Here's a recap of the Shanghai Launch party that took place a few weeks ago. The entire OTW team were there for attendance in addition to new OTW Advocate Mister Cartoon. The event took place at Kin, according to Hypebeast, "the multi-faceted creative space is comprised of a DJ school, a retailer and a cafe which will undoubtedly serve as a convergent point for all things creative in the bustling Chinese city."
When the film Minority Report came out a few years ago, Steven Spielberg hired a specialized group of futurist that consisted of scientists, philosophers and artists. This crack team was largely responsible for creating a world that revolved around touch screen technology, user customized advertising and cars that would automatically whisk you from one destination to another.
There's always been a debate whether science fiction conjures up and speeds science into making things come into reality, or perhaps it is vice versa, that sci-fi stories consume of artifacts of what is largely real and possible through mankind's modern feats.
What is more interesting is seeing how the roles of art has played in technology. Take note of the recent workings of motion graphics come alive via the iPad. These holographic paintings are introduced with the notion of what is called "light painting." The results are quite remarkable, take a look below!
Google has and is always playing a proactive role in ensuring their place in this world to make the world a better place. Five winners of Google's Project 10 to the 100 Contest, have been chosen from a pool of 150,000 proposals from more than 170 countries.
Among the goals to be achieved are the following
Make educational content available online for free
There are a few films out there that transcend the human imagination. Solaris is a film that does just that. What is more remarkable is that the film (in its original format) was introduced in 1972. The story of Solaris however is derived from Polish science fiction writer, Mr. Stanislaw Lem. The basic premise of Solaris involves the interaction of human and non-human species.
In the 1972 film adaption directed by Russian filmmaker, Mr. Andrei Takovsky, the film delivered so deftly the characters of Kris Kelvin, a scientist who is sent to investigate the disappearing of 47 crew men aboard the space station that is orbiting Solaris. Solaris is an alien planet where, much like Earth, its vast surface is covered in ocean. The ocean however plays a role in dispersing some sort of strange bio-chemical hallucinogenic reaction to the men aboard the ship. The strange things that happen on Solaris are the appearance of "guests," figments of one's dream that become fully materialized and real. Kris naturally realizes his long lost wife who reappears before him. There are emotional arcs that revolve around paranoia, schizophrenia and hidden guilt that pervades this haunting film.
Thirty years later, American filmmaker Steven Soderbergh takes a stab of Solaris along with George Clooney in bringing Kris Kelvin's dilemma into a modern tale. The film is equally stoic and entertains the mind into questioning everything. A bit more cerebral that your usual Hal from Space Odyssey 2001 saga, the eeriness that is felt in Solaris is an environment that must be experienced first hand.
The work of Brooklyn based artist Dylan Fisher takes new heights of public display for the masses to an artform in itself. I've been a fan of GIF art for quite some time. I really enjoy the idea of analog html being utilized as art. It makes one question if this type of art should be considered as such, but more so it opens the discussion for the idea that art can be extremely democratic and non exclusive. If art should always undergo the measures of artist to gallerist to collector, where does GIF art stand in our modern day of computing. Most artists use technology to create and advance their "manual" works, even if the art work begins on the computer, in the end the output of such concepts are still realized through a traditional article of work.
In other words, how would such GIF art be owned if in fact it's DNA is readily available in the source code? Another realm of art buying which has recently arose is the idea of creating art on a set url address. Once the art is made available, one may be able to "purchase" the artwork by simply outright buying the domain name.
Is such art temporary or contemporary? Some things to think about.
kelvin40, 2003 A small idiosyncratic jet plane named after the main character in tarkovsky's 'solaris' and commissioned by fondation cartier pour l'art Contemporain All images courtesy of the Gagosian Gallery
Australian industrial designer, Marc Newson has been designing for a well over two decades. He designs everything from jetplanes, boats, footwear to furniture. Newson's work is currently showing at the Gagosian Gallery in New York.
Interior view of the EADS astrium space plane prototype, 2007
MN special, 2008. A lightweight carbon fiber bicycle designed for Biomega
Soulland made a unique interpretation of the modern fedora. Think of it as a fedora meets a ball cap. The 'Adler Fedora' is hand crafted in a small factory in Copenhagen.
According to Soulland:
The factory is the last of its kind in Scandinavia and a time capsule rich with memorabilia from a lost trade and all hats imaginable. These days Stig Andersen aka 'The Hat-maker' primarily makes hats for the theater – and on occasion he finds time to craft an Adler Fedora. Enjoy the film!
The OTW Advocates are making their East Asia tour at the moment. This is the latest on the road via Atiba. Street performance with a pet monkey isn't your usual find here in the States. I think the boys were thoroughly intrigued.
Special shout out to Fatlace for the awesome Vans OTW Love. Fatlace is an authoritative site for everything related to auto sports, Nor Cal Culture, street fashion, street art, etc. I've known the guys behind Fatlace since their inception back in the late '90s. They've definitely carved out their niche and have been holding it down ever since. We sincerely appreciate the product photoshoot and the proper linkage. Much love again to Jarod and the Fatlace crew!
