The natural brightness of the night sky

A recent study analyses data collect4d at 44 of the darkest places in the world, including the Canary Island Observatories, to develop the first complete reference method to measure the natural brightness of the night sky using low-cost photometers.

INSTITUTO DE ASTROFÍSICA DE CANARIAS (IAC)

Research News

 

IMAGE: IN THE UPPER PART OF THE IMAGE, THE OBSERVATORY OF THE ROQUE DE LOS MUCHACHOS OBSERVATORY (GARAFÍA, LA PALMA, CANARY ISLANDS) TAKEN IN FEBRUARY 2020. THE LOWER PART SHOWS THE... view more 

CREDIT: JUAN CARLOS CASADO AND PETR HORÁLEK

A recent study analyses data collect4d at 44 of the darkest places in the world, including the Canary Island Observatories, to develop the first complete reference method to measure the natural brightness of the night sky using low-cost photometers.

Of the 44 photometers in the survey, the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Garafía, La Palma, Canary Islands) stands out at the darkest of all the skies analysed.

The night sky is not completely dark; even in the remotest places there is a glow in the sky produced by natural components, both terrestrial and extraterrestrial, and by artificial lighting of human origin. Even though the main bright sources such as the Moon, the Milky Way, and the Zodiacal light are easily recognisable, there is a glow which dominates the sky brightness on the darkest nights, produced in the upper layers of the atmosphere, and whose strength depends on a set of complex factors such as the time of year, the geographical location, and the solar cycle.

Solar Cycles are ordered in periods of activity lasting 11 years. We refer to solar maximum when the activity of the Sun has grown, sunspots appear on its surface, and its radiative emission has grown, which affects the molecules in the Earth's atmosphere, causing an increase in the brightness of the night sky. When these events are much reduced we call this solar minimum.

In 2018 Solar Cycle 24 entered into this phase and since then a series of photometers, TESS, situated around the world, have collected 11 million measurements which have been used to define a method of reference for the study of natural darkness with equipment of this kind. Among the results in the article, which will soon be published in The Astronomical Journal, there are outstanding "systematic observations of short period variations (of the order of tens of minutes, or of hours) in the brightness of the sky, independently of the site, the season, the time of night, or of solar activity, and which have been shown, for the first time, with low cost photometers, to be associated with events produced in the upper layers of the mesosphere, that is to say to the "airglow", explains Miguel R. Alarcón, a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and first author of the article.

"This work has demonstrated the high sensitivity of low-cost photometers if they are linked in a network. The final analysis of the full set of TESS photometers shows the Gegenschein, a faint glow in the night sky, visible around the ecliptic, the same plane on which we see the zodiacal light and the planets" explains Miquel Serra-Ricart, an astronomer at the IAC and a co-author of the article. "The network of photometers has shown, yet again, that the Canary Observatories are in the First Division" he adds.

From the 44 photometers which took data from such places as Namibia, Australia, Mexico, Argentina and the United States, among others, it was possible to determine that the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM, Garafía, La Palma, Canary Islands) is the darkest of all of them". As can be read in the article, the darkness at the ORM is very close to natural darkness, artificial light adds only 2% to the sky background. From the network of photometers installed in the Spanish Peninsula, we should pick out the excellent sky darkness in the Community of Extremadura, the region of Montsec (Lleida), Javalambre (Teruel) the Sierra Nevada and the Pyrenees in Navarre.

Studying light pollution

The glow produced by the scattering of artificial light at night (ALAN) by the components of the atmosphere (gas molecules, aerosols, clouds...) is known as artificial skyglow. Estimates suggest that more than 10% of the Earth's surface receives ALAN and that this figure increases to 23% if we include the atmospheric skyglow. Some 80% of the human population lives in places with light pollution, and around a third of them cannot see the Milky Way. There are few places left in the world where one can appreciate, observe, and measure the natural darkness.

The worrying consequences of light pollution due to human activity, for nature, our health, and for astronomy, have motivated scientific interest in this type of atmospheric pollution. Over the last decades, various increasingly accurate devices have been developed and marketed to measure the darkness at night. The TESS photometers of the STARS4ALL project, which made this study possible, are based on the same sensor as the Sky Quality Meter (SQM) photometer.

EELabs: The sustainable use of artificial lighting

But now there are new projects under way using new technologies, to continue to investigate this threat. This article proposes that to measure the reach of light pollution it is necessary to combine measurements of the scattered light from urban nuclei made from space (mainly from satellites) with maps of darkness in remote natural areas taken by installing networks of self-running photometers with high time resolution and a mean separation of several kilometres. This is one of the main aims of the EELabs project. EELabs (Energy Efficiency Laboratories) is coordinated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, with participation by the Portuguese Society for the study of Birds (SPEA), the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) and the Technological Institute for Renewable Energies (ITER).

CAPTION

A vertical panorama obtained from the Teide Observatory, which shows a bright Zodiacal light centred on the Teide volcano under snow (Teide National Park, Tenerife), with the Milky Way in winter, from the star Sirius to the left (this is the brightest star in the night sky) to the double cluster in Perseus on the right. In the upper part of the image there is the faint Gegenschein which can be seen only with very dark sky. This image was taken within an initiative against light pollution by the European project STARS4ALL (www.stars4all.eu). STARS4ALL is designed to increase social sensitivity about the negative effects of artificial light on human welfare, biodiversity, the visibility of the stars, security, and energy waste.

