A Call To Cleveland: Artist Michael Rakowitz Wants Your Orange Objects

Artist Michael Rakowitz proposes that Clevelanders remove orange from their lives.

In the wake of the tragic police shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, Clevelanders have been left with the burning question: What do we do now?

Michael Rakowitz, an artist known for bridging art with political activism through social experiments and a Northwestern University professor, is proposing a grand solution — that Clevelanders rid themselves of the color orange as a statement on the loss of safety. The removal of orange mimics the absent orange safety cap from the fake gun Rice had at the time of the shooting last fall.

"A color removed will challenge the city of Cleveland to have a wide range of uncomfortable discussions on race and violence in a city where people of color do not feel safe," said Rakowitz during a talk at Case Western Reserve University Tuesday night. 

The lecture was a discussion of art as activism and a public brainstorming session for this upcoming art project that would potentially remove orange from the city. Rakowitz is internationally known for controversial public artworks including an Iraqi meal served on plates once owned by Saddam Hussein and homeless shelters made from garbage bags and tape. 

One suggestion to remove orange is to activate spaces throughout the city — art galleries, restaurants, storefronts and community centers — that would act as repositories where citizens can donate orange objects to be displayed. Loren Naji has already signed on to have his Satellite Gallery on the East Side be one such repository, where he'll either donate a room to the project or set up an exhibit in the front yard.

Other options include painting orange traffic cones blue, replacing orange safety vests with yellow ones and having the Cleveland Cavaliers play with different-colored basketballs during their games — after all, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving sported "I Can't Breathe" shirts in December to stand in solidarity with New York police shooting victim Eric Garner.

"At the heart of this project is a question: How does it feel to live in a society where the right to safety is removed?" asks Rakowitz, who plans to meet with city officials in the coming months to jump-start this project that does not have an end date. "If we're talking about the absence of color, let's take it to the next step and actually make a grand gesture about redacting the color of orange and redacting safety from Cleveland as a whole as an act of solidarity."

Reclaiming Womanhood: Laverne Cox Speaks at Case Western Reserve University

Orange is the New Black actress Laverne Cox spoke about gender issues at CWRU. Photo Credit: Ryan Zymler

From the moment Case Western Reserve University president Barbara Snyder  introduced Laverne Cox to the time the actress stepped off stage, she commanded attention. Cox delivered a speech at the campus last night. Her role as prisoner Sophia Burset on Orange is the New Black has thrust her into the national spotlight and helped her break barriers from being the first transgender person to get nominated for an Emmy to being the first transgender person to grace the cover of Time Magazine. And on Monday, she will accept a Woman of the Year award from Glamour Magazine — a publication that celebrates women of beauty and power — alongside Lupita Nyong'o, Chelsea Clinton, and Samantha Power.

"I stand before you this evening a proud African-American transgender woman," she said upon approaching the podium. "I stand before you tonight an artist, an actress, a sister and a daughter, and I believe it is important to name the various intersecting components of my multiple identities because I'm not just one thing, and neither are you."

Cox then highlighted alarming statistics to set the stage for discussing transgender issues. For example, the homicide rate in the LGBT community is highest among trans women, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects. In 2013, over 72 percent of all LGBT homicides were trans women, 67 percent of which were trans women of color.

"It is my belief that one of the biggest obstacles facing the transgender community are points of view which disavow our identities," she said, "points of view that suggest that no matter what we do, we are always and only the gender that we are assigned at birth, points of view that suggest no matter what I do, I'll never be a woman yet. Ain't I a woman?"

She went on to talk about how she was bullied growing up, often beaten by her peers while she ran home from school, and how she attempted suicide in sixth grade. She also talked about how she persevered, devoting herself to dancing and acting classes, clinging to her twin brother for emotional support, and ultimately undergoing hormone therapy and starting her transition into womanhood 16 years ago.

"As long as we live in a culture where people have to prove their womanhood or their manhood, we are not living in a culture where we are all truly free in terms of gender," she said. "We have to begin to create spaces of gender self-determination for all of our youth and all of our society."

