Influenceuses, comédiens, musiciennes, cinéastes ou encore mannequins, de Christine and the Queens à Kyan Khojandi en passant par Iggy Pop ou encore Inna Modja, la prolifique photographe française Pauline Darley réalise de nombreux clichés de célébrités, tout en menant de front plusieurs mandats pour la publicité et des projets personnels. Ses photos à la précision saisissante réussissent à immortaliser une expression, une émotion ou encore un détail unique avec sincérité. Qu’elle élabore des portraits minimalistes en noir et blanc ou encore des séries fashion hautes en textures et en couleurs, le travail de cette artiste nous émerveille autant qu’il séduit l’industrie de la mode, du marketing et bien des personnalités publiques. Rencontre.
Tu réalises un nombre très impressionnant de portraits d’influenceurs et de personnes célèbres qui se retrouvent bien souvent dans diverses publications et publicités internationales. Comment en es-tu arrivée là?
En fait assez «naturellement» dans le sens où tout s’est fait assez crescendo pour moi, que ce soit pour les opportunités, les projets ou les clients. Je suis arrivée à la photographie tout simplement car j’avais besoin d’un médium artistique, et le numérique commençait. C’était beaucoup plus simple et accessible pour moi. Je pouvais recommencer une photo, tester des choses, changer des couleurs avec un logiciel de retouches. Et je suis tout de suite allée vers les portraits. L’humain est ce qui m’intéresse le plus ! Donc j’ai commencé à prendre en photo des amies, des amies d’amies, des modèles puis des modèles d’agences, etc.
En 2018, cela fera 8 ans que la photographie est mon métier, mais je n’avais jamais imaginé que ce serait le cas un jour ! J’ai fait un master d’information-communication et pendant ma dernière année d’études je commençais à me faire payer pour des photos. J’ai voulu tenter à ce moment-là, voir si j’arriverais à en vivre. Aujourd’hui je me sens chanceuse d’être là, d’avoir un agent et d’être accompagnée par une équipe solide qui me fait confiance.
Qu’est-ce qui t’inspire dans la photo de mode et de beauté?
La création dans l’extravagance autant que dans le naturel. Choisir de montrer une certaine facette, imaginer des univers! J’adore tout cela!
Quels sont tes projets en cours?
Cet été j’aurais trois ou quatre séances personnelles totalement différentes, je suis vraiment impatiente ! J’ai hâte de voir ce que nous allons faire avec mon équipe et réaliser tout ce que j’ai en tête.
As the showpiece of the exhibition Robin Hood Gardens: A Ruin in Reverse, the fragment is the facade of one flat from the famous brutalist estate, which was built by architects Alison and Peter Smithson in 1974, but which is now midway through demolition.
The various elements of the structure are held in place by a complex scaffolding system, devised by Arup engineers. This makes it possible for biennale visitors to climb up onto one of the raised walkways that were a key feature of the design.
The V&A is showing part of the demolished Robin Hood Gardens at the Venice Architecture Biennale
The V&A announced that it was acquiring part of Robin Hood Gardens shortly before demolition started in December 2017. As well as this section, which was extracted specifically to exhibit in Venice, the museum has also taken all the components to reassemble an entire one-bedroom flat.
It has not been announced when this larger fragment will be revealed to the public. But it will contain the modular furnishings installed when the building first opened, as well as the concrete structure and facade.
The concrete facade pieces are mounted onto a scaffolding system devised by Arup engineers, shown here while still under construction
Robin Hood Gardens was made up of two concrete slab blocks, arranged on opposite sides of an expansive garden. The broad walkways, described as streets in the sky by the Smithsons, were intended to foster the same street life of London’s traditional terraced houses.
The installation allows biennale visitors to climb up onto the building’s famous “streets in the sky”
This exhibition, located in the Arsenale area of the biennale, aims to explore the legacy of the estate and question whether or not it offers a model for social housing of the future.
“The case of Robin Hood Gardens is arresting because it embodied such a bold vision for housing provision, yet less than 50 years after its completion it is being torn down,” explained curators Olivia Horsfall Turner and Christopher Turner.
“Out of the ruins of Robin Hood Gardens, we want to look again at the Smithsons’ original ideals and ask how they can inform and inspire current thinking about social housing.”
The curators were careful not to try and avoid “fetishising” the concrete structure. So the exhibition also includes a series of photographs and films, offering a look at the building at different stages in its history.
the exhibition also includes a series of photographs and films, offering a look at the building at different stages in its history
Another is the BBC’s 1970 documentary, The Smithsons on Housing, which explores the social thinking behind the design.
“We’ve tried to map the whole arch of the Smithsons’ vision, the twists and turns of the estate’s history and its fate and evaluate that as a whole,” Turner told Dezeen.
“This was the golden era of the welfare state. This is when architects in Britain were most empowered to create extraordinary buildings at a massive scale,” he continued. “Estates like Robin Hood Gardens, Alexandra Road [by Neave Brown] are amazing architectural achievements.”
A film by Korean artist Do Ho Suh offers a look inside four apartments occupied by long-term residents
In the context of London’s present housing crisis – both the shortage of affordable homes and the neglect of council-owned properties such as Grenfell Tower – the exhibition seeks to explore what lessons can be learnt from the estate.
“We were really interested in the Smithsons’ generous architectural and social vision and in unpacking that and using that as a lens to look to the future of social housing,” said Turner.
The V&A museum is located in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, not far from Grenfell Tower. Just 10 council homes have been built in the borough since former British prime minster Margaret Thatcher gave council tenants the right to buy in the 1980s, explained Turner.
