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Design Calendar: What to See and Do in June 2012
Enjoy the outdoors at a rootftop art installation in New York or a London festival, chill in the darkness of a movie theater and much more
Janet Paik
June 1, 2012
Houzz Associate Editor. Passionate about creative homes and the people behind them. Loves thoughtful design, improving her family's 1950s fixer-upper and VW buses. Former designer at the San Jose Mercury News.
Houzz Associate Editor. Passionate about creative homes and the people behind them.... More
From a rooftop exhibit at the New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art to West Coast design festivals, you'll find an assortment of inspiring things to keep your home looking fresh this summer. Bookmark this article, grab a friend and make some plans to get out and get inspired.
Tell us: What's on your calendar this month? Let us know about your favorite upcoming design events below.
Tell us: What's on your calendar this month? Let us know about your favorite upcoming design events below.
EXHIBIT — Through November 4, 2012 (weather permitting)
Tomás Saraceno on the Roof: Cloud City
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Climb and walk through the Met's latest rooftop summertime commission: Tomás Saraceno's Cloud City. The reflective, interconnected constellation of modular structures is an impressive web of Plexiglas, steel and tension cables reminiscent of an urban jungle gym. The Argentine installation artist explores habitable networks based on interconnectivity, and while you ponder the ways in which we inhabit and experience our environment, you'll get a pretty sweet view of Manhattan.
Hours: Tuesday–Thursday, Sunday, 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Friday, Saturday, 9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.; closed Mondays (except holidays, Thanksgiving Day, December 25 and January 1)
Cost: $25, $17 seniors, $12 students, 12 and younger, free
Tomás Saraceno on the Roof: Cloud City
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Climb and walk through the Met's latest rooftop summertime commission: Tomás Saraceno's Cloud City. The reflective, interconnected constellation of modular structures is an impressive web of Plexiglas, steel and tension cables reminiscent of an urban jungle gym. The Argentine installation artist explores habitable networks based on interconnectivity, and while you ponder the ways in which we inhabit and experience our environment, you'll get a pretty sweet view of Manhattan.
Hours: Tuesday–Thursday, Sunday, 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Friday, Saturday, 9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.; closed Mondays (except holidays, Thanksgiving Day, December 25 and January 1)
Cost: $25, $17 seniors, $12 students, 12 and younger, free
FESTIVAL — June 14–24, 2012
Los Angeles Film Festival
Calling all cinephiles! Whether documentaries, short films or music videos are your thing, the Los Angeles Film Festival has something for you to watch. Among the many films to be screened, the documentary Beauty Is Embarrassing (photo) by director Neil Berkeley follows artist Wayne White's career, stretching from New York's East Village to the set of Pee Wee’s Playhouse to the thrift stores of Los Angeles. The Summer Showcase offers a look at the summer’s most talked-about independent film releases on the festival circuit, including Sundance romantic comedy Celeste and Jesse Forever, starring Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg, to the world premiere of L.A. "dramedy" It’s a Disaster, with America Ferrera and Julia Stiles. Also on the lineup is Pixar's newest animated feature, Brave, starring a red-haired Scottish heroine.
See the schedule for screen times and locations
Cost: $13 individual films
Purchase tickets and passes online
FESTIVAL — June 22–24, 2012
Dwell on Design
Los Angeles Convention Center
Feast on modern design in the form of thousands of products, presentations, home tours and demonstrations at this year's Dwell on Design, celebrating the theme "Modern Beyond Expectations.” Highlights from the three-day event includes a rope installation by the Oyler Wu Collaborative, a screening lounge featuring short films on industrial design and architecture, as well as winners of the prestigious Swiss Design Prize.
Check out the full schedule
Hours: Friday, 10 a.m.–8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Los Angeles Film Festival
Calling all cinephiles! Whether documentaries, short films or music videos are your thing, the Los Angeles Film Festival has something for you to watch. Among the many films to be screened, the documentary Beauty Is Embarrassing (photo) by director Neil Berkeley follows artist Wayne White's career, stretching from New York's East Village to the set of Pee Wee’s Playhouse to the thrift stores of Los Angeles. The Summer Showcase offers a look at the summer’s most talked-about independent film releases on the festival circuit, including Sundance romantic comedy Celeste and Jesse Forever, starring Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg, to the world premiere of L.A. "dramedy" It’s a Disaster, with America Ferrera and Julia Stiles. Also on the lineup is Pixar's newest animated feature, Brave, starring a red-haired Scottish heroine.
See the schedule for screen times and locations
Cost: $13 individual films
Purchase tickets and passes online
FESTIVAL — June 22–24, 2012
Dwell on Design
Los Angeles Convention Center
Feast on modern design in the form of thousands of products, presentations, home tours and demonstrations at this year's Dwell on Design, celebrating the theme "Modern Beyond Expectations.” Highlights from the three-day event includes a rope installation by the Oyler Wu Collaborative, a screening lounge featuring short films on industrial design and architecture, as well as winners of the prestigious Swiss Design Prize.