Kind thanks to Hypebeast for their in depth coverage of the Vans OTW Advocates during their tour of Asia. Of course by now many of you have been introduced the twins: Ako & Atiba Jefferson, Dimitri Coste and Eric Elms. This makes it also the debut of an additional OTW brand advocate, Mister Cartoon.
The other week I took advantage of MOCA's free Thursday evenings. I love being able to walk a few blocks, feel the breeze, stare at the city lights, struggle with the hill and finally being able to reach the inwards of MOCA's pavilion. MOCA's downtown location is always a welcome visit and tonight was no exception. The current exhibit chronicling the work of a certain Mr. Arshile Gorky was on display.
Portrait of Master Bill
Gorky played a seminal role in the art movement of abstract expressionism. Inspired by Cezanne yet plighted with harsh memories of the Armenian Genocide, Gorky's art traversed sensitive subject topic with his newly found identity as Russo-Armenian American.
Gorky Composition
Gorky's Retrospective will be showing until the 20th of this month. The exhibit is definitely worth while to learn up on contemporary art history.
Jarod DeAnda is a dear friend and an active personality in the realm of drift racing. In fact he is the official voice of Drift (Take note of the picture above). Speaking of his voice, Jared had some nice things to say about the recent Vans OTW collection.
This is what he recently micro-blogged via twitter:
Hawaii based brand and retailer, In4mation has worked with Vans OTW in a special capsule product release.
The Bedford model undergoes the denim treatment implementing contrasts of both light and dark denim. A splash of red for a few lace eyelets and the lining caps off this shoe for any denim lover. The shoes will be made available in January of 2011 exclusively at In4mation, limited to 300 pairs.
TED is a great forum where global thinkers share their ideas. Some of their ideas are candid and humorous, others are enlightening and heart warming. I am constantly impressed with the brain trust that TED offers so generously to the public. One story in particular that moved me was a story from Carne Ross, a former ambassador from the United Kingdom. Ross goes on to describe how he came to be of the position and later explains the surrounding events that gave way to him eventually leaving the foreign service; his feelings and ideas becoming more and more disenchanted, all this leading to the establishment of an idea and now a real concept, Independent Diplomacy. In other words, freelance diplomats who provide a service to nations of less power who do not have a thorough understanding of how the bigger and stronger nations communicate. This idea of a rogue, but completely legal means to provide assistance for the hope of actual dialog among disenfranchised peoples is a novel concept worth considering. Take a listen below to hear Mr. Ross' story.
The skyline of New York is about to get another gift. Take a look at Frank Gehry's latest project, Beekman Tower, a 76 story residential tower which will be located south of city hall plaza and the brooklyn bridge.
The building carries over Gehry's signature stainless steel. Set to be completed officially later this year, the Beekman is set to be one of the tallest buildings in New York.
Technology is a strange and humorous at times. Take noted of this latest application for Android phones that enable finger exercising, (if there is such a thing). Take a click at the video below for your own amusement.
Josh Harris. Ring a bell anyone? In the 1990s, Mr. Josh Harris reigned supreme with his internet start ups such as JupiterResearch which generated millions of dollars for Harris. He later would use his money to start Pseudo.com, an internet broadcasting network that streamed video and shows via a measly 56k line. Mind you, all this was very much in the heydays of the 90s where fear of the Y2K bug was imminent as the new millennium loomed its dreary head over us. Harris was more of an artist savant than a technologically gifted tinker, yes and I do mean tinker.
The film, "We Live in Public" won a Grand Jury award at Sundance during its 2009 premiere. It portrays all the highs of Harris as well as the unfortunate financial and mental lows that burdened him.
Tanqueray launched a community blog late last year called "We Resist Simple," first of its kind in the spirits industry. I was briefly part of this project and continue to espouse my voice on fashion in my column. Naturally I had to promote OTW, a sophisticated shoe brand posted on a blog created by a sophisticated beverage brand.
The OTW brand was launched within the acute atmosphere of Case Study House #22. We've all become familiar with images of Case Study #22 by the images shot by Julius Shulman.
We were elated to come across this bio-documentary film based around Mr. Shulman.
Synopsis: Visual Acoustics celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the world's greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream. Shulman, who passed away this year, captured the work of nearly every modern and progressive architect since the 1930s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Frank Gehry. His images epitomized the singular beauty of Southern California's modernist movement and brought its iconic structures to the attention of the general public. This unique film is both a testament to the evolution of modern architecture and a joyful portrait of the magnetic, whip-smart gentleman who chronicled it with his unforgettable images.
A few years ago I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Art Blakey. I curse my young self that I didn't come properly prepared with interview questions since I didn't have any time to do research on the man. Mr. Blakey carried the weight of a jazz great, afterall he is known for inventing the modern bebop style of drumming.
For more than 30 years his band, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers included many young musicians who went on to become prominent names in jazz. The band's legacy is thus not only known for the often exceptionally fine music it produced, but as a proving ground for several generations of jazz musicians; Blakey's groups are matched only by those of Miles Davis in this regard.
It would be years later as I began to appreciate the various fine elements of Jazz that one of Art Blakey's songs became one of my favorites.
Here's a live performance of Moanin'by Freddie Hubbard and Art Blakey.
It was only a matter of time that an ensemble of musicians would employ the iPad to its full musical effect. The wonders of technology is always amazing.
