1) MASS MoCA:Scribble Drawing Preview

For the Cinema YouTube Video of the Day, Click here>>

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I may hate reality TV, but I do love Project Runway and last night, Project Runway loved green!

Last night the contestants had to make an environmentally friendly outfit by using green fabrics or environmentally responsible textiles. And more than that, the designers couldn’t even but the fabric themselves - their models had to do it. I have to say, I love it. A lot of their designs were pretty awesome - and it’s pretty awesome that they were made from environmentally awesome materials.

The guest judge was also a treat, green shoe designer Natalie Portman! You may recall that Portman designed vegan shoes for Te Casan.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Nicole Hughes:

Should Drive-Thrus Be Banned?

Eco-Moms Mad About “Greenwash” Barbie

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Andy Kondrat:

Home Depot Will Recycle Your CLF Bulbs for Free

Department of Energy Predicts 50% Energy Increase By 2030

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Jon Popham:

NYC Waterfalls Installation Starts This Week

Capt. John Smith Is Back…and Running for President

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Giulia Rozzi:

Yoga Across the Border

Emile Norman: By His Own Design

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Gina Telaroli:

Silverdocs 08: A Post-Fest Wrap-Up

Human Rights Watch 08: Letter to Anna

Monday night the film Emile Norman: By His Own Design debuted on PBS. Emile Norman is a self-taught California artist, who at age 90 is still working on his craft. 

The film tells the story of Norman’s independent spirit—how it developed from his early days on a walnut ranch in the San Gabriel Valley and brought him success in New York City in the 1940s and

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New Zealand Maori artist Rangi Kipa is presenting his first solo exhibition in the United States at New York City’s Goff & Rosenthal Gallery. The exhibit consists of three media from the artist:

• - Colorful Staron and Corian Parata (Maori Masks - as seen, left), each uniquely carved and inlaid.
• - Six handcarved and brightly colored ironwood Pou (Maori Panels).
• - One large drawing.

The artist’s work with age-old Maori forms such as the Pou and Parata, is offset with this use of modern synthetic materials such as Staron and Corian bridging the gap between traditional and contemporary art.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

“The First Time I Every Saw Your Face” May Be the First Time You Hear About Ewan MacColl

California’s Gay Marriage Ban Overturned & 5 Ways To Take Action

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Nicole Hughes:

“Bottlemania” Book Takes Bottled Water Industry To Task

Arnold Tells Automakers To “Stop Whining” About Tougher California Emissions Standards

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Andy Kondrat:

Department of Energy Forecasts Large Increase In Wind Power Usage

Edward Norton & Gavin Newsom Speak To Congress About Environmental Building Practices

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Jon Popham:

Spencer Tunick Strips Hundreds Naked

Lichtenstein Sculptures At Fairchild Garden In Miami

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Giulia Rozzi:

Does Being Ethical Pay?

Is the Anti-Female Genial Mutilation Campaign Offensive?

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Gina Telaroli:

A Global Look At Media On Pangea Day

Everything Cinema: Brody Takes On the Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard

Robert Rauschenberg has passed away at the age of 82. The prolific American artist who defined the term multimedia died yesterday at his home on Captiva Island, Florida. The cause of death was heart failure according to Arne Glimcher, director of the Pace Wildenstein gallery in New York, which had represented Rauschenberg.

Robert Rauschenberg was a pioneer in pushing art beyond the not so cozy confines of Abstract Expressionism. His works incorporated a multitude of untraditional materials including consumer items and even junk the artist would find on the street. Said the departed:

“I really feel sorry for people who think things like soap dishes or mirrors or Coke bottles are ugly, because they’re surrounded by things like that all day long, and it must make them miserable.”

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“Deluxe” is a new exhibit of photographs, video and sculpture by visual artist Stuart Hawkins. The installation presents the stark contrast between the developing world and the elite vacation resorts found along coastlines and elsewhere in many developing countries.

Hawkins worked with local artists in Kolkata, India to create oversized prop sculptures of items typically found at a luxury resort, such as the giant hotel bed seen in the photo, enormous tennis courts and rackets, and a supersized beach umbrella. The props are then placed in less opulent settings indicative of the developing world and photographs are taken of local Kolkata residents doing improvised performances with the items. After the shoot, the materials from the props were taken apart and recycled back into the community in Kolkata as carpets, insulation, tents and tables. According to the press release:

“The realm of the elite is re-contextualized, resituated, and re-built with the hands of many and not a few.”

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Spencer Tunick stripped hundreds of willing participants naked over the weekend for a new photography installation shot in Austria. The American photographer, who has taken nude to a whole new level, snapped photos of 1,800 disrobed subjects in an Austrian soccer stadium that will play host to this year’s 2008 Euro Cup Finals. Tunick arranged the subjects throughout areas of the stands, having been prohibited from using the grass playing field due to official’s concerns about wear and tear. According to the photographer’s website:

“This very special ephemeral installation that we are inviting you to be part of is devised to capture and combine the spirit of sports, the grand sweeping waves of stadium architecture and the abstract relation of the human form to modern structures,”

It is indeed one of this writer’s great regrets to have not taken an invitation to appear in Tunick’s 1997 installation in Times Square, NYC seen above. At the time the photographer’s works were much more guerilla-style affairs, which involved the invitees showing up in robes at 5AM at the selected location, and quickly stripping and running out into the street for the shots like a (literal) flash mob. Since then both Tunick’s fame and the scale of his work has grown immensely, to the point where his 2007 Mexico City - Zocalo, MUCA/UNAM Campus installations (shown below) included upwards of 18,000 subjects.

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Looptopia, Chicago’s all night artistic and cultural extravaganza begins at 5PM local time in, where else, The Loop! Artists, musicians, theater performances, films, interactive new media and dance performances will be going from sunset to sunrise and beyond in Chicago’s famous downtown district. 14 hours of culture beginning at 5PM and lasting till the sunrise celebration in Millenium Park at 7AM. So if you’re in the Windy City go get your Loop on and revel your way through all the culture Chicago has to offer.

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