“Mexico, Latin American Seat for Cultural Property Protection Center - Art Daily” plus 3 more

Mexico, Latin American Seat for Cultural Property Protection Center - Art Daily
Influx of Chinese workers creates cultural tensions in Italian textile center Prato - Cleveland Plain Dealer
Dramatic cultural ceremony opens New Zealand's giant rugby ball - e-Travel Blackboard
Venice Film Festival: Director crosses cultural borders - Berkshire Eagle

Mexico, Latin American Seat for Cultural Property Protection Center - Art Daily

Posted: 13 Sep 2010 02:24 PM PDT

MEXICO CITY.- Mexico through the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) will be the operational seat of the United Nations program for Latin American cultural heritage conservation after celebrating an agreement with the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property ICCROM).

The agreement, valid for the next 3 years, was signed by general directors of INAH and ICCROM, Alfonso de Maria y Campos and Mounir Bouchenaki, respectively. Through this scheme, Mexican experts will elaborate curses to be imparted in different Latin American countries, to prevent loss of cultural legacy in the region.

The Latin American Program, LATAM, will be operated from Mexico through the INAH National Coordination of Cultural Heritage Conservation (CNCPC).

Mounir Bouchenaki, ICCROM general director, remarked that Mexico is a key country for the development of the program, mainly regarding the design of curses to be imparted in Central and South America.

ICCROM launched the idea of designing specific projects for the different regions of the world; in the Latin American case, Spanish language represents a fundamental tool for agreement and discussion.

The aim is to integrate experts in different areas of the Institute considering that the ICCROM-LATAM Program attends the following themes: Education and Formation, Illicit Traffic, Risk Management, Economical Indicators for Conservation, and Information Divulgation.

During the presentation of the program, Miguel Angel Echegaray, INAH technical secretary, considered that basing operation in Mexico will facilitate cooperation to solve cultural heritage problematic in Latin America.

"This agreement is a collaboration mechanism that will allow balancing actions in different countries of the region, thanks to conservation of a past identity and the objects that reinforce it, with the aim of constructing Latin American identity, an issue that has been delayed".

Lilia Rivero Weber, national coordinator of Cultural Heritage Conservation, considered that after 50 years of joint work between INAH and ICCROM, "Mexico is a country that contributes and receives input that results in technical and academic excellence work within the frame of international regulations".

The restorer said that the LATAM project began in 2008 with the objectives of improving and strengthening abilities of professionals in conservation; improving communication and exchange, and raising awareness among nations with cultural heritage.

"Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have many similarities, our contexts, needs and possibilities, so gathering capacities and sharing experiences will deliver great results, to be reflected in the quality of our interventions, the soundness of our discipline and, above all, heritage conservation, divulgation and valuation", mentioned Rivero Weber.

Valerie Magar Meurs, conservation expert at CNCPC and coordinator of LATAM-ICCROM Mexico program, explained that its intention is to strengthen abilities in conservation of cultural heritage in Latin America, combining movable and immovable heritage with the aim of eliminating barriers between architects, archaeologists and restorers.

"Latin America and the Caribbean count on with great richness of cultural expressions; some of them are exclusive of certain countries but the great amount of similarities help planning activities that may be relevant for the entire region, concluded Magar."

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.

Influx of Chinese workers creates cultural tensions in Italian textile center Prato - Cleveland Plain Dealer

Posted: 12 Sep 2010 08:59 PM PDT

Published: Sunday, September 12, 2010, 11:59 PM Updated: Monday, September 13, 2010, 12:02 AM

By Rachel Donadio

PRATO, Italy -- Over the years, Italy learned the difficult lesson that it could no longer compete with China on price. And so, its business class dreamed, Italy would sell quality, not quantity. For centuries, this walled medieval city just outside Florence has produced some of the world's finest fabrics, becoming a powerhouse for "Made in Italy" chic.

And then, China came here.

Chinese laborers, first a few immigrants, then tens of thousands, began settling in Prato in the late 1980s. They transformed the textile hub into a low-end garment manufacturing capital -- enriching many, stoking resentment and prompting recent crackdowns that in turn have brought cries of bigotry and hypocrisy.

The city is now home to the largest concentration of Chinese in Europe -- some legal, many more not. Here in the heart of Tuscany, Chinese laborers work round the clock in some 3,200 businesses making low-end clothes, shoes and accessories, often with materials imported from China, for sale worldwide.

Chinese immigrants' success fuels fears about economy

Part of the resentment is cultural: The city's classic Italian feel is giving way to that of a Chinatown, with signs in Italian and Chinese, and groceries that sell food imported from China.

But what seems to gall some Italians most is that the Chinese are beating them at their own game -- tax evasion and brilliant ways of navigating Italy's notoriously complex bureaucracy -- and have created a thriving, if largely underground, new sector. The result is a toxic combination of residual fears about immigration and the economy.

"This could be the future of Italy," said Edoardo Nesi, the culture commissioner of Prato province. "Italy should pay attention to the risks."

The situation has steadily grown beyond the control of state tax and immigration authorities. According to the Bank of Italy, Chinese individuals in Prato channel an estimated $1.5 million a day to China, mainly earnings from the garment and textile trade. Profits of that magnitude are not showing up in tax records, and some local officials say the Chinese prefer to repatriate their profits rather than invest locally.

