Foster + Partners has designed the new headquarters for Shenzhen-based robotics company DJI. The London-based firm has reimagined the office space for the world’s leading robotics company, envisioning it as a “creative community in the sky.” The building features two towers, which appear as stacked glass blocks, housing office space, research and development centers, and public amenities. According to ArchDaily, “the floors comprise floating volumes cantilevered from central cores by steel mega-trusses, ensuring maximum flexibility in large, column-free workspaces.” Quadruple-height laboratories are designed for drone flight testing while a sky bridge that connects the two towers will serve as the base for its latest drones to take off. The ground floor houses a public exhibition space and a theater for product launch, along with various staff facilities including a “robot fighting rings.”Grant Brooker, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners, says: “Our aim is to create a unique workplace environment that embodies the spirit of invention and innovation that has allowed DJI to lead the world in robotics and technology.”DJI is world-famous for its “quadcopter” drones that are especially popular among architectural filmmakers and photographers. In an interview with Dezeen, architect Mark Dytham, delved on the potential of drones to change the way buildings are designed. He said: “In the future, you’ll experience architecture from drones. They will change the way architecture is perceived. We’ll all see buildings from above. We’ll cease to be ground-dwelling creatures; we’ll see things in a vertical dimension.” http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
Foster + Partners Designs Headquarters for DJI in Shenzhen
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Architect Ole Scheeren Talks About His Latest Project The New Guardian Art Centre
It was in 2008 that the German architect Ole Scheeren designed Beijing’s monumental CCTV Headquarters with Rem Koolhaas. Now, the international firm Buro Ole Scheeren (which has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Berlin) has built the new Guardian Art Centre, a hybrid cultural institution and a custom-built auction house. Located between Beijing’s Forbidden City and its bustling shopping district, its structure comprises a floating glass ring, nested stone volumes and perforated grey basalt which give a nod to China’s past, while also looking towards its rapidly developing future. ART+AUCTION spoke to Scheeren about the project.How did you want this building to interact with Beijing’s existing architectural character? I’m quite familiar with Beijing and with its architecture having made another contribution with CCTV, which is a very different building — all about the future and the new CBD. The Guardian Art Centre is at the opposite end of the spectrum: very close to the Forbidden City, so as close as you can get to China’s past. While it is overtly contemporary, it is an architecture that relates to memory and history, considering how to integrate this meaning and reconcile the past and the present. It works with elements of scale, materiality, texture and layered abstracted meaning, which in many ways infiltrates the architecture and contextually defines it.Would you say that Beijing’s architectural landscape looks toward the future at the expense of acknowledging the past?I wouldn’t say that, necessarily. A lot of the building that has taken place in China over the past two decades focused on constructing new things. That has to do with the speed and magnitude of change when a society is going through a radical transformation. Along the way, not only was there no time to deal with and reflect upon those issues, it was also not the main concern. I think it’s extremely important for a place to look in multiple directions: to look forward and also backwards, so as not to forget the past. This project deals with the past but not in a sentimental or picturesque way. It seeks to create a synthesis between those different time zones and the differences that they imply. The building incorporates two scales simultaneously: the bottom is a series of grey basalt sediments that pile up and create layered elements that reflect the Hutongs and the historic city, which is adjacent to the project. At the top floats this large volume — a big ring — that is a giant courtyard element and which reflects the scale of the contemporary city and the neighboring buildings that have been constructed in recent times. The super position of the synthesis between those two things very precisely embeds the project in those contextual relationships.How integral is architecture to the experience of an artwork? How might it shift our physical, emotional and conceptual relationship with art? Spaces do have an emotional quality. Architecture is very important, not just as physical matter, but also as an emotional spectrum that you create through the spaces. In that respect, there is a very strong relationship between the architecture and the artwork that it contains. It’s also important that the architecture leaves space for the artworks (sometimes specific and sometimes neutral space) as the experience of one is directly related to the other. I think it’s important that we recognize the emotional power of space and also the emotional responsibility of space. I’m interested in the question of “how do we want to live?” That means everything — not just housing. It means: how do we want to work; how do we experience art; how do we reflexively position ourselves as individuals, but also relate to the public domain and the larger social context? Architecture plays an important role in that.Various architecture firms made pitches before yours was selected to design the Guardian Art Centre. What were the challenges of this project?There was indeed a history and a long period of time through which many architectural proposals were made for the site, which were all rejected by the planning and preservation committee. When the client came to me, it was almost with that challenge to say “here is an extremely complex situation because it is so specific and meaningful to Chinese history and addressing those issues in an appropriate way.” That was the really exciting challenge for me. I wanted to demonstrate my understanding of the city and also of this culture that I’ve dedicated a significant part of my life to, finding a specific statement vis-a-vis all of that within this specific location. It’s a great completion