The exhibiting galleries will show a diverse collection of images by artists such as: Luiz Braga (selected to represent Brazil in the 2009 Venice Bienal), Miguel Rio Branco, Mario Cravo Neto, Caio Reisewitz, Rochelle Costi, Albano Afonso, Márcia Xavier, J.R.Duran, Claudia Jaguaribe, Claudio Edinger, Cristiano Mascaro, Daniel Senise, Thomas Farkas, Brigida Baltar, Cao Guimaraes, Cássio Vasconcello.

International photographers will include Neil Hammon (artist selected in the 2008 Venice Bienal), Marina Abramovic, Massimo Vitale, Alberto Morrel, and Richard Galpin, among others.

The participating galleries are Arte 57, H.A.P. Galeria, FASS, Galeria de Babel, Galeria Luciana Brito, Galeria Leme, Galeria Baró Cruz, Instituto Moreira Salles, Casa Triângulo, Pequena Galeria 18, Galeria Millan, Galeria Nara Roesler, Galeria Oscar Cruz, Zipper, Galeria de Gavea, the online gallery Motor, and from New York, Bonni Benrubi, and the new 1500 Gallery.

SP-ARTE/Foto is a cultural initiative, sponsored by Iguatemi, São Paulo and launched in 2007, that aims to present the public with photography that goes beyond journalistic witnessing, beyond the iconographic register of classic photography, and beyond its value as a medium to show its importance as a contemporary cultural expression – allowing people a chance to become acquainted with, and have a deeper understanding of, the trends in contemporary photography, as well as providing a platform for individuals to create a personal dialogue with the medium while giving greater exposure to Brazilian galleries and their featured artists.

Iguatemi currently manages eleven strategically placed shopping centers in Brazil; located in Rio de Janeiro, Campinas, Sorocaba, São Carlos, Florianópolis, Porto Alegre, Caxias do Sul and its flagship in São Paulo – which attracts over 1.6 million visitors a month and includes Brazil’s largest number of luxury stores, including Gucci, Christian Louboutin, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Ermenegildo Zegna, Bulgari, Salvatore Ferragamo, Missoni, Diane von Furstenberg and many more. Known for providing its clientele with a comprehensive shopping experience that brings together the world’s finest luxury brands, Brazilian designers, dining, entertainment, art and exceptional customer service, Iguatemi has become one of the largest, full service companies in Brazil’s shopping center sector. A pioneer of indoor shopping in Latin America, Iguatemi opened its flagship Iguatemi São Paulo in 1966 making it the first shopping center in Brazil. Iguatemi currently has five shopping centers under development including Brasilia, opening in March 2010.

        

“Like Lexus, Tumi has exceptional brand heritage in performance and function, and the highest level of excellence in design,” said Jerome Griffith, president and chief executive officer for Tumi.  “We are excited about the partnership with Lexus because it will further communicate Tumi’s reputation for outstanding quality and craftsmanship.”

The unique line of Tumi cases for the LFA supercar has a hybrid construction, and is styled using components that are directly related to the appearance of the car. Never before have a hard shell, aluminum and carbon fiber-like material, been used in this manner to execute special cases.  The custom sizes enable the pieces to be easily packed and lifted from the cargo area.  Each case is designed with a distinct purpose.  The smaller “concourse” piece is proportioned to fit the essentials for track racing, including gloves and shoes, or items for a quick getaway.  The larger “coastal” case is for longer trips when a change of clothes is required. Each piece has an asymmetrical retractable handle and shoulder strap as well as non-skid feet, which hold the luggage in place while the car is in motion.

“The LFA’s unparalleled, hand-built quality dovetails with Tumi’s dedication to creating excellence,” said Dave Nordstrom, Lexus vice president of marketing.  “The custom luggage enhances the LFA experience and demonstrates Lexus’ dedication to making each encounter with the brand memorable.”

Initial deliveries of the Lexus LFA begin in January 2011. LFA production is limited to 500 units worldwide, each being hand-assembled, with approximately 20 scheduled for production each month.

        

Fascinated by rock music and infatuated with the look of contemporary rock chicks; BLLACK NOIR designs for the looks and sounds of the new generation.

Taking inspiration from a new rock nobility the BLLACK NOIR SS11 collection is designed around tight leather juxtaposed against softly colored feminine silk prints and sharp tailored suiting with broken glass adornments for the change from beach to club.

Summers of rock festivals inspired a dominant part of BLLACK NOIR SS11, worn out jerseys in pigment dyes; sun bleached leather in faded whites and heavy embellished eco t-shirts reflects the rays of the sun. Hooded jerseys and sweats protect against the weather and oozes of coolness and gives sportswear a revival in the rock styling.

Going from day into night; club suiting with metallic shimmer delivers discipline and sexy foil printed leather sets the scene for the evening in flirtatious, razor sharp silhouettes.

