May 9, 2013 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Detach: Iris Behler

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Are those brush strokes with some Jackson Pollock style drips here and there? Take a closer look. That’s right. It’s waxed hair. Ew! Gross? Most will probably think so, but Senior Art student Iris Behler at Brown University explores the role of women in society today and the struggles and negative connotations associated with being a “beautiful woman” in her senior show Attach//Detach. The large quantity of waxed hair on the many strips are given the shape of restrictive structures such as a fence or mirror. The concept of becoming a woman idealized by men involves attachment and detachment both physically as in manicures, extensions, implants, and waxing, but also emotionally in their relationship with men and abuse.

On a much more basic level, I’m simply impressed that Behler was able to accumulate so many strips and keep them from all sticking together!

Photos: collabcubed

May 7, 2013 by collabcubed - 3 Comments

Newspaper Photobombs

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These cracked me up. Someone (an anonymous commuter) has definitely found a way to keep themself entertained on their daily commute to work. There’s definitely an art to these, as simple as the concept may be. He/she really have matched position and even tonality on most of these folded newspaper mashups with unsuspecting co-commuter bodies. Nicely done.

via laughing squid via left eye

May 3, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 5/3

Free & Cheap things to do this weekend in NYC (5/3/13 to 5/5/13)
It’s going to be a perfect Spring weekend so here are plenty of suggestions to keep you out and about with culture and fun. Free & Cheap things to do this weekend in NYC (5/3/13 to 5/5/13) Walks, talks, music, art, Ideas Festival, Pen World Voices Fest, Red Bull Music Fest, Nuit Blanche events, Kentucky Derby, Cinco de Mayo and so much more!

1. THEATER: Fri 5/3 and all weekend – Blondie of Arabia. Monica Hunken’s one-woman show on her odyssey biking through 3 countries in the Middle East weeks before the Arab Spring. A quirky comedy. Monica talks after the Fri 5/3 and 5/10 performances. 8pm. $25.

2. LITERATURE/READINGS: Fri 5/3 – PEN World Voices of International Literature’s Literary Mews. Nestled among the cobblestone streets of NYU’s storied Washington Mews, this day-long “festival within the Festival” will feature writers’ workshops in the morning and readings in the afternoon. FREE

3. ART: Fri 5/3 & all weekend through 6/20 – Holton Rower Focus paintings, Pour Paintings two bodies of work side by side. Diverse results achieved by the artist through his innovative and deceptively simple process of pouring hand-made acrylic paints over wood. Rower will also introduce a new body of work titled “Focus paintings” which are amazingly out of focus! Opening Fri 6 to 9pm. FREE

4. FILM: Fri 5/3 & Sat 5/4 – New York Indian Film Festival $15 See schedule.

5. ART/ARCHITECTURE/URBAN STUDIES/DESIGN/FOOD: Fri 5/3 & Sat 5/4 –Ideas City is a biennial Festival in New York City of conferences, workshops, an innovative StreetFest around the Bowery, and more than one hundred independent projects and public events that are forums for exchanging ideas, proposing solutions, and accelerating creativity. So much to do so check schedule to pick. A few events that caught my eye: Creation 3D; Human Hotel; and Murals on the Bowery. 9am to Midnight. FREE

6. MUSIC: All weekend & through 5/31– Red Bull Music Academy. An amazing amount of music events all around town ranging mostly from FREE to $20. Check events on their site.

7. WALK/ARCHITECTURE: Sat 5/4 – The Great Saunter. A 32 mile walk around Manhattan’s Shoreline.7am to 7pm $20

8. ART/VIDEO/LIGHT: Sat 5/4 – Nuit Blanche presents Change of State. Site-specific projection on the facade of the New Museum. And Mulberry Street Night Fest where the street is converted into a series of cool light, projection-mapping, and video installations. 8pm to midnight. FREE

9. ART/PARTICIPATORY/FUN: Sat 5/4 & Sun 5/5 – The Institute for Psychogeographic Adventure: Experiment 17 – DUMBO Individuals (or pairs) sign up for a personalized journey that remixes history, memory, the everyday and the spectacular. A multitude of performers will be scattered through the neighborhood to lead you through a series of unexpected and fabulous DUMBO encounters. Noon to 5pm $10.

10. ARCHITECTURE/WALK/TOUR: Sat 5/4 – Made in LIC: A Jane Jacobs Walking Tour of Long Island City 12pm at The Clock Tower. FREE

11. MUSIC: Sat 5/4 – Brooklyn Flea Record Fair at Smorgasburg 11am to 6pm. FREE

12. ARCHITECTURE/WALKING TOUR: Sat 5/4 – Hudson Yards: Design(in) The New Heart of NY. OHNY. Exhibit and architect-led tours. 10am to 3pm. Register. FREE.

