Announcement
76 articles, 2016-04-28 06:03 1 François Pinault Announces Plans for Paris Museum French businessman and art collector François Pinault and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, have announced plans open new exhibition spaces within the Bourse de (3.01/4) Commerce in Paris dedicated to displaying the Pinault collection. 2016-04-27 10:42 2KB www.blouinartinfo.com 2 303 Gallery Reveals Details of its New Space on W. 21st Street Alicja Kwade, Light Transfer of Nature I, 2015. COURTESY 303 GALLERY Next week, 303
(1.00/4) Gallery will head back to 21st Street and into a 12,000-square-foot space 2016-04-27 16:33 1KB www.artnews.com 3 Baroque Noir: David Reed at Peter Blum Gallery, New York Through June 25 2016-04-27 15:56 3KB www.artnews.com
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4 Top 6 Things to do in Luxembourg for Design City 2016 Luxembourg's design biennial, Design City, returns this week in its fourth edition since 2010. 2016-04-27 15:48 6KB www.blouinartinfo.com (1.00/4)
5 Talk Dance: Luis Garay on Maneries Talk Dance is a podcast series devoted to in-depth conversations with dance artists produced and hosted by local dancer, educator, and commentator Justin Jones. In this installment, Jones speaks with... 2016-04-28 02:46 896Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 6 NADAAA reconsiders tensile vault with catenary compression catenary compression was developed by NADAAA as a research project, pairing up structural properties to work together for extraordinary circumstances. 2016-04-28 02:14 2KB www.designboom.com 7 Music legend Prince dies at age 57 Prince, a multitalented musician who came out of the Minneapolis scene and changed the world of music forever, has died at age 57... 2016-04-28 04:56 10KB blog.thecurrent.org 8 Clearing the Haze: Prologue to Postmodern Graphic Design Education through Sheila de Bretteville Author’s preface: At the outset, this project was defined as an intensive effort to examine and reassess the work of Shelia Levrant de Bretteville. The initial motivation was driven by the connectio... 2016-04-28 03:47 982Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 9 prasad bhat's animated gifs depict the evolution of celebrities' entire career indian digital artist and illustrator prasad bhat had condensed the entire careers of some of the world's most famous faces into brief animated gifs. 2016-04-28 00:15 1KB www.designboom.com 10 Alternate Senses of Tone and Pulse: An Interview with C. Spencer Yeh For Sound Horizon, our series of free in-gallery music performances, we’ve invited critic and Tiny Mix Tapes editor Marvin Lin to share his perspective on each installment of this three-part progr... 2016-04-28 03:47 946Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 11 Investment Bank Ohana & Co. Opens West Coast Office Paris-based investment bank Ohana & Co opens West Coast office in Beverly Hills. 2016-04-27 23:50 2KB wwd.com 12 Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s Charles Renfro to Host Guess-A- Sketch Top-notch architects will participate in the Guess-A-Sketch competition at the Center for Architecture. 2016-04-27 23:49 2KB wwd.com 13 Seventeen Magazine to Launch The Edit by Seventeen Capsule Collection Seventeen magazine will be scrapping its Sears collection and is launching core basics under The Edit by Seventeen label. 2016-04-27 23:48 2KB wwd.com 14 Alibaba’s Jack Ma Said Bidding for Milan Soccer Club The executive is said to be buying the club from Silvio Berlusconi. 2016-04-27 23:48 728Bytes wwd.com 15 Gawker’s Motion to Dismiss Hulk Hogan Case Unsealed in Court Wednesday A motion to dismiss the case, filed Dec. 22, 2015, was unsealed in court on Wednesday. 2016-04-27 23:05 3KB wwd.com 16 honda commissions series of autonomous vehicles designed for crossing the world map project office and mori inc. decide to break the journey into seven stages with separate vehicles for each, allowing them to tailor the design for each terrain and consider the needs of the environment for pleasurable travel and living. 2016-04-27 23:05 4KB www.designboom.com 17 ‘Bright Star’ Actress Hannah Elless Talks Steve Martin and Bluegrass on Broadway Hannah Elless stars in Broadway’s “Bright Star,” a bluegrass musical from Steve Martin. 2016-04-27 22:11 3KB wwd.com 18 Amy Adams, Susan Sarandon Attend Max Mara’s Anniversary Dinner for The Whitney Museum In its first year, the museum drew more than one million visitors. 2016-04-27 21:52 3KB wwd.com 19 Gap Inc. Lines up 20,000-Square-Foot Photo and Design Studio in Industry City Gap Inc. is the latest fashion company to land a space in Sunset Park’s Industry City 2016-04-27 21:44 1KB wwd.com 20 Trailer Released for ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’ Starring Meryl Streep Streep portrays Jenkins, a socialite and operatic singer who performed in the early half of the 1900s. 2016-04-27 21:37 1KB wwd.com 21 andrew bromberg of Aedas masterplans ALJ headquarters in jeddah sited within a prime 21-hectare site north of al-badad, andrew bromberg of aedas has designed the vast plot owned by the independent toyota distributor. 2016-04-27 21:01 3KB www.designboom.com 22 Urs Fischer – False Friends at MAH Geneva for DESTE’s 33rd Year “Urs Fischer – False Friends” at the Museum of Art and History in Geneva celebrates the 33rd anniversary of the Athens-based not-for-profit DESTE Foundation in the very city it was founded in 1983 by the Greek-Cypriot industrialist and art collector Dakis Joannou. 2016-04-27 20:32 7KB www.blouinartinfo.com
23 Becoming American: Fionn Meade on Less Than One The first in a series of entries exploring Less Than One, on view through December, “Becoming American” begins with a consideration of author Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996), whose essay provides th... 2016-04-27 20:48 865Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 24 Stay Ready: Lizzie Borden on the Post-Revolutionary Future of Born in Flames Released in 1983 during Reagan’s presidency and Ed Koch’s tenure as mayor of New York City, Lizzie Borden’s futurist, science-fiction feature Born in Flames (1983) imagines political activism t... 2016-04-27 21:54 938Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 25 Call for Applicants: Walker Art Center Mildred Friedman Design Fellowship 2016–2017 The Walker is pleased to announce that its 2016-2017 Mildred Friedman Design Fellowship is now open for applications. APPLICATIONS ARE DUE: MAY 23rd Since 1980, the Walker’s Design department has... 2016-04-27 20:48 3KB blogs.walkerart.org 26 Romania’s Culture Minister Steps Down as Ballet Dispute Continues The minister, Vlad Alexandrescu, said he was stepping down after failing to resolve a dispute at the Bucharest National Opera. 2016-04-27 18:55 3KB artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com 27 cardboard cat houses mimic architectural landmarks poopy cat's cardboard 'landmark' architecture dwellings feature seven designs that mimic iconic structures found around the world. 2016-04-27 18:30 2KB www.designboom.com 28 Play a Virtual Reality Synthesizer With Your Real Hands Amsterdam-based coder and motion designer Sander Sneek upgrades his ‘Soundscape’ synthesizer for Leap Motion Orion integration. 2016-04-27 18:15 3KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 29 Jason Wu Hosts ACRIA Unframed Art Auction and Dinner ACRIA hosted the Unframed art auction and a dinner on Tuesday night. 2016-04-27 18:08 2KB wwd.com 30 Time 100 Gala Draws Donald Trump, Caitlyn Jenner, Nicki Minaj Donald Trump, Caitlyn Jenner, Nicki Minaj, Karlie Kloss, Trevor Noah, Melissa McCarthy, Riccardo Tisci, Aziz Ansari and more came to the Time 100 gala Tuesday evening. 2016-04-27 17:59 4KB wwd.com 31 The 12 Best Rings for Fall 2016 WWD’s picks for the best rings for fall 2016 from the New York, London, Milan and Paris collections. 2016-04-27 17:49 1KB wwd.com 32 ‘What to do next.’ at Life Sport, Athens Pictures at an Exhibition presents images of one notable show every weekday 2016-04-27 17:42 951Bytes www.artnews.com 33 Edward's Not Just the 'Other Mapplethorpe' artnet News had a chance to catch up with Edward Mapplethorpe, who recently published a book of portraits of chubby-cheeked infants, to talk about his art. 2016-04-27 17:40 3KB news.artnet.com
34 Two Artists Met on Tinder. What Happened Next Will Make Your Day This is what it's like to be a fly on the wall of 'Two Sides of a Tinder Date.' 2016-04-27 17:40 2KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 35 richard ginori's perroquets collection evokes imagery of 18th century botanical manuscripts the 'perroquets' wall pate set draws by richard ginori draws on the historical traits of the manufacturer and the geometric designs of gio ponti. 2016-04-27 17:35 1KB www.designboom.com 36 New 'Moss Clocks' Change with the Times There's one for every season. 2016-04-27 17:20 1KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com
37 Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Brandon Maxwell Toast Spring at The Apartment by The Line The dinner gathering in Los Angeles celebrated the young designer’s current collection at the Melrose Place store. 2016-04-27 16:59 3KB wwd.com 38 Brandon Maxwell on the Design Process, Career Pressures and Being a Fashion Misfit The designer broke away briefly from a dinner party thrown in honor of his spring line to chat with WWD in a moment of reflection on his rapid career trajectory. 2016-04-27 16:54 1KB wwd.com 39 See Faces in Food with Klaus Enrique's New Portraits [Exclusive] This brings a whole new meaning to "playing with your food"—now, the food plays with you. 2016-04-27 16:50 3KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 40 Philip Guston Show at Hauser and Wirth Hauser and Wirth Open Huge Philip Guston show in Chelsea that looks at the pivotal decade between 1957 and 1967. 2016-04-27 16:45 4KB news.artnet.com 41 In a Secluded New York Garage, Bjorn Amelan Makes a High-Profile Debut The transitional space is well-suited for Amelan’s paintings, which were made while he was on the road with his partner, the dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones. 2016-04-27 16:42 2KB www.blouinartinfo.com 42 ‘The Elegance of Food’ Exhibit to Open in New York in June The exhibition explores the tight relationship between food and fashion. 2016-04-27 16:39 2KB wwd.com 43 A Twitter Bot Is Generating Fantastic New Words Game designer Greg Borenstein’s new Twitter bot creates new words out of the “atoms of English”. 2016-04-27 16:35 2KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 44 Projections on a Metal Sculpture Visualize Next-Level Geometry Can Buyukberber's projection-mapped, laser-cut surface visualizes multiple geometric dimensions 2016-04-27 16:25 2KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 45 Salvatore Ferragamo Opens First Store in Phnom Penh The Florence-based firm has opened its first boutique in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in the luxury Vattanac Capital mall. 2016-04-27 16:23 1KB wwd.com
46 treetop walkway at westonbirt arboretum by glenn howells designed by glenn howells architects, the longest treetop walkway in the UK has opened to the public in the national arboretum at westonbirt. 2016-04-27 16:09 3KB www.designboom.com 47 Galeria Nara Roesler Now Represents Eduardo Navarro COURTESY THE ARTIST AND GALERIA NARA ROESLER Galeria Nara Roesler, which has spaces in New York and Rio de Janeiro, announced today that it now represents 2016-04-27 15:54 1KB www.artnews.com 48 Auction House to Put The Four Seasons’ Famed Banquettes on the Block The Four Seasons. COURTESY WRIGHT When collector Aby Rosen decided not to renew the lease of the Four Seasons, the iconic restaurant housed in the Seagram 2016-04-27 15:50 2KB www.artnews.com 49 A Morphing Mural Is Changing Colors in Norfolk Virginia's new many-layered mural reveals its secrets only in the right light. 2016-04-27 15:50 2KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 50 Enamel Pins of the Week: Lucky #13 Featuring new pins from HUNGRY IN WHITTIER, Brace Legs Collective, Divided Youth, Club Wifi, ALL RANDOM, and an exclusive 15% off discount code from Strike Gently Co. 2016-04-27 15:35 4KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 51 “Alberto Giacometti: A Line Through Time” at the Sainsbury Centre “A Line Through Time” at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, in Norwich celebrates the work of the Swiss sculptor, painter, and draughtsman Alberto Giacometti in the year of the 50th anniversary of his death in 1966. 2016-04-27 15:20 2KB www.blouinartinfo.com 52 Interiors by Mies van der Rohe, Hans Wegner and Philip Johnson from The Four Seasons Hit The Block Midcentury furniture and objects, many custom-made, are to be auctioned off by Wright on July 26, 2016 2016-04-27 15:09 2KB www.blouinartinfo.com 53 Craig Barton Joins School of Art Institute of Chicago as Top Academic Officer Elissa Tenny and Craig Barton. COURTESY SAICThe School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has announced the appointment of its new provost and senior vice 2016-04-27 14:59 2KB www.artnews.com 54 Zaha Hadid contributes to crazy golf course for Trafalgar Square A Kickstarter campaign has launched to bring a crazy golf course designed by architects and designers, including Zaha Hadid to London's Trafalgar Square 2016-04-27 14:58 3KB www.dezeen.com 55 Curator Sara Raza's MAP Show at the Guggenheim Curator Sara Raza's UBS MAP exhibition, opening April 29 at the Guggenheim, presents contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa. 2016-04-27 14:55 6KB news.artnet.com 56 Go Behind the Scenes of the Ramones First Tour [Photos] Danny Fields, the legendary band's first manager, gives us the dish on new photo book 'My Ramones,' the band's real leanings, and punk turning 40. 2016-04-27 14:25 5KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com
57 Refugee Crisis Captured by Liu Xiaodong in Florence Refugee Crisis Captured by Liu Xiaodong in Florence 2016-04-27 13:51 3KB www.blouinartinfo.com 58 A Look at the Making of a Hybrid Living Wall VT Pro Design blends living plants and technology to make a terrace-like sculpture that moves with your body. 2016-04-27 13:50 4KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 59 20 Female Artists' Perspectives on the Nude 'In the Raw: The Female Gaze on the Nude' is a group show of female artists working with the subject of the female nude. 2016-04-27 13:30 3KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 60 RYRA studio sculpts iranian ski resort to blend into its snow- capped mountain landscape ryra studio references an iced-rock formation that appears to be windswept onto the mountainside, providing skiers with a warm, cave-like facility. 2016-04-27 13:26 2KB www.designboom.com 61 ISIS Destroys Mashki and Nergal Gates At Ancient Site of Ninevah The site of Nergal Gate after its destruction by ISIS. An earthmover is visible. COURTESY ASOR CULTURAL HERITAGE INITIATIVES National Geographic reports that 2016-04-27 13:23 1KB www.artnews.com 62 foster + partners' maggie's centre in manchester opens covered by a timber lattice frame, foster + partners' maggie's centre design is punctuated by landscaped courtyards and constant flow of natural light. 2016-04-27 13:00 4KB www.designboom.com 63 Wolfgang Tillmans Designs Posters Against Brexit The signs urge Brits to register to vote, with university students as the main target. 2016-04-27 12:53 1KB www.blouinartinfo.com 64 artists focus on food safety for 'we are what we eat' exhibit at the united nations the exhibition 'we are what we eat' features work from artists liu bolin, edward burtynsky, jim draper, pepe lópez and vik muniz. 2016-04-27 12:45 4KB www.designboom.com 65 Randall Wright's David Hockney Documentary An endless fountain of creative energy is the driving force behind the art of British artist David Hockney, as seen in new Randall Wright BBC documentary. 2016-04-27 12:40 5KB news.artnet.com 66 Urs Fischer, a Big Fan of Going Big, Downsizes With Show at JTT on the Lower East Side The invite to Urs Fischer's show 'Ursula,' which opens at JTT May 1. COURTESY JTT Last year, Urs Fischer installed the 46-foot-tall aluminum sculpture Big 2016-04-27 12:17 3KB www.artnews.com 67 Now You Can Guard "The Wall" in Your Garage Or, how to build Game of Thrones' Wall in the comfort of your own home. 2016-04-27 12:15 2KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 68 Tony Nominations Predictions: The Musicals Patrick Pacheco predicts what musicals will be nominated for Tony Awards, and the controversy surrounding "Shuffle Along" and it's push to be referred to a revival. 2016-04-27 11:12 4KB www.blouinartinfo.com 69 Gallery Worker Pleads Guilty in Afghan Girl Theft Bree DeStephano, a former art studio employee, has admitted to stealing $214,00 in photographs by Steve McCurry, including his famed "Afghan Girl" image. 2016-04-27 09:57 2KB news.artnet.com 70 Chicken Cup Collector Announces New Museum - artnet news Billionaire collectors Wang Wei and Liu Yiqian to build third Long Museum location in China in just four years. 2016-04-27 09:56 2KB news.artnet.com 71 Consumer Reports: Sydney Shen Sydney Shen. JASMINE LEE Sydney Shen is an artist living and working in New York. She recently held her first solo exhibition at Interstate Projects in 2016-04-27 09:30 16KB www.artnews.com 72 Morning Links: ‘Lemonade’ Edition Must-read stories from around the world 2016-04-27 08:54 1KB www.artnews.com 73 Off Vendome Gives Frieze a Run for Its Money- New York-based dealer Matt Moravec from Off Vendome is inviting five galleries to put on a show at his "off" Chelsea space. 2016-04-27 08:35 2KB news.artnet.com 74 Gallery Weekend Returns to Berlin for its 12th Edition Berlin Gallery Weekend, the annual spring highlight in the German capital, is bound to create a buzz this year, with 54 participating galleries in the official program. 2016-04-27 07:14 4KB www.blouinartinfo.com 75 Anish Kapoor on His Collab with Carsten Höller During a visit to the construction works on his slide collaboration with Carsten Höller at London's Orbit tower, Anish Kapoor spoke to reporters candidly. 2016-04-27 07:09 4KB news.artnet.com 76 Russian Dissident Artist Refuses to End Trial Radical performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky has rejected a St. Petersburg judge's proposal to drop the vandalism charges against him in a case from 2014. 2016-04-27 07:08 3KB news.artnet.com Articles
76 articles, 2016-04-28 06:03
1 François Pinault Announces Plans for Paris Museum (3.01/4) French businessman and art collector François Pinault and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, have announced plans open new exhibition spaces within the Bourse de Commerce in Paris dedicated to displaying the Pinault collection. The new museum is scheduled to open in 2018, fulfilling Pinault’s long-held desire to open a museum in Paris to complement his museums in Venice, the Palazzo Grassi, Punta della Dogana, and the Teatrino. Just like the Venice museums, the Paris museum will be dedicated to displaying contemporary art. Pinault accepted an invitation from Anne Hidalgo to establish a permanent Parisian home for his collection at the Bourse de Commerce – a remarkable building from the 18th and 19 th centuries that will be turned over to the City of Paris by the Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie (CCIR). According to a press release, this agreement will consist of a 50 year lease of the building, subject to royalties, and contingent on the completion of important restoration work, to be undertaken and financed by the new tenant. The renovation and adaptation of the site will be carried out by Tadao Ando (Tadao Ando Architect and Associates, TAAA) who will team up with Pierre-Antoine Gatier, chief architect of Monuments Historiques, Lucie Niney, and Thibault Marca of NeM agency, and SETEC Bâtiment. François Pinault, who will preside over the new museum’s board of directors, will also provide financial support for the organization and administration of the new museum. The museum’s advisory board will be headed by Jean-Jacques Aillagon. 2016-04-27 10:42 Nicholas Forrest
2 303 Gallery Reveals Details of its New Space on W. 21st Street (1.00/4) Alicja Kwade, Light Transfer of Nature I , 2015. COURTESY 303 GALLERY Next week, 303 Gallery will head back to 21st Street and into a 12,000-square-foot space that takes up the first two floors of a 19-story luxury condominium designed by Foster + Partners, the firm founded by Pritzker Prize winner Norman Foster. It will inaugurate the gallery, now at 555 West 21st Street, with a solo show by Polish-born artist Alicja Kwade that opens May 7. “The rare opportunity to build a gallery from the ground up made it possible for us to create a dynamic space for the artists,” 303 founder Lisa Spellman said in a press release. “The expansive nature of the gallery allows for highly ambitious presentations, with Alicja Kwade as our opening show, and continues into our fall program with Hans-Peter Feldmann opening in September.” 303 left 547 West 21st in 2013 after selling it to SR Capital for $8 million, at which point it decamped to a temporary space at 507 West 24th, right under the High Line. The new space is nearly double the size of that gallery, and features 21-foot ceilings and three private viewing rooms on the first floor, administrative offices on the second floor, and an outdoor sculpture garden. The press release also tells us that “an origami-inspired raw steel stair ‘folds’ its way up through a narrow triangle,” which sounds intriguing. 2016-04-27 16:33 Nate Freeman
3 Baroque Noir: David Reed at Peter Blum Gallery, New York (1.00/4) David Reed, “New Paintings,” 2016, installation view, at Peter Blum Gallery. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND PETER BLUM GALLERY D avid Reed has put a lot of light and air into his huge, long, segmented painting (actually six canvases), commandeering the east wall of Peter Blum Gallery. The work, titled Painting , followed by numbers 650 to 656 (2003–2016), is accompanied by a group of fascinating small studies and working drawings, which hang in the office just beyond, reflecting on and documenting Reed’s process. The studies are diaristic, with penciled notes detailing color choices, problems, plans, and the like, and some trial-and-error repetitions. The horizontal nature of the main installation, and its painterly episodes and pauses between passages, render it at once novelistic and filmic. It could be read as a documentary of a road trip or a passage through the stages of life. Variations in gesture and in the density of the brushstrokes (always central characters in Reed’s works) track emotional states, rhythm, and the expressive talents of pigment itself. Reed has here added to his repertoire of techniques and effects by employing layers of stencils, enabling him to appropriate his own gestures from previous works and to reshape and amplify his story. David Reed, Painting #653 , 2015–16, acrylic and alkyd on polyester. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND PETER BLUM GALLERY Interestingly, the last segment of the large work hangs behind a door in the back office and appears as a summary or epilogue—a more compact and inclusive composition, more densely colored than the other canvases. It has the posture of a secret—a Hitchcockian behind-the- curtain allusion, perhaps. Speaking of which, Reed has had a long relationship with Hitchcock’s work, even inserting his own paintings into appropriated segments of the master’s films, establishing a noirish psychological backdrop to his abstract narratives. Set on the long opposing wall is a large drawing from 1975, D-1 , composed of acrylic and pencil on photographic backdrop paper. It’s a horizontal black-and-white diptych, each part a long black brushstroke set within a lightly penciled outline of a box. The long strokes are seductive with their soft edges—a powerful minimalist comment. Curiously, but cleverly, the gallery has affixed nails to the main room’s back wall so that individual pieces can be viewed on their own. Reed’s work has always been marked by a peculiar lushness manifesting itself in ribbons of variegated color unfolding at a seductive pace. The baroque forms often intertwine in dense configurations against flat solid-tone photo-like backgrounds. Here, though, we have a deconstruction, the parts disassembled and given star turns, and a strong sense of self-consciousness prevails. This is truly art about art, yielding a kind of biography, or the painting’s autobiography, and it includes Reed’s entire painterly history. 2016-04-27 15:56 Barbara A
4 4 Top 6 Things to do in Luxembourg for Design City 2016 (1.00/4) Luxembourg’s design biennial, Design City, returns this week in its fourth edition since 2010. The title “Design ≠ Art?”, or Design Is (Not) Art, aims to be a provocative statement: in 2016, is it even possible to distinguish design from art? The uncertainty surrounding the ever-increasing blending of the two worlds, those of applied and of fine arts, in our hyper-connected world of today, will be explored in Luxembourg for the coming month. Exhibitions, installations, conversations, and pop- up shops will investigate exchange between disciplines, creativity with and without a purpose, pioneering concepts, and the power of urban design, and its benefits for the city of Luxembourg. Here are six events Blouin ARTINFO is most excited about. 1. Benjamin Loyauté: “Le Bruit des Bonbons” and “The Astounding Eyes of Syria,” from April 27 through May 22, 2016, at Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’Art Contemporain “The objects are like words, and my installations like stories,” says Loyauté, an artist who has been developing installations around language and speech act, coining the term ‘semantic design.’ “As much factual as speculative, they reveal our behaviors, affect our certainties, and our perception of things.” The second instalment of the installation “Le bruit des bonbons” – “The Astounding Eyes of Syria” deals with the narrative embedded in everyday objects, such as candy. Arabs have manufactured confectionery since the 16 th century, when sugar was sold in pharmacies. Confectionery today remains a living heritage for millions of displaced Syrians around the world, referencing an entire system of people, places, and traditions. Qabaqib Ghawar, a small confectionery that references miniature sugar clogs; Booza, gummy ice-cream; the Al- Hamidiyah souq; and so on. The Louloupti are small candy. The installation is an attempt to collect, reflect, and protect a whole culture contained in it. 2. “Quiz 2” – Based on an Idea by Robert Stadler, through May 22, 2016, at MUDAM Luxembourg In 2013, designer Robert Stadler curated an exhibition for the City of Nancy, together with Alexis Vaillant, then curator of CAPC in Bordeaux, made of unrecognizable objects and titled: “Quiz.” Two years later, this is its second instalment. This rather amusing exhibition challenges us to locate an object in the history of art or design, bringing together some of the objects from the Nancy exhibition and combining them with some other ambivalent ‘things.’ Ambivalent, important to note, because these objects themselves were created in the post-1960s world that assumed the dissolution of the boundary between art and design – and yet, the objects themselves reveal the paradoxical persistence of this boundary between the disciplines, which continue to feed off each other, but refuse to merge. 3. Yuri Suzuki’s Acoustic Pavilion – Experience Beauty Through Sound, April 27 through August 28, at MUDAM This interactive sound installation allows visitors to create their own listening device by building a structure with pipes and cones: long, short, straight, angular, networked or individual, the ABS pipes are excellent conductors of sound, bringing out different acoustic qualities depending on their size and shape. Born in Tokyo, Yuri Suzuki is a designer and sound artist, as well as composer, mostly known for his sound works. Here, the sound installation, originally designed for the Saint-Etienne International Design Biennale in 2015, interacts with space to reveal how the shape and size of the surrounding architecture helps build the sound: in this case, the architecture of I. M. Pei. 4. FABRICA, through May 22, on rue de Strasbourg, Luxembourg City FABRICA , the Italian design research center founded by Luciano Benetton of the eponymous clothing brand, is known for its exploration of design in various forms of communication – from journalism to signage. At Design City 2016, Fabrica’s creative team’s mission is to create a new visual landmark for the rue de Strasbourg and surrounds. “Everyone has the right to live in a great place,” writes Fred Kent, president of the Project for Public Spaces, an advocacy for good urban design. Taking this to heart, Fabrica designers use the simple dot as the primary visual element to create pathways on the street, connecting useful locations, leading to the Community Center, creative positive content, responding to needs of citizens ranging from the children to the shop-keepers. 5. “Dzigning the Timeline” – Inclusive Design for the Elderly, from April 30 through May 22, 2016, at LUCA, Luxembourg Center for Architecture This Israeli-Luxembourgish initiative, a collaboration between design schools, designers, and organizations for elderly care, is all about using design to make life better for elderly people. Developing innovative concepts, such as living spaces that account for the specific needs of sufferers of dementia, this is design that promoted understanding, be it between generations, or cultures. To help young designers, experts in social design are organizing a series of “empathy workshops” in Luxembourg for the duration of Design City 2016. The accompanying exhibition will feature works by Ofri Raif, Esti Zur, Daniella Lebin, Shira Navon, Tamar Lev, Nogga Segev, and Aviran Sharabi, of the Comas design school in Tel Aviv. 6. Open Ateliers, May 13, 2016, around town For those curious about homegrown Luxembourgish design, the festival’s Open Day will give access to studios of local designers, with shows, presentations of new work, sample sales, and a series of unmisssable apéros in the evening hours. Not to be missed are Nyuko , the co-working start-up space in 121 rue de Hollerich, that presents six designers ranging from web to interior design; Maison Moderne , which will embark on a mission to make a magazine in a six-hour spring, with guests, food, and drinks; the ‘short- lived dancing’ and artisanal home-brewed beer at deFact Studio ; and product designer Raoul Gross , who will present projects through all the steps between the first concept to the final product. Design City 2016 will run from April 27 through May 22, 2016, at MUDAM, Luxembourg. 2016-04-27 15:48 Jana Perkovic
