Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Change is a Law of Nature

Please don't copy this photo © Marco Secchi 2009.

About a month ago similiar photographs to this one featured on the front pages of newspapers in the U.K. of Sarah Brown, wife of the British Prime Minister taking part the London Pride March on July 4th.

And for a blog I wrote, I was generously given permission to use this photograph by London-based photographer Marco Secchi (www.marcosecchi.com)
More of his brilliant images of the march are here.

The blog is an attempt to get Bahais to discuss the implications of equality and justice for the LGBT community. Many Bahais believe gay Bahais can't have partners let alone marry, so that's the background to my blog where I'm looking at what the Bahai Writings say about religious law and communities being adaptable and changeable in response to the conditions of society.
There's also no Bahai Scriptual basis for this homophobic attitude, because Bahai Scripture is only the authenticated writings of Abdul-Baha, Baha'u'llah and the Bab and official interpretations of these by Shoghi Effendi. However the real issue I think is, for Bahais to look at where did these ideas come from and what Bahai principles could possibly support such an attitude if they are serious about the Bahai principles of equality and justice.

It is here, and if you have any responses to the blog, feel free to post these anonymously if you wish. In April 2010 I collected some of my posts together from Bahai Rants and put them in chronological order on my Just a Bahai blog.

July - August : Travels in the UK

A summary:
*Driving to Dunkirk + arriving at Dover
*Art in London + hanging our work in Regents Park
*Matt's BBQ in Sheffield + losing and finding our valuables
*Downpour in York (and lots of walking around)
*Debbie and her amazing mahi harakeke
*Tyre blow-out and a night at a garage
*Bahais in Newcastle and at Burnlaw
*Roger + Marion help us set up art for the Carlisle Arts Festival
*Discovering my gr gr grandmother's tombstone and of 5 other ancestors in a Haddington graveyard
*Meeting David and his rabbit-killer dog
*Hunting for Pict stones in Angus
*The Lossiemouth Folk Festival!
*An overdose of Prehistoric + Pict stones.
*Chilling in Inverness + the Black Isle
*A day at the Scottish Bahai Summerschool
*Sen gives a talk at the Bahai Studies Seminar
*Taking down our installations in Carlisle
*Overkill of castle and church ruins in Yorkshire
*Sen gives a talk in a tree in Regents Park, London
*Lots of art shows in London
*Castles and estates south of London
*Stonehenge, Avebury + being in a crop circle
*Haily Abbey + Kenilworth Castle
*Norfolk coast and art in Norwich

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Bahai Related, Culture/Politcs/Gender, Friends, Travels, etc

Culture~Politics~Gender   |   Friends + Acquaintances   |   Travels + Places
Events, seminars, workshops, etc, I've participated in - things I've been up to not in other categories

Bahai Related

To my short introduction about the Bahai Faith

since 2009: My "Just a Bahai" blog
April 2010: A rant about the european air ban + the wonders of technology
August 2009: on some issues related to equality for homosexuals
April 2009: new animation inspired by a quotation with music by a Bahai
Jan 2009: Daniel visits
April 2008: Bahai and all that


Culture~Politics~Gender   (also current events)

Dec 2010: We come in Peace - on hackers, media and gender
Nov 2010: Funding cuts, the Dutch government, Leiden creative initiatives
Oct 2010: Coming Out Day in Leiden
April 2010: A rant about the European air ban + the wonders of technology


Travels + Places
Aotearoa/NZ   |   Amsterdam  |   Leiden   |   U.K.   |   Other places in Europe


Aotearoa
Dec 2009 - Feb 2010: Christchurch > Auckland, via friends, festivals + one river
Jan 2009: Auckland, Folk festivals, Friends, Wanganui
Jan 2009: Climbing Mt Taranaki

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Jan 2009: Frozen canals + the homo monument

Leiden, The Netherlands
Oct 2010: Coming Out Day in Leiden
Jan 2009: Daniel Orey visits
Sep 2008: Signing our names in the Leiden Uni "zweetkamer"

U.K.
July - August 2009: 6 weeks of travelling in our van
July - August 2008: 5 weeks of travelling in our van

Elsewhere in Europe
April 2010: About air travel in Europe
Sep 2008: Linz + ARS Electronica, Austria

