Coelacanth sculpture in progress for Underworlds Rising exhibition © Yi Zhou, Courtesy of RH Gallery, 2012

Some might recall Chinese artist Yi Zhou’s 2009 video for Pharell Williams, The Ear, which was a journey through a labyrinthian ear canal, serving as metaphorical bridge to another realm. Her sequel to this film was The Greatness, an animated short from 2010, depicting Williams’ head cast in the shape of a Grecian vase, that shatters from a bullet as part of a narrative referencing Dante’s journey through hell, purgatory and paradise in The Divine Comedy.

Using 3D digital technology, Yi Zhou successfully meshes sculpture and painting to create a vehicle for mythological and poetical explorations. In her first solo exhibition in RH gallery in New York, Yi Zhou has developed sculptures from the animated figments in the film that includes such grotesqueries as a Coelacanth fish eating a human heart.

Sculpture in progress, © Yi Zhou, Courtesy of RH Gallery, 2012

Coelacanth rendering © Yi Zhou, Courtesy of RH Gallery, 2012

Yi Zhou - From film, The Greatness - with Pharrell Williams' head, Courtesy of RH gallery, 2012

© Yi Zhou, Courtesy of RH gallery, 2012

Chinese-born Yi Zhou was raised in Hangzhou and Rome, and currently works out of Paris and Shanghai. Yi Zhou’s work evolves in dreamlike sequences characterized by elements inspired by her subconscious but is influenced aesthetically by both Western Surrealistic traditions as well as those formed from her Chinese heritage.

For more information:
RH Gallery 137 Duane Street, New York
Yi Zhou website

Detail of a portrait from the Book Of Kings exhibition © Shirin Neshat, 2012, Gladstone Gallery, New York

Shirin Neshat’s new photographic series at Gladstone Gallery in New York, The Book of Kings, is named after an ancient epic, the Shahnameh, written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi (c. 977 and 1010 AD). The 60,000 verse-epic is a telling of Persia’s historical and mythical past from the creation of the world up until the 7th century Islamic conquest. Prior to the Islamic invasion, Iran (part of Persia then) was ruled largely by adherents of Zoroastrianism, people who worshipped the sun.

Neshat has used black and white portraits of Arab youth, patriots and followers of the current Arab Spring to draw parallels with this ancient work, which also recounts stories of ancient heroic uprisings. Written history often offers revelations on the repetitious nature of these cycles of violence and renewal. Harking back to the style of portraiture in her Women of Allah series, Neshat covers the images with calligraphic texts. Inscribed in her own hand, these passages are taken from the Shahnameh, as well as from contemporary poets.

Bahram, 2012 Ink on LE gelatin silver print; 99 1/9 x 49 1/2 inches (251.8 x 126.4 cm) framed - Book Of Kings © Shirin Neshat, 2012, Courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York

Detail, Bahram, 2012 Ink on LE gelatin silver print; 99 1/2 x 49 1/2 inches (158.1 x 125.1 cm) framed Book Of Kings © Shirin Neshat, 2012, Courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York

“In both ancient and contemporary [cultures],” continued Neshat, “we see love, patriotism and violence so interconnected…in essence I found this threat both in historical and mythological levels very interesting…”

Roja, 2012 Ink on LE gelatin silver print; 153 x 114.9 cm framed - Book Of Kings © Shirin Neshat, 2012, Courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York

The Original Muse for Roja - Book Of Kings © Shirin Neshat, 2012, Gladstone Gallery, New York

Detail from Book Of Kings © Shirin Neshat, 2012, Gladstone Gallery, New York

Divine Rebellion, 2012 Ink on LE gelatin silver print; 62 x 49 inches (158.1 x 125.1 cm) framed Book Of Kings © Shirin Neshat, 2012, Courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York

Detail from Divine Rebellion - Book Of Kings © Shirin Neshat, 2012, Gladstone Gallery, New York

My House is Burning Down, 2012 Ink on LE gelatin silver print; 47 1/2 x 60 1/2 inches (120.7 x 153 x cm) framed Book Of Kings © Shirin Neshat, 2012, Courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York

Detail, My House is Burning Down, 2012 Ink on LE gelatin silver print; 47 1/2 x 60 1/2 inches (120.7 x 153 cm) framed Book Of Kings © Shirin Neshat, 2012, Courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York

Shirin Neshat “The Book of Kings” Gladstone Gallery – 515 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011
Also see Shirin Neshat’s recently curated show on self portraiture

© Francesco Vezzoli, Natalie, with Vezzoli's mother's eyes Courtesy of Prada's 24 Hour Museum

Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli’s latest media ploy has been to design a pop-up museum, open for 24 hours, in collaboration with Prada and AMO, Rem Koolhaas’ think tank in Paris’ Palais d’Iéna. The temporary event will welcome the public in to the traditionally historic building for a night of magic, like a Cinderella’s ball, before it is dismantled the next day.