13. MUSIC/ART/FUN: Sat 5/4 – Earth Day Rockaway: Free activities, live music by Il Collectivo, art-related booths, kite-making, recycling olympics and much more. 12 to 4pm. FREE

14. FUN/SPECTATOR: Sat 5/4 – Kentucky Derby watch sites

15. THEATER: All weekend & through 3/19 – The Pulitzer Prize winning play ‘Night, Mother by Marsha Norman. General Admission $18

16. MUSIC/DANCE/PARTY: Sun 5/5 – Cinco de Mayo with Body Language. Dance Party at Glasslands Gallery. 8:30pm. $10 to $12

17. MUSIC/ART/INSANITY: Sun 5/5 – The National perform their song “Sorrow” for 6 hours straight as part of Ragnar Kjartansson’ A Lot of Sorrow at PS1 in the VW Dome $15 Tkts

18. FOOD/DRINK/FIESTA: Sun 5/5 – Roberta’s Cinco de Mayo Celebration. Tacos, Cervezas. Tequila, music, pinatas! 2pm to 10pm

Get outside and enjoy!

May 1, 2013 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Linda Hubbard: Lowbrow Propaganda

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You can tell right away from her artist statement (or lack thereof) that English artist Linda Hubbard is not one to sugarcoat things: “INTERESTS ….PROPAGANDA. No artist statement from me……..Bullshit stinks……” And with that, she instantly gained my respect.

Working in mostly sculpture and painting, Hubbard relays her strong beliefs and opinions on corporate greed, religion, income inequality, the food & drug industries and plenty more with humor that packs a punch. She has a whole dark series devoted exclusively to Pfizer titled Pfizerland.

You can see much more of Hubbard’s work on her site.

via saatchionline

April 29, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Underpantones

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Sure, we’ve been Pantone-producted to death, but I have to say this may be the smartest concept to date. Underpantones! How clever is that? And, of course, Pantytones. Mark Design Studio in Capetown, South Africa are the creative souls behind these fun undergarments and if they haven’t put them into production yet, well, I don’t know what they’re waiting for. After all, if they had their way: “…it’s what every well-dressed designer would be wearing.”

via r isdidporn

April 26, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 4/26

Free& Cheap things to do

Free & Cheap things to do this weekend in NYC (4/26/13 to 4/28/13) from participatory art events, to music, dance, talks, a design conference, outdoor garden and cherry blossoms, oh and food! Fun and interesting events all weekend long, ’cause it’s spring and spring in NYC is the best (after summer, of course.) Click through on images above for official event pages with more info or in the descriptions below.

1. FOOD/TOUR: Fri 4/26 & every Friday: Free Chinatown Food Tour – sample tasty fried dumplings, tapioca bubble tea, sticky buns, candied crabs and more. You choose what treats you would like to taste and how much you would like to spend. Suggested amount for snacks $7 to $10. 1pm to 3pm. Reservations required.

2. PARTICIPATORY ART/PHOTOGRAPHY: All weekend & through 5/10 – JR’s Inside Out Project Photo Booth in Times Square! (see post) FREE

3. DESIGN: Fri 4/26 – Bordo Bello NYC through July 2nd. A skateboard art show at the AIGA National gallery. FREE.

4. ART: All weekend & through 9/8: Orly Genger’s monumental installation of hand-knotted brightly colored nautical rope takes over Madison Square Park. Much cooler than the rendering on the site. FREE.

5. ART/PERFORMANCE/PARTICIPATORY/TOUR: Fri 4/26 – Concrete Escort I, II, III, IV at the Guggenheim. Ei Arakawa’s performance-based work. Axe-wielding man, participatory sprinting down the museum’s spiral walkway and other activities/performances. 6pm and 8pm. $20 to $25.

6. MUSIC: Fri 4/26 – Catch-Pop String-Strong: This duo come from Serbia and Kosovo, play viola and cello, often singing. they are both intense and full of humor. 6:30pm FREE w/RSVP

7. MUSIC: Fri 4/26 – Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr indie-pop duo at Music Hall of Williamsburg. 8pm $18 to $20

8. DANCE: Fri 4/26 & Sat 4/27 – Anna Sperber – The Superseded Third 8pm $15

9. ART/TECH: Fri 4/26 & Sat 4/27 – Alchemy & Art – Part I. Features 3D prints from Lily Su and Heidi Lee In addition, there will be live demonstrations, including Kinect body scanning and 3D printing with Ultimaker and Up! desktop printers. Opening Fri 7 to 9pm. Sat 4pm to midnight including party. FREE

10. DANCE: Fri 4/26 & Sat 4/27 – Comedy in Dance Festival. All shows at 8pm. $12 to $15.

11. DESIGN/CONFERENCE/WORKSHOP: Sat 4/27 – DIY Days is about the accessibility of ideas, resources and networking that can enable creators to fund, create, distribute and sustain. 9:15 to 6pm with Social Mixer from 6:15 to 8pm. FREE

12. MUSIC/FOOD/FUN: Sat 4/27 – F.O.R.T: CSAA’s interactive multi-tiered garden opens with all day music, food, and general merriment. 12 to 7pm at the Silent Barn. FREE

13. MUSIC: Sat 4/27 – The Losers Lounge perform selections from the Music Division’s historic Brill Building lead sheet collection, with commentary by division chief George Boziwick. at NYPL 7pm FREE

14. PARTICIPATORY/FUN: Sat 4/27 – Flux Factory’s Tween Dweam Social with YouTube Karaoke, Viva Bodyroll and dancing. 8pm $10 to $12.

