It’s a prevailing paradox: the more entwined we become in the culture of work-buy-work, the more enchanted many of us become with the notion of shedding material trappings and hitting the road. Into the Wild tells the story of Chris McCandless, a 20-something American who abandoned his middle-class life, donated his Harvard-fund to Oxfam and hitch-hiked through the North American wilderness under the pseudonym Alexander Supertramp. Based on the biography by Jon Krakouer, it’s a brilliant portrayal of a sweet, complex, soulful young man, questing, at times naively, for truth. We feel the unknowing trauma of his family, the light he casts on the people he befriends and the paradoxes of his journey. The film resonates on many levels. There’s something deeply compelling about removing oneself from society and plunging into wild lands; the ‘ultimate freedom‘. Director Sean Penn waited ten years for permission from McCandless’s family to make this film. Well worth the wait.
Monthly Archive for November, 2007
into the wild
The Fortune 500 list is an annual list of the largest revenue generating companies in America. A quick glance at this year’s top ten, and names such as Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, General Motors and Chevron are amongst them. Exxon Mobil took out the profit honours in this year’s awards with $39.5 billion. Criteria for the Fortune 500 is limited to high revenue growth, high profit growth, high return to investors and employee numbers. I look down at my fingers typing and think of a few criteria I would like to see spelt out… With whisperings of further economic ramifications from the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, the revelation of a new federal government in Australia, peace talks between America, Israel and Palestine and dinner at my parents place tonight, I wonder what future we’re in for. Will economic growth plateau? Will people choose to say “No” more often? Would car companies decided to only release a new model every five years? Will renewable energy become the new ‘black gold‘? One thing is for certain. The world’s biggest companies have a responsibility to lead the change. Hopefully the Fortune 500 will follow suit.
city shrinker
Ben Thomas is shrinking cities. At first glance his work look like stunningly built models but they are in fact photos using tilt shift techniques. He says “You see amazing things every day. It could be out the window of the train on your way to work, it could be in your back yard, even better it could be somewhere completely foreign, something you didn’t know existed. My aim is to give that feeling of newness with each shot I take. My method is to take what was once large and shrink it down to model size. To take the familiar and get you thinking even if for a second “wait a minute, is that…”
activism: alive and kicking
Japanese whalers have set sail for Antarctic waters in their biggest campaign since the international moratorium on commercial whaling was launched over 20 years ago. They aim to take more than 1,000 whales, including endangered fin whales and threatened humpbacks. An inspiring story is about to unfold as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society goes in to bat for the whales. Literally. Founded by Paul Watson 30 years ago to protect the world’s marine life, the Sea Shepherds are known for their combative interventions: one of their signature tactics is ramming vessels (a big dent in the hull of the vessel, the Robert Hunter, attests to this) and they have sunk their fair share of whaling boats. Watson founded the hands-on activist group after being dissatisfied with the non-interventionist stance of Greenpeace. Sea Shepherd campaigns are conducted legally as citizen law enforcement and include action against seal-clubbing, dolphin kills and poaching in the Galapagos Islands. The vessels are crewed by a mixed bag of volunteers and the organisation’s supporters include Martin Sheen, the Dalai Lama and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. A crew of 30-something sets sail from Melbourne on the Robert Hunter for Antarctica next week. Follow their journey, be inspired, grant a wish. Photo credit: Paul Taggart/World Picture News
the real dirt on farmer john
A friend tipped me off that Farmer John is coming to Brisbane to speak at Ahimsa House this Saturday about his revolutionised organic community farm, Angelic Organics. If you need more back story, like I did, he’s the star character of The Real Dirt on Farmer John, an American documentary that’s won awards at just about every arts film festival its been screened at around the world (last count, 32). The doco was filmed over 25 years by Farmer John’s friend, director Taggart Siegel, who started the camera rolling when John was a teenager and took over the family farm when his father died. Described in the film as “an outrageous artist, a maverick environmentalist, a homespun rebel, a pink-boa-wearing eccentric, a playful provocateur,” John developed the farm into a haven for artists, hippies and radicals and a living experiment in the fusion of art and agriculture. That was, until the American farm debt crisis of the ‘80s triggered his farm’s sad collapse and, just as the economy had turned on him, so too did the rural community, driving him from his home. The documentary’s mission is a grand one - to inspire audiences to express their own lives more creatively, have the courage to powerfully commit to things they believe in and examine more closely their prejudices and judgements about others. Farmer John’s now appearing at cinemas around Australia, sharing how he redeemed his own life and created one of the largest organic community farms in America.
a bright idea.
