Today the web-based International Museum of Women launchesMAMA: Motherhood Around the Globe, an online exhibition that I could hardly be more excited about. It will combine art, video documentary, and storytelling to explore the aspirations of a dynamic set of women (including but not limited to working mothers in China, the First Ladies of Africa, and surrogate mothers in India). Other topics including work, identity, advocacy, and modern fatherhood will be spotlighted throughout this year.
Novelist Aminatta Forna said it well when she explained that “to me there is no more pressing concern today than maternal health, and the global failure to save women’s lives is a human rights disaster. The IMOW’s timely exhibition highlights both the wonders and the terrible tragedy which motherhood can be.”
Christy Turlington Burns’ organization Every Mother Counts is partnering on the exhibit, but the body of community work is by no means intended only for new mothers. Instead, it’s created to be a resource for anyone who cares about mothers and children, who’s concerned about the health and leadership of women globally, who has a child, or who has been a child.
This morning I saw a little boy, maybe three years old, walk into a coffee shop door (which would have been me on any other day). It wasn’t because he’s just getting his balance; he had a smartphone in hand and eyes on screen, making him a sort of miniature version of the distracted adults around. It has me thinking about how we design for awareness and more multimedia decision-making.
This year our d.school Design Garage team “The Presence Project” will be focusing on this issue exactly, and I couldn’t be more excited about the work. If you’re also interested in mindfulness and multitasking, the New York Times and Slate have run thoughtful pieces this week and there’s lots of dialogue at #calmingtech.
I’ve been listening to 99% Invisible while traveling, and the design series’ fresh take on everything from elevator audio to the group Anonymous is well worth sharing. Created by East Bay producer Roman Mars (whose talents I know from Chicago Public Radio), the episodes are brief–and great–enough to listen to twice.
After spending the week with family and friends in and around Miami, I was ecstatic to see “Here Comes the Neighborhood,” a not-so-new but utterly amazing project out of the Wynwood neighborhood. Graffiti writers and artists have worked in the troubled area to create commissions–however temporary–in a place where the general urban undesirability had been much longer-lasting. A contributor to an OpenIDEO challenge about revitalizing cities shared the “docuseries” that has resulted from the project, and I highly recommend it as a great use of an hour during these holidays.
After collaborating recently with a few CS grad students who are focused on music visualization software, I was excited to come home from the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts’ benefit to play around with a tool the organization shared, Seaquence. The “experiment in musical composition” reminds me of projects that use knitted sea life-themed sculpture to demonstrate the physical world, this time through sound. Synthesized personal orchestras are easily shared, and the visuals are a lot of fun to try. Go GAFFTA.
It’s taken 24 hours to write about Eve Ensler’s speech at Grace Cathedral since it happened (bad blogger!), mostly because it’s taken as long to process the playwright’s words of wisdom. I could try to quote the V-Day founder and activist’s words from the night (among my favorites: “I’m only as good as the community I work with” and “the only salvation is kindness”) but would rather reflect on the fact that it happened at all. It’s surprising not just because the event was hosted at a Christian church or because Ensler’s life was nearly claimed by uterine cancer, but because more than 1,000 women and men were ready to really hear her message about personal accountability. A core theme–we’re obsessed with who we are, well the why and what we do is much more essential–has resonated with me all day. And made me wonder what we will do with it.
(Dancing as part of the One Billion Rising project to end violence against women and girls and participating in the play Emotional Creature when it opens at Berkeley Rep are two good places to start. And, until then?)
“Have a good time saving the world. Otherwise, you’re just going to depress yourself.”
The Brower Center’s call for artist responses to founder David Brower’s inspiration yielded 500 submissions recently, and select works are soon to be gracing the gallery walls. Thursday will see the Berkeley-based opening of hello tomorrow: Bay Area Artists Envision the Future and art that ranges from installations, avant-garde and paintings. Mari Andrews, Claire Brandt and Noah Breuer are among those whose contributions are worth experiencing.
I’m back in SF where I belong, and, as I look through plans for the beginning of June, am excited for a Thursday book party to honor the work of Clare Rojas. The painter and printmaker is releasing (with Chronicle Books) “Everything Flowers” and signing copies at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in the early evening. Her colorful work includes elements of “West Coast modernism, Quaker art, Latino folk art, Native American craft, and contemporary art practices,” according to the publisher, and it’s got a fair amount of gender discourse as well. Do explore.
If you’re the type to have physical newspaper and magazine clips strewn about (and it’s hard to fault you, as long as you’ve recycled the rest), Delivereads may be just what’s needed. The brainchild of investor and writer Dave Pell, the effortless tool is ink and paper-free and delivers select content via Kindle. Lifestyle, culture and news features can be coming your way upon the quick submission of a @kindle email address.
A Friday night party at Peace Industy’s showroom (which moved the whopping distance from Octavia to Hayes recently) promises new artwork by Melina Raissnia and Kelly Defayette. The duo designs the rugs that have brought beauty to Hayes Valley twice over, and they’ll be bringing their geometric paintings and prints together to start the weekend. Champagne to be on hand, of course.
