YSL death prompts debate on AIDS stigma

Reclusive and fragile, Yves Saint Laurent became the grand malade of French fashion when he withdrew from societal limelight, and began battling a mysterious illness in the late 1980s.

Despite dealing with his illness privately, Saint Laurent did not officially hang up his measuring tape until early 2002.

The designer’s business and former-personal partner Pierre Bergé accredited the retirement to Saint Laurent’s frustrations with the fashion industry. “We have entered the era of marketing, at the expense of creativity,” he said.

But YSL’s retirement came as no surprise. Throughout the nineties; the designer became gradually more and more withdrawn from fashion circles, emerging only twice a year for brief bows at his haute couture shows.

Reportedly, the designer spent the decade in and out of Parisian hospitals; his rare public appearances revealed a fragile, dishevelled and disorientated man.

Rumours surrounding the designer’s health naturally followed. Gossips and the press tagged YSL with three Ds – “drink, drugs and disease”.

The designer directly addressed the drink and drugs rumours at his retirement press conference, "I've known fear and terrible solitude," Saint Laurent said. "Tranquilizers and drugs, those phoney friends. The prison of depression and hospitals. I've emerged from all this, dazzled but sober."

When he died in June 2008, ambiguous reports from The Associated Press stated the fashion icon had died “following a long illness”. This led to intensified rumours surrounding this mysterious illness. As a result, Pierre Bergé was forced to publicly state that Saint Laurent did not have the AIDS virus.

Gossip columnists were quick to question this - outlandishly highlighting the designer’s sympathies with sufferers of the virus as some sort of proof. In 1993, YSL dedicated his January couture collection to Rudolf Nureyev, the Russian ballet dancer who had recently died of AIDS at the time.

These rumours have found fresh wind due to last month’s record-breaking auction at Christie’s, which saw the designer’s collection of treasures and art fetch €353.5million, a large sum of which will go towards AIDS research.

This press intrusion into Yves Saint Laurent’s personal life is relentless even posthumously, but without leaked medical records, the true nature of his death will not be known and speculation will no doubt continue.

In reality, whatever illness he suffered from is irrelevant. However, press and gossip insistence and the staunch denial by Bergé does raise questions about the stigma of AIDS and whether it is still prevalent in society today.

AIDS has been associated with marginalised groups such as homosexuals, drug users and sex workers and it cannot be denied that such associations result in discrimination and stigmatisation.

An attitude epitomised in the extreme by former US Senator Jesse Helms who routinely opposed AIDS research funding because he believed sufferers contracted the illness through “deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct”. He later did approve funding for AIDS support for Africa, but not for the U.S.

There is a strong tradition of ‘undisclosed illnesses’ in the celebrity world and among the general public when it comes to HIV and AIDS.

Freddie Mercury was one celebrity who was criticised for his reluctance to admit his HIV status; he admitted the illness on the day he died. It can never be known how many people have suffered from this continuously ‘undisclosed illness’.

In recent years however, big name celebrities have lent their faces and voices to help de-stigmatise the illness. There was the ‘What’s Going On’ album which featured pop stars from Britney Spears to Michael Stipe covering the eponymous Marvin Gaye track to raise awareness and proceeds for AIDS programmes.

Product Red has been a successful model of branding by Bono and businessman/politico Bobby Shriver, which has seen big name multi-nationals like Apple, Converse, Armani, Dell and American Express release Red products specifically marketed as supportive to the AIDS effort in Africa. This has seen over $110million raised to support life-saving work.

U.S. basketball star Magic Johnson who is directly affected by HIV has been an active spokesperson in campaigns to help HIV and AIDS awareness. The sports star healthy appearance after seventeen years since diagnosis gives a hopeful and unashamed public face to living with HIV, demystifying the mysterious illness for future generations.

Women's Media

The beauty stage and pamper zone are under construction.

Eighty-thousand mini boxes of Special K are on standby.

Womans World 2009 [sic] is coming.

The event, hosted in the RDS, is yet another consumerist, marketing binge which will see beauty and fashion businesses pitching their wares at women of all ages – giddy from complimentary fizzy wine and the intoxicating smell of sample perfumes.

Now in its third year, Womans World is not the first event of its kind, and it is not the only one in the industry either. As these events become more and more frequent, the singularity of one voice for women in the Irish media in turn, becomes more and more glaring.

