Entertainment

The Museum of Modern Art has a new show that looks at the period of time in the 60’s and 70’s when artists were expanding their creative horizons. “Looking at Music” gathers choice examples of cross-media works, where artists tried doing music, or musicians started making films. It documents an era that foreshadows our modern world of “DIY”, where artists can dabble in all parts of the creative process.

The New York Times reports:

Today it is not unusual for artists to moonlight as rock stars (hello, Martin Creed) or for musicians (Kim Gordon) to dabble in the gallery world. This phenomenon can be traced back to the 1960s, when being creative meant doing a little bit of everything (substances included). The lines dividing art, music and film were blurry enough to allow Laurie Anderson, Bruce Nauman and Yoko Ono, among others, to shift from object making to performance and back again.

“Looking at Music,” at the Museum of Modern Art, a recently opened exhibition of about 40 works from the museum’s collection, emphasizes the experimental nature of the late 1960s and early ’70s. As its curator, Barbara London, writes, “It seemed as though every artist of this time was in a band.”

NYT: “Artist as Musician, and the Other Way Around”

This Saturday, a unique art performance is happening at Brooklyn’s Issue Project Room at the Old American Can Factory. Called “Power 2″ it’s a hybrid between dance, music and interactive projected video. The dancer’s movements will control the action on screen, and the crowd, who are encouraged to wear all white, will get brought into the performance.

From the Power website:

Power is a series of curatorial experiments that examines the phases of web media through collaborative projects. Utilizing performance and new media, these shows may touch upon a variety of subjects, such as: the anxiety of influence, dromology, and the semantic web. The aim, however, is simply to provide the viewer with a visceral visual experience.

For its second incarnation, choreographer Kristina Donello, media artist Nick Lesley and members of Finnish sound collective super group Avarus fuse dance, motion capture video, and sound to create a Gesamtkunstwerk (Total Art) that addresses the era of social media.

Power happens 9pm, this Saturday at 232 3rd St (at Third Ave) Gowanus, Brooklyn NY

More information: Free Williamsburg & Time Out NY

Power Series

Soundtrack To The End Of The World is a simple but fun blog that crowd sources music mixes. Contributors are asked to compile a selection of 13 songs that describe how they feel at the moment (many of the compilations do have apocalyptic themes). The ensuing mix is then posted for download on the site, along with cover graphics. There is a wide range of musical styles represented on the blog, and you can get a glimpse of the stories the songs tell just by reading the titles. Cool idea overall, though it could be even better if the mixes were tagged by emotion. That would make it easier to find a mix to suit you mood.

Soundtrack To The End Of The World

[via Grotesk]

For most 9-to-5ers, weeknight partying is an indulgence. A regrettable indulgence. Clubs know this, and while some choose to address it by only opening their doors on the weekends, others are altering their programming to cater to this professional crowd (that can’t afford a Tuesday hangover). Springwise points us to a few mid-week, mid-evening ragers that are helping pull in the older revellers and office drones:

Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel recently launched an earlier alternative that still lets revellers get to bed on time. The Gladstone’s Granny Boots series of dance parties take place each Wednesday night beginning at 7:30 and ending promptly at 10—”so you can go home, watch ‘Law and Order’ until 11 pm and go to BED,” as the hotel puts it. The events are held in the Gladstone’s Melody Bar, which is already famous for weekend karaoke nights, and feature different performances and livingroom DJs each week.

…We also spotted something similar in Belgium, where Bart Van Orshoven’s After Work Parties draw large crowds—and corporate sponsors—in various venues in Antwerp, Gent, Leuven and Brussels. The parties start at 7 pm and doors close at 9 pm to ensure a decent-sized crowd from the start. At 1 am, everyone is sent packing.

Springwise: Weeknight Clubbing for the 9-to-5 Crowd

For anyone who wants to get on the bandwagon of uber popular video game Guitar Hero, but doesn’t want to subject their ears to secular music, check out Guitar Praise. Released by Digital Praise, who’s company motto is “Glorifying god through interactive media” the video game lets you play along with Christian rock favorites. Other titles by Digital Praise include Dance Praise, and Dance Praise 2 The Remix - Dance Dance Revolution clones. Very interesting re-interpretation of pop culture for the growing Christian youth market.

[via Boing Boing Gadgets]

With many nearly identical citylife webzines already on the market, we wondered how the recently launched NYC guide, The Scout, would set itself apart. After spending some time perusing its listings, tours, and articles, it became clear that this was a genuinely unique guide - one that is as chic as it is useful. The Scout is dedicated to uncovering some of the city’s many gems, from culture to nightlife to neighborhoods, from a fresh, design-conscious perspective. We asked Tom Ran of Friend&Stranger, founder and design & content director of the site, to tell us a bit more about the eye-opening guide and where he found his inspiration.

