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29 articles, 2016-05-15 00:01 1 Remembering Martin Friedman (1925–2016) — Magazine — (1.03/2) Walker Art Center Martin Friedman, the director of the Walker Art Center from 1961 to 1990, passed away May 9, 2016, at age 90... 2016-05-14 11:31 15KB www.walkerart.org 2 2016 Cannes Film Festival: Chopard Toasts Green Carpet Collection The yacht party, hosted by Colin and Livia Firth, drew Harvey Weinstein and Calu Rivero. (0.01/2) 2016-05-14 17:56 2KB wwd.com 3 joão teixeira sustainable surf design with amorim cork following thorough development and material explorations, a surfboard of expanded cork and flax fiber with wooden fins was realized. 2016-05-14 21:30 1KB www.designboom.com 4 kikkawa architects opens house in atsugi to the japanese countryside kikkawa architects have re-built a contemporary farmhouse in the countryside. 2016-05-14 18:15 1KB www.designboom.com 5 Pharrell on Adidas Collab, Street Style and the Importance of Staying Curious The multihyphenate artist talked about his collaboration with Adidas Originals and where he finds inspiration for everything from style to music. 2016-05-14 17:17 4KB wwd.com 6 Affable Experimentation: Steve Lehman Octet at the Walker To spark discussion, the Walker invites Twin Cities artists and critics to write overnight reviews of our performances. The ongoing Re:View series shares a diverse array of independent voices and opi... 2016-05-14 18:23 935Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 7 klaas kuiken's uses a lost-foam casting technique to mould EPS collection the 'EPS' collection created by klaas kuiken consists of wood stoves and clocks which all use a lost-foam coating technique. 2016-05-14 15:30 2KB www.designboom.com 8 Second Thoughts: Fred Sandback and the Virtual Line How does an exhibition accrete meaning, gain relevance, or shift shape over time? In the 2016-05-14 18:23 858Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 9 Artists Installing: Lee Kit Hong Kong artist Lee Kit spent the past two-and-a-half weeks in the gallery working on his site-specific installation for his first solo museum exhibition in the US, Lee Kit: Hold your breath, dance... 2016-05-14 18:23 835Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 10 Listening Mix: Devendra Banhart & Friends LISTENING MIX provides a musical preview for artists visiting the Walker. Combining their work with sounds from a variety of contextual sources, LISTENING MIX can be experienced before or after a pe... 2016-05-14 16:04 941Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 11 Decades Later, HouseSpecial Is Still "Animation for the Masses" Talking to the animation house behind 20 years of M&M’s commercials. 2016-05-14 13:00 5KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com

12 Dramatic Black-and-White Collages Appropriate Appropriation Art One artist's attempt to take on Richard Prince reveals the two faces of appropriation art. 2016-05-14 12:55 10KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 13 Honest Nudes Highlight the Beauty in Every Body Aleah Chapin renders empathetic portraits that explore aging and gender identity. 2016-05-14 12:50 3KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 14 An Artist Is Making Portraits the Blind Can “See” with Their Hands Andrew Myers and Cantor Fine Art Gallery teamed up to paint a tactile portrait of blind artist George Wurtzel. 2016-05-14 12:45 4KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 15 Colorful Drone Photos Take You Soaring Over Hong Kong Andy Yeung captures sublime photos of one of the world’s most dense cities. 2016-05-14 12:40 2KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 16 Breaking the Traditions of Ceramics, One Dick at a Time | Art Scout Sydney-based artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran explores phallus worship using clay, and last year won Australia's most prestigious ceramics prize. 2016-05-14 12:35 4KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 17 Explore A Van Gogh-Styled Google Map This interactive visualization uses textures taken from actual van Gogh paintings to imagine a more artful globe. 2016-05-14 12:30 2KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 18 peugeot design lab's solar charging station propels electric mobility into local cityscape the lattice structure by peugeot design lab accommodates 150 square meter solar panels in a canopy form, while the flared bases smoothly integrate the charging points and electricity storage batteries. 2016-05-14 12:15 1KB www.designboom.com 19 Break into a Museum with a Robot at Night 'After Dark' is a project where controllable robots roam an art space after dark. 2016-05-14 12:15 2KB thecreatorsproject.vice.com 20 What is a Contemporary Collection? Thoughts on the Walker Moving Image Commissions and the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection The Walker Moving Image Commissions is an online series in which five artists responded to selections from the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection. Premiered in the Walker Cinema and released for a... 2016-05-14 11:20 1KB blogs.walkerart.org 21 2016 American Package Design Awards Makers, sellers and marketers are challenged as never before to convey the message, promote the brand, close the deal. Think fragmented... 2016-05-14 11:10 1KB gdusa.com 22 united states pavilion presents 'the architectural imagination' at venice architecture biennale the exhibition showcases the exploration of four sites in detroit, michigan and the result sees 12 projects on display by 22 american architects. 2016-05-14 08:30 4KB www.designboom.com 23 Future of Sustainability Shapes Up at Copenhagen Fashion Summit Key themes were collaboration, innovation, and education at the event that drew 1,250 fashion industry delegates 2016-05-14 08:15 7KB wwd.com

24 Sonic Youth visits the Walker Before they headed to the Minnesota State Fair last night for a rain-soaked concert with the Magic Numbers and The Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth stopped by for a tour of the Walker galleries with Perform... 2016-05-14 10:02 789Bytes blogs.walkerart.org 25 Review: Imran Qureshi at the Barbican Centre From within the recesses of the Barbican’s dark 90-meter Curve, Qureshi’s luminous miniatures lure viewers to a personal contemplation of contemporary events. 2016-05-14 08:00 2KB www.blouinartinfo.com 26 The Week in Art: High Fashion at El Museo From the Moth Ball and the El Museo del Barrio Gala at the Plaza to the Storefront for Art and Architecture's retro-inspired gala at JFK, it was a busy week 2016-05-14 07:01 6KB news.artnet.com 27 Datebook: arteBA Returns to Buenos Aires for Its 25th Edition The fair runs May 19 through 22 at La Rural convention center. 2016-05-14 07:00 1KB www.blouinartinfo.com 28 soft blown glass meets hard metal plates for harry allen esque lighting series harry allen and esque studio have collaborated on the 'harry allen esque' lighting series presented at heller gallery during new york design week 2016. 2016-05-14 04:15 2KB www.designboom.com 29 nir meiri's angelic florence vases expel a heavenly aura nir meiri's 'florence' vases feature a tubular form with a shallow basin top which frames the bouquet of flowers contained within. 2016-05-14 01:30 1KB www.designboom.com Articles

