PLASTIC ART AGAINST POLLUTION
This Korean artist turns polluting plastics in thoughtful art. Asia by now is covered with plastic waste. Here the plastics trays used all the time at home or temples for fruits etcetera, are transformed into colourful art objects that looks magical when sunlight shines through.
Thomas Voorn, a Dutch Renaissance man/artist/designer makes Garment Graffiti. He leaves (his) clothes in public spaces transforming it into remarkable artistic urban signs, robust and fragile at the same time.
Frieda de Graaf, from Erasmus Coolhunt ‘08: The spazio of Rossana Orlandi (important scout of interior design talent) is filled with 2D cartoons. This has inspired multiple designers, like the Belgian shoe designer Biography and the interior designer shade by Front (see picture).
The 17 is a conceptual experiment by Bill Drummond, gathering
different groups of 17 people to create and record music, play it back once, and then delete it. The 17 is a choir. Their Music has no history, follows no traditions, recognizes no contemporaries. The 17 has many voices. Only once, and then it is deleted in order to start fresh all over again.
A weathered, green train, which traversed China’s railways throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, shipped from Shenyang, China and being shown in Basel, Switzerland recently. Its 24 windows screened 1940s newsreel footage of war and revolution in the world. It is an project by the Chinese artist Qiu Anxiong, called Staring into Amnesia.
Leonie Kuipers, Amsterdam:
In the Netherlands the cultural entrepreneurship is still on the rise. More artists want to operate on the interface of commerce and art. Not only designers and visual artists are creating works without financial government support, also theatre makers and museums are playing with similar concepts. Settings becoming more full of brands, sponsoring the play. Buildings are pimped with commercials as artistic expressions.
Designer and architect Teun Castelein, known from the advertising on the Sandberg institute has made a new project in collaboration with the Graphic Design Museum (formally know as the Beyerd Museum). For the opening he covered the frontage with 250 flags. Each brand could buy his own flag, inspired by the famous ‘Million dollar Homepage’ (a website designed by a British Student). The museum and the exposition from Teun Castelein was opened by queen Beatrix.
A great example of the evolution of graffiti. Last year, two “graffiti artists” stencilled She Loves The Moon — a story in 43 snippets — across city sidewalks, giving readers 16 different story combinations they could create by simply choosing where to walk next. To date, the creators remain anonymous, perhaps in fear of the city’s vandalism laws.
Hitotoki is an online literary project collecting stories of singular experiences tied to locations in cities worldwide. Established in Tokyo, it is launched in/on Shanghai now. Aiming to build a narrative map of the world, Hitotoki encourages the inhabitants of cities - currently Tokyo, New York, Washington DC & London - to share a personal story, focused on a single moment, and tied to a specific place.
My ‘process chair’ - part of the Process Collection, dealing with consumerism - is made exactly like a normal wooden chair. However, the back leg gradually morphs back into a bark-covered branch with a leafy sprig ‘growing’ out of it.
By John Grant
Blu is obviously an artist with a lot of spare-time. His newest short movie (>7 minutes) contains evolving figures on a wall. Litterally on a wall: he painted 12 frames per second on uge existing walls (do check the video!), graffitti 2.0!
http://Www.superuse.org is an open community of designers, architects and anyone else who would like to join and is interested in inventive ways of recycling. The creative fun level is high. The playful care for our polluted world as well. Giving old gear, ready for the trash belt, a surprising second life: that is what it is all about.
Recently Philips introduced the Daylight Concept Active Glass at their Simplicity event, here in New York. The unit transforms an entire wall into an interactive multi functional light screen. Although it will take at least 8 years before it hits the market it gives us a glimpse of what is coming. The interactive wall gives you total control on incoming light; for example, you can block out noise, change the lightning and even add foliage.
Leontien Poel: This cool trend was found in the ‘Negen straatjes’ in Amsterdam. This district in Amsterdam is known as being full of surprises. And this post will show you not only surprises but also small pearls. In a empty shop, where used to be a high fashion retailer was located, I found nothing more then a table with a few books in the window. I couldn’t figure out what the purpose was of this empty building, the only thing there was to be seen was a little table with some books. The book on top of the pile was placed so that people who were walking by could easily read it.
As also can be seen on my picture it says: “For every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of happiness”. I think this can be considered a ‘found pearl’.
I believe this pile of books was not placed without a purpose. With reading this message which someone left there for me to read, I smiled. I think it’s becoming more important to let people “hear” your innervoice. In a time where individuals are still important it’s becoming a way to shape your identity.
Sophie:
A lot of neighbourhoods in Amsterdam have a bad name especially in Amsterdam Oost. So the government is trying to improve them and this means a lot of places are up and coming. This neighbourhood has improved so now the government has moved on to a different part in Amsterdam Oost. I think these tiles are going with them. It would be nice if they were spread all over town. And I think this might happen.
I thought these tiles belonged to the Cool wonderland trend because people are expressing themselves. They have written down on a golden slack what there opinion is on this neighbourhood for everyone to see. I think this is an intimate thing to do and these people have expressed themselves.
Stephanie: At first sight I didn’t saw a trend in this one. But when I walked by a few times I thought to myself ‘well this is something new and improving to do’. What is it.. well it’s a window for a art musea. It sounds boring.. but to display in a metro station can be the new trend. There is many space to show your stuff and sooo many people will walk by. It will scream for your attention because it’s not normal to display at a metro station, what is well known as a dirty and boring place to walk through.
Contact: Carl Rohde, +31 621 243 114, Tilburg, Netherlands (GMT +1)
Contact: Vincent Albers , +31 623 046 643, Amsterdam (GMT +1)