Klatmagazine

147. euthanasia coaster

Fincken + Mirti — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:59:39 +0000

Julijonas Urbonas’ “Euthanasia Coaster” is a hypothetic euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster, engineered to humanely – with elegance and euphoria – take the life of a human being. Riding the coaster’s track, the rider is subjected to a series of intensive motion elements that induce various unique experiences: from euphoria to thrill, and from tunnel vision to loss of consciousness, and, eventually, death. (via Petra Tikulin).

Thanks to the marriage of the advanced cross-disciplinary research in space medicine, mechanical engineering, material technologies and, of course, gravity, the fatal journey is made pleasing, elegant and meaningful. Celebrating the limits of the human body but also the liberation from the horizontal life, this ‘kinetic sculpture’ is in fact the ultimate roller coaster: John Allen, former president of the famed Philadelphia Toboggan Company, once sad that “the ultimate roller coaster is built when you send out twenty-four people and they all come back dead. This could be done, you know.”

- Link to the project’s page on Urbonas’ website

- Link to Julijonas Urbonas‘ website

- Link to the video

Unnecessary #064. Birchwood

Klat Blog — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:13:12 +0000

Una collezione di arredi che si chiama Birchwood richiama alla memoria boschi di betulle. Ovvero, legno dai riflessi grigio-argento, atmosfere fiabesche, minimalismo nordico. Non a caso, Werner Neumann (che l’ha disegnata) ha sottolineato che “la collezione è nata dal suo amore per il legno e per la leggerezza delle forme”. Non si è capito, però, cosa c’entri la leggerezza con questi parallelepipedi dalle forme rozze, massicce e kitsch. Stile rustico con una bella iniezione di cattivo gusto. Un’allucinazione lignea. (via Trendhunter)
/
A collection of furniture called Birchwood calls to mind the forests of the north. Trees with a silver-gray bark, fairytale atmospheres, Nordic minimalism. Not coincidentally Werner Neumann (who designed it) has stressed that his collection “is born from his love of material and lightness of form.” It is not clear, however, what lightness has to do with these parallelepipeds with crude, massive and kitsch forms. Rustic style with a fair dose of bad taste. A wooden hallucination. (via Trendhunter)

Roberta Mutti

Necessary #078. Villa Roces

Klat Blog — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:14:26 +0000

A Bruges, nelle Fiandre, l’inverno può essere molto buio. Per questo le abitazioni cercano di catturare più luce possibile, adottando tutti gli accorgimenti che un uso accorto dell’architettura può offrire. È il caso di questa villa, progettata da Govaert & Vanhoutte, distribuita lungo una parete di legno lunga 50 metri, che si riflette in un box vetrato che delimita il confine con l’esterno e conduce alla casa, alla piscina e al garage. Le ampie superfici vetrate disegnano la continuità spaziale interno/esterno e lasciano filtrare la luce, oltre a proteggere dal vento, con la funzione di una bussola d’ingresso. Sono anche eco-compatibili, in quanto il vetro è tra i materiali più naturali che esistano: composto di silice e carbonato, è riciclabile all’infinito e resiste perfettamente alle intemperie. (via Dezeen)

/

At Bruges, in Flanders, the winter can be very dark. For this reason the houses try to capture as much light as possible, exploiting every stratagem that an astute use of architecture can offer. This is what has been done with this villa, designed by Govaert & Vanhoutte and laid out along a wooden wall stretching for 50 meters which is reflected in a box with glass walls that marks the boundary with the outside and leads to the house, swimming pool and garage. The large expanses of glass outline the spatial continuity between interior and exterior and let through the light, as well as offering protection from the wind, functioning as a draft lobby. They are also environmentally friendly, inasmuch as glass is one of the most natural materials in existence: made mostly of silica and sodium carbonate, it is endlessly recyclable and highly resistant to bad weather. (Via Dezeen)

Roberta Mutti

Photo: Tim Van de Velde

146. plug-in table

Fincken + Mirti — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:59:51 +0000

Maria Perales’ collection of houseware that need furniture to hold and support It. Mirrors, vases and chandeliers fit in and on the furniture, becoming a part of its everyday landscape. (via Petra Tikulin).

