Subject Matter 4

Subject Matter Network
Alec Seymour's first solo show Proper Care of the Peace Lily, a work of his own singular auteurship, is going up in a week and a half. Readers will find in this play many of the themes currently under discussion at Subpixel Space: "Trapped in a limitless void, a fatherless young man with no guidance must create his own path back to the world. With the help of a mysterious Peace Lily (named Robert Plant), a divination book, and dramatic texts about absent fathers from Oedipus to Orphans, he attempts to piece together an identity and take ownership of his life." The first showing sold out. A second showing is now open on Thursday the 29th. Get tickets here.

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Design Prompt: 15 Minute Critic
In the tech world, reaction to Chris Messina's Thursday "think"piece has been overwhelming. My favorite responses have been the short, self-initiated criticisms it has inspired. Prompt: Find a piece of design or design that you don't like. Think about it for a few minutes. Type a response on your smartphone, no more than 5 sentences. Screenshot your response and tweet it. This whole process should take about 15 minutes.

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In news, Mondays has joined the Learning Gardens family. LG is a loose collection of reading groups, as well as a support network for creating self-learning environments. It's been wonderful to get to know a community of people who share a vision for 21st century community: "decentralized," "trans-disciplinary", "casual atmosphere, serious thought," "open-and low-barrier," and "peer-to-peer" learning, among others (from the Learning Gardens README). Thanks Edouard and Lukas!

There will be no material change to how Mondays are announced: in our Facebook message group, and through this email, Subject Matter. I will also announce Mondays in the #mondays channel of the Learning Gardens Slack, which if you wish to join you may find here.

I've also taken this opportunity to update the Mondays website. Check it out for pre-loading goodness.

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Listening: ArtScience
Fresh off the heels of Frank Ocean's Blonde comes another genre-melding album, this time from Robert Glasper Experiment. Each was perfect for its season. In the nearly unbearable heat of humid NYC August, we had Frank's vocal fry, sizzling close to the mic, beading up sweaty drips of emotion in Nights, Sigfried, and Self Control. ArtScience too starts off with the buzzy heat of a free jazz number, wiling out on sax, piano, bass and drums, until Glasper's chords come in, warm as always, but cooling things off. ​This album revels in its pop-ness at times, going full disco on Day To Day and full ballad on Hurry Slowly. But if you liked Black Radio, This Is Not Fear feels like a homecoming, bringing back the familial sound of the Experiment as surely as Autumn comes every year, with those gorgeously flattened autotune vocals, and echoey backing chords, as on Tell Me A Bedtime Story and Let's Fall In Love. After my first listen through, I can say that this album is a keeper that will last us through the winter. The first single, Find You.

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Until next time.

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