BMW Guggenheim Lab

BMW launches their bold six-year-long program to dissect urban culture

Consistent with BMW’s longstanding cultural initiatives, this week launched the New York leg of BMW Guggenheim Lab, an exploration of issues regarding contemporary urban life. The six-year worldwide tour will reach nine cities to encourage international engagement from the public through free programs focused on contemporary urban challenges, all taking place within location-specific semi-permanent structures. Over its duration, the Lab will unveil three distinct structures—each …

Machine Project at Walker Art Center

How an experimental art collective turned a field into a puppy opera, lawnmower symphony and more

Chiefly interested in the “intersections between different fields of knowledge,” like all good art collectives, Machine Project’s objectives are sometimes frustratingly vague. Loose definitions on their site span “informal educational institution” to host of “scientific talks, poetry readings and group naps.” But if one thing is consistent about the L.A. nonprofit, it’s that every undertaking is steeped in radical creativity. With seemingly unfiltered conceptual thinking, …

New Work by Orfeo Quagliata

Chains, ring pops and weapons in a master glass designer's latest experiments with crystal

Though master of crystal and glass design Orfeo Quagliata, 39, has been producing his own transparent wonders for several years (he’s been working with glass since age 12 and heads up Phuze Design), a recent collaboration with Swarovski Elements has led the Mexico-based artist to explore a more subversive side of the material. After the success of his initial partnership with the crystal leaders (he …