Cool Hunting
| 24 July 2008view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Insight Clothing: Dopamine Campaign
by Max Gold
The Dopamine campaign is the latest from Australian clothing company, Insight, divided into two inspired and highly original photo/film projects: the Surf and the Skate.
Redefining "the life aquatic," the Surf Campaign mixes elements of surrealism, 1950s counterculture and a nuclear/grunge aesthetic. Each of Dustin Humphrey's deftly-composed photographs are bisected into different worlds. In one a surfer floats by in the top half while an eerie scene is constructed beneath the waves. What lies beneath are rich, dark visual spectacles including "beatnik graveyards, uba scuba canoes, and motor-cycle riding femme fatales."
The Skate Campaign is shot on location in Bali. Not in some Balinese skate park or industrial zone, but in the middle of the jungle. Why go for a conventional half-pipe when you can shoot one in the center of a rice field or a sandy beach? Like the Surf Campaign, the evocative images evoke a rush of unconscious euphoria.
"I hate to think that we're all just champs and we're doing everything we can to stay happy and fat. That is why we're here, right?" The films are punctuated by politically charged spoken word, something that might come from the lips of Jack Kerouac during a drunken rant. Combined with the images, this campaign is more than the usual lookbook.
Check out the posters on the site.
Deerhoof: Fresh Born Cover Project
by Doug Black
Deerhoof, the eclectic indie band from San Francisco, have a new take on the remix. They're asking the public to interpret one of their songs but, unlike the average cover song, there's no definitive version to work from. The band released the sheet music for the song "Fresh Born" through CASH Music, an organization that seeks to foster an exchange of ideas between music's creators and audiences. Fans are invited to download a document of the song notation and record it in the manner they see fit. When they're done, they can post a link to the webpage or blog that's hosting it. Deerhoof themselves will eventually contribute their version of the song and all will be made available to the public.
The concept behind the project hopes to increase interest in the band and their songs by making it a type of collaborative process. CASH Music is currently sponsoring different projects with musicians like Xiu Xiu and Donita Sparks. Take a look at the "Fresh Born" effort on the project's page or listen to the definitive version when it's release on their new LP, Offend Maggie, due out on 7 October 2008 through Kill Rock Stars.
Thanks to Emily for the tip!
Altered States of Paint
by Leonora Oppenheim
A new exhibition opened this month at one of Scotland's most avant-garde galleries, Dundee Contemporary Arts. Altered States of Paint takes its name from the Ken Russell film "Altered States," in which the lead character goes through sensory experiments in an attempt to find the meaning of life. The curator of the show, Graham Domke, was also inspired by Aldous Huxley's "The Doors of Perception," using the quote from it, "The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out." Domke says that Altered States of Paint plays with the idea that "certain paintings can achieve a visionary experience and the notion of the gallery as a gateway."
The pure white minimalist space of the gallery plays host to a decidedly dark and eclectic show of work that includes murals, sculpture and canvas, which all in their various ways, take on the medium of painting in what DCA describe as "a rebellious, spirited and playful manner." Concepts relating to mysticism, neo-paganism, science fiction and even death metal music are all explored here. Altered States of Paint includes works shown in Scotland for the first time by Jutta Koether, Till Gerhard, Angela de la Cruz, Rabiya Choudry, Neil Clements and Andreas Dobler.
Altered States of Paint
Through 7 September 2008
Dundee Contemporary Arts
152 Nethergate
Dundee, Scotland
DD1 4DY map
tel. +44 (0) 1382 909 900
Havaianas Summer '08-'09
by Phuong-Cac Nguyen
Sure, Brazil is famous for inventing the thong, but it's reinvented another type of thong that thankfully doesn't require being born with lucky genes to wear: the classic rubber sandal. You're looking at some models from Havaianas' upcoming summer '08-'09 season that will eventually make their way off the southern continent and closer to you.
Standout variations include sandals whose footbed print glows under a blacklight; the entire "Slim" line with charms of different animals, a collection super popular because of its thin straps; colorful and beautiful watercolor art depicting Brazil's biodiversity (Havaianas has been donating 7% of its net revenue to the non-profit Ecological Research Institute since 2004).
We also like a surf-themed set; an India-inspired pair with ankle band; and the version that started it all for the company, the simple white sole with colored straps but now in new hues.
Havaianas has been steadily usurping more and more established U.S. beach sandal brands in the last few years and like Melissa, their worldwide domination doesn't seem so far away.
