Usually News & Noise relates music to current affairs, but this time it is a piece of art that is worthwhile mentioning. It is the Mine Kafon of the Afghan designer Massoud Hassani, recently purchased by MOMA in New York (Washington Post). The big round dandelion-like-object is made of bamboo and plastic. It is Hassani’s final work for the Dutch Design Academy in Eindhoven. In an interview last week with the NRC Next, he stated that he feels very honored that the MOMA is interested in his work, but he would rather see it move on a minefield. In Afghanistan “Kafon” stands for “disarming”, and yes, the Mine Kafon is meant to be a minesweeper.
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Afghan Star, the Documentary
Afghan Star is a talent show on Afghan television, like Idols in the West. In the search of the next generation of (pop) stars, over 2000 people from all over the country auditioned, among them three women. Filmmaker Havana Marking made a fascinating movie, Afghan Star, the Documentary (2009), about the situation in Afghanistan we haven’t seen in the daily news. The documentary follows the three months process from the regional auditions to the final in Kabul. The organizers of the popular show believe they can ‘move people from guns to music’. Voting by sms the public can decide which of the singers are going to stay and which one has to leave.
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