Spanish street artist e1000 (previously here and here) has recently painted another of his 3D works. This one on Paseo de Santa María de la Cabeza in Madrid, gives the illusion (when seen from above street level) of a pedestal emanating from the street. Passersby, unknowingly, suddenly appear to be elevated in a statuesque manner. Fun!
Do Ho Suh: Floor plus Cause & Effect
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I’ve recently become acquainted with Korean artist Do Ho Suh’s work, both online and in person this past fall at Lehmann Maupin Gallery’s exhibit of his work. However, these two installations are new to me and both appeal to me very much. Floor, which was recently exhibited at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute, consists of almost 2,000 plastic little men pushing up on a walkable glass surface, trying to prevent being crushed. These small figures en-masse deal with individuality and collective force, a running theme in Suh’s work. Similarly, his installation Cause & Effect, a tornado-like structure made up of thousands of piggy-backed figures suggests, once again, that there is strength in numbers.
Cause & Effect is currently on display at Western Washington University.
Photos: Phaidon, Huffington Post, The Stranger, and Korea.net’s flickr
via colossal
Hirshhorn Bubble: Diller Scofidio + Renfro
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This is such a clever and fun idea! Diller Scofidio + Renfro (fast becoming one of my favorite architects after the High Line, Alice Tully Hall and all the renovations at Lincoln Center, as well as the ICA in Boston, just to name a few…) have designed an inflatable temporary event space for the cylindrical courtyard of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. The thin translucent membrane of the pneumatic structure is meant to be squeezed into the void of Gordon Bunshaft‘s donut-shaped building, and ooze out the top as well as beneath the mass. The contrast of the soft and hard structures is great, and by roofing over the courtyard the museum gains 14,000 sq. feet of sheltered space in the spring and fall that will accommodate up to a 1000-person audience for performing arts events, films, lectures or even art installations.
The project was initially scheduled to open in Fall 2012, but due to lack of sufficient funding, the project may be delayed slightly. Hope not too long…
Images all courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
WC Line by Kontextür
Design company Kontextür has just come out with a new line of bathroom accessories called the WC Line designed by Josh Owen, the same designer responsible for the similar-in-feel, previously released tissue box cover. The WC Line consists of a plunger, toilet brush and waste bin, all made of silicone with wood handles and comes in five colors.
Also fun on the Kontextur site is the Duck Harry which functions as a toothbrush/toothpaste holder, or alternatively as a doorstop. I think it would be fun right by the bathtub as well; an updated rubber ducky.
All available here.
Regina Silveira: Tracks and Shadows
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Brazilian artist Regina Silveira was so ahead of her time. She’s been creating installations using plotter cut black vinyl adhesive years before blik came into existence! Her large-scale installations play with perspective, shadows, and space in general. Her Track Series (Derrapagem which translates as skid marks) go from floor, to walls to the most unlikeliest of façades. Her exaggerated shadow pieces are humorous and clever, often tricking the eye.
Below is a video of a set design with Silveira’s signature skewed perspective that has your mind doing as many flips as the dancers.
Photos courtesy of the artist, Alexander Gray Gallery, Rainer Hosch, and xpuesto’s flickr
Arjen Born: Photographs from the Future
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Recently, I’ve mentioned to my future-industrial-designer-daughter Daniela that I believe there will be a great demand for smartly designed, affordable gear for the elderly in the not-so-distant future, with everyone living longer and the price of healthcare increasing while insurance coverage declines. Clearly, Dutch photographer Arjen Born feels the same way.
These photographs are at once comical and moving. They envision health aides of the future as robots or contraptions that assist. I’m assuming that Born creates these humorous ‘prototypes’ himself judging from the name header on his website.
via gup magazine
Espacio Cultural El Tanque: The Tank
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Though they are celebrating their fifteenth anniversary this year, Espacio Cultural El Tanque de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, is news to me and, judging from my googling, might be news to many. Menis Arquitectos transformed the old oil tank, the last of its type in the formerly industrial landscape, into an ever-changing cultural space used to display art installations as well as a performance venue for concerts. 50 meters in diameter and 20 meters in height, the tank has a temple-like quality. An old train car is used as the entrance ramp adding to the drama of the space. That, combined with the impressive installations and lighting of the space make it a cool-looking destination for anyone heading to Tenerife.
Photos: Colin Kirby, omarnahas’s flickr, encarneviva’s flickr, georgepompidou’s flickr, Hisao Suzuki, and Teresa Arozena
Dancing Plague of 1518
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This tumblr by Niege Borges made me smile. In memory of Frau Toffea — the woman who was the first of 400 people in 1518 to be afflicted with dance mania in Strasbourg, France, dancing for days without rest resulting in some deaths — Borges is creating prints illustrating dance steps from sequences throughout the history of film. The tumblr/series is called Dancing Plague of 1518. She’s welcoming suggestions, so feel free to head on over and add yours.
