31 January 11
Cultural decoder
From our clothes, choice of music, films and cuisine to our values, ideas and beliefs – culture is our personal reality consensus. Essentially an intellectual stance, culture now has a powerful new vector: the internet. From a YouTube video to a viral marketing phenomenon – ideas are traveling further and faster, changing the cultural landscape like never before. This new electronic democracy of ideas results in cultural power devolving to the creative individual. To help decode the messages that bombard us – author-artist Rian Hughes has compiled Cult-ure: Ideas Can Be Dangerous. Complete with a faux-leather cover, die-cuts and tip-ins, the book reveals how ideas are transmitted through words, symbols and gestures to gain cultural currency. A provocative insider's guide to surviving the new media revolution and navigating today's landscape of ideas. Published by Fiell (available through our shop!)
17 January 11
Visual treats
PayneShurvell opened its doors in London in 2010 – run by artist-curator James Payne and freelance arts writer-consultant Joanne Shurvell. Aiming to bridge the gap between an artist-run space and a commercial gallery, it showcases emerging UK and international talent, working across all media. We particularly like the work of Edward Vince and Daisy Delaney. Vince is a designer-curator, who has undertaken commissions for Selfridges, Cos fashion store (Christmas card pictured) and The Future Laboratory. Delaney works in a way that forces us to reconsider everyday actions and their underlying meaning, which is engaging and sometimes comical. www.payneshurvell.com
04 August 10
Brandalism
Brands are increasingly tapping into the art domain, as an alternative form of promotion which is more subtle and subliminal – and therefore more effective. Tricky to get right, given today's savvy and somewhat cynical consumers, but pulled off well, and it spells instant street cred. Brands such as BMW and Absolut have been doing this for some time – nurturing cutting-edge artists to help generate a viral buzz for the brand, the installation and the artist. Perhaps we will see more of this – replacing the oh-so-predictable pop-up shops and flash mobs… (see more on www.coolhunter.co.uk)
04 August 10
Metro lounge
Earlier this Spring, four Paris metro stations were furnished as a lounge by Ikea. The Scandinavian furniture company’s ‘Ektorp’ and ‘Kalstad ‘sofas, ‘Brasa’ lamps and trompe l’oeil posters of cabinets were installed at the Saint Lazare, Champs-Elysées Clemenceau, Concorde and Opéra stations – to hit home the message that consumers can make themselves at home wherever they are – with the help of Ikea. Inviting passengers to test the comfort and durability of Ikea products, the subway displays were the result of a collaboration between the global furniture giant and communications agency Ube Bene. The campaign is a dynamic and enchanting example of a brand interacting with customers.
17 January 10
Plastic pooches
These life-sized sculptures of animals, made out of toys and other colourful plastic bits and bobs, such as clothes pegs, combs and buttons – are the handiwork of British artist Robert Bradford. The idea came to him several years ago, whilst considering how his children’s forgotten toys could be part of something bigger. His resulting sculptures can contain up to 3,000 toys and fetch prices in the region of $18,000. Not bad! www.robertbradford.co.uk
14 January 10
Cultural clock
Douglas Coupland – cultural multi-tasker: novelist, playwright, actor, TV producer, screenwriter, furniture designer and artist – has spent the last few years working on a series of public art commissions – the first of which is the Supernova clock installation in Toronto. Coupland's sequel to his seminal novel Generation A, was published last year, to huge acclaim – buy Generation A at designtastic's shop! www.coupland.com
24 December 09
Weird and wonderful
Tucked away in a former dairy and one-time recording studio, London's new fringe art space called The Museum of Everything, seems to have captured the zeitgeist. 'Everything' – refers to what founder and collector James Brett calls Unintentional Art. An antidote to the elitism of the art world, this democratic genre of naïve, folk and outsider art is weird, wonderful and frequently barmy. "The formal art market is so commodified," says Brett, "I think this has great appeal" he told British Vogue. Brett has invited other creatives to curate his collection – including Ed Ruscha and Jarvis Cocker, who have keenly taken up the challenge. No doubt the museum will fast become a magnet for weird and wonderful people as well as art. www.museumofeverything.com
24 December 09
Magnifying issues
