November 20, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Enzo e Nio: Armed Women & Girls

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Enzo and Nio are New York based street artists whose work has been appearing throughout the city, as well as in Europe, and as far as New Zealand (see second photo from top.) They have several series and recurring themes in their work. The one above of saint-like women and girls armed with weapons (often accompanied by a Latin phrase) is one, but they also have fake “Pull in Case of Emergency” boxes as well as a series of monogrammed bombs with their own initials. In some cases there’s overlap, as in the top photo. They’ve collaborated with Olek and Jilly Ballistic as (see fourth photo from top) and their Cocksharks rarely go unnoticed.

Apparently, they don’t like discussing their work, leaving it to each person’s own interpretation…so interpret away.

Photos from Enzo and Nio’s facebook and tumblr pages; Toirock’s flickr; Dave Krugman; Modica-Way; Cinde Meade.

via buzz patrol

November 19, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

The Silent History

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The future of publishing is here and it is good. This from a book designer who feels sadness, and a tinge of resentment, at the displacement of the printed page for the electronic one. This past Saturday I attended The Silent History Walking Tour on the Lower East Side led by the e-book/app’s immensely appealing publisher and editor Eli Horowitz, who took us to three locations where ‘field reports’—short location-based storylines written by readers and fans of the serialized novel—were read live by their authors. But taking a step back, here’s the description of The Silent History from the website:

The Silent History is a groundbreaking novel, written and designed specially for iPad and iPhone, that uses serialization, exploration, and collaboration to tell the story of a generation of unusual children — born without the ability to create or comprehend language, but perhaps with other surprising skills of their own.

The multimedia aspect of the downloadable futuristic novel is very intriguing (I’ve yet to get the app due to my own iphone issues but did view it on another attendee’s phone) allowing the reader deeper levels of engagement. With the purchase of the $1.99 app, daily downloads are delivered automatically to your iPhone in segments short enough to read in roughly 15 minutes. The interactive quality of the field reports not only allows people to write their own, it also teaches the readers to observe their surroundings in a different way; noticing details that usually go unnoticed by making them relevant to the text. A flagpole and the security camera next to it, both hanging from a storefront, are integrated into the story and place you right there as you take note of them in person. A gold-painted brick in the wall at the Allen Street Mall bathrooms is written into the report, and a reference to a yogurt and vodka party point you to the empty containers found in the planters. It all makes for good fun; a literary treasure hunt of sorts and completely immersive.

Published by Ying Horowitz & Quinn, (all three having worked at McSweeney’s; Horowitz as the former publisher) with a list of credits that truly impresses, The Silent History revolutionizes the novel as we know it. Matt Derby and Kevin Moffett, writers and collaborators on the project, were on the walking tour as well, reading their latest field notes on location. If all this wasn’t enough of a treat, the 20-or-so of us on the tour were treated to a mini private tasting at the very popular and hard to get into Mission Chinese Food on Orchard Street where we experienced the deliciously spicy and unique plates in the company of interesting people, some already hooked on The Silent History.

These three guys, and I imagine all their collaborators as well, are truly inspiring with their creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. There’s an instant happiness that kicks in, as if contagious, listening to them describe the project. Check out the trailer below and download the app here.

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 - 0 comments

Timothy Goodman: Writing on the Walls

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New York based Timothy Goodman is a designer, illustrator, art director and teacher. For the Ace Hotel in NYC, Goodman hand drew 99 picture frames creating a dense wall of ‘discovery’ about NYC for the common tourist staying in the room. Each frame contains a different fact/love/thing/tidbit/or place that the artist likes in the city. At roughly 120 feet, the art was drawn imprecisly to capture the spontaneity of the city, using markers and opaque black paint.

Just this past August, Goodman, in a similar style, created a wall mural for FlexFit Headwear at the Magic S.L.A.T.E. trade show in Las Vegas which he drew in real-time during the first day of the show. He came up with the idea of hand-lettering Tupac Shakur lyrics to Keep Ya Head Up on 500 sq. ft. of wall space, going round and round for about 9 hours. Apart from the great illustrated type, I’m amazed at how perfectly aligned he keeps it all. You can see a video of the FlexFit installation below:

November 14, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Exit Sign Art

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About a year and a half ago, Daniela and I popped into the Charles Bank Gallery on the Bowery and were welcomed by Allen Grubesic’s modified Exit sign reading “EXCITING”. We both found the sculpture very clever. Since that day, when perusing gallery and artists’ websites online, I’ve run into many other sculptures and installations that repurpose old exit signs or are simply influenced by them. Also, when Emma interned at a gallery the summer before last, one of the tasks assigned to her was to research inexpensive exit signs for one of their artists who was planning to use them in his work. That’s when I realized there was some sort of trend here. I started bookmarking these works as I came across them and though there are some that I’ve lost in the shuffle, this is a roundup of most of them.