Futuristic cut-lines on leggings adorned with leather details juxtaposing organic and fair traded soft cottons out of Africa, creating silhouettes inspired by second hand bargains; offering a modern rock look.

Slightly transparent fabrics allow for triangular, futuristic prints to expose sun kissed skin. Cotton, jersey and leather shorts expose the legs revealing lightning bolts and access to back stage.

Colors of the collection range from dirty whites, mellow yellows, soft rose nuances and air blues. Flirting with bright shades of tropical aqua green and kissable pink lip shades, set of against dramatic black, steely grey and a myriad of shiny silver colors.

Rock is forever; rock music from past, present and future will always inspire BLLACK NOIR.

        

Over the last ten years, Trafalgar Square has become a platform for innovation and experimentation in the arts, with its famous fourth plinth becoming a setting for a sequence of contemporary artworks by Anthony Gormley, Thomas Schütte and the square itself for Installations by Tom Dixon and Jaime Hayon during the London Design Festival. This year’s installation looks to challenge the notions of technology and media that have swiftly become part of our daily lives with a project unlike anything ever seen on the Square before.

OUTRACE is a popup factory; a temporary production facility for writing holographic messages. Visitors to Trafalgar Square and a remote global public can take control over eight magnificent robotic tentacles by logging onto the project website with a mobile device or computer and broadcasting a short text message which is then ingeniously transcribed as real-time light traces.

The powerful light heads attached to the synchronized mechanical arms make use of LED technology from the Audi R15 TDI racecar, winner of this year’s 24h of LeMans. The heads trace letters in the air with spectacular precision and elegant determination. As a user’s message is drawn, the light trace is simultaneously recorded through a system of high definition, long-exposure cameras, encoded as a video and relayed back to be shared across social media.

Weisshaar and Kram allow visitors a glimpse into Audi’s 21st century automotive manufacturing processes by relocating technology from its everyday context behind factory walls to London’s most public square. Within our midst the robots become mighty ambassadors from a foreign land that produce the goods we use and the cars we drive.

The designers and programmers of KRAM/WEISSHAAR, renowned for their cutting-edge collaborations and work with the latest technological tools, spent nearly three months with a team of Audi’s automation and robotics experts developing the systems driving OUTRACE. The process, both painstakingly meticulous and inspirational, unquestionably pushes the boundaries of design in the 21st century.

OUTRACE will operate daily from September 17 – 23, during the London Design Festival in Trafalgar Square.

        

The new design for the space was inspired by the materials and the clean modern architecture of the Claud Beelman building in which it resides. The bright magenta high-gloss lacquer cabinetry in contrast with the dark green marble floor is a nod to the iconic Valdimir Kagan furniture in the hotel’s lobby. A mural by National Forest(www.nationalforest.com), a Los Angeles design studio, was installed on the glass wall that separates The Shop from the lobby. The mural references Los Angeles’ orange grove beginnings and consists of images of the downtown skyline, landmarks and a dose of “psychedelica.”

In this carefully curated space visitors immerse themselves in Standard culture and sample the best of Los Angeles design without battling the traffic. The Standard’s collaborations with musicians, designers and visual artists have recently given birth to Mimobots flash drives, the Quiksilver x Standard bikini and boardshort collection, Artist scarves, Michael Motorcycle prints and WOW artist towels with Peter Doig and Yoshitomo Nara. Handbag designer Clare Vivier is creating a limited edition clutch to celebrate The Shop’s reopening.

The Shop is located at 550 South Flower at Sixth Street and is open Monday through Saturday from 9am-9pm and Sunday from 11am-7pm.

        

In recent years, I have been studying the essence that human beings would sense. It is neither arranging nor minimizing the forms, but integrating the phenomena and the low of the nature into the design, and see how it would affect and inspire ourselves.  Because I believe there is a hint for the future somewhere in-between the essence of the design and the nature, I would like to pursue designing  works with this aspect.

The Snow is a 15-meter-wide dynamic installation.  Seeing the hundreds kilograms of light feather blown all over and falling down slowly, the memory of the snowscape would lie within people’s heart would be bubbled up.  This work would show unimaginable beauty by capturing the irregular movement of the nature. This is designed after the installation in 1997 that expressed the “snow” by the concept of the color “white”.

■ What kind of materials did you use?

The material is feather, which I believe is the lightest material of the present day.  The snowscape created with the feather would be more like the memory of snow lying with people rather than the actual snow.

■ The “Waterfall” will be exhibited to the public for the first time in Japan. Please tell us about this work.

“Waterfall” is  the world’s largest optical glass table created after the “Chair that disappears in the rain,” undertaken for the Roppongi Hills in 2002.  The work is created with a 4.8-meter huge optical glass, which is the material also used for the space shuttle. It overwhelms the audience by its appearance that seems as if the water falls energetically off a sheer cliff.

■ Do you consider your new work as design or art?

