KSPACE.TV » Arts

Benji B Best of 2010

Jez Smadja — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 14:00:13 +0000

It’s been a massive year for the one like Benji B, who not only kept London fed with the best monthly party in the shape of Deviation but also replaced Mary Anne Hobbs as he got moved from BBC 1Xtra to Radio 1. Benji’s end-of-year radio shows have always been the sort of mixes you tape or download and keep for posterity, and this year is no exception. With four hours of essential records from James Blake to Gil Scott-Heron to Girl Unit to Ramadanman to Rick Ross and Kanye West. Parts 1 & 2 at the bottom of this post. Enjoy the sounds while Benji submits himself to our end-of-year-roundup inquisition.

Some good music I listened to in 2010
I recently did my best of year shows on the radio, it was a challenge to fit it all in – so much goodies!

Something I wish I hadn’t done in 2010
No regrets!

Worst film I had to sit through in 2010
No Regrets!

Best TV of 2010
Mad Men Season 4 & Boardwalk Empire Season 1

Favorite purchase of 2010
Margaret Howell Cashmere Cardigan

Best place to visit in 2010
Deviation dancefloor. And LA.

Most important news story of 2010
Students taking it to the streets.

Amen Benji. Happy Christmas + hope 2011 is another great year.

The Moped Army

Jez Smadja — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 14:00:14 +0000

A cross between a biker gang and a bunch of shameless hipsters, the Moped Army has been “swarming and destroying” since 1997, making a movement out of a machine that you’d think has about as much swag as My Little Pony. With different branches of the Moped Army across the US, from the Latebirds in LA to Los Dorados in Reno, there are regular meets, including the annual Moped BBQ, an event held each Memorial Day in Kalamazoo, Michigan which includes the insane No-Rules Race. In this photo-essay by Jim Mangan for Zero 1 Magazine, the Latebirds stage a two-day race in the desert which by the end it has Jim converted to this two-wheeled cult: “If you’re looking for all the attraction of being in a biker gang–the camaraderie, the adventure, the shared purpose, the open road–minus all the criminal activity and the long and brutal initiation process, look up your local Moped Army branch”.

Jim also has a book out via PowerHouse books in January called Winter’s Children: Snowboarding / Action Sports / Nudity.

Image courtesy Jim Mangan

The Top Ten Unexpectedly Great Websites of 2010 (And The Future)

Matt Diehl — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:00:29 +0000

It’s the end of the year, and that means an excess of top ten lists galore about everything – the best albums, movies, and so on. However, our time is preciously limited, so we’d like to draw your attention to some founts of inspiration information you may not have considered previously. As the cold winter sun sets on Kspace, please move your attention to these unexpectedly great websites we’ve discovered this year (and will keep checking hopefully long into the future):

1. The Quietus: We love Pitchfork – despite its success, it remains adventurous, and provides a necessary critical voice for so many bands that would otherwise remain unheard. However, just as Rolling Stone and SPIN managed to coexist in the early days, it’s nice to have an alternative to the alternative, just for variety. Enter The Quietus, a U.K. online music magazine that covers independent culture with a expansive thrust and wonderfully idiosyncratic point of view. From experimental metal to indie film to interviews with unsung heroes and beyond, The Quietus is there, and you should be, too.

2. Dangerous Minds: Richard Metzger is one of the greatest custodians of pop-culture ephemera and zeitgeist earthquakes, and Dangerous Minds is his online venue for all that’s great and fascinating and weird and essential. Dangerous Minds broke the Internet release of the backing tracks to the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” earlier this year, causing a massive sensation. That’s just but one example of the good works Metzger bestows on the public…

3. Ashtar Command: Chris Holmes is, for lack of a better cliché, a renaissance man. He’s released his own innovative, unique music (under the guises of Ashtar Command and Sabalon Glitz, among many other monikers), and he’s been a secret weapon for everyone from Felix da Housecat to Smashing Pumpkins; he continues to throw amazing parties (he even served as handpicked opening DJ for Paul McCartney’s Coachella debut). Holmes also has the greatest taste in conspiracy theories, UFO intelligence, and generally everything cosmic, and his Ashtar Command website brings it all together.

