This Friday: See 7 Award Winning Short Films at The New York Japan CineFest

'Together: Dancing with Spinner Dolphins.' (Dolphin Dance Project)

Whether you're seeking inspiration for work in one of our filmmaking classes or just looking for a great way to kick off your weekend, Friday's New York Japan CineFest program at the Asia Society is an excellence opportunity to catch seven acclaimed short films, and maybe even meet their directors, who will also be in attendance.

One of the program's most decorated films is Justin Ambrosino's The 8th Samurai, which imagines the fate of an additional actor cut from Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. The "wildly humorous" tribute even toured with Kurosawa's films for his 100th anniversary back in 2010. Equally acclaimed is Ken Ochiai's Frog in the Well, which follows a man's "meditative and transformative" trek across Japan to scatter his mother's ashes.

Kosuke Furukawa's Uguisu portrays a waitress who "comes across two mysterious customers" while working at a Brooklyn diner, which you might recognize as Williamsburg's Cafe de la Esquina (previously home to the Wythe Diner). We're also quite intrigued by Chisa Hidaka's Together: Dancing with Spinner Dolphins, in which "a human dancer and wild Spinner dolphins forge a tender relationship through the language of dance."

Rounding out the lineup are Yasu Suzuki's Radius Squared Times Heart, which snagged Best Comedic Short Film at the Manhattan Film Festival, Haruhito Naka's Into The New World, in which a woman's search for her missing boyfriend leads her into an "unexpectedly hallucinatory world," and Yoriko Murakami's Corazon en Fuego / Heart on Fire, a stop-motion animation about a lonely woman who is "visited by an unexpected guest who will change her life forever."

Sounds like there's something for everyone! Watch the New York Japan CineFest trailer below and grab your tickets for Friday's program here.

-- John Ruscher

Call For Entries: Submission Deadline for the Crest Hardware Art Show Now Extended Through Friday

The 11th Crest Hardware Art Show is less than a month away, but you still have time to submit your hardware-themed artwork for this time-honored showcase. The deadline for submissions has been extended through this Friday, June 8, and the show will kick off on June 30 with the always fun Crest Fest.

If you're in need of some inspiration, you might peruse some work the show has featured in previous years on We Heart New York, L Magazine and Craft or on the show's Flickr page. Personally, we'd love to see something inspired by Crest's resident animals: Franklin, a pot-bellied pig who's been featured in the New York Times and has his own Facebook page, and Finlay, an African Grey parrot who's been known to play tricks on cell phone-weilding customers.

For more check out our previous post about the show and the full guidelines and entry form. Following the June 30 opening, where you'll be able to enjoy music art, food and more, the show will remain on display through August 31.

We'll leave you with a brief video of "Running Man," an amazing zoetrope by Greg Barsamian that was featured in the show back in 2008:

-- John Ruscher

Our Top 10: The Stops To Make During This Weekend’s Bushwick Open Studios

The sixth annual Bushwick Open Studios officially takes over the lofts, studios, streets of Bushwick this weekend. With a whopping 500+ events happening today through Sunday, you won't be able to venture far in the neighborhood without stumbling upon some enticing visual art. 

As it'll be equally hard to decide which of those events you want to check out, we've compiled 10 we feel you shouldn't miss. (There are certainly plenty more worth your time, but look at this as a start.) For further guidance, we recommend Hyperallergic's overview, Art Fag City's Recommended BOS profiles, Benjamin Sutton's top 20 on Artinfo.com and some insider tips from L Magazine. For the whole shebang (and a crucial Google map), hit up the official BOS directory. And when you're in the midst of the action, keep your bearings with the BOS iPhone app.

So now for our picks. Godspeed, art seekers!

Defying Devastation: Bushwick in the 80s at The Living Gallery:

Bringing together the photography of Meryl Meisler, who snapped shots as a Bushwick art teacher in the 1980s, the words of Vanessa Mártir, a writer who recognized her own seven-year-old self in one of Meisler's photographs, and the design of Patricia J. O'Brien, who also taught art in Bushwick in the 80s--Defying Devastation offers an extraordinary account the neighborhood's difficult past. All weekend.

Moustache Man.Street Art Pop-Up Store at 174 Bogart:

Writer, curator and 3rd Ward teacher Robin Grearson's latest project is "a curated collection of super-affordable artwork and artist-designed merchandise by well-established and emerging Brooklyn artists." It will be the first chance to snatch up "(legal) work" by the infamous Moustache Man and prints by Enzo & Nio, as well as new work by Quel Beast and the last pieces of the deconstructed QRST/Criminy Johnson mural from Dreaming Without Sleeping. All weekend. 

Holy BOS! at Bobby Redd Project Space:

Taking place in and around a beautiful church, Holy BOS! will present a weekend full of live music, film, art performances, yoga, food and more. All weekend.

