New Mexico’s International Symposium Of Electronic Arts

by Janelle Nanos on

New Mexico is known for its overlapping identities. It’s an artistic hub (Santa Fe is the third largest art market in the country). It has incredible landscapes (it has 13 national and 33 state parks). And there’s a fair share of technological quirkiness (Roswell’s Area 51 comes to mind). While the state has been busy celebrating these different aspects of its history during its centennial events this year, this week these elements will gel as New Mexico begins looking to the future. That’s thanks to the kickoff of the International Symposium of Electronic Arts, an annual conference and exhibition that celebrates the intersection of art, technology and nature, which is being hosted in the United States for the first time in six years. Over 100 artists and 350 presenters from 29 countries have descended on the city, and are transforming Albuquerque and the surrounding region (which includes Taos, Santa Fe and southern New Mexico) into a “Machine Wilderness,” that looks at how humans, machines and animals will coexist in the future. Their installations, which include lowrider symphonies, robotic animal skeletons, and Navajo tapestries with QR codes woven into them, will be on display through January 2013.

In years past, artists have flocked to ISEA conferences in cultural hubs like Istanbul, Munich, and Paris, but event directors Suzanne Sbarge and Andrea Polli say that Albuquerque was selected in part because its access to wide-open spaces has led to the development of technological marvels one would be hard pressed to find elsewhere. “We have huge swaths of wilderness, but we also have labs like Sandia and the first commercial spaceport,” says Polli. “It’s a strange juxtaposition that’s already here. We’re just bringing it to life.” In preparation for the event, the pair invited over 20 artists to take up residence throughout the area, and many arrived this summer to begin building out site-specific works for the conference.

%Gallery-166216%Both Sbarge and Polli hope that “Machine Wilderness” will help put Albuquerque, long seen as a dusty, pass-through-on-your-way-to-Santa-Fe town, on the map (and yes, they’re looking beyond the annual Balloon Fiesta, which draws tourists but has little cultural heft). “People think about Albuquerque as being the boonies,” says Sbarge. “But here we are, with leading scholars and artists making the journey here. It’s really exciting, and is just going to propel us into a bigger realm. There’s so much here happening, but people don’t really think of Albuquerque as a cultural center. I think this project is going to change that.”

Click through (above) for a slideshow of the ISEA installations that will be on display through January of next year.

Travel Rule #1: Talk To Strangers

by Dave Seminara on

The man approaching our parked car had an unkempt beard and was wearing a dirty T-shirt. My first inclination was to try to avoid him, but then I had a sudden change of heart. Earlier that morning, I remarked to my wife that we’d been traveling around the U.S. for more than a month and hadn’t really made a single new friend or, for that matter, even had a very substantive conversation with anyone other than people I was interviewing for a story.

This realization came to me after noticing that a friend we had met on the Greek island of Patmos a few months before had posted a photo of his cat on my Facebook page. Seeing Vlachos the Cat made me think of all the friends we made while traveling in Italy and Greece over a three-month period earlier this year. Now that we were back in the good old USA, how come we weren’t meeting people on our home turf?We were in Manchester, Vermont and had just parked our car in front of a breakfast place we were about to patronize when the scruffy looking guy that I had decided not to avoid parked his bike across the street and ambled over to our car.

“You’re from Virginia?” he asked, noticing our license plate.

“We spent the last two years in Falls Church,” I said.

“I hate Virginia,” he said. “You should move here.”

The man introduced himself as Chris and he and I got to talking, as my wife tried to corral my two young sons, who were playing on the sidewalk. In about 15 minutes, Chris told me the Cliff Notes story of his life. After graduating from college in the ’70s he walked across the state of Ohio to meet Ralph Nader because he wanted to work for the Green Party and thought that might impress him.

In the ’80s, he gravitated to Arlington, Virginia, but hated it there, so he moved to a town called Strasburg in the Shenandoah region based on his desire to live in the “real Virginia.”

“I hated that goddamn place,” he said. “I’ve never seen more ignorant, backward people in my entire life.”

It seemed as though Chris had stopped to talk to us primarily because he wanted to vent a little about our adopted home state, but I didn’t mind because our morning had just gotten a bit more interesting. Chris moved to Manchester earlier this year and said he’d found paradise. He said he was “hoping to get into environmental engineering,” and I loved the fact that at his age he was still wondering what to do with his life.

“Don’t let the high home prices here in town fool you,” he said. “I just picked up a log cabin, a little primitive but not bad, for 80k, about 20 minutes away from here.”

Eventually, we parted company but I was glad that I stopped to talk, or mostly listen, to Chris. The friends you make while traveling might not become lifelong buddies but if I don’t meet people when I’m traveling I feel a little like I’ve missed something. When I think back to my favorite trips, I tend to remember the people I’ve met more than the things I’ve seen.

After talking to Chris, I thought about how we had made so many friends in the Mediterranean and realized that the reason we weren’t making friends on the road in the U.S. wasn’t because people here are less friendly or approachable. It was us and how we were traveling. Here are a few thoughts on making friends while on the road.

