Studio Proba’s Interactive Playground at the Miami Design District, and Other News

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Alex Proba’s Virtual Playground at the Miami Design District

Each winter, to celebrate Art Basel Miami Beach, the Miami Design District invites an artist to reimagine the neighborhood’s walkable passageways with a public installation. This year’s commission, called Tomorrow Land designed by Studio Proba and curated by Anava Projects, goes one step further with a virtual experience that transforms the area into a playground. Visitors not only interact with Studio Proba’s joyfully designed sculptures and seating that adorn the area’s walkways, but also place their own totems throughout the neighborhood in a dedicated app built by Enjoy the Weather. 

Built around AR technology, the app allows visitors to “collect,” digitally customize, and situate Studio Proba’s shapes throughout the neighborhood for other participants to discover. “[Tomorrow Land] is not only huge for us in terms of color and scale of our art, but especially important as it’s interactive and will get people outside, moving around the city, and contributing to a better tomorrow,” Alex Proba says. Her vibrant sculptures and spirited seating elements will also greet visitors at the entrance of Design Miami/, setting a whimsical tone for the collectible design fair’s highly anticipated 17th edition.

Visitors need a military escort to visit a new museum in the Korean Demilitarized Zone. 

An old customs facility in the Korean Demilitarized Zone has been transformed by architect Hyunjun Mihn, who designed the Museum of Modern Contemporary Art in Seoul, into the new Unimaru museum. The inaugural exhibition, “2021 DMZ Art and Peace Platform,” will showcase works by 32 artists, including Francis Alÿs, Nam June Paik, Olafur Eliasson, and Haegue Yang. “I thought maybe art could demilitarize the DMZ, maybe art could disarm, and artists could talk about more complicated issues,” says artistic director Yeon Shim Chung. Visitors must have a military escort but official tours originating in both countries are available.  

Christopher Walken deliberately destroys a Banksy artwork in a BBC comedy finale. 

In the BBC’s new comedy series, The Outlaws, a crew of misfits revitalizes a dilapidated community center in Bristol as part of their community service. One particular scene in the final episode piqued viewers’ interest when Christopher Walken’s character, Frank, paints over graffiti of a rat with the words “Banksy” over it. So was it real? “We can confirm that the artwork at the end of The Outlaws was an original Banksy, and that Christopher Walken painted over that artwork during the filming of this scene, ultimately destroying it,” says a spokesman for The Outlaws. The show will be available on Amazon Prime in the new year.

MAD Architects’ stunning new building in Denver has nature carved into its facade. 

On the heels of its unveiling of the cutting-edge Los Angeles office building,  “The Star,”  MAD Architects has released designs for a stunning residential tower in Denver. Called One River North, a descending nature trail is carved into the facade in a remarkable melding of a built and natural environment. In total, the structure will harbor 13,000 sq. ft. of open-air spaces including, a water feature, and  trail-like walkways inspired by the Colorado Landscape. “One River North is the model for how we should be living, surrounding ourselves in the natural environment, bringing nature into our homes and creating authentic, biophilic experiences coupled with modern comforts and conveniences,” says Max Collaborative co-founder Kevin Ratner, one of the project’s developers. One River North is slated for completion in 2023.  

Sean Kelly Gallery will open a permanent new space in Los Angeles next spring.

Partner and director Thomas Kelly will relocate to L.A. to lead the new gallery, which will be located in Hollywood nearby Regen Projects, Various Small Fires, and Kohn Gallery. The 10,000-square-foot space will be designed by Toshiko Mori—who previously designed the gallery’s location near Hudson Yards in New York—in collaboration with local firm Hye-Young Chung Architecture. Kicking things off will be a solo exhibition of the London artist Idris Khan. 

The Museum of Craft and Design’s latest exhibition spotlights accessible fashion.

“Mode Brut” puts accessible fashion on a pedestal, and includes contributions from Victor Molina’s studio and gallery Creativity Explored, which created four collections from 50 artists. Each artist worked with donated fabric and used clothing, often within the same garment; one jacket, for example, features an illustration by one artist and patchwork by another. “There were so many different hands involved, and each outfit has five or ten authors,” curator Ariel Zaccheo told Hyperallergic. “This is the most broadly accessible show we’ve ever mounted. Often for people with different body types, their access to fashion is limited. These artists aren’t necessarily making clothes that are out there and crazy and wacky. They want things that are wearable and make sense to the artists who helped create them.” 

Today’s attractive distractions:

It turns out that getting lost in the online vortex of LiveAuctioneers is quite easy.

These vibrant tapestries were designed specifically for those with colorblindness.

A nightclub in Glasgow is converting dancefloor body heat into renewable energy.

Spectacularly brave drone footage gets up close with an active Icelandic volcano.