From top to bottom and left to right: Nicholas Consuegra, Untitled; Allen Grubesic, Exciting; Bobbybabe, Exit; Kelly Mark, Exist; Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Reference Flow; Cecile Colle & Ralf Nuhn, Exit Wall; Dana Depew, Exit Strategy; Ingo Maurer, Exit (and bottom); Foreign Flash, Exit Installation; Ji Lee, Exit, Word as Image; Marke Johnson, No Exit; Lowe+Partners, Axe Ad Campaign; Philip Cheater, First Emergency Fire Exit

And here’s Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Reference Flow in action:

November 9, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 11/9

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This weekend we suggest freely supporting, in a not-so-cheap way, any of the numerous Hurricane Sandy relief efforts throughout the city. You can donate your time, money, or supplies, but we challenge you to be proactive and for every fun thing you do this weekend, do at least another charitable or supportive one for all those struggling in the aftermath of the storm. In some cases you can be supportive WHILE having fun. I’ve included links to some of these events along with regular entertainment ones. Come on NYC!

1. Food – EAT OUT!! Yes, it doesn’t have to be expensive, but support the many restaurants south of 39th Street and those in Brooklyn that lost almost a week’s business plus all their perishables. Take your pick, but do it! All weekend.

2. Volunteer/Donate – There are an impressive amount of places to drop off donations, or volunteer your time sorting supplies. Check out WNYC’s list; SandySucks; OccupySandy; Caaav in Chinatown and Rockaway Relief. If volunteering, from personal experience, I recommend calling first (if a number is provided) to find out which shifts are low on volunteers. If making donations, stick to what is requested: right now blankets, batteries, flash lights, and groceries are high on most lists. All weekend.

3. Volunteer – Nighttime shift volunteers are needed at the Park Slope Armory Shelter. Food Prep and social support for a mostly senior population from 2 nursing homes in Rockaway. All weekend.

4. Art/Benefit – Ed Osborn (previously here) Albedo Prospect. Closing Reception & Fundraiser at Bitforms. Fri 11/9 at 6pm. FREE

5. Theater – Wild With Happy at the Public Theater. All weekend and through 11/18. Tkts $25 with code STORM.

6. Art –Clintel Steed Aerial Views Sandy Relief Project Fri 11/9 from 6 to 9pm at 379 Broome and Sat 11/10 11am to 7pm.

7. Film – DOC NYC New York Documentary Festival at IFC and SVA. All weekend and through 11/15. $9 to $16.50.

8. Sweep/Beach – Rockaway Project Operation Sand Sweep: Sat 11/10 from 10am to 1pm. If you’ve enjoyed the beach now it’s time to give back! Some ride shares here.

Alternatively: Sign up to help Coney Island.

9. Art/Graphic Design – Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival. Sat 11/10. 12 to 7pm. FREE

10. Donate – Two Boots in Park Slope is taking donations. See list of supplies needed and who to make checks out to. All weekend.

11. Music – Jazz & Colors in Central Park. 30 Bands. 30 Locations. Sat 11/10. 12 to 4pm. FREE

Also in Music: Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival. Fri 11/9 & Sat 11/10. $35 for an all day pass.

12. Food – Help Chinatown recover by eating at your favorite Chinatown restaurant. If they haven’t been washed away, I recommend the delicious Green Sandwiches (mustard greens on sesame roll) at a stand under the Manhattan Bridge: 75 East Broadway. $1.50! Also at Waloy Bakery. All weekend.

Alternatively in Food – East Village Meat Market will be sampling cooked/smoked meats on Sat 11/10 as part of Meat Week NYC. FREE.

13. Performance/Comedy – Rob Delaney at Skirball Center part of New York Comedy Festival. Sat 11/10 at 7:30. $35

14. Art/Drinks/Performance – Recess at MoMA PopRally.Eleven emerging artists “intervene” in MoMA’s Painting and Sculpture Galleries with objects and performances created specifically for this night. Sat 11/10 8pm to 11pm $13 in advance $16 at door 21+

15. Interactive Performance/Fun – Halloween TOO. “Killers” Haunted event — come in costume to the 107 Suffolk St. location and stay for a Halloween party. Fri 11/9 and Sat 11/10. 10pm $20.

16. Music/Drink/Food/Benefit –Fuck. Off. Sandy. Benefit for NY Cares with Heliotropes and three more bands. Sun 11/11. 3 to 7pm. 21+ $10.

17. Food –Peck Slip Pickle Festival at the New Amsterdam Market with a fundraiser for NYC residents and small businesses affected by the storm. Sun 11/11. 11am to 5pm. FREE.

18. Host/B&B – Offer any extra space/room/bed to a Sandy victim. Over 100,000 people are still stranded by Hurricane Sandy. Airbnb has partnered with the City of New York to connect those in need with people who are able to provide free housing.

Check back for possible updates throughout the weekend!

November 7, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Tempting Typography: Studio Airport

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Here’s a nice event that took place during the Graphic Design Festival in Breda, Netherlands. Design firm Studio AIRPORT held a three-day-long workshop called Tempting Typography based on window-typography.

