February 14, 2013 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Baltimore Love Project: Michael Owen

Click to enlarge

Seems fitting to post about a love mural on Valentine’s Day, no? The Baltimore Love Project began a few years ago when local artist Michael Owen developed a design of four hands spelling out the word love. Since then the image has been painted on several walls with a total of 20 scheduled across Baltimore City; the idea being a way of expressing love and connecting people and communities all around the urban center. The community seems to have lovingly embraced the project with an impressive level of enthusiasm including a couple taking their wedding photos in front of one of the murals.

You can see a time lapse video of one of the murals in progress below, and there’s a 5-minute documentary on the project over here.

via think.bigchief via notcot

February 13, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Refraction: Acrylicize

Click to enlarge

London-based Acrylicize is a boutique creative agency that combines art and design to create engaging interior experiences from one-off installations to entire interior graphics and large scale architectural features. Last spring Acrylicize (originally their work was exclusively made with acrylic) was approached by PokerStars (the world’s largest poker site) to create a custom installation for the reception area of one of their London offices. Acrylicize came up with the idea of using materials from the poker world and ultimately decided to use playing cards. Cutting and assembling a large quantity of cards around acrylic cubes, the team placed the cubes into a spiraling sphere resulting in Refraction: a refined piece of abstract art, as well as a nod to the world of Poker playing.

Check out more of Acrylicize’s fun work on their site, from a map sculpture made with Monopoly houses to type installations and much more.

via instant joy

February 12, 2013 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Buchstaben Museum: Museum of Letters

Click to enlarge

Well this is something I’ll definitely check out when I make it over to Berlin. Buchstaben Museum (Museum of Letters) is devoted to preserving and documenting letterforms. It is nestled away in the back of a mall and houses a beautiful collection of found type, which the owners have rescued from around the world. The sizes of type vary, and the conditions of each piece too. All the letterforms are piled up over several rooms, some rooms are color coordinated. Neon letters that are still in working order are presented in all their glory. Sounds like a graphic designer’s dream museum!

Photos: Buchstaben Museum; frankrolf’s flickr; and olex.

via berlin design guide

February 11, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Les Ballets de Faile: NYC Ballet Art Series

Click to enlarge

Looks like the ballet has developed an edge. For the inauguration of their NYCB Art Series, the New York City Ballet has commissioned the Brooklyn-based street artist duo Faile to create an installation for the special Art Series performances on February 1st and May 29th where each seat was/is available for $29 and each audience member takes home a limited edition work (seemingly in the form of a cube) made specifically for the event by the artists. Inspired by the old posters, playbills, and other past company-related ephemera that fits so well with their collage style work, Faile created a tower in the ballet’s main hall titled Les Ballets de Faile. Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller who make up the artistic collaboration see their participation as bringing together the “glamour and grime” of NYC under one roof.

There is limited availability left for the May 29th performance, but the installation is open to the public this week (2/10 to 2/17) for free. You can see the schedule here.

And here’s an interview with Faile on the project:

Photos: NYC Ballet; Faile; loftgallery, Kayellepea, and s0le1728 from NYCB’s facebook.

via wooster collective; video via animalny

January 28, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Styn Flipper: Sam van Doorn

Click to enlarge

For his senior project, Dutch designer and typographer Sam van Doorn designed Styn. a deconstructed pinball machine reconstructed as a design tool. The idea behind the installation is that by creating new tools one is able to break free from standards in design. By playing the machine the balls create an unpredictable pattern, and the better the player the better the print. Somehow, the grid used relates to the signs of the alphabet, tying it into typography but, in all honesty, I couldn’t figure out what that means exactly. In any case, the concept is pretty unique and fun.

via etapes

January 23, 2013 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

7-Eleven Rebrand: BVD

Click to enlarge

There’s been a recent resurgence of 7-Eleven shops around NYC, much to my dismay. In fact, I’ve always associated the chain with the suburbs and find it surprising, and a little depressing, that they should be cropping up all around town. But maybe, just maybe, it would be a little less painful if they were to implement the new identity BVD created for their Swedish market; foregoing the retro look for a clean and modern one.

via visuelle

January 4, 2013 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 1/4

This weekend’s picks for Free & Cheap things to do in NYC (1/4 to 1/6.) Click through on the images above for the corresponding event page and details, or use the links below.

