The Power of Theater

Epic Theatre Ensemble, one of my clients, created this moving video to talk about their recent productions & honors and shows how theater can be a powerful tool for changing lives...

Passion Play Poster in New York Times

The New York Times' Arts Beat blog posted a nice interview with me about the art I created for Epic Theatre Ensemble's latest production Passion Play by Sarah Ruhl. You can read the entire article HERE.

Literature versus Traffic

How powerful are books? Well they can apparently stop traffic if there's enough of them. The clever folks at Luzinterruptus, whose temporary light-infused guerrilla art installations we've written about before, are back with a surreal and lovely scene in Brooklyn that I wish I could've encountered in person. More pictures and information about the piece can be found HERE.

Millionaire Squatters

For much of the 90's I was an active member of an amazing squatted art/music/activist space in New York City's Lower East Side called ABC NO RIO (I even designed the logo that's still in use!). During the time I was there, the building (which has been in continuous use since 1980) was threatened with closure, but thanks to the efforts of dedicated volunteers the building was officially given to the collective that ran it and the process was started to raise the funds to rehabilitate the dilapidated structure. Money trickled in over the years, but it was never enough for the growing costs (phase one is now budgeted at 2.4 Million) and it seemed like a full rehabilitation would only happen in the distant future. Fast forward to earlier this year when ABC was awarded 1.6 Million in city funding, leaving a much more manageable budget gap to be filled. Not bad, but then this past November Steven Englander, the space's executive director,  received an anonymous donation of an additional 1 Million dollars! Needless to say phase one plans are now full steam ahead and the space will live on for generations to come.

Thanks to The Groundswell Blog for sharing this news!

The Yes Men need your help!

It may be economically tough times but The Yes Men are hiring!

Flavorwire reports that these ever-pranking, culture-jamming, do-gooders have put out an open call for help on a new project. Perhaps they are gearing up for the US theatrical release of their new movie The Yes Men Fix The World.



Here's the scoop:

Help the Yes Men! The Yes Men need your help! If you live in New York, legendary cultural jammers the Yes Men and friends need you now to pull off some large-scale shenanigans in September. It���ll be fun and stupid, and it���ll create a splash in the media. Your work COULD get seen by millions! To volunteer, please contact larken@artevolve.org. Here���s what they need: * People who can sew or build things. * People who know how to shoot and edit video and have their own equipment. * People who enjoy wearing deeply ridiculous costumes in potentially perilous situations. The work will go on for four weeks starting now. You can volunteer for any length of time that you like. The location will be: 342 Maujer, Bushwick (L train to Grand Street) www.houseofyes.org

all I can say to this is... um...YES!

post script: I noticed that all of my friends fall neatly into the 3 categories listed in this - coincidence? I think not.

ALR on Tour: Skull-A-Day at Gel 2009

Earlier this year I was invited to go to NYC to give a talk on my Skull-A-Day project at the 2009 Gel Conference. Each year Gel (which stands for Good Experience Live) brings together a really diverse range of folks to share what they do in just 20 minutes. The talks are usually very inspiring and guaranteed to get you thinking. While only a small number of people can attend in person, they kindly put the talks online as well for all to see. Definitely go check em all out, they're well worth your time. I was honored to be included this year and I'm already scheming about how to get back there next year by offering a workshop of some sort. I'm open to suggestions! Here's the video of my talk:

Noah Scalin at Gel 2009 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

Asphalt Orchestra

Just had to share about a fun project I recently did the logo design for: The Asphalt Orchestra is an alternative marching band created by Bang on A Can. They play songs by Bj��rk, Frank Zappa, and Swedish metal band Meshuggah to name a few composers that you won't hear on the usual school band roster. And to top it off all their first gig is in front of Lincoln Center. NYC peeps have a few more chances to catch them this week for free(!), details about the performances are HERE.

ALR at work - part I: The Play's The Thing

It's been a busy first part of the year and I thought I'd take a moment to show off some of our recent work for theater clients, many of whom have shows which are currently running...