15. PHOTOGRAPHY/WORKSHOP: Sun 4/28 – Pinhole Camera Workshop, Picnic & Bus Trip. $25 includes travel, film & loaner camera for the day, plus picnic. Sign up.

16. ART/PARTICIPATORY: Sun 4/28 – Photographer/Videographer Laurel Nakadate invites you to PS1 to confess, detail, and atone for shameful acts of the past publicly in the VWDome. 4 to 6pm. $10.

17. PERFORMANCE/FUN/MUSIC: Sun 4/28 – Sakura Matsuri, the annual cherry blossom festival offers over 60 events and performances that celebrate traditional and contemporary Japanese culture. Brooklyn Botanical Gardens 10am to 6pm. $15 to $20.

18. NEXT SUNDAY/MUSIC: Sun 5/5 – The National at PS1 performing their song “Sorrow” for 6 hours straight. Get tickets now: $15.

MORE…

FOOD/CRAFTS/FUN >> Sat 4/27 & Sats thru 10/26– Hester Street Fair kicks off their season. 10am to 6pm. FREE

ART >> All Weekend & till next April– Busted – the High Line’s latest commission. Figurative sculptures, celebratory portraits, and commemorative monuments installed on and around the High Line. FREE

ART >> Fri 4/26 & Sat 4/27 and through June 22nd – Here and There. New work by Maya Lin exploring environmental issues at Pace 57th St. FREE

ART >> All Weekend – Fashion Center Space for Public Art, a vibrant series of public window displays which showcase the work of local artists. This month through May: the paintings of Diane Englander. 215 West 38th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenue) FREE

April 25, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

The Museum of Broken Relationships

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From wedding chapel to The Museum of Broken Relationships all in the same day! Yes, it’s true, there is a museum of said name and theme. Originally a traveling exhibition revolving around the concept of failed relationships and their ruins, the success of the exhibit encouraged its founders Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic to establish the Museum’s permanent collection within the baroque Kulmer Palace in Zagreb, Croatia. The concept is simple: the Museum offers a chance “to overcome an emotional collapse through creation” by contributing to its collection. Donors part with objects left behind at the end of love affairs such as shared belongings, mementos, and gifts. It’s not clear what actually compels them to donate—some may do it out of grief while others exhibitionism—but whatever their reasons, people seem to embrace the notion.

Though different in theme, the collection of odd and random objects in a museum setting reminds me of the Cortlandt Alley Museum as well as Claes Oldenberg’s Mouse Museum currently on exhibit at MoMA.

As previously mentioned, the museum also has a touring component and currently that collection can be seen at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in Colorado through May 26th.

April 24, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Jim Hake: Crystal

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Toronto-based artist Jim Hake (previously here) has completed his first piece in a series made using upcycled CDs. Music has always been very important to Hake and now he’s bringing it into his work by welding pieces of CDs together, in this case honoring the forgotten musical idols of the ’60s that he grew up with. As he tells it to Weld Art Collective:

This is the first piece in the series and it’s based on a conglomeration of features and hairstyles from the band The Crystals. In terms of the portraiture, I wanted it to be more about the glorification of that particular moment and also taking the idea of the ‘60s female, black doo-wop singer and portraying her in a classical pose in a very positive and glorified way […]”

The prismatic quality gives it a bit of a disco ball look which adds yet another dimension to the music theme. If you’re in Toronto, you can see Jim Hake’s Crystal at the Lonsdale Gallery through May 12th.

Photos courtesy of Jim Hake

April 23, 2013 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

TOO by Blu Dot at Target

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Googling around for stools, I came across these surprising tableware collections at Target as part of the TOO by Blu Dot series (yeah, I have no idea how you go from stools to plates, but that’s what happened.) I can’t really say that I “like” the Duct Tape Collection, but I do think it’s pretty unique and would be curious to see what they look like in person. The Ruse Dinnerware plates are fun too with their drains in the center of each plate. There are also the Storyteller Dinner Plates which made me chuckle as well.

In fact, the whole TOO by Blu Dot line of furnishings is worth checking out. I especially like that sideboard, though we already have something vaguely similar. And now I see how I ended up on the collection’s page; there are stools there after all!

April 19, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 4/19

Free& Cheap things to do

Free & Cheap things to do this weekend in NYC (4/19/13 to 4/21/13) in art, music, film, performance, architecture, photography, and more. Fun and interesting events all weekend long. Click through on images above for official event pages with more info or in the descriptions below.

1. MUSIC: All weekend – New York City Opera Moses in Egypt & La Perichole. $25 and up

2. ART/MUSIC: Fri 4/19 and Sat 4/20 through 5/25 – Running to Stand Still. New works by Ken Solomon of 100 iPhone size watercolor paintings that form a close-up listen of one man’s self-deprecating portrait of white American man transitioning from vibrant, curious youth to mid-life. At Josee Bienvenu Gallery. 10am to 6pm. FREE

3. THEATER: All weekend – Mayday Mayday: A True Story by the Man Who Fell . “Laugh out loud funny and tear-inducingly moving.” 8pm. 3pm on Sunday.$25 to $35.

