All posts filed under: Culture

Social Permaculture: Off-Grid Living in Portugal

Published by VAGA Editor

Off-grid living and permaculture eco-tourism has become a viable solution that only seems to become more relatable to the needs of many millennials as time goes on… The desire to get out. It’s a complicated world we’re living in. One not only of unexpected election results but also a world today where no concept of time can catch up with the fleeting tails of the present moment. The incessant rate at which life seems to be passing by is thanks to our ever growing demands in technology and this speed that only seems to accelerate at an unstoppable force can become overwhelming. But beyond the flipbook momentum is also the humdrum lifestyle that is all laid out for us. The monotonous 9 to 5 office jobs that make us question whether we are living to work or working to live. That conflation of sameness met with the inability to chase the minute results in confusion as to why we allow our life to slip away rather than spending each waking moment living it. Suddenly, there …

An interview with Taylor Mead—last Andy Warhol’s superstar

Published by Fernando Lahoz

The artist died at the age of 88 on May 8, 2013, after being on the stage for over 70 years. The spunky, wry and sometimes irreverent actor, performer, playwright, poet, and painter was still performing every week.  Only disrupted last April when, after a long battle with the landlords, he agreed to leave his tenement apartment in LES. The following interview was originally published in our 3rd issue in March 2012. New York, December 2011 –Born into and hated by a stuffy, affluent family, Taylor Mead, whose self- described dramatic debut went down at Grosse Point High School in 1930s Michigan, went on to work and party with such greats as Andy Warhol, Frank O’Hara, Dennis Hopper, and Jim Jarmusch. His roles in such films as Lonesome Cowboys (1968), The Queen of Sheba meets the Atom Man (1968), and Tarzan and Jane Regained…Sort Of (1964) were key contributions to a dynamic era of film in the ‘60s led by Andy Warhol, his collaborators, and his contemporaries. Sheet 8 from “Fairy Tale Poem,” Taylor Mead, 2012 …

Essence Murjani

Black Girl Magic Movement—Doing Things Our Way

Published by maya

It’s 2016 and there’s something in the air. A thick, wondrous mystical aura clouds the atmosphere and it appears that the world has been cast by a spell. Word has it that it’s a crazy kind of magic but we’re not talking voodoo. This is a special power, a movement that shines through any darkness and it’s called Black Girl Magic. The Black Girl Magic movement by now may ring a bell. The hashtag #BlackGirlMagic has been taken off by storm on all social media platforms, accompanied by gorgeous photos of sistas in all shades of dark doing their thang, and damn do they look good while doing it. The phrase was first coined in 2013 when CaShawn Thompson introduced it as a way to celebrate the fierce willpower of black women, resilient to the impact of an oppressive past that dared to defy their magic. Soon thereafter, T-shirts supporting the campaign were in high demand and stars like Amandla Stenberg strutted the electric words with utmost pride. Dear Black Girl, 💕 Do not be …

Muxes of Juchitan

The Muxes of Juchitan: Unapologetically Being Who They Want To Be

Published by maya

Meet the Muxes of Juchitan. Not woman, nor man, but considered a gender of it’s own. Muxes (pronounced moo-shays) is a term is derived from ancient Zapotec dialect to define the vast community of gay men. The story of the Muxes of Juchitan is a story of reaffirmation. While the “machismo” social construct continues to root deeply in Mexican culture, and homophobic sentiment still runs high, it may come as a surprise to hear that the country is also home to one of the most gender-bending societies to date; and it’s allegedly been that way for thousands of years. Nestled near the Guatemalan border and a six hour drive from the southern city of Oaxaca sits the dusty district of Juchitan. Not a lot goes on around here, and from a distance the townspeople appear to pursue the mundane rituals of work life and getting their hair done. It’s not until you notice the extravagant make up, fluttering false eyelashes of the hairdresser and the masculine build beneath her summer dress that you realize something …

MAD NYC, What Have We Done, The Catastrophe of Homelessness

Published by VAGA Editor

— An exclusive photo editorial piece by photographer Alberto Alcocer. Words by Maya Amoah. Images below were shot in New York City and Madrid.  It’s 2 AM and the lights of Time Square brilliantly shine like no other place in the world. Pixelated images in every direction flash before the eyes of both tourists and New Yorkers alike and if this doesn’t keep them transfixed, the juggling street busker who breathes fire surely does. On a sunny day in hot July, children eagerly lap up melting sundaes and chow on some Coney Island chili fries, strolling the sand dusted boardwalk with mama and old Pops. “Isn’t life grand, dear?” Mom whispers into dad’s ear as she sweetly kisses his head. Indeed it is, for those who can afford it. Nestled under the steps of a merry go round just meters from the Coney Island boardwalk lives an invisible man. His decrepit figure and hapless fortune has deemed him unseen to society, yet he is just 1 of over 60,000 New Yorkers who hold membership to this impoverished underworld. “It wasn’t …

The World’s Happiest President, José Mujica

Published by VAGA Editor

It was almost a year ago when former Uruguayan leader José Mujica humbly stepped down and passed the presidential torch to Tabaré Vázquez after 5 faithful years in head of state. As sad as fans across the globe were to see him go, there is no doubt that he had a good run. José “Pepe” Mujica is many things. In the sixties he was a guerilla fighter and one of the leaders in Marxist group Tupamaro, inspired by the Cuban Revolution and opposing Uruguay’s ongoing military dictatorship. Then, he was a prisoner who spent 13 years of his life in solitary confinement, locked away under a well where he would share his crumbs with rats and talk to ants biding time. Mujica was released in 1985 when constitutional democracy was restored in the country and he vowed to change things once and for all. He was the Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries until 2008 and then won the presidential election in 2009. Despite his remarkable story and international fame, above all Mujica is a …

