Hasta La Ideas

NYC’s supper clubs offer an impromptu dining cart serving up a six course meal in the subway

In a theatrical culinary feat, passengers aboard NYC’s L train were recently treated to a six-course lunch as they rolled across Manhattan, under the East River and into Williamsburg, each stop adding to the food frenzy. Cooked up by the crafty chefs behind A Razor, A Shiny Knife, the luncheon included an elegant array of dishes, including foie gras and filet mignon, as well as a pyramid of chocolate panna cotta, dusted with gold leaf. Guests—who paid $100 for a reservation—were given no information apart from “the promise of a clandestine dining experience.”

Michael J. Cirino and Daniel Castaño began A Razor, A Shiny Knife several years ago with an interest in experimental cooking, determined to create new ways for “people to interact with food and each other.” Hosting the luncheon on the L train is just one example of how the team challenges themselves with gastronomic adventures, with timing and execution at the crux of the daunting task. The challenge that put the duo the map though was their 20-course recreation of the $1,500 dinners Grant Achatz and Thomas Keller were serving at their restaurants, which they executed for $300 a meal with the help of A Razor, A Shiny Knife “PHD/Cook” Andrew Rosenberg and “Self-Appointed Master Sommelier” Jonny Cigar.

The ingenious event was also aided by Studiofeast‘s Mike Lee, who brought the entree on board at the Morgan Avenue stop. With more than 50 people involved, the group effort really demonstrated the power of a well-planned idea.

via The New York Times, pictures by Yana Paskova for The New York Times

A grassroots group show launches with orgasm drawings, partially-chewed crayons and other performances

Armed with an “if you build it they will come” attitude, psychologist Ilana Simons curated the upcoming group show at the Prince George Gallery with the vision of creating an “instant art collective.” In a similar vein to a pop-up shop, the exhibit is the upshot of quick thinking after seeing the space on her hunt for a place to hold a wedding reception. “When I stumbled upon the space and realized my friends and I could go in on it for gallery space, it just became a no-brainer.”

Showing alongside the New School professor, works spanning simple line drawings to paintings. The nine artists showing include David Pettibone (below left), a fellow at the New York Academy of Fine Art, Michael Alan (above left) whose chaotic visions of New York City create abstract fantasies in vibrant colorways and Jenny Keith (above right), who represents animal emotions in her work.

Chris Colvin (below right) will exhibit pieces from his upcoming solo show at Lincoln Center, which include mixed media portraits from his series called “The Bust Collection.” Retired ophthalmologist turned full-time artist Jane Lubin incorporates her knowledge of biology into works featuring strange bodies in odd locations and bulging eyes. Prudence Groube (bottom left), an Australian artist fascinated by the idea of dismembering the self, will exhibit her colorful ink-on-paper works which are chiefly centered around her fictitious character Mimachan, who “inhabits the space between the seen and unseen.”

An opening night reception from 6-9pm this Friday, 14 January 2011, will launch the show with live performances dedicated to fine art. Sarah H. Paulson will perform with a group of other women, who will recline in the nude, and use their toes to draw whatever comes from their soul. Valmonte Sprout will paint with Crayola crayons she partially digested earlier in the night while the “ambidextrous visionary painter” Roman Zelgatas will paint himself in a translucent phone booth.

The Prince George Gallery show opens 14 January and runs through 26 Febuary 2011.

The wise RISD president dispenses personalized advice in a live exhibition at London’s Riflemaker gallery

Today John Maeda, digital design guru and President of RISD, drew my destiny in the sand at the Riflemaker Gallery in London’s Soho area. Playing my part in Maeda’s four day consultancy performance piece “John Maeda is the Fortune Cookie” was a brief, but rather unforgettable experience.

There was little eye contact from Maeda as I was ushered reverently into the room by a lab-coated gallery assistant, he was busy stamping down the sand to create his newly blank canvas. His quiet presence was authoritarian, accentuating the impression of consulting an oracle. The sandpit arrangement, with him on the inside and me on the outside, created the necessary space between us. I am the outsider. The challenge? Can I break down the boundary with my presence and words?

In my allotted ten minutes I told him the fortunate story of how an outing for a cookie one afternoon last week led me to the Riflemaker gallery space and provided me with the opportunity to book a slot in his “fortune-cookie” performance. He liked the poetry of that.

While Maeda traced my story in the sand, cookie and all, I asked him “From one interdisciplinary person to another, how do you find a harmonious balance between the long + deep and the wide + shallow?”

I struck a chord. Maeda said he also experienced the discomfort of being interdisciplinary, but that he had gotten over it because he was happy in himself.

He then recounted a visual reference he once got from a Japanese designer, who contrasted the Eastern view of building a wide sturdy base with a shallow elevation (Maeda drew Mount Fuji—Hokusai style—in the sand), with Western narrow tall constructions that topple over (he then drew a vertical line that immediately resembled a skyscraper).

In summary John Maeda’s advice to me consisted of these salient points: Be confident enough to forge your own path, build a wide and sturdy base, be happy in yourself, don’t let other people take you down, move out in front of the pack, be a leader and a role model, enjoy your cookie.

I left, as Maeda hurriedly erased my sandy story with his feet, clutching a signed print out of one of his tweets (a poetic embodiment of making the digital physical). The tweet, for which I paid the princely sum of £2, says “The shortest communication path between two people is a straight talk.” Precisely.

Five shows reinventing puppetry at Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center

From Jason Segel’s to the Internet sensation-turned-IFC show Food Party, puppetry endures as a medium that brings the absurd and fantastical to life. To celebrate the ancient art form, the Twin Cities’ Walker Art Center kickd off the performing arts season with five distinct shows under the banner Adventures in New Puppetry.

“Dark Matters” is a puppetry/dance hybrid fable by the Canadian dancer and choreographer Crystal Pite and her company, Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM. After the show, the company will lead a dance improvisation workshop.

The Twin Cities-based Open Eye Figure Theater will co-present Toy Theater After Dark, a modern take on old-world toy puppetry.

A collaboration between the avant-garde Slovene theater troupe Betontanc and Latvian object theater masters, Umka.lv, “Show Your Face!” is the dark story of an empty snowsuit brought to life by seven actors and live musicians.

Woyzeck on the Highveld is a mixed-media adaptation of Georg Buchner’s play. Director William Kentridge collaborated with the Handspring Puppet Company for this synthesis of animated film, puppets and actors.

The Devil and Mister Punch is a work-in-progress from the irreverent British theater company, Improbable.

To find tickets and specific show dates visit the Walker Calendar.