The Blog Studio

The Guggenheim is hosting a worldwide bienniale in partnership with YouTube, and promises to be the biggest thing the art world has seen since Jeff Koons. To date, the renowned Modern and Contemporary Art Museum has received over 4000 videos from international artists, videographers and graphic designers in an open call for submissions. The Guggenheim has an insatiable appetite for fresh work, and they won’t be satisfied until they hear from YOU. So budding Picassos, Film Noir-ists and bravuras alike—it’s time to flex your creative muscles. The Guggenheim is accepting video submissions for the next ten days, and will short-list twenty entries to be exhibited at their museums in New York, Berlin, Bilbao and Venice in October 2010.

If you’re artistically inclined, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Few artists experience this level of elevation and only under the most exceptional of circumstances. This project also speaks to a growing trend in social media, which we discussed in our post referencing Ridley Scott’s ‘Life In A Day’ project: Crowdsourcing.  Crowdsourcing is at the forefront of countless public projects across many genres: the arts, politics—like David Cameron’s plan to crowd source the UK on fiscal policy, and your very own Facebook profile. The practice of crowd sourcing guarantees diversity of opinion, innumerable choice and ultimately, peak results. This presents groundbreaking opportunities for artists to forge deep, permeating connections in the international art world.  The divide between ‘art for art sake’ and preconceived notions of what is museum-worthy has effectively been broken down.  This is reminiscent of the Tate Modern’s graffiti exhibit a few years back.  For me, this is what social media is all about: increased connections and the spread of ideas. Prior to social media and online crowd sourcing how else could a local artist receive this kind of exposure?

The Guggenheim and YouTube jury will select 200 videos to stream on the youtube.com/play channel with the twenty most outstanding submissions exhibited in Guggenheims worldwide.  Take note, The NY Guggenheim blog ‘The Take’ instructs that the jury will seek out creative, innovative and experimental submissions. For further information visit http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york and to make a submission via http://www.youtube.com/play

Take a risk! Submit and let us know when you do.

Twitter has found a new, and potentially lucrative feature to expand their relevance.  This new official twitter account is a “dedicated deal” venue whereby @EarlyBird followers can take advantage of time and location specific discounts, local events. 

@EarlyBird’s first deal offered a two for one tickets to new film The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. A deal that certainly appeals to a mass audience of families, moviegoers and Disney aficionados.  Twitter may have another hit on their hands, and the numbers seem to back this up. @Earlybird’s already has 72,941 followers as of this morning. 

Twitter isn’t the only service taking advantage of time sensitive online deals. Couture fashion site Ruelala.com offers high end and designer apparel at heavily reduced price points.  They also offer 5-star vacation packages, house wares and accessories, with each sale lasting 24 hours.  We think this is brilliant because it provides a win-win situation. The consumer is privy to outstanding sales unavailable in the retail market, while the site benefits from the time-sensitive nature of the sale. The “buy now or never” concept is quite effective for a quick sale on luxury items. Ruelala.com also offers a well-designed, streamlined app so to offer consumers a chance to connect and buy on their smartphones.

A few sites have taken the “dedicated deal” trend one step further. Sites like LivingSocial.com and Groupon.com have merged the 24 hour deal with geo-location capabilities. The user is invited to sign-up with emphasis placed on the city they live in. Living Social and Groupon offer daily deals in your home city for meals, sporting excursions, spas and other activities that get you out on the town.

I recently took advantage of an incredible deal offered on Living Social Toronto. I paid $25 for a $50 dollar voucher to the delectable Coco Lezzone in Toronto’s Little Italy. So in this regard, my money—and my enjoyment—were instantly doubled.

The user is certainly not limited to their home city. With offers all across the United States and many cities in Canada, it’s a great option for travelers as well. Many people really appreciate it when their travel dollars stretch further than their budgets. Everyone loves a deal which reinforces the fact these companies will grow exponentially by word of mouth alone.

There are incentives for consumers to spread the word… at the end of Living Social voucher each user is provided with a unique link to share with friends. If three people purchase a voucher through your unique link then BAM! your deal is free. How’s that for value?

Here at The Blog Studio, we really feel that social media through geo-location is about to explode. We’d love to hear your experiences with the above sights and thoughts on this trend.  So comment away!

I read the news today, oh boy/ About a lucky man who made the grade…

Ridley Scott and YouTube have been inspired by social media connectivity and The Beatles classic ‘A Day in the Life.” Through a global collaborative effort, Scott and YouTube plan to create a documentary of what life was like on July 24th 2010—much like John Lennon’s musing on the temporal in ‘A Day in the Life.’

This is definitely a new direction for filmmaking and for digital media.  Usually, a film begins and ends with industry topdogs.  Hollywood creative teams (execs, producers, writers and directors) will take a story and generate a film for a mass audience.  Filmmaking has been turned on its head by opening up the creative process to the everyman. Social media, crowd sourcing and collaborative creation are where it’s at in the post-future world we live in.

Come July 24th we can all collaborate with Ridley Scott, earn a ‘co-director’ credit and carve out a niche in filmmaking when the movie premiers at Sundance 2011. It’s an amazing opportunity indeed… but what’s even more exciting, is this new genre of filmmaking will have broader implications that effect the notion of “art”, and the media industry in general. Ridley Scott is recognizing the potential for greatness in the amateur.

What is ‘Life In A Day’ director Kevin McDonals looking for?  McDonals released a statement which read, “Life in a Day is a time capsule that will allow future generations to discover how we lived on the 24th of July 2010.” What content will peak his interest? And why is July 24th 2010 the big day?  Is it an arbitrary date selected to accommodate Ridley Scott’s production schedules, or is there some deeper meaning?

Will the ‘Life in a Day’ team include average, everyday citizens shaving, hitting Starbucks and heading to the office?  What about authenticity?  Will submissions be an honest account of July 24th or will people submit sensationalized material?

Are you submitting your life to YouTube and Ridley Scott?  What will you contribute to this “time capsule?” Leave us a comment and let us know!

To learn more about the ‘Life in a Day Project’ you can search the hashtags #RidleyScott and #lifeinaday visit http://www.youtube.com/lifeinaday and watch Ridley Scott’s directions in the video above:

Wordpress 2.8 was released today, and brings some notable improvements to the platform. Enhanced widget control, over 790 bug fixes and many speed improvements (navigating through the control panel is downright snappy now!).

If you’re currently using a previous version of Wordpress, you’ve got a lot to gain from this update. At The Blog Studio, we’re currently offering an upgrade to the latest version of Wordpress for $150! The service includes a backup of your current site and database (an essential, yet often ignored step), as well as performing the upgrade itself. Some conditions apply, contact Lucia at +1 (647) 428-7038 or today for more details.