“21 Balançoires takes over a newly open space in front of the University of Montreal’s Science Faculty. Together with Luc-Alain Giraldeau, an animal behaviour professor from the faculty, we explored the topic of cooperation which states that together we achieve better things than separately. The result is a giant collective instrument made of 21 musical swings - each swing in motion triggers different notes, all the swings together compose a piece, but some sounds only emerge from cooperation. The project stimulates ownership of the new space, bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds, and creating a place for playing and hanging out in the middle of the city centre.”
I love these fun outdoor ideas! They’re so refreshing. See also VW’s Fun Theory.
“Here’s a pretty neat art installation in Sydney for the launch of the Nissan LEAF electric car into the market, illustrating the things we might just be doing with petrol bowsers when there is no future need for them. With almost 40 unique, interactive, re-purposed petrol bowsers on display, people are free to walk up and have a play, then vote online here for their favourite. The installation transforms petrol bowsers into everything from mini-golf holes and popcorn stands to water fountains, pianos and pokermachines. A beautiful ambient piece from Nissan.”
Found this website by artist, Maya Wild. (awesome name - if it is hers) This chick is amazing. I love her work, it’s like something I’d aspire to do, so colourful, clean and cute. Website is great too! Check her out.. http://www.mayawild.com/
Gathering around a bowl of Doritos and Avocado dip in the 303 cafe today with a few people, we spoke about many interesting topics. Firstly beginning with the tragic events that have happened over the past few days in Victoria, onto donating to help out and the GFC, the Kevin Rudd payouts, the trade wars and ‘Made in Australia’ stamps and the meaning behind it..
The last few chips I found myself with Mark discussing how some foods ‘can taste like colours’. I then learnt that this is called Synesthesia, a condition in which one sense (e.g. taste) is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses such as sight.
So.. imagine that when you see a city’s skyline, you taste blackberries. Or maybe when you hear a violin, you feel a tickle on your left knee. Perhaps you are completely convinced that Wednesdays are light red. If you have experiences like these, you might have Synesthesia.
We were trying to imagine ‘tasting colours’ as you might with Synesthesia, and agreed that Pineapple tastes like the colour Orange… Dark chocolate tastes like deep purple (Cadbury?)..
Some weird facts about Synesthesia:
Studies in the US show that 3x as many women have Synesthesia than men, and in the UK 8x as many have been reported to have it. The reason for this difference is unknown.
People with this condition are more likely to be left-handed than the general population.
They are of normal intelligence and standard neurological exams are normal.
Synesthesia appears to be inherited in some way, it seems to be a dominant trait and may be on the X-chromosome.
Famous painters with Synesthesia:
Vasily Kadinsky
A Russian painter born in 1866, he was one of the most famous 20th century artists, credited with painting the first modern abstract works. Vision by Carol Steen;
Oil on Paper; 15 x 12-3/4 inches; 1996. A representation of a synesthetic vision the artist experienced during acupuncture treatment.
Doing some research on the net, I found a girl called Amie Slavin. Amie is a synaesthetic sound artist, she sees names, words, letters and numbers as colours. She also sees sounds, including her own work, as coloured. She explains her newest sound piece, Wave Play:
“WavePlay is a very visual piece for me, complete pictures for one thing, but also the shapes and colours of the waves - predictably dark and browny colours at the bottom, with yellowy gold and a little green at the top” She also says that she experiences ‘empathic synaesthetic’, sometimes feeling other peoples’ sensations. In addition to all this she has been totally blind for eleven years, so no longer see colours with her physical eyes.
I don’t know why.. but this whole topic fascinated me!
Ahoy! I went through boxes of my old school work recently and found a couple of keepers.. Some from Art & Design, TEE Art and Visual Media (Photography). There are also a few newies in there too.
Every time we start to think that street art is starting to get a bit tired and boring, along - out of nowhere - comes something that reconnects us with why we fell in love with street art in the first place.
There’s an artist called Joshua Allen Harris, who’s been making these animals out of discarded plastic bags. He ties the bags to the ventilation grates above the subway lines in so that when the subway rushes through underneath, the animal jumps up and springs to life! If I saw this on the street, I’d probably freak out, but they look awesome nonetheless!!
Now to introduce you to one of my fave street artists in the galaxy.. London’s mind-blowing Slinkachu! His on-going miniature street art project “Little People” is easily one of the greatest things ever.
Slinkachu, a 28 year old graphic designer, has been making unusual street art installations around London, and if you blink, you’ll miss them - the figurines are smaller than a 5c piece. He creates a micro-world that exists along side ours. A man hunts flies, a woman jogs and life goes on in a scale model of reality.
“They play with the idea of being dwarfed by the city”
Slinkachu hand paints and deposits his figurines, documenting the displays with close up camera work. I absolutely love the idea, my favourite probably being the guitar hero with the ipod earphone as his speaker. Awesome :D
Same Old Song
Rush Hour
Manhole Swimming
Majestic
Dear Son
An installation he produced for the Tresspass Alliance show:
about the dudes London duo Darius (a.k.a Leon Reid) and Downey (a.k.a Brad Downey), have been around for more than 10 years since high school in NY. They’ve just released a street art book called “The Adventures of Darius and Downey” which follows the artists as they work, avoid arrest, go to school, move to England, break-up, scale buildings and ultimately redefine the street art game for the 21st century.
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