ArtAct2016 4 Favorite 

Tom Loeser is currently the Chair of the UW-Madison Department of Art, and specializes in woodworking and furniture. From his studio on the east side, he produces many functional and beautiful furniture pieces. He’s also a vibrant community member; he crafted the interactive reception desk at the Madison Children’s Museum with his wife as well as the “reading pods” at the Madison Public Library with Dave Chapman.

Promoted as a DIY festival with no corporate sponsorship, the 2015 Latino Punk festival in Brooklyn, NY featured bands from all over the Americas. With an emphasis on local bands supporting each other and nurturing local scenes, this festival functions in reference to the ideals of the punk and Riot Grrrl movements in the 1990s.

A new, three-minute ad by Coca-Cola, "Small World Machines," starts with a relatively straightforward premise: India and Pakistan do not get along so well. It ends with the promise of peace: "Togetherness, humanity, this is what we all want, more and more exchange," a woman, either Indian or Pakistani, narrates as the music swells. Sounds great. How do we get there? By buying Coke, of course.

Two weeks ago, the University released the final version of its diversity and inclusion action plan, which could not have been compiled without the exhaustive efforts of students throughout last semester.

Waterpod™ was a floating, sculptural, eco-habitat designed for the rising tides. It launched in the summer of 2009, navigate down the East River, explore the waters of New York Harbor, and docked at several Manhattan piers on the Hudson River before continuing onward. The Waterpod™ demonstrated future pathways for water -based innovations.