As a follow-up to the article below about “low” and “high” culture, I decided to write a few words about the relationship between fashion and art. I visited the Espoo Museum of Modern Art last Sunday. The main reason for the visit was the Claude Monet exhibition which is on show over there, but I did take a good, long look at some of the more contemporary stuff that was on show over there. Although some of it was thought-provoking and interesting, I sometimes can’t help but wonder if some of the most creative people are not working as artists after all. There is a huge amount of creativity and depth in modern advertising landscape. Diesel is one of the big brands that has a long tradition of mixing art and fashion in their advertising, but after seeing a blog post about this Viktor & Rolf store in Milan, one can hardly blame them for lack of courage either. Sure, it’s a gimmick, but you have to give them props for actually building that space with that degree of accuracy and commitment. But.. just to put my personal view of art in perspective and for the record, I thought that the Borat movie was a great piece of concept art as well.
Posted by api at 14:37 - 1 Comment »
It is that special time of year again. Here’s a collection of images from my archives to enhance your holiday spirit.
If that didn’t help, try one of the Christmas radios
Posted by api at 08:30 - No Comments »
To create truly striking digital art images, it is often necessary to combine computer procesesses with various analog source material. It’s difficult the resist the abstract beauty of the digitally colored incense smoke photographs. I think the whole concept and production method was invented more or less single handedly by Graham Jeffery. He shared his method at his Sensitive Light site. The Flickr group Art Smoke now has more than 500 photographs.
Posted by api at 20:11 - No Comments »
I just found out that Donald Duck magazine is the biggest periodical in Finland. It is read weekly by 1.3 million people in a country with a population of 5 million. In the 90’s a version of the finnish national epic poem - Kalevala - was published in the magazine. Kalevala has had a rather extensive influence on many different fields of art and culture… Beginning with the paintings of Akseli Gallen-Kallela a century ago and finishing with the lyrics of the modern heavy metal bands, not to speak of all the various contemporary art pieces that deal with the concept of Sampo - a magical mill that perpetually generates three important commodities out of thin air - flour, salt and gold.
During my first years at school, I was immediately casted as Joukahainen (the skinny and impulsive rival of the main character Väinämöinen) to act in the following scene for the school’s end of year party. It was a somewhat traumatic experience to be magically sank into the swamp year after year, but these days I see Kalevala as a great source of inspiration and pride just like it bolstered the self-confidence of a new nation to be 150 years ago. I much prefer a national epic with magic, spirits and interdimensional travel to actual historical stories about kings, monarchies and endless wars with actual neighbouring countries.
I think that there is a tremendous amount of untapped creative potential just waiting to be unleashed in works based on Kalevala.
Kalevala
Vainamoinen chanted and the coat of Joukahainen became a cloud
in the sky. His hat turned to a water lily on the lake, his belt to a
snake among the reeds.
Vainamoinen chanted and Joukahainen sank in the marshy ground,
up to his waist in the swallowing earth.
Cried Joukahainen,
JOUKAHAINEN: (desperately) Reverse your words, undo your spells!
I will give you a hat full of silver, a helmet full of gold!
VAINAMOINEN: (disdainfully) Keep your wealth. My coffers overflow.
He chanted again, and Joukahainen sank to his chest.
JOUKAHAINEN: Reverse your words, undo your spells! I will give
you fields for plowing, meadows for pasture!
VAINAMOINEN: Keep your land. My farm stretches beyond sight.
He chanted again, and Joukahainen sank to his chin.
JOUKAHAINEN: Reverse your words, undo your spells! I will tell
you of the fairest woman, the finest maiden!
Vainamoinen stopped his chant.
JOUKAHAINEN: She is lovely Aino, maiden of Northland, daughter
of age-old Louhi. She’s called a blossom sweet to smell, a fruit ripe
to pluck. Her fame spreads far, the suitors gather. But no proposal
has she smiled on, no suitor given the nod.
Then Vainamoinen chanted again. He reversed his words, undid his
spells. Joukahainen rose from the marshy ground, up from the
swallowing earth.
The cloud became again his coat. The water lily turned back to a
hat, the snake to a belt.
The log became again his sleigh. The boulder turned back to a horse,
the reed to a whip.
The lightning became again his sword. The rainbow turned back to a crossbow,
the hawks to arrows.
The young man wept in shame. The old man raced for home.
