Graphic designer Kenya Hara is involved in communication projects in a wide range of disciplines, and has won many awards (icograda Excellence Award, Mainichi Design Award 2000, icsid Design Excellence Award, Tokyo Art Directors Club Grand Prix Award, Kodansha Publication Culture Award, Hiromu Hara Award, Yusaku Kamekura Design Award and the Japan Culture and Design Award). His work is deeply rooted in Japanese culture: he was involved in product design to promote Japanese sake and rice, as well as integrated design ranging from space design to graphic design for the Ginza Matsuya department store renewal project in Tokyo. By focusing on tactile perception in the Umeda Clinic signage system, he presented the possibility of a new communication format. As a producer of exhibitions such as the Macaroni Exhibition of Architects and RE-Design: The Daily Product of the 21st Century, Hara has helped direct our attention towards everyday products. Along with several awards for book designs, Hara has established his reputation through his outstanding ad campaigns for muji. In 2008, Hara’s vision of design was published by Lars Müller in Designing Design. Kenya Hara is a representative of the Nippon Design Center Inc. and professor at the Musashino Art University.
Kenya Hara (born 1958) is a Japanese graphic designer and curator. Hara is art director of Muji since 2001 and designed the opening and closing ceremony programs of the Nagano Winter Olympic Games 1998.
Kenya Hara has published “Designing Design”, in which he elaborates on the importance of “emptiness” in both the visual and philosophical traditions of Japan, and its application to design. In 2008, Hara partnered with fashion label Kenzo for the launch of its men's fragrance Kenzo Power.
Let me tell you what I'm all excited about today. I became a father last Friday - but you knew that I assume, wiiihaaaaauuuuw... (I'll update that part in a next post though) Anyway 'because' of this new occupation I've locked myself out of the organizing part of the Twestival last 10 or so days. Thus my involvement will be much lower than previously indicated. Anyhow, I attended a lunch meeting with the @BRUTwestival group today.
We had lunch in the Cook&Book and although their website sucks big time and is written in only french... I so-o-o love the place. Adorable. My book fetish wet dream. Cook&Book is a full range bookstore (with a fair amount of hard to find art&design books on their shelves) combined with a wine&dine (not the best restaurant you'll be attending in the Brussels area but they'll present you a menu with a varied range of options and the dishes carefully served). It's almost as if you are having lunch with the books, love it. You are allowed to take the books from their shelves and flick through them as you await your order.
Being there for lunch with about 5 or 6 other excited Tweeters was one thing, being surrounded with books of all kinds another. I was pleased to hear that the organization of the event was in full development. Nice. I felt pretty relaxed since I've done nothing but being a father and pouring out champagne for the last several days. The meeting kicked off with everybody giving up the good news one by one. Funny. As some people kept on rattling on about everything they'd done so far. Off course organizing such an event isn't all sun where the shining is. The practicals the practicals the practicals...
Anyway after going back and forth cross several practical issues. We also talked about some questions that arose as we talked about it with people from outside the organization. Questions that need answers before we really get you fire started. The Belgian Twestival organization has agreed on one clear stance: it is definitely NOT about Twitter. Sure Twitter is the social glue. Twitter is the way we connected. Twitter is the way this group found each other. So thank you Twitter, and euh thank you Evan Williams or anyone. But our goal for this Twestival is helping people out.
The focus is NOT HOW the people that want to help, do charity, connect but WHY they want to help. And they want to help because they believe that clean water is a basic need for everybody. And anyone should have free access to it. A group of people that connect because they have a mutual interest, because they fight for the same cause. In this case that cause translates in fundraising for people who are living, or is that: trying to stay alive, without decent clean water facilities.
Most of us have never really been thirsty. We’ve never had to leave our houses and walk 5 miles to fetch water. We simply turn on the tap, and water comes out. Clean. Yet more than 1.1 billion people on the planet don’t have clean water. It’s hard to imagine what a billion people looks like really, but one in six might be easier. One in six people in our world don’t have access to the most basic of human needs. Something we can’t imagine going 12 hours without. It’s hard not to think about water today. In the western world, we face growing concerns about our stewardship of the world’s most precious resource. There’s talk of shortages, evidence of reservoirs and aquifers drying up, and of course, plenty of people who simply don’t care.
