Hasta La Ideas

Japanese designers Nendo will draw black and white floorboards that appear to flow around plinths for their solo show at the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute later this month.

Designed to showcase their Thin Black Lines and Dancing Squares projects, the exhibition will be divided into two rooms – one with black drawings on white and the other with white on black.

The walls of the second room will be curved as though visitors are walking through the image in a fish-eye lens.

See all our stories about Nendo here.

Photographs are by Daici Ano.

The information below is from Nendo:

Nendo’s solo exhibition in Taiwan will be held by the end of August.

“Nendo’s solo exhibition” design concept

A solo show at the Taiwanese government-sponsored National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute featuring two collections.

‘Thin black lines’ is a collection of furniture formed from ‘still black’, so we wanted to use ‘active black on white’ for the exhibition space. The drawings on the floor flow like river water around the exhibition stands.

‘Dancing squares’ is a collection based on the concept of ‘active white’, so we wanted a space that expressed the idea of ‘still black on white’.

Our room-sized sketch, affixed to walls and floor, uses a fish-eye lens-like effect as though viewers are seeing it through a tiny water drop.

See also:

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Anna by ZMIK	Leo Burnett Office by Ministry of Design	Paperboard Architecture by D’art for VDP

Dezeen Screen: here’s a movie about the almost invisible installation by Japanese architect Junya Ishigami that’s on show at the Barbican art gallery in London. Watch the movie »

The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum continues to find creative ways to keep the doors open as it prepares for the $64 million expansion and renovation that will begin in earnest this fall. While the main galleries closed early last month, the museum’s Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden and the Shop at Cooper-Hewitt have been welcoming visitors all summer, gratis. Next up: an installation featuring the work of American industrial designers recognized by the U.S. Postal Service in the new series of Forever stamps that we’ve been hoarding since Issue Day (which was celebrated with a ceremony at the Cooper-Hewitt, then still all a-twinkle with Van Cleef & Arpels jewels). Opening tomorrow in the museum’s Great Hall, “Quicktake: Stamps of Approval” features nine objects from the collection of George R. Kravis II and a related design drawing from the museum’s Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department. Admission is free to admire streamlined wonders such as Henry Dreyfuss‘s 1937 Model 302 Bell telephone, the IBM “Selectric” typewriter designed in 1961 by Eliot Noyes, and Walter Dorwin Teague’s 1934 “Baby Brownie” camera, a black Bakelite box tricked out with Art Déco details. The installation will be on view through September 25, after which it will tour the country.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Milliners, start your engines! Chapeau master Stephen Jones has teamed with British Vogue and Talenthouse on a design contest that’s tops. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Create a one-of-a-kind, spectacular hat and then submit a photograph or illustration of it to the contest website. The winning design will be featured in the V&A exhibition “Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones,” which opens at New York’s Bard Graduate Center on September 15. In addition to the honor of having his or her hat displayed alongside toppers ranging from a twelfth-century Egyptian fez to dyed and feathered creations by Philip Treacy in the New York show, the winner will receive a two-week internship with Jones in London, tickets to the opening night party for “Hats,” and a signed copy of the exhibition catalogue. “Hats really can be anything and made from anything—just look at Elsa Schiaparelli’s shoe hat,” says Jones, who will select the winner. “This is a great opportunity for designers of all kinds to make something spectacular. Hats are the exclamation mark of an outfit, let’s hope we get some strong statements!” Put on your thinking cap, because Thursday is the last day to enter. The winner will be announced on August 26.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Legendary industrial sculptor makes landfall on a NYC island

There’s no experience quite like wandering among the massive outdoor installations at Storm King Art Center, recognized as one of the world’s leading sculpture parks for fifty years. Now, with a spectacular Mark di Suvero show, the institution’s newest and first off-site exhibit, installed on Governors Island through this fall, NYC visitors who can’t make the trek up the Hudson to Storm King can get a taste.

The largest outdoor show by the artist in New York City since the 1970s, we recently visited the free exhibit on the 172-acre Island to see the 11 pieces from 70s, as well as several sculptures created specifically for the occasion that have never been seen before. Constructed from industrial materials such as I-beams and salvaged steel, this event sees Suvero’s works closer to their skyscraper cousins. The significance of the NYC skyline in the background, absent the Twin Towers, is impossible to ignore with the jutting angles of the steel beams conjuring up the well-known images of the events of 9/11.

All well-positioned in the landscape, visitors can walk around pieces, view them from every possible angle and even touch them. As per the artist’s request, mallets available on-site with allow viewers to hit the sculptures themselves, producing sounds that resonate through the landscape.

Themes of manmade materials vs. nature resonate in di Suvero’s imposing Constructivist sculptures. The precarious yet perfect balance of limbs creates a harmony between earth and sky, as well as between the work and negative space. Process becomes significant (he uses heavy machinery to move and meld together different kinds of steel) as you take in his awe-inspiring works.

When navigating the exhibition, the Storm King app comes in handy. Or, you can just rent a bike and explore freely, like we did—either way, it makes for an introspective experience. Check out the gallery for more photos from our trip.

All images by Karen Day, Nicholena Moon and Greg Stefano