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The IntelligentNaivety team doesn’t like to gloat… but did we mention that the interweb was the next big thing for culture? Well apparently Nic Serota and Neil MacGregor agree.

Two titans of the British museum world, Sir Nicholas Serota and Neil MacGregor, last night sketched out their visions for the museum of the future.

Both said that the relationship between institutions and their audiences would be transformed by the internet. Museums, they said, would become more like multimedia organisations.

“The future has to be, without question, the museum as a publisher and broadcaster,” said MacGregor, director of the British Museum.

Serota, director of the Tate, said: “The challenge is, to what extent do we remain authors, and in what sense do we become publishers providing a platform for international conversations?

“I am certain that in the next 10 to 15 years, there will be a limited number of people working in galleries, and more effectively working as commissioning editors working on material online.”

Read the full article here.

Ahead of a debate this Wednesday evening about 21st Century Museums, IntelligentNaivety asked Jonathan Watkins, Director of the Ikon Gallery, how new technologies are informing this vision of a 21st Century museum for Birmingham. The proposed new museum will be dedicated entirely to the 21st Century, revolving on the dual axes of globalisation and technological advancement, for which there really is no precedent.

There is no agenda for the 21st Century Museum – “it is a truly blank page”, so how will new technologies play into this mix? Can we expect a virtual experience from the moment we walk through the doors? Will we even need to walk through the doors to experience what it has to offer us?

“How can we ignore new technology? Whereas before an audience was the people a gallery could get through the door new technology now allows us to question our own understanding of audience; we are no longer limited to confrontation with an object”.

What challenges us is conceptualising a museum which is no longer limited by its physical confines. Thankfully, certain attributes will still remain a certainty according to Jonathan, “it has to be a place that accommodates relativity and fluidity.”

And if the museum is no longer limited to human interaction with real objects, what does that mean for the art? “When you see the Mona Lisa, the reality of the experience is that you are swarming with crowds of other people trying to view a relic through a glass pane. Is that experience really any better than seeing her in the pages of a book?”

“The reality is that authentic artistic experience needs to be constantly re-examined” and that is exactly what the 21st Century Museum will do.

If you’re interested in joining the debate, along with Tim Marlow, Director, White Cube, Jonathan Watkins, Director, Ikon Gallery; Frances Morris, Permanent collections curator, Tate; Teresa Gleadowe, Curator; and Rita McLean, Head of Museums & Heritage Services, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery it’s being held on Wednesday 8 July, from 7.30pm at Baskerville House, Centenary Square, in Birmingham. This debate is part of Art of Ideas II.

For the 24 hour party people at this year’s Design Miami/Basel, Atelier Van Lieshout’s sculptural/design inspired installation provided the perfect spot to grab a sneaky power nap. Mini Capsule Hotel, a six-bed dorm featured in an outdoor installation called Never-EverLand whilst also serving a practical function as the place to be for a disco nap or to crash. The appeal of the mini slumber spot shot up even further when it was bought by Brad Pitt who apparently plans to install it on his private beach. Lucky for those who got to spend the night a ‘Brad’s’!
Read the full Article

http://marchstudio.com.au

Cars and art might seem like an unlikely match yet the two worlds collide on a regular basis. Take Citroen for example, whose launch of the Picasso highlighted the need to create cultural associations with the model by naming it after one of the worlds most famous artists. In return we have seen artists look to vehicles as blank canvases such as art fan Andy Saunders who created a Picasso-esque work from an aged Citroen 2CV (pictured right). This weekend saw some seriously snazzy saloons at the Art Car Boot Fair on Brick Lane where an array of pimped automobiles were used to showcase artists work for sale. Ford recently launched their ‘Go Find it Campaign’ designed to arouse interest in the new model KA. The campaign features a ‘discovery art tour’ around Shoreditch, highlighting hotspots for design, music and street art. A 3 minute video flashes through an array of urban art around the streets of Shoreditch in an attempt to encourage people to find and explore the culturally interesting and diverse. Check out the interactive site for yourself here. The latest in arty car collaborations comes to us straight from The Cool Hunter Artist Series who have curated a range of quirkily designed Mini Coopers. 100 of these cute convertibles are set to hit the cities streets, each decorated with its own stunning design. Keep an eye out on The Cool Hunter.net for this soon to be launched project.

