We are happy to introduce Hugo Orlandini, a Cuban-born contemporary artist who now lives and works in Barcelona. In his work, Hugo gives a lot of attention to social issues. ‘I’m inclined to think of art,’ says the artist, ‘as a transformational, creative and political energy that has sensorial, optical and mental consequences; a door that grants us access to new channels of perception in order to submit accepted systems to new questions.’

One of Hugo Orlandini’s most famous installations Pothole represented a Guantanamo Bay detention camp module in a life-size scale. Inside, the visitors could hear the Frank Sinatra’s song My Way in a loop. ‘The intention behind this loop,’ tells Hugo Orlandini, ‘was to draw attention to the tortures carried out in our day and age (in this case, sound tortures) in the back room of certain Western democracies.’ This year the artist reproduced the Guantanamo Bay detention camp module in a smaller scale and turned it in a music box.

Another work Fortune’s fool recreates a photo which has been published in Spanish newspapers. The photo depicted undocumented immigrants, who had occupied Barcelona Cathedral in protest against their irregular legal status, being removed by police forces from the premises.

We found Hugo Orlandini’s works are very interesting but in many cases they are not so easy to perceive out of context, especially through a computer screen. We hope that a short interview below helps you to understand the author’s concepts.

Could you tell us a few words about yourself: where were you born, what education do you have, where do you live and work?

I began my artistic training in Havana where, while I attended the School of Fine Arts I had the privilege of keeping in touch with the visual artists and writers of the well-known ‘Generation of the Eighties’, the legendary Cuban avant-garde. Years later I travelled to Buenos Aires and settled there to complete my training, obtaining several awards in artistic performance to produce sculptures, objects and installations. At present I live and work in Barcelona.

Major part of your works refers to different social issues. How do you choose themes for your works? What concerns you the most? Could you say that your art follows a certain theme?

We could say that the landscape of my oeuvre is essentially made up of social and political concerns. I think this is the link that connects my projects. I always try to produce considerable formal differences between my works. Perhaps this way of working responds to an attempt to be unpredictable.

I usually start from actual, historical events or from situations that have had a huge impact. Such occasions give me the opportunity to question the events, to reconstruct them in order to ruffle the surface or explore obviousness and offer a new point of view of occurrences.

I also think the personal element plays a key role in my subject matter, given my condition as a migrant since childhood, the consequences of having grown up and been educated in a Communist regime and having experienced for some time now the globalised liberal system.

Do you refer yourself to any artistic movement?

My intention is that my works be encompassed by the field of Conceptual Art.

What do you expect viewers should experience after interaction with your works?

What I hope to contribute, through art, is a space for reflection on commonly accepted postulates and I hope to extend the importance of questioning as one of the basic cores of contemporary society.

Why did you show the participants of the ‘Fortune’s fool’ event as toy characters? Why did you decide to remake the ‘Fortune’s fool’ in bronze?

The proposal consisted in using Playmobil figures, toys that represent a range of clichés that are materially uniform and interact on a politically correct and non-hierarchical ‘horizontal’ social plane, emphasised by their naïf appearance.

I decided to enlarge the toys to human scale and include undocumented immigrants as actors in the contemporary globalised stage. The piece is a reflection on the dialectics between social inclusion and exclusion. The source of information (the front page of a newspaper) also forms a part of the mise-en-scène.

I think that casting this scene in white bronze using traditional sculptural techniques and transforming it into a sort of souvenir or object in the popular imaginary is a reflection on the banal way in which these events and their circumstances are treated in the media and how they soon become anecdotal. The idea of building it in a long-lasting material is also to grant the event a certain perdurability.

How do you produce the sculptures and installations? Is it a complicated process? Were there any interesting occasions concerning the process?

To begin with I carry out research which is complemented by a text on the idea. Then, in my studio I start sketching. Once I’ve decided on the design I develop the model virtually in three dimensions, a procedure that allows me to incorporate new perspectives and compare, adjust sizes, materials and costs.

The next stage is usually to make a scale mock-up of the whole project, and then I finally start to create the actual work.

