Sunday, January 13, 2008

Olafur Eliasson

Room For One Colour, 1997 (seen here in the Malmo Konsthall, 2005)

I went to the opening for Olafur Eliasson's show at the SF MoMA, but it was really crowded and we were shuffled out the door before I got to see the whole show. This week, a friend and I went back to take it all in again. This time around I got to see more, feel more, think more. I especially like "Room For One Colour," which turns all objects under the fluorescent yellow lights into black and white. It's one of those pieces that could be right at home in a science museum. I desperately want some of these light bulbs.

We also saw the Douglas Gordon exhibit, sweetly titled, "Pretty Much Every Film and Video Work From About 1992 Until Now." A darkened room, dozens of TVs scattered around the perimeter, and a clump of people in the middle, just watching. It took a while to look at everything - you're drawn to movement on screens near you, but you also want to find out what happens on this tense, slow-moving piece. I am not always patient with video art, but Gordon's work was really engaging.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Simple Design: Traps



I saw this article on Roger Arquer's simple and effective mousetraps. Not only are they easy to construct with a few household objects, but they are also humane. If you're the kind of person who escorts spiders out on magazines, you might give these traps a try. I am currently in a mouse-free environment...but I really like this idea.