Swiss Bunker

Some more bunkers by Leo Fabrizio, suggested by my good friend Marc Kremers. A concrete flower anyone? These buildings are just amazing, and more flamboyant than the bunkers in Normandy.

Positively Totsikas

While I was up at the Thessaloniki Contemporary Art Center for my lecture, I had a chance to the the Positive Charges show, with some really great pieces and an amazing, fabulously creepy video by one of the most important Greek artists ever, Thanassis Totsikas. In the video, titled "27 February 2004" he rides his friend across a small river.

Magic Mountain by Cero9

This is one of the most amazing architecture models I've seen recently. The Magic Mountain by Cero9 architects is an ecosystem mask for Ames thermal power station, a 2002 competion in Iowa USA. I dont know much about Cero9 other than that they are Efrén García and Cristina Díaz, and they are based in Barcelona and maybe Sao Paolo too. This project was included in the last architecture Biennial and was extensively published in El Croquis 118

Destroy Usefulness

"Anti-Design objects break the magic spell of pure contemplation and visibility to destroy usefulness, even if they use smooth finishes and traditional leather, forcing us passively to experience and mirror various formal approaches ; we do not, in fact, contemplate them voyeuristically or celibately but posses them like lovers!" Ennio Chiggio from "The Rock Furniture: Il Design della Gufram negli anni del Rock" published by Castello di Rivoli.

I saw this show in Spetember 2002 but took so few pictures. The long space (Manica Lunga) of the Castello di Rivoli didnt help much since I think any show there is bound to look a bit weak. Still the book-in-a-brick-wall catalogue is amazing, and I'll post more stuff from it. The Gufram Multipli collection is heaven translated into foam.

SUPERNEEN

Superneen, the show we are preparing in Milan is featured in two of my favorite blogs, the excellent Wifi-Art.com and we-make-money-not-art.com. Superneen opens Tuesday March 7th at Galleria Pack, Foro Buonaparte 60, 20121 Milano, T.+390286996395

Hysterical Architecture with a Byzantine twist as seen in Thessaloniki

80's architecture is almost everywhere the same, and I find myself strangely attracted to it. Its hysterical, it ages really badly and manages a subtle over-simplified complexity, and I dont even know what that could mean but I also love any building with mirrors.

Tombale da Soggiorno

This is the "Tomb for the Living Room" arcmcair (!) by the great Alessandro Mendini, produced by the legendary Gufram factory in 1974. It appeared on the cover of Casabella, number 395. Much more on Gufram soon.

Architecture Principe

Ok, so I'm not gonna post my entire library, but I was so surprised when I found this book. I had entered Form Zero in Downtown L.A. a couple of years back and asked if they had something on Paul Virilio and Claude Parent, thinking I might finally find a copy of "Bunker Archaelogy". Instead I found this fantastic facsimile of their manifesto magazine Architecture Principe, published in part by the bookstore itself, in collaboration with Les Editions De L'Imprimeur.

Emblematic

Angelo is in Milan, so he asked me to go and check on the production of his Emblem-flags for the Superneen show. The emblems are portraits of Angelo, Mai, Miltos, Rafael, Nikola and me, made with a traditional flag technique, and they will be installed at the courtyard of Galleria Pack. I just cant resist posting a quick pic I took of mine just 'cos its so perfect and I love it some thing crazy: A black forest, a noose and a little bird. If only I knew me so well.

Exit Utopia

This is Constant's "Model for a Gypsy Camp" (1957) a piece that floats somewhere between Architecture, Sculpure and Fabulous Fantasy. From the excellent "Exit Utopia: Architectural provocations 1956-76" Editions Prestel. I got this at PRO-QM, one of the coolest architecture bookstores (along with the now defunct Form Zero in Los Angeles). just be careful, PRO-QM can be a serious source of credit-card debt.

Evdokia

Evdokia (1971) is an awesome film by Alexis Damianos. It's a visual feast of the rapidly changing physical and social landscape of Greece in the 1970's. I just couldnt stop hitting the copy-frame button.

Andreas Dobler

These paintings by Andreas Dobler are so scary its not even funny. They remind me of the weird paintings you find in summer rent-a-rooms in tacky places like Myconos, painted by the german artist who decided to leave everything behind and move to the south to be artistic, and then he/she spends the whole winter doing these phycholandscapes. So cool actually. Its the inaugral show of the ultra hip Alex Pollazzon gallery in London, check it out.

Elmgreen & Dragset

Elmgreen & Dragset: Monument to Short Term Memory. Again I'm not sure where I saw this one, but this time it makes sense to have forgotten. I almost always love their work, because its gay, political and funny too. I cant seem to find any of the overly gay works, but I remember seeing a park bench with "no homos" on it. Or was it"homos only"?

Electronic Ruins

I love the title Electronic Ruins, so much so that I decided to call my next lecture that, just to see if I can come up with something interesting to say about it. If you have any suggestions please leave a comment. I'm giving this lecture on Friday 24th February at the Center for Contemporay Art in Thessaloniki, 8 P.M.

Random House

This is a prison tower from somewhere in Florida. Looked interesting enough to save in my Misc Image folder of Dec 05. I must have been thinking about something for sure.

So, I dont know what this is. My guess is its a house by Andrew Geller, the architect of the Double Diamond house that I posted a while back. It was in the same folder as the prison tower and they kind of look a like.

Sea of Stupid

Grayson Perry's "Map of an Englishman" is just one of the most amazing print pieces I've seen. I wish I had a great scan of it, just to spend hours and hours traveling the mountains of Despair, the villages of Anger, Hate, Spite, crossing the rivers of unloved, unwanted and of course uninspired, to end up in the sea of stupid.
Ok so I dont remember all these places, I'm sure the map is very different and I'm just projecting (!) I saw it in full scale at Perry's Victoria Miro show two years ago. He was there with all his fabulous tranny entourage.

Belatedly Bernhard

Ok so why dont all the catwalk sites publish the full Bernhard Willhelm fashion week presentation? is it because its just too fabulous? Hello. Here some pics via the always good but not so often updated Hintmag, from Willhelms' winter 2006 collection showed at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris last week.

Hippy Trippy, gimme some Tiki

Ok so maybe its the extra weird music, or maybe its the weather, or maybe its me. I'm supposed to be filling in my Agenda for the catalogue of the New Trends exhibition, instead I'm obssesing (tsk tsk spelling) with anything tropical, exotic, polynesian, deserted-beach life and lost kind of thing. I just googled tiki image and this weird rock (bottom) came up. Is it a house? Is it a sculpute? Is it a rock? why its all of the above.