Cool Hunting
| 17 March 2006view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
SXSW: From Smoosh to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
by Ami Kealoha
Yesterday was day two of the music portion of SXSW and Cool Hunting hit seven different venues to see eight different bands in just over seven hours, which was just about the standard pace necessary to keep up with the 1,300 bands scheduled to play—not to mention all the non-SXSW events. First on the list was Eliot Lipp (pictured above), a 25-year old rising electronic artist out of Los Angeles who mixes cinematic swells with funk-influenced beats. Watching Lipp bent over his laptop, filling the typically all-black interior of the rock venue the Elysium with soaring down-tempo sounds felt a little out of place, but was welcomed by a blissed out-looking audience nonetheless.
Still on a quest for bands less stereotypically SXSW, we headed to The Parish to catch the last half of Smoosh (pictured after the jump).
Seiko Bluetooth Watch
by Josh Rubin
Seiko Japan has previewed a new watch with Bluetooth. Though it's a bit oversized and odd looking, the features are admirable. When paired with your mobile, the watch will display the phone's signal and battery strengths. It can also show the caller id for an incoming call which is especially useful when wearing a Bluetooth headset. Other features include SMS display, built in ring tones and vibes, and the ability to switch your phone to silent mode.
via Gizmodo, originally from New Launches
Cool Hunting Video - SXSW 1: Interactive
by Josh Rubin
Needled: Skin Is a Language
by Ami Kealoha
Needled visits the Whitney's exhibit that takes skin—metaphorically, literally, and otherwise—as its curatorial premise. Skin Is a Language includes works by some heavy-hitters from the Whitney’s permanent collection such as Catherine Opie, Ellen Gallagher, Félix González-Torres, Eva Hesse, Roni Horn, and Jasper Johns, and the pieces included in the show all touch on the ideas that help inform the significance of skin as a canvas.
Refinery29: Seal of Approval
by Josh Rubin
Vancouver, the cultural capital of British Columbia, has bred and nurtured a fertile community of independent thinkers. Pyrrha Design, a downtown Vancouver-based jewelry design company, are a great example of the iconoclastic attitude of the city as whole. Their latest line, Seals, is based entirely around incorporating antique wax seals (mostly found at estate sales and junk shops) into rings, necklaces, and pendants. The pieces are more striking than most jewelry you see these days because of the use of ancient symbols to convey deep meaning with each pendant and the craftsmanship that goes into each handmade item. Refinery29 takes a look at Pyrrha's designs and the inspiration they find in the city of Vancouver.
Leo Villareal's LED Light Tubes
by Josh Rubin
Remember the LED tubes we saw at CES and showed you in this CH Video? Leo Villareal, our favorite light sculptor, has taken them and applied his sometimes soothing, other times frenetic animation style. The video below is of Columns 4 (4) (2005, light emitting diodes, microcontroller, plexiglas tubes, circuit board, 42 x 72 inches, edition: 3) a new piece featured by Connor Contrmporary Art in Washington D.C. at Pulse NYC.
Also on CH: Leo Villareal, Trip the Lights Fantastic
SXSW 1: Interactive
by m ss ng p eces
Our first SXSW vidcast directly from Austin, Texas. In this episode we interview Hugh Forrest, Event Director of the innovative Interactive program at SXSW.
Anteadote Teas
by Evan Orensten
The ready to drink segment of the tea market continues to grow in the U.S., where a slow but consistent push by manufacturers is helping consumers understand the health benefits of tea that's actually made from fresh tea leaves, and that remains free of sweeteners and chemicals. It's funny/sad to read comments in the chat rooms like "I had to add a cup of sugar and it still wasn't sweet enough."
Adagio just launched their new line of teas and we've been sampling them all week here at CH HQ. The buzz is that these teas hit the spot. Their clean taste is not too bitter, a turn off with some of the Japanese imports. Because all of the oxygen is removed from the bottle during packaging, no preservatives are needed to keep the tea fresh, and the only ingredients are tea made with filtered water and fresh tea leaves and vitamin C. Four varieties are currently available: Jasmine (our favorite), White, Green and Black tea.
You'll see it on the shelves at Earth Fare Markets first, followed by a national rollout. Also available online from Adagio, $2 for a 16.9 oz bottle, and $27 for a case of 15 bottles.
Rostarr Shines in LA
by Wendy Dembo
Last Friday night, I zipped by BLK/MRKT to visit Rostarr as he was starting to install his solo show that opens this Saturday night. His works were spread out on the floor waiting to be hung, and I could tell that the show was going to be stellar.
For the last year or two, Ro has been working in a new direction that you may not have seen before. He's getting back to basics with his new black and white paintings. His work feels more personal and is looking more analog than digital. You can see the artist’s hand. He's showing the subtlety of the brushstroke.
The work is classic Ro, but it's a bit different. He has a language of forms, so fluid and elemental: Air, Earth and Water. His distinctive, personally inspired vocabulary of Eastern and Middle Eastern calligraphic strokes, beats, and shapes comes alive on the surface of his paintings and drawings.
And don't forget Fire... hot like the man, his art, and definitely this new show in LA; it's not to be missed.
Opening Reception, Saturday, March 18th, 6-10pm.
BLK/MRKT, 6009 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
310.837.2989
Written in collaboration with JK5
