Not All Artist are Starving

Unfortunately I was not able to attend the talk by Victoria Monsul so I must write about being a creative professional after graduation. Well I went to the Not All Artist Are Starving event held by HAGA and I thought I would write about that. The event consist of a collection of creative professionals who were there to share their experiences in the "real world" in a more conversational atmosphere. It wasn't a lecture really it was more of a group of professionals talking about what they do.

One of the key points that I got from them was how fluid life as a creative professional is. That is to say that you can't really plan your life out to be a certain way because opportunities arise that might steer you away from your set path into something you didn't originally picture yourself doing.

Another point is that as a creative professional you really have to market yourself and your work. The more people you know the more opportunities you have to make contacts that will last and might even someday help you in life. A lot of people were telling me how Victoria had this thing about "ringing her bell" and how that helped her meet unexpected people who would offer her jobs. I guess as a creative professional, if you want to be successful you have to be outgoing and open to let others help you.

The event was very successful and it was good to hear other people speak about post college life as a creative professional because it is a difficult career to be involved in. I learned a lot from it and am looking forward to next years.

Future Garments

The world of fashion is always fun. Although I am a girl but I think its interesting all the different looks you can create out of different fabrics and the different personalities you can take through those cloths. Unless we become a dictatorship I'm pretty sure fashion is always gonna be a profiting business, fashion will have a future.

New technologies can even make a shirt feel like a hug. When your friend wants to send you an embrace they can just call you and the shirt replicates their hug! The shirt was invented by CuteCircuit but is not completely tweaked yet.

Population Control

Population control, I'm pro it. Increasing in population means rapid decreases in food, habitat, work, etc. Maybe if there were such things as live in space station, expansion to other worlds or hydropolises. Oh wait, someone's already designed those! Giancarlo Zema Design Group has designed a series of ocean habitats so that we could expand. I wonder how they overcome tidal waves and hurricanes such...

Work

As I am getting older I am not looking forward to applying for a job... But eventually I must... So what does it mean to work for pantopicon? Strong designer DNA making you think with both your hand and your head... Ah I might look into that, maybe traineeship... sounds fun!

Patrick Gyger

Last semester I established a website for people to speak about inventions that were imagined in fiction before they were even thought of as realistic concepts. Searching thru Pantopicon I saw an interview with Patrick Gyger, director of La Maison d'Ailleurs in Switzerland. He was also one of the co managers of the European Space Agency's study on Innovative Technologies from Science Fiction for Space Applications. He had some pretty interesting things to say about the history of the future.

London Bridge is sinking

Well design is used to create things that help something else. So, the first part is to find a problem... Or to imagine one. We have to look at the future so that we can create solutions to problem that could pose problems. We all know that the artic and antarctic are melting because of global warming and this will cause Venice, London and other cities that are at sea level to flood. We have to find a solution for this.

Or, just live with it. Squint Opera came out with images of the future of London town. They were exhibited at London Architecture.

Optimistic Future

If you bring together a design future-storyteller, a biotechnologist, a policy advisor, a permaculturalist, an educator, a civil servant, an urdan designer and an architect what do you get? The power of 8. They together created Acres Green a magestic world that fits all of what they believe would help the future blossom. The project consists of imaginitive animal and plants which would each have a speficic job to do which furtherd the development of this world.

Making of the Beamer Bees from Superflux on Vimeo.

The Beauty of Nature

I was browsing Pantopicon and came across an article about this new designed oxygen radiator. It takes the fact that plants are known to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and then enhances that ability. The product was developed in 2008 and then became commercially available in 2009. I think that products like this should be more advertised. I'm one of those people who will watch prepaid ads on tv at night and will buy random things that I don't need... I would like to spend my money on something more useful like this!

It came about from a study done Kamal Meattle showcasing three plants that are good for purifying the air. It was developed by Le Laboratorie and it was showcased at the MoMa for the 2008 Design and the elastic mind.

Our Earth

We all live here but how many of use actually know much about our earth? Well thanks to the apollo mission we could see our magnificant planet as a whole. NASA uses its earth observation system to track earths changes so we are more connected to our earth. It's good that technology has advanced so far as to be able to interact with the earth. Something that might have been seen to be completely useless in the past now is completely neccessary. We need to take care of the earth as it were a child, because it is a part of us and we have to keep track that it's heart is beating.

Materials

Materials are the core of any design. The new and coming rise of the electric car requires that lithium be dug out and used to power these new type of automobiles. Sure it seems like a great idea now but we are always running out of materials and design always has to evolve to work with what is at hand.

Milan

It's interesting to look at how things might become or how they might have been... Pantopicon wrote a blog about a new book being released about Milan in 2020, about how the city might become. It was written by Stefano Boeri and speaks about three different scenarios that Milan could have.

A forgotten art

Graffiti isn't always the most appreciated form of art that there is. Surely it is art though, Its a way of expressing yourself and an easy way to showcase your work. It reminds me of anime or cartoons. something that doesn't have to necessarily be realistic but still people can relate to. Graffiti the forgotten art.

Will Ferrell

So I ran across this blog about Will Ferrell exploring things that never where made but that we had, in a way, been promised. I remember watching Jetsons or Back to the Future and thinking how awesome it was gonna be when I got my own jet pack or flying car or what not. But, it hasn't happened yet... It's 2010 people where is my jet pack? Design sometimes offers things that aren't technologically plausible yet... Is design mostly imagination?

Media Art

I was watching an ad on the television about one of X-box's new series of games which use the Kinect. It's a new device which enables you to be the controller. But this technology can be used for more gaming.

An article on Wired points out that this new software can be used to create art installations. Microsoft has begun a new era of art which involves interactivity between the art and the onlooker.

Plastic Chairs

Plastic charis on there own are pretty simple creations. When first introduced the designer would be able to mould the chair into whatever his vision. But as time passed life became more automated and it was less about the design and more about making more faster. Well this kind of ruins design.

One designer by the name of Dirk Vander Kooij programmed a machine to produce a plastic chair out of one continues long, endless, piece of plastic. He programmed the machine to outline the basic design and layer it over and over to form a 3D plastic chair. In this way the designer has control of overall design but the production of it is faster.

Endless from Dirk Vander Kooij on Vimeo.

The Future of Architecture

The Taiwan Tower Conceptual International Competition was hosted in November and brought together 237 entries from 25 different countries displaying an amazing array of unique vision and talent. Second place was given to Sir Peter Cook and Gavin Robotham of Crab studios in London. There design was named the Tower of Droplets. It incorporates steel cages which contain live algea in order to produce biofuel.

A most innovative design it makes me think of tarzan which is a good think. I like how it incorporates both organic and inorganic pieces. So, best of both worlds architectural fiction becoming reality.