This week I wanted to talk about the iPhone app “Is This Art?“.

Made with love in the STEEL City, this app is collaborative endeavor produced by the Pittsburgh-based artists and developers at Deeplocal and the Mattress Factory. Extra-special assistance was lent by C-Monster and WNYC in New York. This project was inspired by a tweet from Nina K. Simon.

First, I think this is a great collaboration of local Pittsburgh artists and organizations to make something for the whole art community. And the best part is that it’s free of course! If you have an iphone, simply fire up the app and take a photo of an object you want to check out to see if it is art… or not art.

Clearly this is an epic question that is nearly impossible to answer, but I love the humor the collaborators have injected into the app. From what I’ve seen, the results are actually pretty accurate! Also, it’s nice to have the content users are submitting added to the website on the fly if the app user chooses to do so. I’m a big fan of the super simple app interface. A job well done indeed to all those involved!

More Info: http://isthisart.org/

A trending choice for web designers is to use a grid layout system as a way to streamline web development workflow by providing commonly used dimensions. We based ours on a design with the width of 960px because our most common visitor’s screen resolution is still hovering at 1024 x 768 (according to Google Analyitics). Our grid system of choice is the ever easy to use and understand 960 Grid System. We chose the 12 column layout.

IMA Homepage with 960.gs grid layout overlay

The 12-column grid is divided into portions that are 60 pixels wide. The 16-column grid consists of 40 pixel increments. Each column has 10 pixels of margin on the left and right, which create 20 pixel wide gutters between columns. More

Here are a few more examples of our website w/ the 960 grid overlay:

I’ve always been into art in the streets. There is something special about the mysterious, obscure & dangerous methods it takes to create graffiti art. Wild Style is one of my favorite movies to this date. Some call it vandalism, others call it art. True graffiti writers don’t give a sh*t what you call it, so long as they “get up”.  In this ever changing world of technology and open networks of communication, it should be no surprise that graffiti has evolved along w/ the digital revolution (known as the ever-cliche “2.0″). The world wide web and it’s army of geeks are rising to the occasion.

I’ve noticed a big surge of digital tools, and open source networks of communication for graffiti artists. Lucky for you I have dug deep into my digital crate of delicious links and have compiled them into a… you guessed it, list!

• F.A.T.
  Every techno-savvy artist cutting the edge should have this site bookmarked.  “The Free Art and Technology (F.A.T.) Lab is an organization dedicated to enriching the public domain through the research and development of creative technologies and media. Release early, often and with rap music. This is Notorious R&D.”
• EyeWriter Initiative
  It is a low-cost eye-tracking apparatus & custom software that allows graffiti writers and artists with paralysis resulting from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to draw using only their eyes.
• Hektor
  Hektor is a portable Spray-paint Output Device for laptop computers.
• ROBOTAGGER
  A labor-saving device for graffiti artists. An assistive tool or telematic proxy for taggers working in harsh environments. Long-needed relief for graffiti artists with RSI.
• Graffiti Analysis
  “A digital graffiti blackbook designed for documenting more than just ink.”
• DustTag (Graffiti Analysis iPhone Edition)
  A pocket sized digital graffiti blackbook designed for documenting more than just ink.
• LRPD Vandalsquad
  Be sure to check out the online graffiti tool, Graffiti Studio, here.
• The Exchange
  An international group of style writers trade sketches of each other’s moniker and it is documented here. Worth a look indeed.
• Stencil Revolution
  An online stencil art community resource.
• Projection Bombing
  One day, you will see this at the IMA. Mark my words, but dqmot.
• Wooster Collective
  This has been a go-to blog for the graffiti community since 2001. One of the best. “This site is dedicated to showcasing and celebrating ephemeral art placed on streets in cities around the world.”

I’d love to hear your thoughts, and as always feel free to share any good links I have left out. If you are incorporating technology in a new way into your art, please do tell!

