Wednesday, January 27, 2010

So many Vitrines, so little Time

Everywhere we went last week in NY, there were vitrines with archival stuff in them.
Here some fanzines at the newly directed Artists' Space
Behind a wall, a giant photomural of William Burroughts Bowery Bunkerand some classic Ray Johnson


At White Columns, more vitrines with underground poetry fanzines

and very collectible posters


in one of the other rooms, "hitch hikers" curated by Bob Nickas
more great posters

at a gallery on 27th street, I took these for buildings
they could easily be
at Mary Boone, even more vitrines, this time from the total master
though the show was weirdly installed and quite frankly too packed



over at X Initiative many more vitrines with more underground artists publication
(I guess we just have to take their word that all these are interesting,
because they are behind glass and we cant see)upstairs, in arguable one of the finest ever exhibition rooms,
an ephemerally political show by the absolutely great Hans Haacke
and on another floor a really political show that wants Ru Paul for president (who doesnt?)
at Drawing Center a promising Ianis Xenakis show with kind of chic vitrines
though the most promising content was again behind glass
at Mathew Marks, more vitrines by Fischly & Weiss
and finally no vitrines but very cute chair-like objects
by the very cute Bruce High Quality Foundation

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Vue Lumiere No 765 - Danse Serpentine, 1896



Just saw this masterpiece at MOMA's Architecture and Design gallery.

JUDD


On an entirely different note, we visited the incredible Donald Judd house in SOHO, which remains closed to the public, and starting June will go through an extensive renovation. The house includes Judd pieces, furniture mixed with everyday objects, and art from his friends. The art from his friends means a fantastic Carl Andre on the ground floor, mesmerizing Dan Flavin drawings and "icons" on the dining room floor, Frank Stella, Claes Oldenburg and much more. No photography allowed whatsoever.

Monday, January 18, 2010

The Tremendous Archive of Cesar Padilla (and Radford Brown!)

Just came back from Mr Cesar Padilla's
incredible archive warehouse in Long Island City


where we witness pastoral scenesand fashion explosions
the archive includes a set of very rare gay bar t-shirts

with familiar namesand unexpected graphics (Dick Monster!)

so we hid behind semi-transparent maks (Jeremy)
(Felix)
(me)

(Angelo)and then we found books on the look of men
which was an entirely different story

we prayed to a broken St Jackie

before venturing into the endless Maze of Shoes





Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Amazing bridge that I didnt know about

Ponte sul Basento by Sergio Musmeci,
bumbed into this in a weird and seminal Paolo Portoghesi book
Nature and Architecture
some images via this flickr account

and a randomly cute person happily posing from here

Monday, January 11, 2010

The Sea and the Cake

Every year in early January, swimmers jump into the sea to find a cross
a few days ago the celebration was canceled because the sea was too rough

impromptu beach tables

were almost dragged into the waves

makeshift chairs were left staring at the sea
tents stepped into the water

beach became waves

the sea kept getting angrier

ready to wipe everything away

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Monument to an oncoming disaster - Gate to the Athens Marina

A Marina is by definition a place where we leave the city to go off into the sea, to find leisure and pleasure in nature. Recently our relationship with Nature has changed drastically, and environmentalists predict that things will only get worse. According to a popular scientific scenario, sea levels around the world will rise, resulting in a severely altered coastline that will find many beachside developments underwater.
Instead of designing a gate for the Athens Marina, we proposed a structure that refers to this potentially new sea level. Using the geometric rock modules that break waves are usually built with, we balance an artificial island up at the future horizon line. The structure at present time functions as the gate for the Athens Marina gate though in reality it is an island expecting the oncoming disaster.
Further down at the marina, the flagpole is made from precariously balancing the rock modules one on top of the other, again to form the base for a tiny island that can barely host a wind turbine. The wind turbine functions as a wind direction indicator while creating sufficient energy for a light signal. This tiny island will function as a beacon for approaching ships in the future sea.

Andreas Angelidakis Studio, Athens Marina competition entry, completion 2011.
Project team: Sotiris Vasileiou, Nana Stathi, Efrosyni Charalambous, Eirini Anthouli, Andreas Sivitos
Construction consultant Christos Kaklamanis - Palimpsest
Green Roof consultant Grigoris Kotopoulis E-Green

construction partner Diarchon