A rusty loop draped across a hillside outside Rotterdam, designed by Dutch firm NEXT Architects. The stairway climbs toward an unhindered view of the horizon and skyline, and then descends upon the tram track taken by commuters. Designed to defy, the installation emulates the Möbius strip, a… Read More
Monthly archives of “March 2016”
Rain bow
A brave recital today: 24-year-old Syrian refugee Nour Alkhzam played a grand piano in a muddy field at the Idomeni refugee camp. She performed for 20 minutes in the pouring rain, under a plastic sheet, held up by the concert’s coordinator Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.… Read More
Bright façade
Impossible to ignore: 14,000 life vests, collected from refuges fleeing from Turkey, wrapped the columns at the Konzerthaus concert hall in Berlin. Ai Weiwei created the temporary installation last month for the Cinema for Peace gala, for which he served as the honorary jury president.… Read More
Ruin redux
A tower rising from detritus. Urban unison restored? A former station in Lille, France has become the latest depot for Detroit-based artist Scott Hocking. “Babel,” his site-specific installation for the Lille 3000: Renaissance festival earlier this year, explores the cycle of ruin within cities—without judgment.… Read More
Auto did act
Abandoned sites are canvases for Detroit-based Scott Hocking. Vacant for 20 years, Fisher Body Plant 21 felt more like a cave than a former car factory with stalactites falling from the ceiling from years of leaks and neglect. Stripped clean by scrappers, the factory offered… Read More
Sound check
Another snapshot from SITE, from 2015: Sound cued by shadows, hands passing over a table strewn with speakers. A cacophonous communion.
Of a feather
A favorite stop in 2015: Ann Hamilton’s installation at SITE Sante Fe. Extinction in action: A room populated by ghostly animals, already memories. Coveting encouraged, images copied on newsprint pads, inviting rippage, each tear pushing the… Read More