Ceysson & Bénétiere Gallery Presenting Daniel Firman

Entitled Attitude Jade #3, this piece by Daniel Firman had many visitors hesitantly approaching, afraid they were about to experience a jump scare or a performance piece a la Marina Abramović. It appears, at first, like perhaps a young woman is taking a long time gazing at some kind of artwork mounted on the wall and shrouded by a piece of fabric. But the whole thing is actually a hyperrealistic sculpture made of resin, clothing, a wig, and shoes. It was definitely among the most Instagrammable pieces in an event designed to produce Instagrammable pieces.

The Future Perfect at Design Miami/

If you’ve ever thought that furniture design was boring, even momentarily, take in this booth by The Future Perfect like a shot of espresso for your brain. Presented at Design Miami/ 2022, a collectible furniture fair exhibited as part of the larger Art Basel Miami event, the booth includes an alluring array of fascinating works, including a wool carpet by Claudy Jongstra, a Chris Wolston bronze coffee table, and boucle-and-aluminum club chairs — get all the details about every last element in this photo here.

Leandro Erlich Retrospective

Presented at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) is Leandro Erlich: Liminal, the first monographic exhibition of Argentinian artist Leandro Erlich’s work in North America. The exhibition features 16 works spanning more than two decades throughout PAMM’s special exhibition galleries. The works are arranged to create a narrative storyline as visitors make their way through the gallery, encountering reality-shifting interactive installations like Swimming Pool, originally created in 1999.

Mark Grattan at Design Miami/

Also at the Design Miami/ fair, furniture designer Mark Grattan’s sexy mirrored bedroom display was like 1980s cocaine culture softened up for 2023, its hard chrome edges contrasting with soft, curving lavender upholstery. Located in the booth by T&C O.G. Cristina Grajales, the display served up an aesthetic we didn’t know we were craving.

Perrotin Presenting Hernan Bas

Miami native Hernan Bas captured both the attention of festival goers and an excellent sum for his painting, titled Conceptual artist #15 (Performance based, along with a troop of hired actors he takes residence in ‘fixer upper’ homes and feigns nefarious occult activity to stir up the neighbors). Presented by Perrotin, the piece sold for $450,000. The title alone might be worth the price.

Savannah College of Art & Design Collaboration with Cerámica Suro

The Savannah College of Art and Design booth was an unexpected revelation at this year’s Art Basel, displaying works created in collaboration between SCAD students and Cerámica Suro, a Guadalajara-based studio known for pushing the boundaries of what artisanal ceramics can be. Founder José Noé Suro evolved his family’s manufacturing business into a globally renowned powerhouse through partnerships with leading contemporary artists. The vibrant collections of glazed tiles were created by SCAD alumni artists Nicolas Barrera, Lauren Clay, Gonzalo Hernandez, Cory Imig, Abel Macias, and Nikita Nagpal.

Thaddaeus Ropac Presenting Georg Baselitz

One of this year’s highest-selling works at Art Basel was also one of its most striking. London-based dealer Thaddaeus Ropac sold an abstract oil painting by Georg Baselitz entitled Emilio macht das Licht Aus (2020) for $1.4 million. The painting depicts a nude figure partially concealed within black and white brush strokes.

Sikkema Jenkins Presenting Maria Nepomuceno

Who doesn’t love to look at weird, slightly fleshy textile sculptures? Okay, maybe not everyone, but there’s no denying that Maria Nepomuceno’s work pulls you in to look closer and marvel at its complexities. Her display of colorful, organic forms was beautifully presented at Art Basel 2022 by gallery Sikkema Jenkins. This is just a taste of what the gallery has staged using Nepomuceno’s creations, so make sure to check out their previous exhibitions for more elaborate displays.

The post Our Favorite Works and Exhibits at Art Basel Miami Beach 2022 first appeared on Dornob.

The pieces are designed to be experienced in conversation with the city of Vierzon, where they each present a conversation with its past, present, inhabitants, and dreams for the future. Integrated within the landscapes of everyday life, the exhibition is divided into four themes: “The Utopia of Territories,” “The Third Feminism,” “Subversive Tenderness,” and “The World Built by Women.” The latter is a parallel exhibition bringing together three French collections (Centre Pompidou, Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, and FRAC Centre-Val de Loire) exploring the works produced by women architects.

The Biennale’s website explains: “The concept of ‘feminist democracy’ that we borrow from author Marie-Cécile Naves gives rise to several questions that lie at the heart of the Biennale: which cities and urbanism programs are devised by and for women? How can their productions emerge from their invisibility? What interpretation of the history of the arts can be seen through the lens of feminisms?”

“Entitled Infinite Freedom, A World for a Feminist Democracy and dedicated to the exclusive invitation of around fifty women artists and architects, the 2022 Biennale of FRAC Centre-Val de Loire is primarily intended as a festival geared towards a new imaginary founded on equality, in which various social, militant, and artistic readings cohabitate, with a view to instilling a new kind of common sense.”

The Utopia of Territories consists of works highlighting new dynamics of participatory democracy, such as women’s marches, set within highly visible urban locations in Vierzon. “While the geography of gender has demonstrated that urban space is a sexed territory where women have always maintained complex relationships with the city, this Biennale is intended as a site of symbolic appropriation,” the organizers explain.

The Third Feminism explores ways in which feminism can maintain its diversity and its heritage of participation in political, social, and anti-colonial struggles as interpreted through art. The organizers add “If this Biennale wants to overcome its singular relationship to the history of art and to use the concept of feminist democracy to update the interpretation of the discipline, it therefore needs to question the new practices of equitable citizenry, the role of women in the creation of cities and territories, while taking into account the specific history of Vierzonnaises.”

