The Pharos Project

by Ami Kealoha

by Russ Lowe

Addressing inconsistencies and other challenges in eco-friendly construction, a revolutionary group of like-minded (and large-minded) scientists, architects, engineers, humanitarians and optimists from the U.S. Green Building Council's robust Northwest Chapter, Cascadia, have developed Pharos, a project that might just reshape the Green movement.

Its namesake, the island lighthouse of Alexandria, references the guiding beacon that led travelers through unmarked waters in ancient Egypt. In much the same way, the project works from several angles, including community-building, a wiki, discussion boards and a label that, like a nutrition label, provides detailed info about the environmental and social impact of materials. Using the specifics, Pharos also assigns a score based on their relative level of responsibility, which in turn architects, developers and (hopefully someday) you and me can use to guide the selection of material and resources, products and goods in our every day life.

While still in beta, the breadth of this project has the potential to reach far in its application and if funded and adopted on a large scale it could make it a whole hell of a lot easier to be Green.

Hank and Matlok

by Fiona Killackey

Unconventional in every sense of the word, Melbourne duo Hank and Matlok are causing a stir down under with cutting-edge art, quirky prints and intelligent fashion. CH caught up with the duo during their recent exhibition at Robio to talk about art, beer and fashion. (Click images for detail.)

What's with the name?
Hank: Blame our parents. That's what we normally do. Matlok: Yeah, usually just blame Ma and Pa. Gave me curly hair as well.

Where do you source ideas?
H: We drink beer and talk crap. Good friends sliding around on alcohol. M: I generally steal all my ideas from Hank. And the newspaper.

Weirdest comment you've received about your art?
H: That it is good. M: "It reminds me of a concentration camp".

Where do you think the line between art stops and fashion begins?
H: Well, art is not really a "thing," is it? It is something that penetrates the society in a similar way to fashion. People create art, people wear clothes, art is fashion in the same way as fashion is art. I know this sounds like a wanker-answer, but art is art only when you define it as art. I see fashion as art. There is no "line" that separates the two. They live and breathe of each other in a beautiful symbiosis. Both superficial shit that makes people forget about their useless lives. Oops. A bit harsh..? Matlok: Yeah, bit harsh dude…

Neon Shoes

by Phuong-Cac Nguyen

Designed from pieces of hand-painted leather, these sexy men's-style dress shoes recently premiered at Neon's winter fashion show and bring action and color to any get-up. The Brazilian label's co-designer Dudu Bertholini has been collecting leftover painted cow skin—some of them rare—from his trips abroad to New York and throughout his home country, at last finding the best use for them.

Because he only had enough material to make one or two pairs of footwear with some of the leathers, these unisex shoes bring the type of limited edition status often more relegated to sneakers. The solid-color versions come in higher quantity, and altogether there are 20 models.

You can find the hand-painted editions at Surface to Air in São Paulo or contact Neon directly to see what they have left in stock.

Radio Village Nomade

by Doug Black

Beginning in May, experimental composers Marie-Claire Brycztwa and Sudhu Tewari will host a seven-month "audio play" called Radio Village Nomade. Broadcast daily from a makeshift village in La Corbière, Switzerland, the 214-day project will feature live performances, as well as audio submissions from sound manipulators the world over. The concept is to let people define for themselves what constitutes a moment in time and how that might be captured as audio. They invite contributers to create "windows of sound," glimpses into other realities heard from different perspectives.

They intend to impose as few restrictions possible. Invited artists and musicians include Misa Shimomura, Theresa Wong, Fred Frith, Kristoff.K.Roll, Balts Nill and Young Gods, but will rely heavily on outside submissions as well, which can be of any length with no guidelines for genre or instrumentation.

"In terms of themes, we'll see how that develops based on the submissions we receive," says Tewari. "I would like to do a few days at a time following a theme, such as a week of traffic recordings, a week of nature, a week of children, etc."

Both curators are based in Oakland, California and graduates of the Mills College Center for Contemporary Music. They each use varied instrumentation and tend toward improvisational compositions. Tewari spent four months of 2006 as the Artist in Residence at the San Francisco Dump, crafting instruments out of peoples trash (example at left). They plan to post daily Village Nomade MP3s on their website, and eventually build an FM transmitter for live broadcasts to the area surrounding La Corbière. At the end of the project, they'll weave the daily compositions into a 24-hour sound collage. They are currently accepting pieces here.