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.

For us, that has mostly been a good thing, but the convenience has come with a lot of downsides — especially for other species. A new exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in Germany examines our fascination with artificial light and the negative effects associated with its permanent and excessive use. Entitled “Power! Light!,” the exhibition features over 80 works of light art by 60 internationally renowned artists, each one offering enlightenment about issues like light pollution, environmental side effects, and even the ways in which light can be used politically.

Curators Andreas Beitin and Holger Broeker and junior curators Elena Engelbrechter and Regine Epp have brought together works that address how light is used to offer social space and protection or showcase people and objects, but also to monitor, manipulate, exclude, and even destroy. Light has also enabled incredible global economic and cultural development, and led to the destruction of nature.

The museum’s official website explains: “Current issues surrounding ecology are addressed in works of light art such as Nana Petzet’s “Light Trap Hamburg” (2015/2018), which focuses on the mass decline of insect populations. With the help of an algorithm, Daniel Canogar’s “Troposphere” (2017) translates data of global environmental phenomena and natural disasters into abstract color animations. The extent to which we are all trained and manipulated by advertising is demonstrated by Monica Bonvicini’s aesthetic and yet forbidding neon sign “NOT FOR YOU” (2006), as well as by Daniel Pflumm’s light boxes, in which it is unmistakable, even without the company lettering, which firm is behind the brightly colored message.”

“Questions regarding romanticism, happiness, and utopias arise in Lori Hersberger’s “Sunset 164” (2006), in which colorful neon arches feign an eternal sunset — a state that is neither day nor night and quickly ends in the beauty of mere superficial appearance. And do you remember the last time you looked up at a clear, star-filled sky? Siegrun Appelt’s installation, created especially for the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, draws attention to the widespread light pollution by allowing light to be physically experienced in an extremely concentrated form.”

Other works include Gregor Schneider’s “High Security and Isolation Cell No.2” (2005), an interactive experience referencing permanent exposure to a light source as a form of torture, and Warren Neidich’s neon installation “Pizzagate Neon” (2016), addressing the politically motivated fake news scandal in which conspiracy theorists accused Hillary Clinton and other democrats of running a child sex trafficking ring out of the non-existent basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor. Artists displaying works also include Olafur Eliasson, Maja Bajevic, Damien Hirst, Lori Hersberger, Tatsuo Miyajima, and more.

Power! Light! will be on display through July 10th, 2022. Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg is a contemporary art museum and cultural center established in 1994 known for its extensive collections, beautiful glass-roofed space, and Japanese garden.

The post Light Art Gets Political at Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg’s New 60-Artist Exhibition in Germany first appeared on Dornob.

On March 9th, President Joe Biden signed an executive order “outlining the first ever, whole-of-government approach to addressing the risks and harnessing the potential benefits of digital assets and their underlying technology,” according to a White House press release.

The order called on policy makers to focus on seven main aspects of cryptocurrency:

1. Consumer and Business Protection

With a long list of large-scale scandals associated with cryptocurrency over the past decade, the government will evaluate potential regulatory measures. “Under the executive order, Treasury will partner with interagency colleagues to produce a report on the future of money and payment systems,” Janet Yellen’s Treasury department said in a press release that has since been taken down. The statement added that “this work will complement ongoing efforts by Treasury,” including their current work on “stablecoins,” or cryptocurrencies whose tokens are supposedly tied to the value of existing physical assets.

2. Financial Stability

The order requests that policy makers find systemic financial risks and to “develop appropriate policy recommendations to address any regulatory gaps.”

3. Illicit Activity

Earlier this year, U.S. Justice Department officials seized over $3.6 billion worth of bitcoin stolen during the 2016 hack of the crypto exchange Bitfinex. In order to tame the Wild West of money, the government will look for more ways to crack down on illegal crypto activity.

4. U.S. Competitiveness

Now that China has officially banned cryptocurrencies, “the United States must maintain technological leadership in this rapidly growing space, supporting innovation while mitigating the risks for consumers, businesses, the broader financial system, and the climate,” the White House press release said.

The Blockchain Association, an organization that represents multiple well-known crypto companies, agreed with the need to stay competitive. “By working alongside the crypto ecosystem and having an open and productive dialogue with industry, the Biden Administration has the opportunity to ensure America remains the global leader for technological innovation for years to come.”

5. Financial Inclusion

Biden’s order also declares that “safe access [to cryptocurrency] is especially important for communities that have long had insufficient access to financial services,” and asks policy makers to find ways to make it more equitable.

6. Responsible Innovation

President Biden urged government leaders to identify ways any negative climate impacts of cryptocurrency could be reduced during the mining of the digital coins by large computer networks.

7. Explore a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)

China is already working towards an official digital currency, which would allow all transactions to be handled on smartphones and laptops. The order gives the go-ahead to lawmakers to explore the viability of a digital dollar.

