Offf Festival has been a multicultural design conference event for years. From the beginning, I wanted to explore a different approach. Titles was executed with diverse ranges of techniques to underline sub-context, gathering different imagination, disciplines, mediums and artists.
Used techniques vary from computer graphics to live action, macro photography to photocopy art. One single concept unifies the variation. It is the simplicity. In contrast with the strong imagery typography plays a subtle role, placed in the centre with only two weight variations of a geometric typeface.
The basic idea of the project is built upon the consideration of creating a moving sculpture from the recorded motion data of a real person. For our work we asked a dancer to visualize a musical piece (Kreukeltape by Machinenfabriek) as closely as possible by movements of her body. She was recorded by three depth cameras (Kinect), in which the intersection of the images was later put together to a three-dimensional volume (3d point cloud), so we were able to use the collected data throughout the further process. The three-dimensional image allowed us a completely free handling of the digital camera, without limitations of the perspective. The camera also reacts to the sound and supports the physical imitation of the musical piece by the performer. She moves to a noise field, where a simple modification of the random seed can consistently create new versions of the video, each offering a different composition of the recorded performance. The multi-dimensionality of the sound sculpture is already contained in every movement of the dancer, as the camera footage allows any imaginable perspective.
The body – constant and indefinite at the same time – “bursts” the space already with its mere physicality, creating a first distinction between the self and its environment. Only the body movements create a reference to the otherwise invisible space, much like the dots bounce on the ground to give it a physical dimension. Thus, the sound-dance constellation in the video does not only simulate a purely virtual space. The complex dynamics of the body movements is also strongly self-referential. With the complex quasi-static, inconsistent forms the body is “painting”, a new reality space emerges whose simulated aesthetics goes far beyond numerical codes.
Similar to painting, a single point appears to be still very abstract, but the more points are connected to each other, the more complex and concrete the image seems. The more perfect and complex the “alternative worlds” we project (Vilém Flusser) and the closer together their point elements, the more tangible they become. A digital body, consisting of 22 000 points, thus seems so real that it comes to life again.
Established by Thomas Heatherwick in 1994, Heatherwick studio is recognized for its work in architecture, urban infrastructure, sculpture, furniture design and strategic thinking. Team members come from disciplinary backgrounds that include architecture, product design, model making, fabrication, landscape design, fine art and curation.
Heatherwick Studio’s Associate Directors include the former Director of Regeneration and Environment of the London Borough of Southwark, Fred Manson, who commissioned Tate Modern, Peckham Library and the Millennium Bridge; and the structural engineer Ron Packman.
Thomas is an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA and a Senior Fellow at the Royal College of Art. He is the recipient of honorary doctorates from four British universities – Sheffield Hallam, Brighton, Dundee and Manchester Metropolitan. He has won the Prince Philip Designers Prize and in 2006, was the youngest practitioner to be appointed a Royal Designer for Industry.
The Olympic Flame, which has been seen by nearly 15 million people on its 70 day journey around the UK, and by a worldwide TV audience of around one billion people in the Opening Ceremony. The Cauldron is made up of 204 steel pipes and individually designed copper petals inscribed with the competing nation’s names.
At the end of the Games, each team will take their petal home and the London 2012 Cauldron will cease to exist – it is a representation of the extraordinary transitory community that is the coming together of the world’s community at the London Olympic Games.
Thomas Heatherwick, the designer of the London 2012 Olympic Cauldron, said: ‘There is the precedent of the 1948 Games of the cauldron set within the stadium, to one side with the spectators, and with the technology we now have that didn’t exist in 1948 it can be shared with everyone in the Olympic Park with screens. We felt that sharing it with the screens reinforced the intimacy within it, if it had been a huge beacon lifted up in the air it would have had to be bigger, and would have somehow not met the brief that we discussed with Danny Boyle of making something that was rooted in where the people are.’
Below is a reminder of a few of the beautiful projects Thomas has been involved in.