So in short Twestival is a fund raising event. Organized by people that connected via Twitter. The non-profit Twestival supports is called charity:water. Charity: water is a non-profit bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Scott Harrison, the founder of the organization, made his living in the big Apple. Promoting top nightclubs and fashion events, for the most part living selfishly, thoughtlessly. Unhappy, he desperately needed a change in his life... And so the story goes.
Oh and what about the Twestival then? Why the Twitter community stuff? Well in September 2008, a group of Tweeters based in London UK decided to organize an event where the local Twitter community could meet offline, meet the faces behind the avatars, enjoy some entertainment, have a few drinks and tie this in with a food drive and fund raising effort for a local homeless charity. The bulk of the event was organized in under two weeks, had close to 300 people in attendance (with a waiting list) and was able to do some good for charity in the process.
Please note that no one working on the Twestival is being paid. All the money goes to the charity. All costs are covered by sponsorships.
So thank you: ATTENTIO, BIZNESSENCE, NEW EUROPE and TARGET RECRUITMENT for being so kind to contribute, and thus support this project. But if you'll allow me — sorry can't hold myself down — please guys, talk to someone for a decent design on your websites or strategy of your online presence because the stuff I just saw clicking to your homepages makes me sick/. Sorry, again, I'm too honest.
Luc Derycke has an educational background in the arts, and works as a book editor and graphic designer. Since 1993, he has concentrated on the design and production of art books, thus establishing his international reputation. His aim is to create a perfect fusion between all aspects involved in the creation of a book: along with content and form, institutional and historical context, the relation to the canons, market, budget, technology and materiality are essential components of his design process. In 2005, he founded mer. Paper Kunsthalle, to investigate the notion of books as mental exhibition spaces. Dutch spoken
Kim Hiorthøy is a graphic designer and illustrator from Norway. He is perhaps best known for his work for the Rune Grammofon label, for which he has made over 80 covers. Hiorthøy studied fine art at academies in Trondheim and Copenhagen, and studied film briefly in New York before beginning a freelance career, starting out by illustrating many children’s books. In 2000, he began releasing music on Smalltown Supersound, for which he has also designed many sleeves. He has worked for clients such as Drag City, Sony Music, Adidas and mtv. Tree Weekend, a monograph of his design work, was published by Die Gestalten in 2000. English spoken
Wednesday 28 January 2009 Venue Beursschouwburg A. Ortsstraat 20 – 28 1000 Brussels 02 550 03 50
Tickets Tickets can be ordered at 02 550 03 50 or tickets@beursschouwburg.be
What is Twestival? Twestival is a series tweet-up’s with a social conscience - The events organised quarterly aim to bring together London’s vibrant digital media community, giving those who are normally communicating through Twitter the opportunity to meet each other face to face and build on the relationships they have made online. At the same time through corporate sponsorship and activities at the events Twestival aims to raise money for internet based charities.
Date & time: Thursday 12th February evening Venue: To be decided (Brussels)
Lars Arrhenius & Johannes Müntzing (suédois nés en 1966 et 1974) présentent ici un film d'animation dont certains extraits sont tirés sous la forme d'images montées sur caissons lumineux. Des squelettes évoluent tranquillement dans un grand magasin. Le traitement achrome est assez velouté bien que les rayons X vident les scènes de toute chair. La vanité de ces faucheuses s'oppose cruellement à l'environnement luxueux dans lequel elles apparaissent paisiblement. Les mouvements sont fluides, tout paraît feutré, mais la tension anxiogène impliquée par les choix plastiques des vidéastes ne peut s'émanciper du vocabulaire de la surveillance. On lira ensuite, comme un sous-titre orientant la lecture d'une oeuvre, qu'une ministre suédoise fut assassinée en 2003 dans un chic complexe commercial alors qu'elle étudiait l'adhésion de son pays à l'euro, unique monnaie.
This is a repost of a chronicle by Joël RIFF, it talks about current or past exhibitions in Copenhague last month. The second of a danish series of 3. I worked with Curieux for the article on MVRDV. The chronicle and blog is written in french!