4. Kelly Oxford’s Twitter: A lot of people’s Twitter accounts try to be funny; Kelly Oxford actually succeeds. She’s a Mommy blogger for those of us who could care less about Mommy blogs (she’s far too profane and insane to even compare to the middle-of-the-road types that garner innumberable hits). Oxford can be existentially hilarious (“Sometimes I think the moon is just the earth in the future and it’s there to warn us and we’re ignoring the warning. We’re so stupid.”) or just spectacularly rude (“Iggy Pop saw a photo of Madonna’s body and threw up”) in her 140-words-and-under-rants, and she’s just as much a target of her tweets as is, say, Kanye. Sarah Silverman, you got competition…

5. Madbury Club: Phillip Annand is a young dude who got his start on the Interwebs as an opinionated forum poster on Hypebeast.com. There, Annand developed his eye and taste for everything cool and sharp in streetwear, pop culture and beyond. Call him a tastemaker, call him an early adopter, call him whatever, but Annand is up on stuff probably before you are, yet he lets us know what’s up with humor and class. Respect…

6. Rob Da Bank on BBC Radio 1: Rob Da Bank is a DJ, but he’s more than just a DJ – he’s an everlasting gusher of new, incredible music. He unleashes his findings every week on the BBC, where chances are you’ll hear artists and songs everyone else is playing catch-up with a year later. He also runs the great U.K. music festival Bestival and runs a great boutique label, Sunday’s Best, which just recently released a completely nutty, great single from David Lynch. Da Bank also is funny as hell; really, he can do no wrong, and deserves your support.

7. Sleevage: Some designer types known as Soap Creative from what appears to be Australia and Los Angeles do this amazing blog devoted entirely to “music cover art – from the LPs of the ‘60s to the digital artworks of now.” It’s wildly addictive, spanning known faves to obscure oddities, all totally inspiring.

8. The World’s Best Ever: The World’s Best Ever is a self-described arts & culture website that updates constantly, with a fine emphasis on design, but mostly concerned with everything good. Their Sound Advice playlists feature the listening faves of everyone from alt-rock icon Greg Dulli to Surface To Air founder Gordon Hull.

9. The Flavor Bin: Bill McMullen (aka Billions McMillions) is a design/streetwear/artist genius; chances are you’ve worn his designs and have albums where he’s created the cover art. Colby Parker Jr. has probably edited some of your favorite films. Together, they are The Flavor Bin, podcasting like maniacs, doing crazy interviews with unexpected types (actor Idris Elba, photographer Terry Richardson) like some digital-ass Dick Cavetts for today. Word.

10. Brainpickings: Maria Popova is a one-woman Ted conference. She’s obsessed with all things media, tech, science and pop culture, combing the web for obscurities and miscellany that makes one view the world in a new way…

Bobbito Garcia Launches The Sneakerpedia in London

Peggy — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:10:41 +0000

I got to hang out this week with my very dear friend, Bobbito Garcia, who was in London for the launch of Sneakerpedia at the The Queen of Hoxton. Sneakerpedia is aiming to be the biggest online archive of sneakers ever. Who better to promote this, then the author of “Where Did You Get Those?; New York City’s Sneaker Culture 1960-1987” and host of ESPN’s “It’s the Shoes?” You should of seen it on Wednesday night, Bobbito was surrounded this whole new generation of sneaker enthusiast, who kept coming to him all night thank him for his contribution to the game and the culture.

