Archive for April, 2010

ARCHITECTURE: Hong Kong and Macau

INFRASTRUCTURE: Bruce Mau Design on Reimaging Liverpool

Bruce Mau – A World Without Oil from Bruce Mau Design on Vimeo.

Bruce Mau speaking about participating in the visioning process to re-imagine the future of Liverpool on 11 May:

Bruce Mau Design Visionary to Speak as Part of Everton Park Project Consultation

Visionary and world-leading innovator Bruce Mau is participating in the visioning process to re-imagine the future of Liverpool.  Mau’s visit will focus specifically on Everton Park as a potential catalyst for change during 2010 Year of Health and Wellbeing.   In a lecture at Liverpool Hope University, Mau will share some major recent initiatives at Bruce Mau Design studio that can be seen as case studies for this ambitious endeavor.

The event will take place in the Hope Theatre, The Capstone Building, Liverpool Hope University Creative Campus, L3 8QB on 11 May, 6pm.

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On Point: Wangechi Mutu This You Call Civilization

AGO 2010 Exhibit Wangechi Mutu

Wangechi Mutu at work in her Brooklyn Studio in conversation with art curator David Moos from AGO Gallery in Ontario, Canada.

Mutu’s work tackles hard topic of  hyper-sexualized Black females in her work, and at the same time she challenges the viewer to rethink their concept of the black female body.  She composes  intricate collages assembled from scraps of visual images from fashion magazines or medical journal then she overlays broad strokes of watercolor to give a sensibility of transparency ambiance. At times the viewer might find her work disturbing because of the vial content the position of the female bodies or the politics of violence.  She also shows her women as empowered figures.

Wangechi Mutu’s work boldly explores the contradictions of female and cultural identity, drawing the viewer into conversations about beauty, consumerism, colonialism, race, and gender. Her representation of the human forms are disturbing and transfixing, at once utterly complex and strikingly direct.

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04 2010

On Point: A Taste of Japan

This is one of those all day Saturday events at the Japan Society that you should not pass up. Feast on everything the Japan Society has to offer at j-CATION: Taste Japan, a day-long event. Explore all the flavorful taste of Japan from, sweet, savory to spicy delights with the first-ever j-Cation, which promises to take you on trip to Japan without getting on an airplane.
Make sure to hang around until the evening to listen to the explosives sounds from DJ. AKI’s rocking beats, and some unusual drinks and morsel bites to satisfy your taste buds.

Beats by DJ. AKI:

05

04 2010

EXHIBITS: Design Journey Opens 19.May

DESIGN JOURNEY: AIGA national will showcase the works of 25 designers from diverse backgrounds is set to open on May 19, 2010 in the national headquarters in New York City.

“Design Journeys” is a collection of stories about the professional lives, contributions and portfolios of historically underrepresented designers that serves as a publicly accessible comprehensive body of research honoring their accomplishments. Individuals selected for “Design Journeys” will be published in an online archive that includes visual samples of their work with an insightful, biographical essay. A traveling exhibition is planned for 2010.

Join us in celebrating these extraordinary designers:
Gail Anderson, creative director, design, SpotCo
Archie Boston, founder and principal, Archie Boston Graphic Design
Andy Cruz, owner and art director, House Industries
Charles Dawson, artist and designer
Aaron Douglas, artist and illustrator
Emory Douglas, graphic artist
Rafael Esquer, founder and principal, alfalfa studio
Karin Fong, director and partner, Imaginary Forces
Sylvia Harris, information design strategist
Lorenzo Homar, graphic artist
John C Jay, global executive creative director and partner, Wieden+Kennedy
Steve Jones, principal and creative director, Plantain Studio
Garland Kirkpatrick, founder and principal, Helvetica Jones
Saki Mafundikwa, founder and director, Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIVA)
Chaz Maviyane-Davies, professor of design, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston
Pablo Medina, founder and principal, Cubanica
Rebeca Méndez, founder and principal, Rebeca Méndez Communication Design
Bennett Peji, founder and principal, Bennett Peji Design
Samina Quraeshi, co-founder and principal, SQ Design Publishers
Edel Rodriguez, artist and illustrator
Art Sims, founder and CEO, 11:24 Design Advertising
Lucille Tenazas, founder and principal, Tenazas Design
Michele Washington, founder and principal, Washington Design
LeRoy Winbush
, founder and principal, Winbush Design
Maurice Woods, founder and chair, Inneract Project

