Sledge Blog

Greening of the Desert

Brand experiences are overtly resource intensive. Typically something is built, exists for a short period of time and is then removed. The environmental impact tends to be large. We are working with our clients to look at ways of decreasing this, whether it be using bio-diesel generators, providing recycling bins or encouraging the use of public transport. That said we have never thought as deeply about the issues as the organisers of Burning Man. This gathering of 40,000 people in the Nevada desert has always been dubbed a 'leave no trace' event, that is to say the desert is returned to its natural state, but last summer they really tested what this meant and explored it as a 'closed loop' (like the planet) event.

Some of the innovations included; reducing solid waste by 50%, using bio-diesel generators run on french fry fat from Reno, and having a cafe that was powered by its own waste coffee grounds. Much of the audience for Burning Man are drawn from the San Fransisco area with a high number of tech-heads attending, and at the heart of last year's event was the world's largest expo of open source green energy solutions. This  podcast from the archives of the environmental website Tree Hugger really brings to life the passion and sense of possibility with which Burning Man have sought to find solutions to greening the festival.

What I particulalry like about it is the sense of exploration, of not claiming to have all the answers, of having a go and of having fun at the interface between art and science - the carbon neutral flame thrower sounds pretty cool. Too often in the world of branded events we feel that everything has to work perfectly, that there isn't room for experimenting with new stuff.

Son of Dave

Great stuff. For more on Son of Dave

Race Night

Great night out with our friends from Mash. Beeby led from start to finish.

Wishing Wall

I've always fancied bringing in the New Year in Times Square (Trafalgar Square doesn't prompt the same desire). I just have a feeling that New Yorkers would get properly involved, unlike Londoners who are a bit sceptical about choreographed fun. I also like the idea of the confetti in Times Square. This year the organisers implemented a lovely simple idea; New Yorkers could submit a wish for the New Year which was then printed on a piece of confetti. This is yet another example of the fashion for people becoming involved in public events in interesting and surprising ways.

Check out some of the messages here 

Nice present

Ganton Street Decorations

Anthony McCall

If you get a chance definitely pop down to the brilliant new exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery by Anthony McCall. The exhibition comprises three projection based installations and a couple of short films.

We spend lots of time at Sledge talking about complex and expensive projection ideas - 360 projection, projection onto waterfalls etc - but this is really simple, it is just about light and dark. It reminded me of when people used to smoke in cinemas creating solid looking cones of projected light. 

Visitors aren't sure if they are allowed to touch the light or not. Putting your hand through the light makes you feel like you are breaking a taboo, like touching the Mona Lisa. A bit like Anthony Gormley's cloud installation, in which people worried about bumping into each other, it brings out a strange kind of English politeness; you want to break the projection but you don't want to spoil it for other people. This exhibition though is highly interactive, go when it is quiet, walk through the beams of projected light and spend some happy moments leaning against the back wall looking back at the smoke filled prisms that bestride you.

When you read the biog in the gallery you find out that Anthony McCall was an artist in the 1970's then stopped for financial reasons and worked as a designer for twenty years and has now become an artist again. I love the idea of an artist mothballing their career for all those years, then getting back into it.

Good Look

Photos from JD & Clare's visit to the nice people at Yorkshire Tea.

Temporality

Over the past eight summers, the Serpentine Gallery’s pavilion program has become one of the best ideas in the art world – focusing on the public’s experience of temporary structures at the intersection of art and architecture. Every year, the gallery invites an international architect to design a temporary pavilion and the open brief has resulted in somewhat of a fantasy football league for architects, showcasing innovative and experimental structures they most likely wouldn’t get funding for otherwise.

Last weekend, I went to see this year’s design - a collaborative effort between artist Olafur Eliasson (behind the Weather Project in Tate Modern) and Norwegian architect Kjetil Thorsen

A steel and timber clad structure reminiscing a cross section between a shark attack and a giant spinning-top. A wide spiraling ramp winds twice around the exterior, rising from the lawns of the gallery and ending with a viewpoint over Kensington Gardens. The structure’s interior is supposed to function as a ‘laboratory’ for artistic/scientific public experiments. This temporary building does more than look pretty and keep the rain out. Actually, I wouldn’t say it was pretty at all. Its an odd looking structure you need to experience with your body and less with your eyes.

Within art, design and architecture, the current escalating trends seems to be temporary experiences and structures, experimenting with how space works and how people can affect a built structure as much as the structure can affect them.

Watch this space for an update of future temporary structures taking place around London.

Check out Olafur Eliassons’ studio website, which he calls a laboratory for spatial research

 

Height of Fashion

Clare, Jez and Karen have been helping Metro bring to life their title sponsorship of the Ski and Snowboard Show  at Olympia. Here are some slightly disturbing shots from photo iglu.