Mariscal’s drawings of New York

The carpets represent different maps of Hutong areas in downtown Beijing.  Each area is approximately one square kilometre and has a population of 30,000, marking incredibly dense living areas. Each area has been isolated and presented as an autonomous town within the big city, and is embroidered by hand with the same technique of the propaganda slogans on large fabrics used by the communist party during the seventies. Since 2009 the carpets have been shown to the Hutong dwellers, through simple street events, they are hung up on ropes, wires and threads commonly used by local Beijing residents for their clothes to dry.

London tube map

“The tube map is something we all take for granted and rarely consider its origins. Ever wondered who came up with the seamless (but maybe not geographically accurate) design? Well, it was a chap called Harry Beck who was hired to redesign the map in 1931. Some could compare Beck’s approach to the London Underground to Steve Jobs’ vision of computers: ‘what do people need and how do we make it simple?’ as he ditched the curved lines and natural bends and implemented a simple grid-like system making the map easier to read. His first design (above) was rejected leading him to design a map very similar to the one we now know and love. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The London Transport Museum is hosting a season of talks and events discussing the evolution of the tube map, contemporary art, a Piccadilly Line walking tour and much more. Be sure to check out the exhibition and to book quickly so you don’t miss out.” Carly-Ann Clements, Time Out

Light Cube

Thanks for The Tanks

Last night, The Tanks opened at Tate Modern.  The converted oil tanks are now devoted to showing time based media such as performance, film, and sound works.  This marks a pivotal moment for contemporary art, as the biggest space devoted to this kind of media. Artists must respond to the spaces they are given to show in, so as galleries get larger, so do the artworks. The Tanks will allow artists to realize ambitious works in ephemeral media to one of the largest art audiences in the world.  

They were designed by Herzog & de Meuron who also designed the pavilion at the Serpentine this year with Ai Weiwei.

What’s your favourite stadium?

Ampitheatre Lineage

Sagmeister’s City Greeting Card

“My grandfather was educated in sign painting and I grew up with many of his pieces of wisdom around the house, traditional calligraphy carefully applied in gold leaf on painstakingly carved wooden panels.

One of his panels, still hanging in our hallway in Austria, reads:

This house is mine, and it isn’t mine

the second guy won’t own it either,

They will carry out the third one too,

so tell me, my friend, whose house is it?

I am just following this tradition with “Trying to look good limits my life”. The title of this work (and its content) is among the few things I have learned in my life so far (some of the others are: Having guts always works out for me and Everything I do always comes back to me).

Broken up into 5 parts Trying/to look/good/limits/my life and displayed in sequence as typographic billboards, they work like a sentimental greeting card left in a park north of Paris.”

Chris Cunningham x Audi City