3rd Ward Blog

Essential Events // MoMA's Much Anticipated "Print/Out"

Perrin Drumm — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:15:13 +0000

"Black Combs" by Ellen Gallagher (2004-05)

On February 19th, MoMA will open Print/Out, a much anticipated exhibition that "examines the evolution of artistic practices related to the print medium, from the resurgence of ancient printmaking techniques—often used alongside digital technologies—to the worldwide proliferation of self-published artists’ books and ephemera."

To celebrate the exhibition, the museum is hosting a slew of free events, including two talks on collaborative printmaking, one between Marina Abramović and Jacob Samuel and another between Ellen Gallagher and Two Palms Press. There are workshops in bookbinding and making your own artist's book. There's also Printin' an entire other exhibit running concurrently with Print/Out.

Printin’ takes as its starting point DeLuxe (2005), a tour de force portfolio of 60 works by Ellen Gallagher (American, b. 1965) that challenged traditional ideas of what a print could be. This technically complex work employs a veritable riot of mediums, unorthodox tools, and elements, from slicks of greasy pomade to plastic ice cubes.

Watch This Now // Parsons' DESIS Lab Amplifies Social Innovation in North Brooklyn

John Ruscher — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:00:14 +0000

People in our neighborhood are always up to amazing things, so it's not surprising that last year the DESIS Lab at Parsons The New School for Design focused its lens on North Brooklyn to highlight local examples of sustainable living and innovation.

As part of its two-year Amplifying Creative Communities project, which looked at the Lower East Side in 2010, DESIS (short for Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability) explored different organizations and initiatives in Greenpoint and Williamsburg to learn how they work, help them improve through design service, and share information that will allow others to create their own alternatives to standard commercial and government services.

In addition to an exhibition and a series of workshops about local sustainable change, Amplify Brooklyn also produced some inspiring videos featuring examples of local food, sharing, biking and more, including interviews with the people behind the Greenpoint-Williamsburg CSA, the North Brooklyn Compost Project, Not An Alternative, Times Up!, the Pa-La Loma Bicycle Club and the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative.

Check out a few of those videos after the jump and head over to the Amplifying Creative Communities website for more insight and inspiration.

Your Daily Insight // As Told By: Susan Sontag

Ben Zoltowski — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:00:31 +0000

Although none of the rules for becoming more alive is valid, it is healthy to keep on formulating them.

Wheels Up // Industrial Designer Ron Arad Reinvents The Wheel

John Ruscher — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:00:48 +0000

This one's been kicking (or maybe "pedaling" is more fitting) around the Internet for a few months, but since it combines some of the things that we love most—bikes, design and innovation—we've gotta share.

Last year London's W Hotel asked six creative professionals to create one-of-a-kind bikes to benefit a good cause. All of the rides were interesting, from Benedict Radcliffe's "W New York Bike" to Natasha Law's vodka-equipped "Wyld Bar Bike," but industrial designer Ron Arad's contribution was surely the most mind-blowing. Arad created a bike that forgoes tires and tubes for sprung steel wheels. This is really one of those cases where seeing is believing, so check out the video below for proof that you can cruise smoothly down a city street on nothing but metal.

Visitors to the W Hotel on London's Leicester Square were able to give Arad's unique creation a spin for a couple months, and in December it was auctioned off to raise money for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. We don't know who the lucky high bidder was, but you'll definitely be able to tell if you see him or her out for a ride!

Behold, an entirely new meaning for the phrase "pedal to the metal":

Two Nuns Bike by Ron Arad from Dezeen on Vimeo.

-- John Ruscher

Call For Entries // Cinephiles: The Northside DIY Film Fest Beckons You

Perrin Drumm — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:00:16 +0000

Following the success of last Summer's Northside Festival, L Magazine will once again be hosting their celebration of food, art, music and film--all going down June 14-21. Though today we're highlighting one specific elment of it: this year's Northside DIY Film Fest, a full-blown competition for the city's aspiring cinephiles and auteurs. This year, the feature and short film winners will receive a cash prize and a screening at Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg. They'll also win a credit at DCTV that can be redeemed for anything from equipment rentals to post-production facilities.

Of course, this is all great. But why are we especially excited this year? Because 3rd Ward's own Assistant Director, Minden Koopmans will be one of the competition's judges! We're mighty proud.

The deadline to submit is April 15th via standard mail or--praise to the gods--through Vimeo (anyone who's been making the submittal rounds knows what we mean). So get shooting, get editing and hit the jump now for all of the fest's guidelines:

Your Daily Insight // As Told By: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ben Zoltowski — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:38 +0000

Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. The man who knows how will always have a job. The man who also knows why will always be his boss. As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.

