Movin’ & Shakin’

Upon submitting my graduate thesis (that required ridiculous time clocked on treadmills across Manhattan) I’m excited to report on many exciting developments about to take place in the next couple weeks:

If you’re interested in attending my SVA Design Criticism Conference please visit our conference website for more info on our exciting line-up! And to see my debut on Vimeo be sure to check out Arnold S. + Homer S. + I in a teaser trailer for said conference. 

For other exciting newsy bits check out the fruit of my labor for new design projects and my portfolio!

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Tumblr Insights: Election 2012 Report

With the U.S. presidential campaign already off to a roaring start, news from the Republican primary contests has been a major topic across Tumblr. As we near another crescendo in Florida, we were curious how the campaign—from the numerous debates and rallies, to election ads and gaffes—has played out so far in terms of the type and quantity of attention received by each candidate on Tumblr.

The first graph shows how frequently each candidate’s name appeared in posts. The second shows other tags most frequently associated with each candidate. We’re most impressed with the viral power of one creative concept blog: When Rick Perry’s Unpopular Opinions sprang up as a parody of one of Perry’s campaign videos, he easily became the most blogged candidate overnight.

Our Insights team will be bringing you more data as the campaigns progress!

"Individual agency is important, and our ideas about our bodies can alter what might seem to be the natural and concrete limits of physical experience… What we want for and from our physical selves contributes to the way we define and shape our lives."

Thesis nugget courtesy of The Sculpture Machine: Physical Culture and Body Politics in the Age of the Empire

Across and Behind the Manhattan Bridge

The narrow walkway along the Manhattan Bridge curves through a rich forest of rooftops and graffiti. As I meander along the walkway from Canal Street the concrete barriers separating the pedestrians from the trains, traffic, and streets below hide any sense of place beyond the cacophony of traffic noise. When the concrete barriers recede, I’m eye level with the ornate ledges of brownstones from a New York long forgotten. Together they comprise the horizon of the downtown Manhattan skyline.

Before accessing this walkway, pedestrians as well as bikers, drivers, and subway trains are greeted on Canal Street by a majestic sculptural arc. Inspired by the Porte Saint-Denis gateway in Paris, the arc dramatically departs from the cluttered signage and chaotic ambience that characterizes Chinatown. Cars whizzing underneath the regal arc either come to a screeching halt entering lower Manhattan or incline upward out of the city, dwarfed under the baroque entrance. The N and Q trains rumble by me on the tracks toward Flatbush, while cyclists hug the wall swerving to avoid pedestrians. The Manhattan Bridge provides access and passage for all. She connects two boroughs while protecting the secrets and legacy that characterize the New York she was created to serve. 

 6,855 feet of the suspension bridge unite the worlds of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Constructed between 1901 to 1909 the Manhattan Bridge was the last of the suspension bridges to be built between the late 18^th and early 19^th century. She succeeded her iconic neighbors the Brooklyn Bridge built in 1883 and later the Williamsburg Bridge of 1903. Each bridge received a warm welcome with much fanfare, the Manhattan Bridge no exception.

 

The Manhattan Bridge’s success masked the secret of her failed sister, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State. Leon Moisseiff’s proposal for this bridge applied the Deflection Theory, promoting a design that promised elegance, less raw material, and a lower cost. Opening in July of 1940, the bridge began swaying under relatively mild winds, and earned the name “Galloping Gertie.”  She eventually twisted and collapsed just four months later, morphing from the third largest suspension bridge in the country to a twisted heap of metal in the Puget Sound below. The Manhattan Bridge became suspect to failure with this shared lineage. With age she eventually revealed alarming cracks and closed for emergency repair in the 1980s. Proving more resilient than her tragic sister, the Manhattan Bridge reopened once again, celebrating her centennial in 2009.

Today she continues to support diverse types of traffic, and as I meandered along the walkway I slowly absorbed the view that everyone else sharing this bridge merely glimpses through windows. Laundry lines draped with bolts of brightly colored clothing, carefully placed potted plants, and lawn furniture give dimension to these graffiti murals. These terraces aren’t merely canvases, but offer community to the residents that inhabit the floors below. Lights dance in the abandoned warehouses that become more prevalent near the waterfront. People mill about on the streets below, walking briskly, pushing carts, popping in and out of the doorways that lead to Broadway. The minimal curtain walled skyscrapers intermingle with the aging brownstones, creating a rich texture of bricks, glass, and steel. Side streets slice into the bustling arteries of the city, each taking on their own persona as I near the shore. The walkway hovers from the city over the East River. Standing directly over the water, I visually trace the waterfront jutting out and curving in as it disappears around toward the West Side highway.

