Bent Wood Objects by Matthias Pliessnig

Matthias Pliessnig creates objects made from steam bent white oak, sometimes oxidized or blackened with tar.

Tripudio Bestia, Insum Itineris, Occupo Orbis, by Matthias Pliessnig

Exhibition: Sculptures by Álvaro Siza

Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza, best known for designing museums and galleries, has presented a series of wood sculpture.

Exposição Esculturas, by Álvaro Siza, Porto, Portugal, Photography by Fernando Guerra

Exhibition: Geotectonic by Arik Levy

After Rock and Absent Nature a new exhibition by Arik Levy stays in the continuity of the “natural non-natural”. The investigation, imaginary and interpretation of these issues, grow this time, around the concepts of “parallel” and “opposed”. By presenting the concretization of these ideas for the very first time, the exhibition illustrates various forms of expression related to geotectonic… Arik’s perception of such levels is not only geological, but also emotional, visual, social, architectural, as well as urban and genetic.

“What I feel and see are complete images of objects, buildings, mountain splitting into layers the same way an iceberg will detach from the North Pole creaking open and starting drifting in the space. Each element slides over the other in perfect harmony of total chaos. Construct to deconstruct, built to destroy, and constantly being on the borderline between balance and in balance, stability and catastrophe, magic and power.”
- Arik Levy

Exhibition: Geotectonic by, Arik Levy, 16 September – 6 November, at Mitterrand+Cramer, Geneva, Switzerland

Books: The Geometry of Pasta

If you like design and you like to cook, then The Geometry of Pasta will help in pairing the right pasta shape with the perfect sauce. There are said to be over 300 shapes of pasta, each of which has a history, a story to tell, and an affinity with particular foods. These shapes have evolved alongside the flavours of local ingredients, and the perfect combination can turn an ordinary dish into something sublime.

Published by Boxtree, The Geometry of Pasta pairs over 100 authentic recipes from leading chef, Jacob Kenedy (co-founder of Soho restaurant Bocca di Lupo), with graphic designer Caz Hildebrand’s striking black-and-white designs to reveal the science, history and philosophy behind spectacular pasta dishes from all over Italy.

The Geometry of Pasta, by Jacob Kenedy and Caz Hildebrand, Publisher: Pan Macmillan, Hardback 288 pages, ISBN: 9780752227375
Buy it here: Amazon

D-17 by Sarah Oppenheimer at Rice University

American artist Sarah Oppenheimer was commissioned by Rice University Art Gallery, Houston to create an installation for their gallery space. D-17 took a year and a half in making the epic 65-foot, aluminum-sheathed white structure angles above the transom of Sewall Hall’s front doors, into the foyer and extends into floor of the gallery itself. Along the way the work seemingly passes through two walls of glass that act as filters, subtly changing the color of the structure as you look through them.

D-17 is a massive physical intervention into the building and gallery. Seeing it in bright daylight creates an entirely different experience of the installation. Approaching Sewall Hall in full sun, D-17 is essentially invisible; the wall of windows becomes a mirror reflecting the green leafy grounds of the campus. Your only real clue to what lies inside is the foot or so of the structure that pokes out from the opening above the doors. It is only once you enter through the doors that the rest of the massive construction is revealed, looming above you. While the daylight turns the building’s glass exterior into a mirror, the same thing occurs discretely inside. An overhead channel in the piece directs sunlight in from the outside, and when that channel of light hits the glass of the gallery wall, it creates a tiny mirror. Standing in the entry and facing the gallery, you can peer up into the open channel.

Inside the gallery is where you really feel the work’s energy. The expansive aluminum plane angles dramatically up from the gallery floor and soars out toward the courtyard beyond. That slender channel running along one side of the piece directs your eye out into the trees beyond the building.

D-17, by Sarah Oppenheimer, at Sewall Hall, Rice University Art Gallery, via: designboom

Exhibition: Bucky Fuller and Spaceship Earth

Curated by Norman Foster and Luis Fernández-Galiano, the exhibition features drawings and models including the recently completed recreation of the Dymaxion car. Foster worked with Fuller for the last 12 years of his life and explains that Fuller ‘had a profound influence on my own work and thinking’. The new Dymaxion car was commissioned by Foster based on Fuller’s own drawings and prototypes. The prototype was built in East Sussex by the car restoration company Crosthwaite and Gardiner.

Exhibition: Bucky Fuller and Spaceship Earth, Ivorypress Art + Books, Madrid, Spain, September 1 to October 30, via: designboom

Architecture of Dance by Santiago Calatrava for NYC Ballet

Santiago Calatrava collaborated with the New York City Ballet for their 2010 spring season festival of new choreography, “Architecture of Dance.” One of the major thrusts of ballet dance is to appear to defy gravity, so working with Calatrava, who is known for his architectural works suggesting flight, makes perfect sense. The ”Architecture of Dance” festival included seven world premiere ballets, five of which included sets designed by Calatrava. Four new scores were also commissioned for the festival. For the performances, eight new cocktails were created one for each choreographer, and a one for Santiago Calatrava: Sangria of Spanish Red Wine, Triple Sec, Rum, Vodka & Seasonal Fruits.

Architecture of Dance, by Santiago Calatrava, for New York City Ballet
via: Architecture Linked

Photography: Ditte Isager on Noma & Chef René Redzepi

Photographer Ditte Isager has captured the essence of Chef René Redzepi, head chef of Copenhagen restaurant, Noma

Book Early, Reservations: Noma, Photography by Ditte Isager
View the interview on Charlie Rose

René Redzepi has been widely credited with re-inventing Nordic cuisine. His Copenhagen restaurant, Noma, was recognized as the third best in the world by the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards in 2009 and received the unique ‘Chef’s Choice’ award at the same ceremony. Redzepi operates at the cutting edge of gourmet cuisine, combining an unrelenting creativity and a remarkable level of craftsmanship with an inimitable and innate knowledge of the produce of his Nordic terroir.

Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine, Published by Phaidon, Hardback, 290 x 250 mm, 11 3/8 x 9 7/8 in, 320 pp, 200 colour illustrations ISBN: 9780714859033

Buy the Book: Amazon

Sound Sculptures and Installations by Zimoun

The sound sculptures and installations of Zimoun are graceful, mechanized works of playful poetry, their structural simplicity opens like an industrial bloom to reveal a complex and intricate series of relationships, an ongoing interplay between the artificial and the organic.

25 woodworms, wood, microphone, sound system
5 ventilators, 35 styrofoam balls, 5 helping hands, air
23 prepared dc-motors, grid
30’000 plastic bags, 16 ventilators
97 polysiloxane hoses 3.0mm, compressed air

Zimoun, Sound Sculptures and Installations

Exhibition: New Work by Hiroyuki Hamada

Hiroyuki Hamada’s works are monumental in impact, but built with delicacy. They are filled with an unknown spirit. There is no direct reference, but one can read the mysteries of the ancients or the mapping of a digital age in their rich surfaces. The forms hold space, rather than make it. Tension pervades, as each mark and tone tell a story of perfection, balance and upset. Hamada spends up to three years creating the sculptures, as he applies plaster over burlap and wooden forms. He then shapes and stains them with wax, resin, and paint.

New Work, by Hiroyuki Hamada, August 28 – October 10, Art Sites, Riverhead, New York, USA