Started back in 2006, Bak is an online magazine devoted to graphic design, photography, and art. It’s free, and what makes it particularly interesting is that anyone can send in their work for consideration of inclusion. The site itself is a little strange, but there is definitely some interesting work in some of their issues. Take a look.
Last November, we reported that the Berkeley Art Museum was another victim of the economic downfall, as their plans to build a new Toyo Ito designed building to move into evaporated due to insufficient funding. But the museum, along with the Pacific Film Archive, sound like they’re going to try to make the best of it (and still escape their current “seismically unsafe” building) with the announcement that they’ve decided to move into a former printing plant, one with landmark status to boot. The benefit is that the new/old building is located near downtown Berkeley, making it far more visible and apt to receive more visitors. And although there will still be a great deal of construction needed to prepare their new digs, the museum is appreciative of both the lessened costs and that now they can be much more green:
“It would be controversial to tear down a landmark, but if you’re adapting it, that’s far more popular,” he said. “I think it’s expected that there would be modifications, and people simply have to compare tearing something down to making some changes.
[Berkeley City Councilmember Susan Wengraf] said moving the museum to the proposed location would be more economically practical than demolishing the current building and constructing a new one.“The adaptive reuse of an older building is the greenest thing you can do,” she said. “It’s very exciting that the new director is interested in pursuing that idea.”
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Stuck for a suitably creative Valentine’s gift for your loved one? If you’re in London, you could make your own glass heart at Zest’s studio
Zest, the contemporary glass gallery in West Brompton, will be holding courses for couples to come and make each other a glass heart on Saturday 13 February. Or, if you want to make it a surprise, you can go along on the evening of Thursday 11 Feb where, for £25 you can blow your own (if you see what we mean).
And then, when everything goes sour, you can pick it up and symbolically dash it to the floor where it will shatter into a thousand shards, just like the ruined remains of your so-called relationship. Sorry, got carried away there…
Incurable romantics can email corinne@zestgallery to book a place.
All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!
As a promotion to build brand awareness, the company World Wide Bakery (a Macedonian company known for their frozen, stuffed, savory pies) made and distributed the unitasking wonder known as the Calendar 2010 Rolling Pin.
Not only is this item limited to being used for just a 12-month time period (or, rather, 11 months now that it’s February), but it has to be used in conjunction with another rolling pin that first flattens the dough to a smooth finish. And, I have yet to come up with a reason why someone would want to roll the 2010 calendar into their baked goods. The whole idea seems a little odd to me.
Granted, if you chose to use it as a weapon to fight off home invaders, then it would clearly be a multi-tasker. However, I don’t think violence was what World Wide Bakery had in mind when they produced this unitasking gem.
(Thanks to Sarah for the link and Ads of the World for the images.)
The shoe sculpture
Since launching its Made Of Japan campaign in 2007, trainer brand Onitsuku Tiger has created a series of shoe sculptures, each representing different aspects of Japanese culture. Its latest celebrates Tansu, the Japanese woodworking tradition…
The shoe being built
The new shoe sculpture, which was created in a traditional woodshop in Japan by expert craftsmen, forms part of a campaign titled Hidden Tiger by ad agency Amsterdam Worldwide. In keeping with the Tansu tradition of carpentry, the sculpture contains a number of beautifully carved wooden boxes and drawers.
The online shoe, where visitors can interact with the boxes and drawers
Traditionally, these drawers would be used to conceal kimonos, medicinal herbs and swords. The Onitsuku Tiger Tansu shoe instead contains stories of the shoe brand, as well as films, photos and other fun Japanese stuff, which can be discovered by interacting with it online at onitsukutiger.com. Visitors may find some of the drawers locked, presumably as a tactic to get them to return to the site at a later date.
One of the open drawers on the website
The shoe sculpture itself will tour various stores throughout the year, and will first be on show at Offspring in Selfridges, London, from this Friday. To see previous shoe sculptures created for Onitsuku Tiger, visit the website here.
These elements, which are available in different surface materials, colours, patterns, and which can be combined with additional elements such as foot..
Voici une installation massive de balles, pensée par l’artiste australien Nike Savvas, et qui a été exposée il y a peu à la Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery. Cette série “Full of Love and Full of Wonder” représente un nuage d’atomes composé grâce à un effet d’optique de 1000 balles colorées.
Although people like Norman Foster and his fellow Yalies might be filled with fond feelings for legendary architect Paul Rudolph, his work around the country continues to find itself in jeopardy. By way of Archinect, we’ve learned that Rudolph’s John W. Chorley Elementary School in Middletown, NY is in danger of being demolished and replaced with a parking lot, which will serve the new elementary school built to replace the original. If this sounds familiar, it’s a very similar situation to what happened in Sarasota, Florida in 2008 with Rudolph’s Riverview High School, which, despite architecture activist’s push to save it, was ultimately voted to be demolished because the city couldn’t afford to restore it. Chorley Elementary now faces destruction as early as next year, but the New York State Preservation League is already trying to fight for its survival. Here’s a quick description of the beautiful modern building and a certainly uncomfortable quote from back on its opening day:
Built of fluted concrete block, and designed to reflect the limitless potential of its pupils, each class room has its own door to the exterior, and is open within the wing, allowing teachers the capacity to teach up to eight classes at once. At its dedication, on May 18, 1969, then Superintendent of schools John L. Krause wrote “let us hope that forty years hence people will be commenting favorably on the foresight of this community during the ’60’s”.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
I’ve declared February as a Super Simple Month in our house. To me, a Super Simple Month is defined as no travel for work, one social engagement a week or less, no shopping except for necessities, and no new large projects (craft, writing, organizations, etc.). The goal is to finish some items already in progress on my to-list, relax as much as I can with my family, and be as low-key as possible.
This Super Simple Month idea came to me last Thursday after I returned from my second of two trips to New York in four days. I was exhausted, and the idea of getting in the car and driving to Richmond the next day made me incredibly anxious. When I woke up Friday morning with a fever, I picked up the phone and cancelled my third trip for the week. I had hit my limit. Out of 31 days in January, I had been home fewer than 20.
I realized that if I am to achieve my first quarter New Year’s Resolution of gaining more energy that I had to make some serious changes. I’ve been doing great with my resolutions to eat well, exercise, and get eight to nine hours a night of sleep — but these resolutions haven’t been enough. I still don’t have the energy levels I’d like. (I do wonder, however, how awful I would have felt at the end of January had I not kept on track with these things!)
Have you ever declared a Super Simple Month for yourself or something similar? What rules did you impose to keep your schedule low-key? Was it a success? Do you wish you would have done anything differently? Three days into Super Simple Month and I have to admit that I’m really loving it. I’m sure that by the time March begins I’ll be interested in adding more activities back into my schedule, but, for now, a calm February is exactly what I need.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