Walking across the East River, I observe textures and reflections of the cityscape converge, the water to the shore, the bridge to the sky. Buttresses, arches, and other architectural ornaments embellish the towers central to the bridge. Tight cables stretch intricately like a web, each bearing their designated weight. In 1978 when corrosion and cracking became evident on the eyebars of the bridge the train traffic immediately halted. I realize this bridge was designed to have an active core as I watch the trains creak through. The core of the Manhattan Bridge appears hollow and desolate without the cars and trains together zipping back and forth along her length.

Alain de Botton references Baudelaire in The Art of Travel while musing about arrival, departure, and the journey between. Baudelaire observes the ship to be “a vast, immense, complicated but agile creature, an animal full of spirit, suffering and heaving all the sighs and ambitions of humanity”. A characterization easily shared by the Manhattan Bridge. Her legacy interlaces innovation with failure and her presence endures for all as the city around her continuously evolves.

 

"

The modern lords of finance look at the protesters and ask, Don’t they understand what we’ve done for the U.S. economy?

The answer is: yes, many of the protesters do understand what Wall Street and more generally the nation’s economic elite have done for us. And that’s why they’re protesting

"

Thank you, Paul Krugman.

"A toy or nursery rhyme provides a comforting way for adopting habits. These habits comfort us and constrict us; they allow us a certain amount of control over the world, while simultaneously showing us how we are, in turn, controlled. As we succumb to the habits of our designed environments, as we let our machines guide us in our daily routines, there is always, still, the possibility of alteration, of change through these objects. Their malleability is never far from the surface. It is us, not our objects, who surrender to the principles of instrumental reason."

The Design Culture Reader, Ben Highmore

It’s Britney, Bitch.

During fall of 1999, I found myself on the wooden floor of my local dance studio eagerly warming up to “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” Like every other preteen dancer/diva- in- training I would murmur along with my classmates and instructor “to give me a s-i-i-i-gn.” Twelve years later, I take solace in the fact that Britney nor I probably had any idea what was going on. “Southern Fried Sex Kitten- Bending Spoons with Britney Spears” by Chuck Klosterman would most assuredly unpack Britney as a symbol and provide relevance to her celebrity.  

 

Chuck Klosterman’s interview with Britney Spears dates back to November 2003. This time could be considered the pinnacle of Britney’s reign. Her rule over pop culture and high profile relationship with Justin Timberlake predate the episodes that Britney ‘s celebrity now signifies (a sticky, tawdry marriage to her backup dancer, numerous crotch shots, head shaving, CPS battles, etc.) and unfortunately defines her 20s. Her fame then and now operates on the premise that everyone is intimately knowledgeable of Britney. Like Barbie, she’s rarely referenced even by her full name. This notoriety still explains nothing.

 

While ‘Britney’ proliferates pop culture, she also remains completely vague about her intentions or ambitions. Klosterman muses as the interview progresses multiple theories he’s contrived on what ‘Britney’ means.  This concern to decipher her relevance isn’t one Britney shares. “Its not that Britney denies she is a sexual icon, or that she disagrees with the assertion she embodies the “Madonna/whore” dichotomy more than any human in history, or that she feels her success says nothing about what our society fantasizes about. She doesn’t disagree with that stuff because she swears she has never even thought about it.”

 

Intrigue builds as we (the readers and Klosterman) juggle with this unique dilemma of an “artist” (a term I evoke loosely) without an intention. “Britney Spears is either the least self aware person I’ve ever met, or she’s way way savvier than I’ll ever be.” Klosterman declares. This interview tasks him to not only produce questions but also supplement answers. Britney’s adamant refusal to acknowledge any societal role whatsoever enables us to join Klosterman. We have an opportunity to read Klosterman questioning Britney, Klosterman questioning us, reflect on our own questions for Britney, and to question ourselves.

