recess
November 15,2007
South meets East at Brown by
Braden Hendricks THE CHRONICLE
Combining two different cultural phenomena and presenting a stark yet thoughtprovoking juxtaposition, Southern Expressionism and the Spirit of Zen is now on display at the Louise Brown Art Gallery located in the Bryan Center. The exhibit features photographs by award-winning photographer Paul Dagys. One half of the exhibit depicts
the American South, while the other half presents the Zen aspect of nature. The inclusion of these two different cultural manifestations in the same exhibit is purposefully done. “Well, they’re different,” he said. “But there is a time for every purpose, a time to laugh, a time to cry. The south side is the high stimulus side, while the Zen side is more the reflexive side.” The Brown Gallery is unconventional in how it is designed, which is part of what motivated Dagys to come to Duke to display his work. “When I applied for the exhibit, I realized thatthe spaceis divided into two rooms, and I thought that it would be great to be able to put this exhibit into two modes,” Dagys said. Dagys hopes that students who come to see the exhibit will embark on a mini journey of stimulation and reflection. “In away it does seem logical for me to do the South first, because it’s more in tune with where your mind is at,” he said, “and then you go to the Zen side and hopefully have a more contemplative and reflective experience before you leave the exhibit.” Dagys’ philosophy, when it comes to photography, is to capture and display beautiful scenes of ordinary places. During his 20 years of working as a freelance photographer, he has worked for publications like Time, Life, People, Smithsonian and Newsweek. For Dagys, the American South has always attracted his attention. His photographs include poverty and wealth, a Ku Klux Klan rally, an Elvis vigil and a couch burning taken on a certain campus following the 1991 NCAA championship game. “Religion is very important to the South, but it has social problems and complica-
COURTESY BROWN GALLERY
Paul Dagys,a photographer, is inspiredby Zen philosophy.
tions,” Dagys said. “The religion of hatred, of Elvis, of basketball. It seems the rest of America is becoming more like the South, particularly in her musical, religious and political trends.” Also, Dagys emphasizes the close proximity of most of the scenes depicted in his
photography. “A lot of this stuffis very recent and close to my home [in Cary],” he said. But the South doesn’t exemplify all of what Dagys wants to display. He also wishes to help people de-stress their lives though his photography. “The thing that people have so much stress about is something they think is going to happen in the future, or they regret something they screwed up in the past,” Dagys said. “So the future and the past are things that you cannot control, so if you focus on the present and take care of the present, the past and future will take care of themselves.” Dagys encourages focus on the present through shots of nature inspired by Zen teachings and philosophies. For example, he presents us with the image of a twig’s reflection as it floats in a lake. The simplistic beauty captured in this photograph allows viewers to lose themselves in the moment. The particular dichotomy of Southern Expressionism and the Spirit of Zen serves to stimulate awareness of the South and to provide a transient sanctuary from our everyday stresses.
Southern Expressionism and the Spirit of Zen will be on exhibit at theLouise Brown Art Gallery t through Dec. 6, 2007.
CAT'S CRADLE 300 E.
Main
(919) 967 9053 St. Carrboro www.catscradle.com
NOVEMBER 2007: 11/15:BUCK 65, BERNARD DOLAN AND CRASH
11/16: BADFISH: A TRIBUTE TO SUBLIME 11/17: TEGAN SARA (SOLD OUT) 11/21: PRE TURKEY DAY JAM (BENEFIT FOR HELPING HAND MISSION): JON SHAIN, KENNY ROBY, JULE BROWN, MICHAEL HOLLAND, BIG MEDICINE, EDSEL 500 11/27: GHOSTFACE (FREE SHOW; RSVP @ HTTP://SCION.COM 11/28: CHUCK RAGAN (FROM HOT WATER MUSIC) 11/29: WILL HOGE, STARTING TUESDAY 11/30: STEEP CANYON RANGERS, SWEET BY AND BY &
DECEMBER 2007: 12/1: YO MAMA'S BIG FAT BOOTY BAND, DIRTYSTHIRTY 12/2: NEKROMANTIX Cat's Gadle is at: 12/3: SHINY TOY GUNS 300 E. Main St Carrboro 12/5: ERIC HUTCHINSON . 27510 12/6: HOT ROD CIRCUIT 919967 9053 12/7; LITTLE BROTHER, EVIDENCE www.catsaadle.com 12/8: SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS NOW SERVING 12/11: RASPUTINA CAROLINA BREWER/ RCCDC nw TADI 12/12: MOYA BRENNAN (FROM CLANNAD) 12/15: THE OLD CEREMONY, ROMAN CANDI
For More Show liftings, check Catscradle.com We are also presenting: ROB BELL NOV. 21 @ MEYMANDI CONCERT HALU RALEIGH BRAND NEW W/ THRICE AND MEWITHOUTYOU NOV. 28 @ DISCO RODEO THE DRESDEN DOLLS @ CAROLINA THEATRE (DURHAM) JAN 12,2008
PAGE?
