Urban Gardening: Chicago

Small Steps: Walkable Times Square

See:
photo: Damon Winter/The New York Times

Read: Times Square Closes To Traffic (NYT Article)

Learn: NYCDOT's Strategic Transportation Plan

Liveable Streets Contest Winners

image from www.good.is

GOOD's contest to get re-visioned plans for liveable streets has announced the winners. Great visual explanations that are easy to understand. Click the picture to go to their site.

Winner of World Bank Climate Change Documentary

Winner of the World Bank Micro-Documentary Contest
Social Dimensions of Climate Change

Flood Children of Holdibari


Bangladeshi kids make an educational group to teach their community about how to stay safe during flooding.

Get Rich Quick: Hip Hop Gasping

My heart tells me, that this is not what graf was supposed to become:

image from Carmichael Gallery on Flickr
Uhhhh. An "urban art" show titled "Get Rich Quick"? Gross. Come on artists, what about something more "hip hop" themed like "Get Rich or Starve Tryin." Or does 50 Cent have copyright on that? What's killing me is that I really used to like you guys. You all were my last little hope that winning at life doesn't mean materialism, but you get a show in a beautiful gallery and this is what they name it? Swoon -- when you pieced those boats together with your friends, was it really to have your name joined with Shepard Fairey? Ick. Your work is BEAUTIFUL! And I thought those projects meant something about having a community. KAWS, maybe you could get a collaboration going with Damien Hirst. When you were cooking wheatpaste in your kitchen, was it really with dreams of a big house in the suburbs with expensive leather sofas? And Banksy, come on! What about all of that the social commentary? Was that really all about making money? Really?

YES! artists should get paid for their work. I've seen my mom lugging supplies and plywood enough to know that you have to have your heart and soul and body in it to stay in the game. But the title of the show is just repulsive considering what street art used to be at its inception, and what I thought it was all about. I thought it was about adding beauty, commentary, and creativity to public spaces that everyone else had thrown away. I thought it was about engaging with the community and grabbing people out of their haze and back into their environment. There's also a solo show at the same time by Brazilian artist Thais Beltrame coincidentally entitled "When all the stars are gone." Interesting.

What's making me bite my tounge a little is that this gallery shows gobs and gobs of ridiculously talented visual artists. So my qualm is not with the gallery, it's with the "artists" who are going to add a show called "Get Rich Quick" to their credentials. Bleh.

Maybe I just don't understand the deeper artistic meaning that the title is trying to bring to contemporary art. Maybe I'm not appreciating the irony (which, itself would be ironically ironic??). Or maybe, this what the Splasher (remember him/her?) was trying to make a statement about -- if you're going to let street art be synonymous with materialism, instead of opposed to it, all you're posting around the neighborhood are unpaid advertisements for materialism, not public art.

Public Karaoke in London

Thousands of people sing karaoke together in London.

VIDEO HERE

Here's a fun, free time for a lot of city dwellers of all ages to hang out together and participate in something that makes them smile. Interactive engagement, especially in fun, creative things that everyone can do is a great way to get people to enjoy living in their city. Nice.

It's a bit on the commercial side -- since the hosting telecommunications company will use the video footage to make commercials & promotions, but I'll take it.