Olafur Eliasson

Wikipedia's description:

The weather project was installed at the London's Tate Modern in 2003 as part of the popular Unilever series. The installation filled the open space of the gallery's Turbine Hall.

Eliasson used humidifiers to create a fine mist in the air via a mixture of sugar and water, as well as a semi-circular disc made up of hundreds of monochromatic lamps which radiated single frequency yellow light. The ceiling of the hall was covered with a huge mirror, in which visitors could see themselves as tiny black shadows against a mass of orange light. Many visitors responded to this exhibition by lying on their backs and waving their hands and legs. The work reportedly attracted two million visitors, many of whom were repeat customers.

Jim Lambie

First, I need to acknowledge an amazing chance to hear Trimpin speak to our class last week. Trimpin visited our class and spoke of his childhood, fascination with coo coo clocks, older mechanical music players, and acoustic reproduction. Most insightful, however, was his guest critique of our found object projects. His eagerness to involve kinetics and the natural sound of the object moving is a component to installations that I rarely consider. Projects come alive in Trimpin's head instead of the sedentary, display objects our class created. Hearing Trimpin explain his latest project, a Holocaust memorial that involves controlled dripping water, steam with a projection, and a rolling speaker that recreates a passing train noise. I cannot wait to see the realization of his vision.

Pictured here is the work of Jim Lambie, a Scottish visual artist. Lambie is known for his sculptures using pop culture object like posters and album covers. More visually striking here is Lambie's gallery floor space covers. Using vivid, vibrant colors, Lambie traces the edges of the walls with vinyl tape and continues the pattern, allowing it to expand to the center of the room. This exposes the subtle changes in shape that the walls make in the gallery.

The result is very contrasting to the neutral, formal walls of most of the galleries. The floors have a very, African, tribal look to them because of the many bright colors and sharply changing pattern.

The same can be said about this piece. Labmy calls the floor treatment below with the alternating black and white triangles "shading." This particular exhibit was in the 2005 Turner Prize installation. The black and white triangles evoke a very post modern feel, reminiscent of late 1980's early 90's fashion and architecture just like the now popular La Roux music video for the song "Bulletproof."

The use of black and white contrasted against the primary colors on the floor that at first glimpse appear as reflections are particularly effective. The organic, seemingly "unintentional" shape of the sculpture is juxtaposed on the sharp, straight, floor.

The Work of Urs Fischer

In 2007, the Swiss artist Urs Fischer presented an installation of his work on Cockatoo Island in Sydney, Australia. Understanding a bit about the island's past is important to get the context Fischer's work presents itself in.

In 1839, a penal establishment was built on the island. By 1869, overcrowding had made conditions so intolerable that the prison was shut down, twelve years after the Board of Enquiry opened an investigation. In the following years, the facility housed a reform school for orphaned or delinquent girls and naval training for homeless or orphaned boys. The prison wears its tormented past well, the remaining ironwork was described as haunting with "a suspenseful edge, a frisson as you discover each new artwork."

The first piece that caught my eye is what visitors described as a "magical doodle." It appears to be a cast plaster around a wire, but is actually fiberglass. What is evident from the pictures is how well the shape interacts with the cubical negative space it occupies in the courtyard.

It also appears to be suspended from wires run across the top of the courtyard which adds an alien levitation quality to the piece in pictures taken during daylight. The very distinct shadow below the extrusion never touches the snake, and the effect is surreal, as if this were a photo of a courtyard that Fischer had scribbled on with a white pen.

Because the piece is white, it takes on many different colors during the day and night, depending on the the lighting, sometimes evoking bone, bent drinking straws, tree branches, and veins.

The second work is a reconstructed furniture piece. Again, being aware of the context in a penitentiary becomes increasingly important only being able view photographs of the sculpture. People who follow Fischer's work comment that chairs are a re-occuring theme in much of his work. Fischer, in an interview, called them "surrogates for the human form." This specific work was displayed in a dormitory room. The chair and dresser have been smashed into pieces and glued back together. The chair is balanced on the side of the dresser but doesn't look very stable. There also seems to be many different types and colors of wood in both furniture pieces, as if they weren't originally a matching set which is usually the case for dorm furniture.

Not seen in this photo is a white porcelain, 2-handle bowl that has also been glued back together. The overall feel of the piece is abused. It seems like the owner was in a hurry and this is a snapshot of the furniture just before it completely falls apart.

For the full article:

http://www.kaldorartprojects.org.au/projects/pastproject.asp?idExhibition=469&idArtist=1690&idImage=7957

Samuel Mockbee - Hale County Animal Shelter

Although the more 'typical' project of Samuel Mockbee have a more found object feel with less of a processed material selection. Most of the designs that gain notoriety feature glass bottles in adobe walls allowing light in. Even more examined are the rural Studio's use of recycled foams, paper, and fabric that remains in a very raw, bundled form. The most vivid example that I remember is from visiting a DC exhibit of the Rural Studio that showed license plates used as shingles on the front wall of the house.

Known to locals ad the 'Dog Pound', the Hale County Animal Shelter was the most eye catching to me of the Rural Studio's most recent work. The State of Alabama requires that each county have at least one animal shelter. Hale county approached the Rural Studio and four thesis students undertook the project and raised over money and material donations to build.

This entry, however, is about an extrusion with a very rigid, fish scale like lattice. Called a lamella, this repeating diamond pattern acts as both roof and wall for the dog pound. The covers from the exterior hides the structure that is exposed inside.

Construction method: Identical 2×8 joists were precut and curved by jig. A single pin connection was used to hold the pieces in place. Taking a page from the prefabrication handbook, the students cut down on overall material costs by using a repeatable process.

The consistent, warm temperatures of Alabama allow for a very open structure. The negative space under the canopy barely occupied with the Kennel and office space. Two strips of skylight provides ample ambient light, as well as the openings between the foundation and siding, combined with the open ends of the tube.

Unlike many buildings, this work is not just exterior walls enclosing a space. My interest in this building is in its openness, the large structure that uses a relatively small part of the footprint for living area.