The art of the eco-mindshift; from Natalie Jeremijenko

Creative ecology activist Natalie Jeremijenko puts art to work, to address environmental issues by combining engineering know-how, public art and a team of volunteers. Among her real-life experiments are; walking tadpoles, texting "fish," planting fire-hydrant gardens and more.

She outlines a paradigm shift in how we administer medical health in order to usurp the ecological disaster we are continually creating in our globally warming world. In the video below she interprets health as outside of the body and a collective effort rather than an individual one.

She clearly exemplifies how displacement is  the wrong method to use in dealing with environmental pollution, in relation to the oil containment's running down the roadways and gutters of Lower Manhattan.

In this fast paced wordy but articulate TED lecture Natalie interweaves art, engineering, environmentalism, biochemistry and more to create real-life experiments that enable social change.



Natalie Jeremijenko is based in New York, but currently in Sydney until December 10 working on her latest collaboration: Remnant/Emergency ArtLab project.

"The focus will be on the issues surrounding the long-running attempt to remove a large colony of Grey Headed Flying Foxes ('fruit bats') from the Sydney Botanical Gardens. It will be conducted between the 17th-30th November in Sydney with outcomes presented both at the UTS Gallery and at the International Participatory Design Conference at UTS. "

I'm certain many a Botanical gardens enthusiast will be crossing their fingers and hoping with baited breath that she succeeds with her project !

Milan gets slowed by an invasion of fuchsia snails

Anyone walking around an inner plaza of Milan, where the buildings are variously grey and the pavement shades of brown to black may suddenly gasp at the sight of some 2 by 3 meter bright pink fuchsia snails. The sculptures are made of recyclable plastic and, as the creators say "invite the passer-by to slowness and careful listening" and "The snail stands for the reclamation of the slow quality of life, in contrast with the typically frenetic rhythm of the metropolis. The snail is a guide towards quality, it moves consciously towards an ethical and economical recovery”.

According to Y Magazine the sculptures are from REgeneration, a travelling installation by the Cracking Art Group (Renzo Nucara, Marco Veronese, Alex Angi, Carlo Rizzetti, Kicco, William Sweetlove) supported by the Ministry for Arts and Culture, the Ministry of the Environment and by Milan Culture Council Department.

The Milan installation (until January 20) is only the first leg of the snails’ long journey. In the next few years the snails will change color and travel worldwide: they are scheduled “to visit” the most famous capital cities and locations of the Planet to eventually come back to Milan in 2015.

Building Urban Motion by Abstract:groove

is a design studio, based in Milan, defined as a hybrid between a creative collective and a motion design studio, which mainly works on the research of new visual languages in communication and advertising.

Abstract:groove recently created this awe-inspiring temporary outdoor video projection installation on the side of  of the Hotel St. George, in Viale Tunisia, Milan. According to the creators the work is subtitled as, an "oneiric activity of a surface" and is “an audiovisual experiment of perceptive transformation in architecture, through abstract narration, which will show the building as a screen and protagonist simultaneously. Imagine the façade of a building could have a brain and a conscience; consequently it could sleep and dream. Imagine that these surreal forms of life have a characteristic to let loose, during the REM sleep period, a visible transposition of their dreams.”

Pardon me, but I wonder, do many people experience actual sound and or music in their dreams ? ... I mean can we imagine we actually hear music or sound , whilst dreaming ?....the music in this video is probably entitled "wake up call", no ?

Unreal Rock Balancing !

Bill Dan is an artist from San Francisco, California, who has a truly amazing knack of balancing rocks. His ecologically safe "marine rock garden" creations seen in this video are truly unreal !

According to the Wikipedia:
"Bill Dan is a sculptor and performance artist specializing in rock balancing. He creates seemingly impossible, temporary balanced sculptures from un-worked rock and stone in public spaces near his home in San Francisco.  Dan was born in Indonesia, and worked as a warehouseman before discovering the artistic possibilities of rock along the San Francisco Bay shoreline and his emergent skill in manipulating them." continue reading

I envy Bill's artistic talent, if only I had the knack of getting my writing to sit as well as Bill can with his profound balancing skill.

555 KUBIK Projection : "How it would be, if a house was dreaming"

"The conception of this project consistently derives from its underlying architecture - the theoretic conception and visual pattern of the Hamburg Kunsthalle. The Basic idea of narration was to dissolve and break through the strict architecture of O. M. Ungers "Galerie der Gegenwart". Resultant permeabilty of the solid facade uncovers different interpretations of conception, geometry and aesthetics expressed through graphics and movement. A situation of reflexivity evolves - describing the constitution and spacious perception of this location by means of the building itself."

urbanscreen the producers of this outdoor architectural projection are a group of free media artists and architects, dealing with research and development of experimental media installations with the aim to stage urban areas.

