(small) creative initiatives that challenge (big) traditional ideas
• ( egoistic ) • activistic • architectural • audible • cinematic • conceptual • graphic • strategic • surface • urban • wireless
Moving Forest is a park on wheels. The park is made of trees in shopping carts that allow the public to rearrange their own little park.
The forest is created by Dutch architect firm NL architects in response to the lack of green nature in contemporary urban environments - which in the case of the Netherlands, more or less amounts to whole country.
Moving Forest was recently installed at the Experimenta Design event in Amsterdam.
• More images of the intruiging project is available here.
Posted by Sebastian on Dec 10, 2008
'Haircuts by Children' is relational performance orchestrated by Toronto based art-collective Mammalian.
In collaboration with communities around the world, Mammalian work with groups of local kids to give them the skills and confidence to give public haircuts.
After a ten-day period of workshops in art, politics and hairstyling, they set up shop in a salon for day of haircuts - free of charge for adults.
Related: A fashion brand created by youngsters.
• www.mammalian.ca + YouTube documentation
Posted by Sebastian on Nov 17, 2008
"I left this here for you to read" is a magazine-project by the artist Tim Devin.
About once a month, the magazine is printed in just 50 copies that are left for random people to find at public places, such as park benches, on buses, in airports etc. The magazine is distributed on Boston, New York and L.A.
Issues are not reprinted and cannot be ordered. The only way to have a copy mailed to you is to help edit, write, design, or distribute it. According to Tim, he prints everything he receives.
Related: Lost sculptures
• i left this here for you to read
A bit of self promotion: A new souvenir concept that I have developed for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark just launched. Here follows a description:
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Social Souvenir is an installation and souvenir concept that creates links and social experiences between museum visitors.
The concept is based on 300 T-shirts that are exhibited and put on sale at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Roskilde, Denmark. Each T-shirt is imprinted with a text fragment inspired by 15 renowned artists represented in the museum's collection, such as Yoko Ono, Erik Satie, Marcel Duchamp and Per Højholt.
Visitors can buy a T-shirt of their own choice, the only condition being that they share a bit of personal information about themselves, or more precisely: their name and address. When paying for the T-shirt at the museum-shop, the information is automatically mapped in Google Maps, thereby making it possible to see where each T-shirt ends up after leaving the museum.
During the course of the exhibition, the 300 T-shirts will gradually disappear from the physical museum space only to re-appear on the web. Consequently, by buying a T-shirt visitors do not simply get a personal piece of the installation - they also help contribute to its collective development and distribution.
Posted by Sebastian on Sep 09, 2008
This week, more than 100 international + local artist will transform New York City into a laboratory for exploring the urban environment.
In other words, it's time for the annual Conflux Festival, a four day event devoted to contemporary psychogeography (the investigation of everyday urban life through emerging artistic, technological and social practice).
The theme will be investigated through an impressive array of lectures, guided tours, performances and projects. Following this post is a shortcut to some of the great-looking projects listed on the Conflux website.
Image: Manhattan's Urban Fabric. A collective mind-mapping and knitting project by Liz Kueneke.
Conflux:2008 #1
Sit Projects by Paola Mojica and Daniel Clapp is a series of service-oriented installations inspired by the pressing need for seats at bus and subway stops in New York.
The installations are based on disposed chairs that are recycled and placed at selected bus and subway stops.
By adding something practical and at the same time unique to the otherwise generic world of public transportation systems, the idea is not just to meet commuter's practical needs but also to create a situation for surprise and social interaction between commuters.
Conflux:2008 #2
For the Conflux Festival Lucas Murgida will construct a cabinet on wheels and leave it on the sidewalk. The artist will hide inside and not reveal himself until someone assumes possession and brings the cabinet to their home.
The cabinet will be in place west of the Center for Architecture and south of Washington Square Park on Saturday, September 13th, from noon onward. While in the cabinet he will be loading live feeds from his cell phone to Twitter.
Following the happening live could be an interesting and potentially nail-biting experience!
Nb. The cryptic title 9/10 refers to a quote-phrase saying that possession is 9/10 of the US-culture. And so, the project plays with the notion of ownership in public space.
• 9/10
Conflux:2008 #3
They raised $100 each.
Together they had $1000 in cash.
Then they gave it all away in the park.
The Generosity Foundation is a project that aims to re-inspire creative thinking and action in everyday people by removing a small barrier and providing encouragement.
10 members of the Foundation met random people in a park and gave away small grants (10-60$) for creative projects thought up on the spot.
Instant grants were given to a merchant marine, two 10 year old girls, a US soldier on leave from Iraq, an accordion player from Alaska and around 40 others.
The grants helped people make paintings, drawings and other creative projects that may not have happened had they not accidentally bumped into the Generosity Foundation in a park.
Posted by Sebastian on Sep 09, 2008
Conflux:2008 #4
A subway swing will appear on the L-train in New York at various times throughout the upcoming weekend.
The swing is transportable and disguised as a handbag with adjustable straps that hook around the handrail of the subway.
The swing was designed by Caroline Woolard back in 2006 in the hope that the innocent amusement of swinging on the subway eclipses the atmosphere of numbness and suspicion partially generated by the infamous New York City subway dictate “if you see something, say something".
Posted by Sebastian on Sep 09, 2008
Conflux:2008 #5
On Sunday, September 14th, Lee Walton will be holding a public Book Signing event at the Strand Bookstore in Greenwich Village, NYC.
He will arrive at Strand at 12 pm armed with a folding chair and a black Sharpie. He will be prepared to sign books for anybody interested in book signings. Apparently, you decide what book he should sign.
You will find him outside the shop, near the 1$ bins.
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Contact: Sebastian Campion