Oct 2008
Guides to sustainability for designers
Not so well known in the UK as it could be, this is a really interesting site giving designers some of the equipment required to work more sustainably. For more information check out Re-nourish.com
Worth a check is another project by Sophie of thomas.matthews in collaboration with Caroline Clark (lovely as a tree), and Nat Hunter of Airside, take a look at their approach at threetreesdontmakeaforest.org
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No rain in the Tate Turbine Hall
This erstwhile exhibition will be an engaging encounter for any visitors (particularly if you have an interest in the use of scenarios for visioning exercises!). This is the work of Dominique Gonzalez Foerster. The context for what is encountered in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern is set in text before you enter the space (see above image).
The visitor becomes participant to the imaginary event.
IKEA meets contemporary art space, where are the boundaries, where are the differences, how does it make you feel...
Nothing is quite as it seems, with perfect replicas of work owned by Tate Modern, of Louise Borgeois and Alexander Calder and others; these sculptures are larger than their originals, they confess to being props only when tapped on closer inspection. This isn’t a work about physical objects, but one of a socio-psychological encounter. Definitely worth checking out!
This exhibition runs at Tate Modern until 13 April 2009.
For more information visit tate.org.uk
"Things I have learned in my life..."
Generally I'm not terribly impressed by graphic design (which might sound strange coming from a proponent of communication design, amongst other things), however Stefan Sagmeister's work often makes me smile, his talk at TED earlier this year has some nice examples, showing his playful approach.
Origins
08/10/0823:34 Categories:
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Travelling back from a presentation in
Coventry this evening and chatting about the concepts
we had presented, the conversation was sharply
punctuated by an amazing thought from the seat
behind:
"I've been reading the Origin of Species... by Charles Dickens"
What a wonderful idea! That made us laugh all the way back to London, thinking about the impact of that kind of evolution.
"I've been reading the Origin of Species... by Charles Dickens"
What a wonderful idea! That made us laugh all the way back to London, thinking about the impact of that kind of evolution.
Just what is going on?!
06/10/0822:27 Categories:
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Never a big fan of the ‘True’ branding which this video evokes, this video drew my attention. Whilst the aims of the team who put this together incorporate a whole cornucopia of contemporary issues, from credit crunch, to climate change, the video plays on the associations of the original advertising strategy very successfully indeed. You would have a hard time thinking it wasn’t a Budweiser ad. It’s well done.
Multi-touch
I am fascinated by anything which creates interactivity, from pens and paper, to multi-touch and more. I found this back yard experiment online at IDEO Labs
Demand for change
01/10/0821:38 Categories: Technology
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This stunning range of statisitics comes from the annual Global Management Meeting event by Sony BMG Entertainment in May this year. Its role: to illustrate the demand for change. When a company shows its investment in knowledge like this it is hard to knock it. Mixing visionary message and with brand is a winner. This is actually a revised version of an earlier video, but the combined work of research and graphics compliments each other with simplicity and directness. Enjoy, and reel at those stats, how have they changed in the 5 months since this video was first made, what will they be like a year on from now, change is exponentially faster day by day. How are you going to react to the increasing speed of change?
Another more recent related video by the Now Network, similar thinking!
(this last video link added on 27.04.09)
Studio visit No. 1
Whilst this isn't the first studio visit for thomas.matthews (by any means!) it marks the first to have reached my blog, so more to come.
Another amazing installation commissioned by the frequently inspirational ArtAngel organisation, this show by artist Roger Hiorns. A quasi immersive experience of blue crystals that coat every wall of an otherwise completely unassuming council flat 15 minutes south of London Bridge underground station.
Many photos are flooding the internet of this space, with relatively few of the close-up (imagine a room covered in with this intensity, so much more than simply a blue wall). What did people do before mobile phone cameras. Go see it whilst it remains in place. Runs to 2 November; the experience is better than the imagery!
For more information visit Artangel.org.uk
Googled: it's a long, long post...
Yes, another project with 'good' ambitions; to 'change' the world, or create a step change in peoples attitude and action. Often a project will give space for reflection, and most often it results in a series of ideas, some old, some new. One of Google's current projects is the 10 to the power of 100, based on many ideas contributing to a manifesto for change. 10tothe100 is a competition project being run by Google, submit your ideas before 20 October, 2008. Project10tothe100.com
It reminds me of the various editions of the Whole Earth catalogue, initiated by all round inspiration, Mr Bucky Fuller, and published (rather a short time before I entered this world) in 1969:
A rather worn copy, of the increasingly rare 'Whole Earth Catalogue'.
Pages have the layout of a typical catalogue of products of the era (think about warming up your Gestetner machine!). The frontispiece informs the reader, "The Whole Earth Catalogue functions as an evaluation and access device. With it, the user should know what is worth getting and where and how to do the getting."
Under the title, "Purpose", the text goes on to say, "We are as gods and might as well get good at it. So far remotely done power and glory--as via government, big business, formal education, church--has succeeded to the point where gross defects obscure actual gains. In response to this dilema and to these gains a realm of intimate, personal power is developing--power of the individual to conduct his own education, find his own inspiration, shape his own environment, and share his adventure with whoever is interested. Tools that aid this process are sought and promoted by the WHOLE EARTH CATALOGUE."
I wonder how Bucky would change his approach if he was blogging himself, and advising the people at the Google project (above). The above paragraph could be talking about the current scope of the Internet. Never before have we had so much capacity to change the world, so many tools within easy reach. To what degree does the power still remain in the word, getting traction on new ideas is still the challenge to engineering social behaviour change.
I wonder if Patrick Leavens was able to push forward this idea. It still offers an interesting and potentially viable alternative to the Internet experience, Internews/Internet. Shame that now google has to engage people with a competition that crowns an individual winner, rather than expecting that they'll enter out of good will for change...