Light House Media Centre, Wolverhampton

The Light House is a museum exhibition centre based in Wolverhampton. I managed to make a quick visit to 'New Perspectives: Photography from China and Mongolia', by Grace Gelder and Laura McCallum last week.

McCallum’s work is a personal account of her experiences with internet dating. After answering personal ads in Beijing men’s lonely heart sites, she recorded her preparation, journeys and meetings, which are exhibited along with extracts from her shooting diary. The project researches the effects of China’s imbalance in the ratio of men to women, which is causing many men to use the internet to broaden their search to find their perfect match.

Gelder's work is delivered through a series of portraits of professional Mongolian women, with the aim of challenging the perception of Mongolia as an under-developed country dominated by a rural nomadic population. I myself was guilty of of this view, when in fact over half of the 2.9 million inhabitants now live in an urban environment, mostly in the capital, Ulanbaataar; and statistics from a recent UN report show that out of 115 countries surveyed, Mongolia came top for women’s participation in the professional and technical workforce. This project shows a variety of roles that women play in Mongolian society by photographing them in their working environment. This exhibition proved to be a real eye-opener and although I didn't expect it to, it has significantly broadened my cultural knowledge.

Creative student ideas

I love the simplicity of some of these, especially the Windex ad. However, the Toblerone design stands out as being particularly off message - does it not run the risk of delivering damaging brand attributes by inadvertently implying that a bar of Toblerone tastes like a block of concrete?














































































Haven't managed to find details for any of these students but the above work is credited to Elke Krause, Janine Mompour, Kristina Möckel, Shawna Laken, Tony Kalathara, Jeongjyn Yi, Peter Delgado, Noah Phillips and Jeseok Yi.

'The Really Good, Really Big, Really Cheap Book Sale'

Via Toxel.com.




































Creative guerilla campaign by the bounce agency to generate awareness and book donations for the Greenville Literacy Association's 'Really Good, Really Big, Really Cheap Book Sale' 2008. More images are available here, as well as a couple of videos here.

More silhouettes

Came across this impressive video on a random blog and thought it followed on nicely from my previous post. Unfortunately I've been unable to get hold of any details, but I will update this post if I manage to find anything.

The bittersweet art of cutting up books

Via Dark Roasted Blend.




















Image: Peggy Dembicer












Image: Georgie Russell

Image: Cara Barer

I'm the type of person who gets irritated when people deface books, if only by writing or annotating inside them (let alone destroying them) but some of these creations are stunning. And I suppose that with the ever-increasing digital saving of printed materials, the deconstruction of books to create such works of art becomes more and more acceptable to me.

Also check out the work of Matthew Hall.

Lego Olympics

As the world watches the Beijing Games, enthusiasts from Hong Kong have unveiled their own Olympics - built entirely from Lego. More than 300,000 Lego bricks and 4,500 Lego people were used to create the display, by the Hong Kong Lego User Group, who said of the project: 'We believe that creations are not limited by resources, but by ideas'. The structure measures 10ft by 26ft and features most of the recognisable venues, including the Birds’ Nest Stadium and the Water Cube swimming centre.

I have no shame in saying at the age of 20 that I still have a bit of a soft spot for Lego!

3D chalk art

Julian Beever and Kurt Wenner mess with nothing but our perception of depth and perspective in creating this amazing street art.













































































I only wish these pictures would include a view from above to show how they're drawn. Further reading would suggest that this isn't just a hobby, either - last year Beever was commisioned for a beautiful cascade in Madrid for Herbal Essences. And it appears the Coca-Cola bottle was also a paid project.

Gutter art

Street drains aren't exactly conventional locations for works of art. In Brazil, though, Anderson Augusto and Leonardo Delafuente from 6emeia are using mundane urban components - namely grey sidewalks and gutters - as a canvas for refreshing splashes of colour and creativity. 'The duo's objective is to modify the means within which we all live, proposing a new way to view things by reflecting upon themes generated through creative and unusual works. Such modifications are made by painting storm drains, light posts, manhole covers and any other object which makes up the urban scenario.'

Threadless

Threadless is a community-based and community-driven t-shirt website. Ideas are submitted by users for critique and, if chosen, the designers are rewarded with $2500 and a chance for up to $10,000 more if the design is selected for print. Users can comment on t-shirt ideas whenever they want. They also have some pretty creative and interesting programs; for instance, the '12 Club' is essentially a $200 subscription to receive 1 exclusive shirt every month for a year. Whether you're just browsing tees or are a designer looking for places to submit some designs, Threadless is one of the more innovative sites that I've seen.

Banksy: the thing I hate the most about advertising...

A startingly relevant quote from Banksy. I understand where he's coming from - but does contemporary art really have to 'say' something? Or can it exist on a more shallow level, just to aesthetically please? Banksy's continued placement of messages and meaning in his work could even be considered another form of advertising in itself.

The Hype Machine

The Hype Machine is an MP3 blog aggregator created by Anthony Volodkin. It enables 'one-stop shopping' of postings from thousands of audioblogs. The music posted ranges from hard-to-find rarities that have not been issued in many years to more contemporary offerings and obscure remixes. There's also a radio service.

The site gives users the ability to 'make a MIXA', a fully tailored digital mix tape in the form of a cassette, with a USB connection and a capacity of 1GB. 'MIXA is like a little memory box for all your digital stuff that normally lays unloved and unseen on your super dull hard-drive. Make a holiday MIXA, a party MIXA, an ‘I love you’ MIXA, a last night MIXA or a ‘did I ever tell you I used to be a woman’ MIXA.' Cool.


















There's also a merch store featuring t-shirts, stickers and accessories. All in all The Hype Machine is a great resource for any music lover; my only reservation is that the ease and convenience of the site allows users to download music without taking in the entire experience of a music blog, such as its editorial content. Speaking of which, check out Drowned in Sound if you're after a good webzine.

One man's trash...

Tim Nobel and Sue Webster take piles of trash and turn them into art. But sometimes you need to look at it under a different light...








































































Reminds me of the John Lewis adverts from Christmas 2007.

Parque España Library, Colombia

Designed by Giancarlo Mazzanti, the Parque España library is located on the edge of a steep incline overlooking the city of Medellín. Inside the library is a computer room, a daycare center, an art gallery and an auditorium. I haven't had the pleasure of visiting but I'm sure you'll agree it looks to be a stunning building and location - even if the image below does suggests there to be somewhat of a lack of books...