Secret Walls at the Chevy Sound Garage

SECRET WALLS SXSW DEBUT
AT THE CHEVY SOUND GARAGE

WEDNESDAY MARCH 14 - SATURDAY, MARCH 17th

612 E. 6th Street Austin, TX

WCIP invites you to join us at Secret Walls, the world’s premier live art battle debuting at SXSW in Austin, TX.

This explosive art event is hosted at Chevrolet Sound Garage on Austin's notorious 6th Street.

Come witness 8 of the world's top street artists battle it out, using only black lines on white walls.

I LOVE CUBE

Today, a luminescent cube of love landed in Times Square. Let's all go bask in it.

"More people = more love. A BIG red heart pulses with glowing light in a grove of glass rods. A single person can activate the beating heart, but joining hands with others will make the heart beat even faster to create a brightly burning heart.

BIG♥NYC by BIG  (Bjarke Ingels Group) with FLATCUT and Local Projects conducts the flow of people, air and touch to bring its heart to life. The 10-foot tall glowing sculpture consists of 400 transparent, LED lit, acrylic tubes that form a cube around a suspended red heart. The transparent tubes refract the lights of Times Square, creating a cluster of condensed city lights around the heart. The hovering heart will pulsate faster reflecting the chain of human energy in the heart of Times Square."

- Via Times Square Alliance

THE REIGNITION OF DETROIT

The forgotten buckle of America's Rust Belt, Detroit is a city on the brink of radical change. Compared to cities like Berlin, artists from across the country are becoming aware of the massive potential in this post-industrial town.

Recently, legendary urban developer Tony Goldman visited Detroit and was brimming with the potential he found there. The man behind the re-invigoration of neighborhoods like SoHo in New York City, and South Beach in Miami, Goldman sees incredible potential in the future of the Motor City as well.

In Detroit, Goldman says he would amplify and multiply the city’s strength — its affordability to artists, musicians, designers and other creative workers. “Berlin is the most exciting city in Europe because it’s cheap to live there and attractive to young people doing unheard of things. I would re-make Detroit as the capital of the avant-garde, the experimental, a city like no other in America. To do that I’d flood the city with artists, 100,000 artists from all over the world living and working here.”

But first, he says, the city needs a cohesive vision to attract the foundations and the corporations. “They want to get behind Detroit, I know they do: but there needs to be strong leadership in place, incremental work and stable growth — like a good relationship. It won’t happen overnight, it’s a patient process. But once it gets started, this city will be unstoppable.”

Read more at Firehouse Detroit.

OLIVIER VRANCKEN

INNER EYE-PLEASING ART FROM OLIVIER VRANCKEN

PAINTING URBANISM

Haas&Hahn is the working title of artistic duo Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn. They started working together in 2005, when they filmed a documentary about hip hop in the favelas of Rio and São Paolo for MTV. Inspired by this visit, they embarked on a journey to bring outrageous works of art to unexpected places, starting with painting enormous murals in the slums of Brazil together with the local youth.

The initial idea of the Favela Painting project has always been to paint an entire hillside favela in the center of Rio, visible to all inhabitants and visitors. As the portuguese translation for 'the hill'; 'o morro' is also used as a synonym for slum or favela, we chose to use this name for the third stage of the Favela Painting project.

This project involves employing the inhabitants of a favela to paint their own houses according to a pre-arranged pattern. It will turn their community into an artwork of epic scale and will produce an explosion of color, joyfully radiating into the world. Visible from the center of Rio, 'O Morro' will draw attention to the city's deplorable social situation, while instilling pride and joy in the at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

By focusing on extensive and painstaking preparations and working with a local workforce, Haas&Hahn hope to complete a significant part of the painting in a single 'day of visual impact' that will kick start this art intervention on a massive scale, create a joyful shock felt around the world, and write a new page in the city's history.

Learn more at Favela Painting.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

We're breathlessly awaiting an invite for a tripped-out tea party at the home of artist Meghan Boody, featured in NYMAG today

SPACE AVAILABLE ON THE HIGH LINE

Later this week, Friends Of The Highline will unveil Kim Beck’s Space Available, a series of rooftop sculptures along the High Line. In this new video, Kim gives us a special preview, and discusses her process and inspiration for the work.

Space Available will be the first public art commission debuted as part of the High Line Art Spring 2011 Season. Kim's work will encourage park visitors to reconsider the water towers, exhaust pipes, HVAC systems, roof decks, green roofs, and other building elements that are integral components of the cityscape views along the High Line.

INTERNAL SPACE

 

Painting by GEORGE CONDO

DREAM REFRAME

www.booooooom.com

ITS COLD IN NYC, NO BULL

 

AGATA OLEK keeps the city's financial bits toasty with this amazing piece, which only lasted 2 hours before being removed by authorities.  Now, that's some bull.