Posts filed under 'Events'
Last week the V&A in London opened a new show titled Decode – Digital Design Sensations. The exhibition, co-curated by onedotzero, showcases the latest developments in digital and interactive design, from small screen based graphics to large-scale installations.
Exhibition poster: Prototypes from the Flowers series, 2009 Daniel Brown
I was lucky enough to get my hands on a ticket to the opening and whilst not everything in the show was my kettle of fish, a few works really stood out. I’ll focus on those.
Daniel Rozin’s Weave Mirror installation was one of the highlights for me. Ok- I’ve seen about a million pictures of it (check out Troika’s Digital by Design book, for instance) but I’d never seen it in person. Beautifully done- the work had a really organic feeling to it despite the somewhat complex network of electronics carefully integrated into the back. If there was one ‘I put my hand up, you show me putting my hand up’ installation I’d want in my house, it’d be this one.
http://www.smoothware.com/danny/
Equally worthy of mention was Troika’s Digital Zoetrope, originally commissioned for onedotzero’s 2008/09 festival. From Troika’s website:
“The idea for the zoetrope comes directly from the festivals ‘adventures in motion’ payoff and this year’s theme ‘Citystates’.”
“We wanted to create a container that both celebrated the heritage of motion arts as well as its digital present while affording us a very literal medium for the content – the idea of altered states through motion.”
http://troika.uk.com/
At the slightly more aggressive end of the scale, Ryoji Ikeda’s piece in the show was probably my favourite. Ok. Equal favourite. I saw him Live at the Paradiso in Amsterdam a couple of years ago and whilst I must say that I can generally handle experimental music, this really tested me. The set was about half an hour long and after 20 minutes I was unsure if I was going to make it to the end. I loved every second of it, but it was so intense.
He describes his work at the V&A, data.scan, as an attempt to materialise the vast quantities of data surrounding us in our everyday lives. It is part of Ikeda’s ongoing datamatics series, a collection of works that investigate the minutiae and infinite qualities of data.
For the sound element of the work, Ryoji opts for high frequencies which cut through even the chaos of the opening night, in a room which was probably already a little over-crowded with works before it was filled with people.
http://www.ryojiikeda.com/
Decode is on now at the V&A and runs through to April 11, 2010. I’ll definately be back to check it out one more time. I’m curious what Jason Bruges created in the garden. On the night of the opening they closed if off before I made it out there.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/future_exhibs/Decode/index.html
December 17th, 2009
As part of the Bartlett School of Architecture International Lecture Series there will be a FREE Digital Architecture Event this coming Wednesday in London.
http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture/events/lectures/lectures.htm#9
image credit: Shampoo, AA Design Research Laboratory
Date:Wednesday 9th December , 2009 from 6.30PM
Open to public, arrive early to avoid disappointment.
Location:Darwin Lecture Theatre
University College London
Access through Malet Place.
Map
For a special student focused event I have brought together some of London’s most prolific recent graduates in a group presentation of innovative and inspiring projects examining the scope of ‘digitally enabled’ architecture. Presenters include this years’ President’s Silver Medal Winner, Nicholas Szczepaniak, the Bartlett’s Christian Kerrigan and Ric Lipson, AA’s Adam Nathaniel Furman, AA DRL’s ‘Shampoo‘ Group and RCA’s Jordan Hodgson.
To place this in context: from the first generative algorithms of John Frazer, to Cedric Price and Gordon Pask’s proposed interactive buildings, to the technologically inspired hinterlands of Archigram’s walking, reconfigurable, and instant cities, London has long been a provocateur of digitally enabled architecture.