If you’d like a print of one of the dances, they’re available here.
via free york
Superkilen and The Red Square in Copenhagen
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Superkilen, a multicultural section of Copenhagen in the northwest part of the city has recently finished its new Red Square; a park and playground that is actually painted all shades of red. To reflect the many cultures in the community, the park is furnished with elements such as benches, trees, signage, and other furnishings all imported from 57 different countries.
Designed by Superflex, BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) and TOPOTEK1, the urban park occupies a long stretch containing a green and a black area in addition to the red zone. Each section facilitates different activities.
Very cool and fun.
Photos courtesy of the architects, classiccopenhagen’s flickr, and Drumstik1’s flickr
via a+t magazine
Lauren Smith: Doubt and Confusion
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New Jersey based artist Lauren Smith is a 2D/3D mixed media artist whose work is influenced by three years experience in historic preservation architecture. As Smith stated in an interview:
I try to create environments that make the viewer feel a sense of doubt and/or a moment of confusion.
Here, in two very different types of works, one an installation the other drawings, she does just that. Above, her installation titled Under the Bed is made with a wooden bed frame enclosing a ‘mattress’ of skewered marshmallows. Maybe not a lot of doubt here, but definitely some confusion.
Below, her ink drawings on typical architect canary-yellow tracing paper are part of a series titled NYC: An Honest Lie.
Typically, people associate architectural drawings with the documentation of truth and precise representation. My work challenges this association by using the vernacular of architectural drawings to create “lies” about buildings. I will slightly misrepresent buildings by either idealizing them and/or intentionally distorting them. I aim to provoke the audience to question not only the validity of what they are seeing, but also their own perspectives towards their external environment.
In addition, Smith uses varnish to mount the tracing paper drawings onto canvas, adding to the ‘lie’ by disguising them as paintings. I love all of this work. It’s smart, full of humor, plus, I’ve always found those canary-yellow rolls of tracing paper an odd choice for architects – the color, the curling aspect from being rolled – so the choice of that material alone makes me chuckle. If you look closely at the first two images below (one a detail, the other an installation view) the drawing is a detailed diagram titled 14th St./6th Ave Subway Gum Conditions Survey. Many of the other drawings are of buildings around Union Square, right here in NYC, so maybe my familiarity with the neighborhood adds to the appeal as well.
via 1Op Collective
Roadsworth: Dead Hearts
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Street artist Roadsworth started painting the streets of Montreal about ten years ago in protest of car culture and to promote bicycle use. This series of works is titled Dead Hearts…maybe not the most romantic title for a Valentine’s Day post, but that’s what we’re doing, so, let’s just go with it.
You can see more of Roadworth’s hearts as well as much more of his clever work on his website.
Heart for Vaclav Havel in Prague
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Back on December 18th, Czech artist Roman Svejda stood among the thousands who lit candles for Vaclav Havel (playwright-turned-president) following his death, and wondered what would happen with all the candles. Fast forward a few weeks and Svedja along with artist Lukás Gavlovsky (and dozens of volunteers), have melted all that wax (roughly two tons worth) and built a giant, heart-shaped memorial to the former president. The image is inspired by the small heart-drawing that Havel used as part of his signature.
The 4 x 4 square meter sculpture is open and hollow, allowing visitors to step inside. It was unveiled last Friday in the square next to the National Theater in Prague and will remain there until April.
Photos: The Prague Post and Aktuálne
Shay Frisch Peri: Energy Fields
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Shay Frisch Peri is an Israeli artist and industrial designer living and working in Rome. Creating an almost weave-like look with the repetition of electrical adaptors and light indicators, Frisch Peri’s light sculptures are like energy fields. The one that Daniela and I saw this past weekend in Chelsea (Campo 4012 N – the circular one with ‘N’ signifying the color black) had a wonderful glow to it as we walked into the gallery. Frisch Peri takes into consideration each individual space and the appropriate proportion of light required.
This piece, as well as Campo 1 N (the individual component used to create the larger work) will be at Haunch of Venison in Chelsea through March 3, 2012. You can see more of Shay Frisch Peri’s work here and here.
Giles Walker: Animated Sculptures
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For over the past twenty years English sculptor Giles Walker has been working with robots, creating kinetic sculptures from materials found in scrap yards. A member of the guerilla-art group The Mutoid Waste Company, Walker’s robots are a creative intervention into our throw-away capitalist culture as well as a commentary on the surveillance practices or our time.
