I love these imaginary cityscapes of New York showing what it would look like without light pollution. See more in this pretty NY Times gallery.

www.thierrycohen.com

Heading to Montréal for Mutek every year is always very inspirational and fun! Here are some vacation snapshots.

Jeff Mills

Jeff Mills

Jeff Mills

St. James Church exterior

St. James Church interior

St. James Church interior

Old Fashioned Camera Shop

Kink

Alex Smoke

Public Lover

Public Lover

Alex Smoke & Bryan

Palais des congrès de Montréal

Palais des congrès de Montréal

I love the new steps at SAT, light peaks through the glass circles

Fresh dumplings being made in Chinatown!

After a decadent Syrian food meal with Peter Van Hoesen and friends

People visit an ice sculpture for the 25th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival at a park in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province December 23, 2008. The 25th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival will kicked off on January 5, 2009. Picture taken December 23, 2008. (REUTERS/Sheng Li)

A castle constructed of ice prior for the 25th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival at a park in Harbin, China on December 23, 2008. (REUTERS/Sheng Li)

I went to Boston for the Brainwaves three day music festival.  On Saturday I took a break from the dark theater of warm sounds and went on an excursion to the newly built Institute of Contemporary Art.  The ICA is a gorgeous temple of light, a perfect place to look at art.  The architecture truly rivals the art.  Plus they have the best museum elevator I ever rode on.  I was delighted to see that they had a very extensive show of Tara Donovan’s sculptures.  Donovan makes beautiful futuristic structures out of very common materials.  I was only able to take a few photos in the museum.

Be sure to look at the rest of her work on the Ace Gallery site.

ICA interior photo by Seze Devres

Close up of Tara Donovan’s sculpture by Seze Devres

Close up of Tara Donovan’s sculpture by Seze Devres

ICA Boston site

Photographer Jason Tozer was asked to take some pictures of bubbles by Creative Review magazine, using the new Sony Alpha camera.
www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/planet-tozer/

John Pai meticulously joins welding rods into open steel structures that develop organically as they occupy space.
Photo by Seze

Detail, Photo by Seze

Ilya Bolotowsky Trylon , 1977 (left)
Kenneth Snelson Easter Monday , 1977 (right)
Photo by Seze
more info

Last Friday The Bunker presented a Raster-Noton label showcase. Carsten, Frank, and Olaf performed separately, with their own accompanying projected images, and then together as Signal. Their visual and audio work has been a huge influence on me for over a decade and I was super excited to see them live. They exceeded my expectations and did not disappoint. Here are some of my favorite photos I took from the event:

photo by Seze Devres

photo by Seze Devres

photo by Seze Devres

photo by Seze Devres

Full gallery at The Bunker Site

Friday May 16 Beyond Booking Presents
Raster-Noton Showcase:
Signal (Raster-Noton | Berlin) live pa
Carsten Nicolai aka Alva Noto (Raster-Noton | Berlin) live pa
Frank Bretschneider aka Komet (Raster-Noton | Berlin) live pa
Olaf Bender aka Byetone (Raster-Noton | Berlin) live pa
with opening a/v set from:
Morgan Packard & Joshue Ott (Anticipate, Microcosm | NYC)

Bryan’s Press Release for his night:
We don’t think it is an understatement to say that Raster-Noton is one of the most important record labels in the world. Formed when Carsten Nikolai’s “noton.archiv für ton und nichtton” record label merged with Frank Bretschneider and Olaf Bender’s Raster Music label in 2000, it quickly gained international acclaim with the ARS Electronica award winning “20′ to 2000” series of 12 cds released monthly in 1999, featuring 20 minute sound pieces from electronic music heavyweights like Wolfgang Voigt, Ryoji Ikeda, Mika Vainio, and Thomas Brinkmann alongside the core R-N artists. They have gone on to release many dozens of amazing projects since then, building a core group of fans who pretty much buy everything they put out. The sound of the label is decidedly minimal, composed of micro-elements, glitches, bleeps, static, and electronic interference sounds. Their sound is extremely different than most of the music which has been called “minimal techno” (pretty much a completely meaningless term at this point) in the past 5 years or so. It is deep and experimental, but not without humor and funk.

We have been wanting to present a Raster-Noton label night at The Bunker ever since we saw the same line-up we have for this show in Mutek back in 2004, which completely floored us. For various reasons, we were never able to connect with the label and pull it off on their visits to the USA. Then, back in October, we were at a small Raster-Noton show for Bender and Kangding Ray and Bunker photographer Seze found a cell phone on the floor. She got a panicked call on the phone from the German guy who lost the phone and told him to come back to the venue and get it. He was extremely grateful and bought us a few drinks and started talking to us. He was in town for his opening at Pace Wildenstein Gallery (this is a blue chip gallery for those of you not familiar with the visual art world). We were in disbelief when we put 2 and 2 together and realized the cell phone guy was Carsten Nikolai, and quickly invited him and the rest of the crew to the Thomas Fehlmann show at The Bunker that week. Well, he showed up and had a great time, agreed to come back for a Raster-Noton showcase, and everything fell into place.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Directed by Andrew Dominik

I watched this gorgeous film yesterday and the best treat was the stunning cinematography. Each scene was crafted like a carefully composed luminous photograph. Many shots were all about the way sunlight fills a room, or the way dust travels through air. I loved the use of blurry lens vignettes, an very Victorian effect that I rarely see anywhere anymore (other than in the timeless photographs of Sally Mann). The story was kind of slow but this beautiful film is well worth watching. The cast was amazing too. Highly recommended.

Sally Mann, Untitled from “The Motherland Series”

I really wish I had been able to see Olafur Eliasson Take your time @ SFMOMA in San Francisco. He is one of my absolute favorite artists and I can’t wait to see his show in NY.

Like abstract painting, Mr. Eliasson’s art can be slow to reveal itself. In an installation called “Beauty” a rainbow emerges from a curtain of mist and vanishes. Maybe you see it; maybe you don’t. The illumination in an empty “white” room at P.S. 1 changes color all but imperceptibly as you watch: from white, to faint gray, to pale pollen beige, to lavender, one dissolving into the next like shifts in weather or the readings of a mood ring.