Portishead - Hammersmith Apollo, 10th April

Portishead - Hammersmith Apollo, 10th April

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Boom Festival - Concept

MOMA - New York

New York - Central Park

New York - Top of the Rock

New York - March 08

Boom Book - A Pioneer Book

This is the Press Release:

"It is one of the most unique festivals on a global scale. Along with Burning Man (USA) or Fusion (Germany), Boom Festival is considered an unequalled event. It is an independent cultural event in the fullest sense of the word: it does not accept commercial sponsorships; it develops worldwide pioneering environmental sustainability projects; it intertwines different artistic disciplines with nature as a background; its participants are literally from all around the world.
It is an intercultural, multidisciplinary and trans-generational festival that has contributed to a new perception of entertainment. Embodying a festival concept that goes beyond sheer entertainment, Boom Festival published a book.
“Boom Book” is a work developed along 2007 to mark the ten years of Boom Festival that had its first edition in 1997. It is written in English due to the international character of this event, where in its´ 2006 edition, 20 000 people from 80 different countries were present.
“Boom Book” is a cooperative project on a world scale, put together by anthropologists, journalists, designers, poets, photographers and illustrators. It is a book that brings to light some of Boom’s visionary initiatives but also explores the role of entertainment in a rapidly mutating society such as ours.
“Boom Book” is a manifest of independent culture and a contribution towards the deep rooting of a new philosophy of entertainment. It narrates the singular expressions that Boom has and the way it has been able to create a new perspective on the concept of festival. This book is a unique cultural contribution reflecting, through entertainment, the role of subcultures and social movements on modern society.

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Chapter 1
“Zooming The Boom”
The first chapter of “Boom Book” depicts Boom Festival across its´ backstage. The role of art, the independent media projects developed or the pioneering interventions based on ecological sustainability that have been developed along the years, are some of the approached subjects.
Music is also interpreted from different view points, not just examining its´ role and importance within Boom but also with 2 articles: the first, where the social representations of dance music are rendered problematic; the second, through an historical summary of some of the musical pioneers of the 20th century.

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Chapter 2
“The Liminal Village”
In what way can an event be a mirror and a part of the changes happening in the world? In what way can entertainment be not only a hedonist space but also a place for thinking? In this second chapter some of these questions are answered. The role of Boom Festival is reviewed along the years on changing the instituted paradigms, focusing on the Liminal Village, Boom’s cultural area. Along with an article that explores the conceptual role of Boom, we portray interviews with thinkers and artists, art works that have been exhibited along the years, as well as articles from one of the most prominent culture critics nowadays, Eric Davis.

Chapter 3
“Subcultures and Boom: Anthropological Perspectives”
Boom Festival invited three anthropologists to write essays having as a starting point the concept of intercultural and multidisciplinary events such as Boom. Portuguese Luis Almeida Vasconcelos disentangled various dimensions of the concept of interstitially. Under the title “Settling, Transformation and Mobility”, this anthropologist from the Social Sciences Institute, from the University of Lisbon, explores the unique characteristics of Boom that include the adoption of certain signs by its participants. Charles de Ledesma is a teacher in the University of East London and the author of the essay “Science and Electronic Music Culture”, where he explores the way in which the advances in science have manifested themselves in the way of music perception, namely electronic. At last, Australian Graham St John treads a way based on the concept of neo-carnival. In this essay he makes retrospection and prospecting about the importance of events such as Boom for a reformulation of the self-concept of its participants and a new conscience of collective identity.

Chapter 4
“Spinning Universes”
Basing itself on the work of George Lapassade, “Dal Sciamano Al Raver”, Boom Festival invited a musicologist and an illustrator for a cooperation in which creativity was imperative. The idea that powered the chapter was to look at ancestral societies and the place of culture in their midst. The result was a fantastic essay with a succinct analysis of Ancient Greece, Shamanism, Gnawa and Sufi culture by the light of art.

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Authors of the Articles
Graham St. John: Australian from Melbourne, cultural anthropologist, researcher associated with the Institute of Advances Studies in Santa Fé, New Mexico (United States).
Charles de Ledesma: English anthropologist residing in London where he teaches on the University of East London.
Vítor Belanciano: Journalist, critic and anthropologist based in Lisbon.
Luís Almeida Vasconcelos: Portuguese anthropologist connected to the Institute of Social sciences, from the University of Lisbon.
Rui Miguel Abreu: Portuguese journalist, former and editor of Loop Recordings.
Naasko Wripple: Canadian, licensed in Social Sciences, label manager of Interchill Records.
Artur Soares da Silva: Social psychologist and free-lance journalist from Lisbon.
Lucy Legan: Australian living in Brazil, co-founder of IPEC Ecocenter in the State of Goiás, pedagogue and a specialist in Permaculture.
Delvin Solkinson: Master in Permaculture, haiku poet, living in the State of British Columbia, Canada.
Pedro Sotiry: Musicologist and Portuguese musician.

Design - João Filipe Matias: Graphic designer from Lisboa.
Ilustration - Sijay James: Designer and writer from Vancouver, Canada.

Photography
André Ismael e Lisa: Respectively photographers from São Paulo and New Zealand,.
Luís Magone: Photographer from Lisbon.

