(Untitled) movie

Phantom New York City comes alive.

This amazing new iphone application makes me 1. very happy and 2. at the same time very jealous. Why?

1. It is a remarkably clever idea considering New York must be one of the most redesigned (in theory that is) cities in the world and has had so many projects designed and exhibitions made about this great city just in the last couple of years. Rather than living in the past or the present the application shows user what might have been. Living under a dome or walking in the sky, the designs and projects will be presented as the user walks through the city streets.

2. Why now when I am not in New York?


The iPhone at work, detecting the Phantom City.
Images and research BLDG BLOG.


Museum of the Phantom City by Cheng+Snyder for the Van Alen Institute.
Images and research BLDG BLOG.

Check out http://phantomcity.org/for full project.

Highline Project Update 2

Photos courtesy of Joel Sternfeld
Rendered images courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Inhabitat

The first Section of the New York Highline project in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan is set to open in a weeks time. I have kept you up to date on this project in previous posts and with the great photos by artist Joel Sternfeld. Check out the new photos out in conjunction with the launch of a documentary about the project which will air this week in America. This project never ceases to make me smile and I look forward to checking it out in person as soon as I can (the project was in very early stages last time I visited).

Sotheby's downsizing in more ways than one.

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

The New York Times has reported that Christies and Sotheby's (US branches) are downsizing their catalogues. Collector's shoulders will be thankful but for researchers and historians catalogues are also a great resource for studying an artist's work in the art market. Catalogues often include long (sometimes tedious) histories of the artists and their artworks but they can also be invaluable later on in reselling or studying a painting or object.

Christies are cutting down the size and page number, while Sotheby's are sending collectors usb catalogues which they can also view online, as well as maintaining printed catalogues. The quality and colour of prints can be extremely important when viewing an artwork for sale and the colour differences in screens could cause a problem but the online catalogue has its upsides. Both auction houses have searchable catalogues which are still useful for research, including condition report and background information but do not have the depth of knowledge usually presented in print catalogues. Catalogues are still a money spinner for auction houses, particularly high profile auctions so they will most likely never be completely discountinued, of which art historian are probably quite relieved.

Work AC: 49 Cities at the Storefront

Work AC: 49 Cities is a review of the history of urban utopia, for hundreds of years the pursuit of the perfect metropolis has been a central driving force in architectural innovation and this exhibition analyses and demonstrates the differences and similarities between these various projects. You can also download a section of the catalogue online.

Work AC: 49 Cities is on display at the Storefront for Art and Architecture until May 30.

Storefront for Art and Architecture
97 Kenmare Street
New York, NY 10012

James Paterson - Harvest

Installation View
left: The Rotten Fruit Tardis, 2009
right: paintings from the Code Smell series, 2009

Combining personal diary entries, online animation and performance James Paterson's work certainly covers the gamut in this NY exhibition. Originally presented online it demonstrates the increasing acceptance of online exhibitions and genuine platforms for artists to work on. The exhibition is on show until April 25 2009. Paterson also maintains an amazing online gallery in which many of his drawn characters exist.



James Paterson
Harvest
March 12 – April 25, 2009
bitforms gallery, 529 West 20th Street, NYC

MOS architects win PS1 Young Architects program

PS1 and MOMA have announced the winning scheme as afterparty by architectural collective MOS for their 10th annual Young Architects program where an installation is created in the front courtyardspace of PS1 in Queens, NYC. The installation is a series of concrete curved towers which use wind to cool them during the summer. The previous courtyard installation was a series of outdoor gardens and will be replaced with afterparty as part of PS1 summer program where the installations as used as a bar and music venue during the summer months.

Another year, Another Warhol

Despite Andy Warhol's death just over 20 yrs ago new and reconstructed exhibitions of his art are still happening on a regular basis. Andy Warhol's place in history as a Jewish artist (his original family name was Warhola) and his place in the history of the many famous gallerists who supported him start off the Warhol exhibitions for 2009.

Warhol's Jews: Ten Portraits Reconsidered exhibition is about to conclude at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco and was organised in conjunction with The Jewish Museum, New York. The portraits include Sarah Bernhardt, Louis Brandeis,Martin Buber, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, George Gershwin, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Golda Meir, Gertrude Stein.

Presented alongside original photographs and sketches for the portraits as well as source material and reviews from the time of lays the basis for interpreting the original 1980 exhibition Warhol's Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century shown at the Lowe Art Museum in Miami and The Jewish Museum in New York.

At the same time a private collection of his Warhol's works Warhol from the Sonnabend Collection will be exhibited at the Gagosian in New York until Saturday, February 28, 2009. Ileana Sonnabend was one of Andy Warhol's strongest supporters with some of his most well known series exhibited at her gallery in Paris including Death and Disasters (1964), Flowers (1965), and Thirteen Most Wanted Men (1967).

