We Heart; Lifestyle & Design Magazine » Public Art

72DP; Craig & Karl’s Car Park Mural

James Davidson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:38:40 +0000

Cornea shattering, iris exploding; Craig & Karl‘s latest large-scale mural literally rips your eyeballs from their optic nerves and smashes them around with colourful fury and rage. 72DP – as they call it – is essentially the transformation of a dark, concrete underground car park into a smörgåsbord of ultra-bright geometric forms that brazenly snake their way out to street level.

The internationally renowned duo – who have worked for the likes of Apple, MTV and Nike – were commissioned to transform the space by the owners of the award-winning residence in Sydney’s Darling Point (designed by architects Marsh Cashman Koolloos), with the brief to leave larger wall spaces free for potential future commissions…

Photography: Katherine Lu

Blaze; A66 Middlesbrough

James Davidson — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:03:15 +0000

It’s grim up North; so told those Justified Ancients of Mu Mu back in the early 1990s, and in the large part that cliché is to some extent a truth. But, what those south of Watford may find somewhat hard to believe, is that there’s an awful lot of exciting cultural activity going on and, even more surprisingly so, in the stereotypically dull North East town of Middlesbrough. Joining Erick va Egeraat’s Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Claes Oldenberg’s Bottle of Notes, Anish Kapoor’s gigantic public artwork Temenos and Will Alsop’s forthcoming Middlehaven Masterplan, is an elegant new public artwork by Ian McChesney; whose brilliantly surreal Out of the Strong Came Forth Sweetness we featured last year. Occupying a roundabout of a typically uninspiring A road, with further plans for continuing the project across more of the town’s main carriageway, Blaze is a sweeping, graceful installation of gold anodised aluminium; designed to utilise the movement of light throughout the day…

Photography by Peter Cook

Black Box Revelation, by Re-Make/Re-Model

James Davidson — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:31:18 +0000

We feature an awful lot of glitz and swank, so much so that at times it can get almost a little weary; sure, these bastions of haute-design with their mega-bucks architects and multi-million pound budgets look ‘wow’, very ‘wow’ in fact, but sometimes there’s something missing… Heart, energy and passion. Glossy and polished design can often be trumped by the most primitive and crude of ideas. Whether it’s the vibrancy of the designers, the concept itself, or the rough and ready attitude with which the work is carried out, sometimes the simplest of projects can win out over the big guns of design. Which brings us neatly to Re-Make/Re-Model, a young Berlin based architecture collective, and their installation at this year’s Trailerpark Festival in Copenhagen. So, what’s the revelation inside the black box?

Designed as an intimate bolthole in which to shelter from the festival outside, Re-Make/Re-Model’s Black Box Revelation is based rather simply, yet brilliantly, around a bog-standard caravan shoved inside a 6x6m black-painted, plywood box. The exterior of one side of the caravan is cut away, in turn creating an external entrance to the madness inside. Allowing revellers to control the music, lighting and to create their own chalk artwork, the Berlin collective’s little black box and the mysterious, creative world inside soon became one of the festival’s most popular meet-up points. Original, irreverent, and full of attitude; Black Box Revelation is one of our favourite features in some time…

MÖBIUS; Federation Square, by ENESS

James Davidson — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 09:02:47 +0000

Delicate and dreamlike, this mesmerising stop motion sculpture is as captivating a clip as we’ve seen of late. Commissioned by Melbourne’s ‘love it or loathe it’ cultural destination; Federation Square, this ingenious amalgamation of sculpture and stop-motion animation really does make for one fabulously innovative and engaging example of how diverse public art can be. Its masterminds, Melbourne based practice ENESS, are no stranger to this kind of innovation. Established in 1997, the team have been pushing the boundaries of art, interaction and technology for some time; from stunning architectural 3D mapping, through to skateboard activated lighting installations, ENESS’ inspirational work is truly at the bleeding-edge of technology and art. The studio’s hypnotic MÖBIUS installation-cum-animation, created over two weekends – with each 3-4 second shot taking some 3 hours – has, however, set the bar for future projects significantly high. Topping this? We’ll have to wait and see…

Thom Thom’s Billboard Street Art

James Davidson — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:03:17 +0000

