Ji Lee: Duchamp Reloaded

by Tim Yu

CH friend and Google Labs Creative Director Ji Lee is up to his public art tricks again, this time with a new project he's calling "Duchamp Reloaded."

A riff on Marcel Duchamp's readymades, Lee recreates Duchamp's famed Bicycle Wheel, chaining them alongside other bikes on NYC sidewalks. Playing the concept up even more, he often positions them in front of galleries and museums where Duchamp's works might have been exhibited at one point. (Lee's "Bicycle Wheel" pictured top and below, Duchamps original "Bicycle Wheel" pictured above.) Lee comments, "In 1913, Marcel Duchamp took found objects from the streets and placed them in museums. Ninety-six years later, if Duchamp were alive, he may want to do the very opposite."

Check out our Cool Hunting Video on Ji Lee from the 99% conference talk for a bit of insight into how he works and what inspires him.

via Wooster Collective

Voltaic: Songs from the Volta Tour

by Phuong-Cac Nguyen

The queen of her own stratum, Bjork's talent is the type where we've come to expect the unexpected. As is the case with all her projects, I've been gleefully indulging in her new multimedia undertaking Voltaic as if I were discovering the Icelandic chanteuse all over again. Closing the chapter of the past powerful two years of her career, this reently-released live album is part of a brawny set that documents her work and experiences around the 2007 album Volta. This new package of her work proves yet again that with each fresh album and tour, she continually reinvents herself, her sound and music in general. Images below are a first look at the packaging design.

Recorded in a London studio before her 2007 Glastonbury show, Bjork presents Voltaic as if it was in front of an imaginary audience, with songs from Volta and updates to classics such as "Pagan Poetry" and "All Is Full of Love." Documented on DVD and starring an unusual cast of guests, from a Congolese group to producer Timbaland, the tour is a burst of color and shows a fierceness that put the theatrics of other shows to shame.

Available in two versions, a deluxe edition comes with the live album on CD and vinyl, a DVD of tour stops in Paris and Reykjavik, CD remixes of songs from that album and a DVD of music video clips from Volta including Michel Gondry's "Declare Independence." The lower-priced option comes with the live album and DVD of the tour, but according to the label's site, there are options to buy the album in MP3 format for even less. The limited edition set is also available from Amazon, as is the CD/DVD.

Flux premiered, "The Volta Tour," the documentary that comes on the DVD in L.A. on Tuesday at Nike Sportswear at The Montalbán to delighted fans. Look for a screening to come to your city over the next few weeks.

Hamptons Pop-Up Boutique T.B.D.

by CH Contributor

by Kelsey Keith

Summer pop-up T.B.D. opened last week on the main drag of Southampton, showcasing items for the young and casually hip. Not your mother's Montauk needlepoint shop or East Hampton high-end mall, instead owners Peter Hananel and Jesse Warren carefully curated a collection of modish men's clothing and lifestyle must-haves.

Creative director Gregory Buntain built out the interior of the one-story storefront with wood salvaged from a Bushwick warehouse and a custom-made dressing area resembling a Saharan tent. Rustic wood propped on industrial yellow sawhorses, a vintage curio cabinet housing 35mm cameras and colorful ties complete the low-key, lived-in feeling of the shop. Buntain also contributed the Prism coffee table he designed for green furniture line Brave Space, which outfits T.B.D. along with Richard Schultz chairs for Knoll, a long country table, handmade wooden surfboards and a vintage Raleigh bicycle.

Brands like UNIS, A.P.C.'s Madras line, Save Khaki, YMC (You Must Create), Coto Luxe and Super sunglasses service a recognizably Manhattan street style-meets-prepster look. Naturally, it's all exclusive to the Hamptons, supplemented by a selection of journals like Esopus, Journal, Tar, Cabinet, Apartamento and Monocle, as well as a Spoonbill & Sugartown-approved array of design, travel, art, and fiction books. The thoughtfully edited library-for-sale includes Ryan McGinness, Michel Houllebecq and Leonard Cohen.

