Red Bull Flugtag Tampa
Timelapse photo of The Florida Aquarium's Flugtag in flight
Take a 100,000 of your closest friends and watch as 39 teams launch home-made flying machines off of a 30’ platform at the Tampa Bay Convention Center. Sounds like a fun day? You bet it was!
This afternoon Red Bull Energy Drink returned to Tampa Bay for the only US Flugtag event to be held in 2011. Teams came from around the globe to show off their machines made of wood, foam, pvc, fabric and other basic materials. They formed these into crafts of all different shapes and sizes. Some of my favorite included a giant fork, the A-Team van, the biggest bra you will ever see, and even life-size Back to the Future DeLorean! In the three Flugtags events, and 6 crafts, I’ve helped build I have never seen the hangars as packed as they were today. I’m not sure if this was due to the layout of the hangars or the amount of attendees, but there was barely enough room to move through the crowed before the launches started.
Throughout the day weather was a bit of concern. Wind was definitely a factor throughout the event, but the rain stayed away until this evening. Weather wasn’t the only good luck had during the day. A big scare came when Little Evil, Dade City Motocross Dare Devil, appeared to be knocked unconscious and had to be taken out of the water on a backboard. Luckily he was checked out and up walking around before the next team was out of the water. Other than it seemed to be a fairly safe day in the skies and water of the bay, which is always good to hear after an event such as this.
If you missed this event Red Bull is holding a Kart Fight in Orlando on December 1st and there are rumors of another Red Bull event in South Florida during 2012. If you have a chance to attend Flugtag I would definitely suggest it, if you have the cans to built one I would encourage it. I’ve actually built 6 of them helped launch two. This go around I designed and helped build two, one for Fox 13 and one for Jana Water, so you have some catching up to do …get on it!
Song of the Living Dead
Though not a fan of vampires, werewolves or zombies over the weekend I saw “Song of the Living Dead” at the Promethean Theatre in the Black Box Theatre at Nova Southeastern University. This “Musical about love” “play about zombies” actually surprised and entertained me. We were warned ahead of time about two things: it’s raunchy and there will be blood. So with not much more than the title of the play, a little warning and clothes that could get bloody we set out with a group of friends to see the show.
The play opens with George and Judith on a beautiful day as they are getting engaged. Unbeknownst to them there has been a viral outbreak that’s reanimating corpses and of course all they want is brains! …except for the dyslexic kid zombie who wants “brians”. Intertwined in this mix is Harry Hardman, the over-the-top executive who is obsessed with the newly-engaged Judith. Harry is definitely a stand-out in the play providing such gems as the song “I’m F*ing Awesome” while wearing a double breasted suit with comically large shoulder pads (think of a business suit designed by the Romulans). As the zombie virus spreads Judith, George and a now commando version of Hardman end up trapped in a Party City with a small collective of other refugees.
A parallel storyline to the triangle of George, Judith and Harry is the Reverend Seabrook, a fire and brimstone preacher who leads his choir in “The Lord God Hates Them All”. Seabrook fears and holds in contempt anyone who is different than him and his faith all whilst encompassing the parable of the man in the flood. This leads to some very funny scenes involving him and the gay couple consisting of an Orthodox Jew and a Muslim – a hilarious trifecta of Rev. Seabrook’s hatred.
The play delivers on the promise of blood, there’s a “splash zone” in the first row, but the blood hit all the way back to the fifth. There is indisputably raunchiness, a zombie gives birth to a zombie fetus and there’s a scene about “Going Gay for Jesus”. The play is worth seeing and I hear rumors that the play might be extended through September 10th.
Cirque Eloize iD
The final South Florida performance of Cirque Eloize iD was a visual feast. The technical direction and set design of the show are flawless. As for the story, I’m not sure I followed it. In fact, I’m not sure there is one. The show begins with a love scene that involves some very nice floor based gymnastics and lifts along with an act on a Chinese Pole and some break dance fighting. After that the plot is not really present and seems to be a jumbled mess of incongruent story lines. The only way that I picked up on this being like West Side Story is that it says so in the promo: West Side Story Meets Hip Hop. I definitely got the hip hop vibe. Although it added to the story, they used break dancing for filler every chance they got, sometimes needlessly. I personally think that their “fights” would be much more dynamic if they incorporated more capoeira techniques instead of trying to make break dancing look like fighting.
