The curators of “Otherworldly”—which consists largely of meticulous models and dioramas, some of them artworks themselves, others constructed by artists only to be photographed—trace the diorama back to Louis Daguerre and posit as its animating question, “What is real?” But that’s not really the question anymore, except insofar as Renaissance perspective, like Newtonian physics or the Ten Commandments, continues to dominate the popular imagination. If there is a question, it might be “What is the difference between art and design?” But there’s no particular urgency to that one either, since art and design, like spectacle and pathos, can so happily be concurrent. In fact, you could say that “Otherworldly” consists of two separate, concurrent shows: one for children and other devotees of technology, and one for devotees of art.
Inspiration
Rhizome
The Ocean Cleanup
designed for large-magnitude deployment, covering millions of square kilometers, the solution is a collection of huge floating barriers designed to be placed in center of the circular currents – called gyres – and passively collect the plastic. the rows of barriers to be placed on the oceans surface will essentially work like a giant funnel; while the current flows freely underneath, the booms will catch the floating lighter-than-water debris. once the plastic is concentrated, assisted platforms attached to the barriers will then efficiently extract the plastic from the sea. the waste can then be brought on to land via vessel, sorted and recycled into new materials or oil via pyrolosis. the stationary system is completely safe for marine life and is designed to be almost entirely self-sufficient, predominantly running on energy harnessed from the sun and waves. the ocean cleanup’s research indicates that using a single 100 km floating barrier, deployed for 10 years, will remove 42 percent of the great pacific garbage patch. they estimate this to be 70,320,000 kilogram, which will cost us $5.10 per kilogram.
Clouds
CLOUDS is an interactive documentary and a portrait of this community of digital pioneers, explored through the lens of code. The project asks questions about the future of creativity at a time when algorithms play an important role in shaping culture. People featured in the film include 40 artists, designers and hackers who participate in the co-creation of free tools for creative expression: Processing and openFrameworks. Reflecting the story of these online communities, the software behind CLOUDS was built in C++ using openFrameworks, and includes real-time interactive visualizations by the artists featured in the documentary.
Whitechapel Gallery Talk: Documents of Contemporary Art: Memory
Editor Ian Farr discusses the diverse roles of memory in art practice and theory from early modernism to the present, on the occasion of the Whitechapel Gallery’s latest Documents of Contemporary Art book. With video documentation of Stan Douglas’ Inconsolable Memories. This event launched Memory, the latest title in the Documents of Contemporary Art series, published by Whitechapel Gallery and The MIT Press. With thanks to Stan Douglas and Victoria Miro Gallery.