Land Art Road Trip

I've always wanted to do a cross country trip that involved exploring the wide range of land art across our country. Then a couple weeks back my friend, artist Megan Vossler, emailed saying see was embarking on such a trip with her friend Rhamy. They have a website recording this adventure called land land land ART ART ART! The duo are currently in Marfa. Be sure and check it out.


Destinations:

Arches National Park

Badlands National Park

Bonneville Salt Flats

Bryce Canyon National Park

Center for Land Use Interpretation

Donald Judd: Chinati Foundation

Michael Heiser: Double Negative

Nancy Holt: Sun Tunnels

Robert Smithson: Spiral Jetty

Walter de Maria: Lightning Field

White Sands National Monument

Zion National Park

About the project:

We are two California-to-Minnesota transplants (one an artist and teacher, the other a medical resident), chronicling a road trip we will take in May 2010 through the southwestern United States. Our purpose is to record our experience of the changing landscape, through drawings, photos, video, writing and sound. We’ll also be visiting as many of the major American land art sites as we can, to see how they’re holding up 30-plus years after their completion.

This trip has been partially funded by a generous travel and study grant from the Jerome Foundation in St Paul, MN.

image: Spiral Jetty, Robert Smithson

Molly's River coming to Times Square

This summer, Times Square is getting a river! Brooklyn-based artist Molly Dilworth (a hard working friend) has landed the the commission to paint the pedestrian plazas on Broadway from 47th to 42nd Streets. Her piece is titled "Cool Water, Hot Island," a graphic representation of NASA's infrared satellite data of Manhattan.

from the DOT:

The artist's concept focuses on the urban heat-island effect, where cities tend to experience warmer temperatures than rural settings. The proposed design's color palette of striking blues and lighter hues reflects more sunlight and absorb less heat - improving the look of these popular pedestrian plazas while making them more comfortable to sit in. The color and patterns evoke water, suggesting a river flowing through the center of Times Square, and they also provide a compelling visual counterpoint to the reds, oranges and yellows of the area’s signature marquees and billboards.

Molly's river will begin flowing by mid-July, and is expected to run about 18 months. If you want some early Manhattan geography check out this site for an interactive map. Additional history here.



via: Gothamist

urban field manual

Check out BEYROUTES from onlab. Fanatstic idea and design. Would love for a whole series of these exploring the different nature of urban environments around the world.

Beyroutes, a guidebook to Beirut, one of the grand capitals of the Middle East. Beyroutes presents an exploded view of a city which lives so many double lives and figures in so many truths, myths and historical falsifications. Visiting the city with this intimate book as your guide makes you feel disoriented, appreciative, judgmental and perhaps eventually reconciliatory.

Initiated by Studio Beirut
Supported by Partizan Publik, Archis, Pearl Foundation

The High Line opens

At long last, the High Line is now open to the public. Very exciting.



Image: Joel Sternfield

The Premier of Brooklyn DIY at MoMA Directors Cut

The James Kalm Report(Loren Munk) has the video on the premier of Brooklyn DIY at MoMA. Marcin Ramocki's documentary explores the history of the artist community of Williamsburg from the early 80's up to today. Looks like a must see for the locals and beyond.

Blurb from Ramocki:

Brooklyn DIY is a long overdue examination of the creative renaissance in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Home to underground warehouse parties, anarchistic street creativity, and artist-run galleries and performance spaces, Williamsburg gave birth to one of the most vibrant and rebellious artistic communities to arise in the 1980s, permanently changing the city's cultural landscape. Featuring interviews with a host of artists and neighborhood characters, Ramocki's film captures life in a utopian universe made by artists, for artists—along with its inevitable decline in the face of real estate development, gentrification, and the post–September 11 market collapse.

a city of doors, mostly closed

Massive gates opened into the city, and the winding streets themselves often ended abruptly at smaller doors that defined neighborhood and community boundaries... Whole neighborhoods might be walled off, accessible only by a single door in a narrow street. - Nina Burleigh

Over at BLDGBLOG, a great meditation on the nature of access, labyrinthine and boundary in 18th century Cairo as explored in Nina Burleigh's recent book Mirage. Sounds like an excellent read.