5 Talk Dance: Luis Garay on Maneries Talk Dance is a podcast series devoted to in-depth conversations with dance artists produced and hosted by local dancer, educator, and commentator Justin Jones. In this installment, Jones speaks with Luis Garay, whose work Maneries will be performed in the Walker’s McGuire Theater April 21-23, 2016. You can listen to the full podcast on the Walker Channel. […] 2016-04-28 02:46 By
6 6 NADAAA reconsiders tensile vault with catenary compression
NADAAA reconsiders the tensile vault with interlocking ‘catenary compression’ all images by NADAAA / nicole sakr ‘catenary compression’ was originally developed by boston-based architectural studio NADAAA as a research project — pairing up unlikely structural properties to work together for extraordinary circumstances. working with light block construction that conventionally operates in compression, the design team set out to build a structural catenary — a curve or chain that hangs freely from two or more points — relieving the ground from any physical contact. according to the architects, the prototype was developed for a boston society of architects-sponsored event as both a ‘provocation and experiment’. the aggregation comprises 60 individually carved interlocking blocks, each CNC-routed from polyurethane foam board. numerous computer models analyzed the anticipated forces, and mockups were tested for loading and integrity. the puzzle-like pieces are conjoined by inverted ‘keystones’ that work against gravity to deflect the tensile forces. contrary to a dome, where a single keystone serves as the construction’s crowning moment, here, a field of keystones connects the entire work, working together to produce a tensile monolithic surface. ‘in turn, the terminus of the catenary, its nadir, is characterized by an ocular void acting as a tensile ring,’ explains the design team. ‘the underbelly of the vault displays the continuity of the tensile surface, while the top surface remains articulated, as its carvings help to offset the necessary tolerances needed to overcome misalignments between blocks, a rustication of sorts.’ the prototype was developed as both a ‘provocation and experiment’ 2016-04-28 02:14 Philip Stevens
7 Music legend Prince dies at age 57 Prince, a multitalented musician who came out of the Minneapolis scene and changed the world of music forever, has died at age 57. According to a statement from Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson, “on April 21, 2016, at about 9:43 am, sheriff’s deputies responded to a medical call at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen. When deputies and medical personnel arrived, they found an unresponsive adult male in the elevator. First responders attempted to provide lifesaving CPR, but were unable to revive the victim. He was pronounced deceased at 10:07 am. He has been identified as Prince Rogers Nelson (57) of Chanhassen.” We are continuing to follow this story and will add updates as they become available. One of the greatest stars in rock history, Prince bridged rock and R&B to fuse a “Minneapolis Sound” that helped define the music of the 1980s. With over 100 million albums sold worldwide, Prince is one of the best-selling artists of all time, widely cited as an influence by artists from the worlds of pop, R&B, rock, hip-hop, and beyond. Born Prince Rogers Nelson in Minneapolis in 1958, Prince remained a lifelong Minnesotan and had a profound impact on the community here. With the hit movie and soundtrack Purple Rain , he turned First Avenue from a hot local club to an international music landmark. Artists including Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis went from Prince collaborations to performing and producing chart- topping hits that spread the “Minneapolis Sound” across the musical landscape. Prince’s genius seemed to arrive fully formed, almost as if by magic: he released his debut album ( For You , 1978) at the age of 19, and its eponymous follow-up, released the following year, made him a breakout success with instant classics like “I Wanna Be Your Lover” and “I Feel For You.” He wrote, played, sang, and produced the entire collection himself, adding to the sense that somehow lightning had struck in Minneapolis. It had, but recently released compilations like Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound (Numero Group) and Twin Cities Funk & Soul (Secret Stash Records) shone a long-overdue spotlight on the small but tight-knit and inventive local R&B scene that spawned Prince. Once Prince was out of the gate, there was no stopping him. Prince was made for the ’80s, and the ’80s were made for him. Seriously funky but also pop-friendly, Prince was at the forefront of artists who deployed synthesizers and samplers in conjunction with traditional rock instrumentation to create music that felt completely liberated — sexy and fun. “Sexy” was part of Prince’s playbook from day one: he knew how to tease his fans into a frenzy on record, on stage, and, crucially, on screen. His provocative antics earned priceless condemnation from the voices of conventional morality (“Darling Nikki” inspired Tipper Gore to found the PMRC ), and Prince — dressing as flamboyantly as the decade demanded, with a regal flair he might have learned from James Brown — played his bad-boy/pretty-boy role to the hilt. Purple Rain represented Prince in full flower. While some fans and critics argue that Sign “O” the Times (1987) represents an even greater artistic triumph, Purple Rain ‘s vast commercial success was not incidental to its epochal achievement. “When Doves Cry” epitomized the unique power of Prince; at decade’s end, critic Dave Marsh wrote that it “may have been the most influential single record of the 80s.” A stripped-down, percussive track with a vocal that’s so understated it’s sometimes half-spoken and — to the astonishment of music insiders who thought they knew how to make a record — no bass track, “When Doves Cry” seemed to break all the rules of pop songcraft, and yet Prince turned it into such an intoxicating single that it shot to number one for five weeks, holding even Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” at bay. Simultaneously, Albert Magnoli’s gloriously shameless film defined Prince’s personal mythology and made him one of the greatest pop icons of a decade that had more than its share. Set in Minneapolis, the film depicted First Avenue as a hot spot on the order of Studio 54; instead of driving along Highway 1 as they might have done in an L. A. movie, Prince and his costar Apollonia hopped on a purple motorcycle and cruised out into the Minneapolis suburbs to get “purified in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.” To this day, touring acts are visibly thrilled to discover that First Ave actually is a great club, that it actually does look like that (okay, not the dressing rooms), and that it remains the center of a thriving music scene. Though he never had another smash album as big as the Purple Rain soundtrack, Prince remained a dominant commercial force throughout the ’80s and early ’90s, producing #1 hits ranging from the hard-flirting “Kiss” (1986) to the novelty “Batdance” (1989) to the sparkling “Cream” (1991) while cycling through various band configurations and sounds. The early ’90s marked a crucial point of transition in Prince’s career. He formed a fresh band — the New Power Generation — and released music that increasingly delved into hip-hop, meeting with a mixed reception. If some fans started to sense an identity crisis, they were affirmed by Prince’s 1993 decision to change his name to the unpronounceable glyph (“Love Symbol #2”) that had served as the title to the 1992 album ironically containing the single “My Name is Prince.” The 1993 release of a two-disc greatest hits collection also served to cap a remarkable run on the charts that ended with 1994’s #3 hit “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” Prince’s last single to date to crack the American top ten. The mid-90s marked the end of Prince’s relationship with his label Warner Bros. — after releasing a quick series of low-selling albums to fulfill his contractual obligations, he broke from the label in 1996 — and the beginning of his famously tumultuous relationship with the Internet. The iconoclastic perfectionist saw the Internet’s potential as a tool to allow him to independently manage his own fandom and distribute his own music, but he also grew increasingly concerned about the danger of having his material freely bootlegged. Prince was the first major artist to release an album on the Internet (1997’s Crystal Ball ) and from 2001-2006 ran the pioneering NPG Music Club to sell his music online by membership; but following the closure of that site, he became increasingly negative about the Internet, complaining that other sites (notably, YouTube) were benefiting by unauthorized circulation of his material. In an infamous 2010 statement, the online pioneer declared that “the Internet’s completely over.” Releasing music both independently and through various short-term deals with major labels, in the late 90s and the first decade of the 2000s Prince released a flood of new material ranging from the obscure (the instrumental N. E. W. S. in 2003) to the consciously commercial (1999’s Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic and 2006’s 3121 ). He reclaimed his given name when his Warner Bros. publishing contract ended in 2000, and his widely-praised Super Bowl halftime show in 2007 proved to the largest possible audience that he was still a fiery live performer. In the 2010s, Prince stepped back into the public eye in a way rarely seen since the ’90s. He formed another new band — the all-female 3RDEYEGIRL — and played rapturously reviewed shows with them at venues ranging from Minnesota casinos to London living rooms. He “took over” an entire episode of Arsenio Hall’s talk show , and duetted with Zooey Deschanel on a new song he premiered on a post-Super-Bowl episode of New Girl. Perhaps most surprisingly, Prince re-signed with Warner Bros. Media coverage of the deal focused on the promised new music and Purple Rain reissue, but a telling detail of the press release is that the deal gave Prince ownership of his Warner Bros. masters. The artist who wore the word SLAVE on his cheek during a 1993 legal battle with his label was a free man. Most recently, Prince released a pair of HITNRUN albums recorded at Paisley Park, and was performing solo “Piano & a Microphone” shows at venues around the world. He debuted the format with two intimate performances at Paisley Park in January. “I forgot,” he said as he momentarily became overcome at one show, “that sometimes music is emotional.” He was writing a memoir , which was expected to be published next fall. Artists associated with Prince are still active. Revolution drummer Bobby Z holds an annual benefit concert at First Avenue, childhood friend and collaborator André Cymone just released his first new music in decades , NPG drummer Michael Bland is a busy performer and producer…the list goes on. A new generation of local performers are exemplifying the ’80s-era spirit of cross-genre fertilization and collaboration, now with a strong and adventurous hip-hop scene that’s produced the area’s best-known current artists. Prince remained aware and supportive of what’s going on. In a classic Prince moment, he showed up backstage when the local supergroup GAYNGS played First Ave in 2010. Prince picked up a guitar and played a little, but ultimately declined to take the stage; some reported hearing him make a comment to the effect of, “Looks like they’ve got it under control.” Prince’s legacy in Minnesota is multilayered — from his early collaborations with neighborhood bands, to his towering hits that put Minneapolis on the world’s music map, to the venues he founded (Paisley Park and the former downtown club Glam Slam), to the enduring contributions of musicians he played with, to the example the Minneapolis Sound set for the dynamic scene of today. Perhaps most importantly, though, Prince’s music is evidence — to the world, and to Minnesotans ourselves — of the diversity of our state, and of our music. When you listen to Prince, you hear the influences of all the artists he grew up with: black, white, funky, rocking, groovy, prickly. It’s not the sound of Minnesota’s lonesome prairie, it’s the sound of our dense cities. This utopian artist proved that music truly can break barriers — if u want it 2. Portions of this article were previously published here . We’re gathering your thoughts: What do Prince and his music mean to you? Visit this page to send us your thoughts and memories of Prince . 2016-04-28 04:56 Jay Gabler
8 Clearing the Haze: Prologue to Postmodern Graphic Design Education through Sheila de Bretteville Author’s preface: At the outset, this project was defined as an intensive effort to examine and reassess the work of Shelia Levrant de Bretteville. The initial motivation was driven by the connection of the rise of feminist voices in design, the Woman’s Building, postmodern design, and experimental pedagogy. We recognize that many female designers worked […] 2016-04-28 03:47 By and
9 prasad bhat's animated gifs depict the evolution of celebrities' entire career indian digital artist and illustrator prasad bhat has condensed the entire careers of some of the world’s most famous faces into brief animated gifs. ‘the evolution’ series sees ten celebrities — johnny depp, leonardo dicaprio, robert de niro, christian bale, jim carrey, tom hanks, matt damon, will ferrell, arnold schwarzenegger, and jack black — morph through their most popular roles. each of the images added to the animated sequences have first been carefully designed and realized in adobe illustrator. these individual vector graphics depict the unchanged face of the actor, overlaid with a variety of zany costumes and disguises used throughout their films. finally, the still compositions have been brought to life in a seamless sequence, compressing a cast of characters into a short, illustrated catalog of the artists’ greatest hits. see leonardo dicaprio transform from the wolf of wall street to the revenant, and robert de niro from a taxi driver to the godfather, below. leonardo dicaprio — from the wolf of wall street to the revenant robert de niro — from taxi driver to the godfather jim carrey — from the mask to ace ventura matt damon — from jason bourne to the martian arnold schwarzenegger — from conan the destroyer to the terminator jack black — from school of rock to nacho libre 2016-04-28 00:15 Nina Azzarello
10 Alternate Senses of Tone and Pulse: An Interview with C. Spencer Yeh For Sound Horizon, our series of free in-gallery music performances, we’ve invited critic and Tiny Mix Tapes editor Marvin Lin to share his perspective on each installment of this three-part program. While his first two pieces were informed responses to work by musicians Mary Halvorson and Vicky Chow / Tristan Perich, he concludes with an in-person […] 2016-04-28 03:47 By
11 Investment Bank Ohana & Co. Opens West Coast Office Investment bank Ohana & Co. is the latest company to put down Los Angeles roots. On Monday, managing partners and siblings Karine and Ariel Ohana, along with entrepreneur, conservationist and philanthropist Susan Cohn Rockefeller held their annual Success for Progress dinner in L. A. to celebrate Earth Day along with the official opening of Ohana & Co.’s Beverly Hills office, at Fig & Olive restaurant in West Hollywood. The event drew Californian beauty, fashion and lifestyle brands including The Real Real, P. J. Salvage, Hale Bob, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Radical Skincare, Ilia Beauty and Coola sunscreen, which share a similar environmental ethos. Ohana, which opened its West Coast branch after Paris and New York, has been active in several high-profile beauty and lifestyle mergers and acquisition deals, including the recent acquisition of Thakoon by Silas Chou; Procter & Gamble Co .’s unloading of Rochas to Interparfums, and cosmetics company Mallygirl LLC to Beauty Visions LLC, an affiliate of TPR Holdings. “The beauty and fashion space is increasingly conscious of its environmental impact, which Susan [Rockefeller] believes is also key to the future of the industries, and many of these companies are based on the West Coast,” noted Karine Ohana. “We decided it was time to bring our relationships with major European [conglomerates] closer to those types of companies to create a face-to-face dialog.” Her brother Ariel will split his time between Paris and Los Angeles while she will continue to operate mainly in Paris. The New York-based Cohn Rockefeller, through her platform Protect What Is Precious, advises brands looking to launch or adapt businesses to greener practices. 2016-04-27 23:50 Marcy Medina
12 Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s Charles Renfro to Host Guess-A- Sketch Diller Scofidio + Renfro partner Charles Renfro will serve as emcee for the Pictionary-style tournament that has attracted top talent. Guests at the Center for Architecture’s downtown offices will find Jonathan J. Marvel of Marvel Architects; Ronnette Riley (who runs her own agency); Paula Scher of Pentagram, and Dan Wood of Work Architecture Company, sketching with abandon on competing teams. Architecture being what it is, things will inevitably get heated, but it’s all for a good cause. Fashion followers may know Riley’s firm for designing the first Apple store in SoHo and the Tracy Reese boutique. And Scher’s marketing expertise has been put to use for such firms as Tiffany & Co., Bloomberg, Microsoft, the Museum of Modern Art and The High Line. Curious guests might try to have a word with Renfro about his firm’s newest commission — renovating and adding 50,000 square feet of gallery space at the Museum of Modern Art, an undertaking made possible by this week’s $440 million gift from David Geffen. Other teams that have committed to competing include Cerami & Associates, Ennead Architects, Gilsanz Murray Steficek, Silman, and Studios Architecture, and more. As the competition unfolds, attendees will be encouraged to tweet answers to try to win prizes. The architects’ efforts will benefit a variety of architecture and design education programs for children, families and adults. Center for Architecture board president Tom Krizmanic noted that the group works with more than 90 public school classrooms annually in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens through its Learning By Design:NY program. He said, “In addition, we offer a wide range of school, youth and family programs at the Center for Architecture. In all, we serve more than 6,000 students, teachers, and adults throughout the year, helping them to understand how the built environment and design affect their daily lives.” 2016-04-27 23:49 Rosemary Feitelberg
13 Seventeen Magazine to Launch The Edit by Seventeen Capsule Collection But like it or not, editor in chief Michelle Tan teamed up with the publication’s executive fashion director and a “Project Runway Junior” judge Aya Kanai to head up The Edit by Seventeen collection. They helped dream up vegan leather overalls, a Hearst -backed bomber jacket and “The World is My Runway” statement T-shirt. Broken out into three types — New Classic, Boho and Sporty — the sportswear is meant to be interchangeable core pieces. Numerologists are not needed to figure out the number of styles — which fittingly is 17. Retailing from $24 to $120, the apparel will first be teased on an Edit by Seventeen Instagram account that will make its debut next month. Its companion e-commerce site will go live July 5 and will be available until September. Kahn Lucas is manufacturing the collection through a licensing deal that will extend to next spring. Hearst Magazines could not say exactly when it will discontinue its existing collection with Sears. Executives at Sears did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The magazine-approved apparel will also be “organically” planted in back-to-school editorial, fashion wells and “obviously in a big social media presence” with Edit by Seventeen, Tan said. The fashion route has been a road well taken by Seventeen. During a phone interview Wednesday, Tan said she was admiring a 1967 Seventeen cover with Twiggy modeling Seventeen apparel. “We have had different lines in the past so it’s nothing different for our brand. But we do think this is a great opportunity for us. Fast fashion is something huge right now and it’s something we want to help our readers with,” Tan said. “What we’re finding is our readers really love it when we help them navigate through all of the options in the world. We really want to give them core basics for back-to-school, which is a huge priority for our readers.” Tan said. “They want to establish their looks and feeling really confident in themselves, and invest in a new wardrobe. This is a way to do it without spending a lot of money. But also they can play around with their look and have some pieces that are of-the- moment.” 2016-04-27 23:48 Rosemary Feitelberg
14 Alibaba’s Jack Ma Said Bidding for Milan Soccer Club Former Prime Minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi had been negotiating the sale of the heavily indebted club with Thai entrepreneur Bee Taechaubol, but the deal fell through earlier this year. Ma is also a co-owner of the Guangzhou Evergrande soccer team. 2016-04-27 23:48 Luisa Zargani
15 Gawker’s Motion to Dismiss Hulk Hogan Case Unsealed in Court Wednesday Gawker Media’s motion to dismiss the Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, v. Gawker Media case on the grounds of fraud was unsealed in court on Wednesday. It had been filed Dec. 22 in Pinellas County, Fla. The motion read in part, “Since almost the outset of this case, plaintiff Terry Bollea and his legal team have engaged in a systematic effort to hide from Gawker and this court the existence of additional tapes of his encounters with Heather Clem, including one that shows him making a series of racist and homophobic statements. To that end, he and his counsel have provided false interrogatory responses, hidden plainly responsive documents, given false deposition testimony, and presented numerous false arguments to the Special Discovery Magistrate, this Court, and the District Court of Appeal.” In March, a jury awarded Bollea $140 million in damages in his case against Gawker Media. Bollea had claimed that Gawker violated his right to privacy when it posted a tape of him having sex with Clem, his then-best friend’s wife. Bollea claimed that he was filmed without his knowledge. Gawker said Wednesday, “The court documents finally unsealed today prove that Hulk Hogan’s actual concern was not the supposed privacy of his sex life, but the contents of another sex tape — one that Gawker never had — that recorded him making repeated racist statements about his daughter’s boyfriend. The court papers show how Hogan engaged in a massive cover up, denying under oath that he knew about the tape with his racist rant despite clear evidence proving he did. Hogan also denied knowing about an FBI investigation he requested and claimed his representatives had never seen the tape with the racist remarks, even though FBI evidence includes them watching the tape. “The jury should have known about this cover up, just as the jury should have known that Bubba the Love Sponge told the FBI that Hogan knew he was making a sex tape. But the judge decided to keep all of that secret. As this trial proved, it’s easy to win a case when the jury is only told a fraction of the story. Thanks to the appeals court, these court documents unsealed today reveal the real story. And beyond a shadow of a doubt, these court papers prove Hogan did not suffer $140 million in economic and emotional harm from a few seconds of a sex tape after he made a career of boasting about his sexual habits.” David Houston, Bollea’s legal counsel, said, “Gawker is now releasing motions that were denied back in December. One has to wonder what their true motive may be because it isn’t relevant for any legitimate purpose.” 2016-04-27 23:05 Lisa Lockwood