Check out the full schedule
Hours: Friday, 10 a.m.–8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
ART SHOW — June 9, 2012
The Tappan Collective Group Art Show and Launch Party
The Jeffries Building, 117 Winston St., Los Angeles
Two young creative graduates from the University of Michigan have teamed up to provide an online platform for others to discover emerging artists. To kick off their new web venture, they're putting on a launch party featuring artwork by photographer and filmmaker Gia Coppola (photo), photographer Clara Balzary-Flea, The Stillhouse Group and many others in downtown Los Angeles. Enjoy refreshments, meet the inspiring entrepreneurs behind the site and take home that perfect piece for your blank wall.
Hours: 7 p.m.–11 p.m.
The Tappan Collective Group Art Show and Launch Party
The Jeffries Building, 117 Winston St., Los Angeles
Two young creative graduates from the University of Michigan have teamed up to provide an online platform for others to discover emerging artists. To kick off their new web venture, they're putting on a launch party featuring artwork by photographer and filmmaker Gia Coppola (photo), photographer Clara Balzary-Flea, The Stillhouse Group and many others in downtown Los Angeles. Enjoy refreshments, meet the inspiring entrepreneurs behind the site and take home that perfect piece for your blank wall.
Hours: 7 p.m.–11 p.m.
EXHIBIT — Through June 3, 2012
Stories in Form: Chair Design by Portfolio Center
Museum of Design Atlanta
Take a seat, or at least reimagine what it means to do so through the eyes of design students studying the history of modernism. The Museum of Design Atlanta has partnered with Portfolio Center to honor the history and design of the chair. Students were challenged to combine their personal history with design history, exploring the delicate balance between old function and their new creative journeys.
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sunday, 12 p.m.–5 p.m.; closed Mondays
Cost: $10, $8 seniors, $5 students and 17 and younger, members free
FESTIVAL — June 23–July 8, 2012
London Festival of Architecture, U.K.
For two weeks this summer, London will become "The Playful City," proposing ways in which both Londoners and visitors can be active participants by reinterpreting familiar places through new installations and animations. This curated festival redesigned three major hubs and multiple public spaces to encourage physical fitness in the spirit of the Olympic Games and interact with the city's historic buildings in new ways. "Date a designer" by signing up for a free 30-minute consultation, explore a treehouse or go on a walking tour to see the city's hidden architectural gems.
See the full event schedule
Stories in Form: Chair Design by Portfolio Center
Museum of Design Atlanta
Take a seat, or at least reimagine what it means to do so through the eyes of design students studying the history of modernism. The Museum of Design Atlanta has partnered with Portfolio Center to honor the history and design of the chair. Students were challenged to combine their personal history with design history, exploring the delicate balance between old function and their new creative journeys.
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sunday, 12 p.m.–5 p.m.; closed Mondays
Cost: $10, $8 seniors, $5 students and 17 and younger, members free
FESTIVAL — June 23–July 8, 2012
London Festival of Architecture, U.K.
For two weeks this summer, London will become "The Playful City," proposing ways in which both Londoners and visitors can be active participants by reinterpreting familiar places through new installations and animations. This curated festival redesigned three major hubs and multiple public spaces to encourage physical fitness in the spirit of the Olympic Games and interact with the city's historic buildings in new ways. "Date a designer" by signing up for a free 30-minute consultation, explore a treehouse or go on a walking tour to see the city's hidden architectural gems.
See the full event schedule
FESTIVAL — June 2–3, 2012
Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend
Menlo Park, California
Explore the grounds of Sunset magazine's Bay Area headquarters for its annual weekend festival celebrating West Coast gardening, food, travel, home and garden. Enjoy food tastings, chat with home and garden vendors or sip locally produced wine. There will be plenty of things to see and do, from a cooking demonstration of grilled Dr. Pepper pork flatbread by the Food Network's Guy Fieri to a workshop on travel photography using your smart phone.
Download the full schedule
Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Cost: $16, $14 seniors, 12 and younger, free; discounts available
FESTIVAL — June 11–17, 2012
San Francisco Design Week
Go on an open-studio crawl and peek inside the studios of Apparatus Architecture, Gensler and Lunar Design, or attend an exhibition presenting new typography from young Swiss designers. Celebrating the diverse creative community of the Bay Area, San Francisco Design Week is an initiative by AIGA SF in partnership with local professional design chapters to highlight and raise public awareness of innovative design work. Events take place all over the city.
See the full schedule of events
Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend
Menlo Park, California
Explore the grounds of Sunset magazine's Bay Area headquarters for its annual weekend festival celebrating West Coast gardening, food, travel, home and garden. Enjoy food tastings, chat with home and garden vendors or sip locally produced wine. There will be plenty of things to see and do, from a cooking demonstration of grilled Dr. Pepper pork flatbread by the Food Network's Guy Fieri to a workshop on travel photography using your smart phone.
Download the full schedule
Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Cost: $16, $14 seniors, 12 and younger, free; discounts available
FESTIVAL — June 11–17, 2012
San Francisco Design Week
Go on an open-studio crawl and peek inside the studios of Apparatus Architecture, Gensler and Lunar Design, or attend an exhibition presenting new typography from young Swiss designers. Celebrating the diverse creative community of the Bay Area, San Francisco Design Week is an initiative by AIGA SF in partnership with local professional design chapters to highlight and raise public awareness of innovative design work. Events take place all over the city.
See the full schedule of events
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