July 20, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 7/20

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Here are some of our suggestions for free and cheap cultural events in New York City this weekend:

1. Theater – Slowgirl by Greg Pierce, with Sarah Steele and Zeljko Ivanek, at Lincoln Center’s new Claire Two Theater. All tickets $20. Extended through August 5, 2012.

2. Art – Ghosts in the Machine at the New Museum. The new exhibit spans fifty years and traces the complex historical passage from the mechanical to the optical to the virtual. FREE Saturday (7/21/2012) 12-5pm with a visit to the museum’s block party. Otherwise $14 General Admission/$10 Student. FREE every Thursday 7pm-9pm. Through September 30, 2012.

3. Music – B.o.B FREE Secret Show at the Highline Ballroom; Sunday, July 22 at 9pm. Doors open 7:30pm. FREE with Ticket. Tickets available at the box office.

Also: Williamsburg Salsa Orchestra at the Brooklyn Bowl, Sunday, July 22, at 8pm. Doors open 6pm. $5.00

4. Comedy/Performance – D’FunQT: Stand Up or Die at Dixon Place (LES) Fri and Sat, July 20 & 21 at 9:30 pm. Tickets: $15 advance, $20 at the door, $15 students / seniors
Written and performed Leguizamo-style, this one-person show celebrates the joy of survival in a world often intolerant of difference. As a queer boy/stud/trans person, D’Lo unapologetically takes center stage and uses his fluidly morphing form and spot-on timing to bring the fierce with the funny.

5. Architecture – New Practices New York 2012 exhibit at the Center for Architecture. Mon-Fri: 9am to 8pm Sat: 11am to 5pm, through September 8th. FREE

6. Design/Performance – GlassLab Glassmakers from Corning Museum of Glass create pieces with contemporary designers. Glass blowing and all. Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 6:30 through July 29th. This weekend designers include Peter Buchanana-Smith and Paul Sahre. On Governors Island. FREE.

7. Art – Rineke Dijkstra: A Retrospective at the Guggenheim. Large-scale color photographs. Portraiture with a twist. Through October 8, 2012. Pay-what-you-Wish Saturdays from 5:45 to 7:45.

8. Theater – Uncle Vanya at the Soho Rep in Tribeca, through August 26th. 99¢ Sundays same day at the door. Line forms one hour before show. Limit 2 tickets per person. 7:30 pm. 99¢.

9. Dance – Pilobolus at the Joyce Theater. Through August 11, 2012. A limited amount of tickets available for $10 by calling the box office (212-242-0800). At the time of posting, only 1 ticket was left for this weekend, so best to try in advance. Showtimes and programs vary.

Also in Music: Bebel Gilberto/Criolo/Flavio Renegado/Beco Dranoff Saturday, July 21, 3-7 pm, Summerstage at Central Park. FREE

Also in Food: Les Salonnieres Country Blues Potluck Under the Stars. Dinner and Wine tasting. Bring a country-themed dish. Saturday, July 21, 7pm – 1am. Williamsburg Private Residence. Tickets $10.

More Food: 3rd Ward’s 5th Annual Pig Roast. Saturday July 21, 4pm to midnight. 195 Morgan Ave, Bushwick. FREE with RSVP

Also in Film: Coming Home: Short Films. Friday, July 20, 8pm. Rooftop Films at Metrotech Commons. FREE

Art on the Beach: Coney Island Annual Sand Sculpting Contest and Unity Day. (Here’s a video on last year’s event) Saturday, July 21, 12-5 pm. FREE.

Check last week’s Culture on the Cheap for additional (ongoing) events.

July 13, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 7/13

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If you’re in New York City this summer weekend, there are more free and cheap things to do than time to do them. Here are just a few that look especially interesting to us…too bad we can’t be in more than one place at a time.

1. Art – The Yayoi Kusama Retrospective opens at the Whitney Museum. Friday nights from 6-9pm admission is pay-what-you-wish, otherwise general admission is $18. Can’t make it this weekend? Don’t fret, the exhibit runs through September 30th. And if you’re downtown be sure to check out the lawn installation at Pier 45, Hudson River Park.

2. Art/Film – Christian Marclay’s The Clock opens July 13 through August 1 at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center. FREE. Prepare for long lines. 24-hour video collage.

3. Music – Eleanor Friedberger with Ex Cops. Friday, July 13th at 7pm; Pier 17 at The Seaport. FREE.
Also: for a more Latin evening: Calle 13/Ana Tijoux/Ritmo Machine at the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn. Friday, July 13 at 7pm. FREE.