05

04 2010

ON POINT: Paper Eyelashes Elevate Design

Featured on ECOUTERRE.COM

Move over false eyelashes make room for paperself from China, these floral designs are part of an old tradition of masterful paper cutting skills. These eyelashes are reported to be as delicate as lace, and each pair is intricately crafted using different motifs such as peonies (for happiness), peach blossoms (romance), and horses (success).  Although I’m not sure what happens if you shed a bucket of tears or get caught in the rain.

05

04 2010

DESIGN: Dubai Design Lab: MenaLAB

The essence of Dubai’s Menalab is to explore the role of Design in affirming Emirati identity, designing a livable space in Dubai and promoting cultural understanding among the UAE‘s diverse residents.

Design is connected to everything; it is a powerful force that has the potential to create significant social impact and ultimately change our lives. That said, designers have a great responsibility to serve the community using their knowledge and experience to positively influence what is being designed and consumed.

MUSIC: Melvin Van Peebles and the Burnt Sugar Arkestra

Excerpt from NYTIMES: He’s Got It Bad, or ‘Baad,’ for His Art, from Ben Sisario’s interview.

ASK Melvin Van Peebles about his legacy, and you get a snort, a grimace, a wave of the hand, a game-show error buzz and a finely punctuated “come on.”

Greg Tate, cultural critic and musician.

Burnt Sugar has been described as a “funk-rock-electronic-samba-soul-jazz-fusion whatever ensemble” and counts among its influences Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis, Funkadelic, Bad Brains, Band of Gypsys, Sun Ra and Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi. Bandleader Greg Tate “plays the band” using a technique called conduction, which gets its name from the field of physics, and was developed by jazz conductor Butch Morris. Employing a series of gestures, baton twirls, eye contact, and facial expressions that are used to communicate directions to the band, the bandleader can change the melodic and harmonic structure, creating a one-time composition that could not have been predicted nor repeated.

(trailer) Burnt Sugar with Special Guest: Melvin Van Peebles. Sun Jan 10 at Joe’s Pub from amy gail on Vimeo.

More of Burnt Sugar Live in Paris:

04

04 2010

ART+DESIGN: Bruce Mau Teaches Kids To Be Better Global Citizens

excerpt: From Bruce Mau Design

Bruce Mau, of the design firm BMD, has been busy teaching kids how to be better design citizens at the Academy for Global Citizenship. This is a pilot school located in Chicago that helps students think of diverse methods to spread design to impact their local communities.

Mau has co-authored a book with OWP/P and VS that explores the link between how we learn and where we learn – the physical environment. Italian educator Loris Malaguzzi is called the Third Teacher (by adults and peers). The book examines the relationship between the physical environments in which kids learn, and the knowledge, insight, abilities and joys they gain.

03

04 2010

On Point: What’s Hot in International Films and more

Spring is in the air  along with a slew of international film festivals. Check out EL-Play about an Afro-Colombian female soccer player film showing at El Museo del Barrio is part of the Havana Film Festival New York. TEZA, by filmmaker Haile Gerima is showing at Lincoln Center and Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute. TEZA is set in Germany and Ethiopia, and examines the displacement of African Intellectuals, both at home and abroad.

If you truly want to know more about the practice make sure to view, “The Buddha, A film by David Grubin which airs on PBS and is narrated by Richard Gere who tells the story of the complex and beautiful life of Prince Siddhartha of India, what we today call the Buddha.

Asia Society features a China Past, Present, Future on Film. This collection of films provides a glimpse into reemergence of work by independent filmmakers in China.
Gai Shanxi and Her Sisters a documentary by Ban Zhongyi, in Mandarin with english subtitles. Watch excerpts online.

03

04 2010