With the additional sense of loss that arose in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred on March 11, 2011, Japanese society is currently on the verge of a huge turning point. While the notion of a happy family life in the city, created by the modern state, has collapsed, a new community, based on “sharing” (values, lifestyles, etc.) has appeared in its place. How is our architecture changing to fit this new era? And where is our architecture headed? Many of the things that we are now focusing on have the potential to exert huge changes (at least superficially) on beautiful decorative elements such as architecture magazines (a propaganda tool for Modernism), and the architectural framework shaped by the modern state that is concealed in many buildings. This is why it is essential to place a strong emphasis on altering the state of society and various relationships – or in other words, the en (connections, relation, ties, chance, edge, fringe, rim), which serve as the theme of this exhibition. The Art Of Nexus will be open to the public throughout the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia from 28 May to 27 November 2016 - at the Giardini. photographs by Sara Kaufman
Hong Kong is a city known for its versatility and resilience; yet what is often seen in daily life is rigidity and lack of alternatives. Architecture, under such circumstance, becomes an agency reflecting on human, social and even political conditions, and at the same time moulding the values of the public. On one hand, it conforms to the rules of capitalism and private demand; on the other, it seeks to transcend the norm and open up imagination. What lies in between could be conflictive and creates endless and ever-changing battlefields. New ideas are put to test at the borderline; they may fail or they may transform into new set of values. Working on the margins often unveils the social dilemma – whether human need should be replaced by the need for progress and wealth. The classical Chinese essay Thirty-Six Stratagems is a collection of military tactics applied at wars in ancient China. The wisdom provides guides in politics, business and civil interaction in modern time. The stratagems are categorized into chapters that illustrate different situations, both advantageous and disadvantageous. Drawing reference from the classic, the exhibiting architects and artists examine the challenges they face and attempt to provide solutions to the complexity of reality. “Stratagems in Architecture: Hong Kong in Venice” will be on view as a collateral event during the Venice Architecture Biennale, which runs until November 26, 2016. Location: Venue Campo della Tana, Castello 2126-30122 Venezia, Italia (opposite the main entrance of Arsenale)
Visitors approaching the British Pavilion are welcomed by an over-sized Georgian panelled door. To prevent the spread of plague, Queen Elizabeth I forbade families from sharing homes by saying “each must have their own front door”, a decree that led to the advent of the terraced house and entrenched the importance of the front door in the British psyche. Black, glossy and monolithic, the Home Economics front door dominates the central axis of the Giardini as a monument to the British home, inviting visitors to explore the different environments. Home Economics responds to the Biennale Architettura 2016 curator Alejandro Aravena’s theme Reporting from the Front by tackling the frontline of British architecture: the home. The curators, Shumi Bose, Jack Self and Finn Williams, were chosen following an open call organized by the British Council and have invited established and emerging artists, architects and designers to produce immersive 1:1 environments, which challenge the status quo and propose new models for the home. Home Economics asks questions of British society and architectural culture that have come about as a result of changes in patterns of everyday life. The exhibition unfolds through a series of five architectural propositions, designed around incremental amounts of time: Hours, Days, Months, Years and Decades. Each room designer has been asked to propose architectural responses, rather than solutions, to the conditions imposed on domestic life by varying amounts of occupancy, and each response inhabits one of the five rooms in the British Pavilion. Home Economics will be open to the public throughout the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia from 28 May to 27 November 2016 - at the Giardini. photographs by Sara Kaufman
Although the gunman who massacred 49 people at an Orlando gay club is said to have been 'repulsed' by homosexuality, he nonetheless left behind a slew of self-adoring 'selfies'; a handsome man gazing enchantedly at his own face. It is therefore acceptable for him to lovingly admire his own maleness, but it is not OK for other men to like other men. Does Islamic scripture say it is fitting for a man to sit alone taking adoring photographs of himself? I doubt it. Click here to read more.
photograph by Adam Lehrer
The movie "Faraway, So Close!” tells the story of an angel who comes to earth to live as a human. What is heavenly, imprecise and volatile descends to fully stamp against the earthly, the concrete. These two worlds, distant and contradictory are bound by a new atmosphere that allows movement, pulse, life. What it far is close. Ballet Parking is directed by Nacho Alvarez, with a performance by Vicente Etcheverry. Shot in Montevideo, Uruguay
To draw a little blood, you have to break the skin of the status quo. In the late 90s, Kira Jolliffe and Bay Garnett did just that with Cheap Date, an anti-fashion magazine that attempted to affectionately shatter some of the illusions of the highly glossy fashion industry; an industry that Garnett is very much a part of as a contributor to Vogue and as a consultant to some major fashion brands. You could call Cheap Date a catharsis of sorts – a catharsis that gained cult and bible status with contributors such as Anita Pallenberg, Chloe Sevigny, Liv Tyler and Debbie Harry, and headlines like “Cellulite Problem? Tough Shit!” After an attempt to move the magazine to New York, Cheap Date folded in the mid-naughts. After feeling the itch to re-start the magazine, Garnett came up with a new idea, which became Fanpages (published by Idea Books) – a publication of one-page fan collages by the likes of Nick Knight, Claire Barrow and Rita Ora. She tells Autre: "My father always used to say 'you've always got to have a project,' and when he died a little while ago I think it galvanized me to get off my arse and do what I wanted to do. Kira and I were talking about doing Cheap Date again, and when we were talking about the contents page, we decided we wanted to do a pinboard of fandom. It all just grew from there – and also I realized that I don't have anything in particular that I want to say, I want to see what other people had to say instead!" On collaborating with contributors, Joliffe says, "What was really brilliant was how into it people were. We just kind of sat down and watched this kind of rainbow spectrum of fan pages fall into our laps.” Fanpages is available now on the Idea Books website, along with this cool t-shirt.
The Heliotrope Foundation was started by artist Caledonia Curry, also known as Swoon, to help communities respond and heal after natural disasters and other urgent social crises. "We believe that the creative process can and should be a part of how we heal, rebuild and move forward after natural disasters, economic devastation, and moments of social crisis." Click here to make a tax deductible donation. Photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper
Dr. Frankenstein holds the hammer. He has the metal moon of a nail’s head protruding from his nostril, which he taps in a little deeper. The flat head rests one inch out from the entry to his cavity, the metal flaring the soft nostril tissue wide. With the hammer’s forked prongs, he hooks and slowly pulls out the nail. It glistens. Only the audience members right up front can see the sheen snot coating the nail, but the rest are practiced in the art of imagination. Click here to read more.
Click here to read an interview with Candy Ken. Photographs by Flo Kohl
Learn more about the python hunters and read an exclusive interview with Dylan Johnston here.
Dylan Johnston has documented the Florida Python Challenge, one of the Florida Wildlife Commission’s more successful attempts to eradicate the invasive and evasive snake, for the past three years. In 2013, he began the project after mention from a friend in Sarasota, only a few hours from the river of grass, and has worked on the project since, immersing himself in the unforgiving environment that is the Everglades. Johnston, from Ft. Pierce, has worked on plenty of projects and assignments in his home-state, detailing the life of working in junkyards to rigging ballyhoos while trolling for pelagic species in the Gulf-stream just off Southern Florida’s east coast. Click here to read more.
