Ben Okri – Words
Picado ! Picado !
Architect Fernando Menis has contrasted pale concrete with a material he calls ‘Picado’ a mix of concrete and recalimed brick. It is not only lends the building a rough, tactile beauty it also acts as an acoustic design tool in the cultural centre. You can find out more about this build and other projects by Menis here
The Art of Jewellry – LizWorks
Founded in 2014 by Liz Swig, LIZWORKS collaborates with celebrated contemporary artists to create limited-edition pieces that reflect the moment and push the boundary between jewelry and art.
With CAMEO, LIZWORKS takes on one of the oldest forms of portraiture, dating back to ancient Greece when the profiles of the Gods of Olympus were first carved in agate, and completely reimagines it through the vision of two of the most important contemporary artists working today: Cindy Sherman and Catherine Opie. You can see more wonderful collaborations here
Hugo Ball – Sound Poems
I dont want words that other people have invented. All the words are other people’s inventions, I want my own stuff, my own rhythm, and vowels and consanants too, matching the rhythm and all my own.
Ningbo History Museum – Amateur Architect Studio
The walls of the Ningbo History Museum feature a wide range of recycled bricks and tiles – some of which date back over a thousand years. The museum was constructed using a traditional technique called wapan, in which multiple elements of different sizes are packed together to create a stable structure.
“Originally in this area there were about thirty beautiful villages and they demolished every village. “Everywhere you go, you find ruins of buildings that have been demolished.”
“But everywhere there are materials, beautiful materials,” he continued. “So I wanted to build this museum for the people who were originally living here so they can keep some memories.”
Carlos Cruz-Dias – Dazzle Ship
Dazzle painting was a system for camouflaging ships that was introduced in early 1917, at a time when German submarines were threatening to cut off Britain’s trade and supplies. The idea was not to ‘hide’ the ships, but to paint them in such a way that their appearance was optically distorted, so that it was difficult for a submarine to calculate the course the ship was travelling on, and so know from what angle to attack. The dazzle was achieved by painting the ship in contrasting stripes and curves that broke up its shape. Characterised by garish colours and a sharp patchwork design of interlocking shapes, the spectacular ‘dazzle’ style was heavily indebted to Cubism.
Liverpool Biennial, Tate Liverpool and 14-18 NOW jointly commissioned Carlos Cruz-Diez to work with the idea of ‘dazzle’ camouflage in partnership with National Museums Liverpool using a historic pilot ship The Edmund Gardner that will be a new public monument for the city.
Sharon Eyal/Gai Behar -OCD Love
Their world is dark, seductive. The latest piece by the choreographer Sharon Eyal, her partner Gai Behar, and the company they founded together in 2013 in Israel, L-E-V, was inspired by a text by the poetry slammer Neil Hilborn: OCD. The abbreviation of “obsessive compulsive disorder” speaks of love under the sign of a neurosis. OCD Love plays with repetitions, errors, tics, and the experience of always missing the right moment. What proportion of obsessions can a lover cope with? How often does one endure rejections? Moments of physical and mental synchronization are created and fall apart again. The atmosphere of OCD Love is dark but not gloomy. Eyal, who ranks among the most important international choreographers and had already been a guest artist at DANCE 2015, says the work is like a dark stone in her chest that she forced out. Once again she is working according to the gaga method, which this artist, born in 1971 in Jerusalem, became acquainted with while working with Ohad Naharin and his Batsheva Dance Company. She was the in-house choreographer there for eight years; in the meantime, she choreographs for different companies, including GöteborgsOperans Danskompani. Intuitive, reflex-like movements, accompanied live by the pulsing beat from the musician Ori Lichtik, keep the hyperflexible bodies of the six dancers in a state of tension, which suddenly and eruptively explodes. Choreographer: Sharon Eyal Co-creater: Gai Behar Live music: Ori Lichtik Costume designer: Odelia Arnold, in collaboration with Rebecca Hytting, Gon Biran, Sharon Eyal, and Gai Behar Dancers: Rebecca Hytting, Gon Biran, Leo Lerus, Darren Devaney, Mariko Kakizaki, Keren Lurie Pardes Production: L-E-V
Neil Hilborn – Poet
Why do you think poetry and art in general is such an important outlet for so many people?
Lots of smart people have said smart things about this subject, so I’m going to go with Gwendolyn Brooks who said, “Poetry is life distilled.” For me, that’s always what’s been the most attractive about the art form. When I’m writing a poem I take all of my thoughts and experiences about a subject and try to relate them in as few words as possible. I think that a poem should tell you its story as succinctly as it can, and I think that’s what art does for people. It removes everything extraneous so that we can focus on the emotions and ideas that actually matter. Read the full article here
Pekka Paikkari – Monumental Clay
For me human presence is the starting point of art. Clay is a flexible material for expression and as such contains the history of time. As an artist I construct a neverending story. Despite the physical appearance of the art work, whether it is placed on the façade of a building or is an installation consisting of several pieces, the dialogue between the viewer and the work defines its final form. You can see more of his amazing work here
Laura Pehkonen – Ceramics In The City
“I am looking for contrasts, proportions, balance and presence in my work. Regardless of the material or technique, I am curious to do try-outs. Ceramic, mixed media and painting. Rather than repeating a single format, I provoke myself with several materials and techniques.” You can see more of Laura’s work here
Christo & Jeanne Claude – L’ Arc de Triomphe
In 1961, three years after they met in Paris, Christo and Jeanne-Claude began creating works of art in public spaces. One of their projects was to wrap a public building. When he arrived in Paris, Christo rented a small room near the Arc de Triomphe and had been attracted by the monument ever since. In 1962, he made a photomontage of the Arc de Triomphe wrapped, seen from the Avenue Foch and, in 1988, a collage. 60 years later, the project will finally be concretized. You can read more here
Isamu Noguchi -Words
Noguchi explores the kaleidoscopic career of a true artistic polymath. This exhibition, which is his first touring retrospective in Europe for 20 years, focuses on Noguchi as a global citizen and his risk-taking approach to sculpture as a living environment.
Noguchi explores the kaleidoscopic career of a true artistic polymath. This exhibition, which is his first touring retrospective in Europe for 20 years, focuses on Noguchi as a global citizen and his risk-taking approach to sculpture as a living environment. Find out more here
Beautiful Creative Minds 