PRESS RELEASE: TONI FRANCESC SPRING 2012 COLLECTION "SEEKERS"

After showing his collections for five years around the world, including New York, Toni Francesc returns to his hometown to present for the first time in 080 Barcelona Fashion.

In a change of strategy focused on direct sales, the designer has chosen Barcelona as headquarters and reference point to start his expansion, and the first store will open the doors by September 2011, where customers will find the clothes of Fall 2011 collection “Garudà” presented in Mercedes Benz Fashion Week New York on February 2011.

Nevertheless, New York is still a part of Toni Francesc's strategy for sales and promotion, and will keep you updated about it.

His collections are available online for distribution worldwide through http://www.net-trendy.com/moda-1/toni-francesc

“Seekers” has been presented today, 14th July 11:00am at the historic site of the University of Barcelona. The clothes have been accompanied by U.S. designer shoes Jeffrey Campbell.

This collection is inspired by the migratory movements and the need to survive at a wild environment. The quest for freedom and sense of identity are merged with the aesthetics of different cultures.

Nomadic people related to earth and wind as basic elements are the basis of this collection: earth being the place to live and seek the path of their journey, and wind in a metaphorical sense of freedom and mobility.

Materials merge to create garments where the fabrics provide a sense of protection and also weathering by erosion.

The colors are earthy and yellow like sand and stones, or red and blue as the sky. Silhouettes are broad, overlapping and asymmetrically constructed to imitate shapes of nature to get an effect of protection and feeling good.

Seekers is an allegory of humanity, who lives in search of livelihood and the need to be constantly on the move.

Salseek Launch Party Final - En La Escena

Salseek.com launches its official magazine party by having there party at Hudson Terrace, with Grammy nominated group NewSwing Sextet and DJ Henry Knowles. Visit: http://enlaescena.com

Artist Talk / Closing Reception Sat., July 16th, 5-8pm: BARRI-O-RAMA

SATURDAY, JULY 16th, 5-8pm for an Artist Talk and Closing Reception BARRI-O-RAMA. Nayda Collazo-Llorens, Rosalinda González, Johnny Ramos, Hatuey Ramos Fermín, Emcee C.M., Master of None and Marna Chester. Reception will include recent photographs from Johnny Ramos' East Harlem Portrait Studio.

IMAGE: Nayda Collazo-Llorens, Reverberation PS72/107, detail, multimedia installation, 2011

Gallery Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12-6pm, Thursday 1-7pm Monday and Sunday Closed

Curated by Fernando Salicrup and Christine Licata



Taller Boricua is proud to present "BARRI-O-RAMA" a group exhibition featuring artists
Nayda Collazo-Llorens, Rosalinda González, Johnny Ramos, Hatuey Ramos Fermín,
Emcee C.M., Master of None and Marna Chester. Incorporating interactive, site-specific multimedia projects, the show both celebrates East Harlem and its community and addresses the different perspectives and challenging issues of the neighborhood.



Nayda Collazo-Llorens' interactive, multi-channel video installation, Reverberation PS72/107, constructs a spatial narrative that explores the phenomenology of architecture. Through an examination of the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center's building, history and context, she investigates the elasticity and transient nature of public spaces: fragmented, complex places that echo and embody our memories and negotiate our past, present and future. The work incorporates a series of videos focusing on the building's original architecture that reverberates in the gallery through video feedback and projections. The viewer's body is also captured upon entering the space, altering the projections in the room as well as reverberating on the walls. Resounding within this in-flux of spacio-temporal experiences is an audio component that integrates the voices of long-time East Harlem residents. Layered within the gallery are oral histories of El Barrio-ites whose relationship and memories to the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center span the early history of the building as students of the grammar school up until today as a Latino cultural center where they now come for arts and cultural events. Reverberation PS72/107 builds a complex audio-visual topoanalysis-one that permeates the physical and psychological boundaries between interior and exterior spaces.



Responding to the growing issue of gentrification and displacement in East Harlem, Rosalinda González combines two individual yet integrated bodies of work: The Red Lipstick Tour and 10029: Diversity is Development. The Red Lipstick Tour is an ongoing psycho-geographic art project that investigates the art, culture and social space in New York City. This progressive series of multimedia and performative works explore the challenges and opportunities around our changing socioeconomic and cultural climate. For "BARRI-O-RAMA", The Red Lipstick Tour is partnering with Taller Boricua, local East Harlem residents, artists and students to produce the site-specific installation 10029: Diversity is Development, an evolving program in the spirit of "social sculpture" in which the individual is self-empowered to build and redefine existing socio-political structures within their community. Incorporating text/print workshops, live streaming video events and "news reports," González creates an interactive forum for the community to express El Barrio's vibrant culture, exchange ideas, build solidarity and voice opinions on the challenges they face.



