December 20, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Farmacia Lordelo: José Carlos Cruz

Click to enlarge

I love this very cool pharmacy! Farmacia Lordelo in Vila Real, Portugal, was designed by Portuguese architect José Carlos Cruz. The oval shaped, corrugated aluminum-clad two-story building contains both the store and pharmaceutical labs. Keeping the exterior neutral and emphasizing its neutrality with an absence of openings — the only opening being the main entrance — Cruz played with the internationally recognizable green cross pharmacy symbol in neon green as the dynamic decorative element. The interior has a sanitary yet contemporary feel, all in white with curving walls. Outside and in: pretty fabulous.

If you like this pharmacy you’d probably like this one too.

All photos by Fernando Guerra courtesy of the architect.

via the coolhunter

December 20, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Marek Samojeden: Poland in Winter

Click to enlarge

Polish photographer Marek Samojeden takes spectacular aerial landscape shots of southern Poland. These are just a few from his Winter Time series which are especially striking with their minimalist abstract quality from their bird’s eye view.

via shelleysdavies via @paperdarts

December 19, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Fred Cray: Self-Portraits

Click to enlarge

I run into Brooklyn-based photographer Fred Cray ridiculously often. A close runner-up only to the person that introduced us; sometimes at galleries, sometimes on the street, and once even apartment-hunting (me, not him.) And now, a few weeks ago, I ran into Fred’s work on the internet. I was familiar with his lottery ticket self-portrait collage series and had been to his solo show of Travel Diaries at Janet Borden, Inc. a few years ago, but his other work was new to me and an interesting discovery.

Cray’s B/W Self-Portraits are particularly compelling, if a little disturbing. Images of his skin on fire, tarred and feathered, or buried in dirt with worms on his face are hard to ignore or not react to. In an interview with Revel in New York, below, he explains that many of these were created in angry reaction to the Gulf War, while others are full of literary references such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s dirt-eating character in 100 Years of Solitude.

Make sure to check out more of Fred Cray’s work on his website and watch the video below to learn more about him and his process.

December 19, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

cartonLAB: Typographied Cardboard

Click to enlarge

Our friends over at cartonLAB (previously here and here) are working nonstop expanding their offerings with all sorts of fun products and stands made out of cardboard. And lately, much to our delight, they’ve gone a little type crazy. From their personalized Photocall Polaroid-like photo frames for weddings and parties to their impressive range of creative event stands with the type cut out or printed right on, cartonLAB has added another dimension to their work. And if that weren’t enough, they’ve also come up with a smart proposal for recycling large boxes (think Ikea furniture boxes) by printing the patterns to some of their creations on the cardboard for personal execution called Mas que Cajas (More than Boxes). Very clever.

All photos courtesy CartonLab

December 18, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Urban Maeztro: Firing Back with Street Art

Click to enlarge

Urban Maeztro the Honduran street artist, wheat-pastes provocative images of iconic paintings, such as the Mona Lisa and American Gothic, adding vividly rendered firearms to the images protesting the terrible gun violence in his country. The masked artist has often dodged bullets while posting his art in dangerous public spaces throughout Tegucigalpa, fearing the police as much as criminals.

Though in a different — and typically more dangerous — country, parallels can be drawn with Enzo & Nio’s wheat pastings, as they can be with the ever-increasing problem of gun violence and nonsensical deaths in the U.S. as well.

Photos: Javier Arcenillas and Fernando Antonio

via vice

December 18, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Hao Ni: Object-Based Sculpture

Click to enlarge

Daniela spotted Taiwanese MFA student Hao Ni’s Smoke Ring sculpture a couple of weeks ago at RISD’s Grad Open Studios. Looking at more of Hao Ni’s work, smoking cigarettes appear in some of his other curious and playful sculptures as well, one of which is called You Have Your Fortress, I Have Mine. The Fortress becomes a story told through the sculptural pursuit of space and object-based relationships. Another recurring theme in Ni’s work is the house. He has an ongoing collaboration with Kazuki Sebastian Guzmán called Play House; a sort of pop-up installation/sculptural house that houses other smaller house sculptures inside and evolves with every showing.

