Hasta La Ideas

A massive collaborative exhibition showcases audio-visual delights

by Naheed Simjee

A resurrected rapper by way of a hologram wasn’t the only technological breakthrough that had people talking last week. Returnees from Coachella Part I flocked downtown on Thursday night for the opening of Transmission LA: AV Club sponsored by Mercedes-Benz and The Avant/Garde Diaries at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. The visionary and creative mastermind of the festival, Beastie Boy Mike D, invited 17 multi-disciplinary artists—including Family Bookstore and Roy Choi’s Kogi Korean BBQ food truck—to create extraordinary site-specific installations that demonstrate the influence and inspiration that audio and visual art forms have on one another. The exhibition runs through 6 May 2012 with a full schedule of live performances.

“It’s the new art, a new audience, new music and new technologies all together, and it’s a wonderful fit with the fabulous new Mercedes that is being unveiled tonight,” explains Jeffrey Deitch, director of the MOCA, who has been actively involved with the project since LA was selected for this edition of the festival’s destination. The first Transmission festival was held in Berlin and curated by Dior’s new head designer, Raf Simons.

The exhibition is an immersive experience in sensory stimulation. Upon entering the massive space, seductive lights and vibrant colors tempt patrons to freely explore in every direction. Immediately, Takeshi Murata‘s zany audio loop of a game show host’s voice enthusiastically announces a series of prizes: “It’s a new car! It’s a new boat! It’s a piano!” Exhibition-goers are lured to a projection of sequentially stacked images of The Price Is Right Showcase models revealing game prizes, and a totally unexpected surprise.

Another showstopper is Ben Jones‘ stellar creation of a triangular tunnel—paneled with Tron-like neon grids and sound bites of racecars zooming by—leading to an enormous room in which computer-animated projections take over the floors and walls, as if you’re suddenly transported into a life-size version of Pole Position.

Ara Peterson and Jim Drain have created a series of hypnotic spinning fan-activated pinwheels mounted at different heights and depths. This segment of the exhibition pleasantly seems to slow things down and makes you feel as if you’ve stumbled into the control room at the Wonka Factory.

Tucked away unassumingly in a room further down is another work central to Mercedes’ vision for the project. Visitors are invited to take one of the pairs of headphones hanging from the ceiling to listen to drum and bass tracks created by Adam Horowitz (Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys), that perfectly sync up to a light performance surrounding the new Mercedes Concept Style Coupe. “The car itself is a sculpture and the original model was made out of hand clay,” says Mark Fetherston, exterior designer for Mercedes. “There’s a lot of shape and it’s an expressive design statement. We’ve taken a more artistic approach and here, we’re mixing with different people, so it’s not just a typical motor show approach. We’re trying to really attract new customers.”

The robust aroma of Miscela d’Oro Espresso beans emanates from Robert McKinley‘s coffee bar installation, based on a concept that Mike D introduced to Deitch when discussing ideas for the exhibition. Mike D and McKinley—who also served as the co-designer of the entire exhibition—are self-proclaimed coffee obsessives and consume a lot of it. “There’s been so many times where I’ve been at an exhibit and I feel like I’ve burned out at a certain point and if I could just get a cup of coffee, I could stay in the game a bit longer,” says Mike D. “I wanted to give all the people here that opportunity. We didn’t want to do it with just a cart, we wanted it to be an impressive cup of coffee, so we took it one step further and actually made it one of the installations in the space. Rob kind of went crazy, in a good way. The beans are from Naples. The coffee has a very classic Italian profile.”

The exhibition also includes works by filmmaker Mike Mills, paintings by Sage Vaughn and Will Fowler, Justin Lowe and Jonah Freeman‘s environmental installation combining fictional narrative with artifacts, Tom Sachs‘ Jamaican sound system-inspired sculpture comprised of several speakers, an axe, a chained iPod and tape deck, video art by Cory Arcangel and Sanford Biggers and a complete build out of a social space in which Public Fiction addresses the topic of the nightclub, that will also host several nights of live performances.

So what are the challenges of putting on a show of this magnitude? Mike D explains, “What ultimately prepared me for being able to do an exhibition like this was that, on multiple occasions, the Beastie Boys had to mount fairly decent size concert tours. Really it’s this quandary of figuring out what’s the visual presentation we’re going to give our music while making it fun and exciting and new. Hopefully, it’s something that people haven’t seen or experienced before, so that’s somewhat analogous to this project. What I’ve taken away from this and have been most inspired by is really just getting to work with the individual artists here.”

