RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘Paris’

Car-Free Paris: French Capital Bans Motor Vehicles for 1 Day

31 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Culture & History & Travel. ]

car free paris

For a single day next month, locals and visitors will be able to experience Paris without motorized traffic, giving the city over to pedestrians and bikers. Free of traffic congestion, noise pollution and vehicle emissions, the Day Without Cars will transform the physical and auditory landscape, enabling views and revealing ambient sounds ordinarily drowned out by the urban cacophony on September 27th.

car free parks pedestrians

Timed to coincide with a United Nations climate conference and European Mobility Week, the move is partially a display of possibilities for car-free cities as well as a statement about the environment. The 1st through 7th, 10th and 11th arrondissements (city sections) will all participate; monuments and gathering spaces such as the Champs Élysées, the Bastille, and the Eiffel Tower are included as well.

car free city

Other metropolitan areas around the world including Montreal, Bogota, Mexico City and Ho Chi Minh City are following France’s lead and instituting similar vehicular restrictions to various degrees. In such cities, photographers will be able to stand in the streets, capturing unique shots of urban architecture and infrastructure without the risk of being run over. Facing increased traffic, cities like London and Los Angeles are already considering ways in which to permanently reduce congestion and give over areas to mass transit, cyclists and pedestrians.

desert city from scratch

Some cities have longer-term visions for a car-free future as well. In China, plans and budgets have been established for a car-free city built from scratch. In Abu Dhabi, a car-free, self-sufficient city is also in the works, though some question its feasibility. Meanwhile, Hamburg has firmly committed to a 20-year plan to eliminate cars, keeping routes for public transportation and emergency vehicles but otherwise handing city streets over to paths and trails for walkers and bikers.

Share on Facebook





[ By WebUrbanist in Culture & History & Travel. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]


WebUrbanist

 
Comments Off on Car-Free Paris: French Capital Bans Motor Vehicles for 1 Day

Posted in Creativity

 

Triangle Tower Approved: First New Paris Skyscraper in 42 Years

03 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

paris new skyscraper tower

At nearly 600 feet (180 meters) tall, this structure was narrowly granted permission to be the first skyscraper to grace the Parisian skyline in nearly half a century. Designed by Herzog & De Meuron, the Tour Triangle will be the third tallest building in the city, shorter only than one other skyscraper and the Eiffel Tower.

paris new architecture skyscraper

The triangular tower (already nicknamed simply ‘Triangle’) is slightly pyramidal in shape, tapering toward the top on all sides but most dramatically along two of its facades. An affair of steel and glass, it is starkly modern with respect to its neighboring buildings. Perhaps like the Eiffel Tower, originally widely hated, or the Centre Pompidou, a structurally-inverted museum, it can become an icon within the city over time.

paris skyscraper city limits

Despite being located at 1 Place de la Porte de Versailles, right on the edge of the central ring road surrounding the innermost part of the city (and arguably reinforcing a key nexus point), critics are concerned about the building overshadowing the surrounding urban landscape. The measure to approve its construction barely passed.

paris tour triangle tower

Advocates are quick to point out that the building will create thousands of jobs both as it is constructed and once it is completed, as well as creating much-needed residential and office space in the city. For decades, the city limited new structures to around 100 feet, curbing development inside the city limits and forcing developers into suburban spaces.

Share on Facebook





[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]


WebUrbanist

 
Comments Off on Triangle Tower Approved: First New Paris Skyscraper in 42 Years

Posted in Creativity

 

Playing with Perspective in Paris: New Optical Illusion Art

25 Apr

[ By Steph in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

varini optical illusion 1

Two-dimensional shapes seem to hover weightlessly in space like a projection, but step slightly to your right or left and the whole image falls apart, becoming a chaotic assemblage of lines painted onto various surfaces in a room. Swiss painter Felice Varini has been transforming public spaces with his single-vantage-point illusions since 1978, and now he’s brought them to the Grande halle de la Villette in Paris’ Parc de lab Villette.

varini optical illusion 2

varini 7

varini 8

Varian invites us to look at the spaces around us in a new way, taking a closer look at the physicality of the world we have constructed around us through his somewhat disorienting optical illusions.

varini 4

varini 5

varini 6

The spaces themselves are Varian’s true media, more so than the paint. Even when certain shapes and motifs are repeated, the result is different every time. “My work evolves in relation to spaces that I am in contact with,” he says.

varini 3

The installations will be up through September 13th, 2015, and guided tours are available.

