A big deal: Robert Therrien’s huge sculptures on show in LA

Towering stacks of oversized saucers and furniture fit for giants are some of the treasures on display in Los Angeles at a new exhibition of the work of Robert Therrien.The landmark showing at The Broad is the largest ever museum exhibition of the late artist’s oeuvre.With more than 120 works created over five decades, the show offers visitors the chance to explore both the intimate sketches and the large-scale work of one of Los Angeles’ most celebrated artists.”There’s a lot of works in this show that are sort of an environmental headspace,” Paul Cherwick, co-director of the Robert Therrien Estate, told AFP.”Being under those tables…where it takes you in that area of like remembering being a different size and scale.”Your…perceptions are altered.
”Therrien, who died in 2019 at the age of 71, bucked the minimalist trend in sculpture during the late 20th century, reimagining the mundane as gigantic immersive artworks.Museum managers promise visitors will be able to walk under the huge table and chairs, marvel at enormous hanging beards, and wonder at the stacks of pans huddled in a human-sized cupboard.Ed Schad, curator at The Broad, said the sheer size of some of the exhibits had an almost visceral effect on the viewer.”Sometimes things are bigger than us, sometimes things are smaller than us, but that impacts us physically, but it also impacts us psychologically,” he said.”So when I look at this table and chairs, I think of those experiences from our childhood that might still loom very large for us.””Robert Therrien: This is a Story” runs at The Broad until April 5. 

Iranian director Jafar Panahi ramps up French Oscars campaign

After years of being banned from leaving Iran, filmmaker Jafar Panahi is enjoying his tour of the United States — visiting Los Angeles, New York and Telluride — as he promotes his Oscar-hopeful “It Was Just an Accident.”  The film, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, has been selected by France as its official nomination for the Academy Awards, and is widely expected to make the shortlist for the Best International Feature at the gala event in March.”It Was Just an Accident” tells the story of a torturer from the Islamic Republic who finds himself in the hands of his former prisoners — who were jailed for protesting for women’s rights and fair wages — and their struggle to decide whether to exact revenge or to take the moral high ground.Made clandestinely, filming was halted by the Iranian police at one point, and had to be hastily completed.The fact that post-production was done by a French company allowed France to effectively claim Panahi’s film as its own in the Oscar race, under rules set by the Academy.But Panahi, 65, says he would like to see those rules changed to allow dissidents like him who are censored by Tehran to represent their homeland. “I really wanted it to be for my own country, but when an oppressed society exists, well, some difficulties do arise,” he told AFP during an interview in Los Angeles.The complaint is not new. While film festivals in Cannes, Venice, and Berlin make their own choices for films from around the world, the Oscars require each country’s authorities to nominate a candidate for the Best International Feature Film award. The system has faced increasing criticism and public protests in recent years, particularly in the face of rising authoritarianism. “This decreases and undermines the independence of filmmakers,” said Panahi, who continues to create, despite having been imprisoned twice, barred from making movies in the country and banned from traveling outside Iran until 2023.- ‘Humanist cinema’ that resonates -“Iranian cinema is humanist cinema, and it has always been able to resonate with audiences around the world,” he said, recalling the Oscars awarded to Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation” and “The Salesman,” as well as the international success of Abbas Kiarostami, who won the Palme d’Or in 1997 for “Taste of Cherry.” Iranian greats have managed to navigate the system, despite pressure from Tehran, but artists fear the atmosphere in the Islamic Republic is increasingly hostile.They say authorities have continued to tighten their grip in the wake of the 2022 popular uprising — despite some continued defiance — sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for her refusal to wear a headscarf in the approved manner. Last year, director Mohammad Rasoulof went into exile to escape flogging and an eight-year prison sentence after filming “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” which became Germany’s submission for the Oscars last year.Rasoulof and Panahi were arrested together in 2010 when they were working on a film. Panahi went to prison for 3 months then, and for seven months after a 2022 arrest.Panahi has since honed his techniques for shooting in secret. A significant portion of the plot of “It Was Just an Accident” unfolds in a van, which also served as a hideout. Outdoor scenes were filmed in deserted areas and quiet neighborhoods.”When you live somewhere, because you are in the heart of it, you can find the ways to escape,” he said.The film was partially inspired by Panahi’s own time behind bars. His camera follows the heated debates of ordinary Iranians, who shared the same prison interrogator, over what fate they want for their former jailer, who has been kidnapped by a garage owner.Should they kill him to avenge the humiliations they suffered, or refuse to stoop to their torturer’s level? Through this tormentor, the director sketches an Iran where the mullahs’ power is crumbling, and where this moral dilemma could soon become a collective one. The film, he says, is not just about what happens in the present.”You think about people who are going to live in that country later on, and you think about how you must plant the seeds to overcome violence.”

