Gezi Kolu Başkanı

Thoughts and visuals about arts, travel and culture. Gezi Kolu Baskani: travel club https://twitter.com/EchinusEditions

[gezikolubaskani]

Tulum, Mexico (with kids) in January - Travel Notes

Tulum is a great place for a low key vacation. Eat, read, swim, do yoga, get a massage. No crazy nightlife. We stayed in Aldea Zama, a new residential neighbourhood right in the jungle. It was beautiful and quiet.

Weather was a bit windy. We even got tropical rain on some days. It was ok, at least it wasn’t too hot. We figured out that the part of the beach that was closer to the ruins was less windy and easier to swim. The downside is all the good beach restaurants like La Zebra were in the windy part.

We had TWO 2 year olds with us so we couldn’t get into some hotels like Mi Amor and Be Tulum but there’s lots of other options. 

Here are a few great restaurants in Aldea Zama:

1. La Colifata ** This Argentinian restaurant is a little hidden gem. Amazing steaks and service. The owner is very friendly; He came to our table for a chat and sent us some nice bubbly. They are fairly new, opened in August 2016.

2. Chacabar They make great wood fired pizza. Their pizza oven is an old VW Beetle, very cute. Kids can run freely under the jungle trees and big pavements with no cars passing.

Tulum Town (Pueblo):

1. Del Cielo ** Amazing place for a healthy good breakfast. Always packed. Fresh juices, eggs, smoothies. We went there almost everyday.

2. El Camello ** Full of local people and tourists. Great for people watching. Amazing food. Ceviche, whole fried fish was delicious. Don’t expect luxury though it’s a plastic chair place with large portions and great prices. Always crowded.

3. Flor de Michoacan Great place to enjoy a coffee, homemade popsicles, ice cream and fresh juices. Cute garden with a fountain.

(El Camello)

(Flor de Michoacan)

Restaurants on the Beach (Playa):

1. La Zebra Beach Restaurant ** Great food and atmosphere. We went there for lunch every other day. Easy to rent a cabana and spend the day. Very child friendly. Has a mini playground and a diaper change station. Try the tacos, guacamole, beach salad with jicamas and papaya.

They were building the two Michelin star Noma pop-up in the parking lot. Noma residency will run for seven weeks starting April 2017.

2. ARCA Restaurant ** One of our best meals in Tulum. A trendy jungle setting for fine dining at night. Wood fire roasted fish was amazing. They make their own breads served warm with salted butter mmm

You are right in the jungle here so bring your mosquito repellents and make sure you spray them just before sunset. That’s when those little vampires mostly attack.

It was impossible to get a table at Hartwood so this worked out even better without the stress : ))

3.  El Pez Same chain as La Zebra, Mezzanine, Mi Amor. We went for dinner here. They are a fairly new boutique hotel so it was nice and calm. Great service and atmosphere.

4.  Posada Margherita Nicely designed Italian restaurant. They make their own fresh pasta. Very child friendly and relaxed. Food wasn’t very special if you’re coming from Europe. Has a nice boutique.

Don’t forget to bring cash (US or Mexican) they don’t accept credit cards. They have an ATM in the restaurant and on the street but it only dispenses US Dollars and it charges an $8 ATM fee, and doesn’t always work!!

5. Mezzanine Lovely boutique hotel with a Thai Restaurant. We used the Las Palmas Public Beach and came here for lunch.

(Las Palmas Public Beach)

Beaches to go

Playa Paraiso Public Beach ** Beautiful public beach a must go!!!

Las Palmas Public Beach ** Close to Mezzanine Restaurant. Great public beach

Maya Tulum Retreat and Resort ** Great healthy breakfast and beautiful views. Easy to hang out with kids very quiet since it’s a yoga resort. It was uncomfortably windy so we enjoyed the beautiful view without swimming. They also have a good spa and retreat center with lots of different options

Chamico's (At Soliman Bay) Follow the dirt road to this hidden gem. Beautiful secluded beach. Great place to hang out with or without kids. Has a beautiful playground. Simple restaurant with plastic tables and chairs

El Paraiso beach club Food and service is terrible but the beach is gorgeous. Has hammocks and lots of shade under the palm trees

(Chimico's)

(Chimico's)

(Maya Tulum Resort)

(Maya Tulum Resort)

Out of Tulum:

Acumal: Turtle Bay Bakery & Cafe Delicious food

Playa Del Carmen Hated this place with its tacky 5th Avenue... Gucci, Levi’s, Prada, Nike, Forever 21 chain stores everywhere.

few more notes:

Must visit the Mayan Ruins

There’s a big supermarket in Tulum called Chedraui where you can find everything. Not my favorite place it’s like a Walmart. There’s also a smaller supermarket called  San Francisco de Asis which I enjoyed a bit better

**You don’t see lots of mosquitos flying around but Zika is a problem here. Bring your mosquito repellents and make sure you spray them just before sunset everyday. That’s when those little vampires mostly attack. Specially if you are in the jungle area.

