You are browsing the archive for October2008
There have been several welcomed additions to Berlin’s retail offerings in the past couple of weeks. One is the Image Mouvement video art space and DVD shop on Oranienbergerstrasse; another is the international magazine boutique Do You Read Me? Their website features highlights from current issues of some of the magazines they stock (and employs a familiar blog template).
Design Observer has posted an interview with recent MacArthur Grant recipient Tara Donovan.
Untitled, 2003, styrofoam cups and glue
Mother Jones offers a disturbing list of practices used to disenfranchise American voters.
(via we-make-money-not-art.com)
Always a fall highlight for me, the New York Art Book Fair opens tonight and runs through the weekend. Looks like both the fair and the conference will feature a solid roster of participants. Sad to miss this.
Andrea Zittel delivered a lecture at Portland State University while we were in town. We stopped by hoping to have a listen, but the meagre lecture hall was filled to capacity and the doorways blocked with overflow attendees. PORT blog was kind enough to post a portion of the talk online:
The drop-off in updates during the past two weeks had something to do with the fact that we were in Portland preparing for our impending move to the west coast. There’s a lot to like about Portland. Here are a few examples: Its bridge-laced situation on the Willamette River. Its farmers market. Its compact, traversable urban core and efficient light rail system. Its Rummer-studded suburbs. Its local beers, cheeses and music venues. Its Lawrence Halprin-designed parks. Its green ethos, represented by the proposed “Smart Tower“. And, of course, its biscuits.
Ira Keller Fountain designed by Lawrence Halprin
Life is but a stage, especially if you live a tulou-style structure like the ones built by China’s Hakka people more than 1000 years ago. For those interested in trying out communal round-house living, Shenzhen-based Urbanus is developing a modern tulou in Guangzhou to provide some affordable housing China’s vast migrant worker population. The Cooper-Hewitt has put together an exhibition detailing the project. Also, a pretty laudatory review in the NY Times from Nicolai Ouroussoff.
Fascinated by the synesthetic effect of Boudicca’s new fragrance Wode. The perfume is packaged in an aerosol-type container and leaves a striking cobalt blue mark when sprayed (see the video below). The color fades away after a few minutes, but this idea of a visual scent is intriguing and, well, probably good marketing.
Interview with Zowie Broach at JC Report.
Enjoying Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset’s animated “play” Drama Queens. This artworld send-up stars work by Alberto Giacometti, Ulrich Rückriem, Barbara Hepworth, Sol LeWitt, Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol and features the voices of well-knowns like Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes and Kevin Spacey. Gives new meaning to the notion that a work of art “speaks.”
Kent Henricksen has a solo exhibition—titled Absence of Myth—up at Torino’s Galleria Glance. Kent’s work was included in our By Hand book, so it’s been great to see how his work has developed over the past few years. Here are a few images from the show:
Devious Delight, 2008, 26.5 x 23.5 in. – 67.3 x 59.7 cm
Transcendental Treasures I, 2008, Embroidery thread and gold leaf on canvas – 9.5 x 11.5 in. – 24.1 x 29.2 cm
To have and to hold, 2008, Embroidery thread and gold leaf on silk – 37 x 58 in. – 94 x 147.3 cm