October 23, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Leo Villareal: Hive, Cosmos, & Buckyball

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Well, artist Leo Villareal (previously here) has certainly been busy these past few months with two of his public art installations debuting in NYC and another one in upstate NY at Cornell University. Last month his Hive installation — a series of LED tubes that playfully reference games, in particular John Conway’s Game of Life, the best known cellular automata program — was unveiled at the Bleecker Street transfer station. Hanging from the ceiling, the illuminated hexagonal honeycomb has bright colored lights moving across the sculpture, exploring the brain’s compulsion to recognize patterns and make sense of them.

Up at Cornell University, Villareal’s installation titled Cosmos was just debuted last night at the I.M.Pei-designed Johnson Museum. The constantly changing work is composed of nearly 12,000 energy-efficient LEDs on a grid hanging from the ceiling of the museum’s Mallin Sculpture Court. Software designed by the artist and his team will generate new patterns throughout the life of the installation. The work was named Cosmos in honor of Carl Sagan whom Villareal admired and who spent a lot of time at Cornell.

Last, but certainly not least, the Buckyball, a Buckminster Fuller-inspired installation of a geodesic sphere within another geodesic sphere will light up Madison Square Park in NYC starting this Thursday, October 25th through February 1st, though some have already caught glimpses as the artist set up the work this past week. Part art, part science & technology, part structural engineering, all three installations are sure to appeal to most everyone.

Here’s a preview of the Buckyball in action as well as the Hive below that:

Photos: MTA; Lindsay France/Cornell; Madison Square Park Conservancy; artinfo; and inspir3d

October 23, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Blps Project! Richard Artschwager

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Here’s another fun art-around-town event happening in NYC starting this week. In conjunction with the Whitney Museum and their retrospective Richard Artschwager! which opens this Thursday, High Line Art is installing a series of blps in various locations on and around the High Line. The blps were introduced by Artschwager (who is now 88) in the late 60s; the name was coined by the artist and is pronounced “blip”. This is not the first time that blps will be adorning NYC, or any other urban landscape for that matter. Artschwager’s black and white caspule-shaped blps — ranging in size from 1 to 5 feet high — have been part of many public interventions over the decades with the purpose of highlighting and drawing people’s attention to architecture and surfaces that usually go unnoticed.

So far, High Line Art has installed a large blp on a smokestack (see top 5 photos), one of their glass elevators (6th photo from top), and one of the glass windows that overlook the street from the High Line (bottom), in addition to others at the Standard Hotel and at least one other uptown by the Whitney. Many more are planned to go up, so keep an eye out. Should be fun to find them all.

And if you’d like to own your own blp, you can purchase one here.

Photos courtesy of High Line Art; Whitney Museum; Steven Holl Architects; artnet; db-art; and baeditions.

via @HighLineArtnyc

October 22, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Inflatable Trampoline Bridge in Paris: AZC

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This is already making the rounds and likely to be everywhere soon, but it’s just too fun not to post about, especially since we do like a unique bridge. Paris-based architecture firm Atelier Zündel Cristea (AZC) proposed the above bridge in response to a competition brief for A Bridge in Paris. With enough bridges already in existence over the river Seine to facilitate the flow of both vehicular and pedestrian traffic, AZC thought it would be fun to offer a more playful way to get from La Rive Gauche to La Rive Droite and vice versa: an inflatable bridge equipped with giant trampolines, allowing visitors to bounce across the river. Each section measures 30 meters in diameter with a trampoline mesh stretched in the center. Held together by cord and inflated with air, the bridge forms three subtle arches.

Though AZC’s design received third prize in the competition, I have a feeling that it will become a reality via someone, somewhere, even if only as a temporary structure. It’s just too great not to.

via designboom and cool hunter

October 19, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 10/19

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Free and cheap things to do this weekend (10/19 to 10/21) in NYC. Cultural events in art, architecture, music, film, dance, theater, design, food and fun.

1. Design/Technology/Workshop – Making Things Possible: hands-on workshops and demos in 3D Printing (Makerbot plus more), metal lathes, and scrap-metal constructions at Story in Chelsea in conjunction with GEGarages. All weekend, check schedule for workshops and times. FREE

2. Architecture – Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park exhibition opening (see post), Fri 10/19 at AIA Center from 6 to 8pm. FREE

3. Walking Tours/Design – WalkaboutNYC’s Tour of Creative Agencies, Fri 10/19, 12 to 6pm. FREE with RSVP. Check schedule. Some are sold out others still available.

4. Art – Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone at MoMA through 1/28, nbd that we’re related to, and big fans of, one of the people who worked on the exhibit. Free Fridays 4 to 8pm.

