MODERNIST MAJICK IN THE MIND OF DESIGN

As a youth, countless hours were spent at Powerhouse Museum, trying to play ode to joy on the huge keyboard in the floor, eating hot chips in a room illuminated by Ken Done's own distinctively Australian palette and learning the secrets of Tesla's Plasma Lamps (still unaware of what happens if you break the glass. Contributions welcome). It's appearance in Sydney is never to be undervalued.

This August, the Powerhouse Museum presents another edition of Sydney's Design week, entitled "Modern Times: The Untold Story Of Modernism In Australia". Should be heaps heaps sick, indulging us all in rare photographs and insights into the Modernist culture found within Australia whilst our general knowledge compasses point infuriatingly north.

Opens 8 August
Powerhouse Museum


In the spirit of design week, a symposium is set to be held re: the influence of Modernism on 21st century culture. Definately worthwhile for anyone interested in any kind of interesting progression in design, or any field. The lameness of the Biennale's MCA component should be enough to get anyone worried about the future being at all interesting.


Symposium: Modern Times, Untold Stories of Modernism
8 August, 1-5pm
$30 Concession, $55 Otherwise from Moshtix

QUAD CHAIR TO CHAOS

It's getting cold outside, and the snow seasons looking up, way way up, and apparently Warren Miller's new film is too so you know it's not too long before you'll need to bind up and bail out of your tertiary education for as long as it pleases you to head for the slopes!

FLOSS LIKE SHAUN ROSS

Black Shelf Break

Creep over the contintental shelf closest to you, and maybe if the moon's blue enough the salt will quit stinging your eyes and you'll find your nose pressed up against one of Tiffany Bozic's submarine masterpieces. Her immaculate use of colour in rendering the soft shapes of endless stylised animals, paramount to her success, is matched only by her enviable sense of composition. Definately worth hanging in your home.

P.s. The JSC Digital Image Collection, an online gallery of images documenting every manned mission initiated by NASA is pretty cool.

Livraison

Images sourced from Livraison

EU4U

Fresh out of the European Union, recently de-pressurised and 100% DVT free, busybeingbetter makes a comeback tinged with a strain of summer that quarantine must have missed. Here is a quick shortlist of what the east side of Pangea had to offer BBB.






Fine form from the Tate Modern currently exhibiting Street & Studio, a history of the never-more relevant genre of street photography. From streetparty's website to the pages of Vogue, the use of what was previously known as poor lighting combined with a re-definition of what it means to pose has never been more "cool". From works by Juergen Teller to Robert Mapplethorpe, it's all there to feast your fashionable eye on. On the flipside of that coin (no, not a Dark Knight reference) there comes many photos with a far more poetic and often undeniable energy, such as the above shot from Pieter Hugo's study of Nigerian men with pet hyenas.
Street & Studio is on until August 31st.






Endless Ting Tings and Rihanna on the wireless. I was almost sure we'd pon'd the replay under her umbrella enough in this country, and when it comes to the Ting Tings, even if we still don't know her name i thought those in England might. Apparently they are still pretty into the drums, the drums, the drums.






Ischia, currently playing host to the Ischia Global Film And Music Festival 2008 is also worth visiting for a few other reasons. As an island off the coast of Napoli, it's a short boat ride away from the picturesque town of Positano on Italy's Amalfi Coast, and an even shorter boat ride away from the Capri's famed blue grotto. Also recommended on the Ischia is Valentino, the largest and most famous nightclub on the island, down the end of Corso Vittoria, Ischia's main drag (If it appears dead when you get there, make note: doors regularly do not open 'til 1)





Fabric on a friday. One of the best known nightclubs on the planet, voted by many as the best Europe has to offer, Fabric doesn't try to dissapoint. Three rooms dedicated to extremely well managed bass frequencies, generated at the decks by an array of often bearded post-hypem/pre-hypem men and women. It's like a dragonboat race of the Gods as sonic warriors try to keep themselves in time with the future by playing tracks you won't hear down at the local until a snotty nosed collector of rare t-shirts rips the tracklisting from the next Fabriclive cd on Amazon.






One last stop for those with some serious taste and serious money. Stocking the latest from Pierry Hardy, Raf Simons and Walter Van Bierendonck to name a few, DSM or Dover Street Market, located on Dover St. in central London is six floors of nouveau chic chaos. Watch your bank account dry out as your debit card hacks up a slimey portion of savings whilst you literally punch in your pin for some footwear extraordinaire.

I'm in London still but i hate The Waifs, back on Monday in time for some real winter, and also to ensure this blog doesn't go down the path of some virgin on a fast chairlift by reaching its peak too early.