Hasta La Ideas

Oakland art gallery Johansson Projects presents Article X, “where functional objects are removed from their usual vocabularies and placed in zones of ambiguity, absurdity, and anxiety.” The show will feature work by two artists, David Trautrimas and Kristina Lewis.

Trautrimas imagines Cold War military installations through the digital re-imaging of discarded parts from household appliances like coffee pots, electric razors, oil cans and waffle irons. According to Johannson Projects, these “structures are the hypothesized origins of appliances that eventually trickled down to the public as common household goods that came to define the zeitgeist of the era.” We’re wondering what the flip side might be—something optimistic, utopic, Ant Farm-esque made from biodegradable packaging and strange gourds?

Lewis works directly (and less polemically) with objects to “free them of their allegiance to the human agenda and give [them] a space to play.” For example, below, a building rebels through its light switch:

ARTICLE X
Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA
Reception: February 5th, 5-8pm
January 30th – March 20th 2010

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The Tow-n-Stow is a neat idea, and probably most useful if you live in the wilderness and routinely need to haul heavy stuff back to base and then store it (like firewood): It’s a watertight container that holds 1,000 pounds, and tips upright to make a lockable outdoor storage unit. Transforming the 100% recyclable unit takes, the company claims, about a minute.

via tuvie

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Vauxhall

Looks like GE’s not the only one getting in on the Santa sleigh re-design biz; Car Magazine held a week’s worth of sleigh designs penned by world-class car designers like Land Rover, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Audi, and Vauxhall. Hit any of the links beneath the photos to read the descriptions and proposed technologies, which run from particle accelerators to CRS (Chimney Recognition Software).

Aston Martin

Audi

Jaguar

Land Rover

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Design Manager for Wood/Executive Furniture
Steelcase
Grand Rapids, MI

Reporting to the Director of Design; North American Design Studio, the Design Manager will lead a small team focused on creation of high performance work environments in support of Steelcase’s Wood and Executive products. The role is simultaneously focused on design strategy, and defining the details of compelling objects. The Design Manager will work within a collaborative global design studio based in Grand Rapids.

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The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.

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