You cannot save the world through architecture...

A professor in architecture school once told me, "You cannot save the world through architecture."


Perhaps he is partially right . . . BUT, I recently read about the project situated in Noh Bo, a small village along the Thailand-Burma border, designed and built by the architecture firm TYIN tegnestue from Norway.  The pictures above illustrate the Soe Ker Tie House, an orphanage that houses refugees belonging to the Karen indigenous group of southeast Asia. The village also includes the Safe Haven Bathhouse, the Safe Haven Library and the Old Market Library. It is a beautiful design full of unique and vernacular details. This project did not save the world, but what a spectacular way of trying, don't you think? 


I encourage you to check out the official website. Photos by Pasi Aalto.

...it goes round and round...

I do not know how to ride a bike...my patient husband tried teaching me this past summer with a Montréal Bixi, but I need more practice.  I just never learned when I was a young girl.  One can look quite chic riding a bike.  I must learn to ride...perhaps by next summer. 


I love Denmark, check out the upcoming Copenhagen wheel. The project was unveiled last year at the COP15 United Nations Climate Conference. It was devised and developed by the SENSEable City Lab for the Kobenhavns Kommune and it will be available June 2011 for about $600.00 US.  
I think it is very Danish...spotless design.  When I lived in Copenhagen, it was amazing to see gorgeous women and men riding their bikes with sharp outfits...the women with heels, in the snow!!  

The Copenhagen Wheel would be a great addition to the Bixi...hint..hint  

NOTE: Pictures by Max Tomasinelli

The COPENHAGEN WHEEL. . ."It transforms ordinary bicycles quickly into hybrid e-bikes that also function as mobile sensing units. The Copenhagen Wheel allows you to capture the energy dissipated while cycling and braking and save it for when you need  a bit of a boost. It also maps pollution levels, traffic congestion, and road conditions in real-time."

Lost and Found...

This is the beautiful work of German artist, Thorsten Brinkmann.  These images are my inspiration for the week. I am very impressed with the way he composes theatrical postures with found objects.  The artistry behind the arrangement of colors and textures is gorgeous.  I can vividly contemplate an entire conversation among all of his characters. I especially enjoy the intentional titles he gives them...titles like Lady Gittersky, Henry Van Ed, Berta von Schwarzflug.  His work is a perfect symbiosis of couture, sculpture, performance and portraiture.  I would love to visit his studio.  I can imagine a fascinating play where all of the characters have their heads covered...or better yet a fashion show.  Has Marc Jacobs ever used the Louis Vuitton bags for hats or face masks?..ok...I know, it is very Elsa Schiaparelli. 


Some of the images above are from his series, 'Portraits of a Serialsammler.' (2006-2010...ongoing)



"In his fantastical oeuvre, the German artist Thorsten Brinkmann moves between painting, photography, sculpture, readymade, collage and performance. Thorsten Brinkmann (b. 1971, Herne) is an active collector. In Hamburg, his place of residence, he has a huge shed filled with found objects. Everything that can be found at a flea market will be found in Thorsten Brinkmann’s collection: ruined wardrobes, lampshades, side tables, clothing and more. From this collection he freely draws-out items for use in his installations, sculptures, videos and photos. Hereby Brinkmann subtly indicates to us the shallow and nonchalant manner in which we, in our society, deal with objects." Elisa Platteau Galerie, Belgium.

Black Swan

Black Swan directed by Darren Aronofsky.  I believe the posters above were used to advertise the film in London.  I am a big fan of Natalie Portman and Vincent Cassel. . .I can't wait to see this film.  

Ressaisissez-vous, COMARADE!

Have you seen this Halls' cough drops campaign around your local bus stops or metro/subway?  (Designed by the firm JWT out of New York).
Every time I bump into them I just laugh.  I find them disturbing yet amusing.  To me it is very Euro. It is a campaign I would not be surprised to see in Copenhagen or Berlin, for example, because of its comical presentation.  I mean just look at the wardrobe?  What is Halls trying to say, that Halls costumers should revive the fashion of the 1970's? And the slogans, "Fair Lady"  "Partner"  "Good Lady".... what?  
I finally decided to snap a few shots of some examples here in Montréal to share with you.  


The first 3 pictures I shot and the last four posters are from JWT. 


Note: I personally prefer Ricola.

I want an Isabella Blow hat.

A few images from the recently published book by Thames & Hudson, Isabella Blow written by Martina Rink. 


credits:
1. (left) detail of book cover, photo by Donald McPherson, (right) shot by Sean Ellis

2. (left) shot by Chris Moore, (right), shot by Kevin Devies
3. (left) Tim Noble and Sue Webster's The Head of Isabella Blow, 2002. (right) Isabella Blow with Anna Piaggi.

I like it black...

