Hasta La Ideas

A work by Paola Pivi, exhibited by Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin at the Armory Show

Fair warning: The Armory Show is once again upon us, complete with the modern appendage that debuted last year (The Armory Show – Modern) and a new twist called Armory Focus, created to spotlight burgeoning art communities (first stop: Berlin). Newbies of note at this year’s fair include several galleries from New York’s Lower East Side, among them James Fuentes, Eleven Rivington, and Rachel Uffner Gallery. The fair opens to the public at noon today, but we were able to pop in yesterday, curtsy a greeting to Chuck Close, and speedwalk among the maze of booths to provide you with the following dozen or so works that caught our eye, before retiring to the B&B Italia VIP Lounge and the embrace of a Gaetano Pesce Up 5_6 chair. So in the spirit of Paola Pivi‘s goldfish on a plane, buckle your seatbelt and join us for a splashy Armory Show preview.

It’s hexagons a-go-go at Friedman Benda, which this year moves into the main fair, with Ai Weiwei’s giant 2006 huanghuali wood sculpture. In the background is Gottfried Helnwein’s “The Museum of the Innocents 3” (2009). (All photos: UnBeige)

Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? A work by Merlin Carpenter asks those who pass by the Simon Lee Gallery booth.

At Sean Kelly, Joseph Kosuth’s neon work “R.O.C. No Number #4” (1991) gets them gesticulating.

Veruca Salt would approve of Pilar Albarracin’s “Laying Hen” (2006), which moves, clucks, and laughs in the midst of 270 golden eggs at Galeria Filomena Soares.

After last year’s Kenny Scharf-o-rama (mmm…donuts), Paul Kasmin Gallery devotes its booth to the work of James Nares, handily securing our award for Booth We Would Most Like to Live In. Kasmin also takes our Best Booth Chairs award—those aluminum numbers are by Mattia Bonetti, who the gallery represents.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

pimg alt=”0athensbench.jpg” src=”http://www.core77.com/blog/images/0athensbench.jpg” width=”468″ height=”271″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” //p

pA HREF=”http://www.athensbenchmark.com/en/content/athens-bench-mark-english” Athens Bench Mark/A and A HREF=”http://www.athensbenchmark.com/en/content/future-bench-english” Future Bench/A are two concurrently-running design competitions aimed at designing benches (duh) for the city of Athens, Greece. The former contest specifies A HREF=”http://www.athensbenchmark.com/en/content/design-specifications” fairly strict design guidelines/A including disabled-friendly ergonomics, anti-vandalism finishes and mass production considerations, whereas the latter contest “allows artists and designers free range of their artistic expression without technical guidelines to limit them.”/p

pIf you’re one of the three winners of the Athens comp, the prize is simply mass production for the city of Athens and bragging rights; the three winners of the Future Bench comp will get cold, hard cash (3,000 Euros for 1st place, 2,000 Euros for 2nd, and 1,000 for 3rd.) Deadline for both is April 6th.br /
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pimg alt=”0MINI-Center-Rail.jpg” src=”http://www.core77.com/blog/images/0MINI-Center-Rail.jpg” width=”468″ height=”539″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” //p

pLast month we showed you A HREF=”http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/new_mini_gets_an_interior_accessory_rail_15778.asp” the cool center rail/A running down the interior of Mini’s forthcoming Countryman car. While their own designers have thought of plenty of uses for the rail–they’ve got a snap-in cup holder, iPod cradle and sunglasses case–they’re seeking more ideas for things to snap in there, and asking you./p

pThe A HREF=”http://www.minispace.com/en_us/background/?utm_source=twitter_su_designcompetition_9″ attendant design competition’s/A brief is, well, brief: “[We ask] what YOU would put on the brand new MINI Center Rail of the MINI Countryman. What is something that you don’t want to leave home without and always want to have at your fingertips?” First prize is a trip to Paris for two for the Paris Motor Show, and this competition has an absurdly low barrier to entry–you don’t even have to render your design in 3D, the Mini Design Team will take care of that for the top three designs. Instead, entrants download a template (A HREF=”http://www.minispace.com/en_us/background/?utm_source=twitter_su_designcompetition_9″ here/A, scroll down to find it) and overlay their concept in 2D./p

pDeadline is May 11th, so get crackin’! As you’ll see at the links above, other entries have already been posted to the site for public voting.br /
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pimg alt=”0dxisra.jpg” src=”http://www.core77.com/blog/images/0dxisra.jpg” width=”468″ height=”312″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” //p

pIn an ID-related bit of cultural exchange, a sixty-piece “A HREF=”http://www.dx.org/index.cfm?pagepath=Exhibitions/Upcoming_Exhibitionsid=19196″ From Mediterranean Traditional to Israeli Contemporary Design/A” exhibit is being mounted at Canada’s DX (Design Exchange) museum in Toronto. /p

blockquoteThis is an exhibition of current Israeli industrial design, examining what makes this country unique on the world stage. The exciting, dramatic, and colourful pieces on display include furniture, lighting, and recreation equipment.

p”Israeli design is the world’s best-kept secret,” wrote Professor Mel Bayers in his book Improvisation. Israeli culture combines many diverse influences, which offer an often difficult, yet fruitful ground for creativity, resulting in wide ranging and high quality designs. The Israeli culture and history stimulate innovation in design while preserving traditions that embody the society. These traditions include a vivid sense of humour, a rejection of bourgeois ideas of beauty, and a cunning use of new and used materials./blockquote/p

pTwo lucky attendees will get to take in a lot more Israeli design than is in the exhibit, which begins March 6th: A special promotional running in conjunction with the exhibition A HREF=”http://www.dxisraelcontest.ca/” will randomly give away a trip for two to Israel/A.br /
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pimg alt=”DesignersAccord_CCA_Logo1.jpg” src=”http://www.core77.com/blog/images/DesignersAccord_CCA_Logo1.jpg” width=”400″ height=”300″ class=”mt-image-center” style=”text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;” /br /
Design Change . Change Design: The first student-led Designers Accord Town Hall meeting will take place on Friday, March 12th at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Please join D-Rev#39;s Krista Donaldson and a href=”http://www.cca.edu/academics/graduate/design-mba”CCA’s Design Strategy MBA /astudents as we embark on a journey fueled by lively discussion surrounding Designing for Social Change. /p

blockquoteAs we move towards building a more responsible and sustainable future, design’s value is no longer measured in terms of beauty or function. Design is a now a framework for change, used by leaders around the world to solve our planet’s most challenging problems./blockquote

pThe event:/p

p6:00pm-6:45pm Networking #40;hors d’oeuvres and beer#43;wine#41;br /
6:45pm-7:15pm Keynote Presentation, Krista Donaldsonbr /
7:15pm-8:15pm Open Presentations on Social Impact, 5 min time slots br /
#40;volunteer now to present or at the door by 6:15 pm#41; br /
8:15-8:45 General Discussion #43; networking/p

pstrongCCA #47; Designers Accord Town Hall /strongbr /
March 12th, 2010, 6:00 pmbr /
California College of the Artsbr /
The Navebr /
1111 Eighth Streetbr /
San Francisco, CA 94107-2247br /
a href=”http://designchangechangedesign.eventbrite.com/”RSVP/a/pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/events/first_student-led_designers_accord_town_hall_at_cca_in_san_francisco_16054.asp”(more…)/a
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