Mirror for the Middle Class: Artist Duane Hanson in Retrospect

Published by jamesonz

Winning over the general public isn’t always a good thing in the art market, where popularity with the middle class frequently translates to poor sales among wealthy patrons and art collectors. So it’s fitting that the late sculptor Duane Hanson’s body of work is seeing a resurgence of interest just as the middle class — the subject of his life’s work — slowly erodes in the face of technological innovation and industrial automation. Brushed aside by the tastemakers of the seventies, Hanson’s startlingly life-like portrayals of average Americans have been called “achingly beautiful” by The Guardian, drawing comparisons to Edward Hopper and other classic realists. Editorial attention tends to play up the time-traveling effect the works have on the viewer. The appeal is part fashion tourism, part self-recognition. While the clothing choices are garish and the moments captured depressingly banal, the imortalization of seemingly meaningless moments is bound to resonate with the selfie generation (or the older generations trapped in it with us). Pieces like “Young Shopper” and “Tourists II” have a certain voyeuristic appeal, …

About Jaden Smith As The New Face Of Louis Vuitton And Gender-Bending Fashion

Published by jsimpson

In a piece of topsy-turvy fashion news, the new face of Louis Vuitton’s womenswear line is not a woman. This turn of events speaks to the legendary designer’s forward-looking fashion sense as much as the androgynous charm of Vuitton’s new model, Jaden Smith. The photographs from iconic fashion photographer Bruce Weber debuted last week on the Instagram account of Louis Vuitton creative director Nicolas Ghesquière. The photo shows Smith decked out in an embroided skirt, fringe top, and moto jacket that debuted during Paris Fashion Week. Although gender-bending is nothing new on fashion or pop culture, Ghesquière’s collection is the most recent example of gender-bending fashion design to hit mainstream media attention. Gucci’s F/W 2015 men’s collection featured waifish men appearing beside boyish women, both wearing silhouettes, fabrics, and items of clothing traditionally associated with women’s fashion. Gucci’s new designer Alessandro Michele collection saw men and women alike wearing pussycat bow blouses, midriff jackets, and low-riding, wide-legged trousers. Male and female models alike sported matching make-up, with loose, flowing, unbound hair. This approach is working …

Pixel Pushers: New York’s School for Poetic Computation is Art’s Answer to Coding Boot camps

Published by jamesonz

Artists make no money but get to make beautiful things. Computer programmers make money — but have to do boring work. …At least, that’s what most of us who have been shuffled through the American education system are led to believe. New York’s School for Poetic Computation (SFPC) stands in stark contrast to the separation of computer science and the fine arts. Similar to “coding boot camps” like Hack Reactor and General Assembly that have sprung up to provide the practical web development education unavailable in most colleges, the SFPC is small, nimble, and results-oriented. The difference is, while coding boot camps strive to pump out node.js aficionados, SFPC is creating a different breed of computer programmer: the artist as technologist. School For Poetic Computation is equal parts The Factory, childhood blanket fort, and mad scientist’s lab. —Lee Tusman, SFPC student Founded by an interdisciplinary group of creatives and scientists in 2013, the SFPC program centers around a loosely-structured 10-week program that brings together students from a variety of computer science backgrounds to create aesthetic-oriented …

London Protests I, LGBTI Equality by Alisdare Hickson

Published by VAGA Editor

Nearly one hundred protesters gathered outside Commonwealth Secretariat Headquarters in London to demand that greater equality for LGBTI people is put on the agenda for [past November] summit. The rally included participants from several LGBTI groups such as the Peter Tatchell Foundation, The Out and Proud Diamond Group, and African Rainbow Family. People can still be sent to prison for homosexuality in 41 of the 53 member states. A recent report by the Kaleidoscope Trust declared: “Across the Commonwealth lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people are denied equal access to rights, education, employment, housing and healthcare. Once again we see Commonwealth leaders gathering at the Heads of Government meeting, pushing aside the urgent need to protect every citizen under the law. Once again the human rights of LGBTI people are the elephant in the room.” Peter Tatchell explained the purpose of the rally: “Two days before the start of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta, 27-29 November, we are rallying outside the Commonwealth headquarters in London to demand that all Commonwealth members states …

Strelka Press: Architecture, Design, and a New Kind of Book

Published by jamesonz

Strelka Institute has its headquarters on an island in the Moscow river — but for all that their programs resemble the troubled city surrounding them, they may as well be on an island in the middle of the ocean. Design is business; Strelka operates as a nonprofit. Academia is fractured into specialized niches; Strelka students reject discipline, sharing a single course of study with roots in architecture and art, but calling itself by neither title. And most importantly, while Publishing is dying, Strelka Press is thriving. Since launching an initial series of print and ebooks in 2012 from a curated group of writers with urbanism backgrounds, the press has continued to produce a steady stream of beautifully designed books — touching on subjects as diverse as the Internet of Things and the linked histories of Soviet architecture in Russia and China. I’ve never thought that I need to study only to get a profession. —Natasha Kupriyanova, Strelka student While the books themselves are engaging on their own merits (and bound by a minimal 2.0 graphic …

Just Kids syrian refugees 3

“Just Kids” a photo reportage by photographer Giulio Magnifico

Published by VAGA Editor

The images below are a selection from a photo documentary shot by photographer Giulio Magnifico. The photos were taken in May and June 2015 along the Syrian/Turkey border. Some others images were captured in Iraq, September 2014, during the war between ISIS – Da3sh and opposites. Most of the subjects are Syrian refugees kids who fled from their destroyed homes and country devastated by the long civil war. More images and videos at photographer’s website.