I LEGO NY

Check out these Lego analogy/sculptures by Christoph Niemann. Love that Greenpoint makes the cut.


via information aesthetics

Concerning Bar Identity

Question- in a time of economic disarray, if the local bar moves does it retain any of it's prior identity? From the New York Times:

But if drinking and dining have always been a moveable feast in New York, is charisma cartable? Can the character of everything from venerable pubs to palatial eateries migrate with their names and owners? This portability issue has gained new urgency in a season of economic disarray, when property owners are less willing to extend the leases of even the most beloved old-timers. New York is so provincial, three blocks is a huge distance.

In New York, the cultural ramifications of a move are huge and the cross currents of the biggest building boom and economic crises in decades does not bode well for the local haunt or the over comfortable regular. Changing scene in Brooklyn has arguably eclipsed Manhattan. You find yourself routinely at a loss for all the new local spots mushrooming and at the same time lamenting that you now "hate the crowd" at most of the spots you've been anchored to for years. Here, the cultural turnover of a neighborhood has to be approaching the speed of light. It's not simply the old guard versus the transplants, it's the transplants versus the transplants too. I always assume that what makes a bar so great to be in is the place itself. A place built by the wear and tear of the clientele over the years. In New York, this often means a holdover from another era, heightening one's sense of legacy. In truth it is the balance of a predictable and familiar clientele with a storied room and bar. The local question is, will the "local" be part of the vernacular in the coming years in an atmosphere of rapid economic turnover and an increasingly transitory populace?


Hat tip: phronesisaical
Image: Rosemary's Tavern/NYMag

water falls in new york

Wired readers submitted the following the pics of Eliasson's waterfalls here in NY. Some good images in there and not everyone in the crowd is impressed....

beijing opens

The politics aside, you have to admit these opening night shots from Beijing are fantastic. Soooo much more advanced than the Disney type crud we usually get at such forums. Gursky be damned! Great tip from Jagers.

the mall that wasn't there

What sets the South China Mall apart from [other dead malls], besides its mind-numbing size, is that it never went into decline. The tenants didn’t jump ship; they never even came on board. The mall entered the world pre-ruined, as if its developers had deliberately created an attraction for people with a taste for abandonment and decay. It is a spectacular real-estate failure – but it is also, as I saw when I spent two days exploring the site in May, a strangely beautiful monument to the big dreams that China inspires.

The big attraction of the South China Mall was supposed to be its “foreign” design. Learning from Las Vegas, where replicas of European monuments and New York landmarks draw throngs of tourists, the Dongguan mall modeled seven zones after various exotic world locations. Its rooftops reflect at least twenty different influences, from Czech town halls to Turkish mosques. - The National (Abu Dhabi)

continue reading at BLDBLG.

...more Oahu

planes over Hong Kong

I think you'll agree that this video is stunning and well, claustrophobic (in the best way). The short snippet videos were shot from Kowloon city under the approach path to Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport in 1998. I'm unclear as to who the artist is - if someone knows please comment.

Anna Malagrida

I haven't written about the current round of fairs in NY or thought that much about them now that they have closed. I did manage to spend a day at Pulse and Scope. In all they were well executed with Pulse having the stronger group. Somehow in these events, everything manages to blur for me which is why I've never done much on the review side of these events. I've exhibited at Scope twice and the experience was pretty much the same. My guess is overload but I'm never sure if it is my weak constitution or that most of what gets shown really does look and feel the quite the same. Is it cancellation or standardized multi-style? That perplexes me.