Story aside it was a beautiful show. The acts included traditional Cirque performances – aerial lyra, strength acts mixed with choreography, balancing acts, juggling, a contortionist, Cyr wheel and aerial silks. Newer performances were incorporated like jump rope, rollerblading, powerskips and BMX stunts (including audience participation). The one act that really seemed to impress the audience was the trampo-wall act, which involved the entire troupe. This act worked seamlessly with the stage decor, which incorporated trap doors, moving platforms, and digital imagery across it’s various surfaces as each performer did tricks and stunts up the many surfaces of the wall. Throughout the show I could pick up that the performers were tired – and rightfully so, they’ve been performing a rigorous schedule over the last month plus here in South Florida.
Coming from more of a backstage and technical background, the set design is what really impressed me. At any given time nearly every face of the stage design had digital imagery on it. This was accomplished through 9 projectors that must have overlapped with seamless edge-blending or overlapping projection and some major keystoning. The effect allowed for scenes to change while keeping the projection from being fully eclipsed by a performer’s body or other set piece. This is quite an accomplishment as the performers were up against the projection surface for much of the show.
Miami was the last leg of the US tour schedule, but if you have a chance to Cirque Eloise iD, I would take it. The visual experience of the technology behind the show along with the cirque acts is worth it. They even encourage audience participation through live lobby and house video along with constantly updated twitter and text feeds projected on stage.
Spray Painting with Utrecht
On Saturday, July 30th Utrecht Art Supply in Fort Lauderdale held an urban art spray painting demonstration with local artist, and Baltimore native, James Damatt. During the presentation participants learned about the different Montana Spraypaint products and caps, what they do and how to perform different techniques with them. The presentation was attended by a small group of people, each of whom had the opportunity to try their hand at some of the techniques. There is discussion of Utrecht holding a similar workshop with other urban artists in the coming months to show different techniques within the art form.
You can see some of Damatt’s work gracing walls in the Wynwood area of Miami as well the FAT Village Arts District in Ft. Lauderdale. FAT Village has continuous art walks held the last Saturday of every month with several artists’ studios open to the public. Damatt currently has a large piece on the south side of the warehouses at NW 5th Street and NW 1st Avenue in Fort Lauderdale.
Fat Village – Walk’n with the Arts
Despite a tropical storm hitting to the south and the ever-welcoming South Florida heat, there was still a steady attendance at this month’s Fat Village Art Walk. New to the Art Walk were Brew la-la, Iron Forge Press, and Digital Art Wear. The Puppet Network put out a few show elements including a shadow puppeteer and projections of stop motion animation. Gallery 101 had a stronger showing compared to last month’s. The gallery had oil paintings of bulldogs by Drago Milic that were created with great color and emotion. While there I passed a few pieces made in different mediums that were very interesting – later I found out that they were all by Glauco Mendoza.
Overall it was a great night for the visual arts – puppets, printers, sculptures, painters and an entertainment company. The next art walk is scheduled for August 27th from 7 to 11 pm. See you there!
ArtServe Red Eye 2010
ArtServe in Downtown Ft. Lauderdale hosted the reception for its 5th annual Red Eye event tonight. The purpose of the Red Eye event is to “create an innovative an exciting project that adds a twist to the conventional gallery exhibit” that “enmeshes gallery art with street art.” This year’s exhibit was on par with last year, with the exception of the graffiti. The graffiti, in my opinion, was better this year. This is not for a lack of technical skill; this year’s graf was more art piece verses last year’s predominant writer influence – I just prefer art over writing in graffiti.
This year’s event also played host to a fashion show that was previewed at Art Serve and continued at The Bubble in the IWAN facility (I did not attend this portion, but hope to visit IWAN before long). In the rear of ArtServe, live entertainment was playing and the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival held a Short Film Premiere Section.
Red Eye continues through July 30th, so check it out while you can.
HGTV Design Star
I don’t really enjoy most reality tv/contest driven cross over shows, but HGTVs Design Star is one of the few, which keeps me engaged. I think it’s partially because my real-world design driven job is like being on that show everyday with limited budgets and even more limited time. This new season, however, has taken a little getting used to.
First of all, where is Clive?! The past several seasons we have watched a host lead us through the designs and tell contests “your show has been canceled.” In our house we have affectionately called the act of redubing an onscreen conversation “Cliving” – especially to interject the sponsor’s name. This season it seems as though Vern has taken over this role (Cliving included) – I do have to admit it does give a fresh, more organic flow to series, Vern always has the best one liners.
While we’re talking about judges, this year’s line-up makes more sense than previous seasons. I was always confused about why Cynthia Rowley, predominately a fashion designer, and Martha McCully, executive editor of InStyle Magazine, were there – I get that it falls under their respective umbrellas, but it was a bit of a stretch. Candice and Genevieve make perfect sense. Candice is one of the most talented (and few) Interior Designers on the network, and Genevieve is a talented decorator.
