Video games are a $40 billion-a-year industry, and have moved well beyond the simulated table tennis world of Pong. But is it art? Film critic Roger Ebert recently argued that video games can never be art. Author and game addict Tom Bissell begs to differ and breaks down his argument in his book Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter. However, the last thing you want to tell a gamer is what their medium can't be. Gaming by definition rails against that sort of arbitrary small-mindedness.
In 'Space Invaders: Art In The Computer Game Environment' the Netherlands Media Art Institute brings art and games culture together. In an artistic, playful yet serious manner, Space Invaders reveals the influence of games on art and society. This group exhibition with Dutch and international media artists examines the increasing blurring of the boundaries between game worlds and reality. In Space Invaders media art works illuminate the migration of the physical world into gaming systems. Conversely, gaming elements are more and more finding their way into physical space. By infiltrating both game environments and real spaces, the artworks clarify the nature and influence of the computer game environments, and provide greater insight into the role that computer games play in contemporary culture.
In short, Space Invaders shows the increasing blurring of the boundaries between the real world and the game world. In this exhibition gaming is more than sitting in front of a screen and playing a game; the relation with the real world is never far away.
Space Invaders: Art In The Computer Game Environment opens on Saturday, August 28th at the Netherlands Media Art Institute. The last day of the exhibition coincides with this year’s museumnight on the 6th of November.
Argentinian foldable zine Vnfold just released its third issue Close To Nature. Buenos Aires-based visionaries Agustin Merlo and Oscar Gómez Poviña founded Vnfold; a magazine that you can check out online, open up on a table or hang on your wall.
Vnfold's shoots are beautiful, the content is absolutely renewing with fresh opinions when it comes to style and, not to forget, we’re just big fans of the sympathetic editors behind this fruitful South American concept. For BLEND’s paper issue, which is currently available, we did an interview with Vnfold’s Merlo, which you can check out over here. Go to Vnfold’s website to view the entire magazine.
To give its readers an impression of what’s going on behind the scenes of its marvelous productions, Vnfold put a video online called Last Day Parade, directed by Chrisopher Starbody.
American designer duo Meghan Lavery & J’aime Lizotte are both natives of Maine and have been collaborating since they met in 1999. Lavery studied tailoring at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC while Lizotte attended Massachusetts College of Art & Design and interned at Armani Exchange.
In the summer of 2009 they found themselves both living in Brooklyn and started working on their new label Shape Shiftr, which was a sort of case study about constant change in silhouette and form motivated by geometry.
The two designers like mixing muted colors with outspoken, lush tones and combine the use of wool and cashmeres with light fabrics such as silk. Their pieces look simple from a distance but are super detailed when viewed up-close. Shape Shiftr’s pieces represent the perfect venture into fall/winter dressing.
Multi-instrumental American musician Sufjan Stevens is working on a new album, which will be released this year. In addition to the news he will be releasing this album called The Age of Adz in October, he dropped a first single for the crowd to download for free. This beat-heavy, sensitive yet strong five-minute-song is called I Walked and makes us curious for more.
This announcement and the free download come as a pleasant surprise, as Stevens just released his EP All Delighted People for digital download last week. Detroit-born, Brooklyn-based Stevens collaborated with his friends from indie rock band The National on their album High Violet. In exchange he was allowed to record in the band’s studio and the band will appear on some tracks of Stevens’ upcoming album.
The Age of Adz will be his first full-length album since 2005’s Illinois. Stevens is known for his obsession with outerspace, supernatural and apocalyptic fantasies, that’s why we’re not surprised by the choice of his title; it refers to the apocalyptic paintings of artist Royal Robertson. He used his artwork for the album cover and as general inspiration for the tone of the album.
These extremely high, grey flannel boots are characteristic for Alexander Wang’s ballsy designs. This 25-year-old American fashion designer was born in San Francisco and made his way up in the fashion scene by creating by one gorgeous collection after another.
