FLEXING IT

Modern day rave, for the whippersnapper.

The rave parties known as NU-FLEX are the creation of, party monster David West. This is the new party that has brought rave back... and change the identity of the scene... thanks to it's themed nights which happen once a month, people get loose and dress up to the core. The flyers are something to talk about as well. All the photography, is by the man himself, including the design.









http://www.myspace.com/thenuflex

Yuniic

Wing Chair Twist

Yuniic Design is a designer duo from Zurich, Switzerland, developing furniture, lighting and various other objects. Every single created object is defined by its clear forms and a certain wink and playfulness, without cutting down on functionality and utility. Christina Primschitz (*1979, Austria) studied interior design and web design at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan, Thierry Villavieja (*1974, Switzerland) is coming from the field of metal construction, from where he brings designing and mechanical skills. The combination of the different fields of activity makes the perfect sequence of realizing a product, starting from the design process, over technical solutions up to production.

Zürich
Switzerland
info@yuniic.ch
www.yuniic.ch

Virtual Scrapbook

I just love this. Worth a look at...


www.radiohead.com/worms.php

Visual Diary #1- Mavuso Mbutuma

Visual Diary #1- Ludwig Breedt

Celebrating Jan Švankmajer

Jan Švankmajer (born 4 September 1934 in Prague) is a Czech surrealist artist. His work spans several media. He is known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Quay and many others.

Švankmajer has gained a reputation over several decades for his distinctive use of stop-motion technique, and his ability to make surreal, nightmarish and yet somehow funny pictures. He is still making films in Prague at the time of writing.

Švankmajer's trademarks include very exaggerated sounds, often creating a very strange effect in all eating scenes. He often uses very sped-up sequences when people walk and interact. His movies often involve inanimate objects coming alive and being brought to life through stop-motion. Food is a favourite subject and medium. Stop-motion features in most of his work, though his feature films also include live action to varying degrees.

A lot of his movies, like the short film Down to the Cellar, are made from a child's perspective, while at the same time often having a truly disturbing and even aggressive nature. In 1972 the communist authorities banned him from making films, and many of his later films were banned. He was almost unknown in the West until the early 1980s.

Today he is one of the most celebrated animators in the world. His best known works are probably the feature films Alice (1988), Faust (1994), Conspirators of Pleasure (1996), Little Otik (2000) and Lunacy (2005), a surreal comic horror based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe and the Marquis de Sade. Also famous (and much imitated) is the short Dimensions of Dialogue (1982), which shows Arcimboldo-like heads gradually reducing each other to bland copies ("exhaustive discussion"); a clay man and woman who dissolve into one another sexually, then quarrel and reduce themselves to a frenzied, boiling pulp ("passionate discourse"); and two elderly clay heads who extrude various objects on their tongues (toothbrush and toothpaste; shoe and shoelaces, etc.) and use them in every possible combination, sane or otherwise ("factual conversation"). His films have been called "as emotionally haunting as Kafka's stories[1]."

He was married to Eva Švankmajerová, an internationally known surrealist painter, ceramicist and writer until her death in October of 2005. She collaborated on several of his movies including Faust, Otesánek and Alice. They had two children, Veronika and Václav.

Read more:
www.jansvankmajer.art.pl/
www.imdb.com/name/nm0840905/
www.keyframeonline.com/CastCrew/Jan_Svankmajer/4297/

Brown Paper Bag

At first glance the work of Pablo Guardiola could be construed as still life photography. But a second glance reveals the deeper meaning and Guardiola’s worth as a conceptual artist. The grease stains on the ordinary brown paper bag are a dead giveaway for the fast food it contains. But the stains have taken on the form of a world map and the mind leaps from fast food nation to the multinationals that dominate the globe. An old white bucket sits forlorn, but this is actually a red one that has taken three years to record the light, the very act of photography. A postcard on a fence that blocks out the view of the here and now speaks of boundaries, while the gap between fence boards acts as a portal to what lies beyond.

Artist: Pablo Guardiola
+ littletreegallery.com

Bright Orange

Bright Orange Detroit Words By Eva Steele-Saccio Photos By Object Orange Video By Lindsay Utz, Bristol Baughan, Jeff Becker, Tom Van Buskirk, Ian Walsh

It began with a sign: a bright orange traffic detour sign standing next to one of Detroit's thousands of abandoned houses. Four local artists, a group who call themselves Object Orange, realized they could use the shocking color of the sign to draw attention to the city's pervasive urban decay. With up to 15 volunteers they staged clandestine predawn painting expeditions, covering blighted houses in buckets of "Tiggerific" orange paint. "People become blind," says OO's Mike, who, like other members of the group, prefers anonymity for legal reasons. "We want to make them take note." Out of Detroit's more than 7,000 abandoned buildings, fewer than 2,000 are slated for destruction, leaving a long waiting list of properties that have become drug dens, prostitution hubs, and dangerous neighborhood playgrounds.
Commuters have begun to notice the orange houses, as have unhappy city officials. "They may believe they are making artistic statements," says James Canning, communications coordinator for the Mayor's office, "but they are just trespassing and adding to the blight of the buildings." Eyesore or not, the orange is noticeable. Four of OO's first 11 orange houses were almost immediately demolished. Canning attributes this to coincidence and careful calculation (demolition plans are public record); the artists see it as a critical step toward re-invigorating their deteriorating city. "Our part is starting conversations," says OO member Jacques. "Some people do outreach. We paint houses orange."

Object Orange is a group of artists based in Detroit.

Avant-garde dating

AVANT-GARDE DATING

KEYWORD: CONCEPTUAL

AVANT-GARDE DATING is a new experimental dating service for artists. In contrast to traditional dating services, the primary aim of AVANT-GARDE DATING is not to match artists looking for a romantic/sexual relationship but to match artists who are interested in investigating issues associated with relationships. In order to apply, individuals must explain how they will explore the conventions of monogamous love, challenge the idea of artistic collaboration and/or explore one of the other numerous stereotypes of human pairing. Based on the application, the Dating Board will match artists with each other and three outstanding 'couples' will be rewarded a 1-week exhibition during the Art Forum in Berlin (Sep-Oct 2007) to further explore the concept of human partnering.

AVANT-GARDE DATING is a project by Wooloo, an artists-run organization based in Berlin, Germany.

Semi-related: GayMobile - another experimental community service.

• www.avantgardedating.com