The illegal Israeli settlement Har Homa in the West Bank, the interior of the MIR space-station simulator in Moscow, the modernist monument in honour of WW II victims in Kosturnica, the bedsheet serving as an improvised cinema screen in a Chinese village – these are real Science Fiction scenarios, constructed man-made utopias, hurling their absurdities at the viewer

A troop of monkeys celebrate a feast, a panther wanders across a snowy Alpine landscape and a pack of white wolves surround a buffalo dripping blood in a manicured French garden. At first glance Walton Ford’s large-scale animal watercolour paintings evoke prints by French and British colonial-era illustrators from the 19th century. After closer examination however, they reveal a pictorial universe of complex and disturbing allusions

Who would have thought i’d end up blogging about a splatter movie on wmmna? I’m not talking about any horror movie, i’m talking “gay-porn zombie film”, a genre which i assume is under-represented in contemporary art. Written and directed by Bruce LaBruce and starring porn actor François Sagat, LA Zombie is on view at the Peres Projects gallery in Berlin, along with a dozen new works on canvas

The exhibition explores the new “updated” textile crafts that are developed by a new generation of serious amateurs, innovative craftsmen, engaged entrepreneurs and political practitioners. Once again the home is the workshop where economic and ecologic innovation happens – not only in the labs of the industrial expertise. After decades of outsourcing, the new modes of production are in the hands of the layperson

Nelly Ben Hayoun’s installation/performance attempted to demonstrate the visual equivalent of one of those massive sonic booms that take place inside Super K each time a neutrino meets an electron of extremely pure water. As ultra-pure water doesn’t exactly abound in London night clubs, the designer used the water from the nearest fire hydrant and turned the place into a 15 by 5m long swimming pool

Designers and architects have to make decisions regarding color every day. But how does one find the necessary inspiration? The appropriate color? How do other designers and artists deal with the issue? With “Chroma,” the Greek word for color, as its title, this illustrated book provides answers to these questions and makes it clear that color is much more than mere decoration – it is one of the central problems of creative work

Moira Ricci delves into the photographs of the past following the tracks of her mother, whose dates of birth and death provide the series with its title and indicate the time span covered by the images. Digital processing of old family photographs enables the artist to appear beside and observe her mother while remaining an extraneous figure, a sort of ubiquitous ghost hovering on the edges of the images and events

The ‘Herbologies/Foraging Networks’ programme of events, focused in Helsinki (Finland) and Kurzeme region of Latvia, explores the cultural traditions and knowledge of herbs, edible and medicinal plants, within the contemporary context of online networks, open information-sharing, biological and hydroponic technologies

The exhibition, curated by Domenico Quaranta for Laboral’s new Mediateca Expandida, explores the role played by music in the adoption and manipulation of obsolete technologies: vinyls, old computers, game platforms, etc. I’m going to be the usual procrastinator and promise that i’ll come back with a report later on this week. In the meantime, here’s a link to the catalog of the exhibition and to videos by the extremely talented Raquel Meyers

Together with the inhabitants of Sampsonia Way in Pittsburgh, two artists staged collective performances and actions on the day the Google Car drove through the neighbourhood: a 17th-century sword fight, a dramatic escape using bedlinen, a parade with a brass band and majorettes. These actions now form part of the digital maps of Sampsonia Way made available online by Google Maps

An office is frozen in an arctic winter, plants propagate behind walls, the same person is repeatedly struck by lightning, money goes up in smoke, and a high frequency soundtrack plays only for the dogs…. CHASING NAPOLEON recognizes how a rise and fall can spread to reality itself. A wavering of interpretations, an inversion of values, and a paradox of situations… Here everything happens as if the world has slipped into a parallel universe

The exhibition explores the key role that bartering is fulfilling in developing countries. This kind of informal economy is not only often more important than the official economy, but its importance will increase dramatically in the coming years as the cities in poor countries undergo explosive population growth. Reciprocity examines how this system of barter and returning of favors affects the infrastructure and vitality of Jakarta where a large majority of the population receives its wages in kind, and creates its own alternative chain of supply and demand

The world of fashion and design is inundated with a seemingly endless list of rules. Think of “Less is More,” “Form Follows Function,” “Keep it Simple,” “Dress Your Age,” and the list goes on and on. They’re familiar sayings that some designers consider to be valuable words of wisdom, which serve as a guiding line and source of inspiration. To others, these rules are mere restrictions: design dogmas and fashion formulae that need to be bended, twisted or broken altogether

Refuge – Architectural Propositions for Unbound Spaces explores the causes and spatial impact of migration through voluntary or involuntary “refugees” who are transforming cities around the globe. Individuals or groups are elegantly or forcefully encapsulated from within the context of the city and society. Refuge produces an ever more atomized urban tissue where the “camp” has become both spatial paradigm and everyday reality, be it in the form of a gated community, slum, or humanitarian refugee camp

Since 1955, the World Press Photo Foundation is awarding the most striking and representative images that have documented and illustrated the events of our times in the press. The winners of the photography contest are exhibited this year in 100 cities in 45 countries and is still expanding. The plethora of exhibition venues hardly justify why World Press Photo is so wantonly careless about the way the images are exhibited

It seems that, given a choice, most Americans choose to live in a homogenous community over an heterogenous one. However, the suburban landscape of semi-public spaces that exist in between these homogenous communities reveal, here and there, what Interboro calls “spaces of encounter” where diverse social and ethnic groups coexist, interact and generate complex relationships and networks

Tomas Saraceno’s Galaxies Forming along Filaments, like Droplets along the Strands of a Spider’s Web was the ultimate photo-magnet at this year’s Venice Biennale. No doubt the work he’s exhibiting at ReThink: Contemporary Art and Climate Change in Copenhagen is meeting with the same fascination from the audience. I’ve seen his pieces in numerous group exhibition. They are always striking of course but i never really took the time to sit down and watch his work with enough attention

Yes, i had already seen sk-interfaces. Exploding Borders in Art, Technology and Society at FACT in Liverpool but the Luxembourg version, i was told by friends, is bigger, bolder and even better than the first one. They were right. A couple of pieces have been added to the show. The performances are well documented and there is a corner to watch videos. The space itself is kinder to the artworks. There’s extra drama as the poor Victimless Leather garments had caught some disease and were slowly eaten by decay

Whether they take the Skyscraper Index seriously or not, people agree that Architecture is conditioned by the economical climate. Architectural projects were the first casualties of the current financial crash, and architects, along with bankers, were the first who suffered collective layoffs. Rien ne va Plus, an exhibition taking place at Bureau Europa in Maastricht, delves into the economic crisis and its intricate relation with architecture