You can find more at Map website

I muri non mentono, Kabul 2011

Francesca Recchia — Mon, 21 May 2012 08:04:14 +0000

Era esattamente un anno fa.

Nella città vecchia a Kabul, nell’“ufficio” di un musicista. Eravamo lì per intervistarlo e farci raccontare della scena musicale in città, delle sfide e delle prospettive della musica nell’Afghanistan del dopo Talebani. Ad un certo punto si è sentito un botto, un botto simile a quelli della festa del santo patrono. Sordo e profondo. Lontano.

Un attimo di silenzio. Lorenzo Tugnoli e io ci siamo guardati e poi insieme abbiamo guardato Zimmerai, l’amico che ci portava in giro e ci aiutava con le traduzioni.

Ah, è scoppiata una mina – ci dice.

Come è scoppiata una mina? Speriamo non ci sia passato sopra nessuno – diciamo noi.

Si, una mina, ma non si è fatto male nessuno, credo sia un’unità di sminatori, lì in fondo, sulla montagna.

Ah una mina…

Come se fosse una cosa normale, così normale che se ne riconosce il rumore.

Che roba…

Eppure erano giorni tranquilli a Kabul e la guerra sembrava lontana – sulle montagne, nelle province. La città è serena. Costruiscono e ricostruiscono di continuo.

Si ha l’impressione della guerra solo in periferia, dove ci sono i palazzi ancora distrutti con grandi voragini aperte sui fianchi.

E poi ci sono i muri.
I muri che non mentono.
I muri sono la cosa che più di ogni altra mi fa (remotamente) immaginare quella che può essere l’intensità della guerra. Centinaia di piccoli fori perfettamente rotondi. I buchi delle pallottole. I muri come una fetta di gruviera.
Penso alla persistenza e all’intensità degli spari.

Penso che per fortuna è una cosa che non conosco e non capisco.
Ma quei buchi mi danno un’idea vaga di quel che potrebbe significare.

Foto: © Francesca Recchia

Necessary #077. Nendo Collection

Klat Blog — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:52:16 +0000

Alla Design Week milanese, Bisazza Bagno ha presentato una nuova collezione, disegnata da Nendo. Linee e forme semplici, rigorose, caratterizzate da metallo bianco e legno di larice, per lavabi, vasche e accessori, con alcuni dettagli costruttivi geniali nella loro essenzialità. Non che sia veramente tutto nuovissimo, il progetto è una fusione di tradizione giapponese e minimalismo anni Novanta, ma Oki Sato ha 35 anni, quindi negli anni Novanta era un adolescente. Ancorché sia una rivisitazione, gli è venuta bene.

/

At Milan Design Week Bisazza Bagno presented a new collection, designed by Nendo. Simple and clean lines and forms, characterized by the use of white metal and larch wood, for basins, tubs and accessories, with some structural details that are ingenious in their essentiality. Not that anything is really new: the design is a fusion of Japanese tradition and the minimalism of the nineties, but Oki Sato is only 35, and so was a teenager in the nineties. Even if he is revisiting the past, it has turned out well.

Roberta Mutti

Triangulated Binary

James Irwin — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:56:13 +0000

Right then, first things first, I’m going to try and make these posts a little less ‘isolated’ from now on – so here goes….

I’ve been busy recently making a series of works based around a symbolic language that I’ve developed called ‘Triangulated Binary‘. As the title suggests, it’s an abstracted version of binary, where I’ve substituted triangles for binary ‘zeros’ and ‘ones’. Within my system, one byte of information is represented by a square divided into 8 triangles – each triangle represents one ‘bit’ of data. ‘One’s’ are represented by a solid colour, whereas ‘zero’s’ are left blank. The symbols can represent decimal numbers, letters and RGB colours.

The image below shows how Triangulated Binary can represent letters of the alphabet. Triangulated Binary Alphabet, 2012, shows the progression from the character code of each letter, to the binary code, and then onto the Triangulated Binary symbols.

I developed the Triangulated Binary language to store information in objects that act as physical memory banks. I’m using it to make artworks that mimic the way computers process information. I’m in the middle of making a series of paintings that represent the CMYK colours in Triangulated Binary RGB. They are going to look something like the images below, but painted in acrylic on paper and mounted on wooden panels.

