Hasta La Ideas

Ever since this writer moved to Chicago, he’s been continually impressed by the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art. And that was largely due to chief curator Elizabeth Smith‘s careful crafting of the museum’s exhibitions. So it worries us a little to see the announcement that Smith has decided to step down and will be resigning as of August 31st. Although the museum’s president, Madeleine Grynsztejn, has told the Chicago Tribune that Smith’s decision to leave had nothing to do with “creative differences or economic troubles posed by the recession,” this writer is a full-time, jaded skeptic who always thinks the opposite of whatever some public figure is assuring them is not the case (like in this instance or with Sarah Palin‘s divorce). It does sound a little less suspicious if you read the Sun Times, with Smith saying “A decade is a good long time to be somewhere. It’s been a great 10 years, but I feel like it’s time to move on” but we shall remain ever vigil in our baseless speculations, dear readers. For now all that’s left to do is miss Ms. Smith and wish her and the museum all the best. Here’s a bit:

Her major exhibitions include a widely praised 2004 retrospective of the artist Lee Bontecou and a 2008 survey of the work of artist Jenny Holzer. She also organized architecture and design exhibitions such as the 1999 show “At the End of the Century: 100 Years of Architecture,” for which she served as co-curator.

Grynsztejn said she plans to seek a replacement with a comparably broad background.

“I want to hire someone of curatorial excellence whose communications are accessible and embracing to a large audience beyond that of the current MCA community,” she said.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“Good morning. Check out this killer wooden bike.” Lance Armstrong on Twitter.

Now that GM Exec Bob Lutz has put off his retirement to help turn the company around, he’s making the sweeping changes that only a man with his breadth of experience can. (Lutz was President of Chrysler, a Vice President at Ford, Exec Sales Veep at BMW, and Vice Chairman of Global Product Development at GM, among other positions held in the last 40 years.) Now in charge of GM’s marketing and communications, Lutz is reportedly “[giving] vehicle designers a powerful influence over the look of GM’s advertising.”

After leading GM’s global product-development effort for eight years, Lutz is back where he started 40 years ago at Opel in Germany–in the world of ads and brand management. He is bringing with him his passion for product design.

…”Designers are going to have their fingers in everything,” he said. “Ed [Welburn, Global Design Chief] has been one of the sharpest critics on how our vehicles are presented in ads.”

Read the business deets here.

via crains detroit

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by Julie Wolfson

Electro-art rockers Of Montreal recently unveiled a t-shirt, featuring a cat sprouting George Washington and Ben Franklin heads in vivid Christmas colors,
for the Yellow Bird Project to benefit the Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The bizarre aesthetics come as no surprise from a band that just last week shared the same bill with Dengue Fever and Grace Jones, filling the Hollywood Bowl stage with animal costumes and imagery, as well as actual live animals—when Janelle Monae joined them onstage she sang walking a dog.

Matt Stotland and Casey Cohen founded the Montreal-based

The Yellow Bird Project, in 2006, producing tees from bands like Bon Iver, Rilo Kiley, and The Dears, to raise money for many important charitable organizations including Art For Change, AIDS Society of Canada, Teenage Cancer Trust, and The Elliott Smith Memorial Fund. The Yellow Bird Project’s Indie Rock Coloring Book will be available in September.

Buy Of Montreal’s shirt for $25 from Yellow Bird Project, with proceeds going to help treat children affected by cancer and other diseases.

The new Design Observer (ver.3.0) launched over the weekend, adding 2 new properties (Change Observer, and Places) as well as a host of upgrades and contributors (Debbie Millman’s archive; Andrew Sloat’s videos) to the mix. I love density (my ideal site would have EVERYTHING on the homepage), so I’m digging the front, but make sure you spend some time looking around the new sections (Julie Lasky’s got a great dialog with Kurt Andersen and Douglas Rushkoff).

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