Wang launched his first full collection of women’s wear in 2007, which caused an immediate buzz in the fashion scene. After winning a 200.000-dollar prize from CDFA/Vogue Fashion Fund his career took a lift. His edgy, somewhat masculine designs are simple but chic and these amazing, high-heeled boots represent his outstanding taste like no other.
Baths is the new project of Los Angeles-based electronic pop producer Will Wiesenfeld. In the past, Wiesenfeld performed under the stage name Geotic. After starting playing music at a very young age, he found his true inspiration in the music of Icelandic singer Björk.
Wiesenfeld combines sounds he plays himself on the guitar, contra bass and viola with electronically produced tunes. He developed a quirky, diverse style that sounds really subtle and ambient. He was taken on by producer Daedelus to play at the L.A. venue Low End Theory and released his debut album Cerulean in 2010.
Baths’ dreamy, sometimes high pitched tunes are a little glo-fi like combined with some soft vocals and drenched in beats that make the room shiver. We like the hazy sound of songs such as Aminals, Maximalist and Heart.
This year’s electronic music festival Viral Radio will take place in Amsterdam’s Bimhuis and club Trouw. This cutting-edge event brings a line-up of extraordinary international as well as Dutch acts that host a night of fresh tunes.
Since 2007 Amsterdam-based network Viral Radio became known for hosting events that surprise the city’s party crowd. Every two months, Viral Radio hosts a night of electronic music at Trouw and the crew has organized a radio show at renowned Dutch station 3VOOR12.
During September 3rd's Viral Radio Festival, Bimhuis and Trouw present acts such as Los Angeles-based Ras G, British hyperdub act Darkstar, Gaslamp Killer and Gonja Sufi. Aside from these internationals, Amsterdam’s own Aardvarck, Cinnaman and Juha will perform at club Trouw.
BLEND is allowed to give 2x2 tickets to its loyal readers. Send an email to loes@blend.nl and have a chance at winning free tickets.
When you’re trying to eat healthy food and at the same time keep an eye on your budget, you’ll probably be cooking at home most of the time. That’s cozy and all, but after a while you will probably experience a lack of inspiration. What to prepare tonight? Well, since there’s more to home-cooking life than those good-old pasta’s, potatoes, ‘experimental’ rice recipes and simple salads, we thought we’d take you by the hand and introduce you to our beloved alternative; Couscous. This North African specialty is healthy and tasty at the same time. Couscous is prepared in an instant and serves as a delicious basis for dishes that contain lamb or vegetable stew.
Classic liqueur brand Grand Marnier came up with a refreshing new drink called Grand Ginger; it contains a blend of oranges & old cognacs mixed with Ginger ale. This combination is a match made in heaven because of Grand Marnier’s soothing taste combined with Ginger ale’s sparkles.
To celebrate the launch of Grand Ginger, illustrator Niels ‘Shoe’ Meulman created a unique logo. His design contains the characteristics of Grand Marnier’s logo executed in an extraordinary combination between calligraphy and graffiti, also known as Calligraffiti.
Grand Marnier was founded in 1827 by French ‘bon vivant’ Jean-Baptiste Lapostolle who produced his tasty fruit liqueurs somewhere near the old-school royal sites of Versailles. With this new drink, Grand Marnier took an exciting turn and is ready to embrace the twenty something crowd. To give Grand Ginger a try, put 50 ml Grand Marnier and 150 ml Ginger ale in a long drink glass, add two slices of lime and 5 ice cubes. Stir and enjoy!
Keep an eye on Grand Ginger's Facebook page to attend upcoming pop up parties.
We’re used to Dutch fashion brand Ontour bringing us nice collections of comfortable and sophisticated designs. For their Fall/Winter 2010 collection Ontour’s designers decided to celebrate the brand’s successful five-year anniversary.
Great Britain’s ambient, minimal music duo Mount Kimbie released its debut album Crooks&Lovers in July. During last weekend’s Lowlands Festival these two London lads, Dominic Maker and Kai Campos, did a performance that impressed critics all around.
Mount Kimbie’s sound is truly different from other electronic acts. The duo creates ambient tunes with influences of hiphop, minimal techno and a special link to dubstep. The guys are in their early twenties and have a new approach to dreamy ‘popstep’ that’s danceable as well.
