Ghostlike architecture that comes straight out of the Gomorrah movie, displaced classrooms and cardboard manifestation of gravity
Jean-Baptiste Labrune’s presentation at The Council meeting gave a provocative (and much welcome) twist to the discussion about ‘the internet of things.’ Labrune’s talk revolved around the idea of developing organic circuits and, more broadly, about an internet of thing which might one day be made of material that grow, evolve, decay and die just like us
The last edition of Artissima was good. But then i’d usually say such thing because i love art fairs. The booth ladies always wear fancy, sexy attires, none of them has ever heard about the existence of art blogs, i see free booze in my fancy press bag, the concept of a fair makes it possible to ask questions you’d never dare to ask in a gallery or museum, and there are more artworks than even i can absorb
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Since the early days of photography, critics have told us that photos of political violence – of torture, mutilation, and death – are exploitative, deceitful, even pornographic. To look at these images is voyeuristic; to turn away is a gesture of respect. With “The Cruel Radiance”, Susie Linfield attacks those ideas head-on, arguing passionately that viewing such photographs – and learning to see the people in them – is an ethically and politically necessary act that connects us to our modern history of violence and probes our capacity for cruelty
4 design proposals were shown at the biennale: Foragers is a reflection on the future of food in an overpopulated planet; Stop and Scan and EM Listeners responds to the UK’s unique tolerance for extreme state intrusion which allows the police to use a lack of privacy laws to create a living laboratory; finally, Afterlife is a domestic product for a time when euthanasia is far more common than it is today
What new needs will arise as the climate of the Earth changes? This project examines a household of the future and ways these needs might be met through symbiotic relationships with modified insects
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Thanks to the symbolic and allegorical power of photography, combined with its documentary potential, we find ourselves faced with an extreme dimension of life that oscillates between the sublime and the horrific. As an activity accessible to all, photography helps us to understand that the toughest ordeals of pain and violence can paradoxically lead us to an existential experience whose outcome is a perception of the sublime
A few months ago, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris decided to ban photographs of the artworks and of the inside of the building, allegedly ‘to preserve the comfort of visitors and the safety of the artworks.’ OrsayCommons is a performance pro-photo, pro-remix and pro-public domain at the Musée d’Orsay that civilly and cheekily protests against what its participants call “a measure not only at odds with our times but also illegitimate since it concerns public heritage.”
The film observes the method and practice of the Modernist architects who rebuilt London after World War Two. It shows how they revolutionised life in the city in the wake of destruction from war and the poor living conditions inherited from the Industrial Revolution. This film is their story. Utopia London travels through the recent history of the city where the film maker grew up. He finds the architects who designed it and reunites them with the buildings they created
Prédiction was the biggest exhibition of the International Design Biennial in Saint Étienne. Its ambition was to reposition the boundaries of contemporary design, exploring in over 100 artefacts and 2000 m2 the new types, methods, and practices of the discipline
Today i return to the GAMERZ festival in Aix-en-Provence because 1. i want to remind you that this truly unique event is going to close on Sunday 2. i just interviewed the lovely Isabelle Arvers who not only curated a machinima show for the GAMERZ exhibition but is also one of the most respected experts in art and video games, 8it music and free + opensource culture in France
Having finally found some time to go through hundreds of pictures, notes and a decidedly chubby catalogue, i’m ready to start a series of reports from last month’s visit to International Design Biennial in Saint Étienne, France. The theme of this 6th edition was Teleportation. The biennale, the website says, intends to explore paths of discoveries that will tend in their extreme expression to lead to a possible teleportation as the dematerialization of movement which appears to be an incredibly revealing notion of our era
Cooking Science is the catalogue of a show of the same name which invited the public to look at cooking, gastronomy and nutrition through the scientist’s eyes and see them as a truly cultural activity which brings a wealth of knowledge into play
Should you be interested in accommodating a small volcano in your living room, designer Nelly Ben Hayoun has one ready to cover your interior with dust and erupt gloop on your carpet. While the first prototype is still a fairly modest and manageable size, The Other Volcano aims to build a series of semi-domesticated volcanoes that would almost reach the ceiling and provide you with all the discomfort you can expect from this new breed of geological pet
The installation borrows the name of the famous tennis champion, except that the sole role humans can play here is the most humble one: picking up lost balls. That’s if they dare to approach NADAL. In this degenerated form of tennis, several tennis ball machines propel balls on a meticulously calibrated trajectory that animate and play with the architectural space
Herman Joshua Wallace has spent the past 38 years in Solitary Confinement (or closed cell restriction) for a crime he probably didn’t commit. A few years ago, artist Jackie Sumell asked him: “What kind of house does a man who has lived in a 6′ X 9′ box for over 30 years dream of?”
GAMERZ festival runs until the 19th December and spreads in various cultural centers all over the city. The focus of the festival is gaming of course but the installations, performances, talks and videos by 85 French and international artists also reach out to other areas where contemporary art and new technologies interact. Not strictly and solely game thus but there’s always an element of entertainment. Which doesn’t prevent some of the works to come with a critical agenda as well
Making and using software can be experimental, humorous and aesthetically rich.