16 honda commissions series of autonomous vehicles designed for crossing the world honda commissions series of autonomous vehicles designed for crossing the world honda commissions series of autonomous vehicles designed for crossing the world all images courtesy of petr krejci commissioned by japanese carmaker honda, barber osgerby’s design firm map project office and mori inc. create a series of autonomous vehicles meant for crossing the world in one ‘great journey’. the seven concept vehicles focus on different stages of the world’s longest route of human migration from nairobi, kenya to manaus, brazil. with models crafted by ogle models, map and mori worked with petr krejci to create film sets representing the terrains imagined and through stop frame and live action film brought the whole vision to life. traveling through grass plains, deserts, mountains, sea, snow and jungle, creative director mori harano and his team at map realized that one vehicle could never cover the distance of this journey without compromises to comfort and pleasure. so they decide to break into seven stages and designed separate vehicles for each, allowing them to tailor the design for each terrain and consider the needs of the environment for pleasurable travel and living. to tackle sandy and rocky desert, the team looked to the most traditional desert vehicle – the camel train. a series of connected vehicles slowly and efficiently tackle the terrain powered by honda fuel cells. excess water generated as a by-product is filtered into the rolling container at the rear. the paved roads from alaska to mexico provide the smoothest leg of the journey. the ‘road tripper’ uses honda’s autonomous driving technology and their gyro-steering system to allow riders to enjoy the californian coastal roads from the comfort of a sofa. the aerodynamic glass and stainless steel tube is influenced by the form and graphic language of honda’s 1960s formula one cars and daytona motorcycles and opens up in the evenings. hopping from hong kong, across japan to the peninsula of kamchatka, the island hopper deals with the mixture of rocky beaches, islands and ocean. using honda’s expertise with lightweight formula one structures and solar technology, it is an amphibious vehicle powered by six paddle wheels. capable of travel between islands through the water as heavy duty truck with high ground clearance and a solid metal body, the mountain climber would protect inhabitants from rock fall on the treacherous himalayan roads. using similar technology from honda’s asimo project, the robotic legs would be deployed to travel over fallen boulders and re-build damaged roads. the chalet-like interior is capped at either end with floor- to-ceiling glass to create a viewing platform. to cross the frozen north, map used a series of wheel drones with honda’s ‘uni-cub’ self balancing drive units to pull a sled along. acting as a pack to avoid cracks and crevasses in the ice, the luxurious sled includes a hot tub on the rear deck with an integrated telescope to enjoy the unpolluted night sky. the vehicle is designed for maximum enjoyment of the african plains. influenced by the utilitarian 1970s honda ‘vamos’, it combines the capabilities of a four-wheel drive with the comforts of a camper van. it also includes autonomous honda mowers act as drones to guide the vehicle a ballon raises the canopy for views of the safari for the last leg of thick jungle, a two-part vehicle influenced by honda’s ’T360’ pickup trucks. the six-wheeled truck rides on high suspension with deep-tread tires for extra traction. on its back, ride the habitation unit which is hoisted into the trees at the end of the day and concertinas open to provide platforms for sleeping, living and enjoying the jungle’s canopy. the project with all the influences pin for each section of the journey 2016-04-27 23:05 Piotr Boruslawski
17 ‘Bright Star’ Actress Hannah Elless Talks Steve Martin and Bluegrass on Broadway “I’ve been calling this year ‘two-thousand-and- sweet-sixteen’,” says Hannah Elless, over churchbell chimes, perched on a park bench in Central Park. The 29 year-old native of Kalamazoo, Mich., is appearing in her second Broadway production, the bluegrass musical “Bright Star,” with original story and music by Edie Brickell and Steve Martin — a fact that has yet to sink in for Elless. “Is there anything better than Steve Martin writing a joke for you?” she says. “What kind of life is that?” “Bright Star,” which has its digital release Friday, brings the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina to Broadway, and alternates between the Twenties and the mid-Forties — allowing Elless to inhabit the screen sirens she grew up idolizing. “Honestly I grew up watching women onscreen who were in these movie musicals, like “Oklahoma,” “Carousel,” and “State Fair,” and these women were winning Oscars and doing musicals at the same time,” she says. “And so I grew up thinking, ‘You could do that, you could be in musicals and win Oscars and look glamorous at the same time.’ Who doesn’t want to be Rosalind Russell?” The costuming of “Bright Star” then worked to her advantage. “I get to wear these beautiful vintage dresses,” she says. “The trick is they find these vintage dresses that they like, and then they recreate them in a fabric that is sturdier. A vintage dress would never hold up to that work schedule. So they find these vintage dresses that they love and they live on.” Elless approaches everything with a hint of fairy-tale dusting over it. “I come from land and trees and lakes and sky,” she says of her Michigan upbringing. Bluegrass, too, was part of the equation. She plays six instruments, a skill that developed from filling in for her brothers’ band sessions. “I grew up playing bluegrass and we had this gag where everybody would pass an instrument to your left,” she says. “We always had a piano in the living room and there was always a jam session going on. And it’s been a huge part of my life and it’s gotten me to where I am today, essentially, because I’m doing a show that has bluegrass music. You can’t imagine all the tools in your life coming together on one project, but sometimes they do.” After graduating from Western Michigan University, where she studied theater and earth sciences, she spent time doing Shakespeare in Chicago before coming to New York. She booked “Godspell” after her first Broadway audition, in 2012. “They needed someone who had improv training and who play instruments, and that was me!” she says. She found her way to “Bright Star” after an audition, something she says never happens. “It was one of those moments where time stood still and when it was over I was like, ‘Did I remember to breathe?’” she recalls of her audition, where she sang the bluegrass song “Orphan Girl.” Oh and by the way, Steve Martin lives up to the hype. “Working with Steve Martin has changed my life,” she says. “He’s a jack of all trades. He’s been able to star in films, write books, tour with his band, create albums of music, write plays, write scores, curate art, and I love that. What can’t this man do? And on top of it all, he plays banjo.” 2016-04-27 22:11 Leigh Nordstrom
18 Amy Adams, Susan Sarandon Attend Max Mara’s Anniversary Dinner for The Whitney Museum More Articles By The Whitney Museum has officially lived a full 12 months in its shiny Renzo Piano-designed Meatpacking District structure. In that time, the contemporary institution has welcomed more than one million visitors — outpacing its original projections by almost double, according to sources. The museum celebrated its triumph Tuesday night with an anniversary dinner hosted by Max Mara , which issued a special edition of its “Whitney” bag to mark the occasion. Guests including Amy Adams, Susan Sarandon and Amy Fine Collins were in tow — many dressed in the brand’s wares — to enjoy a springy Italian meal and a private preview of the museum’s “Human Interest” portrait exhibition, which would officially open the next day. “I think we are all in a state of shock,” said Whitney chief curator Scott Rothkopf of the museum’s unprecedented first-year attendance. A buzzed-about destination for downtown dwellers and tourists alike, the Whitney did not draw such attendance without making a scene. On weekends, it’s a miracle that the windows of the museum’s glassed-in foyer do not fog with condensation as crowds pack in to gander at the works of artists like Frank Stella, Laura Poitras and Jared Madere. “We joke that after about 1 p.m. on weekends, we see a ‘post-brunch surge,’” said Rothkopf of the frenzy. What’s perhaps been most interesting about The Whitney ’s journey downtown is a similar migration of art consumption among New Yorkers. And in that vein, the museum has been graced with a perceived quotient of “cool” that it had not experienced in its later years uptown. “This museum is not doing only a landscape change, metaphorically if you will — it is the landscape within the city and a landscape within the art,” said Max Mara U. S. retail director Maria Giulia Maramotti. With that scape-changing has also come a shift in the nearby Meatpacking District residents and corresponding rise in rents. Jeffrey Kalinsky told WWD that he expects to be priced out of his 14th Street lease when it expires in April 2019, and has been scoping real estate in preparation. “Driving down the street tonight, I had a hard time getting my bearings because it’s changed and there has just been a lot of growth in this particular neighborhood,” observed Angeleno Amy Adams. “This area has become such an expression of the extravagance and decadence and stupidity of New York real estate, but it managed to at least make something grand out of it,” said Tom Sachs. “But art is an elite activity and a museum’s job is to bring that to people,” he added. 2016-04-27 21:52 Misty White
19 Gap Inc. Lines up 20,000-Square-Foot Photo and Design Studio in Industry City The retailer has secured a 20,000-square-foot space for a photo and design studio. Creative types will shoot products and finesse marketing materials beneath 13-foot ceilings. The 10- year lease was finalized last month by CBRE Group’s Eric Deutsch and Jason Pollen working on behalf of the San Francisco-based chain and Industry City’s Jeff Fein and Brett Harvey. Gap executives did not respond immediately for comment Wednesday. Gap will be joining such other tenants as Malia Mills, Material Wrld, The Line, West Elm, Design Within Reach, AbelCine, David Stark Design and Production and Ball & Buck. The new Gap studio is one of the larger deals of late. In December, Time Inc. moved 300 staffers in its technology, content solutions and editorial innovation departments to a 55,000-square-foot Industry City space. Biotech company Suneris is expanding into a 35,000-square-foot space in the complex. Approaching its three-year anniversary as an innovative economic hub, Industry City has more than doubled the number of jobs there to 4,100 since its overhaul. The Belvedere Capital and Jamestown-owned property has leased more than two million square feet of space including more than one million square feet to manufacturers. 2016-04-27 21:44 Rosemary Feitelberg
20 Trailer Released for ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’ Starring Meryl Streep More Articles By Meryl Streep has embraced musical roles throughout her career, but her latest film role does little to show off her singing ability. Paramount Pictures today released the trailer for “Florence Foster Jenkins,” an upcoming comedic biopic featuring Streep in the titular role. Jenkins was a Manhattan socialite and operatic singer who was ridiculed for her poor pitch and lack of rhythm and intonation in the early 1900s. Despite those shortcomings, Jenkins was considered an entertaining performer and often donned elaborate costumes onstage. She continued to perform throughout New York until her final — and first — performance at Carnegie Hall in 1944, a month before her death. Needless to say after watching the trailer, the film is unlikely to release an accompanying soundtrack. “Florence Foster Jenkins” had its world premiere in London on April 12, and will be released in England on May 6 and on Aug. 12 in the U. S. The Stephen Frears-directed film also stars Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg and Nina Arianda. Streep starred in last summer’s “ Ricki and the Flash ” as an aging rock singer. 2016-04-27 21:37 Kristen Tauer
21 andrew bromberg of Aedas masterplans ALJ headquarters in jeddah andrew bromberg of Aedas masterplans ALJ headquarters in jeddah all images courtesy of Aedas located in the city of jeddah, saudi arabia, andrew bromberg of aedas has designed the corporate headquarters for abdul latif jameel. currently in construction and scheduled to be completed in 2018, the company is the largest independently owned toyota distributor in the world. jeddah is the largest port city located on the red sea and is the main gateway to mekkah sited within a prime 21-hectare site north of al-badad, the historical area in jeddah, the vast plot is owned by ALJ and contains a range of existing uses including a vehicle service center, workshops and general offices, training centers. over the years, facilities have been added to meet the business demands and this overhaul will see the site is undergo a new masterplan. the two façades of the complex are used as a buffer for the working ‘living’ spaces of the complex. influenced by the traditional buildings in jeddah, these ‘protective’ plaster faces are more solid in appearance, and limit the penetration of the harsh western light into the building as well as mitigate the noise from the busy streets. office floors are stacked in clusters of three with intermediate interaction zone floors where users can have more casual meetings or breaks these faces evolved to independent ‘l-bar’ volumes, which contain all support services including cores, conference facilities, canteens, a gym, prayer rooms and toilets. it allows adjacent offices, separated by an atrium, maximum efficiency through open planning with ultimate flexibility of space. in contrast to the bars facing the streets, the office space is contained in a soft, flowing, and highly transparent skin, reflecting the ethos of the company. the building is topped with a podium roof with a communal garden as well as a running track that meanders in and out of various spaces within the development. night view / the building will anchor the northwest corner of a 21-hectare master plan also developed by the company developed with sustainability at its core, the project is designed to optimize its relationship to the intense desert sun. western oriented glass is minimised and the heavy massing resists heat penetration. the open office spaces are protected from the light by overhangs and outdoor decks. additionally, the stepped glass elevation allows overshadowing and vegetation is planted on all roof surfaces and terraces to further mitigate solar gain and enhance user comfort. 2016-04-27 21:01 Natasha Kwok
22 Urs Fischer – False Friends at MAH Geneva for DESTE’s 33rd Year Related Venues The Museum of Art And History (MAH) Artists Urs Fischer Maurizio Cattelan Robert Gober Martin Kippenberger Jeff Koons Paul McCarthy Cindy Sherman Kiki Smith “ Urs Fischer – False Friends” at the Museum of Art and History (MAH) in Geneva celebrates the 33 rd anniversary of the Athens-based not-for-profit DESTE Foundation in the very city it was founded in 1983 by the Greek-Cypriot industrialist and art collector Dakis Joannou. Curated by Massimilano Gioni, the exhibition brings together a selection of works from the Dakis Joannou Collection, pairing 20 works by Swiss artist Urs Fischer with sculptures and paintings by a range of other artists, all of whom engage with fundamental themes in the history of art. Conceived as “an unusual synthesis between a solo show and a group exhibition,” “False Friends” includes works by the likes of Pawel Althamer, Maurizio Cattelan , Fischli and Weiss, Robert Gober , Martin Kippenberger , Jeff Koons , Paul McCarthy , Cindy Sherman , and Kiki Smith . The juxtaposition of works that appear but are profoundly different initiates an interpretation of the Dakis Joannou Collection, and consequently of contemporary art, as “a magnetic field traversed by lines of tension that trace both elective affinities and striking variations.” To find out more about “ Urs Fischer – False Friends” and the Dakis Joannou Collection, BLOUIN ARTINFO spoke to Massimilano Gioni. THE EXHIBITION was born as a celebration of the 33rd anniversary of the Deste foundation, the non for profit institution that Dakis Joannou established in Geneva in 1983. Dakis reached out to Adelina Von Furstenberg who had been involved with the foundation back in the 1980s and she introduced the idea of an exhibition to celebrate the foundation to the Museum of Art and History in Geneva. So from the start the show was meant to serve as a celebration of the projects, the exhibitions and the incredible collection that Dakis Joannou has put together in these last three decades. But as it is typical of Dakis and of his institution, he didn’t want to celebrate his anniversary with a traditional and predictable display of some trophies. He wanted to do something more experimental and unusual. So we started talking about possible ideas for the show, and through this exchange – which is always the crucial starting point in all the projects of the Deste Foundation – we decide to develop an exhibition which would be an unusual hybrid between a solo show by Urs Fischer and a selection of works from the collection which entertain some kind of dangerous liaisons with the work of Urs Fischer. I think the idea of starting from Urs was Dakis’s, and I thought of the "False Friends" title: either way, it doesn’t really matter because in any project with Dakis what matters is how to develop new radical ideas. Urs is one of the most interesting artist to have emerged from Swirtzerland in the last decade or so. But his work is not so visible back in his home country. So we thought of the exhibition as an occasion to show Urs’s work - of whom Dakis owns more than 20 pieces - in dialogue with some of the most interesting artists who have shaped the collection of Dakis Joannou, and with whom both Urs and Dakis have entertained a continuous dialogue. Once we had decided on the format of the exhibition, with its unusual combination of solo and group shows, we selected the starting point and the end: we knew right from the start that we wanted to show Urs’s hanging lines in the very first room, and to end the exhibition with the beautiful house of bread. Both works I think will work beautiful in the spaces of the Museum of Art and History, which are these grand rooms, quite regal and elegant: the house of bread particularly looks like it had landed from a dream right into these majestic environments. Once we had determined the beginning and the end of the exhibition, we let the works suggest one another in a sort of game of free associations. The exhibition is really built around similarities and differences of surfaces, materials, themes and subjects: it creates a networks of sympathies and antipathies, of frictions and proximities. For a while we thought we would call the show "concerto", after one of the pieces by Urs Fischer , but the show is as much about harmonies as it is about cacophonies. In a sense, the suspended lines by Urs Fischer are a visual metaphor of how the exhibition works, by establishing connections between different art pieces. The venue itself also served as an inspiration. The beautiful architecture of the museum suggested a reflection on the function of monuments, which is at the heart of the work of Urs Fischer , as it is often animated by a tension between fragility and durability. So in the exhibition for example his interpretation of an equestrian monument "Horse Bed" is juxtaposed with a series of busts by Jeff Koons or with one of Cattelan's donkeys, which is in fact a strange parody of the tradition of heroic monuments. First of all, I think it shows how deep Dakis collects when he loves an artist. With artists such as Urs Fischer , Maurizio Cattelan , or Jeff Koons , for example, you could have complete museum scale retrospectives based only on the holdings in the Dakis Joannou Collection. It is quite extraordinary, as in many cases Dakis was able to follow the entire carrier of an artist, from the very beginning. In Urs’s case Dakis has brought together pretty much all the most important works in his carrier. And secondly - which to me as a curator is probably even more exciting - I think a project like “False Friends” shows how open and committed Dakis and his Deste foundation have been to trying out unusual exhibition formats and to keep experimenting with new ideas. On the occasion of the 33rd anniversary Dakis has published this incredible book which collects all the exhibitions, publications, projects he realized in the last three decades and it is really shocking to see what an impact the institution had not only on the carrier of many great artists but also on the history of how exhibitions are curated and documented through catalogues and publications. Just think that one of the very first shows Deste ever organized - "Cultural Geometry" curated by Jeffrey Deitch in 1988 - combined works by artists such as Jeff Koons , Robert Gober and the group loosely associated with the Neo Geo movement with Greek antiquities in an installation conceived by Haim Steinbach. Or think of influential shows and books such as "Post Human". For more than 30 years Deste has pushed the boundaries of what an exhibition can be. I think the exhibition suggests that art works are never born in a vacuum: they are constantly caught in a dialogue or in a confrontation with other works. Adorno famously said that every art work is the mortal enemy of the other. But it is also by establishing new sympathies, relationships and elective affinities that artworks inspire and transform each other. 2016-04-27 20:32 Nicholas Forrest
23 Becoming American: Fionn Meade on Less Than One The first in a series of entries exploring Less Than One, on view through December, “Becoming American” begins with a consideration of author Joseph Brodsky (1940– 1996), whose essay provides the exhibition title, and Flags (1965), a painting by Jasper Johns included in the exhibition. At an early age Joseph Brodsky experienced much of what it […] 2016-04-27 20:48 By
24 Stay Ready: Lizzie Borden on the Post-Revolutionary Future of Born in Flames Released in 1983 during Reagan’s presidency and Ed Koch’s tenure as mayor of New York City, Lizzie Borden’s futurist, science-fiction feature Born in Flames (1983) imagines political activism ten years after a “social-democratic war of liberation.” The film was shot using somewhat guerrilla documentary techniques, includes found footage from international news and is set to […] 2016-04-27 21:54 By
25 Call for Applicants: Walker Art Center Mildred Friedman Design Fellowship 2016– 2017 The Walker is pleased to announce that its 2016- 2017 Mildred Friedman Design Fellowship is now open for applications. APPLICATIONS ARE DUE: MAY 23rd Since 1980, the Walker’s Design department has maintained a graphic design fellowship program that provides recent graduates the opportunity to work in a professional design studio environment. Selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants, fellows come from graphic design programs throughout the United States and abroad representing a diverse range of design programs, such as Art Center College of Design, California Institute of the Arts, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Eastern Michigan University, Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, NC State University, Rhode Island School of Design, Royal College of Art, Werkplaats Typografie, and Yale University, among many others. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR: Ideal candidates will be firmly grounded in visual design principles and the print design process with some experience in interaction design. In addition to print-based projects such as exhibition identities, wayfinding, and collateral materials, this year’s fellow will also work on select online publishing initiatives. The fellow will join an accomplished team of professionals known for creating industry-leading work. Immersed in the Design department, which includes Editorial, Photography, and Videography, fellows gain a deeper understanding of design, work on projects with rich, interesting content, and are expected to produce work to the highest standards of design excellence. See samples of previous fellow’s work here and in this video highlighting 75 years of Walker design. The fellows will also be key contributors to the Design department’s blog, The Gradient —so an interest in the discourse of graphic design and contemporary culture is highly desirable. Fellows are salaried, full-time employees and are involved in all aspects of the design process, including client meetings and presentations through production and development. Duration of fellowship: September 1, 2016 – August 31, 2017 HOW TO APPLY: For consideration, submit the following materials by PDF attachments only: 1. a letter of interest; 2. a resume, including names and contact information of 3 references; 3. a PDF portfolio containing 8–10 examples of graphic design work (total file size can be no larger than 19 MB, otherwise your file will be rejected). Email application packets to [email protected]. If you do not receive an automatic confirmation of your application, please send another note to the same email address, without any attachments. No phone calls please. For more information, visit our fellowship page. Also check out the Walker’s job listing. April 23, 2016 2016-04-27 20:48 By
26 Romania’s Culture Minister Steps Down as Ballet Dispute Continues PARIS — The culture minister of Romania tendered his resignation on Wednesday amid a crisis at the ballet company of the Bucharest National Opera involving its artistic director, Johan Kobborg, and the star ballerina Alina Cojocaru, which had led to the cancellation of several performances. In a post on his Facebook page , Vlad Alexandrescu said he was stepping down after failing to resolve a dispute at the opera that had pitted its management against Mr. Kobborg, a former principal at the Royal Danish Ballet and Royal Ballet in London, and Ms. Cojocaru, a principal at the English National Ballet, who returned to her native Bucharest as a permanent guest artist. The couple, who are engaged to be married, had raised the ballet company’s profile internationally and brought in new dancers and repertory. But on April 12, both resigned after new management demoted Mr. Kobborg from artistic director on the company’s website, placing his name among the “artists,” as members of the corps de ballet are called. Although there was an immediate outcry from dance fans on social media, there were also reports of internal tensions and resentments in the company; one protester at a rally outside the opera denounced the couple as “foreigners.” After Mr. Kobborg and Ms. Cojocaru resigned on April 12, Romania’s prime minister Dacian Ciolos met with Ms. Cojocaru, one of Romania’s best-known cultural figures. Mr. Alexandrescu last week helped broker an arrangement for the couple to return to the ballet company for three months under an interim manager. On Tuesday, however, a letter sent to the Bucharest National Opera’s security department stated that Ms. Cojocaru, Mr. Kobborg and seven others, including the former interim general manager, could enter the premises only if accompanied by security staff. On the same day, the deputy prime minister, Vasile Dancu, met with Mr. Kobborg and Ms. Cojocaru. On his Facebook page, Mr. Kobborg wrote: “Mr. Dancu showed a real interest in finding out details about our activity, our work approach, as well as about our artistic vision.” He added: “We wish to continue our work along with our colleagues from the Bucharest National Opera for Romania’s prestige worldwide.” In his resignation letter, Mr. Alexandrescu, a scholar of early modern Europe, said he was stepping down “in the face of resistance to structural change” that he had been trying to implement at Romanian cultural institutions, including its opera, museums and national film fund, to bring them in line with European standards. 2016-04-27 18:55 By
27 cardboard cat houses mimic architectural landmarks cardboard cat dwellings replicate architectural landmarks from around the world all images courtesy of poopy cat cats love empty cardboard boxes, but owners probably don’t want them in their living rooms — unless they are studio poopy cat‘s ‘landmark’ architecture dwellings. a team of amsterdam- based creatives has come up with seven designs that mimic iconic structures found around the world. cats, and other small pets, can call these global monuments ‘home’ — the sphinx of giza in egypt; the eiffel tower in france; the white house in the united states; saint basil’s cathedral in russia; the taj mahal in india, pagoda temples of south asia; and a mayan temple from south america. interior details increase the interaction between toy and pet — for example, the eiffel tower has a miniature elevator hanging from a rope on the inside. humans can add a small snack in the top, which will drop down once the pet shakes the string. additionally, all of the landmarks are made from recycled cardboard. the double-layered use of two thick sheets of flutes results in a super strong structure. the ‘landmark’ series is currently seeking funding on kickstarter, here. a small bell is located inside the structure for cats to play with the taj mahal in india is made into a sturdy cat home a cat lounges in the entrance of the taj mahal the sphinx of giza in egypt has a rope tail for cats to play with a pagoda becomes a sturdy home for a feline or other small animal cats can play with the flag on top of the white house, which contains a bouncy spring 2016-04-27 18:30 Nina Azzarello
