via Coolhunting (watch video) :
Living and working in Brussels, Belgium, artist Tom Gallant creates hand-cut floral prints out of archived porno magazines. Using a surgical blade, he cuts into the imagery, layering extremely delicate cut-outs on top of one another to assemble a dramatic visual experience that almost blurs your vision. If you look closely you can see hints of hair, lips, neck and genitalia, but it’s the paper’s flesh tones and curvature that stand out. Soft spoken and a self proclaimed compulsive collector he describes his work as a visual language “dealing with a private matter in a very public way.”
Monthly Archive for October, 2007
pretty porn
While horse riding schools, horse racing groups and general lovers of the steed throughout
Australia are reeling from the recent bout of equine flu, it’s heartening to know that a string of these gentle giants are happy and healthy in some parts of the state. With many schools and groups closed down during this time of epidemic, Clip Clop Treks at Lake
Weyba are still operating, albeit not at maximum capacity. Strict regulations have been imposed upon horse businesses by the Department of Primary Industries. When we booked the ride, we were asked to give our guides a call so they could meet us at the gate and spray our car tyres with disinfectant. We weren’t allowed to take our own riding boots to avoid the disease spreading.
Owner, Lyn tells me (yelling over her shoulder) that business has been slow since the outbreak. Continue reading ‘a horse lover’s haven’
all you need is love
While my title line still conjures up the sound of Ewan MacGregor’s voice singing to his ill-fated courtesan in Moulin Rouge, and I Am Sam’s soundtrack introduced a new generation to The Beatles, their music and unforgettable lyrics are about to be taken one step further.
Hitting Australian cinemas on Thursday, this new movie by Frida director Julie Taymor is set to take this country this universe even, by storm. Across the Universe is a modern movie musical (a genre seeing a comeback after recent movies like Dreamgirls and Hairspray) which pushes the envelope into strawberry fields, skies of diamonds and colour and choreography the likes of which haven’t been seen before. Telling the story of two star-crossed lovers amidst the turbulent, experimental years of the 60’s, the film plays like a psychadelic journey with an infectious soundtrack made immortal by The Beatles but here telling the story within their lyrics.
Starring unknown Jim Sturgess alongside Evan Rachel Wood, the movie also features Bono and Eddie Izzard along for the trip. The excellent interactive website gives a mouth-watering taste of the film’s promise and makes you reach for the dusty Beatles’ records lying in your dad’s closet, in wait for yet another timely revival.
It’s here again and this time, ‘Mo man is an island’. Movember will begin On November 1 and thousands of mo-bros and mo-sistas around the world will take photo’s of their smooth, freshly-shaven faces to start the all-too-crucial photo-documentation of the epic, psychological journey. Movember aims to raise awareness and money for men’s health issues, in particular prostate cancer. Movember cleverly garners support from males through excellent branding, marketing and communication language, leveraging off the common “she’ll be right” attitude of men to shrug off regular doctor appointments. Through perhaps the most outdated but masculine ability to grow a moustache, Movember is able to encourage the average male with humour, to participate in a very serious event. Entrants raise money from sponsors encouraging them to ‘grow a mo’ for the entire month of November. Last year, thousands of individuals and corporate teams took the pledge across Australia and New Zealand. The most money raised was $53, 250 by Australian Vince Bateman. Reckon your ‘mo’ can beat that?
There’s a place off Australia’s island-littered east coast where it’s possible to lay in a freshwater ‘infinity’ rock pool, your bare legs surrounded by curious jungle perch, and watch the flat blue Pacific expand below you. Welcome to Zoe Bay, Hinchinbrook Island, a quick ferry-ride from Cardwell in Far North Queensland. The best way to see this World Heritage site is via the 32-kilometre Thorsborne Trail, a four-day trek through rainforest, heath, freshwater melaleuca swamp, eucalypt forest, saltpans and some of Australia’s most diverse mangrove communities. The island is a rainbow of life: golden orchids, blue soldier crabs, pink beach stones, green turtles, black sand and the vivid orange spikes of the resurrection plant. Keep your eyes peeled for crocodiles, dugong, dolphins, lace monitors, wallabies, echidnas, bandicoots and native rats. If you go, take a hardy insect repellent and heed this: mud from the riverbeds provides instant relief from bites (and is a great talking point with fellow walkers). Hinchinbrook is the traditional country of the Bandjin Aboriginal people.
