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Roaming on the Mongolian Plateau and traveling through Mongolian herdsmen's meadows, you will always hear heartfelt words of praise for horses—the spirit of the grassland. The brief essay that follows accentuates the inseparable role of the horse in Mongolia's contemporary, historical, economic, and religious/spiritual cultures.
The Horse and Nomadic Culture
Originally from Central Asia, the Mongolian horse is the pride of Mongolian herdsmen. Some scholars believe that the Eight Fine Horses of Emperor Zhoumu (regime 976–922 BCE) in the Zhou dynasty (1046–771 BC) and the Six Zhaoling Horses of Emperor Taizong (Regime 627–650) in the Tang dynasty (618–907) were all descended from Mongolian horses.1 Because of their powerful, stocky builds and elegant, noble disposition, Chinese acclaimed Mongolian breeds as "celestial horses." Today, horses galloping on the Mongolian Plateau are descendents of these "celestial horses." Since their first introduction to the Mongolian highland, they have been thriving for thousands of years.
Other animals are important in Mongolian culture, but the horse almost always ranks above sheep, cattle, goats, and camels in prestige.2 The horse plays an irreplaceable role in the lives of Mongolian herdsmen. On the grasslands, an outstanding horse tamer is not only a superstar in herdsmen's eyes, but many women have highly romantic feelings toward a man who can master the Mongolian horse.
The lives of Mongolian herdsmen are inseparable from their animals. Nomadic Mongolians must have enough pasture and water for their horses and other livestock throughout the year while protecting them from freezing temperatures and wild animals. Thus, the Mongolian yurt was always built as a simple structure that was mobile enough to meet the herder's animal grazing needs in different seasons. Customarily, the Mongols call this seasonal migration a "pasture shift" and set up summer camps for access to pasture and water and winter camps in lower valleys to avoid wind and cold weather.
The migration of Mongolian people includes two modes. The first is organized through clans and encompasses large groups of people and animals. Other Mongol nomads engage in a nomadic lifestyle as individual families or in small groups. Horses are indispensable to both of these nomadic forms of organization. Young herders mount their horses to seek new pasture with lush grass and water, following the routes from previous years, and then return to their group when especially promising locales for a pasture shift are identified. Afterward, clans, friends, and families with livestock and possessions move to what will be a new encampment, with horse riders protecting elders, women, children, and livestock.
Horses are faithful companions for Mongolian people in their nomadic life. Horses are not only powerful, tamed tools but also inseparable friends from birth to death. Usually, Mongolian horses are intelligent and have good eyesight, hearing, and smell. Many are capable of comprehending their masters' intentions so well that some can even understand the Mongolian language. Violent horses tamed by Mongolian herders are extremely loyal to their masters. Typically, Mongolian horses, even the tamed ones, would rather die than let strangers ride on their backs.
Many ancient and recent stories tell of the intimate relationship between Mongolian horses and humans and of the loyalty of the horses to their masters. A stone tablet bearing the inscription "Picture of Horse with Integrity" stands in a yard in the Guangzhou Museum in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, PRC. A picture of a typical Mongolian horse is engraved in the tablet. Its owner was Chen Liansheng (1777–1841), a former provincial commander-in-chief of Guangdong. After Chen Liansheng died fighting on the battlefield, the horse unfortunately fell into the hands of an enemy chieftain. The horse would not obey the chieftain, no matter how many ways he tried to put the horse under his control. Whenever he was let loose, the horse would gallop wildly northward. When the horse heard anyone expressing interest in taking him back to the northern grassland, he would follow, bowing his head and wagging his tail. Months later, the horse died. In memory of his loyalty to his owner and his determination, local people erected the stone tablet at the location where the horse gave up his own life.
Mongolian horses are highly adaptable and can survive under even the most adverse circumstances, as as long as grass and water are available. They can easily identify directions by intuition, avoid the obstacles ahead, and recognize the way back home. They also can recognize the boundaries of their masters' territories and defend against wolves on the grasslands.
The Mongol Empire's Debt to the Horse
Without the horse, there would have been no Mongol Empire. Horses were the most mobile and irreplaceable military equipment for soldiers. Mongolian horses also played important roles in providing food supplies for the military. Mares produce about eighteen to twenty-nine pints of milk daily, and these large quantities of easily digestible and highly nutritional horse milk could sustain several people. Each member of the Mongolian cavalry would have more than one horse; horses were, in a sense, mobile pantries. In stressful combat circumstances where mobility was crucial for mounted troops, riders could cut the veins in the horse's neck, drink their blood for nutrition, and apply the herb medication they carried with them to the horse's wound. Minor wounds could be healed in a day without sacrificing the advantages of the horse's running speed. Losing a small amount of blood was virtually harmless for a healthy horse. Mongol military forces were well-known for the ability to move from one locale to the other with almost astonishing speed, thanks to their horses. Their relative mobility, in contrast to opponents in battle, resulted in Mongol troops conquering large parts of Europe and Asia—a feat comparable to the early successes German mechanized troops in World War II enjoyed hundreds of years later.
Many Mongolian cavalry would have five or six warhorses. While charging or laying siege to a city, the cavalry would ride on one of them, and the rest would be tied with Cypress branches on their tails. When they were galloping, the branches pulling on the ground would produce huge amounts of dust, making people believe that thousands upon thousands of mounted soldiers were stampeding toward them. Calvary used this ruse as a strategy to scare enemies.
Many of the Mongolian battle horses who died on the battlefields were not killed by gunfire but by the exhaustion of constant galloping as they competed with other horses during combat. Mongolian horses were also legendary for not abandoning their owners who were wounded or even killed on the battlefield.
Multiple Manifestations of Horse Culture
Every part of the Mongolian horse is useful. Horse manure can be used for fuel after being dried in the sun; horsehair can be woven into rope; horse skin can be made into boots; horse bones can be turned into fiddle bars; and horse meat can serve as food.
Koumiss, or fermented mare's milk, is a favorite alcoholic beverage of Mongolian herders. Yelü Chucai (1190–1244), a well-known high official during the Mongol Empire and Yuan dynasty (1206– 1368), once acclaimed koumiss in one of his poems:
From the west, the heavenly horse comes for brewing the best wine, pouring out from the skin-made container it spreads fragrant smell into the air.
This sentence vividly expresses the affection Mongolian people have toward koumiss. Cited as "fluid cheese drinks" in Mongolian ancient records and documents, dairy products from horse milk and other livestock remain highly popular foods.
Horses are real symbols of wealth to Mongolian herdsmen, as is land to farmers and commodities to merchants. Some Mongolian people still proudly claim to the world, "We are the inhabitants of the grasslands, and we don't have any precious or valuable property. Our main assets are horses!"3 Today, people living in cities might be proud owners of automobiles, yet Mongolian herdsmen on the grasslands are proud of—and gain status from—their horses who have earned medals through winning races.
The Mongolians' value of horses has also influenced aspects of their law. Generations of Khans in the Mongol Empire issued decrees and prohibited exports of horses. Horse theft became a criterion for capital punishment in Mongolian customary law because of the horse's critical cultural importance. Historically, the punishment for a horse thief was being cut apart at the waist. Because of their use both in daily life and in recreational activities ranging from hunting expeditions to horse races, the veneration of the horse in Mongolian culture has transcended socioeconomic class lines.
According to traditional beliefs, when a Mongolian herdsman returned to the earth upon death, his beloved horse or horses would be released to the grasslands. When wandering along the Mongolian grasslands, sometimes there will be a lonely horse lingering on a pasture, neighing, looking up to the sky, and then departing with reluctance. The horse may have lost his master and been released to nature while standing on familiar land, recalling their former master's kindness and seeking his footsteps on the familiar land. This sad and moving scene of the unrepeatable and irreplaceable tie between the horse and his lost master still frequently happens on the boundless Mongolian Plateau year after year. I believe there are endless memories and stories between each horse and his master that are only understandable to them.
The horse is, by nature, a gregarious animal. This is especially true for Mongolian horses. It is common that thousands of horses are herded on the grassland, and their owners group them only when it is necessary. The Mongolian horse has a strong sense of group awareness and collectiveness. Grassland herdsmen often might see a pack of wolves chasing a small group of horses with a stallion (the leading male horse) in front guiding fellow horses away from danger. If the wolves circle tighter and tighter, a mare might suddenly stop and pretend to be limping and immediately fall behind, diverting the wolves to her. Seeing all the other horses, especially the ponies, fading away in the far distance, the mare will rear up high into the sky, burst into a wild gallop, heave a long and deep sigh, and gallop toward the other horses. If she is lucky, she leaves the wolves far behind and catches up with the other horses. If not, the wolves eat her.
When a Mongolian horse is getting old, he or she seems to sense that his or her death is drawing near. The horse will utter long wheezing cries and bursts of lament, looking up with tearful eyes, and intensely watching both the other horses and the yurt of his or her master. As it feels its life drawing to its end, the horse might walk toward the depths of the grassland, find a piece of land with green grass, and lie down to wait for death quietly. In that process, even if wolves gather, the horse will keep still and wait for what is supposed to happen.
