Tracing Shadows

Here is a very interesting art display by American photographer Michael Neff called "The Chalk Series". The following is the artist's discription of his work...

These images capture the quiet, empty world of night, when parking lots lay fallow, when meters are allowed to rest and sidewalks can breathe. In tracing the fugitive contours of shadows cast by the patient lights of the night, I draw the attention of the nighttime passerby and reveal what the night holds. In this way I am sharing the night city with its daytime inhabitants and making visible something that is normally hidden. I photograph these drawings because, rendered in chalk, they themselves are fugitive and may only last until they are hosed down in the morning. I want to draw attention to what is likely overlooked, or perhaps so familiar that it is essentially invisible.

Portrait

My obsession with mashrabiyas and anything with the slightest relevence to them is clearly evident in the number of posts published here on this blog about the subject. The latest addition is this installation called Portrait by designers Fredrikson Stallard at Somerset House in London. To me it carries a striking resemblance to the Dairy House located (ironically) in a town called Somerset in the UK.

The structure is constructed out of steel and represents wood grain. Light is introduced to the structure in a wonderful way that creates positive and negative spaces during day and night, an interplay that defines the external characteristics of mashrabiyas as well. In daylight the steel sections that represent the wood grain are the dominant feature. At night, however, the spaces in between will glow in a remarkable yellow illumination, representing the colors of the champagne brand that the installation is created for, Veuve Clicquot.

Recycling ideas

Here are some recycling ideas which like many others have caught my attention:

1- Cardboard boxes
Created by French architects 0-S as temporary installation at Hotel Saint-Côme in Montpellier in Southern France, its an extruded portico of boxes with playful holes that allow light in and views out.




2- Plastic bottles
Built by American artist Jasmine Zimmerman to raise awareness of the alarming problem of plastic waste, this open-roofed greenhouse will be exhibited in empty lots, rooftops, parks, and vacant buildings to help spread the word.

Ground Zero: Little People in the City

A new form of street art by "Slinkachu", consisting of tiny hand-painted miniature installed in all sorts of public spaces, mirroring our own lives. Although they might look to some as the musings of 5 to 10 year old kids, these street art installations are photographed in different scales, uncovering the city landscape in unexpected ways, depicting the general feeling of being alone in a large city. Scale here is the key factor in which both installation and photography of the artwork manipulates our perception to reveal this hidden micro-world and to evoke our feelings and senses.

A new book entitled "Little People in the City" has been published documenting these experiments, which is now on my to-buy list. Here are some photos of an installation for the Nuart event at the Rogaland Kunstmuseum in Stavanger, Norway, which again shows a great way of playing and experimenting with scale.

Festival of Speed Art Displays

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual festival featuring a variety of historic motor racing vehicles. The festival started in 1993 in order to bring motor racing back to the Goodwood estate, a location steeped in British motor racing history. Since 1997, the festival honors a car manufacturer company each year.


Audi Art Display '99


Ford Art Display '03

Each year a different artistic display is installed in front of the Goodwood House. And just like Tilke's monopoly over designing new F1 circuits, Gerry Judah have been commissioned each year to design a new jaw-breaking sculpture starting with Ferraris in 1997.


Mercedes Art Display '01


Renault Art Display '02

This year's art display is an incredible artistic piece dedicated to Land Rover, celebrating the company's 60th anniversary. The naturally-rusted steel sculpture is 34m high, weighs 120 tonnes, and features five different Land Rover models. The form of the sculpture seems to be inspired by the rough mountainous landscape that these five cars are designed to endure.



Land Rover Art Display '08

Police in Sheikh Zayed Road

An exciting proposal for a performance in Dubai's Sheikh Zayed Road by Christian Sievers. The performance will have police cars racing in a circle with lights flashing and sirens blaring. I wonder whether people would appreciate this artwork during the rush hours??

Check this out for another cool installation by Sievers.

Brazilian Penguins

50graus.org is an anonymous website concerned about global warming. It's trying to urge people to think/discuss global warming and its effects away from the political/commercial/organizations trend.

One of the activities carried out to show their concern is public installations. This is an installation in Sao Paolo of Ice Penguins. The Penguin population have declined by 50% and one of the main reasons is the increased temperature which reduced Antarctic sea ice. Placing these ice penguins and letting them melt down until they disappear completely is truly a very moving display of what could actually be a reality one day.

Inversion

A demolished installation by sculptors Dan Havel and Dean Ruck called Inversion in Houston, Texas. Very inspiring but its a shame that it got demolished... I always wonder why would certain temporary exhibits are not kept permanently especially if they were as wonderful as this... could it be a marketing strategy to increase the work's popularity because people never really know the value of what they have until they loose it... or is it kept temporarily simply so that people won't loose interest and get sick of it no matter how fascinating it is?

Another later post by archidose touched on an interesting point... one of the comments said "... the blogosphere is just one huge echo chamber..." which is exactly what I am doing here... this blog is just a way to jot down interesting things I found on the net so that I can find them easily when I need them.