Hasta La Ideas

This temporary event space by Australian design collective Sibling features a cage that blocks mobile reception and Wi-Fi signals, creating the “ultimate disconnection space” (+ slideshow).

Sibling‘s installation, called ON/OFF and presented at the University of Melbourne earlier this autumn, featured a Faraday cage – an electrified mesh enclosure that blocks electromagnetic signals and creates a “cold spot”.

The designers created the cage in order to achieve the opposite of what most contemporary design and technology tries to achieve: to disconnect people, rather than connect them.

“Connection is a popular motif in design,” write the designers. “All types of infrastructure – bridges, pathways, transportation, service systems, forums and applications – wish to tie into the urban fabric and make things productive.

“However, there is also an opposite tendency: the act of disconnection. Sibling asks: How can one remove oneself from connectivity?”

The outside of the cage was clad in mirrors while the interior had perforated surfaces. “We used circle-perforated sheeting in order to symbolise the interior as being off the grid, as one is disconnected from technology,” said Sibling’s Timothy Moore.

“This is the reality as one will notice upon entering and sealing the door that their smartphone Wi-Fi bars will drop slowly until they turn off,” he added.

Faraday cages were invented by English scientist Michael Faraday in 1836 and are used to conduct sensitive experiments and protect delicate equipment from interference by electromagnetic waves.

On/Off was installed at the University of Melbourne from 13 September- 4 October as part of the ABP Alumni Survey Series. Talks took place within the cage, which accommodated up to ten people.

Photography by Tobias Titz.

Here’s some more information from Sibling:

The right of connection – to housing, health, education, the internet, financial capital – allows humans to improve the spaces they occupy in the world. Heightened connectivity also demands an opposite tendency: the ability to switch off. On/Off takes an extreme position on connectivity through the construction of a type of Faraday cage. Discovered by Michael Faraday in 1836 it is a structure covered by a conductive material that prevents electromagnetic charges reaching its interior. It is the ultimate disconnection space.

Within the mirror-clad monolith created by SIBLING sits a starkly warm space where smartphone reception is blocked. It is a gesture to physically connect people in a space with architecture creating a filter (or temporary firewall) between the individual and the world. The space of disconnection is situated within a red grid, which provides a flattened interior without hierarchy or end. This vastness is reflected by the mirror into infinity creating a neutral environment from which to begin social experiments in cold spots.

On/Off was an exhibition at the University of Melbourne from September 13 – October 4 as part of the ABP Alumni Survey Series. During the exhibition a series of events occurred – arduino workshops, well-being seminars and lunches – to experiment within a space of disconnection. A film and book also accompanied the exhibition.

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a disconnected “cold spot” appeared first on Dezeen.

Clothes printed with artist Richard Woods’ woodgrain graphics featured in this week’s Spring Summer 2014 show by London fashion studio Sibling.

Woods‘ signature timber-like designs patterned Sibling‘s garments and were echoed on the wall at the start of the catwalk.

The collection also included knitted sportswear, comprising panels of circular links and diamond lattices used to make shorts, three-quarter-length trousers and deep V-necks.

Thick black seams, collars, cuffs and hems created outlines around sections coloured in saturated shades of pink, purple, blue and green, taken from the 1961 movie West Side Story.

The use of line was meant to reference the title sequence of West Side Story, designed by American graphic designer Saul Bass who was recently honoured with an animated Google doodle. “Bass is the king of creating narrative through the sparse use of lines,” said Sibling.

One fine-knit pink jumper, with black bands across the shoulders and around the tops of dropped sleeves, billowed around the hips and wrists.

Blue leopard print was used for a bomber jacket and shorts in one outfit, then for an unbuttoned sleeveless jacket and cropped trousers in the next.

Various shades of denim were worn over shirts and shorts, which were printed with female figures or fists grasping jagged arrows.

Towards the end of the show, blue tracksuits emblazoned with stars depicted an “S” on the back of a hooded top and the front of a sleeveless sweatshirt.

Unusually, the designers encouraged models to smile as they paraded the attire during London Collections: Men, the city’s menswear-only fashion event, earlier this week.

Sibling’s mens collection last season included oversized knitted accessories and their Autumn Winter 2013 womenswear show featured colourful crocheted flowers.

Earlier this year, Richard Woods collaborated with designer Sebastian Wrong to create a collection of chairs that wouldn’t seem out of place in a cartoon.

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Sibling provided us with the following information:

East Side Story – Sibling Spring Summer 2014

West Side Story becomes East Side Story for Sibling this season bringing the tale of angry American youth closer to home.

“Finger clicks, high kicks, yet never feminizing men,” were just some of the messages taken on board from the musical by Sibling, AKA Joe Bates, Cozette McCreery and Sid Bryan. Saul Bass’ iconic film titles also inspired the graphic use of line in the collection.

“One of the key words for us this season is ‘graphic’,” explain Sibling. “The nature of knit, its texture, softness and drape – we wanted to bring hard lines into it. Saul Bass is the king of creating narrative through the sparse use of lines. Then there is the idea of the youthful male, the idea of young men setting themselves into tribes and having dress codes as tribes. Whether that is a motorcycle gang, a street gang – their dress is their literal badge of honour.”

There is a collaboration with the artist Richard Woods that also emphasises the use of graphics in the collection, with his signature woodprint.

A nod to American sportswear is given a British domestic spin – or rather knit. And for the first time Sibling unveil their denim pieces made on the model of traditional American military apparel.

The global message of American youth culture also finds it’s expression in the influence of Bruce Davidson’s photographs on the collection. In particular the blown-up embroidered motifs from denim gang jackets, WW2 airplane nose art and the scrawled graffiti prints that are peppered throughout.

At times utilizing the stiff plastic strings that go to make Scoobie friendship bracelets, new, lightweight woven knits incorporate their structural form. This is also a nod to the Ndebele tribe’s distinct colourful and graphic style of decoration.

And much of the colouring of the collection has a debt to them as well as to the cinematographer Daniel L Fapp’s colour saturation of West Side Story: Shark Blue, lilac, lime, Jet Blue and mint green.

This Spring-Summer collection marks the fifth anniversary of Sibling’s men’s knitwear line.

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by Sibling appeared first on Dezeen.