What a year. I can’t believe it is almost over. We have covered a lot of ground at the IMA. There are now 21 partners on ArtBabble! The IMA has been rolling out a new brand and I’m so excited to share that with you in 2010 with the launch of our new website.  Stay tuned for updates on that soon! We created an iTouch application in-house for Sacred Spain. The 100 Acres Art & Nature Park is getting closer every day to being ready for the 2010 opening (see The Launch of Eden II). We revealed the Indianapolis Museum of Art is adding a scientific research and analytical laboratory to its existing paintings, paper, objects and textiles conservation laboratories. For all of those reason’s I’m pretty excited to get started in 2010. But before I forget, seems like this would be a good time to reminisce over my favorite/worst things of the year.

• Favorite Web Design Moment – @font-face. Move over sIFR and Cufon… typography on the web is about to get totally awesome.
• Favorite App – Tweetdeck. This app alone makes Adobe Air worth the download. I think this was my favorite app last year, but each release makes this thing better and better so i’m still saying this is the best. Now would be a good time for me to plug TAP too.
• Favorite YouTube Video – DEADLINE post-it stop motion
• Favorite Flickr Photo – Tap into it
• Favorite Community Activism Moment – Indy Culture Matters rally. Check out photos of this proud moment for arts & culture  in Indianapolis.
• Favorite ArtBabble Video – Type A, In the Factory
• Favorite News Story – This is pretty easy. Balloon Boy takes this one by a mile. I was in the office when this went live on cnn.com and we watched in horror as that poor boy crash landed to the ground… wait, there was no boy. Doh! The father who concocted this shenanigan made John Gosselin look like a saint. Coming in at a close second, Larry King’s tongue twister.
• Favorite Reality TV Star – Russell H. Though he got robbed in the final vote, this guy was the best thing to ever happen to Survivor, period.
• Most Influential Person of ‘09 – This guy. You have to watch the the whole thing… amazing.
• Worst Fashion Trend – Ed Hardy.
• Favorite Meme – Keyboard Cat.
• Favorite Quote – “Who gon check me boo?” – Sheree
• Favorite Band – Chin Chin. If you don’t know, now you know.
• Best Beard – Kevin from Top Chef.
• Worst Re-branding – AOL
• Best Re-branding – IMA (duh!) Seriously though…
• Best Font/Type Story – Ikea Changes Its Font

Hopefully this list will help you get through the light work week. See you next year!

Born mid-1995 in Southern California, GeoCities lived on the world wide web and worked it’s way into the lives of millions by introducing casual internet surfers to pop-ups, pop-unders, animated gifs, and broken html markup until it’s death in 2009.

Survivors include Yahoo, WebCrawler, AOL, Twitter, and countless others. GeoCities was preceded in death by Jeeves, Compuserve, Netscape (the browser), and Angelfire.

Memorial services will be held at http://web.archive.org. Burial will be at http://geocities.yahoo.com/. Relatives, friends, memes, trolls, and search bots are welcome.

There are several websites that made a splash via GeoCities. Kate confessed to having a fan page of some sort at one point in time… and I had a few pages lurking out there somewhere too, though I’m struggling to remember what they were. Without GeoCities, we wouldn’t have the Icy Hot Stuntaz. Thankfully, the content will never die. Find a nice collection of screen captures of classic GeoCities websites at Internet Archaeology.

Check out the Tastes of Spain 2 week menu after the jump as I get back to Sacred Spain TAP design tasks and website updates. Stay tuned for Daniel’s post tomorrow with some exciting info about the multimedia goodies we’ve been working on!