CREDIT

Juan Carlos Casado

EELabs has funded the development of self-running photometers which can operated completely autonomously. Using these instruments the EELabs project is hoping to study the impact of light pollution on the protected natural areas of Macaronesia (the groups of islands in the western Atlantic), and on the most threatened group of birds in the world, the sea birds. Currently the project is operating on the islands of Tenerife, La Palma, Grand Canary, Madeira and Corvo (Azores). There are plans to increase the zones of study to include Lanzarote, La Gomera, Fuerteventura and El Hierro (Canaries), Ilhas Desertas (Madeira) and Graciosa (Azores).

EELabs (weelabs.eu) is a project funded by the Programme INTERREG V-A MAC 2014-2020, co-financed by FEDER (European Fund for Regional Development) of the European Union, under contract number MAC2/4.6d/238. There are 5 centres working in EELabs (IAC, ITER, TLPGC; SPEA-Azores, SPEA-Madeira. The objective of EELabs is to create laboratories to measure the energy efficiency of the Artificial Night Lighting in protected natural areas of Macaronesia (the Canaries, Madeira, and Azores). STARS4ALL was a project funded by the European Union H2020-ICT-2015-688135

CAPTION

The Gegenschein is a faint bright spot on the night sky located in the opposite direction to the Sun, (the "anti-solar" point) on the ecliptic. The Gegenschein can be detected only in dark places with very low levels of light pollution. The previous image was taken on March 11th 2021 from the Teide Observatory (IAC, Tenerife).

CREDIT

Juan Carlos Casado

Researchers unveil roadmap to expand NY solar energy, meet green goals

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

ITHACA, N.Y. - Solar-power developers need to explore using lower-quality agricultural land for solar energy, incentivize dual-use (combined agriculture and solar) options, avoid concentrated solar development and engage communities early to achieve New York's green energy goals, according to forthcoming Cornell University research.

"As farmland is generally flat and cleared, agricultural land will be the prime target for future solar energy development," said Max Zhang, professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. "Good farmland, however, is not ideal."

Zhang is senior author of "Strategic Land Use Analysis for Solar Energy Development in New York State," which will publish in August 2021 in Renewable Energy.

Under New York state's 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, the state must reach 70% renewable energy generation by 2030 - and 100% by 2040. Assuming no further offshore wind energy development beyond the current 9-gigawatt goal, the state will need 21.6 gigawatts of utility-scale solar energy capacity to reach that target.

That goal can't be attained without using lower-grade agricultural land and dual-use (agrivoltaics) options, according to the research.

So far, 40% of current solar energy capacity has been developed on agricultural land, the researchers found, while 84% of land identified as suitable for future solar development - about 140 gigawatts - is agricultural.

"Solar farms are already taking up agricultural land and it will likely take even more to achieve New York's energy goals," Zhang said. "For the solar-energy community, this is not a surprise. But for the agricultural community, this is a surprise."

Keeping solar farms from becoming too concentrated in regions will likely help mitigate negative economic activity. This kind of concentration leads to agricultural land conversion and then initiates a negative, economic chain reaction for businesses that depend on farming, according to the paper.

In their research on solar development, the engineers found growing public opposition in rural communities to the utility-level development projects. Alleviating public concerns though community engagement is essential for sustainable growth of solar in New York, Zhang said.

Devising a decision-making approach that actively involves the community early can ease public opposition to solar development. During a preliminary analysis, the group found that more than 80% of land containing large installations is private land where developers typically sign a lease with private landowners, before the parties approach the broader community. Zhang said that this decide-announce-defend approach arouses protective actions from the wider community.

"It makes economic sense that if your business is to generate solar energy flows, you will look at longer term," said Zhang, who is a faculty fellow at the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. "If energy companies build a better relationship with the community, the more likely the community will help to develop more energy on nearby land. It's easier to engage and educate the community, rather than defend actions."

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Cornell Atkinson and the National Science Foundation funded this work.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases

Lancaster University team's 'eggstraordinary' paper revealed at major conference

The world's first-ever 'academic paper which is not a paper' is due to be presented by a Lancaster University research team at the premier international conference on human-computer interaction.

LANCASTER UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: IMAGE SHOWS ONE OF THE SPECIALLY-DESIGNED ROOMS IN 'THE EGG', WHERE PARTICIPANTS ARE INVITED TO INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER AND THEIR SURROUNDINGS. THE AUTHORS' AVATARS CAN BE SEEN IN THE... view more 

CREDIT: DR MIRIAM STURDEE, LANCASTER UNIVERSITY

The world's first-ever 'academic paper which is not a paper' is due to be presented by a Lancaster University research team at the premier international conference on human-computer interaction.

Dr Joseph Lindley, a researcher at Lancaster University's ImaginationLancaster design-led research laboratory, Dr Miriam Sturdee, from the University's School of Computing and Communications, Senior Research Associate Dr David Green and Research Associate Hayley Alter have been invited to take part in the 2021 ACM CHI Virtual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in May.

