Brains, Brains, Brains...

You're using your brain right now. Its easy to forget how amazing that is. Check out The Brain: The Inside Story  at the American Museum of Natural History so your brain can learn about itself. Theres lots of hands on stuff and neato science. If you can't make it, the website is pretty cool too. (image credit: Natchanit Sirisantana)

Global Africa Project @ MAD

A few flicks from the Global Africa Project, currently on display at MAD.

"An unprecedented exhibition exploring the broad spectrum of contemporary African art, design, and craft worldwide..." 
- Museum of Art and Design

I don't know whether it is unprecedented or not but there is certainly a broad spectrum of work on display. Free on Thursday evenings. 

Laural Nakadate @ PS1

Laurel Nakadate's work explores sadness, exploitation, and voyeurism. In her solo show at PS1, Only The Lonely, it is difficult to gauge where exactly the artist herself sits on the spectrum of those themes—that might be what makes the work so interesting.  In viewing the show, which is mostly video,  you become a voyeur yourself and are forced to decide, or at least deal with the concepts.

You watch the artist play dead on the side of the road and take off her clothes in the homes of older men she met at truck stops. You watch these ‘creepy’ men follow her through parking lots at night. Then you listen as Nakadate tells an adolescent girl half her age to strip. “Take off your shirt, don't you know how beautiful you are?” The girl in the video, who auditioned for the role, is shaking her head 'no'. Who is following who here?

Its easy to assume that the artist is a master of manipulation, tricking these characters, and maybe even tricking us into watching. In her most recent work, A Catalog of Tears, Nakadate photographed herself crying for 365 days in a row. She says she got the idea from pictures of people on Facebook. “You ever notice when you're on Facebook, all your friends are happy? Really? Is that true? All of my friends are happy?” Its a good point. Manipulation comes more naturally than we would like to admit.

A butterfly dreamt it was a designer...

Experience design visionary Edwin Schlossberg, of ESI design, told my class the other day that it was important that we want to change the world, even though we won't usually be able talk about it. My lips are sealed, but if you're wondering what exhibition design is--or at least, is capable of being--watch this video of the Dream Cube.

DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO..

...you'd be doing yourself a great injustice if you didn't see Fuerza Bruta in person instead. Video's not that good anyways. 

Inspiration Has Vitamins...

Artichoke Lamp by Poul Henningsen,1958. Poul was the first to seriously consider lighting design. Dude rocked it. I love that drawing, I saw that before the lamp. Then I did some Googling and found out the lamp was called the Artichoke Lamp and my head exploded. 

Open Heart Videogame Surgery...

At this exhibit in the Sony Wonder Technology Lab, visitors perform open heart surgery on a virtual patient using haptic technology. You get about 15 seconds of practice 'popping' virtual bubble wrap...then its time to cut the sternum. Admission is free.

One Day Poem....

One Day Poem by Jiyeon Song.

"Using a complex array of perforations, the pavilion’s surface allows light to pass through creating shifting patterns, which–during specific times of the year–transform into the legible text of a poem. The specific arrangements of the perforations reveal different shadow-poems according to the solar calendar"

Via baekdal. Thanks for the tip Jenn.

Play On...

I am who I am today because I played with Legos as a kid. I am sure of it. If you feel the same then you would appreciate the new Lego Store in Manhattan where you can buy legos in bulk or handpick your own kit from the worlds tallest "Pick A Brick" wall...awesome.

Writing on the Wall...

Paula Scher is a graphic designer who paints maps sometimes. Now she has adapted her paintings to the interior of Queens Metropolitan Campus in Forest Hills to create a stunning example of environmental design. I like it a lot.

Via pentagram.com