Pittsburgh, PA

Earth Day is designated as a day and sometimes even an ongoing month, as a time when you think about your impact on the environment and what you can do to preserve the world for generations to come. If everyone did something more environmentally conscious just one day a year, there is the hope that people will continue their good deeds throughout the rest of the year and if not, at least they contributed on that one day.

There are many events going on around the city of Pittsburgh to celebrate this environmentally-friendly day, but I’m not going to list them, since they can be easily researched. Instead, I’d like to remind people what they can do to celebrate this day and to make a lasting impact on their lives.

First off, I think that most people choose not to be consciously aware of what they’re doing to the environment, because it’s inconvenient to think of or they just have too many other things on their mind. So instead of listing big changes, I’d like to suggest a couple of little things you can do that can really make a big impact on the environment. And really, if you care at all about your living conditions, at one point in your life you may consciously think about the world around you and the destruction that is occurring to it everyday that will negatively affect your life, if not today some day in the future.

I’m not even going to get into global warming, because really, people should care about taking care of their environment regardless of being threatened by hot weather and melting ice caps.

1. Stop buying water in plastic bottles and instead bottle water from your house to carry with you. Local water is under much higher scrutiny than bottled water, but just in case you’re leery of your tap water you can always install a filter of some sort.

2. Take the bus, car pool, walk or ride the bus to work, school, whatever if at all possible. The bus actually costs me the same amount of money, if not more than I’d spend on gas money for my car, yet money is not what concerns me; it’s all the pollution and traffic congestion that driving during rush hour produces. I’ve even started walking the two miles home from work, which is way healthier for me and the environment.

3. If you’re in the market for a new car and can afford a hybrid, I would highly suggest buying one. Sales on hybrids are up 40% just this year due to people getting fed up by high gas prices. Don’t become a victim of a struggling system and outrageous oil profits; think about alternatives to gas before you have no other choice but to use a huge chunk of your paycheck just to commute to work in your car.

4. Appreciate and enjoy nature like you did when you were a kid. Grow a plant, take a hike in the woods, walk along the river…do anything to immerse yourself in your real environment, not just the walls you build up around it in the shape of buildings and highways.

5. And lastly, use the backs of discarded paper. I have found this is the easiest way to save money on writing and printing paper, as well as helping to lessen the huge amount of paper that goes to waste. Encourage paper recycling at work as well!

You don’t have to listen to these tips and you can live in ignorance if you so choose, but today is about being aware of environmental issues, not ignoring them, so in all earnestness, please have a nice, environmentally conscious day!

Check out my previous post on Rachel Carson to read more about this local environmentalist, who is always recognized for her achievements around this time of year.

Pittsburgh, Earth Day

COMPANY MAN: TAKASHI MURAKAMI AND THE ART OF ‘BUSINESS ART’

Wednesday, April 23 at 6-7:30pm in Kresge Hall (CFA), Carnegie Mellon University.

THE ART OF BUSINESS/BUSINESS AS ART:
A DISCUSSION ON BUSINESS AND ART WITH SCOTT ROTHKOPF, SENIOR EDITOR OF ARTFORUM

Delegation, agency, team production, monitoring, group entrepreneurship‹all these terms inform the division of labor in contemporary artistic production. The business of art is conducted much like any other commercial venture in which something is bought, sold, or traded, and yet a work of art is not a commodity in the ordinary sense. Its value can fluctuate radically in an instant, depending on the influence of collectors, dealers, curators, critics, or connoisseurs. What kinds of negotiations must an artist make in order to retain a critical and creative edge within a competitive art market? How have contemporary artists used “the market” as both a medium of art, as well as a place of profit and gain? Is there a difference between consumerist luxury items and the “products” that artists like Murakami (in particular, his Louis Vuitton purse replicas) and Maywa Denki (their Japanese high-end robotic toys) produce? What is the line between entrepreneurial innovation and artistic invention?

“Business art is the step that comes after Art,” Andy Warhol famously opined in 1975. Yet despite the recent explosion of the international art market and the crossover superstardom of figures such as Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, perhaps only one artist has truly taken Warhol at his word: Takashi Murakami. This lecture will explore Murakami’s far-flung “business art” endeavors and their relationship to his painting and sculpture, within the context of precedents including Dalí, Warhol, and Haring. A household name in his native Japan, Murakami (b. 1963) first gained international celebrity in 2002 with his series of Louis Vuitton handbags, which grossed more than three-hundred million dollars in their first year of sales alone.