You have to love the new voice that the internet has brought to the conversational arena. Our friends at Get Up are maximising it to the best of their abilities and have set up a new promise-tracking blog called Promise Watch. It’s an election first and an ingenious one too! Every time a candidate makes you a promise, whether you see it on national television, hear it at your local RSL, or find it in your letterbox, you can log it at Promise Watch. What’s a promise worth if it’s not kept? With Promise Watch you can ensure that every promise is a core promise and together they will hold the future Prime Minister – and every other MP and Senator – accountable. As soon as the new government is formed the clock will start ticking and Promise Watch will make sure who ever made the promise delivers and keeps them.
invest wisely. end poverty.
From Microplace: When Tracey Pettengill Turner - a social entrepreneur and seasoned business executive - first heard of microfinance, she was inspired by the prospect of a solution to global poverty that mixed capitalism, human dignity, and old-fashioned hard work. Upon graduating from Stanford Business School, Tracey headed for Dhaka, Bangladesh to find out if the reality of microfinance lived up to her expectations. After working at the Nobel Peace Prize winning Grameen Bank for a few months, she was convinced that microfinance was a powerful tool to help alleviate poverty.
Upon her return, Tracey discovered that the capital markets in the United States were beginning to view microfinance as an attractive investment opportunity. However, only major financial players like institutional and high net worth investors could invest. An everyday investor like Tracey had no way to participate. That insight led to the vision of MicroPlace: a company that enables everyday people to make investments in microfinance. Continue reading ‘invest wisely. end poverty.’
This weekend, Apple’s take-back program continues in Australia, accepting unwanted and damaged computers, laptops, monitors and computer related peripherals. Since their first take-back initiative began in Germany in 1994, Apple have launched programs in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and throughout Europe, diverting over 34 million pounds of electronic equipment from landfills worldwide. Check here to see what is accepted and where. I can only assume other brands of computer equipment are accepted. I remember when I was growing up, the family computer was a Mac (with the colourful apple as a logo) and the hard-drive had to load off a hard-disk totalling 1.44MB. I wonder if we still have it…
best foot forward.
If you are a female who easily falls for devilishly looking shoes, look away now. 25-year-old, Toronto-based graffitist Matthieu Missiaen has the one-of-a-kind provisions which may just break your heart.
The Parisian artist handcrafts his shoes under the label Ndeur. The line ranges from urban heels to old-school high-tops and are fashioned using a canvas of vintage leather footwear, on which he doodles street-art-inspired scenes with oil-based paints.
The effect is fresh - a stylistic palate cleanser after the bland taste of the usual models.
In the short time since his introduction into streetwear boutique The Rage (13 Kensignton Avenue, Toronto, ON, Canada) Missaien has been raved about in several publications and included in Vans Shoe show in Toronto.
To add to the mystique of owning your own wearable piece of shoe-art, all of Missiaen’s works are one-of-a-kind. On The Rage’s Etsy site, you enter your feet measurements and style requests for hand-tailored effect. They’re also reasonably priced - from US$120 - $180 – so the savvy shoe-ophiles among us will have no trouble chalking this one up to a necessary cultural investment.
(sourced with help from L.Harper)
When I was younger, I remember hearing about the World Solar Challenge from Darwin to Adelaide. Teams from around the world would work to put one guy or girl in a tiny cockpit of a space-age looking, often three-wheeled vehicle. Skip to 8:53am Wednesday October 24, and something is suddenly very wrong with this picture. This international race has been running in Australia for twenty years. Since 1987, the purpose of this event has been to promote and celebrate educational and technical excellence, and draw attention to the imperatives of sustainable transport. So let me get this straight. This country is obviously considered the best in the world for solar car racing because of its long exposure to strong sunlight. Yet here we are in 2007, with common knowledge being that many of this country’s best and brightest solar power scientists, engineers and thinkers have had to take their skills to China and other countries because their industry is highly underfunded and not encouraged by the government in Australia. It just doesn’t make sense. But back to the race. Continue reading ‘more than just a solar race.’
Via New York Times: Leave it to the Japanese to develop a crime-fighting concept that’s so absurd its almost ingenious. Twenty-nine-year-old experimental fashion designer, Aya Tsukioka, has developed a prototype that could soon be known as the ultimate in urban camouflage. Women in Tokyo fleeing from unwanted pursuers will soon be able to disguise themselves as one of the most ubiquitous items in the metropolis’s landscape – a vending machine. Aya has designed a range of fashionable garments, including an ultra-contemporary take on the traditional kimono, that, with one swift movement can immediately transform into a sheet that takes the form of a vending machine. Though crime rates are declining on the streets of Tokyo, this innovation is just one of many in the booming market for designer crime-fighting tools – a purse that can turn into a manhole cover, anyone?
