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.]

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Filed under: public art installation Chicago Anish Kapoor Cloud Gate interactive art video design sound interaction experience 
November 29, 2011

So you know how I keep banging on about how designers have the potential to create a present (or future) that mere mortals can’t imagine? And then I generally grumpily add that it’s a shame the visions of the future are pretty lame? Well, today, perusing links over my breakfast, I near enough dropped my piece of toast after coming across this truly lovely installation from British public artists, Greyworld. Commissioned by the National Forestry Commission, it’s a sound piece in Grizedale, England. Rather, it’s a forest full of clockwork trees. Clockwork trees! Just the thought of them sends my mind spinning into all sorts of new places. Unexpected, magical, nostalgic and thought-provoking all at once. Amazing. 

But what’s that, you say? All very well and lovely but surely big metal keys aren’t at all the thing to insert into majestic, living trees? Yes, I worried about that. Luckily, Andrew Shoben of Greyworld reassures that those behind the project thought about this issue, too. “Trees had special tubes inserted that allow them to continue to grow,” he wrote via email. “It took several arborists and much consulting of other experts to find the best way.”

Mechanical sound doesn’t carry far, while some keys have been installed high up in the forest canopy, out of reach of regular hikers. But while this is officially a sound installation, this is actually less about the sound and more about creating a new, tilted reality for visitors. The clockwork trees are now a permanent part of the forest, and I have a new destination on my list of must-visit places.

[Original link via James Tindall.]

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Filed under: art design public art ideas amazing Greyworld sound installation clockwork tree 
October 31, 2011
One of the things I love so much about design is its magpie nature and ability of its practitioners to take inspiration from the most unexpected places. That’s why I was excited that, along with all the design world gurus, we were able to include more left-field, speakers at Design at Scale. Christopher Robbins was one of them. A public artist, Robbins became disillusioned with the official world of international development and channeled this frustration into an ongoing series of compelling projects and experiments. Misguided Machines, for example, are machines he built whose goals are totally misplaced: “All they really succeed in doing is show how little they understand about the world in which they live.” Robbins is also a member of the collective, Ghana Think Tank, a network of think tanks looking to solve local problems in the “developed world” by seeking solution from those elsewhere, a neat inversion of the usual development equation. What I particularly loved about these thought-provoking projects was their supporting philosophy. As the collective writes, some of the projects have been successful, “but others have created intensely awkward situations.” Let’s face it, learning how to process such moments effectively is a key skill for anyone looking to foster change or innovation.  [Photo c/o DMI.]

One of the things I love so much about design is its magpie nature and ability of its practitioners to take inspiration from the most unexpected places. That’s why I was excited that, along with all the design world gurus, we were able to include more left-field, speakers at Design at Scale. Christopher Robbins was one of them. A public artist, Robbins became disillusioned with the official world of international development and channeled this frustration into an ongoing series of compelling projects and experiments. Misguided Machines, for example, are machines he built whose goals are totally misplaced: “All they really succeed in doing is show how little they understand about the world in which they live.”

Robbins is also a member of the collective, Ghana Think Tank, a network of think tanks looking to solve local problems in the “developed world” by seeking solution from those elsewhere, a neat inversion of the usual development equation. What I particularly loved about these thought-provoking projects was their supporting philosophy. As the collective writes, some of the projects have been successful, “but others have created intensely awkward situations.” Let’s face it, learning how to process such moments effectively is a key skill for anyone looking to foster change or innovation. 

[Photo c/o DMI.]

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Filed under: Christopher Robbins Design at Scale international development Ghana Think Tank Misguided Machines public art innovation