Mix knowledge with alcohol at the bar tonight

Life, The Universe & Hot Dogs: Cosmology at Happy Dog

Sick of trivia, karaoke and billiards at the bars you frequent? If you’d rather jump-start your brain than turn it off while swilling a cold one, try one of these lectures in a bar. From simplistic scientific talks to a storyteller’s forum, these lectures elevate your average bar trip.


May 22: Learned Owl Book Shop’s Book Club in a Bar at Papa Joe’s
Instead of leaving your books in the car while you enjoy a few drinks, bring them inside and talk them over with a crowd at this monthly Book Club in a Bar series at Papa Joe’s in Akron. Tending to keep to the thriller and mystery genre, it's a more relaxed version of the book club your mother attends. Join the regular crowd to discuss Game for Five by Marco Malvaldi. "It's a good bridge book club if you're trying to get into one," says Kate Schlademan, owner of the Learned Owl. If you graduate from the Book Club in a Bar, the bookstore also hosts two more devote monthly discussions at its location. 7 p.m., 1561 Akron Peninsula Road, Akron (Papa Joe's), 330-653-2252 (Learned Owl), learnedowl.com


May 27: Life, The Universe & Hot Dogs: Cosmology at Happy Dog

We don't always get to hear about all of the groundbreaking research happening in Northeast Ohio, let alone meet the scientist behind it. But at the monthly Life, The Universe & Hot Dogs series, researchers from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Case Western Reserve University get out of the laboratory to talk about their work to regular folks without making them feel dumb. On May 27, CWRU graduate student Amanda Yoho will explain the Cosmic Microwave Background, or the first visible light in the universe, and its anomalies. "What they do well is they know how to balance [their lectures]. They know it's not a technical audience, so they don't go super technical about their description," says Happy Dog owner Sean Watterson. It's even encouraged, and possibly mandatory, to get a hot dog while learning about astrophysics and evolutionary biology. 7:30 p.m., 5801 Detroit Ave., 216-651-947, happydogcleveland.com


June 11: Told No. 3: Home, Sweet Home at Market Garden Brewery

Everyone has at least one story to tell, according to ToldCLE creator Dave Sabol. ToldCLE is the forum to shape and hone your storytelling skills. Anyone can find courage in the liquids available at the bar and tell a tale based on the evening's theme, Home, Sweet Home after featured storytellers Afif Ghannoum and Cindy Reagan let loose. Although this will be the second held at Market Garden Brewery, Sabol says that he only has two stipulations about ToldCLE's venue: a separate room (so bar noise doesn’t interrupt) and alcohol. 7 p.m., 194 7 W.25 St., 216-621-4000, marketgardenbrewery.com, toldstories.com

Glow Stick

The garments flaunted in tonight’s In the Dark fashion show will be glowing, but it’s won’t be from the gleam of silk or the glint of sequins. Some of the pieces will literally light up as part of the 7 p.m. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland event that showcases wearable technology pieces created through collaboration between six Cleveland Institute of Art students and two Case Western Reserve University engineering students. 

“It’s trying to blur the lines between analog in digital, especially in art culture today to find a complex between what should be analog and what should be digital,” says Graham Baldwin, a participating designer and Cleveland Institute of Art student.

Back in October, Baldwin began working on his avant-garde garment titled “Compendium,” which is a crinoline dress made from 4 pounds of 3-D printed nylon filament that will allow light to shine through it.

“In this piece, I’m hand-sewing 3-D printed structures together, and the 3-D printed structures reference smocking [a way to embroider and fold fabric] used in old-time dresses, so it’s kind of this back and forth balance between the two ideas,” Baldwin says.

The competition is an opportunity to connect arts with engineering, says CIA adjunct professor Barbara Chira. The designers are using 3-D light refraction, glowing LED lights and motion sensors to make one-of-a-kind, futuristic pieces.

“We are very proud of these students' passion for and aptitude in emerging technologies, and in their desire to collaborate across disciplines and work toward creative outcomes that are innovative and new,” Chira says.

The students will also present their high-tech creations at the Brite Winter Festival Feb. 15, the Cleveland Mini Maker Faire March 29 and Great Lakes Science Center’s Yuri’s Night Space Party April 12. Designers will have a chance to revise their pieces throughout the competition until the April show, which features a judging of the garments with one lucky winner taking home a cash prize.