of my involvement in BeijingYou’ve described the approach to the Guardian Art Centre as acknowledging the hybrid state of contemporary culture. In your opinion, how has contemporary culture shifted over the past 20 years, and how should museums — how does this museum — accommodate this change? Something that has happened in society as a whole is that things have become more interconnected, both through contemporary means of technology and also culturally — one is an effect of the other. I believe that there are many more hybridized positions between domains, which were more contrasted in the past. Our world has really become far more interactive in that sense. For me, that means that any particular form — as well as the understanding of the space that contains these art forms — has to acknowledge the state of hybrid reality that has emerged. This building is one that no longer pretends to define art as a completely elitist “pure version”: it actually hybridizes the space through acknowledging the realities that have long invaded, if you like, and in a positive sense have become part of the world of art and culture. High art merges with happenings, events and all kinds of possibilities. Every museum today holds events that maybe 30 or 40 years ago could have been considered highly inappropriate in that context. We’ve really tried to create a big culture machine that ranges from the high-end presentation of the purest art form to an event machine. All of that is mixed with a lifestyle component of hotels and restaurants.What about the Guardian Art Centre’s location in an area that brings together culture and commerce: what are your views on whether art has been reduced to another form of consumption in the 21st century? In principle I believe that diversity in itself is a positive thing. To look at the multiple possibilities of having art as something very pure and abstract, but also as something very lively and integrated into life. Its own reality as an economic system. There is an art market and this is an auction house, so there is trading of art. It commercializes things and assigns value to things and thereby preserves things. So I think this building being at the intersection of two roads in Beijing — one having a strong cultural connotation and the other being probably the most famous retail street in China — and being an auction house at the crossroads of art and culture is simply a very fitting location which mirrors those actual conditions.— This article appears in the May 2018 edition of ART+AUCTION. http://www.blouinartinfo.comFounder Louise Blouin
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‘Manufactured Landscapes’ at Friedman Benda, New York
Friedman Benda is hosting “gt2P: Manufactured Landscapes” – the Chilean collective’s first solo gallery exhibition and a culmination of its four-year research project and collaboration with the gallery.Following a four-year research project and collaboration with the host gallery, Chilean artistic collective gt2P is now presenting its first solo gallery exhibition at the Friedman Benda gallery in New York. Toying with natural elements, materials and subject matters, the collective’s exhibition is titled “Manufactured Landscapes” and will be on display until June 3, 2018.“Harvesting from Chile’s chain of 2,000 volcanoes, the second largest and most active in the world, gt2P’s widely acclaimed series features a sculptural manipulation of re-molten petrified lava. Originating from their parametric physical methodology (paracrafting) research project, ‘Remolten’ demonstrates gt2P’s constant interaction of process and material. A series that continues to evolve, ‘Remolten’ has been the antecedent of the ‘Less CPP N2: Lava vs. Porcelain’ lighting project as well as the genesis of a broad range of applications. ‘Remolten’ was recently nominated for London Design Museum’s Beazley Design of the Year award in 2017 and is now held in key museum collections worldwide,” says the gallery.The “Imaginary Geographies” series, however, portrays the topography of the Andes mountain range. “Derived from recordings of naturally occurring mountain winds, gt2P parametrically transforms the sound compositions into three-dimensional visualizations. The manifestation of this practice is a coffee table and credenza with geographical maps of the Andes recreated in their carved wooden surfaces,” says the gallery. Paying homage to the recently deceased Chilean poet Nicanor Parra, this series incorporates the pentameter from "El Hombre Imaginario,” referring to the natural landscape as an illusionary, metaphysical reflection of the self. With “Imaginary Geographies,” a symbiosis of source and material, gt2P rebuilds the mountain range that shaped Chilean culture and serve as a metaphor for memory and identity.gt2P (Great Things to People) is a Chilean design, architecture, and art studio founded in 2009. gt2P has been featured in numerous international museum exhibitions, including: The Design Museum, London (2017-2018); National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2017); Henan Museum, China (2017); MAXXI Museo Nazionale Delle Arti Del XXI Secolo, Rome (2017); Bellevue Arts Museum (2016), and the Museum of Art and Design, New York (2014). The “Remolten” series will be featured in the upcoming “Raw Design” exhibition at the Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, opening in June. gt2P’s work is held in permanent collections worldwide such as the Denver Art Museum, Colorado, and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. The collective is currently located in Santiago, Chile.The exhibition is on view through June 3, 2018 at Friedman Benda, 515 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10001- USA.For details, visit: http://www.friedmanbenda.com/Click on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
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La Biennale di Venezia Announces Jury Members for 2018 Venice Biennale
The Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia have announced the jury for the upcoming Venice Biennale. This year's jury has been recommended by the curators of 2018 edition, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects, noted ArchDaily.The 2018 international jury members include Frank Barkow from United States, Sofia Von Ellrichshausen from Argentina, Kate Goodwin from Australia, Patricia Patkau from Canada, and Pier Paolo Tamburelli from Italy. Frank Barkow is the founder and partner at Barkow Leibinger in Berlin. He has taught at the Princeton University School of Architecture and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Chile-based architect, artist, and educator Sofia Von Ellrichshausen is the co-founder of the art and architecture studio Pezo von Ellrichshausen. She had co-curated the Chilean Pavilion at the 2008 Venice Biennale. Kate Goodwin has been exploring the intersection between art and architecture in her role as the Head of Architecture and Drue Heinz Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts. Patricia Patkau of Patkau Architects has taught at the University of British Columbia for more than 20 years as the Professor Emerita at the School of Architecture. Co-founder of the Baukuh studio, Pier Paolo Tamburelli is an architect as well as writer and editor of San Rocco magazine in Milan.The jury will select the winners of the Golden Lion for Best National Participation, the Golden Lion for Best Participant in the International Exhibition “FREESPACE,” and the Silver Lion for a Promising Young Participant in the International Exhibition “FREESPACE,” stated ArchDaily. “The jury will also award one special mention to National Participations and two special mentions to the participants in the International Exhibition,” added ArchDaily. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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‘German Avant-Garde Design In the 1980s: Pentagon Group with Beate Kuhn’ at Demisch Danant, New York
Demisch Danant is hosting the second micro-presentation: “German Avant-Garde Design In the 1980s: Pentagon Group with Beate Kuhn” at its New York venue, showcasing works by Pentagon Group and Beate Kuhn, who employ very different practices yet complement each other in the way they both address art and design in post-modern Germany.The gallery writes, “The 1980’s were a reactionary period in which designers look out to liberate themselves from the constraints of functionality and inclined towards the visual arts that included narratives and emotional content to their work. German designers, influenced by the freed expression established by Italy’s Alchimia and Memphis movements, developed their own design vocabulary and aesthetic derivative of the divided German post-modern experience.”“The New German design movement produced different ‘schools’ or groups within itself according to geographical location and its particular influences. A common thread amongst the different groups was a sense of “Self,” which was previously absent in classic German design. Using common materials that were low cost and readily available, the result was a raw, severe aesthetic with an unmistakable energy. With its brutal honesty, new German 80’s design remains uncontrived, refreshing, and truly reflective of the social conditions in which it originated,” says the gallery.Pentagon Group, a collective artist group from Cologne, was founded in 1985. The group follows a constructivist approach with more strict, minimal forms. The five members of the group — Wolfgang Laubersheimer, Reinhard Muller, Meyer Voggenreiter, Ralph Sommer, and Gern Arens — were not designers intrinsically but all had artistic training and were masters in their craft. Their furniture was functional but experimental and raw, challenging the realm of post-modern design.Beate Kuhn, one of the most important figures in post-war German ceramic arts working from the 1950s, also had a reactionary approach to post-war ceramic practices and traditional German modern design. Kuhn was one of first potters in Germany to shun the utilitarian work in favor ofpurely artistic work. Kuhn’s works are deeply inspired by nature and she described them as abstract interpretations of naturally occurring forms. Even her less figurative works conjure up associations of the underwater world, of corals and marine plants, and the nature in our surroundings, the branches of shrubs, tree trunks, flowers or other plants. The additive groupings often reflect natural laws of the life process, of growth and rhythmic change.The exhibition is on view through June 16, 2018 at Demisch Danant, 30 W, 12th St, New York, USA.For details, visit: http://www.demischdanant.com/Click on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
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Adrian Lahoud Appointed Curator of the Debut Edition of Sharjah Architecture Triennial
Adrian Lahoud, Dean of the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art, has been appointed as the curator of the inaugural edition of Sharjah Architecture Triennial. The event, which will debut in November 2019 in the Emirate of Sharjah, will set the first platform in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia region to initiate a dialogue between urbanism and architecture.An internationally acclaimed architect, researcher, and urban designer, Adrian Lahoud has focused on urban spatial forms and large-scale environmental change especially in Africa and the Arab world. Some of his notable works include “Climate Crimes” at ‘The Future Starts Here,’ V&A Museum; “Fallen Cities: Architecture and Reconstruction” in ‘The Arab City: Architecture and Representation;’ and “Floating Bodies” at ‘Forensis: The Architecture of Public Truth,’ Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin.Lahoud served as the Director of the MA program in Research Architecture and a Research Fellow in the Forensic Architecture ERC project at Goldsmiths, University of London. Later, he joined the Architectural Association London as Studio Master in the Projective Cities Master of Philosophy in Architecture and Urban Design Program.Excited about his appointment as the curator, Adrian Lahoud said: “I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to shape the inaugural edition of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial and to find ways of supporting an emerging generation of architects, artists and scholars in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.”Khalid Al Qasimi, Chairman of Sharjah Architecture Triennial, stated in the announcement: “The Board of Directors of Sharjah Architecture Triennial and I are all very pleased that Adrian Lahoud will be curating our first edition. His deep commitment to addressing challenging global questions, cross-disciplinary perspective, and nuanced understanding of the MENASA urban context makes him the right choice for us amongst several other impressive candidates. We are confident that he will make an important contribution to the Triennial’s mission to reframe the conversation on regional architecture and urbanism.”A series of public programs including conferences, talks, and symposia will be organized in the lead-up to the event’s opening in November next year. The Triennial’s curator would be responsible for leading the event’s programme including exhibitions, conferences, public talks, and urban interventions engaging local, regional, and international practitioners as well as researchers.A non-profit initiative funded by Government of Sharjah, Sharjah Architecture Triennial is a joint effort of founding partners Sharjah Urban Planning Council, American University of Sharjah, Directorate of Town Planning and Survey, Sharjah Art Foundation, College of Architecture — Art & Design, and Bee’ah. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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Maverick British Architect Will Alsop Dies at 70