Horse Equipment and Brands
Horses have also served as links in trade between Mongolian herdsmen and other ethnic groups in different regions. Animal husbandry alone cannot satisfy the needs of the people living on the grasslands. As a result, horses have undertaken important roles in trade. Despite wars and attempts to control horse exports, horses were a vital part of the Mongolian culture's domestic and international economies. Domestically, horses influenced a wide range of economic activities, ranging from agriculture to handicrafts.
Naturally, horse equipment was gradually developed as part of nomadic culture. For reining their horses, talented Mongolian herders created various equipment such as bar bits, stirrups, and saddles.
The horse brand epitomizes the brilliance of Mongolian horse culture. As is the case in most cultures, brands were employed in Mongolian culture to eliminate theft, thereby protecting private property. Every clan had its own distinct brand.
Mongolian horse brands manifest themselves in various unique shapes. There are shapes of animals such as deer, shapes of plants and flowers, shapes of heavenly bodies, shapes of geometry such as pasture diagrams, shapes related to religious icons such as dharma or the wheel of law, and written script from the Mongolian language.
The examples of brands, horse implements, and handicrafts that follow should serve as a visual testimony of the pervasiveness of the horse in traditional Mongolian culture.
Conclusion: Enduring Horse Culture
At present, the pastoral lands on the Mongolian Plateau are shrinking day by day, yet Mongolian horse culture still continues like a roaring and endless river. At the Nadam Fair, a traditional annual gathering and entertainment for the Mongolians, horse racing—along with wrestling and archery— is one of the "three manly games," and it is always the most popular event. The commercialization of horse racing is evident, as numerous horse race facilities have been built in the grasslands, and horse racing festivals are organized in both Inner Mongolia and the Republic of Mongolia.
Mongolian horses are like cradles for the people living on the grasslands, and Mongolian horse culture is an everlasting tale of the history and passions of Mongolian horse riders. As long as Mongolian horses are neighing and galloping, the homeland will retain its beauty, and the grassland will endure.
This essay is only a brief introduction to the influence of the horse on Mongolian culture. In order to capture the deep spiritual significance of the horse in Mongolian culture, consider perhaps an excerpt from the lyrics of a Mongolian long song. Long songs are often epics that date back thousands of years. This excerpt is from "The Invisible Hanshan Mountain," an ancient long song familiar to all herdsmen. Hanshan Mountain is in the northeast of present-day Inner Mongolia and is a sacred place, but the subjects of this essay are equally dear to the Mongolian soul.
The invisible Hanshan Mountain is in my mind,
and my loyal fine horses are galloping in my heart.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks go to JUEFEI WANG of the Freeman Foundation for his role in procuring this article and his invaluable help in assisting with its development.
1. See descriptions in Rui Chuanming, "The 'Hu Horses' and the Chinese Cultural Life," Historical Review, No. 3, 1994; and "Reference Sources for Names of Famous Ancient Horses," Jinan Historical Studies, No. 1, 2002.
2. See descriptions in Menggutoli, "Concepts of the Horse in Ethnic Groups of the Ancient Altai Language Family," Northern Cultural Relics, no. 02, 1995.
3. See descriptions in Boris Vladimirtsov's The Social System of the Mongols, translated by Liu Rongjun, Beijing: China Social Science Press, 1980.
4. This golden saddle of the Yuan dynasty was first unearthed at Wuyegou, the Xianghuang County, the Xilingol League in Inner Mongolia in 1988. It was supposed to be one of the funerary objects for a Mongolian noble maiden. It is the only saddle artifact from the Yuan Dynasty excavated until now. The average height of the pommel is 8.2 inches and the widest part of it is 9.1 inches; the average height of the cantle, 2.6 inches, and the widest part of it is 6.3 inches; and the length of the pommel wing is 12.9 inches and its width is 2.6 inches. Depicted flowers of crabapple as a frame on the pommel of the saddle, the main part is a semi relief carving of a crouching deer, surrounded by peonies woven with branches. On the cantle are mainly patterns of curly grass. This artifact is now in the collections of the Inner Mongolia Museum.
Menggutuoli. "Concepts of the Horse in Ethnic Groups of the Ancient Altai Language Family." Northern Cultural Relics, No. 02. 1995.
Vladimirtsov, Boris. The Social System of the Mongols, translated by Liu Rongjun. Beijing: China Social Science Press, 1980.
Xiao, Gaohong. "Horse Brands, Their Impacts, and Their Relationship with Horse Administration." Agricultural Archaeology, no. 2. 1988.
Xing, Li. The Nomadic China. Beijing: New World Press, 2006.


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I found some new old pictures which were taken when Lana performed 'Born To Die', 'Video Games' and 'Blue Jeans' live inside the 98.7 FM studios in Los Angeles back in the beginning of December. The captures of 'Video Games' are also in the gallery. Check them out (:
Candids > 2011 > Inside 98.7 FM's studios in LA (Dec 09)

subset: commoncrawl


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Qualities of a professional business consultant
If you are going to register a new business in Dubai, but you have no idea about the company formation process then there is nothing that you should worry about. You can easily register your business by taking on the services of a professional business consultant. However, hiring a trustable business consultant will not be that easy as you might think. The reason for this is pretty simple. There are so many business consultants in Dubai that it can become very difficult for you to pick a professional service provider.…Read More


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These instructions will show you how to set up a Native LiveTag in your email newsletter. A Native LiveTag will normally replace an existing content block or directly follow an existing content block as an additional unit.
Implementation Overview
- Ensure variables for Native LiveTag parameters are correct
- Place the Native LiveTag
- Edit the Media Query
- Activate the Native LiveTag
1) Ensure variables for Native LiveTag parameters are correct
In order for the Native LiveTag to work properly, the parameters highlighted below should be updated with variables according to your Email Service Provider (ESP). Please note that the template max-width parameter is independent of your ESP and should be set for each template.
The list ID is used to identify a specific email list or a subset of a list.
NOTE: This is an optional parameter. The value of this parameter will stay constant through all sends.
The ESP populates this variable with the email address of the person opening the email.
The ESP populates this variable with a unique ID for each mailing or distribution send.
"li_coord=desktop&collapse_width={INSERT MAX WIDTH HERE AS INTEGER}"
"li_coord=mobile&collapse_width={INSERT MAX WIDTH HERE AS INTEGER}"
For these parameters, you will need to enter the desktop or mobile max-width of the email template where this Native LiveTag will appear. This parameter ensures the collapse of the Native LiveTag for desktop and mobile layouts, respectively, when demand is not present.
For this parameter, you will need to enter the desktop or mobile max-width of the email template where this Native LiveTag will appear.
Updating Native LiveTag parameters
The variables used to update the Native LiveTag parameters are simple text replacement fields used to personalize email content and coding with user-specific information. They can be called different things by different ESPs, like macro, merge tags or tags. For this purpose, we will refer to them as "variables".
Where to update parameters
The chart below explains which parameters you must replace if your ESP is not LiveCertified.
Within Publisher Settings, the "email tag replacement" and "placement tag replacement" fields should be updated for your Native LiveTag. Please note that all emails should be lowercase.
2) Place the Native LiveTag
Where do I place it?
Place the Native LiveTag where you want the ad to appear within the newsletter's template according to your design.
What does the Native LiveTag look like?
In the below example, there is a width-constrained table to hold the header and ad slot.
3) Edit the Media Query
Why do I need to edit the Media Query?
Our native solution sends a flattened image rather than raw HTML. Because of this, our native ads do not dynamically change sizing based on text lengths. Instead, our native ads utilize a media query in order to be responsive and render the appropriate design for desktop and mobile layouts.
Where do I edit it?
The media query should be added to the <head> </head> section of your newsletter HTML. You can easily locate this section by searching for your newsletter's existing media queries.
Please note that you must insert your template's mobile responsive width within this media query where requested. We recommend you align the mobile max-width with your other media queries max-width pixels.
What does the media query look like?
Below is an example of what the media query should look like.
4) Test your Native LiveTag
Send a live send directly to email@example.com and firstname.lastname@example.com to activate your Native LiveTags.
Once the test email is sent, please let your Account Manager know and we will be in touch with you to confirm if the implementation was correct or if there were any issues.
NOTE: All sends should be a direct send from your ESP, not a forward, as this will cause issues with activation.
Please make sure that firstname.lastname@example.com is subscribed to your mailing lists.


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Hey! I'm LJ, nice to meet you!
I love nature and color
As you look through my art and photography, you will probably notice a variety of subjects and styles. However, I find myself always going back to the natural world, and showcasing the vibrant colors that exist here. I love that such rich shades of oranges, blues and greens (and all the other colors as well) exist out there, and I love how you can find the most amazing scene or creature in just about every place, you just need to pause and take the time to look for them.
