The Grassi Museum in Leipzig is hosting the International Sticker Awards through February 17. This exhibition shows some of the latest political, ironic, abstract, and artistic social commentaries directly stuck on parts of the urban environment.

According to Matthias Mueller, Matthias Marx and Andreas Ullrich, three young artists who supervised the show, “Stickers transform the road into a democratic adventure playground.” They are a cheap and simple medium with which one can interact, react, interfere, resignify, and contribute to public space. Due to stickers' ephemeral nature, The Sticker Awards were created as an annual competition to promote and document the development of this art form. For more info, visit the Grassi Museums website (German only), or check out rebelart.net for photos and insight to other political art happenings in Germany and beyond.

(written for and originally posted to artthreat.net)

The Pinky Show has given me continuous food for thought since I first stumbled upon the episode The Iraq War: Legal or Illegal? a few months ago. These online video, radio and interview programs focus on a wide range of topics, most of which are marginalized, distorted or excluded from mainstream media and dialogue. During these lo-tech, hand-drawn shows, a cat named Pinky asks obvious questions that are rarely raised or answered by popular news outlets. She and her inquisitive cat friends then scour the earth in search of documents and experts to clarify misrepresented or ignored issues

In the new episode Kicking the Apartheid Habit, Pinky ponders segregation and inequalities. This keen cat concludes that refusing to benefit from unjust institutions is a powerful way to get equal rights for all. She then poses a simple question that would be unthinkable to most:

Hey, what about marriage? Because that's also something that doesn't allow everyone to participate equally, right? Like gay people. They're not allowed to participate. In fact there's a whole bunch of states that have laws that ban homosexual people from ever being able to have that kind of equality. That's not fair.

So yeah, I'm kind of wondering – how is it that otherwise ethical people, who would never even think of doing the other stuff – how come they just get married without even thinking twice about it?

Isn't that weird? Why is that?

With a simple aesthetic and a childlike voice, Pinky incites viewers to reflect on their actions and critically engage those from a different perspective with compassion and openness. The deadpan humor, amateur narration and animation, and astute social critique keeps many intrigued animals coming back for more. To view their programs, fan mail, hate mail, daily musings, and more, visit their blog or tune into their youtube channel.

You won't find a gentler cat to pick your brain.

(written for and originally posted to artthreat.net)