Political artist Ross Jones' drawings take a look at current societal problems – terrorism, Middle Eastern oil wars, religion, capitalism – are all tackled in his large-scale renderings that share a distinct, stark aesthetic. Using a magnifier to help make the drawings as detailed as possible, his impeccable draughtsmanship is done by hand, without the use of projections or computers. The economic downturn has provided ample inspiration: Affordable Housing views the collapse in the housing market as a sign of more wide ranging economic discomfort. Drawn in two point perspective, five brutalist apartment blocks sit together ominously in a large expanse of space, casting foreboding shadows. The archetypal blocks could be anywhere, although Jones drew inspiration from the UK, where tower blocks were often used as a quick-fix solution to housing problems caused by economic downturns. Architecturally reminiscent of older tower blocks, they create a parallel between previous recessions and the one we are currently experiencing. www.sumarrialunn.com
29 November 09
Beauty monuments
"I love bling. Excess is beautiful. Behind every object, there's a story," so says Swedish designer Asa Jungnelius – who would surely go down a storm in Dubai. Interested in what's considered genuine or fake and how an object's value is created – her works question the norms of society, challenging assumptions about beauty, truth and forgery, all cloaked in a feminist twist. On display at London's Vessel gallery, otherwise available through the Kosta Boda agency in Stockholm. www.vesselgallery.com | www.kostaboda.com
15 October 09
Urban jewellery
Belgian designer Liesbeth Bussche has used the streetscape to design jewellery on a giant scale. The "Urban Jewellery" collection features earrings, necklaces, and more, all waiting to be discovered in the streets of Tielrode in Belgium. www.liesbethbussche.be
15 October 09
Critical Cities:
Ideas, Knowledge+Agitation from Emerging Urbanists
This book presents a collection of critical papers, transcripts and visual essays by progressive urban thinkers from around the world. Ricky Burdett – Director of the LSE Cities programme and co-editor of The Endless City – outlines the scale, pace and immediacy of global urbanisation, and how a new generation of urban leaders are rising to meet these new challenges; Solicitor Bill Parry-Davies – who is also a founding member of the community action company OPEN – details how change on the ground can only occur when a cultural movement runs in parallel and then intersects with the field of law; while Rehan Jamil’s visual essay, East End of Islam, documents the construction of the East London Mosque – Europe’s largest purpose built mosque. Taken over the course of a decade, the images reveal the way the Mosque takes form and how people use the building to articulate their own needs and desires in the built environment. www.myrdlecourtpress.net
15 September 09
Space encounters
Swiss artist Zilla Leutenegger creates multi-media work incorporating drawing with video or animation. Her installations can span an entire room or building or be confined to a small swatch of wall. Playing with notions of space and time, the two-dimensional aspect of the drawings, combined with three-dimensional objects create a stage of sorts for the imagination. Exploring scenes or moments that have a poetic simplicity, her compositions are more sketches than precise renderings, produced freehand. Focusing on architecture, domesticity, fantasy, and childhood, Leutenegger wants the viewer to bring their own thoughts to the image or environment she creates. She herself (or her silhouette or shadow) is often the lone figure in the work, which points to a "solitariness" but also an exchange. Leutenegger expects the viewer to play a participatory role; as viewer, to feel as if you've been let in on a secret. The subtle ambiguity of the work allows it to float between playfulness and melancholy. Leutenegger is now represented in the US by the Perry Rubenstein Gallery, who will be showing an exhibition of her work in March 2010. www.perryrubeinstein.com
15 September 09
Atlas shrugs again
Atlas Shrugged – the 1957 sci-fi tale of economic Armageddon by Russian-American Ayn Rand – is selling strongly again. Featured prominently in an episode of the hit TV series Mad Men, and a film of the book, starring Angelina Jolie, slated for release in 2010 – sales of Rand's books have tripled since the early 1990s. In fact, more copies are being sold now than at any time previously. One reason being mooted is that young people want positive values and Ayn Rand is a sole voice that offers a secular morality with a positive vision and agenda – both for individuals and society as a whole.