The man behind the famous Peckham Library, Will Alsop (1947 - 2018) died at the age of 70 on May 12. Winner of the 2000 Stirling Prize, Alsop was known for his bold and colorful designs. The architect remained in the headlines of the architectural world for his brash designs. His practice was deeply influenced by British visionary Cedric Price, whose “wacky yet progressive style can be seen in Alsop’s work throughout his 45-year career,” noted ArchDaily.Alsop was keen to make his buildings appear to be levitating. An outstanding example is his black-and-white extension of the Ontario College of Art and Design, which stands on colored poles and looks like a “flying Dalmatian,” stated The Guardian. In an interview, he had said: “If I were a politician, I would make a law in every city that everything from the ground to 10 metres and higher should float and not touch the ground …The ground should be given to people and gardens, not buildings,” as quoted by The Guardian.The architect was also a keen painter and would take a month off every summer to paint. “One of the reasons for painting is that you are not really in control of what you are doing,” he had said, “and that interests me a lot. Instead of having a specific starting point, which perhaps, in architectural terms, would lead through to a series of logical thoughts working towards a designed building, you can start anywhere.”Alsop would often ignore financial practicalities in his fascination for bold and wacky ideas. His critics called him “a reckless pied piper, duping desperate mayors of struggling cities into commissioning madcap schemes they could never hope to build,” noted The Guardian. However, that did not deter the eccentric self-styled architect to model his buildings on Prada skirts and Marge Simpson’s hairdo. “Architects are the only profession that actually deal in joy and delight,” said Alsop. “All the others deal in doom and gloom,” quoted The Guardian. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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Socrates Sculpture Park Presents Virginia Overton’s ‘Built’
Socrates Sculpture Park is presenting “Built,” a parkwide solo exhibition of newly commissioned works by Virginia Overton that refashion found materials with dynamism and potency. The exhibition is on view through September 3, 2018 at the Long Island City, New York.Overton addresses concepts of labor, economics, and the land in today’s society through wry humor. Her choice of material include fundamental elements for construction and fabrication — combined with her axiomatic approach to process, evoke narratives of self-reliance, creative constraints, and expediency. For the exhibition, Overton creates new iterations of ongoing series of works — an altered pickup truck, a water feature, a roof truss gem sculpture, a suspended work, and a billboard, among others.The show’s substantial piece is a crystal-shaped sculpture made of industrial architectural truss systems and angle iron spanning 40 feet. Overton’s structure combines two truss types creating a series of pitched trusses by joining parallel Warren truss members. These amalgamated trusses ring the central axis of the crystal structure, producing a muscular polygon of steel beams and porous facets that cantilevers over the ground.Overton has transformed a 1990 Ford F250 pickup truck with a reflective glass bead surface, exploring the pickup as a tool, a vessel, a symbol of a mobility and ambition, and as a sculptural material. A water feature made from elements that Overton has used in other exhibitions complement these works, drawing attention to the Park as part of larger ecosystems both physical (the East River Estuary) and social (the alternative art space community).These works share role as support structures, both in their original purpose and in their new generative articulations. The wooden beams and trusses are elements that repeat through the exhibition, revealing these materials’ multiple capacities as tools. Situated in the changing, once-industrial waterfront neighborhood of Long Island City, the works shed their former functions without nostalgia. Instead, Overton’s works exhibit the vitality of creative reuse, the ingenuity of traditional forms of vernacular making, and an entwined admiration and wonder towards the physical and material world around us.“Overton’s newly commissioned artworks for Socrates Sculpture Park echo our thirty-year history of transformation, reclamation, and labor that continues to be an ongoing effort here in the Park. In this way, Overton suffuses her own inventive and improvisational sensibilities with construction materials to reflect and amplify the ethos of this unique place in New York City,” said John Hatfield, Executive Director of Socrates.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
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Egg Collective Features Furniture and Homeware Pieces From Female Designers for NYCxDesign Week 2018
