Tag Archives: installation

A Giant Synthetic Crystal Explodes Through Gallery Floors at the School 33 Art Center in Baltimore

A Giant Synthetic Crystal Explodes Through Gallery Floors at the School 33 Art Center in Baltimore wood installation

Points of Contention is a 2011 installation by Jonathan Latiano that was installed in a gallery space at the School 33 Art Center in Baltimore. The piece features an explosive crystal growth protruding from a rippling gallery floor that is meant to call into question the continued production of plastics, resins and polymers and their long-term impact on the geological landscape around us. Via a press release for the exhibition:

Driven by the exploration of time, motion and the physics of the natural world, Jonathan Latiano presents Points of Contention, a site-specific installation sculpture that investigates the increasingly blurred line between the organic and inorganic as well as the spatial boundaries of where the spectacle begins and ends. Convergent forms of crystalline growth and explosive impact reinforce the hundreds of shards of custom cut and painted elements used to create the centerpiece of the exhibition. Through the use of reclaimed and altered wood, plastic, Styrofoam and site-grown salt crystals Latiano explores the question: At what point do the controversies of the present become the “new norms” of the future?

Latiano will return to School 33 Art Center in September of 2013 as part of a collaboration with artist Jennifer Strunge who is known for her creation of totally bizarre and wonderful cotton monsters. Can’t wait to see what the two do together!

If you liked this piece, also check out the work of Chris Whiteburch, and the Inversion House by Dan Havel and Dean Ruck. (via razorshapes)

By Christopher on December 31, 2012 • installation wood

Face Your Fear of Heights by Walking on Air in this Massive Translucent Aerial Structure by Tomás Saraceno

Face Your Fear of Heights by Walking on Air in this Massive Translucent Aerial Structure by Tomás Saraceno interactive installation flying

If staring out of windows from the top of a tall building makes your palms sweat, this might not be for you. On Space Time Foam at HangarBicocca in Milan, is the latest interactive artwork from Argentinean architect and artist Tomás Saraceno who has become famous for his creation of suspended environments that can be inhabited by people. This latest aerial installation was constructed from three levels of clear film that can be explored while suspended several stories off the ground at HangarBiocca, a former industrial plant that was converted to an arts space in 2004. Via HangarBicocca:

Saraceno, who refers to himself as “living and working between and beyond planet Earth”, bases his work on themes such as the elimination of geographical, physical, behavioural and social barriers; the research into sustainable ways of life for humanity and the planet; the encounter and exchange among different disciplines and bodies of knowledge; the model of networking and sharing applied to all phases of the invention and execution of works and projects. [...] At HangarBicocca Saraceno creates On Space Time Foam, a floating structure composed of three levels of clear film that can be accessed by the public, inspired by the cubical configuration of the exhibition space. The work, whose development took months of planning and experimentation with a multidisciplinary team of architects and engineers, will then continue as an important project during a residency of the artist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT in Cambridge (MA).

For those who suffer vertigo or do not meet the proper age and medical requirements (!), the piece is always viewable from the ground floor, but the more adventurous tickets can be purchased in the event space hrough March 2, 2013. If you can’t make it to Italy anytime soon you can catch more video of it via Artribune. (via beautiful decay, designboom)

Dozens of Cement People Dangling from Umbrellas in a Prague Office Building

Dozens of Cement People Dangling from Umbrellas in a Prague Office Building umbrellas Prague installation cement

These cement figures dangling from umbrellas within a narrow space inside the EBC office center in Prague are part of a installation titled Slight Uncertainty by Czech artist Michal Trpák. Check out much more of his sculptural work on his website.

By Christopher on December 20, 2012 • cement installation Prague umbrellas

Voyage: A Fleet of 300 Illuminated Boats in Canary Wharf by Aether & Hemera

Media architect Claudio Benghi and light artist Gloria Ronchi joined together in 2006 to form Aether & Hemera, an interdisciplinary collaboration that seeks “to research the aesthetic challenges of light and its power to trigger emotions and response, creating a sense of identity or setting a mood.” Their latest installation in London’s Canary Wharf is this beautiful fleet of 300 illuminated boats called Voyage. Each floating light is reminiscent of a paper-folded origami boat that is illuminated from within, and I’m told there is a wireless network in the vicinity that allows you to join with your mobile device and somehow alter the color of the entire installation.