Ok, I found another reason why I must visit NYC... I need a piggy bank...
Stumptown Coffee Roasters just opened their Brew Bar in the neighborhood of Red Hook in Brooklyn. It is only opened on weekends, but doesn't it sound fun?
I really want to bring Stumptown Coffee to Montréal. Mark and I are seriously thinking about opening a coffee bar here...we miss good coffee and baristas that know what they are doing.


Pictures from Hither & Thither by Ashley and Aron Bruhn.

Today, I discovered Émilie Faïf.

Émilie Faïf's contemporary craft is expressive and whimsical.  

Accueil...

I came across the website of French artist, Émilie Faïf and I found her working desk pictures amusing.  A new image unfolds every time you click the word accueil (welcome).  Try it!


Inspiring. . .great way of documenting one's own process and work habits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Am I cuckoo?...

Two things come to mind when I think of  the word Asylum...The 1975 film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Alexander McQueen's 2001 Spring show. . . where McQueen glamorized the confinement of a mental institution with four mirrored walls, models with bandaged heads and well...an impeccable couture collection.


And so because of the terrorizing yet inviting notion of an asylum, this past weekend,  I chose to add to my library Christopher Payne's book, Asylum: Inside the closed world of state mental hospitals.  But really why? . . . because it is a gorgeous photography book and because I truly support the documentation of the forgotten.  Lunatic asylums (mental hospitals, institutions, state hospitals)...they went from being a refuge, a sanctuary, a benevolent institution to abandoned ruins or simply grotesque places.  I highly recommend you buy this book or at least browse through it. The photographs below are details from some of Payne's images.

a) Alexander McQueen's 2001 Spring Show. (Not included in Christopher Payne's book)
b) Straightjacket, Logansport State Hospital, Indiana.  
c) Patient Dresses, Clarinda State Hospital, Iowa.
d) Typical Ward, Buffalo State Hospital, New York.  
e) Files, Spring Grove State Hospital, MD.
f) Linen Closets, Traverse City State Hospital, MI.  
g) Unclaimed Cremation Urns, Oregon State Hospital, Oregon.
h) Autopsy Theater, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, DC.  
i)  Joel-Peter Witkin, "Sanitarium" 1983. (Not included in Christopher Payne's book)

cuando sea grande...

When I was a little girl, I was infatuated with the idea of becoming a ballet dancer. My mother owned a small jewelry box with a tiny porcelain ballerina. A magnet would allow her to dance on a mirrored platform, to an enchanting melody, when one opened the box.  Every time I hear that melody,  I transform into a fictional ballerina. . .in my head.


This morning, I came across David Eustace's small film, The Little Ballerina.  The dancer in the film is Tomomi Sato, currently a principal dancer for the Scottish Ballet Company. What is incredibly fascinating to me is that David Eustace use to be a prison guard in Scotland’s HMP Barlinnie prison and served at the HM Royal Navy prior to becoming a photographer. . . I wonder what he wanted to be when he was a little boy.
Photographs borrowed from David Eustace's website.

Somewhere...La piel que habito...is in Tiny Furniture.

I have been busy with no time to write...I will try to make up for my absence this week with fabulous posts. 

Ok...I was in Burlington, Vermont this past weekend and while browsing through a film magazine at the local Borders I discovered three films I can't wait to see....

1. Somewhere written and directed by Sofia Coppola.  I am already looking forward to the soundtrack because Sofia Coppola's films always have incredible tunes. A film about a father-daughter relationship...I can feel my tears rolling now...

2. La piel que habito written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. 

It is currently being shot in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Release date not yet known. It will be starring Antonio Banderas and it sounds like it will have the same pronounced eerieness that made Almodóvar's 2004 film,  La Mala Educación (Bad Education) so memorable.  It was about time Antonio Banderas returned to Spanish cinema.

3. Tiny Furniture written, directed and acted by Lena Dunham. 

Great story... "22-year-old Aura returns home to her artist mother's TriBeCa loft with the following: a useless film theory degree, 357 hits on her Youtube page, a boyfriend who's left her to find himself at Burning Man, a dying hamster, and her tail between her legs. Luckily, her trainwreck childhood best friend never left home, the restaurant down the block is hiring, and ill-advised romantic possibilities lurk around every corner. Aura quickly throws away her liberal-arts clogs and careens into her old/new life: a dead-end hostess job, parties on chilly East Village fire escapes, stealing twenties out of her mother's Prada purse, pathetic Brooklyn "art shows," prison-style tattoos done out of sheer boredom, drinking all the wine in her mother's neatly organized cabinets, competing with her prodigious teenage sister, and desperate sex in a giant metal pipe. Surrounded on all sides by what she could become, Aura just wants someone to tell her who she is." 
Watch trailer here.  Don't you just love independent film!