December 7, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 12/7

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Free and cheap things to do (12/7 to 12/9) in NYC. Cultural events in art, music, film, dance, theater, design, architecture, walking tours, food, and cool fun! Plus a smattering of holiday festivities.

1. Design – Art of the Book exhibit. Fri 12/7 & Sat 12/8. 11am to 6pm FREE

2. Music/Fun – Losers Lounge pay tribute to Stevie Wonder 7pm and 9:30pm Fri 12/7. $25.

3. Art/Music/Drinks/Holiday – Asia Society Holiday Celebration. Museum tours, Leotinis, Tea Tasting. Fri 12/7; 6 to 8pm. FREE

4. Music/Art/Drink/Holiday — Brooklyn Magazine Design Launch Holiday Party. Fri 12/7. 8 to 11pm. FREE

5. Film –TropFest Roughcut Film Symposium: the world’s largest short film festival. Fri 12/7. 10am to 4:30pm. $35.

6. Film – Screening of Amos Poe’s Alphabet City (1984): (whatever happened to the cute Vincent Spano?) Fri 12/7 at 7pm $8,

7. Tour/Architecture – Grand Central Tour, Sat 12/8 at 11am $20.

8. Dance – Movement Research Festival Fall 2012. Fri 12/7 & Sat 12/8 at 8pm. $12.

9. Art/Installation – the event of a thread by Ann Hamilton (see post). All weekend 12 to 7pm; Sat 12/8 FREE, other days $12.

10. Film & Festivities – Griswold Family Christmas: screenings of Elf, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Gremlins plus festivities: Fri 12/7 & Sat 12/8 $25 check here for tickets and showtimes.

11. Art/Music/Food – Gowanus Nite Market, Artists, Music, Food. Sat 12/8, 7pm to midnight FREE

12. Art/Talk – African-American Artists and Conceptualism: Panel discussion with Naima Keith and Fred Wilson. Sat 12/8 at 2pm Pay what you wish

13. Art – Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos at the New Museum. All Weekend. $14 Thursday nights FREE

14. Comedy/Performance – Mike Birbiglia: Working It Out. Sun 12/9 at 10pm. $15

15. Theater – Speaking in Tongues by Andrew Bovell. “Where one story ends, another begins. The same events are retold from different perspectives. Characters reappear, others disappear.” Fri 12/7 & Sat 12/8 at 8pm. Sun 12/9 at 2pm. $18

Check back for updates throughout the weekend. Enjoy!

UPDATES:

Music – Fri 12/7: Join Real Estate, RCRD LBL and MINI USA at a secret location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at 5:30. FREE

Film – Fri 12/7: Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival screening Brooklyn documentaries. 6:45. FREE
Music – Sun 12/9: 39th Annual Merry Tuba Christmas – hundreds of tuba players play holiday favorites. 3:30pm FREE

December 6, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Drift: Snarkitecture

Design Miami 2012, Cool entrance installation by Daniel Arsham, Snarkitecture, Drift Click to enlarge

Well, it looks like Snarkitecture (previously here, here & here) has done it again! For this year’s Design Miami entrance the Brooklyn firm created this fun installation using inflated white tubes bundled together at different heights titled Drift.

Light passes between the tubes, at the same time shading the public from the direct sun. The tubes are also used for cushy seating. Fun and practical; success all around!

Photos courtesy of Snarkitecture; artinfo; and DesignMiami’s facebook.

via frame

December 5, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Balcon Additionnel: Julien Berthier

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French artist Julien Berthier certainly has a sense of humor. His Balcon Additionnel attaches a Haussmannian-style balcony to any façade. How you ask? Via boom-truck that stays attached from below, keeping things construction-free. And funny, of course.

The rest of Berthier’s work is also worth perusing. Love-love (bottom three photos) is a functional and safe boat in the shape of a collapsed one. And there’s much more like that over on his site.

via ignant via swissmiss

December 3, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Xtool: Combo Colab

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we’re fans of the Combo Colab family. This incredibly likeable creative couple, composed of architects Mateo Pintó and Carolina Cisneros, have created a Kickstarter campaign to help produce their very clever Xtool: a stackable, storage stool inspired by the casual use of the classic milk crate as a seat. By adding a plywood seat and legs, these versatile and playful stools can be used indoors and out. And Xtool is just the beginning of the envisioned larger family of milk crate furniture.

