Art-o-mat

Ah... what a great art project; Art-o-mat takes retired cigarette vending machines and convert them to vend art, As simple as that! Instead of buying cigarettes, when you pull the knob, you get a new work of art to take home with you.
What an easy, cool way to become an art collector.







Currently, there are over 90 active machines in various locations throughout the U.S. (you can find your nearest art-o-mat machine here).
I wish this project will expand into a world-wide initiative, would love to pull the knob myself one day!!


P.S. If you are located in the US and find a Art-o-mat machine next to you, will you go and have a go and come back to share what you got? I would love to post your findings!
P.P.S. Personally, I wouldn't refuse collecting those machines themselves...

The RedBall Project in Taipei

I first heard about the RedBall Project from Mandy of 16 House (which is one of my favorite online-spots at the moment. Check it out if you haven't yet!) and was immediately blown away.
Street Art is one of the art forms I especially fond of. May it be graffiti, community projects (as in the previous post) or other interesting ideas, The act of putting your art in the streets and make it approachable and on top of that, touchable, is something I find amazing.

The RedBall Project is the brainchild of artist Kurt Perschke who bounce around the world with a 15-foot inflatable red ball.
The global art project exists as a series of temporary installations in a city over a few weeks. The work has already taken place at Syndey, Barcelona, Chicago, Korea, and England among others.

The last RedBall video comes from the ball's visit in Taipei. Have a look.

I hold some special feelings for Taipei, a city I visited many years ago for couple of weeks and extremely enjoyed, so it was a double joy to watch the video. I recognized many of the nooks and crannies the RedBall squeezed into and couldn't stop smiling at the reactions of the passersby. I can't decide what amuses me more - The people who response to the RedBall existence or the ones who simply ignore it as if it was an everyday, ordinary object that is a part of their reality.
Either way, this video and the whole RedBall project is a pure joy. I look forward to his new adventures around the world.



Photos by Chang Hsin Yeh, Yu-Cheng Hsiao (Click the photos for futher info)

Rainbow Goodness

This amazing street art/community project in Favela Santa Marta, Rio de Janeiro made happy today.

The project is a collaboration between Favela Painting and Let's Color Project that started as an initiative by Haas&Hahn, the artistic duo Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn.

Read more about the project on Let's Color Project website.


Via Oh Joy!

The Swimming Cities of Serenissima

I'm a kind of girl that gets excited very easily.

I'm noticing a koala (for the 10th time on the same day) - Wow!!
Beautiful landscapes make me emotional.
Dance performances - weepy.
I get teary when hearing songs I like on the radio (Robbie Williams's Angels? Oh, you don't want me around when it's playing...!). or on movies. or just from reading emails from people I love.
Yeah, very easy to make me excited.
Most of the things I post about make me say Wow!!!
I love it when art makes me say Wow and I guess that's what it is all about.
If it doesn't move you it doesn't worth no matter who made it or how much prestige it gained over the years right? It's got to be emotional.

I've encountered the following act just recently, much later than it was launched and for that I'm sorry. It must have been even more exciting to follow it when it was actually happening.
But better later than ever, and as I'm sure some of you haven't seen it as well, I hope it will still be considered as news... :)

But now, enough talking and lets see what it is all about!

The Swimming Cities of Serenissima was an ambitious project by the visual artist SWOON. Swoon designed a fleet of art boats built from recycled materials (you can basically say it was made from junk...), crewed by 30 fellow artists, who started their journey from the Karst region of Slovenia across the Adriatic Sea to their final destination in Venice this May and June, 2009.
In Venice, they performed the dreamy story of a drifting metropolis during the Venice Biennale, a celebrated contemporary art exhibition.

I must admit, it's the kind of acts which make me sad I'm not 20 again... (although I was never THAT cool when I was 20) and I wish I've at least met the crazy, amazing people who took part in it.

It touches so many aspects in me - the love for travel, sailing, boats, art, Italy, contemporary art, recycling and reusing, improvisation and as for these wonderful pictures - of course - photography.

Brilliant, unique and such cool photos.
I wish Swoon's next project would be ambitious enough to sail over here to Australia... Would love to see you here crazy people!!



Want more?
++ Take a look at the crew's portraits documented by the crew photographer Tod Seelie's.
++ Watch more photos from the entire project on Tod Seelie's site.
++ Read the great interview with Swoon on Arrested Motion


Photgraphy © by Tod Seelie.