Tag Archives: Art & Design

The Nation Magazine – January 2025 Preview

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The Nation Magazine (December 17, 2024): The latest issue features ‘Code Red’ – On election night, our screens were a sea of red, suggesting that the US was more conservative than ever. But sometimes maps can be deceiving…

The Dead Hand of the Democratic Consultant Class

Breaking the grip of grifters who refuse to learn or leave won’t be easy. But it is essential to effectively opposing the coming plutocracy.

The Difference That Matters Most Isn’t Between Left and Right

But between candidates who are defenders of the system and those who are anti-system. Democrats lost because they allowed Trump to be the only voice of antiestablishment rage.

Progressives Can’t Afford to Spend the Next 4 Years Just Playing Defense

Or reflexively denouncing every Trump policy. While we mustn’t underestimate the danger he poses to our democracy, when he says he wants to end war, the left should call his bluff.

Art & Design Essays: ‘Will AI Wipe Out Architects?’

The bleeding edge … LookX uses a piece of crumpled paper as a prompt to create buildings in the style of Frank Gehry (left) and Zaha Hadid (right).
The bleeding edge … LookX uses a piece of crumpled paper as a prompt to create buildings in the style of Frank Gehry (left) and Zaha Hadid (right). Composite: Tim Fu

It’s revolutionizing building – but could AI kill off an entire profession? Perhaps not, finds our writer, as he enters a world where Corbusier-style marvels and 500-room hotels are just a click away

Oliver Wainwright

Oliver WainwrightThe Guardian (August 7, 2023): A handful of little green blocks flashes up on the screen, filling a building site with a neat grid of uniform cubes. One second they form rows of towers, next they morph into low-rise courtyards, then they flip back into long slender slabs, before cycling through hundreds of other iterations, in a hypnotic high-speed ballet of bristling buildings.

“You don’t even have to do much” … Patrik Schumacher-generated designs for ZHA using Midjourney.
“You don’t even have to do much” … Patrik Schumacher-generated designs for ZHA using Midjourney. Photograph: Zaha Hadid Architects

I watch this while on a Zoom call with Wanyu He, an architect based in Shenzhen, China, and the founder of XKool, an artificial intelligence company determined to revolutionise the architecture industry. She freezes the dancing blocks and zooms in, revealing a layout of hotel rooms that fidget and reorder themselves as the building swells and contracts. Corridors switch sides, furniture dances to and fro. Another click and an invisible world of pipes and wires appears, a matrix of services bending and splicing in mesmerising unison, the location of lighting, plug sockets and switches automatically optimised. One further click and the construction drawings pop up, along with a cost breakdown and components list. The entire plan is ready to be sent to the factory to be built.

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Arts Preview: Sculpture Magazine – Sep/Oct 2022

Cover Courtesy of Sculpture Magazine 2022; Image: Spin, 2004. Electroluminescent wire, control system, and electronics, 14 x 14 x 6 meters. Photo: Courtesy the artist

September/October 2022 Issue

FeaturesReal Light and Real Angles:
A Conversation with Larry Bell

Between Two Knowns:
A Conversation with Nathaniel Rackowe

Cracks in the System:
A Conversation with Agustina Woodgate

Gregor Schneider:
A Sense of Distance

Thinking Through Place:
A Conversation with Anina Major

BETWEEN TWO KNOWNS: A CONVERSATION WITH NATHANIEL RACKOWE

Nathaniel Rackowe’s large-scale, futuristic works are fundamentally influenced by modern urban architecture. Spanning sculpture, installation, and public art, his practice is concerned with abstracting the metropolis into units of form. Scaffolding poles, cement blocks, corrugated sheets, Perspex, glass, and fluorescent tubing are the building blocks of his sculptural vocabulary. The British artist has created cuboids of light that seem to hover eerily in the air (“Spin” series, 2006–ongoing), upturned sheds that appear frozen in mid-explosion (“Black Shed Expanded” series, 2008–ongoing), and flanks of moving mechanical doors edged with fluorescent lights that close in claustrophobically on visitors (Sixty Eight Doors, 2005). It’s no surprise that he is an admirer of science fiction writers such as Philip K. Dick and Iain M. Banks and films like Brazil (1985) and Blade Runner (1982).

Art & Design: ‘Aerial Roots’ Galerie Philia, Cote d’Azur

Galerie Philia is proud to announce its summer exhibition taking place in two villas designed by Jean Nouvel and commissioned by Rivere Group on the luxurious Cote d’Azur. Villa Maeterlinck in Nice and villa in St Jean Cap Ferrat, both are perfectly integrated into the landscape and boast terrace gardens in front of wide private sea views on the Mediterranean.

