Springsteen Gallery

A Chagall inspired fan art rendering of Barack Obama we found randomly on the web yesterday

Planners of Brooklyn’s future streetcar can look to New Jersey for lessons in what does and doesn’t work in the realm of surface transit. Long story short: trains are good. Trains running in mixed traffic with cars are bad. [The New York Times]

Italian businessman Renato Bialetti made a fortune from the iconic Moka coffee pot—a 20th Century design classic. Fittingly, he was just cremated and buried in one. [Quartz]

In other appliance news: Matmos has released a single-track album comprising manipulated sounds from their washing machine. And they’re taking their washing machine on tour. [Artforum]

Pixelated motels, digitally-printed blankets, and an alternative biography of mad artist Frenhofer are some of the fetish-inspired pieces at Springsteen Gallery’s exhibition Ready to Drop from Bradford Kessler, Body by Body and Erin Jane Nelson. This looks so good. [FLuXO]

Here’s a guide to the infuriating process of applying for a US artist visa. Some highlights: “It can take as little as 10 days and up to six months to approve the application. But to expedite it, you can pay an additional fee and expect to hear back within 15 days. But that will cost you an additional $1,225, plus the regular filing fee of $325” and “The people who are actually looking are not in the arts industry. So they might apply arbitrary standards… Well-known shows like ‘America’s Got Talent’ or ‘American Idol’ can make a difference, even if you didn’t make it as a finalist. It’s the name value that counts. ‘They see Chris Brown and Rihanna and that raises the approvability, even if they are a minor background dancer. If you can show that you have associated yourself with big names in the mainstream, you are better off than if you have played a bigger role in a no-name production.’” [Blouin Artinfo]

Editor’s note: I recall the first words of my lawyer when I spoke to him about the process of applying for a green card. “Think of it, like buying a car.” he told me. What went unsaid, of course, was that unlike a car, which you can drive out of the dealership as soon as you’ve put some money down, there’s no guarantee spending money on a green card will get it approved. It’s at least a year of living in fear.

New York City is looking to use many of the vacant lots it owns as plots for affordable housing. According to the audit there are 1,131 lots to be assessed and they could add as many as 57,000 units to the city. Many of these plots have issues—flooding, inadequate access to public transportation, etc, but it’s still a step in the right direction, at least in theory. [Curbed]

Related news: de Blasio’s rezoning plan to create more “affordable” housing units will be disastrous for the city’s poorest residents. “84 percent of residents in East New York—the first neighborhood to be rezoned under the city’s proposal—will be unable to afford the market rate housing units proposed under the rezoning, and 55 percent will be unable to afford the “affordable units” based on the proposal’s income requirements.” [In These Times]

Vanessa Beecroft has left the art world entirely to create work for and with Kanye West. Nate Freeman thinks her work is better for it, because the work needs “someone like Kanye”. Not sure what those qualities are, but the article is a good read regardless, because for once Beecroft doesn’t read like an insufferable narcissist oblivious to her own racism. [Artnews]

Artists and gallerists participating in Material Art Fair were given disposable cameras to document their experiences. The results? Evidence that everyone was partying much harder than we were! [VICE]

Chances are you’ve seen a picture of Ariane—the ubiquitous, ethnically ambiguous stock photo model known for her smile and cult following—at least once today. Now, read about her life and fitness regime. [Women’s Running]

We Went to Baltimore Part II: Platform, Springsteen, First Continent