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August 20, 2007

Sculpture: Forty Years

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One of the preeminent sculptors of our era, Richard Serra (American, b. 1939) has long been acclaimed for his challenging and innovative work, which emphasizes materiality and an engagement between the viewer, the site, and the work.

In the early 1960s, Serra and the Minimalist artists of his generation turned to unconventional, industrial materials and began to accentuate the physical properties of their art. Over the years, Serra has expanded his spatial and temporal approach to sculpture and has focused primarily on large-scale work, including many site-specific works that engage with a particular architectural, urban, or landscape setting. This exhibition presents the artist's forty-year career, from his early experiments with materials such as rubber, neon, and lead to monumental late-career pieces, including Intersection II (1992) and Torqued Ellipse IV (1999), along with three new works that have never been exhibited before. With works on view throughout the Museum of Modern Art in New York and in The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years displays the extraordinary vision of this formidable artist, who has radicalized and extended the definition of sculpture.

View the online exhibition
LINK

August 19, 2007

Models snorting dresses - A Fake

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Controversy over a fake Sisley ad has sparked debate about the fine line between being provocative and inappropriate. In this ad, models are snorting a dress and appear high.

Benetton owned Sisley, is known for their risqué ads that push the boundaries of social commentary. However most critics agree that this ad is distasteful. Benetton has issued a statement claiming no connection to these ads.


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Read Benetton's statement
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Mixi: Japan's Myspace

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Myspace is one of the kings in social networking sites. However a growing number of competitors like Facebook are quickly catching up to the popularity of Myspace. Nut as these brands go global, it becomes clear just how precarious a position they are in. Mixi, Japan's answer to MySpace can't compete in sheer scale but when it comes to layout, color scheme and overall style they are way ahead. Myspace can't even compete on this level as its layout and graphics can best be described as passé and elementary. Although the potential for self-expression is reduced, that’s ok. Mixi is a site with a different aim: community building.

Mixi’s barrier to entry, its invite-only membership system, is the gate, albeit a low one, that surrounds the community at large. Upon gaining access, creating one’s member page is arguably the least important activity. Rather, it is all about getting connected, and not in the superficial sense of MySpace, where anyone and everyone can be friends with Madonna. Within the larger community of Mixi, there are thousands of smaller communities, most commonly formed around shared interests, from fashion to fetish. Yes, there are such groups on MySpace too, but on Mixi they are really the core activity. People don’t build vanity pages, in large part because they can’t.

LINK

August 06, 2007

Oprah is set to open a store!

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After opening an Academy for Girls in the small town of Henley-on-Klip, South Africa, Oprah is set to open a store kitty corner to Harpo Studios, where Winfrey's talk show is taped.

Construction already is underway on the one-storey, 418-square-metre store, a spokeswoman said.

No potential opening date has been released but some potential "O" items for sale include DVDs, workout gear, and African baskets.

LINK

Digital water walls

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The mission of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the world in the 21st century.

So it goes without saying that MIT's pavilion at the Expo Zaragoza 2008 in Spain is highly anticipated because it features digital water walls. They are created by closely spaced solenoid controlled valves that are accurate enough to "produce a curtain of falling water with gaps at specified locations" says MIT's Carlo Ratti, "a pattern of pixels created from air and water instead of illuminated points on a screen."

The flat roof of the structure is a shallow pond which can be raised or lowered on hydraulic pistons, depending on wind conditions. At night, when the show is closed, the pond is lowered to the ground and everything disappears.

The digital water walls will be controlled by sensors which can open up "doors" in the walls as you approach, scroll text and pictures and even, according to head of MIT's Design Laboratory William J. Mitchell, let you "throw a ball at the wall, and then see an open circle drop down to meet it precisely where and when its trajectory intersected the water surface"

Read more
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Visit MIT
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August 05, 2007

Everyday people on your pillow

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k studio believes green design doesn’t have to look a certain way. Good design and sustainability are not at odds with one another. k studio presents a unique line of home accessories designed with this idea in mind.

Shelly Klein has run k studio in its various forms for ten years working as a consultant for the contract furniture industry with a range of clients including Herman Miller. Also an accomplished painter, she uses overlapping imagery in both her paintings and textile work. The two mediums feed one another and create a dialog that clients continue to find fresh and exciting.

Visit K Studio
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