From left to right, top to bottom:
1. ART: How Much Do I Owe You?: Sound installations, projections, immersive installations in the iconic former Bank of Manhattan in LIC.
2. FILM: 56Up – Michael Apted’s documentary following a group of people every 7 years. Should be excellent.
3. FILM/LECTURE: Ethics in Film – The Terminator.
4. COMEDY: 7th Annual 50 First Jokes – $10 advance. $12 door
5. THEATER/DANCE: COIL 2013 Performance Festival.
6. FILM/ART: Christian Marclay’s The Clock. FREE Fridays 4 to 8pm.
7. FILM: First Look Film Series $12 adults/$9 students
8. ART: Martin Soto Climent, Contemporary Sculpture. 5pm Sat Opening, FREE
9. ART: Lin Tianmiao: Bound Unbound, Chinese Contemporary Art. FREE Fri 6 to 9pm. Other times $10.
10. THEATER: Job by Thomas Bradshaw. A Tarantino-esque tale. $20 to $25
11. MUSIC/DANCE/ART: Target First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum w/ Lez Zeppelin, Heems from Das Racist and Occupy Wall Street writers. FREE
12. DANCE: Noche Flamenca. $35
13. GRAPHIC DESIGN: The Fifty and Fifty State Mottos Project. 50 posters by 50 designers depicting each state’s motto, graphically. FREE
14. FOOD: The Great CSA Smackdown. Citywide cooking competition. Sat 2 to 4pm. FREE
15. ART: Franck Yefeng Wang’s installation titled Impersonal. FREE
16. ART: Target Free Sundays at the Studio Museum of Harlem. Gallery Tour at 1pm. FREE
17. READINGS: Sunday Night Fiction – Readings by Alexandra Chasin, Dawn Raffel, John Dermot Woods and Halvor Aakhus. Sunday; 7 to 9pm FREE
18. ART: Paint the World Project – Over 20 artists will be creating multiple large scale canvases. FREE

Check back for possible updates throughout the weekend, and check out previous Culture on the Cheap posts for ongoing events.

UPDATES:
Fri 1/4: Altnerative Histories: NY Art Spaces, 1960 to 2010, book launch & reception. 6 to 8pm. FREE
Sat 1/5: Hit and Run Shakespeare: “Twelfth Night” 7 to 8pm $10 to $20.
Sat 1/5: MUSIC – Bridges and Powerlines/Fan Tans/Crazy Pills: 8pm doors 9pm show. $8 to $10.
Sun 1/6: ART – Closing reception for Mike Rader ‘Below See Level’ 4 to 6pm & Man vs. Ultraman extended. FREE.

January 3, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Pantone 2013 Calendars: Pentagram

Click to enlarge

Eddie Opara and Brankica Harvey of Pentgram have designed the Pantone 2013 Wall and Engagement Calendars. Using the PMS color chips as image pixels, the designers created a “digitized” seasonal thematic image for each month, much in the way Vik Muniz recreated famous Impressionist paintings with Pantone chips (see here). Each month features a Pantone color and continues with tints of it, each a square for every day of the month.

Cleverly and nicely done, though I have to admit a preference for the images in the engagement version. That donut on the cover is pretty great.

You can purchase the calendar here.

via @pentagram

December 28, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

From the C3 Archives: Part II

Here are some more of our popular posts from 2012. Superhero Saints; Ana
Soler’s suspended bouncing balls; the House that Fell from the Sky; the Red People in Russia; Liu Wei’s amazing Cityscapes made from schoolbooks: Liu Bolin’s fun collaboration with JR; So-il’s Kukje Gallery; the amazing Twist Bridge; the Mr. Dictator Heads; Roman Tyc’s replacement traffic lights; J. Mayer H.’s cool number installation Rapport; Kuggen the colorful cog; a typographic bike path; Giant snails take over the roof of a Milan cathedral; and Snarkitecture’s Memorial Bowling.

Click on the photos to be taken to their corresponding post.

December 24, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

From the C3 Archives

We’re taking a few days off to enjoy the holidays. In the meantime here are some of our favorites from the archives. Click on an image above to be taken to its post, or feel free to scroll through by category using the pull-down tab in the right margin, or randomly if you prefer. You can always like us on facebook, follow on twitter, or if email is your thing, you can subscribe at the bottom of the site.

Happy Holidays!