Raids, arrests increase resentment

Tensions have been running high since Italian authorities stepped up raids this spring on workshops that use illegal labor, and the resentment grew even more when Italian prosecutors arrested 24 people and investigated 100 businesses in the Prato area in late June.

According to the Prato mayor's office, there are 11,500 legal Chinese immigrants, out of Prato's total population of 187,000. But the office estimates the city has another 25,000 illegal immigrants, the majority of them Chinese.

In recent months, Prato has become a diplomatic point of contention. Italian officials say the Chinese government has not done enough so far to address the issue of illegal immigrants, and they are seeking a bilateral accord with China to identify and deport them.

Italian officials say Prato is expected to be on the agenda when Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China visits Rome in October.

Dramatic cultural ceremony opens New Zealand's giant rugby ball - e-Travel Blackboard

Posted: 02 Sep 2010 06:54 PM PDT

Tourism New Zealand's Giant Rugby Ball – measuring 25 metres long and 13 metres high – was officially opened, against a backdrop of one of Australia's most iconic landmarks – the Sydney Opera House, Sydney.

The Giant Rugby Ball was officially welcomed onto Australian shores with an historic early morning ceremony between the first nation peoples of Australia and New Zealand – the Aboriginals and Maori. The special occasion, witnessed by Maori King, Kiingi Tuheitia, NSW Minster for Tourism, Jodi McKay, and NZ Minister for Maori Affairs, Dr Pita Sharples, recognised each others' cultures through an Aboriginal Welcome to Country and a symbolic Maori Powhiri (welcome).

The Giant Rugby Ball will be stationed in Australia for 10 days and is a free event that everyone can enjoy, inspiring visitors about New Zealand and raising awareness of New Zealand as the host country of the Rugby World Cup 2011.

Tourism New Zealand CEO, Kevin Bowler, invited all Australians and visitors to come down to Circular Quay to see and experience the Giant Rugby Ball.

"The Giant Rugby Ball is Tourism New Zealand's biggest and most anticipated event for 2010, marking the one year countdown to New Zealand's largest event ever – the Rugby World Cup 2011."

"Having already appeared next to iconic international landmarks including the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Tower Bridge in London and the Tokyo Tower in Japan, the Ball's final global installation near the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge forms one of the most striking landscapes yet."

"The Giant Rugby Ball will be at Circular Quay from 3 to 12 September, where people can enjoy the stunning multimedia tour that showcases the culture, people and landscapes of New Zealand. We're hoping more than 18,000 visitors will make their way through the Ball," Mr Bowler said.

Through a traditional Welcome to Country, the Aboriginal representatives gave their blessing to New Zealand to use their land which was reciprocated with a symbolic Powhiri (welcome) by the Maori people.

NSW Minister for Tourism, Jodi McKay, said this morning's event was a great reminder of both countries' passion and heritage and highlighted Sydney as Australia's only global city.

"I was pleased to be able to participate in this morning's opening ceremony and that Tourism New Zealand chose Sydney as the host city," Ms McKay said.

"The Giant Rugby Ball is a great addition to the iconic Sydney cityscape as well as an incredible experience that I highly recommend everyone visiting."

Outside the Giant Rugby Ball, visitors will be entertained with cultural performances, and kiwi character improvisers, and at night, stunning imagery of New Zealand will be projected onto the Ball.

Venice Film Festival: Director crosses cultural borders - Berkshire Eagle

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 11:18 PM PDT

Friday September 3, 2010

VENICE, Italy -- Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung crossed cultural and linguistic borders to direct his latest film, "Norwegian Wood," based on the cult coming-of-age Japanese novel.

The Oscar-nominated director, who has taken home prizes from both Cannes and Venice, filmed the love story with an entirely Japanese cast.

Tran told reporters Thursday, the day his film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in competition for the Golden Lion, that he didn't try to make a Japanese film -- and in fact sought a set design that would not be completely familiar to Japanese audiences.

"I want the Japanese viewer to have a different take and see their own decor in a different way, that it is somewhat exotic and different in their eyes," Tran said. He called in a set designer from previous movies who would understand his aims.

"Otherwise this staggered view would not have been possible with just a troupe that was completely Japanese."

The film, like the book, is set in Tokyo in the late 1960s. Watanabe, played by Kenichi Matsuyama, is a young university student struggling to choose between two women, one the girlfriend of his best friend who committed suicide, and the other self-confident and independent, representing the future.

The novel by Haruki Murakami has won worldwide popularity, and many directors had approached the author to adapt it to film. More than 10 million copies of the book have been sold in Japan alone, with

2.6 million more sold in another 33 languages.

Tran said he didn't know why he was chosen, but producer Shinji Ogawa said Murakami wanted an Asian director to project the region's aesthetic.

"Obviously we did meet with Murakami. Not just once," Tran said. Murakami made many notes on the first screen play, which Tran called "a fairly important document," but said they were too numerous to elaborate.

"After this exchange of comments and notes, Murakami said, 'Go with the film you have in your head. What you have to do is make the most beautiful film possible.' "

"Norwegian Wood" is among 22 films, plus a still-to-be announced surprise film, competing for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded Sept. 11.

Tran won the Golden Lion in 1995 for "Cyclo," which tells the hard-life tale of a young rickshaw driver, and his first film, "The Scent of Green Papaya," took home the Camera d'Or from Cannes and was nominated for an Academy Award. "Norwegian Wood" is his fifth film.

Cultural

Monday, September 13, 2010