4. Theater – Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot – “The Merry Wives of Windsor” July 12 to 28. Municipal Parking Lot at the corner of Ludlow and Broome. Thursday – Saturdays at 8pm. FREE.
Also: Twelfth Night presented by New York Classical Theatre at Castle Clinton, Tues through Sun, till July 22th at 7pm. FREE.

5. Art/Architecture/Music – Warm Up at PS1, Saturday July 14 at 3pm with Terrence Parker, D3, Ron Morelli, Jeremie Delon, and Steve Summers. Check out Wendy, see Lara Favaretto’s exhibit Just Knocked Out, and dance the evening away. $15. Free for MoMA members.

6. Graphic Design – Now in Production is Cooper-Hewitt and Walker Art Center’s exciting exhibit exploring some of the most vibrant sectors and genres of graphic design today. Open weekends through September 3, 2012 in Building 110 on Governors Island. FREE.

7. Art – Tomas Saraceno’s Cloud City on the roof of the Met. (See our previous post) Through November 4, 2012.

8. Food – Paper Magazine’s Super Duper Market. July 13-15. Pop-up super-store bringing the coolest food artisans and innovators under one roof. 410 West 16th Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues.

9. Film – Persepolis on Pier 1 (Riverside Park near 70th Street), Friday, July 13, 8:30-10:30pm. FREE.

And you might be interested in contributing to Bike-In-Theater’s Kickstarter so that they can get their events going this summer as well.

May 7, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Lomography: La Sardina Beach Edition

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I probably walk by the Lomography store a few blocks from my apartment about once a week, but this past weekend I stopped in my tracks when I spotted these fun cameras in the window and stepped inside to see them up close. La Sardina Beach Edition cameras, as they are called, take their inspiration from the sardine tin—in their shape and size—and come in all sorts of fun colors and patterns which, in this edition, are printed on canvas. These 35mm film cameras (yes, film!) are super cute and cost between $75 and $110 and according to reviews, take a pretty decent photo in the Lomography style.

You can see more designs and purchase them here.

February 29, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Doug Aitken: Song 1 at the Hirshhorn Museum

After not thinking about the Hirshhorn Museum in years, right on the heels of finding out about the plans for a bubbled garden (see previous post) is now news of the upcoming Doug Aitken installation, turning the exterior of the circular museum into a 360-degree projection screen. The piece, titled “Song 1”, will consist of 11 high-definition projectors streaming multichannel yet-to-be-disclosed images in conjunction with the song “I Only Have Eyes for You” with covers created and performed by several artists including Beck, and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, specifically for Aitken’s work.

I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve seen by Doug Aitken, including his video installation Sleepwalkers at MoMA back in 2007 (where does the time go?!) which was also projected on the building’s façade (bottom photo). Based on past experience, this should be worth checking out. Maybe a trip to D.C. combining cherry blossoms and the Hirshhorn is in order this spring.

This impressive project will be on view from March 22nd to May 13th, 2012.

Renderings courtesy of the Doug Aitken Workshop. Bottom image courtesy of MoMA.

February 16, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Dancing Plague of 1518

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This tumblr by Niege Borges made me smile. In memory of Frau Toffea — the woman who was the first of 400 people in 1518 to be afflicted with dance mania in Strasbourg, France, dancing for days without rest resulting in some deaths — Borges is creating prints illustrating dance steps from sequences throughout the history of film. The tumblr/series is called Dancing Plague of 1518. She’s welcoming suggestions, so feel free to head on over and add yours.

If you’d like a print of one of the dances, they’re available here.

via free york

December 15, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

We Are Augustines

It’s been a while since we’ve posted about music, but I just heard this song (I may be late to the party on this) on the radio and really liked it. We Are Augustines are a Brooklyn-based band with their debut album titled Rise Ye Sunken Ships. I like everything about what I’ve heard and seen so far: both the music and the videos which show NYC in all its grungy beauty. The song above is Chapel Song and the video is by Matthew C. Mills.

via Soundcheck

November 2, 2011 by collabcubed - 6 Comments

Peter Kogler: Spatial Illusion

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Clearly, one doesn’t necessarily need Upside Down Goggles or a Psycho Tank à la Carsten Höller to experience a trippy effect through art. Austrian artist Peter Kogler has been playing with spatial illusion since the 1980s.

Interested in film architecture and influenced by movies from the 1920s such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Metropolis where the architecture plays a central role generating emotion from the viewer, Kogler began working with the “illusionism of space”. Initially working with small models made from cardboard, his work evolved into projections of large-scale graphic images onto walls, trying to absorb or change the actual architecture.

Personally, the rats are a tad too freaky, but the rest of it really appeals to me.