“How can we look at what is preventing us from being able to create affordable housing for all in our society? That’s the big question,” he said. “Increasing land values means that is changing. We’re asking what kind of a city we want to build now, what kind of provision we want to create for housing in the city that is available for everyone.”
“One of the big differences between when the Smithsons were building and now is that councils had in-house architectural teams and so they were constantly working on projects that were for the councils,” said Turner. “Almost 80 per cent of architects were working for the council and now its less that one per cent.”
Robin Hood Gardens: A Ruin in Reverse is on show until 25 November 2018, as part of the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale
This is not the first time Robin Hood Gardens has been on show in Venice – the Smithsons exhibited an image of it during the Venice Art Biennale of 1976.
Writing about the estate at the time, they said: “A building under assembly is a ruin in reverse”. This was the inspiration for the exhibition title.
Robin Hood Gardens: A Ruin in Reverse is on show until 25 November 2018, as part of the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale.
In an interview with Dezeen, Farrell and McNamara claimed that, while architects don’t have the power to combat global issues, small projects can make a huge contribute to society.
Turner told Dezeen the generous innovations the Smithsons offered residents at Robin Hood Gardens encapsulates this idea of generosity.
Designer Katrin Greiling took over the Toyo Ito-designed Kinnsand showroom in Milan to create a series of experimental forms with rugs and textiles from the Swedish brand.
Called Structures, the exhibition featured Kinnasand textiles arranged over two types of frame, to transform them into objects based on Middle Eastern traditions.
“With my background as a furniture designer, it was clear to me from the start that my goal would be to develop something that could be considered furniture to either sit or lay on,” said Greiling, who is currently based in Berlin but has previously worked in Sweden and Dubai.
“Drawing references from my years in the Middle East I decided to elevate and transform the surfaces into three-dimensional objects,” she explained.
“The aim was to be able to experience the surfaces not just with your feet but with your entire body.”
The two powder-coated metal frames created by Greiling, called Structures and Longarm Very Long, were combined to create 11 objects, including four different kinds of furniture – an ottoman, a daybed, a bench and a table.
Each frame was finished in a colour to complement the textile, ranging from white to brilliant blue, coral and softer pink and grey.
“Structures invites the visitor to sit or lay down, to get comfortable,” continued Greiling.
“Longarm reaches into the height of the space with its airy curtain fabrics. To contrast the lightness, each Longarm is grounded with a heavy rock on its base.”
The pieces were arranged around the Kinnasand showroom designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito in 2014, and covered with textiles from the brand’s Space Tunes collection by its creative director Isa Glink.
The colour palette of the selected fabrics was directed in part by the “honest” materials of Ito’s design – wood, glass and stone.
“As the space can be experienced as narrow it was important to both have calm elements as well as luminance a few metres into the space to create an organic movement,” said Greiling.
“The quality of each of the materials – powder-coated metal and hand-knotted and woven woolen surfaces are accentuated in contrast to each other, soft to hard, matt to glossy, light to heavy.”
Structures is the latest output from Kinnasand Lab, an initiative set up by Glink in 2017 to explore collaborations with designers beyond the Kinnasand product range.
The installation was on show during Milan design week as part of a collection of events and exhibitions by Kinnasand’s parent company Kvadrat, including the latest collection from its circular materials brand Really.
At last year’s Milan design week, Greiling curated Everything Is Connected, an exhibition of Norwegian contemporary craft and design.
Hairdryers are one of the most awkward devices to store; their unusual shape and long cable doesn’t make them ‘draw-friendly’ products. But because of this they are left out, making the room look messy and unorganized.
The, rather appropriately named, Square Circle Square hairdryer’s primary goal is to be easy and hassle-free to store, and this is achieved thanks to a few neat features! The uniquely shaped body that consists of, you guessed it, a square a circle and another square, allows the fabric-coated cable to be wrapped around and then held in place. This combats the annoying issue that conventional hairdryers suffer with, which is the cable sliding off and becoming a tangled, frustration-causing mess.
The hairdryer’s handle rotates 90 degrees to become parallel with the minimalistic body, creating a far more draw-friendly shape!
Disney just released the first full-length trailer for Christopher Robin, an upcoming 2018 live-action/animated fantasy film inspired by A. A. Milne’s classic children’s book Winnie-the-Pooh. Christopher Robin ventures into theaters on August 3rd.”In the heartwarming live action adventure Disneyâs Christopher Robin, the young boy who shared countless adventures with his band of lovable stuffed animals in the Hundred Acre Wood is now grown up and living in London but he has lost his way. Now it is up to his childhood friends to venture into our world and help Christopher Robin rediscover the joys of family life, the value of friendship and to appreciate the simple pleasures in life once again.”..(Read…)
“Dave Paddock and son Sinch Paddock, 14, have raised the Indiana State Fair’s largest hog Boris, one of their family pets, at Diamond Farms in Anderson, Ind. The male pig placed first this year, weighing in at 1,130 pounds. (August 2017)”..(Read…)
Durant la biennale d’architecture de Venise, une exposition en particulier a retenu notre attention : l’installation organisée par Dieter Roelstraete qui se concentre sur trois philosophes du XXe siècle : Theodor W. Adorno, Martin Heidegger et Ludwig Wittgenstein. L’exposition explore l’influence de ces intellectuels sur les conditions d’exil, d’évasion et de retraite, ainsi que sur les espaces physiques ou mentaux qui favorisent la pensée et la production philosophique.
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.
