POPtravel Films (November 7, 2023) – A walking tour of Wiesbaden, a city in the western German state of Hesse. Its neoclassical Kurhaus now houses a convention center and a casino. The Kurpark is an English-style landscaped garden designed in 1852.
The red, neo-Gothic Market Church on Schlossplatz is flanked by the neoclassical City Palace, seat of State Parliament. Museum Wiesbaden displays expressionist paintings by Alexej von Jawlensky and natural history exhibits.
Louisiana Channel (November 7, 2023) – Japanese artist Mariko Mori shares a look into her studio and home as well as her own artistic practice. Mariko Mori was born in Tokyo, Japan, but has lived for several years in both New York and London. Her mother was an art historian, and the young Mori was introduced to art through her.
“It seems to me that a lot of our conceptual ideas are already carried out in the past. And we’re at a point to inherit those ideas to the future.”
“When I was nine years old, I was looking through her collection of postcards of all the Western art,” Mori remembers: “Somehow I found Jackson Pollock’s no. 13 painting. And I was so thrilled. I didn’t know what abstract painting was, but I really felt freedom.” Today, Mariko Mori works in various mediums, from photography and sculpture to installation and architecture. Her studio – and home – was the first architectural project she did. The house is located at Okinawa, a tropical island south of Japan.
Inspired by the surrounding nature Mori wanted “the house to be an extension of that. A part of nature.” The untraditional shape of the house is eye-catching: “Originally, I was thinking of just building an architecture building, but it became more like a sculpture or form,” she says and continues: “The shape tried to accommodate the wind coming from the north.” This explains why the building is smaller in one part and bigger in another.
Mariko Mori is a Japanese multidisciplinary artist. She is known for her photographs and videos of her hybridized future self, often presented in various guises and featuring traditional Japanese motifs. Her work often explores themes of technology, spirituality and transcendence.
The Local Project (November 7, 2023) – Casa Piva is a small yet layered architects own home defined by a slow revealing of spaces and experiences. Andrew Piva, Project Architect and Director at B.E. Architecture, refers to his home as a labour of love – it is simultaneously warm, inviting and highly functional thanks to the use of Tuscan Oak as a surface material.
Video timeline:00:00 – Introduction to the Architects Own Home 01:11 – Behind the Design of the Home 02:12 – Enveloped in Warm Materials 03:18 – Including A Bit of Fun 04:44 – A Compact And Generous Brief 06:18 – Focusing on A Minimal Selection of Materials 06:32 – A Rational, Balanced and Calm Design
From the street, the family home doesn’t reveal too much of itself. However, upon entry, one is met with an intriguing and experiential journey through spaces that are designed around a series of small courtyards. The foremost entry into the architects own home takes place through a modest-sized door from the laneway, where one is greeted by a large and intricate brick courtyard with trees coming up through apertures in the roof – a scene reminiscent of an Italian villa. As well as providing a generous space for the dwelling, it also serves as a functional space to park cars.
Once inside, Casa Piva reveals a compressed, dark and moody ambience. This slowly transitions as you journey through the architects own home. The first glimpse of the kitchen, which is adorned with Tuscan Oak joinery, reveals the warmth and comfort the casa brings forth. The home is compact but features generously sized rooms. Within the residence are three bedrooms as well as a study, which doubles as a TV room and guest bedroom and reveals the residence’s flexibility. The master bedroom is larger and cocooned in timber.
Tomorrow’s Build (November 7, 2023) – The city of Seville in Spain is implementing measures to mitigate the scorching heat. Called the CartujaQanat, it is a €5 million pilot project that aims to reduce average temperatures by around 10°C in a region of the city.
These systems, developed over 1,000 years ago, consist of the construction of underground channels that transport water across a large area that needs to be cooled. Vertical shafts drilled along the channel bring underground air to the surface, lowering above-ground temperatures.
In summer, people don’t leave their house until 8pm and festivals usually start at 10pm. Built on the banks of the Guadalquivir River during the Middle Ages, the Spanish city regularly records temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) during July and August. And scientists expecting temperatures above 50°C in the near future.
Phillips Art Auction House (November 6, 2023) –In this four-part series, Jean-Paul Engelen — Phillips’ President, Americas and Worldwide Co-Head of 20th Century & Contemporary Art — and Miety Heiden — Deputy Chairwoman and Head of Private Sales — explore what makes ‘Living the Avant-Garde: The Triton Collection Foundation’ so unique.
VIRTUAL TOUR Films (November 6, 2023) – Villa Monastero is located in Varenna, Province of Lecco, on the shore of Lake Como. The villa lies south of the village, halfway between Varenna and Fiumelatte, and includes a botanical garden, a museum, and a convention center.
Villa Monastero is an eclectic villa built in the Nordic style. The site was originally a Cistercian convent, founded at the end of the 12th century in Varenna, which now lies beneath the modern building. The convent grew in importance and wealth, purchasing many properties, especially around Lierna, but eventually declined to only six mothers, and was closed by papal bull in 1567.
The whole estate was purchased by Paolo Mornico in 1569, using his fortune amassed through iron mining in Valsassinia. In the 17th century the Mornico family incrementally rebuilt and decorated it in the eclectic style.
DW Travel (November 5, 2023) – Drachenburg Castle in Königswinter, near the German city of Bonn, is a real tourist magnet and Instagram hotspot. It may look like a medieval fairytale castle, but it wasn’t built until the late 19th century.
And its history is a mix of colorful, dark and bizarre – involving an eccentric bon vivant, Nazis and, of course, a dragon. DW reporter Diana Piñeros went to take a look at the castle for you.
BBC Select (November 4, 2023) – How much is the personality of England intertwined with the visions of Shakespeare? Acclaimed historian Simon Schama tries to get beneath the skin of the playwright and understand why his stories are so relevant today.
In this insightful documentary we are shown how Shakespeare knew the importance of not just reflecting the lives of the kings and queens who peppered his plays, but ordinary people too – including thieves, clowns and prostitutes.
TEDx Talks (November 4, 2023) – Approximately 1.5 billion years ago, a lone bacterium found its way into a larger cell. The exchanges that transpired between the two are considered to have driven the evolution of this bacterium into the organelle we now call the mitochondrion.
Emerging research suggests that mitochondria are not simply the ‘powerhouses’ of the cell, but also function as cellular guardians against microbial intruders. Consequently, maintaining mitochondrial health is not only vital for our well-being, but may serve to protect us against infectious disease.
Dr. Lena Pernas started as a Max Planck Research Group Leader at the MPI Biology for Ageing (Cologne, Germany) in late 2018, where her lab investigates the organelle and metabolic dynamics of the host-pathogen interaction. Her lab will open its doors at UCLA in the Metabolism Research Theme in 2023.
ART VISION TV / C&B JOURNAL (NOVEMBER 4, 2023) – The swanky 16th arrondissement is home to foreign embassies and renowned museums, including the Fondation Louis Vuitton and the Palais de Tokyo with its contemporary art.
Hilly Passy, home to the city’s wealthiest residents, features trendy restaurants and the Maison de Balzac, a house museum where the novelist once lived. Families head to the Bois de Boulogne for its boating lakes and kids’ theme park.
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious