Visual Cues of a Collective Experience

A month or two ago, Laura and I walked down the High Line in a heat wave. As the sun was setting and it was still 100°F out, we literally ran to a frozen fruit bar vendor we saw near the 30th Street staircase. As we walked away with our spoils, we noticed them melting a lot more rapidly than we had expected – it was like someone had turned a faucet on in our hands. So after fumbling around for a few steps, we stopped at one of the benches that line the park to finish our popsicles before they disappeared completely. We were only half successful:



Woops.

And then I noticed something pretty awesome when we got up and kept walking – visual evidence of all New Yorkers getting outside in this heat, having the same idea, and getting through it in the same way that we did.







The popsicle puddles continued for several steps and several benches. I bet there's some cool calculation you could run here – involving the temperature, size of popsicle, rate of melting, steps taken, average walking speed per person and opportunity cost – that would predict or dictate when the puddles would stop.

Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen

I took the day off today, and set out for the MoMA bright and early for some much-needed inspiration. I didn't know what I would find, really, as I haven't been great at reading my member emails. The most delightful surprise was an exhibit that's been around for around 4 months, called Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen.



In their words:

Over the course of the past century no other room has been the focus of such intensive aesthetic and technological innovation, or as loaded with cultural significance. Kitchen design has been both a central concern of modernism and fundamental to our concept of modern life. Drawn entirely from MoMA’s collection, this exhibition explores the twentieth-century transformation of the kitchen as a barometer of changing technologies, aesthetics, and ideologies.

I read this description after walking around for a bit, and found that I'm definitely not alone in my fascination with kitchens. I don't do a ton of cooking, though I love the idea of it and always plan to do more. I always love kitchen-related gifts the most (you should have seen me when I opened a wine foil cutter at Christmas), love kitchen-related photography, and always daydream when I apartment-hunt that I'll find one with a window to filter Saturday morning sunlight in as I make tea. Not sure why, the way I frame kitchens in my head... it's almost like peering into a dollhouse.

Anyway, the exhibit. What a delight. There were rotating models of 70s modular kitchens, movie stills from the 50s, a plastic food collection from Japan, old appliances, historical photographs and ads (I noticed one on loan from DDB's archive, how cool is that), kitchen efficiency books, and a ton of stuff about the "Frankfurt Kitchen," which was part of a movement in 20s Germany relating to egalitarianism. Here are some pictures I took with my phone (why I didn't bring my camera today, I have no idea) --


This is an Irving Penn photo. I recently found out that he shot the first Clinique print ads, in the 1960s. Cool, no?


I have worked with GE for quite some time, so this was far out and awesome to see.


This was the first thing I saw when I walked in. Looking closely revealed old egg shells in the egg cups and cigarettes in the ashtray.

I also saw this thing – and I'm really annoyed that I didn't take a picture of it – that looked like a small bicycle wheel. I knew was it was before I even read the plaque: it was a cake slicer. My head blew up a little, because I've throughout my life always remembered this Betty Boop cartoon that features her inventor-friend, Grampy, opening an umbrella skeleton and pushing it down onto a cake to slice it instantly. I always thought that was so cool, and I can't believe it's actually a thing that existed once. Why don't I ever see those now? It seems like the most efficient way to do things, ever.



Anyway. I recommend paying this exhibit a visit if you're in the area and this sounds remotely interesting to you. Here is the exhibit site (there is a blog, too!). Also a few more pictures with commentary in this Flickr set.

Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé and whole bunch of other brands

Mike was kind enough to notify our office that the video for Telephone, by Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé was released. It's nine minutes of flashy, entertaining stimuli:



Something that's hard to miss while the video rolls are all of the brands. Some look like blatant product placement, most notably Beats by Dre (susprise, they collaborated late last year); Virgin Mobile; and Polaroid (double surprise, she became a Creative Director @ Polaroid back in January). Others seem to be there for fun (the Pussy Wagon, Wonder Bread, and Miracle Whip). Here are a few I was able to catch:

Beats by Dre





Virgin Mobile







Diet Coke & Chanel



Plentyoffish.com and HP



I don't know how to classify this one, but it made me really, really happy. The Pussy Wagon from Kill Bill Vol. 1:





Polaroid:





Wonder Bread:



Miracle Whip:



I'm sure there were more that I didn't catch; feel free to leave your own in comments!

EDIT | Check the Buzzfeed article too; they caught one I missed (Little Debbie)!

