• The first “major illustrated survey of digital art” in the new book, “Art of the Digital Age”.
• Redesigned museum collections using high-tech interfaces, short films and theme-park aesthetics e.g., holograms, simulated historical weather conditions, video presentations via Palm Pilots, rumbling theater seats, etc.
• Noteworthy national exhibits: Picasso and American Art (Whitney Museum, NY thru 1/28/07), The Streets of New York (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. thru 1/15/07) and The Big Three in Printmaking: Durer, Rembrandt and Picasso (Detroit Institute of Arts thru 12/31/06).
• 5 up-and-coming artists: Aya Uekawa (Renaissance + op art), Urs Fischer (ethereal installations), Kristin Baker (speedway depictions), Nicola Lopez (mixed media installations), and Ernesto Caivano (detailed ink drawings).
• Genius grant winners: Josiah McElheny (blown glass sculptor), Anna Schuleit (installation artist), and Shahzia Sikander (miniature paintings).
• The 40-ft. tall interactive London sculpture called “The Oasis”, which moves from place to place and contains enclosed pods outfitted with LCD and speakers to provide location-specific content.

Source: Creativity, 10/06; Time, 9/18/06; USA Today, 9/22/06; Wired, 11/06; wmagazine, 11/06, Artkrush, 10/04 & 10/23/06



American Graffiti We’re all familiar with traditional forms of street “art”, but over the last 2 years it’s morphed internationally into non-traditional, multimedia and viral forms. The latest craze? Knit-ffiti. And this ain’t your grandma’s toaster cozy. We’re talking hard stuff…stop sign and telephone pole “sweaters”. The movement is a call to knitters to “tag” and “beautify” objects in their community. In Seattle? A row of trees. In China? The Great Wall. In Texas? A lamppost. And for those without knitting needles there are other forms of graffiti to take advantage of - graffiti graphics in fashion (e.g. sneaker prints), noise graffiti (strategically placed “Soundbombs” in Berlin), poster graffiti (adorning Paris street corners), and wiffiti (wireless graffiti enabling public patrons to transmit witty, poetic, or thought-provoking text messages on-site to Internet-connected screens).

Source: Metropolis, 10/06; FN, 10/06; Wired, 11/06; Trend Letter, 11/06; Artkrush #44; 11/08/06



Erector Set Architecture can awe, inspire, reflect a style or create a mood for a home, establishment or cityscape. Here are some of the recent buzz-getting efforts:

• The revitalization of aging downtowns via new arts complexes, e.g. Minneapolis’ new Guthrie Theater (Jean Nouvel) and public library (Cesar Pelli), Toledo’s The Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum of Art (Sanaa), and the recent addition to the Denver Museum of Art (Libeskind).
• Paper as a building material via innovative architect, Shigeru Ban and his Paper House (near Mt. Fuji), and paper emergency shelters.
• The “completed on time and budget” Redmond City Hall in the state of Washington.
• Open-source homes, a lego-like approach to building meant to be affordable, factory-driven, easily repairable and customizable.
• PAN, Progressive Architecture Network, an exhibition by “cool, young European architects” intended to “share an attitude about architecture”.
• Design “from the outside in”, e.g. the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, as architects blur the boundaries between inside and out and immigrant cultures import their “relaxed attitude toward the use of outdoor space”. Look for outdoor reading spaces at libraries, healing gardens in healthcare design and changes in urban spaces.
• Architects desired certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, the nonprofit administers of the LEED rating system.

Source: New York Times Style, 9/24/06; Artkrush, Contract, 9/06; Popular Science, 11/06; WWD, 10/27/06; BusinessWeek, 9/11/06



Grab Bag Other opportunities to feed your design soul?

• The uniqueness of Latin American design e.g. artist Helio Oiticica, architect Oscar Niemeyer, landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, magazine and book covers by Alejandro Ros, posters by Kiko Farkas, furniture designers Fernando and Humberto Campana, Sao Paulo gallery and shop MiCasa and Bar Balcao, and the artist’s neighborhood of Vila Madalena in Brazil.
• Humorous design e.g., “Suburban Maul, A Meditation on Out-of-Control Branding” (Rick Valicenti), cakes for fascist dictators (Jim Riswold), and Christoph Niemann illustrations.
• Products like Flexicomb (plastic straw honeycomb structures), Grasscloth in a new range of colors, Keramia’s Tibet Collection ceramic tiles, and Urban Archaeology’s glass mosaics.

Source: Departure, 10/06; Metropolis, 9/06; Contract, 9/06; Step Inside Design, Nov-Dec, 2006