Culture Check: October 2017
Are you falling behind on culture? We've got your back. These are a few things that happened in October.
October 30, 2017 | by Creative Armenia
1. After being granted political asylum in France, performance artist Pavlensky has been arrested for performing arson upon the French Central Bank. Pavlensky’s previous works include wrapping himself in barbed wire and sewing his lips shut in protest of the Kremlin.
2. Armenia’s own Triennial of Contemporary Art is underway this month in Sevan and Yerevan. The country’s first triennial features artists from 15 countries and will run through December.
3. Culture after the coup takes another major blow in Turkey, with the arrest in Istanbul of Osman Kavala, the influential founder of Anadolu Kultur. No reasons for the arrest have been cited. 62,000 citizens have now been arrested by the Erdogan regime since last July.
4. The first trailer has landed for Phantom Thread, the new film by Paul Thomas Anderson set in the fashion world. It stars Daniel Day Lewis, who claims that this was his final performance.
5. Actor and fashion designer John Malkovich checked into Armenia this month to preform with the Yerevan State Youth Orchestra. To the tune of classical music, Malkovich recited excerpts from Argentinian writer, Ernesto Sabato and Armenian monk-philosopher, Grigor of Narek.
6. Speaking of which, YOU WANT IT DARKER was thought to be Leonard Cohen’s final album. But the poet-singer had even more to say. Cohen’s last book of lyrics, poetry, prayer, and prose, finished just days before he died, will be released in 2018.