December 19, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

cartonLAB: Typographied Cardboard

Click to enlarge

Our friends over at cartonLAB (previously here and here) are working nonstop expanding their offerings with all sorts of fun products and stands made out of cardboard. And lately, much to our delight, they’ve gone a little type crazy. From their personalized Photocall Polaroid-like photo frames for weddings and parties to their impressive range of creative event stands with the type cut out or printed right on, cartonLAB has added another dimension to their work. And if that weren’t enough, they’ve also come up with a smart proposal for recycling large boxes (think Ikea furniture boxes) by printing the patterns to some of their creations on the cardboard for personal execution called Mas que Cajas (More than Boxes). Very clever.

All photos courtesy CartonLab

December 18, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Urban Maeztro: Firing Back with Street Art

Click to enlarge

Urban Maeztro the Honduran street artist, wheat-pastes provocative images of iconic paintings, such as the Mona Lisa and American Gothic, adding vividly rendered firearms to the images protesting the terrible gun violence in his country. The masked artist has often dodged bullets while posting his art in dangerous public spaces throughout Tegucigalpa, fearing the police as much as criminals.

Though in a different — and typically more dangerous — country, parallels can be drawn with Enzo & Nio’s wheat pastings, as they can be with the ever-increasing problem of gun violence and nonsensical deaths in the U.S. as well.

Photos: Javier Arcenillas and Fernando Antonio

via vice

December 14, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 12/14

Click to enlarge

This weekend’s picks for free and cheap things to do (12/14 to 12/16) in NYC. Cultural events in art, architecture, music, film, dance, theater, design, walking tours, food, and fun!

1. Art – Henry Moore: Late Large Forms. Simply spectacular! Fri 12/14 & Sat 12/15 and through 1/19. 10am to 6pm. FREE

Also in Art – Ed Ruscha Bookworks (see post) Fri 12/14 & Sat 12/15 and through 1/12. 10am to 6pm. FREE

Also also in Art – Masterpieces: A Fact-Filled Coloring Book. Professional artists of various disciplines, as well as creative nonprofessionals, were recruited to reinterpret the book’s 60 pages, each depicting a famous work of art. Fri 12/14 at 8pm. FREE

2. Graphic Design – The Lustigs: A cover story an exhibit including 500 book, magazine and catalog covers designed by Alvin and Elaine Lustig. Fri 12/14 and through 2/15/13.11am to 5pm FREE

3. Food/Tour – Crosstown Pizza Walk, Fri 12/14 & Sat 12/15 at 11am. 3 hrs $35

4. Design/Talk — 3DEA Pop Up: Artist’s Talk. Artists speak about their 3D printed works. Fri 12/14 at 7:30pm FREE

5. Film/Talk – A Conversation with Ewan McGregor interviewed by NYTimes’ Melena Ryzik. Fri 12/14, 6:30 to 8pm. $35.

6. Music – Antibalas with special guests Red Baraat, Fri 12/14 at 8pm $25

7. Art/Internet/Talks & Multiple Events – #NYANCATCITY a good-humored, creatively diverse 4-day series of events that celebrates creativity and the influence of Internet culture—and cats. All weekend. FREE

8. Music – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart at Brooklyn Night Bazaar. Fri 12/14.

9. Food – Free Momofuku Milk Bar cookies from the roaming Holiday Cookie Truck and pastry chef Christina Tosi w/her mom. Sat 12/15 from 11am to 5:30pm. See locations.

10. Peformance/Art/Theater – What the Dickens Third Annual A Christmas Carol Marathon. Sat 12/15 at 1pm FREE

11. Fun/Goofiness – SantaCon. Put on your Santa suit and roam (and drink) with hundreds of others, hopefully bringing good cheer to all and not trouble. Sat 12/15 at 10am. Follow @SantaCon on Twitter for locations.

Alternatively in mellower Santa-ness: Santa Claus Association—the subject of the City Reliquary’s current exhibit. This group began in NYC in 1913, diverting children’s letters to Santa from the postal service’s “Dead Letter Office” and matching them with donors who could fill their requests. All weekend. $5

12. Music/Participatory Performance Art – Unsilent Night. Each participant gets one of four tracks of music in the form of a cassette, CD, or Mp3. Together all four tracks comprise Unsilent Night. Sat 12/15 at 7pm. Washington Sq. Park FREE

13. Dance – ABT’s The Nutcracker. There are $25 to $35 tickets available (and up, of course) at BAM. See showtimes and tickets here. All weekend.

