August 28, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

M. Angelo Arnold: Fun Furniture Sculpture

Click to enlarge

Looking at these sculptures by Angelo Arnold, I feel like I’ve entered the real-life world of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. I can’t get over how much attitude and personality each of these inanimate pieces possess. Arnold, currently living and working in Vermont, calls his familiar upholstered objects with an unfamiliar twist: Familiarture. The titles of the individual works are also, in some cases, very humorous: Not Today (top), Loved Seat (2nd from top), and at the bottom is An Eames, a Chippendale and an Ottoman walk into a bar…

From the artist’s website:
Through the comfortable format of furniture, I present concepts of metamorphosis, change and subversion with self. I create custom works that embrace change and present possibilities for adaptation to new, unfamiliar environments and situations. These metamorphic forms deconstruct the functional object to establish a foundation or platform to recall past memories, stories and uncanny events. Through my reconstructed objects reference a vocabulary of furniture, the removal of the functional aspects subverts the viewer’s expectations and provokes new interpretations.

Some of Arnold’s works can be seen at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe Vermont as part of their exhibit Exposed, through October 13, 2012.

August 27, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Tu Wei-Cheng: Happy Valentines Day

Click to enlarge

Taiwanese artist Tu Wei-Cheng likes to create illusions and hoaxes with his art. One such work is his large-scale installation titled Happy Valentine’s Day: a chocolate shop complete with hearts, ribbons and pink walls, except that the chocolate boxes are filled with tiny chocolate tanks, guns, hand grenades and other arms and artillery.

All images courtesy of White Rabbit Gallery.

August 22, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

David Byrne’s Typographic Bike Racks

Click to enlarge

David Byrne is at it again. The well-known musician, who is often seen cycling around town, was invited by BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) to design new bike racks to replace their old utilitarian ones. Byrne, having designed a series of fun bike racks for NYC in 2008 with shapes ranging from dogs and cars to high heels and guitars, decided to go typographic this time around. Realizing that with a semi circle, line and ‘v’ shape he could create most of the letters of the alphabet, he designed racks that create different words. The racks installed yesterday spell out “Pink Crown” and “micro lip” both chosen by designer Byrne. The bike rack words will change periodically, and BAM may be soliciting suggestions from its audiences in the future for new words.

Top two photos by Dino Perrucci. Third photo by G.R. Christmas and bottom by Jason Accime.

via Brokelyn via BAM’s facebook

August 21, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Stiletto Studios: Shopping Cart Chair

Click to enlarge

One of our favorite pieces at MoMA’s Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900–2000 exhibit was this small shopping cart chair. This child version is titled Short Rest Chair (1989) designed by Frank Schreiner for Stiletto Studio in Berlin. Apparently a few larger, uncoated metal versions exist as well, titled Consumer’s Rest.

Originally a metal locksmith in the German armed forces, Schreiner later became a video artist and eventually, in 1982, started designing furniture and founded Stiletto Studios. The inspiration for Consumer’s Rest Chair came from a comment from Schreiner’s mother about wire-mesh furniture reminding her of shopping carts.

Update: The bottom left cart chair is not by Stiletto Studio.

Photos: collabcubed; eye magazine; atomic design; and neatorama

August 16, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Slade Architecture Kitchen Cabinets

Click to enlarge

Architects Hayes and James Slade of Slade Architecture (previously here) have designed a fun and clever set of kitchen cabinets. The wooden cabinet doors, coated in a smooth semi-gloss white finish, have minimalist outlined silhouettes of dishware and glassware etched into the sectioned panels. Very fun and a great centerpiece that catches your eye as you first enter the space.

Top photo courtesy of Slade Architecture; other photos collabcubed.

August 3, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 8/3

Click to enlarge

Our picks for free and cheap art, music, performance, and food events this weekend (August 3 through 5, 2012) in New York City:

1. Architecture – The Grand Tour each and every Friday throughout the year at 12:30 pm in the sculpture court at 120 Park Avenue, located at the southwest corner of E. 42nd Street and Park Ave. directly across from Grand Central Terminal. No reservations are necessary. Friday 8/3 at 12:30 pm. FREE

2. Video/Music – John Cage, One¹¹ and 103,at the High Line, 14th St. Passage. Black and white video and sound, 94 min, in celebration of the John Cage Centennial. Part of the new High Line Channel 14, outdoor video program. 1pm – 11pm, Daily (all weekend) through September 13. FREE

3. Film – King Corn Screening at the Culture Project 45 Bleecker St. Friday 8/3 at 6pm FREE. Reserve seats here.

4. Interactive Performance/Music – Phil Kline’s DreamCityNine performed by Talujon. World premiere. To take part in this event, download the stories as one file from the Artist Links — upload them to your laptop, smartphone, tablet, or MP3 player, and bring them with you along with your battery powered speakers, or blast Q2 Music through WQXR’s mobile app. Friday 8/3; 6:30 pm at Lincoln Center’s Hearst Plaza. FREE.