Although this corporate collaboration may be his most well-known foray into the world of commerce, it is but one point in a constellation of activities that dwarfs his gallery-bound paintings and sculpture in administrative scope and market reach. In addition to churning out finely crafted artworks coveted by collectors, he is busy producing related mass-market merchandise; running his own art fair; managing the careers of young Japanese artists; planning group exhibitions; hosting a radio show; and pursuing commercial “collaborations” in the form of advertising and branding projects with the likes of rapper Kanye West all under the auspices of his own multinational corporation, Kaikai Kiki, Co., Ltd., a “business art” venture unlike any before it. Indeed, if Warhol provided the model, Murakami has broken the mold.

Scott Rothkopf is a senior editor of Artforum, as well as an art historian and critic. He has been a guest curator at Harvard University’s Fogg Art Museum, where he most recently co-organized “This Is Not a Time for Dreaming” (2004), a site-specific installation and film by the French artist Pierre Huyghe made in response to Le Corbusier’s only North American building, the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. At the Fogg, he was also curator and catalogue author for the exhibition “Mel Bochner Photographs 1966¬1969″ (2002), which traveled to the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. As a frequent contributor to Artforum, Rothkopf has written on major exhibitions, including the Venice and Whitney biennials, and on artists such as Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha, Sol LeWitt, Diller+Scofidio, Carroll Dunham, Josiah McElheny, T. J. Willcox, and Karen Kilimnik, who was the subject of his 2007 book, Period Eye: Karen Kilimnik’s Fancy Pictures, co-authored with Meredith Martin. His other museum and gallery catalogue contributions include monographic essays on Wade Guyton, Eva Hesse, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Kelley Walker, and Terry Winters, as well as text on Takashi Murakami for his current traveling retrospective, organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Sponsored by the Office of the Provost, The School of Art, and the New Minor in Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development.

For more information, contact Melissa Ragona, Assistant Professor of Art, School of Art, Carnegie Mellon University at mragona@andrew.cmu.edu.
Tel: (412) 779-9257

To read about other art events sponsored by Carnegie Mellon, check out my previous post here.

Pittsburgh, Takashi Murakami, Carnegie Mellon University, art, designer purses, commercial art

The two subjects don’t normally coincide with each other, but they will tonight at PNC Park.

Here’s the official press release on this interesting combination:

Eight works of art are now on display on Pittsburgh-area billboards as a result of a collaboration between School of Art students at Carnegie Mellon University and Lamar Outdoor Advertising. This is the second time in as many years that School of Art students have had the opportunity to make their art visible to tens of thousands of people around Pittsburgh every day.

“Lamar Outdoor Advertising is providing a unique opportunity to our students,” said Visiting Assistant Professor Christopher Sperandio. “No other art students in the country are making new artworks as billboards, and certainly not on a scale like this.”

The project began last year, when Sperandio contacted Lamar Outdoor Advertising about using billboards as a way to train students in creating new graphic artwork for a general public. Lamar provided four 11′ by 24′ billboards in locations around Pittsburgh. This year, Lamar doubled its contribution to eight billboards, and Sperandio, along with School of Art associate professors Ayanah Moor and Kim Beck, have engaged their sophomore printmaking students in the task of making new artworks for billboards.

“The School of Art is really lucky to have the support of Lamar Outdoor. It’s not only an opportunity for our students to think about art-making beyond the traditional definitions, but a great way for them to experience corporate generosity first hand,” Beck said.

For the billboards, students designed new art specifically for a Pittsburgh audience. Forty students competed for the eight billboards. The winners were chosen by Elizabeth Thomas, the Phyllis Wattis MATRIX Curator in Berkeley, California.

“Carnegie Mellon has a long history of fostering the inter-relationship of art and public life. These collected works, which take advantage of scale, visibility and conventions of commerce, will no doubt provide Pittsburgh drivers with fodder for reflection, amusement and engagement,” said Thomas, former associate curator of contemporary art at the Carnegie Museum of Art and a guest curator at The Andy Warhol Museum.

A sample of the billboard art descriptions by the artists themselves:

“My Secret” by sophomore Alissa Osial
“The work looks like a partially destroyed billboard. The viewer can read ‘My secret is I like…’ but the rest of the message has been ripped away. The viewer is able to interact with this piece by creating their own message, letting them imagine what the secret is. I am not telling the viewer what I am hiding, or what the meaning is. I want to leave it up to them to decide that.”