Share on Facebook





[ By Steph in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]


WebUrbanist

 
Comments Off on Playing with Perspective in Paris: New Optical Illusion Art

Posted in Creativity

 

Playful in Paris: Life-Sized Interactive Street Art

20 Feb

[ By Steph in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

levalet street art 1

Everyday objects and imperfections in the urban surfaces of Paris become part of strange and unexpected scenes as French artist Levalet incorporates them into life-sized street art. A bull head sculpture becomes a minotaur, map in hand; a figure with a jackhammer goes to work on a damaged section of wall; a display box for advertisements is transformed into an x-ray machine.

levalet 16

levalet 14

levalet street art 4

levalet street art 2

Known by day as an art teacher named Charles Leval, the artist creates humorous scenes that interact with idiosyncrasies and often-unnoticed details in the fabric of the city.

levalet street art 15

levalet street art 3

levalet street art 5

The life-sized wheat paste posters take advantage of everything from pipes and spigots to false windows and concrete recesses.

levalet street art 6

levalet 8

levalet 9

Levalet walks around the city looking for the ideal spots for his work, takes measurements and creates the paste-ups at home before returning to his chosen locations and installing the work.

levalet 13

levalet 12

levalet 10

He told Street Art News that he considers all of the individual scenes to be part of a larger frame, “where I try to define a cosmology of a parallel world.”

Share on Facebook





[ By Steph in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]


WebUrbanist

 
Comments Off on Playful in Paris: Life-Sized Interactive Street Art

Posted in Creativity

 

Tape Tunnels: Crawl Inside a Human-Sized Spiderweb in Paris

25 Nov

[ By Steph in Drawing & Digital. ]

Tape Paris 3

Stretching from one end of the Palais de Tokyo gallery in Paris to the other, these strange translucent tunnels look like human-sized versions of the funnel-shaped webs of grass spiders. Instead of helplessly trapped insects, you’ll find people crawling around inside, their weight supported by nothing more than layer after layer of sticky tape and plastic.

Tape Paris 2

Tape Paris 7

Tape Paris 9

Tape Paris is the latest interactive art installation by Croatian-Austrian design collective Numen/For Use, described as a “stretched biomorphic skin” suspended halfway between the floor and ceiling of the gallery’s main hall. The designers see it as a “site specific, parasitical structure invading an arbitrary location.”

Tape Paris 5

Tape Paris 1

Tape Paris 7

Visitors are invited to climb inside, navigating tunnels that vary in height to enable standing at some points but require crawling at others. Those inside can gaze down at the hazy shapes of onlookers below. The basis of the installation is criss-crossed Scotch tape which is reinforced on the outside with an elastic plastic sheeting.

numen:for use string installation

numen:for use bounce house

In addition to other tape structures, Numen/For Use is known for inhabitable string and net installations including a gridded ‘social sculpture’ modeled after dadaist collages and suspended nets inside a massive inflatable bubble forming a sort of adult-sized bounce house.

