Sydney Biennale 2008

So i find it rather difficult to get my head around the extent of Sydney's Biennale. After flicking through the guides many a time i am still overwhelmed!

However a trip to the MCA is a great place to start. I am not overly sure about the controversial Novecento or hanging horse by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan ! Is it art? Well it is impressive....

Well worth a stop, look and listen at the MCA is the work of Czech photographer Miroslav Tichy. There is a brilliant documentary on his day to day life and his eccentric photography techniques. It really draws you in. What an inspiring man with an amazing knack for using cameras that you and i would have most definitely thrown out - he uses a rubber band to activate a shutter and a bottle cap to wind the film on! Genius!

At the Art Gallery of NSW all i wanted to do was to talk to Yoko Ono! I would love to know who has spoken to her? Anyone? She will ring when you least expect it....

AGNSW is brimming with extraordinary stuff - moving walls, doors, floating bits, dangerous bits, odd bits, even an anger management room if you are in need of off loading. Although some pieces take a little time to digest it is well worth a look see.

So next stop Cockatoo Island.... will keep you posted!

For venues and artist information visit here.

Peru's Challenge

The Peru's Challenge Program works with volunteers to create opportunities for rural children living in the Andes of Peru in South America.

The Program was started by Jane Gavel (Australian) and Selvy Ugaz (Peruvian).

The aims of the organisation are to create basic opportunities for the children of Peru focusing on education, health and providing a happy and safe environment.

Like bricks + cartwheels before starting any project, they have lengthy discussions with all members of the community to ascertain what it is that they want and require for their children and how they can work closely together.

"It is very important the community feels that we are working as a team. Constantly through the project development, we involve the community in all decisions and plans. This way, they learn to continue the great work that we have done together and become self sustaining with the support of the relationship built with the Department of Education for years to come."

This is the type of work we love to see! Visit here to read more about this fantastic organisation and inspiring projects they are currently working on.

baaaaah....

Have you seen the blog by Jen Gotch? Its called a Girl and her Polaroid and she seems like a really cool person and also a great photographer. The photos above are self portraits of Jen with a sheeps mask on... how can someone look good with a sheeps mask on their head? Her website is also great, check it out here.

some words of wisdom

Sometimes everyone needs to hear both these things, they are words to remember. I don't know where these images are from. They've been in my little archive for a while.

artist

Sometimes i think my friends are so cool....actually all of the time i think they're cool. But this is especially great. A certain bricks + cartwheels lady drew this the other day. Its someone we see walking down the street most days in Surry Hills. Oh the joys of Surry Hills! Isn't it a cool drawing, you could make a living doing these drawings H.

just because

I love this photo, it reminds me of Buenos Aires. The colours, and courtyard and patterns and furniture are all just so Argentinian and beautiful. The photo is from Ella Argentina and we found it at here at El Beso (what a great name).

silk roses

Aren't these roses pretty.... we stumbled across them at the lovely happy cavalier. The roses are handmade in Cambodia by young women who are victims of sex trafficking. 100% of the profits go back to the centre where they are made. You can buy them here.

Educating girls is important!

We came across this article today, it's title is KENYA: More education equals less teen pregnancy and HIV. The article talks about the importance of educating young people, especially girls.

The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey of 2004 found that "better educated girls were less likely to marry early, more likely to practice family planning, and that their children had a higher survival rate."

An article well worth a read and also illustrates some of the issues facing the community we are working with in Kenya.

city 2 surf - run/walk/crawl with us

bricks + cartwheels is getting a team together to participate in the city 2 surf, Sydney. It should be a great day whether you walk, run or crawl. I personally will be either walking or crawling.... the challenge is to raise some money for your efforts. All money raised will of course go towards the secondary school for girls in Katolo, Kenya. It's super easy to register just click here to register with the sun herald and then make sure you register with us here so we can provide you with an excellent bricks + cartwheels t-shirt.

Of course if your out of the country or city then you can always donate anyway. The lovely cc, one of the b+c directors has created a place you can donate here. Lets hope heart break hill isn't as bad as they say.

holga - i want one

There is something so cool about photos that are taken on a Holga camera. For a cheap plastic camera they produce quite amazing photos..... then again these photographers are probably incredibly talented.

More of these holga shots here and here.

winter in sydney

yesterday was like this

and today has been more like this..... absolutely freeeeeezing.

inspiration from japan

Norihiko Dan's Munetsugu Hall in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan is quite beautiful inside and out. Found this here.

Jeffrey Sachs in Sydney

Jeffrey Sachs was in Sydney last week and spoke at The University of Sydney as part of the opening festivities of USYD's new research group - the Institute of Sustainable Solutions.
This group will conduct very important research into issues such as climate change, renewable energy, population growth, health, food and energy security, providing new ways of thinking. Its great that Sydney University is choosing to tackle the big issues!

It was a great honour to have our favourite presenter Adam Spencer as MC for the night to introduce Jefrey Sachs - the absolute inspiration for bricks + cartwheels. Sachs has a bio that is too lengthy for me to even begin to summarise here unless I want to write a short book! I can say that From 2002 to 2006, he was Special Adviser to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Director of the UN Millennium Project. Many a night during uni - the bricks + cartwheels girls spent late nights reading the Millennium Development Goals and dreaming about the work that we would like to do (if we ever finished uni!) So the work of Sachs became very real inspiration for about solutions. bricks + cartwheels which we started in late 2006.

