A short animation from the book Drawings from the Gulag. The book consists of over 130 drawings and texts by Danzig Baldaev — author of the acclaimed Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volumes I, II, III — describing the history, horror and peculiarities of the Gulag system from its inception in 1918.

His work as a prison guard allowed Baldaev to travel across the former USSR and witness scenes of everyday life in the Gulag first-hand, chronicling this previously closed world from both sides of the wire. The drawings, made during the Communist period, form a devastating document, a haunting echo of the works of Varlam Shalamov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

With every vignette, Baldaev brings his characters to vivid life: from the lowest zek (inmate) to the most violent tattooed vor (thief), the practices and inhabitants of the Gulag system are revealed in incredible and shocking detail. He documents the contempt shown by the authorities to those imprisoned, and the transformation of these citizens into survivors or victims. This graphic depiction exposes the systematic methods of torture and mass murder of millions undertaken by the administration, as well as the atrocities committed by criminals on their fellow inmates.

The biggest European writers/street art challenge will take place in the post-nuclear location of Rome, at the back of the terrible Bomarzus, in the heart of Area 19.

If it is art when Banksy does it and degradation when you do it, if you’re tired of the street diktat, if you want to have a voice and some means of expression, take the next step and join us on the 14th of May for the biggest event in history: the International Street Art Competition.

Aesthetics at the service of politics, politics at the service of Aesthetics.

“The Abbey Theatre is delighted to present the world premiere of OUTSIDERS by leading economist and commentator David McWilliams. … McWilliams believes Ireland’s political and social divide is not so much about rich and poor, young and old, urban and rural, but about Insiders and Outsiders. The Insiders – found in every village, town and city – are those with a stake in our country who believe that today’s status quo must be preserved at all costs. The Outsiders – who might live next door – are those who realise that the status quo is part of the problem.”

- Excerpt from the website linked above.