29 articles, 2016-05-15 00:01

1 Remembering Martin Friedman (1925–2016) — Magazine — Walker Art Center (1.03/2) Martin Friedman, the director of the Walker Art Center from 1961 to 1990, passed away May 9, 2016, at age 90. In commemoration of his pivotal role in shaping the Walker’s values, vision, and future, curator Joan Rothfuss shares her perspective on Friedman’s life and legacy. When I first met Martin Friedman, I didn’t realize that, in a sense, I already knew him. I had moved to Minnesota in 1974 to attend the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. I’d come from Dayton, Ohio, which had no contemporary art museum, so the Walker was a revelation for me. On one of my first visits, I encountered Robert Irwin putting the finishing touches on a scrim and light installation. Out of practically nothing, it seemed, Irwin had made light feel palpable—a near magical feat that stopped me in my tracks. In 1978, I was dazzled by Noguchi’s Imaginary Landscapes , a gorgeous exhibition that introduced me to an artist whose practice ranged from studio sculpture, lamps, and tables to décor for dance and designs for urban parks and playgrounds. I spent some of my meager student dollars to buy a copy of the show’s catalogue, which is still on my shelf, now well thumbed. In 1979, I was in the audience for the world premiere of Trisha Brown’s Glacial Decoy , which was danced in front of a shifting photographic backdrop designed by Robert Rauschenberg. And in 1983, I splurged on tickets for the opening of Hockney Paints the Stage. I was by then out of college and working as a freelance theater set designer, and Hockney’s re-creations of his designs for the opera both enchanted and inspired me. It wasn’t until 1988, when Martin asked me during a job interview to talk about my favorite Walker moments, that I learned he had been behind them all. During his 31 years at the Walker, Martin, as most everyone called him, conjured memorable moments for hundreds of thousands of visitors. Under his leadership, the Walker presented the best in contemporary painting, sculpture, dance, music, film, and performance; brought dozens of artists to the region for commissions, residencies, lectures, and performances; and nurtured a generation of collectors and arts patrons who continue to vigorously support the Walker and other local arts institutions. Martin oversaw the construction of a new building and developed a beloved new public space, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. It is, in fact, hard to overstate his contribution to the quality of cultural life in the Twin Cities, although he himself gave much of the credit to the traditions and aspirations of his audience. “In Minneapolis, the great mass of the public is tolerant and interested, and there is a layer, an informed intellectual layer, we could look to,” he said. “I came on the scene at a propitious time.” Martin Friedman arrived in Minneapolis in 1958 after being recruited by Walker director H. Harvard Arnason for a curatorial post. At the time, Martin was just finishing a fellowship at the Musée royal du Congo Belge (now the Musée royal de l’Afrique central) near Brussels. He had studied art history at UCLA and become deeply interested in what was then called primitive art; in Brussels, he immersed himself in the museum’s holdings of African art, later publishing several scholarly papers on objects in the collection. African sculpture, in particular, remained a lifelong passion. When I met him, he still had a large, rather intimidating Senufo mask from Ivory Coast on display in his office. But by the time Arnason called in 1958, Martin already knew that contemporary art was his true vocation. Although he had no curatorial experience when he arrived at the Walker, Martin distinguished himself immediately. His first major exhibition, School of Paris 1959: The Internationals (1959), presented new work by eight abstract painters based in Paris. This was followed by The Precisionist View in American Art (1960), which looked at homegrown painters who worked in pared-down, semi-abstract styles, including Ralston Crawford, Stuart Davis, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Charles Sheeler. The show earned high praise from the critic Hilton Kramer, who pronounced it an eye-opening reassessment that “significantly altered our perspective on American art between the two World Wars.” Martin was at work on his next big project, a survey of new art from Brazil, when Arnason announced that he was leaving the Walker for a post at the Guggenheim Museum. Martin was appointed his successor, and he became, at 36 years of age, one of the youngest museum directors in the country. One of his first priorities was to streamline the exhibition program by focusing on solo shows with living artists and group shows built around a strong thematic framework. During his first decade as director, the Walker mounted solo exhibitions devoted to dozens of contemporary painters, sculptors, photographers, and architects, including Charles Biederman, Marcel Breuer, Lucio Fontana, Adolph Gottlieb, Jerome Liebling, Matta, Katherine Nash, George Ortman, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Robert Rauschenberg, and Tony Smith. Group shows included London: The New Scene (1965), which featured David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Joe Tilson, and other young British artists; 14 Sculptors: The Industrial Edge (1969), a look at minimalist tendencies in recent sculpture; and Light/Motion/Space (1967), the first major show to present light and motion as artistic media, with works by Chryssa, Nam June Paik, Julio Le Parc, and Otto Piene. Martin continued the practice of putting the Walker’s exhibitions on the road, a strategy that both expanded their audiences and raised funds to offset the expense of mounting them. The scholarly catalogues produced for many of these exhibition are essential historical documents of the period, and they helped to establish Martin, who authored essays in several of them, as a rare type: a museum director who was also a first-rate curator and scholar. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Walker’s exhibitions became even more ambitious. Martin himself curated American Indian Art: Form and Tradition (1972), Naives and Visionaries (1974), and The River: Images of the Mississippi (1976). With his wife, Mickey , he organized Tokyo: Form and Spirit (1986), an enormous and rather quirky presentation of historical Japanese art objects and their contemporary descendants. There were solo shows featuring Jean Dubuffet, Claes Oldenburg, George Segal, Jan Dibbets, and Jasper Johns, and scholarly projects such as De Stijl: 1917–1931, Visions of Utopia (1982), on the Dutch art and design movement, and Marcel Broodthaers (1989), the first retrospective of the important Belgian conceptualist. For emerging artists, there was the exhibition series Viewpoints , which presented dozens of artists during its 18-year run, from 1977 to 1995. Martin’s curatorial eye was superlative, but he also was probably the best exhibition designer of any director or curator of his generation. His imaginative use of architecture, color, lighting, exhibition furniture, and multimedia made walking through his exhibitions like being transported to another world. Even when a touring exhibition came to the Walker, he made sure to put his stamp on the installation. (The staff called it “Martinizing.”) The spectacle of his exhibitions had a purpose beyond visual pleasure, however. He was passionate about making contemporary art accessible to everyone, even people who thought they didn’t know enough to understand it. “Contemporary art can be a thrilling experience,” he said. “You don’t need a course if you’re just not afraid.” He never pandered, but he was not averse to using extravagant installations to seduce those wary viewers, all in the name of sharing that thrill experience with everyone. Martin’s commitment to education extended to personally mentoring his staff. He was known for training young curators for a few years and then gently pushing them out of the nest, thus populating dozens of American museums with Walker alumni. (Another staff aphorism: “No one ever dies at the Walker.”) One of Martin’s pet initiatives was the Arts Museum Education Training Program, a curatorial/education internship program he started in 1973. That was the position he hired me for in 1988, when I was fresh out of grad school and as callow as I could be. We interns did some photocopying and filing, of course, but most of our time was spent on work that was far more substantive. We assisted some of the best curators in the business on complex exhibition projects, and along the way we did a lot of writing: gallery labels, calendar copy, press releases, and scripts for the introductory slide shows that contextualized each exhibition. Martin especially enjoyed helping his interns improve their writing skills. He often summoned me into the office common area, where I would stand next to him and watch as his red pencil flew over my text. “You’re not writing for Artforum ,” he would say, meaning that he had no use for the dense, theoretical writing that filled art journals and graduate school theses during the 1980s. He wanted texts that illuminated rather than obscured the art on view. I learned a lot during those editing sessions, and Martin’s own lucid prose became my personal gold standard for graceful, perceptive writing about art. Martin’s most lasting gift to this community might be the two brick-and-mortar projects he completed during his tenure. The first was a new museum building designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes, which replaced the structure that had been the Walker’s home since it opened in 1927. Barnes’s building is an elegant, red brick tower containing a series of white- cube galleries inspired by the spacious loft studio spaces of the day. The building opened in 1971 and immediately garnered international acclaim. “Barnes’s building is no architect’s oppressive ego trip,” wrote the art historian and critic Barbara Rose. “It is rather a building designed on a human scale for people to move through at a leisurely pace and for artists to show works in without having to compete with the architecture… The Walker is one of the few new museums genuinely adequate to current needs.” To open the building, Martin commissioned 21 artists, including four from the Twin Cities, to respond to Barnes’s architectural design with new, site-specific works. The resulting exhibition, Works for New Spaces (1971), looks in retrospect like a bold, even intrepid signal that, from that point on, the Walker’s primary commitment would be to the art of the moment. As soon as the Barnes building opened, Martin began planning his next building project, a sculpture garden to be situated on 11 acres of undeveloped parkland across the street from the museum. The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden , a collaborative project between the Walker and the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, opened to the public in 1988 with 14 classic bronze artworks from the Walker’s collection and 11 newly commissioned works. It has since become one of the region’s top destinations for tourists and locals alike. They come to stroll its art-lined gravel walkways, watch outdoor performances and film screenings, play on artist-designed mini golf courses, or snap a self-portrait in front of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s beloved Spoonbridge and Cherry. The Garden is open, accessible, and free, the fulfillment of Martin’s goal to make the Walker a welcoming place in which to experience the art of our time. The Walker’s collection—deep, broad, and robustly interdisciplinary—was shaped in large part by Martin’s vision. Already by 1969, he was working toward a collection that was not merely a visual index of current art activity, but one built on deep holdings of pieces by major artists. Faced with a limited budget, he bought affordable artwork by living artists at the beginning of their careers and fostered relationships with many who are now well-represented in the collection, including Chuck Close, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Louise Nevelson, Claes Oldenburg, George Segal, and Frank Stella. Long associations with performing artists such as Trisha Brown, Merce Cunningham, and Robert Wilson were built on commissions, a practice that turned the Walker into a laboratory for artists. In 2004, in the course of preparing a new handbook on the collection, I asked Martin about what I called the “risky” practice of commissioning art. “I never thought of it as a risk,” he told me. “It just seemed to me that giving artists opportunities to make new work was something the museum should do. I never knew how things were going to work out—I was just as curious as the next person, and it was an adventure for all of us.” Not surprisingly, artists adored Martin. Claes Oldenburg regards him as a collaborator who inspired with his enthusiasm and “complex vision.” Another longtime friend, Chuck Close, credits Martin with launching his career in 1969 with the purchase of Big Self- Portrait , and he thinks of the Walker as a rare kind of institution: an “artists’ museum” whose staff is deeply committed not only to art but also to the people who make it. Friedman left the Walker in 1990, but he did not retire from the art world. Almost immediately, he was hired by Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City to assist them with acquisitions for their new sculpture park. He also served as art advisor and curator for the art program at New York’s Madison Square Park. (He liked to joke that he had become the art world’s “yard man.”) In 1994, he curated Landscape as Metaphor: Visions of America in the Late 20th Century for the Denver Art Museum, and in 2000 he organized an outdoor exhibition, Joel Shapiro: Sculpture , for the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. Among his post-Walker publications is the book Close Reading: Chuck Close and the Artist Portrait (Abrams, 2005). He has been much honored for his lifelong dedication to the arts. The Walker’s Friedman Gallery was named in honor of both Martin and Mickey in 2005 by an anonymous couple who had made a major gift in support of the institution’s capital campaign at that time. In 1989, Martin was awarded the National Medal of Arts from President George H. W. Bush, and in 2012 the Madison Square Park Conservancy created a permanent, endowed curatorial post named in his honor. One of Martin’s former curators, Richard Koshalek, has called him a “shaman.” It’s a strong metaphor, and one Martin would not have liked, but I’m not sure it’s an overstatement of his powers. We all looked to him for leadership and stood in awe of his vision. He will be deeply missed. Joan Rothfuss is an independent writer and curator based in Minneapolis. From 1988 to 2006 she was a curator at the Walker Art Center, where she organized exhibitions on Joseph Beuys, Bruce Conner, Jasper Johns, and Fluxus, among others. Her many publications include the books Time Is Not Even, Space Is Not Empty: Eiko & Koma (Walker Art Center, 2011) and Topless Cellist: The Improbable Life of Charlotte Moorman (MIT, 2014). She holds a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and an MA from the University of Minnesota. All photos courtesy the Walker Art Center Archives 2016-05-14 11:31 By Joan

