AX Mina is an artist and culture writer exploring contemporary spirituality, technology and other sundry topics. She co-produces Five and Nine, a podcast about magic, work, and economic justice, and serves on the board of the Rabkin Foundation.
Opinion
LOS ANGELES — As 3D printing creeps into more and more projects, making product production more accessible, I've always wondered how we can make product design more accessible. How can the average person take advantage of the plethora of resources out there for creating new objects? While open-sourc
Opinion
LOS ANGELES — Gallery openings can be intimidating affairs. Smartly dressed artists and art lovers gathered with glasses of wine, discussing art, politics and everything else. All in all, even a friendly crowd can feel tough to break into. Most artists I know can relate. The code of gallery opening
News
LOS ANGELES — Raspberry Pi, an award-winning open hardware board meant to teach computer science, is one of those educational gateways that could serve as a bridge for learners. Which is why I was excited to learn about the new Raspberry Pi Education Manual, put out by Computing at School. Available
Art
SAN FRANCISCO — When learning Chinese, it's often difficult to appreciate the subtle beauty of each character. In the mist of trying to hammer each one into memory, a Chinese learner rarely pauses to admire the carefully crafted order of strokes and hidden meanings.
Books
LOS ANGELES — Brazilian Art under Dictatorship, a new book by John Jay College's Claudia Calirman, takes a look at the works of three artists: Antonio Manuel, Artur Barrio and Cildo Meireles. These artists worked during the height of Brazil's most repressive military regime in the late 1960s and ear
Opinion
LOS ANGELES — 3D is experiencing a bit of a renaissance, what with 3D films and 3D GIFs becoming all the rage. Heck, you might count 3D printing into the mix, with printed cookies now possible. But I still long for a 3D practice that takes 3D past the simple fact of its three dimensions and gives us
Opinion
LOS ANGELES — On a recent long distance bus trip in Uganda, part of my sojourn was occupied by listening to a religious individual on a bus preach, pray, and collect donations from his captive audience. I didn't understand the language but I understood the form, as he shuffled up and down the aisle
Opinion
LOS ANGELES — Archival work as an art form? Visit any prolific artist's studio and you'll see the intense need for archiving their work for a future age. This is particularly true, I think, for artists practicing outside the world's major art centers, where extensive media and established institutio
Opinion
I've been thinking a lot about the idea of open journalism in the arts. It's an important question, especially in light of the increased role of social media, blogging, and a general web presence that artists building a career in the 21st century often must maintain.
Interview
KAMPALA, Uganda — We gathered on a dusty road in the Kololo neighborhood of Kampala, Uganda's capital city, for coffee at The Hub, a popular coworking and events space. It had been a few weeks now since the terrific Kampala Art Festival, and I was just scratching the surface of Uganda's art scene. I
Art
LOS ANGELES — An 11,000 square foot warehouse in the heart of LA's Arts District, large-scale exhibitions, exciting speakers, and interactive workshops. Residencies for some of the world's most talented game designers. And a research lab designed to support game researchers around the world. This is
Art
KAMPALA, Uganda — All over Kampala, and in many parts of Uganda, you'll find them: shipping containers. From and to all over the world, shipping containers arrive and go out. Some stay, serving as a storage container on the side of a road, repurposed for whatever the contents. Others go. But, for th