Hrag Vartanian

I’m still fuming over the fact that Western architects are (so far) getting a free pass as they fellate dictators (I don’t know any female ones commissioning major Western architects) for money and ego projects that will put forth their vision of a prettified (but not more humane) 21st C.
Now, I see that the Chinese [...]

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For about a week I’ve been cleaning house and I barracked myself in my Chelsea apartment until it was done–though reading, non-blog writing, sleeping, web-surfing, wedding hopping and other things also got in the way.

Now I’ve finally did what I’ve been dreading to do….I’ve abandoned my old Picasa account (barely anything there now) and moved [...]

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In the early 20th C. there was a sustained debate about the role of architecture as a medium for social change. Czech modernists devoted themselves to building public housing that is still considered today as beautiful landmarks. These modernists dismissed architects like Mies van der Rohe for his lust for luxurious materials (marble, alabaster, etc.) [...]

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Here are four short videos (<90 sec.) from my tour of the Bushwick Open Studios.
Ann Oren’s “The Factory” (2008)

Presented at her studio at 117 Grattan St., Ann Oren’s video installation depicts a supervisor with a bullhorn trying to encourage the lazy workers to up their production of some unknown product. Oren plays all the roles [...]

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Activist powerhouse, Code Pink is collecting children’s shoes for their WALK IN THEIR SHOES campaign to express the destruction of the Iraqi war through an ad hoc installation. The NY chapter of Code Pink came up with the concept as part of their Listen Hillary campaign and it later became a codepink national campaign.
I received [...]

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