By Cassie Neiden

Down on the Farm for an Upscale Dinner

 

    I've been going out to Squire Valleevue Farm since 1971. Of course, back then, we never called it by that name. To us, it was The Pink Pig, a piece of country property owned by Case Western Reserve University out in Hunting Valley. The moniker came courtesy of a building that had a hog-themed decor honoring its past incarnation as a sty. We used it as our personal playground and private estate. Students, faculty and alumni have access to the 389 acres of forests, meadows, fields and ravines. Since my husband Barney is a CWRU grad, over the years we've  gone there for nature walks, picnics, birthdays and gatherings with family and friends. I even spoke at a local food symposium held inside the former sheep barn in 2002 with Chef Parker Bosley and Darwin Kelsey of the Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy. 

  For one night, August 24, anyone can enjoy this beautiful place if they purchase a ticket to Back to Our Roots, a farm-to-table dinner hosted by Cleveland Independents.  The event is a celebration of the talent and entrepreneurial spirit that defines participants of this 90-member restaurant organization, and a way to give back to the community that supports them.The location is sure to be special, but the lineup of participating chefs is its own kind of draw: Andrew Dombrowski of Zach Bruell Restaurants, John Kolar of Thyme2, Matthew Anderson of Umami Asian Kitchen, Karen Small of Flying Fig and Jonathan Bennett of Red Restaurant Group.

The menu looks phenomenal and features some mouthwatering ingredients: corn crepes with truffled ricotta, beef and compressed melon tartar, Mackenzie Farm chevre with sauteed peppers and pancetta, grilled trout with edamame hummus and tamari pickled onions, prosciutto-wrapped black figs, grilled Ohio sirloin and ember-roasted potatoes, and to finish a milk chocolate cremeux, a sort of pudding with raspberries and a salted pretzel crisp. Libations start with sparkling Cava, cycle through two whites, a red and end with Moscato.

    The $199 per person price might seem steep at first glance. But consider what those dollars buy —  an absolutely unique, never-to-be-repeated meal, with five courses prepared by five different chefs, using as much local produce —  some of it grown on-site, and other products from area food artisans. You also get entertainment from Ensemble Concertante, a chamber music trio, a splendid outdoor setting (with dinner served under a tent), and tours of the gardens, apiary and mushroom/root cellar. But that's not all. A portion of the proceeds will go to the University Farm School Visitation Program. The funds make it possible for schools to bring elementary-age students out to explore this working farm, learn about healthy eating and have lunch.

  The food and service will be upscale. But leave the heels at home and dress casually and comfortably for an evening on the grass and under the stars. Advance reservations required. Seating is limited so don't wait. The fun begins at 6:30 p.m., sunset to follow.

Gathering Round the Table

   Self described foodies like nothing better than to entertain themselves and others with talk about what they ate, how it was prepared, where ingredients came from, and who cooked it. Television has recast food and the people that slice, whip, and braise it as star attractions in an endless line-up of shows that run the gamut from heated contests to step by step tutorials. Another- and to my mind truly bizarre and disturbing- manifestation of our era's obsession with eating are the competitions to determine who's the best at stuffing their pie hole  Winners- those that do it  the fastest  and consume the largest quantity- are celebrities, however briefly.  A local newspaper recently ran a piece that featured a guy who's claim to fame is that he can down 24 chicken wings in three minutes. Only in a land of plenty would such antics even be possible.
   But this isn't a land of plenty for all. There are among us people who are hungry, who can't buy good food close to home, who don't even know what it means to have a healthy diet. For far too many of our neighbors the question on a Saturday night is about what they can afford to serve and not whether or not the restaurant they've chosen has a chef with a Beard award or sources its pork locally. Sadly one of the most powerful determinants of which side of the line you're on is race.  These issues will be addressed in discussions on the Case Western Reserve University campus next month.  