You can see more of Hao Ni’s work here, here, and here.

Top photo by collabcubed; all others courtesy of the artist.

December 17, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Umbilic Torus: Helaman Ferguson

Click to enlarge

The 24-foot high, nearly 10-ton bronze Umbilic Torus, created by Helaman Ferguson, is a mathematically inspired 3-dimensional ring with a single edge that wraps around three times before returning to its starting point. The sculpture was recently unveiled in front of the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics at Stony Brook University, where it celebrates the fusion of mathematics and art. It took Ferguson almost two years along with a crew of artists, engineers, programmers and welders to complete the large-scale work.

Photos: Gilsanz Murray Steficek; Stony Brook University; and Henry Powderly for ThreeVillagePatch.

via GMS Structural Engineers

December 17, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Festina Lente Bridge: Sarajevo

Click to enlarge

The recently completed Festina Lente pedestrian bridge at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo was designed by three industrial design students in response to a competition five years ago. Adnan Alagic, Bojan Kanlic and Amila Hrustic won the competition with their entry. The looping bridge spans 38 meters over the Miljacka River with the central loop serving as a shelter that includes a bench. The name of the bridge, Festina Lente, means “make haste, slowly” in Latin. The bridge acts as a symbolic gate between the secular and spiritual, being that the academy was formerly a church.

via dezeen via notcot

December 14, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 12/14

Click to enlarge

This weekend’s picks for free and cheap things to do (12/14 to 12/16) in NYC. Cultural events in art, architecture, music, film, dance, theater, design, walking tours, food, and fun!

1. Art – Henry Moore: Late Large Forms. Simply spectacular! Fri 12/14 & Sat 12/15 and through 1/19. 10am to 6pm. FREE

Also in Art – Ed Ruscha Bookworks (see post) Fri 12/14 & Sat 12/15 and through 1/12. 10am to 6pm. FREE

Also also in Art – Masterpieces: A Fact-Filled Coloring Book. Professional artists of various disciplines, as well as creative nonprofessionals, were recruited to reinterpret the book’s 60 pages, each depicting a famous work of art. Fri 12/14 at 8pm. FREE

2. Graphic Design – The Lustigs: A cover story an exhibit including 500 book, magazine and catalog covers designed by Alvin and Elaine Lustig. Fri 12/14 and through 2/15/13.11am to 5pm FREE

3. Food/Tour – Crosstown Pizza Walk, Fri 12/14 & Sat 12/15 at 11am. 3 hrs $35

4. Design/Talk — 3DEA Pop Up: Artist’s Talk. Artists speak about their 3D printed works. Fri 12/14 at 7:30pm FREE

5. Film/Talk – A Conversation with Ewan McGregor interviewed by NYTimes’ Melena Ryzik. Fri 12/14, 6:30 to 8pm. $35.

6. Music – Antibalas with special guests Red Baraat, Fri 12/14 at 8pm $25

7. Art/Internet/Talks & Multiple Events – #NYANCATCITY a good-humored, creatively diverse 4-day series of events that celebrates creativity and the influence of Internet culture—and cats. All weekend. FREE

8. Music – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart at Brooklyn Night Bazaar. Fri 12/14.

9. Food – Free Momofuku Milk Bar cookies from the roaming Holiday Cookie Truck and pastry chef Christina Tosi w/her mom. Sat 12/15 from 11am to 5:30pm. See locations.

10. Peformance/Art/Theater – What the Dickens Third Annual A Christmas Carol Marathon. Sat 12/15 at 1pm FREE

11. Fun/Goofiness – SantaCon. Put on your Santa suit and roam (and drink) with hundreds of others, hopefully bringing good cheer to all and not trouble. Sat 12/15 at 10am. Follow @SantaCon on Twitter for locations.