That’s a bit about what I’ve been up to, I’ll put more on later. You can see more work from the Triangulated Binary series here, and some new prints that I’ve made and framed on my website here.

Also, I’ve been asked to exhibit in a group show called Microcosm with the Departure Gallery in Leeds in June, and want to show some work from this series, I’m not sure what yet, but it’s exciting nonetheless!

Come inizio…

Francesca Recchia — Fri, 18 May 2012 07:42:56 +0000

Si ritorna da un viaggio
con il nero sotto le unghie
la polvere sulle scarpe
e un po’ di storie da raccontare.

Lost in the Time of iPhones

Louie Rigano — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:20:59 +0000

I had a thought while riding my bike today (first time all spring!): I will never be lost again. While riding around town, I thought about how I used to ride my bike around the city of Providence during my senior year at RISD, I had just gotten a new bike and had not yet become equipped with an iPhone. I would just wander around the city and at times not know where I was. I had to try to maintain a peripheral awareness of where I was at all times to not become totally lost. This type of experience will never happen again, at least not in this pure, naive condition.

In order to be physically lost, we need to force it; force ourselves to feel lost, not because of disorientation or an inability to recognize landmarks and landscapes, but by putting ourselves into situations that warrant us to say, “This is what it must feel like to feel lost.” That is, not to be lost, just to feel lost. No longer is it a state of existence, it’s an unawareness; a state of consciousness we have to create outside the confines of technology. All too often do we find ourselves shackled to our devices, relying on them to fulfill tasks that past generations completed by muscle memory, relocating this knowledge, supposedly engrained, from our brains to our fingertips. Take, for instance, a growing societal problem: In the age of digital reliance, what would we be without our devices? Free from the binds of dependence, as we pretend to be when we turn them off or purposely leave them in the car, or just utterly useless, like a ill equipped civilian in a ill fated world? Since we cannot become lost in already chartered and conquered territories, the next best thing is to submit; roll on our backs and capitulate, because without or portable, rechargeable, upgradable brains, we would be… lost.

Unnecessary #063. Occupy Superstudio

Klat Blog — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:12:39 +0000

Dejana Kabiljo avrà avuto le sue ragioni per battezzare l’evento Occupy Superstudio, ma noi continuiamo a chiederci che cosa c’entrino delle sedute inutili con un movimento che, lo si condivida o no, qualche principio ce l’ha. Utilizzarne lo stesso nome serve semplicemente ad attirare l’attenzione su un progetto che altrimenti non avrebbe notato nessuno: qualche brandina, poltrone fatte di molle, rivestimenti di vario colore. C’è il riuso, certo, un po’ di fantasia, e poi? (via Designboom)

/

Dejana Kabiljo will have had her reasons for calling the event Occupy Superstudio, but we are still wondering what some rather pointless seats have to with a movement that, whether you agree with it or not, does have principles. Using the same name serves simply to attract attention to a design that otherwise no one would have noticed: a few cots, armchairs made of springs, upholstered in various colors. There is reutilization, certainly, a bit of fantasy, and then? (via Designboom)

Roberta Mutti

Introducing Greta Sans

Peter Bilak — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:39:54 +0000

Greta Sans (Compressed, Condensed, Normal, Expanded), the complete type system for online and offline publishing. Read more about the process in the Designing Type Systems article.

Animation by Addikt, Amsterdam, script by PB, special thanks to Greta Fischer.

A Morning Material Ritual

Louie Rigano — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:07:54 +0000

I make coffee almost every morning. I recently assessed the objects I use daily to accomplish this. The objects encompass a hugely diverse breadth; all for one brief, simple ritual.

The four objects are:

An old silver teapot I found three years ago on the street in Brooklyn. Someone had decided to trash the perfectly good yet tarnished teapot and put it out with the garbage. I think it has since found an appreciative home. Despite a copious amount of visual aging, the teapot retains an elegant appeal. And perhaps due to the aging, the teapot can be seen as in accord with the rough ceramic mug.

A cheap plastic drip coffee cone, which cost less than a dollar. Flimsy and not-at-all pretentious, but completely functional.

A basic paper filter.