Using the innovative 'Gather Town' online video-calling and conferencing platform, they have experimented in setting up a conference paper as an interactive but virtual space.

The unique part of this type of video-calling is the ability for multiple people to hold separate conversations in parallel, and to walk in and out of those conversations just as easily as they would in a real room.

"So, with this, you can actually walk 'in' to the paper. Each 'room' is a page or section within the paper where you can read the text, but also talk to other conference delegates about it," explains Dr Lindley, a lecturer in design research.

Quirky egg-themed graphics (eggs are used as they are a symbol of new life) give the 'page-spaces' character as different destinations, while the menu page is inspired by Piet Mondrian's map-like painting, 'Broadway Boogie Woogie'.

"The beauty with this approach is that you don't have to read from start to finish, you can experience it in any order you like," Dr Lindley explains.

Instead of hearing a formal presentation, participants will be asked to don their choice of avatar before being invited into the two-dimensional spaces to meet, chat and 'explore' the egg.

"This is the world's first paper that is not an actual paper," says Dr Lindley. "It's a video conferencing platform that hosts 20 interconnected 'rooms' with a 'poster' in each one. People can mill about and discuss each poster and, by leaving additional comments they can effectively help to keep 'writing' the paper as they go.

"This prototype is about collapsing barriers between video conferencing, research conferences, and publication traditions. It's about exploring creative ways of using technology and bringing them together."

"It's looking at how the research landscape will evolve. The pandemic is making people look at that again."

"We are now in a state of comprehensive flux as 'new normals' emerge, begin to solidify, and may evolve into an--as yet undetermined--futures.

"This 'not paper' is a facet and exploration of that flux as it relates to publication and conference culture, video conferencing systems, and how we both conduct, and share, research."

Step inside the paper if you dare...

https://gather.town/app/EpkqTfKctHPjRS0m/the_egg (NOTE: Please use a Chrome or Firefox based browser).

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Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for 

Study confirms racial differences in response to prostate cancer treatment

Enrolling a large number of Black men, Duke researchers found potential new paths for improved studies and treatments

DUKE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

Research News

 

DURHAM, N.C. - A study designed to enroll an equal number of Black and white men with advanced prostate cancer confirms key findings that have been evident in retrospective analyses and suggest potential new avenues for treating Black patients who disproportionately die of the disease.

Researchers at Duke Cancer Institute enrolled 50 Black and 50 white men with advanced prostate cancer to test whether there were outcome differences on treatment with the hormone therapy abiraterone acetate plus the steroid prednisone. In retrospective data reviews, the Duke researchers had previously found racial differences in PSA responses among advanced prostate cancer patients.

Publishing online in the journal Cancer, the researchers confirmed trends indicating that Black men's PSA levels dropped further and more frequently than those of white men undergoing the therapy. These PSA changes, however, did not result in differences in disease progression or overall survival times.

But the survival finding has an important subtlety, said lead author Daniel George, M.D., professor in the departments of Medicine and Surgery at Duke University School of Medicine. George noted that most drug studies among prostate cancer patients include a small fraction of Black men that is far lower than their numbers in the larger population.

Exclusions typically result because Black men with prostate cancer are more likely to have other illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure, which study leaders often fear could put them at higher risk for complications. Additionally, there are deep historic and cultural reasons that Black men tend to decline participation in clinical studies.

For their study, however, the Duke team -- including senior author Andrew Armstrong, M.D., professor in the departments of Medicine and Surgery -- found that Black men were eager to join the clinical trial.

They were able to enroll a much larger proportion of Black men than what most studies include, in part because the study was addressing a question pertaining to race. And they did not exclude men with co-existing conditions, asserting that since the treatment is FDA approved for this population, they should be inclusive of the patients they see in practice.

"When you look at the overall survival data for our study, they're equal between Black and white men," George said. "But given the prevalence of coexisting conditions in the Black men we enrolled, mortality should have actually been higher for them.

"Our finding that it was not higher is telling -- it suggests Black men with prostate cancer can fare just as well as whites, even with other health issues," George said. "And it signals that future studies should consider enrolling Black men despite these often-disqualifying conditions."

George said the researchers also identified a possible marker of ancestry-dependent treatment outcomes that could help explain why Black men respond more readily to hormone therapy, potentially pointing to new ways to address advanced prostate cancer in Black men.

"We need to understand how genetic ancestry might affect treatment outcomes -- especially disease responsiveness in prostate cancer -- because we are now using and studying these therapies earlier in the disease where we have the opportunity to cure patients," George said.

"If there is a subgroup of patients with an ancestry-based predisposition for potential better response, we need to understand that. But to do so, we will need greater genetic diversity in our future study populations, especially among those with African ancestry. We aren't going to fully understand this genetic complexity by solely enrolling men with European ancestry."