I've been working with Target Margin Theater for nearly 10 years to create modern twists on vintage ephemera that represent their style of updating classic plays. In this case a series of innovative pieces from the first half of the 20th century are being promoted by a poster inspired by the expressionist art of classic science fiction movies like Fritz Lang's Metropolis. These shows are currently running at Brooklyn's The Chocolate Factory.












Epic Theatre Ensemble, known for their politically minded theater, presents the world premier production of A More Perfect Union. Broadway graphic design of the 50's/60's was the inspiration for this "serious comedy" about the supreme court. The show is currently running Off-Broadway in NYC.


















As part of reinventing the venerable Shakespeare on The Sound, newly hired artistic director Joanna Settle asked us to create a different take on the classic Shakespeare comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. This version, which is being performed outdoors in two different Connecticut locations, features original music by the Tony Award winning Stew. And yes, the letters on the poster were actually hand cut from individual ivy leaves.










New Georges produced the new play Angela's Mixtape as part of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival. While all of the posters we create for New Georges feature a similar background and illustration aesthetic, the central image is always rooted in the details of the play, in this case it was inevitable that a cassette tape be involved.

On a interesting side note: call it cultural zeitgeist, but shortly after this poster went to print portraits made with cassette tape were suddenly all the rage online. Though oddly enough, I was actually referencing a technique I used in one of my own pieces which I designed in 2001!








American Hwangap is a "new American comedy about a big Korean birthday" produced by The Play Company with Ma-Yi Theater Company. The photo, which gives a hint at the off-beat story, was created using props collected from a local thrift store, Asian market, and grocery store. The show is currently running in NYC.

Spotted in NYC: Take Back NYU

The other week I was walking along one of the Greenwich Village streets that compose the NYU campus and spotted this bit of stencil graffiti in front of one of the University buildings. Upon returning I was happy to discover that Take Back NYU is actually a coalition of student groups organized around social justice and not just another corporate advertising campaign using street art.

Spotted in NYC: Poot!

On my most recent trip to NYC I enjoyed seeing this childish but clever bit of commentary on many of the ads that cover most of the open surfaces in the subway stations (I guess we now know why he's called the Deadliest Warrior!). I don't know any details about who created these, so do share if you know the back story...

Gel Conference 2009 Recap

I had a terrific time speaking about my Skull-A-Day project at this year's Gel Conference in NYC. The best part of the event for me was getting to hear all of the other fantastic speakers and also meeting the attendees between sessions. Here are some highlights from the speaker's talks:

Scott Heiferman creator of MeetUp.com (which he described as a community organizing tool) talked about the future shifting from D.I.Y (Do It Yourself) to D.I.O. (Do It Ourselves). He said we need to turn more to each other and "make the hand that feeds us"!

Joan Sullivan, principal/founder of Bronx Academy of Letters, brought two of her students who were able to escape from their difficult lives in the South Bronx and get into good college thanks to her school.

Artist Zina Saunders said that metaphorical potholes in your road were a good thing since they forced you to take detours and give you a new perspective. I was particularly enamoured with her Overlooked New York portrait project.

Fred Kent, founder of Project for Public Spaces talked about the need for "authentic destinations" and creating community based on a "placemaking approach" rather than a top down design approach. Having public seating is often the key!

Graham Hill, founder of TreeHugger, showed a picture of a giant tomato with green lightning on it crushing an airplane as a mnemonic for his talk about reducing carbon footprints by tons (rather than pounds). The key: eat less meat, fly more efficiently, use green power.

Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics, spoke just before me, so I don't have notes on her talk, but I do remember it being very informative and interesting!

Magician Jamy Ian Swiss talked about the importance of empathy in magic, explaining that it's actually the key to connecting with an audience, regardless of your profession.