Caspar David Friedrich kom aldrig til Sverige... Han blev i Danmark est le titre d'une exposition dont seul le nom du germanique peintre peut nous être de prime abord intelligible. Il s'agit en fait d'une moqueuse prise de position gentiment nationaliste prônant la paternité du romantique allemand sur la scène artistique danoise alors que c'est la suédoise qui paraît la revendiquer. Nous restons étranger à cette querelle indigène mais profiterons de la démonstration développée pour approcher une production, scandinave dirons-nous, influencée de manière plus ou moins explicite par l'aura de Caspar David Friedrich. On s'amuse alors à chercher les filiations, remarquant des préoccupations propres à la relation au paysage ou relevant la redondance du motif de la ruine.
Crédit photographique : *Carl Henrik Tillberg, **Johann Bergenholtz et ***Anders Sune Berg. Exposition avec Lennart Alves, Ola Billgren, Ann Böttcher, Leonard Forslund, Denise Grünstein, Truls Melin, Lars Nilsson, Jan Håfström et Håkan Rehnberg terminée à la Kunsthal Charlottenborg à Copenhague
Lars Nilsson, Ascending, 510x344x604cm, 2008
Jan Håfström, Den eviga återkomsten, 2003*
Denise Grünstein, Figur i landskab 2, 100x250x25cm, 2001
Jan Håfström, Skogsaltare, 1969**
Håkan Rehnberg, Das Grosse Gehege Bel Dresden, 2008***
This is a repost of a chronicle by Joël RIFF, it talks about current or past exhibitions in Copenhague last month. The second of a danish series of 3. I worked with Curieux for the article on MVRDV. The chronicle and blog is written in french!
Christin Johansson (suédoise née en 1974) dispose une collection d'objets dont je n'ai pas encore su élucider clairement le statut. Le contexte est clinique et la communication affichée frise la caricature de l'entreprise miracle. Dès l'entrée, un comptoir accueil le visiteur en proposant sur une coupelle des sucreries suspectes. Je n'ai rencontré aucun humain pour m'orienter et c'est donc esseulé que je parcours le linoléum blanc pour découvrir une succession d'éléments sanitaires en céramique pastelle. Les potentiels usages des prototypes exposés se devinent en essayant de projeter son propre corps dans une configuration où l'objet en question serait nécessaire, comme si l'on débarquait dans la salle de bains d'une étrangère culture avec un besoin hygiénique refusant toute hésitation.
Exposition Sanited med Identitet terminée chez Køppe à Copenhague www.drud-koppe.com
This is a repost of a chronicle by Joël RIFF, it talks about current or past exhibitions in Copenhague last month. The second of a danish series of 3. I worked with Curieux for the article on MVRDV. The chronicle and blog is written in french!
Ulrik Weck (danois né en 1972) propose un ensemble de pièces attendues mais plaisantes, lettres agencées, phrase en néon et photographies souriantes qui s'attachent à bousculer une approche du texte. Je me suis hasardé dans son exposition pensant qu'il s'agissait de la réserve de la galerie, rassemblement hétéroclite mais lisse d'art contemporain, jusqu'à ce que j'arrive à ses bibliothèques de planches de bois, installations aux multiples échos, qui ne me lassent pourtant pas. Sur des étagères standardisées sont alignées des chutes forestières glanées dans les poubelles des bricolos. Du mutisme littéraire au rappel matériel, ce commentaire formalisé sur la place qu'occupe le livre dans notre société en voie de numérisation m'émeut systématiquement.
Library 2, 170x170x33cm, étagère, bois trouvé, 2008
This is a repost of a chronicle by Joël RIFF, it talks about current or past exhibitions in Copenhague last month. The second of a danish series of 3. I worked with Curieux for the article on MVRDV. The chronicle and blog is written in french!
This is a repost of a chronicle by Joël RIFF, it talks about current or past exhibitions in Copenhague last month. The second of a danish series of 3. I worked with Curieux for the article on MVRDV. The chronicle and blog is written in french!
