6.28.2008

Lens | Neighbors@lifestyle


Complementary lines and tones from Fifth Avenues in Manhattan and Brooklyn fuse in the neon tubes hanging in the Louis Vuitton window display at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, top, and the umbrellas shading the entrance to the Puebla Mini Market at Fifth Avenue and 39th Street in Sunset Park.

Photo: Damon Winter/The New York Times


A detail of “Metroptic,” by Chris Soria, is exposed onto film in the shaded form of a Hasidic man walking past the whitewashed walls of the Satmar synagogue in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Photo: Damon Winter/The New York Times


Residents and activists opposed to turning the former Domino sugar plant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, into condos strung “Save Domino” on the side of the Esquire Building. Blocks away, domino has a different meaning for Esli Gonzalez, who takes part in a regular game. He has lived in the neighborhood for 58 years.

Photo: Damon Winter/The New York Times

@Source: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/06/26/nyregion/20080626_LENS_SLIDESHOW_index.html

紐約 最成功的置入性品牌@News

電影《慾望城市》劇中除了出現知名品牌服飾、配件外,還有航空公司、汽車品牌以及沐浴用品、寢具、行動電話、化妝品、珠寶首飾、電腦、廚具等,而且都是精品品牌。

例如飲品就有來自美國,標榜「喝完絕對不會宿醉頭痛」的藍天伏特加(Skyy Vodka)出現在每個夜店場景中。另一款頻繁出現在鏡頭前的飲料,則是定位為「時尚飲用水」的Glaceau Vitaminwater,這款維他命水隸屬於可口可樂公司旗下,據悉,在片場中隨處可見到這款飲用水,而在電影中,也是由賓士汽車(Mercedes- Benz)在布萊恩公園重建的「紐約時裝周」場景裡的指定飲料,每張座椅底下都擺放一罐維他命水。

至於賓士汽車,除了在重建「紐約時裝周」的巨大白棚上印上醒目標誌外,劇中提供給莎曼珊的白色座車,是該品牌尚未上市的新車款GLK 280,預估台灣在今年底上市,價格約新台幣300萬元;而大人物則是搭乘黑色的經典旗艦款S-Class,約650萬元。

其中置入最多、最常出現的品牌就是紐約市,據說,片中有超過80%場景取自於紐約市街頭。從凱莉和大人物舉辦婚禮的紐約公共圖書館、凱莉和米蘭達在 Duane Reade藥局買東西、凱莉婚前晚餐的紐約頂級Buddakan餐廳、夏綠蒂和大人物起爭執的Lumi義大利餐廳門口,到星巴克、四季酒店、The Vitra Store 和Luce plan等地點,都已成為紐約觀光景點。

另外,還有當地旅行社推出「慾望城市景點一日遊」,每人約130美元,當然也有高檔團標榜讓觀光客享有如同《慾望城市》般的生活行程,四天就要價約2.4萬美元。

根據美國紐約市長對當地媒體表示,《慾望城市》上映後,紐約觀光客立即成長近一成,景點業績爆增至兩成。看來,紐約市是這部電影最成功的置入性品牌。

@Source: 2008/06/27 經濟日報 / 陳翌函

巴黎男裝周 LV卓別林幽默風@Fashion

春夏男裝強調很粉,但可拆開穿就沒有那麼「粉」味了。
照片/LV提供
乾淨的look是明年春夏LV男裝希望帶來新鮮實穿的點子。
照片/LV提供

巴黎男裝周LV、Jean Paul Gaultier、山本耀司、Dries Van Noten昨天上場,比起米蘭秀多了名人、名流跑趴助陣,一向和名人交好的LV,明年春夏男裝帶著懷念卓別林的幽默、輕鬆的氣氛,以柔軟的材質、明亮的色彩,散發雅致的品味。

LV明年春夏男裝,外套以短身為主,沒有結構的設計使外套更為質輕,褲子強調寬大休閒,但腰線合身;上衣背部以皺褶、條紋和格子圖案處理,純白、淡粉紅和 薰衣草紫的色調下,十分寫意。皮件簡單大方、 沒有多餘細節;Damier格紋內裡的皮包採用完整一片皮革製成;鞋子刻意採長型鞋版、膠底強調舒適,甚至能穿著它騎腳踏車上班去。

Jean Paul Gaultier靈感來自電影「巴黎‧德州」,高堤耶認為,他明年春夏的男裝更像「巴黎‧聖塔菲」,男模猶如獨自遊蕩在新墨西哥的牛仔,格紋協調又對比; 比利時品牌Dries Van Noten秀場布置如停車場,男模穿梭,交織出春夏裝在如襯衫領片等的細節處理;山本耀司則常以尋常人為模特兒,穿出真實的人生和日常生活的品味。


@Source: 2008/06/28 聯合報 ╱記者袁青 http://udn.com/

6.26.2008

A Glimpse at the Future High Line@Arch


A straight walkway, running alongside the railroad tracks, is surrounded by a landscape of native species that once grew spontaneously on the High Line, interspersed with new species that ensure bloom throughout the growing season.

