Tokujin Yoshioka - The Design Genius

I love this guy.


:)


I really do. I Loooooooooooooooooooovvee his designs.
And his latest design (that I found) is this Lake of Shimmer/ Crystal Lake for Swarovski.



It is a 9m x 8m wall of 16000 octagonal mirrors, which all are computer-controlled to be angled as the programmed movement. The crystal-like small mirrors flutter in the wind to mimic the effect of sunlight on a lake. It's beautiful! And a very smart design. :)




via moodiereport
and luxury launches

Video of the Day : Gobelins for Annecy 2009

I thought only Studio Ghibli that can creates cool magical fantasy creatures (non-robotic, that is), but today I just learn about Gobelins. The above video is a montage of Gobelins works for Annecy 2009, the International Animation Film Festival.

It's exceptionally beautiful and magical. Super awesome !!! :D

I Was Here

I went to see some exhibition at the NUS Museum yesterday, and saw this unique "photo spot". :D



A giant letters lined up forming the word "I Was Here", I think it was built to be a photo-spot landmark, and also supporting people's facebook-enhanced narcissistic nature.

What do you think? :)

Video of The Day : Red Rabbit

Red Rabbit from Egmont Mayer on Vimeo.

A very delightful 3D animation short movie by Egmont Mayer.

Umbrella Cover / Urban Umbrella

A very nice sight. :) A visual intervention in a public place (new pedestrian mall in the city of Talca, Chile), created using 400 umbrellas suspended in the air.



See complete article here : http://www.plataformaarquitectura.cl/2009/06/19/cubierta-de-paraguas-urban-umbrella/

Zimbabwe's trillion dollar wallpaper

This is art as a political statement at it's best. It's overwhelmingly sad yet beautiful.


But actually, this is a print ad campaign for Zimbabwean Newspaper. The newspaper has had a ‘luxury’ import duty of over 55% which makes it unaffordable for most Zimbabwean.

The bank notes is used, simply because it's cheaper than print the board on paper.


Art Directors: Shelley Smoler, Nadja Lossgott
Copywriter: Raphael Basckin
Creative Directors: Nicholas Hulle
Executive Creative Director: Damon Stapleton

View original image & info here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/marklives/3507575370/

Mysterious tadpole rain in Japan

As rainy season approaches, Japan’s Ishikawa prefecture has been receiving some unusual precipitation — it’s been raining tadpoles.



According to prefecture officials, tadpoles have reportedly fallen from the sky in two separate towns this month. Although it is not unheard of for waterspouts and strong wind to to pull small fish and animals from water and drop them on land, no foul weather has been observed in the area, leaving residents baffled.

[ ... ]

* Read the complete article here http://www.pinktentacle.com/2009/06/tadpole-rain-japan-pics/
* Also read more about raining animals at Wikipedia

the art of living a good life : the Kerala Study

What if I tell you if there's actually a place out there in the world where the greatest possession they ever have in their house is only cooking utensils, a wooden bench, and a few stools (without cushions, that is); and still they all literate, have a low birth rate, and a high life expectancy?

Just in case you didn't know, this 3 factors (literacy, birth rate & life expectancy) are the main accounted factors to measure an index call PQLI, for "Physical Quality of Life Index,"; and if an area/ city/ country reach a high score in this index, means that the people in that particular area are basically living a good life. And this place, scores 82 out of 100. :)

But how can you even considered to be "living a good life", when you only makes US$ 298 - US$ 350 a year?

Strange but true, and this is exactly what's happening in Kerala, India.
Click here for the complete document & fascinating facts.

Anyway, whatever happens behind this beautiful anomaly, it surely proves that you don't have to be rich to live a good life, and therefore, be happy.

In this highly materialistic & capital worshiping world we're living in, money is, apparently, everything. Or so it what most people believe.

By earning more, people tends to consume more; in the hope of having a "better life". (see diagram below)


But did you know, from study conducted some years ago by Charles Hall, a Syracuse professor; shows that every American dollar or its equivalent spent anywhere on earth triggered a series of events that, on average, consumed half a liter of petroleum.

I'm not actually suggesting you to buy nothing (but it would be great :) ), but at least, consume more responsibly.

So in the end, as it was already performed by the Keralians, you don't have to worry about being a sad loser without your stacks of money. Happiness is all in your mind, and by consuming less and living lightly on Earth, you will also be happy :)

art scene investigation : I Love You

On my way back from Merlion Park, I walked past the Esplanade, and I saw this particular installation.


The very first thing that caught my eye is the vibrant colors, obviously. And then my brain recognizes the shapes, which is Arabic. And if you read the text carefully, it says simply;


"I Love You"


And so I went in, to see what's this interesting installation is all about.

Turns out it's an installation by Arahmaiani, an Indonesian female artist of Javanese Muslim descent. Very much like myself, but without the 'artist' title :)

I've nothing much to say but I REALLY like this particular installation. It's visually attractive, and the idea behind the work is simply brilliant!