So after 3 episodes here’s my rundown: Nina and Courtland will be in the final 3 unless they really screw up; the third slot is still up for grabs. Courtland has a good design sense and almost seems like he’s the big brother of the show. Nina is over-confident and too cocky. She thinks she is more talented than she is, but her confidence gets her farther than most and if she learns that design is as much about restraint and knowing your weaknesses (sorry you’re NO David Bromstad, leave the painting to someone else) then she can harness her strengths even better.
The overall talent base isn’t as strong as some past seasons, but it will be interesting to see how this one plays out. There are some talented designers on the show, and some who seem to have been carried too much by the teams they’ve worked with in the past. It will be fun to see what is revealed in this season.
Fat Village Art Walk
Fat Village Art Walk including the Art of Alex, Sixth Star Entertainment, and Gallery 101
You’ve probably heard of 2nd Saturdays in the Miami Design District, but how about 4th Saturdays in the Fat Village Arts District in Fort Lauderdale? That’s right, Broward County is getting it’s culture on.
Saturday June 26th spirited in the monthly summer gatherings with the opening of some new studios covering fine arts and entertainment. In the last few months the area has had a surge of new talent come to join neighboring Sixth Star Entertainment, Blackbooks and the Puppet Network within the district. Some of this talent includes The Art of Alex, Rachel Henriques, Alfred Phillips, Gallery 101 and – moving in just days before the event – was the Downtown Music Hall featuring the Floribbean Swamp Funk Roots Rock Jamband, Shack Daddys.
This little stretch of Downtown Fort Lauderdale is proving to be quite promising as an up-and-coming arts district. Join them the 4th Saturday of every month through November. The area spans 4 blocks from NW 6th St. on the north, to 4th Street & from N. Andrews to the railroad tracks on the west side. See you next month.
Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, 1923-1937
Gary Cooper and Mad Men's Don Draper. Photos taken nearly 90 years apart ...timeless
We were finally able to enjoy some culture this weekend with the viewing of Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, 1923-1937 on view at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale. As someone who did not know much about Steichen’s career beyond recognizing a few photographs it was interesting to find out more about his life and work.
The layout of the exhibit starts in the early 1920’s, where many of the portraits have a sepia and faded palette to the prints, from there it chronologically follows his career through the 1930s. His photographs of the 20s seem (at least to me) to be more straightforward and less dynamic than his later works. As the 20s gave way to the 30s Steichen’s photos have more depth, both in the blacks of the grayscale and the human interest displayed within the frame. His film noir treatment of light and the Art Nuevo, and especially Art Deco styling of his backgrounds, subject mater, and overall aesthetic really began to take shape as his career progressed.
Though probably known best for his female subjects, the way he shot his male figures are both epic and timeless. The photo of Gary Cooper in the late 20s reminds me of the Don Draper character from the AMC show Mad Men (see images above). My favorite photo out of the entire exhibit was probably the smallest on display. It was of a movie director or producer taken in 1930. The man (who I really wish I could remember who it was) is seated in a director’s chair with lighting and grip equipment serving as the background. The camera is positioned lower that the subject and the lighting is of an intense key light with mild fill …exceptionally powerful and stunning.
After viewing the exhibit you see how Steichen was able to influence fashion photography from that point on. The texture and shape he could create through the natural curves of his models coupled with the lines of the fabrics they wore were both dynamic and simplistic. Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, 1923-1937 was on display at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale from February 28 through April 11th, 2010. From Fort Lauderdale it makes it’s last scheduled stop at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO from May 15 – July 25, 2010.
Naked Women Fully Clothed
This weekend we had the pleasure of seeing “Naked Women Fully Clothed” presented by The Women’s Theatre Project. The play is “A titillating, provocative and humorous collection of one act and short plays that reveal and lay bare an array of secrets and revelations.” …In plain English, it was just funny!
The format was much like Saturday Night Live, providing monologues and group skits. The cast of six women transformed a modest stage into an array of environments through basic props and some imagination. Some of my favorite sketches were, “How to Be an Actress,” “I am Pastrami,” and “Warning! Women’s Body Parts Move” – where a “Nutty Professor”-type character explains that her body parts have been disappearing, only to discover that her thighs are now on Cindy Crawford. The play was so funny that my face hurt from laughing by the time intermission came around.
“Naked Women Fully Clothed” was the final performance of the 2009 Season, but fear not, the 2010 Season kicks off with “The Year Magical Thinking” from February 18 – March 14, followed by “Going To See The Elephant” April 22 – May 11, and Wicked Sisters August 5 – 29.
For more information about upcoming events, or how to sponsor the Women’s Theatre Project check out their website, or call them at: 866-811-4111.