Symptomatic of this voice is a certain type of language. Warning words include; ‘fashionistas’ and ‘glamarama’, and references to cocktails, Carrie Bradshaw and Manolos are also used to titillate potential customers.

The three day show intends to reign in Irish women with the allure of exhibitions and stalls in “fashion, accessories, make-up, tanning, jewellery, wine-tasting, shoes, nails, hair and healthy eating.” A ‘Womans World’, apparently.

Currently, its website is quite vague on the specifics. But crucially, the site is pink. Very pink.

Earlier this month in the same arena, TV3 hosted its first ever Xposé Live event (or ‘haven’ as they dubbed it), which showcased “all the glitz and glamour of the fashion, beauty and health and lifestyle industries.”

These industries were divided into colour-coded areas in the RDS: pink for beauty products, purple for ‘high-street chic’, black for designer jewellery and couture and finally, green for relaxation, health, fitness and nutrition.

The predictable pattern that has emerging is not exactly veiled. The same formula was spoon fed to Irish audiences at the Trinny and Susannah’s Style in the City event hosted last September.

It was Off the Rails that sparked the trend for these events, their annual ‘glamtastic’ fashion and beauty showcases have been running for over six years now and the Xposé Live event seems to have modelled itself on its as The Style Exchange, Fashion Village, The Ultimate Pamper and Well Being Zone and Boutique Boulevard.

In their press release RTÉ asked; “Cocktails, Champagne and Strawberries what more could a girl ask for?” whereas this month the Xposé urged women to “grab your Manolos girls and join us for a fashion extravaganza!”

To give credit, at least the Xposé, Style in the City and Off the Rails events do highlight that these are industries and interests, but Womans World 2009’s offensiveness lies exactly in the name - ‘a woman’s world’.

The complete saturation of this discourse in Irish media is becoming more and more apparent. Although the magazine pool is small, each one seems to feature article after article of shopping secrets, beauty buys, celebrity gossip and self-help/confidence articles, with little variation.

It’s a far cry from the US who have well established titles like Bitch, Bust and Ms., all of whom have been offering readers something a bit difference since 1996, 1993 and 1971, respectively. Yet Ireland’s most progressive move in mainstream Irish media seems to be the adoption of a ‘no diet’ policy by U Magazine.

Closer to home, one ‘A5 antidote to the guff that passes for women’s media’ is celebrating its fourth issue. Edited by journalist Marie Berry, KnockBack magazine has given UK readers some alternative to the commercial magazine industry. Berry was inspired to found KnockBack after leafing through magazines whilst working in a call centre.

Berry says following one magazine binge, she felt patronised and manipulated by what she had read; “By the time I left the building that day I felt like an ugly, masculine, washed up neurotic. They had turned a spotlight on things I had never even considered worrying about. Is my forehead shiny? Am I silky enough? Is my boyfriend cheating on me? Has my dad paid for sex? Do I want matt skin like Liv Tyler or a radiant shimmer like some other broad? Why IS Donna so very thin? What am I wearing?!”

She articulates the thoughts of many, “Glossy magazines concentrate on the flaws and fallibility of celebrities while simultaneously selling us products to look like them, it’s too obvious. The game is up”, Berry says.

Cue KnockBack.

The magazine does not feature advertisements, it relies on donations to stay afloat, which means the editorial team never have to compromise content. Throughout the issues, are articles that challenge the everyday sexism of pop culture, as a result the humour is not dissimilar to what you might find in lads’ magazines.

In the third issue, articles included: ‘How to Lose 85 pounds in just two hours (by visiting a style consultant), ‘Why we Don’t Wanna be Feminists’ and ‘Woman’s Intuition, The Feminine Razor: A Consumer Guide’.

The latter road tested the sharp minefield of the disposable razor world; “My left leg under the influence of Gillette takes to running down a beach in a pink bikini, while my right, a victim of one fourth of a 15p, stays at home with a pie.”

This kind of quirky humour peppers KnockBack and makes their handling of even conventional topics to be off-kilter.

They have also featured a run of ‘offensive’ headlines from other women’s’ magazines to ‘point and laugh’ at. These ‘offensive and patronising’ headers include: “Genius! Lily Allen’s Eyeliner – How To” and “The Weekly Guide To Your Life – Men > Real Life > Shop”.

