Miniature sculptures stand tall

May 15, 2012 Leave a comment

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This collection of miniature figurines frozen in small-scale narratives by Hampshire based sculptor Nic Joly are entitled ‘Under Foot’.

The concept originally started as a hobby in 2006, creating miniature toys to entertain his two children. It’s now become a full-time occupation, creating sculptures of tiny people, typically moulded at a height of one centimeter. 

These are just a few of his interesting pieces – see a lot more here on Design Boom.

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A rainbow of colour appears over Omaha

May 7, 2012 1 Comment

Rainbow over Bemis Center
Michael Jones McKean’s “The Rainbow” Art Project creates rainbows over The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in downtown Omaha.

In clear weather the rainbow will appear twice a day, for 20 minutes, and are created using sunlight, renewable energy and 100% captured rainwater.

The project was a decade in the making and represents a collaboration between irrigation and rainwater harvesting experts, Lindsay Corporation, structural and mechanical engineers, atmospheric scientists, Bemis Center and artist Michael Jones McKean

Quite a beautiful project that will start in early June and run until 15th September. 

See more about artist Michael Jones McKean here.

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Architecture in fabric; Installation by Do Ho Suh

April 15, 2012 Leave a comment

Hovering like ghostly aparitions of architecture these fabric installations by Korean artist Do Ho Suh create new environments within his exhibition using silk and metal structures.

The artist’s architectural sculptures have been brought together for an exhibition called ‘Home Within Home‘ at the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea.

Previously on display at New York’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery, they explore the idea of home and the sense of cultural displacement that comes with immigrating to a new place. 

See more of these beautiful structures here on Design Boom

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Smarter Buildings: Interacting with the environment

April 9, 2012 Leave a comment

Experimenting with materials in architecture to achieve environmental benefits has led to the development of many outstanding innovations that have changed the way we interact with buildings.

Now architect Doris Kim Sung, assistant professor of architecture at the USC School of Architecture, is experimenting with how a building can interact with its environment through the materials used in its construction.

Her latest installation, “Bloom”, is 20-foot tall and made from 14,000 tiny sheets of metal that open and close with the sun manipulating the light within the structure.

Sung discovered a new use for a material usually used in thermostat coils that responds to temperature changes. The metal alloy, called “thermobimetal”, is made of two sheets of metal laminated together. Each metal expands at a different rate when heated, curling as the temperature rises and flattening when cooled.

The metal sheets curl upwards with the sun creating moving shaded areas within the installation when needed. Sung believes that it could be used to create canopies that close when the sun is above or vents that open when the air becomes too stuffy and is now working on ways to integrate thermobimetal with standard building components.

It looks fantastic and is a mixture of art and architecture that addresses an environmental need. See a video of the installation below and more can be found on their blog.

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Anyone and No One Exhibition – Will Ryman

February 26, 2012 Leave a comment

Two new sculptures by American artist Will Ryman are now on exhibition in ‘Anyone and No One’ at the Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York.

They are both massive installations created from every-day objects. ‘Bird’ is constructed from nails of various lengths and towers 12 feet tall whilst ‘Everyman’ uses a diverse variety of household items, such as paint brushes, bottle caps and work boots, to create a 90 foot figure within the gallery space.

Due to the sheer size and impact of both sculptures, Ryman’s installation has been separated in two parts– ‘Everyman’ has taken up residence in the 293 Tenth Avenue location while the 27th Street space hosts the Bird, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, ‘The Raven’.

Beautiful structures that really catch the eye.

See more and how they were constructed on Design Boom. 

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George Seurat’s Bathers at Asnières recreated at Olympic Park

January 28, 2012 Leave a comment

Neville Gabie, the Olympic Park’s artist in residence, has created a reimagined version of George Seurat’s famous 1884 painting Bathers at Asnières with builders from the Olympic site.

Set on the River Lea in East Stratford it is a far cry from the original stting on the banks of the Seine in Paris. The photographic portrait is called Freeze Frame and Mr Gabie said he was struck by the similarities in Seurat’s painting and the visualisation he was shown before work began on the Olympic Park.

‘There is an obvious and surprising physical connection between the two landscapes, but the concept for the work explores the more striking similarities between the social and political contexts of the two,’ he told Metro. ‘Now, in the east end of London, we’ve reimagined a post-industrial landscape using sports

Read more on Metro

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Bus Stops come to life in London

January 22, 2012 Leave a comment

From now until September bus stops all over London will be brought to life with digital art and inspiring messages, but you will only be able to see them if you are on the top deck of a bus. 

