RON JACOBS is moved to tears by an eloquent journal of heartfelt intensity and human portraiture
Socialism firmly on the cultural agenda
CONRAD LANDIN reports on the radical intent of the AV Festival in Newcastle
Everyday communists: Stefan Konarske (left) as Engels and August Diehl as Marx in The Young Karl Marx
ROBERT OVETZ recommends a case study, from the University of Leicester, in their struggle against precarization, AI, privatisation, outsourcing, and work intensification in higher education
IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a lucid critique of a technology that reproduces and enables oppression, power, and environmental devastation
SIMON PARSONS applauds an impassioned demonstration of the fundamental role of women in the history and protection of the forest ecosystem
PETER MONAGHAN highly recommends an exhibition of work that highlights the plight of female precarious workers.
EWAN KOTZ praises a lovingly produced, if bleak offering from the post-punk Brooklyn quartet
WHEN the AV Festival lost its funding in the latest round of Arts Council awards, there was little outcry in the national press. The fact that the festival is defiantly not London focused — connecting as it does north-east England with art projects the world over — could well point us to why.
But though the festival which opened last week could well be the last, it shows no signs of abating in its boldness, vibrancy and originality.
This year's AV is the second to be titled Meanwhile, What About Socialism? The first, staged two years ago, explored the history of industry and left-wing institutions and the festival's formidable director Rebecca Shatwell says that 2018’s programme is all about presenting “new work by artists and film-makers that consider the future.”
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