Special: After School
Photos + Text by Rebecca Toh
Every city needs its own cult cafe, a sort of repository for a certain type of people to escape to and gather, chain smoke, exchange gossip, drink beer, relax, and – of course, talk about art.
Interview: 6th Singapore Short Film Festival
We spoke with the fabulous Aishah Ashburn, who is the programmer of the 6th Singapore Short Film Festival, on why you should catch this year’s festival at The Substation, Singapore’s first independent contemporary arts center.
Photography: Cities grow old and new everyday
Fritz Hoffman captures the schizophrenic nature of Shanghai, where its nostalgic past constantly clashes with its own futuristic present, in a stunning set of photographs published in the March issue of National Geographic.
Event: Tokyo Art Book Fair 2010 (Zine’s Mate)
We spotted some great photographs taken by Amy Fox of this year’s Tokyo Art Book Fair.
Travel: Places and Writers
Photo + Text By Rebecca Toh
Every place that I want to visit (alone) is inspired by, inevitably, a writer.
Because of Jack Kerouac I wanted to see Denver, badly, or at least hop on a truck in my torn jeans and drive across the states with a bunch of hippies. Strange aspirations (I was 17 then), and how very romantic.
Then I read Allen Ginsberg, and I was absolutely changed. Even the way I punctuated changed. India became the next destination on my imaginary map. Ginsberg was the quintessential travelling poet, but something more than his poetry touched me, and I think it was the way he fashioned himself as a nomad, someone who never belonged, someone who always had to step out of his comfort zone in order to find himself.
Exhibition: SNOW Magazine Cafe
From today onwards until 30 August, as long as you’re in Tokyo, head over to Cafe Pause and you will be able to stumble into an exhibition showcasing a fine, fine collection of art / design / culture magazines from around the world.
The exhibition is curated by Tokyo-based Jean Snow.
Magazines and publications on display in the cafe are free for browsing, although if you’re keen on hanging around, Cafe Pause has also created a special drink & snack menu for you.
There will also be a special showcase of magazines by Knee High Media, that awesome creator of such gems like Japanese travel magazine Paper Sky.
More info here!
Travel: 9h Capsule Hotel
Welcome to 9h Capsule Hotel, where function meets form in a fantastically futuristic twist.
Capsule hotels have always existed in Japan, but usually in the form of seedy, cheap accomodation favoured by salarymen who want to crash for the night or budget travellers who are game for something different (not necessarily in a good way!).
Store: Postalco
Our happy new discovery: Postalco, a stationery and leather goods brand inspired by the international transport of mail (don’t you agree that there has always been something sexy about mail?).
Finally a product that manages to combine our romantic and practical sensibilities all at the same time!
Interview: Wang Chuen Tz
Wang Chuen Tz is a freelance illustrator from Taipei whose work is filled with fantasy and honesty and a kind of naive sweetness.
She has illustrated for small independent stores, numerous book covers, record label releases, Starbucks and, most notably, Taiwan design company Booday.
Photography: Yutaka Otsuka
Yutaka Otsuka captures the transient nature of life for travellers in Tokyo in an ongoing documentary photography project titled The House of Gaijin-San.
Here’s a look at his quietly beautiful work.