Hasta La Ideas

We know that COVID can be transmitted through fomites–objects and surfaces that are covered in virus particles–and thus we wash our hands and disinfect surfaces.

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It’s also known that COVID can be transmitted via droplets–the visible particles that shoot out of our mouths when we cough or sneeze, and which typically fall to the ground within 3-6 feet–which is why we maintain social distancing and wear masks.

Getting far less attention is the science-backed theory that COVID can be transmitted by aerosols, as measles, chickenpox and tuberculosis can. Far smaller than droplets, aerosol particles can float in the air for minutes to hours.

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As a useful example, consider that secondhand smoke also consists of aerosol particles. If you walk into a poorly ventilated room where someone has smoked a cigarette hours before, you can still smell the smoke in the air, because the particles still linger.

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We don’t need to sneeze or cough to expel aerosols; all we need to do is exhale. Talking, talking loudly and shouting each increase the rate of aerosols we put out. When this is considered, it’s no wonder that crowded, noisy bars are superspreader environments.

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A single infected person with a leaky mask–or a mask that they remove to enjoy their drink–can exhale their way around the entire room, providing comprehensive coverage. If you’ve ever been in a bar where smoking is allowed, you know that it doesn’t matter if you smoke or not; when you get home, you stink of cigarette smoke. You can smell it in your hair and your clothes because you’ve been around it all night.

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So what can we do to protect ourselves and our fellow citizens? The first thing is to get informed and let the data shape your behavior. Here are some salient points put forth by chemistry professor Jose-Luis Jimenez, a researcher in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado-Boulder and the American Association for Aerosol Research, as recounted to Time:

– “I, together with many other scientists, believe that a substantial share of COVID-19 cases are the result of transmission through aerosols. The evidence in favor of aerosols is stronger than that for any other pathway….”

– “…It was thought for decades that tuberculosis was transmitted by droplets and fomites…but research eventually proved that tuberculosis can only be transmitted through aerosols. I believe that we have been making a similar mistake for COVID-19.”

– “When it comes to COVID-19, the evidence overwhelmingly supports aerosol transmission, and there are no strong arguments against it.”

– “Superspreading events, where one person infects many, occur almost exclusively in indoor locations and are driving the pandemic. These observations are easily explained by aerosols, and are very difficult or impossible to explain by droplets or fomites.”

– “The visual analogy of smoke can help guide our risk assessment and risk reduction strategies. One just has to imagine that others they encounter are all smoking, and the goal is to breathe as little smoke as possible.”

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Practical steps advocated by Jimenez are to ensure our own masks are tight-fitting–and “to not stand behind someone with a poorly fitting mask;” imagine they’re exhaling secondhand smoke and it’s streaming out of the leaks. Furthermore, we oughn’t remove our masks to speak.

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If congregating with others is necessary, it should be done outdoors in a well-ventilated space (i.e. parks good, alleyways bad.)

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Jimenez has helpfully outlined a “consistent and logical set of recommendations” that he’s acronym-ized as “A CIViC DUTY:” Avoid Crowding, Indoors, low Ventilation, Close proximity, long Duration, Unmasked, Talking/singing/Yelling.” You can read more details here.

United Sodas of America’s color-coded variety pack features 12 flavors in matching hues. From Extra Peachy to Cherry Pop, Sour Blueberry and Toasted Coconut, every iteration is naturally flavored using proprietary recipes that are low in sugar and calories. Designed by Alex Center of CENTER DESIGN (who have handled branding projects for Kin, Vitamin Water and New Balance), the rainbow-forming pack also looks super-appealing.

This Japanese home designed by architect Suzuko Yamada is connected to its garden through a scaffold of steel pipes and platforms that can be adapted according to the owner’s needs.

Set in a residential area of Tokyo, the three-storey house and its gabled roof are entirely clad in sheets of corrugated metal, save only for the side that is facing the front yard.

Here, the design forgoes a solid wall in favour of an assemblage of 34 windows of different sizes and sashes, rendered alternately in wood, steel or aluminium.

All of these can be opened, allowing the inhabitants to step straight out into the garden on the first floor as well as providing access to two steel platforms on the second floor, which are propped up by the scaffolding to form balconies.

A spiral staircase is strategically integrated into the steel pipe system to allow the garden’s fruit trees to be pruned and harvested at different heights.

The scaffolding also allows the house to be continually expanded and reconfigured, as additional elements such as bannisters or rails for drying clothes can be added simply by clamping or unclamping different pipes.

“Since the family moved into the house, steel pipes have provided additional structures in the yard to support trees, as well as creating bike racks and awnings,” Yamada told Dezeen.

“On the interior, the wooden structure allows them to easily attach and detach elements such as shelves and lighting, even if it’s a DIY project.”

This flexibility allowed the owners to transform a studio in the semi-basement, which originally designed for the owner’s video production work, into a shared family office for working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

Throughout the house, which is called Daita2019, structural conifer plywood is used for the walls while the building’s posts and beams are made of rice pine wood.

These structural features were left exposed as well as the steel members and the bracings between beams and pillars, to create layers and distinct spaces in the home without the need for walls.

This idea was informed by a trip the architect took to Rwanda, where she witnessed families of wild mountain gorillas in their natural habitat, improvising their house among the trees.

There were clear, delineated spaces for the young and the old, for rest and for play, without solid structures separating them from each other and from the surrounding nature.

Similarly, by alternately obscuring and revealing the view through the wall of windows, Daita2019 is able to balance a feeling of openness with the need for privacy.