Posted by api at 14:31 - No Comments »
Haus Der Musik
HAUS DER MUSIK is an interactive discovery museum located in the heart of Vienna’s first district nestled between St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the Vienna State Opera. A host of interactive installations playfully communicate openness to new things, understanding and enthusiasm in approaching music
HAUS DER MUSIK was awarded the Austrian Museum Prize for its innovative design and is located in the former Palais of Archduke Charles. You will find all 67 of its new inventions here. A total of 5,000 square meters has been set aside exclusively for areas dedicated to a wide array of approaches to music, and most of all, to the experience of music.
It is thanks to a private initiative that HAUS DER MUSIK was established at Sailerstätte 30 without public funding. Particular thanks goes to our partners from the business community who recognized that HAUS DER MUSIK represented a worthwhile investment. As per January 15, 2005 HAUS DER MUSIK is owned by Wien Holding.
How does it feel to beat a drum three meters in diameter, what do “notes” sung by vocal acrobats sing look like, what does Marvin Minsky have to say about the structure of the Brain Opera in comparison to the human brain, how does the Shepard-Scale continue on, seemingly for eternity, how does it feel to be applauded by the Vienna Philharmonic or to play the world’s largest electronic percussion instrument, the Rhythm Tree – these questions and more will whet your appetite to know, experiment and discover more about music. And this is exactly what HAUS DER MUSIK is all about.
I was really looking forward to the “Virtual Conductor” exhibit at Haus der Musik. It wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t as responsive as it could have been. I’m not sure what kind of motion capture technology they are using, but obviously it wasn’t such a mainstream technology in 2001 as it is nowadays with Nintendo Wii and PS3.
All in all, Haus der Musik was a great experience. By coincidence, I’ve previously worked on exhibits dealing similar subjects such as Shepard’s scale and the treshold of hearing so some of the subject matter was familiar to me. There was a nice a mix of traditional museum content (eg. historical items), various artistic “chill out” spaces, physical instrument exhibits and computer based interactive touch screens. Some of them were quite sophisticated. My personal favorites were the ones which let you “compose” little musical works and the ones that were dealing with the pitch of sound.
It’s a huge space and you can easily spend several hours over there. They have a 50% Happy Hour discount on Tuesdays from 5 pm to 9 pm.
Posted by api at 09:46 - 2 Comments »
I’ve been experimenting a bit with Google Adwords and Adsense. They are both clever concepts, but the million dollar home page is pure genius.
Posted by api at 18:35 - No Comments »
I once saw a wall cloth with a television test transmission picture stitched on it. I’d love to get some sort of textile pixel art piece. Something that would be suitable for hanging on a wall. Endfile.com has a lot of stuff related to this subject.
Posted by api at 21:33 - No Comments »
Wooster Collective: Mark Jenkins New Tape Project… “Embeds”
Mark Jenkins is taking it to another level with his new “Embeds”. The sculptures are made of tape and then clothes are added. The photo above are of first installation that went up yesterday in DC.
I just got a letter from the National Statistics Bureau. It was just a note to let me know that I’ve been selected as one of the 1500 participants in a survey about the new Public Order Act that will unify the public order ordinance throughout the country.
One of the new laws forbids the carrying of spray cans in a public space without an “acceptable reason”. Come on now… How vague can you get!? Obviously the law has been designed to reduce the graffiti or “art crime” or “vandalism” or whatever you want to call it. Interestingly, they have made a similar proposal in New York earlier this year.
As creating graffiti art becomes an increasingly higher legal and economical risk for the people who are interested in street art and culture, some artists have moved beyond the 2D medium of walls to 3D sculptures and electronics and other innovative ways to express themselves in the streetscape. The Wooster Collective has been leading the way and showcasing ephemeral art placed on streets in cities around the world.
Posted by api at 08:56 - No Comments »
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits incoherent narrow-spectrum light when electrically biased in the forward direction. This effect is a form of electroluminescence. The color of the emitted light depends on the chemical composition of the semiconducting material used, and can be near-ultraviolet, visible or infrared.
LED technology has made a big impact on both interior & architectural lighting and, more recently, on fashion and street culture. Check out the innovative Night Writer and “Throwies” from Graffiti Research Lab.
Blinking rings and scrolling belt buckles have been around for a while, but have you seen LED license plates, backpacks, shirts yet. Check out tbuckles.com.
Posted by api at 10:23 - 3 Comments »
Diesel Wall 2006
Artist: Nicolo Piacentino
Title: V’IN SANTO
I wanted to create a contrast between the crowd of young people that every night meet up in the Diesel Wall square and the crowd of believers that every Sunday listen to the Angelus in Piazza San Pietro, Rome. As the people who live in the houses overlooking the square would tell the crowd to go to hell, in the same way the Pope bless them.