Bus-Tops is an interactive art project, one of 12 around the UK commissioned for Artists Taking the Lead – an initiative set up by the Cultural Olympiad 2012 and Arts Council England to showcase the nation’s creativity to the world.

The concept is to to make London bus journeys more engaging and inspiring by installing LED screens on top of 30 bus shelters. The screens are being fitted with red and black LED lights and show designs from professional artists and members of the public. 

Find out more about this project and where you can find the installations by chicking here.

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The Art of Dancing – A festive advent calendar

December 6, 2011 Leave a comment

Looking for a bit of light relief this December then check out The Art of Dancing, an advent calendar of dance that will knock your socks off, or at least give you a laugh. A new dance every day up to Christmas – will they keep going?

Click here 

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Unloved, thrown out and abandoned creations

November 26, 2011 Leave a comment

Using orphaned & unloved antique plates Beat Up Creations has transformed these and many other throw away items, breathing new life into them in interesting and creative ways. 

Great for Christmas presents?

See more here

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IFAC 2012 – The International Festival of Art & Construction

November 8, 2011 Leave a comment

IFAC (International Festival of Art & Construction) is organizing the festival of art and construction IFAC 2012 for next summer in Spain.

Here’s some information as to what the IFAC is all about:

- It is an initiative of the nonprofit association “self-sufficent movement” which seeks to promote the philosophy of self-sufficiency in society, invest aggressive consumer trends, encourage and disseminate self-sufficient practices, investigate and explore ways to self-sufficiency.

- I.F.A.C. is a project focused on 200 young artists and architects from across Europe to live together 10 days in a space of creation and integration of different arts, the result will be creations , publishing, construction and various designs in any field of art.

- I.F.A.C. will be located in a rural setting, to provide a fun work environment where a festive atmosphere will be the framework for debates and discussions about contemporary concerns.

IFAC is developing a preliminary contest in order to select and reward the future Tutors of the IFAC Workshop, the competition seeks a diversity and richness of workshops, to express and work around current issues in art and construction. Registration is free, you may submit projects to the workshop on 5th December 2011.

The awards are 10 prizes of € 100 for each workshop or the chance to lead your project and be published or the free assistance of a tutor to I.F.A.C.

Visit www.IFAC2012.com for more information on how to enter or go to plusmood to read the full article. 

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Air as Architecture – a talk by Yuki Sumner

October 6, 2011 Leave a comment

Yuki Sumner considers the emerging design trend from Japan of making air an integral part of work when she talks at the Barbican next week.

Join writer and critic Yuki Sumner as she investigates how air manifests through contemporary Japanese architecture, art and fashion.

‘The airy, weightless, fragile work being produced by young architects such as Junya Ishigami, cutting-edge artists such as Akiko Ikeuchi or ground-breaking fashion designers such as Rei Kawakubo and Issey Miyake, is beguiling but what is exactly being produced? Air seems to be an integral part of their work. What if we say that it is the air itself that is being moulded and created? Is this a new trend emerging specifically out of Japan?’

An interesting perspective on Japanese design. 10th October, Barbican, London

Click here to find out more

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Creative Designer/Art Director Required Immediately

June 13, 2011 Leave a comment

The Think Tank is looking for a Creative Designer/Art Director with a strong design portfolio to work within our creative team. This role will involve the creation of a diverse range of marketing material as well as brand development work.

Candidates will have worked in a similar agency environment and possess excellent knowledge of Quark, Photoshop, Illustrator and In-Design. A knowledge of digital design would also be a benefit but not essential.

We are growing rapidly and have an immediate need for an individual with a strong design and communications background who can add to our creative team that has a great reputation.

This is a fulltime position for a person with outstanding design skills to put their mark on a wide range of marketing media, aiding the growth of the agency.

Salary £25k – £30k pa

Contact Shaun Madle with covering letter, CV and portfolio vis email – shaunm@thinktank.org.uk

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Come In, It’s Raining (Inside the House)

June 7, 2011 Leave a comment

The sun is shining today in London, yesterday the weather was quite miserable. Yet in both cases we were in our cosy offices with big windows. The Glue Society, a quite irreverent Australian creative collective, made a great job by swapping things round.

