Hands is a street art installation white cast hands doing a variety of things in conspicuous places throughout the streets of Barcelona including: making a finger-gun by an ATM toward its user; prying into a payphone coin slot; or dangling a noose. Artists Octavi Serra and Mateu Targa, Daniel Llugany and Pau Garcia are behind the project, a manifestation against the current economic crisis in Spain that, along with Greece, are the most affected countries in the European Union with record-high levels of unemployment.
Engraved flask:
“To 1st Lt. F. Scott Fitzgerald
65th Infantry
Camp Sheridan
Forget-me-not
Zelda
9-13-18
Montgomery, Ala”
“While stationed at Camp Sheridan, near Montgomery, Alabama, Fitzgerald met his future wife, Zelda Sayre, the daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge.”
(via lostsplendor)
This year, for its production of “The Marriage of Figaro,” the L.A. Phil sourced talents from across the pond, tapping Azzedine Alaïa for costumes and Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel for the set.
6 midcentury modern designers with the iconic pieces they created photographed in 1961 for Playboy. L-R: George Nelson, Edward Wormley, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Charles Eames and Jens Risom
If you want to enjoy a drink with some friends over a bit of history, you cannot go wrong in one of these 10 historic bars compiled by the Coolist. Raise your glass where presidents, revolutionaries and even pirates have done before in these classic watering holes in operation for hundreds of years.
Japanese-American sculptor and designer Isamu Noguchi’s life reads like an encyclopedia of 20th-century arts. Linked here is the transcript (and an mp3 clip) of an oral history interview he did with the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian, in which he discusses his childhood in Japan, life in New York, work with luminaries like Martha Graham and more.
From rice to glitter, video and traditional paint, see the 48 finalists from the National Portrait Gallery’s annual competition looking at the best in contemporary American portraiture here.
“The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, hypersensitive almost to the point of parody, have never seemed comfortable as rock stars. Which has only made them that much more compelling.” Extensive write-up in this week’s NYTimes Magazine here.
The new documentary Room 237, in limited release explores various 5 elaborate theories concerning hidden meanings and alternate narratives in The Shining, one of the most widely analyzed works of director Stanley Kubrick. Linked here are 5 bizarre theories that didn’t make the new documentary.
Architects Katrin Koov, Indrek Peil, and Siiri Vallner of Kavakavafaced the challenge of designing a new building for Narva College in Estonia on the Old Town Square next to its baroque Town Hall, one of the only buildings remaining since World War II when most of the town was destroyed. Kavakava’s solution is a rather unique and clever one. The structure consists of two connecting volumes; the façade of the volume facing the Square was designed to match that of the building that originally stood in the same place, now curiously cast in concrete, with an angled roof that has been nicknamed “the beak.” The idea is that seen from the front, “the beak” gives the illusion of emulating the angle of the original roof.
Jason Bentley spends a lot of time wearing headphones. He can be found late night in LA and around the world DJing everything from small exclusive events to massive dance parties. In his endless quest to keep up with new music and find vintage tracks for his radio shows and gigs, Bentley listens to music around the clock. One week we saw Bentley interview Beck at Sonos Studio, and then host Matt Costa for a live set at KCRW—all while he was preparing to leave for SXSW.
Jason Bentley’s relationship with KCRW in Santa Monica began in the late 1980s when he worked as a phone volunteer. Now 25 years later Bentley finds himself in his fourth year as the music director of the groundbreaking public radio station. Every weekday, Morning Becomes Eclectic features Bentley playing his favorite music, interviewing musicians and hosting live sets. He has also brought back Metropolis a two-hour show of dance mixes and interviews from EMI’s documentary series Electrospective on Saturday nights. An interview with Bentley here.
Lyons Architects created a near $100 million jungle gym-like structure for the Lims La Trobe University Molecular Science Building in Australia. More images here.
Jeppe Hein, a Danish artist known for creating experiential art, has put an interesting twist on park benches by populating the town of De Haan in Belgium with his eye-catching “modified social benches.” The benches, which range from the super-comfy-looking to the seemingly unsittable, are intended to bring people together in unexpected ways and make them more aware of their surroundings
Since its very beginning, San Francisco’s urban transit has secured a place in the world’s most recognized transportation systems, evolving with the times to accommodate an ever-increasing and faster-moving population through a variety of media. International firm Pelli Clark Pelli has designed the Transbay Transit Center that promises to catapult the city amongst one of the leading infrastructural networks in the world. the 4.5 acre project, currently under construction,
will manage the crossing of all transit systems above and below ground and contribute to the city’s green public space, with an expected completion in 2017.
Everything by dutch artists Lernert & Sander is an olfactory experience composed of more than 1400 samples of fragrances launched in 2012, is stored in a specially designed and hand blown glass vessel which recalls sample perfume bottles.