How cool is this chair by Sjoerd Vroonland for Moooi? It’s based on a Michael Thonet chair from 1859. I could really use this extension version for my entryway. All of those winter coats pile up in unforeseen places.

See http://www.vroonland.info/

Ah! My resolution is to hold on to the happy times. Drink it in. Savor it. Life is too short to dwell on those other myriad inequalities.

Sharing with you the opening of an academic paper I wrote for my philosophy-heavy architecture course. I joined notions of time from Italo Calvino’s Six Memos for the Next Millennium, the disembodied poetics of The Beats, with a dash of Foucault and Kundera to whip up my thesis titled, “Multiplicity and the Disembodied Poetics of Ai Weiwei.”

Five black and white “arresting” images depict a Chinese model being strong-armed, handcuffed, taken away, interrogated, and stripped naked under government custody. The images, though heady in content and context, impart a delicate beauty. The violence is staged, muted, restrained and controlled. This is, after all, the pages of W Magazine, a fashion editorial deftly titled “Enforced Disappearance,” developed in collaboration with the artist Ai Weiwei. It is his first work of art since being released from government custody having spent 81 days in a Beijing jail. He is still under surveillance and not permitted to leave his Beijing home. Imploring his media savvy, Weiwei used Skype to direct the W team from his home in what The New York Times described as “his disembodied self, open on the laptop.”
“Enforced Disappearance” is a poetic re-enactment of Weiwei’s own time in jail. It is also informed stylistically from his past. In the early 80s, Weiwei studied art in New York and took snapshots of everyday street life. That collection of images is titled “New York Photographs 1983-1993.” The “Disappearance” editorial draws inspiration from a series of Weiwei images depicting the Tompkins Square Riots of ‘88, a punk revolution against gentrification of the Lower East Side. According to Tate Etc, Weiwei’s witness to those American riots “…helped instill an unwavering belief in individual freedom and social justice.” With this editorial and the means in which it was created, Weiwei employs the multiplications of time and place, new technologies, global experiences, and negation of nations. He says “The conflicts between individuals and authorities—be they economic, cultural, political, or religious. I am using my personal experience to address a condition. “ His disembodied approach culls from many movements and ideologies. The editorial then becomes “a hyper novel with many beginnings” and with many meanings through time.

So great to hear Cube had architecture ambition before becoming a rapper. It’s a sweet detail that defines one’s sensibilities and aesthetics. Cool, cool, and more cool. This video was created in conjunction with Pacific Standard Time celebrating the birth of the LA art scene. And well we all know how important the Eames contribution to LA was except this time around the joining of hip hop with an architecture lens makes this little piece of video art, so, so fresh.

For years, I’ve been following Tilda’s every move. Ever since we put her on the cover of Planet Magazine. Her intellect and liberated notions of self energize and inspire me. She has something deemed sparkling to say even in her attempt at plain and pedestrian. She is mother, muse, fashion icon, and then prince and queen in one swoop. Her ability to morph identity with sterling strength is eerily beautiful and dispelling.

(Image taken from The Standard blog from Art Basel, Miami events 2011)

Last year’s Miami festivities for Art Basel were decadent. Lots of Le Baron shamelessness and yacht parties. The one thing I can’t stop thinking of are the chairs from The Lords Hotel’s Cha Cha Cha Rooster bar. They really illustrate the extravagance of Art Basel, the horn legs, the studded back, the grommet, the gold pipping,  etc. I mean….