People are funny that way. Even British. The good news is that now many of them would know so much more about the EU, Google help them. 

Cover-up! #statuenude

As of today, these demure but solid white panes fence many sculptures at the Rome’s Capitoline Museum to obscure nudity. The action was taken as a sign of respect for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, whose country is a strongly conservative Islamic republic, according to Italian news agency Ansa.

It was Italian PM Matteo Renzi’s order to hide all the nude sculptures on display at Capitoline Museum, so as not to offend Iranian President.

Mr Rouhani arrived in Rome on Monday to sign contracts, summing up to €17 billion ($18.4 billion).

It’s not the first time Italy has covered up artworks to avoid misunderstandings with Muslim guests. In October of 2015, when the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, visited Florence, the “Gazing Ball” statue by American sculptor Jeff Koons was covered up to avoid the sheikh’s blushes.

Gazing Ball (Barberini Faun) (2013), Jeff Koons, in the Palazzo Vecchio. Photo: Pietro Savorelli

Many Italians responded with barely concealed irony over the covering of the sculptures. Some responded by sharing images of statues with exposed genitals across various social media platforms under the hashtag #statuenude. 

Many people also shared a seemingly doctored image pictures similar to the official photo of the delegation against the backdrop of a different painting with no nudity in it.

An article in the Independent,  Italy covers up naked statues for Iran President Hassan Rouhani’s visit has a tiny video clip from the hallways of the museum and, more importantly, an indignant reaction of some Iranians to the Italy’s bending down to the “Islamic values.” Most harsh and outspoken is a statement issued by Iranian women’s rights campaign group My Stealthy Freedom.

Karoshi — Death By Overwork

The human race is but a monotonous affair. Most of them labor the greater part of their time for mere subsistence; and the scanty portion of freedom which remains to them so troubles them that they use every exertion to get rid of it.  (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The Sorrows of Young Werther.)

Japan is the country of workaholics. People work hard and literally die from overwork. The problem has become so acute that ‘death by overwork’ entered Japanese language as a word in its own right — ‘karoshi’. By modest government estimate, 200 people die from karoshi every year — heart attacks, cerebral hemorrhaging due to long hours spent at the work place.

A survey by the country’s Labor Ministry in 2013 found out that workers took, on average, only nine of the 18.5 days off they entitled to. One in six Japanese workers did not take any paid holidays in 2013. 22 percent of Japanese work more than 49 hours a week, compared to 11 percent of French and Germans.

The government is looking to ensure that workers take at least 70 percent of their allotted time off and wants to submit legislation in the current parliament session.

The new provision aims to ensure that Japanese workers use vacations to spend time with families, caring for children, especially in the summer months, when kids are on holiday. The third largest in the world, the Japanese economy has a big problem: an aging population and low birth rate.

Many Japanese tend to put off having children, arguing they simply overwhelmed with work commitments or unable to find a partner because everyone’s life is fully devoted to jobs and careers. (Japan child population hits record low.)

“It is actually a worker’s right to take paid vacations. But working in Japan involves quite a lot of a volunteer spirit.” (Yuu Wakebe, the Health and Labor Ministry official who is overseeing the implementation of this legislation. He is adamant things need to change. He regularly works over 100 hours overtime per month and only took five days off in 2014 — one of those was because he was sick. And only because workers in Japan must use their vacation days if they are sick.)

I. Repin. Barge Haulers on the Volga

Although Japan is overwhelmingly overworked nation, productivity is not a strong point of its economy. ‘Boosting team spirit’ is more important. Collective psyche is such that people would stay at their workplaces long past office hours, only to be perceived as excellent and loyal team members. Go and figure.