2 2016 Cannes Film Festival: Chopard Toasts Green Carpet Collection (0.01/2) The executive joined Geneva-based jewelry brand Chopard to toast its latest Green Carpet collection in Cannes, for which his company provided the emeralds, at a yacht party hosted by Colin and Livia Firth. “Gemfields’ commitment is really impressive,” remarked Livia Firth, whose Eco Age helped broker the partnership. “They work in one of the most corrupt and complicated places in the world and they never said: ‘You know what, we’ll just let it go,’” she continued, having opted for the perfect sustainable dress: a vintage piece in bleached pink. “It’s from my mom from the Sixties,” she explained, flashing a black-and-white photograph on her iPhone as proof. According to Harebottle, about 200 million carats of rough diamonds are mined in a given year, of which about 50 million carats are commercialized once the stones have been cut and polished. For emeralds, which are more irregular in shape, the figures stand at about 14 million carats and 4.8 million carats, respectively. “And we are 30 percent of that,” said Harebottle, identifying education as the biggest challenge on the road to sustainability. “It’s not easy to explain to a small artisanal miner that he can actually grow faster when there is more transparency.” Caroline Scheufele, artistic director and co-president of Chopard , agreed. “It’s all about changing people’s mind-set,” and that is also true for the brands. “I don’t know why other companies are not following the lead. I think luxury is a choice, not a necessity, and so it’s the first thing that should be sustainable.” Scheufele revealed that although the price of fair-mined gold is ten percent higher than the conventional raw material, the difference is absorbed by the company, “so that it doesn’t get more expensive for the consumer.” The concept jibed well with Calu Rivero, who joined the lunch party alongside Harvey Weinstein and British TV host Carly Steel. “I’m also vegan, so I believe in the way they think,” the Argentinian star noted, sporting a cream-colored jumpsuit and matching shades by fellow eco- warrior Stella McCartney. This was the first visit to Cannes for Rivero, who in October is slated to shoot a biopic on singer Sandro aka “the Argentine Elvis.” 2016-05-14 17:56 Paulina Szmydke

3 joão teixeira sustainable surf design with amorim cork surfers the world over possess a deep connection to the ocean. athletes at all levels of the sport strive to preserve their stomping grounds, be it local or otherwise. but efforts typically ignore one of the primary offenders: the board itself. conventional materials are toxic; including polyurethane (especially the dust produced while shaping), fiberglass, and epoxy resin. portuguese designer joão teixeira, in collaboration with amorim cork, decided to approach surf design ecologically as possible. teixeira’s process draws from the principle that innovation is understood and interpreted by using traditional materials in untested, productive fields of application. a cultural, economic, and social driver, cork seemed to be the optimal material. following thorough development and material explorations, a surfboard of expanded cork and flax fiber with wooden fins was realized. the sustainable board, designed by joão teixeira, was developed in partnership with portuguese company amorim cork. looking closely, one can see the slight textural quality of flax fiber heading out for the first ride designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here. 2016-05-14 21:30 Jo O

4 kikkawa architects opens house in atsugi to the japanese countryside kikkawa architects opens house in atsugi to the japanese countryside all images © kikkawa architects located in the outskirts of atsugi city and away from the hectic cosmopolitan landscape, kikkawa architects have re-built a contemporary farmhouse in the countryside. the client’s family has established an agricultural business for many years and the aim was to build a residence that would relate to the past and the present. the house is based on a quiet and secluded area the house in atsugi displays a simple and archetypal shape derived from the memory of the old thatched farm building the owners lived in when they were young. inside, the open-plan room with a ceiling height of 4.8 meters is designed as an extension to the landscape. this is emphasized by the 12.6 meter windows seen on both sides of the dwelling. wood is the primary material used to give the interiors the welcoming and comfortable atmosphere. additionally, a feature of the interior design is the fact that the rooms can be freely divided due to the sliding doors – giving the owners freedom of choosing how open or confined they want to be. the high pitch of the ceiling emphasizes the feeling of space and openess sliding doors open up to the agriculture fields traditional japanese home features can be seen throughout the dwelling the shape references the traditional thatched structures that existed before ‘we re-built a modern farmhouse in harmony with nature, aiming to create a pleasant house.’ – kikkawa architects 2016-05-14 18:15 Natasha Kwok

5 Pharrell on Adidas Collab, Street Style and the Importance of Staying Curious It may have been the pink hue that tinged the sound stage at The Lot studios in West Hollywood, or perhaps it was the puffy faux clouds that hung from the ceiling, but the dreamy setting seemed just the right one for Pharrell Williams to get deep on where he drew inspiration for his collaboration with Adidas and life in general. The Grammy-award winning music artist, producer and designer — whose name has been linked with Karl Lagerfeld , Comme des Garçons , Moncler and Colette — was on set Friday night at the site of his and Adidas’ launch event to talk the second drop of his Adidas Originals = Pharrell Williams Pink Beach collection. The first iteration became available earlier this month. The second drop for spring presented a fuller range for men and women along with children’s versions. Friday’s event was also linked to a Snapchat takeover by Williams and a retail pop-up at Nice Kicks in downtown Los Angeles that runs through Sunday. It all started in 2014 when Adidas sent Williams leather versions of its classic Firebird jacket. He doodled. The drawings were then embroidered onto the jackets, which became the inspiration behind Pink Beach. “That was a zone out that I was in like elevation, operating on a higher frequency as an individual as much as I can,” Williams told WWD of those initial drawings. “The power of music. The power of oneself when you connect to that most sacred place within yourself, you know? And then we started throwing those ideas around and was just like, man, what if there was a place where everyone just instantly was on that frequency the minute you got there? And that was Pink Beach. It’s just spirituality.” It’s another level of thinking. For Adidas, the idea behind Pink Beach was about drawing people in. “Originals isn’t about old sneakers. It’s about culture. And music and our brand have always been closely linked,” said Nic Galway, Adidas Originals creative director, who was in town from Germany for the event. “Pharrell in particular stands for the same values as us. He’s all about positivity. He’s about connecting people and he’s about inclusivity. And that’s really true to our values too and that’s why we wanted to collaborate.” Williams, who describes himself as curious and ever the “perpetual student,” said he finds inspiration from just about anywhere — whether that be Lagerfeld or strangers on the street. “[Lagerfeld] is definitely a mentor,” he said. “My style inspiration comes from regular, everyday people. People you see walking down the street or down sidewalks, Whole Foods [or] gas stations. They have the best style. Construction. The more individuality you’ve got — it doesn’t mean you need to be weird, but just be noticeably yourself. I love those kinds of characters. Those are the most inspiring to me because what they wear is perfunctory.” Technology and social media have certainly helped the ability to discover those individuals much easier, Williams said. “It was bound to happen. It’s where technology is, so it’s a factor,” he said. “The human race will never be the same and that’s a good thing. This means we’re still evolving so it’s just about what we do with the information that we get. Knowledge is a responsibility. It’s expanding. It’s changing rapidly. Every decade music is completely unrecognizable from the decade before it. Fashion is completely unrecognizable from the decade before it. Design. The culinary experience. It all just continues to evolve.” As for how the artist’s relationship with Adidas might evolve, Williams was mum in respect to any future collaborations with the German brand. “When they’re done, that’s when we put it out,” he said. “We don’t hold them in and go, ‘OK we’re going to surprise them with this.’ When we’re done, we just put it out.” 2016-05-14 17:17 Kari Hamanaka

6 Affable Experimentation: Steve Lehman Octet at the Walker To spark discussion, the Walker invites Twin Cities artists and critics to write overnight reviews of our performances. The ongoing Re:View series shares a diverse array of independent voices and opinions; it doesn’t reflect the views or opinions of the Walker or its curators. Today, Sam Segal shares his perspective on last Saturday’s performance by the […] 2016-05-14 18:23 By

7 klaas kuiken's uses a lost- foam casting technique to mould EPS collection klaas kuiken’s uses a lost-foam casting technique to mould ‘EPS’ collection all images courtesy of klaas kuiken lost-foam casting (LFC) is a type of evaporative- pattern casting process, which is often used for the production of engine parts. klaas kuiken became interested in this method and aimed to challenge its original use by creating interesting products outside of an industrial setting. the designer chose this technique for his ‘EPS’ collection of clocks and wood stoves, which are all originally made from a polystyrene foam mould. kuiken began by making different designs and moulds out of the polystyrene foam (styrofoam) which were placed in a sand-filled container. hot cast iron was then poured into the matrix making the foam melt – because of the incredible heat, it allowed the cast iron to take its place. the result is an exact copy of the polystyrene foam design, cast in one single piece that still shows the texture of the mould which was originally used. the ‘EPS clocks the ‘EPS’ clocks and stoves reference the material’s industrial use through their engine like appearance. although they contain brutal mechanical features, they express a playful quality through their irregular shapes. kuiken uses two different textures, including; ‘hand peeled’ foam which forms an irregular silhouette; and a hot filament which creates a smooth profile. molten cast iron being poured into the mould hot cast iron is poured into the container which causes the foam to melt designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here. 2016-05-14 15:30 Klaas Kuiken

8 Second Thoughts: Fred Sandback and the Virtual Line How does an exhibition accrete meaning, gain relevance, or shift shape over time? In the “Second Thoughts” series, Walker curators reconsider earlier presentations of art, articulating new or refined conclusions. Here, Jordan Carter writes about how the discovery of a 1977 book of line drawings by American artist Fred Sandback (1943–2003) prompts new thinking about the artist’s sculptures made using yarn or elastic cord. […] 2016-05-14 18:23 By

9 Artists Installing: Lee Kit Hong Kong artist Lee Kit spent the past two-and-a-half weeks in the gallery working on his site-specific installation for his first solo museum exhibition in the US, Lee Kit: Hold your breath, dance slowly. The installation features new videos and paintings, as well as everyday objects sourced from Home Depot and IKEA: cabinets, lamps, rugs, chairs, […] 2016-05-14 18:23 By