The Sneakerpedia is hoping to create an open source collections from sneaker enthusiast around the world into one hub that notes each shoe’s respective histories and variations. That database of shoes will contain serious detailing tag words – stitching, material, linigs and even celebrity association. The tagline for Sneakerpedia – “a community space not a marketplace, run by sneakerheads, for sneakerheads”

LIVE AND DIRECT: SWINDLE x SUPAKITCH & CORALIE

Jez Smadja — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:00:43 +0000

A lot of the time, it’s difficult to understand what goes into creating a great piece of art when you’re only confronted with the finished project. So here are a couple of videos of artists at work. Shhhh. Don’t disturb them. One is of the French duo Supakitch and Coralie who create a huge wall piece at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden with manga-inspired characters they’re famed for. The second is UK producer Swindle who can turn his hand to grime, funky, whatever, and has been building on the back of his Air Miles release for Planet Mu as well as his series of radio shows on BBC 1xtra. Here, Swindle gets 10 minutes to make a beat from beginning to end… Watch how he rolls, especially the swivel from the computer to the keyboard. Impressive.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Daft Punk “Derezzed”

andrew flanagan — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:00:39 +0000

Are you excited for Tron: Legacy, which is finally coming to theaters this Friday? Have you been following every lead and leak and specious rumor surrounding the film’s Daft Punk-composed score?

Well hold on to that enthusiasm tightly while watching the amazingly horrible video for “Derezzed,” one of the Daft Punkiest songs in their score (barely a violin in sight!). The stance dude takes before his bike is cued up? The polygonal phoenix? The lance? Um, enjoy.

Daft Punk – New Music – More Music Videos

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2010

Jez Smadja — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:31:34 +0000

Abbie Trayler-Smith, Untitled 2, 2010

On show until February 2011 at the National Portrait Gallery in London is this annual award show for emerging talent in the world of contemporary photography. With 6,000 entrants whittled down to some 60 portraits, not only is the caliber of work on display unquestionable, but so too is the range of challenging subject matters on display. As Man Ray said about photography, “Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask ‘how’, while others of a more curious nature will ask ‘why’. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.”

David Chancellor, Huntress with Buck, 2010

The prize winners this year include David Chancellor’s shot of a 14-year-old female hunter on a private game reserve in South Africa with a dead impala flung over her horse; the highly controversial Portrait of my British Wife by Panayiotis Lamprou (hint: she’s not wearing any knickers); and Jeffrey Stockbridge’s beguiling image of two 20-year-old identical twins from Philadelphia who have turned to the street to fund their addiction to prescription drugs. Entrance to the exhibition is just £1 and, with portraits of Tony Blair, David Hockney and much more, it’s not all high jinks and heavy hearts.

David Graham, Not Even Magic Stopped the Genocide, 2009

BOSSA NOVA AND THE RISE OF BRAZILIAN MUSIC IN THE 1960s

Jez Smadja — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:00:55 +0000

Not exactly the catchiest book title in the world ever, but it’s another notch in the bed post for the publishing arm of Stuart Baker’s Soul Jazz records. Teaming up again with globe-trotting super DJ, Gilles Peterson, this is their second collaboration – the first, Freedom, Rhythm & Sound, collected free jazz record sleeves in one tome. As the title of the new book suggests, Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s traces the evolution of this highly exportable music which has, for better or worse, become forever synonymous with the country.

“Bossa Nova music arrived in Brazil at the end of the 1950s with an optimism and modernism that parralleled the arrival of the new Brazilian president,” writes Stuart. “Juscelino Kubitschek, who promised ‘fifty years of progress in five’ in his election campaign and announced the building of a new capital city, Brasilia, deep in the heartland of Brazil. The city was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, a man who had just designed a new musical theatre production in Rio of a play written by Vinicius de Moraes and with music written by Antonio Carlos Jobim. These two, along with the singer João Gilberto were about to make Bossa Nova, the first modernist Brazilian art form, the most succesful Brazilian export since coffee.”

It goes without saying, the book also features some excellent record cover art. It should have graphic designers licking their lips with anticipation.

