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1/ Meredith James’s illusory World. (via Hi-Fructose). See more here.

2/ Courtney Mattison’s “Our Changing Seas, I-III”: ceramic coral reefs grown on walls. (via Hi-Fructose). See more here.

3/ “Private Moon, 2011″. The Moon in front of Rangitoto volcanic Island near Auckland, New Zealand by Leonid Tishkov. Photograph: Marcus Williams and SP5 Unitec. // “Indoor Desert, 2009″. Kolmanskuppe, Namibia Baryta, by Álvaro Sánchez-Montañés. Photograph: Álvaro Sánchez-Montañés. (via The Guardian) Site-specific installations documented in “Unexpected Art”, by Florentijn Hofman, Christian L. Frock and Jenny Moussa Spring.

[meridianonline]

Photography in the outdoors: 1/ The Pyrenees: "Into the Wild" by Antoine Bruys (The Guardian); 2/ Bangladesh: "Of Rivers and Lost Lands" by Sarker Protick (Booom); 3/ Scotland: "Back" by Yua Hua (NeoCHA)

[meridianonline]

Graves of Russian gangsters and their families in Yekaterinburg.

Photos by Denis Tarasov.

See more here

[meridianonline]

Kinetic sculpture by German-based artist Karina Smigla-Bobinski

An enormous helium-inflated sphere trapped inside a small room that’s spiked with dozens of protruding charcoal pieces which scrape the edges of the gallery wall as participants push, toss, and otherwise manipulate it.

More photos here

[meridianonline]

This is What Happens When You Give Thousands of Stickers to Thousands of Kids

This December, in a surprisingly simple yet ridiculously amazing installation for the Queensland Gallery of Modern Ar, artist Yayoi Kusama constructed a large domestic environment, painting every wall, chair, table, piano, and household decoration a brilliant white, effectively serving as a giant white canvas. Over the course of two weeks, the museum’s smallest visitors were given thousands upon thousands of colored dot stickers and were invited to collaborate in the transformation of the space, turning the house into a vibrantly mottled explosion of color.

via Colossal

[meridianonline]

Italian company CoeLux has developed a new light source that recreates the look of sunlight through a skylight so well that it can trick both human brains and cameras.

The scientists who invented the light figured out how to use a thin coating of nanoparticles to accurately simulate sunlight through Earth’s atmosphere and the effect known as Rayleigh scattering. It’s not just the color temperature thats the same — the quality of the light feels the same as well.

In a word: something we could use around Beijing from time to time, to forget the toxic outside world.

[meridianonline]

Citiscapes by Jeremy Mannhttp://redrabbit7.com/cityscape/

[meridianonline]

Weird urban beauty >>

Before most cables ran underground, all electrical, telephone and telegraph wires were suspended from high poles, creating strange and crowded streetscapes. Here are some typical views of late-19th century Boston, New York, Stockholm, and other wire-filled cities.

[meridianonline]

FLEETING CITY OF JOY - Burning Man 2014.

Photos from the Atlantic.

[meridianonline]

Sculpting paper: Li Hongbo（李洪波）

(pictures courtesy of WhiteRabbitCollection, NeoChaEdge, Klein Sun Gallery, Colossal and Arrested Motion)

These sculptures appear to be made of marble, wood, or porcelain. And yet, there is no risk of damaging them by bumping into them: they are actually made of thousands of sheets of paper glued to each other and sculpted by Li Hongbo (李洪波), an extremely patient and talented artist now living and working in Beijing.

A book editor and designer, Li always felt a strong connection to paper as an artistic material. One day, he discovered it was possible to create these incredible sculptures by borrowing from the ancient Chinese art of "paper gourds" (纸葫芦), a type of children's toy created by using honeycombed paper that opens to reveal a hidden shape.

See Arrested Motion, WRC, and the Dominik Mersch Gallery for more information (also, in Chinese: SmagTW.com, 吕胜中的blog)

[meridianonline]

Sculpting on paper: Elod Beregszaszi

(all photos from WebUrbanist and Popupology)

London-based artist Elod Beregszaszi relegates the art of two-dimensional paper cuts to history, with his intricate, meticulously designed 3D paper creations. Fragile, implacably symmetrical, his works seem to originate from a very distant planet.

(he also produces the paper himself)

See more on his official website and Flickr account.

[meridianonline]

Sculpting on paper: Peter Gentenaar

(pictures from MyModernMet and Colossal)

Netherland-based artist Peter Gentenaar creates surrealist environments with his floating paper installations, which he produces through a very personal technique.

First working as a printmaker, Gentenaar found commercially-available paper too thin for his engravings. With the help of Jo Persoon at the Royal Dutch Paper Factory (KNP), he designed his own beater to process very long paper fibers.

This type of paper, when reinforced with thin ribs of bamboo, upon drying shrinks up to 40% and therefore curls up in unpredictable shapes, like the leaves of a tree. The result: massive, light and delicate paper sculptures that float in mid-air like underwater organisms. A magical union of creativity and technique.

See his official website here -- it is even possible to purchase a paper beater like the one he invented.

(more pictures on Colossal)

[meridianonline]

Behind the Scenes:

The Making of a Light Installation - Meridian Space

Théophile Seyrig (Théo pour les intimes) was trained in France as a landscape architect. But it was a very specific area of study that he decided to explore when he first set foot in Beijing: waste — in other terms, the discarded materials of everyday life, and the insights they give one into the "dark side" of the city.

Théo tackled this topic from a creative and academic point of view, which led him to start designing all kinds of items by assembling various objects and materials found lying around the urban wilderness. His workshop, in the faraway artsy neighborhood of Feijiacun, is a warehouse crowded with installations and contraptions of all shapes, kinds and colours, involving iron bars, light bulbs, computer fans, and the like. By his window is an extremely zen set of solar-powered rotating disks, on which small pieces of stone spin into life as soon as the sun appears in the morning.