Photo: Design by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York.


Steel is cut away and replaced by glass, providing a view up 10th Avenue, and revealing High Line visitors to pedestrians on street level.

Photo: Design by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York.


The Sundeck, between 14th and 15th Streets, offers unobstructed views over the Hudson River. Water emerges from the spaces between planks to skim the upper walkway, while on the lower level, rail tracks are reinstalled in plantings derived from the High Line's native landscape.

Photo: Design by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York.


The structure steps down to the Hudson River, with oversized wooden deck seating along the railroad tracks on the upper level, and a rail preserve with dense native planting on the lower.

Photo: Design by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York.


Access points are located approximately every two to three blocks on Sections 1 and 2 of the High Line. In many locations, these access points include both stairs and elevators.

Photo: Design by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York.


Steps and ramps cut into an elevated square over 10th Avenue, allowing visitors to descend into the structure.

Photo: Design by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York.


The textured concrete walking surface meanders through tall plantings in the Chelsea Thicket.

Photo: Design by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York.


Where the High Line begins to narrow in Chelsea, plantings grow denser, with shrubs and trees adding a variety of textures.

Photo: Design by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York.


The High Line's only lawn "peels up" at 23rd Street, where the High Line widens, providing crosstown views of the Manhattan skyline and the Hudson River. A stepped seating feature adds another layer of use to this central gathering area.

Photo: Design by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York.


Steps and ramps cut into an elevated square over 10th Avenue, allowing visitors to descend into the structure.

Photo: Design by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York.


A metal walkway lifts off from High Line level, allowing the landscape to fill in below. Visitors are lifted into the shady canopy of a sumac forest. Planting here takes advantage of a cooler, shadier condition between tall buildings, where trees originally grew up once the trains stopped running.

Photo: Design by Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Courtesy of the City of New York.

@Source: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/06/25/nyregion/0625-high_index.html

Mulberry變臉 插畫家幫幫忙!@Fashion

英國老牌 Mulbelly由皮件轉向時裝和鞋款發展。
圖片提供/Mulberry
英國Mulberry老店新開的專賣店,請來插畫家幫忙發功,結合古典和童趣彩繪的熱鬧櫥窗,為老品牌帶來年輕新風采。
圖片提供/Mulberry

各種不同形式的藝術,已經成功地成為精品行銷的另一波高潮。不論大小牌,老店重開更是緊緊抓住了時代的脈動。下次有機會到英國,你會發現代表英倫精品的Mulberry皮件店,不再像圖書館似地原木色調傳統,Leeds Mulberry專賣店跨出全新腳步。

今年夏天,Mulberry在里茲(Leeds)開設第一間專賣店,店內販售齊全的男女配件,並包含由Jonathan Kelsey為Mulberry所設計的鞋款。

特別的是,Mulberry邀請到知名插畫家Julie Verhoeven動手為專賣店改頭換面,一時間,各式變成有趣插畫的經典皮包「掛」滿牆壁,重新找回Mulberry骨子裡那分溫暖而幽默的英式傳統。

Julie Verhoeven說:「運用樹脂和絲絨材質在壁面作畫,目的是希望營造英論維多利亞式

的居家風格。」整面牆上不同式樣的彩繪Mulberry包款,配搭鄉村調的擺設,沖淡了Mulberry原本很ㄍ一ㄥ的英倫原木工業感,融入些許趣味的插畫,以頑皮的童真取代精品店內裝千篇一律的奢華,也反映品牌極力年輕化的思考。

Mulberry的支持者和藝術家,對店裝有如此突破的改變,風評是,Mulberry所傳承的歷史精神元素,以跳躍及串聯的方式,成功地連結了傳統和現代。

@Source: 2008/06/26 聯合報 ╱記者袁青 http://udn.com/

故宮晶華開幕 吃得到翠玉白菜、肉形石@Food


斥資四億多元新台幣、歷時二年半興建的「故宮晶華」宴飲中心,今年五月底開始試賣,公關經理蔡惠茹指出,至今已突破2,500萬元的業績。一樓的粵菜小點區平均每天中午都可以「翻兩桌」以上,在餐飲一片不景氣中,創造驚人成績。

菜色內容與故宮文物緊密結合的國寶菜,試做菜色就約花了兩個多月。主廚蕭廣安表示,每道國寶菜都有相當難度。為了讓菜與文物達到「近乎相同」的境界,「型與味」皆一再調整,直到昨天才完全拍板定案。

像「肉形石」,滷製蹄膀肉需兩小時、放涼後,必須用精細刀工修出真實文物的外形,失敗率極高。

「翠玉白菜」站立的角度、如何燙熟卻不失青翠色澤都耗費心思,而一改再改的醬汁,最後蕭廣安採濃稠入味的XO高湯醬取代雞高湯;最有趣的是用櫻花蝦取代白菜上的螽斯蝗蟲,食趣十足!