Bushwick Open Studios T-Shirt Project at Brooklyn Fire Proof Cafe:

BOS and local studio BKtees offer up live t-shirt printing of works by select BOS artists. Friday June 1st, 2012, 6pm-10pm.

Feather Weight at Studio 307:

3rd Ward's own Allison Wall will join seven other artists for a studio visit turned group exhibition featuring sculpture, painting, photography and video. Saturday and Sunday.

Daniel Bejar, Stretchin a Dollar, 2008. One hundred U.S. cents flattened by freight trains 1" x 14.4'. NURTUREart presents new works by Bejar at Bushwick Basel.

Bushwick Basel at Starr Space:

Taking its name the influential international contemporary art showcase Art Basel, this is an "art fair" organized by renowned French artist Jules de Balincourt, who recently told Gallerist "I hate art fairs." Obviously this isn't your typical art world shindig. Rather than lining the wallets of the Gagosians and Saatchis of the world, Bushwick Basel showcases homegrown galleries like Norte Maar, English Kills and Storefront Bushwick. Saturday and Sunday.

Rafael Fuchs at 49 Bogart:

The accomplished photographer and well-known man-about-Bushwick, whose work we featured back in September, presents work "exploring the border between what is 'proper' to photograph, what is 'proper' to show, and what is a 'proper' way of showing." All weekend.

Rafael Fuchs

24 Hour Dialogue on Art and Life with Bushwick at Thames and Varick:

Like to talk? Stop by the traffic island at Thames Street and Varick Avenue between sunset on Saturday and sunset on Sunday. "Peter Boswijck of HEAVY WOODS" will serve as moderator for quite a lengthy discussion. Saturday and Sunday.

3D Buildings Bushwick at 538 Johnson Ave. #401:

Self-proclaimed as "a project of outrageous scope and pointlessness," 3D Buildings Bushwick is an ambitious and fascinating attempt to create and upload accurate virtual models of the neighborhood's landmarks to Google Earth. Saturday and Sunday.

Sculpture Garden at The Onderdonk House.

Sculpture Garden at The Onderdonk House:

A collaboration between Bushwick artist and gallerist Deborah Brown and Lower East Side gallerist Lesley Heller, this project has populated the grounds of the historic Dutch farmhouse with lots of locally-made sculpture. All weekend.

-- John Ruscher

This Saturday: Celebrate The Final Weekend Of Bike Month at The City Reliquary’s Bicycle Fetish Day

Back in April one of our favorite Williamsburg mainstays, the City Reliquary, celebrated its 10-year anniversary (check out some photos and video). This Saturday, the not-for-profit community museum will present another long-running event, its 8th Annual Bicycle Fetish Day. It'll be the perfect way to cap off your Bike Month festivities.

Running from noon to 6pm and taking place on Havemeyer Street between Hope and Grand, Bicycle Fetish Day will be a cycling-centric street fair featuring bike gear vendors including Horse Cycles, Velo Brooklyn and Taliah Lempert's Bicycle Paintings, the bike-oriented apparel of Outlier and Nona Varnado, and advocacy groups such as Transportational Alternatives and Times UP! There will also be delicious food and excellent contests--from "Best Vintage Bike" and "Best Commuter" to "Best Mutant Bike" and "Best Ugly Bike." Bring along your own ride and compete for some your rightful share of the prizes starting at 2pm. Following the fair, the Reliquary will host a Brooklyn Brewery-fueled after party from 6-10pm.

In addition to the new features that debuted at its anniversary celebration, the Reliquary recently unveiled its newest rotating exhibition, featuring images of the Bronx River by photographer Jahi Sabater. "The Bronx River was an actively polluted waterway until very recently, but has become a focus point for environmental justice groups," says Reliquary managing director Jay Chen. "Sabater's work mingles pastoral beauty with urban grit to give us a glimpse of a waterway that few have seen." This summer the Reliquary will be screening New York-focused films twice a month in its backyard. "We're hoping to arrange them chronologically, so that collectively, they'll show six ages of New York over the past century," Chen says.

The City Reliquary is also looking for volunteers to help out in its gift shop and as museum docents—shoot an email to vollies@cityreliquary.org if you're interested.

-- John Ruscher

Wheels Up: BikeNYC.org Helps You Celebrate Bike Month

May is Bike Month, and while it might be more than half over, there's still plenty of cycling goodness left to go around. We recommend Transportation Alternative's BikeNYC.org, which is brimming with useful information about city cycling, including a daily calendar of bike-related events.

Today, for example was Bike to Work Day, and this weekend you can check out the NYC Bike Expo at Penn Pavilion, the Brooklyn Bike Jumble in Park Slop and lots more. The site also offers some handy tips and tempting deals for NYC's bike-lovers, as well as an interactive map to help you safely pedal your way around the city and a link to Transportation Alternative's directory of bike-friendly businesses.