5. Art Event/Walking Tour – Telettrofono by Justin Bennett and Matthea Harvey, part of Guggenheim’s Stillspotting NYC. An audio walking tour that braids history with fantasy along and around the Staten Island waterfront. Starts at the stillspotting kiosk at the Staten Island Ferry terminal in St. George. 1.5 hrs, Saturday 8/4 and Sunday 8/5, from 12 to 7 pm. $12 adults and $10 for members.

6. Fun! – Summer Streets nearly seven miles of NYC’s streets are opened for people to play, walk, bike, and zip(!) from 7am to 1pm on the next three Saturdays 8/4 (and 8/11, 8/18) from 7am to 1pm. Check site for route and activities. There will be a zip line in Foley Square as well as free bike rentals. FREE

7. Food – Parked! A Food Truck Festival at South Street Seaport. Saturday 8/4 from 10am to 9pm. FREE

Also in Food: Hester Street Fair Olympics. Corn-on-the-cob and BBQ Ribs eating contests plus burlap sack races. Lomography Photo Tour of Fair here as well. Saturday 8/4 and 8/11. FREE

8. Art– Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940 at the Jewish Museum, (saw this last weekend…lovely exhibit!) through September 23rd. Saturdays FREE all day.

Also in Art/Design: Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900–2000 at MoMA through November 5th, 2012. Fridays FREE from 4pm to 8pm.

9. Music – 54/10 Music Marathon; Alice Lee, The Henry Millers, Night Fevers play at Ars Nova Theater
511 West 54th St. Saturday 8/4, 8 pm. Tickets $10 online; $15 at the door.

Also in Music: Amadou & Mariam / Theophilus London / and Just a Band at Central Park’s Summer Stage. Saturday 8/4, 3pm to 7pm. FREE

10. Performance/Installation – The Murders of Crows at the Park Avenue Armory. The largest sound installation to date by artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, a compelling “sound play” that envelops the audience in an unexpected physical and aural environment. Through September 9th, but this Saturday, 8/4, from 12pm to 7pm, FREE

11. Talk/Film Presentation – Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carell and David Frankel talk about their new film Hope Springs at the Soho Apple Store. Sunday 8/5, 4pm. FREE

12. Music – Mad Decent Block Party at Williamsburg Park, with Major Lazer, Erol Alkan, Bonde Do Role and more. Sunday 8/5, 12pm to 10pm. RSVP required. FREE.

Dance – The Wind of Colorful Guizhou, Guizhou, China, Ethnic Song and Dance Troupe at Skirball Center, Saturday 8/4, 7pm. FREE (Tickets distributed first-come-first-served basis – call 973-917-3005 or bethb.sunels@yahoo.com)

Also in Film: If Yes Men Fix the World, screening at the Culture Project, Saturday 8/4, 8pm. Reserve tickets here. FREE

For more ongoing summer weekend suggestions (i.e. Rineke Dijkstra Retrospective at the Guggenheim [see post], PS1’s WarmUp and Street Art Walking Tours in Williamsburg) see our previous Culture on the Cheap posts here, here and here. Also: check back throughout the weekend for possible updates.

July 24, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Metro Valencia: Luis Ferrer

Click to enlarge

I love this new metro/subway station Estación de Metro Carolines-Benimàmet in Valencia, Spain, designed by architect Luis Ferrer. The multi-colored glass boxes-within-a-box design not only gives the station a light appearance, as if floating over a bed of stones, but each box serves a purpose as well: two function as emergency stairs, one as office space, and the largest contains the ticket booths, elevator banks, and escalators. The colors and prints on the glass, apart from looking great, refer to the basic elements of earth, water, fire, and air, adding increasing warmth as one descends to the lower levels (perhaps a nod to the underworld?) The light fixtures and furniture were all designed in the architect’s studio with the idea of mass-production in mind for future stations.

