Soundsculpture by Daniel Franke & Cedric Kiefer using Kinect

When I first watched this video of Daniel Franke & Cedric Kiefer’s soundsculpture project, I was fascinated and watched it again several times.

Not for me to try to breakdown to you how this is done as it is quite complex. I’ll invite you to read the complete explanation from Creative Applications Network. In short,  you are looking at a moving sand sculpture from the recorded motion data of a real person.

Snow circles by Sonja Hinrichsen

There are many ways of enjoying snow, some would get strapped on their snowboard and speed down the slopes whilst other may just look at it falling down. Sonja Hinrichsen thought otherwise, radically so even.

She gathered five people and warned them they will be needed for a few hours, 3 to be precise. To do what? Snow circles. Filmed from the air and the whole thing acquires another dimension, majestic and surreal. Video and pictures below.

> View another drawing from Sonja
> Full photoset for “snow circles”

P1410313.jpg

P1410368.jpg

#CODEFC street art and raise awareness for Sri Lanka

#codefc in Sri Lanka
"Woman" by #CODEFC
#codefc has recently been to Sri Lanka and witnessed the atrocity of the civil war that hit the country. Below are his words, no edit whatsoever, raw like the atrocities that Sri Lanka suffered and is still subject to. Thank you Fab to try to raise awareness.

“it s related to a sensitive subject happened a while ago but still very fresh over there..as u probably know the gosl( gov of sri lanka) has been at war with the LTTE for the past 25 yrs and the struggle culminated in 2009 with the defeat of the tigers and the killing of 40000 innocent tamils.

In my recent visit I had the chance to go ( briefly..for safety reasons) to eelam( the north east part of lanka) and speak to a few people. the situation there is still really bad and people are being abused on a daily basis.Even for tourist like me the situation has changed lately since the gosl has kicked out All NGOs and any white ( westerner) is seen as a pro tamil therefore pro tigers . roadblock are every few hundreds meters , passport controls and questions…the project is based on the sorrow of the genocide that the government inflicted on the tamil minority and I tried to keep it impartial ( not supporting the tigers) during the war the un was told safety for their troops was not guaranteed (???) and therefore they left leaving no one to monitor the cruelties that happened there in the last months of the war .

UN a beach 1 sunrise by #CODEFCI m not the best person to explain the whys and hows of the situation but a quick history search will show that the tigers were not the real problem of lanka but the diversity os the tamil ( favoured by the british during colonization for speaking better english and being better at their duties and the sinhalese community , and their non capability of living together .From what I ve seen the problem is still there , the north- east areas are a huge military base ( I myself started getting really uncomfortable about the situation and that lead me to do less painting that what I intentionally wanted to )

I hope my paintings raise some issues about the validity of the UN and the indifference of the nations that are part of it. If u have not had the chance of watching it please spare 45 mins srilanka s killing fields broadcasted on channel 4 ( u ll find it if u goole it .. full version ) also worth checking is www.tamilnet.com with a rather complete report on the situation there .
some of the designs were actually taken from that site..so they relate to real people of that area ( some are on houses destroyed by the fighting ..with real bullet holes”

"Starved" by #CODEFC

"Man v. Child" by #CODEFC

"Prisoner" by #CODEFC

Designs of the Year

I must admit I don’t often think about how design is all around me. I could say it is embedded in my life, from when I wake up to when I go to bed. My alarm clock, the typography in my book, the label on my favourite bottle of plonk and the lamp I switch off at night.

If you think design is just function, think again. Immerse yourself in the top floor of The Design Museum with their Designs of the Year exhibition.

This array of international pieces span: Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Furniture, Graphics, Product and Transport. Feast your eyes on this ‘look book’ across the design spectrum for the museums Design Awards. A high profile judging panel decide the best entries in each of the seven categories. The category award winners and the overall winner of the Design of the Year Award shall be announced in April 2012.

Turning function on its head, the Design Museum display also includes works poking fun at design in computer functions with – Your Browser Sent A Request That This Server Could Not Understand – an illustrated depiction of the internet by Koen Taselaar.

Designs of the Year looks outside the box; not just new spangled technology or expensive materials. Noma Bar (above) produces simple shapes, that reveal hidden possibilities, whose negative and positive spaces draw the eye every time. There are designs that are simplistic, that save lives. The Earthquake Proof Table by Arthur Brutter and Ido Bruno (below) is astonding in its clean back to basics design that could help thousands.

 

The Earthquake Proof Table

 

Shopping online and on the move is nothing new but South Korea have taken mobile and digital aspects to the next level. Homeplus Tesco Virtual Store is the result – below. Choose your item from their virtual store!

Holographic shopping en route home?Augmented reality is given a breath of fresh air by Swappu, creating a ‘holo-deck’ feel, well, okay it’s not quite up to Star Trek level. The animations are great and the playfulness of it will be a hit for kids. Its a soft and easily lovable digital world that shall no doubt advance rapidly.

See the app in action here > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBmLWdjtzPw

© 2012 Dentsu London

One Thousand Cranes for Japan is a charity project that aims to inspire and bring people together to be part of a final creation. Members of the public can choose, download and print off the paper designs to fold into their own origami creation. A chance to be part of the designs final creation, it’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s not meant to be.

Image by Anomaly/Unit9  anomaly.com

The Comedy Carpet (below images) takes typography bold and big. It reminds us font is more than just Arial and Times New Roman selected on a computer screen. This gigantic installation, created by Why Not Associates, sprawls out in front of the Blackpool Tower and features over 160,000 granite letters embedded in concrete. It refers to the work of more than 1,000 comedians and comedy writers, giving a visual form to jokes, songs and catchphrases.

The Comedy Carpet in progress

Comedy Carpet, Blackpool

The Crates (below) by Naihan Li & Co is a product that is a must for the clothes obsessed, and those who need organisation of all their essential fashion items. See just how functional a plain industrial looking crate can be, reacting to our clothing hoarding and need for storage.

This work is in stark contrast to Sarah Burton‘s now infamous handmade lace that’s delicately on display. This painstakingly handcrafted work was stitched into the nations memories on Kate Middleton’s wedding dress.

The wide spectrum at the Designs of the Year should open up your eyes to the flexibility and intricacy of design and its ability to problem solve, whilst looking back to the past for inspiration.

With mass market production all to easy to snub, design is at an exciting point; using mass production processes to save lives but taking us back to simplicity, creating unique angles on our lives.

The Designs of the Year exhibition runs 8 February – 4 July at The Design Museum. For tickets and information click me!

STREET ART ENCOUNTERS