Biden’s executive order has had positive responses from many in the crypto sphere. The Blockchain Association says they’re “eager to collaborate” with the government efforts on oversight. They welcomed the executive order as an acknowledgement of cryptocurrency’s validity, calling it “further proof that the crypto ecosystem is now a vital and inseparable part of the national economy.”

And Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle (the digital currency company of the second-largest stablecoin globally), wrote on Twitter that the order represents a “watershed moment for crypto, digital assets, and Web 3, akin to the 1996/1997 whole of government wakeup to the commercial internet.”

The broader market seemed to feel the same, as Bitcoin jumped up nine percent in the hours after the executive order was signed.

The post 7 Takeaways from President Biden’s Executive Order on Cryptocurrency first appeared on Dornob.

Instead, the app would be a safe place for MAGA lovers and their tweets and retweets – err, “Truths” and “ReTruths.” A place where people of “all viewpoints” have the freedom to post all the unpopular opinions they want, as long as they don’t violate a long, vague list of rules.

But the long-awaited app, first expected to launch last October, immediately failed to live up to expectations when it was finally released on February 20th. Truth Social became the number one most-downloaded free app in the Apple App Store within hours of its debut, but many users reported either having trouble registering for an account or getting a message that they were on a waitlist to join. Weeks later, many are still waiting.

Those who do have access report that the site is slow and oddly empty, considering the demand. Trump himself has only posted a single message reading “Get Ready! Your favorite President will see you soon!” Conservative lawmakers like Matt Gaetz, Kevin McCarthy, and Marjorie Taylor Greene appear to be simply posting copies of the content they publish on more popular platforms like Twitter.

In fact, Truth Social appears to be a carbon copy of Twitter, which was Trump’s favorite way to disseminate messages to the public before he was banned for life following the January 6th, 2021 invasion of the U.S. Capitol. (Facebook and YouTube also banned Trump, accusing him of glorifying and inciting violence).

Parler, another far-right Twitter clone, was delisted by the Apple and Google app stores for hosting comments of a similar nature, so it remains to be seen whether Truth Social will suffer the same fate. If, that is, it ever actually functions at all. The botched roll-out of the app, helmed by former Republican U.S. Representative Devin Nunes, has reportedly enraged Trump. According to The Daily Beast, sources have heard the former president on the phone saying things like, “what the f#$% is going on?”

Those who do stick with Truth Social despite its “performance bottlenecks” will find welcome messages proclaiming that the platform does not “discriminate against political ideology” alongside lists of suggested users that include Fox News host Sean Hannity, white nationalist Nick Fuentes, “Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander and Kenosha, Wisconsin shooter Kyle Rittenhouse. If they read the fine print of the user agreement, they’ll also see that their use of the app hinges on rules limiting speech on the “free speech” platform, forcing users to agree not to “disparage, tarnish or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site.”

The origins of the app’s funding are also in question. Truth Social was founded under parent company Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), for which former Rep. Nunes is chief executive. TMTG raised $1 billion from undisclosed private investors prior to its release. In 2021, the group announced a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), through which it will receive $293 million in cash. The Securities and Exchange Commission is now investigating whether the firm violated securities laws, including whether they sufficiently disclosed when deal talks began.

As of March 7th, Truth Social had sunk to the 123rd most popular free app on Apple’s App Store.

The post The Truth About Trump’s “Truth Social” Social Network first appeared on Dornob.

“Gifts from the Heart,” as explained by the White House website, is “inspired by the small acts of kindness and experiences that lifted our spirits this year and throughout the pandemic.” Rooms throughout the White House are decorated to reflect themes like gratitude, service, friendship, family, nature, peace, unity, the arts, community, learning, and faith. In total, there are 41 Christmas trees, 6,000 feet of ribbon, more than 300 candles, and more than 10,000 ornaments used in the displays, all put up by 100 volunteers.

This year’s decor is significantly scaled back compared to the 2017 to 2020 Christmas displays. While Melania Trump preferred to fill every space with lights, fake snow, branches, and other decor, Jill Biden’s tastes appear to be more low-key, perhaps out of respect to the effects of the continuing pandemic and the fact that tours of the White House are still canceled. The Christmas trees are smaller, the decor a little more spread out. Also notably missing are the dozens of life-size “snow people” first installed in the garden by Michelle Obama in 2015 and moved inside in 2016, which President Obama memorably called “creepy,” saying “There’s a whole kind of Chucky element to them.”

In the Blue Room, the official White House Christmas tree is adorned with peace doves holding white ribbons bearing the name of each state. Celebrating “the gift of peace and unity,” the display is the centerpiece of all the holiday decor and features the tallest tree, an 18.5-foot Fraser fir from North Carolina. The room’s chandelier even had to be removed to accommodate it.