Subversive Tenderness focuses on “the contemporary alternative to the modernist avant-garde,” defining tenderness as the juncture between nature and culture. To subvert that is to flip it on its head with an exhibition that “occasionally makes us pay a visit to some of the beings that we refuse to look at. At other times, it reminds us of our recurring temptations to contain freedoms, or twist bodies to injure them. Especially those of women.”

The 2022 Biennale of FRAC is on display through January 1st, 2023, and a map of the public works can be found on the FRAC Centre-Val de Loire website.

The post 55 Women Artists Showcased in the Exhibit “Infinite Freedom, A World for Feminist Democracy” first appeared on Dornob.

The mixed-media art installation explores how COVID-19 has impacted children and young adults around the world, expressed through commissioned pieces by composers, songwriters, and poets and recorded by the Young People’s Chorus.

A wide array of art forms come together in this project: video, sculpture, music, film, poetry, and spoken word. 500 singers with the Young People’s Chorus join the 15 composers and songwriters, seven poets, three choreographers, and two filmmakers to bring the stories to life. The exhibition aims to provide a powerful and intimate portrayal of the emotional strength, resilience, and joy these young choristers have faced since the pandemic first began in the spring of 2020.

“It was important to us to help our youth process their emotions — from confusion to fear to hope — through art while allowing listeners and viewers a glimpse into their hearts and minds during this time,” says curator Francisco J. Núñez, artistic director and founder of Young People’s Chorus.

Just like the rest of us, the members of the youth chorus have gone through a whirlwind of emotions throughout the pandemic. Pieces in the exhibit include songs like “Cabin Fever,” expressing what it felt like to suddenly be alone at home with stressed family members and no access to friends and old routines. “My Rainbow in the Window” is about finding small joys even during quarantine. “Power to the People” says “Just because we’re stuck at home doesn’t mean we’re stuck in our minds; just because we can’t hold each other doesn’t mean we stop the smiles. Fifty states protesting together, look at that a strong celebration. They won’t die in vain, we’re gonna fight, it’s time to save our nation.”

Participating artists include composers Samuel Adler, Derek Bermel, Thomas Cabaniss, Paquito D’Rivera, Aneesa Folds, Gordon Getty, Michael Gordon, Michael Harrison, Ted Hearne, Yuka C. Honda, David Lang, Elizabeth Núñez, Francisco J. Núñez, Jim Papoulis, and Paola Prestini. The exhibit is free and open to the public daily at the CIA at Copia, 500 1st St, Napa, California.

“We are thrilled that the public response to our AloneTogether installation at The CIA at Copia has been so positive that we have been asked to extend the exhibit through September,” says Núñez. “AloneTogether is a dynamic multimedia project that will give viewers a powerful and intimate portrayal of the range of emotions YPC choristers faced during the early days of the pandemic, from fear and loneliness to hope and joy. Art has given our youth a powerful vehicle through which they can process these complicated emotions and share them with the world. This is the power and beauty of art and what we do at YPC.”

The post The Young People’s Chorus of New York City Gives Voice to All Our Complicated COVID Emotions first appeared on Dornob.

Titled “Figures of Speech,” the exhibition is a reimagined iteration of Abloh’s first show at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, featuring over 100 works by the late artist as curated by writer/critic Antwaun Sargent. Originally planned before the pandemic and Abloh’s death in 2021, the show is a carefully concocted mishmash of Abloh’s genius. Works of both fashion and design converge on an elevated, scene-stealing runway. An array of colorful sneakers marches across a table. Architectural sketches and fashion prototypes share space with a model of Chicago (Abloh’s hometown), including a proposed skyscraper he submitted for his master’s thesis in 2003.

While all this all might seem incongruous, the placing of Abloh’s extraordinary works is deliberate, and meant to express the artist’s work as a means to “[break] down hierarchies, especially within the creative world,” according to Sargent.

Sargent also explains that Abloh’s original goal for the exhibition was to re-conceptualize the show’s previous iterations from a more New York point of view, as the city “had special meaning for [Abloh], in the sense that it really was the place that he…became the artist that we have come to know.” One of the most significant ways the current Brooklyn exhibition has departed from its predecessors is its emphasis on Abloh’s many forays into architecture, including early sketches he completed while training to be an architect at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Appropriately enough, the show’s main attraction does reflect Abloh’s architectural bent, in the form of a full-sized house dubbed “Social Sculpture.” Built into the museum itself in order to fully integrate it with its surroundings (including the addition of new walls and existing columns), the display is eye-popping and dramatic, to say the least. According to Sargent, it showcases Abloh’s “spatial thinking as [both] an artist and designer.”

But like many of Abloh’s impressive art and design feats, Social Sculpture is so much more than just that. It’s a social commentary, “a representation of Black space, a living monument that holds the potential, through the exchange of ideas, to inspire the creation of more Black space,” as the Brooklyn Museum said in a statement.

This re-examination of Black space is exactly what makes the new exhibition so distinctive. The layout is dynamic and fluid, building relationships between disciplines as it simultaneously works to break down the barriers between them. And because Abloh himself had a hand in envisioning and conceptualizing the exhibition, as Sargent says, “‘[Figures of Speech]’ should be considered [Abloh’s] last living work…not at all a memorial…[but] a show by a living artist.”

