Category Archives: Event

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JR in NYC and his Inside Out Project

JR in NYC, Houston Street Mural, Street ArtJR in NYC, Houston Street Mural, Street ArtJR in NYC, Soho street art.JR in NYC, Soho Street ArtJR, street art, NYC, Inside Out ProjectFrench street artist JR has hit the streets of New York City in full force this summer. With several murals up in downtown Manhattan and a series of smaller posters up in the Bronx, the closely cropped expressive faces and eyes are a fun surprise to see as you round the corners of NYC.

JR’s wish? To use art to turn the world inside out. His Inside Out Project is a “large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work.” The three of us participated in this ongoing event, with the help of our buddy Rence, and set out to post our poster under one of JR‘s massive Soho murals. As you can see above, our poster is a mere speck on the wall by comparison (click to enlarge for better view) and clearly no JR but, regardless, we had a blast putting it up and it’s great fun to be a part of this international well-meaning project.

If you’d like to take part in JR’s worldwide project, just upload a photo to the site and you’ll be contacted to make a donation before receiving your poster.

All images are linked to their respective flickr photostream. Those that don’t, were taken by us.
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Chelsea Art Walk 2011

Chelsea, NYC, Event, Art July 2011Next Thursday, here in NYC, will be Chelsea Art Walk, an evening of artist talks, performances, cocktails, pop-up shops and activities; what could be nicer on a summer evening in July?

Some highlights: a Q&A and exhibit walk-through with Scott Ogden, artist, documentary filmmaker, and skate shop owner at the Ricco/Maresca Gallery; A one-time special acoustic performance by a 4-man band well known for their experimental electronic pop music at RARE Gallery; Visit Porter Contemporary to have your own Polaroid portrait taken; Coolhaus Ice Cream Truck unveils their new Buckminster Fuller ice cream sandwich at Meulensteen Gallery‘s Buckminster Fuller exhibit; a pop-up skate shop offering a custom line of artist-designed skateboards and ephemera; as well as several artist book-signings and David Zwirner’s pop-up book store.

Check out the rest of the events here.

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Aesop’s Grand Central Terminal Kiosk

Architecture, installation, Tacklebox, Grand Central, NYCTacklebox, Jeremy Barbour, Installation, Kiosk, ArchitectureClick to enlarge.

I have to admit that the Australian skincare company Aesop is completely new to me. Not until the plywood went up across the street from our place here in NYC with the “Coming Soon” signs was I aware of its existence. But I’m not here to discuss the company or their products, instead about the very interesting and cool kiosk that they have unveiled in Grand Central Station.

The architect behind the stand – built out of 1,800 back issues of the New York Times – is Jeremy Barbour of Tacklebox. In solidarity with the newspaper-reading commuters, Barbour stacked and pressed the papers into chunky blocks and combined the blocks with complementing powder-coated steel blocks and countertops. Apparently, there will be a similar design in the upcoming Nolita store. It will be interesting to see what they come up with for the third NYC shop that will be going up in our Greenwich Village neighborhood.

You can see more of Tacklebox’s work here and the fabrication process on their blog.

via Racked. Thanks, Scottie!

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The Cube by Electrolux

Cool Restaurant Pop-Up_Architecture_EuropeCool Restaurant Pop-Up_Architecture_DesignClick to enlarge

I’ve always enjoyed the combination and contrast of contemporary architecture with older, more classic structures, so coming across this pop-up restaurant — sponsored by Electrolux and designed by the Italian design firm Park Associati — was pretty exciting for me. The Cube by Electrolux will be popping up at some of Europe’s most famous landmarks from Belgium to Sweden, to Russia, Italy and Switzerland as well.

Presently, The Cube is in Brussels atop the grand Arc de Triomphe overlooking the Parc du Cinquantenaire. It will stay there through July 3, 2011 (though all reservations are sold out at this point) and then move on to Stockholm, followed by Moscow. The Cube will rest at each location for three months, making the complete tour in one year.

