Commissioning Tumblr Artists: How Rhizome Is Expanding Their Net Art Legacy
“I think it’s interesting that the internet is built up of these pre-existing codes and networks and that the art is built on top of that,” says Tumblr’s art evangelist Annie Werner, “the canvas could be java or a performative internet persona or a Tumblr theme.” Looking through the archive of past Rhizome commissions and projects, it becomes clear the artists and work that receive support quickly become the most relevant players in this realm of contemporary art. The true effects of Tumblr on an artist’s practice and the image in culture are unfolding questions, ones that this grant provides support for exploring. As Werner says, “I couldn’t be more excited to see what comes out of it.”
Alexander Grünsteidl, director of user experience at Method, London and owner of maverick digital think tank, Digital Wellbeing Labs, is a man on a mission. Passionate music lover and vastly knowledgeable in the power of a seamless digital and physical hybrid world, Grünsteidl recently brought his experience to bear in order to rethink the way we interact with our nightlife. (via Thinking About User Experience In Clubland | The Creators Project)
“For all its amenities, urban life lacks several aspects of nature that we don’t often consider while we’re caught in the daily rigamarole. The idiom claiming that New Yorkers never look up rings true for residents of almost any city.
They would, however, be compelled to look up if all the sudden the night sky looked as it does in this series. Thierry Cohen’s Darkened Cities features images of cities like New York, Rio, and Tokyo submerged in pitch darkness, allowing starlight to seep back into view. Cohen captured images of the night sky in remote areas that share the latitudes of his city subjects, and then placed them behind their respective skylines to provide the most accurate picture of what the night sky would look like in each location.
The images invoke a strange calm tinged with uneasiness as to why these famous urban centers are abandoned. This may be what it looks like all around the world if an EMP from outer space leaves all of our electronics lifeless.
Adding to the effect of being rendered unable to do anything by a random cosmic occurrence, we’d suddenly be humbled further, reminded of how small we are relative to the vastness of the physical universe.”
(via The World’s Cities Shrouded In Darkness But Lit By Stars | The Creators Project)
AntiVJ’s Joanie Lemercier Maps Light Projections To 3D Origami Walls
(via AntiVJ’s Joanie Lemercier Maps Light Projections To 3D Origami Walls | The Creators Project)
In 2012, MakerBot promised to revolutionize the practice of home fabrication with a product that allows simple, desktop 3D-printing at home. Yet it remains to be seen exactly what the masses will utilize this invention for the most: figurines? DIY projects? Or just more of those endlessly entertaining demo bracelets? Artist Micah Ganske kicks off 2013 with a deeply creative use of MakerBot’s 3D printing capability—designing and printing artistic sculptures depicting warped environments that point toward our future. (via Using The MakerBot To 3D Print Impossible, Futuristic Sculptures | The Creators Project)
“Daan Roosegaarde and Heijmans Infrastructure presented their prophesying at the Dutch Design Week and while some of their ideas are prototypes, in the Netherlands they aim to implement a few of the innovations on highways by mid 2013. The aim is to “make roads that are more sustainable and interactive by using interactive lights, smart energy, and road signs that adapt to specific traffic situations.”
(via Netherlands To Get “Smart Highways” In 2013 | The Creators Project)
A Collage That Captures A Day In The Life Of The Internet
“For her curatorial project Hotel Palenque, Elise Lammer invites artists to create just one piece of work that gets displayed for just one night in a certain location. There are two further criteria the guest artists must adhere to: the work has to take the form of a standard A0 print, and the artist has to destroy all the digital files that went into the piece’s production before it’s put on display. The idea, Lammer writes on the project’s page, is to emphasize “the idea of the original by limiting its existence in time as well as space.” For her Hotel Palenque piece, the Estonia-born artist Katja Novitskova took inspiration from a similarly limited sliver of time and space: a few hours on the internet.”
Old Computer Parts Get Transformed Into Stunning Cityscapes And Skylines
(via Old Computer Parts Get Transformed Into Stunning Cityscapes And Skylines | The Creators Project)
“Making art out of tissue paper and staples sounds like something you did when you were nine and it was arts and crafts hour at your local summer camp. But Gabby O’Connor proves that even the simplest household items can be turned into something beautiful with a striking installation piece made entirely from these two mundane materials. Based on the artist’s impression of Antarctica, cultivated through extensive research, the artist gives us a crystalline sculpture, dyed blue/green dye to mimic the color of glacier ice and lit from the inside to give off a certain cold and desolate vibe. And there you have it, a visually spectacular piece of art that transcends the humble materials from which it’s made.”
(via A Glowing Iceberg Made Entirely Of Staples And Tissue Paper | The Creators Project)
Wang Yu Yang
“Yang’s sculptural installation Artificial Moon was made with thousands of fluorescent light bulbs. The artist based the work on an ancient legend about Chinese goddess Chang’e and her ill-fated trip to the moon, as well as his interest in the American moon landing. He remarked, ‘Both seem legendary, but both are questionable. Is there any connection between these two? These are the questions I really explore.’”
(via 9 Chinese Artists Who Give Tradition A Facelift With Sparkly New Technology | The Creators Project)
The Reverse Evolution of Glitch Art
“Since 2000, the TIND (ThisIsNotDesign) collective has carved a considerable place for itself in the artistic scene in Montréal, Québec. This video art group was initiated by Mylène Cavana and Francis Théberge, who cleverly distilled audiovisual creations using tools such as distortion pedals, propelling their audience into an immersive visual environment created by the rhythmic relationship existing between image and sound. Creating a singular imagery, they work at the crossroad of prepared interventions, mastered errors, and controlled improvisations. Their project TRAME is an animation that falls somewhere between an audiovisual performance and a laboratory experiment. Presented to the public on several occasions, including the Elektra festival in Montréal or the Mapping Festival in Geneva, TRAME is constantly changing. As we were eager to have a better understanding of the artistic thinking behind this project, we met Francis Théberge, one of the co-founders of the group, in their research laboratory.”