Of course you can also get your Bike Month fix right here at 3rd Ward. Sign up for our Basic Bicycle Mechanics class to get to know your ride, then get to know it even better in Intermediate Bicycle Mechanics. Or learn to build your own Badass Bike Light!

-- John Ruscher

Our Top 10 Most Essential Events To Check Out During Internet Week New York

With Mayor Mike pitching New York to startups and a new tech campus coming to Roosevelt Island, the 5th annual Internet Week New York, which kicks off today, should offer an especially exciting showcase of the latest developments in digital culture and NYC's burgeoning tech industry.

The festival is expected to attract more than 45,000 tech-savvy people from across the globe and will feature more than 200 events taking place throughout the city. Many of those events require a pass, but below we've put together our list of the 10 (we believe to be) vital events you need to check out for free (or, for just a few bucks.)

Here we go:

Art of Apps and Open House at Soho Gallery for Digital Art - An exhibition of creative design work for the iPhone and iPad, featuring designers from Behance, Mixel, Tweetbot and more. Monday, May 14, 10am-6pm. Free with RSVP.

ITP Spring Show - Students from NYU's Interactive Telecommunication Program show off their latest innovations. Monday, May 14 and Tuesday May 15, 5-8pm. Free. More info.

How Design & Technology are Changing the Education at Projective Space - Experts "take a closer look at how the roles of designer and educator are blurring with emergence of new technologies." Tuesday, May 15, 7:30pm. $10.

Etsy: Transforming Search in the Digital Marketplace at Huge Brooklyn -  Dr. Jason Davis, Etsy's Director of Search & Personalization, discusses the company's recent strategies and successes. Wednesday, May 16, 7:30pm. Free with RSVP.

I Heart NY Dating Services at WeWork Lounge - Panelists from popular online dating services talk about online dating and social media. Thursday, May 17, 6:45pm. $20.

NYC BigApps: Civic Hacking, Startup Success at The Space, Inc. at Chelsea Market - NYC's annual app competition hosts a panel of winners, judges, city officials and tech experts, who will talk about BigApps' role in launching new start-ups and promoting open data. Thursday, May 17, 5:30pm. Free with RSVP.

Walkabout NYC: An open house featuring tech startups throughout the city. Lots of big names (Facebook, Tumblr, etc) are sold out but there's still time to RSVP tours of many other exciting startups. Friday, May 19, 1-6pm. Free with RSVP.

The Webby Awards at Hammerstein Ballroom - The 16th edition of the annual awards is a private event, but you can watch it all live online. Monday, May 21, 4pm-8pm.

Baeble Music Video Exhibition at the World Financial Center Winter Garden - The music video site curates an exhibition on the Winter Garden's huge video wall. All week, noon-2pm. Free. More info.

#WDESIGN: A W Times Square Exhibit with Instagram NYC at W New York - Dubbed as "one of Manhattan’s first ever Instagram photo exhibitions," the showcase will feature work by six popular Instagram photographers as well as user-submitted images from around the world. All week, free. More info.

Bonus: Time Inc's "10 NYC Startups To Watch" - It isn't an event, but this annual list, which debuted last year during Internet Week New York, gives you the scoop on what local tech newcomers you should be keeping an eye on, like the design marketplace Fab, art discovery tool Art.sy and virtual personal assistant coordinator Fancy Hands.

-- John Ruscher

Call For Entries: Be Part Of This Summer's Crest Hardware Art Show

A hand truck and shopping cart crocheted by Olek. A skull made out of Phillips-head screws. A chandelier with snaky spirals of rubber tubing. These are just a few of the creations that have been featured in past editions of the legendary Crest Hardware Art Show at Williamsburg's Crest Hardware, and you have until May 31 to add to that list by submitting your own work for this summer's exhibition. 

The 11th Crest Hardware Art Show opens on June 30 with Crest Fest 2012, a day-long throw-down full of art, music, food, beverages and other great stuff from local vendors, and the art will remain on display through August 31.

Per tradition, all work "must be about, made with or inspired by hardware," so keep that in mind when crafting and submitting your entry. Check out the full guidelines and official entry form, and soon you, too, could be part of what Time Out New York has described as "a cadre of talented artists capable of turning lug nuts, bolts and rivets into show-worthy pieces."

For additional inspiration we'll leave you with this Brooklyn Independent Television segment about Crest Hardware and its renowned art show:

-- John Ruscher

Ear To Mind To Stage: NYC Music Organization Premieres Contemporary Piano Music At Carnegie Hall

Jenny Q. Chai

Earlier this year we told you about the new Ear to Mind website created by 3rd Ward Web Design teacher David Karlins, and this Thursday, April 19 the NYC music organization will present the Carnegie Hall concert that inspired that new online destination.