I hope my art will bring energy and appreciation to you, whether that is in the emotions the artwork invokes or the ideas it inspires in you, or even if it simply makes you look at living on this planet in a brighter way, or with a bit more awe and appreciation.
my start as an accountant
Born and raised in Oklahoma, I've always had a fascination with art, photography and color. However for most of my life, those played a passive role as I went to university, got a degree in accounting, and spent the first decade of my career as an accountant. After a lot of pep talks from my husband, in 2019 I took a leap and went to being a part-time accountant so that I could dedicate more time to art and painting, to grow it into something more than just a weekend/free-time hobby.
no school? no problem!
The beauty of the internet is that one no longer needs to attend a formal school to learn a skill. Over the years, I've been working to gain as much knowledge about art and photography as I can from fellow artists, YouTube videos, blog posts, and online courses. In the past, education used to have to be either formal schooling or self-taught, but now, I'm experiencing this wonderful blend of education from both formal and informal sources (and just learning from my mistakes!)
what else is there to know about me?
I love jumping from adventure to adventure, trying new things (travels, foods, DIY projects, hobbies) and just really trying to find something special from any experience or subject. I've been bungy jumping, sky diving, and cave-swimming (and loved all of those). I'm a recovering perfectionist.
My husband says I'm one of the weirdest people he's ever met (but he still married me so joke's on him!) I love playing video games, I think bugs/spiders are cool, I'm a big introvert that can wear a convincing extrovert face in social settings (and then I go home and recharge under fuzzy blankets). I love horror movies, house plants, and I am excellent at setting way too big of goals, not meeting them, then laying on the ground and concluding that I'm a failure (trying to work on doing this less!)


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Stock Removal Method - A moment to learn, a lifetime to master. Part 1 of 2
If you are interested in making knives, there are different ways of making your special one. Casting knives using a mould is a practice that is mostly used by companies and is not very suitable for individuals who want to custom make each piece. For those who want to start at the beginning there are four ways of making knives.
The most simple of them is the restoration method. Taking an old knife and restoring it to the original splendor and beauty helps a person develop a deep understanding of the different types of knives, their purposes and an understanding of the metal and how to handle it. Knife customization is the second simple way of making knives. Here you can take a factory produced or custom made knife that you had purchased and can customize it a little to suit you or to enhance its personality. For e.g. you can change the grip shape, add flexible support to the grid, add groves, and revamp the false edge. Many kinds of customization are possible to personalize a knife.
Stock removal and forging are the other two types of knife making. These need a lot of practice and a good feel of the knife and metal to bring out the best out of the steel. Further these are also advanced methods of making a knife that allows you to shape and reshape a blade to perfection. In the stock removal method, the knife maker designs the knife style and crafts it slowly to shape from available bar stock of carbon steel or stainless steel. Bladesmith or "forgers" takes a piece of steel and heats it in the forge to malleable temperature. The hot steel is placed on the anvil and the bladesmith shapes it with a hammer step by step. Most of the blade is shaped on the anvil and then they are refilled and cleaned up.
The stock removal method is one of the easiest ways to make knives and shape them. This process is a time consuming one and needs a lot of patience and determination. The grinding and shaping should be done in slow and meticulous manner, but requires simple tools. To begin with find a good piece of flat bar stock. This can be made of carbon steel (or O1 steel) or stainless steel. Stainless steel is more malleable and is easy to treat by heat and will yield a superior blade. The best way would be to start with an annealed piece of steel which can be easily cut or drilled. These are sometimes imported and as these are available in soft condition they are workable using hand tools themselves.
Pick a bar stock of the correct thickness based on the pattern and size of the knife. A very thick or whippy blade spoils the knife. Generally rule of thumb is to select a blade with less than 1/8 of an inch thickness, if the blade length is five inches or less. Draw the pattern of the knife on a stiff cardboard and cut it out. Check on the size in your hand, trying to imagine holding the knife. Once you are fine with the pattern, transfer it to your bar stock using a scriber or a sharp piece of steel.
Secure the stock to the vise and cut with a hacksaw as close to the line without running over it. Take a file and file to the last little bit to yield a smooth surface. The blade should now be ready to layout bevels. Mark the bevels carefully and also mark out the ridge line on either side symmetrically. Filing the bevels is a type of work that builds character and using a sharp file helps avoid bending the stock and is much easier to control than a dull file. Once you get your shape and finish, mark out, punch out the centers and drill the handle holes. Once the blade is ready, heat treat the blade and apply your favorite handles.
Continue to Stock Removal Method Part 2
Return from Stock Removal Method Part 1 to Knife Making Supplies .net


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The world is full of painters who have been sidetracked occasionally by other artistic mannerisms and yet, in the end, retain their sanity and remain painters. Michael Druks is such a painter, one who has weathered the ins and outs of conceptual, video and installation art and has, in the recent past, come back to painting.
Despite his strong sabra origins (b. Jerusalem, 1940), Druks came to a conscious decision, following studies in Tel Aviv and a round with avant-garde theater, to make his way in the larger arena, and after several months in Holland he settled permanently in London in 1972. His association with Israel has been on the edge, and his involvement with things and issues Israeli on a daily basis have been minimal. Although he has mounted several one-person exhibitions in Tel Aviv and is constantly included in local theme shows, he has also been a consistent contributor to institutional and solo exhibitions in Europe and the UK for the past three decades. His transition from the provincial atmosphere of Israel to one of the world's major art centers has given him the opportunity to view the world as something of an isolationist - not necessarily through a narrow looking glass, but from a wider perspective. This extended view has over the years nurtured his inner needs and brought him back to his origins - and, in so doing, to his senses and true self.
A proper retrospective at the reputable Museum of Art in Ein Harod - initiated, organized and defined by its incisive curator Dalia Bar-Or - covers Druks's career from the early 1960s to the present. The span of works in all media provides the visitor with a complete understanding of what he was and is: painter, conceptual, video and installation artist, writer, theorist and self-styled philosopher.
I was first introduced to Druks as a conceptual artist in 1975 at Druksland, a fascinating exposition in which the concepts of identity and personality in space and time were investigated in collage, printing and drawing. Having been reminded again of Druks's mapping series in the current display, including a slew of metaphorical pictures surrounding the intricacies of political geography, I immediately was drawn to Druksland (1974-1975), a printed portrait that has become an icon in Israeli art. The graphically designed portrait is used extensively as the seminal example of how the human body, space and cartography can interact to create a personal, social and political history lesson. Druks constructed a planular definition of facial details in a topographic manner and labeled them, in a Tolkien spirit, "Right Druks," "Left Druks" and "Occupied Territory." Around the face are scattered the names of artists and places that, at the time, were important contributors to - or in several instances, significant detractors from - the Israeli art scene.
Before visitors are directed to three halls filled with alternate media - video, photography and conceptual pieces - they are introduced to a gallery of early paintings, assemblages and drawings from the decade between 1960 and 1970. Across from a handful of darkish assemblages is a group of figurative canvases whose explosive use of color and reductive rendering are an admixture of DeKooning and the CoBrA modalities. The secondary scales of contrasting viridian and orange palettes of these mischievous oils and mixed media paintings, worked between 1967 and 1970, are aggressive and resilient and project a striking, uncompromising sense of youthful exuberance. More, they contain the chromatic spirit that Druks would resurrect 15 years later. Once presented with these early pieces, it is difficult to understand what forces led Druks down a path of conceptual and film art.
The derivative assemblages and objet trouvé sculptures, constructed from bits and pieces of wood that have been left raw or painted black and burnt orange, smack of Archipenko, Kurt Schwitters and detailed extractions from the abyss of Louise Nevelson's sinister altars. A few are the results of exposure to the constructed mannerism embedded in synthetic cubist works, especially those by Juan Gris.
From the early to mid 1970s, Druks found himself defending the ideals of conceptual and performance art. The works during this period, a manner of expression without the tools of his adopted trade, were captured in a series of photographs, video films and handwritten documents. To Stand in the Corner (1972), Touch, Awareness, Perception (1977) and Is Sony a Name of a Person? (1975) are each a magnum opus of the rational-cum-intellectualization of art during those pasty years when art was going from pillar to post in an attempt to redefine itself and, unfortunately, moved aimlessly in several mystified directions.
In 1977, Druks created a performance - first in Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen, Germany and then Tel Aviv - entitled Territory, Living Space. Playing mumblety-peg in a sandbox with another player, the jackknife kept falling and dividing an incised circle into smaller domains, and with each throw the activist's existence would become smaller and less tenable. The allegorical insights in this work are perfectly clear as they pretend to be in his documented series To Stand in a Corner.
Looking back while surveying his contributions to Israeli art, I have come to understand that Druks, during those heady days of experimentation in the 1970s, was only visiting a world of art that deep down was alien to his true temperament - one that is deeply submerged in painting, in the direct physical act of brush to canvas and of composing with color, line and shape. Yet during the '70s, his alter ego found it necessary to follow the leads of an international style of art that, in hindsight, was merely a temporary link with today's digital explosion but which sidelined Druks's talents intermittently so he could express his socio-political emotions by harnessing messages on film and in photography.