Mutilating consumerist imagery has never looked so elegant. French street artist, Thom Thom, reworks billboards, hacking and dicing his way through them, before realising his mosaic like reinterpretations. What were once repetitive corporate advertisements are now vibrant, hugely original artworks; the messages discarded for art that can be both disturbing and graceful yet always significantly more powerful than their original form…

Log Chop Bench, The Practice of Everyday Design

James Davidson — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:45:51 +0000

The Log Chop Bench project is a process-based exploration design from The Practice of Everyday Design and collaborators. The one-off bench piece was made within a series of parameters that defined the final project without relying on drawings or any fixed final outcome. The premise of the project was inspired by logger sports and the logger’s brute strength and surgical precision to carve out seats in a reclaimed log. With help from the City of Toronto the designers selected a log that roughly matched the dimensions they had in mind and transported it back to their work site. Next a Lumberjill named Heather was hired and given loose instructions to carve out three spots that would become seats

Finally, motorcycle saddle makers inserted hand-sewn seating to complete the custom piece – creating fluid evolution from an abstract idea through designer dialogue, its collaborators and the physical sculpture…

DJ Light Installation, Lima

James Davidson — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:01:24 +0000

Conduct your own lighting orchestra with London-based Cinimod Studio’s latest installation, set idyllically in Lima, Peru. The exhilarating and interactive installation gives visitors the power to orchestrate an awe-inspiring performance of light and sound across public space. The driving concept is that any person can have total control of the 85 giant globes of LED-powered light, each capable of displaying millions of colours. As ‘guest DJ’ one assumes the position on the podium and uses their arms to point or gesture, these movements are then translated at real-time into beautiful movements of light and sound across the entire space. The philosophy behind the work was to challenge the pre-conceived notions in relationship between artist, artwork, viewer and participant by empowering the individual visitor to temporarily assume the role of artist – check out the video below a full demonstration…

Out of the Strong Came Forth Sweetness

James Davidson — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:35:30 +0000

The inverted form of treacle dripping from a spoon. That’s the inspiration behind this truly unique work that is the centrepiece of AHMM Architects’ new Angel Building in London and, at some 22 metres high, the seating cum sculptural installation – courtesy of McChesney Architects – is perhaps one of the most imposing and original works we’ve seen in some time. Taking its title from Lyles’ famous black treacle tin – which is in turn taken from an Old Testament story – the staggering sculpture is fabricated from carbon fibre, enabling its magically slender appearance, and the functionality of it as public seating is achieved by an upholstered leather base, courtesy of designer Bill Amberg. A breathtaking wonder of scale, McChesney’s bold installation is a beautiful statement of brave innovation…

Photography (except treacle image): Peter Cook

Non-Sign II, Lead Pencil Studio

James Davidson — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:34:50 +0000

Approaching the US/Canadian border from either country, you’re faced with countless billboards advertising products, Duty Free and promoting the nation with images of flags and national pride. As they give way to directional signage and customs related notices, you’ll now find a surreal examination of advertising, architecture and the environment, a negative billboard that frames nothing other than nature. Sitting between Blaine, Washington and the highway to Vancouver, Non-Sign II – created by Seattle based Lead Pencil Studio and commissioned by the US Government’s ‘Excellence in Design’ program – is a beautiful, thought-provoking installation that took 9 months to construct in their Seattle studio, with small sections being trucked to the site and stitched together over a 2 week period. Challenging, innovative and more engaging than any traditional advertising could be, Lead Pencil’s invisible billboard makes for possibly the most inspiring border crossing you’ll experience…

Photography: Ian Gill

CAAC, Córdoba by Paredes Pino

James Davidson — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:34:19 +0000

The Andalucían city of Córdoba is perhaps not one of the first places you would expect to see radical modern architecture, but away from the beautiful historical centre – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – is a multipurpose public space that’s been reinvented by Madrid architects Paredes Pino. The Centro Abierto de Actividades Ciudadanas – Open centre of civic activities – that hosts public events, such as a twice-weekly market, has been transformed into a kind of architectural array of water lilies. The steel parasols, with diameters between 7 and 15 metres, have coloured tops and reflective undersides, looking like an art installation from above, whilst elegantly dispersing the natural light below. Offering the modern downtown area a unique character of its own, the structural umbrellas of Córdoba’s CAAC are intriguing, innovative and rather fun…