The theatrical premiere is organized into three event spaces, historic, contemporary and the forgotten, the first being a showcase of Vezzoli’s works enclosed in neon-lit metal cages on the ground floor of the building. Vezzoli poses his portraits of Hollywood divas in the style of classical Greco-Roman sculptures on marble pedestals – the sculptures wear masks with Vezzoli’s mother’s eyes. With these works, Vezzoli continues his exploration of red-carpet rituals of celebrity and stardom that will be further exploited with a party staged in conjunction with the event, and which will be live streamed on the internet. Also, on Facebook, the artist intends to have an interactive game in which he frames people’s faces in classical composites.

© Francesco Vezzoli, Cate Courtesy of Prada's 24 Hour Museum

© Francesco Vezzoli, Eva with Vezzoli's mother's eyes for Prada's 24 Hour Museum,

Vezzoli’s previous performance-events included a live tribute to Diaghilev he did with Lady Gaga and Frank Gehry at LA’s MOCA entitled Ballets Russes Italian Style (The Shortest Musical You Will Never See Again) 2009, and the Democrazy video with Sharon Stone and Bernard-Henri Lévy playing characters in a ficitional political campaign for Venice Biennale in 2007. Prada has also previously collaborated with artist Carsten Holler for the The Double Club, a pop up club in London in 2009.

More information:
24 h Museum – 24 – 25 January 2012
Palais d’Iéna, ADDRESS: 9, PLACE D’IÉNA, 75016 PARIS
TUESDAY 24 JANUARY 2012- WEDNESDAY 25 JANUARY 2012, 7.00 am – 8.30 pm
www.24hoursmuseum.com

Doug Aitken, Black Mirror 2011, © Doug Aitken

Last year the Deste Foundation commissioned multimedia artist Doug Aitken to do a project for their summer annual event at the old ‘Slaughterhouse’ in the island of Hydra in Greece. Aitken’s site-specific performance and film entitled ‘Black Mirror’ is based on his ongoing series exploring ideas on migration.

It features Chloe Sevigny in a breathlessly paced journey across a montage of foreign lands traversed by planes, trains and vehicles through which her character remains mentally stationary, caught in the process of transitioning, but never completing the journey.

Rendering - Doug Aitken, Black Mirror, 2011, Artist Renderings. Copyright: Doug Aitken Inc.

Doug Aitken, Black Mirror 2011, © Doug Aitken

The film captures the displacement of the traveller in contemporary life where methods of transport can physically alter our location at ever accelerating speeds but leave within us a psychic and emotional lag difficult to process. In this way the modern nomad is different from his ancient counterpart of the desert traveller whose speed of locomotion was limited and his lack of possessions created space. Here the modern nomad’s physical space and momentum seems infinite but his internal space is foreshortened, stagnant and congested.

For Video Link to Black Mirror: http://vimeo.com/26744838
View more information at: Black Mirror

The Maharaja's Apartment, Udaipur City Palace, © Karen Knorr - Courtesy of Danziger Gallery NY

Karen Knorr uses photography to explore the cultural traditions and power implied by the richness of palace architecture, the ornate interiors of English gentlemen’s clubs, of old mansions and grand museums. Sometimes animals are displayed in these settings in the manner of traditional portraiture of pets or domesticated animals, while in others their wildness is tamed or made exotic by bringing them into the context of elaborate human habitats.

The Private Audience, AAm Khas, Junha Mahal, Dungarpur © Karen Knorr - Courtesy of Danziger Gallery NY

In her first solo show in the US, “India Song” on view at Danziger gallery in New York, Knorr inserts animals digitally into the interiors of Indian Rajput and Mughal palaces and mausoleums in Rajasthani heritage sites, celebrating the myths and fables of Indian folklore from pre-photographic traditions such as the ancient Sanskrit book of the Pancha Tantra. In the exhibition she explores the role of animals and their representation in exotic, orientalist art and ancient bestiaries.