Other elements of the decor include purple and fuchsia orchids woven into the mantel in the Green room, trees made of shimmering purple ornaments looking out onto the Washington Monument, and a Gold Star Tree honoring lost members of the military in the East Colonnade. Stacks of books, along with butterflies and birds made of recycled newspapers, decorate the Library in reference to the “gift of learning,” and in the East Room, the “gift of gratitude” is symbolized by handwritten notes full of grateful reflection.

The official 2021 gingerbread house celebrates a theme of gratitude for front-line workers, and features a gingerbread hospital, fire station, schoolhouse, gas station, police station, grocery store, post office, and warehouse outside an edible replica of the White House. Five people worked on the 350-pound gingerbread village for several weeks. Jill Biden, herself a schoolteacher, placed the final element on the scene: a gingerbread schoolteacher holding an English book and a bag full of apples with the label “#1 teacher.”

The Bidens added some personal touches, as well. In the State Dining Room, the “gift of family” is expressed with a row of family stockings embroidered with the names of the Biden grandchildren, and two large trees trimmed with framed photos of the Bidens and other first families. Some of those photos include a snapshot of the Bidens’ German shepherd dogs Champ and Major, as well as a family photo taken before Beau Biden’s death from brain cancer in 2015.

Since so few people will see the decorations in person, the White House has released interactive and augmented reality features on its digital platforms and social media. That includes a virtual tour on the official White House website.

The post How Does Jill Biden’s Christmas Decor Measure Up to Melania’s? first appeared on Dornob.

But what Cruz, Carlson and others are conveniently ignoring is the fact that many of America’s highways were built during the height of segregation and repeatedly used to separate predominantly minority neighborhoods from white communities. The new highways created hard, often impassible barriers between these communities, sometimes separating neighborhoods from their churches, schools, and businesses. These lines were often drawn in a direct response to requests by white community members, who didn’t want the highways disrupting their own neighborhoods. Many homes in the path of a proposed highway, typically owned by Black and brown people, were seized by eminent domain.

Bloomberg offers one striking example in the form of St. Paul, Minnesota’s Rondo neighborhood, writing: “In the first half of the 20th century it was home to most of St. Paul’s African American residents. The neighborhood’s center was Rondo Avenue, a thriving corridor for Black-owned business and wealth. Grocery stores, barber shops, drug stores, tailors, carpenters, and car shops lined Rondo Avenue, providing spaces to do business, meet, shop, and socialize during segregation and the Jim Crow era.”

By the 60s, that business core was gone, replaced by the new Interstate 94. Homes that used to be a short walk from the shops were now up against the busy six-lane highway, and the neighborhood was split in two. A nonprofit called Reconnect Rondo aims to fix that with a land bridge that reconnects both sides while creating up to 22 acres of commercial, residential, and park space. This example illustrates how the funds from the new public works program, called “Reconnecting Communities,” can help reconnect other neighborhoods cut off by historic investments.

Other places where highways were built right through historically Black and brown communities include Miami, New Orleans, Houston, Chattanooga, Cincinnati, and Detroit, among many more. When communities were walled off by highways, they had fewer access to resources, jobs, and desirable community amenities like green spaces that were still enjoyed by the white neighborhoods on the other side of the highways. The impact was devastating, especially to once-vibrant neighborhoods that previously enjoyed economic and cultural prosperity.

Many of these highways built in the 1950s and 60s are nearing the end of their lifespans. The Biden Administration has proposed tearing down viaducts and replacing them with boulevards, burying highways beneath new tracts of affordable housing, or elevating new highways above neighborhoods for minimal disruption.

No action taken today can redress the historic harm that was done to these communities (though direct financial compensation would be a start). And, inevitably, figuring out exactly how to rebuild these highways without negatively impacting new communities will be tricky. But dismantling highways built with racist intent can be one small, crucial part of the process of dismantling systemic racism in this country.

The post Will Biden’s Infrastructure Help Remedy America’s Racist Highways? first appeared on Dornob.

Sponsored by the National Women’s History Museum and Chief, a female networking organization, the 6′ X 6′ display was commissioned to symbolize the proverbial glass ceiling finally being shattered with Harris’ election.

“This will just be a wonderful visual emblem of this moment in time and hopefully people will reflect a little bit on all the barriers that have been broken by her election,” said Holly Hotchner, president and CEO of the National Women’s History Museum, adding that “Representation matters, especially at the ballot box. And the inauguration of Kamala Harris as the first woman, and first woman of color, to serve as Vice President of the United States is a landmark moment in American history.”

Harris, a daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, has been the “first” many times in her career as a lawyer and politician. She was the first woman and person of color to be the San Francisco District Attorney, and the first woman and Black person to become California’s Attorney General. She followed that position as the first Black U.S. senator from her home state. With her inauguration as Vice President, she has broken three more barriers: first woman, first Black person, and first Asian American to hold that office. Harris is also the first Vice President to attend a historically Black college, Howard University.