From the Electrolux website:
The aim is to create an experience that surprises and inspires with fantastic tastes, gastronomic hints and tips from some of the world’s greatest chefs and never-before-seen views, ultimately stimulating guests to explore their own creative boundaries next time they entertain friends or family at home.

Certainly takes Pop-ups to a whole new level!

You can book reservations here, and see more photos here and here.

Table and food photos by Photo&Coffee. All other photos from Electrolux.
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Rainbow City and High Line Too (Two)

Rainbow City Friends With You High Line NYCFriends With You Rainbow City High Line AOLClick to enlarge

The pop-up plaza, deemed The Lot, at 30th Street and 10th Avenue is just as promised. Rainbow City, the interactive balloon installation by Friends With You is cute, fun, kid-friendly and adult-silly. It feels a little like being on a real-life Candy Land game board with a hipster twist. The food section (The Lot On Tap) with its tables nicely angled to be parallel with the High Line above it, and stylish hanging lights, food trucks, large bar and container ticket booth, is all very appealing and I can imagine will be hugely popular in the evenings and weekends.

For me, the true star, once again, is the High Line. It’s hard to believe that they could top the original section, but in some ways I think they might have. Much more seating is available and incorporated very creatively and elegantly. There’s a coziness due to the proximity to the adjacent buildings (which might get a little claustrophobic on a crowded weekend) and there are many romantic little branches, or cul-de-sacs, throughout which work very nicely. Oh, and a lawn! A decent size lawn for NYC standards.

Definitely worth a visit, or three, this summer. Rainbow City is up through July 5, 2011, and Colicchio & Sons’ The Lot On Tap will continue through the summer. Open Sundays through Wednesdays from 11am to 10pm, and till 11pm Thursdays through Saturdays.

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Rainbow City at the High Line

U P D A T E : See our post-visit post here for the latest on Rainbow City.

This looks like fun! Em just read about this upcoming event on the Friends With You  site (you may be familiar with their collaborations with KidRobot, among other things.) In celebration of the opening of the second section of the High Line, FriendsWithYou (sponsored by AOL) will be showcasing their forty piece installation Rainbow City.

FriendsWithYou presents a vibrant collection of mutable, air-filled sculptures. Inaugurating in the art district of Chelsea during the month of June, this will be FWY’s first large-scale installation in New York City. This happy city is made up of intensely colored balloon pieces, encouraging visitors to be active and explore the giant 16,000 square foot playground. Built for adults and children alike, the installation allows for interaction with each art object, making the experience unforgettable.

According to the article in the New York Times, the installation is part of a “pop-up plaza” at 30th Street and Tenth Avenue. There will be a 350-seat bar run by Colicchio & Sons, as well as a variety of fashionable food trucks offering a range of edibles from lobster rolls to ice cream.

The installation and festivities open on Wednesday, June 8th, 2011 and run through July 5th. Worth checking out for sure.

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Gabriele Basílico: Contact 1984

Click to enlarge

When I came upon the wall of these large blown-up images at the Armory Show here in NYC a couple of months back, it filled me with a silly happiness. Who hasn’t, as a child, wearing shorts in the summer, been fascinated by the different bumps or ridges left on their thighs after getting up from an extended sitting? I certainly was. So, a sort of nostalgia and instant smile overcame me when I observed these photos by Gabriele Basílico, an Italian photographer who according to his gallery’s web site, first shot these photos in 1979. He had been asked to participate in an exhibit entitled “Freedom limits/the object: faced interpretations” and thought to take an ironic approach that invited free interpretation. From the artist:

The opportunity to participate in such cultural and artistic event helped me to take aside the beauty and formality of the still life photographies and to conceived a project more symbolic, ironic and freedom to interpreted the matter.
Thinking through the images about the relationship between the object-chair and the human body it came to my mind the funny and grotesque image that the hard summer chairs left in the naked bodies of the swimmers. It is a real negative “by contact”. A provisional relief tattoo which is printed on the body aesthetically developing the original surface of the contact.

I had neglected to take down Basílico’s name when I saw this at the Armory and had since been looking for it online, so I was especially happy the other day when I happened upon it via La Lettre de la photographie.

