Ai Weiwei | Grand Army Plaza, NYC

One of China's most visible and outspoken contemporary artists, Ai Weiwei has had a challenging relationship with Chinese authorities, who placed him under house arrest last fall and demolished his studio.

Now, Ai Weiwei has sent his first major public art installation to the United States. The monumental piece, "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads," is current on exhibit in Central Park's Grand Army Plaza, in front of the Plaza Hotel, from May 2-July 15.

"Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads" is inspired by a fountain-clock designed by two European Jesuits at the behest of emperor Qianlong in the 18th century. Located at the Old Summer Palace just outside Beijing, the piece featured the animals of the Chinese zodiac, each spouting water at two-hour intervals. In 1860, the Summer Palace was ransacked by French and British troops during the Second Opium War, and the animal heads were looted. Today, seven heads — the rat, rabbit, ox, tiger, horse, monkey, and boar — have been located, but the other five remain missing.

Ai Weiwei has reinterpreted the zodiac animals on an oversized scale. The 12 heads are cast bronze and positioned on bronze bases. Each head weighs approximately 800 pounds and measures approximately four feet high and three feet wide. The head and base together measure ten feet high. "My work is always dealing with real or fake, authenticity and value and how value relates to current political and social understandings and misunderstandings," the artist said in a statement. "However, because "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads is composed of animal heads, it's a work that everyone can understand, including children and people who are not in the art world."

Cooper-Hewitt Museum

Target sponsors a great family art program at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum - Target Design Kids. Yesterday, families were invited to work together to remake a SecondCycle* Chair 69 designed by Artek, using fingerpaint, fabric, ribbons and stickers. Working with Artek designer Simone Vingerhoets-Ziesmann, my family created a keepsake that continues the conversation about (collaborative) design and environmental awareness at home. www.cooperhewitt.org

Our remake of Chair 69

* Sustainable 2^nd Cycle items are part of Artek’s environmental strategy. By creating the 2^nd Cycle Artek wants to raise the issue of conscious consuming, praise the authentic design and honour the importance of originality. Solidly made and impervious to fashion, these iconic pieces of furniture have gained value and beauty through their everyday use.

Linda McCartney: My Life in Photographs. An Exhibit on the Beatle's Former Wife

This past weekend I took my 3 children to see Rain - On Broadway. Rain is a tribute to the Beatles. I feel it my obligation to ensure that they not only know this great music but also understand the affect this band left on our culture. The show seemed like a good place to start that education. Today, to continue the theme, I visited the Bonni Benrubi Gallery to view a retrospective photo exhibition of Linda McCartney.

Linda McCartney is best known for the intimacy and ease of her portraits. Her massive collection includes vintage photos of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Willem de Kooning, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and Michael Jackson. Linda and Paul McCartney had been married nearly 30 years when she died of cancer in 1998.  The exhibit accompanies the release of a book of the same name, published by Taschen.

It was a small but powerful exhibition - all pieces available for sale. The staff were helpful and generous in giving me as much information as I needed. They've an iPad that is loaded with her contact sheets from each of the shoots, adding to the context of the images hanging on the walls.

It was a wonderful experience. Go.

Bonni Benrubi Gallery , 41 E 57th @ Madison Ave., St # 1300, Jun 02 -  Jul 29

Ben and Jerry's Truck is in the 'Hood!

Another food truck has arrived in New York City. Ben and Jerry's has their ice cream on wheels for the next 5 weeks, giving out free samples to hot and sweaty New Yorkers.

Ben and Jerry are asking you to tweet your sightings with the event tag #benjerrystruck. I went direct and asked...er begged... @benjerrystruck to stop by my favorite UWS school to reward the kids who have worked so hard all year long. My fingers are crossed!

The Official Star Trek Convention

The Official Star Trek Convention returns to New York celebrate the 45th anniversary of Star Trek!

Wow. 45 years. I remember watching a slim and handsome William Shatner - James T Kirk - in the 70's. I also liked Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard. "Make it so" and "tea, Earl Grey, hot" where my favorite taglines!  When that series ended, I lost touch with the franchise.

For those who have the need to reconnect, you have this weekend! Fri, Jun 24 - Sun, Jun 26 @ Hilton Hotel, Parsippany

Live long and prosper.

Biking in New York City

Central Park

The other day I was bicycling to Central Park for a picnic and enroute I met two European girls cycling their way around the city. What a great idea. Not only do you get to see the city from a different vantage point than that of the sidewalk, but you can also explore places not so easily covered on foot. The girls had already made their way up Riverside Park and across the Brooklyn Bridge and were enroute to doing the Central Park bike circuit. Pretty adventurous. My only concern was that the company that rented they their bikes, didn't provide them with helmets. Hmm.

My bike

I love cycling. In my youth I cycled Scotland, the southern coast of Spain, and a lot of London. Last year I got a new bike for my birthday - she's a beauty - and I bike to work and bike for most of my errands as well as for recreation with my family. I feel more connected to my community when I bike, and I like that. Of course, we all know how bicycling is hitting a wave of popularity in New York. Bike lanes are becoming more prevalent around the city, and there is talk about an ambitious bike-share program in the works from the Bloomberg administration. The Five Boro Bike Tour is well attended and every May we look forward to Bike Month NYC.

Riverside Greenway

We've thanks to give to bike advocate organizations - League of American Bicyclists is one - who ensure progress is made to encourage the embracing of this multi-beneficial mode of transport. They are also strong voices in improving general conditions for those of us closer to the road. Streetsblog is a great read, and Grist has got a Bikenomics series underscoring the health, economic, and what I paraphrase as "emotional well-being" benefits of bicycling.  Fast Company can always be relied upon for writing thought provoking pro-bike articles throughout the year - Biking Infrastructure Projects Create More Jobs Than Auto-Based Initiatives.

So, cycling infrastructure and the driving population's attitude toward cycling are key topics in the ongoing education of the benefits of bicycling. We've a long way to go, but it'll be fun getting there and we'll be in great shape when we arrive!

Make Music New York

Make Music New York is a live, free musical celebration across the city that takes place each year on June 21st, today, the longest day of the year. Today, hundreds of public spaces throughout the five boroughs become impromptu stages for over 1,000 free concerts. From 11am to 10pm, musicians of all ages, creeds and musical persuasions - from hip hop to opera, Latin jazz or punk rock - perform on streets, sidewalks, stoops, plazas, cemeteries, parks and gardens. MMNY is open to anyone who wants to take part, enjoyed by anyone who wants to attend.

The site's handy schedule lets you plot in advance what you want see, by neighborhood, venue or genre. Mass Appeal encourages New Yorkers without a group, to grab their instrument and join in on the fun. And, for those without an instrument save their vocal cords, you are welcome to join in on Mass Appeal Mass rasing your voice with other New Yorkers in singing Mozart's Coronation Mass and selections from Handel's Messiah.

I'll be plotting what to see on the Upper West Side today. Hope you can carve a few minutes out of your busy day to enjoy some nourishment for your soul.

Here is some footage of the bagpipers in Herald Square.

Stone Barns

Kind of odd to post the first entry of a NYC blog on a destination that is outside of NYC, but that's where life took me today - outside NYC to the Potcantico Hills and Stone Barns.
Stone Barns is a non-profit, sustainable farm, educating the public about the food we eat. I learned that bees prefer brightly painted hives - they're easier to find; chickens are very social and love the color red; and pigs, who don't have sweat glands, prefer the forest where the tall trees and cool earth can provide some relief from the hot summer sun.
The farm livestock consists of Angus cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, and turkeys that are naturally fed and highly sought after for the Thanksgiving feast.