28 July 09
Floating logos
What do sand, water, grass, snow and wood have in common? They've all been used as mediums for advertising. Another option for unconventional marketers – is soap foam mixed with lighter-than-air gasses such as helium. Introducing Flogos – foam logos that float through the sky. The concept created quite a buzz when it was launched just over a year ago by Alabama special effects outfit Snowmasters. Available in various sizes, Flogos can travel up to 30 miles and float as high as 5,000 feet, depending on their formulation. Most last around 30 minutes, before evaporating without a trace, making them completely environmentally friendly, according to the company. Clients to date include Lindt, Disney World, Mercedes-Benz and Sheraton Hotels & Resorts. The company has opened nearly 20 offices worldwide, although nowhere in the Middle East as yet. Perhaps due to the desert's sandy shamal winds and elusive blue skies? www.flogos.net
28 July 09
Photographic trailblazer
German visual artist Andreas Gursky has made a name for himself with his monolithic prints, distinctive for their incisive and critical look at the effect of capitalism and globalisation on contemporary life. His imagery ranges from the vast, anonymous architecture of modern day hotel lobbies and apartment buildings to stock exchanges and racing tracks – in places from as far apart as Brasília, Shanghai and Bahrain. As Wallpaper* stated in its review of Gursky's recent exhibition at Stockholm's Moderna Museet, Gursky's 'characteristic candescence turns the mundane into the truly magical'. Currently the world’s highest grossing photographer, Gursky's "99 Cent ii Diptychon" sold at auction in 2007 for a record $3.34 million.
28 July 09
Big idea
To demonstrate the super absorbency of Bounty paper towels, ad agency Publicis created two giant spills in the middle of New York and Los Angeles. On 7th Avenue in New York, commuters were greeted by a giant coffee cup knocked over and spilling onto the sidewalk – complete with steam and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. In Los Angeles, weekend shoppers found a giant ice lolly melting on Third Street Promenade. Both spills were accompanied by sampling and outdoor ads, driving the message "Bounty makes small work of BIG spills" home.
25 June 09
Magic carpet
The highlight of Dubai's recent Pecha Kucha event held at the Shelter space in Al Quoz – was photographer-skateboarder Evan Collison who showed his vision of the UAE's emerging cities – from a refreshingly different perspective – that of a skateboarder. All elements – benches, hand rails, openings in walls, you name it, are there for the taking – the only hurdle being the vexed security guards. Bring it on – Dubai could do with more 'deviant' use of its public spaces, to break the place in… and become more 'real'. www.skatearabia.com
13 May 09
Walk-in cocktail
Food architects Bompas & Parr have been at it again, concocting the most unlikely and intoxicating sensory experience. Alcoholic Architecture – which took place over two weekends in London – was all about inhaling your poison – literally. The walk-in cloud of breathable cocktail used Hendrick’s Gin, tonic water and the same technology as Anthony Gormley’s Blind Light at London's Hayward Gallery. The interior space was dressed so that people felt like they'd dived into a giant G&T – with giant limes, massive straws and a drunken soundscape created by sound artist Douglas Murphy. Visitors donned special protective suits as they entered the installation, and could further imbibe from a menu of alcoholic food that complimented the breathable cocktail mist. “I’m interested in states of matter,” says Harry Parr, “and here we’ve vaporised a cocktail. In the future I would like to make a liquid banqueting table... In 1905 the Gondola Banquet at the Savoy Hotel was flooded and the meal was eaten on a floating gondola surrounded by live swans with dessert presented on the back of a baby elephant. That would be the ultimate meal.” Check out Bompas & Parr's gastronomic wizardy at www.jellymongers.co.uk
13 May 09
Comic-Branding-Architecture: Appropriating Developer Strategies to Create Design Leverage
A post-grad study group at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCIArc) looked at the development problems of Dubai in a one-semester studio exercise. Asking how the good intentions of critical architecture can progress within the inevitable power/finance structures that facilitates it – the studio decided to turn the question on its head by reinventing themselves as a fictional developer: the Kartun Development Group – a “sheep in wolves clothing”. The KDG portfolio was presented in a series of comics during Art Dubai, and exhibited at Shelter, Dubai's new creative workspace. A roundtable discussion (speakers included Wes Jones (SCIArc), Misha Stavrides (Arch, RSP Group), George Katodraytis (American University of Sharjah) and Richard Wagner (Arch, dxb-LAB Architects) – explored the role of architects and ways to respond to their gradual dislocation from the city by appreciating developer strategies, plus new ways to convey architectural information to make it readable for people. So perhaps a comic or travel guide is the ideal format for addressing urban and architectural research and issues…?