5. Music – John Wesley Harding’s Cabinet of Wonders, Stephin Merritt, Aaron Neville, Nick Hornby, just to name a few. Fri 10/19 at 8pm. $25 to $35. Just a few seats left, last I checked, so hurry.

6. Architecture/Design/Film – The Architecture & Design Film Festival at Tribeca Cinemas. All weekend. Check schedule for films and times. Tkts $14/$11 for AIA members.

7. Music – Ponderosa and Neighbors Live, Fri 10/19, 6pm & 8pm, respectively at the Apple Soho Store. FREE

8. Art/Improv/Comedy – ARTPROV is a unique hilarious and entertaining show that brings together different artistic mediums to inspire each other and create new works of art together. Fri 10/19 at 9:30pm at The Tank. $7 to $20.

9. Art/Fun – BYOB (see post) at The Autumn Bowl, Fri 10/19. Artists bring their own laptops or slide projector of work. $5 before 10pm. $10 after. Free with beamer.

10. Theater – Doubt at Gloria Maddox Theater W. 26th St., Fri 10/19 & Sat 10/20, through 11/18. Check for times: $20

11. Music – CMJ Party Day at Pianos, Sat 10/20, 12pm. Bands include The Orwells, Born Ruffians, Ava Luna and more. $3 Bloody Marys. FREE entry. 21+

12. Food/Fun – Social Soup Experiment at the High Line. Communal style meal on the High Line. Last year was lots of fun! Gave tickets away this year for a visit to my daughters, which beats soup any day. Sold out online, but last year there were tickets available at the event. Sat 10/20, 12pm at the 14th St. $7.

13. Theater/Reading – R.A.W. Reading Series and the presentation of Lindsay Joy-Murphy’s Rise, Fall by LabRats Theater Co. Sat 10/20, 8pm in Ft. Greene. $5.

14. Dance – Monica Bill Barnes & Company at Skirball Center with Ira Glass. Sat 10/20 at 8pm & Sun 10/21 at 3pm. $26

15. Comedy – Comedy Outliers: Stand-up Comedy Show, Sat 10/20 at 7pm. Lilly O’Briens. Murray St. FREE (Get there early for seats!)

16. Art/Lecture/Food/Music/Performance – Fall Open House and Sunday Sessions, Sun 10/21, 12 to 6pm at PS1 in LIC. $10.

17. Graphic Design/Lecture – The Public Side of Paula Scher the Pentagram partner talks about her 18 yr collaboration with the Public Theater‬ Sun 10/21, 2:30pm at the Public. Call 212-967-7555 for tkts. FREE

18. Food – 3rd Annual Havemeyer Sugar Sweets Festival, Sun 10/21, 10am to 4pm in Williamsburg to benefit the City Requilary. FREE

Check back for updates and take a look at our previous Culture on the Cheap posts for ongoing suggestions. Have fun!

UPDATES:

Art – High Line Open Studios Chelsea, All weekend, 12pm to 6pm. FREE

Food – The Brooklyn Curry Experiment: Sample around 20 of the best curry dishes Brooklyn has to offer plus every ticket entitles you to one free Brooklyn Brewery beer. Sun 10/21, 1 to 4pm at Public Assembly in Williamsburg. $15.

Readings – Drinking Diaries: Women Serve Their Stories. Sun 10/21 at 7pm. FREE

Music – The Sea and Cake / Matthew Friedberger. Sun 10/21 at doors at 7:30, show 8:30. $15 to $18. 21+

October 18, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Four Freedoms Park: Louis Kahn

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I haven’t been to Roosevelt Island in several years, and the times I’ve been were usually to pick up my daughters from their friends’ homes when they were younger. But now, starting next week (and for a select few, even this weekend) there’ll be another reason to head on over to the sliver of an island via tram or train. The Four Freedoms Park—a memorial to Franklin D. Roosevelt designed by the architect Louis Kahn before his death in 1974—is scheduled to open to the public on October 24th. Looking at the photos, I think it’s safe to say that there is nothing even remotely close to this park’s design in NYC to date and it’s especially exciting that this is the first and only Kahn work in the city. (If you are not familiar with Louis Kahn’s work, I highly recommend watching the documentary My Architect by Kahn’s son which is a lovely film on both an architectural and emotional level.)

Michael Kimmelman from the New York Times has previewed the park and calls it “…pure abstract art, a virtual walk-in sculpture that does more than honor the 32nd president…” Apparently there are polished inch-wide gaps between the huge blocks of granite that play with the natural light creating reflective slits that, through them, enhance the already spectacular views.