“I feel like they really work in the realm of translating the idea and making it into a reality and experience that everybody shares,” says Mike D. “It’s inspiring for me, coming from a world where we have all these parameters, where you want to build something, but someone says, ‘Oh, that will never work!’ or you want to do a record cover, but the artwork isn’t going to be the right size. These artists are really in the job of just being translators of creation. We’ve managed to do this by living here for the past two weeks and working 14 hours a day.”

Mercedes is using the creative platform to redefine itself by associating with the art of tomorrow; as Deitch confirms, “This is exactly what we want to be doing at the MOCA.” Transmission LA: AV Club will run through 6 May 2012 at the Geffen Contemporary.

Geffen Contemporary at MOCA

152 North Central Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Our interview with the rockstar designer on his debut collaboration with Philippe Stark

Each spring Salone del Mobile arrives in Milan, bringing with it the world’s top designers, architects and design enthusiasts. Among the many highly anticipated product launches, pop ups and parties, this year saw iconic Italian furniture company Kartell formally introduce a series of pieces designed by both new and known designers, including rock star Lenny Kravitz. Although better known for his music, Kravitz can include designer on his CV, having founded his own studio, Kravitz Design Inc, in 2003. In recent years he’s been involved with multiple large-scale hotel projects, a collaboration with Swarovski and now, is collaborating with none other than famed design personality Philippe Stark on a new rendition of his Mademoiselle chair.

Kravitz touched down in Milan to celebrate the collaboration at Salone, where we caught up with him at the Kartell booth. Here we had the chance to chat about his love of design, where he finds inspiration and his experience with Kartell.

When switching between music and design do you need a break to switch mindsets or find a workspace?

Not at all, I do a lot of design work on the road. I can’t be at my office, obviously, like one would expect. So I have to work where and when I can. So that’s on the tour bus, on the plane or hotel, backstage, and days off. The design team is just three of us, so they’ll come out on the road and whatever project we’re working on we’ll do what we have to do and then they’ll go back to the office and carry on. And then we’ll meet up again. We do a lot by computer and all. But no, no break at all. I’m always thinking about design and music.

Do you see design an alternative way to exercise your creative mind?

I like having different mediums to express myself, I do photography, I have a design company, I make music and I’m doing films now. It all comes from the same place. The thing about design I love so much and why it’s been in my life for so long is that for me in making music—or being creative in general—the environment has so much to do with it. Ever since I was a kid I was really concerned with how my room was, even the lighting, how things were laid out. Because it made me feel a certain way, made me hear music a certain way or create music a certain way, just by that feeling. It’s all about making your environment so comfortable and inspiring and sexy, that you want to be creative.

With your design studio being based in SoHo you must spend a lot of time in New York, where do you go for design inspiration?

All over. You know I grew up between Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn and the Upper East Side. So I have a real feeling for things that are very luxurious and very upscale, I love the UES between Fifth and Madison from the upper 60s to the low 80s, I grew up loving these beautiful Beaux-Arts buildings and spending time in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But at the same time I love Brooklyn—and I’m talking old school Bed-Stuy—and Alphabet City and Times Square, when it was Times Square. I love the whole high-low thing.

Since starting your design studio have you thought about doing collaborations?

Actually most of the stuff we’ve done hasn’t been collaborations. Like the Paramount Bay, the 47-story luxury condo we’re doing, that’s us. And we’re doing a hotel project in Toronto right now, that’s us. The only collaboration we’ve done so far is with Philippe Starck. So, not a bad place to start. I have to say that’s been very enjoyable.

How closely did you actually work with him on the Mademoiselle chair project?

He gave me a lot of freedom. So we basically did what we did and he gave his opinions and edited. And of course the piece was already designed, the Mademoiselle chair, which is completely iconic. He’s done his job, right? So it was just about reinterpreting it. But who knows where we will go in the future. We like each other very much, we’ve known each other for a long time. He’s been very supportive. He’s one of the people who saw my work early on and encouraged me to really move forward, so that’s incredible to have someone like that in your corner. But I’d love to collaborate with more people, yeah.

Your style is definitely bold and very masculine, whereas Starck’s designs tend to be more playful and feminine, how did this play in with transforming the chair?

We made the legs, they’re not see through anymore. In fact when looking from a distance you don’t know if its wood or solid. I just wanted to give it that “thing”. Like you said, it already has its playful, you know, feminine edge. So it was just about giving it a bit of… you know, me. And I think they work very well together.

Talk a bit about your choice of materials.

I like things that are organic and natural, I love reptile patterns and fur—we used faux fur. The nature. You know. On the other end the Bahamas chair, the one that’s a woven fabric, it’s very organic and a nice contrast to the plastic.

Another recent project you did was some custom wall papers with Flavor Paper, do you think wallpaper is under appreciated in contemporary interior design?

