Archinect - News

Anish Kapoor reaches settlement with NRA over usage of his iconic Cloud Gate sculpture

2018-12-10T14:21:00-05:00

British artist Anish Kapoor has reached a settlement with the NRA for using his reflective Bean sculpture in one of their promotional videos. The ad, titled The Violence of Laws, had used images of modern architectural landmarks, such a Gehry's Disney Concert Hall, Piano's New York Times building, and Kapoor's Cloud Gate, as stand-ins of liberal elitism.

In March, Kapoor condemned the non-profit which advocates for gun rights for their use of the image, and filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in the US District Court in Illinois later that summer. Reached out-of-court, the current settlement has the NRA agreeing to remove the image from their video. Further, Kapoor has asked the US gun lobby to donate $1 million to charities working with victims of gun violence such as Every Town for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Actions for Gun Sense in America.

In a press statement released through Lisson Gallery, who represents the artist, Kapoor declared triumph over the NRA. "This is a victory...

Anish Kapoor sues the NRA for using image of Cloud Gate in a 2017 ad

2018-06-20T14:32:00-04:00

In a new statement, Kapoor claimed that it was the “solidarity and support” of the public that encouraged him to take action against the NRA, and urged everyone “to stand up to the dark and aggressive forces in society that seek, out of fear and hatred, to lead us backward into a primitive, paranoid, and defensive worldview.”

After denouncing the National Rifle Association in an open letter this past March, artist Anish Kapoor filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the group on June 19 for the unauthorized use of an image of his famous “Cloud Gate” sculpture in this 2017 ad titled “The Clenched Fist of Truth”. Kapoor filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The NRA's design for "hardening" schools

2018-02-26T16:21:00-05:00

NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre offered schools his organization’s “free” support and guidance to protect themselves, saying that communities “must come together to implement the very best strategy to harden their schools.” President Donald Trump echoed the sentiment Thursday saying, “We have to harden our sites” to protect schools from gun violence [...] it’s worth revisiting exactly what the NRA means when it calls for measures to “harden” a school.

Here are a few architectural elements and design features the NRA recommends from its 2013 task force report for "hardening" schools.

A big fence
No trees
No parking lots
Entrapment areas
No windows
A door stop

Join the discussion asking: "Where are the designers, architects, and engineers in the debate on hardening school security through design?"

Fast Co Design wonders, "Why Is There So Much Modern Architecture In The NRA’s New Ad?"

2017-07-05T15:13:00-04:00

For decades, authoritarian regimes have waged war on modern architecture and the philosophy it embodies. A new ad proves it’s still a target.

In an alarmingly threatening and dangerous ad, NRA attacks intellectualism (in its core sense) via modern architecture. This savage ad might not only target your profession and/or your education but also puts the average citizen in front of the barrel of a gun.