Sopa de Pato

Artesana main street, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

A computer rendering – or the real thing? Sadly, the real thing. This is Artesana, a new upscale development in San Miguel, which might as well be in any movie backlot or theme park anywhere in the World. A pristine, fictionalized, soul-less version of San Miguel where all those inconvenient things like real down-to-earth San Miguelans have been dispensed with. Few figures are ever likely to stroll down these streets, as the whole pastiche is serviced by a subterranean road right underneath here. This means no nasty dirt in which to grow nasty trees with annoying leaves. You can park your car and enter your ultra-secure environment from below without ever brushing shoulders with the hoi-poloi. Whether a result of rampant paranoia, or simply an inability to be prepared to wrestle with or rejoice in reality, this is apparently the dismal gated dream of how some folks now view home. The sky is real however.

Celebrating the Grito de Dolores (Shout of Dolores) in San Miguel de Allende

On the evening of 15 September 1810, in Dolores, Father Hidalgo rang the Church bell, called for Mexican independence from the shackles of Spanish colonialism, and finished by crying “¡Mexicanos, Viva México!”. Known now as the Grito de Dolores (Shout of Dolores), it is re-enacted  throughout Mexico each year as seen here in the Jardin in San Miguel de Allende, just down the road from what is now called Dolores Hidalgo. Following a reading of the text of the Grito are fireworks, tequila, and an awful lot of noise extending into the official day of Mexican Independence on the 16th.

The "Pit" at the World Trade Center during the cleanup following the attack

In the days following the attack on the World Trade Center, the focus was on cleaning up the site and finding any remains of those lost. This shot, looking into the “Pit”, was taken from the damaged offices of some of our colleagues who witnessed the attack at very close quarters. As their office was partially destroyed, we took them into our studio on Union Square and I had the opportunity to take this photograph when helping them move some of their equipment and records out of their old space. In the foreground, the battered but still essenitally intact remains of  Fritz Koenig’s sphere sculpture can be seen. It has now been relocated as part of the Memorial landscape.

Spencer Tunick photographing one of his nude installations in San Miguel de Allende

While we swelter in the heat of NY, it is even more frustrating that such things as the TEDx conference is going on in SMA as we write, and that other fun capers are happening such as a visit by Spencer Tunick. He has photographed many nude installations all over the World, and has now been draping nudes over the landscape of SMA, including on the gas pump on San Francisco, and the Bar San Miguel on Insurgentes, both just just around the corner from us. Check out this video of Spencer Tunick in San Miguel de Allende.

Andy Warhol Statue in Union Square, New York

Immediately to the north of Union Square, on what used to be a part of Broadway but now furnished with tables, umbrellas, and planting, a ten-foot tall chrome statue of Andy Warhol by artist Rob Pruitt, strolls toward the Union Square farmers market, shopping bag in hand. Congratulations to the Department of Traffic and their NYC Plaza Program for helping to turn the Big Apple into a more friendly city by transforming this, and dozens of other expanses of underused asphalt, into much appreciated public space.