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by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on October 20, 2011
In an era of virtual reality the prospect of visiting an exhibition dedicated to products of designer craft presents a salutary experience. Here, at least, one can be assured of an encounter with the visual imagination made tangible; ideas translated into something that can be touched, held, worn, or reclined upon. The exhibition DUBH – Dialogues in Black, is an eye and mind-opening example of what contemporary designers are thinking about and actualizing at the cutting edge of our engagement with material culture.
Stemming from an initiative developed by Irish craftsman Joseph Walsh’s organization, STUDIO practice, and curated by Irish artist Brian Kennedy, the premise of the show is to place contemporary Irish craft and design practitioners in concert with their U.S. and international peers, demonstrating the vitality of Irish designers and drawing attention to the greater innovative achievements current in contemporary craft and design practice. You can put away your fusty expectations of finding the traditional crafts associated with Ireland – Aran sweaters, bawneen knits, country pottery, Donegal tweeds – and prepare to embark on a distinctly twenty-first century experience. Most of the craftspeople here seem to be considering contemporary notions of biology, genetics, even particle physics, disposing of historical attitudes toward craft practice, or confronting good old fashioned cultural myopia. “Dialogues in Black” may be the organizing principle behind this collection (dubh – pronounced duv – is the Irish for black) but the range of forms, feelings, and ideas at play here presents quite a varied sampling of treasures. Kennedy appears to have reached wide and far, and he is to be commended for both the breadth of the show and for permitting the “dialogue” that occurs to flow so sleekly about the gracious and somewhat period styled interiors of the AIHS’s rooms. An artful balance is struck, never permitting any exhibitor’s contribution a domineering presence or freer rein than the others. He knows how to show this stuff.
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by Michelle Augello-Page on October 1, 2011
Today The Happiest Medium shines the spotlight Somewhere in The Dark, in this interview with Danish filmmaker Mads Jeppesen.
“Somewhere in the Dark is an insightful cinema verite documentary that encompasses the raw undiscovered talents within a plethora of individuals and their hunt for somewhere to create and express their art through the dark and underground of New York City. This documentary depicts the essence as to why people are drawn to this capital of the world and conveys a deep, rich and compelling insight into the people that work to realise their dreams and their passions. To strive for a destiny, or find fulfillment in the dark, this piece captures the journey and the struggle it takes to find a way when you’re somewhere in the dark.” ~ Mads Jeppesen
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by Stephen Tortora-Lee on August 20, 2011
Meet Anna. In Anna & The Annadroids: Memoirs of a Robot Girl - an interesting combination of modern dance, techno music, social commentary, science fiction, multimedia, and a bit of burlesque – Anna is an android who is made of ”pure synthetic organic flesh”. So instead of being made only of metal with a “mind full of microchips” she’s got a heart filled with “…love…passion…confusion…pure sexuality”. The dancing and aerial acrobatics of Anna Sullivan (Anna), are accompanied with ambient, driving techno beats created by various artists which she performs while wearing beautiful costumes created by Elizabeth Harzoff. The acrobatics seem to correspond to times of dreams (whether regular or daydreams) as something seems to be making her concentrate on something other than reality.
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by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on August 20, 2011
It’s pretty clever when a theatrical production adopts the stance that what it is about to present you with is nothing more than offensive, odious rubbish. And when it does so persistently, warning you at each interval that things are only going to get worse, more unbearable, it seems cleverer, because you have no one to blame but yourself for hanging around. And when each performance or act hones so close to the edge of becoming merely cacophonous insult, while convincing you that the method in this apparent chaos is quite sound, well, that makes it even more clever. In fact, everything about Inverse Theater‘s Smoke the New Cigarette by Kirk Wood Bromley at the Bowery Poetry Club is exceptionally clever; so clever it hurts.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 22, 2011
In early February I did a mini-interview with Eric Sanders knowing that I’d soon have the opportunity to have a much longer conversation with him and his collaborator, Dave Nuss. Together they have created Original Innocence – The Rock Opera and I’m already fascinated by what I’ve seen. This Friday, March 25th I’ll be heading over to ISSUE PROJECT ROOM (At the Old American Can Factory) 232 3rd Street, 3rd Floor Brooklyn, NY 11215 [Telephone: 718-330-0313] to see a workshopped production. There are two shows that night – one at eight and one at ten. I think you should come too.
I always love chatting with Eric Sanders, he’s my favorite combination of brilliant and humble. Not to mention amazingly talented. Now, meeting Dave for the first time I was equally excited; together these guys are an interviewer’s dream. Read on to find out the random thing that brought these two talented men together, find out why they think it’s so important that our culture has a creation myth they can finally get behind, and let them explain why they cast Satan as a woman.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 27, 2011
By now we’ve all heard the tale of how that little statue came to be known as “Oscar” (“He looks just like my uncle Oscar!”) and whether it’s true or not it’s just yet another testament to the fact that we love to make comparisons.
