currently i am sitting at a co-working table in the middle of bushwick with the industrial winter light pouring in through the attractive windows. how did i get here? this was a building i was working with pre-pandemic; a building that was gonna house something really special that i was conceptualizing. then i forgot it existed until today's guest invited me to the opening dinner. the transformation of space blew me away and i realized i was ready to leave my block and co-exist with others in communal stranger space... which really leads me to something i've been ruminating about:
i realize that i'm not over the pandemic.
what do i mean by this? before the pandemic i was an outside the home person. i ate, socialized, spoke on the phone, cafe'd (should be a word), gathered, and wandered for pleasure as a self proclaimed flaneur of sorts. then march 2020 changed the course of how i derive energy and pleasure: from life giving domestic nesting, feeding people around my own table, baking bread, planting/trimming/weeding, drawing with my suns/sons...i never assumed a persona of domesticity and now here i am on my porch shaking cream till it turns to butter kinda vibe.
with such a radical personal shift i always wonder wtf (that's why the fuck) we haven't collectively dealt with the fact that we were all alone and now we are thrust back into socializing without abandon. sometimes i get scared to be in public space: it doesn't have anything to do with contagions, but rather a new world order i've adopted. i'm one of those people who eats something out and thinks to myself, "i can make that better at home." and i do make ALL THE TIME. i make our bread. i make our applesauce. i make our pizza. i make our desserts. i make our sun tea.
home is now a space of security, of impact, of creativity, of energized ritual. when i was little i was always embarrassed of my quirky messy house where nothing felt deliberate. this is what's so remarkable our little visit on earth: we get to change all the time to new modes of being, sinking deeper into connection with others and ourselves.
i met an older woman, with a huge life and career and she said she knows she's had a good day if she's "deepened a relationship." words to live by.
back to the co-working space: it was literally MADE by today's guest, David. aren't you so touched by what he wrote about himself " urban paradise on earth here in new york city." thanks David for helping me fall back in love with my adopted hometown.
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i grew up in suburban houston and the alienation of that experience has inspired me to work towards creating an urban paradise on earth here in new york city.
i am lucky to live in an amazing former worker's cooperative in LES with my wife, daughter, and soon-to-be- baby boy!
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what kind of life do you want to live?
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i want to live a life of exploration and playfulness, in which quotidian interactions can be at least mutually respectful and reinforcing if not profound!
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we recently opened a office-gallery-bar-bookshop-theater-exhibition space for Hauser & Wirth at 443 w 18.
the puzzle of weaving lots of different public functions while rehabilitating an historica industrial building is the kind of project that excites and challenges us while providing a home for celebrating art, its people and culture, and its rich urban history.
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the best thing you can do for humanity and our existence on this planet is to ditch your car. let's commune in the streets!
our friends Paula and Aaron run Soccer Assist, a wonderful organization dedicated to building fields in underpriviledged areas and we're happy to support this organization!"
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Quin Quag by Michael Smith
Humor is seriously lacking in most cultural output and Mike does an amazing job brining levity to the art world.
This video is amazingly relevant to the project we're doing at 154 Scott- the addition of a 4-story wellness center on top of a 5-story loft building that we renovated before the pandemic. It is our first, and largest project (and our work home) and the relationship between arts and wellness outlined in the video is prescient, pointed, and hilarious- it hits close to home! for those in town on Jan 12 hit up our opening event where we'll be screening this video.
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Our Team by the Beach Boys on a user-created version of the unreleased 1977 album Adult/CHiLD
I love the child-like joy and naivete of this song's melody and lyrics; it's a celebration of play, teamwork, and community and a great reminder of the aspects of our 'inner-child' that we should cultivate.
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david's article of the week
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I recently came across this article which profoundly changed my opinion of Penn Station. It's an amazing thing to have your mind moved through reading and the perspective shared here extends beyond the immediate topic.
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The Branzino from Habibi
we're fortunate to have an amazing restaurant above our office at 154 Scott. the entire menu is delectable but was recently had a great experience there in which our party was so engaged in the food and conversation that none of us realized that it was already 2am and time to leave!
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christmas cactus
gardening is one of my mom's passions and she was excited to show us her blooming christmas cactus this year- it's a really beautiful tradition that i'm happy to experience every year"
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croissant from nick+sons
i got hooked on real french croissants while working on an arts complex in provence and i'm glad to have a go-to close to home!
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and a few picks from push...
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who's starting their garden plotting? may i suggest seeds from true love? maybe this is the perfect valentine's gift...
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a time capsule into the neighborhood that made me fall in love with new york when i first visited in 2006
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i'm researching small publishers and my extremely talented friend andreas turned me onto these folks
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archestratus is posing a simple question: would you like to eat things that are not nonsense?
through their subscription club, you can secure a curated mystery assortment of absolutely delicious and exquisite foods and restore a little faith in the universe.
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speaking of bellys, yours truly baking here this weekend
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check out this incredible ted talk by kat mustatea on art and machine learning.
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Black Cowboy Bill Pickett, credited for being the father of the rodeo event bulldogging
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are you free on feb 24? check out this amazing programming at ambient church.
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the new yorker has a fantastic piece on the secret life of beatrix potter.
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thank you kate for the delightful tip--the NYT has a fantastic article on menu trends right now in dining.
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please consider donating to the PCRF and sending some much needed aid to Gaza's children.
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we hope you are staying warm and that you enjoyed another installment of push picks. as always, if you like what you read, forward it to someone or encourage them to sign up. it would mean the world to us 🌎
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