故宮國寶菜之前只有「多寶閣」、「香苗藏鳳袖」對外販售,而這兩道菜也是試賣期間最受歡迎的第一、三名。

中式下午茶的「多寶閣」,用層架展現迷你翠玉白菜、燕窩蛋塔、驢打滾、豌豆黃等經典小品,精巧奇趣的造型,如同古時皇帝把玩奇珍。

詢問度最高的「翠玉白菜」、「肉形石」,今天起開始販售。

整套「故宮國寶宴」共有9道菜,每人3,200元,需三天前預訂。

@Source: 2008/06/25 聯合報╱記者吳雨潔 http://udn.com/

6.20.2008

Tom Ford Q&A@People

Tom Ford. Image: Tom M Johnson

Come Saturday, the fashion crowd descends on Milan to see Men’s Spring Summer 09 collections and one name will be on everyone’s lips: Tom Ford. It’s been four long years since Mr Ford vacated the creative director position at Gucci but he’s returning to Milan in timely style to open his first retail store in Europe. Fashion notables will be given a walk around the five floor, 9,000 sq ft space at Via Verri 3, on Monday 23rd, in the middle of fashion week. But we couldn’t wait till then so quizzed the man himself a few days before to find out how he feels about returning to the city where he made his name...

We love your label for its unapologetic formality. Where does your passion for formal dressing come from?
Formality feels right to me right now. At a time when fashion is getting increasingly more casual and broken down, I think that 'dressing up' shows that the wearer has self-respect and respect for the people around him. Maybe it is also a reaction against all the trends out there in menswear at the moment. Formal is just how I want to dress right now.

What inspires you?
I am inspired by everything around me.

What does it mean for you to be opening a store of your own label, under your own name, in Milan particularly, given the success you had here under Gucci?
It is great to be doing something that is purely 100% my own taste, my own vision, my own creation from the ground up. It is also wonderful to be returning to Milan which is one of my favorite cities in the world. It is not only Italy’s fashion capital, but it is also the Italian home of luxury menswear.

Do you see a progression in your work as a designer?
The progression of my work as a designer very much follows the progression of myself as a person. As I grow older, I see myself and the world differently. I have different role models and different values. Authenticity has become increasingly important to me in my life and in my work.

What bespoke services are available in your Milan store?
We will offer the same made-to-measure services in all of our Tom Ford flagship stores. It is not a bespoke service from the ground up. We work off four different bases, we take your measurements, work out which base is right for you, modify it, send it to our factory, and when it comes back we have a sample room in the store where we can do dramatic alterations. When you go to a bespoke tailor, you can have almost anything made. When you come to us, you come for a certain Tom Ford look and then it’s modified. This is a hybrid that did not exist. We offer much more customization than you can get from any other design company. At the same time, it has more of a personal stamp than Savile Row.

This is your second flagship – how many more have you planned, where and when?
We will be opening directly operated Tom Ford flagship stores in Milan, London, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas over the next 2 years as well as free standing stores in Baku, Moscow, Dubai, and Puerto Banus which will total over 100 free-standing Tom Ford retail stores worldwide over the next 10 years. We have also just opened a shop this spring in Zurich, with shops in Daslu, Bergdorf's, Harry Rosen, Lane Crawford Hong Kong and Neiman Marcus to follow in September.

Is retail design more significant now than it was 10 years ago?
Retail design has always been significant in helping to define a brand and has become more important than ever as the entire luxury industry has become more homogenised. More than ever, the brand experience is, in part, determined by the retail space.

You’ve turned your hand to fashion, accessories, beauty and fragrance. Have you any plans to branch into homeware?
For the moment, we are focusing on the existing categories and have no plans to branch into homeware.

What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
More time.

Describe Tom Ford in three words.
Loyal, shy, perfectionist.

@Source: http://www.wallpaper.com/fashion/tom-ford-qa/2456

6.16.2008

the new Contemporary Jewish Museum by Daniel Libeskind@Arch


Daniel Libeskind designed the new Contemporary Jewish Museum, which opened in San Francisco on Sunday.
Lobby lights in the museum form four Hebrew letters that spell a word invoking paradise.
Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times
The major opening show is “In the Beginning: Artists Respond to Genesis,” in which a mixture of contemporary artworks rub shoulders with a 15th-century Prague Hebrew Bible, left, and Rodin’s sculpture “The Hand of God.”
Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times
In a review for The Times, Edward Rothstein writes: “The museum, like its audience, is interested in assimilation, even in the ways in which the larger culture assimilates Jewish ideas and associations.”
Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times