Below is a short video of one of Peter Kogler’s video installations in action.

via Dirimart

November 1, 2011 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

The Tidy Street Project

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I went to see the new documentary Urbanized—the third film in Gary Hustwit’s trilogy starting with Helvetica and followed by Objectified—which looks at city planning issues and stresses the importance of intelligent urban design for the immediate future when 75% of the population is estimated to inhabit cities by 2050. It’s a great film and I highly recommend it. There’s a lot more that could be said about the film, but instead I wanted to share a project that was featured and relates more to art, design, and typography: The Tidy Street Project.

During March and April 2011, participating households on Tidy Street, in Brighton, UK, recorded their electricity consumption. Each day the participants’ electricity usage over the previous 24 hours was marked; and each week participants could choose to add another comparison line that showed how their electricity consumption compared to another region in the UK or even a different country. The residents, in collaboration with the local graffiti artist Snub, produced an engaging street infographic that stimulated the street and passersby to reflect on their electricity use. In Urbanized, several of the participants are interviewed as well as the project creator, Jon Bird from Open University. It was interesting to see the enthusiasm in the project and how the tenants were made aware of which appliances used the most electricity as well as a general awareness on how to lower their consumption, resulting in a 15% usage reduction.

Definitely a fun way to get people involved and interested.

The Tidy Street Project is part of CHANGE, an EPSRC funded research collaboration between The Open University, Goldsmiths, Sussex University and Nottingham University.

Photos courtesy of The Tidy Street Project, Sare, thelastretort’s flickr, Kevan’s flickr, and boxman’s flickr.

October 21, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom

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These photos and videos by London born and based artist Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom made me chuckle. Using everyday objects as characters, Boakye-Yiadom creates performance environments in his studio. Essentially creating humorous/absurd experiments, Boakye-Yiadom then documents the (very brief) acts through film, photography and installation. It’s worth watching a few of the short videos below to get the full effect.

via the future can wait

September 13, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

PSLAB: Mybar

Lebanese design firm PSLAB designed the lighting concept and fixtures for HGroup Architects on the restaurant/bar project MyBar in downtown Beirut.

Three distinct areas needed to be addressed: the long entrance corridor; the bar; and the dining area. The challenge was to provide a trendy and edgy atmosphere for the evening crowd while keeping it sophisticated to avoid alienating the business professionals who work in the same building and have lunch there.

All the lighting and decor is quite striking, especially the oddly shaped hanging lights. I’d say they succeeded in mixing trendy and sophisticated.

via restaurant and bar design awards

June 25, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Linotype: The Film

Calling all type lovers! I had the priviledge of hearing Doug Wilson, the director and producer of the upcoming documentary Linotype, speak at the BrandPerfect conference I attended a few days ago. He gave us a little history on the, now almost extinct, Linotype machine, as well as showed us the trailer and additional clips. Doug likes to put it this way: “The Linotype machine was basically the Twitter of the 1880s.”

From the site:
The Linotype completely transformed the communication of information similarly to how the internet is now changing communication again. Although these machines were revolutionary, technology began to supersede the Linotype and they were scrapped and melted-down by the thousands. Today, very few machines are still in existence.

Below is the trailer and you can follow screening locations and all other news on the film’s site, as well as help support the project by buying things in the shop. The film is slated for release by the end of 2011. Looks like a good one.

May 14, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Bike-In Theater

Here’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.

April 22, 2011 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

The Weird Girls Project

Granted, my exposure to Icelandic culture is limited to, well, Björk, but based on that and now The Weird Girls Project, it certainly seems like a creative, and zany, place to be. Artist Kitty Von-Sometime (a British expat) started the Weird Girls over four years ago noticing her female friends’ social self-consciousness and lack of creative outlets. It has grown to almost 60 Weird Girls and 12 episodes that include spandex, bunny masks, and glow-in-the-dark effects. There’s a Busby Berkely-meets-Björk element to some of them.

The Weird Girls Project is an ongoing art experiment created and produced by concept artist Kitty Von-Sometime. It evolves ‘Episode’ by ‘Episode’ and the participants mix between those involved from the beginning and new members increasing with every event. Each Episode is planned for approximately three months with the participants knowing as little as is possible about the event excluding the date, this includes the concept, location and costumes. The experience is one of empowerment, overcoming self-consciousness and body image, comradery, as well as (for lack of a better term) girl power.

Filmmaker Adrienne Grierson, after a two-year wait, became a Weird Girl and, along with Martina Moor, is documenting the whole experience and the 13th Episode in her upcoming documentary “I Want to Be Weird in Iceland.” Here’s her kickstarter trailer, well worth watching:

You can follow Adrienne’s progress here. And you can watch The Weird Girls Project Episodes here.