“Architecture affects everybody…” Julius Shulman once said. And he’s right – it’s all around us, and far too often taken for granted. Sadly, Shulman passed away earlier this year. Now, director Erik Bricker‘s new documentary, “Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman,” celebrates Shulman’s life and work as the world’s greatest architectural photographer.

Click HERE for a list of screenings.

And check out Dwell Magazine‘s interview with director Erik Bricker HERE.

H/T FreshCreation

Sonumbra by Loop.pH

Sonumbra by Loop.pH

Metabolic Media by Loop.pH

London-based research and design studio Loop.pH is bridging the gap between design and natural sciences, specializing in environmentally responsive textiles for the built environment. At its helm sit designers Rachel Wingfield and Mathias Gmachl, who marry traditional craft-based practices with cutting-edge technology and science.

One of their most recent standout projects is Sonumbra, an experimental series of solar-powered, tree-like structures that explore alternative sources of energy and low-cost lighting, designed to respond to the interplay and activity of the people orbiting the umbrella by casting a sonic shade of light. As Ms. Wingfield says, “Strands of light are laced into huge parasols with the potential to offer shelter from the sun by day and shed light for a local community at night using energy collected from the solar cell embedded it its canopy. We have been working with Riso DTU, the National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy in Denmark, with their printed, organic solar cells. These low cost, flexible cells become part of the architectural textile.” In some ways – specifically as eco-conscious, solar powered, community focused tree shaped lighting – Sonumbra reminds me very much of Ross Lovegrove‘s brilliant Solar Trees. However, much of Sonumbra’s magic also lies in the creation of an atmosphere of musical rhythms and luminous patterns – all determined by visitors’ movements in relation to Sonumbra.

An overlapping project called Metabolic Media has Loop.pH working with Riso DTU on solar cells for energy harvesting canopy. Specifically, Metabolic Media considers biomimetic architecture modeled on molecular structures and metabolism in living cells. Ms. Wingfield – also a research fellow at University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins College – has liased with and responded to the work of Nobel Laureate Sir John E. Walker on the project.

Click here to learn more about Loop.pH.

All images courtesy of Rachel Wingfield at Loop.pH.
H/T Inhabitat

Check out Coolhunting.com for my review of Taschen‘s limited-edition winter release: Dennis Hopper, Photographs, 1961-1967. It’s an amazing collection featuring several previously unpublished Hopper photographs, and reflects a world in flux in a historical decade—politically, socially and artistically. From the civil rights march at Selma to the art world’s electricity to grittier, urban street scenes, from politicians to writers to artists to complete strangers, Hopper’s camera captured an era…

Also, Coolhunting’s guest-editing Wallpaper.com through September 30th, so you can check out the review there as well!

Personal Edition Crochet Chair by Marcel Wanders

The Philadelphia Museum of Art welcomes visionary Dutch designer Marcel Wanders in a self-designed, self-curated exhibition called “Marcel Wanders: Daydreams.” This dreamlike, multimedia installation of objects was personally selected by Wanders to represent pivotal points in his 20+ year career. Video images, lighting, and sound illuminate his creative development over the years.

New films—detailing Wanders’s design process and philosophy in projects ranging from manufactured products, hotel interiors, and design art—also make their public debut at the retrospective. The films’ soundscapes provide Wanders’s personal views on design.

“Marcel Wanders: Daydreams”
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Curated by Kathryn Hiesinger
November 22, 2009- June 13, 2010

For more information, visit Philadelphia Museum of Art.
And look for my interview w/Wanders in the winter issue of Clear Magazine!

“In Alice in wonderland, when the white rabbit vanished down the hole, we encounter many strange and surreal visions. I thought the white rabbit would be a good metaphor for this exhibition.” -Albert Watson

This week, famed photographer Albert Watson‘s new exhibit, The White Rabbit, opens at Italy’s Forma gallery. In the new series, Watson takes on the role of the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, and invites his audience on a trip through his photographic world – one made of stunning portraits (many celebrity), fashion photography, his recent Las Vegas series, grandiose panoramas and brand new photographs.