Unpredictable Forms of Sound and Motion

Tim Knowles and Pe Lang + Zimoun
Unpredictable Forms of Sound and Motion
bitforms gallery
January 24, 2009 – February 21, 2009

Image:
Courtesy bitforms gallery nyc.
Pe Lang + Zimoun
Untitled Sound Objects, 2008
400 prepared vibration motors in wooden type cases
39.5 x 39.5 x 3” / 100 x 100 x 8 cm
edition of 6

Check out a YouTube video of the work Untitled Sound Objects, 2008 in action.The work sounds like a river running towards you and is a very intriguing sound work. This exhibition is set to be a beautiful collaboration between the artists, Tim Knowles and Pe Lang + Zimoun.

Design not on such hard times

With the current global economic climate it seems that consumerism is well and truly alive. Early this year with the sales just about to finish up it seems many people are still spending just in a more conservative manner. But where does design stand in all of this? New York Times is reporting that it could be a great opportunity. Of course there is less spending on high-end interior design and architecture but tough times in society have created some of the world's great inventive designers and designs. No doubt that creating environmentally sustainable,well-priced and beautiful designs will be this generations design cross to bare.

Highline Project Update

The Highline Project in New York has always been one of those magical architectural projects - I was always wondering will it really happen? However the 2nd phase is set for completion this year and is definitely worth keeping an eye on! This video explains a little about what the Highline is and what it will become from Friends of the Highline.

Early plans for this caught my eye back in 2004 and it is great to see the project moving forward. With architects diller+scofidio involved it is sure to be an amazing and innovative success and their website is one of the coolest looking portfolios I have ever seen.

The Americans @ Bose Pacia New York

Gauri Gill's The Americans looks to be an amazing start to Bose Pacia's program for 2009. Exhibiting from 9 Jan - 7 Feb The Americans is a photography project which took place from 2000- 2007. Gill took photos of Indian immigrants (one of the new waves of immigrant to American) capturing their adaption but also firm held traditions, from Silicone Valley to Middle America. This new type of American is similar to Australia in the 1990's so it is interesting viewing these works in sort of removed manner. Gill as an artist currently working in New Delhi however these work hold no judgement or idolization but beautiful documentation.

Manfred Mohr - Klangfarben Series

P-1272_19001
2007-8
pigment ink on paper
15.75 x 15.75” / 40 x 40 cm

Bitforms, NYC presents Manfred Mohr's collection of works based on the geometry and multi-dimensional aspects of cubes. Although I probably understand little of the maths behind these works the exploration of shapes and composition is always engaging and these works are a clear link with the abstraction art of the 1970s to today contemporary painting. The exhibition will mix paintings and video images of Mohr's work, which is also currently exhibiting at PS1 - the contemporary satellite venue of MOMA New York.

The Klangfarben series will be on show from Dec 6 - Jan 17, 2009 @ bitforms and Mohr's works will be part of a group show on Reductive art @ PS1 until the 19 January 2009.

Jeff Koons on the Roof of the Met

This exhibition located on the top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY and was very popular with visitors although the view from the roof may have help this along. Jeff Koons is commonly know as the artist who started out in advertising and shines (no pun intended) in this arena. Despite having seen these balloon works before, the location and subsequent reflections created in the works makes for interesting viewing. On until the 26th of Oct it is definitely worth the lift up to the 5th floor.

See the website for more

Funny Finland?

PS1 - Arctic Hysteria: New Art from Finland
June 1, 2008 - September 21, 2008 (although it was still on when I went on the 29th of September).

This exhibition which brings together some of Finland's wackiest and surprisingly funny works. The stand out work was a collection video taped performances of workshops undertaken by artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen with a variety of groups across the globe. These workshops create comic songs derived from complaints brought up at the community workshops. Discussing serious political complaints in Singapore to wondering why the beer is expensive in the Birmingham, England city centre.

The joy derived from these works shouldn't be underestimated - sometimes people connect more discussing the things that annoy them more than the things they love. Brillant! Check out all the performances at www.complaintschoir.org.

Olafur Eliasson Waterfalls in NY

This amazing installation by Olafur Eliasson in conjunction with the New York Government has put together these waterfalls all around the Brooklyn bridge area. These amazing waterfalls use the water from the river and then pump it back. The sunlight catches the flow of water and rainbows are created. It is quite spectacular. The industrial nature of the works means that it actually hard to tell it is an artwork as opposed to just water recycling but that does make the work very interesting. The work will only be on until the 13th of October check out the official website http://www.nycwaterfalls.com/

Surprise attack gardening

A trend that seems to around at the moment is "guerilla gardening" which was started in New York in the 1970's, but is currently undergoing a revival. This random joyful expression changes public spaces and involves groups of people getting together to create gardens quickly and in strange and unusual urban spaces. The beauty of this seems to be that completely unwanted and unloved spaces are used and with rent and space pressure a little garden could go a long way. There is a story about this in the current YEN magazine and a website tropolism has a decidated section to pop-up gardens in New York City. I wonder however are there any Sydney Guerilla Gardeners out there?