4. POETRY/PERFORMANCE: Fri 4/19 – Strand Poetry Slam. 7 to 8pm $15.

5. MUSIC: Fri 4/19 & Sat 4/20: The Losers Lounge tribute to Elvis Costello. $25

6. FILM: All weekend and through 4/28 – Tribeca Film Festival. See schedule $8 to $16

7. READINGS/LECTURES: Fri 4/19 & Sat 4/20 – Shakespeare Week readings, lectures and poetry in the South Court Auditorium in the NY Public Library. 1:15pm. See schedule

8. ART/TECH: Sat 4/20 & through 5/4 – A. Bill Miller’s Gridworks: 12 to 5pm FREE

9. THEATER/MULTIMEDIA/PERFORMANCE: Sat 4/20 & Sun 4/21 – The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer. A multimedia, one-man, micro-epic puppet show. “Akin to a theatrical Wall-E.” See showtimes. $30.

10. FILM/TALK: Sat 4/20 – Hear the filmmakers of “The Pretty One” discuss their drama about a woman’s decision to assume her twin’s identity. 3pm Soho Apple Store. FREE

11. MUSIC: Sat 4/20 – 7th Annual Record Store Day – venture into the doorway of your favorite local record shop this coming Saturday, for this year’s exclusive releases not available via download. Here are some releases and here is a map with events. FREE

12. PHOTOGRAPHY/MUSIC: All weekend – Madonna: Retrospective of never before seen photos at W Times Square. FREE

13. RIDE/MEMORIAL: Sun 4/21: 8th Annual Memorial Ride to remember pedestrians & cyclists killed in NYC over the past year. 12pm. See ride schedules. FREE.

14. ART/LITERATURE: Sun 4/21 – Brooklyn Zine Fest. Flip through zines from more than 80 writers and artist. 11am to 6pm. FREE

15. ARCHITECTURE: All weekend & through 7/14 – The Woolworth Building@100 at the Skyscraper Museum. 12 to 6pm. $5.

MORE…
ART >> Fri 4/19 –Claes Oldenburg: The Street and The Store  Claes Oldenburg: Mouse Museum/Ray Gun Wing. FREE Fridays from 4 to 8pm at MoMA.

ART/TECH >> Sat 4/20 – Rhizome Seven on Seven Conference pairs seven leading artists with seven technologists in teams of two challenging them to develop something new. 12 to 8pm. $39.50

April 18, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Trevor Jackson: Hand-Painted Artillery Plates

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I’m not exactly sure what designer/artist Trevor Jackson had in mind when he made these plates, but on the day after the U.S. Senate disappointingly blocked gun-control legislation, and based on the moniker “Agitdelft”—from Agitation Delft akin to Agitation Propaganda— under which the Seattle-based Jackson creates these ceramic works, I’m going to choose to interpret them as a make-love-not-war/pro-gun-control statement.

If you’re looking to purchase one of these ceramic pieces, you can do that here.

via Far4

April 16, 2013 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

JR’s Inside Out Project in Times Square

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Well this should be fun. French street artist JR (previously here and here) is bringing his large-scale participatory Inside Out Project to NYC starting next week. People are invited to take their self-portraits in a specially designed photo booth stationed in Times Square. Some of the black and white instantly-printed 3′ x 4′ posters will be displayed in Times Square but each portrait-taker is encouraged to take their poster back to display publicly in their home community. The photo booth truck will be making early visits to the four other boroughs as well, with the initial portraits featuring community members from NYC Hurricane Sandy-affected areas.

Inside Out New York City coincides with the world premiere of the documentary film Inside Out: The People’s Art Project on April 20th as part of the Tribeca Film Festival, and will later have its television debut on HBO on May 20th.

I would imagine there will be lines, so you might want to pick a weekday to head over to the photo booth truck, but based on our own personal experience with the Inside Out Project, I highly recommend participating one way or another.

Inside Out New York City will run from April 22 to May 10, 2013 in Times Square.

Photos courtesy Times Square Alliance; Inside Out Project; Inside Out NYC’s facebook page; and collabcubed.

April 12, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 4/12

Free& Cheap things to do

Free & Cheap things to do this weekend in NYC (4/12/13 to 4/14/13) from art exhibits, to music, multiple literature-related events, a Gif festival, theater, dance, talks and food! Fun and interesting events all weekend long. Click through on images above for official event pages with more info or in the descriptions below.

1. FOOD: Fri 4/12 Artisanal’s 3rd Annual Grilled Cheese Contest on National Grilled Cheese Day (who knew?) Taste and cast your vote. 3 to 5pm. $15. Tickets here.

2. MUSIC/ART: All Weekend – 3rd Annual Brain-Cave Festival featuring more than 30 of Brooklyn’s most versatile underground and indie artists and musicians. $12 to $40. Tkts here

3. MUSIC: Fri 4/12 –The Crystal Ark play their electronic dance music live. 7pm. FREE

4. ART/COMICS: Fri 4/12 and Sat 4/13 & through 5/11 – The Art of Harvey Kurtzman, cartoonist, writer, and founding editor and creator of MAD magazine. One of the most important figures in comic art. At the Society of Illustrators. 12pm to 5pm FREE

5. MUSIC: Fri 4/12 – Stereo Total (love these guys!) witty alternative/indie/pop based in Berlin but drawing from musical influences across Europe. 7pm Doors $18

6. LITERATURE/TALK: Fri 4/12 – Pulitzer Prize winning author Junot Diaz talks with the New Yorker’s Hilton Als. 7pm. Purchase of his latest book or $20 gift card.