Get out of your car. In three months on the road in the Mediterranean, we rented cars for a grand total of just two weeks and, while not having a car can be an inconvenience in some places, it also creates opportunities to meet people. We met loads of people on trains, buses and ferries and a few more while mooching rides to places we couldn’t get to on public transport.

Trying to visit places in the U.S. without a car is a lot harder than it is in many other parts of the world but you can still park your car and sightsee on foot or bike more often than you might think. When you’re driving around seeing things inside your car, you obviously aren’t going to meet anyone.

Brings kids and/or dogs. OK, I admit that bringing small children on a trip isn’t the most relaxing way to spend your holiday, and a lot of hotels don’t allow dogs, but kids and dogs are great conversation starters.

Don’t be in a rush. People who know me know that I have a hard time with this one. Americans have a tendency to travel like cheetahs on amphetamines. We want to cover 12 countries in 6 days and see everything that’s listed in our guidebook. That’s a surefire recipe for not meeting anyone.

Don’t get too comfortable. When we travel to another country, especially if we don’t know the local language, we are in many ways helpless. We need to seek people out to ask them how to get places and how to do things, but when you’re in your own country, you’re a lot more self-sufficient.

Here in the U.S., we have a GPS and I have a phone that allows me to pull up restaurant reviews or anything else I need in a moment. I like that technology, but it also robs us of the chance to stop and ask people for help, directions and recommendations. Use the technology, but still stop and ask someone if the route your GPS suggests is a good one, or if the good reviews you read about on Yelp are legit.

Stay in small hotels or bed and breakfast places. When visiting large U.S. cities, we have a tendency to stay in big chain hotels, but if you seek out smaller, independent places you can get to know your hosts – who are often very interesting people. In Italy, we made friends with landlords who rented us apartments in Spoleto, Perugia and Lecce and they helped give us insights into their hometowns, and in Greece, we became friendly with a host of couples that ran the small hotels we stayed in.

Some bed and breakfasts in the U.S. don’t welcome families with small children but if you do your homework you can find family-friendly establishments.

Become a journalist, if only for a day. Blog about your travels and use your site as an excuse to interview people you want to talk to.

Split from your group at least once. Solo travelers are more approachable and when you travel as a couple or a group, you tend to rely on each other for conversation. At least once or twice on any trip, split up from your party for at least a half day and see what happens. When you reconvene, you’ll enjoy each other’s company all the more so.

Make the effort. This is really the most important rule. We managed to sleepwalk through a month of travel in the U.S. largely because we were a self-contained unit, dependent only on each other, traveling by car and mostly staying in large hotels. Strike up conversations with people and don’t assume that everyone that approaches you is hoping to save your soul or fleece you.

[Photos of strangers met on the road by Dave Seminara]

Statue Of Liberty To Reopen October 28

by Kraig Becker on

Last week, the National Park Service announced that after being closed for renovations for nearly a year, the interior of the Statue of Liberty is set to reopen on October 28. The reopening will allow a limited number of visitors inside for the first time since the renovation project began and it’s timed to coincide with the celebration of the statue’s 126th anniversary.

Changes to the interior include new elevators to whisk visitors to the top of the statue, remodeled restrooms, improved water coolers and safer stairways. A wheelchair lift has been installed for the first time as well, granting better access to the pedestal for those who need a boost. Each of these changes and additions were made to ensure visitors have a safer and more enjoyable experience while in and around the statue.

The renovation project isn’t completely wrapped up just yet and is expected to continue through the end of the year. Because of the ongoing work, access to the interior of the statue will remain limited for the time being. Specific information on availability of tickets will be announced on Lady Liberty’s Facebook page and Twitter feed in the days ahead.

It’s great to see the Statue of Liberty reopening for visitors. One of the most iconic travel experiences when visiting New York City is to drop by to see the statue. It may sound like an overly touristy thing to do, but sometimes when you travel you just have to be a tourist. Definitely worth it in my opinion.

Photo Of The Day: Baffin Bay

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Baffin Bay, located between Greenland and Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is a desolate and beautiful place.

It is also very far north. Though the above image looks like it might have been taken in the dead of winter, it was actually snapped in late August of this year. Check out photographer island602‘s big set of images of the Arctic for more near-frozen delights.

And upload your photos of icebergs and other frozen things to the Flickr Gadling Group Pool. We choose our favorites from the pool at Photos of the Day.

Traveler’s Guide To Quirky Milwaukee

by Jessica Festa on




While Milwaukee is known for its great beer, beautiful foliage and tasty cheeses, the state also offers a range of unusual activities. Add the following to your itinerary for a quirky trip.

The Holler House
2042 W Lincoln Avenue

Bowl on real wood laid in 1908 at the Holler House, the oldest certified lanes in the country. Don’t forget to tip your personal pin setter as you go back in time to the original days of bowling. The historic, two-story house also features a main-floor bar with eclectic decorations dating back to the early 1900s, like signs advertising 25-cent beef sandwiches and Polish falcon crests showing the ethnic background of the old neighborhood. There is also an extensive collection of autographed brassieres “donated” by patrons dangling from ceiling fans. Lanes are close together, there are no chairs and scores are taken with pencil and paper. The best part about the Holler House might not be the what, but the who, in the form of owner Marcy Skowronski – a sassy woman who made history for the venue. In fact, it was she who started the tradition of drinking with friends and taking their bras off, and the bar now has over 1,000 of them.