Not only am I impressed by the Art Direction by Daniel Rossa, but I'm also quite enthralled by the soundtrack (by Jonas Wiese) and secretly wish it were possible to have seen a video, absent of mall cacophony !

Olafur Eliasson talks about his Palette; space and light

Moreso in relation to Eliasson's art practice he begins his talk with an experiment in the nature of perception directing our attention to the experiences of the after image illusions. He asks;

"What does it mean to be in a picture and what does it mean to be in a space? And what's the difference? The difference between thinking and doing."

His art is about linking thinking and doing, through provoking "us", the audience to experience something other than what we would otherwise take for granted. In the spectacular large-scale projects he's famous for (such as "Waterfalls" in New York harbor), Olafur Eliasson is altering us to our conscious perceptions of time and space and how we focus our experiences of distance.

He manipulates Architectural constructs as a means to exploit the mass market of altering perceptions of the near and far, perhaps usurping our understanding of things, as what we "once thought about it" to what we "now think about it". Such as it would be interesting to know what people think about the green dyed city waterways artworks seen in the above image !

Giant Gundam

is a giant mechatronic animae character and has been realized by the producers of the Gundam Japanese TV Show; an animation series which started in 1979 about a future where robots or mecha Gundam's piloted by humans battle for supremacy over the evil doers. It stands 18 meters tall, the scale model was put in place to mark the 30th Anniversary of the anime's beginning.The Gundam model has 50 points of light, emits steams, and its head revolves left to right and up.

Here is IDG News media's video after it was tested in Odaiba. Another video captured at the opening ceremony recently where we are treated with an introduction to the on site food stalls. But if you prefer here is the Geeks Guide to Gundam, plus you may like to read further , or even more.

Antony Gormley presents a Living Monument

"Every hour, 24 hours a day for 100 days, a different person will step up to the Fourth Plinth and help make a living portrait of the UK now.."

Viewable here the project/event appears online as a live streaming video the entire 100 days 24/7. The live video can be somewhat boring whilst an artist is setting up, but rather thankfully there is a production team switching between different camera views not necessarily always on the artist.

"This summer, sculptor Antony Gormley invites you to help create an astonishing living monument. He is asking the people of the UK to occupy the empty Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London, a space normally reserved for statues of Kings and Generals. They will become an image of themselves, and a representation of the whole of humanity. "

Go here to view his introductory video. Go here to view some Youtube video's of some of the beginner participators.

I get the feeling that Michael Jackson would have excelled himself up there, except they are only accepting UK citizens and from the willing wannabe's, only those who are selected get the opportunity.

Frank Garvey's OmniCircus

"Frank Garvey is a San Francisco based artist using a mixture of music, animation, theater, and robotics to make a critique of late capitalism. Take a glimpse at the OmniCircus, the studio where it all takes form."



Here is a German blogger's account of Frank Garvey, his street theater and work. The English translation.

Uniquely French Object : : Chanel Mobile Art Container

The artistic director Karl Lagerfeld of Chanel together with Zaha Hadid created possibly the first and only ever, from the Architecturaly Designed ground up, mobile Art Museum.

The container is made of gleaming-white fiberglass with a ring of interactive exhibition spaces inside which closely resembles an open woman's parfait case.

The Mobile Art Container, which was to roam the world from 2008 to 2010 bearing installations by 18 international artists, is now over. Nevertheless this video link enables you to view all facets of the museum's conception, fabrication and planning. The web portal also offers you the opportunity to take virtual tour of the interiors with a smorgasbord of art installations among them a live tattooed pig in a cage plus grunts !

Trompe-L'oeil Drawing of Disappearing Car

A design Art student Sara Watson made a battered old Skoda 'vanish' by painting it to merge with the surrounding car park. Sara who is studying drawing at the University of Central Lancashire, took three weeks to transform the car's appearance.

"I was experimenting with the whole concept of illusion but needed something a bit more physical to make a real impact."

She created the illusion in the car park outside her studio at Uclan's Hanover Building in Preston. The car is now being used for advertising by the local recycling firm that donated the vehicle.

Frenetic Mural : : Wall Animation

This time lapse animation was painted on public walls by Blu.

Produced by Mercurio Film assisted by: Sibe with music by Andrea Martignoni.


