With a soundtrack by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, artist James Nares’ STREET is an experiment in people watching with the benefit of slow motion. From the New York Times:
Mr. Nares’s 61-minute video sits in a curious place, somewhere between still and moving images. It has the uncanny look of a 3-D slide show or some hybrid of photography and film; it also calls to mind the stereographic viewers that were popular in the 19th century. Shown in slow motion, the people Mr. Nares filmed on the streets of Manhattan look like cutouts placed into deep pockets of space.
Of the project (clip shown above), Nares said, “I wanted the film to be about people. All it needed were magical moments, and there are enough of those happening every moment of any given day.”
Thanks, Tallulah, Jasper & Jenni.
If you’ve ever wanted a cabinet with secret compartments — and we’re talking about a lot of secret compartments here — then you’re going to like videos from the Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens exhibit that was at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (October 30, 2012–January 27, 2013).
One of the finest achievements of European furniture making, this cabinet is the most important product from Abraham (1711—1793) and David Roentgen’s (1743—1807) workshop. A writing cabinet crowned with a chiming clock, it features finely designed marquetry panels and elaborate mechanisms that allow for doors and drawers to be opened automatically at the touch of a button. Owned by King Frederick William II, the Berlin cabinet is uniquely remarkable for its ornate decoration, mechanical complexity, and sheer size.
In addition to the Secretary Cabinet above, there’s also a writing desk, a rolltop desk, and an automated Marie Antoinette music player.
via Doobybrain.
Commuters in Grand Central Terminal will encounter a new obstacle to making the train on time this week: 30 dancing horses.
It’s part of “Heard NY,” a site-specific performance by the Chicago artist Nick Cave, in collaboration with dancers from the Ailey School. Mr. Cave, known for his Soundsuits— costumelike sculptures that make noise as they move — has created the life-size horses out of colorful raffia. Each fits two dancers and rustles like a corn field when the herd “grazes” in Vanderbilt Hall or suddenly breaks into choreography, set to live percussion, steps from the main concourse.
The idea was to produce a dreamlike vision worth stopping for, Mr. Cave said, as people are rushing through the terminal. “You’re stopped in your tracks,” he said, “and then you do get on the train and you get home. How do you share this, how do you describe — just imagine, coming into Grand Central and you run into 30 horses? That’s when it becomes this transformative moment.”
From The New York Times, via @LauraTitian.
From NYC DOT, Behind the Signs: A Look at the DOT Sign Shop:
There are more than two million signs in New York City. Ever wonder where they come from? Many are made by DOT’s in-house sign shop based in Maspeth, Queens. This crew of 22 employees fabricate 9,000-12,000 signs a month, ranging from large highway signs down to Alternate Side Parking signs. Learn more about this crucial aspect of keeping NYC moving.
We love how things are made.
via Devour.
