Here's an interesting snip about the "undesigned" from an interview with Saville in Digital Arts Magazine:
Are there any trends in current design that you particularly appreciate or dislike?
There’s a trend at the moment towards the undesigned. There’s a lot in there that just gets directly to the point; it understands the truth in something. There are certain works at the moment that are just what they need to be – it’s like walking into Muji for the first time again. The worst thing, though, is ironic un-design that has then become a sort of design, and then become a mess. When it’s still radical – a spread or an ad in a magazine – it’s effective. Once 99 per cent of the publication has adopted a don’t-care poise, it’s a mess and has become that which it sets out to mock.
Last Friday night I watched the first presidential debate at the new LEED-certified Galapagos space in Dumbo. Outdoing the aquatic entrance of its former Williamsburg location, the new Galapagos is laid out with an undulating archipelago of round booths hovering above an impressive 1600-foot lagoon. Plenty of pix on their site help illustrate. I think it's a good look, even though there's not much open floor space. The seating-focused design signals a shift in programming—toward cultural events that are a bit classier than, say, rocking, raving and titty dancing (all of which are still in full force up at the original space, now Public Assembly.)
Despite its supper-club layout, the venue was standing-room-only for the debate. I barely made it in, just as they were reaching capacity an hour before the broadcast, and friends who weren't so lucky texted me to say the line outside had become super long. Because CurrentTV's Hack the Debate was hosting, instead of watching pundits and regular folks keep score on CNN , we were watching a real-time feed of Twitter messages as they floated up over the broadcast, "powered by Adobe Flash." Neat idea, but the execution was a little distracting. I found myself reading them during McCain's time but trying to ignore them when Obama was up. (It was also in 3D, apparently, but I was too late to snag a pair of glasses.) Photos of the night, including screen shots, are Flickr'd here .
If you're Burg-bound that night, you should try to reserve a spot at MonkeyTown , which will have just celebrated its 3rd anniversary the night before with free food, free drinks and djs. It has teetered on the edge of being priced out (a la Galapagos), and I'm really glad it's still in the hood. (Who doesn't love that place?)
Before the debate, head to Kiosk , where my favorite traveling merchant-curators have cleverly timed the spectacle with their next Opening Party:
The KIOSK American Installment #1, an exploration of sorts into our past, present and the future. With all the activity going on in this country now we could not think of a better place to focus on. Opening Party October 2nd, the night of the Vice-Presidential debates, from 6 - 9 pm. Obama fundraiser comb and hopefully a poster (we are taking sides: OBAMA YES!). Economics and coin rolls, politics and surprise balls, things to fish with and stuff for babies to chew on, it's America after all, we hope you will like our sampling. Opening party starts early this time so we can watch the debate at 9, FYI we hope to have a TV hook-up here and are working on getting reception now. Hope you can pass by! Hope you are hanging in there during these trying times!
° Antiballas - Who Is This America Dem Speak Of Today?mp3
See also: The nascent American Design Club has its first show up at Character through Thursday: "The club produces events and socials to improve the lives of designers and the appreciation of American design."
Apologies. Been too busy to post lately. But as promised here's an update.
Just a quick collection of experimental music [re/]production methods that freshen up old ideas with new technology or work old-fangled tech into new designs. Some of the tracks are directly related; some I've just correlated.
[Also: The lettering above is from a new typeface I'm working out. You can see it in action on the flyer for the Sharegroove get-down last Friday and on this Bastille Day Party invitation.]
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[B] Graphite Sequencer
I love when visuals are tapped for sound source material and vice versa. This does both with a simple lo-fi charm.
"Graphite conducts electricity. Two wires brush against the surface of a paper disk as it spins. The wires are connected to a simple electronic tone generator. When a line of graphite is drawn across the disk, connecting the two wires, a tone is heard."
° Muddy Waters - My Pencil Won't Write No More mp3
— [C] MAKE: Blog: Is Gilligan the next Jules Verne?
I often wonder what impact Lost might have on the rest of popular culture, like how much is the series to blame/thank for this so-called 'cocopunk' craze? Anyway, check out this cute ukulele amp housed in a coconut shell, and forget I ever asked.
— [D] Big Ideas (don't get any)
For his final project in a Glasgow School of Art graphic design course, James Houston punk'd Radiohead's "Nude" remix contest. Except he missed the entry date.. but won our hearts! Aw.
"Based on the lyric (and alternate title) 'Big Ideas: Don't get any' I grouped together a collection of old redundant hardware, and placed them in a situation where they're trying their best to do something that they're not exactly designed to do, and not quite getting there."
Give the vid some time to get going. The still shots of vintage hardware are reason enough to watch.
° Radiohead / James Houston - Nude (Big Ideas (don't get any) Remix) mp3
— [E] Final Product // ATTIGO TT Another thesis project demo'd on Vimeo, this prototype of a digital dj setup lets the beatmaster paw actual waveforms running across touchscreens instead of handling records (or CDJs or Serato Controls or.. paper-disks!)
° Daedelus - Touchtone (feat. Paperboy and Taz) mp3
Looks like all the World Science Festival events that really interested me are sold out. Actually, that's not entirely true, but I'll be in the Poconos this weekend so will have to miss out on, say, Saturday's What It Means to Be Human moderated by Charlie Rose, with a panel that includes Jonathan Harris among philosophers, geneticists and neuroscientists. Get tix, go, and I'll borrow your notes when I get back.
If you can't make it out to these talks either, keep reading for a round-up of science and science-y links that I've been bookmarking (wikis, articles, vids, etc), so you can school yourself without leaving your desk/couch/hammock. With science-y musics, of course.
Between ICFF and the NY Photo Fest there's plenty to do this weekend, but I'd like to direct your attention to one event in particular. If you've not yet visited the SoHo concept store Kiosk, their first Mini-Exhibition opening this Saturday is for a show by collaborative group Rich, Brilliant, Willing and will be the perfect opportunity. Continue reading for more about RBW (their "Candle Party" pictured below) and the story behind Kiosk's Hong Kong neon.
° Siouxsie and the Banshees - Hong Kong Gardensmp3
Apologies if the Flash embed breaks your internet—first time trying out this plug-in. (Words by Devo, from Explosions)
Lots of extreme electric/kinetic stimuli this weekend. Including 3rd Ward's Devo-inspired show, which prompted me to do this contrived (fun) thing where I post a bunch of Devo songs corresponding to the different goings on.
In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, I was going to post details from this set of five cards I designed, and talk about how I want to print them with one of these Gocco kits. But instead, I started playing with the image above, and I think it fits these sounds better. (I mention the gocco cards thing hoping that if I talk about it enough, I might actually do it.)
Meanwhile... musics!
°Instituto Mexicano Del Sonido - Bienvenidos a mi Discomp3
I saw these beautiful ads pasted up on—I think—West Broadway near Grand the other weekend. I stopped to snap them but didn't linger long enough to find out what they were actually for. I'm guessing tea... but whose tea? If you know, let me know.
° Rub-n-Tug (Better with a Spoonful of Leather aNYthing Mix) - Tea Please mp3
The Artist's Space is exhibiting The New Normal through June 21, and these two works apparently resonated most with me and my phonecam at the opening last Friday. There are a total of 13 works in the show that use "private information as raw material and subject matter," including interesting stuff by several Eyebeam alums.
