Orhan Kipcak, head of Graz-based company admTM, is editor of the recently published book “VIPA”.

So, what’s VIPA?

Virtual spaces have become a major economical growth factor in many areas. At present, spatial concepts are dominant in the entertainment industry (Gaming Industry, virtual worlds like Second Life, etc.), but also other areas of life are being redesigned through augmented reality and virtual reality (VR) concepts. As a consequence, the design and building of living spaces is no longer restricted to construction processes of the building industry. The aesthetical and conceptional design of these new virtual rooms and spaces will open up new opportunities for work and employment for architects, whose major competence is in the design of rooms and space-based social interactions. In the context of these new possibilities offered by virtual reality, the aim of the VIPA project was to develop curricular tools which expand and enhance education in the field of architecture.

The development of a transnational virtual campus containing an e-learning and research platform for European universities of architecture acting in the field of virtual space design has been the primary objective of the VIPA project. This virtual campus was supposed to be available both for education and training as well as for research in the mentioned area. The publication is a summing up of the objectives, outcomes and the visions after of the project.

book link (German only)
VIPA link (English)

Szeky is walking through town and taking pictures of beautiful architectural details in Graz.

Here is a really beautiful lion (Kinkgasse 5)…

Check out the photostream.

Link

Ever heard of Gabriel Roth’s The 5 Ryhthms? Or Vinn Marti’s Soul Motion? These dance/movement forms are gaining popularity on the U.S. West Coast. They seem to be really effective ways to explore your inner self, your relationship to others and your connection to the world using movement, dance and music. Ecstatic dance is a way to describe it, but German speakers might find that phrase too sexually oriented. It isn’t sexual at all. Basically, you enter a room with others, music is played, you begin dancing, and a qualified facilitator guides you through the process for about an hour or two.

Well, try it yourself this Friday in Graz. Facilitator Reingard invites everyone to try out her DancEmotion every Friday from 16:30 until 18:00. The location is: Zentrum Terrassenhaussiedlung St. Peter. Call 0676-577-3663. First visit is free!

Provided by Dave Daddy D Dempsey and Michael Schmid (@ FM4).

Link

The team of Motmot Design will come to Graz on Monday to hold a lecture about Radness in Graphic Design…

After working as graphic designers in the streetware and skate industry in California, Stephen K. Reeder and Anna Breitenberger started Motmot Design in Los Angeles in 2001. They eventually ended up in Vienna, where they opened up the Motmot Shop in the 7th district. Here you can find the Wiener Dog shirt and lots of other rad designs. All t-shirts are screen-printed at the shop, while the customer watches.
Besides their love for t-shirts, the Motmots also work as graphic designers with clients in the fields of media literacy and non-profit organizations. To have a better overview go to www.motmotshop.com

What is your name? Stephen K. Reeder.
Radicality or total radness? Total radness.
How does radness fit into your practice? Radness fits into every aspect of my life.
What is wrong with entertainment? Entertainment is not very entertaining most of the time. I want to be entertained and not bored.
Have you ever personally seen a mystic truth? Not yet.
Total deconstruction or total destruction? The 80’s and 90’s are over: total destruction.
Avant-garde or avant-grad? Avant-grad.
Name the funniest piece of art ever created? Andy Kaufman on ‘Fridays’.
William Wegman: great artist? Or the greatest artist? He’s pretty rad.

What is your name? Anna Breitenberger.
Radicality or total radness? Radicality.
How does radness fit into your practice? Radness in graphic design is must.
What is wrong with entertainment? Good entertainment is rare.
Have you ever personally seen a mystic truth? Yes, a double rainbow at my grandfathers funeral, how is that for radness?
Total deconstruction or total destruction? Total deconstruction.
Avant-garde or avant-grad? Avant-grad.
Name the funniest piece of art ever created? ‘The artist who swallowed the world’ by Erwin Wurm.
William Wegman: great artist? Or the greatest artist? Just an ok artist.

Questionaire by Brian Kennon, Leisure: An Art Journal #0, 2nd Cannons Publications, 1/2007

Where, when?
Monday, May 14, 6:15 PM @ Studio (3rd floor) of the “FH-Studiengangs Informationsdesign” (University of Applied Sciences JOANNEUM, Alte Poststraße 152, A-8020 Graz).

Too many good things going on in Graz. Here’s one of them: filmASIAhttp://www.filmasia.at

My Life as McDull is such a cute cartoon for adults and children. Then there’s “The Promise” – visuals look amazing, famous director. I shall be enjoying at least one myself.

I just got back from spending three weeks in the United States. Since I spent most of my time at home with my sister and her new baby I didn’t really get a chance to notice a “real” flavor difference between the culture here and there.