Théo decided to collaborate with Meridian Space in order to showcase his talent and inventions. Besides the "magic corner" underneath the Meridian Space staircase (a window bringing light, mirrors and plants into the "& Café"), and the "Meridian" logo behind our bartop (metal and LEDs), Théo notably designed the splendid light installation currently hanging from the ceiling in the entrance of the Space. This work was the centerpiece of the Meridian Day, Meridian Space's 24-hour long opening party, on April 19th, 2014.

The photos above are an attempt at giving a brief account of the many nights and days which were necessary for the making of this graceful and fragile piece — a 60-kg stainless steel board from which hang 7 loops of neon lights. It was only thanks to the indefatigable dedication of Théo and his friends, Jean and Rani, that this installation was eventually ready on time for the Meridian Space opening.

Meridian Space brings together artists and creators of all kinds under a common roof, in the heart of Beijing. The Space is open to all cultural and artistic events.

All works exhibited inside Meridian Space can be bought — please contact us for details.

[meridianonline]


Meridian Day - Meridian Space Opening Party


Part 4: Later that night...

Around 10pm, three performers from Sinotronics took the stage: Charm, Menghan and MMS.

Sinotronics is a Beijing-based record label publishing contemporary music from & in China, with a strong emphasis on electronic sounds. For their first event in 2014, they performed a hybrid live/DJ set incorporating sounds to be included on the forthcoming Sinotronics compilation CDs, followed by DJ of experimental electronica, dark ambient, and minimal techno.

Lights were dimmed, and green boxes rearranged strategically around the Meridian Art Lounge to form a strange and enticing environment. Meridian Club was born. (oh, wait... didn't we use that name before?) ... Meanwhile, on the little patio outside: the sound of a trumpet was suddenly heard, along with frenetic drumming: two (somewhat inebriated) members from the band Omnipotent Youth Society had decided that the moment was appropriate for a little outdoors performance.

... Meanwhile, in the Meridian Workshop upstairs: people sat around cross-legged on woven mats, drinking tea and debating philosophical topics (or the latest Beijing trends, or both).

... Meanwhile, in the entrance of Meridian Space: Theophile Seyrig's latest light installation, which was designed and assembled specially for Meridian Space, hung in all its glory from the ceiling — spreading its phantasmagorical neon glow over everyone and everything.

It kept on burning bright until the very end of that night, and Sunday morning — end of a fruitful and memorable Meridian Day.

(more on this installation in a following post)

[meridianonline]

Meridian Day - Meridian Space Opening Party

Part 3: Jazz improv by the B+Trio // surprise contemporary dance act

B+ Jazz Trio Improv Performance by Rani Géroult (vocals), Nathaniel Gao (sax) and Brandon Gaoiran (bass). That evening, the B+Jazz Trio turned a corner of Meridian Space into their stage. Rani, Nathaniel and Brandon performed three superb 20-minute shows, a blend of free jazz, old French songs by Rani, and experimental electronica. "Three lines meet. Three musicians invite the audience to visualize, through their common performance, the traits of a character drawn in space, and the living energies that define it. In this opening performance, the concept of "meridian" is expressed as a movement, and a celebration of the beauty of encounter — that of human beings meeting each other, in a common time and place."

To the astonishment of many visitors, during their final piece, four dancers suddenly walked out of the crowd, carrying some of the wooden green boxes that are a trademark of the Meridian Art Lounge — and started performing. Their piece was timed to the sound of a 17-minute abstract musical composition by Rani, made of atmospheric effects and recordings of everyday sounds, picked around Beijing — a composition which aimed at expressing the odd feeling of emptiness and alienation that pervades life in such a large city as Beijing.

(All our thanks to these talented dancers for their surprise participation to the event: Li Dan 李丹, Wang Yuanqing 汪圆清, Jin Xiaolin 金晓霖 and Mengxi 梦曦 !)

NB: most of the photos above are captures from video footage which we will hopefully soon manage to turn into a proper video of this performance!

[meridianonline]

Meridian Day - Meridian Space Opening

Part 2: As the Sun Goes Down

- Classy furniture design by Christian Melz

- Stunning interior design by Theophile Seyrig

- Magical night atmosphere by... everyone.

[meridianonline]

Meridian Day - Meridian Space Opening Part 1: Inspiration. Lunch. Meditation

- Breakfast Inspiration talk: "The Design of Everyday Life" with Wang Hui and Beatrice Leanza

Meridian Space architect and interior designer Wang Hui (王晖) presented a morning talk, in C&C Café, on the inspiration he gets as a designer from everyday life objects conceived by normal people, often in remote areas of China. He discussed these ways of bridging "high" and "low" culture with Beatrice Leanza (毕月), who jointly runs the Beijing-based cultural consultancy BAO Atelier.

- Tasty lunch set, by Fatface

After this intense intellectual activity, the mouth-watering lunch set prepared by Beijing-based Fatface Dining (胖脸儿) was more than welcome — and thus, highly successful.

- "Springtime in a Cup of Tea" - Tea Ceremony by Dong Quanbin and Cha Xiaoyin

That afternoon, in the Meridian Workshop, a dozen people had the chance to participate in the traditional Chinese tea ceremony organised by Dong Quanbin (董全斌), a master porcelain craftsman from Jingdezhen. They drank from some beautiful Song-dynasty-style tea sets that he created, while he prepared infusions of top-grade, first-harvest springtime tea, and shared some of his encyclopedic tea-lore. Meanwhile, another well-known tea expert, Cha Xiaoyin (茶小隐) showed some of the photos she took on her quest for special teas around the country.