7. ART/OPENING: Fri 4/12 – Opening reception of Richard Hughes exhibit at Anton Kern where the artist turns the the gallery into a stage for a dance performed by lamp posts, walls, and statues. Fri 6 to 8pm and through 5/18 10am to 6pm. FREE.

8. ART/TECH: All Weekend – Moving the Still: A GIF Festival, every 15 minutes on the hour on the BAM sign at Lafayette and Flatbush Aves, SE corner. Through 6/30. FREE.

9. THEATER: Fri 4/12 & Sat 4/13 – Exile by Nastaran Ahmadi An Iranian-American video game tester develops a game set in a post-nuclear-apocalypse Iran, even as her own relationship becomes a fallout zone. 7pm and also 3pm Sat, $19

10. ART: Fri 4/12 & Sat 4/13 – Pratt MFA Open Studios – over 100 artists presented in all mediums. Fri 5 to 9pm, Sat 12 to 6pm. FREE

11. DANCE: Fri 4/12 & Sat 4/13 – A House Made of Salt: Miriam Wolf’s evening length work is a dance for two performers dealing with some of the most fundamental rules that govern us as humans. $10 to $15

12. TRIBUTE/PERFORMANCE ART: Fri 4/12 & Sat 4/13 – Avant-Gard-A-Rama : New Moon. A tribute to the late downtown mentor performance artist Tom Murrin. Hosts Dynasty Handbag and Jonathan Ames with Elevator Repair Service and many more. 8pm $15

13. ART: Sat 4/13 & Sun 4/14 –Black Power: featuring works by Ron Wimberly, Coby Kennedy, and Jorden Haley. 12pm to 5pm at Superchief Gallery at Culturefix. FREE.

14. TALK/PERFORMANCE/MUSIC: Sat 4/13 – Ask Isaac: Isaac Mizrahi answers questions and murders some tunes with the Ben Waltzer Quintet. 7:30pm at the Laurie Beechman Theater $30 tickets.

15. READINGS/PARTY: Sun 4/14 – Inaugural Downtown Literary Festival. Daylong celebration of literary culture of NYC, readings, snacks and afte-party at Pravda with Russian Lit-themed cocktails. 10am to after 7pm.

16. ART/MUSIC/PERFORMANCE: Sun 4/14 – Sister Spit: a literary performance cabaret featuring novelists, magic marker artists, poets, performance artists and more from the queer, feminist, POC underground. 3pm $10 to $12.

17. MUSIC: Sun 4/14 – Vensaire/The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt!/Zula/MyBody. 8 to 11:45pm at the Silent Barn in Bushwick $7

18. ART/TECH: Next Sat 4/20 – Get tickets for Seven on Seven Conference. 12 to 6pm. 7 leading artists are paired with 7 game-changing technologists and challenged to develop something new over the course of the day. $39.50

MORE…

MUSIC >> Sat 4/13 – Project Bone Machine: an exciting bill of great bands perform Tom Waits’ 1992 album Bone Machine in tracklist order. Bushwick. 10pm $5.

FILM >> Sun 4/14 – Subway Series Films: Tunnel Stories & Spraymasters. Two films, one short, the other long, focus on the artists, taggers, and vandals, who make their mark underground in tunnels and on trains. 7:30pm. Suggested donation $9.

April 11, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

The Rodnik Band: Pop Art Dresses

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Em came across these very fun dresses—verging on costumes—by London-based designer Philip Colbert who calls his label The Rodnik Band. Inspired by art and driven by a strong sense of fun, Colbert’s designs “walk the humourous line between fashion and art.” The Rodnik Band Label is presented as an ironic pop band, where Colbert writes songs based on each collection that are performed at the runway shows. Colbert’s world is a wacky one that aims to reinvent the way people look at fashion. I’d say it’s working.

via wendybrandes

April 10, 2013 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

cartonLAB: Venn Diagram

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The latest from the folks at cartonLAB (previously here, here, & here) is their one-third of the Mustang Gallery’s three-part exhibit installation Diagrama de Venn (Venn Diagram)—in Alicante, Spain—which consists of a cumulative and collaborative process between three groups of artists: cartonLAB, street artist Rosh, and Erre Gálvez. Each artist will take their turn inhabiting the gallery space with a work that intervenes, interacts, and adds to, the previous artist’s installation, each in their own unique style. In addition, for each installation, the public was (and will be) enlisted to help with the production and installation aspects.

cartonLAB, along with the help of graphic and package design students, among others, made giant cardboard box people, climbing the gallery walls, lying on the gallery floor, as well as sitting and flying through the space. You can see in the bottom two photos Rosh’s work that followed; spray-painting some of the boxes and reconfiguring them into piles and graffitied walls. We’ll have to wait and see what Erre Gálvez will come up with toward the end of the month with his typographic(?) take.

I really like the collaborative concept behind Diagrama Venn. It’s got a bit of a Layer Tennis feel, only in 3D.