Entitled “Glass Ceiling Breaker,” the installation was created by Swiss artist Simon Berger, known for his amazing fractured designs, in partnership with creative agency BBH New York and production company M ss ng P eces.

Berger first experimented with his distinctive technique in 2016, explaining that “I hit the glass directly with the hammer, so that cracks and impacts occur. Hard hits create abstraction and I ‘paint’ with targeted fine hits.”

“I like creating beautiful things through destruction,” he told Artnet News. “I am pleased and proud to be able to make a contribution in this matter.”

Berger used a photo of Harris taken by New York photographer Celeste Sloman as a model while he tapped tiny fissures into a piece of 350-pound safety glass to create her larger-than-life face.

The exhibition also featured a QR code linking visitors to an Instagram Spark AR that featured an augmented reality experience of Harris’ “glass-breaking moments.” A video with overlapping images of Bergen at work and the achievements of women’s rights pioneers also accompanied the likeness.

“Today’s progress is built on the legacy of the women who came before — the trailblazers, like Kamala, who raised their voices, marched for their rights, and ran for elected office; the women who cracked glass ceilings so that other women could shatter them,” Hotchner says. “It is a true honor to join BBH and Chief as partners in this remarkable installation honoring this critical turning point in the fight for representation, Vice President Harris, and the numerous women throughout history who demanded a seat at the table.”

“This artwork not only celebrates Vice President Kamala Harris, a woman who embodies this mission, but it recognizes the women who came before her and those who’ll come after,” says Lindsay Kaplan, co-founder of Chief. “Today, only 23 percent of executive roles are held by women. We hope this exhibit will show women of all backgrounds that they can change that percentage, assert their voices, and open doors as they shatter barriers.”

In her own acceptance speech of the Vice Presidency, Harris made similar remarks when she thanked “the generations of women…who throughout our nation’s history have paved the way for this moment tonight…I stand on their shoulders.”

The art was on display from February 4th to the 6th against the backdrop of the Washington Memorial and has since been moved to the New York headquarters of Chief.

The post Kamala Harris Portrait in DC Honors Shattered Glass Ceiling first appeared on Dornob.

As usual when the White House changes hands, the Biden Administration immediately got to work refreshing the Oval Office decor, looking through the White House archives and borrowing artwork and artifacts from museums and galleries around the country. This time around, a few clear themes emerged: a return to tradition, a little more diversity, and a nod to the new administration’s reverence for science.

A Painting of Benjamin Franklin

Bye-bye Andrew Jackson, the slave-owning U.S. President responsible for travesties like the Trail of Tears. His portrait, chosen by Trump, has been replaced by a painting of world-renowned scientist and founding father Benjamin Franklin. Other newly displayed paintings include portraits of the famous rivals Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson and a flag-themed 1917 painting by Childe Hassam last seen during Obama’s tenure.

The Resolute Desk

Biden could have chosen from six Presidential desks, and speculators thought he’d go for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway desk formerly used by George H.W. Bush due to his love of trains. But surprisingly, the Resolute Desk (also used by Barack Obama) is one Trump choice that remains. What he did get rid of, however, is the red button on a fancy little hardwood box that Trump used to summon a butler with a platter of Diet Cokes.

Clinton-Era Drapes

Many of Trump’s choices reflected his desire to “bring back the luster and the glory” of the office, including the bright and shiny gold drapes behind the desk. President Biden stayed in the same color zone but selected darker, more toned-down yellow drapes first installed by the Clinton administration. Biden also replaced the beige starburst rug designed by former First Lady Laura Bush with a royal blue rug from the Clinton years.

Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks

Civil rights icons have found places on the sideboard and beneath Franklin’s portrait, including busts of Latin American labor leader and folk hero Cesar Chavez (borrowed from the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in California, and replacing one of Trump’s father), a bust of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., and a bust of Rosa Parks.

The British tabloids are in a frenzy over the administration’s choice to remove a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, replaced with one depicting former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Other new additions include a statue of an Apache rider on a horse, formerly owned by late Hawaii senator Daniel Inouye, and a bust of Robert F. Kennedy.

3.9-Billion-Year-Old Moon Rock

Displayed on a bookshelf beside the Resolute Desk is a moon rock in a protective case, which came from the United States’ last mission to the moon in 1972. Loaned to the White House by NASA “in symbolic recognition of earlier generations’ ambitions and accomplishments, and support for America’s current Moon to Mars exploration approach,” according to NASA’s website, the gray, diamond-shaped rock was procured by special request. President Biden reportedly wanted the rock “as a reminder of the ambition and accomplishments of previous Oval Office occupants.”

