hitotoki is coming to nyc

hitotoki

“is a new literary site collecting stories of personal, singular experiences in cities worldwide.”

They are currently accepting submissions of short narratives that are specific to New York City. The submissions are due by August 31 and I imagine the full site will launch shortly after.

Here is what they are looking for

“short narratives describing pivotal moments of elation, confusion, absurdity, love or grief — or anything in between — inseparably tied to a specific place in New York City.”

Check it out.

(via Jean Snow)

notebooks

Nothing can replace the notebook.

Even though many people carry laptops, smart-phones and other electronics with them everyday it seems that the old pen and paper hasn’t been completely abandoned. Nothing beats the free form ability a notebook allows when jotting down a note, idea or inspiration.

Here is a brief list of some of the more interesting notebooks I have come across recently:

Behance Action Book

The design of this notebook is inspired by Behance’s Action Method.

GRID-IT! NOTEPADS

They offer a family of notepads inspired by various historical moments/people of design.

Le Modular is inspired by Le Corbusier.

The Guardian is inspired by David Hillman’s redesign of the Guardian in 1988

I have been hearing about a new notebook call Field Notes. I haven’t seen one and am not sure what sets it apart from others. But people seem excited.

On their site they have a good quote:

“I’m not writing it down to remember it later I’m writing it down to remember it now”

And of course there are the classic Moleskine notebooks.

I am currently carrying one of these around.

What do you carry?

adidas stuffed animals

Adidas recently presented a visual art show, as part of Berlin Fashion Week, by the artist Yoshiaki Kaihatsu. In the show which was called “Pets of the World” Yoshiaki cut up various Adidas jackets and clothing creating cute little stuffed animal creatures. The show was at Galerie Tristesse Deluxe in Berlin.

meet:berlin* was involved in the organization of the event.

You can see more photos here and here.

If you like this work you should also check out Michael Mahalchick.

AVANT-GARDE DATING?

Is this the launch of another social networking site? One that is bringing cool hip artists together to copulate. Well not exactly, it is a project of WOOLOO created to bring various pairs of artists together for purposes of artistic collaboration.

Their site states that:

“In your application, you should explain how this new relationship will explore the conventions of monogamous love, challenge the idea of artistic collaboration and/or explore one of the other numerous stereotypes of human pairing.”

This project makes me think of when Andrea Fraser commissioned a collector, via Friedrich Petzel Gallery, to engage in a sexual act with her.

(Here is a great interview with Andrea Fraser that really helped me to understand her motivation for this project.)

So maybe some people will use AVANT-GARDE DATING to have sex.

(via guerrilla-innovation)

the average home and the not so average email

I was recently invited by Katharina Birkenbach to participate in a project called The Average Home. Katharina initiated this project with Arne Hendriks.

The have described the project as being:

The Average Home is a growing network of mini-galleries based in peoples homes. The galleries consist of a slide projector, a window with some sort of screen and the public space around the home. The galleries all show the same image during a certain time.

My gallery is in Brooklyn. The other cities are Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bucharest, Milan, Stockholm, Tel Aviv and Tokyo.

I am waiting to receive the first work of art for exhibition. Looking forward to having my first opening.

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Recently I heard about a “limited edition email”. This is a fun art project/idea from Multi Polar Projects. Basically 500 of these emails were sent out with a proposed value of $1,000. One of the rules of this email is that it can only be printed once. The email also comes with an invoice. The email and edition can also be verified for the purpose of sale and auction. Is anyone really going to buy this? Probably not but it is an interesting comment on obsession with “limited” “exclusive” “value” specifically in regards to art. I wonder if email correspondence could ever gain the same value as historical letters and notes from equally historical figures?

As someone coming from a dance and performance background I am interested in this project as it is forcing/creating a material physical object as well as value out of something that is ephemeral and usually temporary that is without a value.