Photos courtesy of cartonLAB and mag’s facebook

April 9, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Swissted: Mike Joyce

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These are fabulous! Swissted is an ongoing project by NYC-based graphic designer Mike Joyce who owns Stereotype Design. Joyce has combined his love of music and Swiss modernism in this series of redesigned vintage punk, hardcore, new wave, and indie rock show flyers that delightfully play with type and color in the style of vintage Swiss posters from the 1950s and 60s emphasizing cleanliness and readability. One would think that the mix wouldn’t necessarily work, but as is evident above and in Mike Joyce’s recently released book of the same name, Swissted blends beautifully. Here’s Joyce’s thinking as told to mentalfloss:

“Punk has an anti-establishment ethos and Swiss modernism is very structured. But at the same time there’s a common thread between the two—the Swiss modernists purged extraneous decoration to create clear communication, while punk rock took on self-indulgent rock and roll and stripped it to its core. So I thought it would be an interesting study to combine the two and see what happened.”

There are many more to see over on the Swissted site…I had a very hard time limiting myself to the ones above.

April 8, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Hands Project in Barcelona

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HANDS is a street art installation with socioeconomic commentary through the placement of white cast hands doing a variety of things in conspicuous places throughout the streets of Barcelona including: making a finger-gun by an ATM toward its user; prying into a payphone coin slot; or dangling a noose. Artists Octavi Serra & Mateu Targa, with help from Daniel Llugany & Pau Garcia, are the masterminds behind the project, a manifestation against the current economic crisis in Spain that, along with Greece, are the most affected countries in the European Union with record-high levels of unemployment.

via juxtapoz

April 8, 2013 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Nadín Ospina: Pre-Columbian Pop

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Colombian artist Nadín Ospina was inspired to create Pre-Columbian style statues after unknowingly buying fake Pre-Columbian pieces. Much of Ospina’s work combines cartoon characters from U.S. mass entertainment culture with Latin American and Pre-Columbian artistic traditions. The result are stone statues of Snoopy, Mickey Mouse, the Simpsons and a host of other familiar cartoon icons. Using Aztec, Mayan, or Incan art forms with pop-culture imagery in an ironic and humorous manner, Ospina touches on themes of corruption and globalization.

Some of Nadín Ospina’s work will be on view as part of a group show titled Pre-Columbian Remix at the Neuberger Museum of Art at SUNY Purchase from April 28 to July 14, 2013.

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Photos: collabcubed

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1. THEATER: Fri 5/3 and all weekend – Blondie of Arabia. Monica Hunken’s one-woman show on her odyssey biking through 3 countries in the Middle East weeks before the Arab Spring. A quirky comedy. Monica talks after the Fri 5/3 and 5/10 performances. 8pm. $25.

4. FILM: Fri 5/3 & Sat 5/4 – New York Indian Film Festival $15 See schedule.

6. MUSIC: All weekend & through 5/31– Red Bull Music Academy. An amazing amount of music events all around town ranging mostly from FREE to $20. Check events on their site.

7. WALK/ARCHITECTURE: Sat 5/4 – The Great Saunter. A 32 mile walk around Manhattan’s Shoreline.7am to 7pm $20

8. ART/VIDEO/LIGHT: Sat 5/4 – Nuit Blanche presents Change of State. Site-specific projection on the facade of the New Museum. And Mulberry Street Night Fest where the street is converted into a series of cool light, projection-mapping, and video installations. 8pm to midnight. FREE

10. ARCHITECTURE/WALK/TOUR: Sat 5/4 – Made in LIC: A Jane Jacobs Walking Tour of Long Island City 12pm at The Clock Tower. FREE

11. MUSIC: Sat 5/4 – Brooklyn Flea Record Fair at Smorgasburg 11am to 6pm. FREE

12. ARCHITECTURE/WALKING TOUR: Sat 5/4 – Hudson Yards: Design(in) The New Heart of NY. OHNY. Exhibit and architect-led tours. 10am to 3pm. Register. FREE.

13. MUSIC/ART/FUN: Sat 5/4 – Earth Day Rockaway: Free activities, live music by Il Collectivo, art-related booths, kite-making, recycling olympics and much more. 12 to 4pm. FREE

14. FUN/SPECTATOR: Sat 5/4 – Kentucky Derby watch sites

15. THEATER: All weekend & through 3/19 – The Pulitzer Prize winning play ‘Night, Mother by Marsha Norman. General Admission $18

16. MUSIC/DANCE/PARTY: Sun 5/5 – Cinco de Mayo with Body Language. Dance Party at Glasslands Gallery. 8:30pm. $10 to $12

17. MUSIC/ART/INSANITY: Sun 5/5 – The National perform their song “Sorrow” for 6 hours straight as part of Ragnar Kjartansson’ A Lot of Sorrow at PS1 in the VW Dome $15 Tkts

18. FOOD/DRINK/FIESTA: Sun 5/5 – Roberta’s Cinco de Mayo Celebration. Tacos, Cervezas. Tequila, music, pinatas! 2pm to 10pm

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Free& Cheap things to do

2. PARTICIPATORY ART/PHOTOGRAPHY: All weekend & through 5/10 – JR’s Inside Out Project Photo Booth in Times Square! (see post) FREE

3. DESIGN: Fri 4/26 – Bordo Bello NYC through July 2nd. A skateboard art show at the AIGA National gallery. FREE.

4. ART: All weekend & through 9/8: Orly Genger’s monumental installation of hand-knotted brightly colored nautical rope takes over Madison Square Park. Much cooler than the rendering on the site. FREE.