Tastes of Spain (2 week menu):

Soups

• Roasted fennel and lentil soup with smoked paprika and chili oil (V/VG)
• White Chicken Chili

Sandwiches

• Flatbread Sandwich with Oven Roasted Vegetables, Red Pepper Hummus Spinach and Olive Tapenade (V/VG)
• Hot Turkey Sandwich with manchego cheese, roasted red peppers and saffron aioli
• Tuna Salad with capers and sundried tomatoes with Spanish olive oil & shallots (G&G)

Salads

• Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken, shaved red onions, goat cheese, potatoes, mint and tomatoes tossed with sherry saffron vinaigrette (G&G)
• Mixed Green Salad with roasted portobello mushrooms, balsamic glazed beets, mandarin oranges, fennel, carrots, toasted paprika orange vinaigrette (V/VG)

Pastas

• Sundried Tomato Ravioli with Olives, Fresh Tomatoes, zucchini, squash and Artichoke Hearts (V)
• Cavatappi with Serrano Ham, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers, grilled sweet corn with cabrales blue cheese and toasted almonds

Pizza

• Chicken Albondigas Pizza (Garlic, Chicken and Lemon Sausage) with Roasted Mushrooms & Sweet Peppers
• Indiana Tomato, spinach, eggplant & 3 olive pizza with Cabrales blue cheese and mozzarella (V

One of my all-time favorite 80's movies, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo

I want to shave lines in my head. It seems like it might be too soon… but maybe that’s just me. Aaaah the 80’s… the decade you either love or hate. Maybe you even love to hate it… regardless, you’ve probably noticed that several things you thought were cool, but then decided were lame are now cool again. If you weren’t around in the 80’s I bet you wish you were. I’m a huge fan of 80’s fashion and design, so please, new generations be careful not to abuse the high-tops (oops, too late) and remember to unravel your tight rolled jeans at night. Don’t worry about unlacing your sneakers, they should already be unlaced… and if they are not, you fail. Yes, even mullets are hip again. Tron is about to be remade. Garbage Pail Kids are back on the shelves. Soon Max Headroom will be making his way back to your tube… that’s my prediction anyways. Call me out on it if I’m wrong. Even food and beverages are following the same trend…. Pepsi throwback anyone? Yes, it was delicious… I’m still waiting on New Coke though. Hello Kitty is bigger than ever and Transformers is in the movie theaters. Remember ‘The Dark Crystal’? Yeah, well the sequel is in production. I feel like I’m in a time warp but I think I like it.

Below I’ve put together a few of my favorite retro 80’s inspired things of the present:

Tim & Eric Awesome Show

Tim & Eric give an amazing satire on ‘80s video culture, ridiculing the commercials, instructional videos, PSAs, public access shows and low-budget video editing services that consumed their youth.

MIA and her Album ‘Kala’

If the design for this album doesn’t scream 80’s I’m not sure what does. The music on it is amazing too so that doesn’t hurt. The website takes the cake though… love it.

Sneakers

Finally, stylish sneakers for men inspired by you guessed it… the 80’s. Only a few years ago it was impossible to find a good color but those days are long over. I admit I’m still scared to rock the high tops… though I’m tempted.

Kanye West

Listen to his music, and check out his style… ’nuff said.

Retro Video Games

People are into retro games and thanks to the iPhone and similar devices you can find several old console games are widely available. There is just something about those pixels… they get me every time.

Cage – 80’s Again

Download audio file (05-80s-Again.mp3)

This track is pretty much sums it all up.

If you are looking for art at the IMA from the 80’s, look no further!!

Click Here to see the 80’s in IMA’s collection

 

So tell me, what are some of your favorite 80’s inspired things of the present or past?

That’s right, we are thrilled to announce the arrival of 10 new partners on ArtBabble! Along with these new partners comes a whole new batch of art videos to check out. Good luck getting any work done today!

And, here is the definitive list of our official new partners:

• Art Institute of Chicago
• KQED
• MCASD – Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
• Museum of Arts & Design
• Norman Rockwell Museum
• Rubin Museum of Art
• San Jose Museum of Art
• The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
• Van Gogh Museum
• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Enjoy!