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In addition to George, study authors include Susan Halabi, Elisabeth Heath, A. Oliver Sartor, Guru Sonpavde, Devika Das, Rhonda L. Bitting, William Berry, Patrick Healy, Monika Anand, Carol Winters, Colleen Riggan, Julie Kephart, Rhonda Wilder, Kellie Shobe, Julia Rasmussen, Matthew Milowsky, Mark Fleming, James Bearden, Michael Goodman, Tian Zhang, Michael R. Harrison, Megan McNamara, Dadong Zhang, Bonnie L. LaCroix, Rick A. Kittles, Brendon M. Patierno, Alexander B. Sibley, Steven R. Patierno, Kouros Owzar, Terry Hyslop, Jennifer A. Freedman, Andrew J. Armstrong.

The study received funding support from Janssen Scientific Affairs, which markets abiraterone acetate; the Department of Defense (W81XWH-09-1-0152, W81XWH-14-2-0198); the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute (1P20-CA202925-01A1); and a Prostate Cancer Foundation Movember Challenge Award.

Armstrong reports a paid consultancy with Janssen among other disclosures itemized in the study; George receives study support from the company via Duke.

Patient support program for painful conditions may reduce opioid use

Study in people taking a biologic drug for autoimmune diseases shows association of patient support program with reduced chance of starting opioid pain medicines or continuing on them

MICHIGAN MEDICINE - UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Research News

 

A program that provides ongoing support to patients with painful conditions and complex medication regimens may also help them avoid using potentially risky opioid pain medications, or reduce the amount they use, a new study finds.

The study looked at people with a wide range of autoimmune disorders, including arthritis and psoriasis, who were taking an injected biologic medication to treat their symptoms and prevent painful flare-ups. Such treatment involves frequent self-injections on a strict schedule, special disposal of used supplies and often high out-of-pocket costs - which is why drug companies have started patient support programs to keep patients on track and even reduce their costs.

Using anonymous data from autoimmune disorder patients with private non-Medicare insurance, the researchers looked at treatment adherence and opioid prescription fills for nearly 2,000 new biologic patients who took part in a PSP at least for a short time, and 728 who did not. None had received an opioid in the three months before they started on the biologic, and most were women in their 50s.

In addition to being much more likely to stick to their medication regimen, and stay on it longer, the patients in the PSP were 13% less likely to start taking opioid pain medications, and 26% less likely to fill two or more opioid prescriptions, than the others. Even so, 38% of the patients in the support program filled at least one opioid prescription, and 19% filled two or more. Opioids carry a risk of long-term dependence, as well as risky interactions with other medications and alcohol.

Among all patients who did fill at least one opioid prescription, those in a PSP were less likely to use them for an extended time. The differences persisted even after the researchers took into account income and checked for past cancer diagnosis; cancer-related pain is a CDC-recommended use for opioid pain medication, while autoimmune disorders are not.

When the researchers zeroed in on patients with specific types of conditions, the strongest evidence of difference between the PSP participants and non-participants was among the group that took the biologic for a digestive system autoimmune disorder such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease.

"This research demonstrates that the addition of a multi-faceted patient support program along with specialty medication led to better patient-centered outcomes when compared to the use of medication alone," says first author Mark Fendrick, M.D., professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan and director of the Center for Value Based Insurance Design. "As more and more Americans are prescribed complicated medication regimens, the availability of additional resources is likely to lead to higher rates of medication adherence, and healthier, more satisfied patients."

The study was funded by AbbVie, which makes the biologic medication that the patients in the study were taking and funds the PSP that they have access too.

Higher Medication Adherence and Lower Opioid Use Among Individuals with Autoimmune Disease Enrolled in an Adalimumab Patient Support Program in the United States, Rheumatology and Therapy, DOI: 10.1007/s40744-021-00309-9

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40744-021-00309-9

 

Better healthcare guidance needed for trans people

Current research insufficient to provide adequate care for individuals

ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

Clinical practice guidelines for dealing with the physical and mental health of transgender people highlight the current lack of a solid research base which must be improved, according to a new study published in the journal BMJ Open.

A team of researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and King's College London searched world literature for all international clinical practice guidelines on the healthcare needs of gender minority and trans people.

Results showed that higher quality guidelines tended to focus mainly on HIV, and most others were on transition-related interventions. There were noticeable gaps in the topics of guidelines, with none addressing primary care or more general health needs of gender minority and trans people. There was little information on mortality and quality of life, and there was no patient-facing material.

Sex hormones in trans people can affect susceptibility to some conditions, including various cancers. However, the authors found little research on how much these hormones affect rates and treatment regimens. There was also no advice on how these hormones affect rates, hospitalisations and mortality due to COVID-19.

Researchers concluded that gaps can be filled by better research, resulting in improved healthcare guidance for gender minority/trans people.

This was the first review of its kind to examine international clinical practice guidelines addressing gender minority/trans health.

Catherine Meads, Professor of Health at ARU and senior author of the paper, said: "We were pleased to find high quality guidelines on HIV from the World Health Organisation, but disappointed there was little else on the long term physical and mental health of trans people.

"There are clear gaps in clinical practice guidance related to gender minority and trans people, and as such clinicians should proceed with caution and explain any uncertainties to patients, who should also be engaged in the process of updating practice guidelines. More needs to be done to ensure that patient-facing material relevant to trans people is made available.