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Diego Grandi: Buon Weekend

Diego Grandi’s Buon Weekend was another installation at Interni’s Mutant Architecture and Design show in Milan last month. The term ‘mutant’ here referring to flexibility, adaptability and mobility. Four large colored sheets wrapped around a tree create the centerpiece of the installation as a tent that welcomes relaxation and lingering. The floral-like plates create an artificial landscape and a new take on the picnic with dishes and silverware becoming part of the informal setting. It’s no suprise that Sambonet and Rosenthal (an Italian/German manufacturer of tabletop accessories) was the sponsor of the installation.

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Lighter Than Air in Boston

Lighter Than Air_SHIFTboston_RachelyRotem_PhuHoangLighter Than Air, by Rachely Rotem Studio and Phu Hoang Office, is the winning entry for SHIFTboston’s Barge 2011 Competition and scheduled to be unveiled on Boston’s waterfront as a “pop-up” public space in September 2012.

Comprised of bright pink camouflage netting, helium balloons, and stationery bikes, the “camovapor” climate system (as the designers like to call it) will float over the barge with the interactive help of visitors who can generate power by pedaling the bikes that will inflate additional weather balloons, transforming water to vapor. As the vapor condenses on the pink nets, the 3D perforations will hold the water which then, combined with the natural harbor breeze, will create a cool area and an “interactive atmospheric phenomenon.”

Looks like a trip to Boston that fall will be in order.

via Architects Newspaper

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Ryoji Ikeda: The Transfinite (follow-up)

Ryoji Ikeda The Transfinite Park Ave ArmoryThe Transfinite Ryoji Ikeda Park Ave Armory(Click on the images to enlarge and check out our toes close up)

We had been eagerly awaiting this exhibit (see previous post) and headed uptown yesterday to check it out. The Transfinite, an interactive installation by Ryoji Ikeda (Japan’s leading electronic composer and visual artist),  is not only very cool, but surprisingly, an incredibly soothing experience. One would think that the test pattern visuals along with the loud electronic sounds and strobes might have the opposite effect but, at least for us, and seemingly, those around us, it was almost hypnotically relaxing. People were lying on the floor for long stretches completely entranced by the spectacle and immersed in the moment.

It is important to note that the show is made up of three parts: test pattern; data.tron; and data.scan. We almost missed the two data sections which were on the other side of the test pattern wall. Below are some short videos to get a sense of the show, but it definitely is more one of those you-had-to-be-there situations.




Just to clarify, Em and Dan’s chatter in that last clip is not part of Ikeda’s soundtrack… If you have sound issues with the video clips, try watching full-screen.


The Transfinite is at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC through June 11, 2011. The admission is a bit pricey at $12, but if you stay a while and take it all in, we think (though it would be more palatable at half the price) it’s still worth it.

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RIT Metaproject 01 at ICFF

Metaproject01 furniture design competition RIT and WilsonartContinuing with the impressive student work at ICFF, RIT’s “booth” stood out through and through. Wilsonart International (a manufacturer of laminate surfacing materials) teamed up with RIT to create a student competition called Metaproject 01. Twenty senior industrial design students were given the task of designing seating prototypes using the Wilsonart laminate. The palate was limited to the use of black, white and red laminate colors in order to focus attention on the design. Further requirements included:
– The product must be well crafted and bear substantial weight.
– The product must be recognizable as a seating device. The product must function as a seating device.
– The product must incorporate an image of the Wilsonart laminate sample chip.

The $1,000 scholarship prize was awarded to Dan Fritz for his chair The Trance (top). There were 5 runners up who had their pieces displayed at ICFF, but the other 14 projects not exhibited were included in the beautifully designed catalogue that were being distributed by the students who were also enthusiastic and eager to show and explain their designs.

Daniela and I would have had a tough time deciding who to pick as a winner; good thing they didn’t ask us to be judges. Other projects shown here include: The Cooler Bench by Andy Clark; The Nodule by Francesca Pezze; The Reader by Megan Searle; and The Encounter by Tim Kuo.

