Art for Freedom

[groovyguy 63,863]

Madonna's Art for Freedom / Secretprojectrevolution / Revolution of Love deserves a thread for discussion as her new album is connected with the project. 

 

http://www.vogue.it/en/uomo-vogue/cover-story/2014/05/madonna

Her next album will be connected with Art For Freedom.

And we can expect to see her increasingly involved and committed.
“I have no choice. At this point, there’s no turning back. This is my role in the world, my work as an artist. I have a voice and I have to use itâ€.

 

- Madonna; who is not only still the greatest pop icon of our time, but also the one most committed to the fight for human rights, as demonstrated by her frequent public statements, her humanitarian work in Malawi and her recent project Secretprojectrevolution and Art For Freedom.

 

- Secretprojectrevolution is a short film co-directed with Steven Klein. It calls for a "Love revolution […] a revolution of independent thought, of having your own opinion and not giving a damn about what people say".

 

- Art For Freedom is the next stage on from the movie. It is a digital platform in association with Vice Media that hosts videos, photos, illustrations and documentation of performances addressing intolerance and persecution.

 

- Art For Freedom fights stereotypes, bigotry and discrimination, and promotes civil rights and the acceptance of diversity. 

[groovyguy 63,863]

Have you joined the Revolution?

 

VICE and Madonna have partnered to create ART FOR FREEDOM: a global initiative encouraging creative expression that brings awareness to human rights violations.

 

Submit your art. Support your cause. Share your own Art for Freedom.

Daily features are chosen by VICE, Madonna, and guest curators.

 

Each month Madonna will donate $10,000 to a non-profit organization of a featured artist’s choice.

 

http://artforfreedom.com/

[groovyguy 63,863]

Secret Project:

Download details... 

Go to http://bundles.bittorrent.com/madonna-revolution/ to download the actual bundle. A bundle is a collection of files, and in this case of you give em tour email address when you go to download you get a letter from Madonna and the ultra HQ version as well as the interview. As these download, you can view those files which have completed or wait till the whole thing is with you to watch.

[groovyguy 63,863]

VICE meets Madonna: secretprojectrevolution

[Guest]

I do believe she has great intentions for ART FOR FREEDOM, but I don't think the general public is buying it. Even her fans aren't paying attention to what she's saying. Anyway, I am glad she's speaking up for what concerns her in this world. I applaude her efforts because many people have the mindset of thinking... "Just shut up and sing".  Strange that some think that since musicians/artists always create from their personal life experiences. She's actually trying to use her position to help and do good. Unfortunately, people in general look for the negative before the positive.

[Fighter 28,824]

The important thing is that she has planted a seed in a lot of people's minds. I guess maybe it's not articulate enough, funnily that's probably the same fate that W.E. and MDNA suffered, a lack of conceptual clarity.

 

I don't pay much attention to it and I haven't engaged nor submitted anything because I don't wanna phone it in nor force it. But I do understand the message and it has made me think a lot actually. In my view that's all the impact we can expect really in its current incarnation at least. And it's not unimportant.  :calm:

[Halex 1,611]

VICE meets Madonna: secretprojectrevolution

 

Yeah, about that : the bit where she talks about fascists that came to her Olympia gig to boo her : she couldn't be more off.

Guy Oseary really needs to stop telling her crap.

[groovyguy 63,863]

On April 3^rd, 2014 Madonna wrote 2 articles for BuzzFeed.

1. Are You With Me? http://www.buzzfeed.com/madonna/are-you-with-me

2. 11 Freedom Fighters Who Have Inspired Me http://www.buzzfeed.com/madonna/11-freedom-fighters-who-have-inspired-me

[groovyguy 63,863]

It’s inspiring that she is leading by example. Through the Art for Freedom project, she is giving people a chance, an outlet to express themselves. Change is not instantaneous; it happens slowly. And if through this project, some people become more aware and more respectful of other realities, other ways of life, other ways of thinking, then it has worked. Not every artist has the benefit of connections, or a label, or brand, or a team of people to get their product, message, music, writing, ideas, painting, photography, dance out there.Madonna is giving them a medium and an opportunity to do it with. And it’s a good channel to create understanding, compassion and love. And I, for one, am thrilled that the new album and tour are connected to this project.

[Voguerista 12,067]

I'm excited too. Like she and several of you have pointed out, it's not like Madonna hasn't been fighting for art and freedom all of her life. It's just that now, she's got a label for it. Whatever she has planned, I have no doubt it will still be new and have refreshing content....while trying to help the world and others. I just wish haters and nay sayers would wait to to judge. She's never disappointed me yet. 

[Halex 1,611]

I don't really know what to think about this topic. Or maybe it's just that I don't know how to word it yet, but something doesn't quite add up there.

[Fighter 28,824]

I really hope the album will have some Art For Freedom themes....

[toymix 282]

I really hope the album will have some Art For Freedom themes....

 

 

Yes, it all depends how she will approach all theses themes on her new album and not get bored.

[NowRadiate 3,331]

I think it's great she is doing this art for freedom thing.

In fact, more celebs should do more for tolerance in this world, against fascism of any type.

It may not be entertaining enough for some, but the world really needs this.

Just look around, read what's going on.

Fascist tendencies are gaining momentum, worldwide.

I totally applaud Madonna for at least trying to achieve more awareness.

Not enough people get off their laid-back consumer asses to do something.

I am counting myself in.

[Fighter 28,824]

I think it's great she is doing this art for freedom thing.

In fact, more celebs should do more for tolerance in this world, against fascism of any type.

It may not be entertaining enough for some, but the world really needs this.

Just look around, read what's going on.

Fascist tendencies are gaining momentum, worldwide.

