Tim Burton!

The Entrance to the Tim Burton Exhibit

at MoMA!

I found that there has been a lot of writings about Architecture lately, so here is a small spot about Tim Burton in the middle of the "Alice in Wonderland" hysteria - I can´t wait to see the film myself.

I did not think of this exhibit when I went to MoMA and was stunned by all these non-typical people at the museum. I was like "Wow! the museums are really drawing a fascinating crowd these days". It made me so happy to see people sticking out of the crowd, being more gothic, more tattoos....

They were there of course to see Tim Burton!

Tim Burton who reinvented a Hollywod genre film making, made films that cannot be compared visually with any, like "Edward Scissorhands", "Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Ed Wood" are some of my favorites. This exhibit explores the full range of his creative work, even from childhood. Also you get to see some of the costumes and exciting cinematic ephemera.

He shares his life - and children with the actress Helena Bonham Carter (who played my absolute favorite Ophelia).

This incredibly rare and popular show has only a couple of weeks left to go and will end the 26th of April. If you plan to go you should book tickets.

SANAA Architects wins the Pritzker Prize!

The New Museum!

Is

their building in Manhattan

An exceptional

box on box Edifice,

I would say 

"Hell, Yes!" 

To the facade.

But I might not

be the greatest fan

of their museum

space inside.

Still exciting to have

such a progressive 

Museum downtown.

Soon 

Sperone Westwater Gallery

will join them a few buildings

north of it, 

and I promise 

it will not be bleak!

Here it is under construction, today:

& here a rendering of how it will be:

(Foster and Partner image)

Bowery, 

(after Bouwerij which is an old Dutch name for farm)!

is the oldest main street going 

through

Manhattan,

had its prime and lost it.

But "Skid Row"

is recovering 

through ART!

Tower of Love!

The HEARST Tower

New York

Architect: Foster & Partners

Since it has been raining all day, I feel like turning to a warmer and more sunny story

 therefore I am adding my favorite Tower to my blog!

The Hearst Tower

I can´t say I am objective here

since this is one of the two "building" reasons that made me meet my Man

(the other is The New Globe Theatre, A story for later)

Some of the superlatives:

 It is the first Green Building in Manhattan.

HVAC System, outdoor air for cooling and ventilation 

(carbon dioxide emissions slashed by 26%)

The Diagrid (diamond shaped as I would say) steel frame

saved them 20% use of steel comparably to another building of the same size.

This is the building that hosts among other magazines 

"Harper Bazar",

therefore you will see the most gorgeously dressed women walking up the 

water sculpture escalator

In the Atrium there is a gourmet cafeteria

and a 7 story handmade art piece

by Richard Long "Riverlines"

The Building has also been given the sexiest comment ever about a building;

...But the partial sightings of the Hearst Building that are offered up and down Eighth Avenue or along Fifty-seventh Street are so enticing that they end up increasing its allure—like a flash of leg in a slit skirt. 
Paul Goldberger (New Yorker)

Sun Come Up!

Sun Come Up from Jennifer Redfearn on Vimeo.

I met Jennifer one winter day in New York when we were both trying to find out if we could have a "normal" job. She immediately made me like her with her warmth and her smiles.  

We were taking Real Estate classes. I actually went on working as a Real Estate Agent for a couple of years, but luckily Jennifer followed her dream and continued on her mission. 

Jennifer has a background in Environmental and Research science and a Master in Journalism, she recently produced a Nova Documentary for Discovery and now;

SUN COME UP

A beautiful and important movie about climate changes and the Carteret Islanders that needs to be relocated. These people are some of the first climate refugees, and probably not the last.....

The movie is premiering at the Full Frame Festival Thursday the 8th.

A real ArtEco film:)

Good Luck!

Heavenly Hussys!

Hmm, nice boots Girl

Alan Daniels

Usually I am not a Sci-Fi girl.

But somehow these pictures intrigued me.

Tin Soldier

Mr. Daniels an Englishman in California

moved on from Pin-up to Hussys

Somehow these are

more the girl next door?

Someone you can have a conversation with

more self-assured

Sculpture-electronic environmental pieces

from his dreams...

and inspired from his family!

Must be a hot, hot family:)

Zero-Pollution, Zero-Waste City!

MASDAR

There is a fantastic Utopian place that is being planned close to the capital of the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi. The Sustainable City that is named Masdar means "The Source" and is planned by the Architect Firm Foster + Partners (Go Gerard:). 

Solar power plants, 

Electric light-rail system (No cars, linked to the capital)

Desalination facility (80% more efficient than existing plants)

Recycled and purified wastewater (grow plants for bio fuel)

Wind Farm

A home for nearly 50,000 People

Just what we are waiting for!

