The Volcano House by Harold James Bissner Jr. Photography by Warner Bros. Pictures…
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Don’t Worry Darling has earned itself all kinds of buzz leading up to its release, but not nearly enough about the numerous marvels of Palm Springs modernist architecture on display throughout the film. In an interview with Apartment Therapy, locations manager Chris Baugh revealed that Richard Neutra’s famed Kaufmann house was a major inspiration to director Olivia Wilde. “During our first visit to the Kaufmann House, Olivia [Wilde] shared with me that her inception moment for the project occurred while staring at a framed Slim Aarons photo in her living room,” he said. Other prominent works of modernist architecture also appear in the film, including Dan Palmer and William Krisel’s Canyon View Estates development, Harold James Bissner Jr.’s UFO-like Volcano House, and Albert Frey’s Palm Springs City Hall. —Jenna Adrian-Diaz
The Olympics refreshes its brand identity for the first time since the games began.
“The Olympics is perhaps one of the world’s best-known events. Occurring every four years and spanning nations and numerous sporting disciplines, the games has long been seen as one of the few unifying global moments. Doing a design refresh, therefore, is a tricky task. While it’s important to keep it new and relevant, it’s also imperative to keep it recognizable to what people know. Canadian creative agency Hulse & Durrell partnered with the International Olympic Committee to produce three custom-made typefaces, a series of graphic devices and illustrations, and encompassing guidelines on usage. The refresh therefore takes direct influence from the games’ rich legacy and heritage. The first of its kind since the games began in 1896, head of brand management at the IOC May Guerraoui says the project arose after recognizing how the games had shifted in recent years.” [H/T It’s Nice That]
“The DALL-E 2 AI text-to-image generator is now available to the general public, parent company OpenAI announced. While DALL-E 1 launched in January 2021, DALL-E 2 launched over a year later, initially to only 200 beta testers, which included artists and researchers hand-selected by OpenAI. By May, OpenAI was introducing 1,000 new users a week from a waitlist of users who added themselves, hoping to be approved. 1.5 million people have so far been granted access to DALL-E and were creating, OpenAI claims, 2 million images a day. OpenAI restricted access during the beta testing phase to receive feedback and, crucially, to find out whether their safety systems were effective at blocking violent, sexual, or misleading images that could be used to spread false information.” [H/T ARTnews]
Elements of the dismantled Marble Arch Mound will be reused in a London estate.
“Elements of the dismantled Marble Arch Mound that Dutch studio MVRDV designed for London last year are planned to be reused in the renewal of Ebury estate in Pimlico. Materials and trees used to create the controversial attraction beside Marble Arch will be repurposed into gardens and a play area at the redeveloped housing complex. The plans form part of the wider redevelopment of the red-brick Ebury estate, which is being overseen by Westminster City Council—the same body that commissioned the Marble Arch Mound.” [H/T Dezeen]
The virtual reality recreation of Hilma af Klint’s Temple. Image courtesy of Acute Art…
Acute Art recreates a VR “spiral temple” of Hilma af Klint’s artworks at Frieze London.
‘“Hilma af Klint dreamt of a spiraling building constructed to house her most important body of work,’ Daniel Birnbaum, the former director of the Moderna Museet, told Artnet News. ‘Clearly her paintings were intended to lead the viewer onto levels of awareness beyond that of everyday life. Was it really a physical building she had in mind? Or was it perhaps a spiritual site—something existing in another dimension?’ Visitors to this year’s Frieze London will have a chance to contemplate these questions at a virtual-reality imagining of Hilma af Klint’s temple, created by the production company Acute Art. The VR work is timed to the release of a new catalog raisonné of Hilma af Klint’s work, co-edited by Birnbaum, who is the artistic director of Acute Art.” [H/T Artnet News]
Russia will take over some Ukrainian museum collections amid new annexation plans.
“Dozens of Ukrainian museums are set to be appropriated by Russia as President Vladimir Putin plans to sign a decree annexing four occupied regions, the Kremlin announced. Earlier this week referendums on accession to the Russian Federation were held in the territories Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia—which compare in size to the landmass of Portugal and are home to millions of Ukrainian citizens—that resulted in favor of Russian leadership. The results have widely been dismissed by the international community as fake. Thousands of artifacts and heritage pieces collectively owned by the Ukrainian government and its subsidiaries will be lost to the occupying nation.” [H/T The Art Newspaper]
Office buildings in Midtown Manhattan may lose $456 billion thanks to hybrid working.
“In the heart of Midtown Manhattan lies a multibillion-dollar problem for New York, building owners and thousands of workers. Blocks of decades-old office towers sit partially empty, in an awkward position: too outdated to attract tenants seeking the latest amenities, too new to be demolished or converted for another purpose. It’s a situation playing out around the world as employers adapt to flexible work after the Covid-19 pandemic and rethink how much space they need. Even as people are increasingly called back to offices for at least some of the week, vacancy rates have soared in cities from Hong Kong to London and Toronto. $456 billion is the value US office buildings stand to lose due to lower tenant demand, according to a study by Columbia University and New York University.” [H/T Bloomberg]