With news Brisbane will join the 2008 Earth Hour initiative, innovation within companies to reduce their impact on the environment and appeal to citizen’s conscience will only increase. This timely example of outdoor advertising from Phillips, is an appropriate demonstration of the changing climate (pun intended) of brand marketing within these industries. In another example of the acceptance and response to climate change, the disabling of the Hitachi weather beacon in Brisbane was carried out due to servicing difficulties and its output of 200 tonnes of CO2 each year. It was exciting to hear the ABC’s Jenny Woodward positively state the fact in her news bulletin.
soya: business and art
You may have already heard plenty of talk of the recent QANTAS SOYA (Spirit of Youth Awards) award winners for 2007. The SOYA awards are a pretty inspiring example of how business can link with the Arts to create new opportunities for artists, industry gurus and audiences to celebrate creativity. The six winners (selected from 4,598 artists who submitted more than 32,000 works) get the opportunity to blow $5,000 on air flights, $5,000 cash on their next project, and for 12 months have access to big-name industry mentors. Brisbane soft sculpture and installation artist, Alice Lang, won the 2006 Pictures category. The potential offshoots of the awards are priceless - launching artists’ careers, igniting conversations and long-lasting friendships between early-career artists and big-time industry experts, throwing a positive light on the sponsoring business and providing streams of juicy media releases for their PR departments, as well as opening the public’s eyes to art, fashion, music, design, photography, and moving image works they might never have stumbled across themselves. Everyone’s a winner. SOYA is a large scale example of the potential for business and the Arts to benefit and challenge each other, but small scale opportunities are just as powerful. Think of the artist-in-residency program created by law firms like Gadens in Brisbane, the In-Transit Gallery at Portside Wharf sponsored by Multiplex and managed by Artworkers, and the annual Thiess Art Prize. Big businesses have big budgets to throw at marketing themselves and many are starting to realise the powerful, positive and pleasurable ways they can spend their money that has lasting effects long after a billboard sign has weathered one too many afternoon sun-showers or the roar of a sports crowd from a corporate box has died down.
the stone gods by jeanette winterson
Jeanette Winterson is a master of storytelling – rich characterisations, fantastical worlds, and intricate relationships rule her pages. In her new novel, The Stone Gods, she slightly changes tact, in some senses coming down to earth to respond to the state of the world we live in and to propose a future we might be hurtling towards. Human folly, the struggle for survival, genetic modifications, warring civilisations, and the discovery of a new planet are wrestled with in Winterson’s unique style that is always imaginative and playful. In her monthly column on her website, she speaks of that feeling she hopes The Stone Gods will offer those who find its words resonate with their thoughts as they ponder where our world is heading. “The best work is a cup that holds the liquid that you are. The miracle is that someone else, very different to you, will also feel it is their book, their character, their situation. This is achieved not because we are reading a slice of life – no slice of life can do more than fit in a few of us, but because a particular set of circumstances suddenly becomes universally relevant. This happens when a book can go deeper than the top layer of life and into the subterranean place where emotion and imagination chemically react into self-revelation. We learn about ourselves through someone not ourselves – it is like falling in love – the stranger brings the gift.”
In a majority of support surprising most political commentators, Australians voted for a new leader and future on Saturday. One that fosters a strong economy within a sustainable environment. And overnight, one party’s long walk in the wilderness ended and another’s has seemingly begun. The names and faces of a decade will slowly or in some cases, quickly, fade from public view. Legislation will change affecting health, education, industrial relations and climate change and the collective consciousnesses of 21,146,382 people will be shaped and affected into the immediate and long-term future. If you found yourself, like many did, realising your knowledge of how the Australian political system operates was limited, browse here. Otherwise, enjoy Monday November 26, and the rain which hopefully continues to fall in our water reserves and over our city. Politics can change just how beautiful this world can be.