All images courtesy of AP

The post Out with the Old, In with the New: President Biden’s Oval Office Makeover first appeared on Dornob.

Going viral as soon as they were spotted, the internet has experienced a tidal wave of memes and tweets about these cozy pieces of winter handwear, as well as Sanders’ adorably “over it” arm-crossed pose. One twitter post listed his schedule for the day with “Joe’s thing” squeezed in between trips to the dry cleaner and post office, while another has him crossly perched on the Game of Thrones chair. Yes, Bernie and his mittens have been spotted doing everything from sharing a beam with the workers in the iconic photograph “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper” to sitting next to Forrest Gump to dancing “Gangnum Style.” The grumpy looking Bernie has even been reincarnated as a leg tattoo by a Colorado ink master.

So what’s the backstory behind those notorious brown and white hand-warmers, and why have they captured the nation’s fancy? Perhaps it’s because they were so out of place at such a formal occasion, yet so authentic. It’s like Actor Bradley Whitford tweeted, “One of the reasons people love @SenSanders is they know he would have worn exactly the same thing if he had won the presidency.”

When asked about his couture choice by CBS News, Sanders simply replied, “In Vermont, we know something about the cold. And we’re not so concerned about good fashion. We just want to keep warm.”

Actually the inauguration was not the first time the senator has worn those mittens. They were sported on his 2019 presidential campaign trail after having been gifted to him by supporter and fellow Vermont-resident Jen Ellis.

“When he lost the bid for the Democratic nominations in 2016, I was really heartbroken for him because I felt like he probably wouldn’t run again,” the second-grade teacher told the Washington Post. “I thought, ‘I’d like to make him a pair of mittens.’ And I did. I totally remember the night I did it. I was thinking to myself, ‘Is this crazy? I don’t even know this guy.’ But I wanted to make them for him, so I did.”

She sent them off in the mail and didn’t think anymore about it. That is, until they became a national sensation at the end of 2019, when Sanders was photographed lending his mittens to a cold-fingered Pittsburgh woman. The pic exploded on social media, and Ellis was flooded with requests for copies of the Bernie fashion statement. Since the hand-warmers take her roughly an hour per pair to make out of old sweaters and recycled plastic fleece, it has never been more than a small side hustle for her.

Now that the mittens have gained even greater fame, Ellis has again been inundated by queries from hopeful buyers. “I can’t even find the end of my email. By the time I’ve gotten the count, another hundred people have emailed me.”

She has tweeted that she does not intend to make or sell anymore of the Bernie hand-warmers at this time, but she is touched that her creation was worn at such a celebrated event. “I’m really honored he wore them today. The fact that he’s still wearing them is delightful and flattering,” Ellis said. “There were people at the inauguration wearing clothing from world-famous designers. Then there was Bernie, wearing my mittens.”

Perhaps the most productive aspect of the nationwide Bernie mittens fetish is its translation by the official Bernie Sanders Campaign Store into charitable merchandise. Fans can buy a meme-printed 100-percent organic cotton fleece sweatshirt on the website, with all proceeds being donated to Meals on Wheels Vermont. It retails for $45 but is, predictably, sold out.

The post Everything You Need to Know About the Bernie Sanders Mitten Phenomenon first appeared on Dornob.

It’s a dystopian vision in response to a dystopian event, replacing the temporary fences that went up in real life with permanent brick. The concept, called “Capitol Castle,” turns the Capitol complex into a literal fortress capable of withstanding much more than a violent crowd of domestic insurgents, but it comes across menacing and authoritarian in the process.

The wall would be made with recycled bricks from construction waste, featuring rounded corner towers and triangular bastions. In the renderings, it’s fortified by armed guards, not dissimilar to the current situation outside the Capitol as the nation remains on guard. But these walls are opaque, imposing, and impenetrable, hiding the building from view, and giving us an idea of what government buildings would look like if they were designed to frighten and intimidate.

The symbolism is pointed and potent, presenting the neoclassical Capitol as a visual representation of democracy at home and abroad. Both democracy and the physical Capitol itself are currently in peril in the face of rising nationalism, fake news, and stark division between political parties.

“As a reaction to the storm on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump, we designed a plan to convert the Capitol into a fortress to protect democracy,” says Benedikt Hartle, Opposite Office founder. “During his reign, Trump undermined the democratic system from within. To give expression to this drama, we remodeled the Capitol and built a fortress around it.”

The firm isn’t advocating that we actually build this wall. Describing its proposal as tongue-in-cheek, Hartle says he knows you can’t protect democracy with walls or architecture. Instead, he’s hoping to “shake you awake,” promoting discussion about what makes a democracy, and what we must all do to nurture it and help it thrive, including the guarantee of social justice, fair living conditions, and fair wages.