In the inaugural exhibition, “Being Jewish: A Bay Area Portrait,” the museum pays tribute to its community. Backs of display cases are covered with photographs of Jews of differing races, ages and degrees of observance.
The objects displayed, including Andrew Skurman’s “San Francisco Pyramid Spice Box,” foreground, are associated with Jewish life in its local incarnation.
Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times
The exhibit also includes a “Rally Rabbi” bobblehead doll.
Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times
related
A bottle of He'Brew, "the chosen beer," is on display.
Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times
A shirt from the clothing company Jewish Fashion Conspiracy.
Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times
“Right now the Contemporary Jewish Museum celebrates a vision of Judaism as a kind of freewheeling allegory,” writes Mr. Rothstein, “a pardes of open-mindedness and diversity and artistic enterprise. But for all the institution’s considerable appeal, Judaism’s fundamental, literal meanings — texts and laws and beliefs and history — are left outside the gates of paradise.”
Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Mr. Rothstein says of the building: “Its skewed geometries are unsettling; the effect is more vertiginous than harmonious. Alienation rather than stability is suggested, despite the self-conscious symbols being grasped at.”
Photo: Jim Wilson/The New York Times

6.15.2008

全才大師拉格斐掌鏡 捕捉凡爾賽宮@Fashion

時尚大師卡爾拉格斐。
圖/Karl Lagerfeld提供
卡爾拉格斐以鏡頭捕捉凡爾賽宮之美。
圖/Karl Lagerfeld提供

時尚圈「全才」設計大師卡爾拉格斐(Karl Lagerfeld)又有新作,這次主題不再是時裝、場地也不再侷限於伸展台、名模則換成法國代表建築凡爾賽宮。

卡爾拉格斐的攝影作品過去經常出現在全球頂尖的時尚雜誌,這回他選擇透過光影捕捉巴黎凡爾賽宮獨特而精彩的風貌。

為什麼選擇凡爾賽宮?拉格斐說,凡爾賽宮如同童話故事的場景,「一個其實存在但卻呼應人們想像力的意境」。卡爾拉格斐以類似電影情境的手法,透過光影,帶領欣賞者進入幾乎超越現實的凡爾賽宮。

大師和凡爾賽國家博物館館長尚雅克阿亞貢(Jean-Jacques Aillagon)一起精選40張黑白照,並以特殊的velleum花紋紙材顯影。「紙張是我最喜愛的材料,對我而言,也是所有創意的起點。」攝影作品以 灰色、無框架的底布襯托,簡約地陳列牆面,讓人直接欣賞到這些經過特別處理的攝影作品,有一種「仿古印製」的風格。卡爾拉格斐攝影展覽由CHANEL獨家 贊助。

卡爾拉格斐「陽光下光影中的凡爾賽宮Versailles al'ombre du soleil」大師攝影個展即日起在巴黎凡爾賽宮曼德儂夫人寓所展出,展期至9月7日。

@2008/06/12 聯合報 ╱記者袁青 http://udn.com/

6.08.2008

一張紙 演喜怒哀樂表情@Art

插畫家李漢文巧手製造出逼真細膩的紙雕創作,把繪本從平面推進立體時代。
格林、遠流/提供
插畫家李漢文巧手製造出逼真細膩的紙雕創作,把繪本從平面推進立體時代。
格林、遠流/提供

本土插畫家陣營接連痛失大將,四月底專擅生態精細插畫的黃崑謀因心肌梗塞猝逝,五月 底以活靈活現的立體紙雕插畫躍登國際舞台、連獲大獎肯定的李漢文也因腦血管病變,才四十四歲青壯之年,就向家人親友與書迷告別。《讀書人》特邀與李漢文合 作國內首部紙雕繪本《起床啦!皇帝》,一鳴驚人捧回第一屆信誼幼兒文學獎首獎的資深出版人郝廣才,分享李漢文檯面上的藝術成就、檯面下的求真求美。(編 者)

「哇!這些細膩的紙雕作品,怎麼會是出自這個巨人的手中?」身高將近190公分、體格壯碩的李漢文,朋友們暱稱他「大個兒」;他個性直率、重義氣,活像《水滸傳》裡跑出來的好漢。

他個子高大,手指和心思卻靈活細膩,對創作更是嚴格自我要求。為了製作小小的紙花蕊,他用剪刀剪出連續的細密齒梳線,捲黏起來,再用指尖撥出彎度,做出逼真的天然姿態,絕不馬虎。

藉巧手,把繪本

從平面推進立體時代

紙雕原是日本流行的紙藝雕塑,多是單幅作品,零星使用在報刊雜誌上。1988年,李漢文替我寫的故事《起床啦!皇帝》,創作出全台灣第一本紙雕繪本,開啟 紙雕插畫的新紀元。紙雕特有的立體感,讓書中人物、動物、景物,形體與表情更加具體。那個圓嘟嘟的小皇帝,立即讓所有大人和小孩眼睛亮起來。

得獎後,李漢文更熱情鑽研紙雕藝術,融合傳統剪紙及皮影技巧,創作許多傑出的繪本,例如《虎姑婆》、《賣香屁》、《十二生肖的故事》等。1994年是李漢 文躍上國際舞台的關鍵,《十二生肖的故事》和《紙牌王國》連續榮獲紐約國際立體插畫獎銅牌和銀牌獎;他與日本出版社合作繪製圖畫書,成為國際級的紙雕插畫 大師。

