Top Ten Life Moment

There are special places that one stumbles upon that stir something deep inside. When it is a beautiful night and there are people playing guitar on their stoop in the twilight, or an all day brunch fest on the cute street side cafe with good people watching, sometimes it can be Mid Summer Swing at Lincoln Center. The energy is better than good, everything feels calm, relaxed and happy. Charley and I were lucky enough to find ourselves in one such moment while in Copenhagen.Welcome to Nyhavn! A canal runs into the city for a length of space to allow beautiful tall ships to dock, inspiring envy and fantasy lives in which one lives on a boat and travels to all the Scandinavian countries in the summer, collecting fun people to travel with, regional booze to make late night cocktails to share with your new travel partners as they regale you with tales of far away lands. Like I said, fantasy life.... Anyways- the cobble stone street is flanked by this canal on one side, and a series of adorable restaurants and cafes on the other. All the outdoor seating is ready, even though it is still a bit cold for that. They have their heaters going and a blanket for each chair so if one chooses to sit outside, and one will choose to sit outside, one is warm and comfortable.
We rode down the street on our bikes and were immediately pulled into the scene. We wanted to drink! by the canal! and then we noticed that these cafes were not our only option! Yes! We could just pick up a six-pack and drink on the canal. Classy! Drinking outside is totes legal in Denmark.
Sitting down with our first beer on the side of the canal with loads of attractive, well dressed people walking up and down the street perfect for people watching, tall boats to our backs, and tall, attractive men to our left and right Charley turned to me and simply said "Nora, I think this is a top ten life moment. Right here, right now." I couldn't have agreed more.When the sun is shining in Copenhagen, everyone is happy!
We let go of life stresses, work, impending future life choices, and just were in the moment people. Who ate beers for lunch. I was decidedly, shall we say, drunk with happiness and also maybe regular drunk when we found our way back to our bikes. Sad to be leaving the canal, but happy to have spent the last hour there we mounted our trusty steeds and headed back to the apartment. Little did we know our plan was to be foiled! By a gallery opening! With more beer!
We rode past the gallery on our bikes, decided spur of the moment that we probably needed to go and performed a quick U-turn.
Aren't the Danes so cute. They hang out in galleries on the floor.
This painting below is a perfect representation of Charley and I. We're in a relationship.
Top Ten Life Moment, brought to you by-
Travel
Denmark
Attractive people (men)
BEER
Boats
Historic Architecture
Bike Riding
AND GOOD COMPANY (Charley, of course!)

On Olafur

I have a whole post planned about Olafur Eliasson and his amazing work at the Arken, but for now I just wanted to post this photo. Only because the second I started editing it and I saw how cool it came out I knew Blaine would cut me if I held on to it for a moment longer. This was kinda what happened within the exhibit, colors started changing. Some people saw blues and purples, and I thought it was bizarre that I didn't see them. As it turned out I did manage to capture it with my camera.

The Invisible Dog

The Invisible Dog, a gallery located on 51 Bergen Street, is really the something special the neib needed. Their story goes as such- the space was a factory, as were many on this particular block (I remember as a very young child walking past the cheese factory everyday on the way to school- and it smelling exactly how you would expect a cheese factory to smell, like kinda/almost good, and really smelly. This factory doesn't exist anymore, someone now lives where it once stood. I often muse to myself as I walk by "Does the space still smell like cheese inside...?") and this factory made many goods, but as the economy and the landscape of manufacturing changed the only thing the factory continued to produce, up until 2006, was those invisible dog leashes that you can buy at Disneyworld. Improv Everywhere used the leftover leashes for a fantastic and good humored prank a little under a year ago.
Now the factory is a wonderfully patina'd gallery space, hosting some really fantastic work. On the first floor was a mish mosh of all different kinds of work. I don't know if it was the space, the installation, or the curation- probably a combination of all three, but even though the works were not cohesive, it worked viewing them all together.

Off to the side was a nice group of work made out of old metro cards. This one I thought was particularly good advice:

One of the windows had a small step ladder, and I was up for a mini adventure-It led to a bizarre garden space.
I fell in love with this lamp, and the wall in which it was hung- and the mossy neglect. I know neglect is a word that usually has a negative meaning, but I felt there was no better way to show off the beauty of this wall than to leave it alone for many seasons. Let the Spring water find its ways into the cracks, and the freezing Winter chill expand the water droplets, growing the cracks, let the Fall spores find good, solid homes in the nooks and the Summer heat nurture the moss and the mold.
Somewhere inside me a hippie poet is fighting to get out.
And since we're talking about old relics, check out this sign I spotted on the way to third floor. Obviously from days of yore.

