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Neighborhoods of contemporary New York are primarily defined by the choices and actions of the people who call them home. They are collages fashioned from layer upon layer of small accretions that we plaster and paint onto our environments. Sometimes, this paint is literal [...] rich diversity of murals in memoriam found throughout Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn — public artworks that reflect a particular history of violence, racial prejudice, and, in some cases, the mixture of the two. — urbanomnibus.net
Related: Bed-Stuy Prices Soar View full entry
The first blows to bring down the Berlin Wall were struck nearly 25 years ago to the day. This was after almost three decades of the concrete barricade cutting through the heart of Berlin and splitting the city in two. Today, Berlin is once again divided, this time by an 11-foot-tall wall of illuminated balloons.
The Lichtgrenze (translation: “border of light”) will stretch for 10 miles along the same path as the original 96-mile structure.
— wired.com
Grassroots, place-based arts initiatives got a boost yesterday when the artist Rick Lowe was named a 2014 MacArthur Fellow. Earlier this week, I profiled Lowe’s dynamic approach to arts-driven revitalization in “Street Makeover: Artists Bring Visibility to a Low-Lit Alley.” Lowe is currently working as a multi-year resident of the Pearl Street Project, an alleyway transformation launched by Philadelphia’s Asian Arts Initiative. — nextcity.org
Related: How Many Artists Does It Take to Make an Arts District? View full entry
But, with all this push to quantize and characterize, there are dangers. Cities clearly are more than a new kind of physics problem. They are also creations of the human imagination and, as such, they live or die by the quality of the imagination we bring to them.
Thats why no discussion of the health of cities can be complete without thinking about the role of art — public art.
— npr.org
The world championship for the "72 Hour Interactions" realtime competition is taking place in Witten, Germany later this month! For 72 intense hours starting July 23 at 6 p.m., five international teams will venture out and transform Witten's neglected public sites through nothing other than creativity and architectural design — while having fun in the process. — bustler.net
Each team will represent one of the cities in the Ruhr valley: Hagen, Hattingen, Herdecke, Wetter and Witten. Sixty participants from abroad and from the region will transform neglected sites throughout the city through means of what the competition organizers describe as "gameful architectural... View full entry
Jang Won Choi, Kyung Min Kwon, and Cheon Kang Park of collaborative team MOON JI BANG recently won the inaugural Young Architects Program Seoul in South Korea with their proposal, "Shinseon Play". The proposal draws inspiration from traditional Korean mythology with features like gently swaying "clouds", a trampoline, and a grassy meadow -- making it an ideal outdoor installation for the summer season. — bustler.net
Find out more on Bustler. View full entry
Whether you're a diehard Miesian fan or could care less about the modernist architecture canon, we've heard of ol' Farnsworth time and time again since its completion in 1951 in Plano, Illinois. But Chicago-based artists Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero of Luftwerk want the public to see the... View full entry
From pedestrian bridges to city centre waterslides, sculpture parks to public pianos, here are some of the smartest and wackiest crowdfunded projects for urban improvement — theguardian.com
Donning a spectrum of colors and moving beams of light, the "Unnumbered Sparks" installation comes to life every night as it hovers near the site of the 30th anniversary TED2014 world conference in downtown Vancouver, Canada.Artist Janet Echelman and director of the Google Data Art Group Aaron... View full entry
L.A. architectural practice Oyler Wu Collaborative designed "The Cube" from a fundamental notion: to challenge the spatial and geometric properties of the cube, a geometric form long regarded as a basic element for design, art, and science. Built for the 2013 Beijing Biennale, the sculpture... View full entry
Before the path arrived, Indianapolis didn’t have a mainstream bike scene — just streets designed to improve traffic flow. Now, children and the elderly have joined the spandex swarms of longtime cycling enthusiasts...
The public art along the trail accentuates the path’s role as a sculptor of the city’s evolving identity. For example, Donna Sink’s “Moving Forward” is a series of seven stained-glass-hued eco-friendly bus shelters covered in lines from poems by local writers.
— mobile.nytimes.com
How about we start the week with a heart-warming project right on time for Valentine's Day! "Match Maker," the winning sculpture of the 2014 Times Square Valentine Heart Design competition, was unveiled in New York's Times Square today.
Designed by Brooklyn-based Young Projects in collaboration with Kammetal, "Match Maker" is an interactive heart-shaped sculpture that matches individuals based on their zodiac sign.
— bustler.net
Have a glimpse of the winning and finalist installations:Winner: Young Projects - Match MakerHaiko Cornelissen Architecten - TWEET HEART NYPernilla Ohrstedt Studio - O HeartSchaum/Shieh Architects - My Fuzzy ValentineSOFTlab - Sweet HeartThe Living - Vapor ValentineLearn more about each project at... View full entry
The artists behind New York’s graffiti haven 5 Pointz have learned that their last-ditch legal effort to save the outdoor gallery will likely fail.
“The building, unfortunately, is going to have to come down,” federal judge Frederic Block said in New York’s eastern district court on Friday. [...]
“I’m getting the sense that the traditional academic way of looking at things needs to be updated,” Block said.
— The Guardian
It isn't clear what the artwork will look like, though a person familiar with the matter said it would have a "gathering" theme. But it will be expensive: Mr. Ross, chairman of builder Related Cos., has told friends and associates the company intends to spend as much as $75 million on the centerpiece and surrounding public space. — online.wsj.com
The success of a public work of art is measured not merely by aesthetics, but rather, by its magnetic qualities that inspire interaction. The art is a reflection of the City, the art becomes a part of the City, the art is instrumental in making the City. — Spirit of Space
Acting as poetic translators between cities and their citizens, the creative agency Spirit of Space uses digital media to showcase humanity's built environment, consequently enhancing the citizen's self-awareness and appreciation of architectural space. Their film for Skidmore, Owings... View full entry