千禧年,他的紙雕遊戲書《綠野仙蹤》打通國外版權銷售之路,發行全世界,賣出多國版權,銷售數字高達百萬本,這樣的成績至今無人超越。

追求真實感全力以赴,

推廣紙雕不遺餘力

紙雕以紙為主要素材,應用剪、切、黏等技法,使紙片成為全立體或半立體的作品。剪刀自是當家法寶,李漢文更有一個祕密武器——木頭筷子。他用筷子緩緩捲出紙的弧度,一片花瓣、一根木頭、一顆石頭立即有了輪廓,人的五官、四肢也活了起來。

紙雕在製作過程需要很多耐心,往往圖上一個小人物,就有眉毛、眼睛、嘴巴、鬍子、手、腳等數十個小組件,必須一件件、一層層堆疊,可想而知,完成一幅人物 眾多、有前景和背景的圖,至少要數十個工作天!只有絕對的細心,才能完成細縫連接的細工美感,這也是李漢文的堅持。他對待每幅作品,皆是用創作藝術珍品的 心態,全力以赴。

追求真實感,是他另一個永不停歇的努力。在他的工作室,有一個比人還高的紙櫃,裝滿各式各樣的紙材。這些都是他到處收集的壓箱寶貝,例如日本木紋紙可以塑造出木頭的肌理,製作船隻、木屋、桌椅,甚至一個小水桶,都能達到擬態的效果。

李漢文學紙雕沒有拜師學藝,是靠著閱讀國外紙雕專書,自行摸索與鑽研,每天工作十二小時以上,一刀一剪,不斷實驗才磨鍊出厚實的基礎。有感於自己摸索過程 的艱辛,國內也一直沒有紙雕專業課程,李漢文在創作之餘,大方將自己的經驗與心得和同好分享,成立教室從事教學,許多新生代的紙藝家或多或少都受到他的啟 蒙及影響。他也到小學中學,教導小朋友製作紙雕,希望當個推手將技術傳下去。

涼拌花枝刀工精細,

作品喚起書迷無盡想念

李漢文是么兒,在媽媽眼中是個孝順的乖兒子。他為了照顧母親,辭去遠流出版兒童館的工作,改當Soho族。妻子許麗雲照常上班,他回家當新好男人,擦地 板、刷抽油煙機。婚前,李漢文茶來伸手飯來張口,現在他彎著190公分的大個子,在窄小的廚房裡一手拿食譜、一手切菜。他得意地說:「我涼拌花枝做得讚極 了!尤其是刀工精細,不亞於我的紙雕。」

兩年前李漢文有一天突然昏倒,送醫檢查發現他罹患「腦部動靜脈血管畸型」,也就是俗稱的「血管瘤」。這是一種先天的疾病,有人腦部血管畸型但沒發作,一輩子也不知道。

李漢文接受了放射線治療,天性樂觀的他並沒有被病魔打倒。他積極面對生命的挑戰,手術後和往常一樣創作、教學不輟。然而血管瘤雖然縮小,卻並未消失,意外在今年5月26日早上破裂,李漢文陷入昏迷,在加護病房搶救多日,還是於5月31日向愛他的家人好友及世界告別。

2006年,李漢文最後一部出版的繪本《回家》提到:民間傳說當兒女去世時,親人到土地公廟或街口呼喊他的名字,魂魄就會回來。現在我們卻只能在「大個兒」的作品中,喚回對他無盡的想念。

李漢文小檔案

1964年生於台中,1985年任漢聲出版公司繪圖編輯,參與《漢聲小百科》與《愛的小小百科》插畫製作。

李漢文在漢聲接觸紙雕,別出心裁發展成兒童繪本嶄新表現技法。1988年任職遠流出版公司兒童部;同年由郝廣才撰文、李漢文配圖的紙雕插畫繪本《起床啦!皇帝》(信誼出版)獲首屆信誼幼兒文學獎首獎及兒童文學學會金龍獎。

1991年成立個人工作室,與陶大偉合作研發,將靜態的紙雕畫作升級為卡通動畫。1992年首部紙雕動畫《小葫蘆歷險記》在公共電視播出,1994年獲第 三十六屆紐約國際廣播電視節目展「動畫銀牌獎」殊榮。1994年《十二生肖的故事》(遠流出版)、1995年《紙牌王國》(台灣麥克出版)連獲紐約國際立 體插畫獎銅牌及銀牌獎。

2008年5月31日病逝。主要作品有兒童繪本《女人島》、《虎姑婆》、《仙奶泉》、《賣香屁》(以上遠流出版)、《肥豬齁齁叫》、《神奇的魚骨頭》、 《回家》,電子遊戲書《綠野仙蹤》、《西遊記》、《耶誕總動員》、《史豔文》(以上格林出版)以及紙雕工具書《實用紙雕創作》(三采文化出版)等。

@Source: 2008/06/08 聯合報 ╱郝廣才(格林文化公司總編輯) http://udn.com/

山色菜香藝術味 食在故宮晶華@Restaurant

圖/晶華酒店
圖/晶華酒店
圖/晶華酒店
圖/晶華酒店


故宮博物院院長周功鑫上任後,日前第一次與媒體餐敘地點,選在位於故宮博物院院區內的「故宮晶華」宴飲中心。從「故宮晶華」三樓往外望,透過牆上的「冰裂紋」隔柵和玻璃幃幕,可極目遠眺滿園山色。

這棟斥資4億多元、歷時兩年半興建的「故宮晶華」宴飲中心,是故宮博物院的餐飲服務中心BOT案,2004年由晶華國際酒店集團百分之百轉投資的子公司故宮晶華股份有限公司承接,負責開發興建及營運管理,總營業面積1,455坪,為地下二層、地上三層的宴飲中心。

設計 融合典藏文物

由於故宮博物院向來是國外觀光客來台最愛蒞臨的景點,且具有特殊的自然與人文區位,位於故宮博物院院區內的「故宮晶華」,也肩負著宣揚中華文化的重責大任,不只在設計上力求與故宮典藏文物融合,菜色內容與餐具器皿的設計,也將與故宮文化連結。晶華指出,「故宮晶華」的外觀由國內建築大師姚仁喜設計,為了讓此建築和在地的環境擁有系出同源的整體感,此建築外牆採用具視覺穿透性的玻璃帷幕,降低新建物對於院區內現有建築物的衝擊,也表達對現有環境的尊重,內外空間連成一氣,也可將建築物外面的綠意攬入室內,夜間則透過燈光設計,成為夜間故宮博物院區的新風景。

在室內空間設計方面,此案由日本空間設計大師橋本夕紀夫負責,橋本選用中國藝術品中特有圖騰紋路「冰裂紋」,做為貫穿整棟餐飲中心的重要設計元素。

晶華指出,冰裂紋是宋朝青瓷因為釉的品質與燒窯的溫度,讓成品外表形成自然的裂紋,極具文化代表性與藝術性。故宮晶華從入門大廳的玄關、餐桌間的隔屏、牆面上的裝飾紋路、甚至玻璃下的木質桌面,處處可見「冰裂紋」圖案。

再仔細看,一樓餐廳矗立著直達二樓天頂的燈柱,是根據古代祭祀用的禮器、新石器時代的玉琮造型打造而成,選掛的燈具,則是仿西周宗周鐘(祭祀用的樂器)的外型。故宮最受矚目的典藏繪畫如清明上河圖、蘇軾的後赤壁賦,王羲之的蘭亭序、唐朝宮樂圖和宋徵宗的文會圖等,也都以剪紙藝術或大片牆面臨摹等方式,融入用餐空間當中,營造現代消費者置身古人相聚飲宴、吟詩作對的想像場景,讓人在品味餐飲之際,也可欣賞稀世藝術。

包廂 以書畫家命名

故宮晶華二樓規劃的十間私人包廂,分別以故宮典藏書畫家的名號命名。例如「蘭亭居」的大型包廂,是以蘭亭序為室內主牆面的設計發想;「東坡居」的牆面書法,則選用後赤壁賦;其他包廂還有白石居(清朝齊白石)、六如居(明朝唐寅)、雲林居(元朝倪讚)與衡山居(明朝文徵明)等。

晶華也指出,另外的四間小廂房包括太白居(唐朝李白)、大千居(民國張大千)、井西居(元朝黃公望)及松雪居(元朝趙孟頫)等,是以清明上河圖貫穿,設計師選擇畫作局部,透過剪紙藝術和磨砂玻璃,以光線藝術透視出此珍貴收藏所展現出的市井面貌。除了費心打造及設計硬體空間外,晶華並透露,目前還正在研發國寶文物宴、歷代皇宮御宴、東坡宴、寶島名物宴等特色菜單,希望更與中華歷史文化相互呼應。

故宮人員指出,故宮目前在餐飲服務已有展覽正館內的「三希堂」等空間,未來希望「故宮晶華」可以成為台北一個熱門的飲宴據點,透過營造文化與創意服務,提高參訪觀眾的評價,也為故宮帶來更多人潮。

故宮表示,故宮晶華的BOT案,政府除收取開發權利金1,000萬元,以及每年依據「促進民間參與公共建設公有土地出租設定地上權租金優惠辦法」收取基地租金,挹注國庫收入外,經營權利金是以每年收入的5%計算,特許年期為25年(扣除興建期)。故宮晶華公司每年還將額外提撥營運收入的1%,作為故宮教育文物展示、研究等相關活動的推廣經費。

國外有些國際級博物館,都有深具特色的餐廳,讓參觀者在欣賞藝術品之餘,也樂於出入其餐廳。未來「故宮晶華」宴飲中心能否為故宮帶來加分效果,各界正拭目以待。

@Source: 2008/06/07 經濟日報╱鄭秋霜 http://udn.com/

Urban Digs - Bernard Tschumi@People


Ben Stechschulte/Redux, for The New York Times

Bernard Tschumi

Ben Stechschulte/Redux, for The New York Times

Interview by EDWARD LEWINE
Published: June 8, 2008

Personal style: My apartment reflects my views as an architect. It is minimal, austere. The architecture doesn’t impose itself upon you. The apartment is a stage for other things to take place.Worst thing about his job: You go through great efforts in the middle of a project for the joy of the beginning when you come up with the idea and the end when you see it built.