Broadly speaking, my projects are quite complex and, luckily, unplanned things happen. I remember when I was carrying out research on the forced removal of immigrants from Barcelona Cathedral (when working on Fortune’s Fool) that I was able to contact the photographer of Metro newspaper who, off the record, described the physical and human circumstances of the complete sequence that included the published photograph on which I based my work.

What are the differences between your early works and the latest? How has your art changed? Have you had any periods in your work?

The distinct phases in my work are usually related to the different maps through which I have travelled. Since my foundational works I have strived to preserve a conceptual nexus between my various projects and work on the formal aspects in harmony with the elements I feel are representative of each specific place. Such was the case with my first project in this direction, Jean Jaurés y Sarmiento, an itinerant reproduction of a typical kitchen in the popular neighbourhood in which I was living at the time in Buenos Aires. I think that some features of that style or way of working can still be found in more recent productions.

Were there any artists who influenced you and your art?

Many, but fundamentally the Conceptual artists of the sixties such as Sol LeWitt, Hans Haacke, Bruce Nauman, Joseph Beuys, Víctor Grippo, etc.

An Austrian artist Manfred Kielnhofer has sent us an interesting work that was entitled Glowing Light Balls Bench and lays at the intersection between art and industrial design. Glowing Light Balls Bench is a series of futuristically illuminated benches that could exist in different forms, materials and colours.

Here is a description from the Manfred Kielnhofer:

‘The Glowing Light Ball Bench created by Manfred Kielnhofer was present at the design month Graz. The bench, which has a very simple design, consists of three light balls and two wooden board perforates that lay over the light balls. Contrasting structural dynamics of the artist Manfred Kielnhofer provides analytically with his artistic work The Glowing Light Ball Bench more than one possible answer to this issue. Kielnhofer asks the viewer literally to an intellectual debate and intellectual, philosophical stimulation. Based on art and design relavante aspects of this work is based on philosophical thinking patterns that are complementary with social impact through the application and interaction. Materials and urban positioning, more variables which give the work of art this unique versatility and applicability. Whether moving, static, bright, swimming, driving, busy or isolated freestanding – the action itself defines the fine line to use artistic design, or art-oriented design to use. “The moment you try the artwork in my thoughts and words to capture, one realizes that this task almost limitless variations, offers viewpoints and approaches. Kielnhofer redeemed by shape, material, resulting in an avalanche of application functionality and solutions / results on different levels of perception.”’

You can appreciate other works by Manfred Kielnhofer on his personal website and on his blog.

The Easter Sculpture Museum project was the result of an ideas competition organized by the Hellín Municipality. The rules of the competition considered refurbishment of the old Casa del Conde house and construction an extension on the plot area which had been earlier occupied by some small service buildings of the house.

EXIT ARCHITECTS’ winning proposal included completely refurbished Casa del Conde as a part of the museum. The architects strove to give it a main role, incorporating the former backyard façade as the background for the new main exhibition space. The inner court of the house played also a significant role as an exhibition area, establishing a relation between the old and the new parts. The upper levels hosted an administration area and a library.

Nevertheless, while the architects were developing the project, a rigorous inspection of the Casa del Conde building showed that it was not possible to refurbish the whole house at a reasonable cost, so they decided to concentrate all the efforts on preserving and restoring the painted façade and those valuable elements (stone columns, ironworks etc.) they could recover for the museum.

After the major part of the Casa del Conde building disappeared, the old façade ceased to be a construction element and turned into a canvas, a decorated surface that was integrated in the museum volume as a kind of exhibited object. At the same time, it plays an important role in establishing a relation between the new museum building and its surroundings.

The authors pay special attention to make the Easter Sculpture Museum fit the surroundings. Replaced Casa del Conde with the new building, the architects at the same time reproduced the volume of the old house to correspond to the scale of the surrounding buildings. The new museum steps backwards, creating a small square in front of the main visitors’ access. Besides the building adapts to the steep slope of the plot, decreasing its height in the longitudinal section, it always keeps the urban scale of the surrounding houses.

Another way to integrate the new museum into surroundings is to use the same local stone for the façades as the one of the nearby church, keeping the museum into the chromatic spectrum of the historic centre.

