LA MOCA

"It’s a reflection of the crisis in cultural funding. It’s about the role of museums in a culture where visual art is marginalized except for the buzz around secondary market sales, it’s about the not so subtle recalibration of the meaning of “philanthropy,” and it’s about the morphing of the so-called “art world” into the only speculative bubble still left floating (for the next 20 minutes). Can important and serious exhibitions receive funding without a donor having a horse in the race? Is attendance a sustaining revenue stream for museums? Has it ever been? "
-Barbara Kruger and Catherin Opie

Glock Days? UPDATED

Listening to CBC Radio 1, my ears perk up when I hear 'Glock Days' and 'Westman Dreams for Kids' in the same sentence. A business in Virden, MB (Wolverine Supplies), has decided to hold a two day festival celebrating the glock pistol. "No license necessary to participate!".

The woman being interviewed, Danielle, noted how successful the events were in the USA.

Incredibly, they are also raffling off a new glock pistol. So anyone who buys a ticket can win the gun.

I just don't understand how the people at Westman  Dreams for Kids could possibly think this is a good festival to get behind. Kids and guns? I am reminded of my dearly beloved but long since departed Pearl Jam t-shirt from my teen years: 9 out of 10 kids prefer crayons to guns. Silly me, I thought that was a good thing....

And another reason I am disgusted with the pairing of children and guns. A 5 year old shot his 2 year old sister with a rifle marketed towards youth, ages 4 - 10.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2013/05/maker-of-my-first-rifle-for-kids-disappears-after-toddler-killed.html?cmp=rss