Pitchfork   The Dissolve   Festivals: Chicago | Paris

Colectivo Futuro is tough to define. Edited by the London-based trio of Miguel Colmenares, Arash Fattahi, and Oliver Brunetti, the group currently functions as an editorial body that books events, but in the near future the group plans to operate a physical location, start a print magazine, and host a radio show. During the first week of October, they'll get a crack at running a physical location with a pop-up print and drawing exhibition in New York. The show features all New York-based artists including work from Paul Windle, Kike Besada, Elliott Burford, and Akiha Yamakami.

Collective Futures will be open for one night, on October 4, at 178 Delancey Street, New York.







Trust us that by the end of the new Holy Ghost! clip for "Okay," you'll appreciate the bluish color distortion of the opening scenes for much more than a digital filter. The video follows the pair through a bunch of screen-within-a-screen transitions, until the progression ends in a gallery space with a cameo from their awesomely weird Dynamics cover art. Check out the clip below, with some stills of the type-heavy title cards. 

Head to Pitchfork for Holy Ghost!'s fall tour dates. Dynamics is out now from DFA









Images via Gant Rugger Instagram

The historically collegiate Gant Rugger is a flurry of activity this fall—they've even got a collab salsa going (you'll have to get your chips off the rack, though). The youthful Gant brand is also staking its claim in bricks and mortar. Following on the success of the Chicago opening this summer, Gant Rugger has opted for Paris for a new outpost. And we tend to think the Parisians are just as taken with the oh-so-American brand as the rest of us. While the goods might be American, the interiorlook is French—Gant Rugger says it has preserved the original architecture as much as possible. The space features custom floors, white-tiled walls, copper detailing, and vintage furnishing in a brasserie-inspired design at 116 Rue Vielle du Temple.

Visit Gant Rugger for more info.

We can't vouch for the fit of the Dirtball Green Jean, but the America-made denim line does seem to have the eco-friendly bases covered better than most. It touts 100% recyclable material in its NC-made fabric—cotton from the cutting room floor and polyester from recycled water bottles. It also touts its various American-made elements and final sew in SC. The jean comes in regular, rigid, khaki, and enzymed.

You'll need to pledge $85 or more to get a pair via Kickstarter. With less than a week to go, the campaign has a long way to go.

Photo by: Chris Bilheimer | Mr. Show band logos, circa 2002

Logo designs by Chris Bilheimer, used with permission.

Eleven years ago, designer Henry Owings worked on the "Mr. Show" book What Happened? with his design mentor Chris Bilheimer. Recently, when Owings's dogs upended a filing cabinet in his home office, Owings discovered this sheet of logos that Bilheimer designed for the fictional bands from "Mr. Show." With "Mr. Show" back on the road this fall, it seems a good time to note that comedy isn't just about timing, it requires hitting the right tone with graphic design details.

There are only a few days left of Helsinki Design Week, and whether or not you'll find yourself in the Finnish capital, here are five picks from the massive showing of design objects, furniture, textiles, and tableware. 


Hot Cube Minimal Sauna
It wouldn't be a true Finnish design festival without an awesome sauna on view. Sculptor Harri Markkula's Hot Cube sauna sits suspended above the River Aura, with a latticed floor so visitors can observe the aquatic life below the deck. Accessible only by a small bridge, Markkula's sauna is designed to be a sensory experience, with prominent scents of fire, water, wood, and tar.


(photo via Softcity)

Hay's DLM Table
We've only written about the Danish design firm Hay in passing, but if Instagram posts are any indicator, its DLM side table caught a lot of eyes at this year's festival. The minimal table features an unexpected handle in the center, and was shown as part of the Finnish Design Shop's pop-up shop held in an old customs warehouse. Also unexpected was the display of about one dozen tables stacked on top of each other in a corner. 


Marimekko Weather Diary Tableware

Tableware, textiles, and light fixtures, especially by Finnish designers, had a strong showing at the festival. While it was possible to experience a Finnish table setting by more than a handful of designers, Marimekko's single place setting and printed textile display of their Weather Diary series stood out. 


Open Studio Bike Tours

Out-of-towners would be hard pressed to find a better use of a few hours than taking one of the guided bike tours of local open studios. It's an especially nice option if you've spent your budget at the pop-up store, and maxed out your time in the Hot Cube. The tours cover both architecture and design studios

Events/Lectures/Workshops
The workshops and lectures at the festival were refreshingly productive. An IKEA presented demonstration had children commission kitchen designs, a laser-cutting workshop offered a chance to customize almost any item, and a graphic design class tasked students with creating a new logo for the Finnish city of Kerava. A more site-specific lecture chronicled the history of Helsinki's parks.

Helsinki Design Week runs until September 22 in various locations around the capital.