Frequent flier: I have a routine in which I am in New York for two to three weeks and then I am in Europe for one. I cross the Atlantic Ocean about 40 times a year.

Favorite memento: I have this broken hand of a mannequin. I found it in SoHo in the 1970s. It’s surrealistic to see this elegant hand, connected to a precise bit of steel technology.

Future vision: I live in Paris and New York, the great cities of the 19th and 20th century, respectively. But the 21st century will have a number of great cities. You’ll choose between cities of great population density and those that are like series of islands in the forest.

Prized possession: My Concorde airplane model. It’s a symbol of extraordinary technology and how mankind is sometimes shy about pushing its intelligence to extremes. By retiring the Concorde, we no longer can cross the Atlantic in three hours. It’s a loss of nerve.

Travel habits: It’s one of the moments when I work best. I will have just white sheets of paper, and I will draw a project, develop concepts and write.

Morning routine: Because of the travel, I always have a week when I am really waking up early. I get up and start to work very quietly. I make the coffee. Then have breakfast. I get to the office before 9 a.m.

Space he’d least like to live in: A lounge in any international airport. I do not like the claustrophobic nature of waiting for planes.

Space he’d most like to live in: A building I designed, but never built. It was a large glass house atop the roof of some incredible building downtown. I’d love to have those views all over the city.

Building he’d like torn down: I wouldn’t want to tear buildings down. But there are a number of Post-Modernist buildings I would take down if I had to choose one.

Next big purchase: The latest and lightest laptop. I have one that I am happy with, but if I can get one that is even smaller I will buy it.

Best-designed object: My Terragni tubular chairs. They are minimal, intelligently made and I love them.

Favorite place in his loft: I try to keep the space as open as possible, with few walls or doors. I can sit at the glass table in the center and see everything in the apartment and have the largest amount of space around me.

Always in fridge: Some Champagne, some Bordeaux wine and some orange juice.

Always with him: I love a particular pen, the Sanford Uni-Ball Onyx; black ink. They are not expensive. I am so worried about running out of them that I may have 10 different ones in my bag.

Item that reminds him of himself: My electric pepper grinder. It makes noise and has a flashlight that lights up your plate. I love it. My family hates it.

Building he misses most: When I designed my loft, I literally framed the World Trade Center as a picture postcard I could see from my bed. I no longer have that image, and I mourn it.

City slicker: I choose to live in New York and Paris because for me they are contrasts. I love New York’s density and pulse and heterogeneity. Paris by comparison is predictable, homogeneous and calmer. It has the sentimentality of the past.

At age 5, he wanted to be: First a race-car driver; then an astronomer; then a writer. Eventually, that led to my passion for cities and wanting to become an architect.

Biggest self-indulgence: Working on a project beside a pool in a sunny, wonderful environment. I do that about one week a year every other year in a small village in the south of France, where my friends have a house.

Historic figure he identifies with: A traveler; an Alexander the Great or Marco Polo type.

Art collection: Abstract photos and cardboard and clay sculptures by my 23-year-old daughter and my 18-year-old son. They are from when the children were younger.

Last meal: I refuse to answer this question. I don’t want to contemplate the idea.

Evening routine: My wife and I will watch political shows. We are political junkies. We will eat while watching Keith Olbermann on MSNBC and end with Stephen Colbert’s program on Comedy Central. Then to bed.

By his bed: Detective stories by a writer like Raymond Chandler. I love detective stories, the way they are constructed; especially American ones.

Signature outfit: I wear the same black suit. I have five of them. I pair them with a red scarf. I was wearing a red scarf when I won the first architectural competition of my career.

Nagging injury: I was once in a very, very bad car accident. So my drawing arm is full of pins and platinum stuff. Occasionally it hurts. But I found that after the arm was put back together I could draw better than before. I have no idea why.

Recurring dream: I have plenty, but nothing I can talk about.

Speed racers: I have a group of toy Porsches of different colors. I love the design and I love the idea of going fast. I also have three real Porsches, two in Paris and one in New York. My mother-in-law used to say that for me they were both the mistress and the psychiatrist.

Personal hero: The filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, because he helped to create an art form. I have his books. I have most of the DVDs of his films. I have articles that he wrote.

Last book he read: I was rereading a script of the director Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless.” I love to read movie scripts, because of the conciseness of it, and the fact that you can always break a film down into separate parts: sound without image, text without cinematography.

Procrastination technique: I work best either under pressure or by emptying my brain over the weekend. That blank state is helpful. It is like an athlete before a competition.

Obsolete item he won’t part with: I have an old camera. It is beautiful, with a big body. Though you have to put sticky tape on it to close it, I use it.

