As you may know, S’lim is a visually driven zine that focuses on one place at a time, merging the urban, contemporary and historical experiences of visiting, living, staying and theorizing. The core idea is to utilize and publish mostly already existing imagery (social, archival, residual…) to re-frame and showcase potential alternate contemporaneities and observations through a momentary, curatorial lens.
We are now calling for guest curators / editors for an upcoming issue #6 on Helsinki.
Send us a small blurb (max 150 words) describing an editorial idea, highlighting a specific viewpoint on “Helsinki”. We are particularly interested in margins, side-eyes and off-conditions.
We will choose the most relevant proposal by mid-November and work together with the guest editor to produce the issue by early 2018, both digitally and in print. The chosen editor is tasked with seeking and selecting suitable contributions and providing a small editorial text for the issue (max 500 words). Past issues have held around 5-7 contributions each (you can view examples at www.selim.fi/slim). In exchange, we can offer a small honorarium.
Did you catch Artfetch CEO @katietsouros answering 40 questions on @image.ie last week? From her favourite sandwich to her spirit animal, and the most annoying quality in people, all is revealed at image.ie #ceo #40questions #40under40 #interview #imagemagazine #entrepreneur #curator #womenwhoinspire #reallifeheroines #internetheroines #dreamtraveldestination #findoutmore
This week’s guest curator is Dirk Petzold of @weandthecolor. An illustrator & designer who believes in the art of minimal, he has garnered a huge following thanks in part to his unique knack for spotting talent. Read the blog to see his favourite @artfetch picks. Link in bio. #blog #curator #guestcurator #art #toppicks #illustrator #design #minimal #minimalism #graphics #creativelife
The fabulous Danielle Ryan @tearneck of @roadsgroup & @roadspublishing is this week’s @artfetch guest curator. With a background in theatre and entrepreneurial credentials to boot, this badass business lady is a culture fiend with serious taste. Read the interview & see her picks on the blog. Link in bio. #blog #curator #guestcurator #artpicks #interview #entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #culture #publishing #film #design #fragrance #books #lifestyle #style #creativity #business #businesswoman #art #theatre #performance
From photojournalism to illustration to scupture, Dark Silence in Suburbia covers many different types of contemporary art. Long featured in tumblr’s art spotlight, DSiS is a wonderful blog for people who love art and want to be inspired.
11 Questions recently caught up with Dark Silence in Suburbia to discuss blogging, art and exploration, as well as some new features on her blog.
11 Questions: When your blog began, you posted a lot of photographs, especially of famous people like David Bowie, Iggy Pop, David Lynch, etc. As time goes on, you seem to incorporate more illustrations, paintings, and other artworks into your blog. Was this a conscious change on your part?
Dark Silence in Suburbia: When I started the blog, I really wasn’t thinking about having an art blog. I was into posting random images I liked and still like. I don’t think it was a concious change. When searching for images, I became more aware of the multitude of art forms, making me want to explore and learn.
At first, I used to post by theme, for example, Nobel prizes, or masks from around the world. I felt compelled to explore a certain subject, medium, period or artist in a given day. I would post only an artist, or a certain medium, like collage, or black and white photography.
I always loved art in its many forms, from literature to painting, but I wasn’t very familiar with new art forms, like light sculpture or urban installations, and what one can do with digital art. The blog changed form as I see things in my daily life. It is possible to find beauty anywhere, anytime. Before I started the blog I wasn’t so aware of this reality.
2: How did you come up with the name, “Dark Silence in Suburbia”?
DSiS: I dreamt of it. I was thinking about a name that had something to do with me, or my personal life without being too revealing, so I went to bed still thinking about choosing a name. I remember that I had a hard time sleeping that night, also because some professional issues I was worried about. If memory serves me, I had the name fully formed in my head when I woke up.
3: It’s interesting that a name can come out of an inner conflict like that. What does “dark silence in suburbia” mean to you?
DSiS: It’s deeply connected to my life, both personal and professional. It’s an inner feeling of all the mute violence that surrounds us, what is hidden in the dark, all the lives, the promising lives that will never live up to their full potential. The abandoned ones behind close doors. The fear not spoken of.
4: How would you relate the name of your blog with the posts, which are about art and expression?
DSiS: The relation isn’t at all obvious, as I publish all kinds of art. So, if i post an illustration of Snow White, that’s not at all “dark.“ But it is, if you remember her story, she was also living a dark life, with a happy ending. So, this blog is a way of using art and expression to purge something.
I really think that in some cases art is crucial to a comunity, as an antidote against violence, and an escape from a short, empty life. In some other cases, there’s no escape, no hope.
5: Speaking of that, what do you hope people find in your blog?
DSiS: Diversity for sure. I can’t and I won’t expect everyone to like my choices, but I blog with great pleasure and respect for art, artists and all great bloggers out there. So, I hope visitors find something that sparks inside and wake up feelings and ideas.
6: You’ve mentioned that running this blog has opened your eyes to new forms of art. What else has making this blog done for you?
DSiS: Through this blog i met some wonderful people that put me in contact with other realities and ways of living. For a long time I didn’t have my “ask” button on. I wasn’t here to make friends and chat, just to relax and have fun. I’m very glad that one day someone made change my mind about it.
7: Do you remember what the change was like––from having your ask box off to turning it on?