Yes, yes I do. When I grew up as a kid you’d go to your aunt’s house or grandmother’s house and there’d be wallpaper everywhere. I love wallpaper. It’s a really simple way to dress a place up and give it a whole new appearance by just apply paper. I use it a lot. I think that it’s getting more popular. And I think people like Flavor Paper who are young and modern are doing really interesting things with paper. It’s helping to bring it to the forefront.

Having now worked with Starck and Kartell, if given the opportunity to work with any other designer—dead or alive—on a project who would it be?

Dead or alive? Wow. I’d probably want to go to Spain and hang out with Gaudi. Yeah, yeah. It was the first thing that I really fell in love with when I came to Europe for the first time. I fell in love with Art Nouveau. And that’s where it all really started. Although you don’t really see that in any of my stuff right now. But I was a big collector even of the French, of Majorelle furniture. But I think Gaudi would have been really interesting to hang out with, and work with.

Three finalists chosen for the iconic bottle’s redesign

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Gathering at a loft in New York CIty, CH’s very own Evan Orensten joined Mark Dytham of PechaKucha and Heineken’s Global Head of Design Mark van Iterson to sort through the 100 finalists from the Heineken Limited Edition Design Contest. Narrowing down the worthy competitors from 30,000 entries, they selected the three design pair finalists. Each pair represents a mix of designs that two individual designers created and came together to create one bottle that marries the two designs. The finalists represent six nationalities and professional backgrounds. The designs themselves reflect an interpretation of how people will connect in the next 140 years—a nod to Heineken’s 140 year history.

The shortlisted design pairs include Ray Muniz of Puerto Rico and Gusztav Tomcsanyi of Hungary, Stefan Pilipović of Serbia and Fabio Cianciola of Italy, as well as Rodolfo Kusulas of Mexico and Lee Dunford of Australia. The winning partnership will be announced the week of 26 March 2012, and their design will be launched worldwide in December 2012 as part of Heineken’s 140th anniversary limited-edition gift pack.

Check out this video to learn more about the selection process and the final three design pairs.

Photo book and personal travel planner from our favorite travel agents

Jetsetter and Partners & Spade have teamed-up to launch Bon Voyage, a large and luxurious “kit” that includes a book of photography from the travel site’s best trips of the last year, a certificate for a Jetsetter concierge consultation and a travel journal to record it all.

As difficult as it may be to let go of the impeccably photographed volume edited by Jetsetter’s own Nikki Ridgeway, Cool Hunting will be giving away one Bon Voyage set today on Twitter (see below for more details).

From the fairy chimneys of Cappadocchia to the white walls of Santorini, Bon Voyage chronicles Jetsetter clientele on their customized trips to exotic locales. The photography appeals to even the most hardened traveler, providing ample inspiration for the next international jaunt. The massive book isn’t itself suited for travel but you can grab the pocket-sized journal from its pages and set off on an adventure as the tome quietly stands guard over the coffee table.

Bon Voyage retails for $199 (the concierge service is sold à la carte for $200), at Jetsetter and Gilt, and drops at The Shop at the Standard New York on 2 November 2011. Read more about Jetsetter in this Cool Hunting interview from last winter. To win, Tweet @coolhunting with the link to your favorite Cool Hunting travel piece
before midnight EST tonight, 31 October 2011. We’ll pick one winner to receive the complete kit with book, journal and concierge consultation certificate.

An urban road bike gets a vintage-inspired overhaul in a one-off collaboration

Biker gangs like the Hells Angels may have more in common with Cannondale’s murdered-out Bad Boy bicycle, per se, but Junk Food Clothing‘s new motorcycle club-inspired rendition offers enough attitude to lure its own contingent of riders. The collaborative bike is the first of two unique designs that the L.A.-based T-shirt brand will conceive for Re:Mix Lab, Antenna Magazine’s five-city-wide traveling art show.

Cannondale’s Michael DeLeon tells us that, in order to create the Junk Food version of their Bad Boy bike, the team spent two weeks meticulously stripping the black finish and removing every spoke from the rims, for a clean, detailed, matte-green repaint. Junk Food also designed the leather saddle bag—made to hold a rolled-up tee—and the tool bag gracing the bike frame that easily converts into a shoulder bag.

Described by Junk Food’s Vice President of Marketing Andrei Najjar as “innovation with a vintage lens,” the bike retains the best of Cannondale’s advanced components—like a single-legged solo fork, heightened aluminum frame and disc brakes—but with an aesthetic that recalls military motorcycles of the ’50s with the painted body and custom leather accessories.

The second collaborative bike will be revealed next month—a totally different and dramatic take on another Cannondale model—but cycle fans can try to win the Bad Boy edition now by entering the Antenna Twitter contest.