I’m sold, and love that NYC keeps making the most of its many beautiful waterfronts. And the Four Freedoms? You can read what they are in the extract from FDR’s 1941 speech engraved in the granite slab in the bottom photo—an appropriately peaceful sentiment that matches its surroundings.

You can read the rest of Mr. Kimmelman’s article here and you can see more photos here.

Photos: Robert Wright/NYTimes; Paul Warchol; and Yuka Yoneda/Inhabitat

October 15, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Breathing House/La Maison Respire

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With the premise of functional habitation wherein houses are set up by way of a pre-determined relationship between space and occupant, artist Jean-Pascal Flavien has created several houses—the viewer in Rio; no drama house in Berlin; and two persons house in Sao Paulo—and now his breathing house, la maison respire, in the Parc Saint Léger in France. On the one hand an exhibition, the project is experienced in three stages: before, during, and after. Before: the artist lives in the house defining the relationship to the exhibit space. During: the artist invites people close to him to live in the house for a few days, leaving behind a testimonial of their experience in the form of a document. After: all the contributions are collected as a publication and considered a constitutive part of his work practice.

I find the whole conceptual aspect interesting, but I have to admit that what drew me to the project was the house itself, with its sliding panels and coordinating furniture.

You can read more about Jean-Pascal Flavien’s work here.

Photos courtesy of the artist and Galerie Catherine Bastide.

via galleristny

October 12, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 10/12

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Our picks for free and cheap things to do this weekend (10/12 to 10/14) in NYC. Cultural events in art, architecture, music, dance, theater, design, food and fun.

1. Music – It’s a little soon to think about the holidays but if you want to get tickets for Sufjan Stevens concert SurfJohn Stevens Christmas Sing-a-Long on 12/21 and 12/22 tickets were scheduled to go on sale Fri 10/12 at 12pm for $20 here. (Not sure this is still the case, but worth checking.)

2. Art/Photography – Faking It: Manipulated Photography before Photoshop at the Metropolitan Museum. All weekend and through 1/27. Pay-what-you-wish.

3. Art – Alexandra Spaulding’s percOlating sculptures downstairs and Jenna Mazza’s wonderful paintings of books upstairs at Stephan Stoyanov Gallery on Orchard St. All weekend. Noon to 6pm. FREE

Also in Art – Brian Tolle’s (previously here) timely exhibit Commander in Chief at CRB Gallery in Chelsea. Fri 10/12 and Sat 10/13 through 11/10. FREE

4. Film – Debut screening of “Sheer,” directed by Ruben Mazzoleni at reBar in Dumbo. Fri 10/12, 6:45 or 9:30. $9. Tkts here.

5. Talk/Film – Meet the filmmaker of “Hyde Park on Hudson” Fri 10/12 at the Apple Store Soho. 6pm FREE

Also at the Apple Store: Coheed and Cambria. Sat 10/14 at 7pm. FREE

6. Talk/Science/Performance –Splendors and Miseries of (Un)conscious thoughts: A story of psychology, neuroscience and live performance. French neuroscientist Lionel Naccache at New York Live Arts. Fri 10/12 at 7:30pm. FREE with RSVP.

7. Music – Doveman at Le Poisson Rouge. Fri 10/12 at 7pm. $15.

8. Theater/Performance – Brooklyn Bred: Performance Art with Jennifer Miller at BAM. Fri 10/12 at 7:30pm. $20.

9. Music/Fun –Losers Lounge tribute to Dusty Springfield at Joe’s Pub. Fri 10/12 and Sat 10/13. $25

10. Art – Gowanus Open Studios at Brooklyn Art Space. Sat 10/13 and Sun 10/14. 12 to 6pm. FREE

Also in Gowanus: Warehouse of Horrors Gowanus explores the seedy underbelly of 1970’s Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Lyceum, Fri 10/12 and Sat 10/13, $20 tickets include three curated cocktails per person.

11. Art/Music/Light – Whispers at The Autumn Bowl: artists working in experimental, dance, pop, new music, and sound art with visual artists illuminating new connections and presenting vibrant explorations of sound in an intimate setting. Fri 10/12 and Sat 10/13 at 8pm. Greenpoint. $10 tickets.

12. Theater/Music/Fun/Food – Public Theater Block Party, Sat 10/13, noon to 5pm. FREE

13. Food/Talk – Chefs Mario Batali, Tom Colicchio, and Magnus Nilsson talk about the Future of Restaurants at the Bumble & Bumble Theater. Sat 10/12, 11am to 12pm. $20.

14. Art/Interactive – Stillspotting/Improv Everywhere event Audiogram. An Mp3 Audio Adventure in the Bronx. Sat 10/13 and Sun 10/14. Multiple times. Check-in at Bronx Museum of the Arts $12.

