Hasta La Ideas

“Oh Tannenbaum” (“Oh Christmas Tree”) is probably the most sung Christmas carol over here in Germany. History shows that cherishing trees in songs is a serious thing but at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design Christmas trees are also good for big fun.

Next week, it’s time for the “Oh Tannenbaum” 6th Christmas Tree Exhibition (from 16-21 December 2009) featuring texts, pictures, posters, sound installations, objects and other representations of our beloved Christmas tree. Unlike the standardized Christmas trees, these so called “Designer Trees” come with no guidelines, no selections or short-listings and no limitations on submissions.

For the fast and the furious: It is still possible to send your own Christmas tree idealization, critique, persiflage, redesign or other transformation until the 16th of December! We are looking forward to a great exhibition and great party!

See more pictures after the jump, or enjoy last year’s x-mas trees here.

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This week’s Workspace of the Week is Jóhannes’s experiment in “forced-minimalism”:

When Jóhannes lost the use of his MacBook Pro, he decided to simplify his workspace and just use his backup computer, a first-generation 15″ G4 iMac running software that many people would consider to be a few generations behind the curve. For Jóhannes, the inherent limitations of the hardware have a distinct advantage:

I guess the best thing about all this is that the computer forces me to do only one (to two) things at a time. less multitasking, more focus. Simple computing.

Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.

Hong Kong architects MAP Office have installed a point for viewing the city through two pairs of binoculars in Hong Kong as part of the Shenzhen & Hong Kong bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, which opened this week. (more…)

As mediums go, guns rarely figure into an artist’s tools, but for Alabama-based Walton Creel they have become the weapon of choice for creating thought-provoking art. CH caught up with Creel to learn more about his series, “Deweaponizing the Gun.”

Growing up surrounded by the powerful weapon, Creel bought his first gun in his teens—a mini-14, the gun used by the A-Team—which he first put to use while on a date with his girlfriend. “Here, guns seem to be woven into the fabric of southern society,” he explains. Wanting to explore more about the gun culture that seemed to permeate his life and many others who use guns recreationally throughout the U.S., Creel set out to “incorporate guns into a project that could speak to that.”

His work, created by shooting bullets into reinforced aluminum and generating a patterned silhouette effect, Creel admits the process drained him, “I started off just going into the woods with canvas, then realized I needed a stronger material.” Taking nearly a full year to develop his current technique and the resulting first piece (an image of a deer) Creel took time off before continuing to work on the remaining pieces of his series.

Completing his project two years later, Creel’s collection of works challenges popular opinion about the purpose of guns and their ability for uses in a positive light—not surprisingly their reception has been mixed.

“Whatever view a person already holds on guns is the view they project onto me. If they love guns and think gun ownership is a God-given right, then they see my work as reinforcement of that view. If they think guns should be banned, they see my work as an ironic protest.”

Dutch designer Maarten Baas, this year’s Design Miami/ Designer of the Year, presented a specially-commissioned cabinet at the show in Miami last week. (more…)