Egg Collective, a female-owned-and-led design studio, is featuring works of female designers in "Designing Women II: Masters, Mavericks, Mavens" for NYCxDesign Week 2018, at its New York venue.“Conceived of as a conversation across both time and space, the second iteration of the show builds upon the critical acclaim of 2017's inaugural show. This year's exhibition features an international roster of work from both contemporary and historical female voices. Co-curated with Lora Appleton, the founder of kinderMODERN and The Female Design Council, the selected works are intended to foster a conversation about how women have achieved success, blazed trails, and furthered their craft over time,” says the gallery.Highlights of the exhibition include a multicolored paper pulp structural shelf designed by Katie Stout, Mary Giles's symmetrical wall art of delicate mesh wires, and a series of white marble lights by Kristin Victoria Barron.Swedish designer Greta Magnusson Grossman’s custom-upholstered cream sofa from 1949, which was designed for her own home, occupies one wall. Some other vintage pieces include a white oval coffee table from 1972 by Italian maker Cini Boeri, a chair and matching ottoman from 1956 by Danish designer Nanna Ditzel, and animal-like ceramics from the 1950s and 60s by American artist Leza McVey.Some of the exhibited pieces have been contributed by Egg Collective including a large wood table with organic edges atop a steel tubular frame, a low pine cabinet with delicate flat door-pulls, and another dark wood circular dining table.The exhibition "Designing Women II: Masters, Mavericks, Mavens" coincides with NYCxDesign festival, which runs through May 23, 2018 at venues across the city.Egg Collective is a New York-based design company established in 2011 by three female designers — Stephanie Beamer, Crystal Ellis, and Hillary Petrie. Pulling from its founders’ backgrounds in architecture, art, and woodworking, the company creates items that are intended to stand the test of time. All of Egg Collective’s work is made in its own woodshop and in collaboration with a community of small-scale fabricators. “Designing Women II” is on view through June 1, 2018, at Egg Collective, 304 Hudson Street, 307, New York-USA. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
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Foster + Partners Design a Sustainable City in India
Foster + Partners is taking on the challenge of designing a sustainable city in Amravati, the new state capital of Andhra Pradesh in India. Spanning 217 square kilometers on the banks of River Krishna, the new city of Amravati “is set to be one of the most sustainable cities in the world,” stated Foster + Partners.About the project, Norman Foster said, “the design brings together our decades-long research into sustainable cities, incorporating the latest technologies that are currently being developed in India."A government building with a needle-like 250-meter-high conical roof will become the city’s central landmark. Running through the center of the city, the complex is surrounded by fresh water lake and will stretch 5.5 kilometers in length and 1 kilometer in width. Its central expanse of greenery with “ribbon-like lakes weaving around tree-lined boulevards” pays tribute to Lutyen’s designs for Delhi and New york’s Central Park, noted Dezeen. The public access to the building is in the south, the ministerial entrance to the west, a council hall in the northeast, and the assembly chamber for ministerial debates in the southwest corner as according to Vaastu principles. A courtyard-like void sits at the center of the complex with a spiral ramp that leads to “a cultural and a viewing gallery over the debate chamber. A rippling overhanging canopy will provide shade and allow cool breezes to move through the building,” reveals Dezeen. The stepped roof of the complex is a nod to the ancient Indian stupas and the concentric design is reminiscent of a traditional temple. The multi-use complex will feature 13 plazas representing 13 state districts. More than 60 percent of the area is dedicated to green zones and water. Shaded walkways and squares will be designed to make the township pedestrian friendly. Water taxis, cycle paths, and routes for electric cars will provide green transport options, added Dezeen. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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‘Minding the Digital’ at Design Society, Shenzhen
Design Society, Shenzhen is hosting a large-scale, speculative show “Minding the Digital” at the Main Gallery. Featuring about 60 China-based and international works from leading and emerging creative practices, the show reflects the unprecedented impact of digitalization in China and beyond.“Minding the Digital” addresses these issues through a cross-disciplinary array of design from more than 50 established practitioners around the world as well as a digital generation of talents based in China. It brings the audience into a wonderworld of immersive design and experiences shaped by digital technologies. Digitalization can open up cross-disciplinary, technology-driven approaches to ideation, problem-solving, and fabrication which are revolutionizing the design industry. However, through human-centric design approaches, digitalization can also enhance connections with us, the others, our heritage and communities innovatively. The audience will be guided to question and reflect upon these digital-led opportunities and challenges through three key sections: Digital Encounter, Digital Interactions, and Digital Participation.Digital Encounter discusses the interplay between human and machine intelligence in design, questioning whether they will complement or contest in the digital era. This section showcases 3D printed chair Microstructures by Dutch designer Joris Laarman, “Solid C2 Chair” by French designer Patrick Jouin, digitally fabricated furniture by Chinese designer Zhang Zhoujie, and many more designers.Digital Interactions first illustrates the growing intimacy and empathy between us and design objects and interfaces, juxtaposed with alternative design practices which reinvigorate connections between us, the others, and our history. Design such as the reactive, human-like sphere ANIMA by Dutch artist Nick Verstand can intelligently interpret our body movements and portrays its character by responding with audiovisual expressions.The last section Digital Participation invites the audience to experience the power of design as an innovative force in the industry and also our communities. It features Design Society’s original research led by Programme Director Zhao Rong and Senior Curator Carrie Chan, illustrating how China’s design ecology is being shaped by the latest digital technologies and the Internet Plus strategy. “Minding the Digital” is on view through June 3, 2018 at Design Society, 1187 Wanghai Road, Shekou, Nanshan, Shenzhen, China.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
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Kristin McKirdy at Galerie Jousse Enterprise, Paris
