PRINTED MATTER EXHIBIT.

Last Friday’s trip to NYC kicked off a fantastic weekend. The unseasonably warm evening played host to a new exhibit at Printed Matter, one of the city’s best bookstores. Megawords Magazine partnered with the well known shop for a show entitled, Hi, We Made A Magazine for You. Good friends and great atmosphere blended seamlessly with the Magazine’s authentically inspiring ephemera which was layered on walls, stacked in piles and captured in glass displays. We’re long time fans of the publication and highly recommend visiting the exhibit if you’re in NYC.

As Megawords describes: “Our mission is simple: to document our surroundings, experience, to have a voice free from the noise of commercialization and competing novelties, and to create an open and active dialogue between Megawords and the community at large. We have self-published twelve free issues, broadcast a weekly internet radio show, and organized multiple events and performances under the banner of Megawords. With time came positive feedback from a diverse audience and a strong realization that this project had a profound impact.” Click Read More for additional information, photos and video.

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VINTAGE SHOPPING.

Artist and designer Ebony Bizys captured our attention with her post about Shimokitazawa a suburb in Japan and must-visit destination for lovers of vintage shopping, cozy cafes and general cuteness. She describes it as “packed with teeny tiny six-seater bars, adorable cafes, loads of cheap and cheerful restaurants, vintage and retro clothing stores, live music venues, secondhand record stores, homewares and vintage stores…Come here if you fancy an afternoon wondering around people spotting, stay until sundown, have a G+T at Mois cafe, and try some delicious okonomiyaki.”

In addition to Mois, a relaxing cafe set in an old two story home, Bizys highlights several shops and thrift stores in the suburb. One is Sou, a crafty clothing and homewares store that makes a custom calendar just for customers. Commune is another shop, with a tiny gallery, that sells zines, art and other handmade items. Click Read More for additional information and photos.

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ARCHITECTURE.

At the 2006 Venice Biennale, MAD Architects envisioned the future of Beijing with three proposals. One of their visions was the “Future of Hutongs,” a plan for metallic bubble structures that would pop up in hutongs, or narrow alleys, in the city’s oldest neighborhoods. Now, the first of these bubbles has made its debut in a modest, residential courtyard.

Rapid development in Beijing in recent years has been hard for the city to keep up with, and standards of living in older neighborhoods have suffered. MAD’s hutong bubbles address these conditions as small-scale, adaptable interventions that can grow with the fabric of the city and provide new, positive opportunities in struggling areas. Click Read More for additional information and photos.

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INTERNATIONAL AUTO.

This Thursday kicks off the International Auto Show in Geneva. There’s plenty of excitement surrounding the event. We’re looking forward to seeing new hybrids, exotic super cars and daring four door hatchbacks. Sure we’ve all seen the extra glossy cgi’d concepts, but it’ll be great to see the actual vehicles. One of our favorite bloggers from the Honeyee Mag line-up, Mai Ikuzawa, provides an early glimpse of the show. Click Read More for additional photos and information.

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ARCHITECTURE.

Fans of Vitra’s Home Collection will appreciate their new showroom in Weil Am Rhein, Germany. Designed by Jacques Herzon and Pierre de Meuron, the stacked structure beams eccentricity and quirky modernism.

Design Boom got a first look and discusses the concept: “The concept of the ‘Vitrahaus’ connects two themes which are occurring in the architectural practice of Herzog & De Meuron: the theme of the archetypal house and that of stacked volumes. the five-story structure is comprised of 12 ‘houses’ – five houses are set at the base in which seven other houses are stacked upon one another. Each of the structural volumes appear as if they have been shaped by an extrusion press and are cantilevered up to 15 metres in some places. The floor slabs intersect the underlying gables, resulting in a three-dimensional assemblage or ‘pile of houses’.” Click Read More for additional information and photos.

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ART & CULTURE.

The exhibition space at SculptureCenter in Long Island City, New York appears customary when you first arrive. The main level of the former industrial building is a traditional gallery with white walls, high ceilings and rotating exhibitions of contemporary sculpture and installation. But walk to the back of the gallery, and a narrow set of stairs descends to a basement where you will find artworks staked out in underground tunnels, nestled beside brick walls and projected onto stone alcoves.

Leopards in the Temple, an exhibition that opened in January and runs through March 30, 2010, utilizes both floors of the Center. Among the artists featured on the more cavernous level is Philadelphia-based artist Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, who answered a few of our questions about the show, the Center and the curious locale of Long Island City. Click Read More for the full interview and photos.

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GLOBAL NEWS.

This week’s global outlook reports on Central California’s unique source for energy; JFK Airport’s major runway closings; Chile’s difficult rescue among wrecked roads and bridges; Russia’s Silicon Valley; and China’s chosen Tibetan Leader. Click Read More for the full report.

The Weekly Outlook is an editorial briefing for wejetset’s online magazine. Each week we scan international news and aggregate the stories that will likely impact their respective region and possibly the world. From economic issues to politics, we strive to deliver news links that will be useful to our readers as they navigate their local and global spaces.

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