15. Fun – Fluff’s Annual NYC Big Wheel Race in Central park. Sat 10/13 from 3-5pm, FREE

16. Music/Art/Fashion – BowieBall pays homage to the definitive rock icon: David Bowie, in an anything-goes charity extravaganza bringing together the best in music, art, fashion, and entertainment. Sat 10/13 at 10:30pm. $20 in advance. $25 at door with RSVP or costume.

17. Walking Tour/Architecture – Downtown Brooklyn’s New Livability Tour. Sun 10/14 at 11am. $20

18. Music – Sunday Night Live Music Series in the lobby of the Ace Hotel. Sun 10/14 at 10pm. FREE

Also, in Architecture: Landscape Architecture Design Speed Dating (aka Portfolio Reviews) & Open House Brunch at the Van Alen Institute. Sat 10/13, 12 to 2pm. FREE with RSVP.

UPDATES:
Music – 50th Birthday Celebration of the American Symphony Orchestra. Tickets on sale now for Friday 10/26 concert at 1962 prices of $1.50 to $7.00.

Film/Music/Food – Minor/Major: A TV on the Radio Tour Documentary, Sat 10/13 at 7pm at 3rdWard’s Moviehouse. Empanadas included. $5 suggestion. RSVP.

Film – Red Hook International Film & Video Festival, Sat 10/13 & Sun 10/14, 1 to 6pm. Schedule here. FREE

Art/Street Art – Inaugural street art auction preview/exhibit at Doyle New York (175 E. 87th St.) Sun 10/14, noon to 5pm, (even if you don’t go, check out the work online.) FREE

Food/Culture – Japan Block Fair on the UWS. Food vendors, Japanese merchants and a Ramen contest. Sun 10/14, 11am to 6pm. FREE

Check back for updates and take a look at our previous Culture on the Cheap posts for ongoing suggestions. Enjoy the weekend.

October 11, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

The Public Theater & Shakespeare Machine

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I signed up to see Ben Rubin present his Shakespeare Machine (previously here) at the newly renovated Public Theater last night and was surprised by a number of things: the beautiful lobby; the impressive and perfectly displayed multimedia sculpture in the center; the spectacular collage of Paula Scher-designed Public Theater posters on the wall behind the ticket booths (I’ve been wanting to do something like this at home forever); all this with an amazing party including a open bar and tasty food, to boot!

The Public has created what they describe as a “welcoming piazza” with extended steps out front that lure you in to the new lobby. The bar at the entrance is very striking with the chandelier-like Shakespeare Machine above it. And, in Pentragram partner Paula Scher’s signature style, it’s a typography lover’s delight. The bar, the information booth, the archways, the staff t-shirts all play with the Public’s chunky variants on the Akzidenz Grotesk typeface. Talking with someone at the party, I learned that the sunken type on the arches was particularly challenging. The asymmetric positioning of the signage type adds to the uplifting quality of it all.

Oh, and we can’t forget the Shakespeare Machine, which was the main reason for my visit. A couple of technical glitches in the beginning were quickly ironed out and the sculpture played with the Shakespeare text as humorously and cleverly as the space that surrounds it. Close to a million words are shuffled by statistician Mark Hansen’s algorithms that choreograph the text into situations such as a series of “To be or’s” that are followed by unexpected, alternative, and smile-inducing, Shakespearean text rather than the expected “not to be” which also makes an appearance later. The cycle runs roughly 5 to 10 minutes with variations in visual effects, from inverted type to such high-speed text that it becomes abstract. The Shakespeare Machine will be on full-time during the theater’s hours of operation.

Kudos to all involved in the revitalization: Ennead Architects, Paula Scher and her team at Pentagram, Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen, as well as many, many more, I’m sure.

You can see a snippet of the sculpture in action below. The voices are not part of the sculpture, but, rather, actors for the event:

October 9, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

In Transit: The Acre Collective

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The Acre Collective, a Canadian art and design group led by architects Stephen Kopp and Monica Adair, won a National Public Art Competition for their installation In Transit adding pizazz to a bus terminal in St. John, New Brunswick.

By cropping the recognizable symbols of transit signs and creating 85 unique aluminum panels, Acre added much-needed color to the long and bland concrete wall in front of the station. These panels were anchored to the concrete wall, resulting in a new landscape of semi-abstract color. 10 of the panels were sculpted into seats reminiscent of those found on buses in the simplicity of their form. Nice.