DSiS: Yes, I do. At the time i was very surprised to have so many bloggers sending messages. Because i thought to myself, what possibly can someone want to ask me? Well, all kinds of questions, congratulations, critiques and even insults. I never had anonymous ask box on.
8: How did you start your ”Tumblr Artists“ page? I was just browsing it and it’s very comprehensive.
DSiS: My “Tumblr Artists” page is very incomplete to be honest. I just started it recently. There are so many good artist blogs on tumblr. Every day new artists join Tumblr and it’s difficult to keep the pace. I’m trying to add artists every week.
9: How do you discover new artists and new artworks?
DSiS: Sometimes I stumble upon a great artwork, follow the link and it’s a new talent trying to get some exposure. On the other hand, many artists send messages asking me to take a look look at their works.
10: When you’re looking for artwork to post, how do you decide what pieces will be a good fit for your blog?
DSiS: I do a lot of research looking for art in my spare time. I decide what to post based on what I feel emotionaly about a given piece, I don’t really care if it fits well on the blog. Meaning, harmony is not too important to me.
11: Has your blog inspired you to make art yourself?
DSiS: I don’t have any artistic talent whatsoever…I write, for myself, but I don’t consider it art. I have two artists in the family, both very talented. One makes ceramics as an hobby, and the other one is a professional fashion make-up artist with a degree in illustration.
ByKate Carey, Head of Education & Curator, Fashion Nirvana: Runway to Everyday
One year ago, my colleague and co-conspirator Jackie Edwards—currently in the Ph.D. Program in Art History, The Graduate Center, City University of New York—and I met with Brian Silva, McNay Graphic Designer. Our mission: brainstorm ideas for a totally nineties exhibition logo for Fashion Nirvana: Runway to Everyday. Channeling Cher Horowitz’s bright yellow plaid suit from the film Clueless (1995) was at the top of my 1990s mood board, and I even requested to see a version incorporating her character’s aggressive yellow plaid ensemble.
Brian ultimately steered us in a much more elegant and optically pleasing direction with a gradient design that formed our exhibition color palette. The hues from the logo design informed decisions about wall color, pedestals, extended labels, and section texts. (See exhibition video here and curator mood board here.) That said, I thought the timing of the 25th-anniversary of Clueless might be a chance to pay homage to Cher, Dionne, and coordinating plaid ensembles.
Recognizing how high school students communicate identity via fashion selections, writer and director Amy Heckerling scripted confident smart heroines who dress accordingly. In visiting Los Angeles high schools in the nineties, Heckerling and costume designer Mona May observed the liberal application of grunge—baggy pants, oversize shirts, lots of plaid, and very little femininity. Applying a lens of privilege and fantasy (including a computer program for coordinating ensembles), Heckerling and May created an aesthetic so specific to the film—over the knee socks, mini-skirts, hats of all sizes, Mary-Jane shoes—that fans continue to imitate the iconic designs. Actress and singer Willow Smith, for example, channels her inner Cher, even though the film came out five years before she was born.
Mona May describes how luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana created Cher’s yellow suit, and she fabricated Dionne’s black and white version. She also reasoned that Cher and Dionne would have the resources to visit Europe and import luxury brands. Designer Karl Lagerfeld, who assumed leadership at Chanel in 1983, paid tribute to the couture house’s signature hallmarks like bouclé tweed, a knotted plaid. In 1994, he updated the classic look with brightly colored plaid, faux fur, extra high hemlines, big hats, and Mary-Jane heels. Sound familiar? Although the film’s relatively modest budget would not allow for Chanel price tags, May likely drew inspiration from this collection that premiered before the film came out.
In one of the more quote-able lines from the film, Cher challenges a thief at gunpoint refusing to lay on the ground because her dress was made by Alaïa, ‘a totally important designer.’ Tunisian designer Azzedine Alaïa originally studied sculpture and pioneered a body-conscious silhouette that celebrated an hour-glass shape. Supermodel Naomi Campbell said, “No other dress can make a woman look and feel as good as an Alaïa because it cinches a woman’s body perfectly.” Find a powerfully cinched silhouette on view in Fashion Nirvana: Runway to Everyday in a black and white plaid motorcycle jacket and dress. Alaïa lifted the checked pattern from Tati, a discount Paris department store with checkered branding.
My father, a minister who rereads Jane Austen novels regularly, took me to see Clueless when it came out in 1995. He voiced disapproval of some casual marijuana use, but we both liked the story back then. In high school, I was enchanted by the California fantasy and appreciated the contemporary update of Jane Austen’s Emma. Looking back now, I’m much more aware of the essential role fashion played in the film and the way in which Amy Heckerling and Mona May communicated complicated teen identity through layered, often aspirational appearance.
Karl Lagerfeld, German, 1933-2019 CHANEL French, founded 1910. Suit, 1994. Bouclé tweed Courtesy of MOSS Designer Consignment. (Above)
Azzedine Alaïa, Tunisian, 1935-2017, Motorcycle jacket and dress, 1991. Denim, nylon blend Courtesy of Alex Gehring and Michelle Washington.
“Take a body, dump it, drive. Take a body, maybe your own, and dump it gently. All your dead, unfinished selves and dump them gently. Take only what you need.”
Phaidon: “The Most Important, Timeless, Socially Relevant yet Deeply Personal, Unequivocally Moving, Indisputably and Staggeringly Beautiful Art Ever Made…and Why You Should Think So Too. As Compiled Through Intensive Global Research by Every Living Art Critic, Collector and Curator.”