This spirit of speculation and provocation continues in a young generation of designers who slip with ease between computational algorithms and hand drawings, paper models and robotic manufacturing. In November 2009 myself and Sara Shafiei co-authored and published ‘Digital Architecture: Passages Through Hinterlands’ which went further than the exhibition, revealing the processes behind leading graduate work alongside interviews with young practices including Amanda Levete Architects, Plasma Studio, JDS Architects, sixteen* (makers), and marcosandmarjan – discussing how the these innovative explorations have begun to make their mark on the built environment. Following the lecture, there will be a book launch of ‘Digital Architecture: Passages Through Hinterlands’ at the Bartlett. It can also be previewed online at
www.passagesthroughhinterlands.com
December 6th, 2009
An exhibition critically exploring the evolving relationship between ubiquitous computing, architecture, and urban space. Curated by Mark Shepard and organized by the Architectural League of New York
www.sentientcity.net
As computing leaves the desktop and spills out onto the sidewalks, streets, and public spaces of the world around us, we increasingly find information processing capacity embedded within and distributed throughout the material fabric of everday urban space. Artifacts and systems we interact with on a daily basis collect, store, and process information about us, or are activated by our movements and transactions. Ubiquitous computing evangelists herald a coming age of urban infrastructure capable of sensing and responding to the events and activities transpiring around them. Imbued with the capacity to remember, correlate and anticipate, this near-future “sentient” city is envisioned as being capable of reflexively monitoring its environment and our behavior within it, becoming an active agent in the organization of everyday life in urban public space.
Toward the Sentient City explores alternate trajectories for the design and inhabitation of this near-future urban environment. Organized around five newly commissioned projects distributed throughout the city, the exhibition features:
Natural Fuse by Usman Haque, creative director, Nitipak ‘Dot’ Samsen, designer, Ai Hasegawa, designer, Cesar Harada, designer. Barbara Jasinowicz, producer
Too Smart City by JooYoun Paek, David Jimison | Engineers: Daniel Bauen, Aaron Gilbert, Bill Washabaugh
Amphibious Architecture by The Living Architecture Lab at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (Directors David Benjamin and Soo-in Yang) and xdesign Environmental Health Clinic at New York University (Director Natalie Jeremijenko)
Trash Track by SENSEable City Laboratory, MIT | Carlo Ratti: Director, Assaf Biderman: Associate Director, Rex Britter: Advisor, Stephen Miles: Advisor, Kristian Kloeckl Project Leader, Musstanser Tinauli, E Roon Kang, Alan Anderson, Avid Boustani, Natalia Duque Ciceri, Lorenzo Davolli, Samantha Earl, Lewis Girod, Sarabjit Kaur, Armin Linke, Eugenio Morello, Sarah Neilson, Giovanni de Niederhausern, Jill Passano, Renato Rinaldi, Francisca Rojas, Louis Sirota, Malima Wolf
Breakout! by Anthony Townsend (Institute for the Future), Georgia Borden, Amanda Kross, Jung Hoon Kim, Antonina Simeti (DEGW), Dana Spiegel (NYCwireless), Laura Forlano (Parsons The New School for Design), Tony Bacigalupo (New Work City), Sean Savage (PariSoMa), Elysse Preposi (Sarah Lawrence College)
Also see the “Open Archive“, a collection of video documentation of existing projects related to the themes of the exhibition. The Archive is designed to grow over the course of the exhibition based on suggestions and contributions received through an open submission process.
October 19th, 2009
Digital Hinterlands features a diverse range of work by some of the best recent architecture graduates from London’s Architectural Association, Bartlett, Royal College of Art, and University of Westminster. Organised by Ruairi Glynn and curated in consultation with Arup, this exhibition reveals how the latest computational design and rapid manufacturing processes are providing new ways of understanding and designing space. From built models, 1:1 fragments, material experiments and installations, to interactive devices, virtual worlds and robotics, this exhibition presents the ideas of a wave of young designers, operating on the speculative hinterlands of architectural design.
The Private View of the Digital Hinterlands Exhibition is on the 21st September to coincide with the Digital Architecture London Conference, as part of London Digital Week
August 27th, 2009
It’s that time of the year and the Bartlett Summer Show begins today. Over 450 students are showing innovative drawings, models, devices, texts, animations and installations. I find it usually takes a few visits to absorb everything.
Location
Main Quadrangle and Slade Galleries of UCL, Gower St, London WC1
Official show opening by Massimiliano Fuksas
Friday 26 June, 19.00
Exhibition open to the public
Saturday 27 June, 10.00 – 20.30
Sunday 28 June, 10.00 – 17.30
Monday 29 June, 10.00 – 20.30
Tuesday 30 June, 10.00 – 18.00
Wednesday 1 & Thursday 2 July, 10.00 – 17.00
Friday 3 July, 10.00 – 20.30
Saturday 4 July, 10.00 – 17.00 (show closes)
Guided exhibition tour by the Bartlett Professors of Architecture
Tuesday 30 June, please arrive at 6.30pm for 6.45pm start, tour duration approximately 1 hour.
June 26th, 2009
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