February 12, 2012

I’m a sucker for public art installations at the best of times, and Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate” sculpture in Chicago is always pretty special. The massive, reflective installation and the ever-changing weather provide a novel, magical experience every time you see it. Now I’m trying to figure out how I can wangle a trip to the city (perhaps to Doblin’s head office, which is right near by) before February 20th, in order to catch this spectacular-looking night time video design/sound installation by Sean Gallero and Petra Bachmaier of local firm, Luftwerk. According to this piece in the Chicago Sun-Times, the piece was funded by a $100,000 tourism grant from the State of Illinois, with the hopes that out-of-towners will brave the winter and pour their tourism dollars right back into city businesses.

[via Janet Ginsburg.]

January 6, 2012

Cory Doctorow posted this on Boing Boing, which means most of you will have seen it already. But really, what’s not to love about “realtime gesture recognition with contact microphones.” As Bruno Zamborlin, one of the artists involved explains: “The system can recognize both finger-touches and objects that emit a sound, such as the coin shown in the video.” Me? I just want to be able to play a tree.

[Video via Theodore Watson.]

December 13, 2011
Cute project from Google Creative Lab artist, Aaron Koblin (he of The Johnny Cash Project and The Wilderness Downtown.) This is personal work, commissioned by auto insurer, Progressive and created in conjunction with bitforms gallery and Mr.Doob. Simply go to TheSingleLaneSuperHighway and contribute a drawing of a car (spinning wheels are included.) The supporting idea: to “reflect the personal bond people have with their automobiles.” Not sure how many people jump to thinking about stinky cheese when considering their relationship with their car, but hey, whatever floats your, er, boat.

Cute project from Google Creative Lab artist, Aaron Koblin (he of The Johnny Cash Project and The Wilderness Downtown.) This is personal work, commissioned by auto insurer, Progressive and created in conjunction with bitforms gallery and Mr.Doob. Simply go to TheSingleLaneSuperHighway and contribute a drawing of a car (spinning wheels are included.) The supporting idea: to “reflect the personal bond people have with their automobiles.” Not sure how many people jump to thinking about stinky cheese when considering their relationship with their car, but hey, whatever floats your, er, boat.

May 11, 2011
Earlier this year, British digital artist Daniel Brown was commissioned by Mulberry to create Love Blossoms, an interactive artwork that visitors could send as a Valentine’s Day card. This still is taken from an offshoot of the project, Random Seed Generator. It’s hugely simple—simply click on a seed to replace it with a new variant—and yet totally satisfying and quite addictive. The attention to detail is gorgeous: the seed textures are based on textiles Brown used in last year’s Decode exhibition at the Victoria & Albert museum.
Mulberry also interviewed Brown for the project. I love his take on the future ubiquity of interactive art—and its impact on brands:

Modern high-tech production methods combined with rapid prototyping mean that we are nearing the point where every product that we purchase—whether it be a garment, a piece of furniture or a mobile phone—will be literally made to order. We can then start thinking about how we can make every item unique to the owner. In that space, it will be vital for brands to be able to accommodate their consumers’ tastes while still having a recognisable aesthetic identity.

Earlier this year, British digital artist Daniel Brown was commissioned by Mulberry to create Love Blossoms, an interactive artwork that visitors could send as a Valentine’s Day card. This still is taken from an offshoot of the project, Random Seed Generator. It’s hugely simple—simply click on a seed to replace it with a new variant—and yet totally satisfying and quite addictive. The attention to detail is gorgeous: the seed textures are based on textiles Brown used in last year’s Decode exhibition at the Victoria & Albert museum.

Mulberry also interviewed Brown for the project. I love his take on the future ubiquity of interactive art—and its impact on brands:

Modern high-tech production methods combined with rapid prototyping mean that we are nearing the point where every product that we purchase—whether it be a garment, a piece of furniture or a mobile phone—will be literally made to order. We can then start thinking about how we can make every item unique to the owner. In that space, it will be vital for brands to be able to accommodate their consumers’ tastes while still having a recognisable aesthetic identity.