Interviewees
Erik Davis: Cultural critic in the United States, writer and author of several books. One of his works, “Techgnosis: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age Of The information”. He was an invited lecturer in Boom 2002.
Graham Hancock: Journalist, archaeologist and English writer. Author of books such as:
“Lords of Poverty”, “The Sign and the Seal”, “Fingerprints of the Gods”, “Keeper of Genesis”, ”The Mars Mystery”, Heaven's Mirror”, “Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization”, “Talisman: Sacred Cities” or “Secret Faith”. He was the screen player and presenter of Channel 4´s documentary: “Underworld: Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age and Quest for the Lost Civilization”. He was an invited lecturer at Boom 2006.
Dr. Luís Eduardo Luna: Anthropologist born in Colombia. Doctored by the Compared Religions Institute from the University of Stockholm, he is a doctor honoris causa from the University of Saint Lawrence, in New York. He is a teacher of languages at the Swedish School of Economy and Administration in Helsinki, Finland. He was an invited lecturer at
Boom 2004.
Jon Hanna: Organizer and Editor of the Mind states Conference, in the United States.
Jenny Pell: Founding member of the Wilder institute, a Canadian design and Perm culture organization. She was responsible for some landscape architecture projects under the principles of Perm culture in Boom 2006.
Robert Venosa: American painter, well-known artist of the fine arts circle of Fantastic Realism. He exhibited his works, lectured and was a former of workshops on art in Boom 2004.
Martina Hoffman: Visionary painting artist living in the United States specialized in creating works inspired in ancestral cultures´ motifs."

A 'MUST HAVE' book.

Orbital Movement - Frank Molder

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Desmond Morris

The Alchemy of Relationship

"The meeting of two people is like the meeting of two chemical substances. If anything happens, both are changed."

C. G. Jung

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"When we mix together the ingredients for a cake, we begin by measuring the appropriate quantities of distinct and separate ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, sugar, milk. But somehow, when these are blended together in a particular order and baked at a particular temperature, we create an altogether different entity. The chemical composition of the ingredients has irrevocably changed; the cake smells, looks and tastes different from any single ingredient which we put into it at the outset; and through some magic which the chemist might explain but the cook usually does not comprehend, a transformation process has occurred which is nothing short of miraculous. Some ingredients, skillfully combined, make a delicious treat. Others produce a reasonable but unexciting dessert. Still others, even if they sounded wonderful in the book, create one of those kitchen failures which teach us to try another recipe next time. And perhaps even more mysteriously, different people like some kinds of cakes and find others indigestible; and no one really knows why.

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Human relationships are considerably more enigmatic than cookery, for the psychologist, unlike the chemist who observes changes in the molecular structure of eggs and flour, will never be able to totally reduce our interaction with others to a rational formula. There is a profound mystery at the heart of every relationship which always eludes our best efforts to explain why we are with this person and not that one. Yet the essential principle is the same.

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Take two human ingredients, distinct and separate, and put them together in the mixing bowl of a close relationship. Stir vigorously and apply heat - the heat of sexual desire, emotional need, conflict, intellectual exchange, the challenges of time and mundane circumstances, idealisation and inspiration - and through some extraordinary alchemy a new entity is created with its own life-force, its own intelligence and vision, and its own identity independent of and different from the two people who generated it.

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Even more mysterious is the effect which this new entity has on the character and development of the individuals involved. At best, each person may grow and blossom through the transformative effect of the relationship. At worst, both may suffer. Or the relationship may be healthy for one partner but turns out, however delicious, to disagree badly with the other. Some people bring out the worst in us, and some bring out the best. And this is not necessarily related to how we are treated by our partners. We may feel profound compassion for failings in one individual which invoke only contempt or anger when we perceive the same failings in someone else. We may find ourselves able to explore and express talents and abilities in one relationship which seem mysteriously blocked or thwarted in another - despite any active encouragement or obstruction on the part of our companion. Sometimes even deep love between partners cannot prevent the gradual erosion of confidence and enthusiasm in one or both people. Sometimes a couple who have always been ill-suited and unhappy with each other remain inexplicably locked in relationships for a lifetime, yet at other times a couple who in fact have much in common as well as a deep attachment to each other are forced apart in spite of their sincere and prolonged efforts to preserve the bond. Many failed relationships are due to the unintentionally destructive actions of both partners, and could be helped or even radically transformed through insight and joint effort. Many others are inexplicably unworkable despite such insight and effort. Every relationship contains many ingredients, some conscious and some unconscious; and however deeply we analyse ourselves and our partners, we must sometimes accept some deeper or higher intelligence at work in our relationship patterns. Yet whatever the nature and outcome of a relationship, if - as Jung puts it - anything "happens", both people are irrevocably changed."

Astrodiesnt

Because you're worth it!

'If someone wants to insult you, they might look at you and say "Get a life!". This is not a bad thing to consider. It is only when you know that you don't have a life that the thought of trying to get one will freak you out!"
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Iyanla Vanzant

Determination and Patience

'Determination is the strength that will enable you to pass the barrier of useless thoughts in order to create positive thoughts and to be successful in whatever you wish. It comes from within and its partner is patience. Patience teaches you not to push but rather to wait and appreciate the game of life instead, knowing that nothing remains the same, and everything will change at some point.'
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inner space

Manners

'A person of wisdom and spirituality has very beautiful manners that have grown from genuine respect and love for the whole of humanity. Manners in this sense have nothing to do with culture or education: it is simply a question of humility. When we are at the receiving end of such manners, we feel that some deeper part of us has been honoured. In fact, none of us deserves anything less.'

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Inner Space

They don't follow crowds

successful people do it. interesting people do, too. so too do leaders. there is a clear synergy between successful and interesting people and leaders, so what is it that they all do? they are not afraid to do what is right as opposed to what people think they should do. they don't follow crowds; they think for themselves. so too must you.
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Jasmin - Koeln from Sven Swift on Vimeo.