Friends + Acquaintances

Jan 2009: Daniel visits
Jan 2009: Auckland, Folk festivals, Friends, Whanganui
Dec 2008: Kath + I attend Luke's house concert
Sep 2008: Alex, Joris and I sign our names as masters' graduates


Events, things I've participated in or done

Oct 2010: Coming Out Day in Leiden
June 2008: Augmented Reality workshop at Mediamatic, Amsterdam
May 2008: I give a workshop on html in Amsterdam
April 2008: Bio Art course Sonja participated in
Feb 2008: Learning Cinema 4D for a game engine called Unity
Jan 2008: Learning about Vlogging + Flash
Oct 2007: Cinekid workshop on gaming + augmented reality, Amsterdam



Arts + New Media Related

Projects I have organized or curated   |   Own Art projects   |  Art by Others
New Media Related Art Projects   |   Theatre, Theatre-Performance or Dance   |   Music or Sound Related

My own art projects or our work in others' projects

10 October 2010: Final views of our video installation in the Aalmarkt studio
7-9 October 2010: Our video installation, Kāinga a roto, in the Aalmarkt studio
1-5 October 2010: Our video installation, Kāinga a roto, in the Aalmarkt studio
29 September 2010: About our video installation, Kāinga a roto
19 September 2010: Leiden art route | de Leiden kunstroute
September 2010: More about building our installation + "There is beauty in the Leiden"
September 2010: About the "There is beauty in the Leiden" project & our video installation, Kāinga a roto
August 2010: About the "There is beauty in the Leiden" art project
May 2010: The "There is BEAUTY in the CITY" project run by Anna + Glen
March 2010: Two minute video with music by friends, Kath + Sandy

September 2009: Exhibition of prints + paintings till December 2009
May 2009: Performance in Cyprus
March 2009: waka huia : new art work

Sept 2008: Solo show in Museum of Weaving, Leiden
July 2008: Show + performance in London
June 2008: My augmented reality game idea : Follow the Rainbow
Feb 2008: new video : Kitchen Pythagoras

Dec 2007: new video in Dog show
Sep 2007: sculpture in London

Art by others

May 2009: Exhibition in Leiden, the Zen of Japan
Jan 2009: A few NZ artists
Dec 2008: Contemporary art in London
Nov 2008: Contemporary art in London
Nov 2008: Installations in Leiden
March 2008: Art exhibitions in Amsterdam
March 2008: About the Leiden Museum of Weaving as an art gallery
Dec 2007: Contemporary art in London
Dec 2007: Area 10, artbook launch, London
Dec 2007: Contemporary art in Leiden
Sep 2007: Exhibition in Hague Art school + sound course
Sep 2007: Contemporary art in Leiden


Projects I have organized or curated

September 2008: mini-symposium I co-organized in Leiden
June 2008: Exhibition in Leiden shops closes : Olivier raps
May 2008: Galerie TamTam, Leiden


New media related art / design

November 2010: New Media related conferences and publications
September 2009: The “ego-tag”, managing your identity
and eco mapping at PICNIC '09

April 2009: Lectures in Amsterdam,
Utopian practices : Art, Science & Design REunited

March 2009: March 24th: women + technology
September 2008: My review of PICNIC '08, a new media professionals meet
September 2008: Sarah Kettley's wearable interactive gadgets + a mini-symposium I co-organized
September 2008: ARS Electronica in Linz, Austria
June 2008: Augmented Reality
June 2008: Augmented Reality workshop at Mediamatic, Amsterdam
May 2008: Eclectic Tech Carnival (tech stuff for and by females), Amsterdam
Feb 2008: Learning Cinema 4D for a game engine called Unity
Feb 2008: Video Vortex exhibition, NMiK, Amsterdam
Jan 2008: About Vlogging, New Art TV + Flash
Oct 2007: Cinekid workshop on gaming + augmented reality, Amsterdam

Theatre, Theatre-Performance or Dance

Dec 2007: Performance at the Laban Centre, London
Dec 2007: Tap dance performance
Nov 2007: Theatre-music performance in The Hague

Music, Musicians or Sound Projects

Feb 2009: Link to a song by Brenda Liddiard
Jan 2009: Links to a few NZ musicians
Dec 2008: Luke Hurley + Kath Tait (NZ singer/songwriters)
Nov 2007: Theatre-music performance in The Hague