Shape

OPEN HOUSE – Matthew Mazzotta 2013

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OPEN HOUSE is a transforming theater in York, Alabama

Artist Matthew Mazzotta, the Coleman Center for the Arts, and the people of York Alabama have teamed up to work together and transform a blighted property in York’s downtown into a new public art project this is in the shape of a house, but can physically transform into a 100 seat open air theater, free for the public.

Through open conversations, hard work and planning we have developed a project that uses the materials from an abandoned house as well as the land it sits on to build a new smaller house on the footprint of the old house. However this new house has a secret, it physically transforms from the shape of a house into an open air theater that seats 100 people by having its walls and roof fold down. We call our project ‘Open House’.

Open House lives mostly in the form of a house between the grocery store and the post office, reminding people what was there before, but it opens up when the community wants to enjoy shows, plays, movies, and any other event people can think of that supports community life here in York. When the theater is folded back up into the shape of a house the property is a public park for anyone to enjoy.

Open House was awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Visual Artist Network, as well as individual contributions

For more details – matthewmazzotta.com

The Azolla Cooking and Cultivation Project Book and EBook now Available.

The Azolla Cooking and Cultivation Project at Salo Art Museum / Halikonlahti Green Art. Erik Sjödin 2011. More information at www.eriksjodin.net

The Azolla Cooking and Cultivation Project at Salo Art Museum / Halikonlahti Green Art. Erik Sjödin 2011. More information at www.eriksjodin.net

The Azolla Cooking and Cultivation Project (2012) is now available as free pdf, as paperback at Amazon US / UK and as e-book at Kindle Store.

Erik Sjödin is an artist and researcher based in Stockholm and Bergen. His practice explores interdependencies and interrelationships between humans and non-humans as well as questions of being and becoming.

Erik’s work is primarily constituted of transdisciplinary research and interventions in the public realm. His projects are often of an exploratory nature and take shape over several years. He frequently collaborates with and consults experts such as scientists, farmers, chefs and craftspeople.

 

Creative Review – What does a ton of CO2 look like?

BIG VORTEX is the idea of Berlin-based artists realities:united. Waste gases will leave the chimney of the plant (which will turn waste into energy) as revolving gas clouds in the shape of smoke rings. The rings become visible due to the condensation of water in the flue gases as they slowly rise and cool, before resolving into the air. The rings produced in this way will, the artists estimate, be 30 metres in diameter and three metres thick and “constitute exactly one ton of fossil carbon dioxide, which is added to the atmosphere”. “[In] this way the rather abstract pollution aspect gets somewhat more graspable and understandable, something you can see and relate to,” the artists say.

via Creative Review – What does a ton of CO2 look like?.

Future of Urban Agriculture in Rooftop Farms and Natalie Jeremijenko on Popularmechanics.com

Natalie Jeremijenko, an aerospace engineer and environmental health professor at New York University, came up with a rooftop design to solve these common problems for urban farming. Her fixtures may be more economical than other urban farm concepts because they take up real estate that otherwise goes unused, and unlike other urban farm designs, they can pack in the plants, because everything, from the integrated systems to their bubble shape, is a slave to efficiency.

Natalie Jeremijenko (born 1966) is an artist and engineer whose background includes studies in biochemistry, physics, neuroscience and precision engineering. She is an active member of the net.art movement, and her work primarily explores the interface between society, the environment and technology. She is currently an Associate Professor at NYU in the Visual Art Department, and has affiliated faculty appointments in Computer Science and Environmental Studies.

Check out the full article here:

Future of Urban Agriculture in Rooftop Farms – Vertical and Rooftop Agriculture – Popularmechanics.com.

158 Lifeguard Towers to Begin their Transformation into Public Art – LAist

Starting Sunday April 25th and lasting through October, the regions biggest public art project will begin to take shape. By Mid-May “Summer of Color” will have turned 158 lifeguard towers on 31 miles of California coast into vibrant floral pieces of public art. On Sunday, volunteers will paint tower railings with one of five colors: yellow, rumba orange, sweat pea, Toronto blue, and crocus petal purple. If you want to volunteer, sign up here.

via 158 Lifeguard Towers to Begin their Transformation into Public Art This Weekend – LAist.

Artist’s Wildflower Park is not Art

{Chapman Kelley’s wildflower park in Chicago. I think this is a before shot?}

…or at least the courts say so.

I’m having a bit of trouble figuring out what is going on here, mostly because I haven’t seen before and after shots, but artist Chapman Kelley is appealing a court decision stating that his 1.5 acre wildflower park is not “original art.” The city of Chicago altered the park in 2004, removing half of his installation, and Kelley subsequently sued the city for $825,000.

Here’s a bit more from artinfo.com:

Kelley is asking the federal appeals court in Chicago to overturn a ruling that his 1.5-acre wildflower piece, in which the flowers are planted in the shape of an ellipse, was not original enough to warrant protection under U.S. copyright law. The City of Chicago reduced the work by over half in 2004, to the dismay of the artist. Kelley says the destroyed wildflowers were valued at $825,000, and he wants the city to pay him for the damages.

There’s also this story from April ’09.

As I mentioned before…some photos of the park now would really help me figure out what’s going on. It is interesting to follow and see if gardens will or will not be considered something that can be copyrighted.

> More work at chapmankelley.com.

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