“Chaos” by sophomore Robin Scheines
“My billboard is a drawing of a seated man, and all around him is a chaotic cityscape. This work is about the viewer and their relationship to the urban environment. The seated man surrounded by the bustling city is meant to invite viewers to pause for a moment, and listen to their environment. To enjoy the present even in so much chaos and movement.”

“Popular” by junior Terry Boyd
“My billboard is a fake graffiti tag on an existing billboard. By creating this image in the comfort of my studio and superimposing it digitally on an existing billboard image, I have eliminated the danger and risk associated with vandalism. I’m trying to buy street cred by defacing a modest advertisement with an image of wealth and hedonism.”

“Sprawl” by junior Ryan Woodring
“For my billboard design, I wanted the flooded suburbs to leak back out on to the highways. It would be interesting to see an entire neighborhood of these images all projecting themselves out on to the street. By eliminating the role of perceived space within the image, the billboard hopefully reads more like the facade of a house and less like a copied image.”

“Say Something” by sophomore Jessica Jackson
“My billboard features brightly colored demonstrators holding up signs that read: ‘Say something, anything.’ I made it to show my respect for those of us who put ourselves out there and tell people what they think. I want viewers to be reminded that they have the right, and really the responsibility to voice their opinions about their concerns.”

The event is free and open to the public. The Warhol will host an after party from 9 to 11 p.m. at the museum.

“PNC Park is a unique venue for video art. You don’t typically expect to see art at the baseball stadium, but it’s an amazing experience,” said Jill Kraus Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Christopher Sperandio. As far as we know, no other art school in the country is using an 85” x 35” high-definition screen as a venue for student and faculty art work.

For more information, visit CMU’s website here.

And speaking of art, check out one of my previous posts here on submitting work to various local projects.

Pittsburgh, art, PNC Park, Carnegie Mellon University

Hideous Kinky Part Deux: A Speak Easy Cabaret is happening this Saturday at the Grey Box Theater in Lawrenceville. The event will feature music and dancing of course!

Hideous Kinky is hosted by the Zafira Dance Company, a combined belly dancing, contemporary and ethnic style dance troupe, which won the coveted Troupe of the Year 2007 award given by Zaghareet Magazine. The troupe will be performing, as well as Mira Betz of Barbary Coast Shakedown, West African Dance Sensations Balafon, Midge Cricket, as well as the combined musical talents of Buddy Nutt and Ukulady as Ukulucky.

According to their website, Zafira is donating a portion of the proceeds to V-Day, an organization that brings the issue of violence against women and girls front and center in the culture and the community. On April 12th, V-day is hosting in New Orleans,- V TO THE TENTH - featuring international performances of The Vagina Monologues, musical guests, V-Day activists from across the globe including Kenya, Afghanistan, Iraq, The Philippines, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eastern Europe , men standing up for women and much more.

The show begins at 8pm with doors opening at 7:30pm. Tickets cost $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Tickets can be purchased via the Zafira Dance Company’s website here. The Grey Box Theater is located at 3595 Butler Street in Lawrenceville and can be reached at 412-586-7744.

In addition to this event, Zafira Dance Company offers belly dancing classes around the Pittsburgh area at Breathe Yoga Studio in the South Side, Body Empowered in Bellevue and Bodiography Dance Studio in Squirrel Hill. I suggest checking out the schedule on their website to see available classes, times, locations, etc.

Also going on this night is 412 Tag and the “Hips, Rum and Rock and Roll” exhibit. Check out my previous posts for more information.

Have a nice weekend everybody!

Pittsburgh, Zafira Dance Company, Hideous Kinky, Grey Box Theater, Lawrenceville, bellydancing

Get ready to represent Pittsburgh as our locals battle it out in this tag team dual to the death. Well, maybe not death, but at least until the end of their set! Brought to you by 1337, Saturday’s event is something you don’t want to miss!

Local music sets battled out by:

CUTUPS vs KEEB$
stackin paper … lazer crunk

CHICO vs REZON8
subsurface/focused motives … electro breaks/technufunk

NAOKO vs COLIN PIERCE

SUNRIZE vs TIKA
hardcore

This is also going to be Sunrize’s last hardcore set ever in Pittsburgh, so at least come out for this!

412 Tag is also proud to present..

the Assassins debut (1337)
Dnb mashups

412 Tag takes place at the Elks Lodge in Braddock this Saturday starting at 9pm and finishing up around 3am.

The venue features a stocked bar with drink specials, a kitchen that will cook food as late as you can eat it, and has its own parking lot around back to save you the hassle of parking.