So what's the big idea?



Apparently Arahmaiani wants to dissolve the negative imagery constructed mostly by Western media that Muslim & Islam are a synonym to violence & terrorism. In reality, most Muslims do not tolerate any kind of violence (particularly in the name of religion or Allah); and most do not hate Westerners. The symbol that she took, is the Arabic script, or to be precise, the Malay variation of Arabic script, called Jawi; forming the phrase "I Love You".


Why I Love You?


Because it's a universal sentence which represents the Islamic teaching that the Artist's received from her parents and ancestors; which also represents the real face of Islam.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
some of the text above are taken from the installation's information sheet mixed with my own words. The exhibition will be at the Singapore's Esplanade Concourse, from May 15th to July 5th 2009.

International Museum Day 2009 : ACM & SAM

Last weekend (30-31 May 2009) was the International Museum Day 2009. To those who don't quite get what I mean, International Museum Day means FREE ENTRY !!! :D I went to Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and Asian Civilization Museum (ACM), as those are the two museums that I'd like to visit the most. Which I haven't done until there's this FREE ENTRY opportunity :D

At ACM, you'll see the old art. The old wisdom and culture. Their beliefs, how they live, and what are their life's values. At ACM, the feelings that are evoked are respect, awe, sentimental and sometimes creepy.


Seeing all those artifacts on display, I feel like I can actually feel the energy. You see, most of the stuff on display is hundreds of years old. And it has been absorbing and transmitting people's hopes, wishes, secrets, fears and prayers for the longest time. So it may be just a piece of wood/rock at the beginning, but when the wood receives such concentrated energy from humans for a long period of time, it will retain the energy, and soon will considered "sacred".

So last week, I purposely come to see the Fantastic Creatures Exhibition (specially curated for children), at Asian Civilisations Museum, from 25 Jan 2009 - 12 Jul 2009. The collections are not so much, but nevertheless, fantastic. :)


It displays a fascinating arrays of truly fantastic creatures from all over Asia, and one of my favorite is the Quilin (above) (a magical creature with body of a deer, the head of a lion, green scales with fire along its back and a long froth-covered horn; and was told that it sounded like bells and musical instruments)


My other personal favorite is Makara (above). A mythical creature with the head of an elephant and body of a crocodile. I found this piece particular very captivating. I can't explain why. Simply stunning!

Looking at these fantastic creatures, I was thinking, how can our ancestors design such a creature? What were they thinking .. ? But whatever it is, surely they have awesome imagination. :)

If only there's some kind of psychology of archaeology studies on these anonymous old masters, it must be very interesting.

And the ACM collection itself, are so amazing, I couldn't even put it words. The best thing to do is to come and wee the exhibition by yourself. By the way, I'm not paid to say this, but it's just how I feel.

Meanwhile, over at theSingapore Art Museum (SAM), you'll see the "new" art. As a result of this quick paced-interconnecting-ever changing world that we're living in now. A different era will resulted in a different kind of art. So this modern art, those that are exhibited at SAM, are ours. It belongs to our generation, it's a reminder of how we live, what are our life's values, what are the gods that we worshiped, what are the things that we despise. Well, it's totally reflecting the new age we're living in, I guess.

It's supposed to be a very interesting place to visit. And I still have the time to pose :D (above) But there are few exhibition that got me really annoyed, because it's highly disturbing. :-S

So all in all, I like ACM better :D. Maybe it's also because I'm not a risk-taker by nature. And I feel comfortable in the more established grounds. Like the centuries old of wisdom. :D

Sing Art Fest 09 : The Diamond

Last Friday is holiday at my office. It's Eat-With-Your-Family Day. I was just wondering, say if I have a family here, and my spouse is working (because his office didn't have such kind of holiday), and my children all went to school, then who am I supposed to eat with?! Anyways it's good. At least we can wind up for a bit.

And so I went to see this Special (FREE!) Events for the Singapore Art Festival 2009 called the Diamond, by The Dream Engine (UK). It's at Merlion Park, at 7 pm; a very nice place where you can smell the ocean and feel the wind and sat at the warm concrete outdoor seatings, heated a few hours earlier by the blazing sun. But at 7 pm the wind was already cool but the seating still kept the warmth of the sun .. So it's veery nice. :)





Perfect choice of place and perfect timing. :)

And the show was also beautiful. There's a little glitch in the sound systems because the music stopped for a few seconds a couple of times, but overall it's still a beautiful show.



In the above pictures you can see how the gigantic 11 meters height jellyfish gracefully come to life (yes I know it was called the Diamond, but I feel it looked more like a jellyfish than a diamond. But jellyfish is also a beautiful creature, so there's absolutely nothing wrong with it)

As it bloomed, you can see the girl inside dances ever so gracefully, and with the play of lights and the music, makes is a very pleasing combination.