Pat Finn
“Appropriation” is a concept that has gotten a lot of attention over the past few years. This is whe n someone takes an idea or cultural practice and uses it for purposes that are contrary to the will of its originators. While the term is usually invoked in cases of “cultural appropriation” — which occurs when…
Construction has begun on a new headquarters for the Chinese fashion company Xinhee in the southeast ern city of Xiamen. If the renderings are anything to go by, Xinhee’s competitors will soon be MAD with envy! For this project, the Chinese architecture firm MAD decided to follow the methods of the fashion industry, taking the human…
Cyborgs used to be the stuff of fantasy. The term — a portmanteau that combines the words “cyberneti c” and “organism” — was coined in 1960, but the basic idea was around long before that. Since the 1818 publication of Frankenstein —a novel in which a mad scientist utilizes the then-novel technique of channeling electricity for…
Metabolism might not be the best-known postwar architectural movement, but it was surely one of the most imaginative. The brainchild of young Japanese architects including Fumihiko Maki, Masato Otaka, Kiyonori Kikutake and Kisho Kurokawa, Metabolism sought to create buildings that, like organisms, would grow and develop over time. “We regard human society as a vital…
“All my life, I have loved frames and limits; and I will maintain that the largest wilderness looks larger seen through a window,” wrote English writer and professional contrarian G.K. Chesterton. “To the grief of all grave dramatic critics, I will still assert that the perfect drama must strive to rise to the higher ecstasy…
The American shopping mall has always been a symbol of excess. In at least one respect, this reputat ion is justified: There are far too many of them!
Brooklyn is without a doubt the most culturally relevant place in the world … at least according t o the people who live here. Over the past decade, Brooklyn has become a flashpoint for a number of major trends, including craft beer, beards and most of all that elusive cultural archetype known as thehipster. Now…
The DNA double helix is an example of science at its most poetic. The image of symmetrical, twisting strands encasing the blueprints for life is so elegant one would think it came from one of da Vinci’s notebooks. Vienna and Beijing–based firm Penda — winner of the Emerging Firm of the Year Award at this…
High fashion is all about aspirational fantasy. Flicking through Vogue, one cannot help but imagine the fabulous lives implied by the photo-spreads. The clothing is just one dimension of the idea of glamour, which is the real product on display. And for the fantasy to be sustained, the idea needs to seem just a little…