Alternatively in mellower Santa-ness: Santa Claus Association—the subject of the City Reliquary’s current exhibit. This group began in NYC in 1913, diverting children’s letters to Santa from the postal service’s “Dead Letter Office” and matching them with donors who could fill their requests. All weekend. $5

12. Music/Participatory Performance Art – Unsilent Night. Each participant gets one of four tracks of music in the form of a cassette, CD, or Mp3. Together all four tracks comprise Unsilent Night. Sat 12/15 at 7pm. Washington Sq. Park FREE

13. Dance – ABT’s The Nutcracker. There are $25 to $35 tickets available (and up, of course) at BAM. See showtimes and tickets here. All weekend.

14. Music – Medeski Martin & Wood. All weekend at the Blue Note. $30 tickets at the bar. Check showtimes.

15. Readings/Party/Music – Gigantic Magazine Launch Party with music, readings, booze and more: Sat 12/15 at 8:30pm. $10 in advance $12 door

16. Walking Tour – Chinatown: Culture and Change Walking Tour. Sun 12/16 at 1pm $20

17. Art/Multimedia Performances – Sunday Sessions Pier Paolo Pasolini: Intellecttuale, Sun 12/16, 12 to 6pm. $10.

18. Music – John Wesley Harding’s Cabinet of Wonders. Fountains of Wayne, Ron Sexsmith and many more. A few bar stools left. $25. Sun 12/16 6pm doors; 8pm show

Additional ongoing events to keep in mind:
Ann Hamilton’s The Event of a Thread participatory installation all weekend. $12.
Brooklyn Night Bazaar continues every Friday and Saturday through 12/22. FREE
11th Annual Holiday Train Show at Grand Central. All weekend. FREE
Holiday Nostalgia Train: Ride a Vintage Subway. Sundays through 12/30. $2.50

UPDATES:
The Museum of Mathematics opens Sat 12/15. $20 wkd $15 wkday
The Degenerate Crafts Fair: Featuring affordable wares from 50+ artists & designers. Sat 12/15 & Sun 12/16.FREE

Be sure to check back for updates and peruse previous COTC posts for some additional ongoing events.

December 13, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

ART+COM: Anamorphic Mirror

Click to enlarge

Berlin-based interdisciplinary design studio ART+COM was asked by Deutsche Bank to create an installation for a vestibule near the conference room in the company’s headquarters. The brief stated the inclusion of the bank’s iconic logo (designed by Anton Stankowski) in the work. In order to avoid a huge logo dominating the small 25 square foot space, ART+COM opted for a less obtrusive and more poetic approach: anamorphosis. As the visitor climbs the staircase, the abstract mirrored sculpture slowly reveals the logo, but it’s not until the top of the stairs are reached that the image is fully resolved.

You can ‘experience’ the effect in the video below:

Photos and video courtesy of art+com

via adc’s muse

December 12, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Philip Lüschen: Waiting Room Survival

Click to enlarge

This made me chuckle. Dutch designer Philip Lüschen created a humorous series of Waiting Room Survival objects: a collection of tools for waiting rooms, to spy on others, wait incognito or to shorten the period of waiting by making others disappear. From a book with eyeholes for spying on your neighbors, to nose masks for those who don’t wish to be recognized; and finally, the “sneak in front” tool consisting of a photo of actual sized empty seats to place in front of those ahead of you.

via Ed Jansen

December 12, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Andrew Baines: Surreal Human Portraits

Click to enlarge

Charlie Todd has a kindred spirit on the opposite side of the globe. Australian artist Andrew Baines organizes and documents similar “missions” usually taking place on the various beaches of Australia. Baines has a lot to be happy about: after years of struggling with the idea of leaving his commercial art business to pursue his lifelong passion of fine art, Baines took the plunge, met with success, and never looked back. Plus, he spends much of his time on the beach — as he did growing up — but now in the name of art!