“Authentic Japanese architecture is an axial wooden structure made of linear elements,” Yamada said. “I thought that by reassembling these elements in a more three-dimensional way, we could create a place where humans could live and hide like animals in a forest.”

“Rather than performing predetermined acts in a predetermined place, they will be able to listen to music, read, eat, and converse where they choose.”

Daita2019 was longlisted for this year’s Dezeen Award in the urban house category, with shortlists set to be announced at the start of September.

Among the other projects nominated in the category is Thang House in Vietnam, where recycled water from a ground-floor fish pond is fed into a rooftop garden, as well as a home designed by Polish architect Robert Konieczny with a moving outdoor living space.

The post Suzuko Yamada encloses reconfigurable Tokyo home in permanent scaffolding appeared first on Dezeen.

Eddie Otchere is a London-based curator, photographer and educator best known for his portraits of hip-hop legends including Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan and Biggie Smalls.

Parisian photographer Remy Bourdeau has spent the last decade documenting Paris and London nightlife, and capturing performances by the likes of Skepta and Princess Nokia in the process.

In their new joint show, Futur Noir, the two photographers and friends have curated an exploration of hip-hop history through the lens of the two European cities where their own careers have played out.

Housed at south London’s San Mei Gallery, the exhibition is accompanied by a series of public programmes, including photography workshops and a limited edition zine featuring the contact sheets of the key prints in the show.

The exhibition is intended to be a dialogue between Otchere and Bourdeau’s individual practices, tracing the growth of hip-hop and its wider impact on everything from popular culture to politics and race relations over the years.

Speaking to Dazed about the motivation behind the show, Otchere and Bourdeau said: “We wanted to praise our favourite icons in only a way photography can – with big prints. We paid close attention to the soultress and the MC, but we have chosen to celebrate the moment when the MC gets the crowd, and the crowd is as fly as the MC.

“We know as the watchers we too need to represent the beautiful futur noir. From Erykah Badu to Jorja Smith to Lord Apex to Jean Grey to Rejjie Snow, we had to create a gallery of new G.O.A.T.S and old.”

Futur Noir is on on display at San Mei Gallery until 5 September; sanmeigallery.co.uk

The post A new exhibition is celebrating two of hip-hop’s best known imagemakers appeared first on Creative Review.

Beth Ashley’s creations feel remarkably liquid, where shapes become viscous and lines bleed into one another. Her work has all the exaggerated contours of graffiti lettering, with striking outlines highlighted through vibrant colour blocking.

“Over the last year some sort of style certainly has emerged, but it did take me a while to fully surrender,” she tells us. “I would describe it as a clunky and shapely personification of some kind of internal instinct, with a hefty sprinkling of bum cheeks and bare feet. A massive thrust behind my practice recently has been to take greater ownership over composition. I love visual density, subtle exaggeration and try to seek out a calm kind of chaos.” However, more important to Ashley than style is the tone of her work, which is guided by an “absorbent and joyful language.”

Ashley studied Illustration at Leeds Arts University, and works across both illustration and printmaking. Her practice evolved significantly in third year, a time she describes as “particularly transformative” as she gained more confidence. “I realised what my voice feels like,” she says, and “the value and frivolity of my work.”

While in final year, she received a valuable piece of advice for overcoming “frenzy and fretting”, which she has adapted into a “working mental mantra: ‘Slow down, clear your mind, recapture the spirit of infinite potential’”, she explains. “I rewrite this battle cry all over my notebooks and sketchbooks and it has become such a useful reminder to be a better functioning human. To pause and tread and muse and reflect.”

Although the pandemic impacted the end of her degree, she was able to make the most of her time in isolation. “Like most graduates during the last few weeks of our degrees, I just tried to make as good a go of it as I possibly could. Had my final major project unfolded as intended, I would have been putting hours into making large scaled screen printed outcomes,” she says.

“As satisfying as that would have been, I wouldn’t have allowed myself the time to address deep frustrations I was harbouring within my work. When lockdown happened I found that I needed to reframe my process and assert some ownership over digitalising my illustrations. Having had that time to explore saved me a lot of unpacking once my studies were completed.”

In the absence of physical degree shows, she and three other illustrator friends poured their efforts into creating an Instagram showcase of their coursemates’ work. Yet during lockdown she has also tried to disconnect from the noise. “I am forever picking up my phone just to marvel and wallow at someone else’s productivity, and my own efforts feel feeble in comparison,” she says. “Slipping away and attending to some real-world existence whilst understanding that this isn’t a race and there’s no finish line, has proven to be a crucial act over these last few months. It’s a good routine to invest in, but difficult to keep hold of.”

Looking forward, Ashley aims to flesh out the connection between language and visuals (“give me your words and I’ll throw you some shapes”) and, as a fan of murals, hopes to one day undertake some “large scale adventures”, she says. “One day I hope to see my work in ginormous dimensions.”

“The creative industry is so expansive, if I’m able to occupy even a small corner of it I’ll be beaming. I relish the idea of working with extraordinary people and learning from their energy,” she says, adding that she’s drawn in particular to the “bustle” of the editorial field. “Ultimately, nurturing my practice and sustaining it is my central objective. To continually make, investigate, remould and evolve.”

Head here to see all our Gradwatch picks; bethashleyillustration.co.uk; @bethashleyillustration

The post Gradwatch 2020: Illustrator Beth Ashley, Leeds Arts University appeared first on Creative Review.