So please join me in backing Combo Colab’s Xtool on their Kickstarter page and, at the very least, check out their adorable video with all its contagious laughter.

November 30, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 11/30

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This weekend’s picks for free and cheap things to do (11/30 to 12/2) in NYC. Cultural events in art, architecture, music, film, dance, theater, design, walking tours, food, and fun!

1. Art – Egon Schiele’s Women. Fri 11/30 & Sat 12/1 and through 12/28. 11am to 5pm. FREE

Also in Art – Lee Friedlander: Mannequin at Pace/MacGill Fri 11/30 & Sat 12/1 through 12/22. FREE

2. Design/Learn/Shop – 3DEA is a Pop-Up with 3D printing classes, demonstrations, and shop. Make it or buy it, either way sounds like fun. All weekend and through 12/27. 11am to 6pm. FREE

3. Art – Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde at MoMA through 2/25. Fridays 4 to 8pm are FREE.

4. Art/Shop — Art in Boxes 2012: a large group exhibition which shows/sells one of a kind artwork – an idea for unique holiday gifts at affordable prices. All weekend and through 1/27/13 at AG Gallery. Noon to 9ish. FREE

5. Dance – Lucy Guerin’s Untrained: Four dancers (two trained, two untrained), a square taped to the floor, and instructions on stage for them to follow as best they can. Fri 11/30 & Sat 12/1 at 7:30pm. Post-show artist talk on Friday. $20.

6. Film – ADC Butter: Night of Pop Culture and Popcorn – This month they’re screening two short films that have graced quite a few international audiences. Plus, a surprise or two. Fri 11/30 at 7pm. $10 advance, $15 at door

7. Film – Drivers Wanted a documentary about taxi drivers directed by Joshua Weinstein. All weekend. Friday’s screening followed by panel discussion with director. $10. Showtimes and tickets here.

8. Music – Men without Hats. SSSS…AAAA…You can Dance! Fri 11/30, doors at 6pm; show 8pm. $10.

9. Dance – Portraits in Time: Amy Kail & Lesya Popil dance highly original movements with humor and pathos. Fri 11/30 at 7:30pm. $15

10. Music – The Sweetback Sisters/Hadley: part country, part B52s. Fri 11/30 at 9pm. $10.

11. Peformance/Art/Theater – Aki Sasamoto – Centripetal Run the sculptural arrangement is a theatrical cosmology, and the performer unfolds, negotiates, and psychologically challenges its matter of factness. Fri 11/30 & Sat 12/1 at 8pm. $15.

12. Art – Transmission of Thought | works by Ivan Rickenmann Amazingly realistic paintings of electrical outlets and cables by the Colombian artist. All weekend. FREE

13. Talk/Lecture – Space to Create: Panel discussion on topic of temporary usage models for nontraditional commercial space in arts programming. Sat 12/1 from 2 to 4pm. FREE

14. Theater – We are Proud to Present… a critically acclaimed and unique play. All weekend but some shows sold out. At the time of this post there were still tickets available for Sat 12/1 matinee.

15. Walking Tour – Flatiron Walking Tour Sun 12/2 (and all Sundays) at 11am. 23rd St. and Broadway. FREE

16. Fun/Transportation/History – Vintage Subway Train Rides, Sun 12/2 (and all Sundays) from 10am to 4pm through 12/30. $2.50

17. Music –Francois 5+1: François Houle is a virtuosic and original avant-jazzimproviser and a notable composer as well as one of Canada’s premier clarinetists. Sun 12/2 at 9:30pm. $10 advance; $15 door

18. Art/Installation/Fun – OPENS MIDWEEK – Ann Hamilton: The Event of a Thread – A multisensory installation, that draws together readings, sound, and live events within a field of swings inviting visitors to connect to the action of each other and the work itself. Opens Wed 12/5 through 1/6/13. Tues – Sundays 12-6pm. $12. Next Sat 12/8 will be FREE.

