Congratulations to Issue contributor Jay Ezra Nayssan on the opening show at his gallery in West Los Angeles!

Del Vaz Projects is an exhibition space and residency project within Nayssan’s apartment. As an informal, alternative setting for art, Del Vaz Projects encourages art dialogue within domestic space. The name of the gallery derives from the Farsi phrase “dast-o-del vaz”, meaning open-handed and open-hearted.

Current exhibition:

“Bathymetry”
Participating artists Spencer Ashby, Liz Craft, Carson Fisk-Vittori, Natalie Jones, Daniel Keller, Spencer Longo, Benjamin Phelan and Max Hooper Schneider

On view until November 22.

For more information, visit the gallery’s site : delvazprojects.com

Del Vaz Projects,
1600 Westgate Ave. Apt #208, Los Angeles, CA 90025

A former Riot Grrrl turned new mother experiencing postpartum depression gradually befriends a wheelchair-bound teenager in “Kelly & Cal”, a new comedy drama by director Jen McGowan. The film stars Juliette Lewis and Jonny Weston as unlikely friends each navigating the frustrations of their circumstances.

In U.S. theaters September 5.

›› Rent “Kelly & Cal”

Performance artist, writer, actress, all-round creative pioneer Miranda July has done it again. Her new iPhone app, Somebody, connects experimental art to social networking, confessional culture, and technology and aims to bring people together.

Sponsored by Miu Miu and co-presented by the New Museum, the messaging app will allow the user to have a personal message delivered to someone they know, but by a stranger, in person. The stranger physically nearest the intended recipient will receive the message and let them know what you want them to know IRL. The stranger will have to follow directions, be that hugging the person, proposing to the person, or otherwise.

It’s kind of a natural extension of all of July’s previous work and yet, at the same time, utterly surprising and fresh. She hopes at least some of these deliveries will get recorded and shared. LACMA will be a Somebody “hotspot” where you will be guaranteed to see members pass along messages, although any social gathering can be a hotspot. September 11th will see a launch event at LACMA with July making a video presentation.

››View event details

No one from Russia has done as much as designer, photographer and filmmaker Gosha Rubchinskiy to define the aesthetic of post-Soviet youth and bring it into global conversation. “Crimea/Kids” documents Rubchinskiy’s lense into the world of Crimea’s boys and girls skating, loitering, smoking in their natural habitat of Soviet relics.

Published by IDEA Books

“May in the Summer” is an international drama comedy, directed by and starring Cherien Dabis. Dabis is May Brennan, a successful writer who returns to her family in Amman in preperation for her wedding. Prior to the arrival of May’s fiance, a Muslim professor at Columbia University, May clashes with various family members including her mother, a Christian who chooses to boycott the wedding.

In select U.S. theaters August 29.

››View IMBD

The Congress (“Le Congres”) is a live-action and animation drama, directed by Ari Folman. Robin Wright plays a version of herself as an aging actress who sells her digital likeness to her studio to use in films without restriction. When this contract nears expiration, Wright is invited to make a comeback into the world of future fantasy, a decision with far-reaching consequences.

In select U.S. theaters August 29.

››Rent “The Congress”

jj has upgraded to JJ, and with it have released their fourth album “V”. While the Swedish duo, comprised of Elin Kastlander and Joakim Benon, retain their iconic languid sound, the sounds of “V” carry what many are calling a heightened intentionality. About their former anonymity, vocalist Kastlander has remarked, “We didn’t mean to be anonymous, to begin with. We just knew we needed to put our music out.” The music which first caught listeners ears in 2009 continues to be a marker for cross-genre indie-pop and indie-hip-hop.

V is out via Secretly Canadian and Sincerely Yours, August 19th.

››Buy EP

New Orleans based singer-songwriter Benjamin Booker has released his self-titled debut album. Influenced by The Gun Club, Blind Willie Johnson, and T. Rex, the album is already receiving rave reviews for its ferocious brand of southern rock.

Benjamin Booker is out via ATO Records, August 20.

››Buy Album