Tillandsias in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat and Monsteras in Nice were planted by Jean Nouvel as an ode to their aerian roots. This specific fauna is in complete harmony with the asesthetic of the influential architect whose innovative aerian principle transforms buildings into dematerialized natural environments. Set in a mesmerizing atmosphere, between the breath-taking coast and the unassuming minimalism of Nouvel, Galerie Philia enhances this dialogue between the aesthetic of the architecture and its natural surroundings.

The concept of aerian roots is in the heart of the scenography of Galerie Philia as transcultural art and design works were selected for the plural and complex aesthetic and national identities they convey. Completed in 2015 and placed right by the famous Maeterlinck Palace, Villa Maeterlink is carved into the rock. Situated just by the waterfront, all of the rooms in the villa have a full view of the sea, with a living room spanning 40m2 without posts (cantilevered).

Set in a grand plot of 8600 m2, the entire house is made to measure including the stainless steel ceilings, light fixtures, and inox surfaces along with a multitude of special details that make this a truly unique place. The space breaths at all times thanks to the sliding partitions that were built in a studied way to dissipate the boundary between interior and exterior in this house that opens to the sea, and the stainless steel ceiling of the house allows one to see the sea at all times.

Blending with the unique and entirely customized architecture of Jean Nouvel, Galerie Philia’s elegant collection of sculptural design and art dresses these villas in a new look and create stunning vistas, transforming them into a living and breathing homes. The gardens and the interior of both villas are united by a harmonious scenography and become a reflection of the lightness of Nouvel’s aesthetic. The exhibition features unique pieces by Frederic Saulou, Andrés Monnier, Arno Declercq, Jojo Corväiá, Rick Owens, Elsa Foulon, Jan Ernst and many more designers represented by Galerie Philia.

The hand-carved stone firepit of Andres Monnier creates a radiant atmosphere in the patio with the ravishing views of plants as Gerard Kuijpers’ Dancing Stones move with the breeze from the mediterranean. Arno Declercq’s unique daybed accommodates a relaxing environment in the cozy living space and Jörg Pietschmann’s solid oak unique bench invites one to enjoy the monstera haven. The Revue Eclipse collaborated with Galerie Philia on the fine art selection, and internationally known artists will be exhibited such as Sam Szafran, Flora Temnouche, Edgar Sarin, Manuel Merida, Francisco Salazar, Jörg Kratz and Mateo Revillo.

Top Architectural Design: Antony Gibbon Designs “Pushing The Boundaries”

Antony Gibbon Designs logoEmbracing nature’s forms as a source of inspiration and pushing the boundaries of architectural design, Antony’s body of work has gained world-wide recognition and been featured in Vanity Fair, New York Times, Huffington Post, Dezeen, Dwell, Designboom and the Secret Homes Television series.

Antony sees the environment as an important driving force behind his work, each structure is individually created to consider the surroundings using sustainable materials wherever possible. He aims to create the connection between Nature & Nurture, seeking a path to merge one into the other. To combine each unique, bespoke structure and its individual habitat and to develop harmony, so they grow together.

Antony Gibbon Designs Work

Wherever you are based, the team works with you to create a design that meets your exact needs. Working with a selection of the best building companies around the world to deliver the highest quality service tailored to each individual project.

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Art & Design Video: “History Of Cartier Jewelers” (Christie’s)

Meet Pascale Lepeu, Curator of the Cartier Collection, and see the incredible trove of historic Cartier jewellery that is held within. From elegant diamond tiaras of the Belle Époque to remarkable Art Deco tutti frutti bracelets and more, discover the enormous influence that Cartier has had on the world of high jewellery. An extract from the Christie’s Education online course, History of Jewellery Design: 1880–Now.

Art & Design: “Surrealist Home Interiors” Of Italian Designer Cristina Lello

From Visual Pleasure Magazine (April 19, 2020):

I often find myself observing classic paintings that can inspire compositions, or fashion that can inspire the choice of a color palette. At a certain point everything Cristina Lello Sunset Skene 2019is united in a very natural way in a creative concept. My artistic research is a constant blend between the worlds of architecture, painting, photography, graphic design, and fashion. At the base of my work, then, there is an artistic background very much linked to the Gestalt principles of visual perception. I try to avoid looking for inspiration only within the confines of my sector: I find that this often leads to a flattening of the creative result.

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Having always been fascinated with sensational spaces, Cristina Lello now visualizes the most striking scenes that tell a clear story. As she describes herself, her studio “creates high-impact images from the intersection of interior styling, set design and 3D art.” After graduating with honors in Set Design at the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, she also started a Master’s degree in Interactive Media for Interior Design while working for Elisa Ossino Studio.

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