in an all too timely fashion, as i leave la and begin the process of resettling in london, the world has given unto me this fake map of the underground that will never be just in case i was having any doubts ;]
[thanks boing boing]
kelli connell has a really interesting show on in new york right now called double life. its a series of photographs depicting the romantic relationship between two women, with a twist. the two women in the photographs are actually portrayed by the same model. its uncanny how different she looks at times and its a pretty interesting statement on society's conception of sexuality.
[thanks coolhunting]
without fanfare i am back. along with this android from manish arora's show from london fashion week. h.o.t.
[thanks boingboing]
google maps has the london tube stops integrated into their visualization [however, it does not show the lines]. the new york subway map is overlayed on top of a map of the city making navigation easy on paper, but now there is a nice googlemaps hack called on ny turf that makes it work on the web. definitely necessary.
there's plenty of mashups of the iconic london tube map going around, and since i am going to be studying the underground this summer i'm definitely interested in these. this one is a music version which tries to "plot the history of 20th century music." the lines represent genres and their junctions and divergences are also used to reflect overlaps and offshoots within the music world.
i'd like to see one which represents the bands associated with each stop. hmm... i guess that's why [karen, karma and i] embarking on our newest design project :]
[thanks boingboing]
there is a new set of bisley [an office furniture company] advertisements breaking down iconic imagery into it's essential components and "organizing" them. the one of a metro above is just great - though i'm not sure how much it makes me want to buy furniture :]
check out livingstones. they are ginormous [and also not so ginormous] rock shaped pillows, chairs, cushions, whatever. i love non-traditional seating options so these would be just perfect if i was a billionaire.
hello kitty as storm trooper. paintings by nick showing the dark underbelly of the cute and cudly.
[thanks boing boing]
who wants to buy me one of these sweet wallets made out of gaffers tape from db clay?
you? i thought so.
freaky gorgeous. gabríela fridriksdóttir also directed the video for bjork's "where is the line?" which is, incidentally, one of my favorite bjork songs...
[thanks we make money not art]
like the french aids ads i posted before, here is a set promoting safe sex between skeletons.
you may not know it, but i am the worlds largest consumer of tea, accounting for nearly 85% of all annual tea sales. consequently, i am always on the lookout for new tea baskets. they need to be large enough to let the leaves fully expand, easy to clean, and totally stylish. the teastick wins.
[thanks gizmodo]
have a look at oyon, a really nice take on fruit storage by michael bihain. it's like a big vegetable litebrite. only... with no light. heh.
[thanks gizmodo]
pedestrian levitation by thomas laureyssens is:
The creation of the work is based on the movement of pedestrians on a pedestrian crossing in public space. Some pedestrians walk only on the sidewalk and use the pedestrian crossing for crossing the street, other pedestrians freely make shortcuts on the formally imposed trafic situation. Pedestrian Levitation.net is an artwork in public space that reflects on this movement. It visualises the real movement of people, and adds a virtual movement based on the assumption that the mind of people is not subject to gravity or any other physical limitations.the first installation was done in brussels in april 2005. i find the works rather breathtaking and a wonderful addition to urban spaces. this sort of work is not only beautiful, but it helps us to rethink the way humans utilize the space and [hopefully] will push future urban planning into new directions.Irregular white triangles are applied on the sidewalk- for the real movement, and up onto a high empty wall for the virtual movement. The work creates a graphical layer above existing architecture that acts as a interface towards movement of thought. The work flows from the pavement up to the wall of a building or buildings. It creates a visual motion: when you walk into the work, your visual senses are pulled to the directions of the triangles.
[thanks we make money not art]
check out this awesome piece by kozydan a couple [literally] of illustrators. this was apparently done for the cover of giant robot magainze [issue #28]. i also really love this one.
[thanks cool hunting]
i've been slow with blogging lately cause of the mad rush with my project. so here are a few links:
ingo maurer designed this really flash LED table:
278 white LEDs per table top, emitting light on both sides. 230/125 volts, 48 volts DC. Invisible Live Parts. There are tiny transparent wires embedded between the 2 sheets of glass, connecting the LEDs. The lights can be dimmed and even turned off if you suddenly want your LED table to look like a regular glass table again.so who wants to buy me one of these and let me augment it into a really hot interface? anyone?
