Go Cocoa Loco! Chocolate & I New York Feb 8-14

Come celebrate all that is wonderful about chocolate with a week long exploration of the tawny delight at Chocolate & I New York. This series, taking place February 8-14, is designed to awaken the senses and enchant not only chocolate aficionados, but also offer new experiences and knowledge through quality events that exquisitely melt chocolate with food, design, and the arts. There are some incredible offerings throughout the week and a whole slew of FREE events & discussions that I have listed these below.

Chocolate & I New York
511 W. 25th Street (btwn 10th & 11th avenues)
All events are located here

Monday 2/8
4-6pm
Room4Chocolate: Find room to savor hot chocolate, enjoy locally made delicacies, peruse books on chocolate, food and art, all in a cozy environment.

4-7pm
Food for Art. Art for Thought:
A showcase of artists revolving around the relationship and characteristics society attributes to chocolate and the way it affects us on a personal level. Artists include Elim Chen, Ema, C&T, Jason Krugman, Michelle Mayer, Carolina Vallejo, Asli Sevinc & Charnan Lewis.

6-7pm
Sustainable Pleasure for the Palate & The Planet:
The Rainforest Alliance presents: Sustainable pleasures for the Palate, An Open Discussion On Responsibly Produced Goods.

Tuesday 2/9
4-6pm
Room4Chocolate: Find room to savor hot chocolate, enjoy locally made delicacies, peruse books on chocolate, food and art, all in a cozy environment.

4-7pm
Food for Art. Art for Thought:
A showcase of artists revolving around the relationship and characteristics society attributes to chocolate and the way it affects us on a personal level. Artists include Elim Chen, Ema, C&T, Jason Krugman, Michelle Mayer, Carolina Vallejo, Asli Sevinc & Charnan Lewis.

6-7pm
Eating Local & Seasonal (Discussion)
Slow Food NYC is dedicated to the enjoyment of local and seasonal food and to celebrating real food as a cornerstone of pleasure, culture, and community.

Wednesday 2/10
4-6pm
Room4Chocolate: Find room to savor hot chocolate, enjoy locally made delicacies, peruse books on chocolate, food and art, all in a cozy environment.

4-7pm
Food for Art. Art for Thought:
A showcase of artists revolving around the relationship and characteristics society attributes to chocolate and the way it affects us on a personal level. Artists include Elim Chen, Ema, C&T, Jason Krugman, Michelle Mayer, Carolina Vallejo, Asli Sevinc & Charnan Lewis.

6-7pm
Fair Trade Practices in Cacao Production (Discussion):
Annie Novak is founder and director of Growing Chefs, field-to-fork food education program will host this discussion.

Thursday 2/11
4-6pm
Room4Chocolate: Find room to savor hot chocolate, enjoy locally made delicacies, peruse books on chocolate, food and art, all in a cozy environment.

4-7pm
Food for Art. Art for Thought:
A showcase of artists revolving around the relationship and characteristics society attributes to chocolate and the way it affects us on a personal level. Artists include Elim Chen, Ema, C&T, Jason Krugman, Michelle Mayer, Carolina Vallejo, Asli Sevinc & Charnan Lewis.

6-7pm
The Importance of Pollination (Discussion):
Bees Without Borders is the brainchild of Andrew Coté, former high school dropout and vagabond turned Fulbright Scholar and professor. He was born into a beekeeping family in Connecticut and is (at least) the 4th generation to carry on this ancient skill.

7-11pm
Food for Art. Art for Thought (Artists Discussion + Opening)
A showcase of artists revolving around the relationship and characteristics society attributes to chocolate and the way it affects us on a personal level. Artists include Elim Chen, Ema, C&T, Jason Krugman, Michelle Mayer, Carolina Vallejo, Asli Sevinc & Charnan Lewis.

Friday 2/12
4-6pm
Room4Chocolate: Find room to savor hot chocolate, enjoy locally made delicacies, peruse books on chocolate, food and art, all in a cozy environment.

4-7pm
Food for Art. Art for Thought:
A showcase of artists revolving around the relationship and characteristics society attributes to chocolate and the way it affects us on a personal level. Artists include Elim Chen, Ema, C&T, Jason Krugman, Michelle Mayer, Carolina Vallejo, Asli Sevinc & Charnan Lewis.

6-7pm
The New Farmer Development Project (Discussion):
The New Farmer Development Project (NFDP) identifies, educates, and supports immigrants with agricultural experience to become local producers and establish small farms in their region.

Saturday 2/13

2-11pm
Food for Art. Art for Thought:
A showcase of artists revolving around the relationship and characteristics society attributes to chocolate and the way it affects us on a personal level. Artists include Elim Chen, Ema, C&T, Jason Krugman, Michelle Mayer, Carolina Vallejo, Asli Sevinc & Charnan Lewis.

2-6pm
Room4Chocolate: Find room to savor hot chocolate, enjoy locally made delicacies, peruse books on chocolate, food and art, all in a cozy environment.


