Older Than Dirt (Almost)

Rachel Susmann is traveling the world photographing the oldest living things. I had the pleasure of hearing her speak about her work at Creative Mornings last weekend. The plant up top has only 2 leaves which continuously coil around each other. The shrub in the second image has tiny branches which are so dense that you can stand on top of it! 

You can support Rachel's quest (and maybe help save a tree) via her Kickstart blog and view The Oldest Living Things in the World on her google map.

You Wish...

"Eu desejo o seu desejo / I Wish Your Wish (2003) is installed in the lobby gallery (of the New Museum)  as part of the exhibition "Rivane Neuenschwander: A Day Like Any Other". Visitors are invited to select ribbons printed with a wish to tie around their wrists. When the ribbon falls off, tradition has it that one's wish will be fulfilled. Visitors may write another wish and place it in the empty hole. This work of art is based on a similar practice that takes place at the church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim (Our Lord of the Good End) in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil."

You can participate online too. 

Top Image courtesy of thelowdownny.com

A picture worth 1000000000000000....

Data Visualization sounds like it might be the most boring thing you've ever heard of...but it is so much fun to look at!

Watering The Ceiling...

The Living Pavilion on Governors Island by Ann Ha and Behrang Behin. Open to the public until October 3, when it will be disassembled, and the plants distributed to community gardens and homes throughout NYC.  Great idea. 

It is the winning submission of the first ever Pavilion Competition put on by Figment. 

Beautiful free women...all of the time.

This month is the 90th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote in America! Because of this legislation--you, and I, and everybody else here is absolutely surrounded by beautiful, free women, all of the time. Personally, I fall in love with at least 6 a week on the subway (Thanks MTA!)
A couple weeks ago I posted a slide show of pictures from the Brooklyn Museums "American High Style" exhibition. Well...the sister exhibit; American Women at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is kind of like that. But it's not just about clothes...it was about women. Specifically American Women. And it was way better. NPR is running a story on the exhibit this morning. 
Then President Woodrow Wilson had this to say about women's suffrage:
"Unless we enfranchise women, we shall have fought to safeguard a democracy which, to that extent, we have never bothered to create."
And of course, we did! So our great-grandmothers and grandmothers...our aunts and mothers, our sisters and cousins and friends and second cousins...and hopefully my nieces and more second cousins before too long! They can all express themselves! Nothing makes me happier than that.

Walk Up In It...

Big Bambú by Mike and Doug Starn is an evolving sculpture/exhibition on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I snapped these photos of it myself because I like doing that. But some really, really good pics of the construction can be seen here. It is up until October 31st. The walkway into the sculpture is scheduled to climb to 40 ft by next week! You can, and should, get free tickets.

Put Some Tape On It...

Wow! Check out that sexy geometry, in tape, by Austin, Texas based artist Rebecca Ward. This installation, Stella Was Right, is currently showing in San Paulo, Brazil at Museu da Imagem e do Som (MIS), as part of their Rojo Nova workshops. All images courtesy of www.rebeccasward.com. Go there, look at the pictures, watch the video. Its great. Then go see her work at The Visual Arts Center in Austin in September 2010. (Thanks to Michael Yates for the tip.)

American High Fashion: Reppin in Brooklyn

Flicks from The Brooklyn Museum of Art's American High Style exhibition.

"To mark the new relationship between the Brooklyn Museum and the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum presents an exhibition of some of the most renowned objects from its costume collection. American High Style consists of approximately eighty-five dressed mannequins and a selection of hats, shoes, sketches, and other fashion-related material that will reintroduce the collection, long in storage, to the public. " 

--Brooklyn Museum of Art

This exhibit was exclusively about the clothes. There are no fashion opinions, no elaborate sets, no distractions, and minimal emphasis on historical contexts. I especially liked seeing the designer's sketches of shoes and the men's "Morning Gown" circa 1825 (above, slide 6). 

The exhibit has closed but if you are interested in fashion history, check out the virtual styling tool online. It allows you to view each piece from the exhibit and create your own 'looks'. 

Walk On It.

Yesterday I went to PS1 Contemporary Art Center for the Greater New York exhibition:

"...the third iteration of the quinquennial exhibition organized by MoMA PS1 and The Museum of Modern Art, showcasing some 68 artists and collectives living and working in the metropolitan New York area" --PS1

I spent about 2.5 hours soaking it up and still missed a lot. Mostly because there was TONS of video & performance video work, which takes a while to experience. It was great to see so many interpretations of the medium in one place though, it got me really exited for video as a visual art medium. You should definitely check out Rashaad Newsome's "The Conductor (fortuna imperatrix mundi) & The Conductor (primo vere, omnia sol temperat)". That one is a lot of fun.

There were several installations as well. The photo above is of David Adamo's Untitled (the rite of spring). I also liked Naama Tsabar's interactive sound sculpture, Untitled (speaker wall) which consisted of two freestanding walls of speakers wired in back with guitar strings which you could pluck to manipulate the amplified feedback the piece produced.

I really like this exhibition because it recognizes that people don't want to just see art--they want to watch it--to experience it, manipulate it, and even walk on it sometimes.

PS1's Young Architect Program

The 2010 winner of PS1's Young Architect Program (YAP), "Pole Dance" by SO - IL has been up since June. I just got to see it today. The photos show the same area before and after a crowd showed up for some tasty music. What impressed me about the installation was how adaptable it was to the crowd. It was fun to see and interact with before --but when it got crowded, the colorful balls became places to sit and the playful structure allowed the masses to get their dance on, unobstructed.