Galerie Jousse Enterprise is showcasing Kristin McKirdy’s new installations and sculptures, in addition to a mural work, as well as novel forms and textures, and light objects from May 18 through June 23, 2018 at its Paris venue.“Since her discovery of ceramics at the age of fifteen, Kristin McKirdy has never stopped working. She studied in France (Paris IV, Sorbonne University) and North America (UCLA, under the supervision of Adrian Saxe) and after the completion of her studies she quickly detached herself from the utilitarian dimension of ceramics and headed towards a personal form of sculptural expression. In the same period she chose earthenware (faience) over stoneware, which, like porcelain, is more exposed to the risk of deformation. Her art has been fashioned by putting rigour and technical mastery at the service of a sensibility encompassing the spiritual dimension of ceramics, which is a universal and timeless medium. Everyday life inspires her work and her inclination for primitive cultures and the Neolithic period nurtured them,” writes the gallery.The gallery says, “For this new show, Kristin McKirdy has enriched her vocabulary with her quest for contasts. The organic forms, the contrasts between textured black and white surfaces and coloured glazes, between rough and smooth, matt and shiny, are very present. Geometric elements and new surface treatments also make their appearance. In the three installations showcased in the gallery, cylinders and cubes assert their presence, and “shells” become cones. Also on view are 3 large stately “hourglasses” present their strict silhouettes, while biconical forms rest on the ground. The hourglasses have different appreances; some have a “scored” skin, while others are covered with volumic spirals. The exhibition also witnesses the artist’s innovation as for the first time she includes light in some of her sculptures. She is also presenting an architectural piece some six feet in height by ten wide. This is an open-work piece formed by the repetition of two opposing figures, a shiny coloured ball and a soft articulated form, which develops a matt “scratched”, predominantly white surface.”The exhibition is on view through June 23, 2018 at Galerie Jousse Enterprise, 18 Rue De Seine 75006- Paris, France.For details, visit: http://www.jousse-entreprise.com/Click on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
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OMA and Morphosis Among Finalists for Unicorn Island in China
OMA and Morphosis are among the four firms that have won the international competition, which seeks an “innovative masterplan specifically designed for New Economy companies” in Chengdu, China. Unicorn Island will integrate “a variety of working and living conditions for both start-up firms and ‘Unicorn’ companies, those with a value of over one billion US dollars,” stated ArchDaily. The masterplan marks China’s move to a knowledge and service-based economy and Chengdu’s transformation into a technological hub.OMA’s design will organize the region into three rings. “At its heart, a ‘Living Lab’ will offer visitors the opportunity to observe the New Economy in action, while also functioning as an ‘Innovation Engine’ for resident companies. The ‘Weave Zone’ village development branches out from this core, offering a mixed-use program of housing, offices, and amenities. The island’s perimeter hosts the headquarters of Unicorn companies, intended to ‘blossom at the outer circle of the weave along the waterfront,’” stated ArchDaily.Thom Mayne-led Morphosis Architecture also made it to the final list of winners for their proposal to build interconnecting walkways that will integrate business, lifestyle, and green infrastructure. Morphosis has envisioned a walkable district along Xing Long Lake. The project will be spread over 67 hectares, and will sit in near proximity to Chengdu International Airport and the central railway station, revealed ArchDaily. The city will also be home to Aedas “Cloud City.” http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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Sepake Angiama and Paulo Tavares to Co-curate 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial
Curator and educator Sepake Angiama and architect and urbanist Paulo Tavares have been appointed as co-curators for the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial.Angiama and Tavares will join the event’s Artistic Director Yesomi Umolu to curate the 2019 edition. Excited about the announcement, Yesomi Umolu said, “I am thrilled that Sepake Angiama and Paulo Tavares are joining me to steward the curatorial direction of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial. Sepake and Paulo are noted for their contributions in their respective fields. They will broaden the range of ideas and practices at the biennial and will be instrumental as we develop platforms for learning and engagement. I am excited to begin our work together.”Sepake Angiama completed her MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London. In her role as the head of Education for Documenta 14, she brought together artist-led social spaces, schools, and libraries to “unfold discourses around decolonizing education practices,” in her project “Under the Mango Tree: Sites of Learning.” Angiama is based in Europe. Her work explores how “social spaces can be disrupted and provoked by learning, performance, and design,” noted ArchDaily.Paulo Tavares’ explores the intersection between space, rights, conflicts, and visual cultures. He is professor at the Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbinismo at the University of Brasilia, and has previously taught at the Universidad Catolica del Ecuador and Goldsmiths, University of London. He has been featured in Oslo Architecture Triennale, Istanbul Design Biennial, and Harvard Design Magazine. His agency Autonoma is dedicated to urban research and intervention.Jack Guthman, Chairman, Chicago Architecture Biennial, said: “The diverse talents and perspectives our curatorial team brings to the Biennial assure that the 2019 exposition will again meet our dual objectives – to host an important dialogue about architecture in the American city heralded for its architecture and to provide Chicagoans and visitors to our city the opportunity to experience new ways of understanding the built environment. The choice of these artistic leaders promises a compelling and internationally relevant Biennial,” quoted ArchDaily.Chicago Architecture Biennial will run from September 2019 to January 2020 at the Chicago Cultural Center.
