(Video link here.) This video about the private little games people (especially kids) play in their heads reminded me of one I’ve been playing for years.
When I walk by a really tacky store–say, of clothes or furniture–I look at the display and imagine, if I absolutely had to, how or what would I choose and alter and arrange to make it appear somehow stylish. For example, when I’m in the garment district passing store windows with cheesey nylon evening gowns, I imagine which I would pick if I had to wear it to some occasion, and what would I do to make it work. It’s my own private design challenge.
It’s made for endless hours of secret design fantasy and problem solving while walking around the city.
What private little games do you play in your head?
We recently stumbled on Anthony Huberman‘s play on the Fischli and Weiss classic how to work better. Like that one, we’d love to see this painted on a building’s exterior wall so it could be read by anyone passing by: a great thought-provoking reminder. TOAST!!??
One of the big surprises in our renovation of ‘the improvised life’s laboratory was the floor. When we took up the funky carpeting, we didn’t find the concrete we expected but a soft gypsum compound that couldn’t be hardened. We had no budget for a floor so we started to look around at possibilities. We entertained the idea of linoleum, which we love, but found even it was too pricey and labor intensive (it needs sealing periodically). Still, we found ourselves fantasizing about an orange linoleum floor. We weren’t quite able to imagine it.
Well, long after the fact, we found a picture of what such a floor would look like. read more…
In the past we’ve seen dumpsters transformed into adhoc-ish swimming pools. Even easier to do is to turn dumpsters into giant planters, the brain child of designer Michael Bernstein called “Ten Yards of Futopia.” Imagine them scattered around a city. They’d act like mobile public parks, bringing blasts of NATURE (from gardens to forests) to urban settings. Since dumpsters come in all different sizes, the mini parks could be tailored to various spaces. We’d paint em to get rid of the ultra gritty aspect and perpetuate the new illusion: futopia…
It’s lonely being a writer. Sometimes I go for days without seeing another human being except my husband or the barista at the local coffee bar. When I’m deep into a book project, I try to remain focused. My phone calls with friends are, “Can I call you back? I’m in the middle of searching for the right adjective.”
Although some days, I send an email to my friend Rick that goes something like this, “I don’t know how much more of this I can take. My client in Chicago is driving me bonkers. And my feet are burning from stomping out ten other fires. Meet for cocktails at 6? Signed, Miserable in Manhattan.”
Rick responds, “You betcha. I’ve been testing recipes for a diet book since 5 a.m. and writing a book proposal for a supermarket chain. Heading out to buy more groceries for testing. Later.”
At precisely 6 p.m., as I’m pouring some cold vodka into a glass and adding some olives and olive juice, the phone rings. When I pick up, I hear Rick’s voice and the clink of ice cubes going into a glass on the other end of the line. Time for our ritual end-of-the-day phone cocktails: Phone-tails. read more…
We’ve been getting an increasing number of emails from readers their shipping pallet improvisations, as they push they realm of pallet invention. A recent favorite: this swell, stylish staircase by Natasha Figueroa and her husband Dan Husted who live in an up-and-coping gallery district in Copenhagen, Denmark.
We have a private gallery/studio located in Kødbyen, which is the old meatpacking district. Lot45 is the name, and it is an old ‘skin-house’, where they used to hang the hides for curing. Since we did all the work ourselves, we kept the budget quite tight and try to re-use as much as we could. Seeing as the meatpacking district still functions, there are a lot of old pallets laying about. Dan designed and built this so that it can also function as a hang-out during openings & parties.
Their pallet staircase functions as an old fashioned stoop where their friends do indeed hang out… read more…
We recently stumbled on Serbian artist ABVH‘s GIFs that animate famous outdoor artworks by Banksy. This one makes us incredibly ANXIOUS (a powerful emotion); the GIF animation turns up the volume on Banksy’s original message. It made us think about what we REALLY need reminding of: to stop, slow down. What would be the street sign for that?
We’ve browsed endless catalogues that feature chic, expensive house numbers. We’ve always preferred the ones Isabel Rower devised out of washi tape. Then we saw THIS wonderful graphic house number done in ordinary paint. It could be any size and color(s) you want. The trick would be in finding or making a template that makes for beautiful lines, though freehand could be really beautiful.
Dargelos posted this cool doorway while on their trip through Germany. It made us think how wonderful it would be to see public street signs that inspired creativity rather than just “Walk/Don’tWalk” etc. The “How to Work Better” wall sign we posted a while back is a great example.
(Video link here.) As an artist in residence at MIT, Trevor Paglen worked with materials scientists to develop an ultra-archival disc of images, capable of lasting in space for billions of years. He meant this disc to contain a “cultural mark”, that would portray our world long after it might have disappeared altogether. He interviewed scientists, artists, anthropologists, and philosophers to consider what such a cultural mark should be, and ultimately settled on 100 photos. The disc of photos will be sent into space this month.
We’ve long been fans of Aakash Nihalani‘s geometric tape illusions and wonder how we might apply the idea to our Laboratory. Could we make simple 3-D looking illusions out of tape on our ceiling to make it look higher, or on a wall to make it look like there is another room…? (Much of the Laboratory is crafted of illusions, most spectacularly our mirrored corner window illusion. read more…
Curiously, this man in a bacon costume inspires us. He epitomizes the out-of-the-box, sometimes silly, sometimes outrageous, sometimes-even-embarassing creative thinking that we love so much. We could view this man as a fool or brilliant, and realize sometimes they are the same thing.
Just as we were thinking we couldn’t write another thing – didn’t have a clear thought in our head – Maria Robledo sent us this photo of the crazy-beautiful flower she was balancing on her knee as she and floral designer Lindsey Taylor were driving home from a photo shoot. Somehow, it seemed like a perfect post for the morning.
“I just have to say the order of this amazing specimen floors me” wrote Maria.
“Passiflora caerulea –blue passionflower” wrote Lindsey, who grew it on her 11th floor terrace in New York City.
This lovely brick floor spotted at Style Files reminded us of the floor Alexander Calder installed in the huge windowed studio he added on to his Connecticut farmhouse. It eventually became his living room, with a giant hearth, and huge table for his friends to gather around. We visited once and remember looking down at that floor in surprise. It was made of the most ordinary of materials – sans morter or cement. read more…
; it’s called The Speed Exercise:
. One of our favorites: 