Killian Martin

Jez Smadja — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:00:15 +0000

With his videos bearing expansive titles like A Skate Regeneration and A Skate Escalation, Killian Martin is bringing some Bourne Identity bombast to the skate world. Hailing from Madrid, Killian seems to have single-handedly reinvented the art of freestyle, melding the grace of Nureyev and the trickery of Ronaldinho. Cinematography by Brett Novak. Don’t try this at home, boys and girls.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Monster Supplies

Jez Smadja — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:49:42 +0000

Thankfully it’s no longer just bad hair-cuts or chlamydia that you’re likely to transact in the central area of London known as Hoxton. With the opening of the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies – no it’s not a gallery or a clothes shop, which has led to some scratching of heads amongst the inhabitants of the area – would-be monsters can purchase a complete range of comestibles including edible human preserves as well as cosmetics such as Fang Floss and Zombie Mints. All the usual types were there at the launch party last week, and Atreyu from the Neverending Story could be seen joking with the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Confused? Well, Hoxton Street Monster Supplies is the latest initiative from a project begun by Dave Eggers at 826 Valencia in San Francisco and was designed to encourage writing skills amongst children. In an attempt to entice children into the scheme, yhat building became San Francisco’s only pirate supply store, replete with eye-patches and sailor’s rope. In New York, never a city to be outdone, they launched the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company, and now London has its very own a Monster Supplies. But walk through the secret door at the back of the store and you enter the Ministry of Stories where top British novelists such as Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About A Boy and Fever Pitch), Eggers’ McSweeney’s cohort Zadie Smith (White Teeth, On Beauty) and Irish writer Roddy Doyle alongside a host of volunteers will be giving lessons to young writers between the ages of 8 and 18.

Here’s a video from 2008 of Eggers talking about the project at the TEDTalks conference (it’s maybe the US equivalent of our Jamie Oliver’s School Dinners). Inspirational stuff IMHO.

Manzine

Jonathan — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 07:23:45 +0000

I like laughing, in fact it’s one of those things I should do more often. To that end, I really ought to pick up the new issue of Manzine. As the name suggests, it’s a bit like a men’s magazine, but instead of catering to the sophisticated Alpha males who read Monocle or Esquire and travel business class to destinations like Milan and Minsk, is more tailored to that confused, bumbling and inconsequential species, possessor of strange obsessions (pencils, Krautrock, snooker), and whose idea of grooming doesn’t extend beyond a bar of soap and a Gillette Sensor Excel.

Previous issues of Manzine have included articles on Biltong, the classic Model A hand-dryer, the facial hair of current world leaders (represented with some pretty high-tech infographics) and on why the owners of small dogs can still claim to be macho. The new issue, you’ll be delighted to learn, has a travel special on nuclear bunkers and a piece simply titled Notes Towards A Unified Economic Theory Of The New Politeness In Driving. It’s very British. It’s very funny. And if you’ve never bought a men’s magazine in your life, you’ll be relieved to know that on this day, of all fine days, with a copy of Manzine tucked away in you man-bag, you can finally claim your rightful place alongside the other men of this world.

Spike Jonze and Arcade Fire frame “The Suburbs”

andrew flanagan — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 07:19:21 +0000

Things are grim in Pomona. Or Kansas City, or Golden Valley.

Arcade Fire gets the Spike Jonze treatment in their new video for “The Suburbs” – his first for the band after their close collaboration on Where the Wild Things Are.

In a summertime suburb, teenagers cope with a transitionally-dystopian reality as best they can; with bikes and smiles and idle wiles and Eskimo kisses. Of course, as befits Arcade Fire’s not-terribly-subtle subtext of authenticity opinings and Spike Jonze’s lens of wide-eyed child ruination things aren’t long for balance.

Beautifully shot, with a cashmere-tender treatment of its subjects’ tightwire walk, Spike Jonze and Arcade Fire aim and hit the place right between your brain and your heart: that lump in your throat.

Bonus points for spotting the Regine and Win cameo.

London Jazz Festival Round-Up… The First Weekend

Jez Smadja — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 19:16:53 +0000

The London Jazz Festival comes to Scunthorpe, whoops, I mean London, once a year. Although officially kicking off last Friday, the Thursday night saw the opening of Peter Williams’ astonishing exhibition of black and white photography. For the best part of two decades, commissioned by Straight No Chaser magazine, everyone from Nina Simone to Yusef Lateef, a very young Questlove of the Roots, Dee Dee Bridgwater, Miles Davis, DJ Shadow was captured by Peter’s lenses. Amongst the jazz heads at the well-attended launch party was Marshall Chess of Chess Records fame, making for a very special night. The exhibition runs till 20 November at the Maverick Gallery so do yourself a favour and seek it out.