Having come full circle, Bar-Or and the artist have filled the museum's major hall with a couple of dozen canvases and works on paper from the past 20 years. Each and every painting is charged with images that are - yet aren't - absorbed from nature, or perhaps engaged from the artist's imagination. They are poetic compositions bordering on the surreal, displaying abstract elements and inexplicable signs and symbols that somehow seem familiar but are impossible to decipher. Planes fold into and over one another as thin and thick lines skittle around in a nervous, wiry manner. The marvelous part about these works is that everything in them seems to be just right, solidly composed and in place, leaving little to chance.
The relationship between language (the ability to describe and classify) and perception (the need to create and observe images) is not a recent historical conundrum, but a holdover from the protracted documentations of art through the ages. In his battery of recent works, Druks takes us on a personal adventure as he incorporates into a single picture several alternate-looking components stripped down from experience and the subconscious. His incursions into a creative process in the end form robust pictures that contain all Druks wants to say visually, yet quite often nothing more than an apocalyptic arrangement of line, shape and high color.
There is an enigmatic element that runs through Druks works of the 1990s. As biomorphic and geometric shapes are shuffled and spindly lines are used to bridge them, one's eyes are riveted to the internal structure of the pictorial design. Color-wise, Druks relies on the occasional violet shape surrounded by lemon yellow, vermilion and an electric blue scumbled onto translucent fields of diluted sand, sepia and burnt orange, contrasted by knife-like linear edges or figurative silhouettes prancing and diving into a colorful abyss.
Although Druks did not adopt the machine influences that were amalgamated into many works by Francis Picabia in the first decades of the 20th century, there are visual references in Druks's pictures to the Dada master in his use of vague anatomical fragments and palpitating rhythms of organic forms sent into motion by a series of linked, thread-like lines and negative spaces. But Druks's appetite for the automatism of the surreal went a bit further than Picabia's machinations and pseudo-cubist compositions as the whimsy of Joan Miro took hold of his imagination, and with the Spaniard's inspiration, he began making sense out of what could easily have become pictorial chaos.
Paintings from 2005 and 2006 are more reductive, less colorful and present a reverse psychological manner from extroverted declarations of the past to introspective statements of the present. Drawn in low key rather than enthusiastically brushed, they contain a limited number of conflicting shapes and planes, and the distinction between expansive backgrounds and frontal planes has all but disappeared in favor of a fragility that is as inspiring and it is prosaic. Expanses of watery beige and pale calamine are interrupted by sporadic scarlet, ultramarine and black contours slicing through the picture plane, trying to define graceful anatomical forms in a didactic rather than an erotic fashion.
In the final analysis, one sees Druks as a committed erudite artist. He has managed to navigate the labyrinthine twists of several media, while with great personal authority he has sustained a characteristic of self-determination. He has returned to his true passion; standing before his easel, he ably orchestrates a new, unambiguously fresh pictorial vocabulary with each new canvas. (Museum of Art, Kibbutz Ein Harod).
English-Hebrew catalog available at museum bookstore. Until August 11.


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An introduction to the art of drama and theatre. Students study selected plays that are representative of important playwrights and historical periods. These plays are studied in their historical context and provide a basis for understanding elements and styles of drama. Theatre production will also be explored by considering the functions of actors, audiences, designers, playwrights and technicians.
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- Discuss the origin and development of the theatre from its beginnings to the present.
- Discuss the theatre's influence and importance in human culture.
- Compare and contrast plays and theatre practices from different time periods and cultures.
- Analyze the artistic choices and techniques used to transform a written dramatic script into a performed work presented to an audience.


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Longtime Broncos DL Derek Wolfe has agreed to a one-year deal with the Ravens, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reports, per source. The deal is worth $3 million fully guaranteed with another $3 million in incentives.
Baltimore confirmed the acquisition Monday. The signing comes after the Ravens' initial deal with free-agent DT Michael Brockers fell through on Friday morning. Brockers proceeded to re-sign with the Rams that morning.
Wolfe, 30, brings plenty of experience to the Ravens defensive front after spending all eight years of his career in Denver. Last season, Wolfe's year was cut short thanks to an elbow injury that put him on injured reserve in December. Wolfe ended 2019 with seven sacks in 12 games played.
Wolfe is another figure in the revamping of Baltimore's defensive line this offseason. The versatile DL is likely to replace DT Michael Pierce, who signed with the Minnesota Vikings via free agency. The Ravens made a major trade in getting DE Calais Campbell from the Jaguars earlier this month and Wolfe is sure to benefit from a revitalized squad now wearing the purple and black.


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Brian McKinlay
Pentecost 11, Year B, 12 August 2012
I Kings 19.4-8; Psalm 34.1-8; John 6.35, 41-51
Jesus said, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
Do any of us like vampire movies? I certainly don't. To most of us the very thought of drinking someone's blood is revolting and the eating of human flesh is disgusting.
Small wonder then that Jesus' Jewish hearers were taken aback when he told them to eat his flesh and—in the verses following this morning's reading—to drink his blood. 'Eater of flesh' was an Aramaic title for the Devil. To consume blood was against God's law. Even some of Jesus' own followers left him because of this saying.
Yet the people of the ancient world, Jews and Gentiles alike, were familiar with animal sacrifice. In many of the pagan religions, when flesh was offered to a god, they believed that the god entered into the meat, so that a worshipper who ate the meat ate the god and was god-filled. Perhaps that's why the Council of Jerusalem urged newly converted Gentiles not to eat food that had been offered to idols.
John's early readers would have understood the longing of worshipers to identify with their particular god and to take the god into them. They wouldn't have taken the eating of Jesus' flesh literally to mean a gory human sacrifice.
Just as in Jesus' parables, we have to wrestle with this as a picture, a metaphor, a symbol. These words of Jesus point to a spiritual encounter that is hard to describe in human language.
Verse eight of this morning's psalm helps us: "O taste and see that the Lord is good: happy are they that hide in him!"
Taste the Lord, it says. Scriptures uses all the senses to describe experience of God: sight, hearing, smell, touch and, yes, taste.
Hebrews: "We have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come." (6.5)
1 Peter: "You have tasted that the Lord is good." (2.2-3)
Psalm 119: "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (v.103).
Song of Songs (which many believe is a picture of Christ in his relationship with us): "With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." (2.3) "His lips are lilies, distilling liquid myrrh." (5.13)
In relationships, taste is perhaps the most intimate of the senses—although all the senses can be used intimately, of course. I can see you now, and you can hear me, but it's not overly intimate. Sometimes one can't avoid smells, but deliberately to smell someone is rather personal. And except for the merest handshake, touch is personal, even intimate.
But taste! The mind boggles! About the least intimate way to taste someone is to kiss them full on!
To taste something, let alone taste someone, takes commitment. You can sit at a table looking at some strange food, sniffing tentatively, but once you taste it, you're committed. You can look at someone in a daze of adoration, but if you kiss them, then you're committing yourself. Likewise, to taste God—whatever that is—is a step of commitment.
When we taste food—or rather when we consume it—it's assimilated into us, becomes part of us. To 'feed' on Christ, then, means him entering us and becoming part of us. "Christ in us, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1.27).
Taste is a living experience—a dead person can't taste. If we are spiritually dead, we'll not taste Christ. By responding to his words, by being touched by his Spirit, we experience newness of life. Then we can taste and experience that he is good.
Through taste and smell we distinguish various flavours. To be a discerning taster of food and wine takes time, experience and learning. As we grow spiritually, we gain understanding and, with God's help, discern how God is directing us. We learn the difference between what's good for spiritual food and what isn't.
But our taste doesn't just discern flavours and tell us that one food is curry and another is lemon tart. Taste—along with touch and smell—helps us to enjoy our food, to delight in it. Imagine what eating would be like if all food had just the one bland flavour and texture.
Do we enjoy Christ as we would enjoy good food? Do we rejoice in the life God has given to us in him? We need to rethink if we are good at discerning but never enjoy. Let's not wrinkle up our noses in distaste just because some small detail isn't right. Rather, let's enjoy the good things God places before us. Let's enjoy Jesus.
Eating and drinking are, of course, essential to life and strength. In today's Old Testament story from 1 Kings 19, Elijah has fled into the wilderness. He's spoken out on God's behalf and the only result seems to be that he has to run for his life. He is so dejected that he asks God to let him die and he lies down under a tree and goes to sleep; but then an angel twice touches him and commands that he eat and drink. In telling him to eat and drink, the messenger of God is insisting that Elijah go on living. So Elijah obeys to strengthen himself for the journey in front of him. We need to do likewise.
We've all heard the little joke about the 'see-food diet'—see the food and then eat it. Usually that's the way it happens: we see and perhaps smell the food, and then we taste it to see if it's any good. But notice the order in Psalm 34: taste and then see that the Lord is good—the opposite, by the way, of what happened in the Garden of Eden, where Eve saw the fruit and then tasted it, with disastrous consequences.