Voyage will be up through February 15th, 2013, and while the lights are on during the day, the viewing is probably best at night. I want to thank photographers Sean Batten and Ian Docwra for providing the images for this post.

By Christopher on December 19, 2012 • boats color installation light London multiples rainbows

A Christmas Tree Made from 5,000 Donated Ceramic Dishes and Cups in Belgium

A Christmas Tree Made from 5,000 Donated Ceramic Dishes and Cups in Belgium trees recycling installation Christmas ceramics

I’m a huge fan of alternative Christmas trees in urban centers, from last year’s plastic bottle tree in Lithuania to the abstract tree currently up in Brussels, any idea seems better than heading out to the local forest and hacking down a pine tree older than my grandparents. This year in Hasselt, Belgium a pair from the design firm Mooz created this concept of an enormous tree covered in 5,000 pieces of ceramic donated from local residents. Called the “Taste Tree” the piece was meant to be a sort of communal celebration as residents were invited to contribute unused dishes to the tree that now stands nearly 30 ft. tall in Hassel’s main square. (via designboom)

By Christopher on December 11, 2012 • ceramics Christmas installation recycling trees

A 170-Foot Trampoline Installed in a Russian Forest

A 170 Foot Trampoline Installed in a Russian Forest trampolines Russia installation

As part of the 2012 Archstoyanie festival in Nikola-Lenivets, Russia (from what I can tell it’s kind of like a small version of Burning Man but… with architecture and forests) design firm Salto created this gargantuan trampoline installation called Fast Track. Measuring nearly 170 ft. (51 meters) the bouncy road is nearly the length of a city block. According to the designers:

“Fast track” is a integral part of park infrastructure, it is a road and an installation at the same time. It challenges the concept of infrastructure that only focuses on technical and functional aspects and tends to be ignorant to its surroundings. “Fast track” is an attempt to create intelligent infrastructure that is emotional and corresponds to the local context. It gives the user a different experience of moving and percieving the environment.

Personally I sense the seeds of a new olympic sport, or a solid replacement for the slow people movers in airports. Here’s some more photos from Archstoyanie 2012. (via knstrct and notcot)

Update: Now with video. (thnx, paul)

By Christopher on November 27, 2012 • installation Russia trampolines

Scattered Crowd: Thousands of White Balloons Suspended by William Forsythe

Scattered Crowd: Thousands of White Balloons Suspended by William Forsythe installation balloons

Since 2002 artist, dancer and choreographer William Forsythe has traveled with his audio/visual installation Scattered Crowd, created with thousands of suspended balloons in galleries, museums, banks and other architecturally significant spaces. Though the photos clearly do the work visual justice I think it’s hard to truly appreciate the full sensory experience without walking through the space itself and hearing the accompanying music by Ekkehard Ehlers, though the video gives you some idea. Forsythe refers to the work as being “an air-borne landscape of relationship, of distance, of humans and emptiness, of coalescence and decision”. The piece will next appear at Bockenheimer Depot in 2013. (via boingboing)

By Christopher on November 23, 2012 • balloons installation

Wake: A Walkway of Severed Purple Logs by Michael McGillis

Wake: A Walkway of Severed Purple Logs by Michael McGillis wood trees multiples land art installation

Huge mounds of firewood are a common site here in the midwest, but in the capable hands of Michigan artist Michael McGillis a row of logs becomes a unexpectedly beautiful sight. Titled Wake the piece was originally installed back in 2006 at the Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, Minnesota and consisted of a 95-foot long trench of cut trees painted purple in the middle as if to reveal a suprising new species of plant. A simple idea, wonderfully executed. (via my darkened eyes)