Salon Lilas, © Karen Knorr, Musée Carnavalet

In her other series Fables (2004-2008) Knorr was inspired by tales from Ovid, Aesop La Fontaine and popular culture, Disney and Attenborough, placing the animals in heritage sites such as the Carnavalet Museum, the Museum of Hunt and Nature in Paris, Chambord Castle and the Conde Museum in Chantilly Castle.

The Gatekeeper, Zanana, Samode Palace © Karen Knorr - Courtesy of Danziger Gallery NY

The Green Bedroom Louis XVl © Karen Knorr, Musée Carnavalet

Demarteau's Salon, © Karen Knorr, Musée Carnavalet

The Joy Of Ahimsa, Takhat Vilas, Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur © Karen Knorr, Courtesy of Danziger Gallery NY

Karen Knorr ‘India Song’ – Danziger Gallery, New York November 3 – December 23, 2011
More information Karen Knorr: http://www.karenknorr.com/photographs/fables/musee-carnavalet/

Landscape by Stuart Hall © Stuart Hall

‘Oops,’ someone might have said when the last tree came down on Easter Island. One day, while making really cool art, the islanders realized they’d chopped down too many trees. Without logs to roll their art down the hilltops, or fruit from the trees, without timber for fire, and with the topsoil eroded, there wasn’t arable land left for crops, or wood for building boats to catch fish. The birds stopped coming. They were too far for a rescue. And, since no one noticed, the islanders began to selectively eat each other to stay alive.

© J F Rauzier - Cranach's Dream The New Garden of Eden?

From - If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front. Image credit TJ Watt - Oscilloscope

The slash and burn razing of forests was a favourite strategy for the Vikings. They raped, pillaged, and left lands barren, they ravished the virgins, plundered the forests, ate all the wildlife, and lucky for them, vegetables were never really part of their diet: With the fresh timber they just built new ships to pillage somewhere else. After denuding parts of Scotland they sailed to Greenland, and then to Iceland – now so barren, locals joke that two trees together would constitute a forest.

© Kahn and Selesnick - Egg

© Rose Klabin from series on Corporate Identity 2011

As winds blow loose flakes of sienna and gold from the wispy green puffs outside my window, what’s not to love about trees? Yet, forests, steeped in myths and fairy tales, have been the stuff of nightmares ever since we ran from them into the open plains of the savannah. Since little children, we’ve been told tales of forests filled with magical creatures; Hansel and Gretel got lost in the woods, the haunts of witches and werewolves, and, dystopian visions in Sleeping Beauty warn of creeping woodlands swallowing cities whole at the slightest sign of human neglect.

Anyone living on the edge of town is wary of the encroaching green threat. Once the countryside was abuzz with crickets, now roaring lawnmowers man the frontlines. Ready to trim away transgressors, these pruning armies stay vigilant.

A new documentary If a Tree Falls captures this duality of love and hate, pitting radical environmentalists passionate about trees, against those who see old Oaks as fine furniture. It is clear on which side society stands by the label eco-terrorists – where terrorist applies to the environmentalists.

An graphic from the film Connected: A Film on Interdependence 2011 - Director Tiffany Shlain

Feeling the heat from climate change, there are many artists sweating about the future. For anyone who’s experienced hair-loss, the planet’s growing treelessness evokes a similar terror of baldness. The world might look a bit different, but most likely we’ll get used to it, even fuel our SUVs with it: After all, the Middle East, once thick with forests, is now a desert swimming in oil.

Far from our cities, the woods appear wild, dark and unpaved; filled with creepy-crawlies, a place to conquer, hunt and exterminate. Because in these last remaining patches of wilderness, we are the ones watched and we are still prey.

Worrying about the contagion of trees in cities and towns are bands of citizen-pruners. They brood over saplings cracking open sidewalks, avalanches of bird excreta, of tripping over dead branches, hazardous limbs, and unsightly leaves. A lot of the calls to the city’s 311 help line are from New Yorkers complaining about trees. “One Queens homeowner begged the city not to plant a tree in front of her house by arguing that her dog would get confused by the introduction of a new smell; she got a tree anyway.” – L. W. Foderaro -NY Times

Organic Highway © Michael Hansen

© Alastair Mackie Mimetes Anon, 2009 bronze Photo: Tessa Angus

“For, while a majority of the world’s people now live in cities, they depend more than ever on forests, in a way that few of them understand.” – Justin Gillis

For inventive Manhattanites, the lack of trees is not a deterrent. Faux parks have appeared in galleries as safe spots for picnics, a patch for a midday snooze or chat. And kids, who’ve never seen the real thing, aren’t likely to notice the difference.