October 8, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Geraldo Zamproni: Pillow Talk

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Contemporary Brazilian artist Geraldo Zamproni graduated with a degree in Architecture/Urbanism and seems to be playing with both in his art. His large red inflatable pillows are perfect examples. These fun cushions have been squeezed under museum ramps and concrete slabs just to name a couple of examples. This week at least one of the pillows can be found “at large” on 14th Street in NYC as part of the Art in Odd Places event. I looked for the pillow on Saturday while roaming 14th St. trying to find the not-very-clearly-mapped-out works in the festival, but it seems to have been sitting all the way east between Avenues B and C as per the top photograph that I found.

Zamproni’s pillow installations (which have a similar fun surprise quality —as well as color — to the Red Ball Project) have appeared in museums throughout Brazil, from Brasilia to Curitiba, in Peru, Argentina, and Spain. I’m going to keep my eyes peeled (I’ve always found that expression a little disturbing) this week to see if the AiOP catalogue’s “at large” location description will include points on 14th Street closer to Union Square.

You can see Zamproni inflating one of his pillows in the video below. Interesting to see how he even enters it to smooth out the seams:

Top photo: Michele McVicar/EVG; bottom photo Eric Stoner; all others courtesy the artist.

October 5, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 10/5

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20+ free and cheap things to do this weekend (10/5 to 10/7) in NYC. Cultural events in art, music, dance, theater, food and general fun.

1. Art/Performance – Art in Odd Places: artists’ work & performances take over unexpected public spaces all along 14th Street. All weekend and through 10/15. Opening reception Fri 10/5, 5 to 8pm. See schedule. FREE

2. Film – Bushwick Film Festival at Paperbox. All weekend. $10/day; $25 for full 3-dayPass

3. Art – Affordable Art Fair at the Tunnel in Chelsea. All weekend. $12

4. Design/Typography – Get Out the Vote Poster Project exhibit (see post) at AIGA, 154 5th Ave. Fri 10/5, 11am to 5pm, through 11/30. FREE

5. Dance/Theater – Keith Hennessy/Circo Zero: Turbulence: an experimental hybrid of contemporary dance, improvised happening and political theater at NY Live Arts. Fri 10/5 & Sat 10/6 at 7:30pm. $15 and $20.

6. Art/Massage –The Massage Performances with Sergei Tcherepnin, premieres a new six-channel composition to be played through your body. Fri 10/5 at 6:30pm. The Issue Project Room, Brooklyn. FREE ($10 suggested donation)

Alternatively: Past Futures, Present Futures Exhibit opening at Storefront for Art & Architecture. 7 to 9pm. FREE.

7. Film – Haika Mutil & Miel de Naranjas by Imanol Uribe, Fri 10/5 at Instituto Cervantes 6pm to 8pm. FREE

8. Theater/Performance – Prelude NYC Theater & Performance. Multiple events at various venues. Fri 10/5. See schedule. FREE (first come first served)

9. Dance/Music –Rob List: Play By Ear features anti-conceptual movement, dance, and song. Fri 10/5 & Sat 10/6. 8pm at The Chocolate Factory, Long Island City. $15

10. Art/Music/Food – The Feast Pavilion: a modern day World’s Fair features immersive art installations, food trucks, music, and community booths that honor the work of today’s most remarkable innovators. Sat 10/6, 12 to 6pm. Followed by Dance Party 8pm to 1am. FREE

11. Music/Art – The Autumn Bowl: live music by various musicians paired with live visuals in a stunning, immersive environment. Sat 10/6 at 8pm. Greenpoint. $12 tickets.

12. Architecture/Tours –OHNY (Open House New York), Sat 10/6 & Sun 10/7. Various locations and times. Check site for details. FREE

13. Music – Restoration Rocks! Music Festival. A day-long music concert of some of the most dynamic emerging and established artists performing on the Brooklyn stage. Sat 10/6, 12 to 5pm. Fulton Street, Bed Stuy. FREE

14. Art/Talk/Reception – BEYONSENSE: An Evening with Dr. John Perry, Hosted by Slavs and Tatars at MoMA. Sat 10/6, 8 to 11pm. Admission includes conversation, exhibition viewing, and cocktail reception. Plus a limited-edition print. $14 in advance; $18 at door.

Alternatively: Brooklyn Museum’s Target First Saturdays. Sat 10/6 from 5 to 11pm. Various performances, music, talks. See site. FREE

15. Music – The Lisps: FUTURITY Album Release. Sat 10/6, 8:30 pm 92Y Tribeca Mainstage at 200 Hudson Street. $15.00 tickets

16. Performance/General Craziness – Electrified with David Blaine at Hudson River Park, Pier 54 (near 14th St). All weekend. FREE

17. Theater – Disgraced: a new play by Ayad Akhtar, directed by Kimberly Senior. Previews begin Sun 10/7 at 7pm. Claire Tow Theater. $20.

