Dasha Zhukova | Crazy Horse Paris @Supperclub | Vito Selma

People

Crazy Cabaret

Julia Restoin-Roitfeld stepped out in Notting Hill’s fashionable Supperclub last week for a dinner honoring French dancers from Le Crazy Horse. “It’s very embarrassing. I’m so glad I’ve finally watched it - even if it is in London and not Paris. I’ve really enjoyed myself.”

Anne knows the Crazy Horse well, having been to the famed Paris club several times.

One important point for American visitors. France is not big on fake, silicone bosoms, so you might be disappointed. En France, it’s all about les fesses.

Ali Mahdavi discusses cabaret with Marjane Satrapi and channels the spirit of Eric von Stroheim for Ellen von Unwerth, at Crazy Horse Paris for Tank Magazine.

Ellen von Unwerth at Crazy Horse Paris | Tank Mag

Dasha Zhukova | Art World Tornado

Dasha, Dasha, Dasha WSJ Magazine

No intelligent person dismisses Dasha Zhukova as a dilletante. Her professional endeavors include patron, collector, Internet entrepreneur, magazine editor, fashion designer, writes the new WSJ Magazine.

The big news is New Holland, a 19-acre island in the heart of Saint Petersburg that Dasha and enormously wealthy life partner Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich plan to develop into a world-class art distination.

At the 54th Venice Biennale, Dasha has launched “Commercial Break” through her Garage Center for Contemporary Culture. It begins tomorrow and plays through June 5.  Sponsored by Post magazine for an iPad application, short films from over 100 artists will play on a Jumbotron floating the length of the Grand Canal in Venice.

Dasha Zhukova’s purpose is to provoke conversation between commercial interests using advertising and Venetian laws prohibiting ads in the city.

Saying that it needs money for restoration projects, the government of Venice has leased ‘billboard’ space in Venetian walls.

The directors of the British Museum, the V&A and the Museum of Modern Art in New York are among the signatories of a letter demanding that Italy’s culture minister, Sandro Bondi, outlaw the billboards, which “hit you in the eye and ruin your experience of one of the most beautiful creations of humankind”.

More reading

Bulgari to Burgers | Italy Faces A Commercial Balancing Act

Design

Ocean Waves

Working in the Phillipines, young designer Vito Selma works in concert with nature. Unafraid to display the nakedness of wood grain and texture, his pieces call to mind the archetypal nudes who stand before artist and audience, showing each curve of their womanly design.

Selma refers to wood as his ‘partner’; ocean waves are his inspiration for a sitting bench. There is no doubt that nature is muse to this award-winning young talent. Keep an eye on Vito Selma. See website

Nibbles

Women in China: A Social Revolution More Intelligent Life

Boundlessly loyal to the great monster The Economist

Ironically, if liberals are loathed and under constant attack in the US as being unpatriotic, even American conservatives praise them (those damn liberals)  in China.

Green Tech: Finally, A Female-Friendly Engineering-Tech-Energy Field? Forbes Woman