14:52, May 13, 2013
The Hungarian Parliament adopted a controversial amendment to its Freedom of Information Act on April 30, a move that will make civilian and journalistic access to information more difficult, Atlatszo.hu reported. The amendment was passed less than 48 hours after its introduction.
The amendment severely limits citizens’ access to public information, as it limits the amount of data individuals may obtain. The amendment also requires that individuals justify requests for information related to court cases, public bodies, and public officials, all information that was previously in the public domain, according to Transparency International. Read more... (463 words)
A portrait painter, whose subjects are imaginary, is one of four artists in contention for the 2013 Turner Prize, BBC News reported.Lynette Yiadom-Boakye joins French installation artist Laure Prouvost, Britain’s David Shrigley and the British-German performance artist Tino Sehgal on this year’s shortlist.This year’s Turner exhibition will be held at Ebrington in Derry-Londonderry, 2013′s UK City of Culture.The winner – who will receive £25,000 – will be announced on 2 December.The other shortlisted artists will each receive £5,000.Established in 1984, the Turner Prize is awarded to a contemporary artist under 50, living, working or born in Britain, who is judged to have put on the best exhibition of the last 12 months.Previous winners include Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley and last year’s recipient, the video artist Elizabeth Price.Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, who lives and works in London, is shortlisted for her Extracts and Verses exhibition at the Chisenhale Gallery.She is of Ghanaian descent and is the first black woman to be in contention for the award.Born in 1977, she attended Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Falmouth College of Arts and the Royal Academy Schools.According to the prize’s organisers, her “intriguing” paintings “appear traditional but are in fact much more innovative”.Glasgow-based David Shrigley is best known for his humorous line drawings, but also makes sculptures, photographs, paintings and animated films.His work, which combines jokes and commentary, can be found on greetings cards, in books and in magazines, as well as in galleries.His words have been used in recordings by David Byrne and Franz Ferdinand and he directed the video for Blur’s 2009 track Good Song.Born in Macclesfield in 1968, Shrigley is shortlisted for his solo exhibition Brain Activity, at London’s Hayward Gallery.The exhibition, said the Turner Prize organisers, was a “comprehensive overview” that revealed “his black humour, macabre intelligence and infinite jest”.Born in Lille in 1978, Laure Prouvost won the fourth Max Mara art prize for women in 2011 for her short films and installation work.Based in London, she is shortlisted for her new work Wantee, featured in Tate Britain’s Schwitters in Britain exhibition, and her two-part Max Mara art prize installation.Her “unique” approach to film-making, said organisers, “employs strong story-telling, quick cuts, montage and deliberate misuse of language to create surprising and unpredictable work”.Born in 1976 and based in Berlin, Tino Sehgal has been shortlisted for his “pioneering” projects This Variation and These Associations.The latter, staged last year at Tate Modern in London, invited the public to interact with volunteers in a “live installation” staged in the gallery’s expansive Turbine Hall.”Both structured and improvised, Seghal’s intimate works consist purely of live encounters between people and demonstrate a keen sensitivity to their institutional context,” said organisers.”Through participatory means, they test the limits of artistic material and audience perception in a new and significant way.”This year’s jury is chaired by Tate Britain director Penelope Curtis and includes the curator Annie Fletcher and the writer and lecturer Declan Long.Long said the each of the four shortlisted artists represented “remarkable developments” in art.”There’s so much range here, it’s fantastic,” he told the BBC’s arts editor Will Gompertz.Bookmakers Ladbroke have made Shrigley 2/1 favourite to win the prize, ahead of Prouvost, Sehgal and Yiadom-Boakye, a 7/2 outsider.It is the first time the Turner Prize exhibition has ever been held outside England. Read more... (552 words)
The Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), which boasts the second largest faction in the National Assembly, has so far remained tightlipped on its attitude towards opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian’s demand that President-elect Serzh Sargsyan admit election fraud and start transferring power to the people.
PAP spokesman Tigran Urikhanyan refused to provide any commentary on Hovannisian’s Tuesday rally and plans to stage more protests against the official outcome of the February 18 presidential election in which his party had chosen not to take part or endorse any candidate in the race.
The Monday ballot gave victory to incumbent President Sargsyan, who officially polled close to 59 percent of the vote. Hovannisian, his closest challenger, got nearly 37 percent of the vote and is currently disputing the official outcome of the election. Read more... (217 words)
12:14, February 9, 2013
Today, 9 days before the presidential elections, TNS opinion is presenting the results of its survey “Poll: Armenia on the Eve of Presidential Elections” describing the voting preferences and motivations of the Armenian voters, but also their views on the on-going campaigns of the various candidates. For this TNS opinion poll, implemented together with their local partner IPSC, 1 609 face-to-face interviews were conducted in all 10 regions (marzes) and 12 communities of Yerevan between 31 January and 5 February 2013, using the highest possible standards and extensive quality control measures, as outlined below. The poll was commissioned by European Friends of Armenia (www.EuFoA.org) in order to contribute to a factual debate ahead of the elections (see below for more details about our motivation and the organisations involved). Read more... (1268 words)
By the end of the week the campaign in the February 18 presidential election appeared to be getting more active as the main candidates contesting the number one political post held more meetings with members of the public to try to get their messages across.
Incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan, the leader of the Republican Party of Armenia, continued his campaign meetings in the regions, where he visited the Vayots Dzor province. In the town of Yeghegnadzor he met with citizens to tell them that if reelected for another five-year term in office he would make sure his government promoted agricultural cooperation and industries providing a high added value – grape and fruit growing. Read more... (726 words)
is from the ancient Armenian oral tradition and culture, which was nearly obliterated during the Turkish genocide of the Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks in 1915. The author learned the tale from her father, editor and columnist C.K. Garabed, who would recite it to her at bedtime. He had learned it from his own grandmother, a celebrated storyteller from the Old Country. The tale was first put to paper by Armenian poet Hovhannes Toumanian at the turn of the 20th century. 
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