The concert is a solo recital by acclaimed pianist and Jenny Q Chai, who will perform the world premiers of "Parallel Lines," a piece by composer and Ear to Mind co-director Inhyun Kim, and "Current," by Taiwanese composer Ashley Fu-Tsun Wang. The program also includes the US premier of "Innige Cavatina" by Italy's Marco Stroppa, as well as works by Debussy, Ligeti, Messiaen, Kurtág and Schumann. With the concert's diverse selection of works, Chai presents a broad musical survey. "I feel a sense of contentment programming creative concerts, mixing and matching old and new works, so as to highlight what is most special in each piece," she says. "After all, nothing comes from nothing, and new music is very much connected to that which came before."

For more information check out Page4Music's podcast interview with Chai, Kim and Ear to Mind board member Ruyi Lu.

The concert starts at 7:30pm this Thursday at Zankel Hall, which happens to be both Carnegie Hall's oldest and newest performance space. The hall, which New York magazine says "feels like a sacred underworld swathed in sea glass and forest green," hosted Carnegie Hall's very first concert, a 1891 piano recital, before splitting off to become a theater then cinema during the 20th century. It was revamped and reunited with the world-renowned music venue in 2003. Grab tickets for Ear to Mind's concert here.

-- John Ruscher

Essential Event: Dr. Mitchell Joachim Envisions The Cities Of The Future This Thursday At 3rd Ward

 

Are we ready for the future? Something of a loaded question, but Dr. Mitchell Joachim will tackle it this Thursday in Envisioning Ecological Cities: The Sci-Fi Based Solution to Climate Change, a free lecture taking place right here at 3rd Ward from 7:30-9:30pm.

Mitchell is the co-founder of Terreform ONE, a nonprofit think tank dedicated to fostering ecological design and sustainability in cities around the world. From July 9 to August 3 the Brooklyn-based organization will be presenting ONE Lab Summer 2012: Future Cities, a four-week program that "will address the emerging discipline of global urbaneering by assembling a wide range of innovators from fields as diverse as architecture, material scence, urban design, biology, civil engineering and media art." ONE Lab will include a design studio, workshops and a Future Cities Seminar, which will feature speakers including vertical farming pioneer Dr. Dickson D. Despommier, architect and artist Vito Acconci and artist and engineer Natalie Jeremijenko.

Interested? Come check out Joachim's lecture on Thursday for a sneak peak of the issues and ideas that ONE Lab will address this summer. He'll talk about how urban design can work towards better and more effective solutions by anticipating and planning for the impact of innovative technologies.

Get ready by watching his appearance on The Colbert Report from back in 2009:

-- John Ruscher

New Brooklyn Museum Exhibition Explores Keith Haring's Formative Years

Keith Haring (American, 1958–1990) Untitled, 1980 Ink on orange paper 36 x 35 1/2 in. (91.4 x 90.2 cm) Collection Keith Haring Foundation. © Keith Haring Foundation

Lots of amazing stuff was happening in New York City between 1978 and 1982—punk rock, the explosion of hip-hop, Woody Allen's Manhattan and the emergence of The Kitchen as an avant-garde arts hub (just to name a few.) Right in the middle of that perfect storm of creative culture was a young Keith Haring, who moved to the city in 1978 at the age of 19 to study at the School of Visual Arts.

Keith Haring: 1978–1982, which opens March 16 at the Brooklyn Museum, explores the development of Haring's artistic style and language during that period through more than 300 pieces, ranging from works on paper and experimental videos to sketchbooks, exhibition flyers and subway drawings. The exhibition includes some of Haring's earliest works, which will be on public display for the first time.

During his first few years in New York, Haring befriended fellow artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kenny Sharf. In 1980 he began creating the iconic figurative drawings that would populate his art for the rest of the decade, until his death in 1990. He also organized performances and exhibitions by other artists, often staging them in unusual and temporary locations. The exhibition highlights that curatorial work through his flyers for such events, such as the one you'll find after the jump below.

"Keith has always stood outside the art world, because his art is the people's art," Yoko Ono said in Haring's biography. "In that way, he is like a record producer of pop music—of groups whose songs reach out to the people. John Lennon did that, and the Beatles did that in the sixties. Keith is doing exactly the same thing, and that’s why he communicates on such a big level."

Keith Haring: 1978-1982 opens Friday, March 16 and will be on view through July 8.

Keith Haring (American, 1958–1990) Flyer for Des Refusés at Westbeth Painters Space, New York City, February 10, 1981. Acrylic and ink on paper. Collection Keith Haring Foundation. © Keith Haring Foundation

-- John Ruscher