And a wood-fired ceramic mug I made in Japan last year. It has a super rough texture and radiant glaze spots from where the wood was in contact with it during the firing process. It’s my favorite piece of pottery.

How the four objects somehow come together harmoniously I find curious and worthy of appreciation. The disparateness between the objects and their materials intensifies the mundane action of making and enjoying a cup of coffee, elevating it to a richly tactile, sensorial experience.

Necessary #076. One Moment

Klat Blog — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:58:10 +0000

Un altro passo nella frontiera dei materiali biodegradabili. Se le popolazioni dell’Amazzonia si riparano i piedi con una suola di gomma naturale, perché non possiamo farlo anche noi? Detto, fatto. One Moment, un’azienda spagnola, ha studiato come produrre scarpe di gomma biodegradabile, formata da biopolimeri certificati. Iniettato in uno stampo, il materiale dà forma a una scarpa/pantofola con la suola di 2 millimetri e la tomaia (se così possiamo definirla) di un solo millimetro – che la rende facilmente ripiegabile. Sono colorate, impermeabili, si lavano in lavatrice e a fine vita si riciclano nel compostaggio. Costano anche poco, che di questi tempi non dà fastidio.

/

Another advance on the frontier of biodegradable materials. If the peoples of Amazonia protect their feet with a natural rubber sole, why can’t we do the same? No sooner said than done. One Moment, a Spanish company, has studied how to make shoes out of biodegradable rubber, made from certified biopolymers. Injected into a mold, the material forms a shoe/slipper with a sole that’s two millimeters thick and the upper (if that’s what we can call it) just one millimeter – which makes it easy to fold up. They are colorful, waterproof, go in the washing machine and at the end of their lives can be thrown on the compost heap. They’re cheap too, which in these times is no handicap.

Roberta Mutti

Unnecessary #062. Speed Kitty

Klat Blog — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:29:38 +0000

Si era già quasi arrivati a parlare di fine della civiltà dei consumi, ed ecco che qualcuno ci ricorda che è ancora possibile produrre e comprare cose fatalmente inutili (e brutte). Si pensava che fosse finita l’ondata di abbigliamento ispirata a Tron, invece no. Tutta colpa di Puma, che ha editato un paio di scarpe con platform che sembrano fatte su misura per Quorra. Si chiamano Speed Kitty. Potete spiegarmi cosa c’entra la gloriosa storia atletica ed estetica di Puma con queste orripilanti calzature? Grazie. (via Trendhunter)

/

We had almost got around to talking about the end of the culture of consumption, and then someone comes along to remind us that it’s still possible to produce and buy things that are hopelessly useless (and ugly). It seemed that the tide of clothing inspired by Tron had ebbed, but no. It’s all the fault of Puma, which has brought out a pair of shoes with platform heels that look as if they were made to measure for Quorra. They’re called Speed Kitty. Can anyone explain to me what the glorious athletic and aesthetic history of Puma has to do with this horrible footwear? Thank you. (via Trendhunter)

Roberta Mutti

143. The Quantum Parallelograph

Fincken + Mirti — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:28:10 +0000

The Quantum Parallelograph is an exploratory project developed by Patrick Stevenson-Keating where he examines the scientific and philosophical ideas surrounding the theory of quantum physics and multiple universes. The device delves into the multiverse, and allows users to glimpse into their “parallel lives” – to observe their alternate realities. (via Petra Tikulin).

The project is rooted in the pioneering work of Professor David Deutsch of Oxford University, and the earlier work of Professor Hugh Everett, who argue for infinite copies of ourselves existing within multiple universes. The Quantum Parallelograph seeks to reveal to the personal user how such ideas of alternative realities may be envisaged.

The device uses online sources to find the “parallel lives” of users, and prints out a short statement about their “simultaneous” life in a parallel world.

