The Accidental Curator

Mobile Art

 

The “Chanel Contemporary Art Container”, a touring space age pavilion, has recently anchored a spot in Hong Kong. The pavilion is an all encompassing environment that uses architecture, technology and the senses to transport the participant into a different space and provide a new space for people to interact.

The exterior of the exhibit looks like a futuristic weather cloud, deflated and superimposed onto our own, more mundane, cityscape. The cold and mysterious gives way to an interior that remains plush and organic, the space invites the public on a journey through luxurious wonderment, its easy to see Chanel’s stamp of approval on such a project.

The “Art Container” is one of 20 artworks commissioned by Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld for the Mobile Art exhibition, all artworks are inspired by the iconic Chanel bag. The pavilion is open to the public until the fifth of April.

http://www.dezeen.com/2008/03/13/chanel-contemporary-art-container-by-zaha-hadid/

Models Unite

Models in Britain are banding together to form a union that would give them the same protection as actors in order force the fashion industry to adopt “clearer and fairer working rights.” Models often follow the industries unspoken rule to be seen but not heard for fear that their agencies will drop them if they speak out against the treatment they are receiving. Treatment that includes but is not limited to, long hours without breaks, no say in nude shoots and the application of toxic materials to their bodies. Perhaps the industries cruel behavior towards its own can most visibly seen in recent years as the “size zero trend” has become the norm, with consequences that have models dying on the catwalk

The gaunt, blank eyed, anonymous model that has captured the hearts and minds of designers recently has left me nostalgic for the bombshell supermodels of the nineties. These models were curvy, sexy and powerful, becoming celebrities in their own right. So what happened? Why don’t we want to celebrate women that look healthy? Why instead are we forcing models to put their health in jeopardy in order to look like a holocaust victim? Is it the waning soul of a fat and overindulgent society? Perhaps the anguish felt by the world as we pillage its natural resources and assault its people? Or maybe it’s just that the increasingly homogeneous designer is afraid that their models might become a little more interesting than they are. Whatever it is it can be sure that the treatment we give our models is as much a representation of the ugly side of fashion as it is the society that consumes and celebrates it.

http://fashionista.com/2007/12/models_unionize.php

 

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article3241922.ece

 

Soul of Africa

Soul of Africa is a self-sustaining organization that creates employment and training to unskilled women in areas of Africa most affected by the AIDS epidemic. Initiated and sponsored by Clarks England and Froggie, this program helps to educate women and teaches them new skills, such as how to hand stitch leather soccer balls and shoes, the proceeds of these products help to fund organizations that assist in helping the women and orphaned children in these disadvantaged areas.  All of the women are paid fair trade wages for their labor and the soccer ball produced carries health awareness messages that the children can observe and learn from. The goal of Soul of Africa is "€œto enable the local villagers to make and or repair the product whilst improving the developing community life."

Every other week I will highlight a worthy charity that uses production as a means to empower and educate disadvantaged communities around the world. In a time when much of our consumer products are manufactured using socially irresponsible business practices, it is important to realize that big business can be a vehicle for positive global change, and as citizens of the planet we have a right and responsibility to demand a higher moral standard from the corporations that outfit our lives.

http://www.soulofafrica.org.za/Home.htm

Get Green with Brad

Brad Pitt's new environmental pet project, "Make It Right" (MIR), assembled a team of fourteen world-renowned architecture firms from across the globe to fabricate affordable and sustainable homes for the victims of hurricane Katrina. 150 such homes are slated to be built for low-income residents of New Orleans most devastated quarter, the Lower 9th Ward. Pitt hopes that the MIR project will encourage other architectural firms to help rebuild the Big Easy.

http://makeitrightnola.org/index.php

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/12/more_on_brad_pi.php

The Beautiful Arctic

LIMA (Land Image Mosaic of Antarctica) has just released new high definition images of Antarctica. The coldest piece of real estate on the planet has recently been hotly contested by key global players like Argentina, Chile and the United Kingdom as they vie for the black gold that could be sleeping underneath Antarctica's icy exterior. This old fashioned land grab comes at a time when much of the land is compromised and scientists warn that the Arctic could seem a little less chilly as of late due to climate change, tough times for a region that contains 90 percent of the worlds ice. LIMA hopes that images like this one along with on going scientific polar research will help the general public to visualize the climate changes in Antarctica's southernmost environment as well as highlight the beauty of this threatened land.

http://lima.usgs.gov/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article2859366.ece