I believe everything related to the creation, not only art and design but also even fields like science and cuisine, will be discussed on the same stage due to the globalization of today.  In this belief, I do not think I need to clarify if my works are art or design.  I always have solid idea of what I would like to express first rather than having the category, then let it free to be categorized by each viewer.  What is the most important to me is not my work to fit into one specific category but to inspire or talk to people’s heart.

■ The theme of the exhibition is to rethink the Japanese perception of nature, which is to question how the unconscious power to sense the nature and the value of nature in Japan would affect the contemporary art and design. What is the value of nature that you believe?

I do not really know about the value of nature in Japan, but what I would like to do is not to reproduce the nature but to know how human senses function when experiencing nature.  The most beautiful things I believe in this world is what is irreproducible, accidentally born, and disorder that cannot be understood by the theory. I believe the nature is the ultimate beauty in this world.  The sunlight, soft breeze, and the harmony that leaves create, the variety of the essence in the nature touches our emotions. I intend not to reproduce them, but to pick the element that inspires our heart and integrate it into the deign.

Sensing Nature
Place: Mori Art Museum
Date: 2010. July 24.~ November 7.
Tokujin Yoshioka Design

        

“When I step into one of Matthew’s dresses I feel like I am stepping into his world, which is colourful, ethereal and dreamlike.”– Sienna Miller

From a creative teenager’s outrageously decorated bedroom, to an innovative, international multi-million dollar empire, MATTHEW WILLIAMSON offers a unique insight into the life of one of the most original and exciting designers working today.

This lavishly illustrated monograph celebrates Williamson’s color-drenched creations embellished with exquisite embroidery and beading. Photographs of Williamson’s textile designs, celebrity fashion shoots, and mood boards, sketches and scrapbooks reveal his influences and inspirations. A personal and reflective introduction by the designer is followed by fashion historian Colin McDowell’s revealing text, providing historical and cultural context to the editorial pages highlighting Williamson’s collections. Each chapter opens with a note from industry style setters and key players on the success of the brand, including Alexandra Shulman, Editor of British Vogue, and Joseph Velosa, Williamson’s closest friend, partner, and CEO.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Colin McDowell is a fashion historian and critic who has written numerous books, including Galliano and Ralph Lauren: The Man, the Vision, the Style (Rizzoli 2003). Sienna Miller is an actress, model, and fashion icon.

Release date: October 2010.  Click here for more information.

        

Power is a neo-classical video tableau, a single continuous camera move from an extreme close up of Mr. West gradually revealing an epic composition showing characters and creatures surrounding him in an abstract environment – all moving in extreme slow motion. Inspired by Michelangelo’s frescos in the Sistine Chapel, the piece depicts a faux historical moment – an empire on the brink of collapse from its own excess, decadence and corruption.

Brambilla explains, “my aim was to set the Sistine Chapel frescos in motion and populate it with characters symbolizing power in all its forms.” The mostly-nude icons (including models Diandra Forrest, Jessica White, and Irina Shayk) reference imagery from almost every historical era, surrounding Kanye in an orgy of decadence and destruction. Mr. West’s place at the center of the universe seems to be in a precarious state in Brambilla’s video work. “Nihilism is part of the message Kanye wanted to convey and a theme that is strongly present in his music and lyrics, so I made that feeling larger-than life using a familiar composition and borrowing heavily from the old masters.”

In making Power, Mr. Brambilla has evolved the video collage technique he created for his epic 2009 video installation, Civilization (commissioned by hotelier André Balazs for The Standard, New York). The imagery for Power was shot specifically for the piece and has been layered to create compelling new narratives and stunning visual mosaics. With exquisite technical production and seamless editing, Brambilla’s multi-layered tableaux of interconnecting images and looped video blend into an expansive landscape that forms his hallmark style.

Marco Brambilla is a Milan-born New York based video artist whose work has been exhibited in major private and public collections including the Guggenheim Museum, the San Francisco Museum Museum of Modern Art, and the New Museum of Contemporary art. His 2008 installation, “Cathedral” was showcased during the Toronto International Film festival. In 2007, his work on “Destricted” was screened at the Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals. In 2009 he was commissioned to create video works for Sixth Sense parfums and Muse magazine and his most recent major work, “Civilization” is on permanent view at The Standard Hotel in New York as well as several institutions in Europe.

Mr. Brambilla is currently working on a video work and feature film accompanying the release of Kanye West’s new album, “Dark Twisted Fantasy” and several new video works for his first major retrospective in 2011 at the Santa Monica Museum of Art.

        

Photos after the jump…

Images courtesy of: Kelly Kaminski, David Mead, Matt Ellis, Matthew Taplinger

        

This year, the Music Lounge was made possible by Carrera Sunglasses, Onitsuka Tiger Shoes, Samsung, Blue Microphones, Belvedere, Yak Pak and many more.