As Hartle told Dezeen, “The architectural concept is simple: adding a second layer to the Capitol as a protective shield. The political and social concept behind it is a bit more profound, even if it doesn’t look like it at first glance — the dystopia of Capitol Castle is intended to contribute to the debate about democracy, the ability to protect democracies and, above all, the division of our society.”

“We take democracy for granted. But it is not and it was fought for over centuries. Democracy is not a gift. Democracy must be fought for, filled with life, and renewed.”

Opposite Office is known for its provocative proposals for architecture and design, all of which address major contemporary challenges facing cities around the world. Other designs have included “Affordable Palace,” which opens Buckingham Palace’s 775 rooms and 79 baths to public housing, and “Superhospital,” which transforms the new Berlin airport into a hospital for coronavirus patients.

The post Opposite Office Proposes Protecting the US Capitol with a Decorative Brick Wall first appeared on Dornob.

The order states that “Applicable Federal public buildings should uplift and beautify public spaces, inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States, and command respect from the general public. They should also be visually identifiable as civic buildings and, as appropriate, respect regional architectural heritage.”

Although he didn’t go so far as to eliminate modernist design from the options, it has been reported that early drafts did ban it outright. In the order released on December 21st, 2020, the outgoing president’s proposal defines classical architecture as “the architectural tradition derived from the forms, principles, and vocabulary of the architecture of Greek and Roman antiquity” and refers to “such styles as Neoclassical, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Beaux-Arts, and Art Deco.”

To ensure the transition fueled by the executive order, a new Council for Improving Federal Architecture is being established. This council will in turn update the guidelines for the General Services Administration (GSA), who is in charge of overseeing the construction and renovation of all federal buildings. In addition to working with the new council, the GSA will also be required to request input from the public and the people who will work in the buildings. Affected structures include all federal courthouses, agency headquarters, DC public buildings, and all other public buildings costing more than $50 million.

The new order has since sent a ripple across the federal, civil, and architectural communities, with each expressing different views on the topic.

In an official statement, the American Institute of Architects said: “architecture should be designed for the specific communities that it serves, reflecting our rich nation’s diverse places, thoughts, cultures, and climates.” The response further claims that “architects are committed to honoring our past as well as reflecting our future progress, protecting the freedom of thought and expression that are essential to democracy.” All of that is a manner of explanation to their initial response, where they stated they “unequivocally opposed” the order. They later expressed some relief in saying, “though we are appalled with the administration’s decision to move forward with the design mandate, we are happy the order isn’t as far-reaching as previously thought.”

Pres. Trump has signed an executive order promoting “beautiful federal civic architecture,” which appears to mostly mean classicist.

“The Federal Government has largely stopped building beautiful buildings,” the text claims. pic.twitter.com/4ig64BbHDU

— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) December 21, 2020

A White House official claimed that polls show Americans actually prefer traditional architecture, as it makes public buildings more easily identifiable. The order also claims that the transition away from classical design during the 50s and 60s has been widely unpopular. stating that “The Federal architecture that ensued, overseen by the General Services Administration (GSA), was often unpopular with Americans. The new buildings ranged from the undistinguished to designs even GSA now admits many in the public found unappealing.”

However, regional differences reflect different histories and general appeal. In the end, “beautiful” architecture is subjective, and many decision makers refute the decision to essentially eliminate contemporary options.

While it appears the new federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida will accept traditional architectural elements imposed by the GSA, in Nevada, congresswoman Dina Titus has introduced legislation that would ban the GSA from eliminating modernist design elements from future construction, explaining that “imposing a preferred architectural style for federal facilities runs counter to our nation’s democratic traditions.”

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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.

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The year was 1935, and times were unstable. Hitler was rising in power, and tragically, we know what that led to for many Jews and other minorities, including a 32-year-old rare book curator who was fired from his job in Germany based purely on his heritage. With nothing more than two steamer trunks in his possession, Otto Bettmann fled to the United States.

The cargo he deemed important enough to haul across the ocean was not personal belongings, but rather photographs and negatives he felt compelled to preserve for future generations. That ocean crossing marked the beginning of a long journey for these images, an assemblage that, by the end of the century, grew into one of the largest collections of iconic photography in the world.

Bettmann did much more than preserve the images he had taken on his trek across the Atlantic. He also turned photo collecting into a business, first advertising for photos and then later licensing images to major publications such as LIFE and Time. The collection first took shape with Bettmann and staff photographers capturing iconic images of economic downturns, political events, concerts, and wars.

Fast forward to 1995 when Bill Gates bought the Bettmann collection, to which Bettmann remarked three years before passing, “he now owns the history of everything.”

Over the next six years, the fluctuations in New York temperature were beginning to take their toll on the pictures. In order to preserve them, Gates had the vast collection moved into a 220-foot deep limestone mine located one-and-a-half hours outside Pittsburgh. At the same time, Gates also put up a digital paywall to further protect the work.