[gezikolubaskani]

Really enjoyed watching The Rum Diary (2011) the other day

Based on a novel by Hunter S. Thompson. The manuscript was written in 1959 and discovered amongst Thompson's papers by Johnny Depp!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YUx36yLLug

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Mehmet Güleryüz Retrospective at Istanbul Modern Museum

1. “trolleybus conductor” (troylebus biletcisi) 130 x 96 cm (1970) 

2. “hate is born of last - dog love” (sevgi den nefret dogar - kopek sevgisi) (1978)

3. “the turtle” (1974) oil on canvas 100 x 130cm

January 9 - June 28, 2015

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Matthias Jung's surreal homes

German graphic designer Matthias Jung first constructed “surreal homes” as a boy, using scissors and glue in his father’s photo lab. In January, he resurrected this childhood project and created a series of dreamlike and structurally impossible collages with Photoshop. “Working with this program is a bit like overcoming reality,” he says. “If something goes wrong I just click the back button. This is what’s different now.” Taking photographs from his travels, Jung creates incongruous images that are intended to challenge perceptions of space and architecture. “Collages are like dreams,” he says, “or maybe dreams are like collages”

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/mar/28/matthias-jungs-surreal-homes-in-pictures

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My etching got selected for Mini Print International of Cadaques in Spain 2014 : )))

http://www.miniprint.org/in/in.html

https://twitter.com/EchinusEditions

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Art International Istanbul 2014

1. Valerie Sonnier

At Twilight (2012) black stone and wax on paper

Nadja Vilenne Gallery

2. Benoit Huot

Fox

Mixed Media

Galerie Eva Hober

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Inside artist Louise Bourgeois' New York home

Untouched since the day she died, Louise Bourgeois’ New York home-cum-studio offers an intimate portrait of the artist

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/10890373/Inside-artist-Louise-Bourgeois-New-York-home.html?fb

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Echinus Editions

printing my new series : ))

https://twitter.com/EchinusEditions

[gezikolubaskani]

The Best Banned Videos You Were Never Supposed to See

Foo Fighters – “Low”

It starts out innocently enough, just a couple of bros being bros, until alcohol is introduced and trucker buddies Dave Grohl and Jack Black start getting freaky in their motel room with cross-dressing outfits, bondage gear, and a video camera. All in all, the video is pretty tame, but by 2003 standards, America hadn’t yet been completely desensitized to these types of shenanigans on reality TV, and the video was banned from MTV.

=> http://youtu.be/ySlZdASmGCM

Nine Inch Nails – “Closer”

Trent Reznor’s 1994 hit video for “Closer” could easily be the opening montage to American Horror Story, with pulsating organs, disembodied animal heads, and other macabre imagery. It checks all the boxes of other banned videos – partial nudity, violence, ball gags – but it also holds the important distinction of being part of the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection. Banned from both MTV and VH1, the Mark Romanek-directed video is alive and well on the Internet. Reznor, for his part, seems to have mellowed since the ’90s — he’s Academy Award winner Trent Reznor now, after all. We can’t wait for his kids Lazarus and Balthazar to watch “Closer.”

=> http://vimeo.com/3554226

M.I.A – “Born Free”

M.I.A’s graphic video of ginger genocide made headlines and even prompted a ban from YouTube, which is usually where all videos banned from TV go to thrive. The nine-minute short film directed by Romain Gavras was filmed without prior knowledge of M.I.A’s record label and drew immediate comparisons to other resistance movements around the world. As a vocal and political artist herself, M.I.A’s video pulled no punches when it came to showing a persecuted group being rounded up, put in camps and violently executed. Since its release in 2010, the video is still highly relevant — and highly controversial.

