Takagi Masakatsu

The work of artist Takagi Masakatsu is based on images and music. I see lots of perceptual elements, memory, desire, ...interesting crazy expansive images with a superb use of color. His work is sold in the Itunes store.

Grow up already

I can not understand or even enjoy the image of Baryshnikov as Peter pan in the Disney and Leibovitz campaign. Yes, he dances but he is already a "man of certain age" to recreate the allure of the flying androgenous ever childish guy. Look, even Tinkerbell (fab, Tina Fey) is totally embarrassed!

the cutest robot

Keepon is a small creature-like robot designed to interact with children by directing attention and expressing emotion. Keepon's minimal design makes its behaviors easy to understand, resulting in interactions that are enjoyable and comfortable—particularly important in our research on human social development.
Keepon has soft rubber skin, cameras in its eyes, and a microphone in its nose.

Rhythmic human-robot social interaction

Human social behavior shares much in common with dance. Our speech, as well as the movement of our body, head, and hands, is periodic and rhythmic. Social scientists such as William S. Condon and Adam Kendon have identified interactional synchrony as a phenomenon that plays an important role in the regulation and coordination of movements, vocalizations, and other social cues. We have been developing technology to allow robots like Keepon to synchronize with these social rhythms in their interactions. We believe that rhythmic synchrony is as important for establishing engagement, rapport, and comfort between a robot and a person as it is between people.

SOURCE

YSL moving images collection

small talk with Rick Owens

Small interview conducted by Hint Mag, with Rick Owens after 5 years of being in Paris. Good to see he seems to be kind, my hope is that the Genius in Owens can maintain some of his "outsider" spirit without falling into the machine of snobs becoming an obelisk to his own ego. Some funny cliches mentioned "we love her", "mood boards are corny".

Frills and Nails

Rodarte duo finds the pairing of tough elements totally appropriate for all dames that like frills. Available at Colette.

Devastee: existentialism for sale.

How many fashion labels actually brand the cynicism of senseless life? I have been a fan of the dark humor and the always present solution of dead as a unifying time for a Devastee aesthetic .

before the music dies

Imminent Extinction

Funny movie -even though there is space for inciting some "xenophobic" logic-. In this train of thought is worth mentioning that IQ is NOT genetically determined :

"The best way to understand why I.Q.s rise, Flynn argues, is to look at one of the most widely used I.Q. tests, the so-called WISC (for Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children). The WISC is composed of ten subtests, each of which measures a different aspect of I.Q. Flynn points out that scores in some of the categories—those measuring general knowledge, say, or vocabulary or the ability to do basic arithmetic—have risen only modestly over time. The big gains on the WISC are largely in the category known as “similarities,” where you get questions such as “In what way are ‘dogs’ and ‘rabbits’ alike?” Today, we tend to give what, for the purposes of I.Q. tests, is the right answer: dogs and rabbits are both mammals. A nineteenth-century American would have said that “you use dogs to hunt rabbits.”

“If the everyday world is your cognitive home, it is not natural to detach abstractions and logic and the hypothetical from their concrete referents,” Flynn writes. Our great-grandparents may have been perfectly intelligent. But they would have done poorly on I.Q. tests because they did not participate in the twentieth century’s great cognitive revolution, in which we learned to sort experience according to a new set of abstract categories. In Flynn’s phrase, we have now had to put on “scientific spectacles,” which enable us to make sense of the WISC questions about similarities. To say that Dutch I.Q. scores rose substantially between 1952 and 1982 was another way of saying that the Netherlands in 1982 was, in at least certain respects, much more cognitively demanding than the Netherlands in 1952. An I.Q., in other words, measures not so much how smart we are as how modern we are."

Extracted from an EXCELLENT article in the New Yorker

Overpopulation it is a problem not for the "fittest" as much as all humanity regardless of status or cultural level.

Do you like your vodka rough?

Interesting image from a Vodka on the Russian GQ. Maybe the consumer will be already wasted when reading the ad. I don't understand Russian.What do you think does the copy say? Click on the image for a hires.

Helmut Lang the fine artist

Juan Francisco Casas

Intensity of drawing with a ball pen.
It is the irony of technique when there is no need for it.
Or the vacuous romance of technique for technique's sake in the age of high tech images

Italian scent testosterone

Over the top homo-eroticism as main element in the last underwear advertisemnt from D&G's . Not that I don't adore what testosterone fuel images make a girl dream of... I do enjoy the nice package, and the humor in the of self inflicted male drama. The message is clear: if you wear our underwear...you'll be a hot buff self centered Pavarotti when riding a bicycle in any Italian city. Who would'n want that package?

menomena

Interesting narrative and message; not many videos can say that. Click on the image to watch the video.

ERWIN REDL

"My work reflects upon the condition of art making after the “digital experience.” The formal and structural approach to various media I employ, such as installation, CD-ROM, internet and sound, almost requires binary logic, because I assemble the material according to a narrow set of self-imposed rules which often incorporate algorithms, controlled randomness and other methods inspired by computer code.

