Love art, design and having two days off? Us too: here's the Weekender

The only event the Weekender is interested in this weekend is the Queen’s birthday. Yes it’s our Majesty’s official birthday this Saturday and as well as the standard parade, the Weekender has been invited to the saucy after-party to tear it up Windsor-style with the Royals. Champagne and strawberries will flow, everyone will do the cancan and the morning-after fry-up will be delicious. So consider this edition of the Weekender as the warm-up, the canapé to the main dinner party if you will.

– I don’t know what to say about these photographs of people testing out various bits of machinery taken by Daniel Stier other than they’re absolutely bloody brilliant.

– We ran through the very best stuff we got sent in the post over the whole of May and then put the lot in a handy article for you to read.

– Eva O’Leary wowed us with some striking portraits, some searing green eyes and the occasional Beluga whale in this update of her work.

– 200 years or so ago an entire typeface, named Doves Type, was lobbed carelessly into the Thames. It’s inspired some contemporary designers to create their own Doves-inspired type, Thames Capsule

– Photographer of Parisian backs and the odd beautiful nude David Luraschi shows us around his Bookshelf in this week’s voyeuristic feature.

– Over the weekend ARTnews published this lovely interview with artist Carmen Herrera. At 100 years old she’s smart, funny and the article is full of quotable things including: “Don’t be intimidated about anything” and I do a drawing and then I figure it out… Once you think about it, it’s very easy.

– Design Week showcased 50 years of Calvert and Kinnier’s road signage system. To mark the anniversary of the iconic information design project, events by Made North and Sheffield Design Week are being held.

– “Each year, 2.5 million Muslims visit Mecca during the month of Dzulhijjah to the complete the Hajj,” according to Fast Co. Design’s article Redesigning Mecca. Acknowledging the Holy City has reached its capacity, this fascinating article discusses ways in which the infrastructure can be redesigned.

– In this Guardian article Tom Goodwin asks “What if Cannes Lions celebrates the worst, not the best of advertising?” Questioning how the results are measured, the formulaic entries and whether anything in Cannes is real, it’s a good old look at the advertising festival.

– Creative Bloq reveal the ten best web agencies that have formed within the the last 18 months. Did you vote? Are you in it? Have a gander to find out.

Beccy Fulleylove

Ultimate 90s flick Clueless is 20-years-old this year, which makes me feel very old. But in this month’s Vanity Fair they’re featuring a meaty excerpt from pop-culture writer Jen Chaney’s new book As If!: The Oral History of Clueless, as Told by Amy Heckerling, the Cast, and the Crew. If you can’t be bothered to find a copy, don’t worry your sweet selves because the Vanity Fair website has reproduced the extract digitally which is good if (like me) you still like to try out phrases like “as if!” and “way harsh” despite the lack of Californian sass. So pop on your knee high socks and read this generous article all about how the film has become so ingrained into our wardrobes and lexicon.

Emily Gosling

Got a spare £100? Fan of William Burroughs? Then snap yourself up some detailed plans on how to make Burroughs and Brion Gysin’s Dream Machine – the spinning, illuminated contraption that had the likes of Kurt Cobain enraptured by its promise to induce viewers into a hypnogogic state. I tried one once in a Hackney art gallery, and it was pretty fun, if you like that sort of thing. The instructions come as part of a bundle of Burroughs and Gysin’s OLYMPIA MAGAZINE issues, which look pretty lovely with or without the promise of spinning dream-states and all that.

Maisie Skidmore

On the table plan for the dinner party of my dreams, Chloe Sevigny is sat at the head of the table with Iris Apfel to her left and Nora Ephron to her right, so you can imagine my exhilaration and delight to discover that she’s just created a zine all about her ex-boxfriends. Chloe, can ya get any cooler?