New Museum’s 2015 Triennial: Surround Audience

Our highlights in the evocative young designer's showcase across all artistic mediums

They say that three is a magic number, and wandering through the New Museum of Contemporary Art for its third triennial, “Surround Audience,” visitors feel the indescribable energy of sparks in the air—discussions (or heated debates) to be had, comfort zones to be trampled and smartphone pics to be snapped. The latter is most relevant to this year’s theme: art in our hyper-aware culture where …

LEON + LACTIC Thank You

A Brooklyn artist collaborates with his friends to fund a gender-affirming surgery that his medical insurance refused to cover

“There once was a little boy who was born like a girl. When he was little, he never thought about his gender; he was just a person,” says a narrator over a video scrolling through photos of a child amid the sometimes turbulent transitions of growing up. As it so happens, this child is Leon Finley, who struggled for years feeling like a boy trapped …

Casey Neistat at Design Indaba

We interview the self-taught filmmaker, who sees YouTube and Snapchat as ideal forms of distribution

At Design Indaba, an event filled with creatives and media innovators, Casey Neistat is a bit of a rock star. Conference-goers approach the 34-year-old New Yorker to gush over how much they like his work. His talk about his films and the virtue of ignorance was greeted with rousing applause. The filmmaker has been creating movies since the late ’90s, when the first version of …