But back to the music, and the first weekend of the Jazz Festival has seen its fair share of fireworks already … Saturday night on the South Bank people had to make the difficult choice between Herbie Hancock at the Royal Festival Hall or Esperanza Spalding in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, although if you managed to get yourself a ticket to either you could probably count yourself lucky. Both, I’m reliably informed, were special occasions, and even if the Herbie Hancock sextet swerved occasionally into jazz-world territory (including Irish folk music), he gradually managed to get the crowd on side with classic material, covering ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ and Headhunters-era material. Meanwhile, over in the smaller venue, Esperanza Spalding seems to be putting the razzmatazz back into jazz, and supported by vocalist Gretchen Parlato, this gig was booked up weeks ago. It did not disappoint and the crowd on their way out of the venue seemed to have their mouths filled with superlatives when trying to describe what had just taken place before their very eyes.

The tempo was kept up on Sunday night over at the Barbican Centre with a K.O. double-header – Robert Glasper playing the first session and Terence Blanchard, the musical director behind many a Spike Lee joint, playing the second. Glasper brings some youthful swagger to any jazz festival and his latest joke is to come onto the stage body-popping. He’s a funny cat and his bass player, Derrick Hodge, plays a willing foil both throughout the jokes and for Glasper’s elaborate piano style. Covering anything from Herbie Hancock to Nirvana (didn’t’ the Bad Plus do that too?), Glasper’s gig went overtime to the chagrin of exactly zero persons in the audience, and even stretched to taking requests for the last song. For a forty-something trumpeter, and one who’s described himself as shy, Terence Blanchard is also a smart and forthright entertainer. We knew we’d get some politics in this set, what with his latest album ‘Choices’ featuring interviews with Dr. Cornell West and the album before that dedicated to Hurricane Katrina, so aside from jokes about not having Texas barbecues for eight years while Bush was in the White House, with Blanchard you sense that jazz is a powerful medium for saying things where words fail. Certainly with his young band, a fearsome drummer playing crashing cymbals, a dapper bass player and Blanchard’s experience, it was a glimpse into where jazz is headed.

Still to come this week, concerts from British jazz players, from the new guard – Soweto Kinch , Zed-U, Empirical, Neil Cowley – to elder statesmen like Stan Tracey or Cleveland Watkiss, as well as interesting internationals like Louis Moholo-Moholo from the South African band, The Blue Notes, and pianist Geri Allen. Listen and learn.

Armen Ra

andrew flanagan — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:00:20 +0000

He’s set to open for Grinderman’s imminent American tour, but who is Armen Ra?

A performance artist in tangent and presentation, androgynous in toto, but principally a thereminist – the first electronic instrument developed by Russia’s Leon Theremin in the early 20th century – Armen Ra began with the instrument nearly ten years ago, and has built a career around it that culminated in his album Plays The Theremin released this past summer, made up of Ra playing reworked Armenian folk songs.

Those possessed of perfect pitch can wrench a cross-sected amalgam of violin and haunted choir out of the instrument, like dozens of ghosts escaping a light socket in tandem. You can twiddle your fingers and make goofy noises too, as Hollywood did for many decades with the instrument, which has been enjoying a modest resurgence thanks to the work of Ra, Pamelia Kurstin, and reissues of Clara Rockmore’s cast-iron back catalog.