Today, in honor of the 83rd Academy Awards we bring you Cindy Murphy’s Oscar Doppleganger Diptychs starting with the most nominated of the bunch . . .
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on February 17, 2011
HARVEY FIERSTEIN as Albin/Zaza (© John Lehrer)
Have you heard the news? This week Harvey Fierstein joined the cast of the musical he created in 1984 – La Cage Aux Folles . . . a musical I was so obsessed with in high school that I banked my birthday and Christmas presents so that I could see it not once but twice. I wanted to play the role of Albin so badly that I spent waaaaay too much time in front of my mirror pretending to be an over-the-hill 50 something man transforming himself into a glamorous showgirl via “A Little More Mascara” (when life is a real bitch again, and my old sense of humor has up and gone, it’s time for the big switch again – I put a little more mascara on). It felt perfectly natural back then, but I think I would laugh if I walked in on my 14 year old self pretending to be a world-weary french female impersonator.
Because unlike, say Mame, which is a role you can eventually grow up into, I always knew that no matter what happened I would NEVER, NEVER grow up into a man who could then play a woman. Sadly, I’m left with just being stuck as a woman. Most days, I’m okay with this.
But hey! Who says women can’t drag it up a little every now and then? So, this week, in honor of Harvey, La Cage, men who attempt drag, and women who do too – we bring you . . . non-gender-biased Drag Queen Doppleganger Diptychs:
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on January 29, 2011
If you missed my interview with Cindy Murphy last week take a second to catch up – she is one talented lady with a great eye and an even greater sense of humor. Which is why it’s only fitting that for the first official instiallment of what will be a biweekly event we focus on the Funny Ladies in her series.
Of course it also doesn’t hurt that one of those diptychs is me (ahem). Like Cindy said in her interview, “What I look for is not a perfect match but rather some element that is strong enough to create the effect of “twinning”. Sometimes it’s hair, sometimes it’s a smile. Usually a combo though of two elements.” So for my match Cindy found Fran Drescher because of “same smile, same wicked twinkle in the eyes”. Not to mention the fact that both Fran and I spent a night dancing on the hallowed floor of 2001 Odyssey. I, on the other hand, managed to tame my Brooklynese accent long ago, unless I’m driving and then we’re pretty much idendical on all fronts.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on January 14, 2011
Cindy Murphy is her name - Doppelganger Diptychs are her game
Back in the ’90s when Ricki Lake had her talk show and was pretty much at the height of her career (if she only knew it then!) it was kinda unavoidable for me to be compared to her – especially since she was still riding the coattails of her Hairspray fame (You should see me do the Madison). Yup, during the mid-90s, working in mid-town Manhattan, hardly a day went by without someone randomly calling out “Hey, Ricki!” to me as I went about my day. Sure, the pleasingly plump curves had a little something to do with it, but there was more to it – I was friendly, bubbly – and just like Ricki I also looked good holding a microphone and nodding in a concerned fashion when asking questions such as “Now, what exactly is ‘the down-low’?”. Of course, it’s not like anyone actually thought I was Ricki Lake – they were just acknowledging the similarity. If there’s one thing people enjoy doing, it’s pointing out similarities.
Here’s where Cindy Murphy comes in. Cindy not only enjoys finding similarities between two people, but she’s got a great eye for it, and lately has been doing more and more of what she’s coined Doppelganger Diptychs. What started as something Cindy did to relax or switch gears during a stressful day became a bit of a phenomenon among her friends as more and more of them started asking her to find their very own doppelganger.
With such talent it’s only fair that Cindy get an even wider audience to enjoy her work, so The Happiest Medium will now be featuring Doppelganger Diptychs on a regular basis. Today, we sit down with Cindy to find out how it all started, where the name came from, and what she looks for to make that perfect match.
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by Stephen Tortora-Lee on November 21, 2010
For those of you who attended the Happiest Medium’s 1st Anniversary Party (in 3-D) you may have seen these slide shows already. They feature the great performers we had there, and some of their upcoming projects. Here is the main slide show with the normal as well as 3-D-ified images that will jump out at you if you look at them with ChromaDepth 3-D glasses.
And let me thank all our performers and sponsors one last time -
Ahmond, Monica Bauer, Charites, John Fico, Jeff Grow, Paolo Javier, Kampfire PR, Kill the Band, MTWorks, Karen Tortora-Lee, and Franca Vercelloni,
Now to look at the slides… Continue Reading…
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