A Bath called Bad

Kill Pixie’s Supreme Beings in Berlin

My fellow Germans — or anyone willing to fly to Berlin — should go check out the solo exhibition Supreme Beings by emerging Aussie artist Kill Pixie (aka Mark Whalen). His latest series of geometric paintings are on display at Berlin’s Merry Karnowsky Gallery until December 19. I’m particularly intrigued by Kill Pixie’s use of candy colours coupled with his depiction of masked puppet-like characters set in celestial and futuristic scenes. Supreme Beings meticulously ‘questions the games people are forced to play, reinterprets the universal human struggle and what will be necessary for survival in the future of our world’.

Melting ice figures in Berlin

The problem with building ice figures is that the damn things are always so determined to melt. These remarkable looking ice figures were created recently by the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness about global warming. There were 1,000 figures all up, each of which melted throughout the day on the steps of the concert hall at Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin. Read more

Blu’s Everyday Handcuffs project in Berlin

Street artist Blu is back with a series of new videos highlighting his recent large scale wall art animations, including this one above: painted by Blu in Berlin during November 2008. Read more

Floating House

This house has many facets that make it an intriguing example. First of all, it is a very aesthetically pleasing project with the use of light horizontal timbers and a clean pitched roof. Designed by MOS, an interesting design collective based in America, the secret to the Floating House is that it floats on a structure of steel pontoons. The house rises and falls with the changing waters and is frozen in place depending on the season. The steel pontoons were constructed first and towed to the lake outside the contractor’s factory and then the house was built atop of it. When finished it was towed to its position, anchored and enjoyed in its unique position. Finally, it forms a bridge between the land and an island. Wonderful!

Torre Bicentenario

Dutch uber-firm OMA, headed by Rem Koolhaas, has created this concept in Mexico City to symbolize the coming two hundred years of Mexico’s independence. There are many layers of symbolism in this building, from Mayan pyramids to which part of the building controls the park and which part controls the city, to the fact that the bulge of the building is below the centre height, and that it all happens on a relatively small footprint. Most of all, in this building there is a barely contained energy that seems near to release and it may be that this is what Torre Bicentenario represents.

Danish Building Bridge

The Danes are renowned for their considered and subtle design. However, in these times of change, they must feel they need something with this selection of a bridge building as the winner of a recent architectural competition in Denmark. The American architect Steven Holl designed this building with a pedestrian bridge that links two sides of the harbour in the distinctly low-rise Copenhagen. Read more