10 Listening Mix: Devendra Banhart & Friends LISTENING MIX provides a musical preview for artists visiting the Walker. Combining their work with sounds from a variety of contextual sources, LISTENING MIX can be experienced before or after a performance. For his two-evening event this weekend, Wind Grove Mind Alone, singer/songwriter Devendra Banhart has gathered a group of collaborators, contemporaries, mentors, and friends. It wasn’t so long […] 2016-05-14 16:04 By

11 11 Decades Later, HouseSpecial Is Still "Animation for the Masses"

The Hole Shot from HouseSpecial on Vimeo. Suzanne Twining animates a scene with characters looking down through a hole in a spot for the Ohio Lottery. Video by and courtesy of HouseSpecial. From talking candies to cereal mascots , the commercial side of animation is a bustling medium, and HouseSpecial is leading the charge. The Portland, Oregon-based animation house, which started as the commercial arm of LAIKA , is a self-contained company devoted to commercial work and short animation projects. Perhaps most famous for the M&M’s commercials they’ve been creating for over 20 years, HouseSpecial works in CG, 2D, and stop- motion animation. The Creators Project spoke to Kirk Kelley, HouseSpecial’s CCO and creative director, Alvaro Cubillas, the COO, and Alise Munson, HouseSpecial’s brand strategist about the goals of the company, what it means to bring animation to the masses, and what it’s like working with M&M’s. Chris Ohlgren, CG Animator, animates Yellow, one of the M&M’S. He’s been animating these icons for about 20 years. Photo by and courtesy of House Special. Though most animation houses zero in on one area of expertise, HouseSpecial makes it a point to specialize in multiple mediums. “We all come to work and play with dolls in dark places,” says Alvaro Cubillas, “whether it's physical puppets or digital characters. So any given day we’re very focused on character and performance animation.” That focus on character and performance is part of what makes HouseSpecial so… well… special. “We are best known and specialize in characters,” says Kirk Kelley. “People come back to us because we bring characters to life. I think all great stories are character-based, and because that’s our starting point, you really empathize with the characters, whether it's humorously or tragically.” Alise Munson explains the house slogan, "Animation for the Masses": “We have the ability to do all kinds of animation, all mediums, from CG, to stop-motion, to 2D, all under one roof.” This flexibility allows them to approach a project from many different angles. “So we have the ability to create amazing, high quality, character-driven, story-driven animation that appeals to an audience that is broad. But also can really appreciate our artistic expertise.” Art Director Gee Staughton and Animator Chris Ohlgren (arms) are on set for CustomInk’s newest underwater campaign, which takes place in a fish tank. The pair collaborate to create seamless movement in a stylized setting. Photo by and courtesy of HouseSpecial. Kirk Kelley goes on to describe HouseSpecial’s relationship with the M&M brand and their long series of commercials, “I’ve been on the M&M campaign since they became the characters that they are, back in 1995. I was involved in early development and I’ve been involved in hundreds of ads. Some people say I know those characters better than I know my family.” M&M'S - Switch from HouseSpecial on Vimeo . M&M’s spot Switch, starring Patrick Warburton. Singled out by CCO Kirk Kelley as the spot he most liked working on. Courtesy of HouseSpecial. And what makes these characters so relatable? Kelley explains that they “have enough good qualities and bad qualities that they feel believable. They’re not perfect, they’re not just a spokesman, they’re actually things that people relate to.” People relate to them so much, in fact, that Kelley’s often stopped by strangers. “When we go to live shoots I carry these puppet stand- ins so that the actors and actresses and directors can see how big they are, and you can walk them around, and it makes people relate to them.” Kelley says that he’ll be waiting in line at an airport with the puppets in his bag, “and they’ll open it up and immediately everyone wants to take a picture.” BTS: Animating Häagen-Dazs from HouseSpecial on Vimeo . Suzanne Twining animates one of the end shots for a Häagen-Dazs stop-motion spot. Video by and courtesy of HouseSpecial. Director Kirk Kelley overlooking a set for a Jose Cuervo spot. Photo by and courtesy of HouseSpecial. It’s this attention to character, and this flexibility and mobility of their work, that sets HouseSpecial apart as one of the most innovative houses in the industry. Added to their accomplished commercial work, the house also features short, narrative films, which Alise Munson describes as a way to play, learn, and experiment with processes. And through this general attitude of playfulness and experimentation, HouseSpecial truly does bring animation to the masses. But Kirk Kelley adds a slight caveat to this point—“We do things slightly twisted, so maybe it’s better to say it’s for the twisted masses.” Visit HouseSpecial's website to learn more. Related: CG Image And Animation Technology Reaches New Heights At Siggraph Stop-motion, Puppets, 2D Animation—Bat For Lashes' Mixed Media Music Video Has It All Short, Simple, Delightful, 2D Pixel Animations 2016-05-14 13:00 Giaco Furino

12 Dramatic Black-and-White Collages Appropriate Appropriation Art Images courtesy the artist Danish artist Morten Rockford Ravn works in a variety of disciplines, the latest of which involves black-and-white collages tackling the genre of appropriation art. We've previously shared his series of hand-picked moments from Grand Theft Auto V , woven into haunting narratives, but Ravn also paints, takes photographs, and uses any medium he can to realize the concepts bouncing inside his head. The new, untitled series blends works by blue chip appropriation artists like Richard Prince and Jason Rhoades with both photographs of consumer waste and other original images created by Ravn himself. Different generations, from Duchamp's readymades to Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans and Prince's controversial Instagram photo prints , have used the language of appropriation to discuss how media is consumed at any given time. By appropriating the artwork of modern appropriators, Ravn accelerates the conversation around appropriation as a medium. "In a sense I’m trying to create bastards the art world eventually has to face and deal with by bending the narrative in an uncomfortable, yet necessary direction," he tells The Creators Project. Ravn spent the last four years working on this concept, in between independent projects like Fear and Loathing in GTA V. The results are cacophonous and dense with information, but visually unified as a series. The centerpoint involves a dramatic takedown of Prince, whom Ravn criticizes at length. While he admits that the artist opened a lot of doors for artists where fair use is concerned, Ravn says that Prince, "blurred the lines of good taste and appropriation," in his infamous use of Patrick Cariou's photography. In order to gain a deeper insight into his practice, The Creators Project spoke to the artist about his new series, why people appropriate, and the connection between appropriation art and cultural appropriation. The Creators Project: First, can you run me through this work, your criticism of Richard Prince? Morten Rockford Ravn: This piece is probably the most information-dense in the series. I've taken a picture of a Richard Prince exhibition , turned it on its head, along with his perhaps most infamous work, a reproduction of the Marlboro Man from his Cowboys series of the early 80's, and meshed it together with my own abstract photography of consumer waste turned into sculptures. I've also added a photograph of a photograph of a billboard by Christopher Wool with another rebellious and counter-cultural message in the lower left corner. In a sense, I'm turning the message around in this piece, and back against these established art world titans who were once transgressive counter-cultural figures, but now in the context of blue-chip galleries also occupy a space of being artifact-generators for the ultra rich. A paradox in itself. In his original Cowboy piece, Prince removed the text from an Marlboro ad to strip it down, and re-contextualized the image. The symbolism of the cowboy as a free masculine figure, roaming a vast landscape on his white horse took on a new meaning, and thus paved the way for further inquiry. In my piece, the cowboy is no longer a symbol of freedom. He looks as though he's running away from something, the vast chaos behind him. Running wild like a confused outlaw who just wreaked havoc because it's all he knows how to do. The self-destructive human-being, lost in the world. What made you decide you wanted to tackle appropriation through your own work? Looking around the landscape of contemporary art I felt a growing sense of urgency in bringing some clarity to the table in regards to appropriation, a subject riddled in profound confusion. The catalyst was Richard Prince's exhibition of other people's Instagram photographs. It seemed so out of touch with the times we live in, here's a guy who got a platform to get his ideas out, and he's going about it in such a counterproductive fashion. It seems to me he's lost the plot completely, so I wanted to provide a counterpoint. Culture has always built upon itself. Artists borrow and steal from each other consciously and unconsciously all the time. The importance is in the actual substance of the work. To draw a parallel to cinema, Quentin Tarantino is a master appropriator, and yet his work is idiosyncratic. He recombines elements into new forms, presenting new narratives that transcend the sum of their parts. In contemporary art, there's a current fashion of appropriation as an end in itself, and I believe this idea is severely outdated. Duchamp did it back in 1917 and later on Warhol with his transfiguration of Pop and consumer culture. It's essentially very old ideas that made sense when they first appeared during the industrial age. Now we live in a post-industrial society, and we need to move beyond these ideas and start trying to figure out how to move forward in a way that doesn't alienate the audiences. When the old guard becomes too self-serving the new generation have to step in and challenge them. Why did you choose this format, collaging famous appropriators with your own work? The idea was to appropriate the appropriators, to turn their work against them while going beyond the notion that would be enough in itself. I tried to further the narrative by combining their iconic work with my own abstract photography, and blend it together digitally creating Frankenstein-esque hybrids that reflect the abstraction of the paradoxes I'm exploring to further the conversation beyond appropriation and toward a more metaphysical and existential inclination. That being said, I also used the work by John Chamberlain and Jason Rhoades, two artists I greatly admire, so I wanted to have the full spectrum and let the viewers make their own connections. It's a critique that tries to transcend itself. What beliefs do you hold about IP, copyright, and the other legal ramifications of appropriation? I think copyright is a necessary evil, at least for entrepreneurs and inventors, as to incentivize creation and innovation where the creators can rightfully reap the rewards of their creations. That being said I also believe many of the laws in this area are severely outdated. While technology progresses and time becomes compressed through globalization, the internet and so forth, it seems particularly outdated that copyright should last longer than 10-20 years, nevertheless that's the case thanks to Mickey Mouse Protection Act. As for artists I think it's a question of ethics. We can use pretty much anything for artistic purposes while being protected by fair use. Richard Prince is a pioneer in this field though he balances on the razor edge of the most basic decency in his efforts. Do you think this kind of work is connected to cultural appropriation? Cultural appropriation is a very sensitive subject. On one level, osmosis between cultures is what have helped push culture forward historically, but again, it's a moral judgement without easy conclusions. Each case needs to be judged on it's own merit in relation to the circumstances. I recently read the fashion designer Jeremy Scott is in a legal battle with graffiti artist Joseph Tierney (a.k.a., RIME), Jeremy stole his work, put it on some Moschino dresses, and now the artist is suing him. Jeremy Scott and his legal counsel responded by arguing, "graffiti is an act of vandalism and should not be protected by law. " So, he appropriates a subculture, without permission, for commercial purposes, and then tries to undermine the artist and graffiti culture at large. Jeremy is a perfect case study of how not to go about cultural appropriation. In another case he appropriated Native American culture in a fashion collection, again without proper credit or consent, for commercial purposes, despite America's historical mistreatment of Native Americans. That's profoundly ignorant and beyond disrespectful. On the flip side, I think the American artist Joshua Hagler used cultural appropriation in a very tasteful and meaningful way in his My Name is Nobody show, working with stills from old Western films to explore the American psyche and shifts in the collective perception of Native Americans and colonization historically. The larger the audience, the more commercial the project, the more responsibility comes with the territory as a rule of thumb. How do you hope people react to this work? I hope Richard Prince will sue me, so that I can win and give him a taste of his own medicine, which would help spread these ideas further. I also hope this will give other artists the courage to speak out publicly, not only share their work, but share their ideas and philosophy as well without too much ambiguous buffoonery. There's so much fear in the art world. Artists are afraid of losing their livelihoods if they criticize the status quo, and as a result mostly do it through ironic work that ends up being pretentious. We are being silenced in the current paradigm and we need to change that. Contemporary art is rapidly losing cultural relevance as a result of over- commercialization and tireless regurgitation of redundant ideas. Ironic works have turned contemporary art into the punchline in an absurdist joke. Deconstruction, appropriation and excessive use of irony as main forces of expression have largely alienated the audiences, and for the vast majority of the public that means contemporary art is being avoided altogether as a result. There's only a very small elite who benefit from this paradigm. Paradoxically we live in the time where most people live in the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which means art should have a much more prominent cultural position. The only way to get there is to speak up and create work with substance. See more of Morten Rockford Ravn's work on his website . Related: We Talked to the Suicide Girls About Richard Prince's "Appropriation Art" What Can Hermit Crabs Teach About Cultural Appropriation? Cultural Appropriation As Art 2015 in Art Plagiarism 2016-05-14 12:55 Beckett Mufson