Their contribution to the on-going Sculpture By the Sea  festival (2 June – 3 July, Aarhus, Denmark), is a big house where it actually rains inside. You visit it with pretty yellow rain jackets. The title of the work is I Wish You Hadn’t Asked and it actually rains 200 litres of water per minute. There is a gloomy part to it all of course, because during the month of exposition the house will be slowly “transformed into a uncomfortable, hostile environment” by the rain itself.

Smile when you are indoors and it’s raining then, or if you get curious of how things would be if it were the other way round, buy a ticket to Denmark. Totally worth it.

Image: Nicolai Lorenzen. Have a look at more.

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The Beauty Behind QR Codes

May 31, 2011 Leave a comment

When was the last time you saw a QR a code? If you have walked into a Tube station recently or if you have opened a magazine, you surely will have spotted at least a couple. QR (quick response) codes are used to facilitate the interaction with the digital world: they are a rapid access to the potential of your smartphone.

Whether these little black and white boxes should be used or not when they fight with an advert’s graphics, that is Pandora’s box.

We can point out though that they can become beautiful and meaningful things. Scott Blake created this portrait of Amy Goodman using the staggering amount of 2,304 QR codes.

The image is surprisingly detailed and the codes actually take the viewers to a nine year span of Democracy Now!, Amy’s independent news program. We think that this makes the portrait a proper symbol: not only for the likeliness of the person featured, but for representing her life’s work as well.

Read more.

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British Council opens fashion exhibition in Kazakhstan

May 13, 2011 Leave a comment

The first venue for the British Council’s touring exhibition, Reconstruction: Cultural Heritage and the Making of Contemporary Fashion is the Central State Museum in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The exhibition features seven of the UK’s leading fashion designers and offers a snapshot of some of the traditions and cultures that inspire these designers.

The British Council says, ’The launch kicked off with a packed press conference attended by Kazakhstan’s leading TV Channels and newspaper titles followed by the official opening by the British Ambassador and the Director of Central State Museum. 600 people attended the opening to see the work of seven of the UK’s leading fashion designers: Paul Smith, Vivienne Westwood, Hussein Chalayan, Marios Schwab, Peter Jensen, Sophia Kokosalaki and Osman Yousefzada.’

Read more here

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Murakami comes to Versailles

September 14, 2010 Leave a comment

Takashi Murakami’s whirlwind exhibition of manga-inspired works comes to the Palais de Versailles, Paris, in a display of 22 bright coloured sculptures – does it work with the historic background of the palace? What do you think?

See more on Cool Hunting

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Industry Gallery, Washington DC, opens Nature/Data exhibition

September 12, 2010 Leave a comment

The Industry Gallery, Washinton DC, is holding a new exhibition called Nature/Data by New York-based Italian designer and architect Antonio Pio Saracino. The exhibition features eleven chairs that are constructed in a range of materials including plywood, metal, carbon fiber and synthetics and in various forms such as molecules, leaves, blossoms, and crystals. Great furniture designs that inspire.

See the collection here

 

The Think Tank

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A balancing act at the Venice Architecture Biennale

September 12, 2010 Leave a comment

Madrid architect Antón García-Abril of Ensamble Studio has installed two enormous girders that slice through the Arsenale exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale. Entitled Balancing Act, the installation comprises one girder balanced across the other and supported at one end by a metal spring.

See more on Dezeen

The Think Tank

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Intriguing Canopy Installed At State University

September 9, 2010 Leave a comment

A new digitally fabricated installation by Jonathan Henry Arseni Zaitev from Anonymous Studio called “Alexandria”, is to be situated in the Architecture Gallery of the Southern Polytechnic State University. It is to open at the State University’s biannual exhibition of young professional work as a part of the “Summer Salon 2010”.  Alexandria hovers above the floor and drapes across the gallery, transforming a canopy into an intriguing installation. “The symbolic disillusionment with the political datum of the ground relinquishes the installation from prescriptive idealizations. Alexandria’s canopy will not be tainted by agendas but will be appropriated but those who are most likely to contribute to it,” explained the studio.

View more here on Arch Daily

© Anonymous Studio

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A world without Photoshop

September 1, 2010 Leave a comment

A world without Photoshop – an insight into what the creatives used to get up to a few years ago – oh what fun!

 

www.aworldwithoutphotoshop.com

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