So - back to last week - Sachs speech in The Great Hall was very powerful and we were hanging off every word. Sachs covered issues such as climate change, low food productivity, the heavy burden of disease and the obstacles of physical isolation. One part of his talk that I would like to share was his emphasis on the problems of the high birth rates in countries like Kenya.

Birth rates stay high for multiple reasons: little or no access to family planning, contraception or education for girls, low child survival and a persistent view that children represent the only security for parents in their old age. We know that the secondary school for girls, Katolo, Kenya will work towards greater education for women so that family planning can become a choice and women can become educated leaders of their own communities!

Sachs is the author of two fantastic books - The End of Poverty (2005) and most recently Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (2008)


The End of Poverty inspired the work and philosophy of the bricks + cartwheels team. Sachs describes his work in over 100 countries including Kenya and explains how our generation can choose to end extreme poverty by the year 2025. The methods he describes scream common sense that it is heart wrenching to understand the stubborn attitude of the first world and their reluctance to take part. Don’t think that this book is going to a dry, academic exercise. Sachs has a gift for making statistics and complex issues accessible, highly readable and memorable. Bono is a huge fan of the work of Sachs and writes in the book's introduction: “He helps us make sense of what senseless really means: 15,000 Africans dying each and every day of preventable, treatable diseases.”

I am yet to read Sachs latest book but Common Wealth explains the most basic economic reckoning that the world faces. We can address poverty, climate change, and environmental destruction at a very modest cost today with huge benefits for shared and sustainable prosperity and peace in the future, or we can duck the issues today and risk a potentially costly reckoning in later years. My signed copy of Sachs latest book is sitting by my bed. I can't wait to start reading it!

Bastille Day Banquet

Not only is Amber slowly becoming famous in the world of Dove, but she also hosted a Bastille Bay extravaganza at her lovely new place on Sunday. Harriet and Amber cooked up a storm, inspired by a Food Safari episode last year the day lived up to all expectations. Everything was perfect from the food, to the wine and the little decorations.

A little peek at our day.......

friday

Its almost the weekend and i want to be doing this.... if only it was summer.

photo via here via here.

3 cups of tea

We met a new friend last night for a meeting about all things bricks + cartwheels. We had a lovely evening chatting , discussing and planning..... this new friend recommended a book for us to read. Its called 3 cups of tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, and it does sound like a great read. The front cover is in itself enticing enough.




Its about a man who stumbles across a tiny village in the mountains of Pakistan. The village was unbelievably poor and the children had no teacher or school. When he left this village he promised them he would come back and build them a school. Twelve years later he's built 55 schools in Pakistan.

Sounds pretty inspiring huh? I'm going to buy it as soon as i can!

Go Fair Trading!

Very exciting! A relative has just sent a link for a new joint venture she is invloved in! Go Fair provides fair trade hand-made, multi-cultural and educational resources to the early child education sector. The fair trade movement advocates goods being produced ethically and ensuring a fair price is paid for those goods!

By purchasing Go Fair resources, you are helping artisans all around the world and giving them an opportunity to grow and be free of poverty. Fair trade enables artisans to earn a fair wage and provides them with an opportunity for a better quality of life.

If you are in the market for some kiddy gear go online and check out some of the truly cute items - some of these include hand puppets, finger puppets, wall hangings, Aboriginal and multi-cultural dolls, educational charts, international music, books, puzzles, jigsaws, multi-cultural costumes, mobiles, musical instruments and much more.... TOO cute!

Felicity's Blog

Speaking of talented, i just realised that our excellent friend Felicity has her very own blog. Its called "break me off a piece of that", and is full of very cool stuff.

this is fliss...... you can see some of her bangles.

Fliss is currently studying fashion design, and also creating her new collection of beautiful bangles. Which we all LOVE!

You have to check this blog out.......

Wim Wenders

My boss just put this book in front of me on my desk to have a look at. It is amazing, the photos are all beautiful and are literally from all over the world.

On Alexanderplatz, Berlin

Wall in Paris, Texas

So I think this Wim Wenders is a little too talented, author, photographer, filmaker...... the list goes on.

World Vision - Connecting Lives

World Vision's connecting lives is currently on at the Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney from 10 - 20 July.

The interactive walk through exhibition transports you into the real-life world of an African child struggling against incredible odds. It depicts three stories aimed at educating and moving you to respond to the challenges facing millions of children living in extreme poverty.

It is through the lives of three children - Selamawit from Ethiopia, Innocent from Uganda + Kombo from Kenya that you are able to understand what it is they face in their everyday lives.

Well worth a visit to see the amazing work World Vision do for children in the developing world. Inspirational!

Live Love Give

Live Love Give is a an organisation set up by two Sydney siders who were inspired after a trip to Uganda to help give children in Uganda a future.

Their aims are to provide provide education, support and protection for the children of both North and South Uganda.

Live = Development
Love = Awareness
Give = Education

This is Sharon Eleka

and this is Sharon Adongo..... 2 of the four girls who are being sponsored to go to Secondary School by Live Love Give.

The website is inspring and also beautiful, well worth a click.

The Cool Hunter

Our friend Flea recently came across this website, The Cool Hunter..... their tag line is that they "roam across Australia and the globe so that you're in the know", and they actually do. We want their job! They have topics from architecure, art and design to gadgets, ecoworld and street. This site is literally bursting with cool stuff!

We want to go to this hotel in Chile,

This one in Tokyo,

This one in Greece,

and this golf club in Switzerland..... (we can't even play golf)

This art exhibtion in Buenos Aires,

and we might even get to this cool new Aesop shop in Adelaide....... at least it's in the same country.

This website is seriously cool......