More about the Quantum Parallelograph

More about Patrick Stevenson-Keating

Necessary #075. Macao

Klat Blog — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:37:23 +0000

Centinaia di architetti, studenti, designer, fotografi in surmenage si aggirano per la torre Galfa di Milano, il grattacielo che Melchiorre Bega progettò negli anni Cinquanta e che ora si chiama Macao. Dopo decenni di abbandono, finalmente possono salire in cima al grattacielo e guardare i Pirelloni da vicino, dominare dall’alto l’enorme cantiere Garibaldi Porta Nuova di Hines Catella, ma anche vedere com’è fatto, progettare nuovi usi, dare una mano materiale per metterlo a posto. Che i lavoratori dell’arte di Milano abbiano avuto l’idea di occupare un grattacielo di proprietà Ligresti in un posto così strategico è sorprendente. Il modello paradigmatico era quello del Valle di Roma, un teatro settecentesco in piena zona monumentale, seguito a Napoli, Palermo, Catania, e molte altre città da occupazioni di luoghi dismessi (cinema, teatri, etc.), destinati al commercio o all’abbandono, allo scopo di creare nuovi, attivissimi, centri culturali. Il messaggio a Milano è chiaro: la cultura vuole dire la sua sulla città.

/

Hundreds of overtaxed architects, students, designers and photographers are wandering around the Galfa Tower in Milan, the skyscraper that Melchiorre Bega designed in the fifties and that is now called Macao. After decades of abandon, they are at last able to climb to the top of the building and look at the Pirelli skyscraper and its new neighbor from close up and gaze down on Hines-Catella’s enormous Garibaldi Porta Nuova development, but also see how the tower is made, come up with new uses for it and lend a material hand in fixing it up. That the “Art workers” of Milan should have had the idea of occupying a skyscraper owned by the Ligresti group in such a strategic location is surprising. The precedent was set by the Teatro Valle in Rome, an 18th-century theater in the heart of the city’s monumental zone, followed in Naples, Palermo, Catania and many other cities by the occupation of disused places (movie houses, theaters, etc.) earmarked for conversion for commercial purposes or for abandonment, with the aim of creating new and lively cultural centers. The message in Milan is clear: culture wants to have its say about the city.

Lucia Tozzi

Photo: Antonio Ottomanelli

Unnecessary #061. Doodle Cup

Klat Blog — Wed, 09 May 2012 05:48:48 +0000

Intrattenimento è la parola dei tempi moderni. La noia potrebbe assalirci? Corriamo ai ripari. Questo devono aver pensato Hye Yeon Cho & Seo Young Yoon quando hanno progettato la Doodle Cup, una tazza da tè completa di passatempo enigmistico. Allegato? No, disegnato all’interno. Una figura che si delinea collegando i punti, le cui linee si tracciano con una cannuccia e le gocce di caffè rimasto sul fondo. Anche un po’ repellente, come idea, oltre che macchinosa e di realizzazione complessa. Qualcuno dica ai due progettisti che con in mano una tazza di tè si può parlare, leggere, pensare, ascoltare musica, ridere e molto altro. Ci hanno mai provato? (via Yanko Design)

/

Entertainment is the watchword of modern times. Might we succumb to boredom? Let’s do something about it. This must have been what Hye Yeon Cho & Seo Young Yoon thought when they designed the Doodle Cup, a coffee mug complete with a puzzle. Attached to it? No, printed on the inside. A figure that is outlined by connecting the dots, drawing the lines with a straw and the last dregs of coffee left at the bottom. A bit repellent, as an idea, as well as complicated and difficult to realize. Someone should tell the two designers that while holding a mug of coffee you can talk, read, think, listen to music, laugh and much more. Have they ever tried? (via Yanko Design)

Roberta Mutti

Necessary #074. Crossover is Coming Back

Klat Blog — Fri, 04 May 2012 06:18:21 +0000

Swanlights, Antony and the Johnsons with Symphony Orchestra, commissioned by The Museum of Modern