Mr. Brainwash presents ICONS

Last night Ana and I checked out the Mr. Brainwash ICONS show in the Meatpacking District. I remember being drawn to it because of the huge can of pink paint (I've been wanting to paint my closets this color for months); noticing a few other blogs cynically and aggressively hating it made me want to go more. It opened a month ago to lines around the block, but last night at 8pm it was practically ours.





As the name suggests, the show is about cultural icons. The style is similar to Banksy's, and some people even think that Banksy is Mr. Brainwash. Banksy made a movie called Exit Through The Gift Shop that screened at Sundance and apparently features him. The trailer reminds me of A Cross The Universe in a way, and I want to get my hands on it.



Anyway, about the show. There were lots of screen prints of people's faces - an art wall featuring guys like Basquiat, Damien Hirst, and Roy Lichtenstein; two fashion walls facing each other, one with models and the other featuring designers; lots of Madonna. There were also musician portraits made from pieces of broken up LPs, replicas of famous paintings with bits of contemporary culture snuck in, and installations of familiar brands & symbols. Two of my favorites were the Michelin man constructed out of tires, and a full-sized NYC taxi in Matchbox Car packaging. Brand names ranging from Campbell's Soup to Louis Vuitton were displayed on big spray paint cans. And there was a HUGE boom box downstairs.







ICONS is open until 31st March and has super convenient hours; free signed posters too. See some more pictures in this Flickr set.

Mr. Brainwash presents ICONS
415 W. 13th Street
www.mrbrainwash.com

Google Street View documenting humanity

I just read the most fascinating and beautiful post on Art Fag City about how Google Street View is an objective, impartial snapshot of humanity today. I had no idea such gems could be found there! It reminded me of this post about digital serendipity; you never know what you'll find as you're poking around the world from your desk.



Jon Rafman – the artist & guest blogger of the post – brings up about a million good points, but some of my favorites were about how Street View records the world: as it exists, at that very moment, in whatever state it is.

The world captured by Google appears to be more truthful and more transparent because of the weight accorded to external reality, the perception of a neutral, unbiased recording, and even the vastness of the project.

It definitely different from photographers who spend hours taking 500 shots, only to pick one that is perfect, no?


The last part of that quote – about the vastness of the project – is brought up again later: If Google chooses, their systematic storing of panoramic views serves photography’s historic role of cultural preservation. This could be a different version or perspective on things like the LIFE archives, maybe?

Rafman also brings up how technological phenomena like Street View are ongoing symbols of our world & how we interact with it evolves all the time. This very way of recording our world, this tension between an automated camera and a human who seeks meaning, reflects our modern experience. Beautiful, a little wistfully sad, and squeakily delightful all in one.

DOCUMENT Magazine

My friend Kevin (from the One City Left project) just released his next exciting project: a magazine called DOCUMENT. In his words:


Kevin asked me if I might write something for the debut issue, and the phrase "cultural journal" made my ears perk all the way up. At the time I was thinking a lot about how the economy was manifesting itself in culture – especially here in New York – and I had just written a thing about it. I decided to adapt and tweak the thoughts for the magazine, including newer stuff that had surfaced since I had originally written it.

When Kevin pitched the idea to me, he mentioned that the written and artistic pieces would be packaged in a slightly nontraditional way: unbound and in a box, available at different locations around Toronto. I was very excited to finally receive a copy in the mail last week.




The whole project turned out pretty great! I loved Kevin's piece about an architect who takes her inspiration from animal behavior. There are some quotes and photography sprinkled throughout as well that are 100% inspiring.


My favorite quote (and something I think a lot about):


Give DOCUMENT a visit – you can even download a PDF version. Stay tuned for Issue 2 :]

Live Cultural Vernacular Updates

I ran across this while commenting on my friend Ed's blog this morning:



When "geotagging" was underlined, I thought I was just missing a capital letter or hyphen, but turns out it's not in the database of existing words at all. It would be cool if Firefox used an Internet connection (it is a browser, after all) to dynamically update things like spell check, based on frequency of use across the web /infusion into cultural vernacular. It feels like something Apple would do as well. Wait, does this already exist and I'm just massively behind on my browser updates? It seems like something that should already be happening, now that I think about it.

San Francisco and the UK - genre (music & fashion) blending?