Since 1985 in Buenos Aires, Casadecor has been transforming abandoned landmarks, buildings, churches and castles in Europe and Latin America into elegant, decorated, showhouses for design. It is now on in Miami (6 November - 16 December), where 60 top international designers, architects, manufacturers and sponsors have creatively redesigned a multi-level car parking into a series of rooms including replicated lofts, apartments, studios, libraries and gardens. Jefre Figueras Manuel, Orlando-based landscape designer known for his designs that blend art, fashion and architecture set the garden master plan for the event. His Lexus Hybrid Living Sculpture Garden takes the elliptical form of the Lexus logo and fills it with ideas about environmental sustainability. It features the use of artificial turf, recycled composite wood, mounds of recycled glass, vertical “living wall” garden and a topographic map of Florida, depicting both the current coastline and a projected coastline based on the projected sea levels rises.
Like a winged gadget from Bat Man’s utility belt, the Senz umbrella is designed to protect its owner from the elements. A trio of men from design savvy Netherlands have designed the umbrella, that not only withstands winds up to 70mph, but stabilizes by moving forward into the wind. This breakthrough looks set to sadly end those amusing sights of men and women standing on windswept and rainy corners with eyes closed struggling to prevent their traditional steel-framed umbrellas from buckling in the wind. Its innovation has recently won its creators a Red Dot Design Award for Product Design in 2007. Shaped to offer better visibility, the Senz also extends out over the rear of its carrier, conveniently preventing rain from dripping onto the backs of jeans and into shoes. Why hasn’t someone thought of this before? I guess it’s the reinvention of the toothbrush phenomenon: It’s never to late to innovate. Available in an assortment of appealing colours, this could be one of the coolest Christmas presents available.
cause/affect
Cause/affect is a graphic design competition celebrating the work of designers who set out to positively impact our society and communities. All design work entered in the competition promotes or supports social good and actively engages in enriching lives. Run by AIGA San Francisco, you can vote online for one of nine diverse entries in the “People’s Choice Award” between November 12 and December 4. I like the Project M entry, which is a fundraising book that seeks to raise money for urban green spaces in blighted communities of East Balitmore. In a city stricken with alarming poverty and hopelessness, a new field of grass became a symbol of hope, renewal and community spirit. Most people take things like yards, parks, and gardens for granted, and this project celebrates the powerful social and psychological impact that green spaces have to cities and individuals. As the book says “This is not grass, this is hope”
A vase made from paper that you can put water into, doesn’t seems to make sense, right? But the fascinating Noming vase is just that. It comes flat and you can fold it like paper. You can write on it like paper. You can even recycle it like paper. The paper-based material is unique with 51% chalk and is 100% waterproof. Essentially it’s disposable but apparently you can use it multiple times and for weeks on end. I found it online months ago, and was pleasantly surprised to see you can now buy this in Brisbane. You can find it at the new store Objx (located near Emporium on Chester St, Newstead)
Anyone with itchy feet – but especially feet that yearn to make their own way across the world – will appreciate Mirjam Wouters. She is a woman born for the road. Brought up on family cycling and in-line skating trips, Mirjam has independently hiked and biked across much of Europe and is now pedalling from Ireland to Australia. Current location: Tibet. Her blog is a great armchair read for anyone who’d rather be somewhere else. Namely, with two wheels, a tent and a whole lot of kilometres to leave behind. And she’s just about clocked 10,000 of those. Along the way she’s met Tajiki truck drivers, made porridge with milk straight from the cow, been given Easter eggs by strangers, bedded down in an Iranian penthouse and woken up to the above view from her tent. If you need a reminder to live your life, this could be it.
where the minority is the majority.
There’s a set of stairs in Brisbane which lead to an underground palace where the fashionable become unfashionable. On your descent, black wallpaper with a pattern of a repeated logo appears regal to your eyes. This is the relocated Apartment. Your apartment: Complete with a walk in shoe wardrobe, change rooms, toys, records, lounge, mags and a TV. A shining rock wall glistens on one entire side. A quick question resolves where it came from: it was here. Above, reflective black roof panels mirror movements below. Looking around it’s quick to consider that this is no ordinary space. Its unique appeal announces volumes about the belief of brothers Ben and Nick, both under 25, behind the store concept. Continue reading ‘where the minority is the majority.’
just bee.