It’s all fun, smart and beautiful as all design should be.

Photos by David Frutos and also courtesy of the architect.

July 23, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

It’s Not Paper! Plates

Click to enlarge

Strolling around the village this weekend we came upon this very fun faux paper plate platter at Mxyplyzyk. We were familiar with the porcelain crumpled paper cups from a few years back, and the more recent I am Not a Paper Cup porcelain coffee cup, but the It’s Not Paper! Paper Plate Platter and Plate sets were totally new to us and a must-have for Daniela, who will be returning shortly to purchase a set of the plates.

July 20, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 7/20

Click to enlarge

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 11, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Leeds Street Tree Grates: HeineJones

Click to enlarge

HeineJones, an interdisciplinary design consultancy based in Melbourne, was approached by the city council of Footscray to design an interpretive solution describing the function and intent of a new “rain garden” installed as part of a streetscape redevelopment for Leeds Street. HeineJones’ solution presented the function and intent of a water garden as a piece of poetry, laser cut though the 10mm steel plate of the tree grates. Presented in different scales and languages, the urban poems include large words that form abstract snippets of information about the rain garden, with the poem in its entirety reproduced in smaller type.

The intent of the design is to engage the public in an emotive and legible way, whereby the passage and movement of the water into the system is through the information itself.

via segd

June 29, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Gyula Várnai: Matter of Comfort

Click to enlarge

It’s no giant plastic fish, but Hungarian artist Gyula Várnai’s giant arm chair made of 2500 discarded plastic bottles is pretty cool in its own right. Displayed at Budapest’s Park Galeria—a mall that exhibits public artworks in their atrium—last year, the armchair seemed to be a hit with people of all ages.

June 27, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

A Memorial Bowing: Snarkitecture

Click to enlarge

Last month when I was on Snarkitecture’s website getting information on their recent Odin Pop-Up Shop project, I noticed this project earlier in 2012. Alex Mustonen and Daniel Arsham, the Snarkitecture duo, reconstructed the 10-foot letters from the old Miami Orange Bowl and whimsically scattered around the east plaza of the new Marlins Ballpark. Created as a sort of memorial to the stadium that was demolished in 2008, A Memorial Bowing feels like a mix of ruins and renewal, with some of the letters submerged and others standing tall.

The alignments of the letters spell out new words and are a nice complement to the new stadium, which can be viewed through the type at different points.. Really, you can’t go wrong with monster-large type.

Photos by Noah Kalina

June 25, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Shakespeare Machine: Ben Rubin

Click to enlarge

When I heard designer Paula Scher speak a couple of weeks ago at the Reasons to be Creative conference, she mentioned the current renovation at the Public Theater in NYC and the new graphics that she and her team at Pentagram are working on. She also mentioned a very interesting piece acting as a sort of centerpiece chandelier in the main lobby: a Shakespeare Machine designed by Ben Rubin (previously here and here.) The work is described in the Public Theater’s press release as follows:

A large-scale multimedia sculpture, “Shakespeare Machine,” has been commissioned from Ben Rubin for The Public’s lobby. Suspended from the ceiling and serving as the lobby’s chandelier, the work features 37 display screens on which fragments of Shakespeare’s plays appear and dance, creating an unfolding kaleidoscope of language in motion. The installation is part of New York City’s Percent for Art initiative, which ensures that a portion of construction project budgets are dedicated to site-specific artworks.

Upon further research I came across several Shakespeare Machines that Rubin has worked on in the past few years, as a way of working out concepts and algorithms for the Public Theater sculpture. The top three images are from the latest, and presumably final, renderings for the actual piece due to debut this coming fall. The fourth image is a previous rendering from 2009, while the fifth image is from A Shakespeare Accelerator: Experiments in Kinetic Language, a piece that is currently being exhibited at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at RPI in Troy, NY through the end of July. The final image is an iteration from 2009 included in the group show Textual Landscapes: Real and Imagined at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery.

The final piece that will hang in the Public Theater’s lobby will cycle continuously through the text of Shakespeare’s plays organized as a repeating series of compositions, recombining the small linguistic molecules to form new poetic visual combinations. The nature of the algorithms ensures that no composition will repeat.

I’m looking forward to checking this out. In the meantime, you can take a peek at the animated rendering here.

Images courtesy of Ben Rubin, EMAC, Bryce Wolkowitz, and The Public Theater.