“Figures of Speech” will be on display at the Brooklyn Museum through January 29th, 2023.

The post Brooklyn Museum’s Virgil Abloh Exhibition is as Bold and Visionary as the Artist Himself first appeared on Dornob.

Elsewhere on the 800-acre grounds of this UNESCO World Heritage Site were two more of Messam’s large-scale artworks: “Bridged,” a similarly spiked installation placed across the River Skell, and “Drifted,” a series of floating replicas of the Studley Pyramid set on the upper Canal.

All three sculptural works are part of “These Passing Things,” a temporary exhibition aiming to infuse the landscape with “visual exuberance.” Originally intended for installation in summer 2020 and delayed due to the pandemic, the exhibition aims to revive the playful spirit of Georgian follies in a contemporary way, lightening the mood of all who view it.

“The work is inspired by designs for a 16-meter-high funerary pyramid in the water garden,” Messam explains. “Archive records show this was commissioned by William Aislabie in the 18th century, after his father’s death. Despite scale drawings and detailed costings for the piece, no further mentions of it were ever made, and no record or evidence exists of this mysterious pyramid ever being built.”

He adds that “the original designers of the Studley Royal water garden, the Aislabie family, created many follies to surprise and delight their 18th-century guests. Since 2015 The National Trust at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal have been celebrating these fashionable and whimsical structures and the Georgian water garden they sit within, through its former folly exhibition series.”

The managers of Studley Royal Garden say they hope the installation will get visitors thinking and start a conversation about the connection between the past and the present while offering a fresh perspective on the Georgian garden. Like many traditional follies (ornamental structures built purely for decoration), Messam’s are ephemeral and have no specific function other than their visual impact.

“While over time we may invest them with meaning or stories, at their core they’re just there – large-scale artworks in the landscape, and as an artist that’s what I’ve been interested in for the past 20 years,” he says. “I’m also interested in the role that follies play in creating focal points in constructed views of the landscape.”

To create “Spiked,” Messam used old plan drawings of the temple to create life-size paper patterns using CAD software. He worked with preservationists to ensure that the inflatable piece wouldn’t damage sensitive elements of the temple like the plaster ceilings. A single quiet fan kept the artwork inflated to maintain the contemplative nature of the setting.

Both “Spiked” and “Bridged” are made of hundreds of yards of fire-resistant polyester, and the steel bridge was custom-built for the project by an engineering firm. About 500,000 visitors crossed the installation between July and November 2021, itself located near the site where a Georgian iron bridge was once located.

The post Colorful Spikes Explode from a Georgian Temple to Celebrate the Fun of Garden Follies first appeared on Dornob.

“We will chase Frida’s world, always in motion,” “Frida: Immersive Dream” animator Massimiliano Siccardi said in a statement. “We will discover her tenderness and hostilities by taking in her observations and fantasies. Our hope is that viewers will let themselves be penetrated by Frida’s stories, and in so doing, live vicariously through her.”

Taking up some 500,000 cubic feet of projections and employing 1.2 million frames of video, the Frida art experience showcases some of the painter’s most famous works, cloning them around all four walls of exhibition space. Also added in are real-life photos of the Mexican surrealist and her influences, like her husband Diego Rivera. Some of the most recognizable pieces highlighted in the visual feast include The Two Fridas (1939), The Wounded Deer (1946), and Self-Portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States (1932).

As images and colors splash across the walls (all chosen and animated by Siccardi), sitting or standing observers can turn in any direction for a good view of Kahlo’s bold works brought to life against an audio backdrop of musical scores composed by Luca Longobardi.

“Frida Kahlo’s work is uniquely suited to be explored in an immersive environment, and her life story is equally fascinating,” said Svetlana Dvoretsky, co-producer at Lighthouse Immersive, the studio behind the Van Gogh and Kahlo experiences. “Kahlo lived her life as one giant journey of exploration, and her art mirrored that journey. Our goal is to give our viewers more than an examination of her work; we also hope they will leave with a richer understanding of the smart, complex woman who created these timeless masterpieces.”

Born in Mexico in 1907, Kahlo began painting after a terrible bus accident at the age of 18 left her bedridden for many months and with life-long chronic pain. She is best known for her self-portraits (of her 143 paintings, 55 are of herself) strikingly characterized by her signature unibrow. Her other works are dominated by elements from nature and Mexican artifacts. Her style has been termed “magical realism,” with many paintings mixing realistic parts of her outer life with illusory components suggestive of her inner feelings and turmoil. She died at the young age of 47, but her artwork has only become more resonant and popular since her passing. In fact, Kahlo’s Diego and I (1949) sold in November 2021 for $34.9 million, the highest amount ever paid for a Latin American artwork at auction.

The new “Frida: Immersive Dream” exhibit is a response to the success of the original Van Gogh immersive exhibit that “demonstrated that audiences are excited to experience art in a new way,” said Lighthouse Immersive co-producer Corey Ross. “Our Italian creative team are experts at digitally exploring masterworks in such a way that viewers are not merely passive observers. They obtain an even richer understanding of the artist by seeing the work as its creator might have.”

The immersive Frida Kahlo experience is available in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Toronto with dates starting in February and running through June 2022. Tickets are available for $40 on the exhibition website.

The post Frida Kahlo’s Artwork Gets an Immersive Reimagining first appeared on Dornob.

This year, the prehistoric theme has been drawn outdoors among the plants for “Evolution on a Path to Enlightenment,” a gorgeous illuminated exhibition filled with ghostly hand-painted silk sculptures made by Sichuan-based company China Lights. Some of these creatures tower several meters into the air, gently billowing in the wind so they almost seem to be alive.

