ideas + images

curated by sierra gonzalez 

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Giving Life to Found Objects, Two by Two | New York Times

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Going Green

Thirty-eight years after the first reference to the “greenhouse effect” appeared in the New York Times, the green home is now inching its way into the mainstream. If you have any doubts, trying Googling the words “green design”; you’ll find close to 1,000,000 results. Magazines that published special green issues in the last year include Vanity Fair, Wired, Domino, and Elle. (via Sierra’s shared items in Google Reader)

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Design's Ethnographic Turn | Design Observer

A Design Observer guest post by Walker Art Center curator Andrew Blauvelt points out that even with the current success of ethnographic design approaches, ethnography is only valuable if the right questions are asked.

Ethnography promises to discover meaning in people’s lives so that what is of value can be emulated. But does the act of making meaning transfer from the user to the designer so readily? Is it hubris to think that it can? Is evoking a meaningful experience the same as having a meaningful experience? [source]

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Mstislav Rostropovich, 1927-2007

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Rostropovich’s impromptu performance in front of the Berlin Wall, 1989 [courtesy Routers]

Every man must have the right fearlessly to think independently and express his opinion about what he knows, what he has personally thought about and experienced, and not merely to express with slightly different variations the opinion which has been inculcated in him. [NYT]

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On the Cutting Edge of Design

http://www.furl.net/forward.jsp?id=19211123

Reena Jana’s review of & Fork, the sequel to Phaidon’s Spoon.

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Our Cities, Ourselves: Can urban design keep you from getting fat? | SF Gate

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/04/20/carollloyd.DTL

Ever since two studies linked sprawl and obesity in 2003, study upon study has been published suggesting that our built environment — marked by car-oriented, isolated, unwalkable neighborhoods — is having a deleterious influence on our health. In other words, sprawl is making us unhealthy, unhappy and fat.

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The New Manifest Destiny

When does a picture solidify a news story, and when does it merely sensationalize it? Decisions about words and pictures are made by editors and publishers, designers and photographers — but they are consumed by a public fully capable of an entire range of emotional responses. After this week’s events at Virginia Tech, words and pictures do a poor job of communicating outrage and pain. And no amount of compositional ingenuity can reverse what happened. (via Sierra’s shared items in Google Reader)

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Hermitage 1, St Petersburg, Thomas Struth, 2005. Part of “Making Time” at Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, through April 28.

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Why the overwhelming numbers of design flops? | International Herald Tribune

http://www.furl.net/forward.jsp?id=18748166

Alice Rawsthorn explores why certain designs fail, including innovation for innovation’s sake and “as long as it’s green” reasoning.

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