In the tradition of Harlem photographers such as Rudy Castilla and James Van Der Zee, Johnny Ramos transforms one of Taller Boricua's galleries into his own temporary East Harlem Portrait Studio. Throughout the course of the exhibition he will be photographing East Harlem residents in the classic manner of "sittings." For example, families and individuals are encouraged to dress up and to bring "props." such as objects that hold personal meaning and importance to them for the photo session. Ramos captures and celebrates our community's diverse history and the generations of individuals that make East Harlem such a culturally rich and unique place. Interested El Barrio-ites are invited to come to the gallery and make an appointment during the show dates. At the end of the exhibition there will be a closing reception to view Ramos' portraits.


For "BARRI-O-RAMA," Hatuey Ramos Fermín, has created EAsT Harlem. a collaborative multimedia, curatorial-art-project that investigates alternative solutions to the on-going problem of fresh food access in East Harlem. One of the main issues in healthy eating is accessibility - knowing where to find alternatives and having choices and options. In response to this challenge, Ramos Fermín has constructed a multi-faceted exhibition and participatory action-work space. The main component being a map of all the available healthy food and fresh produce options in East Harlem with a concentration on bodegas, delis, farmers' markets, green carts, local gardens, supermarkets and community-supported agriculture. The EAsT Harlem map is available in an online-mobile version as well as in the gallery for free in paper format. On the night of the opening the map will also be printed on shopping tote bags during a silk screening workshop in collaboration with The Laundromat Project and artist Shani Peters.



Another aspect of the project includes researching and collaborating with non-profits and community-based organizations in El Barrio and beyond that offer innovative solutions for fresh food access and related issues. All information and support materials collected are incorporated into EAsT Harlem and associated "BARRI-O-RAMA" programming. These include Union Settlement, Urban Layers (www.urbanlayers.net), Concrete Safaris, the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), MAPP International Productions/The People's Potlucks, East Harlem Community Supported Agriculture and Kitchens (CSA / CSK), Go Green! Initiative, Freegans, Young Farmers and East Harlem's The People's Kitchen/The Kitchen Table. The gallery space will also be used as an on-going repository for Ramos Fermín's investigations as well as documenting the process of the project throughout the exhibition.



EAsT Harlem also incorporates individual artist collaborators Emcee C.M., Master of None and Marna Chester as part of the project. Emcee C.M., Master of None is participating through his MOBILIZE: The Portable Pantry project, offering a "foraging tour" throughout El Barrio that focuses on identifying and gathering edible plants in local parks. He has also constructed an interactive EAsT Harlem Seed and Recipe Library both in the gallery and outside of the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center. Marna Chester has created a take-away woodcut print poster for visitors that encourages and promotes healthy choices.



ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Nayda Collazo-Llorens is a multidisciplinary artist whose work includes drawings, prints, video and installation. She received an MFA from New York University and a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art. She has exhibited extensively including El Museo del Barrio (New York), LMAKprojects (New York), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Puerto Rico (San Juan), EFA Project Space (New York), Location One (New York), the 10th Havana Biennial (Cuba), the 9th Cuenca Biennial (Ecuador) and the Mattress Factory (Pittsburgh). Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Art Net, Art US, Art Nexus, and Art News, among others. Her work appears courtesy of LMAKprojects (New York). www.naydacollazollorens.com



Rosalinda González is a multidisciplinary, new media performance artist and writer. She has a BA in Spanish from University of Houston, a BBA, CT in business from the Bauer College of Business / University of Houston and an MFA in Digital Media from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her published works include the essay on Noel Jabbor's Million Dollar Homes as well as her graduate thesis No Money Shot about performance art and network culture. She is currently a Media Artist in Residence at Video Fashion (New York), and was awarded a residency from the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, where she developed a two-year experimental exhibition collaborative based in Chicago, Amsterdam and New York. Her video work and performances have been exhibited throughout the US including the McDonough Museum (Ohio), Project Row House (Texas), Saint Cecilia's Convent (New York), and the Tap Room (Providence). www.rosalindagonzalez.com www.theredlipsticktour.com