=> http://vimeo.com/11219730

Prodigy – “Smack My B*tch Up”

Equally applauded for its subversive gender twist and condemned for its lyrical sexism, this controversial video from British electronic group Prodigy was banned from television in the US and the UK in 1997. Filmed from a first person perspective, the protagonist goes on a bender of drinking, fighting, groping, and doping until it’s revealed at the end that [Spoiler Alert!] the protagonist is, in fact, a woman. Due to massive demand, MTV relented and aired the video on MTV2, only after midnight and with a parental warning, basically making it the only thing teenagers wanted to watch.

=> http://vimeo.com/43574586

Soft Cell – ”Sex Dwarf”

Among all the banned videos on this list, Soft Cell’s 1981 synth-pop hit “Sex Dwarf” is the only video that was confiscated by the porn squad after its release. In fact, it’s so explicit that the full video is not even embeddable today (probably for your own safety). Director Tim Pope went the literal route for this music video that depicts a little person in bondage gear among many other semi-naked writhing bodies culled from the Soho’s red light district. In addition to being banned on MTV and British television, the video launched a tabloid sensation, with various rags accusing singer Marc Almond of being a sexual deviant. Even by today’s standards, it’s pretty eye opening; especially after learning the director threw live maggots at the talent to get better reactions. Ah, the ’80.

=> http://youtu.be/Fndbm8BzMBQ

Madonna – ”Justify My Love”

Madonna’s voyeuristic journey into sadomasochism and bisexuality was too much for the censors, leading to the banning of her 1990 video for “Justify My Love.” Hardly a stranger to controversy, Madonna capitalized on the sensationalistic video and released the first-ever VHS video single, packaged in a black slip, similar to other adult videos at the time. The video only received airtime when it was finally played along with Madonna’s exclusive interview for ABC’s Nightline. Weeks later, the proto-trip-hop single topped the Billboard Hot 100. This video launched a 1,000 uncomfortable “talks” between parents and their MTV-obsessed children, but it still seems a bit risqué in our post-Miley world.

=> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np_Y740aReI

Marilyn Manson – “(s)AINT”

Nobody induced more pearl-clutching moments from parents associations than Marilyn Manson, and his video for this 2003 single was no exception. The Asia Argento-directed video glorifies self-mutilation, snorting blow off of a Bible, and vampire cosplay — you know, typical Goth stuff. The video was banned in the U.S., which is hardly surprising considering there’s also plenty of self-pleasuring and graphic crotch shots. Being the enterprising gent that he is, Manson sold the video directly through his website so America’s youth could still watch it.

=> http://youtu.be/anEMXOyCCqc

Motörhead - ”Killed by Death”

While most entertainment gets away with excessive violence and MTV was typically lenient with their censoring in that area (as opposed to its pattern banning videos with more sexual content), in 1988 they uncharacteristically banned Motorhead’s “Killed by Death” video for its “senseless violence.” Even having two Island Records executives dressed in chains and biker gear deliver the tape to MTV didn’t save it from being driven off the air.

=> http://youtu.be/ZkRxoaKKftg

*Source: http://daily.songza.com/banned-videos/

[gezikolubaskani]

Rachel Berman  (1946 - 2014)

Painter, sculptor, poet, philosopher and amazing human being

You’re in my thoughts, dreams and memories

I will miss you dearly…

ekin

http://www.ingramgallery.com/artists/rachel-berman/index.html

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Hieronymus Bosch. Complete Works

I want this book!!!!

http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/01102/facts.hieronymus_bosch_complete_works.htm

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For The Love of Basquiat

Devoted collectors, Lenore and Herbert Schorr, are sharing their treasures in a show at New York’s Acquavella Galleries

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2014/05/jean-michel-basquiat-drawings-herbert-lenore-schorr

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Back to the Future

a photo-project about then and now

http://irinawerning.com/index.php?/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/

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WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?

solomon islands, tikopia

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The Gentlemen of Gentrification

Photo series that visualize the homes of residents in Kuştepe, Istanbul. A lower income neighbourhood that was one of the first shanty towns in Istanbul. 

http://mashallahnews.com/?p=10106

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A great link about Imperfect Beauty..

http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?utm_source=Design%20Observer_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_01_31_2014&entry=38308

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Guild Design Fair - Cape Town 2014

Africa’s first international design fair

1. Spazio Rossana Orlandi

2. Nacho Carbonell

3. Babacar M’Bodj Niang / Nulangee design

4-5. The Haas Brothers

7. John Vogel – Bloom

here’s some amazing design links:

Porky Hefer Design http://www.animal-farm.co.za/

http://r20thcentury.com

http://designnetworkafrica.org

http://www.southernguild.co.za

http://nachocarbonell.com

http://rossanaorlandi.com