Mount Kimbie’s performance isn’t just about standing behind a laptop and dropping some ok tunes, the duo actually plays guitar, sings and plays the drums to bring their beats to a higher level. Their much anticipated debut album has finally been released after two EP’s and a handful of remixes. Crooks & Lovers is a refreshing, diverse and appealing piece of work that’s at its best in songs such as Before I Move Off, Field and Mayor. The British musicians are currently on tour with The XX, during which they’ll perform as a support act.
If you’ve paid Amsterdam a visit lately, you might have noticed the construction work taking place around Amsterdam’s Central Station. Since this has been going on for a while and a lot of grim, steel fences have been put up there, the creative team behind Museumnacht came up with a great idea called Edits.
For this concept designers can choose one of the eight participating museums (De Hortus, ARCAM, Foam_Fotografiemuseum, Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Museum van Loon, de Brakke Grond, Tassenmuseum Hendrikje and Science Center NEMO) and make a design inspired by the museum
This contest offers talented designers a chance of displaying their work to 260.000 viewers every day. To enter Edits, you can pick a museum of your choice and upload your proposition to the website along with some other work that represents your style. A jury decides which designs will be put up and impress Amsterdam’s pedestrians. The winners are on display from October.
Video games are a $40 billion-a-year industry, and have moved well beyond the simulated table tennis world of Pong. But is it art? Film critic Roger Ebert recently argued that video games can never be art. Author and game addict Tom Bissell begs to differ and breaks down his argument in his book Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter. However, the last thing you want to tell a gamer is what their medium can't be. Gaming by definition rails against that sort of arbitrary small-mindedness.
In 'Space Invaders: Art In The Computer Game Environment' the Netherlands Media Art Institute brings art and games culture together. In an artistic, playful yet serious manner, Space Invaders reveals the influence of games on art and society. This group exhibition with Dutch and international media artists examines the increasing blurring of the boundaries between game worlds and reality. In Space Invaders media art works illuminate the migration of the physical world into gaming systems. Conversely, gaming elements are more and more finding their way into physical space. By infiltrating both game environments and real spaces, the artworks clarify the nature and influence of the computer game environments, and provide greater insight into the role that computer games play in contemporary culture.
In short, Space Invaders shows the increasing blurring of the boundaries between the real world and the game world. In this exhibition gaming is more than sitting in front of a screen and playing a game; the relation with the real world is never far away.
Space Invaders: Art In The Computer Game Environment opens on Saturday, August 28th at the Netherlands Media Art Institute. The last day of the exhibition coincides with this year’s museumnight on the 6th of November.
Argentinian foldable zine Vnfold just released its third issue Close To Nature. Buenos Aires-based visionaries Agustin Merlo and Oscar Gómez Poviña founded Vnfold; a magazine that you can check out online, open up on a table or hang on your wall.
Vnfold's shoots are beautiful, the content is absolutely renewing with fresh opinions when it comes to style and, not to forget, we’re just big fans of the sympathetic editors behind this fruitful South American concept. For BLEND’s paper issue, which is currently available, we did an interview with Vnfold’s Merlo, which you can check out over here. Go to Vnfold’s website to view the entire magazine.
To give its readers an impression of what’s going on behind the scenes of its marvelous productions, Vnfold put a video online called Last Day Parade, directed by Chrisopher Starbody.
American designer duo Meghan Lavery & J’aime Lizotte are both natives of Maine and have been collaborating since they met in 1999. Lavery studied tailoring at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC while Lizotte attended Massachusetts College of Art & Design and interned at Armani Exchange.
In the summer of 2009 they found themselves both living in Brooklyn and started working on their new label Shape Shiftr, which was a sort of case study about constant change in silhouette and form motivated by geometry.
The two designers like mixing muted colors with outspoken, lush tones and combine the use of wool and cashmeres with light fabrics such as silk. Their pieces look simple from a distance but are super detailed when viewed up-close. Shape Shiftr’s pieces represent the perfect venture into fall/winter dressing.