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Bike-In Theater

Bike-in Theater Forking Tasty eventHere’s a Saturday night plan for those in NYC tonight, provided it doesn’t rain: Bike-In Theater part of Forking Tasty’s dinema supperclub. It’s a free event and the film, location, and time were all underwraps until this morning. This is the first Bike-In in the series and therefore an experiment which will include popcorn and some water, but not the usual full dinner that they apparently provide in other events. You can bike-in or walk-in but you might want to bring a blanket or some sort of seating since this will be on an asphalt floor.

What: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Where: India St. and West St. at the water in Greenpoint, Brooklyn
When: 8pm

In case of rain, they will try for Sunday. In case of rain on Sunday, then next weekend. Sign up here to get the latest updates.

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BMW Guggenheim Lab

BMW Guggenheim Lab NYCAccording to their site, the BMW Guggenheim Lab, coming to NYC this August, is part urban think tank, part community center, part gathering space. At the border of East Village and Lower East Side, 1st Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues will be the site of the first Lab. They are bringing together a group of very talented people from varied fields to see new ideas, experiments and solutions for the city. To explore the potential between private and public comfort. A platform for positive interaction that welcomes in the public to participate and be a part of the forum.

The project starts in NYC with the first cycle’s theme, Confronting Comfort, and will be traveling to Berlin and then Asia, with an exhibit at the end of the first cycle scheduled for the Guggenheim in 2013. The BMW Guggenheim Lab will open on August 3, 2011 and run through October 16th before moving on to Europe. Free to all. Visit their site for more information.

via Breger via Inhabitat

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Impressive Parsons Seating Prototypes

Parsons Seating Prototypes_Parsons Festival 2011Having a possible future industrial designer in the family makes us especially interested in furniture design, and even more interested and impressed by student furniture design work. Strolling by Parsons yesterday, Dan and I noticed these beautiful chairs through the windows and went in to see, what turned out to be, part of the Parsons Festival 2011. These spectacular chairs are designed by Sophomores. Second year, undergrad design students. Unbelievable! “Parsons product design students present full-scale study models of bent plywood chairs that are the result of a six-week project in which students learned the basics of ergonomics, sound construction principles, and finishes.”

Parsons Festival runs through May 23rd in the lobby of the 2 West 13th St. building. The rest of the show, which includes interaction design, looks equally impressive.

Working prototype design credits, clockwise from top right: Megan Enright; Reading Chair by Siramol (Muan) On-Sri; Credit to come for this chair; Bone Lounge Chair by Soonyong Yoon; Reading Chair 01 by Irina Williams.
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Flash:Light

Flash:Light NYCIf you’re in NYC and you haven’t made your Saturday night plans yet, this definitely seems like the thing to do tonight. As part of the Festival of Ideas for the New City, Audemars Piguet presents Flash:Light, a series of projection mapping events around the New Museum, including on the New Museum itself. There are an impressive amount of artists participating in the project including Daniel Arsham (of recent Dig and Pixel Clouds fame), Acconci Studio, Jon Kessler, and about fifty more! There’s more information here but it looks like the three main events are taking place at the New Museum, St. Patrick’s Basilica on Mott St. and on the street itself on Mulberry Street between Prince and Houston. It all apparently starts at 8pm and continues past midnight.

Check it out here.

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Pop-Up Magazine

Pop-Up Magazine at Skirball Center, NYCIf you’re in NYC next week, this event looks interesting. Apparently it’s a big hit in San Francisco. From their website:

Pop-Up Magazine is the world’s first live magazine, created for a stage, a screen, and a live audience. Nothing will arrive in your mailbox; no content will go online. An issue exists for one night, in one place. Pop-Up showcases the country’s most interesting writers, documentary filmmakers, photographers, and radio producers, together, on stage, sharing short moments of unseen, unheard work. Books, films, journalism, photography, and radio documentaries in progress. Obsessions and digressions. Outtakes, arguments, and live interviews.

This live issue includes filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side), author Nicholas Dawidoff, This American Life contributor Starlee Kine, and a host of other people including New Yorker, ESPN, and New York Times writers to name a few. Looks like tickets are going fast. Info and tickets here.