Christoph Niemann's creativity and wit are a joyful display of how art, in its many forms, can make people feel good and think reflectively. As he cleverly demonstrates, you don't need high tech or high expense to make your artistic point. which is in sharp contrast to some other artists. A London-based artist, Banksy, also does accessible, sly art though with a noticeably subversive twist.
Photo: Christoph Niemann's Lego take on NYC taxis.
The results of a US government sponsored study on abstinence-only education were recently revealed. The results may not surprise you--it doesn't appear to work. Abstinence-only policies have been a cornerstone of current domestic and foreign health-related programs, at significant financial cost. A funny and fascinating contrast to this failed health promotion strategy is the Healthy Penis campaign. This public health multimedia initiative has evidence to back up its successes and is quite a contrast to bland abstinence-only lectures.
After spending a great deal of time and some money buying knickknacks and traveler's kitsch, I decided to largely stop and instead just buy local art. You can probably think of some explicit reasons why this may be a good thing: 1. Supports local artist. 2. Supports the arts. 3.Unique "souvenir".
Some may not think there is much room for art in RLSs. Few would argue that life essentials (food, water, shelter, security) should not be prioritized, but life moves dynamically and asynchronously. Picasso's quote after seeing the ~17,000 year old cave paintings of Lascaux, "We have invented nothing", is instructive, i.e. art is universal and ancient, and it can allow us a moment of higher reflection in the midst of the mundane and even tragic.
Photo: Painting by Sudanese artist, Abusharia Ahmed, currently residing in Kampala, Uganda.