Additional events to keep in mind: Brooklyn Night Bazaar continues every Friday and Saturday until 12/22.

Discovering Columbus ends this weekend, so if you haven’t been, this is your last chance! All weekend.

Be sure to check back for updates and peruse previous COTC posts for some additional ongoing events.

UPDATES:

Art/Performance/Music – Emergency Cheesecake: an evening of performance featuring young, New York City–based artists. Fri 11/30, 6 to 9pm. Pay-what-you-wish.
Art – NYU MFA Student Open Studios. Sat 12/1, 6 to 10pm. FREE
Music/Art – Sunday Sessions to benefit Hurricane Sandy Relief Efforts presented by Pitchfork and MoMA PS1. An afternoon of multimedia performances. Sun 12/2 from 4 to 7pm. $12

November 29, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Grand Central’s Next 100: SOM

Click on top photo to see animation. Click rest to enlarge

Nope, it’s not the set design for a Jetsons revival film; not even for the upcoming Blade Runner 2. These renderings are SOM’s (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) response to the Municipal Arts Society’s (MAS) invitation to re-envision Grand Central and its environs on the occasion of the terminal’s centennial anniversary next year: Grand Central…The Next 100 project. The three firms asked to participate were SOM, Foster+Partners, and WXY. All three came up with interesting proposals offering relief from overcrowding and traffic, as well as being committed to the pedestrian and public space, focusing on converting Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) to Privately Funded Public Spaces (PFPS). SOM went futuristic and monumental, a plan that is hard to ignore with its dramatic panoramic ring rising and lowering above Grand Central—like a halo elevator—between two new towers.

It’s definitely out there, but you never know…

Photos courtesy of SOM, Architect’s Paper, and bdonline.

via observer via Breger

November 28, 2012 by collabcubed - 3 Comments

Gruba: Sustainable Furniture Design

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Argentinean architects Maria Constanza Nuñez and Gabriel Pires Mateus are the duo behind Gruba. Committed to the creation of spaces and objects that provide alternative green solutions, Gruba works with salvaged materials. In their S.O.S. de Barrio Line they repurpose wooden roller blinds which are usually discarded in the neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. Each chair or table has unique characteristics depending on the reclaimed roller blind.

More recently, they have come out with the Banquito Willy, a stool sustainably designed using engineered wood joined together without glue and an innovative seat created with recycled tennis balls. Clever!

November 26, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Matthew Mazzotta: Social Space Architecture

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Boston-based artist Matthew Mazzotta creates participatory public interventions that aim to criticize, raise awareness, and bring a sense of openness to the places we live. I imagine bringing a smile to most people’s faces might be a goal as well. Mazzotta’s work focuses on drawing people in by curiosity and finding themselves as part of something unrehearsed. Reacting and interacting are key to his work as are community building, ecology and public involvement.

The top installation, titled Steeped in Exploration, was created in The Netherlands as a teahouse without tea.

From the artist:
The physical structure of Steeped in Exploration, made from all local materials, becomes a site of communal tea drinking. The tea served at the teahouse is not from the grocery store or peoples’ gardens, it is foraged by the people enjoying the tea on public outing that take us throughout the area based on knowledge and experiences of the people at the outing. Even the heat to boil the water for the tea comes from a local source, by transforming cow manure from local farms into energy (methane) through a methane digester.

In the following piece titled Looking for a Landscape, Mazzotta converted a standard city utility box into a portable viewing station. The structure is on retractable wheels, and the doors were hinged at the bottom opening downwards creating a cantilevered platform on each side of the box, complete with velvet cushions and mounted binoculars to take in the everyday urban landscapes.

Lastly, the video below goes through the function of Mazzotta’s Insertion Module, designed specifically as part of the negative space in architecture, camouflaged within the façade of a building, but when taken out opens up into a Tea House.