T.B.D. (To Be Determined)
Through September 2009
67A Jobs Lane
Southampton, NY 11968 map

Wozzup Mutazionidinterni Design

by CH Contributor

by Paolo Ferrarini of Future Concept Lab

In Milan it's unusual to find "non-Milanese” design, meaning design that's not linear, clean or somehow a reinterpretation of classic pieces and brands. Decidedly untraditional, Wozzup Mutazionidinterni is the refreshing exception to this rule.

Former set designer Luca Porcelli and Maurizio Duranti, an ex-graphic designer, founded Wozzup in 2007. They work and exhibit their furniture, paintings and objects in the neighborhood of Porta Venezia. Not easy to define, their style incorporates elements from traditional pieces and graffiti, silk and leather, wood and steel, manga and baroque. Is it Grandeur Pop? Or maybe Rococo Comics?

CH met the two designers in their Milan store to get a handle on the sources of their inspiration and the origins of their unconventional approach.

How was Wozzup born?
We come from the worlds of theater and communication and we had the idea of doing something that could help us to freely express our creativity while having fun. The objects and the furniture we have in our showroom are our "business cards." These pieces of furniture and decoration are conceived for the elite, since we use precious materials (from rare woods to leathers and fur), which come from all over Italy.

The majority of our products are made-to-measure and one of a kind. Usually the customers come to us, fall in love with a piece, which is then made brand new for them, with colors, materials, processes and finishing in harmony with their own space. Everything is fine-tuned on the needs and taste of our client.

Read the rest of the interview and see more images after the jump.

HTC Hero Featuring HTC Sense

by Tim Yu

Once again challenging the iPhone's reign as the touch screen device of choice for over two years, HTC's new model boasts industrial design and interface usability that makes us weigh our options carefully. For early-adopters looking to differentiate themselves from the iPhone-using masses, the Hero may be the answer.

Three years in the making, HTC's Hero notably adds HTC Sense, the first fully customized version of Google's Android mobile phone operation system. It's a setup that packages powerful capabilities in a distinct design, which alone makes for some impressive competition to the smart phone market.

Featuring an angled bottom and beveled edges, the Hero's contours fit nicely in one hand, offering comfortable access to main navigation buttons with just a thumb. The shape also positions the mouthpiece closer to the mouth when held to the ear. An anti-fingerprint coating prevents screen smudges and the white version includes an industry-first Teflon coating, resulting in a durable white surface that's soft to the touch. For added functionality, the design incorporates a trackball in addition to the touch screen.

The 3.2" HVGA display offers crisp resolution optimized for Web and multimedia content. Hardware features include A-GPS, a digital compass, gravity-sensor, 3.5mm stereo headset jack, five mega-pixel autofocus camera and expandable MicroSD memory.

Some features that stand out include a dedicated search button that provides a contextual search experience—whether it be searching through Twitter, contact lists or emails.

Text reflow is another feature not to be overlooked; zooming in on text automatically reframes the words, eliminating horizontal scrolling. (See the HTC Hero walkthrough video below for a demonstration.)

I also love the fact that you can activate silent mode simply by turning it face down. It's a simple but super useful bonus designed for the way we use our phones.

HTC Sense takes a different approach to usability by aggregating communication channels and applications into a single view. Sense integrates Facebook with the address book and status updates and photos, along with Flickr photos, show up alongside text messages, emails and call history in a single view. It even includes a Twitter module on the home screen. It's all thanks to close partnerships with all three brands to create seamless functionality.

What's more, Hero will ship with support for Adobe Flash technology, promising a more complete web browsing experience. With access to over 5,000 applications in the Android Market and full integration of Google services like Gmail, Calendar and Contacts, being one of the first to get this phone doesn't mean you'll be left unsupported.

In an important ideological move, the HTC provides a way to manage all the connectivity of smartphones. Helping to create a division between work and life, a new profile feature entitled Scenes enables different customized content profiles around specific functions or times. For example, a weekend mode potentially highlights social networking functionality, while burying work email towards the bottom of the user interface.

There's no word yet on price, but we expect it will be comparable to the first Android phone as well as iPhones. HTC Hero will be available throughout Europe in July and in Asia later in the summer. A North American version will be available later this year.