Hasta La Ideas

The January issue of Wallpaper* is an “augmented reality special.” The magazine features a special 3-D cover of the sort employed by this month’s InStyle, fronted by a festive and even more sparkly than usual Taylor Swift. In both cases, the multi-dimensional fun requires a webcam: hold the Wallpaper* cover up to one and see the flat image of designer Jørund Blikstad‘s “Wall Cubes” spring into 3-D. Move it around in front of your computer screen to view the shelving from various angles. This may garner strange looks from those around you, but it’s the wave of the future according to Wallpaper* and Wolff Olins, who partnered to predict the ten developments that could change the world in 2010. Augmented reality—that is, computer-generated images that mix with reality—is at the top of the list (we’ve posted the other nine below). And speaking of augmented reality, the magazine has announced the intriguing mix of creative and downright eccentric people selected to judge the 2010 Wallpaper* Design Awards. It’s quite a crew: Paris-based fashion designer John Galliano, Belgian-born installation artist Carsten Höller, American interior designer Kelly Wearstler, British media executive James Murdoch, American architect Steven Holl, and Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar. Oh, to be a fly on the wall(paper)!

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The first time we ever visited St. Louis, around this time last year, we were of course excited to see the city’s iconic Arch. But then we quickly found how impossible and/or undesirable it is to get anywhere near it (less so on the Missouri side, definitely in Illinois). When we were back there this summer and had to shoot some quick b-roll footage of the Arch for a project, we wound up doing it from a moving car, allowing us to avoid fussing with the parking, the inexcusibly-placed casinos, etc. So even though our trips to the city have been limited to just two times thus far, we were happy to hear that St. Louis and officials at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (the Arch’s true name) have finally realized they have a problem and are acting on it. They’ve launched a design competition, Framing a Modern Masterpiece, in hopes of integrating “the Arch and the park surrounding it into the fabric of the city and region and embrace the Mississippi River and its east bank.” Once the entries are in, the multi-stage reviews take place, and they’ve picked a winner in early October of next year, the city hopes to have whatever plan takes shape finished up by 2015, the 50th anniversary of the Arch. Here’s to hoping they’re smart about it and it does do something to revitalize the area (our recommendation is to start by knocking down the Lumiere casino’s hideous, gigantic video billboard and running out of town every city planner who approved its construction).

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Based on all of last year’s negative reactions, you’d figure that the Turner Prize might have felt compelled to just pack it up and call it quits. But even the critics get it wrong from time to time (remember art critic and Turner judge Jonathan Jones‘ complaints? Along with his saying “Banksy is no longer hot”? Tell that to the droves of people who showed up in Bristol this year) because reactions this year, thus far, seem much, much more tame and, dare we say, even positive. It’s been announced this week that Scottish artist Richard Wright has won this year’s prize for his temporary gold-leaf pattern shown at the Tate Britain. He was the dark horse in the race, beating out a shortlist filled with odd pieces you could tell critics were just waiting to rip apart. But now all can rest easy, as the quiet, oldest member of that list, who didn’t expect there’d be much chance of winning, has taken home the crown. And what does the aforementioned Jonathan Jones have to say?

Wright is, in my opinion, one of the worthiest Turner winners ever. He’s also one of a handful of painters to have won it since I started following the exhibitions in 1993.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

(Photo: Prix Pictet)

It’s been quite a year for London-based photographer Nadav Kander. In January, he made a splash with the special inauguration issue of The New York Times Magazine, which devoted its entire feature well to his 52 full-page color portraits of “Obama’s People.” The quirky portfolio garnered him the title of International Photographer of the Year in the International Photography Awards, announced last month during the Lucie Awards Gala. Kander’s latest honor spotlights a body of work far beyond the Beltway. He is the winner of the 2009 Prix Pictet for his photographs of the life and landscape along the banks of China’s Yangtze River, which he traced from its mouth in Shanghai to its source—about 4,000 miles away—in Qinghai Province. Kander was presented with the CHF 100,000 (approximately $98,000) award by former United Nations Secretary Kofi Annan at a ceremony held last week in Paris.

Now in its second year, the Prix Pictet is a Pictet & Cie-sponsored global photography competition that seeks to promote sustainability. This year’s theme was “Earth.” The twelve photographers shortlisted for the 2009 prize included Andreas Gursky, Edward Burtynsky, Naoya Hatakeyama, and Ed Kashi, who was awarded the 2009 Prix Pictet Commission. The American photographer will travel to Madagascar and produce a series of photographs to bolster the work of Azafady, a charity that works to eradicate poverty, suffering, and environmental damage in the island nation. An exhibition of work shortlisted for Prix Pictet is on view through November 23 at the Passage de Retz in Paris and then tours to Thessaloniki (December), Dubai (January), and Eindhoven (March). Go here for an online preview.

Previously on UnBeige:

We’re not sure how to feel about this one. When we posted a few weeks back about famous pastor/writer Rick Warren holding a quick contest for people to design his new book’s cover, it seemed to have grabbed some attention, largely from those against any form of spec work. Now the same company he worked with to handle that contest, 99Designs, itself created to foster a spec model of working, has launched another high-profile contest, this time with South by Southwest, asking people to design an official t-shirt for the 2010 edition of the popular film, music, and interactive festival. So we leave it up for you to decide if this is perfectly fine (it’s just a copy of the popular Threadless model, after all) or it feels a little odd considering SXSW’s focus on getting independent contractors (in a sense) working together, as opposed to pitting them against one another for a few bucks (the prize is $500).

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.