Sunday 2/14
2-9pm
Food for Art. Art for Thought:
A showcase of artists revolving around the relationship and characteristics society attributes to chocolate and the way it affects us on a personal level. Artists include Elim Chen, Ema, C&T, Jason Krugman, Michelle Mayer, Carolina Vallejo, Asli Sevinc & Charnan Lewis.

2-5pm
Room4Chocolate: Find room to savor hot chocolate, enjoy locally made delicacies, peruse books on chocolate, food and art, all in a cozy environment.

Totally Flaming-Play With Fire Video & Interactive Art Festival, Today!

Brace yourself for an explosion of visuals and video art at the Play With Fire art festival that opens today.

Celebrating the breadth and depth of video possibilities through art. A plethora of live video editors, electronic and interactive artists, video and installation artists who use the moving image outside the "box" will be showing their work.

Date: Saturday, November 7th - Saturday, November 21st
Time: Saturday 4:00pm - 8:00pm & Sunday 12:00pm - 6:00pm
Location: 1717 Troutman St., Brooklyn NY
Floor 2
Take the L Train to Jefferson
Cost: Free

For two weeks and in two different locations the festival hosts an array of projects. Projects include, Katja Loher's video planets, a 3⁄4 ton 'ice-stallation' by Raphael DiLuzio, a demonstration by Berlin based Modul8 software representative and performer, Ilan Katin and a night of performance featuring video artist and collaborator, Alison Childs, the Spanish AV (Audio/Video) perfomer, *Rafaël*."

Plus the show boasts works by two of my favorite ITP alum, Gabe Barcia-Colombo & Jeremy Rotsztain!

This weekend is the opening reception, but the festival also includes live performances, demos, workshops and panel discussions over the next two weeks. Full schedule and info can be found here.

Celebrate the Guggenheim's 50th Birthday with FREE Admission- October 21, 2009

To celebrate the 50th birthday of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's Frank Lloyd Wright–designed building, the museum will extend free admission to the public on Wednesday, October 21st from 10am to 5:45 pm. Throughout the day, visitors will enjoy special celebration activities, access to current exhibits, free Guggenheim Cookies (at 3:00pm while supplies last), Green Bag Giveaway for the first 50 people and a free raffle for all museum visitors with goodies from the museum store.

When: Wednesday, October 21st; 10am-5:45 pm
Where: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th Street)
New York, NY 10128-0173
Here's the breakdown of all the fun stuff that will be happening tomorrow:

* Birthday Photo Booth - Take your picture sitting astride giant "5-O" sculptured numbers - part of the 50th Anniversary logo photo booth. Upload your pictures onto to the museum's flickr group. flickr.com/groups/free day/

* Anniversary Eye Tours - Interactive tours with museum educators will be offered in five languages and for partially sighted, blind, and deaf audiences.

* Art, Architecture, and Innovation: Celebrating the Guggenheim Museum - This 27-min. documentary explores the history of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum and chronicles the building's conception, construction, and critical reception.

* Family Friendly Activities - From 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, family friendly interactive activities will take place throughout the museum. Family Architecture Guides will also be distributed to children ages 12 and under.

* Story Circle - From 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM (on the hour) there will be readings of picture books including I'd Like the Goo-Gen-Heim by A.C. Hollingsworth.

* Live Twitter Tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building - From 4:30 to 5:30 PM, the Guggenheim Twitter team, museum visitors, and followers around the world will have the chance post observations during a live-Tweet conversation. Include #GUGG50 in your tweets, and visit twitter.com/Guggenheim to follow the Guggenheim on Twitter.

* The Deutsche Bank Series at the Guggenheim Anish Kapoor: Memory - Be the first to see -a major site-specific sculpture installation that weighs 24 tons by leading international artist Anish Kapoor. On view through March 28, 2010

* Harry Winston Jewels Inspired by the Guggenheim - For one-day only Guggenheim-inspired diamond jewelry will be on display in the Guggenheim
Store.

In addition to all the celebratory fun the following exhibitions will be on view for FREE:
* Kandinsky September 18, 2009-January 13, 2010

* Gabriele Münter and Vasily Kandinsky, 1902-14: A Life in Photographs September 18, 2009-January 13, 2010

* Paired, Gold: Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Roni Horn October 2, 2009-January 6, 2010

* Intervals: Kitty Kraus October 9, 2009-January 6, 2010

More details about the event are located here: guggenheim.org/50

If you miss this event remember that the Guggenheim is by pay-what-you-wish donation every Saturday evening from 5:45pm (the museum closes at 7:45pm)!

The Frugal Aficionado-It's Free Museum Day, September 26th!

Hundreds of museums and cultural venues will open their doors to you and a guest on Saturday September 26, 2009... for Free.
Admission is gratis at the participating museum of your choice but you will need to visit the Smithsonian website to print out an admission pass. More than 800 museums nationwide are offering free admission on Museum Day, including several gems in New York City like The Children's Museum of Manhattan, The American Folk Art Museum, The Rubin Museum of Art, & The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.
Enjoy as many museums as you like at no cost courtesy of the Smithsonian Magazine. Hooray for Free Museum Day!

