The Covid-19 virus has thrown the creative and cultural industries into a grim crisis. Since lockdown the only access we have to culture has been online: Instagram, YouTube, Netflix, Facebook Live, Amazon Prime, Spotify are all the platforms where I currently consume and appreciate culture in lieu of going out…
Author: Manick Govinda
Manick Govinda is an independent arts consultant, artists mentor and writer. He runs arts campaigns for the Manifesto Club and co-founded Brexit Creatives. Follow him on Twitter: @manick62
The Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve stood by this fountain with Mauritian friends and family, statically frozen for that photo moment, being a tourist in London. It’s an iconic, majestic monument, but I never really paid much attention to it other than that…
The online mob of commentariats have again got their high-handed politically correct digits in a twist over the ongoing storm concerning white actors performing roles that they deem should be played by non-whites. In August, Scarlett Johansson got into hot water when she proclaimed that an actor should be allowed…
Martin Parr is a delightful photographer. His bright, sweet shop sense of colour oozes fun, humour, eccentricity and a sense of optimism in being Only Human, the name of this solo exhibition of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery. The show is grouped into themes, from capturing members of hobby…
A recent news item in The Times reported on the growing movement against studying ‘dead white men’ [DWM] and their contribution to knowledge and learning. The story was sparked by an independent report commissioned by Office for Students. Throughout the report there is frequent reference to the “lack of diversity…
We are living in a world where truth seems larger and more bizarre than fiction. The university – the institution where diverse, dissenting, critical and difficult knowledge, ideas, thoughts and perspectives should be freely and passionately debated – now seems like a utopian ideal. Safe spaces, trigger warnings on art,…
It has long been a curatorial fantasy of mine to organise a re-staging of a boxing match that took place in 1972 between the German artist Joseph Beuys, regarded as a giant of modern art, with a local art student of his.