Norman Foster said:
“The environmental ambitions of the Masdar Initiative – zero carbon and waste free – are a world first. They have provided us with a challenging design brief that promises to question conventional urban wisdom at a fundamental level. Masdar promises to set new benchmarks for the sustainable city of the future.”

Pushwagner!

Destroy

Hot Hot Norwegian Artist

Recovered junkie 

Still going STRONG

Fantastic portfolio

Og der var

Drawings to study for a long long time

Selv om

This is what the Norwegian collector

wants right now,

and I don´t blame them

Mother and child

GRASS ROOT SQUARE!

DO HO SUH!

A New York/South Korean Artist won this competition to build an outdoor square in front of a Government building in Oslo. I think it just looks fabulous! Inspiring and fun.

Do Ho Suh explores with art that represents, individuality, collectivity and anonymity.

If the people had been in red the Americans would probably say...."See they are Communists".

The Grass Root People will be replacing paved stones around a large three. The people (8-10cm) will be popping up like grass (in green-patinated bronze) among the stones.

WOW!

Stephanie Sinclair

SELF - IMMOLATION BY

WOMEN 

IN AFGHANISTAN:

A CRY FOR HELP

I promised to write about Sinclair after the Whitney Biennial, and here comes a few words about the Woman who takes some of the most haunting and important Human Rights Photographs.

This particular exhibit was in a small room by itself, all around, you could see Women that had done horrendous things to themselves, by self - inflicted burns.

These Women act in extreme desperation after continued abuse from husbands or family.

I am in awe at how Sinclair was given the trust to take these intimate pictures of their bodies. Women who are used to hiding it all, except their eyes.

These pictures achieved something good as well as putting our attention to it and feel for them, they initiated a new burn unit in Herat. I just wish these women did not have to go to such extremes to escape their daily horror.

I am in utter respect for Stephanie Sinclair if you want to look at other pictures from her fantastic photojournalist career, take a peak at her web site.

With love to all the suffering Women out there!

Stephanie Sinclair

Henie Onstad Center - Oslo

Finnmark (1965)

ANNA-EVA BERGMAN

There has been no sign of life on this little blog since I quickly ended up in Norway for a couple of wonderful winter weeks. I did not have much time for Art unfortunately, but did manage to go to the Henie Onstad Center. The Center is located in the Oslo Fjord, actually a fabulous place to go for a glass of wine on a warm summer day. In the winter time it feels a bit more dull, but still worth a trip.

Sonja Henie is one of Norway´s greatest prides, she was a fantastic figure skater and also (one of the really few) that had a career as a film "Star". The museum is dedicated to her (and her trophies).

As one of the nations most important cultural sites it also has a sculpture park and it´s own collection of Art. The Architectual Neo-Expressionistic building was built in 1968 and an extention for Exhibits was built in 1994. This time they had one with John Cage and Anna-Eva Bergman.

Stor Sirkel (1968)

Anna-Eva Bergman (1909-1987) was probably more famous abroad than in Norway. She seemed to have lived an interesting life befriending people like Picasso and Braque. Her earlier work is more known than the later. Several of the later paintings has actually never been shown in Norway before.

I wanted therefore to share these gorgeous Norwegian nature inspired Art with you. Notice the light!

Stor Dal (1960)

2010

WHITNEY BIENNAL

2010

Whitney started with an Annual American Artist show in 1932 and continued shifting between painters and Sculptors until they in 1973 found that it was no ground to differ between the two art forms and therefore combined the two into a Biennal.

To be part of this show you must either be born an American or live in America, so interestingly enough and wonderfully so, there are a lot of foreign born artists involved.

As an undercover photographer I did not get many gorgeous shots but I will show you a few.

I did not find much of sexual or sensual art (has this generation lost its affection for love and passion I asked my self) but I did find a toilet:

Claes Oldenburg, Soft Toilet 1966

Now this is is from the Biennal permanent collection which is being shown on the upper floors, where I started. I did see flowers: (after the horrifying but amazing pictures by Stephanie Sinclair which I will have to write more about later, it felt like a breath of fresh air)

 Charles Ray, Untitled one little part of 15 ink of papers 2004-2009

I found a "grande" stage design:

Piotr Uklanski, Untitled (the year we make contact)

& Red Dwarf 2010

I found smoke:

                          Pae White, Still, untitled 2010

And my absolute favorite, An Ambulance film screen:

The Bruce high Quality foundation

"We like America and America likes us"

2010

A fantastic story cut and pasted together by film cuts with an intriguing story of a sort of love and hate relationship with America, America portrayed as a Woman.

We fucked America to make her disappear

So there I found myself a Love story, and I sat through it to the end.