One Step at a Time- Williamsburg Walks June 6th

Beginning today, Williamsburg’s Bedford Avenue, from North 4th Street to North 9th Street, will be open to pedestrians on six consecutive Saturdays this summer from noon to sunset as part of the Williamsburg Walks.

The Williamsburg Galleries will also be participating as they bring the art of Williamsburg and the wider neighborhood to one block of Bedford.

There will be creative programming, such as live music, performance art, installations, gallery booths, public art projects, activities for kids, and more, the WGA block of Williamsburg Walks will be a vibrant display of the diverse arts of the Williamsburg community.

Read More

Bedford Avenue b/w North 5th & North 6th
Slate Gallery will have a table featuring the work of Mr. Imagination, a charismatic and flamboyant outsider artist who creates sculptures in the vein of traditional African Art using found materials of all varieties. Chalk will be available all day for the community to draw on the street

12:00pm - 8:00pm - Wheel-throwing pottery demonstrations and instruction by local design showroom and ceramic studio Choplet.

2:00pm - Mamadou The Math: acoustic post-afrobeat band featuring members of the Superpowers afrobeat ensemble.

2:00pm - Local artist, Marc Breslin, will be making a long continuous drawing over the course of a few hours as a commentary on histories of violence.

Location: Bedford Avenue from North 4th Street to North 9th Street

Time: 12:00pm - 6:00pm

Cost: FREE

We all scream for Silk Screens!

This Saturday, come on down and get your gear silk screened by Dave TREE, a Boston artist with art hanging in the Sleazy Rider show. Get prints similar to or the exact same as the art hanging on the walls. Lots of designs to choose from and all the colors of the rainbow are at your fingertips.

Bring an item to get printed and watch the magic unfold before your eyes. A $5 donation fee and you get to wear art home with you. Awesome Right? Plus, there will be free beer and music spun by DJ K-Dawg...

Sleazy Rider Silkscreen Party
Saturday, January 31
8pm until Midnight
Leo Nesting Gallery
812 Washington Street
New York, NY

Pay-What-You-Wish at the Whitney

If you're hankering for some good ol' American Art for free, head to the Whitney! Friday nights from 6-9pm the Whitney offers patrons an opportunity to pay-what-you-wish.

This museum is much less crowded than the MOMA during these free events and easy to navigate.

Right now is the perfect time to see some awesome exhibitions, especially the work of William Eggleston:
Democratic Camera, which ends on Jan 25th.

To see more info on current exhibitions click here.

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York, NY 10021

Time Warp--24 Hour event at Guggenheim Jan 6th

The Guggenheim loves staying open all night and they're at it again today, with a 24 hour event on the concept of time.

This event begins tonight, January 6th from 6pm until 6pm January 7th and is totally free!!

In addition to the 24-hour Psycho screening there will be a series of lectures and performances
throughout the night.

Come join the crew of artists, scientists, musicians, philosophers and all around interesting people who will be presenting on the topic.

You're welcome to bring your sleeping bags and camp out
plus you'll get bonus cool points (and baked goods) for showing up in the wee hours.

Tuesday January 6th-Wednesday January 7th
6pm-6pm
Guggenheim Museum
1071 5th Ave
New York, NY, 10128

Have fun!

More info here

My Interactive Buddies are cooler than yours...ITP Winter Show 12.17-12.18!

Hey No-Trust-Funders! My apologies for falling off the Map recently, but I just started my first semester of grad school at NYU.

Life has been a little crazy and I haven't had a chance to post, but now I've got a new taste of FREE-DOM and I'm ready to let loose.

Please join me at the coolest Free Art/Technology show on the planet this Wednesday & Thursday at the ITP Winter Show at NYU.

We've got a Piano that makes cocktails, a Wii that lets you create your own Pollock, and some amazing installations made for the big screen!

You won't want to miss this stuff, it's seriously amazing.

Wednesday & Thursday 12/17 + 12/18

5-9pm

721 Broadway, 4th Fl
at Waverly Place
South Side Elevators
New York, NY 10003

See you there!!

Don't Break the Bank for Art: Banksy's Baaack

If you've walked along Seventh Ave South (Near Greenwich) recently you may have seen some some oddities like Chicken Nuggets dunking themselves in ketchup, fish sticks floating in a bowl, or a rabbit applying a full face of make-up.

Relax though, it's not the latest in genetically engineered pets, it's The Village Pet Store & Charcoal Grill, British graffitti artist Banksy's first US installation.

I love that the show is free, plus if you ever want some Banksy memorabilia, he has an online shop where you can download the artwork to put on your favorite tshirt or hat. Click here.

There are only 5 days left to see the Village Pet Store free show! The exhibit is open to the public daily from 10am-12am through October 31st.

No. 89 Seventh Avenue South
(Between W. 4th & Bleeker)