Click on an image to load the comic into a new browser window, or download it to read later (Windows users: right mouse. Mac users: control + click)…
13 May 09
Seeing is not believing
Erik Johansson is a Swedish photo-shopping maverick who takes his own pictures and manipulates them into surreal scenes that defy logic. By creating unbelievable realism as art – his images do what images are supposed to do: open your eyes. www.alltelleringet.com Pictures © Erik Johansson
08 March 09
Making a splash
A swimming pool in London was transformed into a small part of the Atlantic ocean for a special screening of Titanic – to celebrate the 2009 Oscar season. The Golden Lane Leisure Centre ditched its everyday look for a makeover complete with dry ice and icebergs, while the audience, decked out in Victorian costumes, watched (endured?) the 195-minute film from lifeboats during the high definition screening. Depicting the 1912 disaster, it won 11 Academy Awards and remains the top money-making film of all time, with $1.8 billion in worldwide tickets.
09 February 09
Share a dance
T-Mobile’s guerilla dance at London’s Liverpool Street station, used in their tv advertising.
27 January 09
Down to a t…
Tokyo-based t-shirt and clothing brand, Graniph, has collaborated with Dubai’s design gallery traffic, to open a one-month pop-up store. A team of copywriters and artists from Japan and around the world, produce over 100 designs a month – available in limited editions of up to 1,000. Made using different techniques, including silk screen, half-rubber print, puff suede, flock print, metallic foil and photo print applications, the t-shirts cost around $40 or 2 for $60. A new street label in Dubai is good news, given that the current options for cool street wear is somewhat lacking. Graniph plans to open over a dozen stores in the Middle East – bringing an essence of Japanese fashion not currently available. It will be the region’s only store to focus solely on t-shirts; an item in high demand yet poorly supplied. T-shirt fashion is a niche market subject to large growth rates as people becomes more culture savvy and design aware, and the trend for showing individuality becomes more desirable. Bring it on, we say. Until 15 February 2009. A store at Dubai’s Festival City is set to open later in 2009. www.viatraffic.org :: www.graniph.com
16 December 08
Modernising the minaret
Omran Al-Owais established his Dubai-based architecture and urban development studio, CentimetreCube in 2005 (see Regional Spaces, ‘Fashion house’ item). Combining traditional architectural design with the latest trends and innovations, the firm creates attractive and environmentally sustainable schemes for the UAE and the wider Middle East. At Dubai’s recent Pecha Kucha event, organised by The Third Line gallery at the American University of Dubai – Owais presented his Minaret project; a mission to bring the mosque into the 21st century. As far as he’s concerned, architecturally speaking, the place of worship remains in the past because locals are so absorbed with their memories and history, resulting in the same format being re-used again and again. The way contemporary cities are being built, with curtains of high-rises and a sea of traffic – the sound of the mosque’s main feature – the Minaret – is being increasingly muffled. Owais has a solution for Dubai’s sprawling horizon: LED-lit minarets which are illuminated simultaneously alongside the call for prayers. www.centimetercube.com | www.pecha-kucha.org/cities/dubai
16 December 08
Tiffany tuck shop
The iconic jeweller has launched a giant signature turquoise pop-up box at Somerset House’s winter ice rink, it will be serving Hummingbird Bakery cupcakes, candy canes, gingerbread men and more. The grand 18th century setting… a glittering Tiffany tree… the romance of skating is open to all, day and night, under the moon… accompanied by London’s coolest DJs… All rounded off with a glass of bubbly, until 25 January – London at its absolute best. www.somersethouse.org.uk
15 October 08
Red house
This scarlet house is situated on a small island in Sweden. The intense Monopoly Hotel structure has a footbridge connecting it to the shore. No plastic mock-up, this is a proper, full-scale house, in traditional Swedish holiday cottage style. “The house is a multimedia installation entitled Fårjaglov, (‘Shallwedance’) by Malmö-based artist Peter Johansson. On approaching the house, one can apparently hear the sounds of ABBA, wafting from within – perhaps intended as a sarcastic comment on a certain conformist perception of Swedishness?
