MASS MoCA celebrated the opening of “The Interventionists” yesterday. The exhibition is downright fantastic; it is dense, deep, visually stimulating and socially and politically engaging… not to forget incredibly humorous at times. Many times at the opening I overheard people say things like; “the building is completely transformed...” and “..this must be the most exciting and important show MASS MoCA ever did"… kudos to curator Nato Thompson who conceived this show at a time –probably 1-2 years ago– when it was stil not “cool” to do a political Art exhibition. It feels like now is exactly the right time for it as the Iraq war is coming to some kind of a conclusion and the race for the white house is in full swing. Artists range from established artists like Kryzsztof Wodizcko ("Homeless Vehicle”, “Dis-Armor"), Lucy Orta ("Mobile Intervention Unit”, “Body Architecture") and Michael Rakowitz ("PARAsite", the tents for the homeless that use buildings exhaust for heat) to more obscure artists/activists and collectives such as The Yes Men , Spurse, God Bless Graffiti Coalition, Critical Art Ensemble, Center for Tactical Magic and feminist artists group subRosa.
The catalogue entitled ”The Interventionists: Users’ Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life“ –designed by yours truly– will come out in the last week of June and will be available for purchase from the MASS MoCA (online) Store “Hardware” as well as at MIT press.
Hit “Read More” for some pictures of the exhibition.

Sugo #1

With a masthead by Ed Fella, “Sugo is not just a new magazine: above all it’s a new magazine and for this reason, maybe, it’s easier to define by negation.” Sugo is new biannual magazine from Studio Camuffo in Venezia, Italy which “...represents a unique project in the Italian editorial panorama and reflects the evolution of the…

Today we present a very inspirational treat, designer Nazanin Arandi’s interview with Cleon Peterson. Cleon has been making himself noticed in the art and design worlds simultaneously with his graphic (both in terms of subject matter and execution) paintings and a large Russian propaganda inspired promotional campaign for department store Saks Fifth Avenue. 

Steven Tapia is a pretty much self taught designer, animator and director who is making a lot of waves in the hip hop scene right now, with eye catching videos for underground artists like New York City’s own AC, Karniege, Fresh Daily. Most recently he put together a very entertaining video for legendary artists Masta Ace & Edo G., for the track “Little Young” that is currently airing on MTV. Steven was kind enough to shed some light on the path the led him to…