A Spectacular Voyage Through Time

The installation follows the evolution of biodiversity through the ages, created through the research and reconstruction work of the museum’s paleontologists. Over a hundred luminous structures represent the many species that have inhabited the Earth over the last 600 million years, including not just dinosaurs, but also lesser-known creatures that went extinct long ago.

The journey starts from Place Valhubert with the Origins of Life (3,700 to 490 millions years ago) during the Precambrian and Cambrian times, and moves into the Primary Era (490 to 250 million years ago) and Paleozoic times when organisms first started to adapt to the terrestrial environment. Then comes the Secondary Era (250 to 66 million years ago) in Mesozoic times when dinosaurs appeared. Finally, the Tertiary Era (66 million years ago to the present time) presents the Cenozoic era, in which many of these animals became extinct and mammals came to dominate the planet.

The inflatables are pretty noteworthy in their own right for the artistry that went into them. Lit from within, each one dazzles against the dark backdrop of the nighttime gardens. Naturally, an enormous T-rex with wide-open jaws is the star of the show, but even the delicate invertebrates are strikingly beautiful. It would be fun to take in this artistic display at dusk after spending the afternoon looking at all the skeletons and fossils inside the museum.

“Evolution on a Path to Enlightenment” opened November 21st, 2021 and will close on January 30th, 2022. It’s hosting visitors every day, and you can buy tickets online for €12 to €15.

A Must-See Paris Attraction

If you’re not familiar with the Jardin des Plantes, you’re going to want to add it to your dream tour of Paris. Founded in 1626 as a royal garden of medicinal plants, it opened to the public in 1650 and became associated with scientific study of botany and zoology in the late 1700s. It covers over 68 acres and houses 6 greenhouses for display and 22 for research, along with 23,500 species of plants like bromeliads, orchids, ferns, aroids, alpine plants, confers, cacti, grasses, and more.

There’s also a zoo on site with Art Deco buildings like the Vivarium, Monkey House, and Big Cat House. One of the oldest zoos in the world, second only to Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna, Austria, The Ménagerie opened in 1794 and still hosts many animals. The most popular is Nénette the orangutan.

The post Luminous Inflatable Dinosaurs Haunt Paris’ Jardin des Plantes first appeared on Dornob.

Before this year’s event, galleries had to have a physical location to participate – but the abolishment of that outdated rule has released a refreshing torrent of creativity and far more works from artists of color than usual. Big names, brand new names, and everyone in between demand our attention alongside a new focus on NFTs. Here are some highlights:

Tributes to Virgil Abloh

Designer Virgil Abloh’s presence was felt all over the event, from his portrait in a Wynwood mural by graffiti artist Alec Monopoly to a tribute by French fashion house Louis Vuitton. This July, a few months before his death at age 41 from a rare form of cancer, Abloh became the most powerful Black executive in luxury fashion when LVMH bought a 60-percent stake in his line Off-White. Louis Vuitton put Abloh’s final fashion collection on display November 30th at the Miami Marine Stadium and spelled out the words “Virgil was here” with a drone in the dark sky, followed by fireworks and a concert featuring Erykah Badu and Kid Cudi.

Mercedes-Benz also went ahead with unveiling its collaboration with Abloh, with the blessing of his family. They turned what was initially going to be a low-key press event viewing of his solar-powered electric battery car, “Project MAYBACH,” into a full-fledged tribute.

The Banana Guy Returns

Remember how some guy duct-taped a banana to the wall of a gallery at Art Basel Miami 2019 and completely stole the show? Artist Maurizio Cattelan came away from that stunt with $120,000, and now he’s back with some stuffed dead pigeons. 56 of the taxidermied birds perch along the walls of dealer Emmaneul Perrotin’s booth, with one grouping, titled “Ghost,” asking $350,000, and the other listed at $210,000.

As Cattelan told The Art Newspaper, “The pigeons are ‘observing’ from above the movements of the visitors below, suggesting a different confine between inside and outside, what is seen and who is seeing. We live in a society where we are under constant surveillance, like being in The Truman Show; up to the very end you don’t know if you’re the subject or object of what’s going on.”

Rubell Museum Artist in Residence Otis Kwame Kye Qaicoe

The Rubell Museum of Art unveiled paintings and sculptures by its three artists in residence, including Genesis Tramaine, Kennedy Yanko, and Otis Kwame Kye Qaicoe, and they’re all incredible. Qaicoe’s work in particular stands out for its starkness, its stunning graphic nature, and its scale. The Ghanan painter creates portraits of family and friends, using color and texture to express their individuality. The show also reinterprets the American vision of the cowboy using Ghanan models.

Betye Saar: Serious Moonlight

95-year-old artist Betye Saar displayed her rarely-seen 1980s installation “Serious Moonlight,” influenced by her travels to Haiti, Mexico, and Nigeria. The large-scale works immerse viewers in symbolism from each place, incorporating ritual, spiritual, and cosmological imagery in relation to the African-American experience and the African diaspora.

Fendi x Mabeo Studio

Fendi teamed up with Botswana-based furniture designer Peter Mabeo to create a capsule of 10 wooden pieces inspired by elements of the Roman fashion house’s style and history. The works, called the Kompa Collection, also highlight the creativity and skill of the craftspeople of Mabeo’s workshop. They’re elegant, curvy, and unexpected, applying locally sourced dark timber to galvanized metal that has been cut, hammered, shaped, and folded by hand.

