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      ‘Fake Food, Real Garbage’: A Satirical Store is Fully Stocked with Groceries Made Entirely of Plastic

      by

      
      Art
      Food

      #installation
      #plastic
      #satire
      #stores

      July 7, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      Photo by Tony Lewis. All images courtesy of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, shared with permission
      Wander into a new pop-up grocery store in Downtown Los Angeles, and you’ll find all of the typical options with an unusual twist: freezers stocked with tubs of “Bag & Jerry’s,” a robust produce section with bananas and tomatoes printed with advertisements, and mysteriously gray “polluted sausage” stuck to styrofoam trays.
      Dubbed “The Plastic Bag Store,” the witty and satirical installation is the project of Robin Frohardt, who repurposed scores of bottle caps, packaging, and other single-use materials into a full-fledged grocery. Each of the non-edible items—many of which have undergone clever rebrands, meaning you’ll find family-sized boxes of Yucky Shards cereal, cases of Bagorade bottles, and clamshells of Earthbag Farms non-organic spring mix in the aisles—is made entirely with discarded waste that the Brooklyn-based artist, puppet-maker, and designer collected from garbage bins and trash sites.

      Photo by Bailey Holiver
      Paired with a performative component that envisions how future generations will interpret the inordinate amount of waste produced in today’s world, the installation literally displays the longevity of the items many of us use on a daily basis. According to recent estimations, the amount of plastic in the ocean is predicted to exceed the volume of fish by 2050, an ongoing crisis Frohardt wants to make more apparent. “’The Plastic Bag Store’ is a visually rich and humorous experience that hopefully encourages a different way of thinking about the foreverness of plastic, the permanence of the disposable and that there is no ‘away’ when we throw something out,” she says.
      The grocery, which debuted in Times Square last fall with the tagline “Fake Food, Real Garbage,” is open at UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance through July 11. You can find more of Frohardt’s projects, many of which critique mass consumerism and capitalism through a humorous lens, on her site and Instagram. (via Hyperallergic)

      Photo by Bailey Holiver
      Photo by Bailey Holiver
      Photo by Maria Baranova
      Photo by Tony Lewis
      Photos by Maria Baranova
      Photo by Maria Baranova
      Photo courtesy of Rundle Mall

      #installation
      #plastic
      #satire
      #stores

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      A Dreamy Fiber Installation by Vanessa Barragão Transforms a Medieval Bridge into a Patch of Oversized Orchids

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      Art
      Craft

      #fiber art
      #flowers
      #installation
      #public art
      #video

      July 6, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Vanessa Barragão, shared with permission
      In the small town of Paderne, Portugal, a whimsical valance of crocheted leaves, dangling tendrils, and petals dyed with subtle gradients encircles the stone archways of a battered medieval bridge. Titled “Algarvensis,” the dreamy installation is by Portuguese artist Vanessa Barragão, who’s known for her large-scale textured tapestries that recreate landscapes and gardens with tufted fibers. The bowed entanglement recreates oversized orchids native to the region with wool from nearby sheep and recycled yarn, resin, and other materials in a celebration of the local environment where the artist spent much of her childhood.
      “Algarvensis,” which the municipality of Albufeira commissioned to help elevate the Geoparque Algarvensis to the status of a Worldwide UNESCO Geoparque, will be up until September 12, and you can the process and installation behind the piece on Barragão’s Instagram.

      

      #fiber art
      #flowers
      #installation
      #public art
      #video

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      Immersive Installations by Liz West Convert Spaces into Glowing Arenas of Prismatic Light