"We've presented the study at the main international specialist societies, who are due to update their guidance, and we hope this will encourage them to aim as high as the WHO."

Sara Dahlen, of King's College London, who co-ordinated the project, said: "We didn't know what we'd find until we looked. We hope future guidelines for trans and gender minority people will look to the examples of high-quality so they can improve healthcare."

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Fire and rehire: Britain's new labour battleground?



Issued on: 09/05/2021 

The practice of fire and rehire is increasingly being used by British employers Ben STANSALL AFP/File

London (AFP)

As coronavirus wreaks severe economic damage, some British employers stand accused of taking a highly controversial measure to stay afloat: fire and rehire.

The practice, which involves dismissing employees and re-engaging them on inferior terms, flared up in April, when British Gas dismissed almost 500 engineers after they refused to accept new contracts.

Last year, British Airways staff battled with the national airline's management over proposed fire-and-rehire schemes, while supermarket giant Asda faced a similar stand-off in 2019.

Bus drivers in Manchester, coffee workers at Jacobs Douwe Egberts and distribution centre employees for Tesco are now locked in disputes over new contracts which unions have denounced as fire-and-rehire tactics.

Fire and rehire is allowed in Britain but Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called it "unacceptable", and trade unions and the main opposition Labour party are demanding a ban.

Unite, the UK and Ireland's largest union, claimed fire and rehire is "ripping through workplaces like a disease".

A survey of 2,231 workers by the Trades Union Congress umbrella group found almost one in 10 were told to reapply for their jobs on worse terms or face dismissal, with young and ethnic-minority workers disproportionately affected.

Public industrial relations body the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) submitted a report on the practice in February but the government has yet to publish its findings.

- Better alternatives -

Chris Forde, co-director of the Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change at the University of Leeds, said recruitment freezes, voluntary redundancies and furlough offer better alternatives to the "last resort" of fire and rehire.

The practice could "chip away further at the quite lightly regulated labour market in the UK", where zero-hour contracts and flexibility clauses are more prevalent than elsewhere, he told AFP.

Fire and rehire is banned in neighbouring Ireland, while other European countries require sector-level consultation with unions and social partners when employers seek to terminate contracts.

"I cannot see any circumstances in which this is a right way to go," said Forde.

"It is a basic assault on workers' rights and there are alternative means through which they (employers) might achieve the same outcomes."

Fire and rehire is virtually unknown in Germany thanks to legislation protecting workers on permanent contracts.

Employers can resort to a similar practice with workers on fixed-term contracts only in a limited set of circumstances.

In Canada, fire and rehire is legal and particularly affects non-unionised workers, who are powerless against employers resorting to it, according to labour law specialist Dalia Gesualdi-Fecteau, at the University of Quebec in Montreal.

Workers governed by the labour laws of Quebec, Nova Scotia and the Canada Labour Code –- just 10 percent of the country's workforce –- enjoy some protection.

But employers can circumvent it by proving they are firing for economic rather than personal reasons, she told AFP.

There is little debate about the issue in the United States, where labour regulations are more lax.

- Opportunism? -

An investigation by Britain's Observer newspaper claimed that nine of 13 companies accused of firing and rehiring made profits or increased executive pay.

However, British Airways' parent company IAG recorded a first-quarter net loss of 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion, £956 million) for 2021, after suffering a record annual net loss last year of 6.9 billion euros amid a pandemic-induced crisis in the aviation sector.

And although British Gas made an £80 million ($111 million, 92 million euros), operating profit in its most recent update, parent company Centrica posted pre-tax losses of £577 million.

Centrica told AFP the changes were unrelated to the Covid crisis and aimed to protect 20,000 UK jobs, with 98 percent of employees accepting new contracts.

"While change is difficult, reversing our decline which has seen us lose over three million customers, cut over 15,000 jobs and seen profits halved over the last 10 years is necessary," a company statement read.

The Go-Ahead Group declined to respond to a request for comment.

Alexander Bryson, chair of quantitative social science at University College London, said firms may be using fire and rehire to implement restructuring plans that predated the pandemic.

Companies are also reconsidering the viability of jobs as government support schemes such as furlough wind down, he added.

"They may be over-zealous, over-estimate the financial problems they face and look to rehire accordingly," he said.

"It isn't clear that the pandemic has created circumstances in which this is widespread. But it could be employers acting in an opportunistic fashion to bring forward something they were hoping to do before."

© 2021 AFP

The Slav Epic - How Alphonse Mucha Celebrated Slavic Peoples

Artwork(s) In Focus, Art History

August 25, 2020
Elena Martinique


In a stunning series of twenty monumental canvases, the renowned Art Nouveau Czech artist Alphonse Mucha sought to depict the history of the Slav people and civilization. Titled The Slav Epic, the series was conceived as a monument for all the Slavonic peoples, to which the artist devoted the latter half of his artistic career.

The The Slav Epic series was conceived on a noble idea - Mucha wanted to unite all the Slavs through their common history and their mutual reverence for peace and learning, eventually inspiring them to work for humanity using their experience and virtue. The complete series of these immense paintings was officially presented to the City of Prague as a gift in 1928, coinciding with the 10th Anniversary of the nation's independence.