Intricate Tapestries by Qualeasha Wood

There will be no forgetting the name of Qualeasha Wood, an immensely talented young artist who displayed her work for the first time at Kendra Jayne Patrick’s booth this year. Her work is an examination of the identity of Black femmes, combining self-portraits, tapestry work, digital cursors and pop-up windows, and Catholic iconography into gorgeous scenes that leave visitors gasping in amazement.

Banksy’s 10,000-Particle NFT

Crypto and NFT art went on display for the first time at this year’s Art Basel, with exhibition and digital galleries showing off the blockchain-enabled tokens. They included the “world’s first living NFT,” coded into the DNA of a living bacterial organism, a series of NFT-only works by Cube Art Fair, and an “interactive” exhibition of NFTs made in collaboration with open source blockchain Tezos called “Humans + Machines: NFTs and the Ever-Evolving World of Art,” where viewers could create AI self-portraits and turn them into their own NFTs. But none got more attention than former Christie’s executive Louis Gouzer’s new NFT company, Particle, mainly for their sale of Banksy’s 2005 painting “Love Is In the Air,” which Gouzer purchased in May for $12.9 million and divided into 10,000 pieces to be sold as individual NFTs.

That’s right – he’s basically cutting up a Banksy work into thousands of individual fragments to allow “a much wider audience to be part of a collecting experience,” as he told The New York Times. Each unique square will be sold as its own NFT for about $1,500. Unsurprisingly, more traditional art collectors and galleries are skeptical of the whole NFT concept, at least as it translates to buyers’ desires to own valuable art.

The post The Coolest and Most Controversial Works at Art Basel Miami Beach 2021 first appeared on Dornob.

The exhibit, featuring works from 27 artists, is now open to the public at the historic Cliff House, a former restaurant and ballroom built in the mid-19th century that looks upon the former Sutro Baths and the Pacific Ocean. Presented in conjunction with the National Park Service, which now owns the neoclassical building, Land’s End features works from big-name artists and designers like Andy Goldsworthy and Iris van Herpen, emphasizing just how much we are affecting the health of our planet and how dire the situation truly is.

“On the Horizon” by Ana Teresa Fernández brings an installation of 16 transparent cylindrical pillars to the beach outside, each measuring six feet tall and filled with water from the Pacific to demonstrate how much sea levels are expected to rise in the next century.

For his 2008 film “migration (empire),” artist Doug Aitken created a series of surreal vignettes in which North American migratory animals take up residence in vacant motel rooms, exploring the relationship between wilderness and the sprawling built environment. He explains: “Filmed across the United States in roadside motels — ubiquitous structures that present powerful allegories of transience, mobility, and the westward expansion that has dramatically displaced and reduced animal populations in North America — migration (empire) asks us to consider our own infringement on the natural world.”

A series of sculptures and videos by Finnish artist Tuula Närhinen transform plastic trash that has washed ashore into strange aquatic specimens, mimicking organic sea life with the substance that threatens its existence. “For better or for worse,” the artist says, “plasticity is a testament to life’s metamorphic capability.”

“Geophagia” by Andy Goldsworthy features Cliff House’s former restaurant tables spread with white clay, producing cracked and fissured surfaces that call to mind the historic drought now ravaging California. The FOR-SITE Foundation’s website describes his “barren tables and dried earth” as “serv[ing] a poignant reminder of land degradation and increasing water and food scarcity.”

Fashion designer Iris Van Herpen, known for her innovative futuristic experimentations with textiles, also adds her “Blue Marble Dress” into the mix. Its hand-cut spheres are gradient-dyed from aquatic blue to white, layered and hand-stitched to create an optical illusion of floating. These spheres are made from Parley Ocean Plastic, itself sourced from upcycled marine debris in collaboration with Parley from the Oceans.

Cliff House proves to be a resonant fit with the works on display, and not just because the crashing ocean waves outside the windows are impossible to ignore. The installation was delayed in October due to record-setting rainstorms, and the roof springing a leak. The building itself is at risk of being claimed by the shifting geology of the setting.

“This is not a tranquil site,” says FOR-SITE founder Cheryl Haines. “You do feel quite raw and exposed on this precipice. I really felt beleaguered [during the installation] and it made me even more conscious of the fragility and violence that exist in nature and how important it is for us to respect that and do our small part to not aggravate it further.”

Land’s End is free to the public with timed entries for COVID safety, 11am to 5pm Thursday through Sunday until March 27th, 2022 at 1090 Point Lobos Ave., San Francisco. If you can’t visit in person, check out the virtual tour on the FOR-SITE website.

The post “Land’s End” Installation Brings the Urgency of Climate Change to SF’s Cliff House first appeared on Dornob.

Introduced in 1851 at London’s Great Exhibition, the new type of earthenware was considered a breakthrough in the design sphere. Inspired by Italian “maiolica” (the white-glazed, decorative ceramics of the Italian Renaissance) and the works of Bernard Palissy, a noted French potter, majolica was the brainchild of English manufacturer Minton & Co., and was, “from its beginnings…seen as a British triumph of art applied to history,” according to Dr. Susan Weber, founder and director of the Bard Graduate Center in New York City.

Fast forward to 2021, where Dr. Weber is currently curating a majolica-centered exhibition titled Majolica Mania: Transatlantic Pottery in England and the United States. 1850-1915. On display through January at the Bard, the bold, colorful pottery style offers so much more than a colorful statement – it’s a piece of history itself. As Dr. Weber recently explained, when majolica was first introduced, it instantly gripped the public, “appeal[ing] to a cross-section of classes and budgets, and by the end of the 19th century, could be found in all types of homes — from those of the royal family to the rapidly growing middle class.”

