On-site and out-of-sight.

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In a series of work that interrogates the meaning of street art, photographerAlex Larsen and sculptor Alex Dijulio make artwork involving scenes of urban decay across Baltimore without turning the places into the subject of ruin porn. Their process begins as guerrilla art, with the two of them selecting a space somewhere in the city. They find objects in that space and compose them into sculptures, with special sensitivity to the relationship between their interventions and the context of the place. The arrangement of these objects into sculptures is intended to strip them of the meaning associated with their function, letting them become purely aesthetic and compositional.

At least the rent is reasonable.

Korean artist Do-Ho Suh shoves a replica of a Korean house into a small space between two larger homes in a Northern English City. The juxtaposition of personal, safe space, located within a very foreign and impersonal environment raised questions of cultures and traditions.

See more of Suh's work here.​

Sorry coach, forgot my cup.

Either I missed one hell of a kegger, or an art installation just broke out. This is yet another instance where you have to slap the old forehead and wonder why the hell didn't think of this. However, I have to admit, even if I did, I'd probably just stay on the couch, firing down another tube of Pringles and watch another rerun of Dirty Jobs. Amazing that something as mundanely ubiquitous as a plastic cup can be so unexpectedly beautiful.  Cheers to you Tara.

Tara Donovan (b. 1969, New York) is an American artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She is known for site-specific installation art that utilizes everyday materials whose form is in keeping with generative art. 

Just a pinch of graffiti.

At the mention of street art, most people would instantly draw an association with unsightly blocks of graffiti letters and other spray-painted monstrosities. Artist Isaac Cordal proves this misconception inaccurate in a public installation in Zagreb, Croatia for MUU, a street art museum. In this project, which is part of a larger series titled “Cement Eclipse,” Cordal integrates cement sculptures of tiny figurines with the urban environment – or is it the other way around? While little men peek out from the crevices and gaps between a slab of stack bricks, other individuals rain down from a cloud painted on a building’s façade in a Magritte-inspired surrealist scene. The complementing harmony between the fabricated and the existing is what makes Cordal’s installation both surprising and fitting at the same time. Upon seeing the installation, one will instantly pick out the mini sculptures, but simultaneously be unable to recall a mental image of the streets without Cordal’s work. Cordal successfully portrays street art in a light that captures its cultural significance and its additive, not subtractive, aesthetic to the city.

City Swingers

21 Balançoires (21 Swings) is a recent project by Canadian design collective Daily Tous Les Jours, known for their wide variety of interactive public installations and experiences. Surrounded on both sides by a new music complex and science center, designers Mouna Andraos and Melissa Mongiat chose to bridge the gap between the two by converting a narrow strip of land into an enormous interactive instrument. Pre-recorded sounds from a xylophone, piano, and other instruments were programmed into color-coded swings that when in use play various notes, however when swung in unison with careful cooperation, more complex melodies and harmonies arise. An additional “secret mode” was programmed to only play when all 21 swings were in use. What a fun idea.

Earlier this week a few blogs reported a photo from this series as being some type of swingset bus stop. According to Andraos, while the installation has close proximity to the street it does not actually serve the purpose of a bus stop. All photos courtesy Olivier Blouin.

Don't bother asking for this at Home Depot.

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This unique fixture from Japanese product designer Ryosuke Fukusada actually lets the light shine through the wooden casing.

Using a traditional Japanese craft technique called "rokuro," Fukusada chipped away at the wooden enclosure until the material was thin enough to be illuminated. An LED device inside provides a soft, warm glow through the wood.