Expecting specifics from Armen Ra’s live show supporting Grinderman may be a fool’s errand, but to get an idea you can watch below to see his work in Wrequiem, described as:

A musical and poetic expression of madness, solitude and enlightenment, Wrequiem is a supremely evocative work that draws from the remnants of nearly-lost cultures as well as touching on the resonances of the European Romantic/classical tradition, American popular culture, and high camp. From its opening moments, up to and beyond Ras own virtuosic theremin renditions of sacred Armenian melodies, accompanied by the enchanting Somna M. Bulist on the harp, the theme of an ever-more-desperate desire for a home—not just a physical dwelling but a spiritual and psychological one—reaches dimensions that transcend the physically modest design of the production.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Urban Explorers – DIGGING the derelict

Jez Smadja — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 14:12:55 +0000

It was only last week that the New York Times reported on The Underbelly, an exhibition space in an abandoned subway station that’s so secret, few people besides the participating artists will ever see it. In Paris, it’s the 300-year-old catacombs which frequented by daring set of adventurers known as ‘catephiles’ who hold parties, spray throw-ups or even screen films in the old ossuary. Not to be outdone, the UK’s urban explorers are roaming derelict buildings up and down the country, leaving evidence of their discoveries through photos posted on the interwebz. On the forum 28dayslater, the hub for UK explorers, people swap tips, organize sorties, share advice and recount their stories. The spots to explore are broken down into Jeopardy-like categories including Industrial Sites, Leisure Sites, Underground Sites and, my personal favourite, Asylums and Hospitals.

Back in the 1970s and into the 1980s, a generation of squatters, often with anarchist leanings, would break into unoccupied buildings to avoid paying rent. Famous sites including St Agnes Place in Kennington, The Republic of Frestonia in Notting Hill and Tolmer’s Square in Euston. Then, with the warehouse scene in the late 1980s, it was commercial buildings on the outskirts of the city that were broken into and turned into spots for all-night raves. This all came to a peak in the 1989 Summer of Love parties and soon petered out after the Criminal Justice Bill made unlicensed gatherings easy for the police to shut down.

This new generation of urban explorers don’t seem to have any ulterior motive other than the buzz of walking through abandoned buildings and the unexpected discoveries that these might yield. The places range from swimming pools to munitions factories to power stations and even the house where they filmed reality TV show, Big Brother. If you’re fed up of spending weekends in nightclubs or restaurants or in front of the glare of your laptop, get hooked up with these band of explorers and get acquainted with some hot spots which definitely won’t be listed in Time Out.

Exhibition: The Art of Lee “Scratch” Perry

Matt Diehl — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 14:01:11 +0000

“I am black shadow, the man and the moon. Paint am I, I am paint. Painted Africa, painted Ethiopia, painted globe. From the center of the Earth to the pinnacle of the sky to the edges of the Universe. Words, words, words, I am words. I am paint. I am art. I am stone and I am perfect, never tell a lie.”

—Lee “Scratch” Perry

Lee “Scratch” Perry’s impact on music is undeniable. As the arguable father of dub reggae, he’s largely responsible for the advances of sampling, hip-hop, dancehall, electronic dance music and so much more. Meanwhile, as a performer, he’s proven one of music’s greatest eccentrics, and as a producer worked with everyone from Bob Marley to Paul McCartney to The Clash.

It’s no surprise, then, that this totally unpredictable 74-year-old willfully destroys other mediums in his own madcap image. As such, the first exhibition of Perry’s paintings, drawings and video art opens at the Dem Passwords gallery in West Hollywood this week (the opening reception, which is open to the public, takes place this Saturday, November 13^th, from 7-10 pm; the show runs after that by appointment only until December 11^th). Perry’s music and personality were always the market lead in kaleidoscopic, ramshackle, so it’s no surprise when those talents are applied to other arts: his visual work is as handmade, multilayered, surprising and objet-trouvé fabulous as his maverick sounds. Not to be missed…

T-Shirt Party

Jez Smadja — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 14:00:18 +0000

The concept is simple. Every week, for 52 weeks, T-Shirt Party create a new design that gets printed on plain white, Fruit of the Loom, soft cotton tee, and is delivered to your door, smelling fresh as a newborn kitten, for just £10 each (£15 if you live in the US of A). With every tee bearing a message, mantra or maxim such as ‘Open Your Eyes’ or ‘Me Against The World’ or ‘Things Fall Apart’ or ‘Champz & Weed’, and with each design accompanied by a video to illustrate the weekly pearls of wisdom, T-Shirt Party are bringing their love of fashion, music and film together in one machine-washable endeavour. Remember, real G’s wear white tees, and if you don’t believe us just go ask Brother Malcolm.

