Mad fonts

Interesting post about fonts used throughout Abc serie Mad Men.

Aussies

Yesterday evening was Pivot's gig at the 100 club on Oxford street. Very good gig indeed, intimist venue, and apart from some bass amp issues, the sound was generally good.
Although Pivot was brilliant, i got really impressed by Snowman's performance. Energetic, dark with a punkish taste. Nice.
Snowman - We Are The Plague

3 in 1

Monday evening was the private view of the Warhol exhibition at the Hayward gallery. But it was really a 3 in 1 as you could also see Robin Rhode's work at the 1sr floor and Cyprien Gaillard's works at the Project Space.
One must admit that the set design throughout the Warhol's area is fantastic. Very nice materials, nice use of the space. Although, you do want to allow yourself a reasonable amount of time to see everything: there are loads of videos (Warhol tv is a must see), sound recordings etc... The exhibition lasts until the 18th January. Link here.
At the 1st floor, Robin Rhode displays different kind of work: photography, installations, videos...Personally, i'm not very found of Robin Rhode's work. I do think it is a little bit "dry" and that the poetical feel doesn't make it up for the the lack of depth.
Finally, Cyprien Gaillard's work is located in the Project Space (small exhibition space at the very entrance) of the Hayward gallery. Also, one of the piece is located in the basement of the Gallery. Interesting approach, interesting work.
The later artist will be competing with 8 other young artists for the Prix fondation d'entreprise Ricard on thursday 9th October. Amongst them, my parisian artist friend Julien Discrit will be running for this. Fingers crossed Julien! Make sure to check his work here.

White nights

I really like this year's identity of french festival Nuits Blanches,
designed by atelier trois.

Tut

A very clever tutorial for all of you who want to learn
all the ropes of the Pen tool in Illustrator.

Chou-chou

Salt me up

What to (re)start with? hmmm.
This for example (i LOVE this. Proper magic):

Via Make.

BACK!

I know, i know, i've been bad. I've been properly rubbish with keeping up with my posts since last summer. Mostly because i've been a busy bee. But it's now over and i'm ready to be all post-crazy again and yes,i promise i won't do it again mum!

Pivot

New Warp records gem.
Nice name, nice artwork cover, nice music, nice video (: a low-fi mix between Jaws and Thunderbird. Nice!)
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“Creeping along like a John Carpenter soundtrack re-imagined by Battles, this is the place where intricate and party collide.” NME
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Launch of the new album tonight at the Roundhouse London.
Website here.

Street and Studio

If you havn't seen the Tate modern exhibition "Street and Studio" you should hurry up as it ends at the end of the month and as it is one that shouldn't be missed. I can't really start making a list of all the work i liked as there are too many, but the exhibtion is well thought, consistent and trully inspirational.

The very last piece, "The Buzz club" by Rineke Dijkstra is absolutely stunning and made me chuckle. Something blatantly true about it. Great stuff.
Info here.

Jump

Denis Darzacq work is surreal.

Morpho Tower

Seriously cool.

Turzi

TURZI - Afghanistan
by RECORDMAKERS

Red light

Rant
*************

Who do you have to "know" to get one of these in this town these days?
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DAMN YOU DIGITAL ERA! (with my clenched fist raised to the sky)

*************
rant's over.

Z-Z Top!

Yesterday was the beginning of Rough Trade In-store gig series (indulgently sponsored by Converse ;). The first to open this session were the talented people from Zombie Zombie:
"They a two piece French duo that produce krautrock infused electronic nu-disco with a nod to John Carpenter & 60's psychedelics. Vocals come in the form of atmospheric murmurs & screams, processed & heavily drenched with reverb while the drums propel a motorik groove reminiscent of Can, the sound is filled out nicely with the bustle of arpeggiated synths fighting alongside guitars, bass & samples, imagine a less sensitive M83 with 70's horror obsession & you are someway to imagining just how great Zombie Zombie are."
And great it was indeed. I'm containing myself not to run to the nearest store to spend a tenner on their album. You should. (then i can borrow it :)

Fashion V Sport

Yesterday evening was the opening of the new V&A exhibition Fashion V Sport.
Arranged in four small sections the exhibition "explores the creative connections between the two worlds of fashion and sport. Recent developments have seen an increasing number of collaborations and hybrids, from fashion designers producing collections with sportswear brands to sports personalities heading fashion campaigns or even designing their own collections. Fashion V Sport will reveal the complexities and tensions between the two industries."
Maybe it is because i'm not crazy enough about fashion experiments but i found the whole thing a little bit "light" and not that catchy. I do understand the point of it but for me it lacks a bit of interest. (again i'm rarely moved but fashion extravaganza)
The set itself on the other hand was fantastic. Very simple but the attention to details was impressive. Would have been worth seeing another room or two. The overall feeling was a small exhibition with a small content. (Luckily the food/drinks were good :p)

Galleries

This week end i went to a couple of galleries that i could only recommend.
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The first one was Museum 52 on Redchurch street.
Esther Stocker has a very strong installation there:
"Esther Stocker's installations and associated paintings are abstract compositions in space; drawings animated in three dimensions by material, colour and form. For this exhibition she has created a site-specific installation and a series of painted works, all continuing her investigations into the logics and rules inherent in depictions of space."
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The second one was Flower's East Domestic Appliance exhibition.
A great selection of work articulated around usual domestic objects. Genuinely , the whole exhibition is fantastic. Personally, i loved Antoine Zgraggen destruction parlour (cf pic) where you get to choose an object and destroy it :), Theo Kaccoufa's pieces (the "Dream River" bed is simply spooky but fascinating) and Max Dean (+ others) "Robotic Chair" was at the time funny and worrying. (cf. video)
The exhibition just started and will be on until the 13th September so if you are in the area, do see this.

Biiiicyle biiicyle

Odd.

Street

Ahah. Love this.

Fosso

"Samuel Fosso is one of Africa's most eminent photographers. [...] Fosso started taking self-portraits using up exposures on his films - to send to his mother in Nigeria, whom he had left behind as a refugee fleeing the Biafran war in the late 1960s. Although his initial aim was to show he was alive and well, his interest in exploring the genre grew steadily, and he experimented with new techniques and poses. [...] His local community remains unaware of Fosso's success, a situation Fosso is keen to maintain. He is happy to keep his costumes out of sight and continue his passport and portrait photography business. His neighbours assume he travels to Europe to take wedding photos."
Via Conscientious.