Despite the saturation of women’s media, Berry is optimistic; “Media for women is emerging from its diet-induced coma, it’s changing into something much more engaging.” Considering the magazine is public funded and is successfully publishing its fourth issue, it would seem many other agree.

Zadie Smith is also a fan; “Receiving the zine in the post made me feel that the present situation for women is possibly not as absolutely fucking awful as I had previously felt it to be. It was a little ray of pink and black hope.”

Here in Ireland the situation is finally beginning to change. Naturally with a smaller demographic alternative print is more expensive and accordingly, less viable. But one ‘anarcha-feminist magazine’ is bucking the trend.

The Rag, now on issue three, is a content heavy A4 produced by the Rag collective, a group who distinctly align themselves with feminist causes. The magazine is certainly more academic that its foreign counterparts. Articles in the most recent issue look at ‘gender binaries’, feminism in Muslim countries, lengthy book reviews and it also features a sort of ‘feminist how-to’ which asks, ‘I’m a feminist… Now what?’

Currently The Rag is the only printed alternative in Irish women’s media, although the first issue of Lash Back, another Irish feminist zine is ‘coming soon’. Undeniably financial restraints do limit print possibilities, but there is also a distinct lack of an Irish-specific, humorous and non-didactic voice in the ‘no overheads’ world of blogging.

The closest thing to a non-print outlet was the club night Noveau Vadge, which was very short-lived. The club night was set up to showcase an eclectic mix of music, photography, zines, arts and crafts and “dot dot dot”, but hosted just one night in Seomra Spraoi. The future of the ‘monthly event’ is still uncertain.

Noveau Vadge’s motto is, ‘Looking to showcase women who do shit!’ Time will tell whether new collectives and established institutions decide to follow their lead. In the meantime, we have Womans World and Xposé for company.


www.ragdublin.blogspot.com

http://www.myspace.com/lashbackdublin

http://www.myspace.com/nouveauvadge

http://www.knockback.co.uk/

Rise of the Cupcakes

Sex and the City sparked another trend when Carrie scoffed them at New York’s famous Magnolia bakery. Jessica Simpson vomited them up on Newlyweds. This year MAC released Sugarsweet, a cupcake-themed make up range. Cupcakes are invading every aspect of popular culture.

Increasingly an acceptable and common gift in lieu of wine and chocolates, these little bundles of frosted joy are increasingly showing their faces at christenings, hen parties, weddings and baby showers.

Keen to cash in on Google’s most-searched recipe, Irish bakers have been experimenting to find the perfect formula and new businesses are springing up to feed the growing demand. Sweet Cupcakes in Dún Laoghaire is one new venture set up by husband-and-wife team, Paddy and Mel.

The duo say, “The cupcake appeals on a number of levels - the look, the taste and the size. It’s not the same as having a slice of cake. We see people walking along and when they see us, their eyes light up.”

Sweet Cupcakes sell at the Bloomfield shopping centre every Saturday, “We bring four large boxes of cupcakes and normally sell out in between three or four hours, earlier sometimes. We did a school fair and we were the only stand who sold out, again long before closing time.”

Paddy and Mel started their cottage business from Blackrock market just before Christmas 2008, and business has been booming since. In the same month, Lolly and Cooks, formerly LaraLu Foods in Georges St arcade began selling cupcakes too.

Owner Laragh Strahan says, “I’m unsure if it’s just a fad. Maybe in a few months, we’ll be moving on to something else. But for the moment, our cupcake trade is doing really well.”

Although a rainbow of colours smile up at you from the counter, Laragh says, “The icing is probably the most noticeable thing about them, but every filling is different too. The cake base itself can be customised. Cupcakes are very versatile.”

Purely for research purposes, we tried Lolly and Cook’s most popular cupcake; the Coconut and Raspberry Goblin Bliss (€2.30). With a raspberry filling and soft sponge topped with fresh buttercream, shavings of fresh coconut and a plum raspberry on top; it was pure bliss at first, but also sickeningly sweet.

The company do special commissions as well as trading from the stall. “We’ve provided cupcakes from everything from weddings to corporate events, all personally tailored. We’ve made icings to match bridesmaids’ dresses and added business logos to our corporate cupcakes”, Laragh says.

Bridal magazine Confetti have been championing cupcakes on their website for savvy brides and grooms, as a way of getting around cake cutting fees at hotel receptions.