[thanks engadget]
i'll be honest, i am not cool enough to have any idea what this is really, but it's too awesome to pass up. apparently it is from the war of monstars, in which koadzn [seen at the left, breathing some fire] is battling it out with scythe-wielding ogi. koadzn [the illustrator, not the monster] throws down the gauntlet [i.e. draws something], to challenge one of 80 illustrators, and the kaiju begins!
[thanks cool hunting]
recently heard of jim campbell. his work is on exhibition at the bryce wolkowitz gallery in nyc. he describes the technical details of "library" [still shown at right] as:
Library is composed of a high-resolution photogravure of the New York Public Library, printed on rice paper and placed in a Plexiglas frame suspended in front of an L.E.D. surface containing a 25-minute video chip loop of low-resolution moving images. Indistinct images of birds and people appear to move in and out of the library and across the facade. Library is first in a new series of works in which the artist is exploring photogravure prints combined with low-resolution moving images.really innovative and eerie. these types of shadows would be great as an interface as well, a la the telemurals project by karrie karahalios.
[thanks cool hunting]
wow these photos from clayton james cubitt for a vellum magazine spread are gorgeous. the one above being the only one coming close to PG however. this being my favorite. they display some deep emotion [beyond alot of that typical naked-girl, fashion photo bullshit].
I'm fascinated with the ability of photography to freeze, and thus control, the uncontrollable. Water. Blood. Smoke. Women. I also derive pleasure from mimicking in-camera effects with CG-effects, and vice versa. In this regard, I might have been influenced by my brief time assisting Alexei Hay, because he's the same. People often assume that the effects in my shoots were done using a high-end 3D modeling program like Maya, when in reality they are usually effects that could be accomplished in a well-equipped color darkroom. The computer just makes their creation faster. And less smelly.
[thanks boing boing]
my dear friend reeva is a painter. a damn good one at that. and to my surprise i got an email this morning with some of her new work. it's been a long time coming, darling. i missed it :]
steven holl's new water treatment plant in new haven, ct is a standout piece of architecture. instead of being purely functional, it is also beautiful, evoking the tumbling, rushing power of water.
It was all that talk of pipes, he said, that helped him settle on a building whose form "articulates what is happening inside." Not merely a metaphor, the building is also a sculpture that recalls the work of Richard Serra and Anish Kapoor.more disappointing though is the worry that it might be a potential terrorist target, and because of this the location is under wraps. apparently though it is nestled among some high profile houses. typically this kind of public works project is met with a "not in my backyard" response, but dressing the plant up and blinging it out apparently worked.
In Connecticut, Mr. Holl said that his interventions - as well as those of the landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh - may have added two or three million dollars to the cost of the $49 million plant. At first, the water company's Representative Policy Board, which approves major expenditures, was reluctant to allocate the money. But then Professor Plattus of Yale made a presentation to the board on the value of design.this reminds me alot of what i've been reading in postsuburban california. it's interesting to see how the wealthy are involved in the shaping of a community's functional underbelly. will it become the new fashion to have designer utilities going up in high-class neighborhoods? keep an eye out for diamond-encrusted sewers.At a crucial moment, Ms. Sweet said, Mr. Plattus projected a photo of a banal concrete overpass on Route 95 alongside an image of one of the W.P.A.-era overpasses on the Merritt Parkway. The board "saw the difference immediately," Ms. Sweet recalled.
[thanks new york times]
i'm sorry. what? cause you didn't just invent and market this did you? gizmodo sums it up nicely:
From Cultured Containers, this BananaBunker fruit tote serves at least one purpose: To protect your banana from asploding in your backpack or briefcase. Other uses might include an ice breaker for a picnic first date, or alternatively, an easy way to end a date that isn't going well at all. Their tagline "pamper your Banana with the BananaBunker®" pretty much says it all. Purchase one for just $5.00 or 5 for $20. Backordered right now, which is no surprise to us.
[thanks gizmodo]
