Arts & Culture
Arts & Culture
Fair Observer's exploration of human creativity in all forms including literature, theater, film, opera, art, sculpture, music, dance, cuisine and travel.
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Kinetura designs adaptable lamps and building applications that react to the surrounding light. Designing lamps is like conceiving architecture on a micro scale. A light source with its fixture, and the natural light surrounding a building are obviously related. The design and architecture of both buildings and lamp fixtures need to maximize the utility and aesthetics of light Interactive transformable lighting Since 2005 we have been trying to connect artificial light more intimately with its surrounding architecture without losing the light’s functionality. We made the first prototypes of flexible transformable lamps. Such lamps regulate the intensity of their light by gradually...
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The Europe (to the power of) n project is an international collaborative art project founded to explore the possibilities of a European identity without transforming it into a substantial and exclusive one. Answering the questions of where and what Europe actually is, or what it could one day become, is impossible. As we come closer to Europe in a geographical sense, a series of different configurations overlap: the European Union, the Council of Europe, the European Broadcasting Union, the European Club Association, to name but a few of the most prominent associations. Also, the eastern border has continually shifted during the course of the centuries: in ancient Roman times ‘Europe...
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Jean-Yves Piffard makes ephemeral works of art which are formed from and within nature. He offers an insight into his creative process. December 2007. I am on the Carnac site in Brittany, France. The Atlantic ocean is stirred up, and all around me the sand that lies uncovered by the outgoing tide is wrinkled and spreads out before me like a virgin desert, untouched by human steps. On the shoreline, algae form a red and brown carpet. Their upper layer is dry and covered up in places by sand that has been whipped about by the wind. Under this sandy crust the algae stay humid and sparkly in the winter sun. I plunge my hands in this strange and disturbing mass. The strong iodine smell mixes...
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By Martin HillMartin Hill is a sculptor, photographer and adventurer. He discusses the impact land art has had on his work and the importance of working in harmony with the environment. The defining characteristic of the land art movement is working directly on the land, a breakaway from the art gallery system. It not only depicts the landscape, it engages with it. The movement didn’t spring from an exclusively ecological perspective, nor was it necessarily about protecting the land. It was a series of art ideas that broke away from the tradition of art as a commodity exhibited in galleries. The aspect of my work I have in common with this movement is that I work with natural materials taken...
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By Fair Observerby Ivo Oliveira and Marlene Speck. Somewhere in the Great Basin desert outside of the ghost town of Lucin in Utah, four massive concrete tunnels, 18-feet long and nine-feet wide, lie in an X configuration. Each tunnel is positioned facing the sun. They are aligned either with the sunrise or with the summer and winter solstice. On top of each tunnel is a series of holes. These holes reproduce the constellations of Draco, Perseus, Columba and Capricorn. The diameters of the holes differ according to the size of the stars. They scatter the sunlight inside the tunnels and plot an incredible map of the stars. It is a powerful piece to contemplate. The desert – its majestic nothingness...
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By Ivo OliveiraA small glimpse at the first Chinese architect to win the Pritzker Prize and its significance in relation to China’s urban development. The Pritzker Prize was created in 1979 by the Hyatt Foundation. Today it is recognized as one of, if not the most prestigious distinctions in the field of architecture. This award has already distinguished architects such as Frank Gehry and Renzo Piano. In 2011, the prize was awarded to Eduardo Souto De Moura from Portugal. This year – and for the first time in Pritzker Prize’s history – the award goes to China. The Chinese architect Wang Shu is the new laureate. Wang Shu is a professor and the head of the Department of...
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By Fair ObserverBy Emma Ley and Ivo Oliveira. The importance of architecture lies in how it connects the past and the future, as well as man and his environment. The raw material of architecture is, above all, space. To a certain extent, space is imaginary. Its meaning rests in our perception of it. We are compelled to organize space within our realms of familiarity and hence give it meaning. Architecture is the art of drawing frontiers; between inside and outside, the private and the public. Architectural design merges art and mathematics and limits creativity within the rules of functionality – and possibility. Vitruvius laid down the basic principles of architecture in Rome during the first...
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On the extended notions of interactivity and art. The Goal Apart from informal communication with participants, I had never tried capturing the result of the audience’s interaction with my work. I focused more on the process-based interaction with the work in real time, and so the results of the interaction always stayed beyond the tangible field of the gallery-controlled environment. By undergoing direct experience with the work, the audience always takes away something that either slowly dissipates, leaving only a fleeting impression, or produces a deep impact. I am now more concerned with the latter, and with the nature of the 'impact' itself. My work usually stays...
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By Dan ZenDan Zen on consumption and creation. It’s A Consumer's World We have seen a difficult trend for independent interactive content creators: Fifteen years ago content creators were paid for creating content. Ten years ago creators were downgraded to receiving advertising money. Five years ago creators had to pay to have their content shown. Today, content creators have to pay consumers to partake in their content. This, of course, is a generalization, but in the digital world the contemporary consumer seems to get what they want at very little cost. They now assume that music, entertainment and information should be (and there are often ways to get it) free. This however makes it...
