Doug Aitken's New Installation on D.C.'s Hirshorn Museum

Washington D.C.'s circular Hirshorn Museum calls to mind a slide carousel, a UFO, a big, white donut, or, according to Ada Louis Huxtable, "a bomb shelter and penitentiary." All architectural criticism aside, it provides the perfect, blank slate for a film projection, and from March 22 - May 13 it will be the site for Doug Aitken's new 360-degree audiovisual installation, "Song 1."

Eleven projectors will run from sunset to midnight, playing what will appear to be a singular wraparound image set to a mash-up of "I Only Have Eyes For You," performed by various artists like Beck and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. The imagery is set to a slow, 60-beats-per-minute rhythm and will occasionally make the museum appear to lift off the ground. 

You might have seen "Sleepwalkers," Aitken's large-scale, 2007 projection at MoMA, starring Donald Sutherland and Tilda Swinton. It was massive, covering many of the museum's exterior walls, but "Song 1" will mark the very first time Aitken has created a circular projection, forcing viewers to walk around the building to see it in its entirety.  

Kerry Brougher, the Hirshorns' deputy director and chief curator points out the film editing challenges involved in a project like this. 

“It’s creating a whole new set of issues and challenges, in terms of how you edit a film and create a montage. There are all kind of vocabularies that have to be reinvented to...articulate a film on a circular surface this way.”

This might be the only time The Mall will become something of a nighttime destination this year, and if you want to check it out D.C is only a three hour train ride away from New York.

Meanwhile, try and rival Aitken's epic-ness with one of check out one of 3rd Ward's multi-media and audiovisual classes.

-- Perrin Drumm

Your Daily Insight as told by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.

Coffee Table Must-Have: Jorg Bruggemann's "Metalheads"

Photographer Jorg Bruggeman spent the last three years traveling between Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the United States photographing fans of heavy metal. In many of the resulting photographs it looks as if he also traveled back in time about  thirty years. After getting into the mosh pit at trashed clubs and outdoor festivals the world over since 2008, Bruggerman learned that...

"Heavy metal is a phenomenon. Although this musical genre is still ridiculed by many, it is currently more popular and successful around the world than at its supposed peak in the 1980s. Today, so-called metalheads can be found worldwide. No matter who they are or where they come from, they are united by heavy metal across borders, generations, genders, religions, and social classes."

His book, "Metalheads: The Global Brotherhood" will be released by Gestalten books later this month along with a CD samples from Nuclear Blast, the world's largest independent heavy metal label. If you happen to be in Berlin, stop by Gestalten for the launch party, featuring a live performance by Berlin's own black metal band, SUN WORSHIP. Later in the month and into April, Bruggerman will be giving artist talks about his experience on the road and screening related films, like the 1986 cult classic, Heavy Metal Parking Lot.

Hit the jump for more of Bruggemann's images and get prepped to adorn your coffee table with some killer mulletts.

-- Perrin Drumm

3rd Ward Member Barnett Cohen Named A "Contender" For His Southern Gothic-influenced Photography

'Bust' by Barnett Cohen

3rd Ward member Barnett Cohen was recently named a "Contender" in Hey, Hot Shot!, an international photography competition presented by Jen Bekman Projects, so we asked him, how does it feel? "The opposite of Marlon Brando," he said. "I feel like a somebody."

In that witty and poignant response we see the spirit that makes Cohen's work so powerful and unique. The most frequent subject of his photographs is Oliver, who seems like a quintessential "Southern Eccentric," but Cohen's photographs don't simply affirm that stereotype. "They reflect an intimate relationship based on even needs: He wants to be seen and acknowledged, and I want to see him in the starkest of terms," Cohen says in his Contender post. Check out more of his photographs after the jump.

Here's how the Hey, Hot Shot! folks described Cohen's work:

In seeking out "eccentrics" from the South, Contender Barnett Cohen met and befriended a man named Oliver, the subject of much of his portfolio. Rather than creating images that focus on his subject's eccentricities and idiosyncrasies, however, the series offers an intimate look at a willing subject, complete with relics and glimpses at a past life.

While Cohen has been pursuing photography for a long time, he dispenses with any sort of myth-making or exaggeration in describing how he got started. I found a copy of COLORS magazine many, many years ago and was hooked," he says. "I did not grow up with a brownie box camera in my hand or drenched in processing chemicals."

Cohen continues to travel between Brooklyn and the South for his photography, and in June his will be featured in Small Works, a group show at Boston's Flash Forward Festival. "The show is curated by Jon Feinstein and Amani Olu of the Humble Arts Foundation in conjunction with the Magenta Foundation," he says. "I am pretty stoked about it." Then, in the fall he's headed for grad school to get his MFA in Photography. "No names just yet but I am going somewhere for sure," he says. "As always, stay tuned."

We will, and in the meantime we'll be rooting for him in Hey, Hot Shot! The competition's grand prize winner gets $10,000, a solo exhibition and two years of representation from Jen Bekman Gallery.