One bulletin post on MySpace this morning sent me into an explosion of emailing and yelling at friends for their opinions (I am counting on your input, Heron). This is something I don't know a lot about and really want to hear other people's views on. When Arthur asked, I said "San Francisco, the UK, hip hop bleeding into other music genres' fashion, sort of."

So here goes. The bulletin was from Calvin Harris (one of my favorites from the UK of the neon electro variety), promoting this fantastic song (fantasticker video. so good that I made up a word.) by Mitchell Brothers:


Isn't that contagious? Anyway, an electronic artist promoting the hell out of a mostly hip hop song (he produced it). This is not dissimilar to the merging of hip hop and rock that I quoted in the Hadouken! entry, except this time it's less garage and more sparkle.

It made me think of when I visited San Francisco six months ago. My friend Jay was commenting on the culture there and how hip hop seems to have seeped into every other genre. Indie and skater kids wearing Dunks, shopping at Upper Playground, etc. I wonder if there is a parallel of sorts between this merging in San Francisco and what I was seeing come from the UK. I really want to understand this whole thing better. Maybe I'm imagining all of it. I e-mailed my friend Jess, who is from the West Coast and generally very up on things.


She responded with this.

i'd imagine that the hip hop influence on the fashion of other subcultures of the SF-microcosm (and LA, too!) is artsiness begetting (or beshoeing/behoodieing) more artsiness. i think in the indie rock circles, dressing with undertones of hip hop flare is done with a tad bit of irony in most cases. with companies like UP, i think the design aspect and creativity speak to these subcultures that value the aesthetic.

and maybe colors. hipsters/skaters/indie rock scenesters like getting away with wearing garish colors and loud prints.

...i think you might have something, comparing SF and the UK. another interesting comparison might be LA and SF and their interpretations of the same three-way clash between hip-hop, hipster, and indie rock fashion scene. down in LA, i've seen rappers dressed like old school weezer, and hipsters wearing dunks and XXXL hoodies. go figure.

Now, L.A. I really know nothing about. I browsed around The Cobra Snake a bit (he's a West Coast nightlife photographer) and found tons of stuff like this, which seems to confirm it all:



So what do you think? I would love to hear from people from San Francisco, L.A., the UK or anywhere else who could shed some more light on things. All of this reminds me of this entry Noah wrote in September about music lines blurring.

[photos from The Cobra Snake & Uffie]

EDIT | Sanithna exploded into a link frenzy. I linked him to the entry. Here is what he said:

You know, it's really weird about the blending of these cultures. The most lucid explanation of it came from David Gensler. He calls it mash culture. http://www.psfk.com/2006/02/interview_with_.html ; http://www.davidgensler.com/?page_id=2 . The most obvious/mainstream blending of it all for me was Kanye West. This guy who abandons visual art to produce beats, then begins to incorporate high fashion into his image; and recruits people like [Takashi] Murakami to do his design work. See also http://www.thehundreds.com ; http://www.mrkimsays.com/ ; http://www.murketing.com/journal/ ; http://www.catchdubs.com/blog/ ; and just some other things on the periphery of it all: http://www.stapledesign.com/jeffstaple/ ; and if you don't already know these links, here they are for posterity... http://www.hypebeast.com/index.php ; http://www.highsnobiety.com/ ; http://www.slamxhype.com/ ; http://www.honeyee.com/ ; http://riottt.com/ ; and still in the periphery http://www.fecalface.com/SF/ ; http://www.vinylpulse.com/ .

I e-mailed my friend Nate, and he said this:

When I came of age musically I listened to nothing but hip hop because it was so huge in the late 80s and early 90's. I wore Air Jordans every day until I had to wear adult sizes and they started costing way too much. Nike sneakers are just something I'm getting back to... and those hoodies and stuff have huge cross over appeal with people, like Pharell putting them out. I was real punk rock for a long time, but even punk mixed with hip hop a lot in the 80s. Look at the photography of Glen E Friedman; he was shooting punk bands and hip hop bands at the same time. Look at the movie Breakin... Ice T is rapping in it and he is wearing track suits with punk rock spiked belts and stuff... but this Friedman picture says it all; Public Enemy rocking Minor Threat.

France France France. Para One.

I don't know what's going on with France. I really don't. Everything awesome is coming out of there lately. Ever since before I wrote about remix culture and how this particular brand of it has exploded seemingly out of nowhere, more and more and more has come up and it's all been from France (okay, with the exception of Simian Mobile Disco, among a few others). Justice, Uffie (well okay, all of Ed Banger Records), The Teenagers (who don't completely fall under this, but their remixes definitely do), and Para One, whom I just discovered today (yeah yeah yeah, sometimes things fly completely over my head). I know there's more. Help me out, guys.

