Unseen Art Scene (mirror)

New works by Serge from Accra, Ghana Feature: Water wars and water woes Water privatization is often portrayed as morally wrong but if we look beyond ideology and sentimentality this doesn't add up. Poor countries, where lack of water and sanitation kills nearly two million people a year, need to get water supplies right. One billion people lack clean drinking water but only three percent of the world's water is privately managed, so the campaign against privatization conceals many public failures. The prime example is the so-called Cochabamba Water Wars, when residents of this large Bolivian city took to the streets in 2000 to throw out the private water consortium when prices rose. For activists, it has everything: World Bank involvement, higher prices, angry citizens and the happy ending where water is "returned to the people." But it was actually a story of political corruption and poor governance, with a tragic but largely ignored ending. In 1997, the World Bank ...

Photo by Max Dereta So much have been happening it is hard to know where to start. Angolan artists in Venice or the lack of the Kenyans? The South Africans in Basel or Alex da Silva in Rotterdam and his unveiling of his beautiful work on slavery for Rotterdam Harbour at the Lloyd Pier. This is a location of Media tycoons who like to inhabit trendy loft apartments in the converted Wharf. The location is exculsive and the ideal spot to have a Slavery Monument. Surprisingly, the house prices have risen since the opening, that must be a first in Europe. The people from Surinam and Cape Verde have, for quite some time, campaigned for a National Slave Day and July 1st is to become the Dutch National Day for Slavery and a Nationwide holiday. On July 1st 1863, exactly 150 years ago, all slaves in Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles were finally granted their freedom, this was 30 years after the British abolished the trade and the Netherlands eventually found their moral compass and followed s...