Click here to view the embedded video.

PARIS – STREET PHOTOGRAPHY NOW

Jez Smadja — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 13:00:22 +0000

Does street photography have to be taken on the street? What if you’re standing on the pavement, does that count? And what if you’re in a park where, technically, there are no streets, but you spot a guy dressed up in a canary-yellow bear suit taking pity on a distraught stranger on a bench. What if you take a photo of that? And what about on the subway / underground / metro / chikatetsu? Not a street in the strictest sense of the word, but aren’t the tunnels where the tracks run along effectively street-like? You’ll be relived to know that the rules of street photography aren’t hard and fast, like, say, traffic codes. The art form has an illustrious history – from Henri Cartier Bresson’s seminal images of the French capital through to Martha Cooper’s photos of the Bronx – and it shows no signs of slowing down. Au contraire. for most of the month of November, the Canal St Martin area in Paris will be turned into an open-air gallery as the shop-windows of a local boulangerie, hairdresser, bistro (the famous Chez Prune), pharmacy and a handful of boutiques (agnès b) show the work of 18 street photographers from around the world. The photos are culled from the comprehensive Street Photography Now anthology by Thames & Hudson. Meanwhile, over in London, the Street Photography Now blog is calling for photographic responses to weekly assignments, so if you’re a budding photographer, put on your sneakers on and snap to it.

INFLUENCERS

Jez Smadja — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 13:00:59 +0000

How can individuals conquer the imagination of the entire planet? How do ideas catch on? Anyone who’s read Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point might have heard these questions before. For those who haven’t, check this short documentary called INFLUENCERS. Featuring interviews with the boys behind Cornerstone Media (aka brand FADER), Sky Gellarty (of marketing company Team Epiphany) and other clean-shaven, good-looking ‘media agency types’, there’s a lot of talk about how people like Jay-Z or movements like punk caught on by not following everyone else, by being different. It’s the same sort of clichés trotted out by life coaches, marketing gurus and pop sociology books like Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite. Of course, we all know that none of these youth movements would ever have gotten very far without the big buck welded by these media agencies, their ad spends and their big city connections. As with a lot of the ‘influencers’ mentioned in the footage, INFLUENCERS is ultimately the victory of style over substance – fantastic shots of New York and a beautiful soundtrack featuring Robert Glasper and Akiko, but not too many original insights from these well-groomed talking heads.

Click here to view the embedded video.

AUTUMN LEAVES IN HYDE PARK: ANISH KAPOOR + PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

Jez Smadja — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 13:00:37 +0000

There are certain times of year that are indissociably linked with specific locations around the world – you have cherry blossom season in Japan, carnival week in Bahia, Ramadan anywhere in the Middle East and you have the onset of autumn in England (yes, that’s right, England, not New England). Walking through Hyde Park in central London last Sunday, with the trees calling it a day for another year and having one final blow-out in their glad rags – an explosion of little red numbers that barely cover anything, a swirl of nicotine yellows and Federal Reserve golds – you remember why autumn has always been a subject favoured by romantic poets and plaintive jazzmen.

In Kensington Gardens, you may enhance your autumnul reverie by four Anish Kapoor sculptures which you can forage for amongst the foliage like a giant Easter Egg Hunt for adults. Somewhere between a Hall of Mirrors and a satellite dish, the pieces continue the artist’s taste for reflective surfaces and manage to be both futuristic and oddly archaic. The sky and its blanket of clouds are reflected in the surface – which more or less explains why two of the pieces are called ‘Sky Mirror’.

But, imagine our surprise when, coming up to the bridge over the Serpentine, we felt like we’d been transported into the eighteenth century and Ye Olde London of yore, with men in powedered wigs and horse-drawn hansom cabs, while a thick mist envelops the scene (thanks to a rumbling smoke machine floating below). It turns out they were filming “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.” The costumes and the props are pretty authentic – they had us fooled for a minute.