Robin Nagle, the anthropologist-in-residence for the New York City sanitation department, gave an eye-opning talk about waste (NYC is always only 3 days away from a serious trash breakdown) and left us with the admonishon to say "thank you" the next time we see a sanitation person.

Filmmaker Risa Morimoto, shared a snippet of her incredible documentary Wings of Defeat, telling the true story of the WWII Kamikaze pilots (who were not actually volunteers as most people assume).

Design Author Steven Heller said, "Adolf Hitler was a logo" as part of his talk about fascist branding.

Musician Bruce Molsky, played several lovely & catchy folk tunes on his fiddles.

Author Bill Gurstelle talked about the importance of the "art of living dangerously." He said, "the only way to get better at risk-taking is to take risks" and left us with an image of a sea creature that lacking danger ends up eating its own brain as it grows up!

Barry Scheck, co-founder of The Innocence Project, said that eyewitness misidentification was the greatest cause of wrongful convictions. His organization helped exonerate Jerry Miller, who also spoke, after he spent 24 years in prison for a rape he did not commit.

And professor Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice, talked about the need for "virtue" in business. He defined this "practical wisdom" as "moral will" combined with "practical skill". And he decried rules, saying that we won't become skilled by following them. He also said there shoud be no more courses on ethics, that the only way to learn them was by living them.

I'll post a video of my own talk as soon as it's available.

Linkage: From Self-Erasing Paper to Self-Imposed Homelessness

Xerox's answer to recycling: paper that erases itself! via

Innovative campaign makes you into a homeless person (image shown).

Disney may need to sue themselves for copyright infringement. via

One for the true design geeks: "Helveticaca" Onesies (image shown).

And a few longer articles worth reading...

Ode on the mainstreaming of social entrepreneurship.
and a medicine hunter's support of indigenous cultures.

Mother Jones on the future of sustainable food in the US, fake farmer's markets, and bio-fuels VS rainforests.

New York Public Library honors SKULLS

My book SKULLS has been given the great honor of inclusion in the New York Public Library's Stuff for the Teen Age 2009. This is the 80th year of this list of the best books, music, movies and video games for teens. Items were chosen by working with a teen advisory staff who rated all of the items for consideration. Below is a short video of some of the responses to SKULLS...



As part of their teen related programming I've been asked to come speak to both librarians and teenagers in NYC about the book and project in the coming year.

ALR on Tour: New York, Austin, Philadelphia, Richmond

I will be doing a lot of traveling this year, so I figured I'd share some of my upcoming public speaking dates. Please do come out and say "hi" if you're in any of these areas/attending these events...

February 26: James River Writers Writing Show panel "From Rags to Riches: The Art of Self-Promotion" with Jenny Block, and Slash Coleman. 6:30-8:30 at the Science Museum of Virginia. Richmond, VA

April 30: GEL Conference guest speaker. New York City

June 25: How Design Conference guest lecturer. Austin, TX

October 31: M��tter Museum Day of The Dead event keynote speaker. Philadelphia, PA

I also enjoy giving talks at universities and for business groups about both my work as a socially conscious designer and my year-long art project Skull-A-Day. If you're interested in having me come talk to your group/school please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Spotted in NYC: One man's trash...

The great thing about New York City is you can go around spray painting trash gold in the middle of the day and nobody will bother you. I actually spotted the two guys doing this, (carefully lifting up each piece, painting it over a piece of paper and then putting it back where it was), but left them alone to do their thing and then came back later to document. It was only for about half a block on 14th street and the trail seemed to emanate from a recently painted city works structure, that was a remarkably similar gold color. Preplanned public art or spur of the moment amusement? Either way I find it really satisfying.

Spotted in NYC: I'm glad I'm a vegetarian...

