African music in northern Spain? Gotta love the global village!

by Sean McLachlan on


I’ve recently moved to Santander, a port in northern Spain. While leaving a major European capital for a small provincial city was quite a leap, Santander has an international feel to it that I like. Being a port, it gets immigrants from all over the world, mostly China, South America, and West Africa.

The West Africans are especially numerous. They man most of the Cantabrian fishing fleet and work on the docks and in industry as well. Sadly I haven’t found any suya restaurants, but I did get to hear some great African music. Last weekend there was an African jam session at a local bar. The band was made up of guys from Senegal and the Ivory Coast playing drums, a xylophone, and the kora, with a Chilean saxophonist thrown in because. . .why not?

If you’ve never heard a kora player, try to go to a concert. The kora is a stringed instrument from Western Africa. With 21 strings it’s got quite a range and sounds like a cross between a harp and a guitar. Check out this video from kora master Toumani Diabate explaining how it works.

As I downed a generously poured rum and coke while speaking Spanish with a bunch of South Americans and listening to West African music, I got to thinking just how mixed together we’re getting. This mid-sized bar in a mid-sized city after the tourist season had people from at least half a dozen countries and four continents. Everyone drinking, dancing, talking, and listening to music. Nice. Later I stepped out for a smoke (Spain started a smoking ban this year) with a guy from the Ivory Coast and another from Cantabria. We all shivered in the cold rain of autumn and complained about the weather. Well, two of us did. The Cantabrian didn’t grow up in Arizona or West Africa, so he didn’t see what was wrong about the weather.

It was the only disagreement I heard the entire night. I can live with that.

Digital technology meets art with a floating orchestra of ping pong balls

by Jessica Festa on

The Poietic Studio in London in the United Kingdom has combined technology with art in their new exhibit, the Floating Orchestra. Here, 19 ping pong balls come to life, becoming orchestral instruments that increase in volume as each ball rises. By manipulating each ball, you can create your own symphony of music. And, how is this all controlled? By technology, of course, via the touchscreen of an iPhone.

The Poietic Studio has a unique approach to art, focusing on “people’s fundamental joy of play, curiosity, and exploration”. Their practice is multidisciplinary, with backgrounds in art, engineering, and interactive and spatial design. By exploring the bounds of imagination, technology, and science, Poietic Studio is able to create “unique mechanical structures that offer memorable experiences whilst celebrating the poetics of engineering”.

Want to see how the Floating Orchestra works for yourself? Check out this video:


Floating Orchestra from Poietic Studio on Vimeo.

Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, announced new smartphone app

by Jessica Festa on

The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, announced a new smartphone application on Monday that will be available on Android, iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Now, those interested in Warhol’s pieces and collections can get an in-depth look at the art in the museum by also examining archival materials, film, source images, video clips, letters, and audio.

The Warhol App will cost $2.99 for smartphones and $3.99 for tablet-style devices. To get a better idea exactly what the app looks like, check out this video:


Exhibit at Austrian Cultural Forum in New York gives a new perspective on beauty

by Jessica Festa on

The Austrian Cultural Forum in New York is currently hosting Beauty Contest, an exhibit featuring 20 international artists focusing their work on their interpretation of beauty. Some of the artists call upon their own experiences being a gay/lesbian, transgendered, or exhibitionist living in eastern Europe, while others comment on beauty’s evolution in terms of society. Visitors can expect these visions to be presented through an array of mediums, including sculpture, video, photography, and painting.

The majority of the artists working on this exhibit live and work in Vienna, Austria, however, there are still some artists who grew up in Austria and moved to New York, and others who have been raised in various American cities. Artists you may recognize include Cindy Sherman, Matthias Herrmann, Kalup Linzy, and Evangelia Kranioti.

The exhibit runs until January 3, 2012, and on certain dates there will be special events held as part of the Beauty Contest program:

  • October 19- A panel discussion will be held at 6:30PM, moderated by Gia Kourlas, the dance editor at Time Out New York as well as a dance critic for the New York Times. Other members of the panel will include French historian, dancer, and choreographer François Chaignaud, American author of The Man in the Grey Flannel Skirt Jon-Jon Goulian, Austrian dancer and choreographer Silke Grabinger, and the curatorial advisor for the exhibition Beauty Contest, Salette Gressett. The discussion will focus on “how emancipatory artistic reflection and practice has fought to reveal the hidden structures of repression toward gender, race, and age and to shake off antiquated visual preconceptions”.
  • November 10- A performance by Austrian artist Maria Petschnig will take place at 7:30PM. It will consist of video clips and live action that suggests fantasies, transitioning from the sensual to the grotesque. The performance will question the difference between public and private as well as one’s actual self verses the staged self.
  • Every Wednesday- Private tours are led at 5PM by co-curator Andreas Stadler.

The gallery is located at 11 East 52nd St. New York, NY 10022 (between Madison and 5th Ave) and the exhibit is open daily from 10am – 6pm.

Austrian pop-up store opens in Nolita, New York, in October

by Jessica Festa on

Austria comes to Nolita, New York, this Fall from October 5-19, 2011, with the Taste of Austria pop-store store. For two weeks, the Openhouse Gallery will be transformed into an authentic Viennese coffeehouse, complete with marble tables, traditional Sacher wallpaper, and Sacher cups, under the name The Sacher Cafe. Along with delicious Austrian food fare, such as the Sacher Torte, a thick, chocolate cake separated by layers of jam and topped with whipped cream, there will also be cultural happenings. Enjoy a free film screening, sample some of the best wines from Austria, listen to a concert by Austrian composers, or sit in on some Austrian storytelling.

Aside from learning about Austrian culture through food, music, art, and film, patrons can also enjoy the fact that they are doing a good deed, as part of the proceeds from the event go towards helping City Harvest, a charity that works to feed the hungry in New York.

While almost all of the events for a Taste of Austria are free, you will still need to get a ticket. Click here to see the schedule of events and reserve your spot.

The Openhouse Gallery is located at 201 Mulberry St, between Kenmare St. and Spring St. Take the 4, 6, or 6X to Spring St., the J to Bowery St., or the N or R to Prince St.

Hours for the event are 12PM-9PM, Sunday-Thursday, and 12PM-10PM, Friday-Saturday.