Since 1997, I have investigated the term “reverse engineering”¹ by (re-)translating the abstract aesthetic language of virtual reality and 3-D computer modelling back into an architectural environment by means of large-scale light installations. In this body of work, space is experienced as a second skin, our social skin, which is transformed through my artistic intervention. Due to the very nature of its architectural dimension, participating by simply being “present” is an integral part of the installations. Visual perception has to work in conjunction with corporeal motion, and the passage of time, an additional parameter of motion.²

The formal aspect of the works is easily accessible. An interpretation and understanding of this aspect is dependent upon the viewer’s subjective references. Equally, the various individual’s interactions within the context of the installation re-shape each viewer’s subjective references and reveal a complex social phenomenon. "

Born 1963, Gföhl, Lower Austria
Lives and works in New York since 1993

Education (selection):
1993-95	MFA Computer Art, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, USA
1988-91	Diploma in Electronic Music, Music Academy, Vienna, Austria
1988-90	BA in Composition, Music Academy, Vienna, Austria

Balancing act

This look has achieved a perfect balance between masculine and feminine elements: Short hair with flowing hood, slim spare silhouette with tiny purse and scarf... Cute and inspiring. Found in Paris By Face Hunterrrr.

eating at work

din-ink by andrea cingoli + paolo emilio bellisario + cristian cellini + francesca fontana from italy

Fact Check Unit

Featuring Mr Bill Murray

Gaultier FW 2008

Love the spirit of this collection:Brit/western meets Kubrick. The colors are so luscious and wholehearted. I do finally truly enjoy a Gaultier collection.

Understanding left with doodles

Miguel Villalobos

Venezuelan born photographer.

TENORI

I'm osessed with this gadget, but having gotten all Iphone gadgetry,
I"ll have to wait to get this one.


"Tenori-On is a new Yamaha prototype. It's a "personal digital instrument for playing sound and ambient light patterns." It has 256 light-topped buttons, stereo speakers, a scroll wheel, a few more buttons built into the frame, and some wireless function, so multiple Tenori-Ons can jam together. Looks awesome. Not many details, yet, but judging from the sine-wave blips on the Japanese Product Page, it could be the modern day Triadex Muse. More details at: WMMNA and Siggraph."

where are the Mutts?

"The American Kennel Club annually releases a list of the most popular dog breeds in the country and in the biggest cities. No beating around the fire hydrant, this year's favorites in NYC:


1. Labrador Retriever
2. Yorkshire Terrier
3. Dachshund
4. Havanese**
5. Poodle**
6. Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
7. French Bulldog
8. Golden Retriever
9. Bulldog
10. Pug
**Tied for 3rd"

SOURCE

Lad Musician/Japan cool

Japanese design with simple narrow cuts. If Slimane epitomized the style for the rocker that means business, these guys are bringing it to the masses.

Ibride shabby furniture

Interesting forms and graphic sensibilities from this french design brand. These are my to favorite pices from their collection. When shabby keep it simple baby.

Pump up the coffee

"Discover the products designed to offer you an espresso wherever you go. Premium quality espresso – anywhere! With Handpresso! Actually, Handpresso has invented a new coffee ceremony for you. So, now, your espressos can be prepared with friends, guests or within the family, indoors as well as outdoors. "




Or in a few words: a pump coffee maker. It makes sense if you hike in the wild as much as you drink expresso.

Carolin Reichert

Her portfolio is a very interesting exploration of surreal settings.
I do like -besides the examples here- her collection of "fake dads".

Education
2001-2005 Photography, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam.
1997-2000 education as graphic designer/BK.

An Aubergine fall

From recent shows for Fall 2008 the beautiful shade of aubergine in males clothing makes a statement; misterious and soothing.
Jil Sander !!!! (1),
Costume National (2),
D&G (3)

Low Tech Fun

Animated GIFs represent a short cut into moving images. It most infamous use is micro"previews" for porn sites, therefore it remains in the collective perception as a not very sophisticated way of displaying images. Its real limitations are that they convert images into dots...more or less like an impressionist picture done by a machine: the result is a rough electronic conversion of an image. Personally I find the judgment unfair on the very useful principles of GIFs.

Now, a bunch of other designers have united their appreciation for the low tech in this website that plays with GIFs. SWEET GIFS website

Warning: the website might contain many elements of low tech animation not suitable for people that refuse kitsch and rough images.

The image below is an exercise I made some time ago using the power of GIFs.

it tickled my brain!!

Excellent comedy, excellent writing, excellent acting. This movie is totally fluffy and perverse at once.

buying posh

This ad campaign featuring Victoria Beckham for Marc Jacobs 2008, is her best public image ever. There are other images part of the campaign but all have her annoying face posing like the frozen bimbo she always has tried so hard to be. I was wondering how this woman and all her "style baggage" could work with MJ aesthetic: good move Mr Jacobs. Humour is always well received...even when bringing the brand edge to an acceptance of the Beckham kitsch. I hope prices will follow the drop in standards.

David Shrigley

EDGES Light Installation

proportions

I love over sized coats but many don't work for my tiny frame. This woman knows how to make work a humongous coat: a simple silhouette plus some acknowledge of height. Found by the sartorialist.

patent patience

This is one of the finds from the p0st-Christmas shopping I put my virtual hands on. They will be in my feet next week if U.S. customs don't screw my dream. I've been wanting something patent, but it is a difficult texture when it comes to the products offered; most are let's say...not very imaginative or even sophisticated enough. But this time I did liked what I saw: how the conventional nature of the style gets challenged by the transgressive patent. I'd dare to say, I see an extremelly well read cat woman...