More from the Festival here.
Archive | July, 2010
Fresh Stuff From Collective CC in Lisbon
“As most who live in or visit Lisbon and most southern European cities will know from experience, there exists an eagle-eyed population of women who spend their days keeping watch over the street outside their window, one phone call away from reporting any wayward activity to the police – in effect, functioning as an alternate version of CCTV in these neighbourhoods. So within Collective CC’s intervention – in addition to the clever re-contextualization of the role these women serve – is another great visual joke. The signs that Collective CC has secretively placed beneath these women’s windows is a perfect copy of the omnipresent Securitas security/CCTV company visual identity.”… Scott Burnham –
Shit We’re Diggin: The Book Art Sculptures Of Alexander Korzer Robinson
From Alexander:
“My art practice focuses on the notion of the “inner landscape”. Using generally discarded materials, I make objects as an invitation to the viewer to engage her/his own inner life in order to assign meaning to the artwork.
The cut book art has been made by working through the books, page by page, cutting around some of the illustrations while removing others. The images seen in the finished work, are left standing in the place where they would appear in the complete book. As a final step the book is sealed around the cut, and can no longer be opened. As we remember the books from our own past, certain fragments remain with us while others fade away over time – phrases and passages, mental images we created, the way the stories made us feel and the thoughts they inspired”
More here.
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada’s Tribute to Spanish Architect Enric Miralles
Photo by Ana Alvarez-Errecalde
Photo by Ana Alvarez-Errecalde
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada’s latest sand painting was created (transformed and undone) on July 3rd, 2010. The portrait is of Enric Miralles, a Spanish architect who died at the early age 44 leaving an amazing legacy. His wife, architect Benedetta Tagliabue and their studio EMBT, organized the work and a picnic for family and friends to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Enric´s death.
Freedom Tunnel by Carlito Brigante
Freedom Tunnel from Charles le Brigand on Vimeo.
“Under Manhattan’s Upper West side, runs the “Freedom” Tunnel. Built in the 30’s by Robert Moses, the passage boasts legendary graffiti murals and piles of debris remaining of the past homeless city era. After using it for only a couple of years, Amtrak discontinued the line and left a massive cavern which later became a shelter for street people. Progressively, the tunnel turned into a veritable underground metropolis where thousands of homeless were living in organized communities underneath the city’s skin.
The tunnel also became a prime spot for graffiti artists. Chris Pape, aka Freedom, was one of the pioneers and his work inspired the name of the tunnel. “Freedom” painted immense murals utilizing the unique lighting provided by the ventilation ducts, turning the tunnel into an extraordinary underground art gallery. Some of his most notable paintings survived for decades and are still conspicuous today (“Venus de Milo”, the “Coca-Cola Mural”, Dali’s “Melting Clock”,a self-portrait featuring a male torso with a spray-can head, etc.).
In 1991, Amtrak decided to reopen the tunnel. The shanty towns were cleared out by the police and homeless were evicted. Although deserted, the tunnel is now an active train line and a stunning experience for urban explorers.
It is a bizarre blend of dark and light, silence and rumble, solitude and multitude. As you penetrate the tunnel and walk along the tracks, the sunbeams perforating the ceiling and highlighting the railway gives the place a post-nuclear feel. Voices from children playing above in Riverside Park sound like lost souls and trains whistling and roaring through the ruins of the shanty towns send chills down your spine.
This is one of the most uncommon and fascinating journeys I’ve ever taken.”
STRANGEco Releases Mr. Spray designed by Shepard Fairey
Having been fans of STRANGEco’s for a while now, we loved seeing that they’re still putting out terrific products. Their latest production is Mr. Spray designed by Shepard Fairey, based on a wheatpaste he created in 2004 as a riff on an advertising character of the 1950s.
More details are here.
Charles in charge
Here in London a stunned silence greeted the surprise news that Charles Saatchi was to ‘donate’ his recently opened Saatchi Gallery and part of his collection to the British nation, perhaps as soon as 2012. The surprise came, not only because Saatchi doesn’t seem like the retiring type – he …
One Not To Miss: The “Space Invader Walk” in San Diego
If you’re heading to San Diego for the “Viva la Revolucion” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art of San Diego (from July 17th) be sure to take the “Space Invader Walk” around the city and find the 21 space invaders that Invader placed in in Downtown San Diego.
As you can see the photo above, the tiles were placed in the city to create a huge space invader on the map.