København #2 : Pressemeddelelse Nous poursuivons notre triptyque danois par ce deuxième volet qui s'attardera davantage dans les quartiers pittoresques. Partant du Børsgraven puis du Nyhavn, canaux animant le centre-ville et bordés d'édifices historiques et de maisonnettes aux frontons colorés, nous remonterons la Bredgade, majeur axe rectiligne et désuet investit par les antiquaires, reliant le cœur urbain au Kastellet, citadelle au pied de laquelle est échouée den Lille Havfrue, la Petite Sirène, pas aussi ridicule que le disent les ragots, triste figure mélancolique isolée sur un industriel horizon portuaire fumant. Tout le parcours est bien-sûr ponctué de manifestations participant à la délimitation de cette scène copenhagoise que nous cherchons à appréhender, stimulée tant par des artistes internationaux que des natifs locaux et élargie dans ce numéro au design et à l'architecture. Notre mot de la semaine accompagnant l'intitulé de cette chronique, malgré l'évidence de son préfixe, demeure fantastique lorsqu'il est prononcé par l'employé d'accueil d'un lieu d'exposition et est à traduire par communiqué de presse.
A little anecdote celebrating blogpost number 1001, ever since may 3rd 2006 the beginning of this blog, I've never posted anything about my passion for our national sport: SOCCER. As a child I was full of it, only thing I could think about was soccer, but anyway let's call it football from now on... Starting my football-career at Club Brugge K.V. and migrated to K.S.V.Jabbeke because of new team structures in the youth leagues when I was about the age of 12 (Brugge cut from 3 teams, local-district-national per age to only 2 teams district-national) I also played at K.W.S.Oudenburg and V.K.Ettelgem for just 1 year. Nothing much to be dazzled from but still.
As a kid I always got footballpresents from my dad, including an AJAX shirt! I was a major VanBasten fan.. anyway my brother in law is a huge PSV Eindhoven fan and as the Champions League season is on it's way once again I travelled to Eindhoven with him to watch them beat Marseille. Unfortunatly I mistakenly told some friends of him, diehard fans, that I have an AJAX-shirt in my closeth... frankly they all snapped berserk. And now I'm obligated to ritually burn my AJAX-shirt nex Champions League game against Liverpool F.C.
And thus I wanted to flag the shirt one last time (see image)
Circles are sized by the number of medals that countries won in summer Olympic Games. Use the slider to view past Olympics, or click on a country to display a list of its medal winners.
Work was serious fun today at Koen's atelier - naughty naughty stylist girl Britt ... btw nice crispy website from Group94. Koen's newyears-card - just done shitting in the woods forrester - is my personal favorite.
There are only 63 days left to a MadinSpain conference. Event site has been done and released today by group94. You can still buy a ticket, so if you have planned a trip to Madrid be sure to get one soon! This years lineup is looking really sweet - Farfar, AKQA, Brand New School among others.
Except presentations there will be also an exclusive artwork exhibition created by 10 invited studios and artists from all over the world including us - hooray!
Damn, if you're having no tv it's uncomfortable following the european cup sometimes. Ok, true ... mostly I go out with some friends have a beer at a bar and watch big screen, or watch at somebodies tele. But at the beginning of the tournament I used that cool app called Zattoo. Now today I wanted to watch the semi-final bigscreen (yeahs, on my laptop thru the prooOOOoojector ah'haa) at home. But guess Zattoo was recalled for broadcasting VT4 during the cup. I'm afraid they got too many spectators since they're published article in de Morgen.
HBO Voyeur is by this the most stunning integrated winning campaign of 2008. The campaign rolled out by BBDO New York with the support of Big Spaceship
"Met droefheid in ons hart kondigen we jullie aan dat de activiteiten van Out Soon, het meest gelezen dance music & clubbing magazine van België, na zestien jaar, voorlopig worden onderbroken. Het moederbedrijf besliste, gezien de evolutie van de muziekwereld in het algemeen en de clubscene in het bijzonder, deze moeilijke beslissing te nemen.
We bedanken bij deze alle adverteerders die in ons geloofd hebben, alsook de journalisten en alle spelers in het elektronische milieu, maar vooral ook al onze lezers die met ons al die jaren dit mooie avontuur hebben beleefd."
New expo by Outlandish (oh btw if you surf to the website, never mind the thumbs, it's some kind of special encounter of harmony between the image and some grey solid)
Visited Countries is a small project demonstrating the power of manipulating the palette of a gif image on the fly. Here we start with a map of the world with each country in a different color. The script asks which country you have been to and sets the colors of those countries to red, the rest to green.
