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Archive for Architecture

Happy New Year!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted back here — amidst holiday travels, I’ve been mostly blogging at Logos Graphics. For friends who have been patient with me, a very happy belated new year!

Here are a few photos snapped yesterday at SFMOMA’s 75th Anniversary Party, where Matmos and Nate Boyce performed to a packed audience. Earlier, I went to the Legion of Honor for the opening day of the Cartier and America exhibition where crowds came to ogle the extravagant collection of jewels.

SFMOMA's 75th Anniversary Party

SFMOMA's 75th Anniversary Party

SFMOMA's 75th Anniversary Party

SFMOMA's 75th Anniversary Party

This week will be exciting too — Someone Else and Robag Whrume are coming back to SF for more fun times. See some of you there!

Sounds of the Russian Avant-Garde

About a month ago, I stopped by Aquarius Records to pick up Baku: Symphony of Sirens / Sound Experiments in the Russian Avant-Garde. It’s a fantastic a double disc collection of poetry, music, and agitprop accompanied by a 72-page book with detailed notes on the Russian avant-garde movement from 1908 to 1942.

There are works from some of the best known names of the era — El Lissitzky (see his Soviet poster, below), Malevich, Kamensky, even Lenin and Trotsky — though to my great delight, I learned of seemingly countless other groups and their often humorous counter groups:

El Lissitzky
El Lissitzky, “Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge” (1919)

The somewhat staid Ego-Futurists, mostly in the literary camp, were later superceded by the Imaginists who indulged in long, deeply metaphoric poetry; there were also the painterly Cubo-Futurists, who counted Malevich and Mayakovsky as primary leaders. Then there were the Acmeists, the Suprematists (Malevich at his finest), the Neo-Primitivists, the Rayonists, the Bicosmists, the Luminists, the Electroorganists, the Constructivists and the Productivists.

The funniest groups were the Eggists, who formed as a joke in a newspaper article; the Everythingists, who embraced all styles of expression; and the Nothingists, whose slogan was “Write nothing! Read nothing! Say nothing! Print nothing!”

But these groups seem disappointingly shallow when compared to artists like Iakov Chernikhov, who is worth mentioning here as one of the most imaginative minds in modern architecture — even if his perspective is missing from Baku. Though best known for the Flying City, his body of work (especially his collection of Architectural Fantasies) is well worth a peek.

Iakov Chernikhov, Fundamentals of Modern Architecture (1925-30)
Iakov Chernikhov, Fundamentals of Modern Architecture (1925-30)

One of the album’s highlights is About Two Squares – A Suprematist Story by El Lissitzky (1920-22), a children’s tale about a red square and a black square. They travel toward a red circle (Earth) and smash into each other, creating abstract forms on Earth.

El Lissitzky, About Two Squares (1920-22)
El Lissitzky, About Two Squares (1920-22)

It’s a futuristic narrative that combines experimental typography with the fun of reading aloud “colour-blocks of Word”… a synesthetic experience from one of the Russian greats! View the entire story here.

New York Pix

Here are some pix from a trip back to New York. It was so good to soak in the sights, sounds, food and culture once more:

Guggenheim Museum

Guggenheim Museum

Whitney Museum

Whitney Museum

High Line Park at Night

High Line Park at Night

Making Candy at Papabubble

Making Candy at Papabubble

Butterflies!

Butterflies!

Tara Donovan at the ICA

Here are a few shots from my trip to the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston over Thanksgiving. From the road, the museum appeared a bit small against the dramatic Boston Harbor, but once inside the layout and scale of exhibitions felt just right.

On the top floor, I fell in love with Tara Donovan’s delicate installations which were made of everyday materials like film, scotch tape, drinking straws and styrofoam cups. The repetitive patterns revealed beautifully organic forms that captured and reflected light in subtle ways, shifting as I walked around them. The photo below is of layered polyester film from Untitled (2008). 

Tara Donovan

Founder's Gallery

Staircase

 

 

Dubai’s Movable Tower

Remember Archigram, the futuristic, pop-infused collective from the 1960s? The group that dreamed up magical urban environments like the Walking City and the Plug-In City?

Walking City

Walking City

Plug-In City

It seems like the spirit of Archigram has emerged once again in the 21st century, this time in Dubai. Italian architect David Fisher has designed a 1,378 foot-tall skyscraper with 80 movable floors, each capable of shifting a complete 360-degree revolution around a central column within three hours or less. Dubbed the Dynamic Tower, the new structure will house a luxury hotel, commercial space and private residences: 

Dynamic Tower

Dynamic Tower

Despite its behemoth appearance, the Dynamic Tower touts impressive green design principles. Wind turbines located beneath each floor will allow the tower to generate enough power for itself as well as neighboring buildings. An entirely pre-fabricated construction process will further reduce costs, too.

Fisher shows no signs of slowing down; indeed, he’s hoping to take his skyscraper idea worldwide. The tower is scheduled for completion in 2010, but Fisher is already planning similar structures in Moscow and New York. 

http://www.dynamicarchitecture.net/building.html