Tech firms lead Asian stock rout as AI bubble fears linger

Tech firms led more steep losses across Asian markets Friday as investors struggled to shake off fears about an AI bubble and after a sell-off on Wall Street sparked by jobs data dealt a further blow to hopes for a US interest rate cut.A blockbuster earnings report from chip bellwether Nvidia on Wednesday seemed to settle nerves that vast investments in the artificial intelligence sector may have been overdone.But the euphoria was short-lived as warnings grow that the tech-led rally across equities — which has seen several markets hit records and companies clock eye-watering capitalisations — may have run its course, and a correction could be in hand.In unveiling Nvidia’s forecast-topping report, boss Jensen Huang dismissed fears of a bubble that has caused global equities to wobble. “From our vantage point, we see something very different,” he said.After his firm sparked an Asia rally on Thursday, Wall Street began on a strong note, but later went into sharp reverse, with selling compounded by worries over the US labour market.Data showed that while more jobs were created in September, the unemployment rate crept higher. The reading did little to alter investors’ belief that the Federal Reserve will stand pat on borrowing costs when it meets next month, with officials more focused on stubbornly high inflation.Expectations had already been dampened by recent comments from decision-makers, including boss Jerome Powell, that were on the hawkish side.Tracking New York, Asian markets were a sea of red, with tech giants leading the way.Seoul-listed Samsung Electronics sank nearly five percent and rival SK hynix more than nine percent — the firms are two of the world’s leading memory chip makers.Another chip titan, TSMC, tanked nearly four percent in Taiwan, while Japan’s SoftBank plunged more than 10 percent in Tokyo.That led broader markets lower.Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Sydney and Taipei were all down between 1.6 percent and 3.2 percent. There were also losses in Shanghai, Singapore and Wellington.The rush from risk assets also saw bitcoin fall below the $93,000 mark for the first time since April, extending a sell-off suffered since its record high above $126,200 touched just last month.”The price action across markets has been prolific, and we’ve seen some truly impressive reversals in risk assets,” said Chris Weston at Pepperstone.”Sentiment in so many markets remains highly challenged, and we’ve seen new evidence that managers are dumping their 2025 winners — raising expectations that the path of least resistance is for risk to trade lower in the near-term.”The market seems far more sensitive and ready to de-risk on emerging news, almost seeking reasons to take positioning down when that news could easily be seen as a positive in a more bullish set-up.”Eyes are also on Tokyo, where there is talk that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will unveil a huge stimulus package worth around $130 billion to boost the stuttering economy.But government bond yields have soared in recent days on warnings that the spending will likely need even more borrowing, fanning concerns about the country’s fiscal state and putting huge pressure on the yen.The Japanese currency has fallen this week to its lowest level against the dollar since January, though it got a little support from data showing core inflation ticked up last month, giving the Bank of Japan some room to hike interest rates.- Key figures at around 0200 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.8 percent at 48,947.66Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.7 percent at 25,393.93Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.0 percent at 3,892.76Dollar/yen: DOWN at 157.38 yen from 157.55 yen on ThursdayEuro/dollar: UP at $1.1535 from $1.1525Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3083 from $1.3070Euro/pound: DOWN at 88.15 from 88.18 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.1 percent at $58.36 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.0 percent at $62.73 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.8 percent at 45,752.26 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,527.65 (close)