Johnny Ramos is a multimedia artist, filmmaker, photographer and arts educator. He has a BFA in film production from Wright State University (Ohio). He produced the award-winning documentary African American that explores the cultural relationship between native Africans and African Americans. Ramos is currently the Director of Media Fellows at the Downtown Community Television Center's (DCTV) a long-term, in-house Youth Media program. http://jxrpictureshow.tumblr.com



Hatuey Ramos Fermín is an educator and multidisciplinary artist whose work focuses on investigations of issues related to urban space. He has a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Puerto Rico and an MFA in Photography from St. Joost Art and Design Academy (Breda, The Netherlands). He has exhibited internationally in the Netherlands, the U.S., and Puerto Rico including: Apexart (New York City), El Museo del Barrio (New York City) and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico (San Juan). Ramos Fermín has been reviewed in New York Times, Artforum International, Time Out, Deutsche Bank's ArtMag #55, and Edutopia Magazine. As an educator, he has worked with community-based programs such Communications Project of the Puerto Rico Public Broadcast Corporation, the Teen Council Program at the Bronx Museum of Arts, the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), Lehman College Art Gallery (Bronx), and Hostos Community College (Bronx) among other institutions. www.hatmax.net



Emcee C.M., Master of None is a multidisciplinary artist, writer and organizer. He is also a Bicycle Mechanic and Cargo Bike and Boat Builder, Wood/Metal Shop Technician, Curriculum Developer, Domain Leader, Gardener, Radio Dramatist, Frame and Finish Carpenter, Furniture Builder, Installer, Superintendent and Construction Engineer, Design Shop Technician, Foraging and Cooking Instructor, Sauna Engineer, Participatory Public Work Organizer, Woodworker and Fabricator, Russian Translator and Tax Preparer as well as a Goatherd and Cheese Maker. He has a BA from Brandeis University (Waltham, MA) in Linguistics, Russian and Sculpture and an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Connecticut. He has received institutional support from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), Independent Performance Group (IPG), Contemporary Art Galleries at the University of Connecticut (CAG), CUE Art Foundation (New York), Smack Mellon (New York), Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Bronx Museum, Flux Factory (New York), the Aldrich Museum (Ridgefield, CT), I-park (Plantsville, CT), Artspace (New Haven) and Center for Book Arts (New York). www.emceecm.com



Marna Chester is a multidisciplinary artist and educator. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Alfred University and Masters of Professional Studies in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute. In March 2010 Marna was awarded a grant by the Brooklyn Arts Council for her multi-disciplinary art project, Eat Better Now! Based on an edition of woodcut posters she created, this ongoing project is designed to raise awareness about food accessibility issues in NYC. The early stages of the project were documented in the short film, "Fly On the Wall". Chester has created a community cookbook with East New York residents, and has participated in panels discussions and lectures, including The Hungry Filmmakers at Anthology Film Archives, Harlem Children's Zone, Girlscouts of America, Groundwork Inc., and Molloy College Art Gallery. In conjunction with GrowNYC and Studio in a School, she currently teaches nutrition throughout NYC's public schools.


This exhibition is made possible with support from The New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone and individual donations.

Special Special thanks to the Heritage High School students, Sharon Volpe, Studio Mercury Design Firm, Elizabeth Hamby, David Sundell, Michael Jimenez, Urban Layers, Emcee C.M., Master of None, Marna Chester, Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, Shani Peters, Petrushka Bazin, The Laundromat Project, The Center for Urban Pedagogy, Union Settlement, Concrete Safaris, Neighborhood Explorers from MCNY, Cornell University Dept. of Crop Soil Sciences, Grow NYC, Hope Community, NY State Dept. Health, Freegans, NY Coalition Against Hunger, Harvest Home Farmers' Markets, MAPP International, The People's Kitchen Table and all the CSAs, Community Gardens, Bodegas and Green Carts of East Harlem. For additional information about any of the artists, please contact Taller Boricua: contact@tallerboricua.org

Taller Boricua / The Puerto Rican Workshop is a 40-year old artist-run nonprofit art gallery and multidisciplinary cultural space in El Barrio. Our mission is to be a proactive institution for the community in East Harlem by offering programs that stimulate its social, cultural and economic development through the promotion of the arts.

How I Wrote That Song - En La Escena

J’Martin, 24 Horas, Yunel Cruz, Loisaidas and Zol y Luna brought together by Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), the U.S. performing right organization representing more than 475,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music.


