If I was in London, I’d absolutely be checking out the Dieter Rams “Less and More” exhibition at the Design Museum. If you don’t know who Dieter is, he was the director at the German electronics company Braun for 30+ years. No question he was a visionary.

“My aim is to omit everything superfluous so that the essential s shown to the possible advantage…”

This year’s 99% Conference was a huge success. So, why not register for next year way ahead of time? For a limited time they’re offering $300 off the regular ticket price of $699. A steal. Go, do it, now!

On Friday October 16th Cut & Paste will take over the Hammerstein Ballroom with 48 competitors from around the world (16 different cities) duking it out for design championship and victory. Onsite and webcast viewers can tweet during the show with #cutandpaste, and all the comments on the work as it’s happening will be shown on screens between each round. Interactive awesomeness.

Want in to the event with a pair of free tickets? Tweet “I want to go to #cutandpaste NYC @joshspear” and I’ll choose two lucky winners randomly by the end of the week.

I wish I was in London next week to check out the Frieze Art Fair. If you’re there, pop by Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin’s booth (F11) at Regent’s Park in London. The opening reception is Wednesday 14 October, 2009 15 – 18 October, 11am – 7pm.

The Blackout Film Festival is New York City’s only event-inspired film festival and it returns on Sept. 19, 2009 with a 90 minute program of short films centering on the theme: The Great Recession.

Filmmakers around the globe have submitted a surprisingly light-hearted group of films about the current economic recession that we are extremely excited to share. I saw your coverage of one of my favorite New York film festivals, the Bicycle Film Festival, and I think the nature of this year’s event and the films we are screening will be of interest to your readers.

Check it out Saturday, September 19th with screenings at 3pm, 5pm and 7pm at SVA’s new Visual Arts Theatre. Tickets can be bought online here.

Attention femme fatals: if the past few weekends have consisted of daring missions to Bed, Bath and Beyond and seducing the bag boy at the grocery story, maybe it’s time to really indulge in something more exotic. Stiletto Spy School will plan full day adventures for ladies looking to improve their hand-to-hand combat, martini mixing, stunt driving, or tango dancing skills. You can choose from one of their planned itineraries, or create your own assignment. James Bond, meet Jane Bond.

Via Zoomdoggle

What are your plans this Saturday? If you’re a fan of MWM like we are, then they should include seeing some new work at the Chorus Gallery in Somerville, MA. On tap is his signature canvas work, a small series of prints, and a new collaboration with Open and Traitor Cycles that consists of of five hand-painted frames, a cycling cap and t-shirt. The opening reception is this Saturday at 8 p.m., and in case you can’t get there, it will be on display until Sept. 8.

The term ‘experimental rock’ can sometimes conjure up images of unlistenable frequencies laid over even less listenable instrumentation, especially for those of us without the technical (and sometimes masochistic) craving for the likes of Frank Zappa or the Residents. Battles brings the genre home for fans of anything. Relatively straightforward drum lines by Helmet’s former drummer, and odd, piecemeal harmonies by former guitarists of Don Caballero and Lynx (as well as the avant garde jazz pedigree of Tyondai Braxton) come together to form something experimental without the pretentious sentiment often bundled with acts of the sort. It’s simply good listening.

Battles is playing a one-off at Terminal 5 (my favorite Manhattan venue) on September 4th. See it now or wait indefinitely for another record and another set of shows.

Nice work, the MoMA Summer planner customizes a plan of events for your experience based on your social profiles and personality. Looks sexy too, check it out.

It’s incredible to see a blog grow into something that comes to change pop culture. The blog reports on it, but in the process, inevitably becomes a part of that pop culture as well. One of our smart classmates who’s been running in parallel alongside us all these years, adamantly pushing its cause, is Slamxhype.com, which started off as a simple street apparel-update blog but has recently made its foray into the print world—an interesting move considering media companies usually do it the other way around. The New Order is a heavy tome of a magazine that comes out quarterly and merges the right now of fashion, art, film and relevant topics affecting our generation. The second issue has just debuted and features a double cover with KAWS and Takashi Murakami, two significant icons of pop culture who consistently challenge ideas and keep them relevant. Each issue runs $25, but if you make it to the launch party tomorrow in L.A. at Carmichael Gallery, you’ll score a free copy that includes a special KAWS poster. Those who can’t make it can get a preview of the issue in a video on Slamxhype.com.

Hypebeast has the scoop on some new LIVESTRONG goodies. In addition to the Marc Newson special edition designed Zvezdochka, you get guide maps to the city of Paris, a LIVESTRONG band and an invite to the STAGES art event which opens this weekend (July 17th) in Paris at the lovely Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.  Very hot.

Attention Philadelphia! If your penchant for brotherly love has recently morphed into a desire for designer-ly delights; don’t despair, you’re still in the right city. A sterling opportunity to quench that fresh thirst, although briefly, has presented itself in the form of a wondrous pop up shop courtesy of the fine folks (and our friends) at Oh Joy! and URBN. Indulge yourself in a fine array of precious paper and print goods that are sure to be a compliment to even the shoddiest of penmanship. The whole shebang kicks off tomorrow, July 9th, at 11:30 at URBN Building 543 on 5000 S. Broad Street on the Urban Outfitter’s campus and lasts a scant three hours ’til the clock strikes 2:30. Plan accordingly and don’t miss out, because shops don’t just pop-up out of the ground like this too often.

From beginnings in Stuttgard, Frerk and Marc C. Woehr have developed a style bringing street art into a realm of off-balance darkness. The atmosphere of their collaborative work looks like the product of the Brothers Quay reshaping an urban environment and all the characters emerging from it. While their work has appeared in publications and galleries all over Europe, their first show in the US will kick off at LA’s Carmichael Gallery on July 9th. Also, check out some of the Woehr’s work alongside Shepard Fairey’s at Art Basel Miami.

Inspired by modern ruins and the spirit that remains alive inside of them, Geometry of Ruins seeks to simultaneously provoke feelings of hope and its death. The multimedia show by Tyger creator Guilherme Marcondes and his artist wife Andrezza Valentin—both from Sao Paulo and now living stateside—goes from an art center in Sao Paulo that was never finished, whose mystical what-could-have-been promise is amplified by a superimposed eclipse on fire, to a video installation with dozens of tiny screens flashing frenetic images and mimicking the city’s grid layout. I love the couple’s concept of using structures as literal skeletons in which to frame imagination. The show runs till July 11 at Flux Salon in Venice, CA, the wonderful little gallery by Jonathan and Meg Wells (of ResFest fame).

I’m looking forward to the Surreal Minds exhibit with new works by dust next week here in NYC at myplasticheartnyc in the Lower East Side. Dust is a Swiss/German artist and designer who does murals, canvases, toys, illustrations, and more.

myplasticheartnyc
210 Forsyth St.
Lower East Side
New York
646.290.6866