HRM Magazine

Social media participation is fast becoming an essential tool in business, but as its proliferation becomes ever more evident, can HR players keep up with this ever-expanding trend? Lorna Davies spoke to experts from Capgemini, Deloitte and Yackstar to find out whether HR is ready to leave behind its conventional cocoon and spread its social media wings.

http://www.yackstar.com/social-media.pdf

An article for HRM US Magazine ( http://www.hrmreport.com )

Bad Boy of the Renaissance

He’s always been known as a tempestuous, highly strung, complex and sometimes violent, passionate yet brilliant artist. Caravaggio’s dark, dramatic, realistic, strikingly modern works have struck chords with contemporary audiences the world over. But now it is his criminal record that’s causing more controversy than Pete Doherty on a Friday night in Camden or Ricky Gervais…anywhere in America.

An exhibition of documents at Rome’s State Archives shines a light on the turbulent life of the artist at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. Michelagnolo da Caravaggio’s escapades – including frequent brawls, one of which brought him a death sentence from Pope Paul V – are described in the hand written police records, all bound together in heavy tomes and carefully preserved in this amazing repository of Rome’s history during the Renaissance and after.

Old ‘Vaggio was a naughty one, frequently getting into fights. He brushed with the law after throwing a plate of cooked artichokes in the face of a waiter in a tavern – all very Naomi Campbell. His landlady was not a huge fan either. He made a hole in the ceiling of his rented studio – so that his paintings would fit inside (obviously!). His landlady sued, so he and a friend (logically) pelted her window with stones.

These brilliant new tales are all documented with eyewitness accounts in this collection of ageing parchments.

Tweet

Anish Kapoor: Turning the World Upside Down

I came across a unexpected surprise this weekend whilst taking a sunlit walk around Kensington Gardens after a spot of shopping on the nearby highstreet(only place I can bear to go on a Saturday). The Royal Parks and the Serpentine Gallery have put on a large exhibition of outdoor scultptures by acclaimed London-based artist Anish Kapoor.

The free exhibition showcases some stunning recent works never seen before in London.

The first one we came across was Sky Mirror (2006) – a stainless steel, huge circular reflective sculpture. Placed in front of The Longwater (near Lancaster Gate tube), the mirrored sculpture produces a dwarfed reflection of yourself and other visitors – similar to his works at the Royal Academy exhibition but on a maximised scale and the natural setting adding an entirely new perspective.

See:(http://culturecocktails.blogspot.com/2010/06/anish-kapoor-at-royal-academy-beautiful.html)

The rest of the sculptures follow a similar large scale highly reflective, curved mirror surface format – creating illusionary distortions of the much loved surroundings, contrasting and reflecting the ever changing colours and wildlife of Kensington Gardens.