18. Stories/Performance – The Moth GrandSLAM Championship at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Sun 10/7. Doors 6:30; Show 7:30. $20.

UPDATES: Film – The New York Film Festival has Discounted Rush Tickets available for some of their screenings announced daily on their website and go on sale 1 hour before showtime. All weekend and through 10/14.

Art – First Fridays at the Noguchi Museum in LIC. Fri 10/5, 10am to 5pm. Pay-what-you-wish.

Music: The Vespers and The Deadly Gentlemen play in Madison Sq. Park, Sat 10/6, 3 to 5pm. FREE

Art: BYOB: Bring Your Own Beamer at Knockdown Center in Queens. Sat 10/6 at 8pm. Artists bring their projectors and project their art, initially an idea by Rafaël Rozendaal (see our post). FREE

Film – My Brooklyn with Kelly Anderson at UnionDocs in Williamsburg. Sun 10/7, 7:30pm. Thoughtful documentary on the issues of neighborhood gentrification. $9 suggested donation.

Film – Goodfellas at Habana Outpost‘s movie night in Brooklyn. Sun 10/7 at 8pm. FREE

Check back for updates and take a look at our previous Culture on the Cheap posts for some ongoing suggestions. Happy Fall weekend.

October 3, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Jean-François Fourtou: Tombée du Ciel

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French artist Jean-François Fourtou has always wanted to be an architect. Through a series of experiments in his studio in Madrid, Fourtou played with dimension and proportion, mostly distorting them, and applying these experiments to a decade-long project of installations on his property in Morocco. Tombée du Ciel (Fallen from the Sky), the upside down house inspired by his grandparents’ home in France, reproduced to scale and plopped on its roof with its entrance via window, is one of these works. Reminiscent of scenes from books such as Alice in Wonderland or Gulliver’s Travels, the experience of walking on the ceilings (or, if you’re Lionel Richie, perhaps dancing) must evoke both a disorienting and funny feeling. Can’t help thinking of Stray Light Grey a little bit.

Currently, Fourtou is exhibiting a version of his Tombée du Ciel as part of the Festival Lille3000 Fantastic 2012 in Belgium.

Photos courtesy of the artist; aeroplastics gallery; and AFP

via voanews

October 2, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Bus-Tops in London

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This is such a great public art project. From January 2012 up until just yesterday, a set of 30 red and black LED screens were installed on the roofs of bus shelters throughout the many boroughs of London. The project, sponsored by the Arts Council of England and the Olympics, was titled Bus-Tops and projected images up to those traveling on the upper level of London’s double-decker buses. If that concept alone isn’t nice enough, the added interactive aspect allowing anyone, of any age, to draw and submit their own artwork on the Bus-Tops site, with a chance for it to be projected on one of the many screens, is just genius. Taking a look at all the works (and there are hundreds of them ranging from typographic to illustrative, abstract to realist) showcased on the project’s website, some of the kid submissions are equally charming to those of their more sophisticated and slicker counterparts.

It’s a shame these couldn’t continue indefinitely. It would be great to see similar ideas executed in other cities as well.

Here is a video that explains the project in detail and shows some of the animated works.

via demagazine

September 28, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 9/28

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Ay yay yay! So many free and cheap things to do in NYC this weekend and so little time. Here are over a dozen free and/or affordable cultural events in art, music, dance, theater, food and general fun for the weekend of 9/28/2012 to 9/30/2012.

1. Art/Design/Classes – From Photoshop and Dreamweaver to Economics. Trade School a self-organized learning space that runs on barter. Opens Friday 9/28 through 10/28. FREE (with barter items or services) Sign up here.

2. Art – Dev Harlan Untitled (Wave) at Christopher Henry Gallery All weekend. 11am to 6pm. 127 Elizabeth St. FREE

3. Theater/Installation – Habit (see post) directed by David Levine. All weekend, continuously loops from 1 to 9pm, FREE.

4. Design/Typography – Concrete Poetry to Feed My Mind, post-World War II experiments in literature that looked beyond the simple signification of words and meanings to a new mode of visual and linguistic communication. At NYU Open House Gallery, 528 LaGuardia Pl., All weekend, 1pm to 4pm. FREE

5. Art/Design/Books – NY Art Book Fair, at PS1. World’s premier event for international artists’ books, catalogs, monographs, periodicals, and zines. All weekend, see website for hours and listing of events. FREE

6. Theater – Gilbert & Sullivan Players I’ve Got a Little Twist at Calhoun Theater, Friday 9/28, 7pm. $10 adults; $5 students & seniors.

