Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive manner that impairs the normal clearance of mucus from the lungs, which facilitates the colonization and infection of the lungs by bacteria, notably Staphylococcus aureus. CF is a rare genetic disorder that affects mostly the lungs, but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and intestine. The hallmark feature of CF is the accumulation of thick mucus in different organs. Long-term issues include difficulty breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections. Other signs and symptoms may include sinus infections, poor growth, fatty stool, clubbing of the fingers and toes, and infertility in most males. Different people may have different degrees of symptoms.
Marina Abramović is a Serbian conceptual and performance artist. Her work explores body art, endurance art, the relationship between the performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. Being active for over four decades, Abramović refers to herself as the "grandmother of performance art". She pioneered a new notion of identity by bringing in the participation of observers, focusing on "confronting pain, blood, and physical limits of the body". In 2007, she founded the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI), a non-profit foundation for performance art.
Since the beginning of Dadaism in the Cabaret Voltaire, Zürich in 1916, many artists have experimented with extreme performance art as a critique of contemporary consumer culture. Some have used bodily fluids such as blood, faeces and urine. Other times they perform self-mutilation. Simulated (artificial) blood has also been used. In the 1960s and 1970s extreme performance was elevated to a movement with the Viennese actionists. In recent times there has been a resurgence in extreme performance as a response to the increasing alienation some artists feel in the face of today's technological advances.
Cock and ball torture (CBT) is a sexual activity involving the application of pain or constriction to the male genitals. This may involve directly painful activities, such as genital piercing, wax play, genital spanking, squeezing, ball-busting, genital flogging, urethral play, tickle torture, erotic electrostimulation, kneeing, or kicking. The recipient of such activities may receive direct physical pleasure via masochism, emotional pleasure through erotic humiliation, or knowledge that the play is pleasing to a sadistic dominant. Many of these practices carry significant health risks.
Michael Kelley was an American artist whose work involved found objects, textile banners, drawings, assemblage, collage, performance, photography, sound and video. He also worked on curatorial projects; collaborated with many other artists and musicians; and left a formidable body of critical and creative writing. He often worked collaboratively and had produced projects with artists Paul McCarthy, Tony Oursler, and John Miller. Writing in The New York Times, in 2012, Holland Cotter described the artist as "one of the most influential American artists of the past quarter century and a pungent commentator on American class, popular culture and youthful rebellion."
Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist is a 1997 documentary film directed by Kirby Dick about Bob Flanagan, a Los Angeles writer, poet, performance artist, comic, and BDSM celebrity, who had and later died of cystic fibrosis. The film premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded a Special Jury Prize.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is an American biopharmaceutical company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was one of the first biotech firms to use an explicit strategy of rational drug design rather than combinatorial chemistry. It maintains headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, and three research facilities, in San Diego, California, and Milton Park, Oxfordshire, England.
The 23rd Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best in film for 1997, were voted on in December 1997.
Dody Jane Dorn is an American film and sound editor. She is best known for working with director Christopher Nolan on several films including Memento (2000), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.
Michael Smith is an American artist known for his performance, video and installation works. He emerged in the mid-1970s at a time when performance and narrative-based art was beginning to claim space in contemporary art. Included among the Pictures Generation artists, he also appropriated pop culture, using television conventions rather than tropes from static media. Since 1979, much of Smith's work has centered on an Everyman character, "Mike," that he has portrayed in various domestic, entrepreneurial and artistic endeavors. Writers have described his videos and immersive installations as "poker-faced parodies" that sit on the edge between art and entertainment, examining ideas, cultural shifts and absurdities involving the American dream, consumerism, the art world, and aging. Village Voice critic Jerry Saltz called Smith "a consummate explorer of the land of the loser … limning a fine line between reality and satire [in] a genre sometimes called installation verité."
BDSM is a frequent theme in culture and media, including in books, films, video games, television, music, magazines, public performances and online media.
Sexuality and disability is a topic regarding the sexual behavior and practices of people with disabilities. Like the general population, these individuals exhibit a wide range of sexual desires and adopt diverse methods of expressing their sexuality. It is a widespread concern, however, that many people with disabilities do not receive comprehensive sex education, which could otherwise positively contribute to their sexual lives. This stems from the idea that people with disabilities are asexual in nature and are not sexually active. Although some people with disabilities identify as asexual, generalizing this label to all such individuals is a misconception. Many people with disabilities lack rights and privileges that would enable them to have intimacy and relationships. When it comes to sexuality and disability there is a sexual discourse that surrounds it. The intersection of sexuality and disability is often associated with victimization, abuse, and purity, although having a disability does not change someone's sexuality, nor does it change their desire to express it.
Howard Fried is an American conceptual artist who became known in the 1970s for his pioneering work in video art, performance art, and installation art.
Eva Markvoort was a woman from New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada who died from cystic fibrosis at the age of 25. She blogged about her life, family and experiences, including undergoing a lung transplant and her subsequent transplant rejection, in her blog "65_Redroses," which is also the name of a documentary film about her, 65 Redroses.
The 13th Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best in independent filmmaking for 1997, were announced on March 21, 1998. It was hosted by John Turturro.
Sheree Rose is an American photographer and performance artist. She is best known for her collaborative work with performance artist Bob Flanagan, and her photography documenting a wide range of Los Angeles subcultures, especially in relation to BDSM and body modification.
Jeanelle Mastema is a Mexican American experimental body and performance artist from Boyle Heights, California. Mastema incorporates ritual into her work through play piercing, hook suspensions, live magick and sacred objects. She performs internationally, solo and in groups, often acting as a medium for group intentions or a symbolic altar for channeling energy. Through performance, Mastema enters into a meditative head space to disconnect from mundane consciousness. Her major influences include: Butoh, Kenneth Anger, Surrealism, Psychedelic Art, the Viena Actionists, Kembra Pfaher, Leonora Carrington and Alejandro Jodorowsky. She also works as the West Coast sales manager for an adult novelty toy store. She also worked at the Pleasure Chest for many years and is featured in a film called, Thank You Come Again, based on working there.
Martin O’Brien is a contemporary artist who lives and works in London, U.K.