June 22, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Salon Urbain: Sid Lee and Ædifica

Click to enlarge

The former parking lot at the Place des Arts in Montreal, has been transformed into a cool urban lounge and event space: Salon Urbain by Sid Lee Architecture and Ædifica. Adjacent to a new concert hall, the space is meant to be a meeting place pre- and post-concert or exhibit. The central focal point of the space, under the spectacular ceiling, is the bar shaped as a sound wave in physical form. The goal of the architects was to create a space that would continue the magical feeling that comes with attending a concert.

Pretty darn cool.

Photos by Stéphane Brugger

June 18, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Supermachine: Bangkok University Projects

Click to enlarge

Thai multidisciplinary design studio Supermachine based in Bangkok has been working on a several projects for Bangkok University, including their BU Creative Center, BU Lounge, and, most recently completed, BU Brand Unit. They are all fun, colorful, and clever designs that complement each other, yet each with different challenges and budgets. The BU Brand Unit was the most low-budget of the projects, and Supermachine was able to convert the space into a fun creative office, mostly by adding paint; the splashes of colors and circles, while not expensive, made for a complete transformation. The other two projects, with larger budgets had every aspect of the projects designed by Supermachine, including a unique pool table, shelving system and chandelier in the Lounge project, to a pixel wall in the Creative Center.

Fun all the way around.

Photos: courtesy of Supermachine and Wison Tungthunya

via the coolhunter

June 13, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Air Lair: Pod Business Class Seats

Click to enlarge

Are private pods the next step in Business Class airline seating? British product design consultants Factory Design and aircraft seat manufacturer Contour Aerospace seem to think so. Their Air Lair concept seating consists of a series of hard-shell capsules providing a whole environment for each passenger; semi-private spaces with a flat bed, mood lighting, and individual screens for in-flight entertainment. The pods stack on two levels (I’d love to see the suited businessmen hop in and out of the ‘upper bunks’) in a 1-2-1 configuration. The goal? For each person to feel like they’re in their own private jet.

First capsule hotels, now capsule airline seats. Very 21st century. And: very purple.

Here is a video with more details:

Photos courtesy Factory Design and Contour Aerospace

via the ticket

June 11, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Oh, Plastiksack!

Click to enlarge

Oh, Plastiksack! is an exhibition currently at the Gewerbemuseum in Switzerland. A tribute to, and a commentary on, the ubiquitous plastic bag; from trash to status symbol, as well as a reflection of consumption patterns, the plastic bag is represented as the medium of choice and running theme for all the sculptures, installations, paintings, products and photographs in the show.

From top to bottom, left to right:
Luzinterruptus (lit dumpster); Simon Monk (Batman and Robin in plastic bags paintings); Ida-Marie Corell (Ikea bag installation and dress); Duty Free bag collection (artist?); Claudia Borgna (plastic bag installation in courtyard); Living room furniture made from plastic bags by Anne-Cecile Rappa, Biaugust and Ryan Frank; Luke Julius Keijser (tailored suits); and Nils Völker (plastic bag installation Eighty Eight).

The exhibit runs through June 21, 2012.

Photos: Gewerbemuseum, Claudia Borgna, Ida-Marie Corell, Bernhard Hageman; Tommi Makynen.

Thanks, Nils Völker!

May 30, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Museum: Cortlandt Alley

Click to enlarge

This is the kind of quirky thing that makes NYC so great. Located in what was once a freight elevator in an alley behind a former paper warehouse, in the area between Tribeca and Chinatown, sits the Museum. This tiny space is filled with velvet lined shelves housing artifacts, objects, and, well, garbage from around the world. These pieces from assorted collections undergo a rigorous vetting process by the permanent curatorial staff who select only the most awe-inspiring objects.

Daniela and I went down for a quick visit today. Based on the 24/7 hours posted on the Museum’s website, we were not concerned about the time. These hours, we soon found out, are possible due to the three, different-level windows in the bolted shut door. Apparently, entrance can be gained by appointment only via email. I have to say that peeking through the windows works just fine and adds to the nuttiness of the whole concept. There’s a phone number on the door that acts as an audio guide service when punching in each object’s clearly displayed reference number. So, if a toothpaste tube from another country and/or its history would interest you, or maybe a misspelled food container label or air conditioner vent, then get yourself over to the Museum and peruse these lovely collections.

The Museum is located in Cortlandt Alley between Franklin and White Streets. Look for the windowed door under lots of scaffolding.