A future more beautiful? Architect Thomas Heatherwick shows five recent projects featuring ingenious bio-inspired designs. Some are remakes of the ordinary: a bus, a bridge, a power station … And one is an extraordinary pavilion, the Seed Cathedral, a celebration of growth and light.
The Renaissance building Scuola Grande della Misericordia houses the Lithuanian Pavilion at the 53rd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia in Venice, Italy. In this building, dating back to the 16th century and designed by the Venetian architect Jacopo Sansovina, the artist Žilvinas Kempinas presents his large-scale installation, TUBE.
TUBE (created at the Atelier Calder, Saché, France) can be described as a translucent tunnel of parallel lines, created with magnetic tape. Žilvinas Kempinas TUBE resonates with the environment of the floating city and creates a space where vision and movement are linked by means of the body. TUBE addresses the physical and optical experiences of the viewer, and the passage of time, while creating the feeling of being inside and outside simultaneously. One can describe TUBE metaphorically or geometrically but to be appreciated it must be experienced directly. No image can convey the gradual accumulation of sensory experiences awaiting visitors who pass through the translucent tunnel of parallel lines. Kempinas changes the function of magnetic tape from an information carrier to a linear map of time and space.
(Excerpt from the press release).
Žilvinas Kempinas is known for his use of unspooled videotape as sculptural medium like in his work Flying Tape (2004), which levitated a room-size loop of videotape on the air currents from a circle of fans.
Žilvinas Kempinas was born in 1969 in Plungė, Lithuania. He lives and works in New York. His work was presented in solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2008); Le Grand Café, Saint-Nazaire, France (2008); Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius (2007); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2006); P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2003); Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York (2004, 2006, 2007). In 2007 Žilvinas Kempinas was awarded the Calder Prize and was the resident artist at the Atelier Calder in Saché, France, from January to June of 2008.
TUBE has been commissioned by Laura Rutkutė, and curated by Laima Kreivytė, Galerija Vartai, Vilnius. The exhibition runs until November 22, 2009.
Žilvinas Kempinas: TUBE, Lithuanian Pavilion, Scuola Grande della Misericordia, Cannaregio, Venice / Italy. Opening reception, June 5, 2009.
The Adobe Museum of Digital Media (AMDM) is a unique virtual space designed to showcase and preserve groundbreaking digital work and to present expert commentary on how digital media influences culture and society. (www.adobemuseum.com)
The Adobe Museum of Digital Media (AMDM) is a unique virtual space designed to showcase and preserve groundbreaking digital work and to present expert commentary on how digital media influences culture and society.
The museum is an ever-changing repository of eclectic exhibits from diverse fields ranging from photography to product development to broadcast communications. To inspire fresh conversation on the constantly evolving digital landscape, exhibits are overseen by guest curators, each of whom is a recognized leader in the field of art, technology, or business.
The AMDM is a space unlike any created before. Because it is entirely digital, it is an ideal gallery for displaying and viewing digital media, as well as revealing the innovation and artistry within the work. It is open to the public 365 days a year and is accessible from anywhere in the world.
The building itself was designed by Italian architect Filippo Innocenti, a master of fluid urban designs for large, public installations. Innocenti collaborated closely with award-winning designer Piero Frescobaldi, who served as the “building contractor” for construction of the virtual space. Adobe is proud to serve as patron on the project.
Tittle sequence for the OFFF TOUR festival held in Cincinnati in October 2011 in the Contemporary Arts Center. OFFF is a post-digital culture festival, a meeting place to host contemporary creation through an in depth programme of conferences, workshops and performances by the most relevant artists of our time.
Produced and Art Directed by Vasava
Directed & Edited by Gregory Hervelin
Director of Photography: Carles Mestres
Music: Chapelier Fou
Faber Castell brought in Singapore-based art director and designer Chan Hwee Chong to show you what can be done using their pens. This is absolutely amazing…
Once you seen the detail below check out the Chan in motion, jaw dropping.