You might want to check out his Open House Project and Park Spark Project too.

via artsake

November 26, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

CMYPlay: A\V Studio

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I came across this fun competition entry by A\V Studio (Adam Hostetler and Virginia Melnyk) in response to a 3Dimensional Front challenge for the space located outside the Milavec Hakimi Gallery at the base of 41 Cooper Square, the relatively new Cooper Union Building and one of my personal favorites in NYC. The competition brief was as follows:

anonymous.d is looking for original responses… We are looking for something simple but powerful enough to intrigue the passer by. We want people who see the work to question the visual but to be even more surprised the unique architectural/human experience this work will offer. We are also looking for the technical intelligence of mounting a relatively small structure by the use of simple materials assembled together in a sophisticated way leading to a unique aesthetic expression. Parametric design methods are encouraged.

Hostetler and Melnyk’s proposal, very cleverly titled CMYPlay, offers an interactive playground type solution for children and adults alike, composed of three intertwining networks of colorful tubes neatly packed into the sheltered space of the façade, hugging the base columns and converting the functional space into an activity-filled one, while still allowing easy entry to the gallery. The idea is to encourage play in the busy urban environment. Once the exhibit/installation ends, the tubes would be distributed to local schools and parks eliminating waste and continuing the fun.

You might want to also take a look at Melnyk’s Ice Womb and Sukkah Shift hut made entirely of cardboard packing tubes. Nice work!

via bustler

November 19, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Maison Cailler Chocolate Flagship Shop

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The first flagship store for the Swiss chocolate manufacturer Maison Cailler in Broc, Switzerland, has recently been designed by French architect Mathieu Lehanneur. The armadillo-shaped boutique uses the local traditional ‘tavillon’ style of wooden Swiss shingles. The oblong building has a wedge taken out in front as the boutique’s entrance. If the building isn’t odd or interesting enough, there are always the chocolates within; 5 samples that promise to reveal your “chocolate personality.”

Photos courtesy of Mathieu Lehanneur; Concept Consult; and Vincent Duault.

November 16, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 11/16

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Free and cheap things to do this weekend (11/16 to 11/18) in NYC. Cultural events in art, architecture, music, film, dance, theater, design, food and fun.

1. Art – Sinister Pop at the Whitney Museum focuses on the darker side of the 60s and 70s Pop art scene. All weekend, but pay-what-you-wish on Fri 11/16: 6 to 9pm.

2. Graphic Design – ADC Young Guns Exhibit at the Art Director’s Club Gallery. 106 W. 29th St. Fri 11/16 10am to 6pm. FREE

Also in Design & Illustration – Creative Carnival: 100 illustrators and photographers will be creating new original work throughout the night, accompanied by a live DJ, with carnival-style food and a bar. Fri 11/16, 5:30 to 10:30pm. FREE RSVP

3. Talk/Discussion – Free to Be Blasphemous? A Conversation on the Legal Principles of the Freedom of Expression. Fri 11/16 FREE.

4. Talk/Book/Cartoonist — Legendary Underground Cartoonist Aline Crumb Discusses Her New Book, Drawn Together. Fri 11/16: 7-8pm: $10 Strand Gift Card or Purchase of Book.

5. Readings/Photography – Lines of Sight: Readings of photography in fiction. a public reading of passages from fiction that describe photography explicitly, as a subject, or adopt photographic strategies of framing, staging, or manipulation. Fri 11/16. 7pm $5

6. Film/Talk – Meet the Filmmaker: Edward Burns talks about his new film The Fitzgerald Family Christmas. Fri 11/16. 6pm FREE

7. Dance –The Barnard Project at New York Live Arts. Fri 11/16 $20

8. Reading – Moby-Dick Marathon: first-ever marathon-style reading in New York City of Herman Melville’s American classic, Moby-Dick, Or, the Whale. All weekend. Check listing for locations and times. FREE.

9. Theater – Critically acclaimed Skin Tight: encompasses dance, an original score and extreme physicality. All weekend and through 12/1. $25.