Inside the museum, the main impression is formed by vast concrete space that surrounds a sinuous way among the sculptures, which stand on several large wooden bases. The great scale of the main exhibition space, complicated use of natural and artificial light and durable materials make the interior very appropriate for exposing the important collection of religious sculptures.

Project data:

Project: EASTER SCULPTURE MUSEUM. HELLÍN. ALBACETE

Architects: EXIT ARCHITECTS. IBÁN CARPINTERO / MARIO SANJUÁN

Client: PUBLIC WORKS MINISTRY / HELLÍN MUNICIPALITY

Built area: 2.160 m2

Budget: 3.512.235 EUROS

Project: 2002

Completion: 2011

Collaborators: MIGUEL GARCÍA-REDONDO, SILVIA N. GÓMEZ, ÁNGEL SEVILLANO, JOSÉ Mª TABUYO

Technical architects: ALBERTO PALENCIA / JOSÉ ANTONIO ALONSO

Mechanical consultant: MAINTENANCE IBÉRICA

Structural consultant: INDAGSA (JOSÉ LUIS CANO)

Photographs: FERNANDO GUERRA, EXIT ARCHITECTS

General contractor: PEFERSAN, S.A.

BIG’s residential towers in the Yongsan International Business District revitalize the Han riverfront into a new commercial and residential center for the citizens of Seoul. Situated at the south-east edge of the Yongsan master plan designed by Studio Libeskind for the Korean development group Dreamhub, BIG’s Cross # Towers will contribute to the developing skyline of Seoul and become a recognizable marker of the new cultural and commercial centre of the city. BIG was selected to submit a design proposal for Yongsan International Business District among 19 international offices, including SOM, Dominique Perrault, REX and MVRDV.

The 21 000 m2 site is positioned next to the existing urban fabric in the future development zones of the Yongsan master plan. BIG’s design includes two elegant towers with a height of 214 and 204m. To meet the height requirements of the site, the exceeding building mass is transformed into an upper and lower horizontal bar, which bridge the two towers at 140m and 70 m height. The two towers are additionally connected through the arrival bar at the ground level – and a courtyard below ground.

‘The Cross # Towers constitute a three-dimensional urban community of interlocking horizontal and vertical towers. Three public bridges connect two slender towers at different levels – underground, at the street and in the sky. Catering to the demands and desires of different residents, age groups and cultures the bridges are landscaped and equipped for a variety of activities traditionally restricted to the ground. The resultant volume forms a distinct figure on the new skyline of Seoul – a “#” that serves as a gateway to the new Yongsan Business District signalling a radical departure from the crude repetition of disconnected towers towards a new urban community that populates the three-dimensional space of the city.’

Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner, BIG

Both the upper and lower bridge introduce rooftop sky gardens accessible to residents, allowing for outdoor activities, while a courtyard at the heart of the development is an integral part of the overall architectural design. Dramatic views towards the neighbouring towers and visual connections across the courtyard from the retail zone create an exciting space for the residents and visitors. The outdoor landscape is envisioned to draw from the charm of traditional courtyards combined with the modernity of the project. Pedestrians at the arrival deck which connects the towers at ground level can enjoy impressive views to the bridges above and to the submerged courtyard below.

‘The typical tower inherently removes life from the city it occupies. Circulation is linear and social interactions occur only in lobbies or awkward elevator rides. We propose a building that triples the amount of ground floor – triples the amount of social interaction and reintroduces the idea of neighbourhood within the tower complex.’

Thomas Christoffersen, Partner in Charge, BIG

The development will offer over 600 high-end residences and amenities, including a library, gallery space and a kindergarten. BIG’s design ensures that the tower apartments have optimal conditions towards sun and views. The bar units are given value through their spectacular views and direct access to the roofscapes, activating the outdoor realm. The exterior facades are developed to correspond to the different orientations and solar conditions, creating a diverse façade which varies from the viewer’s vantage point and the position of the sun.

