“Apollo Apollo” by Katharina Grosse at Espace Louis Vuitton in Venice…
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Katharina Grosse’s Slick Installation at Espace Louis Vuitton in Venice
On first view, Katharina Grosse’s slick installation at Espace Louis Vuitton in Venice appears almost celestial in nature, featuring a kaleidoscope of jewel tones printed on a metallic mesh that glimmers in the light projected from fixtures mounted in an otherwise empty room. The considered draping of the mesh—over a pair of boots resting on the floor, a folded chair, even the installation’s mounting points on the ceiling—is an exploration of depth and value.
The technique of printing photography on to mesh, as Grosse has done, printing a composite photograph of her hands upon the work, is a first for her. “This experiment allowed me to disconnect the photographic from the paradigm of the representational and to link it with the paradigm of presence instead,” she says. Apollo Apollo is the first of three total works Louis Vuitton will show by Grosse this year. —Jenna Adrian-Diaz
Photography courtesy of Balenciaga…
Balenciaga fully envelops the interior of its London boutique in hot pink faux fur.
Few would use the word “understated” to describe Balenciaga’s high fashion wares, so it’s fitting that the designer label unveiled an eye-catching pop-up in its Mount street shop in London. Hot pink faux fur currently blankets the boutique’s walls, floors, and display fixtures. The occasion? A new line of shoes and accessories inspired by the brand’s Le Cagole handbag, which British Vogue has declared the “new it-bag.” New, limited-edition designs of the iconic bag will also be sold in the plush pop-up, which is slated to be in place through June of this year. —Jenna Adrian-Diaz
A newly discovered plastic-eating enzyme may eliminate billions of tons of waste.
“An enzyme variant created by engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin can break down environment-throttling plastics that typically take centuries to degrade in just a matter of hours to days. This discovery, published today in Nature, could help solve one of the world’s most pressing environmental problems: what to do with the billions of tons of plastic waste piling up in landfills and polluting our natural lands and water. The enzyme has the potential to supercharge recycling on a large scale that would allow major industries to reduce their environmental impact by recovering and reusing plastics at the molecular level.” —[H/T PhysOrg]
San Francisco Art Institute’s Diego Rivera Gallery. Image courtesy SFAI…
The Mellon Foundation is helping save a beloved Diego Rivera mural in San Francisco.
“In a reversal of fortune for advocates opposed to the sale of a Diego Rivera mural at the San Francisco Art Institute and all those concerned with the preservation of public art, the school has received a $200,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation in support of the beloved painting. It is an occasion to celebrate for those who have anxiously monitored the uncertain fate of Rivera’s The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City (1931). … Notoriously, the art school’s leaders suggested selling SFAI’s masterpiece of Mexican muralism—estimated then at $50 million—in a last-ditch effort to save the school.” —[H/T Hyperallergic]
Jony Ive’s Terra Carta Design Lab names the first winners of its climate challenge.
“What does a cow harness have in common with seed pods, outdoor apparel, and a device that reduces toxic particles in the air? All four of them just won the inaugural Terra Carta Design Lab award. It challenged over 2,300 RCA students and alumni to propose credible solutions to the climate crisis. The four teams were chosen out of 125 submissions, including a student-led startup that wants to transform cremated ashes into oyster reefs. Winners will receive 50,000 pounds (or the equivalent of $62,730) in funding to further develop their ideas, plus mentorship by Ive. And while some of these ideas are still in their early stages, they’re all proof that small designs can have a big impact.” —[H/T Fast Company]
The former School of Architecture at Taliesin starts anew at Paolo Soleri’s Arcosanti.
“Two years after a public—and, by many accounts, contentious—split from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, what was once known as The School of Architecture at Taliesin and before that, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture has made a soft landing on a wind-swept mesa in central Arizona and is thriving, despite the odds. Now known as The School of Architecture (TSOA), the school is growing roots at Arcosanti, the work/live/learn community founded by the late Paolo Soleri on a vast Arizona cattle ranch in 1970, about 65 miles north of the original school outside Scottsdale.” —[H/T Architectural Record]
