Hey Ho.
This is short but sweet.
Check out this awesome artwork made by artist Bill FitzGibbon. This old railroad underpass built in 1931 has become a new urban space called railroad park. FitzGibbon has creatively used light to encourage more foot traffic at night.
If you are in Birmingham, Alabama go check it out.
further readings
http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/08/26/13-things-i-found-on-the-internet-today-vol-xxxvi/
https://www.billfitzgibbons.com/
Playgrounds are great. I have been gathering photographs of some of the bizarre playgrounds for a while from all over the net, but mainly from hyperallergic.
There are so many projects that look into capturing the disappearing playgrounds.
One project that I have been drawn to is The Playground Project by Xavier Salle (Author), Vincent Romagny (Author), Sreejata Roy (Author), Gabriela Burkhalter (Editor, Introduction). You can buy the book from amazon, the link is below.
further reading:
https://hyperallergic.com/295172/the-forgotten-artistic-playgrounds-of-the-20th-century/
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/3037644540/hyperallergic-20
http://kunsthallezurich.ch/en/playground-project
http://baltic.art/whats-on/the-playground-project
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/essential-guide-soviet-playgrounds-fun-games-ussr
Okay so while I was processing all the admin that I have to do, I got distracted and stumbled upon the fantastic flower installations by Rebecca Louise Law.
They are so amazing and beautiful. They transform the space. They take nature inside and the relationship between indoors and outdoors is great.
It is a conceptually beautiful and intricate work and I am now obsessed with it.
Check out more below.
further readings:
https://mymodernmet.com/flower-installation-art-rebecca-louise-law/
Bansky is amazing.
The infamous artist has struck again with a a scribbly school girl bowling a realistic tyre along a 14 ft wall and note to Bridge Farm primary school in bristol.
What could the meaning of this work be? Some believe it is referencing Martha Cooper’s Street play series, and is using dark humor to comment on kids growing up in today’s world.
The work came with a letter saying: “Dear Bridge Farm School, thanks for your letter and naming a house after me. Please have a picture, and if you don’t like it, feel free to add stuff. I’m sure the teachers won’t mind. Remember, it’s always easier to get forgiveness than permission. Much love, Banksy.”
What a cool dude!
further readings:
http://www.juxtapoz.com/news/street-art/new-banksy-in-bristol/
Now I don’t know if this is a museum or a playground but regardless it is amazing.
The space used to be a 10-story International Show company, it is called the City Museum and is located in St Louis. It is the brainchild of artist Bob Cassilly, who opened the museum/urban playground in 1997 after many years of renovation and construction.
While, Cassilly passed away in 2011, the museum is constantly under construction and new features are being added or improved by the a group of artists called the Cassilly Crew.
So what do you find at the city museum? a sky-high jungle gym? two towering 10-story slides and numerous multi floor slides? A rooftop ferris wheel? a circus arts facility? it is all there. Everything in the museum is sourced locally. That is super cool and sustainable!
It is like the hip arty version of Disneyland. it is worth visiting if you are in St Louis!!!!
further readings:
I have been a fan for advanced style for quite some time now and I think you all should check it out.
Ari Seth Cohen’s photographs of these stylish seniors is great. I love them for so many reasons. One, they challenge the traditional cultural norms surrounding ageing and beauty. Two, they remind me of my grandmother.
Go check out his blog here:
http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com.au/
further readings:
http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/ari-seth-cohen-advanced-style-older-and-wiser
The Outings Project by artist and filmmaker Julien de Casabianca is about freeing anonymous museum figures from their museum confines. He reproduces the work on the public street. People may not know the painting, or the artist but by placing these figures outside the museum somehow more people can view the works.
Originally, Casabianca let one Ingres’ unknown figures free from the Lourve. Since then, people in at least 18 cities have posted similar anonymous characters from master artworks. Casabianca says the global participation was completely unplanned and unexpected but he’s embraced the idea wholeheartedly.
Discussing the project, Casabianca states “we don’t want to tell you something that you don’t know, and we don’t want people to feel ignorant. You have just to feel that [the artwork] is ancient and shifted, you have just to be touched by the emotion, by the esthetic, by the art.”
Pretty awesome idea hey.
You can check it out here:
http://www.outings-project.org/
further readings:
https://hyperallergic.com/195873/liberating-the-anonymous-figures-in-old-master-paintings/
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/04/outings-project/
http://thisisnthappiness.com/post/117210856659/outings-project
The High-Line! One of the greatest public spaces to be built in the 21st century.
Amanda Burden can be credited as the brain-child of the development of the high-line. She was the director of the New York City Department of City Planning and Chair of the City Planning Commission under Major Michael Bloomberg from 2002 to 2013. She has left a sizeable legacy on changing the public landscape of New York City.
We can learn a lot from how she creates public spaces. What can we learn and use in museum spaces?
Here is her TED talk from 2014:
Happy Friday everyone
further readings:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/04/ny-high-line/goldberger-text
wearethemuseumcollective 