We can see—that is, understand in our minds—the attractions of spiritual life; but if we have never attempted prayer or listening to God, we haven't "tasted"; we've only looked. To try praying, for example, is an act of faith. And by praying we take a taste of God. And what is it that we "see"? What we see, according to the Psalmist, is that the Lord is good!
When the Communion is celebrated, we are invited to feed on Christ, to taste him. Paul advises for our well being that we discern, understand, that it's the body of Christ that's being shared, but absolute understanding is impossible—it is, after all, a mystery.
What do we want to taste of God? The author of Psalm 34 tells us that he was freed from all his fears, made bright with joy, no longer ashamed, saved from all his troubles and delivered in his time of need.
As we prepare to take the Communion, to feed on Christ, let's each reflect on the ways in which we need to taste him, what good things of God we yearn to take into ourselves.
It's a mystery that rewards reflection and contemplation. But it's also more than sufficient that, as the prayer book says, we come and "take this sacrament of the body and blood of Christ in remembrance that he died for us and feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving." Amen.


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13 Jun 14 June 2019
Editorial credit: RichSTOCK / Alamy Stock Photo
Koo Stark
Prince Andrew's ex-girlfriend Koo Stark has won substantial damages from Viacom International, owner of MTV's entertainment news website, after it published an article that wrongly referred to her as a "porn star".
The American actor and photographer dated Prince Andrew for two years in the early 1980s.
The relationship came to an end in the wake of controversy over the fact that Stark had appeared in the erotic film Emily in 1976.
Stark was reported last year to have instructed lawyers in respect of her portrayal in forthcoming episodes of Netflix series The Crown, which is soon to cover the period during which she was in a relationship with the Prince.
A story published by MTV listing "dramatic moments" from the history of the Royal family featured a section under the headline: "When Prince Andrew dated a porn star."
Alongside a photo of the Prince, it said: "This is why the Royal Family should have their own reality show [to be honest]. During a trip to the Caribbean, Andrew was seen with Koo Stark, an American lady who was no stranger to the porn scene. We can imagine Lizzy was not impressed."
In a statement in open court, Stark's lawyer said the article was defamatory because readers would understand it to mean Stark "is a porn actress who has made her living participating in films which are made by pornographers for distribution in the pornography market".
He went on to say: "Ms Stark, who was at one time widely expected to marry HRH Prince Andrew, has never participated in any pornographic film, posed for pornographic photographs, or participated in any enterprise which could properly be described as pornographic."
Viacom International has agreed not to repeat the claim.
Stark's lawyer said out of Court that the false allegation repeated by MTV had "gained new currency" because of The Crown, adding: "Hopefully after the reading of this statement it will not be repeated."
The Daily Star published an apology to Stark last year over an article that wrongly said she had "starred in a pornographic film". The title said this was "not a true and accurate description" of her work.
Defunct lads' magazine Zoo paid Stark substantial damages in 2007 over a similar allegation.
The repeated damages awards to Stark illustrate the danger of reproducing defamatory allegations found on the internet or in other media without independently verifying them and considering the legal risks.
The Supreme Court has given its long-awaited judgment in Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd, a case which has explored the nature of the "serious harm" test found in the Defamation Act 2013, deciding that claimants must demonstrate as a fact that the harm caused to them by publication was serious.
Mr Lachaux and his ex-wife Afsana had been engaged in a custody battle in the UAE where he lived, and had originally sued over allegations published in the UK media which were said to have been made against him by her, including of domestic abuse.
S 1(1) of the Defamation Act 2013 introduced a new test to this area of the law, providing that a statement is not defamatory unless its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the reputation of the claimant.
There was a trial of a preliminary issue as to whether or not Lachaux had suffered serious harm to his reputation for the purpose of the Defamation Act 2013.
Mr Justice Warby interpreted the new test as meaning that in each case it was necessary to prove as a matter of fact, on the balance of probabilities, that serious harm had been caused or is likely to be caused by the publication complained of.
On the basis of the scale of the publications, the fact that they had or were likely to come to the attention of people who knew the claimant in this country, and the seriousness of the statements themselves, he found that Lachaux's reputation had suffered serious harm.
The newspaper defendants appealed to the Court of Appeal, which agreed with the outcome, but did not accept the judge's analysis of the "serious harm" test, and focused more on inference, saying that the primary question was whether the allegation was seriously defamatory.
Independent Print Ltd then appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed with both Mr Justice Warby and the Court of Appeal as to the outcome on the facts of the case.
However, the Supreme Court's ruling on the law has now effectively moved the goal posts back to where they were positioned by Mr Justice Warby, by approving his approach to assessing harm, and thus the need for claimants, where it is disputed, to prove this by means of evidence.
In cases where serious allegations are published by the mass media, it is likely that there will be a very strong inference of harm available, but the ruling introduces the prospect of there now being frequent preliminary trials at which the Court is asked to rule on this issue.
The decision will be widely seen as a positive one for the media, since it emphasises that the law has decisively changed in favour of freedom of expression following the introduction of the new legislation.
The Australian media world has been rocked by Police action against both national broadcaster the ABC and a journalist at Sydney's The Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
The ABC's headquarters were raided by the Australian Federal Police ("AFP"), who had obtained a warrant naming individual journalists, on 5 June 2019, the day after the AFP raided the home of the journalist at the News Corp publication.
In an immediate statement the ABC MD, David Anderson, said that the raid was "highly unusual".
"This is a serious development and raises legitimate concerns over freedom of the press and proper public scrutiny of national security and defence matters," he said.
"The ABC stands by its journalists, will protect its sources and continue to report without fear or favour on national security and intelligence issues when there is a clear public interest."
The AFP said it was investigating "allegations of publishing classified material, contrary to provisions of the Crimes Act".
A subsequent statement by the ABC's chair, Ita Buttrose, said that the raids were "designed to intimidate" and warned the government she would fight "any attempts to muzzle" the broadcaster.
The raid on the home of the political editor of The Sunday Telegraph related to a 2018 story on an alleged secret government proposal to spy on Australian citizens, which is currently unlawful.
The journalist was served a warrant to search her Canberra home, phone and computer 14 months after she published the story, and the AFP spent almost eight hours at her home.
The raid was widely condemned, and the opposition party has demanded a parliamentary inquiry into press freedom in response to both police actions.
While the Police and regulatory bodies such as the ICO have powers to carry out raids of this kind in this country, which could in theory be exercised against the media, they are rarely used.
ICO enforcement officers raided the London offices of data analytics company Cambridge Analytica in 2018, as part of an investigation into the use of personal data and analytics for political purposes.
And the Police have in the past sought Court orders under the Official Secrets Act 1989 as part of efforts to make journalists disclose their sources, for example as part of investigations into the News of the World phone hacking scandal.
In contrast to Australia, in this country journalists enjoy a range of protections in relation to their dealings with sources, both under acts of Parliament such as the Contempt of Court Act 1981 and the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, and under the European Convention on Human Rights.
There would usually be a chance to argue over the disclosure of information before a Judge ahead of any raid taking place.
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The Power of Letters, Words, and Positivity, with Rylsee
When others see letters and words, artist Rylsee sees a puzzle. From the structure of the letters and the hierarchy of the words, to the composition of his illustrative translation, Rylsee finds meaning in every nook and cranny of the world around him. But more than just meaning, he finds a sense of optimism and hope. Listen to this episode of The Cultured Podcast to get a peek into Rylsee's process and learn how one unfortunate ink spill inspired the future vision for his art.
Read the episode transcript below.
Michelle Khouri 0:01
Imagine a world where letters, words, and phrases had personalities of their own and roamed freely- making us laugh, think and become introspective. Well, that world sits inside Rylsee's head. And on this episode of The Cultured Podcast, we're taking a trip into his brain to see just how things work when you play with letters and words.
Welcome to The Cultured Podcast. I'm your host, Michelle Khouri. And together we'll journey into the unknown reaches of the art world. Hello, my babies! (singing) It's been an intense year already! No, but truly, it's been a super intense year. I hope your 2020 has been on and trucking. Because the energy behind this year for me so far has been bananas. I mean, truly. Super busy, super exciting, super intimidating, all the feels. And with that kind of intensity, it is especially a joy to talk to someone like Rylsee, whose real name you'll find out in a moment, and why he's called Rylsee, because he's just a ball of joy. He is curious, he is playful. He is tongue-in-cheek. But he's also pretty philosophical. So that all comes across in his work as an artist who works with letters and words and phrases. So, before I start spoiling it for you, we'll talk about my inspiration because you really are going to love this interview and it's going to make you smile. So if you're in a moment of intensity like I am in, in a really good moment by the way, like happy things, this is going to lift your spirits and make you smile fo'sho. But first, my inspiration for this week is boxing. Oh, yeah, you heard me right. And by boxing, I mean the sport of boxing. So the aforementioned intensity of this year and how busy it's been, actually drove me to start working out a lot more than I have been in the last year, which is a very good thing, because I needed some way to let out all this energy that I have coursing through my body. I mean, I literally have the most energy I've ever had in my life. And that can feel like a pending implosion, because you're just carrying all this energy within you. So one thing I've been doing has been boxing, alongside of course, meditation. Both of those things hand in hand have really allowed me to center myself, find time for me, get out any anxieties or frustrations, and really harness the power of that energy in a really productive way. And my neighbor actually has been teaching me how to box. Shout out to Daniel! Yas! We go down there to the gym in our building. He teaches me combinations. He has a ball. I have a ball. And I've also just discovered this immense passion for boxing because it's one of those mind-body-spirit sports. And so it really engages my creative mind because I have to be working on my stance, my technique. I have to be thinking about when a punch is coming my way, and if I have to, like dodge it in some way. And then of course, the brute strength of punching, and ducking and rolling. It is so much fun. And it also makes me feel super powerful. I mean, it, like, makes me carry myself differently, you know? So, Rocky 15 featuring Michelle is coming soon to a theater near you. But while you wait for the release of that cinematic gold, let's talk to Rylsee because he's actually doing some incredible things. Unlike my, you know, not-yet-in-existence movie. All right, here we go. Let's talk to Rylsee.