“How I Wrote That Song,” a panel discussion on the process of songwriting and the stories behind your favorite Bachata songs including "No Me Dejes” (Loisaidas), "Aprende a Ser Infiel" (J'Martin), “No Puedo Creer” (24 Horas), and “Dominicanita” (Yunel Cruz). The panel will be moderated by Delia Orjuela, BMI Vice President, Latin Music and Porfirio Piña, BMI Senior Director, Latin Writer/Publisher Relations. Zol y Luna to perform.

Interview with Dr. Ervin Laszlo in NYC

June 18th, 2011

Interview with Dr. Ervin Laszlo in NYC

Book Tour: SIMPLY GENIUS 

Dr. Ervin Laszlo





BACKGROUND

A child prodigy on the piano. The holder of the highest degree of the Sorbonne(the State Doctorate), four honorary Ph. D's and numerous awards and distinctions, including the 2001 Goi Peace Award and the 2005 Assisi Mandir of peace Prize. The Author or contributor to more than 80 books and is the two-time Nobel peace Prize nominee. A former professor of philosophy, systems theory and future studies educator, and the founder and president of an international think tank-the club of Budapest, as well as of the General Evolution Research Group.



1. What led you to start these institutions and what was your mission statement?

When you are looking at the world around you and you see the kind of problems that we face, you ask yourself what kind of ideas we need to get past it. Why are we stuck with the kind of things that are only creating more heat than light? There was no kind of preconceived plan that I sat down and said now we are creating this group, this think tank. It comes together and when the opportunities come, the thing is to seize them and to not allow them to slip by and say okay, now there is something possible to do and let’s raise the issue and see what happens; and sometimes things may go.



2. What prompted you to write your current book "SIMPLE GENIUS"? I know your friends encouraged you, I did see that part, but was there anything intuitive or instinctive that kind of propelled you to say now is the time?

Actually I resisted it initially because I was not interested in talking about myself. I want to talk about ideas and what to do, how we can join together. When people came up with this idea, they said well maybe there is something of interest to see what made me, which has happened to other people, shift from one field to another and what made me to go in this direction, I’m going in? And so, when people ask me that and journalists have asked me off and on, and I had a couple of set anecdotes you know and it started with; how did I shift from music to philosophy?; how did I meet my wife?; what led me to the UN and that type of stuff? And so I wrote those down and that was very fast, because I had them in my hand, in my head and I wrote them out. Each one took only a couple of hours to do. Then after a week or so I had a handful of, half- a-dozen of stories. Then Friend said, why don't you write this and that about what happened later and what happened before and I started having fun. I lived myself living back into those days, like I have a lot of recollections to go with NY. Like my first debut recital at 15 years old and I joined the UN for 7 years and so I was working there, so I have many recollections about NY and it's wonderful to live yourself back into it. Now if you are back some place, then those things come. But also, mentally as an artist you would appreciate that you can lift yourself back into a period of your life and you can begin to see things and remember things. It’s enjoyable to pretend that there I am again, a 15 year old or maybe a 35 year or whatever; I'm doing this or that. How was it in those days? Eventually that made up and became a book.


3. As a former musician, what did you discover about yourself at that very young age?

Music is something that I can express myself. It's not, I was never thinking of music as a profession or career. It is a kind of part of show business when you are doing it when you are doing it professionally, you have to play in public, you have to get engagements, get good reviews, you try to etc..., but that’s not the part that interested me. The part that interested me always is the experience. When you play music, you feel that you are entering another world, another dimension and then you play to people, public and you can help other people move onto that and there is the reinforcement and a marvelous feeling. And that's what always drove me, that's what my interest in music, is the experience. It’s the same type of experience that ultimately took me on to science and philosophy, asking myself, what kind of world do we live in and how can I contribute to it? And then allowing the ideas to flow... That’s what one does in art and that’s what one does in music and I think it does that same thing in science as well. Because the great discoveries and the great ideas don't come by little by little, by doing the ground work...You need to do the ground work also, they come, and all of a sudden a key idea pops into your head and then you work it out.



4. How did these discoveries serve you in your life?

It’s a great sense of being able to do something meaning to me and meaningful to others and that can also help, also provide, and pave the way towards something, a better condition in this world.


5. You referred to a shift in your life as "An Epiphany in the Alps”, could you tell us about that experience and how it changed your life?