Lately I’ve been aware of the increasing price in food. Lettuces are now fetching $4 an iceberg. A packet of eight tabs of chewing gum hovers around $1.30. A 600ml Pauls Ice Break goes for $3.30 in some service stations. Not so long ago, the pages of the newspaper brought the news about how drought is affecting grain supply (among many food types) and hence the entire food chain. Did anyone flinch? Did anyone change their consumption habits? Was the pain and anguish of the farmer felt by the city dweller? I think not. Which brings me to my question; is the price right? Last night at the Gen Y forum, Anna Keenan of the Conservation Foundation told a story about what a $20 singlet from Cotton On and other retailers like it, really costs. It went something like this. Cotton is grown in the Murray Darling basin. It is harvested, packed, wrapped in plastic and shipped over to China where it’s spun into a singlet by an under-paid worker. It’s packed in plastic once more and shipped back to Australia, where it’s transported to the shop, unpacked and hung on a coat-hanger. When you purchase it from the young head-boppin thing behind the counter, it’s put in a bag and you walk out feeling good. Your purchase of this singlet, Anna concluded, approves of this process. Continue reading ‘is the price right?’
a mighty heart.
Last week, Map welcomed over 300 people to the South Bank Cinemas to the exclusive screening of A Mighty Heart. The film tells the true story of the 2002 kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl as written by his wife Mariane Pearl in her moving memoir. Directed by Michael Winterbottom and starring Angelina Jolie (as Mariane) and Dan Futterman (as Daniel Pearl), the film’s cinematography drips with heat, emotion, suspense and chaos set in the second most populated city on Earth; Karachi in Pakistan. Finding Daniel in a city of 12 million people becomes the task of the dedicated Pakistan police, American FBI, Mariane, and her friends. Refreshingly void of any obvious product placement, the film simply offers a time-line of events and positions you firmly in the hearts and minds of the chasers. See it for nothing else but to reflect on how we live with loved ones in Australia and to give thanks for the work of journalists who bring information and in some cases justice to the rest of the world.
why our generation?
The echo of what was an interesting yet ultimately inconclusive debate rings in our ears today. Yet despite the continuing scepticism around those already leading the country, it seems that the community at large wants to look to the future and prematurely test the mettle of my generation; Generation Y.
Books have been written about it, conferences and workshops are held over it and yet still people look at Generation Y as some kind of threatening enigma of political apathy and high expectation of workforce perks. And tonight, The Brisbane Institute is presenting another inquiry into whether we are fit to be the successors of Gen X and the Boomers in the workforce, as part of the Our Future, Your Say series. On at Brisbane Powerhouse from 6.30pm, ‘Generation Y: Is the future safe in their hands?’ is also presented in conjunction with The Courier-Mail, Channel 9 and Griffith University’s Centre for Urban Research.
It offers a line-up of ‘high-profile’ Gen Ys, including Aussie Idol Bobby Flynn, Courier-Mail’s Trent Dalton, Rave editor and writer Alasdair Duncan and Triple J reporter Vivian Hogg. While this panel might be there more for the benefit of the older generations, I think it is important that the Y’s represent, and make sure the voice of the majority is being heard. Maybe then people will realise that the members of this generation are more different than alike and should be considered individually rather than as a stereotype. My advice to older employers? Talk to your Gen Y employees themselves, they’ll appreciate it.
Tonight’s presentation is a free public seminar, but you can RSVP through the Brisbane Institute website.
rainforest jam
It’s twilight in the tropics. Soft rain, a grassy amphitheatre. Bare feet and blankets. Rainforest drapes the stage. The chai line is almost as deep as the beer line. This is Australia, after all. Kuranda, in fact, in the hills behind Cairns. A quiet Saturday evening with The Waifs unfolds with eukelele and honey vocals. A fat double bass. Steaming harmonica. Galloping keys and home-crafted guitars that whisper and wail. Folk meets country, blues, jazz even. Swabbing the night with the fullness of lives: intimate afternoons, betrothals, deaths, declarations, distances. Their musings reflect 15 years of touring, ever ripping up the road. Grey puffs spool across the moon. Someone lights a joint. Someone else plays a gumleaf. Kids dance. Old people dance. A tot with pea-sized guitar wobbles in from stage left. Just like Mum. It’s all loose. Like a big ol’ backyard jam. The sundirtwater tour has already hit Brisbane. Catch The Waifs, if you can, in southern states: the pick of the bunch being the open-air Legs 11 gig in Sydney’s Domain next Friday with Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins, Blue King Brown and the Sydney Youth Orchestra, with proceeds supporting breast cancer research.