A New Zealand company has developed a range of household cleaning products which not only look good, but are also made with natural ingredients and perform twice as strong as the leading brand in in the market. BEE or Better Engineered for Ever, exclude harmful chemicals, are dermatologically tested to be gentle on skin and are the only range of cleaning products in New Zealand to have achieved Environmental Choice accreditation (New Zealand’s official third-party accredited life-cycle eco-label, owned by the New Zealand Government and administered by an independent trust!). Slowly but surely, quickly and quietly, people around the world are realising the size of the market that exists for business ideas which fulfill our daily needs without adversely affecting the environment. Which includes us, in case you thought the environment was over ‘there’.
jazz + cabaret = air con
Taking any art form off–shore to international markets is a tricky and costly business, for both big fish and small fry. However, Brisbane-based jazz musician, Melissa Western, managed to do just this, organising and funding her own one-woman cabaret show, Ella, Marilyn, Marlene and Me, which made it into the recent Edinburgh Fringe Festival program and sold every ticket. Melissa also signed up for a musical theatre course at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, performed a gig in Avaux, France, and took classes at the Broadway Dance Centre in New York. She’s offering to share experiences of her tour with any artists keen to listen on Monday 26 November at the Brisbane Jazz Club after she performs her exclusive show. She’ll also perform on Tuesday 27 November, with all funds going to invest in air con for the little Queenslander propping up the Brisbane River at Kangaroo Point. At $10 a ticket, it’s an affordable chance to pretend you’re part of the audience at the largest arts festival in the world.
highlighting the plight of australia’s homeless
If you didn’t already have an excuse to eat out during the looming festive season, then StreetSmart Australia may provide you with a more meaningful motivation. From now until 24 December, dining out at selected Brisbane and Sunshine Coast restaurants gives you the chance to help people affected by homelessness in Australia.Through donating $2 when you pay your bill, 100% of your contribution will help StreetSmart to fund educational and arts programs, provide accommodation and resources for homeless people. Past projects have included the establishment of homeless choirs, young mothers’ groups, art therapy for young children affected by domestic violence, refurbishment of accommodation and computer resources for a women’s refuge. Nearly $115,000 was raised in 2006. To find participating restaurants, visit the website.
love your earth - part ii
I wrote about designboom’s “love your earth” competition back in July. The results are now in and you should go see the creative winners and shortlisted designs. As part of 100% Design Tokyo 2007, the competition sought graphic artworks that would raise awareness about environmental issues and provoke positive change. There are some great entries ranging from simple graphics to photographs, and from the funny to the very serious. The winner was Savio Alphonso (USA) whose simple symbols are concise visual abbreviations that speak about energy issues.
As residents we sometimes don’t really “see” our own cities, but this morning I felt like a tourist. It was about 9am on a Sunday morning when I was walking to the city from the Valley. It’s all pretty quiet because the traffic hasn’t yet started, Brisbane isn’t quite awake yet and it mostly looks like tourists are the only ones out and about. Walking towards the Orient Hotel corner of Ann St, I was welcomed with the unexpected sounds of church bells which seem to reverberate off the buildings. Heading towards the River, I found myself intrigued by what tourists were taking photos of. As I watched a lady taking a photo of the ornate Mooney Memorial Fountain at Eagle St and Queen St, it made me realise that I don’t think I’ve ever really looked at it before. At this pretty corner, under that magnificient fig tree, I also discovered Le Bon Choix - a French patisserie whose name roughly translates into “the good choice”. The curved glass full of pastries, the smell of coffee, the music playing and the cutie with a French accent to serve you, makes me like this place and its high windows and seating makes it the perfect spot for people watching. As I’m leaving, I walked past a guy having his morning coffee under the dabbled shade of that stunning fig. He’s on the phone and says ” yeah I just got here and it really is a beautiful city“. In that moment, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself in agreement.
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