Favorite chore: I am the designated unloader of the dishwasher. I reorder the plates and glasses in a meticulous and architectural manner.

Fitness routine: Running for planes.

INTERVIEW BY EDWARD LEWINE PHOTOGRAPHS BY BEN STECHSCHULTE

@Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/magazine/08wwln-domains-t.html?ref=design

6.02.2008

Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson in MoMA@Exhibitions

"360 Room for All Colours" (2002)

Holland Cotter writes:
"What a relief. Near the end of a decade crammed with junk-art collectibles and a museum season of ragbag sculptures and wallpapered words, we get bare walls and open space in the Olafur Eliasson survey at the Museum of Modern Art and P.S. 1. Light and color, with a few odd-duck objects of a kind you might wrap up and take home."

Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times


"1 M3 Light" (1999)

"Mr. Eliasson, who was born in Denmark in 1967, spent part of his life in Iceland and now lives in Berlin, is well known for creating immaterialist magic through bare-bones means: literally, in some cases, mist and mirrors. In style, his art is utterly un-Murakami; not slick; not plastic, not cash-and-carry."

Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times



"For his New York debut at Tanya Bonakdar in 1996, he ran a perforated hose along a gallery ceiling, then turned on a flickering strobe to transform a sheet of falling droplets into a field of stop-action stars. Four years later, he removed the gallery`s skylight and added a frieze of mirrors to bring the sights, sounds and frosty air of the outdoors inside."

Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times


The Weather Project at Tate Modern

And this tour-de-force fusion of nature and culture was nothing compared to the grand setting sun he created from lights and haze at the Tate Modern in 2003. It was a one-piece blockbuster. Tens of thousands of people came to soak in its glow, as if they were at the beach. Or Woodstock. Or Lourdes.

Photo: Tate Modern


"Like abstract painting, Mr. Eliasson's art can be slow to reveal itself. In an installation called 'Beauty,' a rainbow emerges from a curtain of mist and vanishes. Maybe you see it; maybe you don't. The illumination in an empty 'white' room at P.S. 1 changes color all but imperceptibly as you watch: from white, to faint gray, to pale pollen-beige, to lavender, one dissolving into the next like shifts in weather or the readings of a mood ring."

Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times

"Room for One Colour" (1997)

"And like certain kinds of jazz, or ragas, or New Age ambient sound, this is an art of variation rather than destination. It lays out a visual theme, then asks you to wait, watch, wait some more, and discover things happening. A stationary object turns out to be moving; a window view of the street through a prismatic sculpture turns reality upside down, but not entirely."

Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times



" 'Take Your Time' a new piece at P.S. 1, made for the show, consists of a huge, tilted, disc-shaped mirror suspended horizontally from a gallery ceiling. What strikes you at first is the omniscient, bird`s-eye reflection of the room below, with you standing in the middle of it. Then you notice that the mirror is rotating very slowly, and with a subtly undulating motion that causes the room itself feel warped and unstable. You experience this as much with your sense of balance as with your eyes."

Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times


"The name of the piece is also the name of the exhibition. It is an aptly utopian title. 'Take' implies an invitation, a sharing. 'Your' suggests inclusion, community. 'Time,' we all know about that. Everyone has some of it; nobody has much, or enough. Museums are built to freeze time but end up freezing other things too, such as ethics and history, which are, or should be, fluid. Art, by contrast, can expand or dissolve time, which is something Mr. Eliasson seems to want to do."

Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times

"Wall Eclipse" (2004)

"A fair amount of his work, in a witty way, is about disruption and disorientation. At P.S. 1 a waterfall flows upward; a rotating metal fan, propelled by its own wind power, swings from a cable, just above head height, in MoMA's atrium. This is art that teases and even, a little, humiliates, as we hesitate before the false doors, or are blinded by flashing lights, or duck the buzzing fan. It keeps the art from being sappy or flashy, all light shows and special effects. And Mr. Eliasson obviously wants the work to feel tough, which is why he leaves the mechanics transparent. This directness is a reminder that Mr. Eliasson, like his Chinese contemporary Cai Guo-Qiang, is at his best as a producer of public gestures; impermanent, immersive theatrical situations."

Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times


"360° Room for All Colours" (2002)

"And how radical is Mr. Eliasson's art? How market-challenging or convention-shifting? Not terribly. 'Take Your Time' looks anomalous enough in an object-riddled moment, and in MoMA's galleries. At the same time, the work feels too easy in its repeated appeals to our appetite for passive sensation and luxe, as do Mr. Eliasson's architectural and commercial design projects (for BMW among others)."

Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times



"360° Room for All Colours" (2002)

"Mr. Eliasson's art deals, some would say, in a politics of enchantment. Enchanting the work certainly is, and open, evanescent, intellectually stimulating, and beautiful. In all these ways it offers a model for a future beyond the present rummage-sale glut. In others ways, though, it reminds us how far art has not come."

Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times

@Source: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/04/17/arts/2008418elia2_index.html

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