The Braddock Police Department will be providing an off-duty officer to ensure everyone has a safe, drama-free time.

The event is 18+ and is only $5. The Braddock Elks Lodge is located at 424 Library Road in Braddock.

412 Tag will also be collecting monetary donations for a local animal shelter, Animal Protectors in New Kensington. Animal Protectors is a no-kill, non-profit shelter located in New Kensington, PA. Their shelter is always full of animals, many which are strays. Their shelter is a constant stream of activity. New animals are examined for possible problems, medical charts are checked and medication is administered, when needed. Cat cages and dog kennels are cleaned daily. From the time the shelter opens until it closes, there’s a constant flurry of cleaning, feeding, exercising, cuddling, caring. Fresh food, water, litter boxes, and blankets are placed in each cage daily.

For more information, call 724-553-0032 or email 1337 at 1337pgh@gmail.com. They also have a website at www.1337pgh.com.

If you can’t make it out to this, at least catch Eric Luden’s art opening at Zombo Gallery. For more info on this event, check out my previous post here.

The STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University presents Other Options Pittsburgh, a symposium on alternative economics and value systems April 11-­13 at Goods & Services, 2628 East Carson St. The weekend-long symposium, which explores how local actions relate to global capitalism, includes an art exhibition, panel discussion, macroeconomics workshop, cottage industry expo and Sunday Soup on the South Side as well as guided tours, dinner and a dance party in Braddock.

The symposium is the collective effort of the ReTool Project at the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry; Goods & Services, a project space affiliated with the Carnegie Mellon School of Art; InCubate, a group of arts administrators and arts historians from Chicago; and Braddock Active Arts, an artist collective working in Braddock, Pa.

Other Options Pittsburgh highlights a confluence of thought and activity around economics, resources, and exchange, said Carolyn Lambert, fellow in the Studio for Creative Inquiry. While interviewing people who work off-the-books as part of the informal economy, we met other artists and groups who share our interest in systems of value. The network organizing this symposium represents only a small cross-section of the many artists currently seeking alternatives to mainstream capitalism. We’re using art-based activities as a way to test out tools and strategies that could create real change.

The symposium opens Friday, April 11 from 6 to 9 p.m. with an art exhibition curated by InCubate and produced in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon students at Goods & Services. The exhibition looks at artist groups who are re-interpreting, altering and creating infrastructure that affects their everyday lives and artistic practice. Artists in the exhibition include Robin Hewlett and Carolyn Lambert (Pittsburgh), Forays (New York/Montreal), Phil Orr and Ryan Thompson (Urbana-Champaign, Illinois), Material Exchange (Chicago), and Carnegie Mellon graduate and undergraduate students. The exhibition will continue through May 2.

On Saturday April 12 at 2pm, a panel discussion, Exploring our Options, will showcase four models of community organizing and artistic practice that question dominant value systems and suggest practical alternatives. On Sunday April 13th at 12:30pm, activist Matt Meyer will lead a workshop on macroeconomics, educating participants about the global economic infrastructure and its relationship to small-scale alternative practices.

This symposium is supported in part by the Sprout Fund, the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, and the Center for Arts and Society at Carnegie Mellon. For more information, contact Carolyn Lambert at 412-398-1122 or visit the ReTool website for a complete schedule of events at http://retool.wordpress.com.

On a side note, don’t forget to check out Debris Magazine’s 4th issue that just came out. Visit my previous post for more info and to see about contributing work to the Pittsburgh based literary/art magazine.

Pittsburgh, STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, Carnegie Mellon, Sprout Fund, Other Options Symposium, global, capitalism, economics

I have to apologize for not posting the film schedule earlier, but better late than never right?

The Jewish-Israeli Film Festival is back in Pittsburgh for its 15th year and is sure to capture the viewing attention of its audience as always. The festival is already in its second week of showing films, but I’d still like to present the film schedule below, as well as ways to buy tickets, showtimes, etc.

There is still time to see:

The First Basket @ SouthSide Works Cinema at 7pm on Tuesday
She’s Got It @ SouthSide Works Cinema at 7:30pm on Tuesday
Arranged @ SouthSide Works Cinema at 7pm on Wednesday

Two young women - an Orthodox Jew and a Muslim - meet and become friends as first-year teachers at a public school in Brooklyn. They soon learn that, despite their religious differences, they have much in common, not the least of which is that they are both going through arranged marriages.