 

“This is what makes Britney so different, she refuses to deconstruct herself…If Britney were to forfeit anything- even casually mention that she occasionally uses her body as a commercial weapon- all of this would be over.” In hindsight, we know Klosterman’s prediction falls flat. Her body is THE commercial weapon, inspiring little girls all over the world to pelvic thrust, flip their hair, yet most importantly to not question the implications of their movement.

The most compelling aspect of this interview doesn’t stem from Britney’s notoriety or the various subjects Klosterman’s (unsuccessfully) fights to expound upon. This interview prompts Britney, and additionally readers, to begin providing answers. Britney’s failure to provide any commentary on her relevance certainly doesn’t make her irrelevant.  Klosterman’s provides a vehicle for us to partake in the very process that has allowed a young woman such a Britney to rise (or crash depending on how you see it) to celebrity. “As long as Spears never overtly says ‘This is who I am,’ “ Klosterman asserts,” then everyone gets to inject their own meaning. Subconsciously, we all get to rebrand Britney.”  

I Whip My Hair Back and Forth- The Brunette Complex

Surprise! I’ve drawn a blank mid-conversation again and stored my milk in the pantry, my empty glass in the fridge. A typical blonde moment. Funny how that so naturally fits, despite that fact I’ve had a wild brunette mane my entire life. While culturally we’ve come to know that those embarrassing moments are “blonde,” step- children are “red-headed,” “jet-black” hair equates to “exotic” or “silver gray” represents refinement, the brunette’s mainstream portrayal remains muddled.

 The identity of the brunette solely opposes that of the blonde. If a blonde is “dumb,” well then, a brunette must be intelligent. Female blondes are bombshells. Brunettes simply retort, “Brunette’s have fun, too” without an understanding of what “brunette fun” necessarily encompasses. Men figure into this characterization of hair color persona far less than women do, but certainly weigh in on this blonde vs. brunette battle in men’s publications such as Men’s Health or a litany of Cosmopolitan Magazine polls.

With an identity stemming solely from a rebuttal, little understanding of the hair color’s connection to a subsequent personality develops. Ready to claim “their” moments, brunettes have slowly cultivated their own reputation through careful placement in advertising. More recently the brunette has come to represent integrity, intensity, and luxury. 

 In beauty product advertising there has been a proliferation of beauty products promising everything from enhanced natural beauty to dramatic reinvention. The Body Shop, a large cosmetic franchise that emphasizes the use of natural ingredients and ethical practices, features only brunettes on its current website. In its statement on well being, the Body Shop explains, “We strive to use imagery that doesn’t play on women’s insecurities, and to bring you products that enhance your natural beauty and express your unique personality.” This association of integrity, natural hair color, and the usage of only brunette women and imagery directly respond to the stereotype of the “Bottle Blonde.” She will not be scouring The Body Shop’s products for Color Treatment Shampoo. “Intensity” and “dimension” are words used by John Frieda describing the product line specifically for brunettes. In contrast, language used by the John Frieda product line for blondes includes language such as “bright,” “magic,” and “color treatment.”

 

A visual trend in advertising also links the female brunette to an indulgent and sultry persona. Brands of chocolate candy globally lure consumers with chocolate by incorporating brunettes with a “sweet tooth” and dark shiny manes. Advertising carefully positions doe-eyed brunette women nibbling chocolate while lounging in luxurious environments. Typically, these ads don’t depict the entire body. They don’t include more than one woman or any males. The ads hone in on the indulgence of one woman, depicted most frequently from the waist up. The emphasis of the ads visually connects the texture of melted chocolate to flowing healthy brown hair. We notice body language and the brunette hair playing a key role in unifying the entire design, with continuity in the color palette and the use of fluid line throughout the advertisement’s composition. 

  

Luxury and authenticity also resonate with the brunette imagery, suggesting a sensuous persona that counters the stereotypes surrounding blondes. “Blondes may be more fun,” they say, but sultry brunettes are emerging as authentic, mysterious, and most importantly, as independent of their former counterparts.

“Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That?”- Dolly Parton’s Style Dissected

 “Mind your Mama,” echoes through supermarket aisles, department stores, and across the table in nearly every traditional Southern household. Many girls do follow in their Mama’s footsteps, fulfilling the role of the ideal southern woman who in the old tradition represents restraint, resilience and poise. And then, well, there’s Dolly Parton. Dolly’s rise in the south earnestly challenged the notion of this ideal, by glamorizing a look and providing a voice for women commonly associated with garishness and rebellion.

