360Photography

Some cool visual art images:

What Is Photography

Image by an untrained eye
November 2nd, 2009 – New York, United States

I recently attended a number of different exhibitions of 20th century art in London – notably a Pop Art feature at the Tate Modern, and an Ed Ruscha retrospective at the Hayward Gallery – and the stand-out was definitely that dedicated to the work of John Baldessari, also currently at the Tate. I barely knew his work beforehand, but was taken by the playfulness in many of his pieces, and loved the way he played with the often ambivalent relationship between visual art and the written word.

The work that appears in this photograph is called "What Is Painting" – I’ve respected Baldessari’s curious aversion to the question mark – and is on show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

I took a number of pictures of visitors interacting (or, for the most part, failing to interact) with this painting, and I hesitated between posting this image or one featuring a woman in a bright pink top visibly agonizing over the precise meaning of every word. But there was something about this girl, who can’t have been more than ten or eleven, that captivated me. Like so many visitors to MoMA, she took photographs of almost every picture she saw – but unlike the vast majority, she examined each work before she photographed it, and spent time considering the most interesting angle from which to shoot it. On more than one occasion I wanted to whisper in her ear "Go, girl, go !!" – to encourage her to continue to engage with Art, to challenge it, to seek new meanings in it. But unfortunately, in this day and age, a fortysomething man cannot be seen to approach a pre-pubescent girl, however honest his intentions.

Please click here to view large.

MIT+150: FAST (Festival of Art + Science + Technology): FAST LIGHT — Boston skyline with Light Drift, Liquid Archive, & LightBridge (west view)

Image by Chris Devers
Quoting from the official pamphlet:

FAST LIGHT • May 7 + 8, 2011, 7 pm – 10 pm

Contemporary pioneers in art, science, and technology have come together at MIT to create one of the most exhilarating and inventive spectacles metro Boston has ever seen. On May 7 and 8, 2011, visitors can interact with 20+ art and architectural installations illuminating the campus and the Charles River along Memorial Drive at MIT.

arts.mit.edu / fast

Installations scattered around campus (we didn’t quite see all of them), again pasting from the official flyer:

• aFloat
MIT Chapel • Saturday, May 7th ONLY
Inspired by water in the Saarinen Chapel’s moat, a touch releases flickers of light before serenity returns as a calm ripple.
By Otto Ng, Ben Regnier, Dena Molnar, and Arseni Zaitsev.

• Inflatables
Lobby 7, Infinite Corridor
A dodecahedron sculpture made of silver nylon resonates with gusts of air, heat from light bulbs, and the motions of passersby.
By Kyle Barker, Juan Jofre, Nick Polansky, Jorge Amaya.

• (now(now(now)))
Building 7, 4th Floor
This installation nests layers of the past into an image of the present, recursively intertwining slices of time.
By Eric Rosenbaum and Charles DeTar.

• Dis(Course)4
Building 3 Stair, Infinite Corridor
A stairwell transformed by a shummering aluminum conduit inspired by the discourse between floors and academic disciplines.
By Craig Boney, Jams Coleman and Andrew Manto.

• Maxwell’s Dream
Building 10 Community Lounge, Infinite Corridor
An interactive mural created by magnetic fields that drive patterns of light, Maxwell’s Dream is a visually expressive cybernetic loop.
By Kaustuv De Biswas and Daniel Rosenberg.

• Mood Meter
Student Center & Building 8, Infinite Corridor
Is the smile a barometer of happiness? Mood Meter playfully assesses and displays the mood of the MIT community onsite and at moodmeter.media.mit.edu
By Javier Hernandez and Ehsan Hoque.

• SOFT Rockers
Killian Court
Repose and charge your electronic devices using green solar powered technology
By Shiela Kennedy, P. Seaton, S. Rockcastle, W. Inam, A. Aolij, J. Nam, K. Bogenshutz, J. Bayless, M. Trimble.

• LightBridge
The Mass. Ave Bridge
A dynamic interactive LED array responds to pedestrians on the bridge, illustrating MIT’s ties to both sides of the river. Thanks to Philips ColorKinetics, CISCO, SparkFun Electronics.
By Sysanne Seitinger.

• Sky Event
Killian Court, Saturday, May 7th ONLY
Immense inflatable stars soar over MIT in celebration of the distinctive symbiosis among artists, scientists and engineers.
By Otto Piene.

• Liquid Archive
Charles River
A floating inflatable screen provides a backdrop for projections that highlight MIT’s history in science, technology, and art.
By Nader Tehrani and Gediminas Urbonas.

• Light Drift
Charles River
Ninety brightly glowing orbs in the river change color as they react to the presence of people along the shore.
By Meejin Yoon.

• Unflat Pavilion
Building 14 Lawn
This freestanding pavilion illuminated with LEDs flexes two dimensions into three. Flat sheets are bent and unfurl into skylights, columns, and windows.
By Nick Gelpi

• Gradated Field
Walker Memorial Lawn
A field of enticing mounts create a landscape that encourages passersby to meander through, or lounge upon the smooth plaster shapes.
By Kyle Coburn, Karina Silvester and Yihyun Lim.

• Bibliodoptera
Building 14, Hayden Library Corridor
Newly emerged from the chrysalis of MIT’s diverse library pages, a cloud of butterflies flutters above, reacting to the movement of passersby.
By Elena Jessop and Peter Torpey.

• Wind Screen
Green Building Facade, Bldg 54
A shimmering curtain of light created by micro-turbines displays a visual register of the replenishable source of wind energy.
By Meejin Yoon.

• String Tunnel
Building 18 Bridge
A diaphonous tunnel creates a sense of entry to and from the Infinite Corridor and frames the surrounding landscape.
By Yuna Kim, Kelly Shaw, and Travis Williams.

• voltaDom
Building 56-66 Connector
A vaulted passageway utilizes an innovative fabrication technique that creates complex double curved vaults through the simple rolling of a sheet of material.
By Skylar Tibbits.

• Night of Numbers
Building 66 Facade & E15 Walkway
A lighting installation enlivens MIT architectre with numbers that hold special or historical significance to the Institute. Can you decode them all?
By Praveen Subramani and Anna Kotova.

• Overliner
Building E-25 Stairwell
Taking cues from a stairwell’s spiraling geometry, Overliner transforms a familiar and busy passageway into a moment of surprise and repose.
By Joel Lamere and Cynthia Gunadi.

• Chroma District
Corner of Ames and Main Streets.
Lanterns react to visitors by passing sound and color from one to another, increasing in intensity along the way and illuminating the path to MIT’s campus.
By Eyal Shahar, Akito van Troyer, and Seung Jin Ham.