Go Here Now // Carrotmob Chooses Carrots Over Sticks, "Buycotts" Over Boycotts

John Ruscher — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:00:05 +0000

If you were excited by the infographic about The Future of Money that we posted back in December, you'll likely also share our enthusiasm for Carrotmob, an idea that fits right into that chart's "new lenses of wealth." Before you go any further, hit play on the video above for a quick and entertaining look at what it's all about.

Carrotmob takes the age-old concept of a boycott and flips it on its head. Rather than gathering together a group of people who promise to withhold money from a business to bring about change, Carrotmob proposes having a group pledge positive financial support for a business to achieve the same end. "We are called Carrotmob because we use the 'carrot' instead of the 'stick,'" the Carrotmob website explains. The reasoning? "In a boycott, everyone loses. In a Carrotmob, everyone wins."

In a recent feature on food and consumer choice, BBC 4 highlighted Carrotmob's "buycotts" as an example of a "growing attitude about technology and the desire to make things happen." Founder Brent Schulkin described how he started Carrotmob after noticing that boycotts don't really connect with how businesses make decisions. "What really matters to a business is money, spending, new customers, marketing and that sort of thing," he says.

On the Carrotmob website you can explore past campaigns that people have successfully organized across the globe. Focusing on convincing businesses to make environmentally friendly and sustainable changes, they range from asking a Bangkok grocer to stop using plastic bags to a Park Slope hardware store that agreed to use 22% of the money spent by Carrotmob shoppers on energy improvements.

You can log into the Carrotmob website and share your own completed campaign, and soon you'll also be able to create and promote new ones. Start thinking of the carrots you and your network can dangle.

-- John Ruscher

A Marathon Happening // Triple Canopy's Sam Frank on Their Three-Day Opening Party in Greenpoint

Perrin Drumm — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:00:35 +0000

You may have seen our recent Call For Entries on emerging artist zone--but if you were in Greenpoint between Friday, January 20th and Sunday, January 22nd, you may have heard some strange chanting echoing from the 155 Freeman Street locale. No, a new Pagan cult hasn't moved into town (though knowing this city, one actually may have). Rather, the venerable arts organization, Triple Canopy, was celebrating the long anticipated opening of their new location with a three-day reading of Gertrude's Stein's "allegedly unreadable" book, The Making of Americans: Being a History of a Family’s Progress.

A unique christening ritual to be sure, but one befitting a "hub for the exploration of emerging forms and the public spaces constituted around them." Triple Canopy's current issue, "Negative Infinity," includes a project that pits motion studies, industrial capitalism and mental illness against the power of Buster Keaton as well as six other items that are as penetrating as they are unique. Editor Sam Frank filled us in on the details behind the open house extravaganza.

3W's Perrin Drumm: First off, tell us why is Gertrude Stein's The Making of Americans: Being a History of a Family’s Progress "allegedly unreadable?"

Sam Frank: It's very long--nearly 1,000 pages--quite repetitive in a rhythmic way, like minimalist music, but also in an attempt to be exhaustive and describe everyone who could ever exist as completely as possible. Stein was more than interested in the kind of empiricism you get in the sciences, which in one sense are ultimately concerned with complete description and explanation of everything therein. Long and longer sentences and multipage paragraphs, a plot that vanishes for tens of pages at a time. In part it's just a cliché that Stein's unreadable; the easy thing to say if you haven't tried.

PD: Do you think this past weekend proved that statement wrong?

SF: Reading the book out loud for 15 minutes (or 3 hours, in the case of Ariana Reines)--in what way is that reading the book as a whole? And what about listening to someone read for 15 minutes or 3 hours? Is the listener reading The Making of Americans or not? No one stayed the whole time. Did anyone read the book last weekend? Or did everyone read the book? And what about the people who "read" it through our live-tweeting?

Introducing Our Newest Location… a Culinary Incubator!

3rd Ward — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:41:40 +0000

Preliminary rendering only. Actual design to come.
As announced by Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz, 3rd Ward will open a Culinary Incubator with the generous support of the city of Brooklyn and the assistance of the New York Economic Development Corporation. It will be located in Brooklyn and will aim to further the city’s commitment to the food manufacturing industry as part of the City’s incubator network.

