January 28, 2012

miraicandoit:

Max Zorn is a street artist based in Amsterdam. His primary material is tape.

It was never uncommon to see colored tape on walls and streets, says Zorn. But more recently, it has been ‘conquering the streets’ as a new form of urban art.

In his case, the idea to create street art with tape instead of paint came from a friend working in car design. ‘These guys often use slim tapes to outline their ideas on large boards. I was surprised to see, how fast they could create stunning sketches with it,’ he says.

Tape as a street art material has the added benefits of being lightweight, easy to use, and relatively inauspicious. He got his start by decorating the old street lamps that are ubiquitous in Amsterdam. With their golden glow, they proved the perfect open gallery space for tape art experiments.

Over time and with practice, Zorn learned to apply more layers of brown translucent tape for greater impact and illusion of depth. It is a simple process of slapping tape on the lamps, he says. What’s more, it’s self-illuminating. 

•
January 26, 2012
Colorful collaboration for public art… threadfullyeverafter: BUONGIORNO AMICI ED AMICHE DI KNITTING RELAYCollaborative Crochet/Knitting Installation on the steps of the Lutheran Church in Senate Square, Helsinki.  Knitting Relay is open to artists internationally, join the fun: http://knittingrelay.blogspot.com/p/english.html During studio conversation today we discussed the notion that a large project can become very managable when broken down to small steps.  A series of small samples might lead to much larger whole, perhaps more significant than merely the sum of its parts. Jimmy Kuo, the Crochet King, states that this example is it already giving him a headache!   

Colorful collaboration for public art…

threadfullyeverafter:

BUONGIORNO AMICI ED AMICHE DI KNITTING RELAY
Collaborative Crochet/Knitting Installation on the steps of the Lutheran Church in Senate Square, Helsinki.  Knitting Relay is open to artists internationally, join the fun:
http://knittingrelay.blogspot.com/p/english.html

During studio conversation today we discussed the notion that a large project can become very managable when broken down to small steps.  A series of small samples might lead to much larger whole, perhaps more significant than merely the sum of its parts. Jimmy Kuo, the Crochet King, states that this example is it already giving him a headache!


  
•
“ Up until 10,000 years ago there were no permanent settlements and all human groups lived by hunting and gathering. Then agriculture was discovered and everything changed. Now a small number of people could supply food for the rest and the first cities arose. Every since that time there has been a steady movement of people out of our original arcadia and into cities, such that now over half the world lives in them. But why given that cities have historically been targets of attack and places of crime and where diseases fester and spread? The answer is that cities have acted as gardens of our prosperity, creativity and innovations and their continued existence is vital to fitting the projected 9 billion people onto this planet. Surprisingly, they are the new ‘green centres’ of the world.
Mark Pagel, Cities as Gardens •

studio630:

Popuphood: How to Revitalize A Struggling Neighborhood In Six Months

“In September 2011, Dominguez and his friend Sarah Filley, an urban planner, teamed up to create Popuphood, a project that is giving five new retail shops the opportunity to get six months of free rent at previously vacant storefronts on one block in the neighborhood. Dominguez and Filley didn’t have to work too hard to convince the landlord that owns the storefronts to get on board. The spaces had been unoccupied for at least a year, and successful storefronts might stay put past the six month mark. The Oakland Redevelopment Agency, ever hopeful to revitalize downtown, pitched in with a $30,000 grant. And the pair have plenty of creative-minded contacts in the city, so finding tenants wasn’t too difficult.

It’s not as if the idea of pop-up storefronts is new. Cities across the U.S. have been populated in recent years with a slew of pop-up restaurants, stores, and even parks. Popuphood, which officially launched on December 9th, is offering something different: the opportunity to be part of a larger, newborn retail community.”