All of these pieces are just great, but the DJ and Pole Dancers’ Peepshow with their surveillance-camera heads, in addition to excellent hip and pelvic movements, might be my favorites. The telephone-headed drunks are (at least in some cases) programmed to interact with the public using presence sensors.
Walker’s robots have been exhibited all over the world, most recently this past week at the RAW Art Fair, part of the Rotterdam Art Fair 2012.
Photos courtesy of the artist; LookforArt; Epicfu; maggie jones’ flickr; and de_buurman’s flickr.
Three NYC Architectural Tidbits
Three different projects here in NYC have recently come to my attention, so rather than do three separate posts, I’ve decided to group them together in one. You can click on most of the images to see them larger.
First up, The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 have announced this year’s winner of the Young Architects Program. HWKN (HollwichKushner) will construct their entry for the annual outdoor summer installation in PS1’s courtyard in Queens this summer. The winning proposal, titled Wendy, will consist of a large scaffold containing an oversized blue nylon starburst-like structure that will clean the air while offering shade, wind, rain and music. Looks like quite a departure from the past couple of years in that it looks more self-contained. I’m really looking forward to seeing it built in June.
Images courtesy HWKN
via archdaily
Next, right now through February 29, 2012, there’s a 10-foot-tall BIG ❤ NYC sculpture/light installation in Times Square designed by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) Architects in honor of Valentine’s Day. The public art installation is located in Duffy Square at the foot of the TKTS steps/seats. Consisting of 400 transparent acrylic tubes (lit by LEDs) that form a cube around a suspended red heart whose beat and color intensity directly correlate to how many people touch the “Touch Me” heart pad on a circular stand close by.
Flatcut fabricated the rods, Silman Associates were the structural engineers and Zumtobel provided LED technology.
You might also want to check out BIG’s winning entry for Wave Pier in St. Petersburg which looks spectacular!
Photos courtesy Times Square Alliance
Lastly, this Greenwich Village townhouse has had us puzzled for the past couple of months on our daily walks past it. In the storefront of what used to be a hair salon now sit two mirrored benches; one a swing the other static. I imagined some sort of new age church or meeting house with funky pews, or some sort of cool, minimalist art gallery, but a few weeks ago I finally had the opportunity to ask a neighbor as she entered her building if she knew what the mirrored benches were all about. Turns out that it’s a private home and the mirrored room (floor, ceiling, walls as well as bench/swing) are all part of the playroom/guest room. This is not your childhood playroom. I’ve been sort of stalking the place (not really, but I do pass by often on my way to and from home) and was able to catch a glimpse of the open guest room, (with its orange mattresses), as well as the super-cool multicolor striped stairs that lead up to the rest of the house. The architects behind the project are Solomonoff Architecture Studio and professional photos of the entire project are due out in an undisclosed architecture periodical shortly, which should look a lot better than these (the reflective space is especially difficult to photograph.) I’m curious to see what the rest of the house looks like…
Photos: collabcubed
The James Turrell Museum in Argentina
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Well, this is certainly news to me. Definitely will be placed on a must-see list next time I visit my relatives in Argentina. The James Turrell Museum opened a couple of years ago within Estancia Colomé and its winery in northern Argentina, near Salta. The museum belongs to the Hess Art Collection and is fully devoted to Turrell’s work; all light and space. Fifty years worth of work are exhibited in nine rooms within a 1,700-meter space.
A winery and a James Turrell museum in one location? Sounds like a nice combination, to me.
Photos: Welcome Argentina; Wallpaper; Florian Holzherr, WSJ
Dan Collier: Typographic Links
I saw Dan Collier’s Typographic Links —hand-sewn book—this past summer at the MoMA’s Talk to Me exhibit. This one-off book maps interesting links and connections throughout the world of typography using red threads as three-dimensional ‘hyperlinks’ to guide the reader through the pages. Collier, a London based graphic designer that works with large international brands is currently working on a second edition. If you have an interesting typographic fact or connection, you can contribute it here.
Evergreen: Typographic Garden
VollaersWart is a Dutch design studio that focuses on the intersection of architecture with public and visual communication, thus creating many projects for exhibitions and festivals as well as sculptures and public art.
Evergreen is a permanent typographic sculptural installation that was designed for the new Twents Carmel College de Thij—a high school in Oldenzaal—to be used primarily as student seating and as a meeting place in a park-like setting. The large, multi-level letters spell out the word ‘Evergreen’ and are grouped in a way that makes the space resemble a labyrinth. The structure is covered with artificial turf and its circular shape echoes the shape of the school building itself.
CollabCubed 