THE FABULOUS FLOATING INFLATABLE VILLA
A plastic, 900-square-foot house was seen floating around Biscayne Bay during the week
of Art Basel Miami last December. The 30-foot-tall inflatable pavilion, referred by its
designer Luis Pons as “The Fabulous Floating Inflatable Villa,” is an artistic response to
the recent surge of overindulgent real estate development and its toll on the city’s architecture.
Pons claims an influx of Palladian “McMansions” is washing upon the shores of
Miami, characterized by a predictable use of columns, arches, keystones, and the occasional
flying buttress. The villa was kept pumped up by a generator and transported by
a flatbed barge throughout Art Basel. Produced by Inflatable Concepts (who else?), the
villa is set to sail to France and Italy this summer in time for the Venice Biennial, often
thought to be sinking under its own weight too!
www.luisponsd-lab.com
A BIOGRAPHICAL LANDSCAPE
The photography Stephen Shore is best known for—his large-format
color prints of everyday urban American landscapes—is on a new worldwide
tour. Organized by Aperture Foundation,
The Biographical Landscape:
1968–1993 exhibition, to appear next at the Worcester Art Museum
in Massachusetts (March 26–June 24), is designed to “remind viewers how
their sense of vision changes quickly because of photography.” As the first
living photographer to have a one-man show at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art (1971), Shore was influential. His dispassionate aesthetic has
been co-opted by several artists since his days photographing Andy Warhol’s
Factory, but today the extended collection (approximately 120 images
of lonely-looking gas stations and parking lots) doesn’t seem worthy
of yet another 15 minutes of fame.
www.worcesterart.org
THE SOURCE OF VICTORIA'S SECRET
What does the design of today’s lingerie say about our
culture? Based on the mediocre but lucrative line of undergarments
sold at the ubiquitous chain Victoria’s Secret,
one may say our culture lacks imagination or want
of high-quality design. However, the curators of the
exhibit
Lingerie: Secrets of Elegance, at the Phoenix Art
Museum until April 9, believe there’s more to contemporary lingerie than meets the ogling mall
flower eye. To prove their theory of lingerie’s growing impact on culture, to the bottom line, so
to speak, as an accessory to prêt-à-porter, they’ve selected examples of historical lingerie from the
museum’s permanent collection (linen corsets, embroidered waistcoats, silk teddies) to track the
industry’s aesthetic, economic, and technological advances. It’s a field trip the remaining cast of
Bravo’s
Project Runaway could benefit from.
www.phxart.org
FLOATING LIKE A BUTTERFLY
Touted as an international cultural
and educational center
(in Louisville, Ky.), the recently
revealed Muhammad
Ali Center irrefutably conveys
the “Greatest” heavyweight
champ’s values and milestones. Inside and outside
the 93,000-square-foot multiplex (10 theaters,
a boxing ring, and 50 interactive kiosks)
visitors can’t sidestep Muhammad’s mug—it’s
plastered everywhere. Hotshot New York architectural
firm, Beyer Blinder Belle, worked
with fellow New Yorkers Lee H. Skolnick for
the interior, and environmental design firm
2x4 for the exterior building “wrapper”—a panoramic
pictorial tribute to the loquacious pugilist.
The overall design accurately reflects the
champ’s world-famous conceit: “It’s hard to be
humble when you’re as great as I am.” The $75
million budget also included a logo, the least
outsized aspect of the project, which features
a quiet silhouette of Ali, provided by Michael
Schwab.
www.alicenter.org
A DISASTER IN PICTURES
Americans no longer have to wait
for the aftermath of a disaster to
witness its unfathomable damage.
With live television crews responding
swiftly to scenes of catastrophe,
spectacular panoramas are
broadcast instantly. But that wasn’t
the case in 1906, the year the great
earthquake struck San Francisco.
In commemoration of the centennial,
SF MOMA is exhibiting approximately
100 photographs drawn from its collection (until May 30)
including the glass lantern slides of Arnold Genthe, whose work and studio
—save for his famous Chinatown images that had been stored in a
bank vault—were destroyed in the earthquake and resulting fire. Genthe
traveled extensively thereafter and, eerily, produced a picture book
in 1926 entitled
Impressions of Old New Orleans documenting the historic
city and its majestic architecture.
www.sfmoma.org
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