7. Art – Saga Sites exhibit, Landscapes of the Icelandic Sagas. Saturday 9/29 and Sunday, 9/30 at Scandinavia Housethrough 1/12/2013. FREE

8. Art/Fun/Food/Music – Dumbo Arts Festival, All weekend starting Friday 9/28 night with Immersive Surfaces projection mapping show from 6pm to 9pm, continuing with vast number of events All weekend. Check site for event listings. FREE

9. Film – 5th Russian Documentary Film Festival, at Tribeca Cinemas. All weekend. Check site for schedule. $14.

10. Art/Performance – SkowheganPERFORMS at Socrates Sculpture Park, Saturday, 9/29, 1:30–5:00pm. FREE

11. Food/Fun – 10th Annual Oyster Frenzy at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Terminal. Includes Oyster-eating contest and Oyster-shucking contest. A variety of oysters, shooters and more. Saturday 9/29, 12 to 6pm. FREE entry. (Oysters are a la carte.)

12. Conference/Speakers/Art/Music – RUCKUS NYC is a one-day conference and concert on art and the web. Saturday 9/29 at Cooper Union, 10am to 6pm, (Registration starts at 9:30). $65 (Hey, that’s cheap for a conference.) $25 for just evening concert.

13. Food/Fun/Fair – Chile Pepper Fiesta, at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Saturday 9/29, 11am to 6pm. 20th anniversary with a full roster of sizzling music and dance from spice-loving regions around the world. Sample dozens of award-winning hot sauces, spicy pickles, salsas and chile-chocolates. $15 adults; $10 Students over 12 and Seniors.

14. Food/Music/Fun – The Atlantic Antic Street Festival, Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn. Sunday 9/30, 12 to 6pm. FREE

Alternatively: DayLife Festival, Sunday 9/30. Orchard Street in full effect as a 3-block special event with food, fashion, a full line-up of top-tier DJs, and games such as Twister, badminton and urban croquet. FREE

15. Film – Two awe-inspiring, informative, and entertaining documentaries, What’s For Dinner? and Vegucated, Saturday 9/29, 1-4pm at Anthology Film Archives. Part of Climate Week NYC. FREE with eticket.

16. Art/Classes – Figure Drawing classes at Brooklyn Art Space. Saturdays & Sundays, 3-hour sessions open to all. $12. See site for times.

17. Music – Global Festival Central Park Great Lawn w/ Neil Young, Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, Band of Horses, K’Naan, Saturday 9/29 at 5pm. All ages. FREE, register.

18. Music – Get tickets for Of Monsters and Men at Terminal 5, November 21, 2012. $25. (Oops! Sorry, sold out)

UPDATES:

Art – Museum Day! Saturday 9/29, Free entry to a list of Smithsonian-affiliated museums (see map): includes Morgan Library, Museo del Barrio, Museum of Folk Art, The Asia Society, Studio Museum in Harlem and many, many more nationwide. Sign up for a pass for two. FREE.

Art – Lucas Samaras: XYZ opens at Pace (W. 25th St) Friday 9/28 and Saturday 9/29 through 10/27. FREE

Fun/Music/Performance – Bushwig! Festival of Drag at Special Project Robot in Bushwick. Saturday 9/29, 3 to 11pm. FREE.

Check back for updates and take a look at our previous Culture on the Cheap posts for some ongoing suggestions. Enjoy.

September 25, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

UFO House: Roberto Sanchez Rivera

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This is not just an interesting-looking home, but also has an interesting story behind it. Retired teacher of industrial arts, Roberto Sanchez Rivera, who lives on the south side of the island of Puerto Rico, built his home to look like a spaceship, complete with lights and audio effects that sometimes play the tune from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and other times salsa. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom house was built for about $150,000 and almost everything in it has been ingeniously created from discount store knickknacks and discarded auto parts. Objects such as the kitchen table and bathroom garbage can were designed to hover above the ground, while lamps are made from objects such as stove burners and lead pipes. Each room has a different personality and color scheme.

What possessed Rivera to design such a home? Love. As a teenager he had a girlfriend that left him after three months. From that moment he decided to build a home like no other to impress this girl. Even the location, up on a hill, visible from the main road, was chosen with the hopes that she would inevitably pass the house and notice it. You can read the whole story here but, in the meantime, needless to say Rivera has a new girlfriend and one unique home.

Photos: Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

via The NYTimes

September 24, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Numen/For Use: Field

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The Croatian-Austrian collective Numen/For Use (previously here) created a fun installation for the D-Day Festival in their own city of Zagreb. The suspended Field, executed in a former slaughterhouse, underwent the entire vegetative cycle from sprouting to disintegration. The grass field was grown on a floating piece of fabric, converting the designers into urban farmers and making them aware of the fragility and power of life. The growing field was not tied down to the ground, contradicting the usual assumptions that earth is an immobile mass of infinite weight and a two dimensional surface. I especially like the fact that people could wander under, as well as above, the installation, peering up through the holes in Whac-a-Mole style.