The Journey, Robert Foster and Frost* Design

James Davidson — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:59:58 +0000

When you think of art in corporate spaces, you usually think of city skyline photography or some rather tedious blown glass interpretation of the company’s logo. You don’t tend to think of bold, tusk-shaped, acid-induced lighting installations thrusting from the floor as though the office had suddenly mutated into some kind of Terry Gilliam fantasy. Canberra-based energy company, ActewAGL, recently celebrated their 10th anniversary by commissioning such a work however, assigning Frost* Design and local – internationally renowned – artist Robert Foster of Fink and Co. to produce a staggering piece of work that now dominates the ground floor of their new headquarters in Bunda Street, Canberra. The 37 heat-moulded, acrylic “Ossolites” are fitted with thousands of LED lights that emit a series of lighting sequences, art directed by Foster and Frost*, whilst innovative software enables interaction with visitors and pubic, who are encouraged to come and view the work during office hours. Strikingly different and impressively conceived, ‘The Journey’ is one piece of corporate art that will stay with you. For the right reasons…

The Upside Dome, Gijs Van Vaerenbergh

James Davidson — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:30:11 +0000

Allegedly “one of the most prestigious baroque churches of the Low Countries” – we don’t know much about these things to be honest – the St Michiel Church in Leuven, Belgium has something missing, a dome. In an attempt to address this issue, and of course create a startlingly beautiful piece of work in the process, Pieterjan Gijs and Arnout Van Vaerenbergh challenged the perspectives of the traditional dome – inverting the space with hundreds of metres of chain to create a full size model that elegantly hangs where the dome itself would appear. Open to visitors until the end of the month, this is a quite brilliant, unique and thought provoking exploration of space and tradition…

United Visual Artists Installations, Toronto

James Davidson — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:06:51 +0000

Having produced elegant responsive lighting installations for the likes of the V&A and Massive Attack, London based collective, United Visual Artists, have unveiled their first permanent public artworks as part of the Maple Leaf Square Development in Toronto. Canopy, a 90-metre long light sculpture that spans the façade of a building, accompanies Connection, a responsive light installation integrated into a pedestrian bridge, as a significant development in the British studio’s international profile. Innovative, exquisitely conceived and consummately skilled in their execution, United Visual Artists’ debut public artworks are a defiant signal of the collective’s intentions…

LDF10: Bench 10, by The Lollipop Shoppe

James Davidson — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 22:20:32 +0000

Inspired by the increasingly unimaginative and utilitarian approach to modern public furniture, Spitalfields interiors store, The Lollipop Shoppe, invited 11 influential furniture designers – the likes of JDS Architects, Freshwest and Decode – to create 11 distinctive, innovative and remarkably unique versions of the humble bench. Dotted around Old Spitalfields Market – until 30th September – the 11 benches form an engaging micro-exhibition as part of this year’s London Design Festival, encouraging those who view and use the benches to imagine the possibilities of public furniture as both functional and as innovative and captivating pieces of public art. We loved the slick little map available in-store, and there was something of a childlike pleasure in seeking out the pieces, if it hadn’t have been the worst weather of the week – also our excuse for the erratic photography – on the day we visited then we’d've loved to have enjoyed a little more time with each of the works… perhaps it’ll give town planners food for thought and we can all enjoy a more enlightening break from the crowds in future…

Arne Quinze’s Red Beacon, Shanghai

James Davidson — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:56:37 +0000

We’ve featured the riotously beautiful work of Belgian conceptual artist cum interiors/architecture guru, Arne Quinze before… here, and here – and we’ve been patiently waiting for more from Belgium’s finest for some time. Conceived to entice visitors into Shanghai’s Jing’an Sculpture Park, Quinze’s Red Beacon is typically unrestrained, with 55 tonnes of wooden planking, seemingly slung in fury at a canopy structure. It’s of course this wonderfully haphazard style that gives the finished installation it’s mystical, alluring quality… we just pity the fools who have to put it all together…