The White Pube

This week's text is an essay called: Boycott Zabludowicz. 

Since 2014, there has been a call to boycott the Zabludowicz Collection, a gallery in London that is owned and funded by Zabludowicz Art Trust, and its associated institutions: Daata Editions and Times Square Space. The Zabludowicz Art Trust is financially associated with companies that have dealt arms to Israel's military, invested in property in Occupied Palestine, and that provide maintenance and services to the Israeli Airforce.

In this essay, I tell you why the boycott exists, why it is important and impactful, I tell you how the Zabludowicz Collection goes about operating despite the boycott, and then I explain some nitty-gritty practicalities about the boycott as #praxis. If you’re ready to dismiss this because you already know where you stand: just hear me out. I’ll even run you through both sides.

If you want to sign the BDZ boycott, and pledge to refuse your work, labour and the sale of your artwork to the Zabludowicz Art Trust, or visit any of its institutions, you can do so via this form.

For more information, please visit the BDZ website.

You can read the text version of this essay here: thewhitepube.com/bdz where you'll be able to find all the important links mentioned in the text. 

Normally, at the bottom of each text, we have a link to our Patreon. But if after this text, please consider donating the money you'd give to us  directly to MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians).

We’re so pleased to announce, the 10th recipient of the Writers Grant has been given to Natalie Dunning. This feels like a really special and emotional moment, not just because this is the 10th grant to go out(!), but because I feel such an affinity with Natalie’s writing. Her text ‘Why I sometimes like my chronic pain’ made me reflect on my relationship with long covid — something I am struggling with, but something that means I no longer sweat the small stuff precisely because of that struggle. Another text, ‘Hiking the uncanny valleys of Red Dead Redemption 2,’ made me fall in love all over again with the vast experiences we can have in video game spaces; and how vital and wonderful access to adventure can feel in a sick body. She writes through these subjects with such clarity - her tone is raw and optimistic, and basically I have been thinking about her texts ever since she sent them our way. We’re so glad we can support Natalie through this grant, and we hope you find a similar joy in her work too.

Bio:

Natalie Dunning is a writer and designer from Manchester. Art school led her to work in bars, schools and temp agencies. A health scare led her to write about the things that she cares about; health, food and culture. Her recent work has focused on alternative perspectives of chronic pain, gaming and pain management. She is currently writing about the joys of chicken splits, dystopian wellness cafes and cooking with fire. 

Links below if you want to read her work, listen to it, or follow Natalie online:

You can find out more about the Writers Grant here

this week's text is a book review (!!!) of Mieko Kawakami's Breasts and Eggs! 

read the text here

This week I've written about The Last of Us Part II and doing things in video games you don't want to do. I don't know if this is necessarily a review, it's more just a text about the thing. Trying out something newwww. As always, the written version of this is on our website: thewhitepube.com/the-last-of-us & thank you very much for listening.

This week's text is a review! of Walter Price's show, Pearl Lines at Camden Art Centre. This is the first show I've seen in person since last Autumn, and honestly i spent the last half of this text trying to figure out why galleries feel weird now. 

You can read the text here, and peep some pics of it too. enjoy the rest of ur sunday n the long weekend! 

We’re so pleased to announce, the 9th recipient of the Writers Grant has been given to Natalie Tan. Natalie has a bi-weekly newsletter called Simmer Down, that reflects on food and memory, and she sent us some back issues (links below). After we started the /food page on our website last year, we've been hoping to be able to support somebody else's writing around the subject & then Natalie’s work came along. It is so sensitive, descriptive, atmospheric and personable. The writing feels all visibly based in the political and the historical too, which we found incredible value and energy in. It's really enjoyable writing to read, as both writers and wannabe food-eggheads ourselves. So we are really excited to be able to support Natalie and Simmer Down, and we hope you find the same joy in her work

Bio:

Natalie Tan is a cultural practitioner and writer based in London. Expressed with an unbridled passion influenced by the forever-classic emo tracks of the 2000s, she examines maladaptive wistfulness, traditions formed from migration, and the impact of colonialism on Hong Kong and its diaspora. She is the author of Simmer Down, an ongoing, bi-weekly reflection on food and memory, and is currently writing her first play on family, loss, and Hong Kong as part of Bush Theatre’s West London Playwrights’ Group. Her work has been included in diaCRITICS, Radio Slumber, and the Breakfast B Reading Series.

Links below if you want to read her work, listen to it, or follow Natalie online:

You can find out more about the Writers Grant here

A bit of a different one this week: I have written about the podcast I fall asleep to every night. It's Episode #328 of 'My Brother, My Brother and Me,' titled 'The Anxiety-Free Cruise.' I write about sleep, imagination, tabletop games, and joy. 

You can find the written version of this on thewhitepube.com/mbmbam

Thank you to the Patreon gang for your ongoing support and love.

This week's text is a review!

I'll be chatting about Tales from the Silk Road, a cluster of films curated by Baesianz, and hosted on Nowness Asia.  

At the time of writing, there are 3 films up: Inside Out, by Sarah Khan / Wake Island: Last Ruins, directed by Mohamad Abdouni / Reality Fragment 160921, by Qigemu.

While i talk about the films briefly, this is more a text to ease back in to talking about institutions, and how they affect the way we articulate a new and tentative collective identity. 

Read the full text here.

At 7.30 on Wednesdays, a Labrador Club meets up on the main field. If I time it right, which I usually do, on Wednesday mornings I run through a sea of labradors; fat, young, long haired, golden blonde, chocolate, black, grey around the whiskers. They sniff up at me, follow me up the hill and round the fields. Their ears flap as they gallop alongside me, bodies lurching in time with the slap of my feet hitting the tarmac.

This week’s text is a cute lil bit of writing about bodies, the park, and the weirdness that is being born n bred in London. And running too, it's also about running. Read the full text here. 

This week's review is Fall Guys, the 2020 platform battle royale that went viral last summer. It's taken me a long time to write about it but I'm glad I waited til now! I won my first game 2 days ago and it clicked the review into place -- I use this text to talk about my absolute deep love of obstacle courses, Takeshi's Castle, and what it's like to win a survival of the fittest game as a sick person.

You can find the written version of this on thewhitepube.com/fall-guys 

:)