Related Posts : One and Two

Frenetic

The Making of Edgar Müller's huge 3D Street Painting "The Crevasse "

At the Festival of World Culture in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, Edgar Müller painted one his iconic optical illusions over a 250 square meter patch of asphalt. Using acrylic wall paint to create the scene, it took the artist five days, working 12 hours a day to paint the massive crevasse; which, from the right perspective, looks remarkably realistic, as this time lapse video attests.

Be sure to also check out Mueller’s flash flood in Canada

Related Posts: One and Two

Prospect 1: New Orleans Biennial 2008

Prospect.1 is New Orleans' inaugural biennial and the largest-ever international contemporary art show in the United States. Similar in style and scope to Venice, the exhibit consists of site-specific art installations, as well as several galleries in museums and elsewhere in the city devoted to it. As the front page of the event's website proclaims, it's designed to bring media attention and tourist dollars to New Orleans, the exhibition closes January 18 2009.

Eighty one artists from all over the globe, including 12 New Orleans artists will be participating, and the works will appear in 22 venues around the city.

Watch a video and read a comprehensive review of the exhibition, here.


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The Art of Herakut

Herakut, is the German graffiti duo of a blended collaboration between two artist's Jasmin(Hera) and Falk (Akut).

"Hera and Akut combine photorealism and monochrome figurative elements in a bewitching medley of images. Their unlikely merger of styles now increasingly blend seamlessly, a testimony they say to the growing way they trust each other to develop a piece."

This video shows their painted walls exhibition from the end of last year at the Leonard Street Gallery in London's East End.

See more photos of the works from Herakut, here, and their website.


Source

Fire breathing dog robot roams the streets of London !

Lyle from the Mutoid Waste Company introduces us to Larry, his fire breathing robot dog. Lyle shows just what’s capable with all the junk we throw away. Cannibalized motorcycle parts, a Citroen 2CV engine to run it and another for a head, coffee filters for eyes and lots of bits from old Fiat cars all went into creating this Robo Dog in just 4 weeks.

Photo stream of Mutant Waste Company, here and here.


Also here is a documentary site of the Mutoid Waste Company, some time in the 1980s.

Time Lapse Video of Giant Graffiti Piece in Berlin

was painted on a big wall by Blu in Berlin.


see the final work here.




Previously on nevertheless

Interactive Sculpture, Cranky and Plucky @ Maker Faire Austin,Texas

Cranky is a 14 ft long metal cone on wheels, that has 24 crankshaft music boxes pop riveted onto its exterior. They can be played one at a time, or several can be played by multiple participants to create an eerie carnival-like cacophony. Plucky is an 8 ft long gramophone looking horn that has four strings strung across the top. It produces a bass-like sound. It can be tuned and experimented with, and the experience of it is in the hands of the participant.

The Artist Dominique Vyborny is based in Austin, Texas and makes large interactive sculptures and installations. She has collaborated on, and been project manager for, several large metal art projects featured at the Burning Man Festival and the Coachella Valley Music Festival.

The video blogger Wisegeorge seems to have stumbled upon Cranky and Plucky in the wild and although he plucks a few strings on it we are not yet privy to hearing the total piece.


More about Cranky and Plucky at Maker Faire

Seashore Acoustic Wave Organ made with a series of tubes

This installation allows people to listen to music created by waves rolling and lapsing the shoreline and it is situated at the tip of a tiny peninsula near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.

Artist Peter Richards and stonemason George Gonzales brought the project to an otherwise forgotten and neglected part of the San Francisco Bay estuary.

it's a series of 25 pipes that extend down into the water that captures the sound that the surf makes as it rolls up and down in the pipes. The lengths and widths of the pipes contribute to the type of sound as well as the force or easiness of the water pressure as it pushes air up and down the tubes creating a symphony of unusual sound affects.


Related Posts
David Byrne playing the building
Singing ringing tree by Mike Tonkin

UFO

New York artist Peter Coffin with the collaborative assistance of Cinimod Studio (a lighting design company) built this UFO for the visitors of Gdansk Festival of Stars in Poland.

The UFO flew in along the coast from the nearby town of Sopot, and then circled the centre of Gdansk. The UFO made its startling and surprising appearance soon after sunset. It appeared to be covered in lights displaying a series of geometric colour patterns.

The overall UFO structure is 7 metres in diameter and manufactured of aluminum for lightness. 3000 bright and individually controllable Color Kinetics LED nodes have been arrayed across the structure and are controlled via a solid state computer. An on board 6 kw generator provides the system power, and the overall UFO can be remotely controlled via SMS messaging.


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