“I really patterned my look, the country girl’s idea of glamour, after what they call the town tramp…. She had this beautiful peroxide hair and had it piled on her head, red nails, high-heeled shoes and I just thought she was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen,” recalls Dolly “And Mama said, ‘Oh, she ain’t nothin’ but trash!’ And so I thought, That’s what I want to be Mama. I want to be trash!”

 

Most southerners appreciated Dolly Parton’s appearance and songs as separate entities. She’s hard to miss, with long, wildly teased blonde hair, bright blue eyes, extravagant outfits hugging her outrageously curvaceous figure. Parton was a Barbie long before her single “Backwoods Barbie” was released in 2008. She represents the rise in popularity of the archetypal “Steel Magnolia” so accurately, in fact, that she starred in a film of the same name. When her career hit the Billboards in 1968, Dolly’s experimental style immediately grabbed the attention of a much broader audience, even while many of her singles did not. Dolly sported a platinum wig of ringlets at a scale disproportionate to her petite frame. Clothed in bold splashes of color, she is always bedazzled and sequined. Dolly’s long red nails, lowcut gowns, eyelids and jewelry sparkle. Even Dolly herself admits she leaves no rhinestone unturned. This didn’t go unnoticed by the following that would prove most loyal throughout her career- her gay fans. “Gay rights are human rights,” Dolly simply states. Her belief in freedom of expression regarding her appearance extends to all members of her audience.

 In addition to her wildly colorful outfits, iridescent makeup, and ornate accessories, we notice that like country music as a genre, Dolly Parton does not age. Admittedly undergoing numerous plastic surgeries to retain her youth, Dolly explains, “If I see something sagging, bagging, and dragging, I’m going to nip it, suck it and tuck it. Why should I look like an old barn yard dog if I don’t have to?” Her humor and candor about aging is similar to her approach to fashion. She’s FUN. Who else in the world (besides Walt of course) has Dollywood, a successful THEME PARK that’s a ticketed experience crafted around their whims?

 Her music library challenges the status quo in country music. As a talented songwriter, Dolly has woven her rebellion through fashion into her lyrics. Multiple cross genre singles unleashed a collection of anthems for women that represent empowerment and indulgence in femininity. While still contributing to the country music genre, Dolly has carved a niche for other young female artists to fill ranging from Shania Twain to Miley Cyrus. She is an icon of bling, blonde and boobs. Yet she has managed to retain ties to her roots and diversify, instead of fragment, country music’s culture.

Mystery & Adventure: NYC’s Urban Tree House

Nestled high in the branches above, far from foot traffic, the tree house epitomizes the perfect balance of adventure and mystery. The urban tree house overlooking Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, better known as The Porter House, sits above 366 West 15^th street. Representative of the adventurous architecture in New York’s Meatpacking neighborhood revitalization, The Porter House rests upon its history. Designed by the firm SHoP/Sharples Holden Pasquarelli, the 10-story development consists of 22 luxury condominiums close to the intersection of three distinct neighborhoods (Chelsea, Meatpacking, and West Village). This surprising design elaborates a pre-existing warehouse originally built in 1905, a brick renaissance revival structure suited for wine imports and later, furniture. The fusion of dark zinc and glass anchored to the brick warehouse is emblematic of the changes taking place in the neighborhood.

 

The mystery of the Porter House emanates from the development’s unconventional access and distance from ground level. a single discreet, completely forgettable door next to a Wachovia, just shy of the corner of West 15^th and 9^th Ave serves as the entrance. Neighboring restaurants, markets, and retail stores share glitzy awnings that radiate neon at night.  While inconspicuous from ground level, this complex does not hide behind its luminous neighbors. The zinc and glass exterior sheets illuminate the sky, with flat, rectangular lights sporadically located on the building’s exterior. Within the neighboring blocks, The Porter House holds its own in the skyline against the Hotel Gansevoort, Apple Retail Store, and the massive old Port Authority building that serves as a backdrop.

 

A symbol of retreat and exploration, the Porter House peacefully co-exists in its immediate environment. With a name reminiscent of the neighborhood’s past, the Porter House fuses with its historical foundation to re-invent the Meatpacking District in New York City.