Héctor Zamora: Sciame di Dirigibili

by Phuong-Cac Nguyen

The installation "Sciame di Dirigibili" by Mexico-born, Brazilian resident Héctor Zamora is jump-starting the exciting kickoff of the six-month-long 53rd Venice Biennale, offering us a glimpse at what will have festival-goers remembering the event for biennials to come.

Zamora wedged a life-size zeppelin between buildings at the Arsenale—where a majority of the events take place—saluting the former era of air balloon festivals that captivated Venice in the 1900s.

To this end, he tapped local street artists to help him create an imaginary air balloon celebration, publicized through posters and post cards. Both the installation and the faux-festival memorabilia will be for sale all over the city for the duration of the show.

Venice Biennale
7 June-22 November 2009
San Marco 1364/A
30124 Venice, Italy map
tel. +39 041 5218711

NYC Food Film Festival 2009

by Karen Day

Celebrating the classic combination of dinner and a movie, the third annual NYC Food Film Festival unites various foods and films that portray them.

The chosen films vary in length, the longest at 73 minutes is Ron Mann's "Know Your Mushrooms." It follows fungi experts Larry Evans and Gary Lincoff on a mushroom trip through the woods, set to a score by the Flaming Lips.

For this exclusive screening at Astor Center, chef Brad Farmerie of NYC's Double Crown and Public restaurants will prepare a tasting menu of mushrooms while chef Harry Hawk, winner of the Burger Battle of the Boroughs, will serve up his aged rib-eye mushroom cheesesteaks.

The remaining 25 films included in the festival will mostly be shown at Water Taxi Beach locations, with free entrance.

Be sure to catch "24 Hours, 24 Million Meals: Feeding New York City" at South Street Seaport, a documentary about what it takes to keep the Big Apple and its eight million inhabitants fully fed. For chef Daniel Boloud, it means first dibs on the world's finest truffles in an exchange that is amusingly similar to a drug deal.

The NYC Food Film Festival runs from 13-19 June 2009, but have a look at the festival's website for a full list of the films and the food accompanying them, as well as their their screening times and locations.

Helly Hansen Ocean Racing Survival Suit

by Karen Day

Coined the "survival suit," Helly Hansen's Ocean Racing Suit offers little for average Joes whose biggest challenge is a case of the Mondays, but it will protect the brave—if not a bit insane—sailors as they race around the world, facing extreme weather conditions and dangerous speeds.

A pivotal part of the off-shore racing circuit for the past 30 years, Helly Hansen's survival suit is currently keeping the Ericsson team ahead of the game and first to port in this year's Volvo Ocean Race. Their adept understanding of a seafarer's needs is the result of testing the suit over thousands of days at sea and constructing the suit in-house at Helly Hansen's HQ in Moss, Norway.

The full-stretch suit is geared for the utmost sailor, but for those interested in staying dry and warm on smaller excursions Helly Hansen's line of Ocean Racing jackets, tops and pants offers the same professional quality and many of the same features as the survival suit.

The Ocean Racing Suit is available for purchase online for $3,000.

See more images of the suit in action after the jump.

Edgartista: The New Millennium

by Karen Day

Meticulous and relentless, Edgartista's four year project, "The New Millennium," began with a sketch on his daily train commute from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Inspired by the urban landscape, the upshot is a large-scale futuristic drawing that incorporates major landmarks from cities around the world, signifying unification among everyone to create this new life for the future.

Edgartista, whose full name is Edgar Gonzales, moved from his home in Guatemala to New York ten years ago, never dreaming of becoming the artist he is today. After struggling with a two-hour commute to work everyday, Edgar decided to bring along a drawing pad and pen to help pass the time.

He began by sketching Manhattan, but, dissatisfied with the conclusion, Edgar kept on. He added buildings from every country around the world, creating an obsessively detailed vision of an integrated globe. He also refers to his utopian image as the "The New Hope," representing the ideal that one day the world will be a better place.

His massive work was recently included in the exhibition for the launch of Diesel's new fragrance, Only The Brave.

Edgartista's imaginary cityscapes are making a grand impression in the real world, with work not only gracing gallery walls but these days showing up on hats, sneakers and more. Check out the Advarte series included in this year's northern Manhattan Arts Stroll this June 2009 for an up-close look at his intricate work.

Advarte: Drawings in Black, White & Colors
1 June-31 July 2009
Opening Reception: 21 June 2009, 1-4pm
Office of the City Council
711 West 183rd Street
New York, NY 10033 map
tel. +1 212 928 1322

Abigail Washburn: Afterquake

by Lost At E Minor

Nashville-based folk artist Abigail Washburn, long-known for her interest in China, recently collaborated with The Shanghai Restoration to produce a benefit album entitled "Afterquake" for the survivors of last year’s Sichuan Province earthquake. Created to raise awareness and provide financial support for the Sichuan Quake Relief, the album consists of field recording remixes from the quake zone.