I totally applaud Madonna for at least trying to achieve more awareness.

Not enough people get off their laid-back consumer asses to do something.

I am counting myself in.

 

Yes.

 

I think we will see the impact of her project in the future, I feel like it's a great initiative for other artists out there.

[groovyguy 63,863]

[groovyguy 63,863]

Madonna has been a freedom fighter long before she started the secret project / art for freedom / revolution of love.

 

[Voguerista 12,067]

So true. She's been fighting for freedom and equality for all since I can remember.

[groovyguy 63,863]

[Voguerista 12,067]

One of my favorites^

[groovyguy 63,863]

Are you ready to start a revolution?

[Voguerista 12,067]

DIES!!! Bring it Madonna!!

[Fighter 28,824]

I thought that was from her instagram omg lmao

[groovyguy 63,863]

^ It's easy to think that as she does re post her fans' artwork.

[groovyguy 63,863]

An old article:

 

http://www.artspace.com/magazine/news_events/madonna

Why Does Madonna Want to Make "Art for Freedom?"

By Alex Greenberger

Nov. 7, 2013

 

WHO IS SHE? 

Madonna’s "Express Yourself" can be considered the song that has defined her career—while it’s neither her most popular song nor her most successful one, expressing herself is what Madonna does best. Whether she is pretending to nail herself to a cross for a performance or playing the title role in Evita, the famed singer, actress, and sometime director has continued to simply be Madonna, the one-named epitome of boundary-pushing reinvention. Many times, this has created controversy, and, many more times, this has brought her to the top of the charts with such hit songs as "Like a Prayer" and "Vogue." Today, Madonna is still the highest-earning pop star of all time. 

 

HAS MADONNA MADE ANY ART? 

In addition to claiming to literally be a work of art, Madonna has indeed also made art. In 2003, Madonna and fashion photographer Steven Klein worked together to create X-STaTIC PRO=CeSS, a series of photographs (which ran in W magazine) and several videos. The photographs feature Madonna contorting her body in various artful ways. Klein’s performance-based photographs were shown that year at Deitch Projects. 

 

WHAT ABOUT THAT TIME SHE NAILED HERSELF TO A CROSS? 

Well, Madonna never said it was meant to be art, but in the age of "Picasso Baby," it very well could be performance art. Caveat: she didn't actually nail herself to the cross, she attached herself to a shiny mirrored cross-shaped structure, during the Super Bowl. But the tabloids treated it the same.

 

WHAT IS SECRETPROJECTREVOLUTION? 

Secretprojectrevolution is a 17-minute video made by Klein and Madonna that premiered in September at Gagosian Gallery. The video offers a noirish take on Madonna’s ideas about the importance of self-expression. In the video, Madonna is thrown in prison by men who seek to take away her creativity. She and the other inmates ultimately learn to cope with prison by dancing. In the end, however, Madonna's dancing is discovered and the police kill her offscreen. The black-and-white video’s launch party brought a crowd that included Cindy Sherman, Chuck Close, and Lindsay Lohan. Madonna also followed the video’s premiere showing by performing Elliott Smith’s "Between the Bars." 

None of the attendees knew that secretprojectrevolution was only a warm-up for a larger project, however. The video was part of something bigger called "Art for Freedom," an ongoing project that Madonna is currently doing in association with VICE. The initiative, which uses the Internet to reach out to budding artists, will present a monthly award to an artist who expresses himself. This month's winner was Lesmack Meza Parente, who made El Gran Dictator, a mashup video of Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator and contemporary politicized images. Parente has been given the chance to present $10,000 to any nonprofit organization of his choice.

 

IS THERE A DEEPER CONNECTION BETWEEN LARRY GAGOSIAN AND MADONNA?

During the early ‘80s, Madonna was a coat-check girl at Danceteria—and it just so happened that Jean-Michel Basquiat was also dating her at the time. Basquiat was represented by Gagosian, so Madonna came to know Gagosian through Basquiat before she was a star, crashing on his couch one time when she and her boyfriend were visiting Los Angeles. Gagosian has even said that he once lost his driver’s license, and Madonna had to drive him around until he got a new one. 

 

WHO ELSE DID MADONNA KNOW IN THE ‘80S ART SCENE? 

Madonna was also friends with Keith Haring, who let her sleep on his couch when she couldn’t afford to own an apartment. In 1985, when Madonna had become famous, her nude Playboy pictures leaked, and Haring supported her as a friend. In response to the salacious Daily News cover that sought to scandalize Madonna, Haring and Andy Warhol parodied the newspaper by making humorous paintings of the cover.

 

WHICH STREET ARTIST DESIGNED THE COVER FOR MADONNA'S GREATEST HITS ALBUM?

Mr. Brainwash, the star of Banksy's 2010 documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, made the cover for Celebration, in which Madonna is depicted like one of Warhol's screen-printed stars. 

 

MADONNA CLAIMS TO BE A MATERIAL GIRL. SHE MUST HAVE A GREAT ART COLLECTION, RIGHT? 

As one of The Hollywood Reporter’s top 25 art collectors, it should come as no surprise that Madonna owns $160 million-worth of art. Unlike Jay Z and Lady Gaga, Madonna prefers the Modernists. Recently, Madonna sold Buste de femme à la frange, a Picasso painting that was auctioned off by Christie’s for $4.7 million. Madonna and actor Sean Penn, her husband, also own work by Man Ray, Fernand Léger, Salvador Dalí, and Frida Kahlo, who Madonna has cited as her favorite artist. (Madonna famously only lets people who appreciate Kahlo's disturbing painting My Birth become her friend.) As for contemporary artists, Madonna and Penn own photographs by fashion photographer David LaChapelle, paintings by Basquiat, and work by Damien Hirst.