To complete the journey, the collection was sold to Visual China, who promptly gave photo licensing rights to Getty, a widely recognized video, image, and music archive. Of course, this transfer of ownership had no physical effect on the 11 million images nestled beneath the surface of the Earth, where they remain temperature controlled and protected by armed guards.

Originally a mine that supplied Pittsburgh’s steel mills, the limestone structure where the collection is held is part of a labyrinth of corridors referred to as Iron Mountain. The cool environment creates ideal storage for the sensitive photographs, many of which date back to the origin of photography itself. Some of the most delicate examples are even stored in a special refrigerated section of the mine.

“There is a 5,000-square-foot space consisting of what we call ‘classic library finding aids,’ such as card catalogs and microfilm readers, as well as modern archival technology, including scanning equipment and state-of-the-art software,” says archivist Stauffer. “We also have a 5,000-square-foot cold-storage archive containing all of the multimedia content.”

In addition to natural preservation, the mine also offers natural protection from human damage. In fact, the secure location even houses confidential government and private records. Two archivists, Leslie Stauffer and Sarah Kubiak, actively maintain the collection, donning winter wear to stay warm in the frigid environment.

“Since we maintain the temperature inside the cold-storage archive at a constant 37 degrees [Fahrenheit], we often wear hats, coats, and gloves year-round,” says Kubiak. “While the cold temperature can be physically challenging for us as archivists, it is of the utmost importance to preserve the visual history of the late 19th and 20th centuries.”

Although not every image in the Bettmann collection has been uploaded to the digital world, many are instantly recognizable. Countless others continue to be cared for but may not ever see the actual light of day, despite being lovingly cataloged for prosperity.

The post The Bettmann Collection: The Story of How 11 Million Photos Were Put 220 Feet Underground first appeared on Dornob.

Some of it was the standard Christmas decor you’d expect based on decades of White House traditions, but other elements were more than a little controversial, like a hallway of silvery branches casting creepy shadows onto the ceiling. The internet drew pop culture comparisons ranging from The Chronicles of Narnia to Silent Hill, with one observer even saying “Why do the White House Christmas decorations look like Voldemort is about to come back?”

2018 wasn’t much better, with blood-red Christmas trees lining that very same hallway striking many as something out of The Handmaid’s Tale.

This year, the White House is looking a little less macabre. The infamous corridor known as the East Colonnade has gone in an entirely different direction with transparent towers displaying a timeline of greatness in American architecture and design.

Designed by Melania herself, the decorations throughout the White House are a little lusher and greener than usual, aiming to celebrate patriotism above all else. Other corridors are filled with tall flocked trees, golden accents, fake snow, and red and blue ornaments referencing Melania’s “Be Best” initiative.

One tree is dedicated to Gold Star military families and etchings of 60 innovative structures around the country, like New York City’s Woolworth Building and Seattle’s Space Needle. The official White House tree, which stands alone in the Blue Room, is an 18-foot Douglas fir harvested from Mahantongo Valley Farms in Pitman, Pennsylvania and adorned in 50 paper replicas of state flowers.

Other features include gingerbread models of the White House and Mount Rushmore, dangling silver stars, and giant golden eagle tree toppers. 800 feet of garlands, 15,000 bows, and 2,500 strands of lights went into the decor, which has been in the works since July.

The official White House website reads: “The First Family is celebrating their third Christmas in the White House. This year’s theme, ‘The Spirit of America,’ is a tribute to the traditions, customs, and history that make our Nation great. Designed by First Lady Melania Trump, the White House decorations celebrate the courageous individuals who have shaped our country and kept the American spirit alive.”

“This Christmas season, I want to honor those who have shaped our country and made it the place we call home,” says Mrs. Trump. “When I travel the country, I am inspired by the hard working people and families that I meet. No matter which state they call home, many Americans share a strong set of values and deep appreciation for the traditions and history of our great nation. Thank you to all of the staff and volunteers who worked to make sure the People’s House was ready for Christmas.”

Where’s the weirdness? What happened to the vague sense of unease, and the easy targets for ridicule? Alas, there are next to none in 2019. We’ll see what we end up with next year, though!

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In their documentary In Event of Moon Disaster, the MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality attempts to inform the public about deepfakes, also known as computer-based misinformation. The artsy film is set in a living room circa the late 1960s and tells the highly familiar story of the first moon landing…only this version pretends the Apollo 11 astronauts were unable to return home to Earth.

The Purpose

Since the 2016 election, the subject of deepfakes has garnered more attention with each passing day. While many still don’t believe they exist and that everything they see and hear on the internet is real and true, more and more people are becoming skeptical of what is presented online. Newer technologies are adamant about finding and exposing the frauds, with politicians frantically trying to keep them in check. MIT’s film is simply aimed at showing how deepfakes are done in the first place — and how to tell what’s real and what’s not.