I did however, get chastised for walking more than 15 feet from a shopping cart (baby on top, toddler in the back) to browse at the selection of dyer sheets at Target. “Oh MY GOD, what are you doing?!?!?” my sister shrieked in new-mommy panic. You are in the UNITED STATES, now. People STEAL children! I briefly pondered that and wondered if it’s a new mommy fear, or if you have a toddler going through the terrible two’s you don’t really care if someone lightens your load and makes him dissapear for a few hours of reli… er… I mean panic. But seriously, in Graz most people are not intersted in kidnapping your child and, had I been in that same situation in Graz (minus the dyer sheets, and Target but including the shopping cart and baby) I would have turned back to see a nice elderly person whipering sweet nothings to the baby and making funny faces to the toddler.

Another little culture shift took place as we got off the plane in Graz and were looking for a taxi. Instead of young hulking immigrants gnawing at the bits to take your bags and whisk you away… we got to the front of the taxi line and found an empty cab. “She went to take a coffee break,” said the next guy who would not take us because he was NEXT in line. We start to load the trunk with suitcase half-filled with dryer sheets and out comes the little white-haired old lady. Hubby and I look at eachother. We’re just about to tell her that the cab is taken when she sits in the driver seat. Well… that’ s not something you EVER see in ANY urban city in the United States!

…another reminder of lower crime and laid-back Austrians. I’m glad to be back.. home.

Here is an article I wrote that was published in the Santa Fe New Mexican yesterday.

An American Cook in Europe #2
by Christopher J Kolon
for the Santa Fe New Mexican

Discovering Produce

Wandering into the produce section of an American supermarket is like entering a virtual reality world. The real world, along with any acknowledgement of date or place, is left at the front door.

Watermelon in January? Asparagus in September? Why not? Grapes and cherries shipped 7,000 miles to the high desert. Who cares?

And everywhere there is the stunning perfection of the fruit and vegetables: hefty, purple eggplants; fist-sized, bright red tomatoes; enormous romaine; petite haricot verts; perfect peaches and plums. The list goes on and on.

Not so here. The produce section in the average Austrian supermarket is more a reflection of the season and the locality.

Don’t get me wrong. There are places here where you can buy out of season produce: big supermarkets almost indistinguishable from those in the States. There, in February, you can buy peaches from South Africa, strawberries from Egypt, avocados from Israel, and, yes, grapes from Chile.

But these markets are uncommon and, for us, prohibitively expensive.
(more…)

a little late, but still important: some advertisement for a good cause. the augartenkino (the cinema in the augarten, also known as KIZ) is threatened. still this year the very charismatic house could be replaced by a new office and apartement building.

the augartenkino is one of the best cinemas in town. they show a lot of european, arthouse and independent movies. it is also one cinema of the austrian filmfestival diagonale, which will start on the 19th of march. let’s hope that this is not going to be the last diagonale with the augartenkino.

you can support the petition here (sorry, only in german). right now, already more than 8000 people signed it.

A Chinese-Cambodian-French friend of mine invited her German class and me for a Chinese dinner to celebrate Chinese New Year. 25 – 30 people. I’ve been living her a year and haven’t found a single good restaurant to meet my needs. (Expectations have since been brought down.) In fact, after one very disappointing experience last spring, I vowed never to try it again. Coincidentally, she had booked a reservation at this very place.

Should we cancel?
No, I said. We’ll try per-ordering some real Chinese food. They’re Chinese, I thought, they MUST know how to cook decent food.

Ordering an appetizer, entrée and a dessert individually is a typical Western way to have dinner. For Chinese banquets and even family dinners, the meal is traditionally made up of several dishes to be shared by everyone, a bowl of rice on the side.

I called them and asked in my broken Mandarin if we could do so. Of course, they said. And they invited me to come over to pick out the menu. We sat together over a pot of jasmine tea, and put together an 8 course meal, plus extra dessert and appetizers, for under €10 a head.

A vegetable soup
Pork & vegetable dumplings
Veggie spring rolls
Chicken with mu-er mushrooms
Chinese sweet & sour spare ribs
Ma-por Tofu
Ginger-garlic Chinese cabbage
A prepared whole fish
Fried and white rice
Fried banana & chestnut “tasche” for dessert

The owners are from Zhejiang, China – as most Chinese in Austria are from. Their cook: Chinese Malaysian. I definitely recommend booking group dinners there.

Yokko
“Singaporean & Japanese Restaurant”
11:30 – 15:00 & 17:30 – 23:30 Kein Ruhetag
Steinbergstrasse 14 (take the #7 tram to Wetzeldorf)
Telephone: 0316/58 53 28