So welcome, Cyril — aka Rylsee — to The Cultured Podcast.
Rylsee 4:29
Thanks for having me.
Michelle Khouri 4:32
So tell us who you are and what your art form is.
Rylsee 4:37
So my real name is Cyril Vouilloz. I'm a Swiss artist based in Berlin. I go by the name of Rylsee. This comes from an old nickname that my friends gave me, which is pretty much an inversion of syllables of my real name. SEE-RIL. RIL-SEE. Spelled different. It's always difficult to describe it, but I guess I'm a letter artist, if you can call it this way. I play with letters. I distort them, destroy them. I make them funny, give them personality and life. As a kid, really like maybe seven or eight, I remember that I had this game where I was giving it to myself. I was like, "Okay, let's try to draw logos from sports brands or cars." And then I was trying to draw as many as I could by memory. I don't know why I was doing this for. But I don't know. I thought it was fascinating. And I still am fascinated by this.
Michelle Khouri 5:36
I think we're so used to seeing logos nowadays, which is a scary thing, honestly. But we just forget the artfulness and intention that goes behind a logo and how difficult it is to create a truly memorable iconic logo. So it's funny to me that at the age of, what eight, you were like, "Hmm, artful logos I'm going to try to recreate this." You know, I think that already captures that you were sort of–you came out of the womb thinking differently about the world.
Rylsee 6:10
One thing that, as a kid I found interesting and that I still even teach to people is the amount of information that just some letters can have. And how much information they can give, you know, away to people. If you look at the logo of a restaurant, you almost did not need to enter to know what's going to be served in it, the quality of the food, the kind of people you would find inside, you can tell maybe even the decorations.
Michelle Khouri 6:42
Rylsee 6:43
And you're still on the sidewalk looking outside at the logo of the restaurant. And all these informations are conveyed just in a few letters, a few colors. And this is something that everyone has.
Michelle Khouri 6:56
If it's doing its job, right? That's like the whole point of the logo. So if it's a good logo, that's what it's supposed to convey.
Rylsee 7:05
Michelle Khouri 7:05
You know, whereas sometimes we see these really bad, like uses of lettering and color and shape and form that make you think you're going into something and then there's that jarring experience of dissonance between what the logo told you you were walking into and what you actually experience.
Rylsee 7:26
But even these wacky logos tell you a lot about how they handled their business inside, I would say.
Michelle Khouri 7:33
Oh, I like that. That's cool. Tell me more about that. What do you mean?
Rylsee 7:38
Is this brutal to say? No! A lot of people don't realize that their logo is pretty much their face when their real face is not showing.
Michelle Khouri 7:48
Yes. Wow.
Rylsee 7:49
If you want to make some savings on your logo, because you have a cousin that once heard, like watched a tutorial of "how to do logo", chances are that you won't be well represented. Whereas if you asked the help of a professional, that would be like something that really suits you. And that conveys the right information and the right personality that you would like the public to see you as.
Michelle Khouri 8:13
I think that that also points to the fact that you do connect perception and psychology, with your own work and the way that you sort of mutate letters and play with their shape and forms and meanings to toy with your viewer. So tell me a little bit about when you started this form of artistry and what spurred you to do so.
Rylsee 8:40
I love people in general. And I love to, if I can say, study them. I mean, it sounds a bit intellectual to say this for someone who draws letters, but this is definitely something I'm drawn to. The psychology of how people react and I try to translate this in my work. It could be either in optical illusions or when I work with sentences, then I mix, you know? From thoughts, from things I read, things I hear in the metro or like in the cafe. Sometimes I just come across sentences, or think about something, and I'm like, wow, this deserves to be illustrated. And I don't always do it right away, but I write it down in either my phone or most of the time, my sketchbook. And later on, I go back to it and try to illustrate it the best way as I can to make people laugh.
Michelle Khouri 9:31
Is there typically a theme around what grabs your attention, what kinds of phrases or signs?
Rylsee 9:38
Other people that have done articles about my work worded it better than what I would have ever done.
Michelle Khouri 9:45
Yeah. (laughter)
Rylsee 9:46
Because, you know, I do this quite naturally, you know? I observe. I see. I react. And this is how it end up on as drawings most of the time.
Michelle Khouri 9:56
Right. It's second nature to you. Whereas as an outsider observer, it's easy to, you know, sort of psychoanalyze you and your work.
Rylsee 10:06
100%. You know, often, it's observation from our lives, the technology that surrounds us. With this technology, what the impact is on the social aspect. And I kind of make fun of it. A lot of people say that "Oh, but you're mocking people," but I'm like the first target of most of the observation I do, you know? So, yes, I'm mocking others and taking other people with me, but I'm my main– how do you call this the–I'm my own guinea pig, kind of.
Michelle Khouri 10:39
Yeah. In English, we call that the butt of the joke. Have you heard that saying?
Rylsee 10:45
The butter the joke?
Michelle Khouri 10:46
No, the butt of the joke.
Rylsee 10:48
At the butt of the joke. (laughter) Okay.
Michelle Khouri 10:51
Yeah. So anyone you're making fun of this is the butt of the joke. So I guess what you're saying is, most often, you're the butt of your jokes.
Rylsee 10:59
Yeah, yeah.
Michelle Khouri 11:00
Yeah, so describe a recent piece for us so that we can sort of dive into it with the Cultured Crew and start analyzing what one piece, how one piece comes to life and the different meanings behind it.
Rylsee 11:14
Most of my words have quite a similar way of being creative. So I think a lot about things all the time. I'm in kind of a hyperactive kind of person. So I pretty much talk since I open my eyes until I close them. Even I speak when I go to bed. My wife goes banana sometimes, and my friend tells me often that the close friends tell me politely to shut up. So I guess I write down a lot of my ideas or questions I asked myself in my sketchbook and most of these sentences are circled around and these are, like, ideas. I like to imagine them as bubbles with the different ideas. It could be things that I'm thinking about or that I read somewhere. And that I have the feeling that this is something that deserves to be illustrated to be, like, laughed about with other people.
Michelle Khouri 12:08
So it sounds like, actually, you've found a really good way of managing this hyperactivity and giving it a channel. Right? It's like writing down all these things when your wife or your friends are like, "I cannot listen to you anymore" You're like, okay, cool–sketchbook.
Rylsee 12:26
Yeah, yeah. Pretty much. Yeah. And I always have it with me.
Michelle Khouri 12:29
Rylsee 12:31
Yeah. I know I'm tiring sometimes. So I leave people their time, but then I still have to externalize all these things.
Yeah, so write them down.
Michelle Khouri 12:43
You can just shut that off. Luckily, because it comes out through artwork.
Rylsee 12:48
Yeah, but sometimes I'm trying, you know? I'm a father to a three year old daughter. And then my life has obviously changed now with this new role in my life. And I think I have to learn how to meditate or something to like, sometimes shut my brain out because sometimes it goes crazy.
Michelle Khouri 13:09
Oh yeah, meditation would be amazing for you, that would be another one. And it would probably end up surfacing all these little thought bubbles in the same way that you draw them out in your sketchbook. It would probably come into your mind as visions and things like that. It would be interesting to see what comes forward if you meditate. Okay, so you put these thoughts down in your sketchbook and then walk us through the process.
Rylsee 13:33
Then there's a second part I'm trying to find an interesting composition of it, how to give dynamic to the words and sentences. I usually, like, say it out loud to know how to give them a real rhythm, I would say. And the hierarchy of information within the letters, you know?
Michelle Khouri 13:54
Oh, oh, oh! Tell us more about what that means.
Rylsee 13:58
If you have a sentence, there's always words within the sentence that are more important than others. Or you have a few eye-catching words and then this attracts you to read a bit more. And then with just these two words, for example, it gives the general topic of what the sentence is about. And then you have to read it the second time to get the point and sometimes even the third time to get the joke, you know? And that's all these different levels of lecture that I like.
