Cristina Guitian

Cristina's exhibition 'Portraits of my Life as a Bird' opens in London this evening.  CHeck out her website here.

We should all have a family portrait like this

Found here

by adam hayes

Olympic Dread

The Olympics are invariably used as a testing ground for new security technologies, and London 2012 will be no exception.  Britain is by far the world leader in CCTV with 4.2 million cameras, more than the rest of Europe put together, and is planning a huge increase in surveillance measures for the Olympics, specifically with the use of drones.

Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been used in Iraq and Afganistan, and were originally developed as warfare, but have been slowly creeping their way into the UK, and will be commonplace in 2012, after the successful trial at the Olympic Welcome celebrations.

AirRobot UK produces them, and says this on their site:

"The AR100B can fly silently through the air or hover while transmitting live images to the operator at the ground station. The silent operation and size of the platform allows aerial surveillance to be carried out in built up residential urban areas as well as rural locations without causing any disturbances. The unit can also 'perch and stare' from a solid platform allowing the operator to capture hours of footage from an out of view vantage point."

IKEAART

 

Berlin-based artist Nathan Baker uses the ready-to-assemble pieces of IKEA’s basic Stefan chair as the building blocks for faux-modernist or -minimalist sculptural forms, which he documents in photographs. Baker is interested in how creativity is limited by available resources, and the possibility of emulating sculptures using mass-produced components that are supposed to be the skeleton of a simple, functional object.

Found here

out-of-the-box PR

Museum of Small Things M.O.S.T.

Selfridges London host the M.O.S.T from this Friday for 1 month in their dedicated exhibition space called the Ultralounge.  

The Museum of Small Things will inspire visitors to open wide their eyes and to slowly look, and then look again, at the world they inhabit. M.O.S.T. will house priceless gems too subtle to compete with the show-stopping technology of the modern world. Modest masterpieces under-valued in cultures where biggest is better and mega, if achievable, is best, will be centre-stage. The variety on display in this museum will dynamically demonstrate how the lines between all forms of visual expression have become blurred. Exhibits range across images, objects, moving pictures, ideas, detritus and treasures.

Don't miss it!

Check the M.O.S.T. blog for updates

Just the beginning?

Not long left to see the current Photographers' Gallery Bookshop exhibition Polaroid Project showing until the end of January. 

The last instant film manufactured by Polaroid was produced in 2008, with an expiry date of October 2009. To mark its passing national newspaper The Observer gave eight leading contemporary photographers Polaroid film and cameras for a day - Harry Borden (bottom image), Nan Goldin, Tom Hunter, Mary McCartney, Martin Parr, Rankin, Lord Snowdon and Sam Taylor-Wood (top image).

However, The Impossible Project – a group of dedicated Polaroid enthusiasts – plan to manufacture new Polaroid format film in early 2010. As a result, Polaroid will begin to manufacture its instant cameras again. Yipee!

ps. iPhone app Camera Bag has some great filters including a Polaroid one to comfort you while you wait for more film.

Good Grief Charlie Brown!

 

There must be millions of people all over the world 

who never get any love letters… 

I could be their leader.  

 Charlie Brown

Turn your desk into a touch screen

Light Touch™ is an interactive projector that instantly transforms any flat surface into a touch screen. It frees multimedia content from the confines of the small screen, allowing users to interact with that content just as they do on their hand held devices – using multi-touch technology.  Interesting?  Read more.

Moonmilk by Ryan McGinley

  

 

I must buy this book by the talented Ryan McGinley

Life on a stage

"He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, 

because he never knows what part of his life 

he is going to have to act in next."

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

Christmas is time to eat.....artisan biscuits

 

These are as delicious as they look.  Good quality ingredients, beautifully designed packaging (by design company Irving & co.) and poetry themed! My favourite flavour is The Owl and the Pussycat.  Click here if you're tempted!

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea

In a beautiful pea green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money,

Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,

And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,

What a beautiful Pussy you are,

You are, You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!' by Edward Lear 

Air Bear

Joshua Allen Harris creates inflatable street art.  He positions bin bags on top of subway vents, which inflate into animated sculptures once the air travels upwards.  Search on youtube for more, including a giraffe and an ape..

Seven...plus one for luck

The sneaky magpie tagged me in her list of 'The 7 Things I Love'...so here is mine

 

Sophie Calle Suite Venitienne

‘For months I followed strangers in the street. For the pleasure of following them, not because they particularly interested me. I photographed them without their knowledge, took note of their movements, then finally lost sight of them and forgot them.

At the end of January 1980, on the streets of Paris, I followed a man whom I lost sight of a few minutes later in the crowd. That very evening, by chance, he was introduced to me at an opening. During the course of our conversation, he told me he was planning an imminent trip to Venice.’

Burial

music to move you..or me at least

Bambi
 

the sweetest thing..no?

Drumming!!!

my new(ish) love

Native Indian Culture

Dim Sum Dumplings

yum yum yum yum yum yum yum!

 The Eiffel Tower (..and all related merchandise :)

 

and one for luck.....

Omar Little

best gangster ever (from The Wire..if you haven't seen it then now's the time)