What is The Scout?

The Scout is about experiences. We feature shops and restaurants that we enjoy with a curated point of view that presents a lifestyle to our readers. The focus is on design and quality food but we’re also about the quality of life, enjoying your surroundings and experiencing what the city has to offer. There are also self guided tours based on different themes, ranging from pop culture to food.

How is The Scout different from other cityguide websites and newsletters like Flavorpill, DailyCandy, Gridskipper?

The Scout is very design oriented. It highlights a small percentage of what the city offers but in doing so, gives our audience a clearer vision. We sift through all the information that is out there and present to you something that we hope is unique and interesting. Whether it be about a new restaurant that opened up in Fort Green or an interview with Marilyn Neuhart and her incredible contribution to mid-century design, it’s all about finding something special and presenting it to our readers. Gridskipper is a blog, Flavorpill focuses on events, and DailyCandy focuses on women readers. We’re a part of all that and adding design and editorial content into the mix.

What was the inspiration for The Scout?

The Scout came about through a merging of ideas and interests that include design, food, furniture, product, print, retail, and travel. I formed Friend & Stranger in 2006 to produce projects from these interests but after a year, I needed to refocus. I created a platform that would serve to accomplish many of these interests. That platform grew to become The Scout. It would centralize all my interests and everything that I wanted to participate in.

People who merge creativity and business ventures have also been key inspiration. Tyler Brûlé, Alex Calderwood, John Jay, and Aaron Rose all seemed to have transformed their interests into creative businesses. Brûlé’s ventures have been a huge inspiration for what I would like The Scout to become, from his publications to his creative agency Winkreative.

Read the rest of this entry »

Vice magazine reports that this past weekend, a renegade party happened on the Williamsburg Bridge. Ninjasonik and Japanther performed for 100 plus people on one of the bridge’s bike lanes. The illegal event went on for a surprising 2 hours before police showed up. Vice reporters on the scene thought it couldn’t possibly go on for more than 20 minutes - amplified music and a hundred people crowded onto the side of a bridge isn’t exactly discreet.

Impromptu parties are happening with increasing frequency these days. From the Silent rave and Pandemonium party in New York, to the Boombox parties in Berlin, unsanctioned DIY events are using flash mob techniques to create instant nightlife. Illegal parties like this were last popular in the early 90’s, at the beginning of the rave (or free party) scene. Maybe the resurgence of these events comes from a desire to reclaim commercialized public spaces, or as a response to overpriced, boring clubs and concerts?

It’s also impressive that this party happened at all. In our hyper-connected age, within hours of being announced, potentially anyone could have found out about this secret party - including the police. Keep an eye out for more illicit gatherings in the future. Hopefully they don’t turn into another Austrailian kid incident.

[via Vice]

Pushing the boundaries of the “music phone” concept, a collaboration between au Design Project and Yamaha have produced a series of innovative phones that act as musical instruments.

In total, the project has resulted in 5 unique prototypes:

Band in My Pocket (above) incorporates multiple instruments including a trumpet and harmonica, which are controlled by fingers and singing or humming.

Trio in Your Hand is designed for easy game play and features an interface for DJ scratching.

Box to Play is a foldable device that includes many musical interfaces including a scratch pad and synthesizer.

Sticks in the Air act as a phone when locked together, but when separated, they become virtual drumsticks with sensors to determine the beat.

Key to Touch is just what it looks like– a digital fingerboard for piano playing that is foldable.

Strings for Fingers is a slide phone that allows you to play stringed instruments.

Check out videos of the mobiles in action on Ping Mag’s Youtube channel. And if you’re in Harajuku, the pieces will be on desplaying at the KDDI Designing Studio until the end of August.

[via CScout Japan]

Open Intelligence Agency is bringing the fourth installment of their awesome “Interesting Conference” to New York City next month.

Interesting brings speakers together to talk about things they are passionate about, but may have never shared before. Previous conferences have covered a huge range of fascinating and random subjects including: what to do with a broken umbrella, how to turn your blog into a new media company, personal digital archives, making and sampling raw organic chocolates, physics of quicksand, the next generation, Russ Meyer, facing your fears, art, storytelling, business advice and more.

The lineup is being finalized at the moment, but is sure to be varied, and as the name implies -interesting. (You can even submit your ideas here, if you would like to be a speaker.)

Interesting New York happens on Saturday, September 13 from 10am-6pm. Tickets are only $35, and go on sale September 3rd.

Interesting New York