JR - Taking art to the street

As an undercover photographer, JR transforms his pictures into posters and makes open space photo galleries out of our streets. An acute observer of our time, as comfortable in cozy neighborhoods as in urban ghettos, he questions pedestrians with the exhibitions he mounts on their everyday commutes.

He has exhbited artwork on the walls of the European Center for Photography and the square of the Hotel de Ville in Paris. He is always thinking of new ways of exhibiting his work, keeping in urban areas where the streets help reveal the meaning of the pictures themselves.

Where art is exhibited is hugely important in terms of how it is viewed and understood. JR is still creating after he has produced the artwork by cleverly placing his work in an outside environment. It's what stands him apart from other artists. He is questioning the boundaries of the public and private realms and changing how we perceive art. It also means people that would otherwise not visit a gallery get to view his art.

Maybe we should look at different ways of displaying our work this coming year giving more people the chance to view it. It would be break from the norm if our final year show was placed outside around the uni campus rather than in the school of design.

Bodysong - Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead)

The trailer for 'Bodysong' - Director-Simon Pumnel, Music-Jonny Greenwood
Year- 2002
Length- 83 mins


This movie tells the story of the archetypal human life using images taken from the last 100 years of cinema and from all around the world. Images span from those inside the body - moment of conception - charting the beginnings of the individual - the first cry of the newborn baby - then starts to capture humanity as a collective and certain aspects it, shown through acculumated footage of ritual celebration and the carnage of war.
The editing, music, and the narrative arc of the material is designed to take the viewer on a roller coaster tour of the human body and life cycle. Every possible depiction of the human life from microscopic medical to portraits and newsreels, from births to deaths, are cut to a powerful music track by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead to create a powerful and highly emotional film, with peaks of ecstasy and troughs of despair.
The power of this film comes from the huge number of different faces, people, each body and each glimpse at anatomy. All are dignified and placed together in such a way that they are part of a flowing motion - a wave of humanity that makes us realise how big and important it really is.

The film is supported by a highly innovative website www.bodysong.com (click on the bodysong link on the c4 page). It uses a 3D interface to create an interactive website that allows users to truely engage with it and in turn the film. It allows the user to explore each and evry one of the images used in the film and discover the story behind. It's actually a clever piece of marketing for the film as it would generate much interest.

Banksy at Glastonbury

Once again Banksy's presence was felt at the Glastonbury Festival. The guerrilla artist has become a regular fixture at the festival leaving his mark through amusing little tags. However this year he really made a splash by erecting a replica of stone henge using portaloo's. The structure was placed right next glastonburys own stone circle and within the sacred space. It was a humourous take on these mysterious ancient structures using something that's synonymous with the festival, plastic portaloos. The 'stone henge', as the festival progressed was 'decorated' by festival-goers and certainly lost some of it's appeal. Nevertheless Banksy successfully managed to get into the public eye once again with this quirky piece. Whether you could call it art though is another matter. Banksy's 'Stone Henge'.... art or just a pile of s**t?

'I Count' campaign logo

I'm fresh back from the glorious festival they call glastonbury and one of the things that caught my eye whilst there (besides all the bands) was the logo for the 'I count' campaign. This is nationwide campaign that encourages people to fill out a pledge card. They must pledge to take a few simple steps to becoming greener. Thousands of people were filling out the pledge cards and taking part in this campaign. The strategy of this campaign is to create a feeling of inclusion, human nature means we like to feel a part of something. This logo is saying it will mean something if YOU take part in this, YOU are going to make a difference. Every little thing counts! The logo is visually shouting this message at you. It's simple, concise and has the ability to become instantly recognisable and familiar with the masses, which is obviously the objective of this campaign. The logo is also easily translated to a multitude of different media. For example it is featured on the glastonbury wrist band needed to be worn whilst at the festival. That's 170,000 people wearing the logo on their wrist, and many of the will still be wearing it therefore it is a constant reminder of the campaign. This campaign is particularly important to me as i feel very passionate about climate change and hope to look at the strategy's used by climate change charity's and pressure groups in influencing consumer behaviour for my dissertation. Do you think this logo is effective?


The pledge card used in the campaign.

Justice new video for D.A.N.C.E

Justice are a french Christian band creating, in my personal opinion some of the most exciting music around. I particularly like the video that goes with their new song D.A.N.C.E. It's a clever piece combining animation and real life action. The comic book style illustration has been used by Justice previously, on album covers and posters. Justice have used graphics that have come to be associated with the band in a new way that engage the viewer throughout the video. The use of bright vivid colours against a very dark backdrop means the animations/illustrations jump out at you and can be followed step by step. Overall this video captures the energy of youth and purveys the quirkiness of the music by combining vivid illustrations with fashion.
Video directed by Jonas and Francois