(Source: fastcoexist.com)

•
conversationstarter: I recently read Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. Written mostly in prose, the book is built around imaginary discussions between Kublai Kahn and Marco Polo who reports to the emperor on his travels to 55 imaginary cities. “The book, because of its approach to the imaginative potentialities of cities, has been used by architects and artists to visualize how cities can be, their secret folds, where the human imagination is not necessarily limited by the laws of physics or the limitations of modern urban theory. It offers an alternative approach to thinking about cities, how they are formed and how they function.” (source: wikipedia.org). The stories are wonderful reminders of what cities can and could be. I think it should be required reading for all urban planners.

conversationstarter:

I recently read Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino.

Written mostly in prose, the book is built around imaginary discussions between Kublai Kahn and Marco Polo who reports to the emperor on his travels to 55 imaginary cities.

“The book, because of its approach to the imaginative potentialities of cities, has been used by architects and artists to visualize how cities can be, their secret folds, where the human imagination is not necessarily limited by the laws of physics or the limitations of modern urban theory. It offers an alternative approach to thinking about cities, how they are formed and how they function.” (source: wikipedia.org).

The stories are wonderful reminders of what cities can and could be. I think it should be required reading for all urban planners.

•
enochliew: Into The Flowers by Michael Rucinski  A flower bed where people can lie down, relax, chat, and get to know other people.

enochliew:

Into The Flowers by Michael Rucinski 

A flower bed where people can lie down, relax, chat, and get to know other people.

(Source: publicdesignfestival.org)

•
“

Dr. Jackson, who was then the head of the National Center for Environmental Health at the CDC, was rushing to a meeting where leading epidemiologists would discuss the major health threats of the 21st century. On the side of the road he saw an elderly woman walking, bent with a load of shopping bags. It was a blisteringly hot day, and there was little hope that she would find public transportation.


At that moment, Dr. Jackson says, “I realized that the major threat was how we had built America.”
“America’s Health Threat: Poor Urban Design”  (via youcancallmecaity)

(via youcancallmecaity)

•
spaceplacenotes: say it, do it In cities with populations of millions, it’s hard to imagine that an individual voice, with a good idea, makes a difference. But good ideas come from everywhere.  When Bruce Mau Design set up The Bureau of Doing Something About It to respond to 1000 citizen complaints about their city, they found people turning out in a heat wave to help design solutions to these complaints. We’ll hear from Amanda Happe, as she explains the complaints, how the storefront was set up, and the kind of solutions sought. We’ll also hear why 5468796 Architecture is sharing the stage at the Canadian Pavilion for next year’s Venice Biennale of Architecture. Migrating Landscapes Organizer is asking for architect submissions across the country…instead of exhibiting their own work at Venice. Johanna Hurme explains why they hosting regional and national juried exhibitions to bring fresh eyes to the definition of Canadian Architecture. And finally, we learn why Bow to Bluff is asking citizens for ideas on how to design a better public corridor comprised of a series of parks and laneways near the light rail transit line. Their pop-up storefront opened on Sunday in Calgary and will host a variety of activities in hopes of hearing from many different voices, young and old, in the community. We hear from Alderman Druh Farrell and B2B’s steering committee member Tamara Lee.  Listen on CJSW or on podcast image above: courtesy of Harry Choi, Bruce Mau Design

spaceplacenotes:

say it, do it

In cities with populations of millions, it’s hard to imagine that an individual voice, with a good idea, makes a difference. But good ideas come from everywhere. 

When Bruce Mau Design set up The Bureau of Doing Something About It to respond to 1000 citizen complaints about their city, they found people turning out in a heat wave to help design solutions to these complaints. We’ll hear from Amanda Happe, as she explains the complaints, how the storefront was set up, and the kind of solutions sought.

We’ll also hear why 5468796 Architecture is sharing the stage at the Canadian Pavilion for next year’s Venice Biennale of Architecture. Migrating Landscapes Organizer is asking for architect submissions across the country…instead of exhibiting their own work at Venice. Johanna Hurme explains why they hosting regional and national juried exhibitions to bring fresh eyes to the definition of Canadian Architecture.