28 Play a Virtual Reality Synthesizer With Your Real Hands Images courtesy the artist Late last year, Amsterdam-based creative coder and motion graphics designer Sander Sneek dropped Soundscape, a synthesizer that lives in virtual reality. Even now, it’s one of the exemplary efforts towards placing sound on equal footing with visuals in a virtual reality world. But Sneek isn’t resting on his laurels. He’s taking two new pieces of VR gear, the Oculus Rift CV1 and the Leap Motion Orion hand-tracker, and integrating them into Soundscape so that people can use their hands to play the virtual synthesizer. “It is still a work in progress,” Sneek tells The Creators Project. “Soundscape started as a tech demo last year. I initially started the demo with the Leap Motion, which is capable of tracking your hands. I believe truly immersive VR starts with your hands.” “Leap Motion just released their new Orion Beta SDK, which is a massive step forward for technology's capabilities,” he adds. “Lower latency, longer range, better and faster hand recognition, vastly improved robustness to cluttered backgrounds and ambient light, and more. Combining the Leap Motion with the new Oculus Rift CV1 creates an amazing music VR experience.” Judging from Sneek’s footage, Soundscape’s hand-tracking already looks impressive. The overall hand gestures are smooth, and the finger tactility affords users the ability to manipulate the monolithic sequencer’s synth notes and drumbeat, then go about tweaking filter cutoff and oscillator waveforms. “Manipulating the synthesizers and filter effects via hand-tracking is a real joy,” says Sneek. “Playing around with the cutoff and resonance effects just by moving your index fingers keeps me (and my kids) really amazed. This is the purpose of Soundscape—play with music in a joyful way.” “The tracking is pretty much spot on and therefore gives you a real sense of presence, of actually being in this gigantic sci-fi environment,” he adds. “The representation of the hands is done as abstract holographic versions, trying to avoid the uncanny valley.” Click here to keep up to date with Soundscape's progress, and to see more of Sander Sneek’s work. Related: Now You Can Make Beats in Virtual Reality Generative Electronic Music Inspires a Series of Digital Matrices This Synth Lets Anyone Compose Just Like Bach 2016-04-27 18:15 DJ Pangburn
29 Jason Wu Hosts ACRIA Unframed Art Auction and Dinner Guests were getting a deal at Tuesday night’s young friends of ACRIA event. The organization had combined its two spring fund-raisers — the Unframed art auction and summer soiree — effectively giving attendees a two-for-one party. For the first, Unframed, attendees had packed into the Paula Cooper gallery to bid on art priced well below market value via Paddle 8. “It is what it is. I beg on the board to change the paradigm of the art auction, but ‘everybody’s doing it.’ It becomes a feeding ground for collectors, like ‘oh, maybe I can get a bargain,'” Jack Pierson said. He himself contributed a large-scale photograph to the cause. “That’s mine over there, the clouds with the blue,” noted Pierson, motioning to a nearby wall. “Easy breezy. People like the pretty colors.” Many of other donating artists were circulating, including Zoe Buckman, Daniel Zeller and Liz Nielsen. They’d all contributed works to ACRIA, which provides treatment and education programs for people living with HIV, and the night’s event was directly benefiting the Artists Ending AIDS Fund. Jason Wu , the event’s main host and one of ACRIA’s biggest supporters, could be found taking selfies with his cohosts and mingling with Max Osterweis, Erin Beatty and Kate Foley next to an ocean chalk drawing by Zaria Forman. The roof was leaking a few feet away, unintentionally adding to the art’s ambience. “I’m not a huge art collector myself, but I appreciate art very much. I’ve acquired most of my art from ACRIA events,” Wu noted. While the designer hadn’t yet placed a bid for the night, there were a few pieces he was eyeing in the room. “There’s a couple private ones I want,” he offered. The designer ( and newlywed ) has been involved with ACRIA for several years, and recently graduated to the organization’s main board. “Now that I’m 33, I think it’s good to be a little less selfish. I’m happy to be on the main board now and work on issues that are very real and very threatening today, and also to connect and bring people together. Our goal is to get younger people involved in these things.” Afterward, the party moved two blocks south for part two: another cocktail hour and seated dinner at The Park. Guests who had forgotten to place a bid earlier discussed which pieces they hoped to buy in the after-event market — unsold pieces are available to purchase by contacting ACRIA directly. 2016-04-27 18:08 Kristen Tauer
30 Time 100 Gala Draws Donald Trump, Caitlyn Jenner, Nicki Minaj It’s not everyday that you have Caitlyn Jenner and Donald Trump in one room. While the votes were being counted in Tuesday’s primaries in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, the man who would wind up sweeping all five states in the GOP primary was bow-tied in his eveningwear finest, posing for photographers on the red carpet inside the sixth floor of the Jazz Hall at Lincoln Center. Yes, there was much talk of politics at the Time 100 gala on Tuesday evening — and that was before Trump and his wife Melania unexpectedly showed up, secret service agents in tow. The gala, now in its 12th year, served to honor Time magazine’s annual list of 100 most influential people, and drew Jenner, Nicki Minaj, Karlie Kloss, Trevor Noah, Melissa McCarthy, Riccardo Tisci , Aziz Ansari, Alexander Wang, Tinashe, Gael Garcia Bernal, Gina Rodriguez, Priyanka Chopra, Lewis Hamilton, Arianna Huffington and more. The gala is a rare occasion where the step-and-repeat features equal measures of hip-hop stars in lacy Givenchy, and award-winning scientists doling out their business cards to reporters. Chinese designer Guo Pei is one of Time’s honorees this year, coming off her grand moment at last year’s Met Gala when Rihanna all but stole the evening in a couture creation of Pei’s . “I was really happy from last year because of my beautiful dress in the exhibition, so many people came to see it,” Pei said, with Wendi Murdoch translating. When asked who has been influential in her life, Pei giggled, before saying, “The most influential person for me right now is my husband, he’s always there to support me and love me.” “In my career, there was an actress named Sandy Dennis who I just loved,” said past nominee Mia Farrow of her inspirational figures, as she exchanged introductions with “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner on the press line. “Oh, and Marlon Brando.” Priyanka Chopra, who is starring in “Quantico” and will be seen next in the remake of “Baywatch,” said she was most looking forward to seeing Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckerberg. “I’m a geek at heart, and he changed that for us,” she said. “He’s such a cool guy, and such an achiever.” Marina Abramovic, who was included in last year’s list, offered the following advice for Tuesday’s list: “Take a deep breathe, do all the photos and interviews. And then come next time, like I’ve done, because now really it’s much more fun. Come a second time.” “I think it’s kind of unusual that the media has given so much coverage to Donald Trump without really questioning some of his most dangerous proposals, like banning 1.6 billion Muslims,” said Arianna Huffington, a short time before the man in question would enter the room. The night’s most anticipated honoree, Jenner, skipped the press room, and once news of her arrival downstairs hit, the media began to assume things were winding down — until whispers of Trump’s surprise arrival began. “Mr. President, over here!” shouted one photographer, who was then heckled by a series of reporters. “Don’t call him that,” he was scolded. While many declined to talk to press — Kloss and her boyfriend Joshua Kushner — pseudo- related to Trump through brother Jared, Ivanka’s husband — sweetly smiled as they walked by; Julia Louis-Dreyfus looked to her publicist in a brief pause before adhering to the handler’s narrowing eyes; Alexander Wang apologizing for skipping interviews in his signature sweet way — but Trump was more than happy to stop by the press room and chat. He discussed his upcoming interview with Megyn Kelly with the room of reporters, saying he was impressed she picked up the phone to call him, and that it was something he might not have done himself. Melania told reporters that when she and Donald disagree on political issues, she tells him, though she wouldn’t elaborate further. “That is private stuff,” she said. Just as Trump exited the press room, Melania at his coattails, a CNN alert popped up on iPhones, announcing he’d swept all five states at stake. Influential indeed. 2016-04-27 17:59 Leigh Nordstrom
31 The 12 Best Rings for Fall 2016 While jewelry designers have been earmarking the lobe of late — doing bold things with earrings — fingers have become just as strong a focal point. This fall, expect the digits to be adorned with big statement rings, like an Eddie Borgo piece, based on a vintage design, which recalls a small galaxy with blue and white stones orbiting a silvery center, and McQueen ’s haunting ring of two hands clasping a skull, reminiscent of Victorian mourning jewelry. Another statement-making style that’s big this season: layering rings on one finger or across a couple, as Mawi does with two rose-gold bands connected by a chain, like a set of mini-manacles. You gotta hand it to these designers. These pieces, and other nonshrinking violets, will beg for the latest manicure to show them off. Check out our other “best of” call-outs among the season’s must-have accessories: 2016-04-27 17:49 Roxanne Robinson
32 ‘What to do next.’ at Life Sport, Athens
Installation view of the 2016 exhibition “What to do next.” LIFE SPORT Pictures at an Exhibition presents images of one notable show every weekday. Today’s show: “ What to do next. ” was on view at Life Sport in Athens from April 9 to April 25. The group exhibition featured the works of Bill Lee, Lulou Margarine, Marlie Mul, Michele Di Menna, and Stefanos Mandrake. Installation view of the 2016 exhibition “What to do next.” LIFE SPORT Installation view of the 2016 exhibition “What to do next.” LIFE SPORT 2016-04-27 17:42 The Editors
33 Edward's Not Just the 'Other Mapplethorpe' Hand-picked portraits of curiosity, alarm, and self-possession take form in photographs of infants in Edward Mapplethorpe's new book, "One: Sons & Daughters"—including that of the photographer's own son. With over 150 images and spanning 20 years, it's the longest-running project in his portfolio. Mapplethorpe admits that these portraits were a commercial means to support his artistic practice. But after running through the contact sheets of his first commissioned shoot in 1996, Mapplethorpe says he saw something deeper in the work. "I knew it was a difficult subject to photograph, but it just morphed into something," Mapplethorpe told artnet News in a phone interview. "It's become such a great body of work, and to deny that of my artistic practice is short-changing it. " Despite the subject matter, the photographs' formal qualities of tone, texture, and composition share affinities with his early works—photographs of nudes taken from 1982 through 1992. His artistic pursuits have since changed, subsequently leaping from one experiment to another over the better part of three decades. However, his creative projects remain largely unknown to the public. If a recent title in the New York Times offers an explanation ("The Other Mapplethorpe"), it's affirmation that the artist's profile is almost always tethered to his late brother, Robert. Much of Mapplethorpe's experience with the media is in service to his elder brother's legacy. A 2016 essay Mapplethorpe wrote to promote HBO's 2016 documentary in Elle , titled, "My Life as Robert Mapplethorpe 's Assistant, Adversary, Baby Brother," concedes this fraught relationship. "That's always a bit disappointing to me," Mapplethorpe admitted. "For the last 30 years I've been having my own career. But he's left such a legacy that it's understandable. It's part of my life, it's part of me, it's part of my history. So it's okay. " Mapplethorpe's works over the course of his career articulate a clear desire to break free of representation. Since the early 2000s, the artist has been focusing on abstraction. In 2004, Mapplethorpe worked on a darkroom photo series titled HAIR transfer , a precursor to the tangled, linear images he'd craft in the years that followed, which are heavily indebted to Jackson Pollock 's paintings. From 2007 through 2009, the artist's experimentation with the mechanical processes of photography, namely with rayographs, yielded him TimeLines , a series of prints created exclusively in the darkroom, without a camera. By 2013, his attraction to Abstract Expressionism, which are manifested in a series titled Variations , employs the results of his chemical darkroom processes in Timelines with digitally rendered panels of solid color. The evolution of his work prompts us to consider if the artist brings anything new to the table. However, seeing Mapplethorpe through the lens of his fraternal connection obstructs earnest attempts at getting a real answer. Should the art world's gatekeepers continue to review Mapplethorpe's appeals for entry, it may be wiser to let him stand on his own. Edward Mapplethorpe will be hosting an event on Thursday, April 28th at 7:00 p.m. at the Strand in New York City for his book " One: Sons and Daughters. " Follow artnet News on Facebook. 2016-04-27 17:40 Rain Embuscado
34 Two Artists Met on Tinder. What Happened Next Will Make Your Day All images screenshots from Two Sides of a Tinder Date When artists Tinder, the performativity of dating can go full-on Fluxus. Case in point: UK artist Andy Leek (who, last time we checked, was giving out gold stars to street artists ) and Finnish documentarian Daniela Sea met on Tinder, and proceeded to eradicate the line between art and life by filming their first date from both of their points of view. Leek and Sea share an almost-archetypical Tinder date: Neither of them are expecting anything too serious. She’s late, because she is doing her hair, while he wears the same clothes he wore to work. He looks for a bar that isn’t too crowded, planning to get drunk, but not too drunk. He finds her “hot,” and gets a little weird when other men talk to her at the bar. She thinks he looks like Sebastian, her gay best friend, and in an aside, wishes he were a little more attractive. He's scheming a way to film their first kiss, while she’s concerned about seeming “pathetic and easy.” What happens next is as unexpected as it is totally charming. “It was fun,” she muses. An unspecified amount of time passes and they sit down, reality TV confessional-style, to talk about their experience together. Artmaking prevented either from getting ghosted, but was the chemistry real, or performance art? It almost watches like a how-to on blind dates, or a millennial update to Jørgen Leth’s The Perfect Human —an art film about living, eating, fucking, and caring for yourself, from an outsider's perspective on the human race. The Tindering artists might not seem head over heels, but they like each other well enough to blend the lines between art- and lovemaking, and anyway, what's the difference? In the end, it shows the power of technology to bring people together, to broadcast their private lives to the world, and to say... Well, to say something about modern love. Watch Two Sides of a Tinder Date below. Two sides of a Tinder date. from Andy on Vimeo . See more of Andy Leek’s work here . Related: This Piece of Meat Just Swiped Right An Artist Put Tinder and LinkedIn Profile Pics Side-By-Side Let Robots Do Your Tinder Swiping (Because it’s the Future) Tinder Business Cards Mix Work with Play 2016-04-27 17:40 Alyssa Buffenstein
35 richard ginori's perroquets collection evokes imagery of 18th century botanical manuscripts the philosophy of richard ginori has always drawn upon refinement, expressed through a sophisticated and contemporary style. a world where everything follows a precise direction, but comes together in perfect harmony, finding in the whole its sense of belonging: the home as a stage. table sets and furnishing accessories celebrate the historic tradition of the italian porcelain manufacturer through distinct decorations and motifs. their ‘perroquets’ collection continues in this tradition, made by recovering a craft technique of printing using film painted-china and silk looms without any contribution of digital technology. the wall plates draw influence from eighteenth-century botanical manuscripts, taken from the house’s historical archives. ink pen, film and silk frame are the method used for the development of the color composition of each parrot found on the individual plates. each film represents a hue, part of an extraodinary game of overlaps creating and completing the decoration. the china features a positive tone of color with lightly imprinted marks. the background is colored using the craft technique of ‘punzecchio’ – coloring done with a sponged effect – rendered by airbrush. each plate has been hand decorated, recreating a particular coloration with a full taste of an authentic past. the ‘perroquets’ wall plate collection was presented in an extravagant exhibition at the richard ginori store during milan design week 2016. 2016-04-27 17:35 Hollie Smith
36 New 'Moss Clocks' Change with the Times Summer, Fall, Winter - a set of 3 clocks, diameter 18 inches. Images courtesy Noktutu Last fall, the Moss Clock by Rotterdam-based design studio Noktutu became the best way for nature to give you the time of day since the sundial, with built-in biodegradablity that lets you give back to nature at the same time. Now, Noktutu is back with a more diverse mossy color palette to match your sleek office decór, no matter the season. The Moss Clock is always fashioned with real reindeer moss from Norway, but now it comes in a yellow hue to match your fall look, and a crisp white for winter. The idea behind the clock is to make the natural world more present in normally pristine, factory-produced office environments, and now you can do it in three different colorways. Check out the new models in the video and images below. Summer, diameter 18 inches Fall, diameter 18 inches Winter, diameter 18 inches See more of Noktutu's work on their website. Buy your own Moss Clock here. Related: Liquid Magnets Power a Killer Minimalist Clock Let These Rorschach Clocks Bend Your Notions of Time [NSFW] The 'Grandfather Clock' Dildo Is a Sculpture You Can Use 2016-04-27 17:20 Beckett Mufson
37 Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Brandon Maxwell Toast Spring at The Apartment by The Line More Articles By Guests walked a flight of stairs illuminated by the soft glow of candles as they made their way up to the second floor of Vanessa Traina Snow’s The Apartment by The Line Los Angeles on Melrose Place. They gathered on the brisk Tuesday evening at Traina Snow’s second outpost to toast Brandon Maxwell’s spring collection, drawing a guest list that included Rosie Huntington-Whiteley , Phoebe Tonkin, China Chow, Jessica Joffe and Erin Foster. The dinner continued the wave of buzz that’s now swelled around the young designer, who earlier this year was nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Swarovski Award for Womenswear. Maxwell expressed awe at the reception to his line’s launch. The designer has come a long way from his days using objects around the house to fashion attire for family and friends. “I used to use the bed sheets and [my father’s] cummerbunds to create dresses on my sister and my family and all my girlfriends,” Maxwell said of where the spring collection drew its inspiration. The line is currently in retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills and Houston and Bergdorf Goodman in New York, along with Jeffrey New York and Atelier 7918 in the Newport Beach, Calif., community of Newport Coast. The designer was more tight-lipped on the subject of retailers for fall, declining to get into specifics. “What I will say is that I’ve been extremely thrilled with how fall did and I’m really, really excited with the level at which we have grown,” he said. “It’s a self-funded company run by my dad, funded by my dad and we are in that together. We are really, really happy that we’ve grown at a pace that’s positive.” The evening’s dinner party was cohosted by Huntington-Whiteley, who was dressed in Brandon Maxwell for the occasion. “I worked with Brandon for the first time a few years ago and, it’s funny, I think when you meet people you kind of have this feeling that they’re going to do something bigger than what they’re doing at the time and I had that feeling when I first met him,” she said. “When I heard he was launching a line, I was not surprised at all. What surprised me was really the brand and how clean and beautiful and classic and elegant and also very contemporary it feels.” Huntington-Whiteley, who said the two connected over a shared “filthy sense of humor,” added she’s eyeing a number of pieces from the current collection, calling it the “perfect eveningwear for a modern-day woman.” 2016-04-27 16:59 Kari Hamanaka
38 Brandon Maxwell on the Design Process, Career Pressures and Being a Fashion Misfit Brandon Maxwell’s been all over the place lately. The designer was back in town Tuesday evening for a dinner to celebrate his spring collection at The Apartment by the Line Los Angeles. That was on the heels of a March visit to Saks Fifth Avenue Beverly Hills and Bergdorf Goodman in New York in February, the same month he showed his fall collection. “It’s absolutely no surprise to me that he launched a line that’s been so well-received,” said Rosie Huntington-Whiteley , who cohosted the gathering. “He’s definitely one to look for and everyone’s already looking at him already. I am a big fan.” The designer stepped aside to chat with WWD as guests began arriving and mingling just before sitting down to dinner with his thoughts on everything from the design process to feeling like a fashion outsider — and being OK with that. I did a trenchcoat in the spring. It had quite a large collar and I was feeling really low that day and I was like ‘What do I want to wear if I was just dashing to the store really quickly and wanted to just not be seen that much because I feel like in New York, every time you walk through the street you’re seeing a neighbor or you’re seeing somebody you know. 2016-04-27 16:54 Kari Hamanaka
39 See Faces in Food with Klaus Enrique's New Portraits [Exclusive] Klaus Enrique, Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon IV, 2016. Images courtesy the artist Photographer and sculptor Klaus Enrique , whose instantly recognizable portraits of humans made from inanimate objects have been displayed alongside those of Andy Warhol, Paul Cezanne, and Francisco Goya, has just released a new series of stunning faces made from food. His work is reminiscent of Giuseppe Arcimboldo's famous paintings of human forms composed of fruits and vegetables, and it is from this artist's name that Enrique derives the title of his new series on display at The Griffin Museum of Photography , Arcimboldism. Enrique's Arcimboldo-inspired style has been his signature since the mid-2000s, when he got the idea to photograph a face made of leaves, which was quickly dashed when he realized how similar it was to Arcimboldo's work. Further reflection helped the artist realize his photography could build on the narrative of Arcimboldo's work without simply being derivative. "Research confirmed that Arcimboldo had not been the first artist to create a composite head," Enrique explains to The Creators Project. "Anthropomorphism, pareidolia, and the cognitive processes of face perception are as old as mankind itself. " Klaus Enrique, Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon V, 2016 Free to explore the facial hallucinations he sees in everyday objects under the banner of Postcontemporary Art, Enrique has fashioned men out of fruits and roots, women from flowers and veggies, insects and butterflies into a likeness of Darth Vader, and many more. Each of his creations exists before the lens of a camera, without CGI trickery (as in the pareidoliac works of Lee Griggs or Adam Pizurny ). "Even before I was aware of Arcimboldo’s work I thought that photography was the right medium for this series," Enrique continues. "Painting has the inalienable ability to create a fantasy completely removed from reality. Photography arguably lacks that trait, but in return it provides a picture of reality that the most consummate photorealist can hardly match. This series brings a fantasy back to life. I can imagine one day in the future, distant or not, when an artist will use genetic engineering to create a living plant that looks exactly like Arcimboldo’s Vertumnus. It will be an arresting sight. Would that be the perfect Arcimboldo? Perfection does not exist. " Today, Enrique shares several brand new works exclusively with The Creators Project, plust a sneak peek at his Griffin Museum exhibit. Check out portraits comprised of cabbage, raw meat, and spiders below. Klaus Enrique, Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon I, 2016 Klaus Enrique, Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon II, 2016 Klaus Enrique, Head of an Owl, 2016 See more of Klaus Enrique's work on his website. See Arcimboldism at The Griffin Museum of Photography through July 7. Related: Meet the Artist Putting Human Faces on Taxidermied Animals Distorted 3D-Scanned Faces Are the Stuff Nightmares Are Made Of Deconstructed Faces Look Like Skin Masks and Beehives Screens Are Stealing Your Face in This Photo Set 2016-04-27 16:50 Beckett Mufson
40 Philip Guston Show at Hauser and Wirth Roughly eight months after taking over representation of the Philip Guston estate, mega- gallery Hauser & Wirth has opened a huge new show of the artist's work at its cavernous space in Chelsea. "Philip Guston: Painter 1957—1967," opened April 26 and runs through July 29. It features 36 paintings and 53 drawings that show the artist's exuberant embrace of Abstract Expressionism. The bulk of the works are on loan from private collections and from museums (The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the High Museum in Atlanta, the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, and Kunstmuseum Winterthur are among them). This means that the show is atypical for a gallery affair: just a handful of works in the show are actually available for sale. On hand for the crowded press preview on Tuesday were Hauser and Wirth partner and director of the gallery's newly opened Los Angeles branch, Paul Schimmel, partner and vice president Marc Payot, and Guston's daughter, Musa Mayer, whose acclaimed 1988 book Night Studio, a memoir about her father, is being republished by the gallery this month. "I would telephone Western Union with all kinds of lies, such as that my teeth were falling out, or that I was sick. It was such a relief not to have anything to do with modern art," Mayer quotes her father saying after he brought the family to Woodstock to live, away from the art openings of his Abstract Expressionist friends. Payot kicked things off by noting that this is the first time in 50 years a body of Guston abstract paintings and drawings as extensive as this has been exhibited together. Schimmel, who led a walk-through of the tour while discussing Guston's process as a painter noted that "for some decades now, this has been described as a transition period" but he argues that it is much more transformative than previously thought. There seems to be no doubt that the art world—especially as reflected in Guston's market—has ever done anything but fully embrace and applaud the artist's output from this period, so the defense is an odd one. It's also no secret that it directly preceded Guston's eventual shift back to figuration with wildly-colored, cartoonish figures which turned off fans and critics alike at the time, not to mention that it horrified younger AbEx artists like Joan Mitchell and Cy Twombly , who saw the change in style as a betrayal. While the works are gorgeous, and wonderful to see together in this context—with their visible stylistic shifts—they are hardly surprising, despite the gallery's claims. Schimmel talked at length about Guston's history, process as a painter, and broader oeuvre, including some of the internal contradictions he was apparently grappling with during his career. Perhaps an easier-to-absorb takeaway from the show is Guston's refusal to let critical and commercial success dictate his style or pursuits. The show ends with a series of "Pure Drawings"—executed during a time when the artist abandoned painting altogether—that presage the rough, primitive-style markings that announced the later figurative works. Guston "had this ability to kind of push back on his own history, on both the critical and commercial success that he had achieved," said Schimmel. According to the artnet Price Database, seven of the ten highest lots of Guston's work at auction are for abstract works. The record, of $25.8 million, was set at Christie's New York in May 2013, for To Fellini (1958), which was estimated at $8 million to $12 million. The record for his figurative work is $6.5 million, for Head and Bottle (1975), set at Christie's New York in May 2007. Not bad for an artist searching for "solid forms. " Follow artnet News on Facebook. 2016-04-27 16:45 Eileen Kinsella