Michelle Khouri 14:29
Ooh, I love that. What's an example? Give us an example of a recent piece, like a recent phrase, and the hierarchy of those words.
Rylsee 14:38
I was leaving whatever city, I don't remember where, and that was a sad, gloomy gray day, a bit rainy. And as we took off with the plane, we went through the clouds. And as you know, when you get above two clouds, it was sunny. It was beautiful. I felt the heat from the sun slightly blinding me and everything. And I thought, wow, clouds are always so great from above.
Michelle Khouri 14:41
Rylsee 14:48
So this was my thought. I was, like, that would be cool to do. Something to illustrate this idea that clouds look always good from above. Then that's where the work start. I had the sentence. I had the idea of something I wanted to convey. And then I started to work on the composition. You know? How to word it. Is it "cloud always look good from above" or the other way around "Cloud look always great from above" or, you know?
Michelle Khouri 15:36
And do you do that immediately? So you're on this plane, you experience this moment, this inspiration. And then do you immediately pull out your sketchbook there on the plane? Or?
Rylsee 15:47
This one, yes. This one, I did it directly in the plane. I love to draw in the plane if I'm alone, because otherwise if I'm with my daughter, it's like…
Michelle Khouri 15:56
Impossible. (laughter)
Rylsee 15:56
In this case, I played around with, like, different composition. There's one with the — you can see a city and the letters are above the clouds but I thought that was a bit too direct. There's another one that I did some tries where I tried to draw the vision like if the composition was seen through one of these windows and you could see a bit of the wing of the plane. But after two tries, I realized that that was not really giving anything to the composition. And then I finally found something that was actually quite interesting when you can read cloud and above that is an actually cloud texture, I would describe it. And, from far, you can clearly see "always great" or "look always great". That's the first thing I would say that you see that you can see is the words "always great".
Michelle Khouri 16:11
Rylsee 16:26
And then you go a bit closer and you see the clouds and the "look" has eyes and instead of two Os. So it also kind-of draws the attention and the clouds are looking down at the plane, but also down to where you can imagine is below the clouds. So I find it quite interesting, the composition.
Michelle Khouri 17:07
And there already you start to–there's a few themes that I've seen in your work in general. The playfulness. So the eyes do appear in your work a good bit. And they are, it's almost like you're personifying your words and making them little characters, but also mirroring your own audience or yourself in those eyes. And then also positivity. You're a very positive person, and your messages tend to be very playful. They might poke fun, but they're also uplifting in general.
Rylsee 17:41
I've been told that, yeah.
Michelle Khouri 17:43
Yeah, I wonder why.
Rylsee 17:46
I don't know. I think it's, I guess in life you can always focus on the negative or the positive parts. And I guess I choose my camp.
Michelle Khouri 17:57
Have you always been an optimist or do you consider yourself an optimist?
Rylsee 18:00
Well, I've been told that so many times. Yes, I am. Yeah. You know, one of my techniques that I explain to many of my friends is I do dramatic comparison. You know, let's say, you have to go on holiday, you plan this and there's an accident with the bus that you're stuck in the bus, therefore, you missed the plane. Most of the people will be like, so pissed and everything, but I would be like, "Well, I could have had like, a bad accident or this plane could have crashed or I could have…" I don't know.
Michelle Khouri 18:34
Rylsee 18:34
You know? You compare it to something so brutal that it would minimize the problem of the current situation.
Michelle Khouri 18:41
Oh, wow. I love that. You're like, well, clearly, my fate was redirected or this was part of my path to be redirected off of what I thought was going to be happening. Yeah, I love that. I mean, it sounds like you go with the flow well
Rylsee 18:56
Well, I don't think, like, I have a chance at another option anyway, you know?
Michelle Khouri 19:02
That's exactly right.
Rylsee 19:03
I don't know if it's–I can't remember if it was my mom or my granny. But I've been told, "Do not waste energy in trying to change things you cannot change."
Michelle Khouri 19:17
Yes. 100%. Control is a total illusion which is hard for someone like me because I can want to grip life a little bit hard if I don't feel like things are going just how I want them to.
Rylsee 19:30
Well, yeah, me too. I like to control things. I have always, like, ideas of how I want things to go and have it done. But in the end, most of the time, it does not go how I planned it or how I fantasized it because, I guess, I have a good imagination. So it's rarely as good as how I imagined it. And I just learn how to live with it.
Michelle Khouri 19:53
I relate so much to what you just said. It's ridiculous. I've never heard anyone put it like that. Like I have such a good imagination that the way that I fantasize about something is never gonna be how it turns out.
Rylsee 20:08
Yeah, man.
Michelle Khouri 20:09
So true. Okay, so I love this idea of things always look great above the clouds from above the clouds. So what was that final phrase you landed on?
Rylsee 20:21
Clouds look always great from above.
Michelle Khouri 20:23
Hmm. Wow.
Rylsee 20:25
I think it's also quite optimistic because, you know, for me, it also shows that everything has two ways of being looked at, you know?
Michelle Khouri 20:33
Rylsee 20:34
Clouds…if you're on one side, like I'm today, in Switzerland, and it's like pouring. It's gray and everything. Just on the other side, it's super sunny. So it's kind of a nice parallel to everything that happens in life, I think.
Michelle Khouri 20:50
Absolutely. Yeah, I love that. Okay, so now what's your next step with this work? For instance, do you usually catch yourself, like, what is that refining process look like with you? Does it take forever? Do you, like, nitpick things to death? Or are you pretty quick and deciding this is the final composition?
Rylsee 21:10
No, no, no, I'm quite fast. I would say. Usually, I do a few sketches. They're like raw sketches that I always sketch directly with ink. Because sketching directly with ink, usually, like for two reasons. It keeps historical what you've been doing, then you can make one trial of a composition that is not great, but some elements are interesting. Then, if you keep them, you can take one idea of this, one idea of this, and make a mix for the next drawing. But if you erase every time you sketch something, then you can't really get anything from the past experience. You know?
Michelle Khouri 21:12
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I never thought about that.
Rylsee 21:18
And the second reason is because by sketching directly, sometimes you can make mistakes, you know? Like a wrong line or something make you move or I don't know, something happened unplanned. And sometimes it's something really interesting because it would push you to take a path that you would not have taken otherwise. And sometimes it's also interesting this way.
Michelle Khouri 22:18
Well, right, like drawing with ink is a greater commitment. I think it takes more courage because there are no, you can't erase an error. So the fact that you look at that as part of the opportunity to shift your own perspective of, "Okay, well, I thought this line was going to go here, but now it's here. So how do I turn that into a strength?" is really, that's like very exciting to me. You know?
Rylsee 22:47
Sometimes it's harder than others. You know, like, not long ago, I posted something on my Instagram as I was doing one of these like super glitch tight drawings that I do. And I was almost with older outlines ready to move on to the next step, and I don't know, I just got distracted a split second and knock down my pot of ink on my drawing. And I was like, "No!"
Michelle Khouri 23:13
How long had you spent on a drawing at that point?
Rylsee 23:16
Too long for something that stupid. (laughter) And you know, I did a story about this on my Insta, but like, oh, how to ruin the drawing and one step or something like this. And I was, I was filming my beautiful neat drawing with this ink, dripping like going like bloop, bloop, bloop. And so many people wrote me being like, "Oh, man, but you should like try to do something out of this," and ahh but like, don't…I don't know, they were really encouraging comments of people all over the globe. And I was like–well, at the moment, I was way too pissed and too tired. So I left this for the next day. And the next day, I did try to do something based on this problem, and it turned out so great, really. It actually inspired, like, what future series I would say. It brought, like, an organic kind of aspect to these digital-looking composition that I do and I really loved it. And I would like to develop this also for murals. And I documented the whole process and posted about it because I thought that that was really, first, I wanted to say thank you to the people who follow my work that,
Michelle Khouri 24:28
Rylsee 24:29
That decided to take just a minute of their time to write me and be like, "No, no, no, try to do something," you know, and encouraged me. And then it was a really good thing to do. Yeah, so you never know.
Michelle Khouri 24:40
That's super cool. Also, you said something that's very important, I think for all creators, all artists, all creatives is that when something frustrates you and when you feel defeated by something, take a step back from it. Like, don't be afraid to give yourself breathing room to process that frustration or those negative feelings because if you try to create in the midst of that, it's not gonna result in something, usually, that's, like, productive.
Rylsee 25:08
Michelle Khouri 25:09
But you were like, "Ugh! I'm just frustrated!" And you walked away and then you came back the next day. And this is what resulted.
Rylsee 25:15
Yeah. But this was definitely with the help of people. I cannot take all the thing on my own.
Michelle Khouri 25:22
But even when you don't have fans, or followers, or friends, you know, encouraging you to move on, a really good way to defeat a moment of frustration and creative block is to just walk away and breathe. Take time away.
Rylsee 25:37
Yeah, I think accepting that it can't always go the way you want or it cannot always be successful. I think it's a hard thing to accept, especially in the social media era. But it is something that it's important to keep in mind, you know?