The Presentation

Audiences for the film are seated on vintage furniture bordered by three screens, including a classic 60s-era television set. The screens play an abridged collection of classic footage from NASA, taking the audience on a voyage from the launch into space and then to the moon landing.

Suddenly, the middle television switches to Richard Nixon in the Oval Office reading an emergency speech written for him by his speech writer, Bill Safire, “in event of moon disaster” if for some reason the Apollo 11 astronauts are unable to return to Earth. The clips obviously do not replicate real events, but were created by combining video of a genuine Nixon speech, original recordings by a Nixon voice actor, and new artificial intelligence tech.

The Techniques

To reconstruct this stirring composition that never happened, the MIT group used deep learning techniques and the contributions of a voice actor to fabricate the voice of Richard Nixon, producing a mock speech in collaboration with the Ukrainian-based company Respeecher. They also contracted with Israeli company Canny AI to employ video dialogue substitution techniques to study and duplicate the movement of Nixon’s mouth and lips, thereby perfecting the images of him reading the fake speech from the Oval Office. The ensuing video is exceedingly credible, stressing the potential of real deepfake technology in today’s world.

Why This Event

The research team decided to produce a deepfake of this particular historical event for a number of reasons. First, space is a widely cherished topic, which makes it more likely to appeal to to a broad audience. The piece is also apolitical and less likely to estrange people, unlike other government-related conspiracies. They also felt that since the 1969 moon landing is an event widely received by the general public as actually having happened, the deepfake elements would be obvious.

The Proposed Takeaway

In Event of Moon Disaster patently provides information about what is achievable with today’s technology, with the objective of raising public awareness and the ability to recognize half-truths in the form of deepfakes. This information is included in newspapers written particularly for the MIT installation, which describe in-depth how the piece was made, how to identify a deepfake, and the most up-to-date efforts in the works to spot algorithmic deception.

“In Event of Moon Disaster” premiered on November 22nd at the International Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) as part of the IDFA DocLab program. If you didn’t get a chance to attend, don’t worry: MIT is also developing a web-based version of the installation that’s projected to go live in spring 2020.

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The installation appeared along the steel border fence on the outskirts of El Paso, Texas and Cuidad Juárez, Mexico during the last weekend in July. Three neon pink see-saws were hooked onto the border wall itself, turning it into “a literal fulcrum” between the countries.

The project, which the artists call “Teeter-Totter Wall,” has been in progress since 2009, when the earliest concept drawings were created. The fact that it happens to be complete just as political tensions around the border have reached what might be an all-time high is purely coincidence, according to the duo.

Photos and videos show children on both sides laughing as the see-saws go up and down (always supervised by adults, of course). The designers say no pre-planning took place on the Mexican side of the border; the children just naturally came along to participate in the “unifying act.”

“One of the most incredible experiences of my and Virginia San Fratello’s career [is] bringing to life the conceptual drawings of the Teeter-Totter Wall from 2009 in an event filled with joy, excitement, and togetherness at the border wall,” said Rael in a recent statement. “The wall became a literal fulcrum for U.S.-Mexico relations and children and adults were connected in meaningful ways on both sides with the recognition that the actions that take place on one side have a direct consequence on the other side.”

“Amazing thanks to everyone who made this event possible like Omar Rios [CHOPEkE Collective] for collaborating with us, the guys at Taller Herrería in Cuidad Juárez for their fine craftsmanship, Ana Teresa Fernández for encouragement and support, and everyone who showed up on both sides, including the beautiful families from Colonia Anapra and Kerry Doyle, Kate Green, Ersela Kripa, Stephen Mueller, Juancarlos Reyes, Chris Gauthier, and many others (you know who you are!)”

At a time when smiles and lightheartedness are especially hard to find in conversations about the border, let alone directly along it, this project aims to remind us all that borders can and should be transcended. It’s also worth noting that — not long ago, in terms of human history — Mexico once extended far past its current border into what is now the United States, blending with the territories of many indigenous peoples who never actually ceded their land to European newcomers.

With the debut of “Teeter-Totter Wall” comes a new book by Rael and San Fratello, Borderwall as Architecture: A Manifesto for the U.S.-Mexico Boundary, which “is an artistic and intellectual hand grenade of a book, and a timely re-examination of what the 650 miles of physical barrier that divides the United States of America from the United Mexican States is and could be. It is both a protest against the wall and a projection about its future.”

Rael San Fratello was previously best known for their innovative experiments using highly portable equipment that could be carried by hand to any site and used with local soils to construct 3D-printed architecture. Be sure theck out Rael’s Instagram for more info on their work.

The post Pink See-Saws at the US-Mexico Border Wall Encourage Unity Through Play first appeared on Dornob.