41 In a Secluded New York Garage, Bjorn Amelan Makes a High- Profile Debut There are two cars parked in Bjorn Amelan’s unmarked new show, “7 Paintings in a Garage,” which is, in fact, housed in his friend’s West Village garage. But the brick, sky-lit stall at 89 Jane Street is nicer than many galleries in Chelsea, and the transitional space is well-suited for Amelan’s paintings, which were made while he was on the road with his partner, the dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones, over the past seven years. Amelan, who designs sets for Jones’s productions, traded in his sculpture side-practice for the more transportable medium of ink on antique hemp bedsheets several years ago. “We sleep in these sheets,” he said of the hand- loomed fabric, which he sources from French textile dealers. The choice of this intimate material was part convenience — “it fits well in my bag” — and part love letter to Jones: “I never trust myself with my work; he gave me the courage to do it.” Whenever Amelan has a spare moment in a hotel room or meeting, he unrolls a section of fabric and brushes a few swirls, spirals, or dots. When he finally unfurls the sheets, each measuring around 9-by-6 feet, the tangled visions alternately evoke sacred temple tapestries, the abstract forms of Rorschach tests, and the patchwork landscapes of Van Gogh — had he painted in, say, Indonesia. “The patterns should not repeat,” Amelan said. “The idea is not to control it, but ride it until it falls into place.” The process is all stream of consciousness, without clear cultural referents, he said. But then, on second thought, he mentioned Salman Rushdie’s children’s book “Haroun and the Sea of Stories” as an inspiration for its use of water as a metaphor for the pooling nature of ideas and images. Rushdie, it turns out, is also a fan of Amelan, and offered a blurb for his friend’s show: “I first saw these works spread out on a studio floor, where they seemed to be like maps, maps one could enter that would both guide one to, and around, and also become Bjorn Amelan’s inner world. Hung vertically, they remind me more of gateways. To look at them is to be drawn into and through them into one’s own imaginings.” 2016-04-27 16:42 Rachel Corbett
42 ‘The Elegance of Food’ Exhibit to Open in New York in June More Articles By An exhibition celebrating Made in Italy and the tight relationship between fashion and food will open June 23 at New York’s Chelsea Market. Called “L’Eleganza del Cibo” [“The Elegance of Food,” in English], the exhibit is being organized by the Italian Trade Commission in collaboration with Unindustria, the association of entrepreneurs and companies operating in Italy ’s Lazio region. The exhibit, which was first presented last year at the antique Trajan’s Market in Rome, includes 58 haute couture and ready-to-wear dresses created by both established and up-and-coming designers chosen by curators Stefano Dominella and Bonizza Giordani Aragno to showcase the mutual exchange between style, nutrition and the environment. “I’ve always been intrigued by the relationship between food and fashion. On one hand, food nurtures the body, on the other, fashion stimulates the imagination and self-expression. But food also satisfies our taste and appetite, often inducing a culinary anxiety,” said Dominella, the curator of the exhibit who is also chief executive officer of Gattinoni. “Throughout the years fashion has incorporated all these layers into its creative irony. It’s from the mood of this ‘Culinary Dolce Vita’ that I conceived the idea to combine fashion and food, both to smile at this ‘odd couple’ as well as to deepen the many nuances connected to them, including their ties to nature and the environment.” Among the dresses to be on display at the Chelsea Market are an Armani Privé gown inspired by bamboo plants, an Etro style digitally printed with the image of a banquet with shellfish and pasta, as well as Salvatore Ferragamo archival shoes crafted from natural materials, including cork, raffia and hemp. “L’Eleganza del Cibo” is part of the program the Italian government has launched to promote and import our fashion and food in the United States,” said Italian Trade Commissioner Maurizio Forte. “This exhibit offers a great opportunity to present, for the first time in the United States, the fascinating liaison between two key assets of our extraordinary Italian style.” The exhibition will be open to the public until July 4. 2016-04-27 16:39 Alessandra Turra
43 A Twitter Bot Is Generating Fantastic New Words Image via @FantasticVocab As a game designer, Greg Borenstein ’s work explores machine learning, computer vision, drawing, and generative storytelling. With Uncanny X-Bot , he created a Twitter bot that generates plot summaries for X-Men comics that don't actually exist. Now Borenstein is onto another imaginary generative realm with Fantastic Vocab , a Twitter bot that generates “new words with new meanings out of the atoms of English.” Fantastic Vocab both posts the fictional generative words and defines them. “Endspecient, adj. displaying an indication of being inside of looking or seeing,” reads one tweet. People can also contribute usage examples to provide some imaginary context, as someone did by remixing the first sentences of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice with the tendencies of Republican voters. In addition to the bot, Borenstein created a supplementary website called Dictionary of Fantastic Vocabulary , which is “a compendium of imaginary words and their uses.” The dictionary is already pretty extensive, though certain letters of the alphabet aren’t currently represented. The bot is the type of creation that Jorge Luis Borges—the surreal fabulist, lover of words, and weaver of infinities and a labyrinths—might have appreciated. For some, Fantastic Vocab might be a just generative curiosity, but like Finnegan’s Wake , which was stuffed (or over-stuffed) with puns and portmanteaus, it can tell us about the malleability of words, particularly when it comes to the incredibly absorbent English language. Let's see what sticks. Click here to see more of Greg Borenstein’s work. Related: A Twitter Bot Is Turning Image Uploads into Low-Poly Masterpieces A Beautiful Love Story Between Two Glitch Art Twitter Bots Twitter's "Art Assignment Bot" Is Generating Prompts For Your Next Masterpiece 2016-04-27 16:35 DJ Pangburn
44 Projections on a Metal Sculpture Visualize Next-Level Geometry Screenshot from Unifield Humans can only see in three dimensions, but that doesn’t stop artists from trying to visualize more. Unifield , a form experiment by artist Can Buyukberber , is a physical-digital hybrid, created from scratch using carpentry techniques, laser cutting, and projection mapping. The final work, a complex, undulating, black and white pattern, not only spans the physical and immaterial realms, but also forays into physically impossible, conceptual space. We generally think of our world as having three physical dimensions: width, height, and depth. The fourth dimension is sort-of present in our world, known in physics as time or spacetime. Unless you’re a math whiz, conceptualizing any more dimensions is damn near impossible, but theoretically, any number of physical dimensions can be imagined for the purposes of geometry, or, like in Unifield , for art. “The work intends to trigger a timeless perception by merging both archaic and futuristic components. By using computational design techniques with a digital fabrication method and projection mapping, Unifield uses the space where digital and physical overlaps as a portal to visualization possibilities of a higher dimensional object,” Buyukberber says. Multidimensional worlds have been theorized by 20th century mathematicians like H. S. M. Coxeter, whose higher-dimensional geometry studies directly inspired Unifield. His work as a geometer influenced artists like MC Escher and Buckminster Fuller. Watch Unifield below: Unifield | Projection on Lasercut Form from Can Buyukberber on Vimeo . Find out more about Can Buyukberber on his website . Related: Here’s How a 4D Video Game Actually Works This Man is Using Math to Create an Impossible 4D Video Game Installation Works Create Multi-Dimensional Spaces of Imaginary Landscapes 2016-04-27 16:25 Alyssa Buffenstein
45 Salvatore Ferragamo Opens First Store in Phnom Penh More Articles By Even as it slows the opening of new stores in 2016, Salvatore Ferragamo continues to plant its flag in new markets. The Florence-based firm has opened its first boutique in Phnom Penh , Cambodia, in the luxury Vattanac Capital mall. The store covers around 1,944 square feet and carries the brand’s men’s and women’s bags, shoes, leather goods, silk accessories and eyewear. The unit is modeled after the design concept of other Ferragamo stores with rich textures and finishes including Nabuk leather, limestone and walnut wood veneer. As of Dec. 31, the company had 660 monobrand stores. Cambodia has been working on reshaping itself to cater to local and foreign consumers with high-end tastes. The Vattanac Capital Tower opened in January 2015, marketed as a luxury commercial space, and is home to brands such as Longchamp and Hugo Boss. 2016-04-27 16:23 Luisa Zargani
46 treetop walkway at westonbirt arboretum by glenn howells treetop walkway by glenn howells architects winds through westonbirt arboretum all images by rob parrish designed by glenn howells architects in collaboration with engineers buro happold, the longest treetop walkway in the UK has opened to the public in the national arboretum at westonbirt. the elevated route starts and ends at ground level, rising to a total height of 13 meters (43 feet) as it follows the valley floor. the sinuous 300 meter pathway meanders through the arboretum, offering visitors the chance to directly experience the native trees, and observe sweeping views across the historic downs landscape. at four key points, the walkway increases in size to form points where guests can better engage with their natural surroundings. the project has been developed through the use of advanced computational parametric principles, and uses materials that seek to complement the surrounding landscape. the distance between each pair of legs is the same (10.5 meters) – allowing for a continuous visual flow. meanwhile, foundations have been carefully located to avoid impact on existing trees. the lightweight steel balustrade minimizes the amount of structure required, again reducing the impact on the environment. ‘we are very proud to have designed this unique treetop walkway for the historic and internationally renowned arboretum at westonbirt,’ says architect glenn howells. ‘the walkway allows all visitors, regardless of age or ability, to experience the site from the treetops for the first time. focusing on visitor needs and materiality, the walkway is designed to disappear as a sinuous silver ribbon that meanders between trees and canopies. the aim is that this new feature will greatly enhance visitor experience and help to ensure westonbirt’s popularity for many years to come.’ the scheme offers visitors the chance to directly experience the historic trees andrew smith, arboretum director added: ‘this landmark addition transforms the visitor experience with incredible views, which have never been seen before. it also provides a family friendly and fun way for visitors to engage with the world of trees! the STIHL treetop walkway is the start of an exciting new chapter in westonbirt’s history and can be enjoyed as the seasons change throughout the year. we’re incredibly proud of it and would like to thank all the trusts, foundations, companies and individual donors who have given their time and money to make this project a reality.’ in 2014, glenn howells architects also completed the site’s welcome center the westonbirt arboretum was laid out by three generations of the holford family from the early 1800s, and has been recognized by english heritage as a grade I registered landscape and garden of special historic interest. the friends of westonbirt raised £1.9m so that the walkway could provide visitors with a better understanding of the arboretum and its landscape, containing the ancient woodlands of silk wood and the downs. in 2014, glenn howells architects also completed a curved, timber-clad building that serves as an entrance to visitors of the arboretum. the distance between each pair of legs is the same – allowing for a continuous visual flow 2016-04-27 16:09 Philip Stevens
47 Galeria Nara Roesler Now Represents Eduardo Navarro COURTESY THE ARTIST AND GALERIA NARA ROESLER Galeria Nara Roesler, which has spaces in New York and Rio de Janeiro, announced today that it now represents Eduardo Navarro, the Argentinian artist whose work memorably appeared in last year’s New Museum Triennial. In the past few years, Navarro’s performances and sculptures about experiencing the world through objects have appeared in shows around the art world, most recently one called “The Eccentrics” at New York’s SculptureCenter. His Triennial work was a sculpture of a tortoise shell that could be worn and performed in, causing the performer to move more slowly and take on the subjectivity on the animal he or she was meant to represent. Navarro’s work has also recently been shown at e-flux, the Sharjah Biennial, and the São Paulo Biennial. Next week, for a project called Instructions from the sky at Frieze New York, Navarro will have performers wear mirrors, allowing them to see the sky and follow clouds outside the fair. Other Navarro projects are currently planned for the High Line, the upcoming São Paulo Biennial, and the Auckland Art Gallery in New Zealand. 2016-04-27 15:54 Alex Greenberger
48 Auction House to Put The Four Seasons’ Famed Banquettes on the Block The Four Seasons. COURTESY WRIGHT When collector Aby Rosen decided not to renew the lease of the Four Seasons, the iconic restaurant housed in the Seagram Building, he angered its high-profile regulars, many of whom had being lunching in the same Philip Johnson–designed booth in the Grill Room for decades. But while the boîte might be leaving, its clientele may not have to part ways with the cherished tables. Wright, an auction house that focuses contemporary design, is planning a blowout live sale of all the interior decor, implements, and tableware—every fork and every serving cart. The sale will take place in the restaurant on July 26, and while it’s open to the public, you can expect to see among the bidders a few of the bold-faced names that dot the tables during lunch time. Owner Julian Niccolini told Eater that, because the loyal customers can get pretty attached to certain perches, “when they come in they say ‘Remember, this is my banquette!’ “Indeed, an annotated seating chart published in the Hollywood Reporter this month shows that there was little playing of musical chairs over the years. Hopefully Henry Kissinger isn’t outbid when he’s trying to finally own his regular table. Here’s a partial list of everything that’s up for sale: The Grill Room’s banquettes All furniture including the original suite of Barcelona seating from the travertine lobbyCustom Tulip tables with polished bronze topsGroups of custom Brno chairsObjects such as custom wine coolers, planters, serving carts, and bespoke pots and pans The items will be on display to the public from July 20–26. 2016-04-27 15:50 Nate Freeman
49 A Morphing Mural Is Changing Colors in Norfolk Images courtesy the artist An interactive mural has sprouted in Norfolk, Virginia's NEON arts district , changing shape and color under the glow of many-hued lights. Illustrator Jason Levesque worked with local digital agency Glow on this passion project, entitled Transparent Seas , painting a series of four women in a range of pigments that only reveal themselves under certain lights. Reactive sensors hooked up to a rainbow of lightbulbs adjusts the colors cast onto the mural, depending on how close or far the viewer gets. Upon approach, Transparent Seas shifts from ladies, to a quartet of skulls, to a series of elemental symbols embedded in each character. "As colored lights illuminate the mural, the artwork reveals elements of earth, sea, and air across a group of female figures—the artist’s statement on the connection between the world and the human body," Grow tells The Creators Project. Levesque adds, “This planet in all its beauty is a part of our identity. We should take great pride in its beautiful landscapes, we should be inspired by its vast oceans. I wish to remind people that we are, in every moment of our lives, a part of this world. " Check out Transparent Seas in action in the video and images below. See more of Grow's work on the official website. Check out Jason Levesque's work here. Related: Street Artist Paints Murals onto Melting Icebergs New Banksy Mural Lampoons 'Les Miserables' for Refugees Rainbow Geometric Murals Coat a Moroccan Chapel Augmented Reality GIF-ITI App Brings INSA's Moving Murals To Life 2016-04-27 15:50 Beckett Mufson
50 Enamel Pins of the Week: Lucky #13 As the founder of Strike Gently Co , I deal in pins and patches on a daily basis. The Creators Project asked me to pull together a weekly roundup of the best newly-released pins. Most of these will probably sell out. If you like them, smash that “add to cart” button. Every Wednesday, you can head to the bottom of this article for an exclusive discount code so you can keep your pin game sharp. I feel refreshed. 4/20 is over and there's no marijuana merch this week. Instead, we bring you a greater collection of metal goodies, from lounging aliens to tiny paintings. I’ve been writing this thing for 13 weeks now and not once have I had trouble finding five excellent pieces to showcase. Props to you, Pin World. I hope you continue producing beautifully-designed soft goods that any schlub can afford. Bless the common man. PS: At the end of this post is a special discount code, good for 15% off anything on my site, Strike Gently Co . I love burgers, but as an aesthetic symbol they’ve been ruined for me by kids from Orange County who like garage rock and ironic stick-and-pokes. Thankfully, Hungry in Whittier has reclaimed the burger as a true symbol of culinary decadence and Americana. They’re all about food. And I prefer foodies to basic-ass LA trendsters ANYDAY. $10 here . Brace Legs Collective is one of my Internet Friends, and he sent me this pin in the mail. I get a lot of pins in the mail. I don’t feel obligated to write about most of them because most of them aren’t that great. But this chillin' alien is fantastic. They also recently released a Blink-182 "Aliens Exist" throwback patch. Only 90s kids will understand. $10 here . This one speaks for itself. Having previously worked in the art world, I love pins because of how unpretentious they are. When you buy a $10 thing, you can only have $10 worth of expectations for it. This is starkly contrasted to the art world, where $10 million princes and princesses have $10 million worth to expound on. This pin takes their words down a peg (or 9,999,990). Wear it proud. $10 here . There aren’t many things that unite us anymore. The world has no borders. Atheism is listed as a major belief system. Communication is mostly virtual. But everyone who’s ever owned an iPhone knows this feel. $6 here . I love this pin, but let me remind the appropriation-loving audience of Instagram that this graphic from Kanye’s record was painted by the LEGENDARY AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY ARTIST GEORGE CONDO. His work is mind-bending—wearing this pin says, “Sure, I like Kanye,” to the masses, but either, “Yeah, I know Condo,” or "No, I don't know what I'm talking about," to the rest. You know who we are. $12 here . Thanks for reading. Use the code 69 this week only for 15% off any order from Strike Gently Co . Related: Our Favorite Enamel Pins of the Week #420 Our Favorite Enamel Pins of the Week #11 Our Favorite Enamel Pins of the Week #10 Our Favorite Enamel Pins of the Week #9 Our Favorite Enamel Pins of the Week: # 8 Our Favorite Enamel Pins of the Week: #7 Our Favorite Enamel Pins Of The Week: #6 Our Favorite Pins of the Week: #5 Our Favorite Enamel Pins of the Week: #4 Lapel Luxuries: Pins of the Week #3 Sharp Sculptures: Pins of the Week #2 Endless Enamel: Pins of the Week #1 2016-04-27 15:35 Charlie Ambler
51 “Alberto Giacometti: A Line Through Time” at the Sainsbury Centre Related Events Alberto Giacometti: A Line Through Time Venues Sainsbury Centre For Visual Arts Artists Alberto Giacometti “A Line Through Time” at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, in Norwich celebrates the work of the Swiss sculptor, painter, and draughtsman Alberto Giacometti in the year of the 50th anniversary of his death in 1966. Focusing on Giacometti’s impact on the art and artists of post-war Britain and Paris, the exhibition is the most extensive presentation of the artist’s work in the UK since 2007, with more than 150 works spanning sculpture, painting, works on paper, photography, film, and archival material. “A Line Through Time” examines key themes such as Giacometti’s fascination with ancient art, notions of freedom of expression and materiality, his preoccupation with alienation and isolation, the timeless and enduring nature of his work, and in particular his influence and legacy on modern British art. Works by the likes of artists such as Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, William Turnbull, Eduardo Paolozzi, Elisabeth Frink, Frank Auerbach, Henry Moore, and Isabel Rawsthorne are also included to illustrate Giacometti’s broad influence in Britain. “The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts is honoured to mark the 50th anniversary of Alberto Giacometti ’s death with this unique exhibition. Giacometti was the quintessential artist- philosopher who offered a deep and profound mediation on the human condition. “The benefactors of the Sainsbury Centre, Robert and Lisa Sainsbury, were both patrons and friends of Giacometti, making the Centre a fitting place to mark the anniversary of his death and celebrate his life and work.” 2016-04-27 15:20 Nicholas Forrest
52 Interiors by Mies van der Rohe, Hans Wegner and Philip Johnson from The Four Seasons Hit The Block Related Venues Wright Artists Mies van der Rohe Hans Wegner New York’s iconic The Four Seasons restaurant, designed by Philip Johnson for the Seagram Building on Park Avenue, is auctioning off pieces of its interior at auction house Wright on July 26. The popular power lunch spot, one of the most celebrated examples of midcentury interior design, will offer up all but the architectural detailing and fittings of the space, which has been landmarked. Featuring approximately 500 lots, the auction will include works by Mies van der Rohe and Hans Wegner , as well as custom designs by Philip Johnson and Knoll. The tableware and cookware designed by L. Garth and Ada Louise Huxtable will also be among the lots. The restaurant is closing on July 16 to make way for a new dining concept helmed by Major Food Group , which is behind Carbone, ZZ's Clam Bar, Sadelle's, and others. Meanwhile, a new iteration of The Four Seasons is reportedly being planned to open within a five-minute walk of the original. Richard Wright, founder and president of the auction house Wright, said in a statement, "I am truly honored to work with Alex von Bidder and Julian Niccolini, co-owners of The Four Seasons, to celebrate the historic legacy of this iconic American interior with this auction event. Wright has always held a particular focus on modern architecture and design, and this interior so perfectly captures the modern spirit in heroic and elegant fashion. Though The Four Seasons is an international landmark, I consider it an example of what can only be accomplished in New York City. " 2016-04-27 15:09 Michelle Tay
53 Craig Barton Joins School of Art Institute of Chicago as Top Academic Officer Elissa Tenny and Craig Barton. COURTESY SAIC The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has announced the appointment of its new provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, the institution’s chief academic officer. Craig Barton, who comes to SAIC from Arizona State University, will also serve as a professor in the school’s architecture, interior architecture, and design objects department, starting August 1. Barton is a trained architect and designer, whose practice addresses issues of race, memory, and identity, specifically as they apply to African-American communities. He also served as the editor of the anthology Sites of Memory: Perspectives on Architecture and Race. Barton will replace Elissa Tenny in the role, as she transitions to the role of the school’s president, beginning July 1. Tenny, whose promotion was announced last April, will take over from Walter E. Massey, who served as president for six years and will become the school’s chancellor. Tenny, who joined SAIC in 2010, has previously worked at Bennington College in Vermont, as provost and dean, and at the New School, in various roles for 25 years.“As an educator and designer, Craig will help to ensure our academic initiatives advance our history and values,” Tenny said in a press release. It seems that this appointment will be the first of the changes to come under Tenny’s leadership at SAIC, which is currently celebrating its 150th anniversary. 2016-04-27 14:59 Maximilíano Durón