Michelle Khouri 25:52
Rylsee 25:52
I read this sentence, the lyrics of a song. It was in France, so let me try to translate it. It's from a rapper called Jojo. It says, "J'en partage que mes victoires et c'est bien ma plus grande defaite." It means that I only share or talk about my victories and this is probably my biggest weakness.
Michelle Khouri 26:13
Rylsee 26:13
I don't know if it translate well but I found this, like, A. beautiful because it's really a sensitive person that wrote this.
Michelle Khouri 26:23
Mmmhmm. And it's vulnerable.
Rylsee 26:24
One hundred percent. Yeah. And also, like, it's a good parallel to what we do with social media, or what social media makes us do, I don't know which way. You know? We tend to only show the best side of our life. Even for me, like, my best drawings, the best thing I've done. But we leave only little space for like the moments of doubt. And the problem is that, quite often, when I feel these creative block when I feel not good enough for like this. And I can't, or I don't want to, create, I often end up scrolling on Insta and other platforms. This just makes me feel even shittier. You know? And I think I'm far away from alone in this case.
Michelle Khouri 27:11
Rylsee 27:11
And that's something that I try to get away from sometimes.
Michelle Khouri 27:16
But you know what? I've thought a lot about this. And I think people are starting to share more low moments, but also, this is a hard one for me, because why would I share with you my most, like, vulnerable moments? I'm a private person. I'm going to share right the things that I'm proud of, the things that make me joyful about my life,
Rylsee 27:35
You worked hard for. Yeah, of course.
Michelle Khouri 27:38
I worked hard for it. I'm gonna be like, "Oh, I love this moment. I'm going to share it!" So like, also, I'm a private person. So if I'm going through something, I have my own support systems and you can be damn sure I'm not going to share that with you because it's none of your business.
Rylsee 27:52
Yeah, definitely.
Michelle Khouri 27:54
I think the message needs to be more about, "Understand that all of these glossy pictures are by people who are whole people with whole lives who feel like a loser, just like you do, often, and have their insecurities." But I don't think what we need to preach is posting more of the shitty stuff because then it becomes curated shittiness. Just like there's curated joy.
Rylsee 28:20
Yeah, that's the way of things. (laughter) I have a good sentence to respond to this: Create more moments that make you forget to post about them. Because I realized that the best moments that I spend with like my family, my wife, my friends, or just on my own or a party and everything, most of the best one I was so into it that I don't have a single picture. And it doesn't mean that I haven't shared about it, or that was not good, or worth sharing. It's just that I was so into it that I did not even need the confirmation of anyone external to this moment to confirm that that was a great moment, you know?
Michelle Khouri 29:02
100% I'm the same way. There's an interesting segue here because I want to get us back on track. And it's the fact that you've actually started playing with AR with your work, augmented reality.
Rylsee 29:17
I'm trying, I did a collaboration with this company in Paris that are specialized in this, Cool Monster. And I'm not really into, like, the doing part. So for some project, I had the chance to work with the team that understood and I did the drawing of how I imagined it, and they were helping me for all the technical part of doing this. And this is definitely something I would like to do more often. So if someone hears me here and is down to like, do some VR experimental stuff? I'm down.
Michelle Khouri 29:50
Oh, yes, let's get that. I mean, I'm fascinated by augmented reality. So if we could get someone to partner with Rylsee and also with my company FRQNCY, you've got some goldmines here.
Rylsee 30:05
Michelle Khouri 30:06
Make it happen and let's augment our realities. It scares me but also excites me.
Rylsee 30:11
I'm in the same boat.
Michelle Khouri 30:13
Yeah. Same same same. Okay, so now let's talk about where are you headed in the future? Like how do you see yourself evolving or playing or experimenting in the near future?
Rylsee 30:25
Definitely more volume stuff. I love to build things. I work a lot with wood and sometimes metal and I've done it in my last exhibition in Berlin. That was called Other Inbox that you can actually visit on on my website and VR activity. And I love to build stuff and play with spaces in general because I think my work even when I just draw and sketchbook on walls or anything, it has this 3d dimension. I call it like static movement. Even if it's a static image, often you can feel the movement I think. I mean, I tried to to make it look like this.
Michelle Khouri 31:05
Like when the eyes of a painting follow you.
Rylsee 31:08
Yeah, on this side. Or I would say more It looks like a frame of inaction, almost. You know what I mean?
Michelle Khouri 31:15
Ah ha. Like you've hit pause in the middle of a moment.
Rylsee 31:20
Yeah, exactly. And then. So it kind of comes to me naturally to try to work more in something that people can experience. And it also leads me to VR kind of stuff. So I'm always between both. I like the VR for the experience. For example, or like, I don't know, I dream about doing a whole exhibition in which I would work with, I don't know, like a VR architect in building the room where I would do this VR exhibition, you know? So it's an exhibition that would not really exist, but at the same time, it's also something that someone you saw it, I saw it in a different country. Someone in Japan saw it as well. So does it mean it exists or not? Because we can talk about it, we can exchange, we lived it, but it doesn't materially exist. So I'm also quite fascinated by this question, actually.
Michelle Khouri 32:17
But you know what, there's so much in our lives that is exactly that way. You know, like ideas of culture, or nations or money. These are all things we experience that don't materially exist.
Rylsee 32:31 Yeah, that's true. I've never thought about this. But yeah.
Michelle Khouri 32:34
Where could our Cultured Crew find you?
Rylsee 32:37
I would say the most up-to-date is always my Instagram @Rylsee. We have brand called Sneeer with three E's goes, "sneeer!" It started with a funny nickname that I had, like Sneeer is kind of my alter ego. So we thought that it would be a funny name for the merch. So it's definitely most inspired by like the kind of humoristic playfulness that I have in my work. Our best seller is the "Too Shy to Rap" that I started years ago. And I like to base stickers around where I'm going and a lot of people can relate to this. So it's quite fun to see people walking around with "Too Shy to Rap" you know? I am too!
Michelle Khouri 33:22
Yeah, that's like the little like thing you have in quotes next to your name always. Rylsee Too Shy to Rap. Well, this has been such a joy Rylsee. I'm so happy we did this. And then we got to share some of that infectious joyful, optimistic spirit and playful spirit with the Cultured Crew. Thank you for coming.
Rylsee 33:46
Thank you a lot. It was a really pleasant experience.
Michelle Khouri 33:55
Did I not tell you that it was just a joy? I bet you're sitting there with a huge smile on your face because I know I am. He makes me laugh. He makes me smile. And that joy, that, like, curiosity for the world around you, is so contagious, you know? So that's why we need more people like Rylsee in our world to make us just take on that curiosity through osmosis. Alright babies, until next time, you know what to do. Keep it classy. Keep it curious. Keep it Cultured.


text:
In Albania, waste constitutes the highest risk concerning environmental pollution. With regard to waste management and recycling, Albania is facing serious challenges to reach the targets of the EU on recycling and reducing the amounts of waste being disposed of at landfills. The national average waste collection rate for households is estimated at 68.9 % (2016), and the current overall recovery and recycling rate is estimated at around 17 %. In July 2018, the Government of Albania established a new agency, the National Agency of Sewerage Water Supply and Waste Infrastructure that will implement nationwide infrastructure projects related to waste management.
The feasibility study will enable us to take into consideration in this waste catchment area the application of the hierarchy of integrated waste management due to also the fact that the concession contract will end in 2022. The preparation of the Feasibility Study will take into consideration all available information and knowledge available from institutions and studies produced during the years or in process, in a way that can avoid duplication and have a better analysis on a specific area of the project.
A waste incineration plant, as well as a new sanitary landfill, are envisaged to be constructed in Fier. It is foreseen that all waste collected in the Waste Zone Fier shall be first sorted to separate all recyclables and other valuables from the waste stream and shall be delivered then to the regional waste management facilities. The waste zone of Fier is composed of the Municipalities Fier, Lushnje, Divjake, Ballsh, Patos and Roskovec. With the realisation of regional waste management facilities, the transportation distances from the source of waste generation to the future treatment and disposal sites will be increased. Whereas, currently, in Albania, it is still common practice that the waste collected in a Municipality is disposed on a nearby landfill (dumpsite), in the future the collected waste might have to be transported to a regional waste management facility in a distance of 50 or even 100 km. The financial advantages of large-scale waste treatment facilities [generated in larger catchment areas (waste zones)] have to be balanced with the additional costs for long-distance transportation, which usually is the subject of detailed concept and feasibility studies.
EU-Funded Technical Assistance for Two Functional Waste Areas in Albania
|€ 502,500
|National Contribution
|Own Contribution
|€ 15,000,000
|€ 23,500,000
|Anticipated WBIF TA Grant
|External Grant
|€ 4,000,000
|Anticipated WBIF INV Grant
|External Grant
|€ 20,000,000
|€ 63,002,500
|Total Grants
|€ 502,500
|Total Loans
|€ 23,500,000