13 Honest Nudes Highlight the Beauty in Every Body Qwill. All images courtesy the artist and Flowers Gallery The nude portrait is such a thoroughly old-fashioned art form that it’s easy to imagine that it would be nearly impossible for one to incite controversy. But Aleah Chapin paints the kind of nudes that, despite being straight-forward and respectful, still manage to be a lightning rod for controversy because they honestly depict the kind of bodies that our society has decided it would rather not see. Though the Seattle-based painter won the 2012 BP Portrait Award , she had to contend with late critic Brian Sewell calling her prize-winning work, Auntie , which depicted a nude elderly woman, “a grotesque medical record,” and claimed that Chapin had an “obsession with the ghastliness of [aging] flesh.” (This same critic also once said that “There has never been a first rate woman artist.”) Kara "I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t affected by negative reactions to my work,” Chapin tells The Creators Project. "It is difficult for sure, especially when the criticism is aimed at my models, because they are doing something so brave and scary by posing for me.” But the criticism only strengthens Chapin’s resolve to continue her practice, as it suggests that her work serves an important cultural purpose. "I’m touching on a cultural nerve, and I think this nerve needs to be examined,” she writes. "Why is it that we have such strong feelings towards the bodies we are in? Why do we have such difficulty seeing images of bodies that are represented in a real way without unrealistic digital manipulation? " Roger In her latest exhibit, Body/Being , which is now on view at New York’s Flowers Gallery , she continues to explore our bodies and their supposed imperfections. But Chapin also expands her attentions to include gender expression, inspired by the recent transition of her cousin, Qwill. Given the politicalization of trans people’s very bodies in the form of public bathroom laws, Chapin’s portraits of Qwill, and other trans people, are especially affecting. Their flesh is just that —flesh. In the face of nationwide campaigns to depict trans people as bathroom boogeymen, Chapin’s lovely portraits underscore their humanity. Cece Qwill isn’t the only model to whom Chapin has a personal connection—she regularly paints friends and family. In painting intimates, Chapin feels that she’s able to imbue her work with “more than purely painting technique.” "They have never modeled before,” she says of her subjects, "so they are fully inhabiting their bodies in a raw and honest way. " Emmett "Ultimately, I think I’m able to go deeper into the painting because I’m aware of them as whole people with lives full of the everyday stuff that makes us human. It is an honor to be given that gift of intimacy. " Sera Paula Aleah Chapin’s Body/Being runs at Flowers Gallery until June 11th. For more information, click here. Related: Former Dealer of Art Forgeries Exhibits His Own (Legal) Paintings Artist Stripped Nude for '100 Days Without Fear' Project Gritty Plus-Sized Nudes Fight Body Image Prejudices 2016-05-14 12:50 Gabrielle Bruney

14 An Artist Is Making Portraits the Blind Can “See” with Their Hands Images courtesy of Cantor Fine Art The number one art taboo is touching the art. Stories of people interacting physically with art works tend to be tragic, whether they be the hammering of Michelangelo’s Pieta or that clumsy kid who tripped and punched a hole in a 17th century painting. But Cantor Fine Art , a just-launched gallery by father and son team Larry and Sam Cantor, offers a story of a different kind of physical interaction with art in their project, Please Touch the Art. They partnered with artist Andrew Myers to create a tactile painting that is appreciable by both sighted and blind art lovers. Andrew Myers is trained as a sculptor, and uses thousands of painted screws to create sculpted portraits. Please Touch the Art was inspired by one blind man’s interaction with Myers’ work—the man explored the art with his hands, as Myers’ works are the rare paintings that are representational both visually and tactilely. "The moment really struck a chord with Andrew and with us,” Sam Cantor tells The Creators Project. "It lead to a lot of questions about why touching art was so taboo and what other people were making tactile art.” Why do we restrict ourselves to having only one sensory experience of art? Well, clearly the answer’s that we want to preserve the works so that as many people as possible can experience them. But is it better for 1,000 people to experience a work in a way that’s purely visual, or for 100 people to interact with it in a way that’s more representative of our full sensual capacities? After making fruitless attempts to track down this blind man, Myers and the gallery set out to find a blind artist and paint their tactile portrait. This was no easy task—they wanted to surprise an artist with his or her portrait, and the blind community was understandably weary of letting them in. "I was actually kicked out of a Braille Institute,” says Cantor. "Organizations that help the visually impaired are very, very protective.” But finally, they were put in touch with master woodworker George Wurtzel , whom they met and interviewed, and whose portrait they surreptitiously snapped. Wurtzel is himself creating a Tactile Art Center where blind artists can sell their work. “I’ve been told not to touch sculptures that were fully intended to be outside in the elements where the pigeons can shit on them,” Wurtzel says in the video. “I’m absolutely convinced that I am less of an encumbrance to the long-term existence of that piece than pigeon shit is. " Finally, Myers created a portrait of Wurtzel that serves as both a traditional painting the sighted can view with their eyes, as well as one that the blind can take in via touch. "This project completely flipped my perspective on what beauty is, and how absolutely amazing the visually impaired community is. I know that sounds sappy but I really mean it,” says Cantor. "Not every piece of art needs to or should be touched... But perhaps it’s time we took a look at how pervasive and mandatory our ‘no touching’ rules really are—it might help everyone see artwork a little differently. " To learn more about Andrew Myers’ work, click here. For Cantor Fine Art, click here. Related: Please Touch the Art: 3D Printed Masterworks for the Blind Blind Artist Paints from 26 Years of Memories A Blind GIF Artist Visualizes His Lost Sight 2016-05-14 12:45 Gabrielle Bruney

15 Colorful Drone Photos Take You Soaring Over Hong Kong All images courtesy of the artist Anyone who’s ever flown into or out of a major city knows that the sublime scale of a metropolis is impossible to comprehend when you’re on the ground. Photographer Andy Yeung mines the amazing feeling of seeing huge cities from above in his drone photo series Urban Jungle and Urban Fog , which capture aerials of Hong Kong that illustrate just how dizzyingly large and beautiful the city really is. “When I was travelling back from Europe, I had an intimate aerial view of Hong Kong from above,” Yeung tells The Creators Project. "Looking down, I saw gazillions of buildings soaring high into the skies, and the idea of creating a drone series offering a glimpse into the reality of living in one of the most densely populated areas of the world just sprung to my mind. " Though Yeung’s photos inspire wonder, he also wants viewers to consider the cost of human excess and our hubristic bids to build ever higher. "I hope this series can get people to think about the high-density living in one of the world’s richest cities,” he writes. "And the message that I’m trying to send is that HK is a great city, but lurking beneath the prosperity is a severe housing problem that depresses every dweller in this city living in horrid conditions.” Yeung submitted his work to the as-yet-undecided National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest , where one of his photos has already been listed among the selects. He uses the DJI Phantom 3 Professional drone to capture his images, which he prefers to shoot at the the “blue hour,” or "the period of twilight during dawn each morning and dusk each evening when the sun is a significant distance below the horizon and the residual, indirect sunlight takes on a predominantly blue hue.” As the project posits a bittersweet contrast between beauty and grandeur, poverty and want, there’s a lovely poetry in fact that these photos are during a time called the blue hour. To learn more about Andy Yeung’s work, click here . Related: Aerial Photographer Captures the Alien Beauty of Earth Aerial Footage Makes Remote Locales Look Like Other Planets Aerial Photos Capture San Francisco's Nightlife from 7,200 Feet 2016-05-14 12:40 Gabrielle Bruney