Majolica’s popularity increased throughout the latter half of the 19th century as it was produced in large quantities in both the U.S. and Britain, comprising a wide range of ceramics that ranged from everyday items like teapots to over-the-top display pieces like the Minton jardiniere created for the Paris Exhibition Universelle in 1855 – currently on display for the first time ever in the U.S. at the Bard.

However, like many decor trends that have a moment and then fade into relative obscurity, majolica eventually fell out of fashion. By the mid-20th century, it was largely considered to be garish and tacky, rather than bright and kitschy. But just as trends fall out of fashion, they also have a tendency to make comebacks — and majolica is definitely having a big one right now. As designer Frank de Biasi explains, “With our current maximalism moment continuing…majolica pieces add a sparkle and splash of color on the walls.”

Once again, these bright, vivacious, and sometimes even eccentric ceramics are finding their way back into the public eye, most notably in museums like the Bard, but also as statement pieces in stylish homes everywhere. But unlike the 19th century, majolica is no longer being mass produced, making contemporary pieces rarer and sometimes a little pricey. For example, when famed American decorator Mario Buatta’s estate sold at Sotheby’s in 2020, his majolica all fetched sky-high prices, including nearly $14,000 for a snake and cabbage teapot.

But have no fear! Not all majolica is that pricey, though the more detailed, larger, and brighter pieces are worth more (and, according to experts, the name Minton is still the gold standard).

With the bright hues and eccentric designs of majolica pottery making a modern-day resurgence, first in our museums, and then in our living rooms, these carved beauties are making almost as big a splash today as they did in the late 19th century. It just goes to show that even the most divisive trends can come back into fashion and re-find their into the spotlight after a little time has passed.

The post The Return of Majolica Pottery Brings the Bold, Bright, and Beautiful Back to Home Decor first appeared on Dornob.

Resting on a bed of orange sand to mimic the feel of being in the desert, five organically shaped “houses” set the stage for the new Hermés collection, along with a selection of objects and fabrics by other designers. A team of set designers working for La Scala aided frequent Hermés collaborator Charlotte Macaux Perelman in the creation of an immersive environment that makes you feel as if you’ve traveled to remote places to discover finely crafted treasures.

The designers took inspiration from traditional cultures that build their vernacular architecture out of earth, lime, or plaster and paint the exteriors by hand. Checkerboard patterns, diagonal lines, plaids, and other motifs commonly found in Hermés designs enlarge graphic design to the scale of architecture, begging the question of why we’ve collectively gotten ourselves into such an artless contemporary architecture rut. The structures envision a new trend in which organic materials are complemented by modern prints on all sorts of exteriors.

But of course, this little village is just the beginning of the experience. As a custom soundscape plays softly in the background, visitors navigating the space duck into each house to view objects emphasizing connections between materials: the softness of an armchair made of paper-based microfiber, and a white cashmere blanket contrasting the solidity of a chiseled stone table. Among these is an organically shaped chair by Studio Mumbai with a hand-varnished and hand-painted wooden frame, described by the brand as “robust, sensual, and totemic.”

Other items in the collection include Sialk table centerpieces crafted from copper foil and colored with stenciled enamels, colorful Phi boxes arranged to echo the proportions of the golden ratio, vases, trays, stools, and porcelain dinnerware. Those of us who didn’t get to the event in person still won’t get a sense of the physicality of the objects, of course, but the exhibit marks a desire to find a balance between the digital and the tangible.

“This year, materials continue to be a major focus for the new home collections,” says Hermés. “Through their intrinsic characteristics, they determine the shape of a line, a type of motif, a creation. They are vibrant and express something that is built up, that “demands” a transformation and encourages new uses. The new collections play on raw and natural materials, incorporating unique fields of know-how.”

They add that “oscillating between tradition and innovation, know-how is a fundamental part of the creative process. Pushing back their limits and reinventing unique know-how by working with leather, textiles, metals, and stone while ensuring precise lines: the inquisitive soul of the artisan dreams of useful objects that transcend time. The new collections embrace the simplicity of an elegance that gives way to refinement and comfort.”

The post Hermès Creates a Hand-Painted Indoor Village for Milan Design Week 2021 first appeared on Dornob.

Citrovia is a 30,000-square-foot interactive public art installation bursting with juicy oversized lemons made of plaster. Occupying the courtyard space between the completed 70-story One Manhattan West building and its shorter sibling, Two Manhattan West, which will be completed in 2023, Citrovia is a brilliant disguise for the work zone. Over 700 lemons dangle from 18-foot-tall steel trees alongside 3,800 leaves made of foam, all painted by hand, as white fabric billows overhead to mimic clouds. Clusters of faux lemon slices create canopies overhead and form stepping stones on the artificial turf in front of a giant citrus sculpture.

Described by its creators as “larger than life and stranger than fiction,” the surreal display transports visitors to a colorful fantasy space year-round, and this winter, it will become a vivid antidote to the dreariness that New York City often experiences. This isn’t just a selfie backdrop, though visitors love to use it for that purpose. It’s also packed with fun activities and features. “Whack-a-Lemon” invites you to play an augmented reality game on your phone with the field of lemon slices, and a “Name-Your-Own-Garden” feature asks users to submit names for their favorite displays. All the while, AR vines climb and bloom all around you.

