urban explorer

An amazing installation on the facades of a building in Linz, Austria.  The LED display responds to music that is boomed into the area via speakers surroudning the building. You must Watch Here.

Oliver Medvedik, founder of the Bioworks Institute, has revealed plans to grow a watch, read more at wired.

The following is from the Bioworks institute website:

“Positioned at the confluence of art and science, we are a tightly knit
group of designers, artists and scientists who seek to develop new
forms of biological products and designs using biotechnology. The
skills and ideas each of us bring to this project will, we predict,
synergize to produce a radical new architectural craft.

The time has finally arrived when the costs of biotechnology have
diminished to make it financially practical for these tools to be
applied by small groups of skilled and motivated individuals. In
essence, our endeavor harkens back to an earlier era of small craft
workshops, albeit utilizing state-of-the-art techniques and resources.

Ever since the advent of novel forms of genetically engineered
micro-organisms containing human and other genes, originally utilized
as “protein-factories” if you will, coupled with the established
technologies of tissue culturing, we seek to develop not just new
organisms, synthetic ecosystems as well.”

This project reminds me of my final year studio project which was a fusion of some research into genetics, xrays of my own body, maya, and rather a few 4b pencils. I have posted the concept text/story and images below:

P  O  S  T  P  R  O  D  U  C  T  I  O  N:__

The year is 2050 and an emergent architecture known as P o s t p r o d u c t i o n has evolved where buildings are recognised not as singular fixed bodies, but as complex energy and material systems that have life spans and co-exist in harmony.  The production of buildings as we once knew ceased long ago.  Pre-fabrication of components and parts, manufactured and assembled in multiple configurations has ended.  Dwindling natural resources, a lack of skilled labour, and unstable climatic environments forced the professions to search beyond traditional modes of design and construction.  As the morphogenetic behaviour of existing materials became known, studies in their self-organisation and potential complexity proliferated.  These led to methodologies for the development of new materials that allowed variation and heterogeneity to emerge, something that until the early twenty first century was avoided at all costs, when variations within materials were seen as imperfections.

Architecture once lagged behind other research professions, the sciences, manufacturing industries, and the mass media’s.  Now architecture leads the profession with the application and use of emergent technologies.  ‘Wet’ nanotechnology utilises the replication potential of biological cell division and DNA as its machinery, as opposed to ‘dry’ nanotechnology which focuses on the creation of minute traditional mechanical devices that allow the manipulation of matter, atom by atom.  The application of ‘wet’ nanotechnology has opened the door for an architecture that is capable of reacting to its environment, both natural and artificial.  The theory of ‘worlding’ as described by Heidegger has been actualised to its extreme possibilities.  Not only do objects transform and mutate depending on the requirements of their users, but buildings are capable of phenotypic reactions, they evolve according to their use.  No longer are there neutral spaces.  Modernist ideals for the simplification of architectural materials and aesthetics has been reversed.  Complexity and variation in architectural form and programme is uncontrolled.

Genetics proved a key field of research in the emergence of P o s t p r o d u c t i o n.  No longer is genetics used solely for the homogenisation of genetic materials, as in agriculture and biological sciences.  Before architecture adopted the possibilities unleashed by genetic research, biologists and medical scientists mapped the human genome (predominately through the work of The Human Genome Project) and developed technologies that enabled manipulation of the human genome. The human body has become a programmable surface capable of reactions to its environment, controlled by the individual.  Once genetic manipulation techniques had been refined it was possible to use this technology to cure all known diseases and deformities within biological life. But this is an ongoing process, as new diseases and abnormalities are evolving at a rate comparable to that of the methodologies used to counter them.  For architecture the possibilities unleashed by this research were unparalleled.

The design of structures has shifted its focus from the preconception that all materials must be isotropic, that is identical properties in all directions, to one that utilises the potential of materials that contain heterogeneous elements.  The evolution of new materials that are ‘grown’ resulted from these technologies.  ‘Machinic Phylum’ once a term used by philosophers to describe the capabilities of matter, being constantly in movement, in flux, and in constant variation is a commonly used term.

The remnants of buildings remaining from the manufacturing era are encased in the new architecture, parasitic in their appearance new structures enclose and provide new amenity to any buildings that are capable of transformation.  As the existing buildings diminish and disintegrate, they are absorbed by the new buildings and recycled to provide material for the growth of the new structures.

A systemic approach to structural systems has developed where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, meaning change and adaptation within localised areas of building systems are absorbed by the structure as a whole. Spatial fluctuations coexisting with virtual and physical environments, brought about by the fragmentation and spatial compaction of society, are now possible and the “fluid, dynamic world” predicted by Neil Spiller in the later part of the 20th century, has become a reality.

Ross Langdon © 2004

images:

Urs Fischer’s Untitled (hole) is on show at Sadie Coles HQ until 17th of november 9also some more matthew barney there too). A violent intervention into the gallery unveils a grave that has apparently been dug into the floor, upon heading to the lower level of the gallery the hole is visible from the underside, flipping the viewers perspective. The actual sculplture is cast in aluminium.

images via Kultureflash

A few exciting things that are going on around London at the moment….. You only have a few days left to catch the Matthew Barney exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, which is thought provoking if not a little absurd (we like that), careful of the smelly prawns…mmm…. while you are there check out the serpentine pavilion, this year by Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen (snohetta). Hyde park is also stunning at the moment, oranges, yellows and reds fill the trees and cover the ground. A trip along southbank is a must with lots going on, aside from the Tate (Louise Bourgoeis and Shibboleth), there is a great exhibition at the hayward gallery, titled ‘the painting of modern life’. A plethera of other free events (music, theatre, dance etc) are on along Southbank at the moment too….make the most of our few last sunny (fresh) days.

Free at the Royal Festival Hall is an exhibition by artist Sam Winston titled ‘volume’, exploring the Poetry Libraries collection through a series of sculpture and images on how we use language. The English Oxford Dictionary and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet form the basis of the work on show. Check out his website for a beautiful collection of works.

image credits to the artist

i just couldn’t resist posting this one…. genius… quite possisbly the sites new mascot…. not sure who or where this packaged crusader came from but he is indeed worthy of a gold star. transformer

Some great artworks on the glowlab website, go the the Fountain New York Issue.  Below is Robin Antiga’s depiction of “lost and endangered characters rooted in a dystopic urban wasteworld”

 

For those Antony and the Johnsons fans out there here is a great link to The World of Adam. Adam Schecter is a New York animator with a somewhat unique view of the world….He has done a series of music videos to some Antony and the Johnson songs……. beware of furry animals with musical instruments and chainsaws when exploring his other movies..

This guy is seriously cool. Theo Jansen, artist, engineer, god? has created a new species, the Strandbeest. For the past 10 years Jansen has been constructing the Strandbeest out of plastic electrical conduit. The Strandbeesten use the power of the wind as their lifesource. A hydraulic system driven by compressed wind enables them to move freely. Jansen has developed a genetic code using the basic module of the cheapest conduit available as its generic DNA. Each strandbeest is constructed according to this genetic code. He then races the Strandbeesten against one another in order to determine which combination of DNA is the best, he then modifies the weaker Strandbeesten in order to strengthen the species as a whole. It is Jansen’s dream that the Strandbeesten will outlive him and eventually form their own communities, living freely in nature. Also, go to his website and check out the Rhinoceros Transport