10. Arts/Crafts/Food – Renegade Crafts Fair Holiday Market in Williamsburg. Sat 11/17 & Sun 11/18; 11am to 6pm. FREE

11. Peformance/Party/Theater/Music/Cool Fun – Lucent Encounter: Experiential nightlife experience. An immersive nightlife party featuring roaming performance artists dressed in costume who interact with guests, a fortune teller, as well as DJ duo EC Twins and much more. The entire Liberty Theater is a Transformation Station, to renew the soul and the spirit. Sat 11/17 (and every Saturday through 1/26) $30

12. Art/Installation – The Glass Sea a Rikers Island Jail Cell installed in Soho. Open every day from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Petrosino Square. By artist Jessica Feldman with designer Steven Gertner. All weekend. Through 11/25. FREE

13. Dance/Performance/Circus – Donka: A letter to Chekhov Renowned circus artist Daniele Finzi Pasca presents this imagistic love letter to Chekhov. All weekend. Tkts start at $25

14. Walking Tour/Experiment – The Silent History. short walking tour of Lower East Side field reports, presented live by Kevin Moffett, Matt Derby, and Eli Horowitz. Refreshments to follow. Sat 11/17 at 3:15pm. Details here. FREE.

15. Theater –The Exonerated at Culture Project tickets $25 All weekend with code SANDY.

16. Music – Fall Open House and Sunday Sessions, filmmaker-turned-guitar shredder Jim Jarmusch and Dutch lutist Jozef Van Wissem are releasing their second album, The Mystery of Heaven. Sun 11/18, 5 to 6pm. $10.

17. Food –10th Anniversary Chili Takedown. Sun 11/18 at 2pm. $15

18. Music –Sunday Night Live Music Series at the Ace Hotel. Sun 11/18 at 10pm. FREE

UPDATES!

Dance/Performance – Pivotal Works: The Vilcek Foundation Project, Sat 11/17 & Sun 11/18 Joyce Soho. $15

Dance Party/Fun – Soul Clap and Dance-off with Jonathan Toubin. Sat 11/17 at 11pm. $7

Art/Donation/Interaction – Load OUT!: A Reuse and Repurposing RIOT Sat 11/17, 11am to 3pm. $5 to participate.

Readings/Performances/Fundraiser – Sandy Hates Books Hurricane Relief Fundraiser with Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Franzen, Paul Auster and many more… Sat 11/17. 12 to 9pm. $10 suggested donation. RSVP.

Art/Music/Performance/Food/Fundraiser – Queens Museum of Art Rockaway Fundraiser, with artists, performances and food with proceeds going to the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance. Sun 11/18, 12 to 4pm. No donation is too small or large.

Music/Benefit – From Brooklyn with Love Hurricane Sandy Relief Concert at Union Pool. Sun 11/18, doors at 4:30pm. $20 min donation.

Film – Short & Sweet: Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective. Sun 11/18 at 7:30pm. $9.

Check back for more updates!

November 15, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Luckey Climber at Columbus Commons

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Here’s a fun-, if a bit precarious-looking structure for kids. Designed by the recently deceased Thomas Walker Luckey, an artist, sculptor and architect renowned for his one-of-a-kind climbing sculptures, this particular 35-foot “Luckey Climber” is found in Columbus, Indiana at the Columbus Commons. The indoor playground was completed in 2011 and judging from the reviews on Trip Advisor is (not surprisingly) a big hit with kids. The floating C’s alone had me sold instantly.

Photos: Susan Fleck Photography and Columbus Indiana Visitors Bureau.

November 8, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

LIGHT Lab 5.1: VAV Architects

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LIGHTlab 5.1 designed by VAV Architects was located this past summer in Helsinki, Finland. The pavilion/installation served a dual purpose: as a retreat from the sun’s overpowering intrusiveness — typical of the long summer days in the Nordic city — and a place where light and its impact are understood and respected. In addition, the exterior of the structure acted as a natural sundial, capturing and mapping the passage of the day.

You can experience it a little better in the video below:

via afasia

November 6, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Jose Dávila: Buildings You Must See…

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Mexican artist Jose Dávila, based in Guadalajara, works in a range of mediums including photography, sculpture, and installation. The work explores his interest in the relationship between “place and fiction, space and temporality under architecture.” His series of photographs/collages (is it collage if you’re cutting out from an image rather than adding to it?) Buildings You Must See Before You Die are prime examples of these themes. These silhouettes of famous, recognizable architectural icons take over the photo, many cases, in unrealistic proportion to their surroundings, emphasizing their grandeur.