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      Art

      #installation
      #light
      #public art
      #site-specific

      June 30, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Hymn to the Big Wheel” (2021), steel, PVC vinyl and polycarbonate, 480 x 480 x 300 centimeters. All images © Liz West, shared with permission
      Whether nestling an iridescent tunnel inside a Georgian-style church or encircling a concrete walkway with multicolor ribbons, Liz West transforms whatever space she approaches into a dynamic field of kaleidoscopic light and shadow. The prolific British artist (previously) is known for her large-scale pieces that use reflection and refraction to create dazzling immersive environments. Often utilizing translucent panels and a combination of natural light and LEDs, West’s intention is to enhance sensory awareness, showing the potential the full spectrum of color has to impact both psychological and physical reactions.
      On view through August 12 at Canary Wharf in London, “Hymn to the Big Wheel” (shown above)  is an architectural installation comprised of two concentric octagons that cast layered jewel-toned shadows depending on the viewer’s position. The piece draws its name from Massive Attack’s “Hymn Of The Big Wheel” and has what West calls a “sun-dial effect” that changes how the light streams through the panels depending on the time of day.
      Other recent projects include “Aglow,” which arranged 169 fluorescent bowls in a hexagon outside of the Musee Nissim de Camondo in Paris. The individual elements were designed to catch rainfall, which once pooled in the base, added an extra layer of color and illusion to the patterned grouping. Similarly deceptive is West’s 2021 piece titled “Presence” at Christ Church in Macclesfield, which produced an obscured and prismatic path through the historic site that presented the existing architecture through the lens of colorful panels.
      West is currently working on two permanent installations launching in August and September in Salford, while “Hundreds and Thousands” (shown below) will be taken down this fall. You can follow her vibrant constructions on her site and Instagram.

      “Aglow” (2018), acrylic, 1,500 x 45 x 1,500 centimeters
      “Aglow” (2018), acrylic, 1,500 x 45 x 1,500 centimeters
      “Hundreds and Thousands” (2021), pigment injected polyester, 700 linear meters
      Detail of “Hundreds and Thousands” (2021), pigment injected polyester, 700 linear meters
      “Hymn to the Big Wheel” (2021), steel, PVC vinyl and polycarbonate, 480 x 480 x 300 centimeters
      “Presence” (2021), metal, dichroic vinyl, and polycarbonate, 1,500 x 140 x 300 centimeters
      “Our Spectral Vision” (2016), dichroic glass, LEDs, and acrylic, 700 x 220 x 40 centimeters
      “Presence” (2021), metal, dichroic vinyl, and polycarbonate, 1,500 x 140 x 300 centimeters
      “Presence” (2021), metal, dichroic vinyl, and polycarbonate, 1,500 x 140 x 300 centimeters

      #installation
      #light
      #public art
      #site-specific

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      A Trio of Colorful Characters Expand Jean Jullien’s Installation in a Nantes Botanical Garden

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      Art
      Illustration

      #installation
      #public art

      June 29, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Jean Jullien, shared with permission
      Three new faces join the quirky cast of characters at Nantes’s Jardin des Plantes. Part of artist Jean Jullien’s Filili Viridi project that’ll be on view through November, the colorful trio is spotted reclining in the grass, perched in a tree, and plunged in a small reservoir. Joyful and slightly mischievous, the new additions, which are made of painted steel, join six others that have been hanging out in the botanical garden since last summer. See more of Jullien’s illustrated ensembles on Instagram, and pick up a poster in his shop.

      #installation
      #public art

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      A 79-Foot Labyrinth Crocheted by Ernesto Neto Hangs from the Ceiling of a Houston Museum

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      Art

      #crochet
      #installation
      #site-specific
      #thread

      June 15, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “SunForceOceanLife” (2021), 30 x 79 x 55 feet. All images © Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, shared with permission
      Brazillian artist Ernesto Neto (previously) is known for his enormous, fiber-based installations that plunge viewers into a multi-sensory landscape of organic elements: people are encouraged to walk through canals of stretched yarn and grasp the structural weavings, while spicy scents like turmeric and cumin are often diffused throughout the room.
      Similarly immersive and imposing, Neto’s latest work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is one of his largest to date. “SunForceOceanLife” is a hand-crocheted, walkable maze of yellow, orange, and green threads that stretch 79 feet across the gallery and spiral 12 feet in the air. The pliable installation centers around “fire, the vital energy that enables life on this planet,” the artist says, sharing that each polymer string utilized is burned at the end to further infuse the piece with sacred, meditative rituals. “I hope that the experience of this work will feel like a chant made in gratitude to the gigantic ball of fire we call the sun, a gesture of thanks for the energy, truth, and power that it shares with us as it touches our land, our oceans, and our life,” he writes.
      Plastic balls also fill the pathway and shift underfoot, which forces those passing through the suspended structure to intentionally maintain their balance. Neto explains:
      It directly engages the body as does a joyful dance or meditation, inviting us to relax, breathe, and uncouple our body from our conscious mind. The sensation of floating, the body cradled by the crocheted fruits of our labor, brings to mind a hammock: the quintessential indigenous invention that uplifts us and connects us to the wisdom and traditions of our ancestors.
      “SunForceOceanLife” is on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston through September 26, 2021. You can see more of Neto’s interactive, site-specific projects at Galerie Max Hetzler. (via designboom)