Project data:

Client: Dreamhub

Architect: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

Collaborators: Arup Dublin (SMEP, Façade) & Amsterdam (Lighting), Martha Schwartz Partners (MSP), SIAPLAN (Local Architect)

Area: 96.534 m2

Tower 1: 214m / 52 Floors; Tower 2: 204m / 48 Floors; Site: 21.000 m2; Units: 627

Partner in Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Christoffersen, Finn Nørkjær

Project Director: André Schmidt

Project Leader: Kamilla Heskje, Cat Huang

Project Team: Buster Christensen, Jeppe Ecklon, Tobias Hjortdal, Jakob Sand, Mikkel Marcker Stubgaard, Camila Luise de Andrade Stadler, Lorenzo Boddi, Karol Borkowski, Igor Brozyna, Eduard Champelle, Erik de Haan, Shun Ping Liu, Enea Michelesio, Daram Park, Lucian Racovitan, Teresa Fernandez Rojo, Tiago Sá, Julian Salazar, Laura Youf, Seung Hyun Yuh, Paolo Venturella.

First prize in Aachen: the jury of the competition for the Corporate Center of the Trianel municipal utilities network has selected the submission by architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) as the winning entry. The new building is located along a major road next to the Tivoli stadium. From 2013 on it is to be built in two phases, the first of which comprises 9,600 square meters of gross floor area and will accommodate 400 members of staff. In the second, optional phase the building can be extended by 4,800 square meters to accommodate a further 200 employees. The building’s sustainability concept merits a silver DGNB certificate. The gmp design team includes a DGNB-accredited auditor, who advises on the applicable criteria.

From an urban design point of view, the four-storey building with its tranquil trapeze-shaped structure acts as a counterpoise to the dominating stadium and the varied architectural styles of the neighbourhood. The generously glazed facades open up views into the park to the south of the building. The white horizontal solar screening slats made of aluminium profiles create a calm overall appearance, which has a harmonizing effect on the surroundings.

The design idea for its new main building mirrors the network structure of the company itself. While the ground floor with its cafés, an auditorium, a library etc. contains mainly public functions, the storeys above house flexibly divisible office areas. These are grouped around a central atrium which allows views across several levels – and even into other offices through the glazed walls. This creates not only a visual, but also a practical connection between employees, as several staircases and bridges ensure that the links between departments are short. Communication and recreation areas as well as think tanks, conference areas and kitchenettes, are distributed throughout the building and support communication both on a formal and informal level. The core of the building is formed by the 800 square meter large trading floor for power and gas trading on the first floor.

Project data:

Competition: 2012 – 1st prize

Design: Volkwin Marg with Marek Nowak

Associated Partner: Christian Hoffmann

Project Management: Marek Nowak with Olaf Peters

Team: Sebastian Möller, Christoph Salentin, Tobias Unterberg

Client: Trianel GmbH

 We have written about Tom Veiga, a Brazilian artist and designer, and his original style that magically fits almost every object that it appears on. This time we would like to introduce a new collection in Serie Waves style that Tom created for Billabong, one of the largest clothing companies in the boardsports sector.

In December 2010, a Marketing Manager of Billabong Girls Europe contacted Tom Veiga to invite him to work on a 2012 summer collection and, in January 2011, the project was started. For the whole collection, Tom created three unique images that then were transferred on bikinis, bags, slippers, t-shirts and other products. Every piece features the artist’s style: abstract manner, sinuous lines, vivid and colourful shapes.

We like application flexibility of Tom Veiga’s style, so we are happy to know that he intends to keep on developing it and apply to a wide range of objects. At the moment, the artist is working on a series of products with his own design. The series includes such products as mugs, pillows, t-shirts, bags, and will be released in few months.

As about future plans, Tom Veiga told us that he would like to work on two projects – car painting and shoes design. Some examples of what these projects would be like you can see in our previous publication and Tom Veiga’s photostream.

Alter Ego is a photo project by a British photographer Robbie Cooper. Started in 2003, it went well beyond an ordinary photo series and turned into a kind of research into a phenomenon of online gaming. The idea appeared when Robbie was photographing the CEO of a company who told him a story of his relationships with his children. Being divorced and having bad access to them, he had to meet them in EverQuest, a fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG. There, they can chat with each other and discuss normal everyday things like homework, school or their mother.

