American / Gothic: Richard Serra's Intersection with the Offene Kirch Elisabethen
In 1992, Richard Serra installed a large signature sculpture titled Intersection on the plaza next to the Basel Theater. Typical of much of his work, the piece is composed of 4 huge corten steel planes that arc and curve toward and around one another. The resulting forms provide both an intriguing invitation to explore the pathways and inner spaces carved out by the steel, as well as a confrontation of one’s physical limitations in relation to these massive, space-shifting elements. This plaza is also shared with Jean Tinguely’s Fasnactbrunnen from 1977, a playful kinetic fountain whose discrete characters provide an ongoing water performance for the public.
Fasnachtbrunnen by Jean Tinguely, 1977
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Winterthur and the Fotomuseum
detained
This weekend, participants in the 2011 Basel Design Workshops were treated to a day trip to Winterthur, including visits to the revitalized industrial quarter and the Fotomuseum. It was a great opportunity and interesting experience to see something very unexpected from the traditional Swiss stereotypes. No pristine alpine views or cows clanging their bells here. Instead, we witnessed a city built on industrial manufacturing (diesel engines for trains and boats among other things), whose primary source of livelihood slowly dwindled until the town was in physical and economic ruins. The upside is that the city, the canton, and the nation came together to clean up, invest in, and reinvent Winterthur into a thriving and desirable location on the outskirts of Zürich. Having lived most of my life in the American midwest, this story is really heartening. I’m looking at you, Detroit.
halftone experimentation
The Ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus’ paradox is a paradox that raises the question of whether an object which has had all its component parts replaced remains fundamentally the same object.
“According to Greek legend as reported by Plutarch, The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned [from Crete] had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same.”
Plutarch, Theseus
Plutarch thus questions whether the ship would remain the same if it were entirely replaced, piece by piece. Centuries later, the philosopher Thomas Hobbes introduced a further puzzle, wondering: what would happen if the original planks were gathered up after they were replaced, and used to build a second ship. Which ship, if either, is the original Ship of Theseus?
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Basel Blues Fest and around town
rocking out at Basel Blues Fest—is that the Swiss Keith Richards?
This past weekend, Basel hosted several regional bands at various intriguing venues around town for the Basel Summerblues Fest. I was lucky enough to stumble into a few performances at tucked away courtyard stages… not that the festival itself could be missed. By far, this is the rowdiest and loudest I have seen people behaving anywhere in Switzerland, and, to be honest, it was kind of refreshing. With all the drinking, dancing, loud music, and generally making a big mess, I felt like I was right back at home! Of course, the next day, the city was spotless again and the trains were on time. Also included are more shots from moments and places around Basel.
alley at night
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Studio visit at Claudiabasel
design program for Shift festival
Last week professor Philipp Stamm of HGK Basel took students participating in the Basel 2011 Summer Design Workshops for a visit to the studio of Claudiabasel. They are a small group of designers that met while studying at the HGK Basel, and their collaborative efforts in graphic and interactive design have resulted in some stunning work. Projects for a variety of local and near local cultural clients, such as theaters, fashion designers, and architecture schools, have given Claudiabasel the opportunity to experiment with new and interesting visual forms. Many thanks to Jiri, Thomas, and Simon for sharing their work with us, and, of course, thanks to Philipp Stamm for giving us some insight into contemporary Swiss graphic design in practice.
HGK Basel 2011 Summer Design Workshop: Type Design
Today wrapped up the second week of the 2011 Summer Design Workshops at the Basel Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst. This week’s program was Type Design taught by Philipp Stamm. Philipp guided the students through an intensive 5-day process of designing a single letter form followed by a series of focused modulations—all culminating in a brief animation to demonstrate the myriad possibilities ranging from the discovery of new letters to conceptual seeds for new iconic forms. Below are some photos from the workshop sessions plus some process images from my own project.
Click here to view an animation of my type design exploration.
Philipp Stamm working with student Joe Maruca
Colmar, Eguisheim, Ronchamp, the Alsace, and more Basel
Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp
the Alsace
Some photos from an incredible day trip through the Alsace region that included: a visit to the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, France, to see the Isenheimer Altar by Grünewald plus a small but impressive contemporary painting collection; lunch in picturesque Eguisheim, France, a small village in the Vosges mountains surrounded by the vineyards of Alsace; and a visit to Le Corbusier’s famous Notre Dame du Haut cathedral at Ronchamp. Also included here are more photos of Basel, including a visit to the Francis Alÿs exhibitionat the Haus zum Kirschgarten. Click to see more… Read more…
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HGK Basel 2011 Summer Design Workshop: Inquiry by Design
Professor Michael Renner
This past Saturday saw the final project presentation and conclusion of the first week of the 2011 Basel Summer Design Workshops at the Hocschule for Gestaltung und Kunst (School of Art and Design) at the Fachhocschule Nordwestschweiz in Basel, Swtizerland. Taught by Professor Michael Renner, director of the Visual Communication Institute, this course titled Inquiry by Design challenged its participants to develop a concise but expandable research process to investigate the communicative potential of the image in relation to the written word. Approximately 20 students from a wide range of cultural backgrounds explored a variety of topic areas in the space occupied between images and languages. Here are just a few photos from the workshop and final presentations.
See the results from my own investigation Theseus’ Paradox: A Visual Investigation of Image Differentiation.
images studies by Matthew Wizinsky
images studies by Matthew Wizinsky
Welcome to Basel
Things are off to a great start at the Summer Design workshops at the Schule fur Gestaltung und Kunst in Basel. Too busy just now to describe it all, so hopefully these images can do the job. Enjoy, and I will post more soon.
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- gross (big) basel
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- I am pretty sure 1438 is not the address
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- home away from home
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- die rathaus
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- hochschule fur gestaltung und kunst
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- hochschule fur gestaltung und kunst
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- hochschule fur gestaltung und kunst
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- marks of armin hoffman
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- typographic sculpture
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- santa, barbed wire, etc.
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- jumping in the rhein
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- swimming past barges
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- swimming the rhein
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- instructions for swimming the river safely
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- swiss advertising
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- the river rhein
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- alt geld / old money
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- summer fun at the get help here cage
Sailing Chicago
As the still hotness of summer lays into Chicago, my thoughts go immediately to that big fresh body of cooling-off that we all love: Lake Michigan. While I haven’t had the opportunity to do any sailing or boating yet this year (hint hint), this 90+ degree weather reminds me of a fantastic night last summer doing the Wednesday “beer can race” out of Chicago Harbor. This is truly the best way to view Chicago. Many thanks to Killian and the rest of the Tobin clan for taking my wife and me along.
For any Chicago boat-owners out there: if you’re looking for an enthusiastic yet totally unskilled companion for some sailing outings, I’m your man!