I’ve never been to Italy before, but after this quick trip, I wouldn’t hesitate to call Milan one of the fashion and style capitals of the world. People spend huge amounts of money on fashion, interior design and food. One of the t-shirts I spotted said “Will work for shoes”. That sentence sort of sums up the attitude of some of the fashion slaves.
While walking down one of the trendy boutique streets I noticed this piece of wall art apparently sponsored by Diesel.
I wasn’t able to capture the highly visual atmosphere of the city all that well in my holiday snapshots, but have a look at my Milan travelogue gallery if you are intrigued by this city.
Posted by api at 23:34 - No Comments »
Millennium Park : Cloud Gate on SBC Plaza
Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor’s first public outdoor work installed in the United States. The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city’s famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a “gate” to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.
Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high. Cloud Gate sits upon the SBC Plaza, which was made possible by a gift from the SBC Communications.
It takes a lot of determination to get something this big built. As the last step of the building process, the seams between individual components beneath the gate are hidden by polishing them.
Being an artist in projects like this also means being a construction supervisor. Many of the most acclaimed contemporary artists don’t create that much with their own hands anymore. They design the piece and work closely with construction engineers to have it finalized.
Posted by api at 08:55 - 4 Comments »
Museum of the Improbable | Exclusive 3D Models
Accidently established in 1804, by Colonel Proximal T. Caustic (while on an expedition to document the migratory and mating habits of the giant sea sponge), the Museum of the Improbable is dedicated to finding and exhibiting the rarest antiquities, fauna and mechanical curiosities from the five corners of the globe (and beyond).
Conveniently located at the center of the Sargasso Sea, the Museum is free to the public, and open 364 days a year (closed Chinese New Year and Leap Day). Museum visitors are welcome to browse through the online model collection, and purchase digital reproductions of their favorite artifacts at TurboSquid.com.
From a technical viewpoint, the work of Greg and Pascal is just amazing. Another well known CG artist Ray Caesar also shares the passion for creating ultra detailed models like these. It is very inspiring to see people work this meticulously on models that exist only in the virtual world. I see a clear mental connection between their work and the ancient artisan and craftsman traditions.
Posted by api at 09:30 - No Comments »
Helsinki by Night
Sightseeing. In this performance the audience will be taken for a bus sightseeing tour around Helsinki. In this performance the “stage” is outside of the bus and the “performance” is in the inside. In this performance reality and the performative material will blend in the consciousness of the spectator.
The art of perception. Performance art uses many different levels of communication. Normally the artistic or the symbolic levels are stressed. The art of perception underlines the sensory communication, what does the spectator experience with his or her senses or as his or her immediate impressions. The art of perception concentrates in fine tuning the spectator’s way of perception and focus of observation. The aim is to alternate the spectator’s consciousness and the way of perception for a short while during the performance - or permanently for the rest of one’s life.
We were lucky enough to get tickets to this truly phenomenal performance by Reality Research Centre. I’ve been working with the marketing of several professional theatres for more than a decade now, but this piece is really something else. It has completely renewed my faith in this particular field of art.
To cut a long story short, the Helsinki By Night has a superb dramaturgy, several very pleasant participatory aspects and a deep and meaningful message conveyed in many innovative and unique ways. There was a multitude of different “mini-shows” happening on the street during the sight seeing tour and it was all totally immersive and fascinating. Real life events blended with the staged components just perfectly.. the MC Cannonball birthday party, the burnt Storage houses next Kiasma, the passers-by in Tattarisuo industrial area and the Tax Office building… the show kept on surprising the viewers time and time again. Underlining the contrast to some of the main stream entertainment, I still had the highly predictable plot of Mission Impossible III fresh on my memory. It’s not a fair match to compary live theatre and a movie, but I’ll do it anyway. On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this a 10- and give M:i:III a 3 or 4.
Helsinki by Night is sold out already, but here’s another modern and cleverly produced piece that I can highly recommend: Helsingin Taivaan Alla by Ryhmäteatteri.
Posted by api at 02:39 - No Comments »
I’m a returning visitor to Explodingdog. I’ve actually thought of buying one of his t-shirts, but the t-shirts are not as cool as the actual illustrations.
People send him title suggestions and he illustrates them. Here is some additional information about the process.
Posted by api at 13:17 - No Comments »
Stage outfits are a very important part of the Eurovision song contest.
For inspiration, see Museum of Bad Album Covers.
Posted by api at 11:59 - No Comments »
