New York! New York !

Where to start! Went over to New York to the opening of Design and the Elastic Mind at MOMA as my son has some work in the exhibition and it was one of those life things that you just have to do . First impressions on arriving at the hotel in Manhattan with a room on the 22nd floor with views of distant Broadway was being a very small thin sliver slotted in amongst vast buildings which I guess was a fairly accurate description . So many people in so small a space ,but as the days went by my views expanded with my knowledge of the place. We were only four blocks from Central Park which we viewed one day from the top of the Rockerfeller building , a large rectangle of parkland surrounded by the skyscrapers of Manhattan.The trees were reflected in the building. One building even had trees planted on balconies across the frontage .I wonder what effect this had on the interior space if I had been there longer I may have investigated but there was too little time .

MOMA is an amazing building with an incredible collection of Art and Design , a bookshop to die for and lots of space so well designed . The opening was amazing but we really got to see the detail a couple of days later when we revisited . Design for debate is how Jon describes it and it certainly was fascinating and challenging some pieces more instantly accessible than others like the Honeycomb Vase made by Bees a method of "slow protoyping " by."Light weeds " by Simon Heidjens was visually amazing described as a "continually evolving wallpaper ..a living digital organism that grows on walls" as was "Sonumbra"by Rachel Wingfield and Mathias Gmachi was visually stunning ," an architectural textile with embedded solar cells ...by day it offers shelter from the sun by night it sheds light using the energy collected during the daylight hours ".
To find out more go to http//.www.moma.org/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/ .Jons work is less visually accessible but well worth investigating further for those interested in the future of Post Crash society either go to jonardern.com or to www.ark-inc.info.
What else , evnts too numerous to detail .
Highlights apart from MOMA
Visiting Takashimaya an amazing Japanese shop selling clothes and homeware which had the roots of a tree "growing" from the ceiling and such aesthetically pleasing goods .
The Guggenheim with an amazing exhibition retrospective of Cai Guo-Qiang "I want to believe " who amongst other incredible installations makes gunpowder drawings so beautiful and so fascinating to watch the video of the making , very much social commentary but stunning work .
INOPPORTUNE: STAGE ONE
Cai Guo-Qiang is internationally acclaimed as an artist whose creative transgressions and cultural provocations have literally exploded the accepted parameters of art making in our time.
This is especially true of Inopportune: Stage One, Cai’s largest installation to date, which presents nine real cars in a cinematic progression that simulates a car bombing, occupying the central atrium of the Frank Lloyd Wright rotunda.

This video documents the incredible installation process of Inopportune: Stage One, which Thomas Krens, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, says "may be the best artistic transformation of the Frank Lloyd Wright space we've
ever seen."(See photo above of cars installation)

'Extreme Embroidery"at MAD an interesting exhibition not exactly extreme but extremely interesting in concepts and actualisations ,work from some of the top names in the embroidery world .

Pricked: Extreme Embroidery

November 8, 2007 - April 27, 2008

Samplers, table cloths, tea towels, and party dresses often spring to mind when the word “embroidery” is invoked, but the forty-eight international artists highlighted in Pricked: Extreme Embroidery tell a very different story. Pricked is the Museum of Arts & Design’s latest exploration into how centuries-old handcraft traditions are rejuvenated in the mainstream of contemporary art and design. The artists are both men and women from 17 countries as diverse as Romania, Egypt, Wales, Mexico and the Netherlands, as well as the U.S. (For a complete list of artists in the exhibition, click here.)

Chosen to showcase the diversity of approaches to this standard needleworking technique, the works in Pricked: Extreme Embroidery also convey powerful and personal content that ranges from subjective dreams and diaries to controversial politics in today’s world. The works are individually arresting, provocative, satirical, and humorous.

Pricked: Extreme Embroidery follows the success and international acclaim of the Museum’s exhibition Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting, which premiered earlier this year at MAD and is now on an extensive tour to other art museums. Like Radical Lace, this new exhibition is poised to change the way the public views the contemporary evolution of an ancient art.

Works by artists of the caliber of Maira Kalman and Elaine Reichek are shown alongside works by emerging artists such as Andrea Deszö of Transylvania, who records aphorisms and warnings received from her Transylvania mother in a series titled Lessons from My Mother. In addition, works by designers such as Mattia Bonetti document the use of embroidery techniques in the sphere of design.

In addition to fibrous materials like cotton and wool, artists and designers employ the unexpected ranging from stone to digital prints to human hair and cosmetic skin peels. A North Carolina artist, Nava Lubelski, explores the contradictory activities of spoiling and mending by stitching over spills, stains, and rips she finds on tablecloths, napkins, and canvas. The artist uses canvas stretchers as her embroidery loop, and the wooden strips are often visible through the mended tears.

The artists in Pricked use embroidery as a means to reflect, both internally, and on the outside world. Dutch artist Tilleke Schwarz stitches the subconscious; dreamlike scenarios, fleeting thoughts, and imaginative imagery recorded on cloth. In Fast Machine, 2006, Benji Whalen embroiders tattoos onto a wall-mounted, stuffed arm. For the exhibition, the artist has created a large installation of hanging tattooed arms, each with imagery alluding to alternative culture and art.

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated, full-color catalogue published by MAD that includes an essay by chief curator, David McFadden; illustrations of works by each artist, along with short biographies; and an index. For more information about ordering the catalogue, please call The Store at 212-956-3535 x157.

For related Public Programs, please click here, or call 212-956-3535 x127 for more information.

Pricked: Extreme Embroidery is made possible in part by the Inner Circle and Director's Council of the Museum, with additional support from Friends of Fiber Art International.


Clubbing in downtown Manhattan , a ride in a big yellow taxi , snow in central park , a ride on the Statton Island ferry to see the statue of Liberty, a visit to the New Museum of Modern Art , various eatery experiences including "Burger Heaven " , exploring the "Village" riding on the subway!A good time was had by all !! I would love to go back but at a warmer time of year but then the hot chocolate at Borders at Madison Square Gardens would not taste so delicious !