Kate Deegan of BlossomBabies.ie, based in Monkstown, recently began selling cupcakes (€24 per dozen) alongside baby clothes, linen and blankets. Kate says, “I'm quite new to the scene but since I've started up there definitely has been an increase in popularity round here. Most of my orders are for kids parties, with an increasing number for weddings. I think people are increasingly thinking of cupcakes for weddings in an attempt to cut costs.”

Kate says individual traders who work from home with fewer overheads are a good bet for those wanting to cut costs, “Bakeries tend to charge quite a lot for each individual cupcake still. From browsing the wedding forums I gather that a lot of people are doing them themselves, with varying degrees of success. They still work out a lot less than a wedding cake, either way.”

Food pornographers Marks & Spencers are the first UK or Irish supermarket to develop an own-brand cupcake Matt McAuliffe, product developer for M&S, went to New York to research the perfect recipe. He told The Sunday Times,“In America, the ratio of sponge to buttercream is about two-thirds to one-third. That’s really sickly — it has been hard to make it palatable for British tastes.”

Mc Auliffe’s solution was to use fresh fruit to flavour the buttercream and add fruit compote to the sponge and voila the English cupcake was born.

Testing their glitter-dusted Strawberry & Vanilla cupcakes (four for €3.49), we found the icing was certainly less generous than a café cupcake, but also, less sickening.

The only downside of the M&S cakes is the availability of ‘nutritional’ information on the box. Yes, 20.4g of fat per cupcake is more information than we wanted to know, thank you. These figures are happily not available at cafes and bakeries, which gives the latter the edge.

But many must disagree. Our visit to Grafton Street’s food hall revealed that M&S cupcakes were selling like er…, hot cakes, while traditional favourites like almond fingers and fairy cakes languished on the shelves.

Fashion and hip sets are also reflecting this cupcake culture. Dublin club night Le Cirque and venue Seomra Spraoi lay out cupcake buffets to sweet-toothed scenesters, taking a break from the board games and colouring books on offer.

Urban and ‘Suburban’ Outfitters (the latter in Dundrum), unofficial authorities of the ‘trend index’, have been peddling the Magnolia Bakery recipe book, cupcake-shaped lip balms and cupcake motif t-shirts since 2006.

Sounds sweet, but it’s not all cuteness and light. Urban Counterfeiters, a watchdog consumer website, highlight how Boston designer Johnny Cupcakes’ trademark t-shirt “Make Cupcakes Not War” was copied by the trendy chain.

“A while after sending in samples of his t-shirts so that the mega chain might consider buying some off of him to sell in their stores, Johnny Cupcakes was notified by a friend that they were carrying them — without his knowledge. Turns out Urban took a concept off of one of his samples and made their own version.” Johnny Cupcakes successfully sued Urban Outfitters for an undisclosed sum.

The cupcakes rise as kitsch culture du jour is a curious one.

According to Google Trends, the word ‘Cupcake’ was googled more times than ‘financial crisis’ in September 2008, many say their popularity is indicative a return to safe, cheap and cheerful pleasures, and are a sweet diversion from reality.

Blogger, journalist and cake fancier, Kim Vallee says, “As comfort food, eating cupcakes can lessen the burden of the economic crisis for a few minutes.”

Earlier this month, Newsweek ran a feature on how the grim global economy is creating a boom in cheap and cheerful entertainment. The article surmised that in tough times, people gravitate to cheer pleasures to escape the reality of recession. If this is so, we may consider cupcakes the Slumdog Millionaire of the food world.

Symbolic of times, the formal navy façade of an estate agent in the village of Enniskerry in Co. Wicklow has been painted bright pink, to pave the way for a new old-fashioned cake shop, opening soon. It seems the trend, like the financial crisis, is showing little sign of abating.

Let them eat cake, indeed.

* Picture courtesy of Laragh Strahan of Lolly and Cooks, Dublin

Objectivity in Journalism, is it possible?

Objectivity has always been, and always will be, a contentious ethical issue in all aspects of journalism.

Although repeatedly stressed in codes of conducts for journalists, the ethical implications of objectivity are not ‘black and white’ as these codes might imply. Objectivity in journalism is a delicate matter which is influenced by a wide range of other elements.

