If we can have site-specific theater (and boy, do we ever), why can’t we have site-specific film screenings? That’s what’s going on August 9, as AIGA Minnesota presents a free screening of the documentary Urbanized by Gary Hustwit (Helvetica). The screening will be projected on the Midtown Exchange Building, so you can bike up the Greenway to get there, then enjoy a no-waste picnic while you meet your neighbors and discuss the issues raised by the provocative film about the issues raised by our evolving urban life.
The pair of local performers, artists, and electronic mischiefmakers who go by the moniker Beatrix*JAR are taking up weeklong residence at 2401 University Avenue, where they’ll be maintaining what they’re calling “an interactive open experimental studio.”
With temperatures in the 80s, the sun shining and a cool breeze off of Lake Calhoun, it was the perfect setting for the sixth annual Vita.mn Poolside Fashion Show.
If you told me one year ago that I’d be shopping at Ann Taylor, I would have looked at you like you were crazy. Me, shopping in that stalwart work-a-day ladyland? I don’t think so. Well, I’m eating my words now after taking a tour of the newly redesigned Ann Taylor space in Mall of America (MOA), which had its grand opening Saturday, June 2. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to buy things at an Ann Taylor. Continue Reading
Is there any key to the mysteries of history that’s more accessible than fashion? Turn back the clock just ten years, and you can see yourself wearing something that you’d never wear today…but of course, everyone was wearing it back then. In the past. The past(s) is (are) where the Minnesota Historical Society makes its business to dwell, and each year the MHS celebrates fashions past with a “RetroRama” event featuring looks from a selected moment in time. This time around, though, the designers’ mandate is thematic rather than periodic: the fashions on display will all be somehow related to politics. Also on tap are custom cocktails, music by the Southside Aces, and “Blingo” with Ellie Blades.
Iconic hairdresser and styling mastermind Vidal Sassoon died on May 9. Though his name often recalls ‘80s hairspray commercials and severe bobs, his career was much more than that. His philosophies revolutionized the industry and the style of modern women, both of which still feel his influence today. Continue Reading
City planning guru Charles Landry says urban planners should emphasize social and cultural capital over their traditional reliance on economics alone in the development of cities. Landry, who has evaluated the livability of cities all over the world, spoke May 7 at the Cowles Center in downtown Minneapolis to begin a weeklong residency of workshops, talks and tours of the Twin Cities.“We should seek a capital balance—not just money and economics—but to attract human, intellectual and social capital,” he said. “When we think only about individual development projects, we may lose overall needs…Everybody wants to keep and attract talented people.”A key message of the Central Corridor planning is to undertake a comprehensive plan for the area along the light rail connecting the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul that does more than react to individual projects as they are proposed, Landry said.Rather than relying on individual development projects and their economic impacts, he said, cities should ask more important questions: “What makes a pleasant place? What makes a pleasant city? What makes a pleasant neighborhood?”Standing in front of a picture of concrete highways and overpasses, Landry asked rhetorically about the cultural value of the scene to someone who walks through the paved-over district to get to work every day.“It isn’t very calming and soothing to the mind,” Landry said. Continue Reading
On April 25, the WAM Collective student group presented No White, a student design competition and fashion show, at the Weisman Art Museum. The looks were inspired by Ballet Preljocaj’s production of Snow White.
