Julia Drouhin is a performance artist with an unusual way of hearing the world. She finds radio static ‘relaxing’, makes records out of ice and chocolate, and delights in recording the ‘mundane’ noises that surround her. Born in France, Julia’s art practice changed significantly when she moved to Tasmania in her adult life.
The landscape, soundscape and community of the isolated island inspired Julia to expand her art practice to incorporate her body, a new circle of collaborators, as well as the new sounds she encountered. Julia’s art is fuelled by a curiosity, playfulness and desire to open people’s ears to hear the world a little bit differently.
Thank you to Women of the Island for permission to publish this incredible film here.
Guest contributor and European correspondent Lara Chapman visits ‘GEO-DESIGN – Alibaba. From here to your home’ at the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven as part of a collaboration with the Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) for Dutch Design Week.
Wednesday, 7:39pm: Click. A new tab is opened. Tap tap tap. A few keys are pressed. Enter. Scroll. Select. Click. Tap tap tap. A query is typed. Ping, a reply is received. Click. An Item is added to the basket. Click. Details are autofilled. Click. *Ping*. Confirmation email is received at 7:47pm.
Friday, 10:19am: *Ding Dong.* A Door is opened. A “pen” scratches on glass. A package swaps hands.
This scenario seems unremarkable, possibly even mundane. The cycle of search, browse, purchase, repeat, is constantly taking place online. However, for research designer Martina Muzi, e-commerce is an “incredibly urgent topic”. The ease of our interaction with e-commerce platforms belies a complex and sophisticated infrastructure that is entangled with areas such as political diplomacy, psychology, logistics, algorithms and new forms of labour. E-commerce is shaping our everyday behaviours in subtle but undeniable ways. Furthermore, its forces are invisibly shifting and re-defining contemporary geopolitics.
‘Live Streaming’ by Jing He. Photography by Tommy Köhlbrugge, courtesy of Design Academy Eindhoven
At the exhibition ‘GEO-DESIGN – Alibaba. From here to your home’, nine multidisciplinary design researchers examined China’s largest e-commerce website Alibaba.com from diverse angles. Held as part of an ongoing collaboration between the Van Abbe Museum and the Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) as part of Dutch Design Week, the investigation-led project was conceived and curated by Martina Muzi and Joseph Grima. The selected designers, who are all alumni of DAE, had just two months from their briefing to the exhibition and undertook an intensive process of research, concept development and realisation. Read more →
A large metallic facade has been installed stretching over the curved surface of the first floor podium of a new building at 300 George Street in Brisbane. Kinetic artist Alexander Knox worked with Urban Art Projects (UAP) to realise the work, which is called The Sound That Light Makes.
The Sound that Light Makes by Alexander Knox. Images: UAP
Spanning 2660 square metres and comprised of over 2500 pieces of press-formed and 3D-laser-cut-aluminium, the work is designed to emulate the reflections of light on water. Read more →
When Danish ceramicist Karen Kjældgård-Larsen was in her final year of university, she had an idea for a pattern that was not only ingenious, but also would make her one of the most successful designers for historic Danish brand Royal Copenhagen.
Blue-Fluted Mega by Danish ceramicist Karen Kjældgård-Larsen. Image: Royal Copenhagen
Kjældgård-Larsen had grown up with Royal Copenhagen porcelain, in particular the classic Blue Fluted pattern her grandmother owned – this iconic pattern was designed for the Danish royal family in 1775 and is still in use today. Read more →
Three large dome-like woven structures have been installed in a seating area at Westpac’s Sydney headquarters as a physical manifestation of the bank’s Reconciliation Action Plan. Conceived and designed by Yuwaalaraay woman Lucy Simpson, these “Reflection Pods” are as part of the bank’s new interiors by the design team at Geyer, who worked with Simpson to realise her concepts.
Reflection Pods at Westpac Sydney by Lucy Simpson, Koskela and 21 Indigenous artists from the Northern Territory. Photo: Maree Homer
Initially Simpson had envisioned that local artists would weave the Reflection Pods, but in the end, the structures were woven by artists from Elcho Island Arts and Milingimbi Art and Culture thanks to a collaboration with Australian design brand Koskela. Koskela already has a history of working with the artists from Elcho Island Arts on their Yuta Badayala series of light shades. Read more →
Australian designer Flynn Talbot has designed the installation ‘Full Spectrum’ as Australia’s exhibit at this year’s London Design Biennale (4-23 September), which explores the theme of ‘emotional states’.