The 'human element' is one obstruction to objectivity that permeates all aspects of journalism. The glaring questions is; can journalism ever be truly objective?

The basic principles of journalism rest on the idea that journalists have a responsibility to the truth and their readers, a matter stressed throughout journalistic codes of conduct worldwide.

Seemingly straightforward and obvious, the everyday challenges to this purist thought are highlighted in the second and third clauses of the International Journalists’ Code which states:

"[T]he journalist shall at all times defend the principles of freedom in the honest collection and publication of news, and of the right to fair comment and criticism."

"The journalist shall report only in accordance with facts of which he/she knows the origin. The journalist shall not suppress essential information or falsify documents."

Reporters face the ethical implications concerning objectivity, amongst other things, on a daily basis. Key to modern difficulties around objectivity are limited resources and time restrictions afforded to journalists. Budget cuts in all areas of media and increased web presence have meant that a smaller amount of reporters have to generate increased content.

The result of these developments is that journalists often now obtain their news from fewer sources, which creates limitations in balanced reporting. It is not uncommon for the same voices to be articulated throughout the media in regard to certain topics; these voices may make themselves readily available for media commentary and be convenient regular sources for journalist.

For example, when doing a story on gay rights, an Irish journalist might easily contact Senator David Norris, who is known to be media friendly and is likely to provide colourful and informed quotes for their story. But as an obvious source, Norris is also likely to be quoted in every paper or broadcast on the same topic.

Earlier this month Norris himself challenged this. Miriam Lord reported the outburst in the Irish Times, quoting Norris, she wrote;

"If I am permitted to be heard by being reported,” he said sulkily, “I wish to point out that I initiated and ran successfully two businesses in this city for many years, yet in many quarters I seem to be heard only if I am talking about James Joyce or buggery, and I am fed up to my back teeth with it."

Here it is recognised that certain voices are consistently used in Irish media as sources for particular stories and it is a point highlighted by Damien Kiberd too;

"It is not easy to achieve balance, particularly given the depressing lack of diversity in the dominant viewpoints in the media, whether it be on television, on radio, or in newspapers."

This lack of pluralism in perspective can not be blamed on one unique factor, but a combination of many, including; laziness on journalist’s part, personal motivations, political motivations but perhaps most commonly, time restrictions.

However, the implications of the continuous use of single sources in news reportage results in a lack of diverse representation and the dominance of singular perspectives throughout the media.

The BBC is widely considered a fair example of objective reporting. Its Producers’ Guidelines reflect this intention,

"Due impartiality lies at the heart of the BBC. All BBC programmes and services should be open-minded, fair and show a respect for truth. No significant strand of though should go unreflected or under-represented on the BBC."

"[The BBC is] explicitly forbidden from broadcasting its own opinions on current affairs or matters of public policy, except broadcasting policy."

Being a state body, the BBC must take extra precautions in broadcasting news, particularly in avoiding the filtering of news through “religious, racial or other types of prejudice.”

But this conscious impartiality has not always been lauded; there have also been instances of extreme objectivity, which as a result, do not project the truth.

Criticisms have arisen to over-impartiality in the BBC in particular.

For example, in 1969, house burnings in Belfast were covered by the BBC team, in one particular case it was a Loyalist gang who had set fire to a Catholic Nationalist’s home. But the BBC avoided mentioning which side committed the attack and which side was the victim, as a result the story was completely divorced of political leaning and de-politicised to the point of meaningless.

A former BBC journalist has been completely turned against the idea of impartial journalism; Martin Bell has said his experience of “bystander journalism” led him to believe that objectivity is an illusion and that it promotes the idea of morally neutral, dispassionate journalism that “closes hearts to pity”.

Indeed the inclusion of a journalist’s own engagement, (sometimes passionate, sometimes dispassionate) with news narratives is always a mediating factor in constructing news narratives.

News packages and reportage reports are filtered through the journalist’s perspective and baggage ― the search for ‘an angle’ to a story is indicative of how news is a construct and not a direct reflection of reality. As Tony Harcup writes, quoting Walter Lippman:

"Journalism is sometimes said to be a mirror reflecting society; on occasions, a distorting mirror. But journalism is not a simple reflection of everyday reality […] reporting is not the ‘simple recovery of facts’, because facts ‘do not spontaneously take a shape in which they can be known. They must be given a shape by somebody."

Reports are called ‘stories’ for a reason.