The multi-coloured building blocks of our childhood are taking on new cultural associations with the launch of the Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture range.

Architect Adam Reed Tucker has collaborated with The LEGO Group and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to release the Frank Lloyd Wright Collection – part of the LEGO Architecture series. Both kits from the Frank Lloyd Wright Collection include a booklet featuring traditional building instructions and exclusive images and photographs of each building.

The LEGO Architecture series was officially introduced in 2008 developing models of iconic American buildings in collaboration with architects. The project hopes to inspire future architects, engineers and designers as well as architecture fans around the world with the LEGO brick as a medium. Builders of all ages can now collect and construct their favourite worldwide architectural sites through these artistic replicas.
Read the full article here.

The LEGO Group is well known for its creative approach to brick models and having established itself as an iconic retro brand the childhood toy has been associated with a variety of creative enterprises. Models at Paris fashion week donned LEGO hats for Jean Charles de Castelbajac’s Spring collection show and LEGO accessories seem to be the latest trend. The plastic blocks have been appearing in all sorts of unlikely applications from watches to cameras, bags and belts, to usb sticks, mobile phones and even cupcakes. In this doom and gloom climate of recession it seems we have to look back to our childhoods for a bit of colourful inspiration.

Video art lovers hit the streets of Barcelona last week for this year’s LOOP festival. The seventh incarnation of the festival took over the whole city with videos screened in over 100 venues. Dozens of galleries from all over the world exhibited and a few of them were willing to stray away from the norm. The most notably voyeuristic of these was New York Gallery Virgil de Voldere who brought Brody Condon‘s self playing video games. Brody modified a first person shooter game and exchanged the violent animations with dreamy, otherworldly and surreal scenes. The scantly clad characters look out at the viewer waiting to be told what to do but no one ever helps them.

How to use storefronts and high traffic spots to striking effect?

Diesel’s new New York store on 5th Avenue launched with ‘Five on Fifth’ store openings, staging dinner parties featuring famous New Yorkers.

This comes fresh on the heels of the UK’s Selfridge’s living storefronts, where three of its most prominent windows have been convered into permanent galleries – plus the Photographer’s Gallery meets Liberty. Need we also mention the work Colette’s been up to recently?

Our recent trip up to Glasgow introduced us to the fantastic collaboration between The Lighthouse and world-class furniture manufacturer Vitra. Since 1950 Vitra has been making the only European authorised original pieces of 20th century classics by famous designers including Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Jean Prouvé, Verner Panton and Isamu Noguchi. Vitra continues to innovate with contemporary designs by Maarten Van Severen, Jasper Morrison, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Hella Jongerius and other leading designers.

Curation of products in The Lighthouse Shop is second-to-none, featuring culture and design brands such as Marimekko and Timorous Beasties. Beyond this, however, the additional Vitra Showroom offers a full range of furniture in this very heart of “Scotland’s Centre for Architecture, Design and the City”. Then comes the Vitra Conference Suite, whose minimalist surroundings are matched with designer seating from the company.

Definitely worth a visit next time you’re in town.

The Double Club is Carsten Höller’s latest installation which takes the form of a bar, restaurant and nightclub – split in two – designed to create a dialogue between Congolese and western culture

See the video tour from Guardian.co.uk

Reviewed by Frieze here

And reviewed by Wallpaper here

See our August post on the rise of the art restaurant

Stuart Semple’s cultural products and limited editions, highlighting the crossover space where brand and product meets art, design, music and fashion..

His latest work, incorporating book, cd, dvd, clear vinyl, print is available at Subliminal Girls

Stuart’s also completed cultural product collaborations with Levis, Diesel, Selfridges & Moncler, as well as launching a limited edition art/clothing brand NoiWear.

2008 saw Stuart collaborate with Levis, Diesel and Evisu for an exhibition exploring the relationship between youth culture and denim across three floors of Selfridges in London’s Oxford Street.

More at stuartsemple.com

Outdoor projection taken to the next level