Para One's stuff is really, really catchy. I just read about him in Earplug and found out that he's recently made the switch (this seems to be a trend in Paris right now) from hip hop to club music. The thing is, this isn't your typical club music that you would find in trendy places here in New York, all the girls wearing backless tops. This is different. Like I said in my reflections on the Dafterparty, these guys have a good time. They don't seem to care about who's looking. There is no pretension. Unlike the "I don't smile" attitudes of these other clubbers (or NY hipster socialites), this is what Para One does:


(which reminds me a lot of Teddybears, who played last night at Hiro):


The animal head thing - whether it's a trend or coincidence - is proof of this. It has to be. I mean, look at what Para One does to a dance floor. Nobody standing around and posing for the camera. They don't even think of it, they're too busy dancing their faces off and even sometimes injuring themselves doing so.




Sometimes when I'm really excited about something, I have problems articulating myself. But I guess what it is here is simple: they just want to make people smile and move. That's it. The energy clearly comes through in it all. When my roommate asked me what kind of music I was about to dance to last night, I shrugged and said "neon."

EDIT | I just realized the sheer idiocy it takes to rave about dance music that makes you unable to sit still, but only offer text and non moving visuals. Sorry guys. Here is Para One's video for dundun-dun. It looks like something Vice might shoot - a bunch of hot girls having a pillow fight, feathers blowing everywhere. Somehow milk got brought into the picture too.

Now, dance.

one year of culture collisions

My first day at Naked New York was 1 September 2006. Technically, it is not my Nakedversary yet, but it is the same Friday.

I don't even know what to say about the past year. I dreamed about being at Naked – and only Naked – for nine months before it became a reality. I didn't care which office in the world it was, which was strange because I thought only about New York for six years before this. I had Naked in my mind when putting my entire portfolio together.

Here is how it happened. I read about them in Fast Company, fall 2005. I got so excited, I was about to jump out of my own skin. A couple of months later, on winter break from Adcenter, I was reading blogs at three in the morning at my parents' house. I read somewhere (Adweek? AdAge?) that Naked was opening a New York office. I nearly fell out of my bed. I frantically looked around for contact information and finally thought "I should do this when I am more awake." The next morning (okay, afternoon), I woke up to the following e-mail.

Hi Johanna,

My name is Ed and I'm in strategist at naked communications in London. I came across to your website through Russell's. I hope you don't mind me writing to you out of the blue.

I just wanted to send you a quick note to encourage you to keep thinking and writing. You have a great style and you'll make a great planner - if that's what you want to do.

That's it. Take care. Keep loving.

Ed

I paused. I thought "...what? DID I e-mail someone in my bleary-eyed excitement?" Nope. This was pure serendipity. Ed and I became fast friends, chatting on IM despite the time difference, about everything from culture to comms planning to ideas in general. He put me in contact with Paul, one of the founding partners of the NY office. I e-mailed him directly with I-don't-remember-what, but it was something along the lines of "Congratulations on opening Naked New York, I want to work for you." That began our dialogue.

In February of 2006, Ed writes to me "I have to talk to you. Important. Call as soon as you can." I thought "Oh no, something bad happened, he talked to Paul, they are going to tell me to get lost." It was the opposite - positions open in London. Was I interested. "Um, what? Um, can I think about this and call you back?" Two minutes later, I called Ed back "Yes yes tell me what I have to do."

We had a really enjoyable back-and-forth. I woke up at 8.00am on a Saturday to overnight work samples to London. I spent three weeks working on an assignment (I had no clue what I was doing, but maybe I did because I got passed along to the next stage - the interview). When it came down to it, I would have had to fly there on my own money. It terrified me, because spending upwards of $1500 for a chat that might not even turn into anything - right after I graduate with a Master's and become officially unemployed - scared the shit out of me. I have been known to jump right into the middle of fear, but this really scared me. It wasn't about being scared of running into an ex boyfriend at a show. This was a lot of money, a long distance, a different country, etc. I am not sure why (even to this day), but I didn't go. I REALLY don't know why. But I felt something, and that something compelled me to keep talking to Paul.

I found out that Paul was going to be speaking at a management seminar at my school that summer. I immediately called the assistant managing director and said something like "canIpleasepickPaulupfromtheairport." So I did. He probably thought I was nuts by then.