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The Murray Hotel in Hong Kong by Foster + Partners Opens to Public
Foster + Partners have transformed an old government building into Hong Kong’s newest luxury hotel, which opened to the public this week. Located on the southern edge of Central with panoramic views of The Peak and the gardens to the south, The Murray reinvents this unique urban quarter – “stitching together the urban fabric by linking the large green spaces flanking the site to the east and west,” stated Foster + Partners.Luke Fox, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners said, “our design for The Murray creates a dialogue between the old and the new – giving the building a new lease of life and a renewed purpose, with a unique sense of character that is embedded within the fabric of the building.”The building, when it served as the government headquarters, was surrounded by roads as the city was originally planned around the car, making it inaccessible for the pedestrians. In the site’s overhaul, the architects have reconnected the building with the city at ground level, with a new street frontage on Garden Road, and transparent and welcoming ground floor spaces. The landscape grounds have also been enhanced and extended to include a public tai chi area.The new design retains the facade featuring recessed windows oriented to avoid harsh tropical sunlight. An old tree has also been conserved and now stands as the centerpiece forming hotel’s drop-off and entrance.“The Murray recalls the tradition of the grand hotels with its distinctive presence. It seeks to redefine the idea of luxury, which is about generosity of space, a sense of calm, and an inherent understanding of how the hotel responds to the needs of the guest. The experience is seamless – from how the guests arrive at the destination, and then travel through the building to the interiors that showcase the inherent beauty of the materials, all coming together within a holistic vision for The Murray,” added Luke Fox. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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United Visual Artists’ Site-Specific Installation ‘Spirit of the City’ at A/D/O
London-based United Visual Artists (UVA) has collaborated with MINI for a site-specific installation “Spirit of the City” at A/D/O, the creative space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The installation will be on view through September 2, 2018.“Spirit of the City” probes the physical and emotional response individuals experience when navigating urban environments. The modular system has a set of gold-mirrored columns in a courtyard in Brooklyn, which spin around to reflect light patterns, visitors, and the surrounding brick walls. “Spirit of the City” was created exclusively for the outdoor courtyard at A/D/O.“Our goal was to create a simple, yet transformative experience that metaphorically and physically reflects the surroundings of A/D/O and New York City at large,” says Matt Clark, Founder of UVA.“Visitors can walk between a series of nine-foot-high (2.74-metre) mirrored columns that rotate to offer changing reflections and refractions. Moving through the installation is intended to be both mesmerizing and disorientating — an experience that UVA likens to exploring Manhattan's built environment of super-tall glass skyscrapers,” reports Dezeen.Since each column has a polished reflective surface, it magnifies the movement of neighboring columns and recruits the surrounding environment — the sun, sky, and Greenpoint’s industrial setting — into the experience of the piece. As day turns to dusk, the piece takes on another personality, illuminated by sodium vapor lamps which reference the unique vibrancy of cities at night.“We built A/D/O to help explore the future of design — because at MINI we believe that design can tip the scales towards a more humane world,” says Esther Bahne, Head of Brand Strategy and Business Innovation at MINI. “‘Spirit of the City’ presents an optimistic vision of a city that reflects and adapts to people’s feelings and desires. A city that energizes you. This is a vision we aim to contribute to with our products and initiatives such as A/D/O,” adds Bahne.Built for designers yet open to all, A/D/O provides a unique environment for creative work while also inviting the public into its 23,000 square-foot space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to explore the future of design through a range of installations, exhibitions, and events. “Spirit of the City” is on view through September 2, 2018 at A/D/O, 29 Norman Avenue, Greenpoint Brooklyn, NY- USA.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
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MANIERA launches MANIERA 14 & 17 by PRODUCTORA and Piovenefabi
MANIERA at its Brussels venue has launched the newest furniture set “MANIERA 14 & 17 by PRODUCTORA and Piovenefabi” that will be on view through June 30, 2018.The architectural and design practices Piovenefabi and PRODUCTORA talk about the relation between a city and furniture. In two recent exhibitions in North America, these two practices — one based in Milan and the other in Mexico City — disclosed critical notions regarding the various relations between the two scales.“In the Piovenefabi installation titled ‘Metro,’ which was created for the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, the architects reinterpret the Milan Metro subway system elements as a series of furniture pieces. Designed by Franco Albini and Franca Helg with the graphic designer Bob Noorda, Italy’s first subway line was inaugurated in 1964 at a time of optimism in post-war Italy. During this project, the first section of which took seven years to complete, collaborations with manufacturers yielded new materials and customized products such as the Pirelli black rubber floor: now ubiquitous, not many know its origin,” says the gallery.“Piovenefabi revisits both the materials and individual elements of the subway network. Collaborating with some of the original manufacturers, the architects produced a screen, a locker, a table made out of Silipol, a colorful stained concrete that was used as wall panels, and a bright red lamp made from the Metro’s curving handrail, which was both a utilitarian device and a graphic way-finding system. The ‘Metro’ series relates what is public and metropolitan in scale to what is private and domestic, creating what the architects refer to as a ‘new domestic landscape’: a reference to the exhibition that introduced radical Italian design to the world at the Museum of Modern Art,” adds the gallery.The gallery says, “In PRODUCTORA’s Columbus Circles’ installation for the inaugural Exhibit Columbus, a series of cylindrical urban furniture was inserted into the city; each piece was site-specific and interacted with its surrounding context. Built out of various local materials, the furniture foregrounded different histories and narratives of the installation environment. For example, a customized terrazzo blended disparate colors of the adjacent materials on the street.”“Whether through a direct intervention in the public spaces of the city with domestically scaled artifacts or by importing and reinterpreting the history and memory of public spaces into the domestic space, both PRODUCTORA and Piovenefabi are able to reveal their larger position towards architecture and the city. They remind us, as did those before them, that architecture falls somewhere between a piece of furniture and a city,” writes the gallery.The exhibition is on view through June 30, 2018 at MANIERA, 27 – 28, Place De La Justice, Brussels- Belgium.For details, visit: http://www.maniera.be/ Click on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
