Help Save Defenestration, A Piece of San Francisco

Filed Under Art, SF Bay Area | 2010-02-22, 17:29

When I first moved to San Francisco, it wasn’t long before I found myself in front of Defenestration, admiring the flying furniture. It was one of those things that made me go “wow, there’s some really cool stuff in San Francisco, this city is great!” It wasn’t until recently that I truly realized the size of the impact this piece had on the community of San Francisco when it was built 13 years ago. Simone Davalos has a great write up on Laughing Squid about the piece and many of the people involved. I highly recommend a read.

That said, Defenestration is in danger. Many of the pieces had to be removed due to safety issues and repairing and replacing these pieces to restore the awesomeness of Defenestration is going to cost money. There’s a drive right now to raise the necessary $75,000 in order to save the piece. Donations are tax-deductible as they are sponsored by the Black Rock Arts Foundation. I urge you to donate whatever you can to help save this piece.

There is also going to be a fundraising/exhibit opening on Friday, March 5th from 6-10pm at the 1:AM Gallery. If you miss the party, you can still catch the exhibit on Defenestration through April 2nd, 2010. Please donate to help preserve some of the art that makes San Francisco what it is.

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Check out Zivity – 30 days for free

Filed Under Art, Photography, Websites | 2010-02-22, 15:56

The internet is awash in adult content, we all know that. And there’s a lot of just plain crap out there that was made to make a buck. But occasionally the adult content mixes with art and something great comes out of it. Zivity is one of those examples.

For those not familiar, Zivity is a site where photographers and models get together and shoot some amazing photos. The site is decidedly Not Safe For Work (NSFW), so go check it out when you’re at home. Just to be clear, you’re not going to find your run of the mill porn there. Zivity encourages “photographs of women that promote their beuaty, show them respect, and meet [their] standards of tastefulness”. One of my favorite things about Zivity is the way their revenue is handled. Rather than paying a flat fee to photographers and models and then making bank off of their shoots indefinitely, they pay the photographers and models based on votes. As a user of the site, you buy votes for $1 a piece and you can then vote on your favorite models and photographers. For me personally, it’s a small way that I can help friends make a little bit of money making the art that they enjoy. The pretty pictures are an added bonus!

So enough of the sales pitch type talk. For the record I don’t currently receive any commission on anything from Zivity (other than an account on the site), but I recommend it to people who are into this sort of thing. Cyan, the founder of Zivity, was kind enough to offer free 30 day trial accounts to readers. All you have to do is email geeked@zivity.com and ask nicely for an invite.

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