‘His description of this banal but emotionally important exchange, taking place in the vivid fantasy of the game, got me thinking about the nature of the game itself,’ says Robbie Cooper. ‘It’s a world of surface appearances and symbols. Within that, their interaction had been reduced to text; it was a technological extension of psychological models – the imaginary, and the symbolic structure of language.’

Robbie Cooper spent about three years travelling and photographing online gamers from all over the world. Then he combined the photographs with the identities that they’d personally created to interact with other gamers online, also known as ‘avatars’. With the help of Tracy Spaight and Bruno Ceschel, he also assembled texts written by each person. In 2007, Alter Ego was published as a book.

‘I think people use avatars in different ways. We noticed in Asia players were much more focused on creating an avatar that they liked looking at, rather than thinking about what other people were seeing inside the game world. So a lot of guys played girls for that reason. Another player in Korea played a little girl character because he was selling items and it helped in bargaining. He modified his behaviour in the game to try and maintain the illusion that he was really a little girl. Other people really throw themselves into the role play element, or consider their avatar to be an extension of their real world selves.’

Robbie Cooper

Alter Ego gives you an opportunity to learn the relations between every person and a game, find a connection between real-life people and their avatars, similarities and differences in their appearance. If you are interested in the stories written by each person of the project you can find them on a Robbie Cooper’s website.

You can appreciate other works by Robbie Cooper on his website. You can also buy Alter Ego: Avatars and their creators book on Amazon.

The 490-foot-tall Beach and Howe mixed-use tower by BIG + Westbank + Dialog + Cobalt + PFS + Buro Happold + Glotman Simpson and local architect James Cheng marks the entry point to downtown Vancouver, forming a welcoming gateway to the city, while adding another unique structure to the Vancouver skyline.

BIG’s proposal, named after its location on the corner of Howe & Beach next to the Granville Street Bridge in downtown Vancouver, calls for 600 residential units occupying the 49-story tower, which would become one of the city’s fourth tallest buildings. The tower is situated on a nine-story podium base offering market-rental housing with a mix of commercial and retail space. BIG was commissioned by Canada’s premier real estate developer Westbank, established in 1992, with over $10 billion of projects completed or under development, including the Shangri-La luxury hotels in Vancouver and Toronto.

Ian Gillespie, President, Westbank: ‘We have brought together the best talent available in Vancouver and Europe to create a truly world class project that will enrich not only the particular neighbourhood, but also the city and its quest to become creative, sustainable and affordable city. Architecturally, the Beach and Howe tower will introduce a new building typology to the Vancouver skyline and will create a dramatic gateway to downtown Vancouver that speaks to the emerging creative economy in the city.’

The tower takes its shape after the site’s complex urban conditions aiming to optimize the conditions for its future inhabitants in the air as well as on the street level.  At its base, the footprint of the tower is conditioned by concerns for two significant neighbouring elements, including a 30-meter setback from the Granville bridge which ensures that no residents will have windows and balconies in the middle of heavy traffic as well as concerns for sunlight to an adjacent park which limits how far south the building can be constructed. As a result the footprint is restricted to a small triangle.

Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner, BIG: ‘The Beach and Howe tower is a contemporary descendant of the Flatiron Building in New York City – reclaiming the lost spaces for living as the tower escapes the noise and traffic at its base. In the tradition of Flatiron, Beach and Howe’s architecture is not the result of formal excess or architectural idiosyncrasies, but rather a child of its circumstances: the trisected site and the concerns for neighbouring buildings and park spaces.’

As the tower ascends, it clears the noise, exhaust, and visual invasion of the Granville Bridge. BIG’s design reclaims the lost area as the tower clears the zone of influence of the bridge, gradually cantilevering over the site. This movement turns the inefficient triangle into an optimal rectangular floor plate, increasing the desirable spaces for living at its top, while freeing up a generous public space at its base. The resultant silhouette has a unique appearance that changes from every angle and resembles a curtain being drawn aside, welcoming people as they enter the city from the bridge.