Baines’ most recent “guerrilla installation,” and part of his Surreal Human Sculptures series, took place last August when twelve suited volunteers carried their own toilets to the water’s edge and then dropped their pants and sat down to read the paper. The event titled Coalition of the Constipated was an effort to bring attention to the lack of toilets in the Henley Square Eatery district. In 2009, Baines gathered 50 participants on West Beach to be buried in sand up to their necks for his Up to Your Neck in It event, highlighting the way people are bogged down with pressures of everyday life when we should all stop and look around to realize things are not as bad as they seem. And a few years earlier Baines went from Melbourne beaches to ones in Sydney recruiting volunteers to dress in suits and bowler hats with umbrellas and briefcases in hand, and wade in the ocean by the early morning light creating some rather surreal-looking (specifically Magritte-like) images.

There are many other fun events on Andrew Baines’ website, so take a look.

Photos courtesy of the artist; Mark Brake for AdelaideNow; and Bram Booth.

via artinfo

December 11, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Architypeture IV

Click to enlarge

Our 4th installment of Architypeture (the fusion of architecture and typography.) If you haven’t seen our other Architypeture posts you can see them here: I, II, III.

From top to bottom, left to right: Casa do Conto Arts Residency in Porto, Portugal, by PedraLiquida Architects; University Library in Udine, Italy by Manfredi Nicoletti; Seattle Central Library by Ann Hamilton and OMA (x2); One Shelley Street Offices, Sydney by Clive Wilkinson Architects; Marks & Spencer, Stratford, UK by Pentagram; San Cristobal Residential Building, Murcia, Spain by Clavel Arquitectos, photos by David Frutos (x3); Public Library in Ludoz, Poland by Maciek Grelewicz (x2); Casa do Conto Arts Residency, Porto, Portugal by Pedra Liquida Architects; Social Housing Conil de la Frontera in Cadiz, Spain by Mediomundo Arquitects; Trafiq Club/Restaurant in Budapest, Hungary by 81Font with Kiss Miklos (bottom 3).

December 11, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Rotman School Of Management: Pink Staircase

Rotman School of Management Expansion cool staircase with pink accents, Dramatic stairs, KPMB architects, Architecture in Toronto

Click to enlarge

The Rotman School, part of the University of Toronto, has recently completed a nine-story expansion project designed by KPMB Architects. By connecting the existing building to designated floors of the new one, essentially a new campus was created. The centerpiece of the building is a major 400-seat event space expressed as an elevated glass box with floor-to-ceiling glazing. But it’s the multi-level south atrium featuring a serpentine staircase with hot pink accents that caught my attention. The series of horizontal and vertical circulation systems between the original and new buildings facilitates the flow of students and faculty, while adding a dramatic touch with its inner firey pink walls and handrails, jumping out from the more subdued black and gray sides. Definitely makes for some nice photos.

Photos: Tom Arban & Maris Mezulis courtesy of the architects.

via Canadian Architect

December 10, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Ed Ruscha: Bookworks

Click to enlarge

It’s hard for me to pinpoint what it is about Ed Ruscha’s large-scale book paintings that thrilled me, but walking into the Gagosian Gallery the other day, that’s just what they did to me. In my eyes, these recent works by the Nebraskan-born artist pay homage to the fast-disappearing tomes. While others are using books and/or their pages to create sculptures and installations, Ruscha is making them larger than life, focusing on the details of their bindings, endpapers, and moldy pages. The exhibit includes older works involving books and words, some with type bleached onto their linen bindings, and still others with writing on the paper side of closed books. Ruscha’s fascination with words is not new; he has been quoted as having said “Sometimes I wonder whether I am painting pictures of words or whether I’m painting pictures with words.” Either way, works for me.

The exhibit will be on view through January 12th.

Photos by Paul Ruscha and Rob McKeever courtesy of Gagosian Gallery.