The new incubator will open in 2013 and have everything you’ve come to expect from 3rd Ward: diverse classes at all levels, professional tools and equipment, influencer-led events, and a community of inspiring, creative individuals. When we open, it will be easier than ever to bring your culinary ideas to life, whether you’re a culinary professional, small business, or passionate home cook. Here’s a “taste” of what to expect:

CLASSES

Traditional Food Preparation Techniques
Modern Techniques & Technology
Drinkmaking
Urban Agriculture
Health & Nutrition
Professional Development

PROFESSIONAL-GRADE FACILITIES

Large Shared Kitchen with standard,
specialized & experimental equipment
Baking & Pastry Kitchen
Meat Curing Lab
Beverage Lab
Classooms & Event Space

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Lectures, tastings, free seminars,
competitions, healthy produce
Event spaces will feature open kitchens,
dining areas, broadcasting capabilities
and more

CAFE & MARKET

Healthy meals (using select Member-made ingredients), fresh produce, cooking ingredients, Member-made food products, tools and equipment

New York is home to some of the world’s best chefs, inventive food producers, and game-changing culinary entrepreneurs. With the help of Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz and the NYCEDC, we hope to offer New York a dynamic, world-class incubator that will breed a new wave of food innovation, education, and economic activity.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED:

Interested in the Unlimited Membership (unlimited access to all facilities and classes)? Add your name to the Invite List.
Want to partner with us? Submit proposals to partners@3rdward.com
Want the latest information on the Open Date, hiring, teaching opportunities and more? Sign up for our Mailing List.

Your Daily Insight // As Told By: Duke Ellington

Ben Zoltowski — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:00:57 +0000

Critics have their purposes, and they're supposed to do what they do, but sometimes they get a little carried away with what they think someone should have done, rather than concerning themselves with what they did.

Call For Entries // NYCDOT's Barrier Beautification Program Wants Artists to Add Some Color To City Streets

John Ruscher — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:00:05 +0000

"Planes A-Way" by Almond Zigmond - 21st Williamsburg St W between Kent and Flushing Aves, Brooklyn - alll photos via nycstreets

While our streets could definitely stand to benefit from the rogue creative touch of a guerilla gardener like Steven Wheen, NYCDOT is also trying to add a little more color to some of the city's many swathes of asphault and concrete.

In 2010, as part of its Urban Art intitative, NYCDOT launched the Barrier Beautification program in collaboration with volunteer organization New York Cares and Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit. The program commissions artists and designers to create murals for those ugly concrete barriers that often separate bike lanes from automobile traffic. The cost of all materials is covered, selected artists are also awarded a $2,000 honorarium for their work, and New York Cares volunteers assist the artists with their murals, which stay up for 11 months.

Want to give some New Yorkers a more colorful commute? Got an amazing mural idea in mind? If so, the open call deadline for Barrier Beautification proposals is February 24.

For inspiration, we've included some images of past Barrier Beautification murals after the jump. You can also check out more examples over on NYCDOT's Flickr archive and get all of the details in the program's application packet.

Exclusive // Michelle Matson: Bravo Reality Star and Star Artist

Perrin Drumm — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:00:30 +0000

If you (like some of us) were addicted to the second season of Bravo TV's art reality show, "Work of Art: The Next Great Artist" then you know Michelle Matson is a household name. For all those skeptics out there, don't let the phrase "reality star" turn you off. Matson--as well as the rest of her cast mates--are anything but the watered-down version of "real" artists you might expect to find on a reality TV show. For starters, Matson's preoccupation with motifs like bodily fluids (let your imagination run wild here) aren't exactly Bravo's typical mainstream fare.

While Matson may not have made it to the final round, her singular point of view and dedication to craftsmanship make her something of a visionary. We caught up with her to talk about her latest show, "Cactus Milk," which opened last Friday at Youth Group Gallery in Brooklyn.

3W's Perrin Drumm: Tell me a bit about "Cactus Milk." How did you choose the title?

Michelle Matson: There is latex sap within cacti--if you wound a cactus it oozes out of the plant. This sap is commonly called "cactus milk." It's not edible. It can actually cause skin irritation and blindness in its raw form. I like that the cactus is this armored, phallic thing, and that it produces latex when you hurt it. When I think of latex I immediately think of condoms. I like that the cactus is a vessel for latex, some sort of thorny vessel for protected sex. Maybe that doesn't make any sense at all, but somehow it makes sense to me! This exhibition is a sort of visual free-association on that idea featuring large0scale installation, sculpture and painting.

PD: In general, your work seems to be the meeting point between the playful and the grotesque. Have you always worked in this vein, or have you seen your choices change as your style has evolved?

MM: I believe that it is impossible to separate a person from the art they make, and my personality is very evident in my work. I've made a concerted effort to allow myself to delve more deeply into my subconscious. I've stopped trying to censor or edit ideas that lie on the darker side.

