Cool Hunting

Mike Nelson: A Psychic Vacuum
At a time when modern high-rise condos are transforming much of NYC's landscape, it's more and more important to preserve what makes the city unique. U.K. artist Mike Nelson embraces this sentiment with his first major installation in the U.S., “A Psychic Vacuum,” presented in conjunction with Creative Time. Imagine a derelict building located in Manhattan's Lower East Side—former home to the bustling Essex...

WA Video Installation
Transforming the 17th century facade of Knoll's Paris headquarters on St. Germain, WA is a site-specific video installation by WIKA. Launched last week, the piece constructs the made-up history of the design company's founders Hans Knoll and Florence Schust, playing on the real way the pair used a minimalist approach to design to define Knoll Using a two-screen format and high-tech projection, the screens...

Ugo Rondinone: air gets into everything even nothing & get up girl a sun is running the world
If you happen to be walking in Battery Park City over the next few months, you might be surprised to see two leafless white trees that look like they were plucked from the enchanted forest in the "Wizard of Oz" and plopped down in Lower Manhattan. Don't be scared, they aren't evil anthropomorphized trees, but rather a new project by Ugo Rondinone, called "air...

Glow Fest 2008
by Perrin Drumm Last month, Santa Monica's pier hosted 12 hours of performance and installation art, attracting 200,000 revelers for Glow, a public light and sound extravaganza in the style of Paris' Nuit Blanche. This video navigates through both the throngs of people (almost more notable than the art itself) and the many luminous installations dotting the beach and boardwalk. At the far end,...

Earth Art Exhibit: Nils-Udo
by Kyle SmallPart of the Earth Art Exhibit at The Royal Botanical Gardens in Canada, the work of German artist Nils-Udo caught CH's eye. His installation consists of a grass-based ramp (or is it a bridge?) leading into the verdant forest of the Ontario backwood. It's a clever example of the intersection of nature and a constructed reality, revealing some of our conceptions of both....

Atlantic Yachting Association
by Kyle Small Last week AYA (Atlantic Yachting Association) generously invited us out for an unforgettable four hour sail around Manhattan. Accompanied by Captain Miles and Alexander Pincus—both extremely friendly and knowledgeable about Manhattan and the water that surrounds it—the sail started on Manhattan's Upper West side as we traveled down the Hudson, breathtakingly close to Lady Liberty, past a few of Olafur Eliasson's...