QR codes rule!

QR Cloud Project by Golfstrommen

I for one, am a great fan of QR codes - I think they're a really interesting and interactive way of connecting with your consumers and encouraging more online/digital interaction. In Japan, they're a big thing, featured almost everywhere, from magazines to shop windows to product aisles in supermarkets - it's a quick way for consumers to get more information on a product and to receive exclusive deals/coupons. It's also a way to track who your consumer is - though slightly bordering on privacy issues, I think QR codes should be embraced more in today's marketing world. Using it across different media platforms and channels will be interesting and maybe even using it for branding purposes as this company has started doing: an application that allows you to barcode your online profile and identity as a branding tool!

http://jumpscan.com/

Anyway, you can only imagine my excitement when Golfstrommen came up with the idea of using QR codes as a new way to disseminate art! Genius! I love the idea of making art consumable like products - in today's byte-sized and snappy culture, taking the time out to really enjoy and savor the arts is a luxury. So, having the ability to access art while you're on the go and having stored into a digital database for later viewing is a great way to go about promoting the arts to a wider audience! Imagine having QR codes at museums, where you can download a thumbnail of your favorite artwork with a quick discussion about the work, all on your phone! two thumbs up!

For more information on the project, visit http://golfstromen.nl/work/qr-cloud-project/

One-step closer to a cyborg universe

flicflex concept from chris woebken on Vimeo.

Flicflex by Chris Woebken

Taking the concept of the ipad and Kindle one step further, Chris Woebken came up with a concept for the future of flexible displays and interactions: "...'opening a letter, unfolding it and feeling the texture of the paper is a very tactile experience compared to receiving an e-mail. on top of the content itself, the behavior and micro-interactions adds a level of engagement to the medium.’ using this physical approach, he designed a series of interface gestures that take advantage of motion sensors and flexible displays."

It's one step closer towards a cyborgian future where the digital is so intertwined and co-opted into our everyday 'tangible' experiences. Imagine owning one of these bad boys - you won't ever need to carry around a book/laptop/notebook - just sync it up and you have instant digital access and yet somehow retain a 'virtual' sense of tangibility with the 'real' world... but who are we kidding? Eons from now, kids will be toting these flexible screens around and will never have had the satisfaction of feeling paper between their fingers and enjoying that little moment when you rip off a page from your favorite magazine and feeling the paper grain as you fold it and put it into your 'scrapbook'.

Call me old school, hey, maybe even a little nostalgic...but i worry about the day when books are no longer printed and i won't get the joy of looking at my ever-expanding bookshelves cos it's all stored digitally in these nifty little devices..

Hi-Lo Art and Life

Takashi Murakami @ Versailles

Japanese pop artist extraordinaire recently has an exhibition at the ostentatiously glamorous Versailles in France. The result? A kitschy mix of high culture and 'low' popular culture that pretty much defines the age we live in today. It's almost akin to the latest fashion trends, of mixing 'high-brow' pieces such as tweed jackets or pearls to a casual item like jeans and a tank. It's exciting, fresh and sooooo Murakami! AND.. it's like Jeff Koons, but cuter and squishy! (yes... i said squishy...how intellectual of me)

great balls of (fire) and light!

I like balls... yes i do...

I especially like them when they're all strung up and lit up in a spectrum of pretty colors! (what on earth were you thinking?!)






check out Mark Reigelman's outdoor installation at the cleveland museum of art just in time for their summer solstice event. Entitled "White Cloud", the installation features 100 eight-foot weather balloons strung up to resemble clouds and come nightfall, colors are projected onto them so they look like pretty marbles!




Similarly, Light Play an urban installation by Michael Levine and KPMB for the Luminato Festival in Toronto back in 2008, has taken the whole concept of lighted chinese lanterns to a whole new level.. absolutely gorgeous!!!

spiderman's lair

'tape installation' is a site specific installation by croation design collective, foruse/numen. showcased at the DMY international design festival in Berlin, the entire installation is yes, made entirely out of tape -700 rolls of adhesive tape no less. the collective has descrived their work as 'parasitic' and reminiscent of UFOs - i just think it looks like spiderman's lair.

here's a little note on the construction process: the tendons of multiple layers of transparent adhesive tape were firstly stretched in between the constructions. the following continuous wrapping of tendons resulted in a complex, amorphous surface through a process similar to the growth of organic forms.

definitely do check out their website to see the rest of their tape installations (particularly love the viennese piece) : http://www.foruse.info

dirrrty money

'Cashback' by vincent jacquier is an interactive installation that shows how one can alter the perception of an object by allowing it to express a virtual content directly linked to its physical aspect. here users are asked to take out a banknote from their wallets and re-evaluate its innocence. Once placed on the cashback glass, the note seeks to reveal its true twisted nature as a stripper appears and begins her provocative dance move. The higher the note's value, the more 'content' you get. Different sides of the banknote also dictate what kind of stripper you get (male or female).

While i totally see the artist's intention in the work, i just like the fact that the piece reminds me of all the times i've wanted to see a strip show and give the dancers some of my dollar bills! haha! seriously though, i like how the work questions the nature of currency and money and it's implicit 'whorish-ness' for lack of a better/more intellectual term.

body con art

and you thought you had body image issues....

Korean artist Bohyun Yoon created 'Mirror costume' as a means to interrogate reality and to integrate that with the everyday experience of contemporary society. It plays with the idea of perception, what is real and what is not.

I personally think it reflects more on the idea of self-perception, on our own delusions about self and how we perceive ourselves may not actually be reality at all. So the question is, is what i see in the mirror the real me? or am i made to believe it as a result of society's reflection on my psyche? (this is me after having watched 'inception' which is a brilliant movie btw)

for more information about the artist: http://www.bohyunyoon.com