culturalboundaries

As part of an ongoing series sponsored by NY chapter of the AIGA, Pablo Medina recently presented student work from his Experimental Type Design class at Parson School of Design where he has taught for more than ten years. The project titled, “How Can Type Help Haiti,” was presented at Museum of Art and Design in NYC. Medina’s students showed six projects to an audience of design and industry professionals, at the end of the presentation the audience voted for the best of the six groups. “A Small book for Heros, was voted the most effective project. Now, Medina’s  next step is to get this project in front of  UNICEF in hopes to get it produced. One big suggestion from the audience was for Pablo to identify other non-profit foundations to get the other five projects produced.

As reported on Black Design News:

Call to Action: Students respond Graphically to the Haiti Earthquake

by Steve Jones

We were all shocked and saddened to bear witness to the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti January 12, 2010. After seeing the aftermath, I knew, as a designer and instructor, I had to respond.

I always regretted not doing a project with my students in response to the U.S. invasion in Iraq. I knew after the Haiti quake, I couldn’t stand by on the sidelines—the event demanded a graphic response. Upon returning from my Winter Break, I assigned the students in my Typography class (San Francisco State University), the task of designing a response to illustrate the aftermath of the earthquake.

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Venus 2010

March 27, 2010

Sarah (Saartjie) Baartman, also known as the “Hottentot Venus,” a South African woman who was placed on exhibit in England and France beginning in 1810 and has been described by her protagonists as animal-like and exotic will be the subject of Venus 2010: They Called Her “Hottentot” an Interdisciplinary Symposium. The event, co-hosted by the Department of Photography & Imaging in the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with NYU’s Africana Studies and the Institute for African American Affairs, will take place at the Tisch School of the Arts at 721 Broadway (at Waverly Place) on Saturday, March 27, 2010.

721 Broadway, Riese Lounge
9:00 – check in
9:30 –Welcome: Deb Willis, Manthia Diawara
9:45 – Keynote: Elizabeth Alexander
10:15 –11:15: Sarah Baartman in Context
Presenters: Charmaine Nelson, Zine Magubane, and Carole Boyce Davies.
 Moderator: Cheryl Finley
11:45-12:45: Sarah Baartman’s Legacy in Art and Art History
Presenters: Lisa Gail Collins,
Cheryl Finley and Fo Wilson.
1:00 – 2:00: break, book signing

2:00-3:30: The “Hottentot Venus” in Art and Film
Performance: Holly Bass
Presenters: Renee Cox, Lyle Ashton Harris, Ada Pinkston and Carla Williams.
3:45-4:45: Iconic Women in the Twentieth Century
Poet: Linda Susan Jackson
Presenters: J. Yolande Daniels, Michaela Angela Davis, Terri Francis and Michael
 Harris.
Moderator: Carla Williams
5:00: film screening and book signing (to end)

Danae Colomer, Gazpacho video portion of Food as Opera project.

Taste of New York/Food as Opera

Last summer I restructured my Exhibition Design class to function as a team-based creative lab. Eager to explore a different research methodology, I met with another faculty member, Robin Drake and we developed a theoretical design research process we labelled, “Billboarding.”
What exactly is Billboarding?
Our method helped the students to document free-flowing ideas. We decided that our students would work using huge sheets of paper, (basically we replaced the small sketchbook). Each student either taped their sheets on the outer classroom walls, or spread out over a few desks.

I looked at a few successful case studies, that might help us understand how to tackle design ideas. Most importantly, I posed a few questions. How does one develop an idea to pinpoint a user experience? What makes an idea successful? I wanted my students to conduct primary research and not rely solely on google or wiki.
The students used a method I use for developing ideas, mind-mapping or concept mapping, to think through their ideation processes. Design Educator, Andrea Marks book Writing for Visual Thinkers: A Guide for Artist and Designers, was reviewed on the AIGA design education site and offers an excellent example of this mapping process.
Here’s an excerpt of AIGA_WFVT_Excerpt.

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Peking Duck

Did you ever finish a meal, then found yourself running your fingers around the rim of the plate to pick up the last remaining “juices” of your meal? This was my experience after Scott and I dined on Peking Duck.

Liu Ye, our Hotel concierge suggested the best restaurant for Peking Duck, and it was a worth while 20 minute walk away in the cold. Located in a glitzy mall on the fifth floor, this hyper-stylized restaurant was much like those I frequent in NYC. The three or four women hostesses gave us the once over, then politely escorted us into the dining area to a table in view of the raised gazebos glass shaped kitchen. Inside, about 10 chefs were busily prepping the ducks, and more leathery Peking ducks were hanging from overhead hooks. I counted four wooden stoves. Other utensils included long carving knives, and sharpening stones, in addition to the hanging poles. At one point I got closer to the glass kitchen to take photos of the cooking technique used.  I noticed that each chef wore a surgical mask as they worked. I later learned that this was a common practice throughout China of chefs who worked closely with food preparation. The setting looked like a stage for some ritualistic practice.