Alphonse Mucha - Slavs in their Original Homeland, 1912. Tempera and oil on canvas, 610 x 810 cm. Mucha Museum Prague


The Inception of the Series

Among the most famous Czech visual artists, Alphonse Mucha began his career by painting mostly theatrical scenery in his native Moravia, a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic. After successfully completing a commission by Count Karl Khuen of Mikulov to paint Hrusovany Emmahof Castle with sceneries, the Count sponsored the artist's training at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. Following his studies, the Czech moved to Paris and began producing advertising demonstrations and designs, for theatre sets, characterized by faded pastel colors and featuring sensual, graceful, and delicate young women in neoclassical robes, enclosed by profuse flowers. Initially called the Mucha style, it later became known as Art Nouveau, a movement that opened a new chapter in art. However, Mucha, who was a great patriot, would refer to his artistic style not as Art Nouveau, but as uniquely “Slavonic".

The artist first came to the idea for the Slav Epic while working on the design for the inside of the Pavilion of Bosnia-Herzegovina commissioned by the Austro-Hungarian government for the Paris Exhibition of 1900. During the preparations for the project, he travelled through the Balkans, getting acquainted with the region's history and customs. The artist recalled:


It was midnight, and there I was all alone in my studio in the rue du Val-de-Grâce among my pictures, posters and panels. I became very excited. I saw my work adorning the salons of the highest society or flattering people of the great world with smiling and ennobled portraits. [...] And in my spirit I saw myself sinfully misappropriating what belonged to my people. It was midnight and, as I stood there looking at all these things, I swore a solemn promise that the remainder of my life would be filled exclusively with work for the nation.

Inspired by this experience, Mucha deciding to illustrate the "joy and sorrows" of his own community and of all the other Slavs, going on to find a contributor who would support his project. After several trips to the United States, it wasn't until 1909 that he managed to obtain grants by an American philanthropist and keen admirer of the Slavic culture, Charles Richard Crane.

His preparation began with traveling through Russia, Poland and the Balkans and consulting historians regarding details of historical events he wanted to depict. Working from an apartment and a studio in Zbiroh Castle in Bohemia, it took another 18 years to complete the whole series.

Alphonse Mucha - The Celebration of Svantovit, 1912. Oil on canvas, 610 x 810 cm. Collection of Prague City Gallery


The Slav Epic Paintings

The Slav Epic depicts twenty major episodes from the Slavic past, old to new, ten episodes from Czech history and ten others on historical episodes from more Slavonic areas.

Mucha's first canvas in the The Slav Epic series was The Slavs in Their Original Homeland, completed in 1912, focusing on the trials of the Slav tribes in the sixth century, when the lands where they were settling were contested by Germanic tribes on the one hand, and the Byzantine empire. The final canvas, The Apotheosis of the Slavs celebrates the triumphant victory of all the Slavs whose homelands in 1918 finally became their very own.

In 1918, Mucha exhibited the first eleven canvases of The Slav Epic in the Prague's Clementinum. In his opening speech, he stated:


The mission of the Epic is not completed. Let it announce to foreign friends – and even to enemies – who we were, who we are, and what we hope for. May the strength of the Slav spirit command their respect, because from respect, love is born.

A collective representation of moments in the history of the Slavs, The Slav Epic conveys Pan-Slavic ideals in visual format, linking different Slavic nations by emphasizing their shared historical and cultural traits. Throughout the series, Mucha employed different compositions of color, symbols and figures to present ideas, hidden messages and various phenomena. While some aspects have clear links to particular historic events, some are down to the interpretation of the viewer solely. Breathtakingly large, some of the works measure up to six meters tall and eight meters wide. Each work has a title and a subtitle that explains the importance of the specific scene for Slavic history.

Putting much thought into his style as much as the subject, Mucha focused on conveying the emotions of the scenes through skillful drawings rather than previously established national styles. He combined a custom tempera paint for his large canvases, and oil paint for select details, achieving a luminous effect that he deemed necessary for the mythological tableaux he was creating.

Alphonse Mucha - The Introduction of the Slavonic Liturgy, 1912. Tempera on canvas, 610 x 810 cm. Mucha Museum Prague


The Controversies Around the Display of the Works

The complete Slav Epic series was first exhibited in 1928 in the Trade Fair Palace in Prague to great critical acclaim. The artist decided to donate the works to the City of Prague, provided that the city builds an exhibition pavilion for it. However, the pavilion hasn't been built to this day.

Before his death in 1939, Much was interrogated by the Gestapo as an important exponent of public life in Czechoslovakia, and as the war began raging, the The Slav Epic was wrapped and hidden away to prevent seizure by the Nazis.

After the war, the paintings were moved to the chateau at Moravský Krumlov by a group of local patriots, and the cycle went on display there in 1963. Much consideration has been given to relocating the series from Moravský Krumlov to Prague, resulting in a decade-long legal battle that intensified in early 2010. After being blocked by the Mucha Foundation to have the works for restoration, the City of Prague argued that not Alphonse Mucha but Charles R. Crane was the owner of the paintings and that he has donated the series to the city. On the other hand, John Mucha, who runs the Foundation, claimed that Prague never became the owner of the series because it did not meet the artist’s condition of building an exhibition hall for the works.