The following month I went to visit. My interview was nine hours. Afterwards, I was caught in the Queens blackout, I had to walk one subway stop to where I was staying, under train tracks, in the pitch black, in the rain. It was a bad. But it paid off because a few weeks later I got the best e-mail I have probably ever gotten. I read the contract, said yes almost immediately, sold my car really quickly for way too little money, got broken up with because of the prospect of long-distance and moved my entire life up here. Nothing has been the same since then.

I just realized that I wrote a long, long entry, and I still don't know what to say. I don't think I'll ever be able to find the words to describe the experiences I've had with Naked. I had a really successful client call yesterday and was in total shock. Shock that I even was saying some of the things that I was saying. A year ago, I had no clue about anything. I can't believe I'm doing all of these things, meeting the people I'm meeting, getting to go to the places I'm visiting, etc. And I have learned so much, thanks to everybody here. I wouldn't trade this for the world. Thank you to everybody.

---

One of my favorite things that Naked has been a catalyst for is blending my different worlds. Here is a quick example: my friend Arthur has a tendency of bringing cool shit into the office all the time. magazines, stickers, postcards, party invites, etc. He is kind of an urban culture maven. Anyway, this is how I signed up for and started getting daily e-mails from Worship Worthy. Today's features a Kansas City-based clothing line called Peggy Noland. In the accompanying image is someone I know and consider a friend, Kristen.


I met Kristen last summer; she is in a band called Vedera. They were touring with Murder by Death when my then-boyfriend was their audio engineer. I met up with all of them in Orlando for a couple of days, and we all hung out a bit. Last fall, they were on tour again and played a show in my neighborhood (and the following night at the Knitting Factory). I went to both.

Guys, listen to some of Vedera's music on their MySpace page. They are so talented, and some of the nicest people I have met in my life. I never would have seen this and reconnected with them today though if it hadn't been for Arthur's Worship Worthy cards. And I wouldn't have met him if not for Naked. See where I'm going with this.

Long story short: I am happy. The weekend is going to be great. I'm going to Brazil on Wednesday, and then I turn twenty-five. And that's all.

circuit bending

Hey guys. I apologize for being M.I.A. Wait, if I say that now does it sound like I'm apologizing for being her?

Nevermind, I am being silly. Anyway, I am alive. The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of insanity. I flew to Miami for 28 hours to have a client meeting, I had calls with Argentina (hi Tiffany), I worked sixteen hour days, etc. I never forget to balance, though.

Last Saturday, I went to Glasslands for the first time to see a Japanese band that I have been listening to a bit this summer, Lullatone.

(I'll get to them in a later entry; I wrote a letter to my Canadian pen pal about them and want her to read it in the letter before it's on my blog. More about letter-writing culture later as well.)

Anyway, Glasslands – as they put it – is an "experiential community art space" in South Williamsburg. Once I found the correct door (just a random collaged door on Kent, slotted in between industrial structures /warehouses and the like), I felt like I was walking into someone's loft apartment to hang out with a bunch of people. It was a great feeling - open, assorted bits of art everywhere, clusters of people sitting on couches.

One of the most interesting performances of the night was Loud Objects. What they basically do is live circuit bending that gets projected onto the wall via middle-school style overhead projector. The glitchy sounds that come out of what they do right in front of you (soldering irons and all) reminded me a bit of the MS-DOS games I used to play on my father's IBM when I was a wee. They describe it best:

Our music sets are built in front of you on overhead projector from scratch with electonics and soldering irons. Our components are microprocessors (Atmel), a 3V battery and an audio-out jack.

Tristan - whom I am quickly forming a friendship with now - is one of the minds behind Loud Objects; he has other side projects as well. Visit his site, he is quite the engineering and programming genius. 1-Bit Music wrote this about one of them:

[Tristan] programs and packages electronics in a standard CD jewel case that generate minimal glitch/dance music when headphones are plugged in. The music is 1-bit, the simplest representation of digital sound.

Here are a few photos I took that night (I definitely need a better digital camera). First, two of their previous sets, stacked together and for sale. I loved this concept. It's like buying a piece of art that was both created and enjoyed at the same time. The other two are of their live performance (+ wall projection).

I have more to say, but I'll break it down into different entries so nobody gets overwhelmed. Sometimes when I see a really, really long entry I panic and don't read any of it. oops. I hope nobody does that to me!