5. ART/PERFORMANCE/PARTICIPATORY/TOUR: Fri 4/26 – Concrete Escort I, II, III, IV at the Guggenheim. Ei Arakawa’s performance-based work. Axe-wielding man, participatory sprinting down the museum’s spiral walkway and other activities/performances. 6pm and 8pm. $20 to $25.

6. MUSIC: Fri 4/26 – Catch-Pop String-Strong: This duo come from Serbia and Kosovo, play viola and cello, often singing. they are both intense and full of humor. 6:30pm FREE w/RSVP

7. MUSIC: Fri 4/26 – Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr indie-pop duo at Music Hall of Williamsburg. 8pm $18 to $20

8. DANCE: Fri 4/26 & Sat 4/27 – Anna Sperber – The Superseded Third 8pm $15

10. DANCE: Fri 4/26 & Sat 4/27 – Comedy in Dance Festival. All shows at 8pm. $12 to $15.

11. DESIGN/CONFERENCE/WORKSHOP: Sat 4/27 – DIY Days is about the accessibility of ideas, resources and networking that can enable creators to fund, create, distribute and sustain. 9:15 to 6pm with Social Mixer from 6:15 to 8pm. FREE

12. MUSIC/FOOD/FUN: Sat 4/27 – F.O.R.T: CSAA’s interactive multi-tiered garden opens with all day music, food, and general merriment. 12 to 7pm at the Silent Barn. FREE

13. MUSIC: Sat 4/27 – The Losers Lounge perform selections from the Music Division’s historic Brill Building lead sheet collection, with commentary by division chief George Boziwick. at NYPL 7pm FREE

14. PARTICIPATORY/FUN: Sat 4/27 – Flux Factory’s Tween Dweam Social with YouTube Karaoke, Viva Bodyroll and dancing. 8pm $10 to $12.

15. PHOTOGRAPHY/WORKSHOP: Sun 4/28 – Pinhole Camera Workshop, Picnic & Bus Trip. $25 includes travel, film & loaner camera for the day, plus picnic. Sign up.

16. ART/PARTICIPATORY: Sun 4/28 – Photographer/Videographer Laurel Nakadate invites you to PS1 to confess, detail, and atone for shameful acts of the past publicly in the VWDome. 4 to 6pm. $10.

17. PERFORMANCE/FUN/MUSIC: Sun 4/28 – Sakura Matsuri, the annual cherry blossom festival offers over 60 events and performances that celebrate traditional and contemporary Japanese culture. Brooklyn Botanical Gardens 10am to 6pm. $15 to $20.

18. NEXT SUNDAY/MUSIC: Sun 5/5 – The National at PS1 performing their song “Sorrow” for 6 hours straight. Get tickets now: $15.

MORE…

FOOD/CRAFTS/FUN >> Sat 4/27 & Sats thru 10/26– Hester Street Fair kicks off their season. 10am to 6pm. FREE

ART >> All Weekend & till next April– Busted – the High Line’s latest commission. Figurative sculptures, celebratory portraits, and commemorative monuments installed on and around the High Line. FREE

ART >> Fri 4/26 & Sat 4/27 and through June 22nd – Here and There. New work by Maya Lin exploring environmental issues at Pace 57th St. FREE

ART >> All Weekend – Fashion Center Space for Public Art, a vibrant series of public window displays which showcase the work of local artists. This month through May: the paintings of Diane Englander. 215 West 38th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenue) FREE

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Photos courtesy of Jim Hake

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Free& Cheap things to do

Free & Cheap things to do this weekend in NYC (4/19/13 to 4/21/13) in art, music, film, performance, architecture, photography, and more. Fun and interesting events all weekend long. Click through on images above for official event pages with more info or in the descriptions below.

1. MUSIC: All weekend – New York City Opera Moses in Egypt & La Perichole. $25 and up

3. THEATER: All weekend – Mayday Mayday: A True Story by the Man Who Fell . “Laugh out loud funny and tear-inducingly moving.” 8pm. 3pm on Sunday.$25 to $35.

4. POETRY/PERFORMANCE: Fri 4/19 – Strand Poetry Slam. 7 to 8pm $15.

5. MUSIC: Fri 4/19 & Sat 4/20: The Losers Lounge tribute to Elvis Costello. $25

6. FILM: All weekend and through 4/28 – Tribeca Film Festival. See schedule $8 to $16

7. READINGS/LECTURES: Fri 4/19 & Sat 4/20 – Shakespeare Week readings, lectures and poetry in the South Court Auditorium in the NY Public Library. 1:15pm. See schedule

8. ART/TECH: Sat 4/20 & through 5/4 – A. Bill Miller’s Gridworks: 12 to 5pm FREE

9. THEATER/MULTIMEDIA/PERFORMANCE: Sat 4/20 & Sun 4/21 – The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer. A multimedia, one-man, micro-epic puppet show. “Akin to a theatrical Wall-E.” See showtimes. $30.