15 October 08
Memory Cloud
A three-day interactive installation was organised by the ICA and Minimaforms earlier this month. Taking place in London's Trafalgar Square, passers by could text any message they liked to the artists’ creation, and the message was immediately made into light-and-air smoke signals, uncensored and huge… Using a 5,000 year old communication method combined with cutting edge technology, the art installation was an unusual addition to one of London's most famous landmarks. Taking place over three evenings, it attracted plenty of people who had something to say. Minimaforms was founded by brothers Stephen and Theodore Spyropoulos, an experimental architecture and design practise that explores and provokes new means of communication. Theodore also co-directs the Architectural Association's Design Research Lab and is a visiting research fellow at MIT, having previously worked at Peter Eisenman and Zaha Hadid Architects. Stephen is also he Design Director for Heavy in New York. www.minimaforms.com
15 October 08
Office art
Post Its aren't simply an item of stationery; they’ve become pop cultural icons. From Sod using them in The Office TV series… they are becoming an artistic and decorating tool. Flexible, easy to use, easy to find (i.e., steal from work), the adhesive note pads are gaining in demand, despite the fact they've been around since 1968. This installation is one of a collection of artworks to mark Post Its 40th anniversary. Who knew there was so much fun to be had when your boss is out to lunch?
16 September 08
Urban spaces and bodies
This photography project by art director Willi Dorner and photographer Lisa Rastl used human bodies to give more meaning to architecture and urban spaces. They show that a body not only measures the space around it, but gives the space a new level of meaning. By literally filling up spaces that are left free in designed spaces, dimensions become visible, changing one’s perspective. This notion was then developed from perceiving the dimensions of spaces, to different ways of “reacting” or interpreting urban locations. www.ciewdorner.at
16 September 08
Sony subway map
Apple can always be relied on for both its superior design – and clever advertising, leaving most other global communications brands in the shade. Sony seems to fighting back with its latest campaign, created by Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney. Steered by art director Eron Broughton, the agency used Sony’s earphones and literally mapped out the New York subway system, echoing a traditional subway map. It’s a simple idea but extremely effective in its execution, giving Sony a much-needed dose of cool. Now all Sony needs to do is apply that principle to its products.
12 August 08
Dessert on wheels
Hot on the heels of ice cream trucks aimed at grown ups beetling around town in Los Angeles and London, New Yorkers are getting in on the mobile dessert action with vans delivering all kinds of sugary delights. The Treats Trucks roam the streets of Manhattan and nieghbouring boroughs, selling cookies, brownies and other goodies, made from natural ingredients at their Brooklyn bakery. Wafels and Dinges serves “all good things Belgian”, and Dessert Truck serves up such delectables as chocolate bread pudding and goat cheese cheesecake. Besides enabling small, high-end confectioners to compete in a market that would otherwise involve prohibitively high rents, these upscale dessert delivery trucks, neatly illustrate that anything can be upgraded – and could even provide cause for concern for greedy landlords in wealthy urban centres around the globe. www.treatstruck.com | www.wafelsanddinges.com | www.dessertruck.com
12 August 08
Lego lives on
If you thought those plastic boxes died with the rise of video games and the internet… think again. Until the last of us who played with Lego as kids dies off, the fascination continues. So how about using Lego for home repairs? It seems there's nothing you can’t do without Lego – as these wall repairs bear testimony. Even if the repair itself fails, it looks great and contributes a fine example of street art. After all, if you’re going to do some repairs, you might as well make sure it gets noticed.
