Winnipeg, Canada
Since I quite like both cats and climbing, re-posting this image (original source unknown) was a natural… as is this buildering kitty. Note the fine technique—moving from a layback along the long vertical arête… to an under-cling… to delicate face moves. As with most climbing, however, the answer to the question “why” remains unclear…
Thanks to friend Gerald Brandt for the image.
On the U.S.-Canada border (just south of Vancouver)
“A provocative new sculpture has opened at the U.S.-Canada border crossing near Vancouver, BC. It’s a billboard advertising… well, nothing.
So instead of your usual glimpse of cheeseburgers and red-faced car salesmen, you’ve got a snarl of stainless steel rods vaguely reminiscent of TV static, but surrounding only the clean air of Blaine, Washington.
Clearly it’s some kind of pinko Canadian stunt, right? A passive-aggressive commentary on Americans’ conspicuous consumption? Wrong! Non-Sign II is the brainchild of the Seattle art and architecture firm Lead Pencil Studio. Even crazier: It was commissioned by the U.S. federal government, which usually regards high art the way one would a dead rat.
Lead Pencil Studio’s Daniel Mihalyo sheds light on the concept:
Borrowing the effectiveness of billboards to redirect attention away from the landscape… this permanently open aperture between nations works to frame nothing more than a clear view of the changing atmospheric conditions beyond.
Which sounds nice and poetic and non-threatening, but clearly, this thing is a monument to everything America’s not. Hey, Tea Partiers: The commie conspiracy has arrived at last, and it looks like a big ol’ pile of hair clippings!
How the installation came about: Lead Pencil Studio was shortlisted for a project to design public art at a new northern-border control station through the GSA’s Design Excellence program. The concept had to go through two rounds of approval, and Mihalyo insists the jury was “excited about the proposal from the start and the second round involved only small refinements and pragmatic issues.”
Well, we think it is awesome, and we’re elated that the government’s supporting Lead Pencil Studio. Headed by Mihalyo and Annie Han, they’ve built a career on blurring the divide between architecture and art; questioning the idea of consumer culture has been a recurring theme. They’ve produced a raft of evocative installations: outdoor scaffolding in the middle of the Oregon grasslands, full-scale shops (without any merch) in an old shop, and so on. Think of them as a sort of Christo in the age of Christine O’Donnell.”
Images by Ian Gill courtesy of Lead Pencil Studio. (Re-blogged from an original post here)… with thanks to friend ‘Segun Olude for the link.
Johannesburg, South Africa
South African low-fare airline Kulula Air has been gaining worldwide exposure of late thanks to its creative, humorous livery. One of their Boeing 737-86Ns, named “Flying 101” is covered nose to tail with details and funny remarks about the plane. The captain’s window is marked with the big cheese (”captain, my captain!”), the co-pilot’s window with co-captain (the other pilot on the PA system) and the jump seat is for wannabe pilots.
Additional captions on other parts of the plane include:
• galley (cuppa anyone?)
• avionics (fancy navigation stuff)
• windows (best view in the world)
• wing #1 and #2
• engine #1 and #2 (26 000 pounds of thrust)
• emergency exit = throne zone (more leg room baby!)
• seats (better than taxi seats)
• some windows = kulula fans (the coolest peeps in the world)
• black box (which is actually orange)
• landing gear (comes standard with supa-fly mags)
• back door (no bribery/corruption here)
• tail (featuring an awesome logo)
• loo (or mile-high club initiation chamber)
• rudder (the steering thingy)
• stabiliser (the other steering thingy)
• a.p.u. (extra power when you need it most)
• galley (food, food, food, food…)
• boot space
• ZS-ZWP (OK-PIK) = secret agent code (aka plane’s registration)
• overhead cabins (VIP seating for your hand luggage)
• fuel tanks (the go-go juice)
• cargo door
• aircon ducts (not that kulula needs it… they’re already cool)
• front door (our door is always open… unless we’re at 41 000 feet)
• cockpit window = sun roof
• nose cone (radar, antenna, and a really big dish inside)
Thanks to Christina Weese (a GDC Listserv colleague) for the link. Congratulations to the in-house design team at Kulula Air for their clever, well-crafted design scheme…
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We all have moments like this, right?
Classic dilemnas… with seemingly no-win outcomes.
Philadelphia, USA
Lots more good parody along the lines of the above on his website here…
(Thanks to Matt Warburton for the link).
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Correctly English in Hundred Days by Min Hou and Lin Youtong (eds.), Shanghai: English Translation Advancement Society, Correctly English Society, 1934… ‘This book is prepared for the Chinese young man who wishes to served for the foreign firms. It divided nealy hundred and ninety pages. It contains full of ordinary speak and write language. This book is clearly, easily, to the Chinese young man or scholar. If it is quite understood, that will be satisfaction.”
(Thanks to Ada Nordkvist for the card featuring this book cover that arrived in the mail today… with a thoughtful followup note re: an interview I had with her last week).