The Safe House
779 N. Front Street

In the Intelligence trade, a safe house is “a secret refuge for spies engaging in covert operations.” These places look unassuming on the outside, and good luck finding the door, but on the inside are spaces for conducting clandestine activities. Serving hungry agents since 1966, The Safe House is a spy-themed restaurant containing mysteries and even a hidden exit. Wandering down dark, narrow hallways, you’ll find a phone booth where you can get an alibi if you blow your cover, as well as a wall of mysterious moving puzzle pieces and clues. The building is hidden in an alley and misleadingly labeled International Exports Ltd. You’ll need a password to enter, or at least enough sense of humor to make animal sounds and do silly poses until the doorman lets you in. Hint: Control never turned away agents on the run because they didn’t know the password. Drinks take on a classic cocktail philosophy that coincide with the spy-theme, like the “Spy’s Demise” and the “Double Agent.”




Lakefront Brewery’s Palm Garden Fish Fry
1872 N Commerce Street

Get to know your neighbors elbow-to-elbow at a community table as you feast on beer battered fish plates, heaping stacks of homemade potato pancakes, soft slabs of rye bread, creamy coleslaw and tart applesauce. Every Friday night at Lakefront Brewery’s Palm Garden, the beer venue transforms into an authentic fish fry. The sounds of the squeezeboxes and banjos of The Brew House Polka Kings, whose act features a functioning bubble machine, allow locals aged two to 92 to polka all night. Established by brothers Russ and Jim Klisch twenty years ago, Lakefront offers more than a dozen original brews including the nation’s very first 100% organically brewed ale, Organic Extra Special Bitter Ale.




The Oriental Theater
2230 N Farwell Avenue

Located on the city’s east side, the Oriental Theatre has been providing entertainment for Milwaukeeans for more than 75 consecutive years. What’s also unique is the venue is said to be the only standard movie palace ever to incorporate east Indian decor. Although two theaters were added in 1988, the theatre still maintains its beautiful and ornate original architecture and decorations. Additionally, the Oriental Theatre is the world record holder for showing a current and continuing film consecutively over the years. The Rocky Horror Picture Show has shown at midnight every second Saturday of the month at Oriental Theatre since 1978.




Kochanski’s Concertina Hall
1920 S 37th Street

Built in the 1900s, the building’s original purpose was to house celery farm workers, and then as a brothel. After being used for a few other purposes, the venue was acquired by Polish businessman Andy Kochanski, who turned it into a quirky entertainment venue. A “normal” night at Kochanski’s Concertina Bar could include regulars playing a game of Sheep’s Head, groups of all ages clapping and whirling around the dance floor to live polka music or a full out accordion jam session in the middle of the bar. Dueling polka, rockabilly bands, open mic Polka, and odd decor like a year-round upside Christmas tree are also to be expected. This historical polka beer hall also boasts the largest assortment of Polish and German imported beer this side of the Atlantic.




Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge
1579 S 9th Avenue

No jukebox, only a record player with classical tunes. No menu, only 450 classic, artisan or Depression-era cocktails to choose from that are ordered based on what you’re “in the mood” for. No wallpaper or paint, but plush velvet walls. That’s what you’ll find at Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge, Milwaukee’s oldest cocktail lounge, established in 1938. Originally a “tied house,” many regulars that go to the bar today come in and talk of when their grandparents used to frequent the venue. Tip: From 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM Tuesday through Friday, Bryant’s serves up Depression-era cocktails for half-off.




St. Joan of Arc Chapel
1442 W Wisconsin Avenue

On Marquette University’s campus lies Milwaukee’s oldest structure, the St. Joan of Arc Chapel. The chapel was dismantled and moved from France to New York, then from New York to Milwaukee and was rebuilt and completed in 1966. Containing artifacts that date back to the 15th century, the chapel is said to be the only structure of its kind in the western hemisphere still used for its original purpose. According to legend, Joan of Arc herself prayed to Mary standing on one of the stones of the chapel, and when she finished, she leaned down and kissed the stone. Ever since, people say the stone has remained colder to the touch than the others.




The Bronze Fonz
100 E Wells Street

In August 2008, Arthur Fonzarelli came home to Milwaukee as The Bronze Fonz, a life-sized, bronze statue of the popular “Happy Days” character. The Fonz can be found in his leather jacket, forever holding his famous thumbs-up “Aaay!” pose just south of Wells Street on Milwaukee’s Riverwalk. During the holidays, Fonz has been spotted wearing everything from a Santa hat to bunny ears.

[Images via Are We Not Men?, Visit Milwaukee, daniel.baker, Marquette University and Dan Bishop of Bishop Photography]