54 Zaha Hadid contributes to crazy golf course for Trafalgar Square A Kickstarter campaign has launched to bring a crazy golf course designed by architects and designers including Tom Dixon , Paul Smith and the late Zaha Hadid to Trafalgar Square in London (+ slideshow). The organisers of the London Design Festival (LDF) are behind the crowdfunding campaign, which aims to raise £120,000 to realise the Visionary Crazy Golf during the annual design event. If achieved, this figure will be matched by sponsorship. Artist Mark Wallinger , printmaker Camille Walala , and architecture studios Atelier Bow-Wow , HAT with Tim Hunkin, NEON and Ordinary Architecture have all designed sections of the course – alongside designers Dixon and Smith, and architect Hadid. "We expect Visionary Crazy Golf to be one of the most popular festival landmark projects to date," said LDF director Ben Evans. "We're sure it will attract a varied audience, from design aficionados to small children, attracted by the invention, playfulness and creativity of the course. " The section of the course designed by Paul Smith will transform the Trafalgar Square steps into a series of brightly coloured cascading lanes with a Neo-classical clubhouse, while Zaha Hadid – who died suddenly last month – applied her characteristic undulating forms to a two-tiered range planned between the square's lion statues. Zaha Hadid Architects, which recently announced it would carry on the practice without its figurehead , described the project as a tribute to her legacy. "On 31 March, Zaha Hadid sadly passed away. Amongst many other architectural initiatives, she was involved in the design of this crazy golf hole – which so evidently reflects the organic forms for which she became so well known," said the firm. "The practice will continue, and we would like to complete this project as a memorial to her. Zaha taught us to work with curiosity, integrity, passion and determination, everyone at ZHA is committed to continuing this legacy. " Ordinary Architecture , led by former FAT architect Charles Holland and Elly Ward, has designed a hole modelled on a cross section of one of the square's famous pigeons, where the golf ball travels through the bird's digestive system. Tom Dixon 's contribution is a giant funnel-shaped hole, while Turner Prize-winner Mark Wallinger – who previously created a sculpture for the empty fourth plinth in the square – has devised a twisting maze. Atelier Bow-Wow 's design involves a bright green driving range, and HAT's proposal is for construction hoist that drops balls down a track, rewarding the most successful shots with a glass of whiskey. If the fundraising campaign is successful, the "fun, free and futuristic" crazy golf course will be installed in the square between 16 and 22 September 2016 for the London Design Festival. The installation would also overlap with the first edition of the London Design Biennale at Somerset House, which will be directed by former Icon editor Christopher Turner . Members of the public who pledge between £5 and £5,000 towards the Kickstarter fund will receive limited-edition items by the artists and designers involved. Rewards range from tote bags by Camille Walala to a round of golf with Paul Smith. 2016-04-27 14:58 Jessica Mairs
55 Curator Sara Raza's MAP Show at the Guggenheim When Sara Raza went about curating the exhibition, “ But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa ," which opens April 29 at the Guggenheim, she was looking for artwork rooted in that region as she has done for the many other shows she's organized over the past decade for a diverse array of international cultural institutions. But this one is a little different: all of the work she selected is entering the collection of the Guggenheim, in perpetuity. “We had a mandate to study what was already in the collection and then to look at what is needed," Raza told artnet News recently over lunch at a Lebanese restaurant in New York. The exhibition is the third iteration of the UBS MAP Global Art Initiative , a program anchored at New York's Guggenheim Museum and designed to diversify the museum's collection and increase exposure and access to contemporary art from culturally rich regions of the world. (The two previous MAP exhibits celebrated work from Southeast Asia and Latin America.) “It was quite a challenge to bring together a study of these places that are so complex so I wanted to be driven by ideas as my organizing principle," she said, “I didn't go country by country…. With the exception of Iran and Turkey, all of the countries featured here have gone through some form of colonial treatment in recent centuries so that is an important theme. " The exhibition explores narratives of origin, ideologies of architecture and—most timely—the politics of migration. “But a Storm" forms an intricate jigsaw puzzle, representing a fragmented and shifting geographical region, according to Raza's statement of intent. “The works explore how the past informs the present," she said, and employs a curatorial approach that “‘smuggles' certain inconvenient truths about history and memory into the realm of the exhibition, articulating the value of artistic strategies within the broader context of contemporary culture in the Middle East and North Africa. " Some inconvenient truths about history and memory can be found in an unusual installation by Beirut-born artistic duo of Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige. Their work, Latent Images (2015), which debuted at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015 and only a portion of which is in the show, comprises 354 copies of printed artists's book installed along 177 metal shelves, along with a 120-minute video. The piece plays with the process of documentation as a way to represent trauma, in particular the artists' personal experience of the civil wars in Lebanon. That work's centerpiece is a book containing rolls of film that purport to document the war years. But the film is not screened; instead, its scenes are described in writing by a fictitious photographer named Abdallah Farah who cannot contend with how Beirut has been transformed by war. (For New Yorkers, this work will surely call to mind the preoccupations of Lebanese artist Walid Raad, whose massive solo show debuted last fall at MoMA .) “Joreige and Hadjithomas were already in the collection,' said Raza, “but I wanted to show an evolution in their practice and also to support them as artists at later stages of their careers. " Another highlight is Tunis-born Nadia Kaabi-Linke's monumental Flying Carpets (2011), a suspended stainless steel grid that casts geometric shadows. It is modeled after a central bridge in Venice where undocumented migrants often Arab and African origin use rugs to display counterfeit goods for sale. Then there's Berlin-based Kader Attia's Untitled (Ghardaïa) from 2009, which renders in couscous the ancient Algerian city that inspired the architecture of Le Corbusier in the 1930s. The show also features works by Tel Aviv-born Ori Gersht; Tehran-born Abbas Akhavan; Cairo- based Hassan Khan; Beirut-born Ali Cherri; Emirati artist Mohammed Kazem; Saudi artist Ahmed Mater; Kuwaiti-born and Amman-based Ala Younis; the Cairo-born artists Susan Hefuna and Iman Issa (her sculptures at last year's Sharjah Biennale were standouts); and Tehran-born Dubai-based artist Rokni Haerizadeh whose complex 2014 work on paper lends the show its name. “This is a dream project for a curator," said Raza, a doctoral candidate at London's Royal College of Art who is at work on a book about “punk orientalism. " Raza was nominated for the two-year curatorial residency by a panel of experts including Okwui Enwezor, curator of the 57th Venice Biennale and director of Munich's Haus der Kunst, and Sam Bardaouil, who co-curated Lebanon's pavilion in the 56th Venice Biennale in 2013 and co-founded the renowned New York-based curatorial platform Art Reoriented. The exhibition, which is heavy on installations—many comprising painting, photography, sculpture, video and work on paper—has been mounted in two of the Guggenheim's “tower" galleries, rather than in the curving ramps of Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic rotunda. " All of the works in “But a Storm" were made in the last decade and tell what Raza calls “a contemporary story. " Notably, Raza made sure that artwork by women made up half the exhibit: “We wanted to keep a balance between men and women and so that ratio was a conscious decision. " As with all MAP shows, this one will travel to the focus region after its run at the Guggenheim. In 2017, it opens at the Pera Museum in Istanbul, but the context will be quite different. The Pera Museum was established by the Suna and Ínan Kıraç Foundation in what was once the famous Bristol Hotel in the historic Tepebaşı quarter of the city. “I love that city and think it's a perfect place for this show," said Raza, “because it's a crossroads of East and West and it has such a well-developed contemporary art scene. " For Raza, the most rewarding part of organizing this show has been her role in bringing geographic, political, social and art histories into the canon. “Because these works have entered the Guggenheim forever, future generations of curators are going to be working with these objects that have now transcended their geographies and will be studied on their own merit," she said. “That is the most exiting thing: to have your fingerprints all over such an important collection and on art history itself. " “But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa," is on view April 29-October 5, 2016 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York. Follow artnet News on Facebook. 2016-04-27 14:55 Laura van
56 Go Behind the Scenes of the Ramones First Tour [Photos] "When the shooting began, the four Ramones wore their leather jackets; Tommy was the first to shed his, then after a Ramones-style 8-second intermission, Dee Dee and then Johnny got into T-shirt mode for the final four songs—Joey kept his jacket on the whole time. " Danny says the song wasn't really written about him. "It originally was 'Tommy Says,'" the Ramones first manager tells me, "because he was their de facto manager in the early days, and they changed it to 'Danny Says,' but I never booked them in Idaho. " This is the kind of history lesson I get during the course of our two-and-a- half hour vodka date in the West Village: I suggest something I think I know about my all-time favorite band, and then I get the real story. "Irony is the subtitle of that band and everything in it," he does say. So I listen twice as carefully. Perhaps the most punk thing Danny Fields wants to do is set the record straight—though Fields himself would tell you he's always hated the word "punk," and in fact, very little of the story's straight. But there is some truth in objecthood: I'll always have my Ramones albums (especially now that they're on mp3), and Fields has his photographs, a collection of which now sees new light in My Ramones , Fields upcoming photo book. Out in May from First Third Books, it contains primary source records of the band's first tour, the one where Fields wasn't sending anyone to the Gem State. In the alley behind CBGB’s (where, months later, I shot the cover for Rocket To Russia). This site is no longer disgusting in the same way it was then. The alley has been scraped clean and upscaled, and is now named Extra Place, which is what it is – a new little street, on which there’s a restaurant where dinner for two can cost a thousand dollars. "It's a wonderful song," Fields admits of "Danny Says," somewhere into drink two. "It should have been a hit—it's a Phil Spector production, it's the title of of the movie... It has a life of its own. "Another irony: I didn't make a penny. " But least of all is Fields bitter. He speaks fondly of the original fourpiece and their adventures together, from London to California, pausing only to correct my research-based inaccuracies. (And my grammar; Fields was a Harvard man, after all.) Everything I swear I know about the Ramones, it seems, is only partially true. I mention Johnny Ramone's conservatism and get a groan, one that seems to have augmented over years of answering the same question: the late guitar player—and band leader—was an American second, and a thorn in your foot first. Next. The Ramones as punk originators in the United States? "London can own them. Ramones came, but it took Joe Strummer and the Pistols [...] all those bands. If it weren't for this, it would have just stagnated along, but now it blew up, and there was punk. " Ramones with Chrissie Hynde and Captain Sensible It's especially relevant today—though Fields would disagree—being that it's the year of Punk London , a very mainstream celebration of a counterculture as we know it turning 40. On July 4, Fields will speak at the British Library about the Ramones' first visit, the show said to have ignited whatever the anarchist word is for "movement. " "It’s good timing ‘cause eyes that never were on them are on them now. All the eyes and ears one would have wanted to have been on the Ramones back then, are now, because of the 4-0 big deal thing. Why not before? Who cared before? " Fields says of My Ramones coincidence with the launch. "And a bunch of the pictures sort of got famous in their own right, they were used when the occasion was right, or when a newspaper needed a picture, or something like that. So yeah, that’s why now. " Recording Ramones, the first album Though, due to poor album sales, Fields was eventually ousted in 1980, his time with the band, as documented in My Ramones , is paramount in the annals of music history, punk and beyond. A Ramones poster Fields is particularly proud of, which you can find below, sums it up best: "Ramones Get Noticed," reads its title. What follows is an assemblage of both encouragement and vitriol from those who wanted to see the Ramones succeed and those who'd have seen them pack up and go back to Queens. Over the years, many of their detractors have asked Fields to remove their negative comments, a phenomenon he finds as fascinating as it is amusing. "I can’t change history," he annuls. "I can just change the take on it, or emphasis on the irony, because people think it means something else, like Brooklyn T-shirt irony. Not that kind of irony. " Though all four original members are deceased, and what lives on does so on actual Brooklyn bodies and in stadium-sized chants of "Hey ho, let's go," perhaps that's where Johnny, Joey, Tommy, and Dee Dee were most at home, that place where Fields is eternally their manager: somewhere simultaneously always and at once in between and completely removed from whatever it is you think. Check out a selection of images from My Ramones , and their accompanying stories, below: 2016-04-27 14:25 Emerson Rosenthal
57 Refugee Crisis Captured by Liu Xiaodong in Florence Related Venues Palazzo Strozzi Artists Liu Xiaodong The culture crash that took place in the last 30 years as tens of thousands of Chinese moved to the Prato province in Tuscany is now the subject of a solo show by Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. The exhibition is displayed underneath the palazzo, in the spaces where the Contemporary Culture’s Centre “Strozzina” existed for several years and is now being absorbed into the identity of the museum under the guidance of new director Arturo Galansino). The title of the exhibition, “Migrations,” not only refers to the birth and growth of this very large Chinese community (the third biggest in Europe) in the heart of Italy, but in a wider sense speaks of many different kinds of voluntary - or forced - exile. At the center of the show, that comprises 182 drawings and photographs, 11 paintings and a video, there are two rooms devoted to the big paintings produced by Liu during his stay in Tuscany, between fall 2015 and spring 2016, when he toured the area taking hundreds of photographs of people and places. Some of the works are street scenes from the “Chinatown” series, where the Italian background contrasts with the all-Chinese population. Some others portray different geographies: migrants from Syria and Afghanistan, or the empty interiors of a Chinese factory in Prato or, more enigmaticallly, the tracks of the Italian railroad, a symbol of possibilities as much as the reminder of the distance from their countries. Crucial to the understanding of the exhibition is the 10-minute video where Liu Xiaodong, from his temporary Italian studio, explains how at first he tried to understand and portray the family lives of the Chinese migrants, and how it proved impossible: “It was difficult to gain access into any of their homes. They are unwilling to show the raw reality of their situation to their relatives. For their loved ones, they feel the need to act out the lives that people expect them to be leading. I can’t go in and upset the balance for the sake of my art. So in the end I decided to paint outdoor scenes, and a scene of a factory at work”. Among the most interesting pieces on show are the pictorial interventions on photographs (his “photopaintings”) where Liu Xiaodong modifies images of the fairytale tuscan countryside by adding minuscule figures that seem to be queueing to cross a border, of enhances the presence of the sky with delicate brushstrokes, or frames details - faces, gestures, dogs, boats - in red or purple paint. Liu also makes interesting comparisons between the lives of the European working class and the unending workdays of the immigrants: “These people spend most of their lives in factories. Their homes are just a place to sleep, nothing more. The work 20 hours a day. They’re not like the Italians, who work for a bit, then have a coffee break, then take holidays as well. All they think is working and get paid, then go back home and count their money, which is relaxation enough. We Chinese don’t really take holidays, sorry”. 2016-04-27 13:51 Pia Capelli
58 A Look at the Making of a Hybrid Living Wall Image courtesy Rollin Leonard VT Pro Design is an LA-based creative, design, and production studio with a focus on the latest technology and techniques. For FUTURE FORWARD, The Creators Project partnership with the all-new Prius, we commissioned VT Pro to create an original work inspired by the 2016 Prius’s eco-heritage. The team is concepting a “Responsive Living Wall,” an organic living sculpture that moves with you. The wall tessellation is most representative of a “hybrid” nature, driven by technology and integrated with organic materials. Using colorful light displays and custom programming, VT Pro Design builds out entire worlds for audiences to explore. From intricate set designs to projection-mapped spectaculars, the Los Angeles-based creative design studio likes it when people play with what they make. “Everything we do is about how people interact with stuff,” says Michael Fullman, creative director for VT Pro Design. That has included transporting San Diego Comic-Con International attendees to the streets of a Tokyo under attack by Godzilla or allowing visitors to the 2012 Super Bowl to immerse themselves inside a dome controlled by an Xbox Kinect. This interactivity of audience and object will take on an even greater significance in the form of a “Responsive Living Wall” that will track the motions of visitors and respond to their movements and touch. Or, as Fullman puts it, “the interaction will become a piece in itself.” Image courtesy Rollin Leonard. The wall is made green with plant life and is controlled by two planes of infrared laser scanners that read and respond to people as they approach it. The first vertical plane covers the front face of the wall and reads gesture control, interacting with users as they reach out or pull away. The second plane, which extends out on the floor in front of the user, reads the proximity of the user to the wall. The installation uses customized in-house control software that allows them to turn any flat surface into a multi-touch display. “We want to give [the wall] lifelike qualities in its interaction so being able to understand people approaching the wall is important creatively,” says Fullman. “At first it can react in a way that it reaches out closer to the user as someone gets closer to it. Or we can invert the motion and let it recoil as someone approaches quickly, then begin to reach back out.” Image courtesy VT Pro Design He says, “With this one we really wanted to see the entire piece come to life physically.” The concept piece aims to explore how an organic being, such as a sea anemone, might initially react to a human defensively, then more calmly as it becomes comfortable with the new presence. But while Fullman gives the example of the sea anemone, he explains they did not use a specific model on which to base the project, but instead “just played with ideas that we were interested in, drawing on some of the design concepts that were put in front of us and elaborating on them.” With 18 full-time employees, VT Pro Design has grown to a sizable studio, one that handles both creative and production design sides. That means not only coming up with the concepts, but managing much of the actual execution, technical design, custom programing, and coding. Currently, the VT Pro team is in the midst of building a custom motor for the “Living Wall.” Image courtesy Rollin Leonard. “It’s important for us to build these ourselves because of the specific design goal and capabilities we want them to have,” says Fullman. “Since it is such a specific range of motion we felt it would be best for us to just build them so we got the exact output that we have in mind.” Fullman describes kinetic motion as “something we’ve always been drawn to,” he points to a giant LED sculpture they collaborated with the artist GMUNK for last year. It was installed on the Santa Monica Pier, with different tracking elements in it, utilizing some of the same features that can be seen in the “Living Wall. " Says Fullman, “All the motions are intended to be fluid and organic. We want the wall to have a life of its own as it responds to [human] interaction.” Click here to learn more about VT Pro Design. 2016-04-27 13:50 The Creators
59 20 Female Artists' Perspectives on the Nude Leah Schrager. All photos courtesy of Untitled Space/Indira Cesarine It’s no secret that women artists are underrepresented in the art world, while their image, painted by the brushes of men, is one of the oldest artistic tropes. An upcoming show at Untitled Space challenges that unfair truth by presenting the work of 20 female artists depicting the female nude in an empowered, autonomous, and non-sexualized way. In the Raw: The Female Gaze on the Nude was co-curated by feminist artists Coco Dolle and Indira Cesarine. Cesarine, founder of Untitled Space and editor-in-chief of Untitled Magazine , uses her curatorial position to give platforms to female artists and feminist art. With In the Raw , she wanted to bring together multi-generational and international female artists of varying sexual orientations, working around the central theme of the female nude. Amanda Charchian “The fact that female artists throughout history have been sidelined and represented by a very small percentage in galleries and museums is something that I feel strongly about changing,” Cesarine tells The Creators Project. The show’s title is a play on “the male gaze,” a first-wave feminist term coined by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey in 1975. It refers to the tendency of images of women in film to be mediated by a masculine eye. The term also comes up in art historical discourse, where it is often discussed in terms of female nude images from the renaissance, through modernity, and into the contemporary, when artists and curators are now working to dismantle its dominance. “I think it is extremely important for women to be liberated from perceiving themselves only via the eyes of men. When you look at the history of art, television, advertising, and media in general —the image of women has always been how men wanted them to look. The imagery often presents women as a sexual object, rather than an individual with their own unique experiences, desires, feelings and emotions,” she adds. Sophia Wallace, Girls will be Bois Works in the show explore various facets of female identity, in order to help destabilize current ideas of how female bodies are represented. A key aspect, though, is the number of artists exhibited; In the Raw shows that “the female nude” means different things to different artists. “Their visual narratives are inspired by challenging notions of beauty, body image, rites of passage, female sexual desire—of how women are supposed to look and feel versus how they do look and feel inside and out,” says Cesarine. “A one-sided vision of the world is not reality.” Find out more about Indira Cesarine on her website. In the Raw: The Female Gaze on the Nude is on view at Untitled Space from May 3-21. Related: Women Get “Fresh” With Art World Sexism Nude Performance Artist Milo Moiré Makes Fine Art Calendars The Nude Succubi Photos of Alva Bernadine 2016-04-27 13:30 Alyssa Buffenstein
60 RYRA studio sculpts iranian ski resort to blend into its snow- capped mountain landscape RYRA studio sculpts iranian ski resort to blend into its snow-capped mountain landscape images courtesy RYRA studio realized by RYRA studio, this distinctive bone-like structure is the barin ski resort in shemshak, the second largest ski village in iran. originally the decision was for the scheme to be conceived as a cube; in the end, the sculptural form was manifested due to the architect’s decision of wanting the building to relate to the surrounding steep mountains. the architecture embraces its snow-covered landscape by visualizing as an iced-rock formation serving as a sanctuary after a long day of skiing; the architecture embraces its snow-covered landscape by visualizing as an iced-rock formation that appears to be windswept onto the mountainside. ‘the barin ski resort picks up on the philosophy of designing buildings so that the form emulates the immediate environment in a fluid way.’ comments farinaz nikoo of RYRA studio. the scheme rises at ten-storeys and contains 67 private rooms, all unique in size, from 45 square meter studio flats to a 270 square meter penthouse. the cave-like design of the accommodation is influenced by the exterior to form curving dome-shaped rooms, in result, enhances the feeling of warmth and a ‘cave’ setting to relax after skiing. the continuation of this design approach is continued in the communal spaces and corridors, which also have organically formed. furthermore, the pebble shaped windows offer unobstructed views of the surrounding mountain range, and making the ski resort a holistic building that complements its context. the organic form frames the landscape and beyond ‘pebble’ shaped windows and balconies look out into the snow-laden landscape there are individuals rooms, 67 in total, each in a different size and unique in shape the cavernous theme is continued all the way through the interiors 2016-04-27 13:26 Natasha Kwok
61 ISIS Destroys Mashki and Nergal Gates At Ancient Site of Ninevah The site of Nergal Gate after its destruction by ISIS. An earthmover is visible. COURTESY ASOR CULTURAL HERITAGE INITIATIVES National Geographic reports that the Mashki and Nergal Gates at the ancient site of Ninevah in Iraq have been destroyed by ISIS, according to photos obtained by the magazine. Michael Danti, a professor of archaeology at Boston University and co-director of the Cultural Heritage Initiative (CHI), which works with the State Department to record sites destroyed by ISIS, confirmed the destruction. Danti came to the conclusion after hearing of the destruction from reliable sources in Mosul as well as photos made available to the CHI, in which an earthmover stands where the Nergal Gate once stood. ISIS has moved on from the gates of Ninevah to other gates and walls inside, according to unconfirmed accounts. Though Danti hesitates offer full details, he explained to National Geographic , “[ISIS] is essentially sending a signal to the government of Iraq that if they continue with their offensive on Mosul they can expect a scorched earth policy from Islamic State, in both Mosul and the Iraq theater but also in Raqqa in the Syrian theatre.”The Iraqi army is currently in the midst of organizing an opposition to free Mosul from the rule of the Islamic State. Since June 2014 , ISIS has already destroyed a mosque dedicated to the prophet Jonah, sculptures in the Mosul museum, and Ninevah’s main libraries. 2016-04-27 13:23 Hannah Ghorashi