Share on Facebook





[ By Steph in Drawing & Digital. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]


WebUrbanist

 
Comments Off on Tape Tunnels: Crawl Inside a Human-Sized Spiderweb in Paris

Posted in Creativity

 

In photos: ‘Paris in the Springtime’

20 Apr

DSC_7148.jpg

‘Paris in the Springtime’ is a new photography exhibition at the Beetles+Huxley gallery in London featuring notable photographers such as André Kertész, Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Willy Ronis and Elliott Erwitt. These classic black and white images are some of the scenes that have defined Paris’ romantic street life cliché found in modern pop culture. The collection of mid-twentieth century photos are on display from April 7 – May 3. See gallery

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on In photos: ‘Paris in the Springtime’

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Little People in Paris: 5 Tiny Street Art Scenes by Slinkachu

12 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

little art guard job

The tiny figures of Slinkachu play out surreal scenarios ranging from dramatic to comedic, all against the backdrop of life-sized props that seem giant by comparison. His latest set of little plays took place on the streets of Paris.

little business meeting group

little construction worker site

His Little People works hide in plain sight, almost too small to see unless spotted out of the corner of one’s eye. He was invited to France for “ReAct Paris, a conference organised by the European Parliament to tackle the problems of unemployment in Europe, particularly youth unemployment, which in some parts of Europe stand close to a miserable 30%.”

little scientist litter bag

little electrician and ladder

Fitting the theme, most of his installations this time around featured people hard at work, from miniature electricians to tiny scientists, group meetings around graphs and workers arranged on a horizontal I-beam (reenacting a classic New York City Photograph).

slinkachu miniature figure art

little people global cities

Previous Slinkachu series, like the Little People of London, has also been seen in galleries and on the streets of other major cities from New York to Beijing. His subjects often interact with everyday detritus in curious ways, finding their on way to work with whatever they encounter a local scale.

Share on Facebook





[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]


WebUrbanist

 
Comments Off on Little People in Paris: 5 Tiny Street Art Scenes by Slinkachu

Posted in Creativity

 

11 November, 2013 – Paris Photo Show

11 Nov

Edmund Ronald is a consultant to the photographic industry and a regular contributor to this site. He visited the Paris Photo show this past weekend and now provides us with his report. 

Today’s Home Page photo was taken during a shoot in Norway with Bjørn Rorslett. Bjørn is the subject of our latest video interview. See the November 9 entry below.


The Luminous Landscape – What’s New

 
Comments Off on 11 November, 2013 – Paris Photo Show

Posted in News

 

21 September, 2013 – Final Instalment of Olympus OM-D E-M1 Field Report from Paris

21 Sep

The week is up, and my trip to Paris and testing of the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 has drawn to a close.

The full report is now online.

 

"Having been to Antarctica with Michael and Kevin, I would say after having traveled the world and shot nearly my entire life as an exhibiting photographer,  it was one of my highlights in my life and I talk about it, all the time.  The images and experience of seeing something visionary and nearly extinct from the world, to see and experience the wildlife and scenery that does not fear humans is amazing.  The images I shot there won me two Smithsonian awards and nearly 18 other international awards". – Tim Wolcott

 Find Out More Now
These Expeditions Will Sell Out Quickly. They Always Do

 


The Luminous Landscape – What’s New

 
Comments Off on 21 September, 2013 – Final Instalment of Olympus OM-D E-M1 Field Report from Paris

Posted in News

 

16 September, 2013 – Olympus OM-D E-M1 Field Report from Paris

16 Sep

Micro Four Thirds is heating up. Panasonic’s GX7 has a lot of people excited, but last week Olympus announced the OM-D E-M1, its latest flagship camera.

I have received a review sample, just prior to my leaving for a week-long vacation in Paris, France. The E-M1 will therefore be the subject of a daily blog here on this site. Check in every day for updates.

"Having been to Antarctica with Michael and Kevin, I would say after having traveled the world and shot nearly my entire life as an exhibiting photographer,  it was one of my highlights in my life and I talk about it, all the time.  The images and experience of seeing something visionary and nearly extinct from the world, to see and experience the wildlife and scenery that does not fear humans is amazing.  The images I shot there won me two Smithsonian awards and nearly 18 other international awards". – Tim Wolcott

 Find Out More Now
These Expeditions Will Sell Out Quickly. They Always Do


The Luminous Landscape – What’s New

 
Comments Off on 16 September, 2013 – Olympus OM-D E-M1 Field Report from Paris

Posted in News