Jane Babasa 4PTG1

UP student plagiarizes prize-winning photos

BY

CAROL RAMORAN

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) A graduate student of the country's premier state university admitted to passing off as his own a photograph that recently won a contest sponsored by the Chilean ambassador. University of the Philippines graduate student Mark Joseph Solis made the confession when Rappler contacted him by phone on Sunday, September 22. "I'm deeply sorry. I'm in deep remorse. Right now, I already contacted the organizers and I'm about to contact the owner to personally convey to him my deepest and personal apology," Solis said. According to posts on the "Narinig ko sa UP" (Overheard at UP) Facebook page, Solis had done this at least 5 times since 2011. The most recent photo that Solis claimed to be his won the top prize in the Smiles for the World photo contest conceptualized by Chilean Ambassador Roberto Mayorga. It came under intense scrutiny on social networks on Sunday after the real owner of the photograph, Gregory John Smith, revealed how "an impostor... abused my copyright." Solis submitted a photo of a boy whom he said was named Nilo and was from Zamboanga City. The caption stated that the boy helped his father farm seaweed. During Chile's National Day on Wednesday, September 18, at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Solis was awarded $1,000 and roundtrip tickets to Chile and Brazil. Smith, a social entrepreneur, said the photo belonged to the Children at Risk Foundation, which he founded. The child in the photo was from Brazil, not Zamboanga City, he said. Smith posted a comment on a recent feature article on the ambassador claiming ownership of the photo.

Controversies between Art & Religion: The "Kulo" Exhibit - Art Installation of Mideo Cruz highlighting Catholicism.
By Travel_man1971

Religion jives with art. Back in medieval times, art and religion exist side by side. It ranges from hand paintings, sculptures, portraits and sketches of holy characters that existed long before the compilation of the Bible came into print. People cling to art in order to interpret what transpired in biblical times. Art influence is great that even this time, religion cannot exist independently because art always tackle the subject. Just of late, an art installation regarding Catholicism ignited groups of Catholic believers in the Philippines. It was branded by the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines (CBCP) and laymen groups as blasphemous because it defamed the belief of many Filipinos under the said religious sect. The art exhibit of Medio Cruz dubbed as 'Kulo' (mean boil) received negative reviews from the spectators at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Those who actually saw the full exhibit have one thing to say in common. It was an eye-opener regarding the status or Catholic religion in the country and the issues they've been advocating for the past decades, since Spanish era ended more than 400 years ago. This is not the first time when well-known Filipinos during Spanish era criticized the Roman Catholic religion because of the awakening of the Filipinos to the right teachings of the true Holy Bible. Note: This hubber snapped some photos of the controversial exhibit last week (From the last week of July to first week of August, 2011) from the television. It was already censored by ABS-CBN Channel 2. But if some readers will share what they've experiences watching each pieces. You can post comments here, essaying your firsthand account regarding Mr. Cruz's art exhibit).

Image credit: John Wayne Gacy courtesy Sin City Gallery

The Serial Killer Clown Art Show By Marina Galperina Earlier this year, the Sin City Gallery of Las Vegas had exhibited the outsider art of John Wayne Gacy a.k.a. Pogo the Clown who tortured and executed 33 teenagers and stashed them in his crawlspace. The 70 works, priced at $2,000 $15,000 depicted Pogo, Manson, Jesus, Elvis, Ed Gein, Al Capone, Pennywise, and the Seven Dwarfs. The gallery promised to donate some of the shows proceeds to the National Center for Victims of Crime, but the NCVC had never consented to this and publicly refused the money for ethical reasons, calling it in poor taste to the extreme. The show was presented with a lecture series featuring a criminologist and an art therapist and was scheduled to go on to the Contemporary Arts Center, but didnt, after several CAC employees threatened to quit.

The Public Birth

Image credit: Gerry Visco NYC artist Marni Kotak made international headlines this year for her performance of The Birth of Baby X at the Microscope gallery in Brooklyn. Only a few spectators were eventually invited to the live water birth of her son Ajax and only those that stopped by Kotaks temporary living quarters within the gallery and made an intimate connection with the

expecting artist. She was criticized for being exploitative of the baby (in a Truman Show kind of way), outrageously exhibitionist and a bit banal, but hush now. Raise your hand only if you were actually there to see the miracle of performative birth.

The Old Sparky Show

Images courtesy Ohio Historical Center This Ohio Historical Center exhibit was titled Controversy: Pieces You Dont Normally See and boy, did it deliver. Some of the items included a 150-year-old sheepskin condom found in the diary of a steamboat captain (odd!), a 1920s Ku Klux Klan robe (disgusting!) and a human cage from an 1800s mental institution (sick!). The centerpiece was Old Sparky, an electric chair used to execute 312 men and 3 women between 1897 and 1963. As curator Sharon Dean warned, History definitely isnt always pretty! Since Ohio still executes (with lethal injections), the present definitely isnt always pretty either.