White bodies spread out on Le Mur

Jérôme Mesnager's white silhouettes, now 28 years old, wish you a happy 2011.

Le M.U.R. #88 - Jérôme Mesnager - January 22/2011


Happy Hour on la place verte around the new collage.
[GillesGallois pics]
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2011 in Tunisia - the Great Expectations

While freedom is a right, it still requires endless human sacrifices.

On December 17, 2010, an unemployed Tunisian man, Mohamed
Bouazizi, aged 26, from Sidi Bouzid, in southern Tunisia, set himself
on fire to protest against joblessness, sparking a popular uprising
against the government. Two more suicides followed, spurring protests
across several other Tunisian cities. The social movement - initiated
by lawyers, journalists, and labor unions - demanded more work opportunities and reform
of the government of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. [Global Voices on Line...]
15 Jan - Saudi Arabia: Fleeing, Tunisian Ex-President Ben Ali Lands in KSA
16 Jan - Arab World: After Tunisia, Who's Next?
16 Jan - Tunisia: Fears of Insecurity Overshadow Joys of Freedom
19 Jan - Middle East: A Closer Look at Tunisia's Uprising
21 Jan - Algeria: Algerians salute the courage of the Tunisian people
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Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia - Mohamed Bouazizi spent his whole life on a
dusty, narrow street here, in a tiny, three-room house with a concrete
patio where his mother hung the laundry and the red chilis to dry.
By the time Mr. Bouazizi was 26, his work as a fruit vendor had earned
him just enough money to feed his mother, uncle and five brothers and
sisters at home. He dreamed about owning a van. [The NY Times...]
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What drives an ordinary man to burn himself to death?
Yousef al-Qaradawi, a prominent and influential Egyptian cleric who lives in Qatar and
has a TV show on Al Jazeera, spoke sympathetically about Mr. Bouazizi and others
who attempted suicide, saying that they were driven to it by social injustice and that
the responsibility for their deaths lay with the rulers of their countries. [The NY Times...]

- Analysts say several self-immolation cases or attempted acts in Egypt, now numbering
more than a dozen, seem to be driven by broadly similar complaints to those that drove
Tunisians to the streets and toppled their president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. [Reuters...]
- A man has died after setting himself on fire in Saudi Arabia's south-western region of
Jizan, officials have said.
- In Mauritania, a man who set himself on fire also died in hospital on Saturday. [BBC...]
- In Algeria, several towns including the capital experienced days of rioting, provoked by
a jump in food prices. Two people died and hundreds were injured during clashes between
rioters and police, officials said. At least four men set themselves on fire in provincial towns
in the past week. [Reuters...]
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Mr. Bouazizi may yet provoke more fiery deaths across the Middle East
if the revolution he helped spark is seen as successful.

A new Street Art gallery in Oberkampf

Closed and forgotten for ten years, an old grocery store in rue Oberkampf
reopens today as a gallery dedicated to street art...



[photo: Galerie 154]
The honour of the first exhibition goes to Swen Simon.
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Studio 21bis poster on le Mur...

Le M.U.R. # 87 - Studio 21bis - January 6/2011

Romain Demongeot
& Laurent Lacotte
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Cærostris darwini, special guest on 1st of January 2011

The Darwin bark* spider, Araneidæ: Cærostris darwini, was recently discovered
in Madagascar by two enthomologists of the Smithsonian
National Museum of Natural History - Washington.

Females can cast giant and very strong webs across
streams, creeks and lakes, suspending the orb directly
above the water on anchor threads that can span up
to 25 m.

[Photo by Matjaz Kuntner]

With such a huge hunting ground, these spiders are never lacking for food.

[Photo by Ingi Agnarsson]

Like other orbweaver spiders, Caerostris displays extreme sexual size dimorphism
with large females and small males, which is manifested
in enigmatic sexual behaviors such as mate guarding,
male-male aggressiveness, genital mutilation, mate
plugging, and self castration.
The two enthomologists also pointed out the biology and
web architecture of the new riverine Cærostris species
due to it combining extraordinary web architecture with
exceptional silk mechanical properties [TechNews].

*[their name stems from the habits of at least some species to mimic dead bark, twigs or thorns].
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Click on > Journal of Arachnology to read more.