14. Music – Medeski Martin & Wood. All weekend at the Blue Note. $30 tickets at the bar. Check showtimes.

15. Readings/Party/Music – Gigantic Magazine Launch Party with music, readings, booze and more: Sat 12/15 at 8:30pm. $10 in advance $12 door

16. Walking Tour – Chinatown: Culture and Change Walking Tour. Sun 12/16 at 1pm $20

17. Art/Multimedia Performances – Sunday Sessions Pier Paolo Pasolini: Intellecttuale, Sun 12/16, 12 to 6pm. $10.

18. Music – John Wesley Harding’s Cabinet of Wonders. Fountains of Wayne, Ron Sexsmith and many more. A few bar stools left. $25. Sun 12/16 6pm doors; 8pm show

Additional ongoing events to keep in mind:
Ann Hamilton’s The Event of a Thread participatory installation all weekend. $12.
Brooklyn Night Bazaar continues every Friday and Saturday through 12/22. FREE
11th Annual Holiday Train Show at Grand Central. All weekend. FREE
Holiday Nostalgia Train: Ride a Vintage Subway. Sundays through 12/30. $2.50

UPDATES:
The Museum of Mathematics opens Sat 12/15. $20 wkd $15 wkday
The Degenerate Crafts Fair: Featuring affordable wares from 50+ artists & designers. Sat 12/15 & Sun 12/16.FREE

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

December 12, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Philip Lüschen: Waiting Room Survival

Click to enlarge

This made me chuckle. Dutch designer Philip Lüschen created a humorous series of Waiting Room Survival objects: a collection of tools for waiting rooms, to spy on others, wait incognito or to shorten the period of waiting by making others disappear. From a book with eyeholes for spying on your neighbors, to nose masks for those who don’t wish to be recognized; and finally, the “sneak in front” tool consisting of a photo of actual sized empty seats to place in front of those ahead of you.

via Ed Jansen

December 11, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Architypeture IV

Click to enlarge

Our 4th installment of Architypeture (the fusion of architecture and typography.) If you haven’t seen our other Architypeture posts you can see them here: I, II, III.

From top to bottom, left to right: Casa do Conto Arts Residency in Porto, Portugal, by PedraLiquida Architects; University Library in Udine, Italy by Manfredi Nicoletti; Seattle Central Library by Ann Hamilton and OMA (x2); One Shelley Street Offices, Sydney by Clive Wilkinson Architects; Marks & Spencer, Stratford, UK by Pentagram; San Cristobal Residential Building, Murcia, Spain by Clavel Arquitectos, photos by David Frutos (x3); Public Library in Ludoz, Poland by Maciek Grelewicz (x2); Casa do Conto Arts Residency, Porto, Portugal by Pedra Liquida Architects; Social Housing Conil de la Frontera in Cadiz, Spain by Mediomundo Arquitects; Trafiq Club/Restaurant in Budapest, Hungary by 81Font with Kiss Miklos (bottom 3).

December 10, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

LeChurro

Click to enlarge

Here’s a fun, recently opened, spot in NYC for all kinds of churros: cones of churros, chocolate-dipped ones, mini, and filled churros. LeChurro, the small Upper East Side locale, seats approximately ten people in its nicely designed space. Boa Mistura (previously here and here) the Spanish street art collective, were commissioned to paint the type-driven wall mural. The rest of the shop has nice details from its tables and benches, to the bright orange and wood shelves. The shop’s identity works perfectly from logo to packaging. And if that’s not enough, LeChurro is the only place in NYC that sells Spain’s Chocolat Factory products such as the Mr. Chocolate mustaches and Give me Five chocolate finger tips.

LeChurro is located at 1236 Lexington Avenue near 84th St.

Photos courtesy of LeChurro and eurekasquirrel

via Marguerite

December 7, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 12/7

Click to enlarge

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

November 29, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

MOMO: Minimalist Geometric Street Art

Click to enlarge

I’ve just discovered MOMO. Well, I actually think that I’ve seen his work before on the streets of NYC, but not until now did I absorb it. And I love it. Originally from San Francisco, minimalist street artist MOMO now lives in New Orleans after years in NYC and traveling extensively. Most recently he’s been working on Practical Geometry a developing set of tools to draft, design, and organize wall murals with adapted masonry techniques. Those geometric shapes with their thin stripes in beautiful color palettes are what initially caught my eye, but what I truly love are the MOMO Maker group of works that were installed throughout NYC a few years back with equipment invented by MOMO. Those are the ones I think I’ve seen before and I can’t get over how a few colorful shapes put together can make me so happy and have so much personality. I would love to have a wall full of these in my home. You can see a clever 3D interpretation by MOMO titled 5 Shapes that developed from the same concept, here.