Watson was born in Scotland in 1942. After finishing his studies at the Royal College of Art in London, he moved to the USA at the beginning of the seventies. He opened a studio in Los Angeles and in New York. Despite a serious physical disability (he is blind in one eye) he soon became famous as a fashion and portrait photographer, for magazines such as Vogue, Rolling Stone, The Face, VIBE and Newsweek, and his work has appeared on the cover of leading international publications. Apart from creating several advertising campaigns for cosmetics and clothing corporations such as Gap, Levi’s, Revlon and Chanel, he has directed over 500 TV commercials and short movies. In his frequent travels all over the world, from Morocco to Europe and the USA, he has consolidated his own very precise vision, which makes him a reference for originality, innovation and language. His work has been collected in important photography books, including Cyclops (1994), Maroc (1998) and in major solo exhibitions.

For more information, check out www.formafoto.it
Photo above by Albert Watson.

Over the long weekend, I finally got a chance to see “Maelstrom” (2009) by American artist Roxy Paine. Set on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Maelstrom” is a 130-foot-long by 45-foot-wide stainless-steel sculpture. Walking out onto the rooftop, surrounded by gorgeous views of the city and Central Park, visitors are encompassed by the sculpture – what initially appears to be a chaotic maze of tree branches. It is Paine’s largest and most ambitious work to date, and it gives one a sense of being immersed in the middle of a cataclysmic force of nature.

But there is definitely order to the piece – the steel itself implies this, as does the piece’s overall grace. And the juxtaposition of the natural world and the built environment – “Maelstrom” is one of the Paine’s Dendroids, based on systems like vascular networks, tree roots, industrial piping, and fungal mycelia – further reinforces Paine’s balanced success. The installation is up through November 29th, and I definitely recommend stopping by. I know I’ll be back, if only to see how Paine’s piece plays with the changing seasons in NY.

For more information, visit The Met’s website. And check out the installation video below.

A few days ago, I posted about the upcoming Tim Burton retrospective at MoMA. In other Tim Burton news, take a look at the new trailer for “Alice in Wonderland,” scheduled for release spring 2010. From Walt Disney, Burton teams up with some of his favorite players, including Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen. A new face – 19-year-old Mia Wasikowska – plays Alice. Looking forward to seeing a classic retold with Burton’s twists and turns.

Vasily Kandinsky's "Composition 8" (Komposition 8), July 1923 Oil on canvas, 55 1/8 x 79 1/8 inches (140 x 201 cm) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, By gift. 37.262

Vasily Kandinsky, "Blue Segment" (Blaues Segment), 1921 Oil on canvas, 47 1/2 x 55 1/8 inches (120.6 x 140.1 cm) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection. 49.1181

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Vasily Kandinsky, "Improvisation 28" (second version) (Improvisation 28 [zweite Fassung), 1912 Oil on canvas, 43 7/8 x 63 7/8 inches (111.4 x 162.1 cm) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding CollectionBy gift. 37.239"

This month, the Guggenheim NY presents a full-scale retropsective of Vasily Kandinsky’s paintings. “Kandinsky” will include nearly 100 of the artist’s most important canvases, all from 1907 to 1942, and drawing from the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York, and the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau in Munich, along with significant private and public collections.

The retrospective will focus on Kandinsky’s oeuvre and the major events that informed his life: two world wars and the Russian revolutions. Despite these events, or perhaps because of them, Kandinsky’s work did not develop in detachment or isolation. It will also consider his thematic motifs, like the horse and rider, mountainous landscapes, seascapes and apocalyptic imagery . The exhibit was shown at the Centre Pompidou and at the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich before coming to the Guggenheim.

Interestingly, Solomon R. Guggenheim himself began collecting Kandinsky’s work in 1929. Guggenheim even visited Kandisnky in Germany in 1930 at the Bauhaus, and purchased over 150 Kandinsky paintings over his lifetime. The upcoming exhibit coincides with the museum’s 50th anniversary celebrations. It runs through January 2010.

For more information, visit the Guggenheim.
Images courtesy of the Guggenheim.