16 Breaking the Traditions of Ceramics, One Dick at a Time | Art Scout Art Scout is a regular column out of Australia that profiles creative up-and-comers. Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran in his studio. All photography by Lance Laurence for The Creators Project Only three years out of his Fine Arts degree, Sydney-based artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran has held eight solo shows, received numerous accolades, and has been part of countless group exhibitions. This isn’t surprising looking at his work, which tends to take the form of sculpture and installation. It’s bold and brightly colored, and immediately arresting; evocative of something primal and thrilling. “I’ve always been physical and messy when it comes to art,” he tells The Creators Project. “I like big, bold gestures and a physical and embodied creative process. It’s opposite to that quiet, contemplative, meditative thing that works for some people.” Nithiyendran’s work jumps out at you—warped and melty and often involving overt references to male anatomy. That is to say, covered in dicks. He finds phallus worship to be an engaging paradigm. “It’s interesting as representations of erect penises are perhaps the most highly legislated image in our cultural economies, yet it [phallus worship] is at the centre of so many things,” he explains, citing patriarchal Western societies and Christian ideologies as examples. “I’m also interested in the ways in which imagery and understandings of the phallus are presented in non-misogynistic forms,” Nithiyendran says, telling us that this is where his research into Hindu constructions of phallocentrism comes into play. While he has Hindu heritage, Nithiyendran is a confident atheist. “I’ve noticed that it’s hard for some white people to understand that an Asian person can explore religion from a critical, secular position. It’s comfortable to be perceived as some exotic, non-threatening package with a clearly articulated ‘place,’” he says. Likewise, born in Sri Lanka and raised in Australia, he says many white people assume Sri Lanka has more of an influence in his practice than it actually does. Maybe it’s for these reasons—his atheism and his apparent lack of exploring what others perceive to be his cultural identity, combined with the use of phallic symbols—that audiences and critics have gravitated towards the word ‘controversial’ to describe his practice. Is that more of an asset or a drawback? “There is some currency in being perceived as a bit edgy and boundary-crossing. It helps that I have dark skin, long messy hair, and a big septum ring as physical things to anchor my controversial-ness.” From wherever you stand, Nithiyendran’s approach to ceramics is undeniably unconventional. He’s the first to admit that ceramics is a generally conservative realm of art, which is one of the reasons why he would never describe himself as a ‘ceramicist,’ rather as an artist who uses clay. “There are suites of rules and orthodoxies attached to the medium. I avoid those rules at all costs and try and be more disobedient with my use of it. I’ve gotten flack from potters—who are unsurprisingly older, white men—who think I’m shitting on ‘their’ medium,” he says, adding, “But that’s kind of thrilling.” The older, white potters would’ve had a shock when Nithiyendran, who studied painting and is self-taught in ceramics, recently won Australia’s most prestigious ceramics prize. Last year he took away the $50,000 Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award. “At the end of the day, I don’t make aggressive work,” he tells us. “I want the energy to be celebratory and egalitarian.” Nithiyendran has numerous solo projects coming up at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (his work Mud Men will be installed in the foyer of the gallery) and also at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne. He will be speaking on the VIVID panel, Business or Pleasure , and will also be represented in the 4th Jakarta Contemporary Ceramics Biennale, opening this December. You can find out more about Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran here and follow him on Instagram here . Related: A Painter Inspired by Girl Gangs, Hip-Hop, and Basketball | Art Scout There's a Guy Giving Gold Stars to Street Art in London The Radioactive Art Exhibit You Can't See 2016-05-14 12:35 Isobel Beech

17 Explore A Van Gogh-Styled Google Map Google Maps and other interactive global maps are certainly pragmatic and immersive, but it would be a bit much to call them gorgeous. The mind reels at what it would look like if an impressionist master like Vincent van Gogh used his hands to re-vamp the whole data tool with some lush brushstrokes. While a full-fledged maps remix—from Earth View to Street View— may not materialize anytime soon, the web has offered us the Van Gogh Map. Created by Github user mapmeld , the interactive visualization features various terrain comprised of textures taken from actual van Gogh paintings. The oceans contain swaths of robust blues and greens, while the land becomes more and more intricate as viewers zoom in. The designers used Mapbox GL, a tool for making responsive vector maps through OpenGL, to build the map. It's not as gasp-worthy as NASA's van Gogh-inspired Perpetual Ocean , but we're still game to globe trot with it. Now, we can't help but wonder what a Murakami-made map would look like. To learn more about the Van Gogh Map click here . This article was originally published on August 22, 2014. Related: If Van Gogh Painted Oceans: NASA's Artful "Perpetual Ocean" Video Artist Regrows Vincent van Gogh's Ear Using Living Cells And A 3D Printer Artist Brings Van Gogh Paintings To Life With 3D Animation And Visual Mapping 2016-05-14 12:30 Zach Sokol

18 peugeot design lab's solar charging station propels electric mobility into local cityscape peugeot design lab has drafted a universal solar energy charging station for electric vehicles for driveco. it combines ecology and technology using wooden frames that support the photovoltaic panels, providing protective shade for vehicles being charged. the lattice structure accommodates 150 square meter solar panels in a canopy form, while the flared bases smoothly integrate the charging points and electricity storage batteries. the electricity can be redistributed round the clock, even in periods of low sun intensity and shared in a network by means of a smart give management system. each station can charge up to seven vehicles – cars, scooters or bicycles, simultaneously seven days a week, 24 hours a day. the charging time depends on the selected mode: quick or normal. 2016-05-14 12:15 Piotr Boruslawski

19 Break into a Museum with a Robot at Night Images via , via In 2014, the Tate Britain hosted the After Dark project , taking museum tours boldly into the robot-powered future. Five robotic, remote- controlled, wheel-mounted cameras live- streamed video from the gallery after closing time, opening up art appreciation to those whose schedules—or geographic locations—don't regularly permit a visit. The robots roam freely throughout the darkened museum, splashing light across the artwork their controllers decide to approach. This has all the fun of breaking into a museum with none of the illegality. Developed by The Workers production studio, the After Dark robots are meant to recreate the feeling of being alone in the museum at night. "It's a space in which, during the day you can go and be a part of the public," said Ross Cairns —one half of The Workers' design team along with Tommaso Lanza —in an interview with the museum. "But at night you get the space to yourself and experience it—it's a place you're not supposed to be. " Anybody with an internet connection can request to control a robot as it meanders through the gallery, but since there are only five, most viewers will be pushed to the alternative, hands-off live streams. After Dark is the inaugural winner of the IK Prize , an award recognizing innovation in the field of digital art. Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut made famous for his cover of David Bowie's Space Oddity in the ISS, field tested the robots, and he thinks they've more than earned the prize. "You start to forget what you're really doing and you just become curious about the painting itself," he told the museum. We'd love to see this kind of technology spread to museums across the globe, especially since the real-time aspect feels more intimate than just a digitized or virtual gallery space. But one thing keeps sticking out in our heads: If someone could figure out how to hack one of these 'bots, then the art crime game could get a whole lot more interesting. You can find more of The Workers' work here . This article was originally published on August 13, 2014. Related: Could You Empathize With A Robot? A New Virtual Gallery Platform Launches... But Will It Have Longevity? Giant Robot Arm Creates 3D Light Paintings | The Creators Project e-David: A Painting Robot That Can Even Sign Its Own Name 2016-05-14 12:15 Beckett Mufson

20 What is a Contemporary Collection? Thoughts on the Walker Moving Image Commissions and the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection The Walker Moving Image Commissions is an online series in which five artists responded to selections from the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection. Premiered in the Walker Cinema and released for a limited run online, the Moving Image Commissions were initiated in May 2015 with premieres of work by Moyra Davey and James Richards that focused […] 2016-05-14 11:20 By

21 2016 American Package Design Awards Makers, sellers and marketers are challenged as never before to convey the message, promote the brand, close the deal. Think fragmented audiences, information overload, media clutter, global competition, economic dislocation, changing practices and preferences. Package design and related disciplines are increasingly the difference makers in advancing the brand and influencing the purchasing decision. The outstanding work showcased here – from 200 elite design firms, design departments and production companies – is testimony to this phenomenon. Our annual competition celebrates attractive graphics, of course, but more importantly the power of design to forge an emotional link with the buyer at the moment of truth. Beauty + Personal Care Health + Wellness Wine, Beer + Liquor Food + Beverages Electronics + Computers Music + Entertainment Home, Garden + Industrial Sports, Toys + Games Babies + Children Animals + Pets Fashion, Apparel + Accessories Luxury Packaging Sustainable Packaging Private Label Packaging P-O-P, Posters + Signs Hangtags, Labels + Shopping Bags Logos, Identity + Branding Students Click on the name of an individual firm to see their winning projects 2016-05-14 11:10 GDUSA Staff