And finally, we learn why Bow to Bluff is asking citizens for ideas on how to design a better public corridor comprised of a series of parks and laneways near the light rail transit line. Their pop-up storefront opened on Sunday in Calgary and will host a variety of activities in hopes of hearing from many different voices, young and old, in the community. We hear from Alderman Druh Farrell and B2B’s steering committee member Tamara Lee. 

Listen on CJSW or on podcast

image above: courtesy of Harry Choi, Bruce Mau Design

(via urbanbricolage)

•

publicdesignfestival:

After La Latina sport center in Madrid (Spain) had been destroyed, leaving a huge vacant lot, the neighbouhood’s inhabitants started a participatory process in order to turn it into a temporary social space. Inspired by esterni’s esta es una plaza and other similar bottom-up experiences, since 2010 El campo de cebada project has been building both the area and a community by means of events and workshops.

•
January 24, 2012

thebearsupthere:

Manifeste is located at Aire Banque Nationale, a public space on the corner of Amherst St. and St. Catherine St. E. in Montreal’s Ville-Marie, it is inspired by the last sentence of the Aires Libres manifesto written by Guy Corriveau: A time will come where you can express yourself freely.

Set in the heart of the Montreal’s Gay Village, Manifeste can only be revealed and decoded under certain angles. To read it, one must step backwards to Wolfe St., and then find the right angle. To fully experience it, one can leisurely penetrate its vertical forms, or thread one’s way through the tubes supporting the illuminating letters.  Night or day, Manifeste is a reminder that vital thoughts and reflections surround us without being noticed and that sometimes a slight change in perspective suddenly places us in front of what is apparent. On occasion, when we are not seeing the forest for the trees, the crown of high forest reveals a message of hope.

You can view a Photosynth of the installation here. -chester

•
January 22, 2012
publicaddress: Zoe Strauss’s show at Philadelphia Museum of Art sounds incredibly multilayered and amazing.

publicaddress:

Zoe Strauss’s show at Philadelphia Museum of Art sounds incredibly multilayered and amazing.

•

co-labdesign:

The Nature of Cities explores both the nature in are own backyards - Austin and San Diego and the possibilities in projects of cities of the future - Malmo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Freiburg, Amsterdam and Paris. The film features Sustainable Communities professor Timothy Beatley as he tours these places with City Planners, Landscape Architects, Ecologists and Residents. 

•
January 20, 2012
“ In great cities, spaces as well as places are designed and built: walking, witnessing, being in public, are as much part of the design and purpose as is being inside to eat, sleep, make shoes or love or music. The word citizen has to do with cities, and the ideal city is organized around citizenship — around participation in public life.
Rebecca Solnit (via lifeonfoot) •
January 19, 2012

glotalot:

Geometric Street Painting Runs Through Switzerland Village

Talk about the old world and the new world colliding! Every year, the small Switzerland ski town village of Vercorin asks artists to come and create works during the summer months. They’re not looking for a singular sculpture, they’re interested in creative projects that incorporate the entire village.

How cool is Vercorin? Must visit in the summer time.

Artist: Lang/Baumann

•
January 18, 2012
publicartfund: Tres cool public art in Paris. Via Colossal-  How fun is this? Bâtiment (Building) is a mirrored installation by artist Leandro Erlich currently on display at Le 104 in Paris as part of their In_Perceptions exhibition. The piece is clever in its simplicity: a massive building facade is constructed on the floor near a towering mirror giving anyone reflected the uncanny appearance of being weightless. Optical illusions are familiar territory for Erlich, whose pool installation appears to plunge air-breathing gallery patrons several feet underwater. Bâtiment is on display through March 2012.

publicartfund:

Tres cool public art in Paris. Via Colossal- 

How fun is this? Bâtiment (Building) is a mirrored installation by artist Leandro Erlich currently on display at Le 104 in Paris as part of their In_Perceptions exhibition. The piece is clever in its simplicity: a massive building facade is constructed on the floor near a towering mirror giving anyone reflected the uncanny appearance of being weightless. Optical illusions are familiar territory for Erlich, whose pool installation appears to plunge air-breathing gallery patrons several feet underwater. Bâtiment is on display through March 2012.

•