In the world of LiarTownUSA, Pat Boone recorded a live album at Jonestown, Mila Kunis is perpetually “80% upset,” ankle scarves are the latest fashion trend, and raccoons have a Pope (and sometimes they’re called “toilet bears”). Created by Sean Tejaratchi, the graphic designer behind the legendary Crap Hound series of anthologies of scavenged vintage line art, LiarTownUSA is a next-door universe where the banality of late-capitalist existence is amplified to a sinister (and hilarious) extreme, fleshed-out with expertly faked cultural detritus like romance novels (Juggalo’s Surrender by Jeffrey Anne Durango), Netflix listings (Ghost Puncher: Spirits of the Old Plantation), and Yankee Candle scents (“Summer Jorts”). The consistency and uncanniness of Tejaratchi’s vision is matched only by its ability to send creepy, Lovecraftian feelings up and down your nervous system even as you ROFL.

Follow LiarTownUSA on Tumblr.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by: Kendra Heisler | Fountain New York 2013

There's a large contemporary and modern art fair hitting Chicago this weekend (the monstrous EXPO Chicago at Navy Pier)—but we're more curious about the small energetic one happening nearby. Fountain Art Fair Chicago, spun-off of the exhibitions of avant garde artwork in New York during Armory week and Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach, features exhibitions from Arch Enemy Arts, Cinqunquatre of Montreal, Maxwell Colette Gallery of Chicago, S&J Projects of NY and many more (read Fountain's full list of exhibitors), a weekend-long performance art series TUYAU, the sonic sculpture installation Dave Ford’s Swing Set Drum Kit, and nighttime sets from DJ Reuben Wu of Ladytron and Detroit synth rockers ADULT.

Fountain Art Fair runs Friday through Sunday at Mana Contemporary, 2233 S. Throop St, Chicago, IL. Friday’s VIP Preview from noon until 7pm benefits the Detroit Institute of Arts is followed by an opening night reception open to the public. Tickets are available online and at the door, including $15 weekend passes. Complimentary shuttle service is available from EXPO Chicago at Navy Pier all weekend. 

Photo by: Holly Carden and Wayne Nichols | “Untitled (Add-On Drawing), 2013, colored pencil on paper

Creative expression might not be a high priority for those housed within the concrete walls of Tennessee’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, home to the state’s electric chair and lethal injection machinery. The insiders are likely more concerned with the grim reality of their situation. But thanks to artwork created by prisoners in tandem with students and professors at nearby Watkins College of Art, Design & Film in Nashville, the wider world has a window into ther lives and minds.

Robin Paris and Tom Williams with writing by Gary Cone, Harold Wayne Nichols, and Donald Middlebrooks: Surrogate Project For Harold Wayne Nichols, The Night Sky Series

Watkins professors Robin Paris and Tom Williams spearheaded “Unit 2 (part 1),” a series of collaborations between students, local artists, and 11 death row inmates. The project is split between collaborative "add-on" works, where students added to and modified pieces in a back-and-forth exhange with prisoners, and “surrogate projects,” creations directed by incarcerated artists who physically couldn’t follow through on their ideas in the outside world. Within this framework, a simple photo of a night sky gains extra resonance, as the transfixing image of stars is one the artist hadn't seen for three decades.

 Exhibition at Coop Gallery

“This project has fundamentally changed my understanding of both criminal justice and prison,” says Williams. “Many of these prisoners look a lot more like us than we've been told, and we look a lot more like them. They're billed as 'the worst of the worst' within the popular media, but the situation seems far more complex than that to me now. Death row raises a lot of difficult questions. Many of them are responsible for serious crimes. But they have also been failed by a justice system that has offered them inadequate defense and has failed to consider the often-tragic circumstances that led up to their crimes. In many instances, their crimes are comparable to those of individuals living with sentences that are far less severe.” 

Upreyl Mitchell and Kennath Artez Henderson: Photograph and drawing
 Abu Ali Abdur’Rahman and Kristi Hargrove: Untitled, mixed media on paper

"Unit 2 (part 1)" can be seen at the Coop Gallery at 75 Arcade Street in Nashville through September 28. Future collaborations are planned but, as Williams notes, “Many of the insiders don't have a lot of time, which is a difficult thing to consider.”

We weren't all so lucky as to attend high school's where making the varsity squad was easy and the letter jacket colors were anything to write home about. Some legit letter jackets are best kept in the heirloom closet. But for those of us who long for that sturdy, college-bound comfort, Unis is filling in the gap. The Unis NY AW13 Varsity Jackets come in familiar black/blackblack/navy and black/loden colorways, a new maroon/brandy model and a luxe, all-black Loro Piana version, with an Italian wool body and premium sheepskin leather sleeves. The entire line is made in the States and features a quilted liner, a ribbed collar and hem, and a slimmer fit than the bulbous yellow number mom keeps in your old closet. And big plus: no one will know your only letter was for Model UN.

Get the Unis AW13 Varsity Jacket at UnisNewYork.com.