Nina’s Home @ Westmoreland Mall (Greensburg) at 7pm on Thursday
Sixty Six @ SouthSide Works Cinema at 7:30pm on Thursday
The Band’s Visit @ Regent Square Theater at 9pm on Saturday
Nina’s Home @ SouthSide Works Cinema at 1pm on Sunday
Samuel Rosenberg: Pittsburgh’s Painter Laureate @ SouthSide Works Cinema at 4pm on Sunday
The Hope: Rick Recht Film and Concert @ Melwood Screening Room at 7pm on Sunday

I highly suggest you check out the Film Festival’s website to read about each film and see which one or ones you’d like to see.

Tickets may be purchased online up to a day before the screening at the UJF’s website here, except on weekends. Keep in mind that ticket orders are not processed on Saturday or Sundays, so plan accordingly. Tickets can also be purchased at each venue up to 30 minutes prior to the screening and are cash-only. Call ahead to 412-992-5203 to make sure your screening isn’t sold out already.

Ticket prices on opening nights are $35, cash only at the door, otherwise they are $8 for general admission, $7 ages 65 and over, $6 for groups of 12+ purchased in advance and $5 for students.

For more information on the Film Festival and Jewish culture, visit the United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh’s website here.

The above picture credit is from the movie Love Dance.

Don’t forget to check out “Hips, Rum and Rock and Roll” this Saturday at Zombo Gallery! Check out yesterday’s post here for more info.

Pittsburgh, Jewish-Israeli Film Festival, UJF, films, Melwood Screening Room, Regents Square Theater, SouthSide Works Cinema

The “Hips, Rum and Rock and Roll” exhibit will debut this Saturday at Zombo Gallery, featuring the artwork of Eric Luden.

Luden is a Johnstown native and Pittsburgh based artist who specializes in digital illustrations and paintings and who seems like a very interesting guy. According to the press release, Luden’s work is inspired by retro design, pin-up art and Southern California beach culture.

His work very rarely features thin women and he has often been asked why, to which he has replied that he finds “it more enjoyable to draw a curve than a straight line.” That’s a good enough reason for me. He also says that he received his art education through studying issues of MAD magazine as a child.

After school in Johnstown, Eric moved to Chicago and worked as a staff illustrator at Cahners Publishing Company, where he was primarily responsible for technical illustrations. At the same time, Eric began drawing cartoons for Chicago underground publications. After nearly a decade in Chicago, he moved back to his home state and continued cartooning by designing show posters for local bands and events. He currently lives in the Pittsburgh area with his wife and two children. He still works with several Chicago based magazines and also does commissioned pieces and portraits.

Luden’s freelance work has been seen in various national magazine publications and around the region in promotional posters for local bands and events.

“Hips, Rum and Rock and Roll” opens Saturday, April 12th from 5:30pm until 11:30pm and runs until April 26th, so make sure you check it out!

Zombo Gallery is located at 4900 Hatfield Street in Lawrenceville.

Don’t forget to check out yesterday’s post for information on calls for artists, photographers and more.

Pittsburgh, Zombo Gallery, Eric Luden, digital design, art, Lawrenceville

The Arts Festival has announced a call for artists, musicians and more for various events and exhibits. They are currently looking for musicians and bands to perform on their Market Square stage during the festival, as well as children’s performing groups to perform during their Family Festival, which features family friendly fun and games.

The festival is also looking for artists to be a part of their “Contained” exhibit. The exhibit is being held in partnership with the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and involves installations in a 8′ x 40′ x 8′ space. According to the festival, the work can be in any medium and represent any subject. For more information on participating in the Three Rivers Arts Festival, visit their website here.

I’d also like to announce that the fourth issue of the Pittsburgh-based Debris Magazine is out! The magazine is always looking for literary and artistic submissions, so please check out the guidelines and contact info at www.debrismagazine.com. For those of you who are not writers, artists or photographers, check out the Spring issue anyways! It features all new literary talent and a very talented Portuguese painter, as well as a photographer whose goal is to travel the world and capture it all on his camera. Exciting stuff, I promise!

And lastly, I’d like to remind everyone about the Good vs. Evil photography show that will be happening at the Creative Treehouse in Bellevue on May 17th. John Bodnar is still accepting photography submissions for the event, so if you’re interested please email him at jbodnar@gmail.com. For more information, visit my previous post on the upcoming event here.

Pittsburgh, Three Rivers Arts Festival, Contained, Debris Magazine, Creative Treehouse, photography, art