There are two things that make Citrovia a truly unique exhibition ripe for reproduction around the country. The first is that it’s completely free to the public, so absolutely anyone can come in and enjoy its wonders. And that’s no small thing, especially considering the size of the installation. The second is the fact that it’s not sponsored. You might think “Citrovia” is actually the name of a beverage company using the exhibit as advertising, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Brookfield Properties commissioned the project from creative group The Cuttlefish and Midnight Theater creative director Warren Adcock.

“In many cultures, lemons (and yellow) are symbols of optimism, so doing this specific installation, which places so much emphasis on size, scale, and proportion, felt right,” says The Cuttlefish, Inc. founder Evan Schechtman in an interview with Architectural Digest. “We went to the far extremes of a creative idea, then pulled it back a bit. We wanted to build something that was whimsical and elegant, but never gaudy.”

Citrovia is a fun addition to the area surrounding Penn Station on the western side of Midtown Manhattan. If you’d like to visit in person, you can do so at any time without an appointment. The exhibition is expected to remain in place for another two years or so, when Two Manhattan West is finally complete.

The post Citrovia is Livening Up NYC Construction Sites with Cheerful Lemon-Themed Art Installations first appeared on Dornob.

“We are proud to present ‘The Constant Gardeners’ as part of Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL Special 13,” said Creative Director and Founder Jason Bruges in a press release. “By developing new paradigms in robotics and performative arts, we hope to show how innovative technologies can be used in storytelling, offering audiences in Tokyo an accessible, meaningful experience that celebrates the Tokyo 2020 Games and the incredible skill and achievements of its athletes.”

The four robots were salvaged from years of industrial factory work and repurposed with specialized tips to draw in the sand, moving back and forth along linear rails. Bruges and his studio embraced the inclusion of robots as a way to “reflect on the role of machines in our daily lives” and to show their potential for experimental creativity.

The raised zen garden bed is filled with 14 tons of crushed black basalt, with another four tons of silver-gray granite lining the floor around the gravel canvas.

Using computer analysis of past video footage of Olympians across a wide range of sports, the mechanical “gardeners” will “create a new visual language to communicate and celebrate the motion of the professional athletes and their feats of physical prowess.” And just as many sports involve teammates working together for a flawless performance, the four robotic arms will have to cooperate to construct such large-scale tapestries of sand.

During the course of the five-week exhibition that overlaps the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the machines will produce about 150 unique illustrations. Some of the art will be representative patterns (“the story of an event unfolding over time”), while others will be more concrete in their depictions (“a single spectacular movement or sporting moment”).

“’The Constant Gardeners’ and the mesmerizing raking of its ‘gardeners’ will offer visitors a peaceful space for quiet introspection in the heart of Tokyo’s cultural district,” says the studio. “The artwork draws inspiration from the aesthetic and craft of the traditional Zen Garden and from the sportsmen and women who carefully hone and perfect their movements to train and excel in their fields.”

Commissioned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Arts Council, the outdoor exhibition is on display from July 28th to September 5th in the city’s Ueno Park.

Artist Jason Bruges got his start in architecture, studying at Oxford Brookes University and the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL). After working in that field for several years, he started his own multi-disciplinary firm in 2002, blending architecture with technology and interactive design to provide dynamic spatial experiences for people around the globe, although this latest installation is the first art from the studio to be displayed in Japan. Their team of engineers, architects, industrial and computational designers is constantly exploring the “interrelationships between people, data, technology, and nature.”

The post The Constant Gardeners: Artist Creates Robotic Zen Garden for Tokyo Olympics first appeared on Dornob.

Slated for completion in 2024 on the Côte d’Opale in France, Tropicalia features an innovative 115-foot-tall dome tucked into the rolling coastal hills. The glass roof is shrouded on all sides by a ring of exterior greenery, its edges embedded into the ground to create a seamless effect. It’s made of pressurized thermal EFTE air cushions set into an aluminum frame – a design that achieves optimal thermal isolation so the interior can be maintained at a steady 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit at all times. The structure will also be able to recycle some of that thermal energy with technology called Therraotherm, siphoning surplus heat into nearby buildings.

Coldefy’s vision addresses the sense of doom that discussions of climate change can bring up for many people. As cities continue to grow and our environment is impacted by the climate crisis, the balance between nature and our built environments can feel precarious and fraught with tension. The Tropicalia exhibition questions the impact of manmade structures in our daily lives and provides an alternative to the unsustainable systems currently failing us. Instead of feeling depressed by all the bad news, we could be working toward new ways of living in harmony with nature.

Tropicalia aims to present an environmental and educational message showing how science can answer the question How will we live together?, itself the title of Biennale 2021.

“A true ‘bubble of harmony,’ it reconnects visitors with the plant and animal world in a region where the climate is often harsh,” says Coldefy. “Tropicalia is a place of discovery, wonder, and awareness, an invitation to dream, travel, and learn. Beyond the exotic interior design, the feeling of immersion is reinforced by the architecture of the greenhouse. The absence of load-bearing posts and the presence of a vegetated peripheral wall accentuate the feeling of a cocoon. The architecture is assimilated to the landscape: the building is partially embedded in the ground, thus reducing its height and impact. From a distance, the greenhouse seems to rise like a slight hill. The height of the dome allows the complete growth of the greenhouse trees, as well as the creation of suspension bridges that will delight the youngest.”