      #crochet
      #installation
      #site-specific
      #thread

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      Nine Massive Waves of Deadwood Surge Across a Forest Floor Near Hamburg

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      Art
      Photography

      #COVID-19
      #installation
      #land art
      #waves
      #wood

      June 8, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Jörg Gläscher, shared with permission
      As the fear of a second wave of COVID-19 swept through Germany in the fall of 2020, photographer and artist Jörg Gläscher decided to channel his own worry into a project that felt similarly vast and domineering. “I was working (with the idea of) the pure power of nature, the all-destroying force, which brings one of the richest countries in the world to a completely still stand,” he tells Colossal. “A wave is a periodic oscillation or a unique disturbance the state of a system.”
      Between November 2020 and March 2021, Gläscher spent his days in a secluded location near Hamburg, where he gathered deadwood and constructed nine massive crests—the largest of which spans four meters high and nine meters wide—that overwhelm the forest floor in undulating layers of branches and twigs. Each iteration, which he photographed and then promptly destroyed in order to reuse the materials, overwhelms the existing landscape with pools of the formerly thriving matter.
      Gläscher’s installations are part of a larger diaristic project he began at the beginning of the pandemic. Since then, he published a few magazines to present the works that range from photography to sculpture in one place, which you purchase along with prints in his shop. Find more of his multi-media projects on his site and Instagram. (via This Isn’t Happiness)

      #COVID-19
      #installation
      #land art
      #waves
      #wood

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      Sci-Fi-Esque ‘Portals’ on the Streets of Vilnius and Lublin Connect Passersby in Real-Time

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      Art
      Design

      #cameras
      #installation
      #public art

      June 3, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      Vilnius. All images © Portal, shared with permission
      Prior to hopping on the train for their morning commutes, Vilnius residents can greet pals passing through a main square in Lublin, Poland, despite being 376 miles apart. Thanks to “Portal,” a sleek pair of screens installed in the city centers, passersby have the opportunity to wave hello and socialize with their counterparts just as if they were standing in front of each other on the street. Dubbed “a visual bridge,” the futuristic installation resembles large, round orbs embedded with screens and cameras that transmit views of the two locations in real-time.
      “Portal” is the culmination of five years of research and design, and the project to expand to cities around the world, with two more eye-like devices coming to Reyjavik and London soon.

      Lublin
      Vilnius
      Lublin
      Lublin
      Lublin
      Lublin

      #cameras
      #installation
      #public art

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      Color-Changing Canopies Glow with LED Lights in a Fantastical Meadow in San Francisco

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      Art

      #installation
      #LED lights
      #light
      #trees

      May 24, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Entwined Meadow” at Golden Gate Park. All images © Charles Gadeken, shared with permission. Photo by Allen Mort
      Charles Gadeken’s “Entwined Meadow” converted an outdoor greenspace at Golden Gate Park into an enchanted grove of color-changing light. Branching 30 feet across in thick canopies, three metal trees and scattered shrubbery populated the whimsical garden that merged nature and technology to create an otherworldly environment. Thousands of flickering LED cubes topped the plant forms, which stood as high as 20 feet, casting Park Meadow in a kaleidoscopic glow.
      “Entwined Meadow” recently closed at the San Francisco space, although Gadeken says the installation might make another appearance at the location in the future. See more views of the illuminated project, in addition to an archive of the Bay Area artist’s light-based works, on Instagram.

      Photo by Jason Chinn
      Photo by Jonathan Condit
      Photo by Jason Chinn

      #installation
      #LED lights
      #light
      #trees

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