10. FILM/TALK: Sat 4/20 – Hear the filmmakers of “The Pretty One” discuss their drama about a woman’s decision to assume her twin’s identity. 3pm Soho Apple Store. FREE

11. MUSIC: Sat 4/20 – 7th Annual Record Store Day – venture into the doorway of your favorite local record shop this coming Saturday, for this year’s exclusive releases not available via download. Here are some releases and here is a map with events. FREE

12. PHOTOGRAPHY/MUSIC: All weekend – Madonna: Retrospective of never before seen photos at W Times Square. FREE

13. RIDE/MEMORIAL: Sun 4/21: 8th Annual Memorial Ride to remember pedestrians & cyclists killed in NYC over the past year. 12pm. See ride schedules. FREE.

14. ART/LITERATURE: Sun 4/21 – Brooklyn Zine Fest. Flip through zines from more than 80 writers and artist. 11am to 6pm. FREE

15. ARCHITECTURE: All weekend & through 7/14 – The Woolworth Building@100 at the Skyscraper Museum. 12 to 6pm. $5.

MORE… ART >> Fri 4/19 –Claes Oldenburg: The Street and The Store Claes Oldenburg: Mouse Museum/Ray Gun Wing. FREE Fridays from 4 to 8pm at MoMA.

ART/TECH >> Sat 4/20 – Rhizome Seven on Seven Conference pairs seven leading artists with seven technologists in teams of two challenging them to develop something new. 12 to 8pm. $39.50

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Photos courtesy Times Square Alliance; Inside Out Project; Inside Out NYC’s facebook page; and collabcubed.

Free& Cheap things to do

1. FOOD: Fri 4/12 Artisanal’s 3rd Annual Grilled Cheese Contest on National Grilled Cheese Day (who knew?) Taste and cast your vote. 3 to 5pm. $15. Tickets here.

2. MUSIC/ART: All Weekend – 3rd Annual Brain-Cave Festival featuring more than 30 of Brooklyn’s most versatile underground and indie artists and musicians. $12 to $40. Tkts here

3. MUSIC: Fri 4/12 –The Crystal Ark play their electronic dance music live. 7pm. FREE

4. ART/COMICS: Fri 4/12 and Sat 4/13 & through 5/11 – The Art of Harvey Kurtzman, cartoonist, writer, and founding editor and creator of MAD magazine. One of the most important figures in comic art. At the Society of Illustrators. 12pm to 5pm FREE

5. MUSIC: Fri 4/12 – Stereo Total (love these guys!) witty alternative/indie/pop based in Berlin but drawing from musical influences across Europe. 7pm Doors $18

6. LITERATURE/TALK: Fri 4/12 – Pulitzer Prize winning author Junot Diaz talks with the New Yorker’s Hilton Als. 7pm. Purchase of his latest book or $20 gift card.

7. ART/OPENING: Fri 4/12 – Opening reception of Richard Hughes exhibit at Anton Kern where the artist turns the the gallery into a stage for a dance performed by lamp posts, walls, and statues. Fri 6 to 8pm and through 5/18 10am to 6pm. FREE.

8. ART/TECH: All Weekend – Moving the Still: A GIF Festival, every 15 minutes on the hour on the BAM sign at Lafayette and Flatbush Aves, SE corner. Through 6/30. FREE.

9. THEATER: Fri 4/12 & Sat 4/13 – Exile by Nastaran Ahmadi An Iranian-American video game tester develops a game set in a post-nuclear-apocalypse Iran, even as her own relationship becomes a fallout zone. 7pm and also 3pm Sat, $19

10. ART: Fri 4/12 & Sat 4/13 – Pratt MFA Open Studios – over 100 artists presented in all mediums. Fri 5 to 9pm, Sat 12 to 6pm. FREE

11. DANCE: Fri 4/12 & Sat 4/13 – A House Made of Salt: Miriam Wolf’s evening length work is a dance for two performers dealing with some of the most fundamental rules that govern us as humans. $10 to $15

12. TRIBUTE/PERFORMANCE ART: Fri 4/12 & Sat 4/13 – Avant-Gard-A-Rama: New Moon. A tribute to the late downtown mentor performance artist Tom Murrin. Hosts Dynasty Handbag and Jonathan Ames with Elevator Repair Service and many more. 8pm $15

13. ART: Sat 4/13 & Sun 4/14 –Black Power: featuring works by Ron Wimberly, Coby Kennedy, and Jorden Haley. 12pm to 5pm at Superchief Gallery at Culturefix. FREE.

MORE…
ART >> Fri 4/19 –Claes Oldenburg: The Street and The Store  Claes Oldenburg: Mouse Museum/Ray Gun Wing. FREE Fridays from 4 to 8pm at MoMA.

12. TRIBUTE/PERFORMANCE ART: Fri 4/12 & Sat 4/13 – Avant-Gard-A-Rama : New Moon. A tribute to the late downtown mentor performance artist Tom Murrin. Hosts Dynasty Handbag and Jonathan Ames with Elevator Repair Service and many more. 8pm $15