The concept of flight has always held humankind’s imagination captive—yet making that concept a reality continues to baffle even the most ingenious innovators. We recently got a few insights and a lesson in aerodynamics from NYU Professor of Mathematics at the
Lazarides and Pret A Diner collaborate to create an underground feast for the senses
As a follow-up to the extraordinary Hell’s Half Acre, Steve Lazarides and his merry band of radical street artists have teamed up with KP Kofler’s Pret A Diner dining experience to create The Minotaur. Set once again in the dark depths of London’s Old Vic Tunnels the space has been transformed into an atmospheric feast for the senses for London Art Week.
After singeing eyeballs with the impromptu rendition of Dante’s Inferno at Hell’s Half Acre last year, this time the creative inspiration comes from another classical myth—that of Theseus’ quest to kill the Minotaur in the maze, with the help of Ariadne and her ball of twine. This dark tale of bravery and hubris is interpreted in many ways by different artists throughout the suitably-labyrinthine underground space.
Unnerving from the start, the exhibition begins with an entrance that uses light and shadow spooky effect as Lucy McLauchlan‘s trash collage sculptures and Zak Ové‘s black magic voodoo creatures throw monstrous shapes on the walls. Soon enough, we discover Atma’s crucified form of the Minotaur suspended from the ceiling, illuminated by candles, while the discordant soundtrack to a slow-motion film of bull-fighting sequences plays nearby.
As we progress through the space, other versions of monsters emerge from the shadowy arches—in one corner is Jonathan Yeo‘s leonine portrait of high-society plastic surgery queen, Jocelyn Wildenstein, while in another, Rupert Murdoch looks down from on high, chipped out of a wall in Vhils‘s trademark graffiti style.
Commentary on contemporary culture as “beast” also comes in the form of Antony Micallef’s works of genetic perfection. Highly-idealized, airbrushed images of women looking eerily like blow-up dolls seem to represent the daily modern sacrifice of fair maidens manipulated in our media maze.
Other work was more overtly repellent, like David Falconer’s enormous ball of rats, entertainingly titled “Vermin Death Star,” on view on the way to the show’s highlight, a beautifully-hypnotizing video installation by Doug Foster. He has recast the form of last year’s Heretic’s Gate as a smoking swirl of reflected and mirrored forms, out of which gleaming eyes and horns fleetingly emerge, then disappear into a silvery mist.
At the center of all the visual drama is the Pret A Diner space which, in the evening, turns into a bacchanalian feast of high gastronomy. Interior designer Nora Von Nordenskjold has created a space that, in her words, recalls “ancient civilizations and forgotten worlds. How it would be to feast with the gods in exile.” This decadent underground tavern is dripping with candle wax, vine leaves and grapes, illuminated only by flickering candles and Pret a Diner co-founder Olivia Steele’s neon writing sculptures.
Four star chefs have been invited to create rotating menus to amuse the revelers’ palates: Portuguese Londoner Nuno Mendes, Sushi sensei Ollysan, Germany-based Spaniard Juan Amador and Michelin-starred Matthias Schmidt. This deliciously-indulgent experience has the sinister undertones of being one’s last meal before being sacrificed to the Minotaur, yet remains entirely enjoyable. One fellow guest we overheard probably put it best when describing the whole experience as something akin to a terrifying carnival ride you want to go on again and again.
How an experimental art collective turned a field into a puppy opera, lawnmower symphony and more
Chiefly interested in the “intersections between different fields of knowledge,” like all good art collectives, Machine Project’s objectives are sometimes frustratingly vague. Loose definitions on their site span “informal educational institution” to host of “scientific talks, poetry readings and group naps.” But if one thing is consistent about the L.A. nonprofit, it’s that every undertaking is steeped in radical creativity.
With seemingly unfiltered conceptual thinking, founder Mark Allen’s wide-reaching collaborations manage to translate the group’s raw ideas into crowd-pleasing installations. Most recently Machine Project took up a two-week residency at Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center during the museum’s Open Field series of outdoor art events, resulting in a collection of site-specific performance pieces.
Set to a live singing performance, Elizabeth Cline’s 10-minute operetta “Tragedy on the Sea Nymph” featured an all-dog cast acting as lovers shipwrecked at sea.
Another project involving animals, “The American Lawn, and Ways To Cut It” explored the sonic nature of the grass at Walker, using “sheep, choreographed gasoline-powered ride-on mowers with mounted oscillators tuned to the drone of their engines, and push mowers,” which were strung with tinkling bells.
Influenced by architecture, Machine Project’s Curator of Sound Chris Kallmyer was the driving force behind the lawn event and another experimental study in sound called “Music For Parking Garages.” The talented trumpeter and fellow musicians tested the limits of sound in a cavernous parking garage, playing to whoever pulled up a bean bag chair for a listen.
Sound artist Kamau Patton adapted solar panels and a light-to-frequency converter to measure the sun’s rays on the Open Field, turning them into a beautiful arrangement of tunes in his “Composition for Photoelectric Array and Ambient Light Open Field.”
Whether teaching kids to break into cars, amplifying melons, generating songs through algorithms, reading poetry over the phone or pickling through lacto-fermentation, there was no shortage of inventive activities on hand at the Walker in July thanks to Machine Project. Always testing new ideas, hosting events and teaching classes at their Echo Park storefront, subscribe to their newsletter to keep on top of this industrious group’s latest happenings.
The Walker’s “Open Field” events continue through 4 September 2011, check the site for listings.
All images from Walker Open Field
1. Hurley used his lottery money to build a fake world where unknowing participants are used for his entertainment/ and or experiments. The Losties feel everything is real, actually it’s just Hollywood effects + drugs to make them unconscious while they take them, from location to location.
2.We zoom out and see the producers of the show laughing at us. They were making it up as they went along, and now we are in on the joke. Extra points for the meta-ness of it.
3.The Losties are really in Vietnam fighting the war and have been sprayed with an LSD or a modified Agent Orange. Mass hallucination ensues.
What do you think? Any chance this can happen?
The song was chosen automatically by Youtube.
I guess it fits perfectly.
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