After years of negotiations, in 2019, the Prague City Council decided that The Slav Epic will be exhibited at Moravsky Krumlov chateau for at least five years until Prague will have a suitable venue for the monumental works of art.

[UPDATE January 25, 2021] According to a new report from the Art Newspaper, Slav Epic has finally found a home. It will be displayed in whole in a to-be-constructed development designed by Thomas Heatherwick located in Prague, and the facility will open in 2026.


Alphonse Mucha - The Oath of Omladina Under the Slavic Linden Tree, 1926. Egg tempera and oil on canvas, 390 x 590 cm. Prague City Gallery

Left: Alphonse Mucha - The Meeting at Křížky, 1916. Egg tempera and oil on canvas, 620 x 405 cm / Right: Alphonse Mucha - Jan Milíč Kroměříž, 1916. Oil on canvas, 620 x 405 cm. Prague City Gallery

Alphonse Mucha - The Coronation of the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan as East Roman Emperor, 1926. Oil on canvas, 480 x 405 cm. Prague City Gallery

Alphonse Mucha - Petr Chelčický at Vodňany, 1918. 

Oil on canvas, 480 x 620 cm. Prague City Gallery

 

Editors’ Tip: Alphonse Mucha: Masterworks

Though very much an individual and spiritual artist, Alfonse Mucha was a defining figure of the Art Nouveau era and is loved for his distinctive lush style and images of beautiful women in arabesque poses among the plethora of paintings, posters, advertisements and designs he produced. Admire a whole range of his work here in its full glory with succinct accompanying text.

Featured image: Alphonse Mucha's The Slav Epic in the National Gallery of Prague. All images Creative Commons.

Long-overlooked Black artists dominate New York spring sales

Issued on: 09/05/2021

Sotheby's is auctioning Robert Colescott's "George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware: Page from an American History Textbook" TIMOTHY A. CLARY AFP

New York (AFP)

Black artists are represented like never before at New York's spring sales next week after years of being overlooked and underappreciated, with several expected to set new records for their works.

American-born Jean-Michel Basquiat, of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent, becomes the first Black painter to headline both Christie's and Sotheby's main auctions, on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

The 1983 "In This Case," part of his trilogy of "skull" paintings, and his 1982 work "Versus Medici" are expected to fetch around $50 million each during the virtual auctions.

The late Robert Colescott, renowned for expressionist paintings that dealt with Black identity and history, is expected to increase his record tenfold, with his 1975 "George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware: Page from an American History Textbook" estimated at up to $12 million.

Works by Norman Lewis, Mark Bradford and Kerry James Marshall are all expected to top $1 million.

David Galperin, head of evening sales for contemporary art at Sotheby's in New York, said a "historical reevaluation" and growing visibility in galleries and museums is boosting the popularity of marginalized artists.

"There's a sense of increased market appreciation and demand that correlates with prices that we are seeing at auction," he told AFP.

For Sanford Biggers, a Black sculptor whose 25-foot-tall bronze "Oracle" statue has just been installed at the Rockefeller Center, the development is a long overdue "correction."

"For a long time the work was overlooked but the work has been actually fantastic for decades," he said.

The massive Black Lives Matter protests that swept the United States and the world last year following the police murder of George Floyd have contributed to a reassessment that was already underway, experts and artists say.

Sherman Edmiston, president of New York's Essie Green Gallery, which has been promoting Black artists since 1979, says the breakthrough has happened in recent years, in part thanks to the emergence of prominent Black collectors.

- Jay-Z, Kanye -

Rapper and producer Swizz Beatz is considered a pioneer, while Sean Combs, Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams and Kanye West are also recognized as major collectors.

"It's all about culture. Hip Hop was a cultural phenomenon and they were early adopters and tastemakers," he told AFP.

Another contributing factor was the shift in the 1990s from art being a collectors' market to an investors' market.

As the supply of works by traditional artists, almost all white, dried up, investors turned to minority artists at attractive prices to boost their portfolios.

"That's when Black art began to really take off," said Edmiston.

Artists such as Basquiat, Marshall and Jacob Lawrence have, in their own way, opened a window into an element of American life that was missing from mainstream art -- the experience of being Black in the United States.

"A lot of the art that we're seeing today could not have happened without a group of artists that kind of broke through and sort of changed the dialogue around art," said Ana Maria Celis, head of 21st century evening sales at Christie's.

She considers 32-year-old Jordan Casteel as among the heirs of this movement, which is "challenging existing notions of what art should say or how it should be made."

"The art that is being made today by these artists are reflective of the times. They want to push forward conversations that might have been uncomfortable," said Celis.

The push to buy works by Black artists, resulting in a steady stream of records over the past three years, has seen prices go way above their initial estimates, a rare phenomenon at top auctions.

"There's a tendency along the lines of, 'If it's Black it's great,'" said Edmiston, adding that he favors a distinction between artists and the quality of their work.

He even thinks the market might be overheating. "At the same time I realize I could be way off, and most likely, I am," he said, smiling.