The rest of Dávila’s work, from his light sculptures made with neon tubes paired with bricks and concrete, to his installations, really appeal to me and you might want to check them out as well on his website.

via studio magazine

October 29, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

James Turrell at the Guggenheim

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UPDATE: See the post-visit post on this exhibit here.

Yes, it’s true! It seems like such a natural fit…Guggenheim rotunda… James Turrell skyspaces and skyscapes… but somehow it hasn’t happened until now. Well, not really now, but next summer: June 2013.

This is James Turrell’s (previously here, here, and here…yes, I’m a fan) first exhibition in a New York museum, though he’s had exhibits at galleries such as Pace, in addition to the long-term and ongoing site-specific installation at PS1 titled Meeting, and the very cool installation in 505 Fifth Avenue’s lobby. The top two renderings above give a pretty good idea of how the museum’s central void will look filled with Turrell’s signature style mood- and color-changing light in this new work. Other works from throughout the artist’s career will be displayed in the museum’s Annex Level galleries.

It should be noted that the bottom photo is not from the Turrell renderings, but rather a photo of the exterior taken years ago when the museum had their Dan Flavin exhibit. One can only assume that there will be a similar glowing effect (likely with a different color palette) from Turrell’s skyspace.

James Turrell will run from June 21–September 25, 2013.

Top two renderings courtesy James Turrell and the Guggenheim Museum. Third photo: Bridget´s Bardo, 2009, Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, Germany.Bottom photo of the Dan Flavin exhibit by David Heald © Guggenheim Foundation

via GalleristNY and Guggenheim Museum’s facebook

October 26, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: HalloWeekend

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This weekend! Free and cheap things to do 10/26 to 10/28 in NYC. Cultural events in art, architecture, music, film, dance, theater, design, food and general fun. This week’s listings include a smattering of spooky Halloween-related events.

1. Design/Architecture/Talks – Designers & Books Fair 2012 is a live New York City event at the intersection where design, architecture, and books meet. All weekend at FIT. Tickets range from $25 to $50. See schedule.

2. Architecture – The brand spankin’ new FDR Four Freedoms Park is now open to the public (see post). All weekend. 9am to 5pm. FREE

3. Art/Technology/Science – ReGeneration: an exhibition that explores the connection of cultural vitality to immigration, urbanization and sustainability through art, technology & science. All weekend (starting Sat 10/27 through 1/13). $11 Adult $8 Kids & Students. FREE Fridays, 2-5 pm; Sundays, 10-11 am

4. Architecture/Art – Past Futures, Present, Futures presents 101 unrealized proposals for New York City. 2nd Part of the exhibit (Present Futures) opens Fri 10/26 with reenactments. 7pm. Through 11/4. FREE

5. Film/Discussion – Encore screening of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night. Fri 10/26, 7pm. $25.

6. Theater – How to Break at Here Theater. All weekend. Check schedule for times. $10 in advance. $18 less than 24-prior. Students with ID FREE.

Alternatively: Tim Burton Burlesque, Fri 10/26, 9pm to midnight at Bar Matchless. $5 in costume; $7 if not.

7. Film –Holy Motors at Walter Reade & Film Forum. All weekend. $13.

Alternatively: Scary Movies at Walter Reade Theater Fri 10/26 and Sun 10/28. See schedule. $13

8. Film – Friars Club Comedy Film Festival. Fri 10/26 & Sat 10/27. See schedule for films & times. $10.

9. Art/Architecture – The blps Project (see post). Spot pill-shaped stickers on and around the High Line—from smokestacks to the Standard Hotel—on surfaces that usually go unnoticed. Kind of like an Easter egg hunt without the chocolate. In conjunction with the Richard Artschwager! retrospective at the Whitney. All weekend. FREE

Alternatively — Leo Villareal’s Buckyball light installation in Madison Square Park (see post). All weekend. FREE

10. Walking Tour – Haunted Tours of NYC. All weekend. Nightly at 8pm. $20 Adults $15 Kids. 90-minute tour.

Alternatively — Walking tour of Green-Wood Cemetery: Celebrate the fall season with tales of murder, mayhem, spirits and ghosts on our annual autumn tours led by Green-Wood’s historian Jeff Richman. Includes a visit to the Catacombs, usually closed to the public. Sat 10/27 & Sun 10/28 at 1pm. $20

11. Comedy – Jos Houben: The Art of Laughter. Renowned actor from Théâtre Complicité and longtime collaborator of Peter Brook presents a hilarious comedy about comedy. Sat 10/27 at 7pm. $20 with Code FIAF20.