22 united states pavilion presents 'the architectural imagination' at venice architecture biennale for this year’s exhibition at the venice architecture biennale, the united states presents a pavilion ‘the architectural imagination’ curated by cynthia davidson and mónica ponce de león. the exhibition showcases the exploration of four sites in detroit, michigan and the result sees 12 projects on display by 22 american architects who have re-imagined the plots illustrated through diverse architectural models, drawings, collages, and videos. one of the 20 postcards chosen from the ‘my detroit’ contest jennifer garza-cuen, reno, NV / depot (michigan central station), 2012 at the same time the exhibit also includes 20 postcard views of detroit, which have been specially chosen from ‘my detroit’, a postcard photo contest that the curators held last autumn. the souvenir postcards, many featuring images by detroit photographers, each tell a short story about the city. center for fulfillment, knowledge, and innovation, 2016 model detail showing co-generation plant, corporate research centers, and movable university collaboration spaces image courtesy greg lynn FORM a vacant land divided into four sites were selected as the plots for the architects to bring together a forward-thinking and positive proposal. in the end, the curators chose 12 teams from 250 responses. three teams were assigned to each site where the architects met with community leaders and citizens to discuss each neighborhood’s aspirations before beginning their projects. promised land air, 2016 rendered aerial perspective of industrial studios with freight, housing, air-purification network, and a canadian consulate. image courtesy a(n) office the city of detroit is renowned for its innovation and inventive industries that included automotives, the free-span factory floor, and motown music. presently, the city is coping with dramatic population loss, desolate neighborhoods, abandoned buildings, and sharp racial divides. in addressing these problems, detroit has the potential to become a model for other postindustrial cities facing similar practical challenges: repurposing empty industrial buildings, mitigating the effects of global migration on the city, and reinventing previously industrial waterfronts and dormant infrastructure. the next port of call, 2016 oblique drawing of dock, port of entry, customs checkpoint, and waterfront entertainment venues image courtesy bairballiet a situation made from loose and overlapping social and architectural aggregates, 2016 sectional drawing through a new framework for the everyday life of the city image courtesy of MOS mexicantown: a liminal blur, 2016 model of interpretive layers of the mexicantown neighborhood image courtesy marshall brown projects the new zocalo, 2016 axonometric drawing showing band shell, theater, and cultural center, part of a new neighborhood hub image courtesy pita & bloom present future, new corktown, 2016 model of superblock using cross-laminated timber construction image courtesy of present future revolving detroit, 2016 longitudinal section of post office, undulating roof, and entwined ramp and staircase image courtesy of preston scott cohen inc. detroit rock city, 2016 model detail showing observation tower and conservatory, part of a larger vertical botanical garden image courtesy of stan allen architect detroit reassembly plant, 2016 perspective rendering showing megamasonry mountain, formed by a new aggregate made of recycled building materials and supported by the packard plant’s existing columns image courtesy of T+E+A+M a new federal project, 2016 model detail showing federal building, which deploys novel architectural forms image courtesy zago architecture 2016-05-14 08:30 Natasha Kwok

23 Future of Sustainability Shapes Up at Copenhagen Fashion Summit More Articles By These were among key themes at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit held here Thursday. Some 1,250 fashion industry delegates flocked to Copenhagen Concert Hall for the event. The fourth edition of the biannual meeting organized by the Danish Fashion Institute on behalf of the Nordic Fashion Association, under the patronage of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark was themed “responsible innovation.” The Crown Princess, sporting a white skirt from H&M Conscious Exclusive collection, noted that the event is “seen by some as the Davos of the fashion industry” and added that the Danish capital is a relevant host city as it “holds the ambition of becoming the first carbon-neutral capital in the world.” Highlights including a speech from Hannah Jones, Nike Inc. chief sustainability officer and vice president, innovation accelerator; the participation of students of the Youth Fashion Summit and a session on luxury and sustainability with panelists including Michael Beutler, sustainability operations director at Kering; LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton environment director Sylvie Bénard and Brigitte Stepputtis, head of couture at Vivienne Westwood. The energy was palpable when students who had participated to the Youth Fashion Summit (held during three days in the run-up to the Copenhagen Fashion Summit) made their pleas on stage for a brighter future for the fashion industry. Each demand integrated some of the 17 United Nations sustainable development goals adopted in 2015 into the fashion industry and started with: “As inheritors of your roles and our waste, we demand…” The program, with a baseline “The Voice of the next generation” led by Dilys Williams, director of the center for sustainable fashion of University of the Arts at London College of Fashion, gathered 116 students from 40 countries. Participating schools included Aalto University School of Arts, London College of Fashion, Esmod Berlin, McGill University and Princeton University. Participating companies were eager to prove they’re rolling up their sleeves and ahead of the curve. “We need innovation and collaboration on an unprecedented scale,” urged Nike ’s Jones. She called designers “revolutionaries.” “Designers are problem solvers. They like to work with constraints,” she explained to WWD. “We see that an amazing opportunity to unleash designers as the architects of the future closed loop approach that we’re going to take. We challenge them to design unbelievable breakthrough performances for athletes and unbelievable sustainability breakthroughs. And then, if you are able to give them a palette of materials to play with, that bring low-impact and recyclable materials, and if you’re able to have that produced in factories that are sustainable, you really unleash the power of a company like us to create products that delight the consumer, meet athletes’ needs and, by the way, are sustainable. We’re triggering creativity by setting these new principles by which to design.” She also stressed the urge to converge toward a single code of conduct, common monitoring protocols and auditing standards for the industry, in order “to have a real chance to change the industry at an accelerated pace.” Rick Ridgeway, vice president of engagement at Patagonia , whom Amber Valletta, the summit cohost, introduced as “the real Indiana Jones,” said Patagonia came up with a very high- performance wetsuit made with natural rubber, replacing Neoprene. “It’s as performant as neoprene, or more. For extreme sports, having the highest-performance materials possible is a matter of life or death,” he noted. Ridgeway ended his speech by tackling an “inconvenient truth.” “We ran a now famous ad on Black Friday in the New York Times with headline ‘Don’t Buy This Jacket’. We were telling customers that no matter how hard we try to cause no unnecessary harm; guess what, the jacket still required over 135 liters of water, still released 20 pounds of CO2 gas emissions and still left behind about two-thirds of its weight in waste. To achieve true sustainability, we got to think about adjusting our business model, which means an inevitable reduction of global annual compounded consumption,” said Ridgeway. Anna Gedda, H&M’s head of sustainability, said this year, the H&M Foundation held the first Global Change Award as an innovation challenge to close the loop for fashion. Some 2,600 ideas were entered and five winners were chosen, including microbes that can eat and recycle polyester and a textile fabric made out of citrus waste. She noted that H&M has made investments in two start-ups: U. K.-based Worn Again, which is developing an innovative chemically based recycling technology, and Sellpy, a Swedish-based company that picks up vintage things in order to prolong their lives. The Swedish retailer published its supplier factory list already in 2013. “Just a few weeks ago we expanded it to cover second-tier suppliers such as fabric and yarn mills involved in making about 50 percent of our products. This may seem like a natural move, but it wasn’t so long ago that we actually had a safe where we locked up our supplier lists,” Gedda said. Earlier in the day, Livia Firth, founder of the Green Carpet Challenge, blasted fast-fashion players, calling the “crazy cycle of consumption” the “elephant in the room.” Power ladies Nadja Swarovski and Susan Rockefeller participated in a panel on fashion and philanthropy, moderated by industry consultant Julie Gilhart. “I was pleased to see the youth asking for accountability,” said Rockefeller, referring to the students of the Youth Fashion Summit. “They seem unified, that’s amazing,” agreed Swarovski, the Austrian crystal-maker executive board member. Other speakers attending the summit included Renzo Rosso, OTB founder; Daniella Vega and Linda Hewson, Selfridges director of sustainability and its creative director; Steven Kolb, CFDA’s president and chief executive officer; Caroline Rush, ceo of the British Fashion Council and Carlo Capasa, president of the Italian Chamber of Fashion. The summit served as a platform for the launch of the Italian Chamber of Fashion’s “chemical substances guidelines,” aiming to reduce the use of groups of chemical substances along the chain. Separately, Shubhankar Ray, global brand director of G-Star, launched the Ocean Clean Wash charter in partnership with Plastic Soup Foundation, which focuses on reducing the ocean plastic pollution, especially micro plastic released into the ocean from washing clothes. Mads Nørgaard, Filippa K and Marimekko won the Design Challenge held in partnership with H&M. Meanwhile, Holly Fulton, Naim Josefi and Tome! won The Denim Challenge, held in partnership with Isko with judges including industry veteran François Girbaud and aiming at promoting design with sustainable denim. 2016-05-14 08:15 Laure Guilbault

24 Sonic Youth visits the Walker At the concert they anounced they were heading to Mickey’s dinner in downtown SP so I guess the got the whole tour of hotspots. That photo is awesome. Their set was pretty good, but it seemed like most of the people came to the show to see the Flaming Lips. Despite that, they rocked out anyway. 2016-05-14 10:02 By