On my last trip to NYC I got to check out Banksy's latest installation: The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill. Open just until the end of October, this unassuming pet store contains a menagerie of animatronic "animals" including slithering hot dogs in buns, swimming fish sticks, a monkey watching monkey porn, a leopard that's not what it seems, an aged Tweety Bird, and more, all surrounded by pet toys and packaged meat products. While the idea of blurring the line between animals as pets/companions VS animals as food/clothing/entertainment is not particularly deep, the fact that the invitingly playful shop is not in a museum and free to the public, means it will most likely have a greater impact than many other attempts to do the same by sincere animal rights activists. It also helps that everything is impeccibly made and moves in an eerily realistic way. The pictures I took really don't do it justice so definitely check out the videos HERE. And be sure to see it in person if you are in the NYC area.

Spotted in NYC: Something's Missing

On a most recent trip to NYC I noticed these friendly large red signs on several bodegas in the upper West Side neighborhood where I was staying.
Something about them seemed odd, and then I realized that the frames they were in typically hold cigarette advertising. Indeed there were no cigarette ads to be found anywhere on the facades (though alcohol ads were still plentiful). I'm not sure if this was a recent change or if this is a remnant of a previous ban on cigarette ads near schools that I've never encountered before. Anyone know the story?

Signs of Change, NYC: Sept 20 - Nov 22

Josh MacPhee of Just Seeds has co-curated Signs of Change an exhibition with Dara Greenwald chronicling 50 years of activist art which opens September 20th at Exit Art gallery in NYC. It will feature 600 posters, prints, photographs, moving images, audio clips, and other ephemera from over 30 countries. Along with the exhibition there will be a series of related events, including film/video screenings. Details can be found HERE. And eventually on the show site (which is still under construction) HERE.

Spotted in NYC: Relax

I love this unintentional phrase created by a partially removed sign on an empty store front in Manhattan. It's definitely something we could all use.

Spotted in NYC: Bike Parking

I ran into this amazing bike parking/shelter/safety campaign thing last time I was in NYC and I seriously wondered if I had walked into an alternate universe (or at least a movie set). While it could certainly use more posts to chain bikes too, it's definitely a major (visible) step in the right direction.
You can find out more about the ad campaign shown on it HERE.

Spotted in NYC: Public vs. Private Property

I stepped out of a subway on Sixth Avenue and saw this marker at my feet. It divided a wide sidewalk that otherwise was indistinguishable from blocks around it.

Spotted in NYC: Corporate Anti-Graffiti

Graffiti is illegal, even when corporations do it, though that never seems to stop them. But maybe Spike TV is trying to avoid trouble by creating their new guerrilla marketing ads by removing dirt on the sidewalks on New York City. I think folks living in the city would actually appreciate the ads more if they finished the job of cleaning the sidewalk, but the ads will probably stay there until someone else decides to clean them. [On the same trip that I spotted this I actually saw an old adhesive plastic street ad that the city just painted crosswalk lines on top of!]

Out of The Closet

Like every good New Yorker, I store. That is, I rent a closet where I keep all the things that don't fit into my studio apartment. And, although I was intrigued to discover that Nigerian gentlemen store their Not-Quite-Gucci bags right next to my roller skates and sewing machine, I really hadn't thought much about my rented closet. Until recently..

For the past few years, Manhattan Mini-Storage has been using a series of bold statements in their print ads which mostly came off as bad stand-up jokes. But their newest installment has taken an unusual turn and become blatantly political in an ugly yet eye-catching ad campaign. Take a look:

They are a bit sloppy for my own design sense but certainly have created something worth blogging about. Now that they are getting flak from those who disagree with the statements - they have launched a poll on their site where anyone can weigh in or even submit suggestions for new ads. What do you think, should politics be kept in the closet?

I "heart" NY Photos

Picture New York is urging folks to sign a petition against the newly proposed rules from the Mayor's Office of Film, Theater, and Broadcasting which would require permits for 2 or more people at a single site for more than 30 minutes and groups of 5 or more people using a tripod for more than 10 minutes. The rules were proposed with little publicity and the public comment period ends this Friday. If you're concerned about retaining your first amendment rights in the Big Apple you can read more here and sign the petition here.

Thanks Christine!