12. Music – Justin Townes Earle with Low Anthem and Joe Pug at Pace. Fri 10/26 & Sat 10/27. At 7:30pm. $5 for Students. $25 and up everyone else.

13. Readings/Fun – Utilities Included: A Night of Brooklyn Writers. Six local writers kick out the jams for Halloween weekend Brooklyn-style. Sat 10/27 7pm at the Pine Box Rock Shop in Bushwick. FREE

14. Art – One of our favorites! John Baldessari Double Play at Marian Goodman. Fri 10/26 & Sat 10/27 through 11/21. FREE.

15. Tour – A Very Spooky Boat Tour of Newtown Creek. Sat 10/27 from 4:30 to 6:30pm $20 Leaves from South Street Seaport.

Alternatively – Halloween Dead Celebrity Ball: Costume Ball aboard the Jewel Yacht. Fri 10/26 at 8pm.

16. Food/Fun – 11th Annual Pickle Day will celebrate the rich history of pickle vendors of the Lower East Side and this time they are bringing back the pushcarts! Sun 10/28 on Orchard Street. 12 to 5pm. FREE

17. Food – Landhaus Farm to Sandwich Grand Opening Party at the Woods. Sun 10/28, 2 to 6pm. FREE with RSVP

18. Readings/Comedy – Bare! True Stories of Sex, Desire & Romance with John Flynn, Amy Sohn & many more. Brings together storytellers, comedians, sex educators and others to share true tales from their own experiences of sex, desire and romance. At the Bell House. 8pm $10

Art/Fun/Interactive – Bird on a Wire: a projected interactive display created for a pair of storefront windows at the corner Mercer St. and Washington Pl. By calling a number a passerby can set birds perched on telephone wires into motion. Cool! All weekend through 10/29. Opening Fri 10/26 at 8pm. FREE

AND Coming up this week – The Gay Death Halloween Variety Show, Tues, 10/20 at 8pm at The People’s Improv Theater with Scott Schachter and his Fun, Fab Weirdo Friends for a Macabre filled Sinful Night of Devilish Comedy: Nick Cobb; Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting and more. $5

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

October 24, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

High Trestle Trail Bridge: RDG

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Completed last year, the High Trestle Trail Bridge in Boone County, Iowa was designed by public artist David B. Dahlquist of RDG Dahlquist Art Studio in response to a “call for artist” competition issued by the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. Purely sculptural, as opposed to functional or a structural part of the bridge, the final design has a blooming quality, or maybe camera-shutter-like effect, head on. Surprisingly, from the side, one can appreciate how spaced out the individual steel archways actually are. It’s interesting to see the lit-up nighttime version which has such a different, more futuristic look. Either way, I’d say it’s a very successful and striking design.

If you like this bridge you might also enjoy the Twist Bridge.

Photos: Kevin Eberle; Jason Mrachina; Phil Roeder; and RDG

October 24, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Cracking Art Group: REgeneration in Milan

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Cracking Art Group is a collective made up of 6 international artists that was formed in 1993. The group considers “cracking” the process which transforms the natural into artificial; organic into synthetic. Their interventions involve huge colored plastic animals invading spaces, usually as a cry for awareness. By selecting recycled plastic and adapting it to their own purpose, Cracking Art Group is attempting to hold back control of the process and turn it towards fulfilling the movement’s social and environmental commitment to reinstating humanity as part of nature, not apart from it.

Their most recent intervention titled REgeneration took place earlier this month (October 5th through 13th) in Milan at the Duomo. In collaboration with the cathedral and Opera d’Arte, Cracking Art Group created and placed 50 blue snail sculptures on the Duomo’s roof to call attention to the much-needed repairs and restoration. 100 smaller limited edition snails were also created and sold at the Glauco Cavaciuti Gallery with net proceeds going towards to the restoration of the cathedral.

via tribeart