25 Review: Imran Qureshi at the Barbican Centre

Related Venues Barbican Art Gallery Artists Imran Qureshi From within the recesses of the Barbican’s dark 90-meter Curve, Qureshi’s luminous miniatures lure viewers to a personal contemplation of contemporary events. The twenty-six 14-by-11-inch folios, hung at various heights, retain in expanded scale the pictorial logic of a miniature (little depth of perspective, high horizons, stylization, and bright, unshaded colors). The sequence begins with delicate scenes of nature, the Lahore-based artist tapping into the symbolic imaginary of Mughal and Persianate culture—namely, the fashionable trope of the garden—to narrate cryptic tales of lost splendor and decline. Unlike the European garden, historically intended for promenading, the Islamic garden was designed for meditation and the stimulation of pleasure: lovers delighted in solitude, the unhappy found solace, and royals entertained their guests with great hospitality. In the Koran, the garden is a foretaste of heaven; a private place for retreat from daily worries, it delights the eyes with tree branches spreading shade, unfailing fruits, fragrant flowers, and fountains of running water. Using the curvature of space, Qureshi gradually introduces the viewer to darker elements. With his customary squirrel- hair brush, the artist transforms the depiction of old sovereign pastimes and landscapes for divine play into visions of dilapidation: In serial repetition, folio after folio, red weeds wrap around tree trunks, even uprooting them. Across several other works, swarms of dragonflies hover over murky waters like tiny faint glimmers susceptible to the slightest breeze—so one is reminded to heed where the proverbial wind blows. 2016-05-14 08:00 Emilia Terracciano

26 The Week in Art: High Fashion at El Museo Though it may seem that Armory Week and Frieze Week get all the action, the reality is that there is never a dull moment in the New York art world. From the East Side to the West Side, there's always something happening at the city's museums, galleries, and various event spaces. This week was no exception. Oh! You Pretty Things: The 2016 Moth Ball Artist duo Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw kicked off the annual Moth Ball for the story-telling nonprofit with a bit of performance art on May 10, paying homage to the evening's glam rock theme with leather pants, glitter, and mesh tops while pouring shots for the boldly-dressed crowd. "It's Jen and Paul's portable dive bar at a fancy gala," said Catron to artnet News of the piece, which saw the artists maneuvering a custom-built bar on wheels throughout the lobby of Capitale on Bowery, much to the surprise of well-lubricated attendees. Guests were invited to bid on eBay for such prizes as drink with actress and writer Molly Ringwald and lunch with actor Cheech Marin, or to get temporary glitter tattoos. The evening's entertainment also involved stories from a selection of the Moth's Grand Slam and high school winners, and hairdresser-turned roadie Suzi Ronson 's unlikely tale of how she created David Bowie 's signature red Ziggy Stardust hairstyle. Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer of " Broad City " introduced the evening's honoree, Carrie Brownstein, recalling how the Sleater-Kinney front- woman and star of art-loving sketch comedy " Portlandia " befriended them on Twitter. "I mostly listen to [the Moth] in my car, because that is my favorite place to cry," Brownstein said during her acceptance speech. El Museo del Barrio Gala 2016 Fashion was top priority for guests at El Museo del Barrio 's annual gala, held May 12 at the Plaza Hotel. Celebrating the museum's upcoming exhibition " Antonio Lopez: Future Funk Fashion ," and honoring designers Ruben and Isabel Toledo (who outfitted photographer Paige Powell in a gorgeous hand-painted lace romper-dress for the occasion), there was perhaps more pressure than usual for the crowd to turn up in a stunning outfits. Curator Rocio Aranda Alvarado, in an amazing sparking pantsuit, was already looking ahead to what to wear to the show's opening next month. "I might wear my fuchsia-pink cocktail dress with lots of ruffles on it," she told artnet News. Guests, who included actress Debi Mazar, photographer Edward Mapplethorpe , and gallerist Suzanne Geiss, enjoyed cocktails and dinner before a Paris Is Burning -inspired dance routine kicked off the after party. Beyond Borders Storefront for Art and Architecture 2016 The TWA Flight Center may have shut down as a working airport terminal in 2001, but the iconic Eero Saarinen-designed building was at full capacity on May 8 for the Storefront for Art and Architecture 's retro-inspired gala. It was the terminal's last outing before it will be converted into a lobby for a new hotel. The event honored photographer Ezra Stoller , whose vintage photographs of the terminal were among works on sale in a silent auction, and architect and activist Teddy Cruz. Adding to the throw-back feel were DJs Stefan Ruiz and Jose Parla, spinning LPs. Among those in attendance were Storefront board president, Charles Renfro , Storefront director Eva Franch, artist Sebastian Errazuriz , and actor Waris Ahluwalia, who we couldn't help but hope was scouting locations for the next Wes Anderson film. Noguchi Museum Annual Spring Benefit Architect Tadao Ando and artist Elyn Zimmerman were presented with the third annual Isamu Noguchi Award by Japanese ambassador Motohide Yoshikawa at the Noguchi Museum in Queens on May 10. Guests, who included actor Waris Ahluwalia, enjoyed cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in the museum's picturesque sculpture garden and special exhibition, " Tom Sachs: Tea Ceremony. " ArtTable 23rd Annual Benefit and Award Ceremony On May 6, female leaders in the visual arts gathered for ArtTable 's annual benefit luncheon at 583 Park Avenue. Marieluise Hessel Artzt, whose collection is housed at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS), which she founded, was presented with the 2016 Distinguished Service to the Visual Arts Award by CCS Bard executive director Tom Eccles. "It was never a matter of prestige or decorating my home," said Hessel Artzt of collecting in her acceptance speech. "Art is the truest expression of what it means to be human. " The Guggenheim UBS Map curator Sara Raza received the New Leadership Award, and Bennington College president Mariko Silver, who was introduced by her mother, former National Endowment for the Arts acting chairman Joan Shigekawa, gave the keynote address. Guests included Studio Museum Harlem director Thelma Golden , gallerist Barbara Gladstone , and curator Lowery Stokes Sims. Jeff Koons and Google A new limited-edition Nexus phone case collaboration between Jeff Koons and Google was unveiled with a cocktail party at Spring Place on May 9. Attendees, who included Performa 's Roselee Goldberg, Giants star Victor Cruz, actress and DJ Leigh Lezark, model Selita Ebanks, the New Museum's Karen Wong, and artnet CEO Jacob Pabst, who enjoyed a performance by husband and wife duo Ashley Laracey and Troy Schumacher of the New York City Ballet. The Dia: Beacon Spring Benefit Dia Art Foundation lured collectors in town for Frieze Week up to Dia Beacon (one of our favorite day trips ) on May 7 for its annual luncheon. In addition to remarks by director Jessica Morgan and chairman Nathalie de Gunzburg, the institution unveiled new permanent installations of work by Walter De Maria , Dan Flavin , and Bruce Nauman. Guests included artists Brice Marden and Laurie Simmons, as well as Dia founder Heiner Friedrich, who lent his name to the stunning new Flavin sculpture in the basement. Untitled (to you, Heiner, with admiration and affection), which may have been created in 1973 but is ripe for the age of Instagram. Follow artnet News on Facebook. 2016-05-14 07:01 Sarah Cascone

27 Datebook: arteBA Returns to Buenos Aires for Its 25th Edition Related Events arteBA 2016 Venues arteBA Foundation One initiative that has helped us is our Museum Acquisitions Program, through which businesses and private donors support institutions by providing purchase funds for works at the fair, which encourages Argentine and foreign museums to buy there and expand their collections. This guarantees that institutional acquisitions will take place in addition to individual purchases. One of our aims has always been to create a new audience for contemporary art, in addition to attracting an international public and we’ve been developing various programs to boost local collecting, which has raised demand at the fair. 2016-05-14 07:00 Sara Roffino

28 soft blown glass meets hard metal plates for harry allen esque lighting series for the second time, new york-based designer harry allen and portland-based glassmakers esque studio have collaborated on a collection of objects that juxtapose soft glass silhouettes against hard metal forms. presented at heller gallery from now until may 28, 2016, the ‘harry allen esque’ lighting series comprises water-jet cut metal plates, into which fluid glass shapes are hand blown. the highly experimental development process yields a collection of luminaries that lie at the intersection of design, craft, and art. ‘going into it, we really don’t know what to expect,’ allen describes. ‘it’s a learning process, but we have gotten good at identifying what is interesting and beautiful and doubling down on that.’ the resulting forms are physically shaped by the process of their making. grotesque forms are softened by a bright, sophisticated color palette and material application. ‘we are defining a new technique as well as a new aesthetic, so it can be stressful,’ andi kovel of esque studio says. ‘there is some loss along the way, but when we get in the groove its almost as if the pieces come to life by themselves. the end result often equals more than the sum of its parts.’ the exhibition coincides with new york design week 2016, with a special reception for the occasion held on may 13th, 2016 at heller gallery. fluid glass shapes are hand blown around the metal sheets a cool glow is emitted from the back of a luminaire the glass is shaped by the intersection of the metal plate 2016-05-14 04:15 Nina Azzarello

29 nir meiri's angelic florence vases expel a heavenly aura nir meiri’s ‘florence’ vases feature a tubular form with a shallow basin top which frames the bouquet of flowers contained within. these angelic pieces are presented in various sizes and can be arranged in conjunction with the plants. they contain a copper structure, a smooth walnut or maple top and a glass pipe inserted within, which causes the subject inside to appear as if floating above. the circular rim creates a heavenly aura around the petals and leaves, expelling a sense of tranquility and sculptural perfection. these minimal objects can be assembled to make various compositions which adds a new complimentary layer to the art of flower arranging. the vases are presented in various sizes and can be arranged in conjunction with the plants the circular rim creates a heavenly aura around the petals and leaves the vase features a copper structure and wooden top made of maple or walnut these minimal objects can be assembled to make various compositions designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here. 2016-05-14 01:30 Nir Meiri

Total 29 articles. Created at 2016-05-15 00:01