Anyway, one artist that blew me away and has really been lodged in my head is photographer Anna Malagrida who was showing with Galeria SENDA at Pulse. I think this works is wildly strong in terms of concept, history and aesthetics. I keep coming back to Chris Marker/Tarkovsky somehow
and definitely early color works by Saul Leiter. Regardless, the work is very humane and exciting. Makes wish they were my own photographs!

Judge for yourself and enjoy these images and the links below.


Video: Anna Malagrida exhibition at Figge von Rosen Gallery.


images: Anna Malagrida, [via artnet]

spiral jetty update

According to Winkleman the deadline to take action in protecting Spiral Jetty has been extended. Which is great news.

This just in from the Utah governor's office: The comment period about the Spiral Jetty-impacting energy development has been extended to Feb. 13. For more information from the state of Utah, click here. For more information on how to comment, click here.

UPDATE: The Seattle P-I's Regina Hackett says that the state of Utah has already received 1,000 comments, and that those comments have alerted them to the importance of the Jetty. "I think they were impressed to be taking calls from Europe and Japan about an artwork in Utah," the acting director of the Salt Lake City Art Center, Leslie Peterson, told Hackett.

Don't almost do something here! Take Action Today! Here, I'll make it easier for you [from Tyler]:

If you want to send a letter of protest to save the beautiful, natural Utah environment around the Spiral Jetty from oil drilling, the emails or calls of protest go to Jonathan Jemming 801-537-9023 jjemming@utah.gov.

Please refer to Application # 8853. Every letter makes a big difference, they do take a lot of notice and know that publicity may follow. Since the Spiral Jetty has global significance, emails from foreign countries would be of special value.

Invoking Jersey

Here's a great exhibition concept centered on Place.

Is it possible to make a photograph of New Jersey regardless of where you are in the world? The Pierro Gallery and iheartphotograph.com invite photographers, designers, and artists of all kinds to participate in this global open call for work. Details are here.

February 22, 2008 is the deadline for submissions. No fees are required to enter.


Via Kazys

a different wall comes down

Be glad your life is different. Some video footage here of the exodus from Gaza.


video link via France 24 and Phronesisaical

Lyons-Dubai

That "wild and crazy", fast spending emirate of Dubai is at it again!

Lyons replica to rise in Dubai

The Arab emirate of Dubai will build a replica of Lyons under a $685M deal signed with the French city last week. Buti Saeed Al Gandhi, investment capital firm Emivest head, initially planned to build a French-language university in partnership with the University of Lyons but decided on “Lyons-Dubai City”, as the new metropolis will be known. Lyons-Dubai City will cover an area of about 700 acres, roughly the size of the Latin Quarter of Paris, and will contain the university, a hotel school, a film library, subsidiaries of Lyon museums and a football training center run by Olympique Lyonnais.

This raises a few questions. Why Lyons? I'm guessing it's a sentimental favorite for someone in power.What does this say about Arab development in general? This takes simulacra to new heights for sure. Then again I can't imagine a replica of Paramus, NJ going up anytime soon...

BLDGBLOG has more..

frank stella wall

S. La Cienega blvd.

mapping loss

The Times has this article on the new nature of mapping in a world of hyper change. Mapmakers have long been come accustomed to the ever shifting borders of post-colonial and post- Soviet states along with the lessoning addition to the new "discoveries". Lately there is a new challenge, keeping maps current with the changes wrought through environmental degeneration. Above is a picture of the Aral Sea from 1967 on the left and the current view on the right. It's an alarming change that parallels the radical changes in the arctic. At least in the case of the Aral Sea, steps are being taken to make up for bad engineering policies of the past, most sites like this are not that lucky. I can only wonder at what a map of West Virginia might look like in a few years after recent coal legislation is implemented accelerating the practice of "mountain topping".

Map makers certainly have their work cut out for them. Just as we reach a point where most of the world seemingly has been mapped, we essentially now have go back and re-present everything altered during the same period of the initial discoveries. That is an interesting and saddening reality. The notion that the "map is not the territory" has a new dimension it seems.