The international exhibition Funware deals with this Fun-factor in software development, and the many ways in which artists have run off with it in past and present
Featuring an extensive collection of work in which images and space meld seamlessly into a single narrative entity, Staging Space offers new solutions for exhibition and event architecture, scenography, media installations, interiors, and stage design as well as multimedia brand concepts. The book also presents an array of hybrid projects whose focus lies on using space to achieve pre-defined dramatic effects
Techniques to insert genes into plants are within reach of the amateur, and the criminal. Policing Genes speculates that genetic engineering will also find a use outside the law, with innocent-looking garden plants modified to produce narcotics and unlicensed pharmaceuticals. The genetics of the plants in your garden or allotment could become a police matter…
There is a stunning photo exhibition right now at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris. Stunning and disturbing. I had to take a small pause from it after having seen only half of it. Yet, you won’t find any mention of the show on the museum’s website. Nor will you see billboards outside the museum to announce/denounce its existence
ShapeShift is an experiment in future possibilities of architectural materialization. This project explores the potential application of electro-active polymer (EAP) at an architectural scale
If you’re in Paris too, you might like to swing by rue de Turenne and see a couple of exhibitions at the Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin. I promise you an impressive circle made of fake bear rugs, lamps made of mini designer chairs and gigantic pink, grey and black toys
In his presentation for the STRP conference, Matthew Fuller gave a brief but fascinating overview of artworks that make a direct address to the perceptual world of non-human animal species. As you will see quite a few amazing works have been done in this field
One of the installations that made me keep coming back to it over and over again last night is the Physiognomic Scrutinizer by Marnix de Nijs who, as usual, is using humour to reflect on some of the key issues of our society. In this case, the role biometric systems play in present our public space
The exhibition showcase the work of young photographers, gifted amateurs, alongside that of established professionals. This year’s selection is as heavy as ever with its documentation of prostitution, childhood obesity, prison and hunting
Inspired by China’s Golden Shield Project, this generative piece of music makes a free, creative use of a technology ideated to subtly constrain the freedom of the Internet as a global Network
Each day in September, Damián Ortega took inspiration from a newspaper and translated it into a physical interpretation, be it a sculpture, installation, proposition or prototype for a future project. The works made over this period have become both a sculptural chronicle of this period of time – and a dynamic reinterpretation of the notion of an art commission
From ancient Egyptian poppy tinctures to Victorian cocaine eye drops, Native American peyote rites to the salons of the French Romantics, mind-altering drugs have a rich history. ‘High Society’ explores the paths by which these drugs were first discovered – from apothecaries’ workshops to state-of-the-art laboratories – and how they came to be simultaneously fetishised and demonised in today’s culture
The exhibition explores portraiture and the representation of political, economical and social power in the contemporary world through the works of contemporary artists. Portraits of famous political figures, investigations into the lifestyle of the social elite, as well as inquiries into the power structures of international institutions
Rineke Dijkstra photographed a 18-year-old legionnaire named Olivier Silva, minutes after he had been accepted into the legion. She photographed him six more times over the course of thirty-six months while he was following the Foreign Legion stern training in Aubagne, near Marseille, and when he was stationed at Castelnaudary and in the Pyrenees
I tend to avoid blogging about the most well-known galleries. I doubt they need my posts to attract the crowds. On Thursday however, i went to Tate Britain to see Fiona Banner’s sculptures and realized i would not be able to keep the excitement out of my website
A sensorial wearable device forcing to smell grass and to hear your own breath. Equipped with fresh sod and headphones, this mask inhibit the visual system while enhancing the olfactory by the proximity with soil.
The device defines also a sensory territory constructed by the rhytm of the breath, which is diffused from the headphones with a 1.5 sec. delay
The Documentary Real was probably the most satisfying conference i attended this year. I had planned to write down my notes from some of my favourite talks when Robrecht Vanderbeeken from KASK (the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent) informed me that the videos of the symposium were online
The exhibition “West Arch – a new generation in architecture” shows 25 architecture studios from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany which all respond to present demands and problems in an experimental and unconventional way
Beware! May contain ants scratching vinyl, a Cousin Itt alter-ego, Bruce Sterling and Carla Bruni
The walls of this experimental museum are built with compressed stacks of plastic, paper, metal, fabric and wood. All the material is recycled. The books of the library are kept inside disused fridges, tables are installed on top of upside-down washing machines. A huge fan regularly blows wind that moves the fabric walls of the corridor. A rudimentary skywalk allows visitors to get a better idea of the architecture of the museum
The show is indeed disturbing. Not so much for the images but for the issues they uncover: domestic violence, decaying corpses, mass graves for livestock, post-war trauma, pollution, nonconformist sexual practices, etc. Curators Germano Celant and Melissa Harris have hung on the white walls of the Triennale 260 pictures from 24 contemporary photographers. Each of these images follow the footsteps of the photos which emerged from Vietnam in the ’60s and ’70s and were so shocking that they played a crucial role in changing public opinion about the conflict
I spent the afternoon at the press preview of Artissima, Turin’s contemporary art fair. Since i’m still uploading the hundreds of pictures i took, going through the catalogue, trying to identify the performances and screenings worth attending over the coming days and wondering whether i shouldn’t get away from this screen and head to the Share festival, i’m going to do the lazy thing and give you an easy preview of Artissima using a selection of the press images i received a few hours ago
Form+Code discusses the role of software in visual design, art, and architecture. It hopes to generate interest in creating visual and spatial form with software across diverse fields by focusing on the history, theory, and practice of software in the art