"Biennale-2010": It's Anthony
Today in the Cultural Foundation "Ekaterina" exhibition at Anthony It's "Paradise Lost. America in Crisis "
Today, 10 April, the Cultural Foundation "Ekaterina" (Kuznetsky Bridge, 21 /5, Entrance № 8), Anthony opened the exhibition It's "Paradise Lost. America during a crisis. " It is part of the Moscow International Festival "Biennale-2010».
«I almost twenty years he lived and worked outside their native America. Now I sometimes go back to the United States and take pictures. My first shooting was the inauguration of George W. Bush in January 2001. The path from that moment until today lasted for a decade, and some events that occurred during this time, surprised and shocked me.
At the beginning of the XXI century the United States is the only world superpower. The Soviet Union ended its existence for ten years before, leaving the former socialist bloc in a state of political instability and corruption, the economy of their rebuilt on the basis of the capitalist model. Eastern Europe is the impression of chaos. At the same time, the U.S. economy, political life and culture flourished as nowhere else in the world.
Two important events changed the situation for the past ten years. The first - the election of George W. Bush for the presidency of the United States. He became president and a majority of Electoral College votes, although more than 50 percent of the population were in favor of his opponent - Al Gore, at the time vice-president. President Bush put in power of his closest friends and allies, deeply convinced that the coming century will be the "Century of America." This election divided the country into supporters of Democrats and Republicans, who are often described as liberals and conservatives.
The second event occurred on Sept. 11, 2001 - it was a suicide bombing at the United States. That morning nineteen extremists seized the four planes performing commercial flights, two of which crashed into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Centre. Both buildings collapsed within two hours. The third aircraft "attacking" Washington the Pentagon and a fourth fell in the area of the city Shenksvill Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to regain control of the aircraft. All the people aboard the aircraft were killed. The attack resulted in casualties among civilians were 2,973 people, including terrorists - 19.
Bush administration led the country and the world in a joint campaign against terrorists and terrorism. U.S. attack on Afghanistan, where bases were located al-Qaeda organization, which is believed responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.
few months later, the U.S. led a so-called. "Preemptive strike" on Iraq. At the same time the world community has not presented evidence that the Iraqi government or Saddam Hussein possessed sufficient military power to attack a neighboring state, let alone the U.S.. It became known details of torture, which U.S. forces were subjected to Iraqi civilians and suspected terrorists in Guantanamo prison. Millions of people around the world and the U.S. protested against the invasion of Iraq, and yet four years later, George Bush was re-elected president of the country, largely due to "an active struggle against terrorism".
The war continued, and American losses in Iraq and the size of government debt grew. Then something unexpected happened catastrophe ... New Orleans was flooded after Hurricane Katrina destroyed buildings, protecting the city from flooding. The government is ineffective cared about the needs of those affected by the disaster: many homes were flooded and much of the population was moved to other states. New Orleans will never be the look on as before.
the country's economic power rapidly waned: the cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, not diminished, is still affected by Hurricane Katrina, and in mid-2007 years had a real economic collapse. U.S. banks, more than ten years disguised predatory lending for real estate, steel en masse to record defaulted on payments, resulting in a domino effect. People are deprived of rights to housing at a pace that banks have lost control over the system, which they themselves and engineered. The crisis came at the world level, and the U.S. government was to lend the banks that were particularly significant for the economy, using billions of taxpayer dollars. In America was an economic depression. Across the country, closed shops, and unemployment reached 10 percent.
cities Detroit and Cleveland, and until it is in difficult economic situation, just empty and began to resemble some of the industrial zone of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In some areas, unemployment reached a mark of 20 percent, comparable with the figures of the Great Depression of the 1930's. In Nevada, Florida and California residential areas turned into miles of houses evicted. To all this added to disruptions in the health care system that left 50 million people without guaranteed health care. Large corporations have monopolized the production of food, that affected the quality - and Americans began to suffer from obesity more than any other nation in the world.
When the term of the George W. Bush has expired, The United States is experiencing hard times, which no one could have imagined eight years before that. Great "American Century" turned into a nightmare. The whole system is so outdated that Americans post-bankruptcy, has had no chance to restore prosperity. Everything worked against the people.
In 2008, many citizens actually believe in what Barack Obama, Democratic senator from Illinois, will be the very man who will take the country from the fatal features . He was brought to power a wave of rejection, due to enemy action Republican. "Hope" - this word is the slogan Obama briefly united the country, who believed that the plight of a simple way.
year later, most of these hopes were dashed. Republicans refused to support President Obama on all policy issues. And it's not that his specific initiatives were wrong or could harm the country, and that Obama was a Democrat.
attempt to change the situation led to political paralysis. Health Care Reform corrected again and again to satisfy both sides, but still it was not accepted, while health care has deteriorated, unemployment grew, and people continue to be evicted from their homes. Problems remained, and Obama again focused on the war with Afghanistan.
the end of 2009, the United States finds itself in a position of political, moral and financial bankruptcy, so that they could no longer take pride in the same place on the world stage. Many Americans began to think that their country has fallen into a state of stagnation, that the political situation is hopeless, while ordinary citizens were forced to daily fight for economic survival. Yet in American life has always been a place of optimism. Time will tell whether this optimism is associated with reality, whether the country help itself, or is it just another illusion, fabricated by the media, like a poorly made advertising ».
exhibition runs until May 10, 2010.
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