the brussels biennial had their showdown this year: the first art exhibition in belgiums capital. it got bad reviews and even the people I know in brussels had not many positive things to tell about the the event.

I havent seen the whole biennial but I went to location a, the old post sorting center at the gare midi (train station). great building with a good view at the rail traffic industry. here is my favourite: my beloved vhs and mounir fatmi‘s brutal statement to architects. ‘fuck architects’ is the title of his exhibited work. (people tend to be very dramatic these days). the biennial continues at 4 January 2009.

corporate identity brussels biennial by base design brussels

skyline by mounir fatmi, 2007

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arne quinze, belgian designer, has done another wooden installation called the sequence in the center of brussels. I’ve been at the opening last sunday. it looks basically like the one he did a while ago. also in bruxelles. it is called city scape and was opened last summer. the difference between both is that he added some red painted wood to the new installation crossing the parliament with the house of flemish representatives. not just plain wood, like he did the first time. basically an installation of timber wood. something that looks like a floating forest of mikado sticks. I guess its very hip to do random designs right now. besides the red light associated a red light district to some of the visitors …is that bruxelles chance to become the new amsterdam?! haha.. sorry for my sarcasm

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comme des garçons, the avantgard of fashion, created a collection for hm, the mass market of fashion. today was the official launch of the work of rei kawakabu, the japanese designer of iconic status. also here in london. hm is selling its clothes in 32 countries. a huge chain of 1600 stores. commes des garcons have no stores. some guerilla stores ( see my previous story about the los angeles guerilla store which I’ve visited in may 2008 – greetings to brett westfall, co-owner of the store) their collection is hard to get and over the edge. so opposites attracht.

click here to read my fashion story →

another ‘I need to mention it’ design from the london design festival… the design weeks and festivals just have so much content to show… the first piet hein eek pop-up store was launched at the rabih hage gallery in south kensington, london. it was the biggest solo showcase the dutch designer ever had. piet became famous through his furniture built from recycled wood.

the new trend – the pop-up shop: not so long ago people called it guerilla store. a temporary showroom

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there is an exhibition with the title ‘cold war modern’ at the v&a museum, london right now. yesterday I was there and took some illegal pictures, forgot to switch off my flash and was almost kicked out. it was thrilling.

installation view oasis 7 by hans-rucker-co at documenta 5, kassel, 1972

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I saw esther stocker‘s work at the liftoff, (location was the office of buro philip van den hurk financial consultants) at the dutch design week in eindhoven, which ended last month. the title of the exhibition was ‘the truth of basics, resetting the history of living between four walls’ and different artists and designers were presenting artwork or designs in a room.

one of my teachers at my academy, academy maastricht, use to say to me: matylda, I really wanna know where your black and white obsession is coming from. I didn’t find an answer yet but I do know that it’s true. what I like about esther stocker’s installations: they are black and white and geometrically well thought out (like a system she wants you to be in).

lift 2008

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another post from the saatchi gallery (the current exhibition ‘the revolution continues’ about chinese art is worth to visit!) here is the ‘old persons home’ installation by sun yuan and peng yu. they are renown for working with extreme materials such as human fat tissue, live animals, and baby cadavers to deal with issues of perception, death, and the human condition.

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I was already familiar with bart and lucy. I guess that mireille de koning, a friend I met in maastricht, told me about them. but I saw their work again at the mu eindhoven during the dutch design week. I am quoting the text about their work. why should I try to explain their work when they describe it best?

The following is from lucyandbert: lucy and bart is a collaboration between lucy mcrae and bart hess described as an instinctual stalking of fashion, architecture, performance and the body. they share a fascination with genetic manipulation and beauty expression. unconsciously their work touches upon these themes, however it is not their intention to communicate this. they work in a primitive and timeless way creating future human shape, blindly discovering low-tech prosthetic ways for human enhancement.

the 3 pictures above are from shape + clour