Teen saving India’s ponds says everyone can be a leader

Dev Karan recalls the first time he saw a purple pond, “filled with dyes and chemicals, and choked with plastic”.”It was heart-wrenching,” the 17-year-old from Haryana state in northern India told AFP in an interview.That sight during a school trip two years ago made him realise that “the climate crisis is happening everywhere”.He decided he had to act.Speaking on the sidelines of the annual Young Activists Summit (YAS) at the United Nations in Geneva, Karan described his path to becoming the youngest of five laureates at this year’s event.He won on Thursday for his efforts to restore India’s traditional ponds, which help prevent floods and soil erosion by storing water.Ponds are “often used by villages as a source of drinking water during droughts, help in carbon sequestration, nourish groundwater and they are biodiversity hotspots”, he said.- ‘Climate literacy’ -Yet there is far less attention on protecting and preserving these vital small water bodies than on oceans and rivers, he said.He and his friends noticed that even when huge investment goes into cleaning up ponds, they often slip back into decay after a few years due to lacking maintenance.Karan co-founded Pondora, an organisation that helps villages monitor their water quality using IT-based sensors and mobile tools.The team visits schools and teaches students how to use their kits, consisting of Bluetooth-connected monitors with sensors registering things like temperature, salinity and pH levels, as well as chemical strips to detect various compounds.They have trained an army of “Pond Ambassadors” to support local maintenance.”We focus on climate literacy and basically show them the importance of preserving such water bodies,” Karan said.”They now go around themselves and take the data from the ponds… (they are) going from being passive observers to activists.”YAS hailed Karan’s “replicable model for water ecosystem restoration — one pond at a time”.- ‘Your voice matters’ -The aspiring engineering student told AFP that exploring how digital technologies could simplify pond monitoring and using social media to spread the word had come naturally to him.”Growing up in a generation which had phones in their hands from a very long time, my thought process always goes to how we can use this as the medium,” he said.Karan said Pondora was currently seeking to create a database for all Indian ponds, pointing out that in New Delhi, half of those on paper had disappeared, with many covered up to make room for an expanding population.The goal is to raise awareness about the need to protect remaining ponds, including through a social media campaign urging people to post their photo with the one nearest them.Karan had one message for other young people: “Your voice matters.””Even if you contribute something which is small, it has ripple effects,” he said.”Everyone can be a leader. You just have to have the courage to start.”

Frida Kahlo painting auctions for $54.6 mn, record for woman artist

A self-portrait by legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo sold for $54.66 million in New York on Thursday, setting a new record for the price of a painting by a woman, the auction house Sotheby’s said.The sale of Kahlo’s 1940 artwork, titled “El sueno (la cama)” — which translates to “The dream (The bed)” — breaks the previous record in this category, set by American artist Georgia O’Keeffe, whose 1932 painting “Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1,” sold for $44.4 million in 2014.Kahlo’s painting is “the most valuable work by a woman artist ever sold at auction,” Sotheby’s said in a post on X. The auction house said Kahlo’s work was “painted in 1940 during a pivotal decade in her career, marked by her turbulent relationship with Diego Rivera.”Kahlo’s self-portrait went on the auction block at Sotheby’s with an estimated price ranging from $40 million to $60 million.The buyer’s name was not disclosed. The artwork depicts the artist sleeping in a bed that appears to float among clouds in the sky, laying beneath a skeleton with legs that are wrapped with sticks of dynamite. This painting is a “very personal” image, in which Kahlo “merges folkloric motifs from Mexican culture with European surrealism,” Anna Di Stasi, head of Latin American art at Sotheby’s, told AFP. The Mexican artist, who passed away in 1954 at age of 47, “did not completely agree” with her work being associated with the surrealist movement, Di Stasi said. However, “given this magnificent iconography, it seems entirely appropriate to include it” in this movement.The record-setting sale came two nights the New York auction house reeled in another record sale, with a painting by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt fetching $236.4 million on the block — the second most expensive artwork ever sold at auction. Klimt’s “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer,” which he painted between 1914 and 1916, depicts the daughter of his main patron dressed in a white imperial Chinese dress, standing before a blue tapestry with Asian-inspired motifs.  The most expensive painting ever sold at auction remains the “Salvator Mundi,” attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which was bought for $450 million in 2017. 