Flynn Talbot’s “Full Spectrum” at London Design Biennale, Somerset House. Photo: Mark Cocksedge
Responding to the outpouring of love and positive emotion from last year’s Marriage Equality vote and legalisation in Australia, Talbot has created a circular screen of rainbow colours made with 150 hanging fibre optic strands. Read more →
There is no doubt that the world of architecture and interiors has been under the calming, ordered influence of modernism and minimalism for a long time. Especially in Australia, the majority of designers prefer clean lines, simple colour palettes and form follows function – there’s even a magazine about it. But if you sometimes like breaking rules and shaking things up a bit, Maximalism may give you the licence to follow your patterned dreams.
Maximalism is a direct response to Minimalism – it layers bold pattern and colour on top of each other. Fabulously expressive, Maximalist interiors and designs offer the designer to get really creative – to explore play and to indulge in an orgy of extremes.
Drake Commissary in Toronto, mural by artist Alex McLeod. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
The Drake Commissary in Toronto includes the work of a number of artists in an evolving exhibition called “Fast Forward”. Most spectacular is a huge mural by artist Alex McLeod called Ancient Hills, which spans 10+ metres and depicts an incredible fantasy landscape created using 3D modelling tools. Other works include textile works, sculptural pieces and video art.
There’s nothing quite like a whiskey bar – it conjures images of smoky rooms, timber-lined walls, leather furniture, and of course, damn fine whiskey. Sydney’s The Doss House fits this criteria (apart from the smoky air, which is probably best) and adds some more.
A fireplace at a whiskey bar – The Doss House, designed by Buck & Simple. Photo: Tom Ferguson
Design studio Buck and Simple is responsible for the interiors, which reference the building’s past as an opium den, gambling house, bootmaker and boarding house dating back to the 1840s in the historic precinct of The Rocks. Read more →
Checking into this hotel is a unique experience. Each room features a different design, with distinctive colours, textures, objects and even layouts, creating and evoking various moods – and you get to choose which one to stay in. Are you feeling playful today or quiet? Artistic or minimalist? Do you want to keep company with an expressionist artwork or would you rather luxuriate in a fake fur bed spread? Do you want to be enveloped by a sexy all-black room or transported to Africa?
Rita Velour room, designed by Amber Road, Collectionist Hotel, Sydney. Photo: Terence Chin
The Collectionist Hotel in Camperdown, Sydney, is the brainchild of entrepreneurs Daniel Symonds and Toby Raphael. Symonds was inspired by a car hire process in the US that allowed him to inspect the various vehicles for hire first. At The Collectionist, this opportunity to select your own room yourself puts the guest in the driver’s seat (so to speak).
The earlier you check in, the more options there are, with open doors to rooms that are available and hangers on the door indicating the different categories you can choose from (determined by price). When you select your room, you let your friendly concierge know, and are welcome to enjoy a free drink from the bar on the ground floor – a small nook with distinctive stone walls and floors and a neon sign that says “I hope this looks good online”. Read more →
Guest contributor and European correspondent Lara Chapman visits ‘Coded Nature’ by Studio Drift at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
The audience is sporadically positioned around the gallery, hypnotised by the kinetic sculptures performing their entrancing, electrical dance. The 10 flower-like silk structures drop from the ceiling, opening their textile bodies , then retract suddenly upwards, closing. They pause. Sometimes they move separately, at other times together. They are irregular in their speed and pauses, seemingly autonomous. In an indefinite interval, in which all the structures are motionless, I lean towards my friend and whisper, “Wow! It is so satisfying to watch”. Looking around the room I know that this feeling is unanimous. Each person is silently engrossed. “You’ve said that in every room!” my friend replies.
Shylight Zaalopname, Studio Drift: Coded Nature, 2018, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Collection Studio Drift, Amsterdam. Photo: Gert Jan van Rooij
Why is all the work of Studio Drift so satisfying? It could be the level of detail and delicateness in every piece. The small surprises. The fine craftsmanship. But overall, I think it is the sense of slowness and calm that strikingly contrasts our high speed world that makes the exhibition so enjoyable. Read more →