This might be a nice addition/substitute for the proposed Lowline project. Just a thought…

via frame

September 21, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 9/21

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This weekend’s picks for free and cheap things to do in New York. Affordable cultural events in art, music, dance, theater, food and general fun for the weekend of 9/21/2012 to 9/23/2012.

1. Art/Architecture- Tatzu Nishi’s very fun installation: Discovering Columbus (see post), an elevated living room surrounding the statue in Columbus Circle. All weekend and through 11/18. FREE with reserved timed pass.

2. Art–Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years at the Met. All weekend and through 12/31. Pay what you will or suggested admission.

3. Film – The Coney Island Film Festival, All weekend. Screenings and parties range from $7 to $12.

4. Art/Design – Process 01:Joy, at the new P! Gallery in Chinatown, 334 Broome St. Friday 9/21 and Saturday 9/22, FREE. Also related: Saturday, 9/22 from 3 to 5pm the artists Carrion-Murayari, Conaty, and Martens in Conversation at Projects Projects (161 Bowery 2nd Floor) FREE with RSVP

5. Theater – Shuffle performed by the Elevator Repair Service in the stacks of the Brooklyn Public Library. Friday 9/21 and Saturday 9/22, 7 to 9pm. Use code BROK for 20% off tickets.

6. TV/Film/Book– Actress Penny Marshall chats and signs her new memoir at the Strand, Friday 9/21, 7 to 8pm. Purchase of book or $10 Strand Gift Card required.

7. Film – Williamsburg International Film Festival, All weekend, different locations. Check schedule. $5 to $10.

8. Food – Le Grand Fooding Brooklyn, Saturday 9/22 and Sunday 9/23, Brunch in Williamsburg $20, Lunch in Ft. Greene $15. Get tickets and details.

9. Music/Performance/Art/Food – Fourth Arts Block (FAB), will take over East 4th Street for its annual arts extravaganza. An afternoon of free performances by local artists, with multiple indoor and outdoor stages showcasing dance, theater, & music, local artisans and gourmet food vendors, art installations, Saturday 9/22, 1 to 5pm FREE

10. Music – Heritage Blues Trio at 3pm followed by Rory Block singing the blues at 4pm. Saturday 9/22 in Madison Square Park. FREE

11. Film/Documentary – Detropia at IFC. A lyrical and exquisitely shot meditation on abandonment, decay and unexpected renewal of Detroit. All weekend. Co-director Rachel Grady will be at the 6:10 show Saturday 9/22 for a Q&A. $13.50

12. Books –Brooklyn Book Festival at Borough Hall, Sunday 9/23, 10am to 6pm. FREE

13. Music– Rupa & The April Fishes at Le Poisson Rouge, Sunday 9/23 . Doors 10pm. $15

14. Theater – The Exonerated with Stockard Channing & Brian Dennehy at Culture Project. 1/2 off Sundays. Sunday 9/23 . Tickets from $15.

Also in Theater – Get $15 tickets now to Sorry by Richard Nelson at the Public Theater 10/30 to 11/18 before they sell out.

15. Food – Get 1/2 price tickets now for next Sunday’s (9/30) Pickle Palooza above Bowlmore on University Place. $15.

UPDATES:

Performance/Food – 10th Autumn Moon Festival, Sunday 9/23, 11am to 5pm. FREE

TV/Fun – Emmy Screening Party, at Brooklyn Winery, Sunday 9/23, 7 to 11pm. FREE 21+

Art/Music/Party – Animamus Art Salon Tube Party at Low Brow Artique, Sunday 9/23 at 7pm. $10

Check back for updates and take a look at our previous Culture on the Cheap posts for additional suggestions. Happy weekend!

September 20, 2012 by collabcubed - 4 Comments

Discovering Columbus: Follow Up

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This is it! The day New York art lovers have been waiting for. Tatzu Nishi’s Discovering Columbus (previously here for background) opens to the public and I’ve got my free pass to stop over later, however, I couldn’t resist the sneak peek from the VIP listers. The large elevated living room is just as described: built around the famous Columbus Circle statue, that stands tall on the coffee table in the center of the room. The wallpaper print is made up of iconic ~~New York City~~ American images ranging from the Empire State Building to a mustard-slathered hot dog, Elvis and Mickey Mouse. There’s even a TV. Totally nutty and fun. I, for one, am really looking forward to this.

Discovering Columbus will be up through November 18, 2012. Visit the Public Art Fund’s website to reserve your timed free pass.