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Steinunn Thorarinsdottir’s “ARMORS” at Fort Tryon Park
NYC Parks is presenting “ARMORS,” a new public art exhibition in Fort Tryon Park, on view through September. Icelandic sculptor Steinunn Thorarinsdottir’s site-specific project in the park’s Cloisters Lawn features three androgynous, human-like figures in dialogue with suits of armor. The armor was cast from a custom 3D scan of a carefully chosen suit of armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s permanent collection.“The Cloisters are a magical part of Fort Tryon Park, and Steinunn Thorarinsdottir’s sculptures build on its existing medieval collection in such a beautiful way,” said Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP. “The juxtaposition of these suits of protective armor out in the open in this picturesque park is quite extraordinary. We look forward to the many visitors who will encounter these pieces this spring and summer.”“Ancient armors are, in themselves, sculptural forms,” said artist Steinunn Thorarinsdottir. “They were developed for war, but they give a sharp insight into the psyche of man. The iconographical resonance that a suit of armor has taken on is a testament to how violence and the need to protect ourselves have been central to our lives for centuries; the armor is a materialization of man’s aggression. I wanted to merge medieval armors and ageless, androgynous figures in a way that would speak to the human condition today and in the past.”For the selection of armor, Thorarinsdottir consulted Donald La Rocca, a veteran curator in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Arms and Armor. La Rocca suggested three armors based on their quality and historical importance (each has spent decades on permanent display in the Museum), as well as relative variety and amenability to the 3D scanning process. With assistance from museum conservators, the armors were temporarily removed from display and meticulously scanned by the Met’s Imaging Department. The 3D image files were then sent to be cast in aluminum at a traditional lost-wax-method foundry outside of Shanghai. “ARMORS” will be on view at the Cloisters Lawn in Fort Tryon Park through September 13, 2018. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
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‘Boulon Age’ by Marty Maurice at Twenty First Gallery, New York
An exhibition of stunningly crafted objects made of bronze, steel, wood and brass showcase the timeless creative approach of artist Maurice Marty. The exhibition is titled “Boulon Age” and is displayed at the Twenty First Gallery in New York. The new sculptures will be on display until June 29, 2018.According to the gallery, “Marty has been recognized as a visionary and a multi-faceted creator. With a body of work that spans oil paintings, architecture, sculpture, and furniture design, Marty has distinguished himself as having a “uniquely chimerical imagination.”His new contemporary design collection is a symbol of transition from the machine age ethos to what he calls post-modern irony. His nut-and-bolt grows in size to become the perfect side table. His designs are full of imagination. The pieces encourage the user to see the everyday ordinary through a creative lens.The title of the exhibition, if translated from French, means “bolting.” Marty’s work embodies a fascination with functionality, while simultaneously using scale to disrupt our consideration of typically utilitarian objects.“Maurice Marty’s skills cover the gamut of interior, surface and object works: he is a sculptor, a designer, an architect, a painter and interior designer. His influences and ideas come from everywhere, but his style is fiercely modern and recognizable. Working with an equally vast range of materials, he has exhibited his pieces and sculptures widely, designed the interiors of Paris nightclubs, hotels and high-end fashion stores, and is an unparalleled craftsman,” says the gallery.Twenty First Gallery engages the needs of interior designers, collectors and private clients, many of whom were among the gallery’s founder Renaud Vuaillat’s first acquaintances during his 12-year tenure at the Serpette. Vuaillat’s gallery space is an essential stop in the TriBeCa district’s furniture design circuit. Twenty First Gallery’s selections have appeared in interiors from Aspen, Los Angeles, Gstaad to Hong Kong. Vuaillat enjoys working very closely with his mostly European artist roster (many of them belonging to the French crafts guild “Les Compagnons du Devoir”), leveraging a personalized relationship into international sales, participation in fairs, and highly increased exposure, according to the gallery. The exhibition is on view through June 29, 2018 at Twenty First Gallery, Address: 76 Franklin St., New York, NY 10013, USA.For details, visit: http://21stgallery.com/ Click on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
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Concentric rings across the Carcassonne Castle outrage locals
Swiss artist Felice Varini was recently invited by the National Center for National Monuments to mark the 20th anniversary of the medieval fortified town of Carcassonne that was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Varini installed disorienting yellow rings made of thin aluminum strips across the historic stones of the Carcassonne Castle. However, his installation has invited controversy and has outraged the locals, who have reproached the artist of “desecrating" the ramparts of the French fortress.The Carcassonne Castle attracts over four million visitors every year and is therefore regarded as France's second-most visited tourist site after the Eiffel Tower. However, now that this colossal hilltop castle in the Languedoc-Roussillon region bears resemblance to a huge aim at a shooting range, has left many tourists unimpressed. [The Sun]Tourism Carcassonne has been endorsing the site’s newfangled guise, and they call the stripes as “eccentric circles,” which are part of an event highlighting heritage and contemporary art in the area.The Sun quotes the organization: “Varini's spiralling artwork spread like a wave, fragmenting and recomposing the geometry of the circles on the towers and curtain walls of the fortifications."The bright yellow concentric circles were intended to lighten the city for five months. However, since many locals and tourists believe that the installation ruins the beauty of the city; over 2000 people have signed a petition to remove the artist’s work. The online petition even compares Varini's artwork to a fluorescent life jacket. [Le Monde]"What a shame to pay tens of thousands of Euros [for it]. It completely ruins this beautiful city," The Sun quotes a local.While most tourists and locals express dismay over the aluminum circles exhibited across the medieval walls of the castle, some visitors have applauded the artwork calling it “cool,” if looked at from a right angle.Even though his installation has received much criticism, visual artist Felice Varini continues to be positive and defends his work. According to him, the circles perfectly match the city's stonework. He also let go of the concerns of the locals, associating their reaction with their profound attachment to the heritage. www.blouinartinfo.comFounder Louise Blouin
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