We could not stop looking. One chef took a duck out of the oven, then broke off its beak, then sanded the skin to remove any excess hair and ashes. Our curiosity prompted us to take turns grilling the waitress about the preparation.

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KianLam Kho

Chinese New Years Banquet

While traveling through China I noticed how eager everyone was to prepare for the Chinese New Year holiday celebration. It seemed like everywhere I went, red and golden trinkets were sold in outdoor street markets, major department stores and even supermarkets. It’s obvious that these decorations will quickly erase any remnants of Christmas. Besides celebrating at my Daotist center, I usually gather, with friends and family for a traditional Chinese Banquet in Chinatown.

All of this has changed in recent years, thanks to my friend Kian Lam Kho. He loves to cook and his food is far superior to that of any place’s I’ve eaten in Chinatown in New York City. Instead of having his friends flying off to China, Kian invites a select group of his foodie friends, chefs, and restaurant folks to share a tasty meal in the intimate setting of his home.

Kian is from Singapore, he grew-up eating what he defines as authentic Chinese home cooking, with bold flavors that might be considered too harsh for the American palate. Hanging out with these foodies allows me an entry into the world of “tasting” at some of New York City’s major new restaurants. (I’m always fascinated by the way chefs and restaurant professionals easily critique a dish, the restaurant decor, the service, wine list and more, in one setting.) But this time we’re eating at the home of one the best Chinese Chef’s in New York City.

Redcook/KianLam

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BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) — The first thing Qiwen did when she woke up Sunday on the first morning of the Year of Tiger was to run towards the windows. As she found trees and houses standing tall, safe and sound, the four-year-old cracked a smile.

In her first outdoor venture on a Chinese New Year Eve at Saturday night, the little girl huddled up against her mother in attempt to cushion earsplitting firecrackers while taking safe peeks at the lightened up sky.

THE CHINESE Year of the Tiger begins on Feb 14, 2010 and will end on 2 February 2011. The Tiger is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The year of the tiger is believed to bring with it mythical heroic powers.

Chinese New Years Lion Dance

This is 4707, the year of the tiger, if you celebrate Chinese New Years. My Tai Chi teacher, Sat Hon whom I’ve practiced with over the past 10 years at the Daotist Center in Manhattan calls this holiday the Asian New Year. His reasoning is that every Asian cultural has some form of celebration to usher in the year.

I love celebrating festive occasions that have a celebratory feeling, so for me Chinese New Years is one of those joyous moments. Sat Hon’s students gather for a communal festive celebration, with music, Chinese poetry, meditation, eating and a performance of the lion dance. Suited up, his two daughters and one male student performs a gyrating dance with a figurative style Chinese lion head costume. The long sinuous body looks like a giant caterpillar its curving body snakes above the floor.  The lion costumes head, bobs up and down, or suddenly twists from side to side its eyes fluttering in sync with the music’s drumbeats. Despite the lion’s grotesque features and menacing fangs the sinewy body slows down to reveal itself as a soft focus Chinese shadow puppet. Then the drumming beats picks up speed and beats faster and faster the body shakes, shimmies and then the head drops.

A loud applause erupts, his daughters and the other student emerge from under the costume. Sat hugs his daughters.

We all shout Kung Hei Fat Choi (best wishes for Health, Happiness & Prosperity to all.)

Now its time to get down to eating and mingling with friends.

Beijing

Finding people beyond your hotel or at major restaurants and tourist venues that speak fluent English is not easy. While the majority of the signage throughout the Beijing is in Chinese and English, I would highly recommend that visitors and businesspeople take a quick course in Mandarin. Scott bartered Spanish lessons with a colleague fluent in speaking and writing Mandarin who taught him the language and cultural nuances. I learned a few phrases myself, including typical greetings, and Thank you,” and “I do not eat meat.” This was the most important phrase since I do not eat anything with more than two legs, and pork is a main ingredient in a lot of their dishes.

Otherwise navigating the city might prove to be difficult. Even the simplest task of catching a cab requires that you keep your hotel’s business card with the name written in Chinese to hand to the cab driver. I would highly recommend the China Institute in Manhattan as a great place to take classes, and it’s a wonderful resource for information on Chinese culture.

Zhang Huan video of  burning Buddha’s

Using ink, paper handmade from the bark of Mulberry trees, and in some works feathers to build up the surface, Zhang Huan depicts animals and landscapes in the series of unique works on paper included in this exhibition. He references the celebrated 17^th-century Chinese painter and calligrapher Bada Shanren as well as Tui Bei Tu, a seventh-century Tang Dynasty prophecy book which reappeared in second-hand book stores in China in the 1990s after being banned by the Communist party. Tui Bei Tu offered an alternative to traditional Eastern and Western systems and presented insight into China’s future, utilizing drawings and poems to prophesize a sequence of sixty events.

The art of Tui Bei Tu