© 2021 AFP

SUNDAY SERMON III
Remove or alter your slavery monuments, churches are told

The Church of England is to review thousands of monuments in churches and cathedrals across the country that contain historical references to slavery and colonialism, with some expected to be removed.

© Photograph: Bristol Cathedral/PA A dedication to 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston is being removed from a window in Bristol Cathedral to be replaced with plain glass.

Guidance to be issued this week encourages the C of E’s 12,500 parishes and 42 cathedrals to scrutinise buildings and grounds for evidence of contested heritage, and consult local communities on what action to take.

Although decisions will be made at a local level, the guidance stresses that ignoring contested heritage is not an option. Among actions that may be taken are the removal, relocation or alteration of plaques and monuments, and the addition of contextual information. In some cases, there may be no change.

The guidance comes after Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, called for a review of the C of E’s built heritage following the Black Lives Matter protests last summer and the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol. “Some [statues and monuments] will have to come down,” Welby said at the time.

An anti-racism taskforce set up by the archbishops of Canterbury and York last month urged the C of E to take decisive steps to address the legacy of its involvement in the slave trade. It said: “We do not want to unconditionally celebrate or commemorate people who contributed to or benefited from the tragedy that was the slave trade.”

Action has already been taken in a number of places. Bristol Cathedral has removed a window dedication to Colston; St Margaret’s church in Rottingdean, Sussex, has removed two headstones in its graveyard which contained racial slurs; and St Peter’s in Dorchester has covered up a plaque commemorating a plantation owner’s role in suppressing a slave rebellion.

Becky Clark, the C of E’s director of churches and cathedrals, who produced the guidance, told the Observer: “Our church buildings and cathedrals are the most visible part of the C of E, a Christian presence in every community. The responsibility to ensure they include, welcome and provide safe spaces for all is a vitally important part of addressing the way historic racism and slavery still impacts people today.”

The guidance is likely to be controversial, both among those who call for all contested heritage to be removed, and those who say such heritage is an important part of the nation’s history.

But Clark said the guidance sought to “empower rather than shut down conversation”. Rather than being prescriptive, it was intended to steer parishes through the process of evaluating built heritage and determining what action to take.

“It doesn’t make political statements, except to say the history of racism and slavery is undeniable, as is the fact that racism and the legacy of slavery are still part of many people’s lives today. Responding to those in the right way is a Christian duty. Doing nothing is not an option. There has to be engagement with this.

“The job of local parishes is to figure out how this impacts our communities today. Are there people who feel this church is not for them because of the built heritage, and what can we do about it?”

As well as statues and monuments that “celebrate or valorise those involved in the slave trade”, there were also “simple memorials to somebody who was loved by their family”, she said.

At St Margaret’s Rottingdean, a Grade II listed 13th-century church on the Sussex coast, the gravestones of two music-hall singers who died in the 1960s have been removed following a consistory court judgment that their inscriptions contained words that were “deeply offensive”.

© Provided by The Guardian These gravestones have now been removed from the churchyard at St Margaret’s, Rottingdean, in East Sussex and will be recut to remove offensive language. Photograph: Jon Santa Cruz/Rex/Shutterstock

Although the flint-walled churchyard is the legal responsibility of the parish priest, the headstones are the property of the descendants of GH Elliott and Alice Banford, who wore blackface in their performances. A judgment in February by Mark Hill, chancellor of the diocese of Chichester, said the descendants had been traced and had agreed to the stones being recut to remove the “derogatory and racist” term.

© Provided by The Guardian The music hall singer GH Elliott who wore blackface and is buried in at St Margaret’s, Rottingdean. Photograph: John Pratt/Getty Images

Hill added: “Mindful of the public interest (and hostility in some parts) concerning this matter, it would be inappropriate to direct the immediate reinstatement of the headstones.” He suggested the work be completed within two years, although the time period could be extended.

At Bristol Cathedral, a dedication to the 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston has been covered and will be eventually replaced with plain glass. Additional information about Colston, the slave trade and C of E’s links to slavers will be provided. The cathedral is also carrying out a comprehensive audit of monuments and plaques with slave or colonial references.

The window was created in the Victorian era to memorialise Colston’s philanthropic efforts, said Mandy Ford, the cathedral’s dean. “Bristol Cathedral was fundamentally enlarged by Victorian philanthropists in the 1860s. Many of those people made their money through trading to Africa or India, and we have a number of memorials to families who were plantation owners.”

Ford, who was appointed a year ago, said there had been “two or three false starts” in dealing with the complexities of contested heritage. “This can’t be another one. Let’s not be mistaken – this is one element of the issues we have to face around institutional racism, the failure of the C of E to be the church of the people. This is part of a bigger picture about diversity and inclusion, about who feels welcome. We want to be a place where everybody feels they can come.”

A Dorchester church has covered a plaque commemorating an 18th-century slave owner pending its removal. The inscription on the plaque at St Peter’s church celebrates the role played by John Gordon, a plantation owner, in “quelling” a slave rebellion in which hundreds were killed.

A notice placed over the plaque says the memorial “commemorates actions and uses language which are totally unacceptable to us today”. The plaque is to be offered to a museum.