The always captivating Everlasting Blรถrt directs our attention to brief but informative and thoughtful lesson from PBS on the art history of the selfie with examples of self-portraiture that punctuate the entire time that photography has been with us, and indeed have forwarded the technique and technology. There’s a whole engrossing lecture series of Art Assignments that follow that are all worth checking out.
Saturday 15 October 2016
salone del mobile
Thanks to Fast Company, we learn that the late David Bowie was a grand patron of the Memphis-Milano movement having amassed a sizable collection with signature pieces from artists like Peter Shire and Ettore Sottsass.
The collection is so extensive and representative of the group’s work, Bowie’s furniture will be given its own auction and one can preview the lots at the link. Comprised chiefly Italian designers, they took the name Memphis, incidentally, after hearing the Bob Dylan song “Stuck inside of Mobile (furnishing as well as a city in Alabama) with the Memphis Blues Again.”
fontana del vino
Miraculously, as fellow enthusiast Nag on the Lake reports, a fountain that flows continuously with red wine free to any weary souls wanting to slake their thirst has just been inaugurated in the village of Caldari di Ortona in Abruzzo along the Adriatic coast. Hospitably, the local vineyard that supplies and is behind this permanent installation insists that it is not a mere publicity stunt nor an invitation to loiter (but perhaps linger) but a wayside retreat for pilgrims travelling between Rome and Ortona going to see the relics of Thomas the Apostle, enshrined at the cathedral there after his mission to India.
Friday 14 October 2016
verge and verder
An ingenious Canadian farm equipment manufacturer has a tree-spade on offer that can gently up-root grown trees for transplanting. I had no idea that this was even an option and ought to be a mandated part of any new construction project—saddening to think that the pace of sprawl overtook our abilities to mechanise silviculture (except for the felling bit) so quickly and without a glance over our collective shoulder. Go to the link to see a video demonstration of these amazing machines from Dutchman in action.
catagories: ๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ฑ, environment
lingo
stรถk plรณma, fljรณtandi รญ ilmvatni, borin fram รญ karimannshatti
In addition to the annual lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower over the last weekend on Viรฐey Island in Reykjavรญk bay on the occasion of John Lennon’s birthday, the beams illuminating the skies (and beaming wishes of goodwill all across the universe) for the next two months—to be extinguished on the anniversary of his assassination—with Iceland being originally chosen as host for its ecological thermal energy and general good governance, Yoko Ono has several other concomitant art projects going on in the country. Ono also solicited tributes from local artists, and humourously Ragnar Kjartansson presented her with an elaborate Simpsons’ meta-reference, to Ms Ono’s delight.
catagories: ๐ฎ๐ธ, ๐, ๐ถ, ๐บ, environment, holidays and observances, The Simpsons