Media critic Karen Sanders argues that subjectivity is part of human condition but admittance of this subjectivity and by “recognising our role as interpreters”; we do not have to relinquish a commitment to truth. Sanders believes that implicit or explicit intentionality is unavoidable and agrees with Martin Bell by saying “truly neutral stories do not exist”.

It is a thought echoed by many journalists and media academics, including Chris Froot and Matthew Kierans . Froot goes as far to say to say although all journalists aim to objective, he hopes that a journalist, "would not be so deluded as to assume that that means they would, or even could, be objective."

Going by the hypothesis that objectivity is impossible by humans, it would seem that impartial news could only be provided by robots. Within continuous cuts in the media industry, perhaps this is where the future of journalism lies.

Tacheles, Berlin

Amanda Kavanagh revisits the famous Tacheles squat in Berlin before decisions are made on its future.

Despite animosity towards social networking sites, it cannot be denied that they do provide a palatable platform for gauging the current zeitgeist.

From groups like ‘Stop The X-Factor losers releasing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah as a single’ on Facebook to endless quizzes like ‘Which Top Gear presenter are you?’ on Bebo – I’m James May by the way which means, I am slow, with no sense of direction and a dated hair style, apparently.

But aside from the more frivolous quizzes and groups are those with a more serious motive, such as ‘Save the Tacheles’. Currently housing over four hundred members on Facebook, this group is part of a wider effort to save the famous Berlin squat from property developers.

A decade ago the Berlin city council sold the land on which the settlement resides to property developers Fundus Group. At the time, the Fundus Group allowed the building to maintain a cultural role by allowing artist’s to rent there for the sum of 40p.

However as this lease expires at the end of this year, the group are reportedly planning to build luxury apartments and an exclusive hotel. Definite plans have not yet been made available; but it is unlikely that its commercial plans would ever meet the approval of Kunsthaus’ residents. Hence, the campaigning.

The famous squat occupies a large building of 9,000 square metres, formerly a department store on Oranienburgerstrasse in Berlin. However, Tacheles now functions as a nightclub and international arts centre. But aside from the art and its dramatic appearance – its exterior is decorated in bright graffiti and artwork – the building itself has a colourful history.

Originally built to house a shopping mall called Friedrichstadt-Passage in 1907, after going bankrupt the site then housed AEG founders of Haus der Technik. Then during WWII, the Nazi Party used parts of the building for administrative purposes and even held prisoners on the 5th floor.

Following damages caused during allied air raids, the building fell into disrepair which went ignored by East Berlin government officials until plans for demolition in April 1990 were disrupted when two months prior, a group of young artists, influenced by the developments in subcultures since the fall of the wall, moved in.

Throughout the years the centre thrived as an art studio and gallery, a centre for discussion, debate, theatre, poetry readings, and latterly; a cinema and nightclub. And as a result of its contribution to the arts, the government now subsidies the settlement with maintenance.

Although many argue that this funding compromises the ideals of the Tacheles, the centre itself argues that Kunsthaus Tacheles must constantly confront the “difficult challenge of remaining true to its roots and ideals without becoming too sentimental about the old squatter times.”

Whatever its funding is, the spirit of the original squatters is still alive and well at the Kunsthaus. On my visit, food and beer could still be purchased at a ridiculously cheap price in the Zapata bar, the nightclub was pulsing with a local ska band and a bearded man sporting an astrological waistcoat and top hat lead the festivities on the dance floor. Original art is still on offer for prices that would truly shame Damien Hirst.

Kuntshaus resident Khaled Kenawi says, “Shutting down all this would be a huge loss. There is a difference between the art market and art, and we are that difference.” Whereas elsewhere in Berlin, small squatter settlements are still active and the city has become a refuge for international artists, including many Irish, seeking a supportive environment and cheap living costs.

It is very easy to become idealistic and nostalgic over Europe’s dying squatter history and the romantic notions it conjures. But with over 20,000 signatures on their petition and a further four hundred on Facebook objecting to the likely eviction of Tacheles by the Fundus Group, squatter culture still retains a strong solidarity.

With big decisions being made in the next few weeks, the future of German art and squatter culture are in turmoil. Tacheles artist and resident AR Adler maintains, “We will fight. This is the last place left where you are free to be an artist.” And so, the age-old fight between squatters and developers continues.