Every participant worked with a shop on St.Annastraat to create a typographic window display/signage to the satisfaction of the retailer and with the idea of staying on the shop’s window for an extended period of time. The end result was a beautiful street with lovely handwritten window typography.

Photos: Studio Airport and Olga Mishyna

via studio airport

November 7, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Persona: Type Work Desk

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Listen up all you type lovers! How does a desk with your favorite letters of the alphabet, or maybe your initials, as its legs grab you? Romanian graphic designer Liviu Avasiloiei, now living in Washington D.C., has a design in the works making it a reality. So smart and clever! Even the lamp has been integrated into the design. I think Ikea needs to get in touch with Avasiloiei ASAP…

via behance

November 5, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Clet Abraham: Signage Sticker Street Art

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French street artist Clet Abraham, now living and working in Florence, humorously alters traffic signs throughout major cities in Europe by strategically pasting removable stickers on them. But it’s not all just to crack a smile on the faces of those who pass by. Clet is commenting on society’s standardization and the constricting effect that rules have on us, limiting individual expression and thought. It’s no coincidence that many of his images reference religion.

If you like Clet Abraham’s work, you might also enjoy Dan Witz’s Do Not Enter Project and Roman Tyc’s Semafory.

Photos courtesy of the artist; Paul nine-o; nijule; edoardo80; walls of milano; surreyblonde; metella merlo; kriebel; and lartefact.

via studio magazine

November 1, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Katherine Bernhardt: Swatch Watch Paintings

Katherine Bernhardt, originally from Missouri but now based in Brooklyn, paints large expressionistic portraits of women from glossy magazines as well as easily recognizable consumer objects. She has worked on store installations and magazine covers using this same style of acrylic paintings. I particularly like her paintings of Swatches.

Photos: Carbon Gallery; artnet; and Galeria Marta Cevera

via Carbon Gallery

October 29, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Shelley Miller: Cake Icing Graffiti

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The other night I attended a talk at the New Museum about the future of Nuit Blanche in NYC. One of the panelists was an organizer of the Nuit Blanche in Toronto and she spoke about an artist included in this year’s event that instantly intrigued me: Shelley Miller a street artist who creates her work with cake icing and presented an interactive piece titled Throw-Up.

Shelley Miller is a Montreal-based artist whose installations, sculptures and public works have been exhibited across Canada as well as India and Brazil. Much of her work is created using sugar and cake icing. Her murals and street art tags made with these cake-decorating techniques reference history and other cultures. Some examples are her murals depicting the history of sugar, linking the port of Montreal into the global network of sugar’s history and the slave trade that supported this industry. Miller’s graffiti tags, also made with icing, at closer look recall the decorative scrolls of arabesques and calligraphy from ancient mosques, temples and pottery spanning the history of decorative arts.

The ephemeral aspect of this work adds another interesting dimension when it begins to melt, causing a dripping effect. All around impressively done!

Photos courtesy of the artist.

October 22, 2012 by collabcubed - 4 Comments

Tania Mouraud: Typography Murals

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I wasn’t familiar with Parisian artist Tania Mouraud and her work, but she has been painting since the 1960s. It’s not surprising that Mouraud studied languages before her foray into the art world. Though her work ranges from painting to sculpture and, more recently, video, much of Mouraud’s art reflects her concern with the elusive nature of language. I especially like her typographic wall murals. I’ll confess to not being able to decipher them all on my own — or at least not without my eyes starting to criss-cross in all directions — but I like the fact that they appear to be abstract geometric paintings that upon closer look actually spell out phrases.

So, in case (like me) you need a little help, here are the names of the works from top to bottom, except for the 5th one down, which I couldn’t find or figure out:

WYSIWYG; HowCanYouSee?; I Haven’t Seen a Butterfly Here; Dieu Compte les Larmes des Femmes (God Counts the Tears of Women); ????; I Have a Dream; WYSIWYG; I Have a Dream; and I Had.

Photos courtesy of the artist; HuffingtonPost; and PerezArts

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 15, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Packapplique

Packapplique is a simple and clever lamp design by the Italian product and communications design firm Studio Boca. The foam packaging doubles as a functional part of the lamp, separating the cord and bulb from the wall as well as adding a touch of color.

via Eco Packaging Design

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 10, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Amir Zainorin: Postcard Series

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Malaysian artist Amir Zainorin, who now splits his time between his country of origin and Denmark, likes to urge the viewers of his art to challenge the traditional notions of religion and identity in relation to globalization.

In his Postcard Series, Zainorin copied the images of Mao, Queen Elizabeth, and George Washington from the Chinese Yuan, the British Pound, and the U.S. Dollar, respectively. Using postcards collected from restaurants and galleries, Amir pinned these cards creating the currency portraits.

From the artist:
The postcards are pinned on to the wall while the rest are laid down on the floor. This gives the work a mortality or temporary status in which it occupies the space for only a period of time, just like a system, an empire or a person, [Mao, the Queen, and Washington]. After some time they are remembered in history books, on paper currencies, posters, stamps or on a postcard.

via saatchi

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.