December 10, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

LeChurro

Click to enlarge

Here’s a fun, recently opened, spot in NYC for all kinds of churros: cones of churros, chocolate-dipped ones, mini, and filled churros. LeChurro, the small Upper East Side locale, seats approximately ten people in its nicely designed space. Boa Mistura (previously here and here) the Spanish street art collective, were commissioned to paint the type-driven wall mural. The rest of the shop has nice details from its tables and benches, to the bright orange and wood shelves. The shop’s identity works perfectly from logo to packaging. And if that’s not enough, LeChurro is the only place in NYC that sells Spain’s Chocolat Factory products such as the Mr. Chocolate mustaches and Give me Five chocolate finger tips.

LeChurro is located at 1236 Lexington Avenue near 84th St.

Photos courtesy of LeChurro and eurekasquirrel

via Marguerite

December 7, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

NYC Culture on the Cheap: Weekend 12/7

Click to enlarge

Free and cheap things to do (12/7 to 12/9) in NYC. Cultural events in art, music, film, dance, theater, design, architecture, walking tours, food, and cool fun! Plus a smattering of holiday festivities.

1. Design – Art of the Book exhibit. Fri 12/7 & Sat 12/8. 11am to 6pm FREE

2. Music/Fun – Losers Lounge pay tribute to Stevie Wonder 7pm and 9:30pm Fri 12/7. $25.

3. Art/Music/Drinks/Holiday – Asia Society Holiday Celebration. Museum tours, Leotinis, Tea Tasting. Fri 12/7; 6 to 8pm. FREE

4. Music/Art/Drink/Holiday — Brooklyn Magazine Design Launch Holiday Party. Fri 12/7. 8 to 11pm. FREE

5. Film –TropFest Roughcut Film Symposium: the world’s largest short film festival. Fri 12/7. 10am to 4:30pm. $35.

6. Film – Screening of Amos Poe’s Alphabet City (1984): (whatever happened to the cute Vincent Spano?) Fri 12/7 at 7pm $8,

7. Tour/Architecture – Grand Central Tour, Sat 12/8 at 11am $20.

8. Dance – Movement Research Festival Fall 2012. Fri 12/7 & Sat 12/8 at 8pm. $12.

9. Art/Installation – the event of a thread by Ann Hamilton (see post). All weekend 12 to 7pm; Sat 12/8 FREE, other days $12.

10. Film & Festivities – Griswold Family Christmas: screenings of Elf, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Gremlins plus festivities: Fri 12/7 & Sat 12/8 $25 check here for tickets and showtimes.

11. Art/Music/Food – Gowanus Nite Market, Artists, Music, Food. Sat 12/8, 7pm to midnight FREE

12. Art/Talk – African-American Artists and Conceptualism: Panel discussion with Naima Keith and Fred Wilson. Sat 12/8 at 2pm Pay what you wish

13. Art – Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos at the New Museum. All Weekend. $14 Thursday nights FREE

14. Comedy/Performance – Mike Birbiglia: Working It Out. Sun 12/9 at 10pm. $15

15. Theater – Speaking in Tongues by Andrew Bovell. “Where one story ends, another begins. The same events are retold from different perspectives. Characters reappear, others disappear.” Fri 12/7 & Sat 12/8 at 8pm. Sun 12/9 at 2pm. $18

Check back for updates throughout the weekend. Enjoy!

UPDATES:

Music – Fri 12/7: Join Real Estate, RCRD LBL and MINI USA at a secret location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at 5:30. FREE

Film – Fri 12/7: Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival screening Brooklyn documentaries. 6:45. FREE
Music – Sun 12/9: 39th Annual Merry Tuba Christmas – hundreds of tuba players play holiday favorites. 3:30pm FREE

December 6, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Drift: Snarkitecture

Design Miami 2012, Cool entrance installation by Daniel Arsham, Snarkitecture, Drift Click to enlarge

Well, it looks like Snarkitecture (previously here, here & here) has done it again! For this year’s Design Miami entrance the Brooklyn firm created this fun installation using inflated white tubes bundled together at different heights titled Drift.

Light passes between the tubes, at the same time shading the public from the direct sun. The tubes are also used for cushy seating. Fun and practical; success all around!