07 July 08
Urban interventions
Outdoor advertising provides tremendous scope for creatives to ‘go the extra mile’ and interact products with urban buildings and street furniture – as demonstrated by Nike, with their giant football bursting out of a building… FedEx Kinko’s giant office supplies and Canon turning street barriers into cameras. These campaigns then reach the superhighway of digital ’zines and blogs, thus gaining additional exposure for their clients around the world. trendhunter.com
04 June 08
Leg up
Given how much time people spend on escalators at shopping malls and airports, it was only a matter of time before advertising agencies tapped into this area as a promotional platform. To highlight the Venus shaver, which gives women “seriously smooth legs,” BBDO Philippines came up with a guerrilla campaign that transformed an escalator at Dhoby Ghaut (one of the busiest stations in the country with over 1.4 million daily visitors) into long sexy legs. It was a huge success – judging by the look on people’s faces, captured in the print ads, photographed by Jonathan Tay, which deliberately made it look like the people holding the rail are running their hands along the smooth legs. Reaching 1.4 million people on a daily basis – effectively 29% of the Philippines' population – would have taken at least 4 weeks on prime time TV.
22 May 08
Retro promo
To promote the company's realistic-looking laminate floors, Armstrong's clever “It only looks like the real thing” campaign, features uncanny portrayals of bygone era icons in contemporary settings. The ads feature Lucille Ball, Marlon Brando, James Dean and Dean Martin in authentic poses and outfits in room sets featuring the Armstrong flooring. Done in the best possible taste, the ads deliver a strong statement about the product. Handled by New York ad agency BBDO with creative and art direction by David DiRienz and photography by Norman Jean Roy.
22 May 08
Urban holes
An innovative guerilla ad campaign was recently executed by Publicis of Malaysia, to highlight HP's photo paper. A series of urban installations, complete with black 'holes', were strategically placed around town, to fool people into thinking the background was actually a fake backdrop. In reality, the only fake thing was the hole printed on HP paper. From a distance, the effect was pretty convincing. As people get closer, they can read the small print by HP.
7 May 08
Media wall
GreenPix is a groundbreaking zero energy media wall, using sustainable and digital media technology. Situated at Beijing's Xicui Entertainment Complex, near the 2008 Olympics site, it is the world's largest colour LED display and the first photovoltaic system integrated into a glass curtain wall. Designed and developed by Simone Giostra & Partners Architects in collaboration with Arup Engineers, the media wall transforms the building envelope into a self-sufficient organic system, harvesting solar energy by day which illuminates the screen at night, so mirroring the day’s climatic cycle. Beijing's first structure dedicated to digital art will be inaugurated to the general public in June with a programme of video installations and live performances by artists including Xu Wenkai, Michael Bell Smith, Takeshi Murata and Shih Chieh Huang. www.greenpix.org
7 May 08
Blade Runner comes to life
Iranian maverick developer Sonny Astani seems to enjoy sci-fi films. His latest plans for LA involve a $36.5 million redevelopment that will make use of one-way LED windows to portray the skyscraper billboards of Blade Runner – the 1982 film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's dystopia of a visually, environmentally and socially degraded urban future. Thus from the outside, the entire building will run video adverts, like a giant Picadilly Circus, while residents will be able to look out on the panoramic views unhindered. LIfe imitating art? Picture © The Blade Runner Partnership/courtesy Warner Home Video
27 March 08
Fashion Statement
Department store Harvey Nichols latest ad campaign uses The ‘Fashion Statement’ concept with compelling visuals by photographer Jonathan De Villiers. www.harveynichols.com
27 March 08
Iran media clamp down
Iran's Culture Ministry has closed down nine lifestyle and film magazines because they featured images and stories of "corrupt" film stars. A report on its website said that Iran's Press Supervisory Board had also sent warnings to a further 13 other publications on "observing the provisions of the press law". The exact reasons for the closure of the nine magazines remains unclear, but the ministry said they were closed for "using photos of artists, especially foreign corrupt film stars, as instruments (to arouse desire), publishing details about their decadent private lives, propagating medicines without authorisation and promoting superstitions".
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