News: Graffiti or art in Brighton, Middle East International Film Festival, Zaha Hadid, Stephen Colbert's new book
Today's arts news and gossip.
AN ADVERTISEMENT outside the Ink-D Gallery in Brighton, England, for James Cauty's exhibit "The Rise and Fall of Portslade Massif", has been scrubbed away by the city's graffiti team, apparently by accident. The words "Portslade Massif" had been written in white emulsion paint on the outside wall and window of the gallery, which is private property. The incident prompted the gallery's director, Dan Hipkin, to ask, "Who holds the right to say what is and isn't a form of expression?"
The first Middle East International Film Festival will be held in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, next week. The festival, held at the Emirates Palace, the city's $1 billion hotel, will screen films from around the world, concentrating on work from the Gulf states and by female, Arab directors.
Zaha Hadid has unveiled her plans for the relatively deserted Zorrozaurre peninsula of Bilbao. Ms Hadid intends to turn the peninsula into an island, connect it with the mainland with eight bridges and build 6,000 new houses, all of which will sit nearly 5 metres above sea level (in case of flooding). The island will include two technology centres and a park. Developers hope the project will reinvigorate the area, which now houses only 450 residents. Ms Hadid's island is slated to be ready by 2025.
Stephen Colbert, host of the "Colbert Report", has released "The Honest Untruth", a book in which his character, a satirically conservative presenter modelled on Bill O'Reilly from Fox news, gives his views on topics ranging from religion to sports. For example, a woman who works outside the home "might as well bring coconut arsenic squares to the school bake sale." But critics claim the book lacks the bite of his live performances, like his bracingly scathing speech at the White House Press Correspondent's Dinner in 2006.
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