62 foster + partners' maggie's centre in manchester opens the foster + partners–designed maggie’s cancer centre in manchester has recently celebrated its inauguration attended by lord foster himself and the duchess of cornwall. first announced in 2014, after two years, the finalize scheme embodies the ethos of maggie centres in the UK and abroad. since 1996, maggie keswick jencks set out the blueprint for a new type of care set to create a ‘home away from home’ for people with cancer, as well as their family and friends and provide free practical, emotional and social support. foster’s scheme is focused on providing a domestic atmosphere in a garden setting foster + partner’s scheme is set in a serene garden with aims to instill a domestic atmosphere and, appropriately, is first glimpsed at the end of a tree-lined street, a short walk from the christie hospital and its leading oncology unit. a distinctive feature of the architecture is the low profile highlighted by a timber lattice canopy. this lightweight structure act as natural partitions between different internal areas, visually dissolving the architecture into the surrounding gardens. internally, the scheme combines a variety of spaces, from intimate private niches to a library, exercise rooms and places to gather. consistent to every maggie’s centre, at the heart of the building is the kitchen, which is centered on a large, communal table. meanwhile, the support offices are located on a mezzanine level positioned on top of a wide central spine, with toilets and storage spaces below, maintaining natural visual connections across the building. the greenhouse provided will be a space to grow flowers and other produce that can be used at the center throughout the space, there is a constant focus on capitalizing natural light, greenery and views of the garden outside. the rectilinear plan is punctuated by landscaped courtyards and the entire western elevation extends into a wide veranda, which is sheltered from the rain by the deep overhang of the roof. sliding glass doors open the building up to a garden setting created by dan pearson studio. the beams act as natural partitions between different internal areas, visually dissolving the architecture into the surrounding gardens each treatment and counseling room orientated on the eastern façade faces its own private garden. the south end of the building, extends to embrace a greenhouse – a celebration of light and nature – which provides a garden retreat, a space for people to gather, to work with their hands and enjoy the therapeutic qualities of nature and the outdoors. ‘I have first-hand experience of the distress of a cancer diagnosis and understand how important maggie’s centres are as a retreat offering information, sanctuary and support.’ comments lord foster ‘our aim in manchester, the city of my youth, was to create a building that is welcoming, friendly and without any of the institutional references of a hospital or health center – a light-filled, homely space where people can gather, talk or simply reflect. that is why throughout the building there is a focus on natural light, greenery and views; with a greenhouse to provide fresh flowers, and an emphasis on the therapeutic qualities of nature and the outdoors. the timber frame, helps to connect the building with the surrounding greenery – externally, this structure will be partially planted with vines, making the architecture appear to dissolve into the gardens.’ each treatment and counseling room on the eastern façade faces its own private garden a short walk from the christie hospital and its leading oncology unit lord foster and the duchess of cornwall celebrates the opening of maggie’s centre 2016-04-27 13:00 Natasha Kwok
63 Wolfgang Tillmans Designs Posters Against Brexit Related Artists Wolfgang Tillmans Earlier this month, photographer Wolfgang Tillmans converted his Berlin project space into a platform for discussion of the refugee crisis in Europe. Now, the German-born artist who rose to fame for documenting 1980s and ’90s rave subculture has designed more than two-dozen posters in opposition to “Brexit,” the United Kingdom’s proposed withdrawal from the European Union that is being put to a national vote on June 23. The signs urge Brits to register, with university students as the main target — the images are posted to the artist’s website, where they can be uploaded to social media or printed for distribution on campuses. In a letter on his website, Tillmans, who is based in London and Berlin, calls the official “Remain” campaign “lame” and “lacking in passion.” Enter his clean, quippy designs, with lines like: “If people like Rupert Murdoch, Nigel Farage, George Galloway, Nick Griffin, and Marine LePen want Britain to leave the E. U., where does that put you?” Or: “If the UK leaves Europe it may spell the end of the largest peace project in human history.” 2016-04-27 12:53 Noelle Bodick
64 artists focus on food safety for 'we are what we eat' exhibit at the united nations artists focus on food safety for 'we are what we eat' exhibit at the united nations artists focus on food safety for ‘we are what we eat’ exhibit at the united nations (above) liu bolin — ‘hiding in the city – vegetables’, 2011 archival pigment print, 46 x 59 inches (118 x 150 cm) © liu bolin, courtesy the artist and klein sun gallery we are what we eat united nations headquarters, new york april 28 to june 30, 2016 the united nations headquarters in new york regularly organizes public exhibitions that highlight important topics on the UN agenda, such as human rights, climate change, children in armed conflict, and violence against women. from april 28 to june 30, 2016, the focus is on food with a group show dedicated to global issues surrounding safe consumption. ‘we are what we eat’ features work from artists liu bolin, edward burtynsky, jim draper, pepe lópez and vik muniz, forming a diverse mix of mediums, styles and subject matters to consider. the exhibit delves into concepts linked to population and economic growth, malnutrition, free range versus farmed proteins and over consumption. liu bolin — ‘hiding in the city – puffed food’, 2011 archival pigment print, 46 x 59 inches (118 x 150 cm) © liu bolin, courtesy the artist and klein sun gallery the exhibition is developed alongside the united nations ‘sustainable development goal 2′ — an agenda that draws attention to the need for global food security through sustainable agricultural practices, as well as improved nutrition through activism and education. works such as brazilian artist vik muniz’s ‘sugar children’ series (photographs of drawings made in sugar of children, whose parents and grandparents worked on sugar plantations) and american photographer edward burtynsky’s ‘dryland farming’ series (images that depict the semi-arid agricultural region of monegros, spain) demonstrate the magnitude of our food and farming culture. other pieces presented, like chinese artist liu bolin’s ‘hiding in the city’ (body painted self-portraits camouflaged against supermarket interiors) and venezuelan artist pepe lópez’s acrylic painted baskets branded with fast food logos, highlight the consequence of corporate consumption. pepe lópez — ‘macdonalds’, 2004-2016 guapísimas, guapas baskets and acrylic paint, 39 inches (99 cm) in diameter © pepe lopez, courtesy of the artist and private collection pepe lópez — ‘starbucks’, 2004 guapísimas, guapas baskets and acrylic paint, 22 1/2 inches (57 cm) in diameter © pepe lopez, courtesy of the artist and private collection pepe lópez — ‘pepsi cola’, 2004 guapísimas, guapas baskets and acrylic paint, 23 1/2 inches (60 cm) in diameter © pepe lopez, courtesy of the artist and private collection pepe lópez — ‘dunkin donuts’, 2004 guapísimas, guapas baskets and acrylic paint,19 1/2 inches (50 cm) in diameter © pepe lopez, courtesy of the artist and private collection edward burtynsky — ‘drylands farming, monegros county, aragon, spain’, 2010 chromogenic color print, 48 x 64 inches (122 x 163 cm) © edward burtynsky, courtesy of the artist, bryce wolkowitz gallery and howard greenberg gallery vik muniz — ‘valicia bathes in sunday clothes’, 1996 gelatin silver print, 14 x 11 inches (36 x 28 cm) © vik muniz, courtesy of the artist and sikkema jenkins & co. gallery vik muniz — ‘big james sweats buckets’, 1996 gelatin silver print, 14 x 11 inches (36 x 28 cm) © vik muniz, courtesy of the artist and sikkema jenkins & co. gallery jim draper — ‘job’, 2010 serigraph, 22 x 30 inches (56 x 76 cm) © jim draper, courtesy of the artist and draper studios 2016-04-27 12:45 Nina Azzarello
65 65 Randall Wright's David Hockney Documentary Randall Wright's documentary Hockney offers a deeply personal portrait of the British artist. And yet, viewers may see less of David Hockney in action than they would expect. Related: 10 Bold and Outrageous David Hockney Quotes The focus, instead, is on the all-encompassing creative passions of one man, on both his personal struggles and triumphs. Wright has made a film that is perfect for Hockney's existing fans, but does not serve as a much- needed primer on the artist. In this way, the filmmakers seem unconcerned with establishing Hockney's career trajectory or exploring his place within the art historical canon. Instead, the BBC documentary was described by BBC controller Kim Shillinglaw as a "frank and unparalleled visual diary. " Despite its flaws, Hockney's life makes for compelling cinema. There is love, there is heartbreak, and there is tragedy (in the form of the AIDS crisis), even as career milestones are glossed over. A child of the Depression "brought up in austerity," as he himself put it, the Yorkshire-born artist moved to the US as a young man, living first in New York, and then California, where he fell in love with Los Angeles. "When I arrived here, somebody said 'why have you come to his cultural desert?'" Hockney recalled in archival footage, explaining that he was drawn to the magic of Hollywood when he was growing up. In the film's earliest moments, a friend describes the artist as "a Russian peasant, a right Boris! " It's a fitting introduction to a man who has been dying his hair platinum blonde since watching a Clairol TV ad in the 1960s that said "everybody should go blond," who has been so devoted to depicting LA in his work. Unfortunately, we couldn't tell you who described the artist so colorfully, because it's incredibly difficult to keep track of who is saying what in Hockney. Identifying title cards appear only sporadically, and never explain the speaker's relationship to the artist. You might recognize the artist Ed Ruscha , but Wright isn't about to tell you who he is, or why he's an authority on Hockney. In another scene, there's a great story about Hockney spilling ink on a college friend's parents white carpet—"Dad, we should have him sign it! It'll be worth millions in a couple of years! "—but good luck figuring out that friend's name. This approach feels diary-esque, in the way a journal keeper might refer to acquaintances by first name alone, without introductory preamble or helpful exposition. Hockney's jarringly- personal archival video footage also makes an appearance in the film, without explanation. However, Wright's incorporation of these home movies, as well as old photographs, is among the film's highlights. Adorable video of a young Hockney dancing at a college party is followed some time later by a shot of the artist walking down the hallway of his London apartment, casually stripping off his underwear to slip into the shower. When Hockney breaks up with his first love, Peter Schlesinger , his heart-wrenching sadness is captured on film, the artist lying on a waterbed, crying on the shoulder of his best friend, curator and art critic Henry Geldzahler. Hockney was also deeply affected by the AIDS crisis, which he says claimed the lives of perhaps two thirds of his friends. "When I think of all those people… New York would be different" had they not died, Hockney said. "There would be Bohemia still. " In the face of such tragedy, it was art that allowed Hockney to keep going. "The art is the thing that gives him the anchor in his life and in the the world," said one friend. The primal, almost life- giving importance that art has to David Hockney is more significant to his career than any auction record or museum retrospective. "I'm interested in ways of looking," said Hockney. "Everybody does look, it's just a matter of how hard they're willing look. " The drive to effectively communicate what he sees has pushed Hockney to explore many different means of image-making, often by finding new and unexpected uses of technology, from photos and photocopiers to HD video cameras. His current iPad paintings, for instance, were presaged by his use of the fax machine , which he once used to transmit an entire work to an exhibition in South America. There's another reason Hockney has produced such radically different series of works over the years, a friend in the film noted: "He does not want to become a machine for producing items of value. " This idea is what drives the artist, but it is unfortunate that so much of his professional life is missing from the film. Hockney is currently in limited release, and is screening in New York at the Metrograph and the Film Society Lincoln Center . Follow artnet News on Facebook. 2016-04-27 12:40 Sarah Cascone
66 Urs Fischer, a Big Fan of Going Big, Downsizes With Show at JTT on the Lower East Side The invite to Urs Fischer’s show ‘Ursula,’ which opens at JTT May 1. COURTESY JTT Last year, Urs Fischer installed the 46-foot-tall aluminum sculpture Big Clay #4 in front of New York’s Seagram Building, where it towered over Park Avenue for months. In that same space in 2011, Fischer’s 23-foot-tall Untitled (Lamp/bear) —a monumental yellow teddy bear under a lamp —forced passersby to crane their necks as they strolled into the Four Seasons. For his retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, he built a 45-foot-tall aluminum structure that greeted museum-goers in the parking lot. A press release for that show said the work appears to have been “produced by the hands of a giant.” Which is why it’s surprising that, on Sunday, he’s opening a show at the tiny storefront-sized gallery JTT, on the Lower East Side.“It just happened really naturally,” said the gallery’s owner, Jasmin Tsou, over the phone. “I was dialoguing with Urs, and I invited him to do a project here. Honestly, he’s just excited.”It’s not the first time that Fischer has graced the Lower East Side with his work. In 2014, Gagosian Gallery opened a pop-up gallery in a former Chase Bank at 104 Delancey Street, and showed cast bronze sculptures in a two-part exhibition that ran parallel to a show at that gallery’s Park & 75 space uptown. This time, however, Fischer’s breaking away from the Gagosian empire, which is something he does from time to time, as he explained in this week’s WSJ Magazine profile of Larry Gagosian.“You are not on a sports team,” he told WSJ , by way of explaining his choice to sometimes show with his original dealer, Gavin Brown. He added that while Gagosian does give you a lot of exposure, “for some things you don’t want the exposure. Why should one exclude the other?” Urs Fischer, Big Clay #4 , 2013–14, installed in front of the Seagram Building in New York. COURTESY GAGOSIAN GALLERY The single piece in the show, which is called Ursula , is based on the Aristide Maillot bronze sculpture La Rivière. Fischer’s version is made of plasticine, a material so soft it can be easily molded by hand—which, it turns out, is what Fischer intends viewers to do. “The public will be invited to take it apart—it’s super, super soft and very malleable,” Tsou said. “It’s also similar to Play-Doh, so it’s a material that a child might make.”(Speaking of children, Fischer’s wife, the designer and filmmaker Tara Subkoff, is eight months pregnant , which might account for the interest in having people mold his work like Play-Doh.)Due to this interactive feature of the work, the makeup of the sculpture will change pretty dramatically as the show goes on.“It’s in line with Urs’s interest in the transfer of material,” Tsou said. “He’s interested in this being a transformation process.”The transformation begins May 1. 2016-04-27 12:17 Nate Freeman
67 Now You Can Guard "The Wall" in Your Garage Screencaps by the author, via It appears that the universe has given us yet another new and innovative way to completely geek out over Game of Thrones. It has been said that the Great Ice Wall of Westeros was made some eight millennia ago, using magic and mundane means, according to the GOT wiki. So, what about styrofoam? Shanks FX , the PBS Digital Studios’ -repping DIY special effects squad that taught us how to create our own OG lightsaber , just released a step-by-step instructional video on how to build your own miniature Game of Thrones Wall. Before we had CGI, all the moving parts of a movie set were made by hand. Think Helms Deep, Escape From New York, even most of Hogwarts: it's all about perspective. Miniature-scale models, combined with high speed photography, or matte shots, can manipulate the viewer’s sense of gravity, height, and depth. These traditional filmmaking techniques have been superseded by CGI technology in recent years, but sometimes Shanks FX prefers to get their hands dirty. Using a heated wire sculpting tool, Joey Shanks shaves off multiple sections of two-inch EPE styrofoam panels, replicating the ‘staggered hard edges’ on the faces of real glacial ice walls. The indiscriminate patterns scraped into the surface of these styrofoam sheets play with your sense of depth, giving the model definition and generating the illusion of scale. Shanks constructs the gate into Castle Black using a section of a styrofoam cooler and an miniature infinity mirror, he then uses a floor air vent as the portcullis of the fortified entrance. He stages the cold blue tint of the Northern border using LED lights and birthday candles as torches. As for the arduous snowy climate, Shanks fans out, using white stone granules for snow and wind machines to create a similar effect to Shank FX’s 4K Sand Paintings. Check out the video below: Personally, I think it would look great in front of your fireplace or on the mantle. Head over to Shanks FX's website to check out more of their work. Related: How To Make An IRL Ghostbusters Photon Beam How to Build the First Lightsaber Ever Made How to Create Physics-Defying Illusions with Water How to Blow a Really, Really Photogenic Bubble 2016-04-27 12:15 Nathaniel Ainley
68 Tony Nominations Predictions: The Musicals Related Events Tony Awards When the Tony Award nominations are announced on Tuesday, May 3, “Hamilton,” Broadway’s biggest blockbuster in years, is likely to come away with the most. The big question will be whether it can equal or beat the total of fifteen nods, the record now held by “The Producers” and “Billy Elliot, the Musical.” Both shows went on to win the top prize, Best Musical, and you can bet the bank that “Hamilton,” already one of the most honored plays in the history of musical theater, will be similarly crowned. The suspense on June 12, when the awards are doled out on a live CBS telecast, will be not only be how many Tonys go to “Hamilton” but also in which categories might the other shows steal its thunder. Ten new musicals opened this season, with possibly another to be added on April 29. (More later on the pending decision whether “Shuffle Along” is to be considered a revival.) In the highly-coveted Best Musical category, one can reasonably expect two well-reviewed musicals associated with marquee names to join “Hamilton”: “Waitress,” with songs by Sara Bareilles, and “Bright Star,” with a book and songs by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. If that holds true, then there will be seven others to compete for the fourth and final slot — “Allegiance,” “Amazing Grace,” and “Disaster!” can probably be discounted. That would leave the Tony nominators mulling the virtues of “School of Rock,” the Andrew Lloyd Webber hit based on the Jack Black movie; “On Your Feet!” the Gloria and Emilio Estefan bio-musical with the propulsive Latin beat; “American Psycho,” the Duncan Sheik musical based on the lurid Brett Easton Ellis novel; and “Tuck Everlasting,” the whimsical musical derived from the Disney movie about the temptation of eternal life. The nominators have their work cut out for them as a strong argument can be made for each. A thumb on the scale might be in favor of Andrew Lloyd Webber, who is enjoying his first commercial success on Broadway in nearly three decades with “School of Rock.” But a propensity to vote in that direction might be complicated with a choice that will be facing the Tony administration committee concerning “Shuffle Along,” a musical that boasts some of the most stellar names both behind and in front of the footlights: Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, Brandon Victor Dixon, and Joshua Henry, with two-time Tony Award winner George C. Wolfe writing and directing, and Savion Glover, the pre-eminent tap dancer of his generation, choreographing. The producer is Scott Rudin, not only one of the most brilliant and prolific of Broadway impresarios (“The Book of Mormon”) but also one of the most cleverly tactical. It is he who has petitioned the committee for “Shuffle Along” to be considered a revival, most probably because it stands a better chance of winning the Tony Award for Best Revival than going up against “Hamilton” for Best Musical. The lavish $12 million production is based on the 1921 Eubie Blake-Noble Sissle musical, which was a milestone in Broadway history: a smash hit attracting the white downtown crowd and one of the first to play to fully integrated audiences. It also launched the careers of future icons such as Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, and Josephine Baker. The issue for the Tony administration committee is summed up in this production’s addition to the original title: “Shuffle Along, Or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed.” While the original had a thin plot about scheming politicians in fictional Jimtown, Wolfe takes a cursory look at the play itself and instead uses the phenomenon to contextualize and examine the blessings and burdens facing black entertainers of that era. “Shuffle Along” opens on Thursday, April 28, bringing the season to an official end. The reviews, especially their evaluation of Wolfe’s wholly reimagined libretto, may weigh on the committee’s decision. What’s fascinating is that even if “Shuffle Along” is ordained a revival, it will join a roster of very strong productions vying for the four slots in the Best Revival category, all of which earned positive, and in some cases rave, reviews: “The Color Purple,” “Spring Awakening,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” and “She Loves Me.” Tuesday, May 3, is shaping up to be a most revealing day for the Broadway season. 2016-04-27 11:12 Patrick Pacheco
69 Gallery Worker Pleads Guilty in Afghan Girl Theft Art studio employee Bree DeStephano pleaded guilty to stealing photographs from renowned photojournalist Steve McCurry , reports the Daily Local News. McCurry is best known for his June 1985 National Geographic cover Afghan Girl , an image of a young woman with haunting green eyes take at a refugee camp a year earlier. DeStephano was arrested in June 2015 and accused of stealing $655,000 worth of photos from McCurry. Her guilty plea included three third degree felony charges: theft, conspiracy, and criminal use of a communication facility. DeStephano confessed in an affidavit taken by Chester County Detective Martin Carbonel, the lead investigator in the case. As an employee at Steve McCurry Studio in Exton, Pennsylvania, DeStephano conspired with Brandon Donahue of Colorado's Open Shutter Gallery to sell photographs stolen from McCurry's studio. DeStephano also admitted to using the fictitious Marc German Art gallery to help create a convincing paper trail to help cover up her crimes. Donahue and DeStephano sold an unauthorized forged print of Afghan Girl print to a buyer named Dick Coplan. Afghan Girl was one of at least 28 photographs DeStephano sold through the scheme. Some 22 images still listed as missing by the gallery do not appear to have been sold through Open Shutter. McCurry still recalls taking the famous image while stationed at a refugee camp on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. He spotted Sharbat Gula, then age 12, studying in a makeshift classroom for girls, and was instantly drawn to her striking eyes. "Her shawl and the background, the colors had this wonderful harmony," McCurry recalled in 2015 interview with NPR. "All I really had to do was click the shutter. " Follow artnet News on Facebook. 2016-04-27 09:57 Sarah Cascone
70 Chicken Cup Collector Announces New Museum - artnet news Top Chinese collectors Wang Wei and Liu Yiqian have made a splash in the art world in recent years with headline-grabbing purchases including a $170.4 million Modigliani painting, and a rare porcelain "chicken cup" for $36 million. Now they are at it again, with plans to build their third museum in four years. Related: 7 Pricey Auction Purchases for Chinese Collector Liu Yiqian According to the report in the Art Newspaper , the newest institution —the Long Museum Chonquing— will be built in the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, and is the couple's first museum branch outside Shanghai. Chongqing is one of the world's biggest cities, though it it is little known outside of China. The new 10,000-square-foot museum will occupy the first three floors of a building Liu owns, known as the Guohua Financial Centre. The report says Wang initially planned to build just one museum, but that the Chinese government offered them a discount on a parcel of land. The already established Long museums include one in Pudong district, which opened in 2012, and the West Bund branch in the Xuhui district, which opened in 2014. The new Chongqing location will be dedicated to traditional Chinese art, revolutionary painting, and contemporary art, as well as art from the Sichuan region. The first exhibition planned for the space is "100 Years of Art History: 1911–2011," which will look at Chinese oil painting after the 1911 revolution. Liu is a high school dropout and former taxi driver who made a fortune in the stock market in the 1980s and '90s. Though he started by collecting Chinese calligraphy and other traditional art, he told the Financial Times this past January: "We need to collect foreign art so that our museums can be on a par with their foreign peers. " Follow artnet News on Facebook. 2016-04-27 09:56 Eileen Kinsella
