Review of Bourriaud’s "Relational Aesthetics"

Posted on Oct 30, 2007 by Jeff Watson

A thorough-going review of Bourriaud’s “Relational Aesthetics” can be found at new media : ryan peter andre tobin:

Bourriaud focuses on the role of modernity in shaping the way we relate to society in contemporary times. While modernity had a teleological view of a utopian life, engineered through the great technological advances of the industrial revolution, contemporary society has abandoned this pursuit for a more realistic path. It’s understood now that we have inherited the history of our ancestors and instead of reengineering the world we live in, we attempt to improve our situation while slowly ameliorating our current social structures. Modern art attempted to present us with the world of the future, the ideological world of modernity, in a revolutionary movement. The art of today investigates the world as it is, and focusing on societies state of constant change. (new media: ryan peter andre tobin)

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The Worst Mistake

Posted on Oct 29, 2007 by Jeff Watson

Jared Diamond:

…with the advent of agriculture an elite became better off, but most people became worse off. Instead of swallowing the progressivist party line that we chose agriculture because it was good for us, we must ask how we got trapped by it despite its pitfalls. (Another Way of Knowing)

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The Weather Project

Posted on Oct 27, 2007 by Jeff Watson

Olafur Eliasson nimbly merges art, science, and natural phenomena to create extraordinary multisensory experiences. Challenging the passive nature of traditional art-viewing, he engages the observer as an active participant, using tangible elements such as temperature, moisture, aroma, and light to generate physical sensations. The works assembled for this presentation — the first U.S. survey of this Icelandic artist’s oeuvre — date from 1993 to the present and reflect all facets of his creative practice. Encompassing sculpture, photography, and large-scale immersive installations — including a newly commissioned kaleidoscopic tunnel that envelops the Museum’s steel truss bridge — these groundbreaking projects are intentionally simple in construction but thrilling to behold, sparking profound, visceral reactions designed to heighten one’s experience of the everyday. (SFMOMA)

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ROBOAT

Posted on Oct 15, 2007 by Jeff Watson

This summer we began work on the third of three autonomous entities we’ve been developing with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and Renew Media. It’s an “unmanned surface vehicle,” or water robot, made for protests on or near aqueous points of interest . Of course, it’s too dangerous for people to do such protests, so we need robots. (edgy_product)

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14 secs of Carsten Holler

Posted on Oct 12, 2007 by Jeff Watson


See: Tate Modern | The Unilever Series.

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WWO: Hitching a Ride

Posted on Oct 11, 2007 by Jeff Watson


Context: World Without Oil

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Juliane Lorenz on Fassbinder

Posted on Oct 10, 2007 by Jeff Watson


See also Village Voice Interview with Hannah Schygulla.

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bonlineb (2007)

Posted on Oct 10, 2007 by Jeff Watson

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Head On (2006)

Posted on Oct 9, 2007 by Jeff Watson

head-on

With few wolves scattered in the front gallery, all ninety-nine wolves run, gallop, and jump toward the far end of the exhibition hall, where a wall stands. The bravery of the wolves is met head on by the unyielding wall. As the leading wolves go down, many more follow with force and determination. As those in the front fall and pile up, those behind take up their positions. (caiguoqiang.com)

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Sketch Furniture

Posted on Oct 4, 2007 by Jeff Watson

Is it possible to let a first sketch become an object, to design directly onto space? The four FRONT members have developed a method to materialise free hand sketches. They make it possible by using a unique method where two advanced techniques are combined. Pen strokes made in the air are recorded with Motion Capture and become 3D digital files; these are then materialised through Rapid Prototyping into real pieces of furniture. (frontdesign.se)

Via Architectradure.

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