“The visitor will discover the engineering and architectural prowess and uniqueness of Tropicalia greenhouse, which has already received the 2018 Architizer A+Awards Jury and Public Choice Awards Winner,” says Zuecca Projects. “As well, several sustainable and innovative systems and materials developed in the architecture projects by Coldefy will illustrate and enrich the comprehension of Tropicalia’s spirit and Coldefy’s philosophy. During the exhibition period, the space will also host conferences with relevant figures of the architecture world to investigate and discuss about the themes and challenges arisen by Tropicalia.”

The post The World’s Largest Greenhouse Unveiled at This Year’s Venice Biennale first appeared on Dornob.

The new display, located at the National Museum near Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, is titled “Unity is Strength,” and includes nearly 180 works of art ranging from sculptures to paintings. These works honor the pain and anguish of battling the pandemic within China using images of heroic doctors and other healthcare workers. Many works also recognize the volunteers working alongside the professionals to bring medical aid and assistance to their communities.

The exhibit is divided into three sections. The first encompasses the work of established visual artists. These selections were made by the China Artists Association from over 75,000 submissions. The second section contains works of calligraphy, and the third spotlights contributions from amateur artists from around the country.

While the exhibition aims to document the initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan and its aftermath, the display is notably missing representation of any criticisms to the Chinese pandemic response. The decision to focus only on the positive aspects seems to be in alignment with a governmental view of the role of art, which continues to be heavily regulated in China today.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in 2014 that “modern art and literature need to take patriotism as [their] muse, guiding the people to establish and adhere to correct views of history, the nation, the country, and culture.” By the “correct view,” we can assume he’s referring to the view the government wants to portray to its citizens and the world at large, although Xi describes it as being more about the importance of spreading “positive energy” through art.

Six years after that speech, the Chinese Artists Association’s vice chairman Xu Li used the exact same words at the “Unity is Strength” installation’s opening ceremony. Xu also stated that the works of art featured in the exhibit are intended to “unite the people and open up new and powerful spiritual forces,” according to published remarks by the association.

As of the time of this writing, China has reported just under 85,000 COVID-19 cases and around 4,600 deaths. While this number is exponentially lower than those being reported by many other countries around the world, the accuracy of the country’s case reporting has been deeply questioned from the beginning of the pandemic. Today, new case numbers in mainland China are in the 10’s, not the tens of thousands, thousands, or even hundreds. That’s especially impressive considering the country’s population of 1.4 billion.

The “Unity is Strength” exhibition is scheduled to run until the end of September, though the museum is currently only open to visitors with Chinese ID. In a display of how the country is still dealing with the pandemic, perhaps more effectively than most, capacity is limited to 3,000 per day, with all visitors being required to wear a mask, pass a temperature check, and show a “green” pass on an official tracking app that verifies no need for quarantine.

While the packaging of the display may be skewed towards a positive governmental response, perhaps it’s not such a bad thing to focus solely on the good for a change. After all, we all know it doesn’t erase reality, but it does provide a refreshing break from all the negativity in the world.

The post New Art Exhibition in Beijing Glorifies Chinese Pandemic Response first appeared on Dornob.

Hoping to shine a spotlight on Reich’s under-recognized skills as a designer, the Mies van der Rohe Foundation recently launched the second phase of a grant program set up in her name. The foundation previously set up a research grant along the same lines, and the resulting exhibition by Laura Martínez de Guereñu, “Re-enactment: Lilly Reich’s Work” still occupies the Barcelona Pavilion (designed by Reich herself), where it will remain on display until July 15th, 2020. Specifically, the research-based exhibit represents Lilly Reich’s influence by reconstructing two display cases similar to the ones she designed herself for the International Exposition of 1929. It also transforms the spatial experience of the pavilion by reclaiming its connection with Reich’s work on the Noucentista Palaces of Montjuïc.

The Foundation has previously stated that “the results of the first-edition research show the need to continue studying the person and work of Lilly Reich: the Lilly Reich Grant of Academic research will insist on deepening the knowledge and dissemination of this essential figure in the history of modern architecture.”

The Mies van der Rohe Foundation has a special reason to honor this particular designer, since she worked in a partnership with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe on several notable projects in the past, including the aforementioned German section of the 1929 World Exhibition in Barcelona. The two also collaborated on the acclaimed Tugendhat House in Brno, Czech Republic and, perhaps most notably, the masterpiece of modern architecture that is the Barcelona Pavilion.

Marking the 135th anniversary of Lilly Reich’s birth (June 16th, 1885, Berlin), the second edition of the Lilly Reich Grant for equality in architecture is focused on high-school aged students in an effort to encourage further research into the designer’s life and work.

“We are thrilled to present the new call of the Lilly Reich Grant for equality in architecture, and we are especially happy to include the teenage community in this fight for equality through research and knowledge,” says the foundation’s Executive Director Anna Ramos.

A total of five grants will be awarded with a cash value of €300 each, with winners also receiving bibliographical or educational material worth €200 for the educational center of their choosing. Each winning project will also be published on the official FMVDR website.

The brief regarding the project reads: “Lilly Reich Grant for Senior High School Students Research Projects focuses on the study, dissemination, and visibilization of contributions to architecture that have been unduly relegated or forgotten, or carried out by architectural professionals that have received discriminatory treatment, and that promote equal access to the practice of architecture worldwide.”

With any luck, grants like these will continue inspiring youth, encouraging an interest in the history of design as a foundation for the future, and honoring equality within all professions.

The post Mies van der Rohe Foundation Launches New Research Grant in Honor of Lilly Reich first appeared on Dornob.