The Mpozi mural at Spin in Broad Ripple gets solar lighting. Photo by @Muirwoody

Here is a video, produced by IndyStar, documenting the making of the mural dedicated to Mpozi Tolbert. Much more after the jump…

More on Mpozi Tolbert from around the web:

• Mpozi Tolbert OkayPlayer Slideshow – A moving slideshow of photograhps by Mpozi.
• We Miss Mpozi Celebration – “Come celebrate the giant dred”, an event on facebook.
• Photographer Tolbert Left a Lasting Impression – NPR radio snippet.
• Mpozi Mshale Tolbert 1972-2006 – Brian Jones pays homage on his blog.
• Mpozi Remembered – Philadelphia City Paper article
• Recent Mpozi mentions on Twitter
• Click here to download the entire classic Mpozi Dub mix from Crush Entertainment
• DJ Indiana Jones’ “Give Thanks 2007 Mpozi Tribute” mixtape
• Past IMOCA exhibition “Photographs, the work of Mpozi Mshale Tolbert (1972-2006)“

This quote from an article in NUVO (2008) sums up the kind of guy he was nicely:

He wasn’t a black man; he wasn’t a DJ; he wasn’t a photographer; he was an everybody kind of guy,” said DJ LeahAnne. “He could talk to a farmer in Putnam County or a guy in a business suit. The city will miss him because that persona was a good presence. He was one of those people you’ll never, ever forget.”

The Design & Installation team taking down Orly Genger: Whole

It seems this exhibition was one of those you either love or hate. I for one loved it. The way it sat and overwhelmed the space and the hefty gargantuan sizes of the pieces made it feel epic every time I rode the escalators up to the galleries. Not only did the finished pieces impress me, but the amount of work put into them was equally as staggering as the size. What I loved is that you get slapped right in the face with a dose of contemporary artwork as soon as you get inside and you are forced you to think.

However, I overheard a lot of people who were irate about the artwork! What’s that, you don’t agree with me?? Visitor comments always show how passionate people are about the art in our galleries, and Whole was certainly no exception. Thanks to @katiezarich and Roz Wells I got access (shhh, don’t tell!) to our comment cards and gathered the best of the worst. In the spirit of transparency I thought I’d share a few…

There’s no place to sit in the Oval. If you’re waiting to be picked up, you can’t see anything. This rope is awful and it’s been here too long!

The “Whole” exhibit disturbs the beauty of the soaring entry space, creating an obstruction with blocks of massive nothingnous with no grace. Take them away, please.

Horrible display in the lobby. Who ever made the decision to display “Whole” needs Prozac!

The stuff in the lobby is offensive and is not perceived by me as “art.”

Orly Genger: This reminds me of the Gordian Knot in the time of Alexander the Great.

I have a comment about the exhibit in the lobby. I really like the black things but why did you put something in the lobby that we can’t touch? We have been wondering for a long time.

I thought the exhibit (Whole) was metal. I really like this and I want to touch it.

The Orly Gener rope exhibit is ugly.

I find the lobby exhibit terribly ugly, depressing, unbelievable & a great waste of money.

I feel like I’m in a fort.

New Exhibit: Takes up too much space in the lobby!

The exhibit in the oval is interesting, but please move it to another area. It does not present a welcoming image of the museum–particularly during the haledays (sic).

While I might not agree, rest assured we are reading your comments and we take them all seriously. If you are still a “Whole hater” I’ll try one more time to convert you with this beautiful video produced by IMA’s Nugget Factory.

Ok, I couldn’t resist so here’s one more beautiful photo set of the artwork on Flickr:

What happens to Whole now?

If you are wondering what happens to the artwork next, I asked Sarah Green that exact question and she said:

One of the sculptures is now part of the IMA’s permanent collection. It’s the one named “Len” that is four square columns that come together to form a larger square. The rest of the pieces are being dismantled and returned to the artist.

Up next in the Efroymson Entrance?

Coming soon to the Efroymson Family Entrance Pavilion: Judith Levy’s Memory Cloud. The installation will be comprised of a monumental “cloud” made from white plastic photo viewers that hang on strands of microfilament. That won’t be here until July, so stay tuned for updates.