Thomas Christoffersen, Partner-in-Charge, BIG: ‘The tower and base are a reinvention of the local typology, known as “Vancouverism”. In this typology, slender towers are grouped with mixed-use podiums and street walls that define human-scale urban environments. The aim is to preserve view cones through the city while activating the pedestrian street.’

The tower’s podium is a mixed-use urban village with three triangular blocks that are composed of intimately-scaled spaces for working, shopping, and leisure which face onto public plazas and pathways. The additional public space adds to the existing streets, giving the neighbourhood a variety of open and covered outdoor spaces of various scales which transform the site under the Granville Bridge into a dynamic and iconic mixed-use neighbourhood hub.

Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner, BIG: ‘Vancouver has already embarked upon an urban experiment in creating a super dense residential downtown – to increase pedestrian activity and street life. With this project we attempt to continue this process of densification by reclaiming a site beneath the bridges that would otherwise be lost as a lifeless “black hole” in the urban fabric. The diagonal canopies of the vehicular flows above create a new form of weather protected urban space, turning the large infrastructure in to a niche for social life.’

The courtyards created by the building volumes, roofs and terraces are all designed to enhance views from the Granville Bridge and the residential units above. The canted, triangular clusters of green roofs create a highly graphic and iconic gateway to and from the downtown core, reinforcing the City of Vancouver’s focus on sustainable cities. The exterior façades respond to the various solar exposures which is integral to the overall sustainability concept. The building will strive for LEED Gold Certification. 

1.     Site.

2.     Street setbacks to allow future widening of Howe Street and Pacific Street.

3.     Three meter setbacks from Granville Bridge edge, trisecting the site.

4.     Safety setback from of 30 meters from Granville Bridge.

5.     Resulting triangular footprint of approx. 6,000 sf.

6.     Extrusion of resulting footprint.

7.     3D opportunity. Away from the bridge, the tower can reclaim its logical footprint at the top.

8.     Resultant silhouette resembles a curtain being drawn aside, welcoming people as they travel across the Granville Bridge.

9.     Creation of continuous accessible platforms from Pacific Street.

10.  Raising three new peaks to emphasize flows along Granville Bridge.

Project facts:

Name: Beach and Howe St.

Client: Westbank Projects Corp.

Location: Vancouver, Canada

Size: 653,890 sf / 60,670 m2

Collaborators: Dialog, Cobalt Engineering, Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg Urban Design, Buro Happold, Glotman Simpson, James KM Cheng Architects

Partners-in-charge: Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Christoffersen

Project leader: Agustin Perez-Torres

Team: Julianne Gola, Marcella Martinez, Chris Malcolm, Karol Borkowski, Michael Taylor, Alina Tamosiunaite, David Brown, Tobias Hjortdal, Alexandra Gustafson

Mint Julep – To the Sea

 
IAMX – Bernadette

 
Digitalism – Circles

 
Mint Julep – Aviary

Enlightened Souls is an awesome light painting project by a French photographer Fabrice Wittner which he started in May 2011  in Christchurch, New Zealand. For this project, Fabrice used a special technique that combines light painting and real-sized stencils.

Fabrice Wittner: ‘I started light painting with a good fellow of mine Hervé Baccara aka Dr Gosh, a graffiti artist. He was painting while I was taking the photos. He first came up the idea of using stencils and we developed the technique together, both working on stencils and the pictures. We arrived to conclusive results. Like in street art, the technique consists in painting through a stencil. A photograph instead of the wall.’

Fabrice Wittner: ‘In 2010, I moved to New Zealand and Dr Gosh moved to Vietnam. I spent a year there after what I joined Dr Gosh in Vietnam for a common project. I had more time than expected so I decided to work on a new series. For the Enlightened Souls I used real sized stencils that I chose to put in the streets of Christchurch and Hanoi. But not for the same reasons. The first part, Christchurch Quake was created to commemorate the victims of the big earthquake occurred the 22 February 2011. The plan was to offer some prints to the Council, it was the only donation I could afford then. But now that the project got some exposure I’m thinking about organizing a fundraising by selling limited prints by auction. The Country Mice project was more to show the difference between people living in the big cities and people from remote places in the country side. Then I put kids from the mountains down in Hanoi streets, a place they will maybe never see.’