Fried chicken

The Race, Food & Justice conference is a collaborative, 2-day gathering  April 25-26 that will look at policy, problems, programs and potential. The event kicks off Thursday night with a screening of Soul Food Junkies, a documentary that explores the history, social significance and impact of this iconic America cuisine in and on the African-American community. Speakers at the Friday sessions include Erika Allen, Chicago and National Projects Director for Growing Power,  a highly regarded multi-city project focused on urban land use,  sustainable agriculture, and empowering low-income residents and people of color to be part of creating viable food systems for themselves and their cities; Malik Yakini, founder and director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, which operates a seven acre farm; and Mistinguette Smith, founder and director of the Black/Land Project, an effort to collect stories and understand how people of color think about, talk about, and feel their relationship to farmland, urban spaces, and green places. There will be lectures, q & a time, and break-out discussions.

Rid-All participants

  Environmental Health Watch, Growing Power, Rid-All Green Partnership, a Cleveland farming initiative, and CWRU's Social Justice Institute have come together to create this opportunity. It is free and open to the public but space is limited and tickets must be reserved in advance. If this is a conversation you want to be part of, I urge you to get yours now. And even if you don't attend, it serves as a reminder that there's a dark and complex side of what we call the food movement and how  important it is that everyone have a place at the table.
 

Sparks will fly at the Temple of Tesla concert Saturday

The headliner at the Temple of Tesla concert this weekend isn’t an energetic pop star or hardcore rock band. It's a pair of 13-feet-high coils pulsing about 20 kilowatts of electrical currents to produce its own versions of tunes such as Girl Talk’s “This is the Remix.”



These coils and their mastermind, Ian Charnas, constitute the Tesla Orchestra. “We make musical lighting bolts,” says Charnas, the orchestra's project manager.

Saturday’s show at the Masonic Performing Arts Center will feature the coils pumping out music from the recent Open Spark Project and the orchestra’s 2010 world tour. Attendees can watch Charnas don a chainmail suit and dance with the 10-feet-long sparks. Daring audience members will be invited to sit inside a steel cage as lighting strikes around it. The Chicago-based Blue Ribbon Glee Club will open the show with a capella covers of punk rock songs.

Charnas, a 2005 Case Western Reserve University graduate, thought up the orchestra while watching a similar performance in Austin, Texas in 2007. “I thought, ‘That looks like fun. I want to do that,’” he says. He wanted to add theatrics and make it into a “sci-fi rock” performance.

Three years and $10,000 later, Charnas built twin Tesla coils with the help of CWRU students, graduates, faculty and staff. Building the coils was a “slow and painful” process, he admits, but it paid off when he could finally produce music by sending a signal through the coils to turn the sparks on and off. “Any noise that you can turn on and off, you can turn it into music,” he says.

Hip to be Cool

As a former student of Charles Michener, the author and former Newsweek and New Yorker editor who accepted a visiting professor position in Case Western Reserve University's tiny but proud English department, I was eager to see him speak at today's City Club lunch.

I stuck my "Media" sticker-tag to the front of my jacket and took a seat in the back of the room. A few warm introductions and pleas for new members later, Michener took his place at the podium and began telling the room what he loves about Cleveland, what stinks about Cleveland and how Cleveland can turn itself around. (Michener, by the way, is not a transplant but a native Northeast Ohioan who has returned to work on his book about the city.)

One of his ideas is the Great Lakes Center for New Media, a project that, with any luck, is soon to come out of Case Western Reserve University -- my alma mater. Scribbled in my notes from the speech is the line, "I graduated too soon." Not only will CWRU have its English department, with the requisite courses in Modern Literature, symbolism in The Scarlet Letter and How to Write a Term Paper 101, there will also be lessons in publishing, (professional) blogging and the best applications for electronic media. Way cool.

Basically, old media isn't getting the job done, Michener says. It brought a tear to my eye (and probably a few of the PD reporters scattered around the room), but we shan't despair. The best way to counterbalance the fall? Break into new media, emphasis on the new. To those of you reading this blog, take note that we've taken note. Reaching a wider audience means branching out from strictly traditional vehicles for the written word to modes of transportation that all the cool kids are doing. It's not peer pressure, it's dissemination with awareness.

Search case.edu for the keywords "Great Lakes Center for New Media" and you'll come up empty-handed. But to hear Michener talk about it, you can imagine construction already starting on a new, state-of-the-art home for the center. I, for one, will be donating.

Caption: Bonnie Humphrey, Charles Michener and me