It came about the time when it was 9 months or so after my 1st son was born and I asked myself at that point, what do I want to do with the rest of my life? Do I want to continue in this way traveling all over the world or do I want to think about some of those things that I heard about as a child, because my uncle was a philosopher and I had a lot of contact with my Uncle. We would take long walks together, when I was a child and those questions were in the back of my mind. So I said should I also devote my time to looking at those things and then I started reading, writing and attending courses and launched, entirely on my own a second career, that ultimately became dominant and then it just I had to leave the first one, because you cannot do everything at once, because there is not enough time for that so. I allowed myself to go after this hunch at that moment in the Alps looking out at this sunlit landscape, New Years Eve asking myself, is that what I want to do or what is it that I want to do with my life? I allowed these intuitions to come and the next morning I said yes. Now I started seriously thinking about it, reading, taking courses and talking to people and seeing what I could come up with.

6. At the TEDx Youth Day Dare to Dream conference in Hong Kong, you spoke of the internet of Nature or the Akashic Records, where everything is recorded. Is there a way to access this internet of nature to better serve humanity?

I think we all do to some extent, but most of us suppress it, its intuition. But those who have experience with any form of art, poetry of music, I think have a direct experience and that is an access already to this basic, a field, call it whatever you want, a basic dimension in the world where all the wisdom, where all the, everything that has ever happened in some sense is maintained and you can get an access to that, you can kind of feel what it is, you can get these hunches and intuitions if you allow your mind to relax. That's the basic idea of deep prayer and meditation, your mind relaxes and you allow the things to flow in and so sure we can. And people are intuitive, people who are more spiritual, who are more artistic and also very creative people can, they can just well in the sciences and in art. When you are creative, your information source comes from there. There’s a very interesting quote from Thomas Edison, this I mention in my book who wrote in a little article in an Indiana Newspaper at the time, "people said that i invented things, I never invented anything. All these things came to me."


7. In an excerpt, produced by the Graduate Institute about the vital role of higher education, you speak about the role of the generation of new thinkers. What practices can be introduced and implemented to facilitate the transformation in our youth, to bring forth this new consciousness to sustain our planet?

We have to develop a consciousness that is inherent in all people. It was inherent, and much more community expression in traditional cultures, which were more in touch with each other and nature. It's suppressed these things and this suppression is the repression of our natural instincts is a temporary fault. It's going the wrong way for the past 50-60 years. This humanity going the way of only thinking of oneself and short term interests and thinking that it doesn't, everybody’s out for themselves and it's all a jungle. If you think it's all a jungle, then it is a jungle, then it's a chaos. Then you realize eventually that the world has a harmony, as a base to it where all living things are a part of this harmony. We ourselves divorced ourselves from it and it’s now time to get back into it. That way, I think you allow yourself to become more whole, to become more yourself, more your true nature. I don’t think human nature is this pitiless, merciless struggle for survival. It's not in the nature for that. People said Darwin said that, but it was an element of what he said. He said that Nature is operating by symphony, by working together, by cooperation and not fighting each other. So we have to get back to life on this planet, which is a whole harmonious system of which we are a part and we have to be a positive part.


8. If there is one vital advise you would give to humanity that could make an immediate impact on their lives and those around them, what would it be?

Wake-up and become yourself. In a sense, we have artificial identities. We believe we are separate, mechanistic beings who are manipulating the world around us and the one's that are the most aggressive will win. All these are artificial and wrong ideas. So I say to the young people wake-up and think of yourself as being a part of this tremendous web of life and become part of it. Go with it. Go with and become a positive part. We can do it, because we all have it in us, but it takes a moment. Take a little distance. Stop the rat race. Stop this fight for short term advantage and just look a little bit and see what is it that you are here to do on earth and then you'll get the answer.


Anthony Austin of En La Escena www.enlaescena.com, in association with T. Cleo Austin of Mercury Muze www.tcleoaustin.com , would like to thank Dr. Ervin Laszlo and his staff for the opportunity, honor, and pleasure of speaking with you this sunny afternoon June 18, 2011 in NYC on his book tour. We wish him all much success in all his current and future endeavors.

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This week on En la escena, our host Kizzy Cox attends the International HS at Prospect Heights for a performance and workshop by Abakua "Afro Latin Dance Company" and interviews founder Frankie Martinez. This segment is brought to you in collaboration with Salseek.com. Copyright © 2011 ELE Productions, LLC. Visit: www.enlaescena.com

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National Puertorrican Day Parade Press Conference

Don't miss this year biggest event to celebrate puertorrican heritage on Sunday, June 12, 2011 the . Speedy - Youth Godfather Radio Host, Millie Baez O'toole Civic Godmother and La Bruja as godmother, Victor Gonzalez as godfather of the youth.

Lastly, Robert & Carlos Unanueas Grand Marshalland actor John Leguizamo as Global Ambassador of arts.