© Open House Gallery - Park here - Indoor Pop Up Park

© Open House Gallery - Park here - Indoor Pop Up Park

Sleeping Princess by Victor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov: Sleeping Beauty gets knocked out for a century and the forest takes over

Credits:
J. F. Rauzier Courtesy of www.waterhousedodd.com
Stuart Hall Courtesy of http://www.ba-reps.com
Kahn and Selesnick
Alastair Mackie Courtesy of All Visual Arts gallery, London
Open House Gallery a pop up event space, NYC
Rose Klabin – Courtesy of Rabbithole – 33 Washington St., Brooklyn 16 Sep- 20 Oct 11
If a Tree Falls: Documentary by Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman, 2011
Connected: A Film on Interdependence Directed by Tiffany Shlain, 2011

Artist's rendering of the Diller, Scofidio Renfro design for Broad's downtown museum. (Diller, Scofidio + Renfro)

Philanthropist Eli Broad and the Broad Art Foundation today unveiled the architectural plans for an art museum named The Broad that will be built in downtown Los Angeles. Designed by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the three-story museum features a unique porous honeycomb “veil” that will house Eli Broad’s 2,000-piece contemporary art collections. The inaugural exhibition at the museum, when it opens in two years, will feature 200 of the most iconic works from the Broad Collections, In addition to the construction cost of the building which is estimated to be over $130 million, Eli Broad is funding the museum with a $200 million endowment which will be larger than LACMA and MOCA combined. The organic, fluid design of the structure is destined to become a landmark for LA, but the architects DS+R have also been busy in New York, and have quite a few projects in the pipeline.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s Hypar Pavilion at NYC Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Copyright Iwan Baan

Last month the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York opened its new restaurant and public lawn space also designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro with FXFowle called the Hypar Pavilion. The 7,200sf lawn surface tilts up at two opposing corners creating a twisting parabolic roof that tips away from the noise of the city’s traffic, and is accessed at its single point of contact with the Plaza. The Italian restaurant below the lawn, called the Lincoln Ristorante, is run by chef Jonathan Benno.

The High Line, Section 2 (20th Street - 30th Street) By removing the High Line's concrete deck, the gridwork of the beams and girders is revealed. Visitors float above the structural framework on a viewing platform. Design by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy the City of New York.

DS+R is also currently developing the second section of the High Line, from West 20th to West 30th Streets, which opens to the public this spring; it will double the length of the park. At its end point will be another project at the Hudson Yards called the ‘Culture Shed.’ The five-story, 55,000 square feet building will function like a ‘time-share’ with multiple occupants that will rent blocks of time for museum shows, performances, and exhibitions.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro - Culture Shed, New York City, in development 2010

Rendering for MAM Museum Park Nightview

Miami Art Museum, Bay View

Miami’s contemporary art museum, Miami Art Museum, contains a limited but engaging collection of modern art pieces – but with the new crowds descending upon Miami during Art Basel week and the growing scrutiny of the city’s art patrons – there was pressure to expand its collections into a new facility that will house world-class exhibitions and enhance Miami’s profile as an art destination.

The new Miami Art Museum, which will anchor the 29-acre Museum Park, will be designed by Herzog & de Meuron, and is scheduled to open to the public in 2013. The new site overlooking Biscayne Bay, at the edge of the beach, will create a new architectural icon for the city. During Miami Art Basel a huge fund-raising event was held at the Mandarin Oriental, Miami for the $131 million construction cost of the new museum.

Miami Art Museum-South Elevation View

Rendering for MAM and Musuem Park

The building will consist of several transparent levels with an overhanging canopy perforated to allow light with columns of lush vegetation to create a garden-veranda with many layers of tropical plants. The canopy will be a green roof that moderates the temperature of the building, similar in concept to Renzo Piano’s living roof for the California Academy of Sciences building in San Francisco.

Herzog & de Meuron, known for their Bird’s Nest stadium at the Beijing Olympics, were also enlisted in Miami for the new 1111 Lincoln Road, development in South Beach’s Lincoln Mall – the open architecture was described by Jacques Herzog as being “all muscle without cloth.” H de M’s designs are known for their simple geometrical forms which enclose smooth seamless interiors. An example of this architecture would be, my personal favourite, the Prada store in Tokyo.

PRADA Store Tokyo by Herzog & de Meuron, photographed by Iwan Baan.