Come spring, chances are there’ll be driving tours in fake panda cars along the A646 between Halifax and Todmorden, with overnight stays in dodgy-looking farmhouses. Happy Valley has done for Calderdale what Peaky Blinders did for Birmingham, and dark telly tourism is all about ticking off locations and looking the part (though I’m not sure hi-vis tabards will catch on). But there are three better, more active ways to explore the Calder valley. Two of these use the Calderdale Way, either the northern section or the southern, both of which involve hill climbs and traverses across fields, hedgerows, stiles – the usual argy-bargy of agricultural rambling.
Tag: Social
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BBC unveils Eurovision Song Contest 2023 visual identity
One of the first steps in bringing each Eurovision Song Contest to life is the reveal of its visual identity and slogan. The BBC can today announce the 2023 Contest is set to be truly ‘United by Music’.
The new slogan demonstrates the unique partnership between the UK, Ukraine and host city Liverpool to bring the 2023 Contest to audiences across the globe and the incredible power of music to bring communities together. It also reflects the very origins of the contest, developed to bring Europe closer together through a shared TV experience across different countries.
With over 160 million viewers watching last year, the look of the vibrant, wider identity celebrates this shared cultural experience as ‘millions of hearts beat as one’. Inspired by the Ukrainian and UK flags, the colours used are designed to reflect the joy and diversity of the contest.
The typeface used is called ‘Penny Lane’, inspired by the twentieth-century cast-iron signs displaying Liverpool street names and a nod to the city’s rich musical heritage.
Designed through a creative partnership between Superunion agency in the UK and Ukrainian creative studio Starlight Creative, the new brand will first be seen by viewers during the Handover and Allocation Draw programme on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer on 31 January from 7pm. This partnership demonstrates how the show will be made by collaborations on and off camera.
In Liverpool, the iconic St George’s Hall and the Liverpool sign at Liverpool ONE will be dressed in the brand this week before it’s rolled out wider across the city in April.
Martin Green CBE, Managing Director, Eurovision Song Contest 2023, BBC says: “The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will be a truly special event and the creative look is a big part of creating that magic. This year’s identity sums up perfectly the amazing partnerships across the Contest and more importantly the power of music to bring people together across the world.”
Superunion’s Executive Creative Director, Stuart Radford and Creative Director, Katherina Tudball says: “We are thrilled to create the 67th Eurovision Song Contest visual identity in partnership with Ukrainian agency, Starlight, and the BBC. For this year’s theme, United By Music, our solution was inspired by research showing that when experiencing live music together, human hearts synchronise to beat in unison. This insight led to the creative concept of 160 million hearts beating as one, an idea that captures the universal spirit of Eurovision.”
Olena Martynova, CEO, Starlight Creative comments: “Creativity and music both have the power to unite and inspire. We are so proud to be part of the creative concept for such an important musical event when more than ever, we need to come together as a global community. For Starlight, it is an opportunity to represent Ukraine on an international stage, showcase our creative and musical ability, and create something that honours our strength and the power of unity.”
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The street art that expressed the world’s pain
In 2020, murals in cities all over the globe gave voice to black protest and resistance. Arwa Haider explores the powerful graffiti art that memorializes George Floyd and others.
Over the summer of 2020, a portrait recurred on city walls across the world: an image of the black American George Floyd, who was brutally suffocated to death by police officer David Chauvin on 25 May, 2020. Most of these portraits were based on Floyd’s 2016 selfie, taken from his own Facebook account; many referred to the torment of his killing, and his final words. Thousands of miles from the US, protests numerous graffiti tributes to Floyd appeared in European cities and in Asia, Africa and Australia.
In Karachi, truck artist Haider Ali painted a portrait inscribed with English tags (‘#blacklivesmatter’) and Urdu song lyrics (“This world doesn’t belong to white or black people, it belongs to the ones with heart”); in Idlib, northwestern Syria, Floyd appeared among the war-ravaged ruins; in Nairobi, he was depicted alongside the Swahili word “haki“, meaning ‘justice’ (in a work by Kenyan artist Allan Mwangi, aka Mr Detail Seven); Palestinian artist Taqi Sbatin painted Floyd on the West Bank barrier; in Berlin’s Mauerpark, Floyd was portrayed on the wall by Dominican-born artist Eme Freethinker, alongside an array of iconic black US figures: Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Angela Davis, Jean-Michel Basquiat and the musician Prince.
These portraits are a testimony to human empathy, and the reach of the vast, multi-stranded Black Lives Matter movement. Graffiti is both an ancient form (traced back to writing on the wall in Ancient Greece and Rome) and a vital contemporary statement about society; independent graffiti and commissioned public art have also brought vivid focus to BLM. In a year when history is being emphatically questioned, and where a global pandemic has shut conventional galleries and museums, street art also highlights a diversity of viewpoints. The very public horror of Floyd’s killing (captured on videocam) lingers, but he is rarely an isolated figure; mural memorials also say the names of generations of innocent black US victims: among them, Breonna Taylor (killed by the police in her own home, 13 March, 2020); 12-year-old Tamir Rice (fatally shot by the police, 22 November, 2014); 14-year-old Emmett Till (lynched by racists, 28 August, 1955).International artists bring their own resonance; the Nairobi mural of Floyd also draws attention to accusations of police brutality in Kenya; Freethinker was adamant that his Berlin mural should honor Floyd’s life, rather than visualize his death, although he added in an interview with NPR: “I saw many, many other guys die by the police in my country, like almost for nothing. So I know how it is.” Syrian artist Aziz Asmar, who created the Idlib mural with Anis Hamdoun, told The National: “Art is a universal language. Our humanity requires us to unite with other people who are facing injustice. When we draw on the walls of destroyed buildings, we are telling the world that underneath these buildings there are people who have died or who have left their homes. It shows you that there was injustice here, just like there’s injustice in America.”
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Madison Square Garden CEO doubles down on the use of facial recognition tech
The chief executive of the Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corporation has doubled down on using facial recognition at its venues to bar lawyers suing the group from attending events.
Speaking to Fox 5 on Thursday, MSG Executive Chairman and CEO James Dolan said Madison Square Garden is a private company and therefore entitled to determine who is allowed to enter its venues for events.
“At Madison Square Garden, if you’re suing us, we’re just asking of you – please don’t come until you’re done with your argument with us,” he said. “And yes, we’re using facial recognition to enforce that.”
His comments come after New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday sent a letterto MSG Entertainment requesting information regarding its use of facial recognition technology to prohibit legitimate ticketholders from entering venues. The letter said the attorney general’s office has reviewed reports MSG Entertainment has used facial recognition to identify and deny entry to multiple lawyers affiliated with law firms involved in ongoing litigation with the company. The letter indicates thousands of attorneys from around 90 law firms may have been impacted by the policy and said the ban includes those holding season tickets.
attorney general’s letter raised the concern that banning individuals from accessing venues over ongoing litigation may violate local, state, and federal human rights laws, including laws prohibiting retaliation. The letter also questions whether the facial recognition software used by MSG Entertainment is reliable and what safeguards are in place to avoid bias and discrimination.
In a press release, James said, “MSG Entertainment cannot fight their legal battles in their own arenas. Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall are world-renowned venues and should treat all patrons who purchased tickets with fairness and respect. Anyone with a ticket to an event should not be concerned that they may be wrongfully denied entry based on their appearance, and we’re urging MSG Entertainment to reverse this policy.”