71 Consumer Reports: Sydney Shen Sydney Shen. JASMINE LEE Sydney Shen is an artist living and working in New York. She recently held her first solo exhibition at Interstate Projects in Brooklyn and has been a part of group exhibitions at venues including Lock-Up International, Frankfurt; Springsteen, Baltimore; and KnowMoreGames, Brooklyn. Shen is the coauthor of Perfume Area , a book of prose published by Ambient Works. Her video game, Master’s Chambers , is available to download and play on multiple platforms. Shen’s Consumer Reports is teeming with a range of expert media choices. We are talking everything from 19th-century poetry to talk radio to ultra-contemporary video-game walkthroughs, often viewed passively at work. There is also a series of somewhat abstract eBay searches, a heavy-metal Spotify workout playlist, and plenty of time on the fast-rising Nintendo-created social- networking app Miitomo. Plus quite a bit more in this episode, below. —John Chiaverina Sunday, April 3 9:45 p.m. Get to Metrograph early to see Titicut Follies. The usher is one of the Wolfpack brothers, and I have the theater completely to myself. 1:01 a.m. Monday, April 4 10:00 a.m. Arrive at the photo studio where I work as a retoucher. I listen to WNYC until Brian Lehrer’s white guilt becomes intolerable, then switch to WQXR. Listen to the Reply All episode about the human breast milk economy as I lengthen the hems of flare jeans and transmute silver into gold. 11:16 a.m. At my job, watching stuff on your auxiliary monitor while you work is allowed within reason. I try to use this as an opportunity for la perruque , skimming video games and movies that I should see but don’t necessarily need to watch closely. Several of the YouTube gamers I subscribe to are playing Quantum Break so I put it on in the background. 11:39 a.m. Resist the urge to listen to my garbage karaoke Spotify playlist and put on Monteverdi. 12:04 p.m. Listen to my favorite karaoke song, Aerosmith’s “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing,” during a smoke break. Two strikes against impulse control. Self-shame by tweeting an account of this indignity. 1:17 p.m. Comb eBay for cheap lots of Metal hurlant magazines and Ah! Nana , the latter of which was basically the only comics publication of that sci-fi/fantasy/erotica milieu with nearly all female staff and contributors. 1:26 p.m. “Are you still considering Antique Ob/Gyn Table, Hotdog?” A message from eBay. 1:27 p.m. “Good news. You’ve got another chance to win item Museum Quality Human Child Skeleton” Another message from eBay. 1:41 p.m. Watch a walkthrough for a game called Abandoned Waste Tunnel. 1:45 p.m. Play Miitomo on my phone. Watch a “Genderbend & Multilanguage Fandub” of a scene from The Evil Within. 3:58 p.m. Listen to Arvo Pärt. 4:34 p.m. Watch a couple episodes of a walkthrough of Rule of Rose. I’m looking for the rat-on-a-stick torture scene, and also the onion sack insect torture scene, but I can’t find them so I just let it play. 6:08 p.m. On the train. It is a short ride, so I just read the part where she eats the photograph of her unrequited love so no one will ever find it even if she dies from Zuürn’s Cold Spring. Jonathan lent this book to me a couple of months ago and I have already reread it three times. It has the most brutal concluding scene. 7:15 p.m. At spin class and the instructor is playing high BPM Top 40 of course. The cooldown and stretch is to Enigma which is tight lol. After class I run on the treadmill then use the rowing machine because long bouts of cardio is the only way I can keep existential anguish at bay. I listen only to Nathan’s Metal Gym Spotify playlist when I exercise. 10:12 p.m. Play Miitomo on my phone while eating dinner. Open a package from Amazon that contains a used copy of Noon: 22nd Century by the Strugatsky brothers, and hundreds of billions of beneficial gut flora. 10:33 p.m. Respond to a few emails. Write a bit about some scents and flavors for an upcoming Perfume Area project with a certain meal replacement company. Lacking a perfume organ, I make do with the surface of my desk. I read some perfume reviews on Fragrantica. 11:52 p.m. Browse eBay again. I look at incense, carta d’Armenia, pipe organ parts, clock movements, fly-shaped ashtrays, pet coffins, coffin-shaped portable ashtrays. This is a mix of stuff I want to have and stuff that I will use in the studio. I guess a lot of that is the same stuff. Looking at eBay sometimes helps me understand why I like an object so much, because to navigate the interface well, you have to be or become familiar with the characteristics of a thing and its proximity to other things, and what that relationship is about. I add this souvenir Afghanistan ashtray to my watch list (too expensive and not quite beautiful enough to impulse buy) with the intention of emailing the seller after a few weeks with an offer they can’t refuse. Tuesday, April 7 10:03 a.m. Get to work. Listen to WNYC, followed by WQXR, and Reply All. Read about the Panama Papers. 10:47 a.m. I put on King Hu’s wuxia epic, A Touch of Zen. 12:02 p.m. Check the Met Opera rush tickets page. 12:08 p.m. Check schedules for the week for various movie theaters and add screenings of interest to my calendar. Looking back on last month, I saw eight movies in theaters. 2:45 p.m. Watch The Walking Dead season finale. It is underwhelming and the cliffhanger is hamfisted. IMHO. 2:49 p.m. Stuff saved on my work desktop. 3:22 p.m. I compose a tweet: “lay your grasp upon my cloak.” I save it to my drafts. 3:34 p.m. Skip around on walkthroughs of Slender: The Arrival , Layers of Fear , The Evil Within: The Consequence DLC , Silent Hill: Alchemellia, Firewatch. I’m not really paying attention though and am intermittently startled by the gamers’ screams. None of these games are really that interesting. I’m still chasing the high that I felt watching PewDiePie play The Last of Us , which kept me looking forward to going to work every day in the summer of 2013… 4:51 p.m. Someone’s YouTube avatar. 5:29 p.m. Put on a walkthrough of DreadOut: Keepers of the Dark. Actually looking forward to watching this, because DreadOut Acts 1 and 2 were so good (kind of like Fatal Frame —schoolgirl exorcising ghosts with a camera as her weapon). 5:52 p.m. I am one of two people to like a pic of a dog’s dick on Instagram. 6:11 p.m. Read House of Incest by Anaïs Nin on the train. 7:15 p.m. Listen to Metal Gym at the gym. 10:24 p.m. This is the last photo saved on my phone. it’s a wreath made of diapers. 11:21 p.m. My request for membership to the closed Facebook group “The Serious Wet Specimen Collectors Buyers And Sellers Group” is approved. I look at some recent posts. There is a woman selling octopus carcasses encased in glass globes. Another member hawks “humanely obtained” pyrenees paws… 11:23 p.m. Wednesday, April 6 10:00 a.m. Last day of work for the week. WNYC, WQXR, Reply All. 11:36 a.m. Update my Peach for the first time with found fanart of anthro Stephano chained to a wall. I especially appreciate the small trickle of blood down his chin in the rendering. Stephano is the name given by PewDiePie to a small gold statue of a kneeling man in Amnesia: The Dark Descent. He is a popular subject of PewDiePie fanfiction, along with Barrel, Piggeh, and Chair. 12:03 p.m. Skim my saved eBay searches. No new listings for “Schwein (Bindenverbände,Wandkarte,Rollkarte,lehrkarte,schulwandkarte,schulkarte),” but there are three for “real human leg.” 3:38 p.m. Look through the Posey medical restraints catalog on my phone. Put on a Spotify playlist that I’m using to compile and organize parts of a mixtape for Mixed Media. 7:07 p.m. Walk to Clara’s, buy white tulips on the way, and continue listening to the Mixed Media playlist. 7:30 p.m. Arrive at Clara’s. We order dinner, and watch several episodes of The Heart, She Holler and Strangers with Candy. I love this scene with dozens of Big Mouth Billy Basses singing in unison. Also, this scene where Hambrosia Heartshe has maniacally covered everything in the jail with crochet. 10:35 p.m. Back home, I watch Kwaidan , a collection of five supernatural Japanese tales. My favorite is Hoichi the Earless , about a blind virtuosic biwa player, who becomes possessed by the very subjects of his most tragic song. Priests paint Hoichi’s entire body with characters of the Heart Sutra to conceal him from the spirits that visit him nightly. But they forget to paint his ears… hence his sobriquet. This moment of the ears floating over the biwa: 12:04 a.m. Make my own Stephano fan art with the found fan art from earlier. I use Line Camera to edit the photo with my Miitomo likeness as his captor. I post it to Instagram and a different version of it to Peach. 12:16 a.m. Consider changing my Peach handle to official_stephano. 1:48 a.m. Play Miitomo. 3:17 a.m. I wake up and can’t tell if the wailing is a movie or in my head. Thursday, April 7 9:16 a.m. I am roused by a succession of alarms. 9:20 a.m. Get ready, put on water for the coffee, drink two glasses of water, and rotate the plants. Check Miitomo and post more of both found and my own Stephano fan art to Peach and Instagram. In the latest iteration, I am the captive. 10:12 a.m. Smoke a cigarette, drink coffee, and read Pasolini’s poems Reality and A Desperate Vitality on the fire escape. 11:16 a.m. Read the entries for Salvatore Quasimodo, Deborah Kerr, and the word “threnody” on Wikipedia. 11:28 a.m. Order a collar on Etsy. 11:31 a.m. I buy the “raggedy dress” with my hard- earned coins for my Miitomo character. I wear it with my steampunk top hat and striped tights. 11:46 a.m. Send two birthday texts. Answer emails about some projects and an upcoming studio visit. Check Miitomo. 12:00 p.m. It’s Studio Time! I look at solar-powered bobble heads, search free 3-D libraries, write, and make some mock-ups. I search online Pepakura libraries for lace-up boots and find instead paper models for an old stone well and a hearse. 2:47 p.m. I change my Peach handle to “official_stephano.” Post Stephano fanart to Peach. The foundation image is if PewDiePie and Stephano switched places. 2:51 p.m. 2:51 p.m. I unsubscribe from the Steinway & Sons e-mail newsletter. 2:55 p.m. I am rapidly losing focus. I clean my extremely messy desk and come across the business card of a person who I talked with about Controlled Bleeding, when Adriana and I DJ’d at the Ace Hotel last weekend (lol). One cool thing is that he played in a band with Otomo Yoshihide, but that’s about it. I also realize that he wrote “I Love You” on the card so I throw it in the trash can. 4:46 p.m. Studio Fatigue has completely set in after a mere 4.75 hours and I can no longer work. I am feeling rather agitated, in fact. I go on a run and listen to the Metal Gym Spotify playlist. I take my short route which is just a straight shot north on Woodward Ave. Both the short and the long routes involve traversing cemetery grounds, which “““feels some kind of way””” when you are listening to Convulse or Obituary. 5:25 p.m. Arrive back home. I was going to go back to the studio, but have not met my procrastination quota for the day and go to the gym instead. 5:40 p.m. At the gym. Lift the lightest free weights, go to spin class mostly to listen to Rihanna, listen to the Metal Gym playlist yet again while rowing the agony of existence away! 7:45 p.m. Leave the gym and walk home. I keep my headphones on even though my phone is dead by now. In a fugue state, I enter the close-out discount store Telco and browse the racks for a red camo mesh exercise tank that was on display in the window but find only ruched polyester and graphic tees. 10:24 p.m. I impulse buy used books (an anthology of poetry by Mallarmé, and I, Pierre Riviére, having slaughtered my mother, my sister, and my brother: A Case of Parricide in the 19th Century ) on Amazon, and a dual-compartment dog bowl to serve houseguests with. 10:30 p.m. Browse eBay for a while. I look in vain for the perfect simulated python trench, and copies of the defunct Japanese BDSM magazine S&M Sniper. Search for a Vox humana organ stop button, but mostly find loose buttons for other stops, most frequently, something called hautbois. Oh, it is French for oboe. Look it up and find this image: 10:34 p.m. Look up “cleaver massage” on YouTube. This video has 61 views, which is a good sign. Wow, it’s so much better than I expected.: 11:00 p.m. Read Hawthorne’s short story Rappaccini’s Daughter from an anthology of horror stories about plants, and flip through old copies of Skin Two magazine, while sending screenshots of SCP: Containment Breach fanart to Adriana. 11:25 p.m. I tweet: I want a slenderman airbrushed t-shirt. 1:05 a.m. I update my tumblr for the first time since Nov 21 with this screenshot. Reminded of things that I haven’t done since November, I look at the draft from my first attempt at a Consumer Report (full disclosure: this is like my fourth attempt…), probably one of my biggest abuses of the patience of others. This is the best part: Friday, April 8 8:20 a.m. Wake up before my alarms. Listen to WQXR, make breakfast, and read two short stories from Mishima’s Death in Midsummer. I have three copies of this book and keep them all together on the bookshelf to confuse guests. The explanation is not an interesting one, though: One of them I bought, the other two belonged to exes. I read from the most worn copy. I think this is the one that is actually mine. Pay bills, do stuff around the house, answer emails. 9:19 a.m. Tweet: God Shelf 9:30 a.m. You can go to Buddhist Hell for eating meat. You can also go to Buddhist Hell for not returning borrowed books! 12:00 p.m. Somehow it’s noon already. I have lunch and read that Devin Kenny / Hito Steyerl interview. Read an interview with the makers of the game Soma (same studio as Amnesia) and an article on the six principal modes of documentary filmmaking. I was going to go to the studio……but I dawdled for too long and now I have to go to a doctor appointment. 2:00 p.m. Listen to Robert Greenberg’s How To Listen To And Understand Great Music classes on classical music that Libby recommended (today’s lecture: The Middle Ages) while walking over the Williamsburg Bridge into Chinatown to the appointment. On the way there, I buy tickets at Metrograph for tonight’s screening of The Blade. 4:30 p.m. Walking down Bowery. I kind of want to go back to the Anri Sala show again just to listen to Ravel in an anechoic chamber. That’s probably why I subconsciously put on his piano concerto for the left hand. See three shows: Valerie Keane at Lomex, Chadwick Rantanen at Essex Street, and Sojourner Truth Parsons at Tomorrow. 4:49 p.m. I tweet: First Chair 5:57 p.m. Get on the train. Listen to Scriabin, Broken Social Scene lol, and reread that NY Times article about Martha Stewart’s skincare routine. 6:12 p.m. I google “snail hole” to find a good caption for a Venmo transaction. 8:20 p.m. On the train back to Chinatown to meet Jasmine, Mark, Kaela, and Travess to see The Blade. I begin to read Maggie Lee interviewed by Wendy Yao in Artforum , but it makes me emotional, so I actually have to stop. Skim some things saved to my Pocket app: How To Avoid Being an Ita, and the wikipedia articles for: Macarthur Genius lolol, List of Rocks on Mars (there is one named Spongebob Squarepants), Sir Dystic d’Arcy. 9:40 p.m. We arrive at the theater. The Wolfpack usher isn’t there today. The Blade is insanely good. I run into someone I haven’t seen in nearly five years. 12:27 a.m. On the train home. I listen to Benjamin Britten’s Friday Afternoons collection of songs sung by a boy choir. I think about castrati. I lapse into my favorite reverie, that is, a fantasy about being a highborn lady in dynastic China, or perhaps a demi-god in Legendary Times, imprisoned for an eternity in a pagoda, with my court of ladies in waiting and eunuchs. 12:36 a.m. I search Reddit for “snail immortality” to find a good caption for a Venmo transaction. 1:11 a.m. 1:15 a.m. Something reminds me of the souvenir ashtray with the tarantula preserved inside of it. I look it up on eBay but am surprised to find that someone actually bought it. That’s OK, though, because now the seller has another listing up for a similar but vastly superior object—this one, with a pair of scorpions trapped inside. I add it to my watchlist. 2016-04-27 09:30 The Editors
72 Morning Links: ‘Lemonade’ Edition COURTESY HBO LEMONADE An interview with Laolu Senbanjo, the Nigerian artist behind the Yoruba body art in Beyoncé’s newly released visual album, Lemonade. [ABC] PROFILES Ahead of the opening of Gagosian Gallery’s SF outpost, the Wall Street Journal profiles Larry Gagosian. [The Wall Street Journal] Who is Andrew Bolton, curator of the Met’s Costume Institute? A new documentary digs deep. [The Chicago Herald] According to the head of Italy’s National Committee for the Promotion of Historic and Cultural Heritage, Leonardo da Vinci apparently used both male and female subjects when painting the Mona Lisa. [AOL] CUSTOMER SERVICE Auction houses are spending millions to “sweeten deals” for collectors behind the scenes. [Bloomberg] The Broad Museum has improved its ticketing system. [L. A. Times] MOSCOW “Why Moscow Has Suddenly Been Filled With Tacky, Terrible Art.” [The New Yorker] BERLIN Laura Lamiel at Silberkuppe in Berlin. [Contemporary Art Daily] 2016-04-27 08:54 The Editors
73 Off Vendome Gives Frieze a Run for Its Money- Frieze Week in New York is just around the corner, which means that hoards of international collectors and art lovers will be flocking to the big white tent on Randall's Island, including (fingers crossed), Leonardo DiCaprio. But while the city's art folks hustle over to the Frieze ferry, New York-based dealer Matt Moravec from Off Vendome is inviting five galleries to put on a show at his "off" Chelsea space. The network of galleries include New York-based Real Fine Arts and Bridget Donahue , Düsseldorf-based Galerie Max Mayer , London-based Chewday's , and Los Angeles-based Jenny's , all of which are in Moravec's circle. "I invited galleries that I felt would benefit most from something of this nature, peers that are showing a high caliber of art and are not overly commercially driven. " Moravec first opened his gallery in Düsseldorf in 2013, and one can expect a heavy mix of North American and German artists on view, including the likes of Lena Henke, Mathis Gasser, Melanie Gilligan, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Jessi Reaves, Andrei Koschmieder, and Sam Pulitzer. The up-and-coming dealer hopes to offer collectors "something totally different than a fair. " While fairs provide young galleries exposure to international collectors, sales are what count at the end of the day. And for a young gallery, the fee to enter into a fair is prohibitively high, with most sales barely covering costs. Off Vendome's gallery share will "be more amenable to hanging out," says Moravec. Participating galleries won't have to pay a fee, which means "less pressure on [them] [to bring] explicitly salable work. " He hopes this model will "offer more freedom in terms of presentation," and as a result, in terms of consumption. Moravec is aware collectors buying from the participating galleries are a small but distinct group, which is exactly how he wants to keep it. "I'm hoping to pull quality, not just quantity, of visitors. " As for repeating the model in the future, Moravec told artnet News he doesn't have specific plans. But as fairs become increasingly more expensive he hopes "more gallerists look for alternative models using their existing infrastructures. " "Gallery Share" at Off Vendome opens May 5 – 8, 2016 in New York at 254 W 23rd Street. 2016-04-27 08:35 Christie Chu
74 Gallery Weekend Returns to Berlin for its 12th Edition Related Events Berlin Gallery Weekend Venues Gallery Weekend Berlin Artists Tomas Saraceno Hanne Darboven Carsten Nicolai Tobias Rehberger Berlin Gallery Weekend, the annual spring highlight in the German capital, is bound to create a buzz this year, with 54 participating galleries in the official program (see our slideshow for a comprehensive guide to the 2016 edition), as well as a plethora of related events. In an interview with German broadcaster rbb, Gallery Weekend director Maike Cruse recently called Berlin the most relevant gallery hub in the world. Known to attract many international visitors every year, the spring art fest certainly generates an abundance of shows and satellite events that bear witness to the city’s pride in its creative scenes and projects. Highlights this year include a large Tómas Saraceno installation at Esther Schipper, solo and group shows by German blue chips artists from Hanne Darboven to Tobias Rehberger , Wolfgang Tilmanns, and Carsten Nicolai , as well as the introduction of new art spaces all over town, among them CFA’s second branch in West Berlin’s Charlottenburg district, Nagel Draxler’s new space “Kabinett”, and Johann König’s St Agnes Art Church garden, which will be open to the public for the first time. Various institutions are presenting special events during Gallery Weekend 2016: Ellen Blumenstein, the parting director of KW Kunstwerke Institute for Contemporary Art, will end her farewell exhibition “Secret Surface” with the 12-hour performance program “Sunrise Sunset”, curated by Catherine Wood and Adela Yawitz. Meanwhile former art dealer and art collector Désiré Feuerle is offering a sneak preview of his Feuerle Collection (Hallesches Ufer 70, open daily from April 29 – May 7), which will also serve as one of the locations for the 9th Berlin Biennale later this year, before officially opening as a new private museum in the autumn. Christian Boros, Arthur de Ganay, the Haubrok Foundation, and the me Collectors Room will also open their doors once again, offering access to established Berlin collections. Schinkel Pavillon presents works by Adam Lindner and Shahryar Nashat, Künstlerhaus Bethanien is showcasing the art of Falkenrot laureate Gregor Hildebrandt, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt is staging a talk with art historian Antonia Majaca and media philosopher Luciana Parisi among its many offerings. Museum exhibition highlights running concurrently with Gallery Weekend include “Artist of the Year” Basim Magdy’s solo show at Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle; photographs by Stephen Shore and Hans Peter Feldmann at C/O Berlin, Erwin Wurm at Berlinische Galerie; Julian Rosefeldt’s manifesto project with Cate Blanchett at Hamburger Bahnhof; Isa Genzken and Günter Brus at Martin-Gropius-Bau; “Demopolis”, a show dedicated to public space and architecture at Akademie der Künste, and a large survey of architect Jürgen Mayer H’s work at Haus am Waldsee. Also worth checking out: “Sweat Shop“, an interactive project by local contemporary artists who have announced plans to lock themselves into a room with a large display window to produce art under sweat shop conditions; and, though not strictly artsy, “Forgotten City – Deir Ezzor” at Deutsche Kinemathek Filmmuseum, featuring a documentary by Hayyan Al-Yousouf about everyday life in his eponymous Syrian hometown from 2011–14, while militias of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) fought against government troops. See a comprehensive guide to the 54 participating galleries’ exhibitions in the slideshow. 2016-04-27 07:14 BLOUIN ARTINFO
75 Anish Kapoor on His Collab with Carsten Höller Yesterday, tickets for the world's longest and tallest slide—an attraction that combines the talents of two of the most popular visual artists today, Anish Kapoor and Carsten Höller — went up for sale ahead of its opening to the public on June 24. Höller's 178-meter-long spiraling slide is being fitted over Kapoor's ArcelorMittal Orbit tower in London's Olympic Park—which, when completed in 2012 at a cost of £19 million ($27 million), became the UK's tallest public artwork. However, during a visit alongside Höller to review progress on the construction works yesterday, Kapoor revealed that he was resistant to the idea at first, and that the revamp project was “foisted" upon him by London mayor Boris Johnson with the goal of making the tower more profitable, the Guardian reports . Several media reports suggest that Johnson might have had good reasons to rethink the commercial strategy of the attraction. After the 2012 Olympic Games, the Orbit tower was used as an observation tower, running at a loss of £520,000 in 2014-15, according to the BBC —or losing up to £10,000 a week in 2014, according to the Guardian . But Kapoor has said that Johnson's request “felt to me as if it was turning the whole thing in the wrong direction. " “It was not always my thinking. The mayor foisted this on the project and there was a moment where I had to make a decision—do I go to battle with the mayor or is there a more elegant or astute way through this?," he told the Guardian. “I knew of Carsten's work so I thought, well, who better than a fellow artist to join up with and make this a positive story rather than a negative … Luckily, and thankfully, Carsten was open to it, so we found a way round this," Kapoor explained. Judging by the unforgettable success of Höller's slide installation at Tate Modern's Turbine Hall 10 years ago, it's easy to imagine what made Kapoor click and extend the invitation to the Belgian-born Stockholm-based artist. With adult tickets costing £15–17 ($21–24) to visit the tower and go down the slide, the attraction will surely be entering a more profitable phase, although Kapoor told reporters he wished the entrance fee “was cheaper, frankly. " “One makes artworks for other reasons than profit," he told the Guardian. “I understand this is run as a so-called attraction, which I have problems with personally … I want it to be slightly more highbrow than that, without wanting to be pompous about it. There's a difference between a fairground ride and art," he added. Höller, meanwhile, took a more lighthearted approach, urging people to embrace “the amusement side of it. " “A child might be here purely for the slide, while the serious art lover might see this in purely formalistic terms. I personally like the confusion, that you don't know what it is but it still creates a very unique experience," he told the Guardian. The ever-opinionated Kapoor, though, also seized the moment to make a pro-Europe plea , when asked whether he would vote for the UK to stay in the EU in the upcoming referendum. "Most certainly, this is a good European collaboration between the two of us," he said, while pointing at Höller, the Belfast Telegraph reports . “[Leaving Europe] will certainly have an effect on our ability, outside of Europe, to make projects like this, so we pray and hope and work to stay in. " “We are hoping Boris [Jonhson] will be the first one down, and that this will still be Europe when he gets to the bottom," he wittily remarked, alluding to the referendum's date, June 23, just a day the before the slide opens to the public. Follow artnet News on Facebook. 2016-04-27 07:09 Lorena Muñoz
76 Russian Dissident Artist Refuses to End Trial Russian dissident artist Pyotr Pavlensky, who's currently facing different trials for two separate anti-government performances, has rejected the court's proposal to drop the criminal charges against him in a case from 2014, Radio Free Europe reports. Pavlensky was charged with vandalism for the 2014 performance Freedom , which involved burning tires in downtown St. Petersburg and expressing support for anti-Russian protesters in the Ukraine. At the time, he was potentially facing up to three years behind bars for holding the pro-Ukrainian protest. According to his lawyer, Dmitry Dinze, a judge at the St. Petersburg city court yesterday suggested to close the case as too much time had passed. "I spoke with my client before the meeting, he was against the closure of the case. We have witnesses, they need to be questioned," Dinze is quoted as saying by the Moscow Times. During his interrogation, Pavlensky performed his perhaps most radical act to date: making his interrogator flip. After spending just over four months interacting with Pavlensky in 2014, the young investigator Pavel Yasman quit his job at Russia's Investigative Committee and began preparing to become a lawyer. At a court hearing in the vandalism case in July 2015, Pavlensky even called Yasman to testify in his own defense. At the time, Pavlensky's lawyer Dinze—himself a former investigator—said that Yasman's transformation was not unique. "The system is completely corrupt at present and many people do not want to be a part of it," he said. Meanwhile, another trial against Pavlensky opens tomorrow, April 28. The artist was arrested again for vandalism in November 2015 for the performance Threat: Lubyanka's Burning Door , which involved setting fire to the doors of the Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters in Moscow. The agency is housed in the former offices of its successor, the Soviet Union's KGB. Pavlensky remained in custody from the time of his arrest until April 6, and was transferred in January from jail to a psychiatric hospital for an evaluation. The criminal charges against him were later changed from “ideologically motivated vandalism" to “damaging a cultural heritage site," which carry the same maximum sentence of three years in prison. However, the radical artist demanded that he be charged with terrorism. According to the Moscow Times , the artist appealed his detention with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) earlier this month, claiming his arrest was excessive considering he wasn't hiding from law enforcement officials and did not hurt anyone with his performance. "Pavlensky is not responsible if the police or the FSB disapprove of his artistic work," the complaint reads. The dissident artist has gained notoriety in the last few years with a slew of extreme political performances that included nailing his scrotum to the cobblestones of Moscow's Red Square, cutting off his earlobe while sitting naked of the roof of the infamous Serbsky psychiatric hospital, and sewing his lips shut in support of Pussy Riot . His door-burning performance Threat was later nominated in the visual art category for the state-funded Innovatsiya (Innovation) Prize. His nomination was rejected by the organizers, which led to protests from the jury, and the subsequent cancellation of the award in February. Follow artnet News on Facebook. 2016-04-27 07:08 Hili Perlson
Total 76 articles. Created at 2016-04-28 06:03