'Mailbox' by Barnett Cohen

"Oliver #1" by Barnett Cohen

'Oliver #8' by Barnett Cohen'Toothbrush Holder' by Barnett Cohen

'Present Tense' by Barnett Cohen

'Mark' by Barnett Cohen

'Shaka' by Barnett Cohen

-- John Ruscher

Your Daily Insight as told by Andre Malraux

Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk--and to act.

Kickstarter Pick: Afghan Box Camera Project

Last year Lukas Birk and Sean Foley's Kickstarter campaign made it possible for them to travel to Afghanistan for six weeks to document the dying art of box camera photography, a kind of instant photograph created in a handmade wooden box that acts as both a camera and a dark room. According to Foley and Birk, Afghanistan is one of the last places on earth where box camera photography is still practiced, but it's quickly dwindling. Worse, it's never been properly documented. 

Foley and Birk have made some basic information on the history and practice of box cameras available on their site, and they've even inspired more modern photographers to build box cameras of their own, but the most exciting news in their project so far is a new publishing deal to properly document Afghan box cameras and spread the word. To do this they need to go back to Afghanistan to deepen their research and cover more ground. Their new Kickstarter campaign asks for a meager $9,800 to pay for basic travel expenses like plane tickets, ground transport, translators and lodging for another six-week stint. They're very close to reaching their goal, and are offering some great incentives for you to pitch in, like signed copies of their upcoming book, original box camera photographs and even a box camera for your very own.

Meanwhile, peruse some of of 3rd Ward's photography classes, including Alternative Photographic Processes: The Four Color Gum Print and Cyanotype.

-- Perrin Drumm

Made By Hand Film Series Features 3rd Ward Teacher Megan Paska In 'The Beekeeper'

A still from The Beekeeper.

In November we heard that the Made by Hand documentary series was working on a short film about our very own Rooftop Beekeeping and Chickens in the City teacher Megan Paska, known far and wide for her many outstanding endeavors as the Brooklyn Homesteader. We've been eagerly awaiting the film ever since, and it's finally here—and predictably, it's amazing.

The Beekeeper, the third film in the Made by Hand series, focuses on Paska's working maintaining apiaries across Brooklyn. It features breathtaking shots of rooftop farms, the NYC skyline and her fascinating beekeeping work. Along with her inspiring narrative and music that strikes just the right vibe, this one's as pure and delightful as the Brooklyn honey that she harvests.

Watch it below, but be warned: once you do, it's going to be hard to resist signing up for an upcoming session of Paska's Beekeeping 101.

-- 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

Your Daily Insight as told by Tupac Shakur

I'm a natural-born leader. I know how to bow down to authority if it's authority that I respect.

XEX Magazine Expands Its Platform With Help From 3rd Ward Talent

Fashion and culture lovers take note: XEX Magazine has a new issue on the way tomorrow, March 29. The bold, cutting-edge mag (which is pronounced "X") was co-founded by 3rd Ward member and fashion extraordinaire Sailey Williams back in 2009. "I had recently come from being an associate editor for another publication and felt it was time to start my own path," he says. "We wanted to create a platform where we could showcase some of the top and rising creatives in the fashion industry."

And they've created quite a platform indeed. Starting off as a webzine, XEX now produces three print issues a year—two that coincide with the fall and spring fashion seasons and New York's corresponding fashion weeks, as well as an annual men's issue, "XEX-Y," which will debut this June. Many top-notch talents have contributed to XEX, including 3rd Ward members like Dallas Logan (who we featured last year), Adolphous Amissah, Shae Fontaine and Darryl Calmese, just to name a few. "3rd Ward has been a great source when it comes to finding amazing creative talent," Williams says.

Hit the jump for more on XEX, including the scoop on what's in store for their new issue, how to submit your own material as well as images of some of the magazine's sweet covers and spreads.

"As with every issue we focus on the best in fashion, art, photography, and bizarre topics," Williams says. "But this issue we have added some great entertainment features. This issue is celebrity filled, featuring 'XEXclusive' editorials & interviews with Nickelodeon’s own Victoria Justice, Steven Yeun of AMC’s The Walking Dead, Boo Boo Stewart of The Twilight Saga, Dillon Casey of The CW’s Nikita, Ryan Serhant of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listings: New York, Williamsburg’s own Justiin Davis of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and several other actors of television and film. We also have some great designer features with LARUICCI and Sammy B, and an extravagant art story with Sasha Meret."

In addition to upcoming issues, XEX is also the official media sponsor for Brooklyn Fashion Weekend, which takes place at Industry City from March 29 to April 1 and will benefit the MTV Staying Alive Foundation. They also helped keep New Yorkers warm this winter through the New York Cares Coat Drive.

Interested in submitting to (or being featured in) XEX? Hit up submissions@xexmag.com.

-- John Ruscher