it’s island time
There’s no time like island time and anyone visiting the soul-soothing shores of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) from Friday to Sunday this weekend to indulge in the Island Time Festival will second this. Now in its second year of celebrating reggae, dub, funk, soul, dancehall, arts and island culture, the Island Time Festival is organised by local indie music label RudeKat Records who saw the need for an alternative, environmentally conscious grassroots music event. North Stradbroke Island hardly needs a good excuse to be worthy of a visit, but 40 bands and dance troupes, cultural and arts programs, beachside fire shows and gogo dancers, organic food stalls and arty crafty things all set to the tune of an environmentally sustainable drum are really good reasons to get on that ferry. Your ticket mulla will go towards supporting the Yulu-burri-bah/Saltwater Murris Art Gallery on the island, Youthlink, and Brisbane’s independent station 4ZzZ FM. Local bands include Kafka, Ruby Blue, Kooii, the Taste of Tea, and Dubdoubt, with New Zealand dub, reggae, funk band, Black Seeds, headlining.
next level festival
Get in touch with your inner computer geek, next weekend at the Kelvin Grove QUT Creative Industries Precinct where technology will be celebrated at the Next Level Festival. It’s a free program of events happening from the Friday 26th to Sunday 28th October, with music and multi-media performances, movies, stalls, exhibitions, competitions and arcade games. We use technology and computers so much we hardly even think about how it filters into our lives and urban environments. A keynote session is “Stranger than Fiction - The real time city” which will explore how sensors and hand-held electronics are changing the way we describe, understand and design cities and the impact of technology has on the physical structure and spaces of our cities. This session highlights the very interesting and innovative work of the SENSEable City Laboratory, a new research initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
It would have been rather interesting if Next Level also talked about creative solutions to address the often overlooked issue of e-waste that comes with the advancement of technology. Funnily enough, that very same weekend, Apple are doing their bit to address this by offering free computer recycling around Brisbane. Looks like Apple might have listened to Greenpeace who have been asking them to “Green My Apple”.
Topoware is a tableware collection that questions the “landscape of dining” and is inspired by what is perhaps a key foundation of any good site design and planning – a contour plan! Designed by Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino and Karola Torkos, the collection of cups, plates, bowls, place mats and tablecloth, illustrate the eating experience making it feel like a journey over landscape. Contour plans are used to show natural height increases and decreases in landform and the contours of Topoware also show similar ideas of measuring increases and decreases. One plate reads “father, mother, child.” Another reads “greedy, moderate, modest”. A bowl reads “very hungry, hungry, full.” The collection explore our relationships to food and physical spaces, comments on table manners and etiquette, and intertwines social commentary on eating habits. It recently was shown as part of London Design Festival (15-25 September, 2007).
brisbane the muse
Brisbane seems to be the word on the lips of film and play buffs during October. Playwrights and movie makers are using our sunny capital as their inspiration in productions on show this month. All my friends are leaving Brisbane explores themes which may resonate to a 20-something Brisbaneite and potentially with this age group universally; being single, friends moving on, hating your job and finding your place in the world. Do I move to London? Or do I tread the well-worn path to Sydney? Why is everyone leaving Brisbane? The film was showcased at this year’s Brisbane International Film Festival, written by Stephen Vagg (who also plays a part in the film) and directed by Louise Alston. Set in Brisbane, the film is a celebration of our town with the soundtrack including local acts Giants of Science and Dave McCormack. Onstage, Perfect Ten offers a group of ten Brisbane playwrights the chance to present ten plays with just ten minutes each to tell their Brisbane-centric tales. The plays provide sketches of different threads of life in Brisbane including public transport, the State of Origin, living in a small town and homelessness. Perfect Ten will be performed at the Judith Wright Centre from 23 to 25 October and you can book online or by phoning the box office on 3872 9000.
The inaugural Youth Enterprise Symposium was held over the weekend at the new State Library. Pitched as an interactive environment for young people aged between 17 and 26, the three day event began on Friday and conducted full-day workshops for a delegation of up to 100 people. Designed and produced by Ciel Fuller and her team at Lindley Street Productions, in partnership with Brisbane City Council and Visible Ink, the landmark symposium aims to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs. With tutorials and seminars hosted by Ideas to Market, Edgeware, Morgan Daly and Emma Rose among others, delegates received a valuable blend of theory and practical advice from experts in the field or running businesses. In comparison to Melbourne and Sydney, Brisbane offers less opportunities in some industries due to its size and culture. On the flip-side however, it offers the same people a greater opportunity to create independent pathways. Sure to grow in size, appeal and offering in 2008, YES even drew the interest of a Kaos Pilot whose unique approach to business, showed delegates another way of thinking which Sarina, Mr MBA and others, simply do not grasp. The world is shaped in the hands of few people and Brisbane is ripe for moulding.