Your Daily Insight // As Told By: David Foster Wallace

Ben Zoltowski — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:00:46 +0000

It’s of some interest that the lively arts of the milennial U.S.A. treat anhedonia and internal emptiness as hip and cool. It’s maybe the vestiges of the Romantic Weltschmerz, which means world-weariness or hip ennui. Maybe it’s the fact that most of the arts here are produced by world-weary and sophisticated older people and then consumed by younger people who not only consume art but study it for clues on how to be cool, hip–and keep in mind that, for kids and younger people, to be hip and cool is the same as to be admired and accepted and included and so Unalone. Forget so-called peer-pressure. It’s more like peer-hunger. No? We enter a spiritual puberty where we snap to the fact that the great transcendent horror is loneliness, excluded encagement in the self.

Mail Call // Revisit The Past with February's Month of Letters Challenge

Layla Schlack — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:30:39 +0000

Remember pen pals? Those far-off friends that many of us wrote to when we were somewhere between 8 and 12 years old? Coming home to hand-addressed letters, such simple excitement.

Inspired by taking a vacation from the internet last Fall, author and puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal is bringing that feeling back and challenging others to do the same:

The Month of Letters Challenge asks that you mail at least one thing for every day the postal service operates in the month of February. Write to your grandma-ma, your local newspaper, whoever you feel (replying to letters counts too, folks.) Kowal already has some people in mind to write to.

"I started mailed correspondence with some folks when I took a month off the internet back in September, and we've continued to exchange letters," she tells us. "I'll keep writing to them during February but also add people that I really should be in better touch with, like my nieces and nephew. I'm also planning on writing some fan mail to some favorite authors. Then, of course, there's the plan to write back to everyone who writes to me."

Mary Robinette Kowal (C) 2010 Annaliese MoyerFor those of you with a bit of a thing for stationery (cough cough) or luxury writing utensils (clearing throat), this is your chance to indulge. Kowal gave us a few words of wisdom in that department as well: "I've recently returned to fountain pens for letter-writing. I use a FaberCastell fine point sepia for signing books, but it doesn't feel as nice on the page as a fountain pen," she says. "I am a sucker for papers, and it's hard to narrow it down. Currently, I'm using a classic laid in off-white, which is simple and clean. I actually prefer just a straight up cold-pressed 100 percent cotton but it is really hard to find stationery at all these days."

And if you move quickly, you can score some pretty snazzy Year of the Dragon stamps. Personally, we're excited to bust out our recycled paper and colorful pens and catch up with some old friends, sans tagged photos and 85-character Tweets.

--Layla Schlack

Q&A // Artist Kate Neckel Conquers The Walls of NYC's Ace Hotel

Perrin Drumm — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:00:18 +0000

Admittedly, we were a tad jealous when we learned of artist Kate Neckel and her being commissioned by NYC's Ace Hotel to literally draw all over one of the famed hotel's rooms. Flashbacks of parental scoldings shooting through our minds--the inevitable consequences of running through the house, taking creative license with our crayons and the living room wall. Our envy of Neckel only deepened when she was invited back to do it all over again, her drawings now becoming a permanent feature of the hotel.

We recently caught up with Neckel to talk inspiration (both musical and culinary) and the simple pleasures of taking a marker to a wall.

3W's Perrin Drumm: This is your second time drawing on the walls of the Ace Hotel. Did you have different goals this time around?

Kate Neckel: When I worked on the first room I had notebooks filled with all things Ace: Stumptown coffee, Liberty Hall, every detail of the lobby, the Breslin--and I filled the wall from top to bottom. This time around, I wanted the piece to just flow like a conversation. I started in the middle of the wall because it felt right, and then I just hung out and moved from place to place on the wall.

PD: Do you have the wall worked out ahead of time? As in sketches you bring with you? Or is everything drawn spur of the moment?

KN: I checked into the hotel with some pretty vague sketches and ideas; mostly about music and patterns. I wanted this wall to just grow based on what happened during the weekend or things I found in the room.

PD: From the photos it looks like it was mighty fun. Did anyone else get to partake with you?

KN: Patrick Phillips from the band Honduras dropped by with his girlfriend Emilie Laperriere. We ordered food from the Breslin, Pat played his guitar and I drew on the walls. Jác stopped on Sunday night and played a few songs (accordion, horn, guitar--oh yeah) while I put the finishing touches on the wall. Other friends included Jenna Menard, Michelle Buswell, Frederique Carme, and of course Tom, Brec and Maeve, my husband and kids, the most inspiring folks I know.

Hit the jump for photos of the process and more of our dialogue with Neckel.