Scramble for Sudan’s resources fuels brutal civil warFri, 21 Nov 2025 01:29:58 GMT

Behind the civil war tearing Sudan apart for more than two years lie the country’s natural riches, with foreign powers vying for control of its gold, fertile farmland and coastline.Raging since April 2023, the conflict between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has escalated in recent weeks with the RSF’s capture …

Scramble for Sudan’s resources fuels brutal civil warFri, 21 Nov 2025 01:29:58 GMT Read More »

US health agency edits website to reflect anti-vax views

The US health agency has updated its official website to reflect the vaccine skepticism of a senior Trump official, a move that medical and public health experts widely condemned.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late Wednesday revised its site with language that undermines its previous, scientifically grounded position that immunizations do not cause the developmental disability autism.Years of research demonstrate that there is no causal link between vaccinations and autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.But Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the nation’s health chief, has long voiced anti-vaccine rhetoric and inaccurate claims connecting the two.The CDC webpage on vaccines and autism had previously stated that studies show “no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder,” citing a body of high-quality research including a 2013 study from the agency itself.That text reflects medical and scientific consensus, including guidance from the World Health Organization.But the changes rebuke it. The website now asserts that “the claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.”The revised language accuses health authorities of having “ignored” research supporting a link and said the US health department “has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism.”A purported connection between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism stems from a flawed study published in 1998, which was retracted for including falsified data. Its results have not been replicated and are refuted by subsequent research.Amid the site rewrite, one header remained: “Vaccines do not cause Autism.”A footnote explains that the line wasn’t cut due to an agreement Kennedy had made with the Republican Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor and senator from the southern state of Louisiana who chairs the Senate committee focused on health.Cassidy on Thursday insisted on vaccine safety and efficacy in a post on X. He did not name Kennedy, but said “any statement to the contrary is wrong, irresponsible, and actively makes Americans sicker.””What parents need to hear right now is vaccines for measles, polio, hepatitis B and other childhood diseases are safe and effective and will not cause autism,” he said.- ‘Do not trust this agency’ -The CDC website edits were met with anger and fear by career scientists and other public health figures who have spent years combatting such false information, including from within the agency.”Staff are very worried and upset about everything happening surrounding vaccines,” a CDC union member, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, told AFP.Helen Tager-Flusberg, director of Boston University’s Center for Autism Research Excellence, called the changes “terribly disturbing.””I feel like we are going back to the Dark Ages. I feel like we are undermining science by tying it to people’s political agendas,” the psychologist told AFP.”We’re going to see a significant increase in these childhood diseases.”Demetre Daskalakis — the former director of the agency’s arm focused on immunization and respiratory diseases, who resigned earlier this year in protest — was unequivocal: “DO NOT TRUST THIS AGENCY.”And Susan Kressly, president of American Academy of Pediatrics, said “we call on the CDC to stop wasting government resources to amplify false claims that sow doubt in one of the best tools we have to keep children healthy and thriving: routine immunizations.”Pointing to “40 high-quality studies,” she said that “the conclusion is clear and unambiguous: There’s no link between vaccines and autism.”The anti-vaccine advocacy group Children’s Health Defense meanwhile praised the revisions. The organization’s CEO Mary Holland said “thank you, Bobby” on X.Kennedy is the founder and former chairman of the nonprofit.