Monday, July 20, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

9

The statement
s in the sweater

"Is that a horcrux in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"
Half- decent'Prie'

By BRIGID KILCOIN
DailyArts Writer
State Street passersby peering
through the glass windows of the
University of Michigan Museum
of Art's Frankel Wing will be
struck by the sight of knit sweat-
ers emblazoned with bold slogans,
seemingly suspended in midair.
The exhibit, which is free to the
public and lasts until Oct. 11, is a
melding of two separate projects
by California-based artist Lisa
Anne Auerbach, best known for
her inventive work in the textile
arena. Her hand-knit sweaters
are the focal point of the exhibit,

which is also supplemented by
her photographs of free-standing
small businesses.
"I'm interested in the sweater as
a medium for language," Auerbach
wrote in an e-mail interview. "Text
has a different resonance when it
is literally part of the fabric."
Auerbach's sweaters deal with
current political and cultural
issues, essentially making wear-
able statements about American
culture and the world at large.
"Art explores viewpoints, ideas
and alternative realities, and in
that way, it can certainly. affect
change," Auerbach wrote. "I do
See AUERBACH, Page 10

Latest 'Potter'
sacrifices accuracy
for angsty drama
By EMILY BOUDREAU
Daily Arts Writer
All the wand waving, spell cast-
ing and potion
brewing in *
"Harry Pot-
ter and the H
Half-Blood Hary Potter
Prince" does and the Half-
little to bewitch Blood Prince
its audience.
Although supe- At Quality16
rior to most of and Showcase
the "Harry Pot- Watter Bros.
ter" movies, the
sixth effort still
doesn't match the original charm of

the book on which it's based.
In "Half-Blood Prince," Harry
Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione
Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron
Weasley (Rupert Grint), the central
cast of the past five "Harry Potter"
movies, encounter a situation where
there is no safe place in the wizard-
ing or muggle world. Not even the
seemingly impervious Hogwarts is
free from the danger that a restored
Lord Voldemort presents.
The constant fear renders this
film much darker than its predeces-
sors. Hogwarts loses its innocent feel
under clouds of the Dark Mark, and
director David Yates ("Harry Potter
and the Order of the Phoenix") steps
up to present stunningscenes of vio-
lence including the opening shot of a
collapsing bridge and, later, (spoiler
alert!) Albus Dumbledore's (Michael
Gambon, "The Good Shepherd")
death. Though the idea of a world of

witchcraft and wizardry is certainly
whimsical, Yates does a nice job of
presenting a world that, despite its
magic, can still be touched by trag-
edy.
Just as good forces battle with
evil, the dark times battle against
light-hearted ones. Harry, Ron
and Hermoine all find themselves
with romantic aspirations. But the
romance is forced and the film sug-
gests, without much subtlety,that the
characters are all grown-up. At one
point Dumbledore makes a peculiar
comment to Harry about his need
to shave. It's the physical, off-screen
development of the actors that sug-
gests maturation, but the characters
have hardly changed in personality
from the first movie.
While it's a shame that character
development is sacrificed for Quid-
ditch and snugging, there are some
See POTTER, Page 10

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