#artstarstv

[artstarstv]

Web TV, Ebooks and Art Journalism: Arts journalist Nadja Sayej interviewed on Berlin radio station Flux FM's Off the Record show with radio host Elizabeth Rushe. Clip 1. Nov. 2015. Hear all clips.

nadjasayej.com 

artstarsbooks.bigcartel.com

[artstarstv]

ArtStars* 72 - Nina Hagen

We spoke to the godmother of punk about giving back to charities and touring Toronto and Montreal this February. She also offered some generous advice for young artists today.

[artstarstv]

How to Get a Seat in Ai Weiwei's Coveted Class in Berlin

by Nadja Sayej 

Ai Weiwei is now a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. Obviously potential students would line up for miles and pay anything to work with the art world’s cherished Chinese art star. But Ai Weiwei chose his class by interviewing 100 students (in a school of 3,600) who were already enrolled in the school’s programs of dance, fashion, design, and art. He chose 16 students based on “their attitude, their skills and their understanding of the media,” he said. But who gets to be in Weiwei's class? We take a closer look at the qualities you need to be taught by one of the world's most influential artists.

Rich Kids Weren’t Prioritized “What do you do to support yourself to go on with your studies?” was one of the questions Weiwei asked his potential students. “They all have side jobs and it was amazing to see they work several days a week to make ends meet,” he said. “They need €600 a month; they try to cope with their life. They sometimes don’t go by subway to school because it’s too expensive, so they go by bike to the university.” 

You Need Special Skills “Teaching needs a lot of time,” said Weiwei. “I need the students to invest as much time as possible.” (But how will students do this with those part-time jobs, one wonders?) But possessing innate skills, he notes, was an important aspect in choosing students. “What special skills do they already have?” he asked. “They are already underway in the way they express themselves. It’s an incentive for me to learn from these students in regards to fine arts.” 

You Need to Teach Weiwei When I asked Weiwei how he hopes to inspire the students, he said he’s not going into it with a traditional mindset. “I’ll just be a part of the whole class experience,” he said. “For me, teaching is learning, too.” 

Read the full article here.

[styledlife]

A good friend and fellow gypsy of life mentions the fashion foundation of the incomparable and indigestible ArtStars*TV to DIRTY Magazine!

On her moment of fashion enlightenment:

"...And another thing: I got gay stylists to dress me because after watching the first episode, my first thought was: 'Good God. What am I wearing? No wonder I’m single, just look at me.' So I needed a makeover and they were like, 'Well, you got tits so we might as well show them.' That’s how I came out of my writer’s shell, so to speak."

On the mitosis of the ArtStars*TV look:

"...Joshua Shier and Porcelaine Desire, both Torontonians, helped style the show in the first year of ArtStars*. Now, I handle it all myself. I shop at Vintage clothing stores, mostly. I do not only dress for the camera, but for the 69% of our viewers, who are men. It’s psychology."