Se negli anni Novanta un artista era cool quando dichiarava nel proprio curriculum almeno due città di residenza (possibilmente agli antipodi del globo), oggi al pedigree cosmopolita non si fa quasi più caso, mentre si stanno moltiplicando gli intellettual-creativi con doppia o tripla competenza, tipo artista e architetto, designer e musicista, etc. Ora che il mondo iperconnesso è alla portata di tutti, la commistione tra i saperi è la nuova frontiera. Dopo tanta teoria sulla contaminazione culturale, anche l’artworld sta (ri)cominciando a desiderare unioni con altre discipline. Sicuramente le nuove generazioni, educate all’ibridazione della Rete, non sanno che farsene dell’autonomia dell’arte. Ma i segnali si moltiplicano anche a livello istituzionale. Per esempio, la programmazione del MoMA/PS1, firmata Klaus Biesenbach, con esperimenti come la retrospettiva dei Kraftwerk. O il Palais de Tokyo, che riparte dopo mesi di lavori con un assetto multimediale. E, ancora, la summer school “all’insegna dell’interdisciplinarietà” del Castello di Rivoli. Una nuova energia creativa si sta liberando. This is Tomorrow. Come diceva il gruppo di architetti, artisti, musicisti e designer che, nel 1956, metteva insieme l’omonima mostra alla Whitechapel.

/

If in the nineties it was cool for an artist’s CV to declare that he or she lived and worked in at least two cities (preferably on opposite sides of the globe), such cosmopolitan pedigrees pass almost unnoticed today, whereas the number of intellectuals and creative people with expertise in two or even three fields, such as art and architecture, design and music, etc., is growing. Now that the hyperconnected world is within everyone’s reach, the fusion of different areas of knowledge is the new frontier. After so much theorizing about cultural crossovers, the art world too is once again beginning to look for overlaps with other disciplines. It is clear that the new generations, accustomed to the hybridization of the Web, have no need for the autonomy of art. But there are growing signs that something similar is happening at the institutional level too. For example, Klaus Biesenbach’s programming at MoMA/PS1, with experiments like the Kraftwerk retrospective. Or the Palais de Tokyo, which after months of work is up and going again with a multimedia setup. And again, the summer school “under an interdisciplinary banner” at the Castello di Rivoli. A new creative energy is being unleashed. This is Tomorrow, to borrow the title of the exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery put together by a group of architects, artists, musicians and designers in 1956.

Caroline Corbetta

Parade (ballet), 1916-1917. Costumes and sets designed by Pablo Picasso.

Biophilia, Björk, 2011.

Kraftwerk – Retrospective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, MoMA, 2012.

This Is Tomorrow, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1956.

Unnecessary #060. The Fourth Dimension

Klat Blog — Thu, 03 May 2012 06:36:41 +0000

Il tavolo, battezzato The Fourth Dimension (nome emblematico), è ispirato alla teoria di Albert Einstein – spiega l’autore, Axel Yberg. In più, si rifà ai quattro componenti di una famiglia: se uno solo cade, la struttura non regge. Per realizzare questo tavolo, indubbiamente complesso, Yberg si è inventato una struttura di cavi d’acciaio che tengono le gambe in tensione, evitandone il collasso: sempre in agguato, tanto che il nome della collezione completa è Potential for Collapse. Peccato che viviamo in un mondo tridimensionale, e che di sistemi molto più semplici per reggere un tavolo ne siano già stati inventati in gran numero. Non si spiega dunque la necessità di impiegare così tanto materiale per complicare inutilmente una cosa semplice. (via Yanko Design)

/

The table, called The Fourth Dimension (an emblematic name), is inspired by Albert Einstein’s theory of the space-time continuum – explains its designer, Axel Yberg. In addition, it alludes to the four members of a family: if just one falls, its structure would not hold up. To make this undoubtedly complex table, Yberg has invented a structure of steel cables that keep the legs in tension, preventing it from collapsing: something that is always a threat, as suggested by the name given to the complete collection, Potential for Collapse. Pity that we live in a three-dimensional world, and that numerous far simpler ways of supporting a table have already been invented. So it’s hard to understand the need to use so much material to make a straightforward thing complicated. (via Yanko Design)

Roberta Mutti

The Diagram

Zachary Eastwood-Bloom — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:44:06 +0000

‘Problems 162,163 & 164′ and ‘Problems 170 & 171′ are faithfully recreated illustrations from a book of technical drawing problems with the annotation and text removed. With the information absent, the illustrations become abstract geometries; diagrams of the sublime that instil a quiet contemplation. ‘Problems…’ subvert the traditional function of the diagram and rather than elucidate an existing depiction ‘Problems…’ diagrams something within the viewer that cannot be fully explained purely through logic.

Problems 162, 163 & 164

Problems 170 & 171