The Creator's Project

I got an email a few weeks ago saying I should sign up now for the Creator's Project. I read the rundown, Interpol, Mark Ronson, XXXchange, NASA, Sleigh Bells, Spike Jonez, Graffiti Research Lab, arts, all at Milk Studios. Plus free booze. Yeah- I signed up right quick.
Little did I know exactly how cool this event was going to be. It well surpassed my expectations. Its impossibile to explain everything that happened here because it was a total sensory overload and there was SO much going on at all times, but I'm going to make the attempt.
Also- I have to say never have I been so pleased with the staff. The security guards were helpful and polite instead of assholes, the event staff were super chill and calm instead of stressed out. In fact, I'd say they were happy to be working the event. It was so well organized, everything came together with close to perfect timing. No waiting around for an act or event to start, and the crowding was kept to a minimum. Whoever organized this event, you go girl, it was as close to perfect as you could have hoped, and the people working it made all the difference.
Spike Jonez screened a really sweet film about robots in love. I won't ruin it for you but I will say it tugged on my heartstrings. The short featured a band that played during the movie and provided much of the sound track. The last scene had a really charming song to bring the film to a bittersweet end and as the last frame flickered against the screen, the screen rose to reveal the band playing behind it. The had actually played the last song live. It was a beautiful surprise. AND THEY WERE WEARING GOLD JUMPSUITS!
This was a really interesting/creepy installation. These two very attractive models would stand, android like, in front of the Plexiglas cone. As one approached it the boy on the right would take you into the cone, seat you down and say "Look into the scanner." Then everything went dark and the participant would be almost blinded by the light of the scanner. A curt motion was made to leave and it was over. A minute later a distorted version of the face of the participant would be projected above the cone on a circular screen.
This was a nice video installation that was a nice escape from the loud noises and crowds. Very calming in a way.
I might have enjoyed this interactive installation the most. A cube made of LED lights strung from the ceiling that the viewer could walk into and have an experience. While I was waiting my turn to go inside I could watch everyone else. It appeared that once a new person entered the piece the cube would choose a new sound-and-light show for each viewer. This is what happened when Barbara went inside-
This installation disappeared itself once the shows really started going. Basically one could play these instruments and they were connected to a video panel on the wall. When a drum head was hit it would play a short video clip. Very cool. There was a lag that was almost a full second so you couldn't quite get a rhythm going. Very annoying.
The only installation I didn't play with was the video game hacks. They were obviously popular becuase there was always a line and I hate waiting on line really. However, it is with regret as they did look creative, well produced and fun to engage with.
Remember how I said the Creator's Project was well organized. Let me elaborate on that a little bit more. They really took technology to the next level. There were interactive touch screen kiosks on every floor that had a schedule of when and where things where taking place, a map of each floor and information about each of the events. There were flat screens hanging on the walls saying "Hey! Check out this thing going on here right now!" to remind us what was hot and happening. Plus instant updates from their twitter feed right on the wall screens. PLUS instant live video feeds of other events happening in different parts of the building. The second Interpol's set was over a screen flew down and we were able to watch the end of Die Antwood's set, which was probably more fun to experience in person, but still cool that we could watch it, as it was happening, instead of trying to run through a crowd of people trying to get up stairs to catch those last sweaty minutes. Very very well done, you can color me impressed.
ON TO THE JAMZ!
We caught some of Sleigh Bells. Now I am in love with their music, I can't get enough of A/B Machines. I think they have put together some catchy-as-fuck tunes and my co-worker and I often have them blasting out of our computers and giving our office a swift kick in the ass. If only I could say their live show was as good. Because its not. Its kinda just noise. Letdown.
Oh man, Interpol. Can I just sum it up like that? They were number one on my list of bands that I had to see. It was my first time seeing them, and it was so good. Words cannot express. Neither can my photography really. What can I say... I was in le moment.Neon Indian puts on a damn good show, complete with Theramin playing.
And Mark Ronson ended the night in the most perfect way. The hugest, sassiest, balls-to-the-wallsiest dance party. I can't decide what was the best part- oh wait yes I can. Dancing really hard to "Work It" by Missy, making eyes at a really hot dude, and then realizing that dude is Josh Hartnett. Yeah, that was the best part.
I dare anyone to top this festival. DARE YOU TO. And if you do, please be sure to invite me, darling.
Video coming soon!

MOMO

Last Thursday I headed over to the Invisible Dog gallery to check out the work of MOMO, or, as he was named, Maurice Maréchal. I've walked by the Invisible Dog gallery plenty of times, but this was the first time I ever went inside.
It was really a phenomenal space, and as with most things that appeal to my aesthetic preferences it was cleaned up just enough to have people and art inside- but the bones of what it used to be, the beautiful patina of years of use as a factory was still ever present. What a perfect host for art! I have a whole post planned on the Invisible Dog, so for right now- on to zee art!
There was framed work on every starkly painted wall. The tactile quality of the work sang inside the Invisible Dog's bare bones post-factory interior- thick gobs of paint created undulating paintscapes upon old ledger pages and found objects like sheets of old, oil stained butcher paper and tree leaves preserved by a glossy shellac found homes on the page. The work was emotional, textured, joyous and painful all at once, it had history and told a story. And this very affecting work was mostly housed in these... generic... frames. I don't think the work was diminished because of this, but I think the pieces could have been enhanced with a different approach. I guess I came away thinking the two were a bit incongruous.
Also- I hate frames in general...
Part of what made me want to stay with each piece was the level of detail within the work.
This was in her fore arm(sorry its sideways), and this-
on her other arm.
My favorite thing in the whole gallery was MOMO's sketch book. I could have spent the whole time just loving the book. I wanted to take photos of every page, but had to restrict myself.
And again he had beautiful details hidden in the work. But I could get up close and inspect it.
I found this character doing his angry rain dance on this page-
There were also pages in the old ledger book that appealed to my interests in fashion. Being ever the girly girl I liked these explorations in lace-
And the dip dyed effect gave such a nice ombre to this neck piece-
I waited for almost two hours in this really very hot gallery for Michel Gondry to show up and kick out the jamz (which may or may not have been my impetus to go in the first place). While close to 8 there was still no sign of him- I bounced out because my legs had gotten so sweaty that they effortlessly slid against each other as though I was in a pool. NOT CUTE!
Over all- great show! I can't wait to check out what else the Invisible Dog has to offer.

DUMBO Arts Center

The DUMBO Arts Center hosts an open gallery event every first Thursday of the month. Many first Thursday's ago I was invited to check out the work of a friend showing there. It was my first time at the DAC but I was blown away by the quality of work.
I finally have a chance to present it to all y'all, and I'll do so without any commentary. Well I will just say that I was aesthetically drawn to this work on a visceral level and without outside information. So- without further adieu...