FILE SHARING ponents of the site, though most rallied against it. David Phipps, keyboardist for electronic group Sound Tribe Sector 9, publicly denounced OiNK in a open letter to fans, saying: “When you steal my music, YOU ARE STEALING FOOD FROM MY DAUGHTER’S PLATE. Consider sts9 via OiNK to be triple-hexed.” With such attention fixed on it, the site was forced to take extreme measures to stay alive. Earlier this year, it went so fer as to relocate its domain from the United Kingdom to the (all but) Democratic Republic of Congo. The move forestalled its shutdown, but ultimatelyproved only to be a temporary fix. Today, OiNK’s Web site greets visitors with a call for alms. Beneath an image of the site’s iconic pig shedding a single tear, Ellis has posted links to PayPal accounts dedicated to his legal fund. On another part of the page, he asks for a job to replace the one he recendy lost. But amidst all this lamentation, there’s also a link to a list of suggested OiNK alternatives—probably the most resonant feature of the postOiNKfallout. “OiNK was the file-sharing destination,” said the former OiNK user. “Now there’s this huge divide between supply and demand. People want to share music—they’re Just trying to figure out where to do it” A number of potential replacements have popped up in the past weeks, though none have made clearly determined advances towards taking OiNK’s place. In order to accommodate the influx of homeless pirates, many Torrent sites have expanded their servers, making room for new users during open sign-up periods. Fully aware that a successful file-sharing site is dependent on a robust user base, the Recording Industry Association ofAmerica has waged a very long and very public war against individual uploaders of copyrighted music. In the process, they’ve targeted a wide array ofoffenders, ranging from college students to 13-year-old girls to dead people. The RIAA finds violations through
searches of peer-to-peer servers. Using the IP address in question, they then will attempt to contact the responsible party and threaten suit against them. Director of Judicial Affairs Stephen Bryan estimates that Duke receives at least 25 notifications of copyright infringement from the RIAA each semester. In an effort to protect students, the University refuses to release the name of the student associated with the IP address in question. But they do forward theRIAA’s request to the student These letters—which pinpoint specific tracks, times and servers—often simply request that the student stop sharing the file immediately. If the student continues to share music and subsequent letters are received, the University takes judicial action. Two letters merits a meeting with a Residence Coordinator. Three leads to formal disciplinary action, though this is often just a documented warning. “The University doesn’t condone illegal downloading of copyrighted material, but we are not actively monitoring servers for violations,” said Bryan. “Frankly, this kind ofviolation is in the lower scope of Judicial seriousness. Mostly, we talk to them about it because of their personal liability.” Unfortunately, the RIAA’s reaction isn’t quite so tempered. In addition to the warning letters, the University has also received a number of prelitigation threats from the organization. These too are forwarded on to students, as was recently reported in The Chronicle. At least six students have settled thus far, while others still face the threat of litigation. “I don’t agree with [the RlAA’s] tactics,” said Bryan, “They say, ‘We’re about to sue you, but if you want to settle, go to this Web site. And, by the way, we accept all major credit cards.’” Most of those who receive letters from the RIAA trade music over peer-to-peer servers such as Limewire. BitTorrent servers such as OiNK make it harder to pinpoint BP addresses, because files are downloaded from a number of sources simultaneously. Still, access to backlogs following the seizure of OiNK servers bode ill for some former users, especially those who shared unreleased content As one intellectual property lawyer told the Idolater blog, “They should be very, very scared.”