Cute²
The Atlantic has this story (w/an illustrative slideshow). I really need to get out more often, and a trip to the Wolong Nature Reserve in the remote Yangzi Region of Sichuan, China (”Province of Abundance” - and birth place of Szechuan cuisine) might do the trick. Though Sichuan is also one of the major industrial bases of China and as such one of the most polluted. With an estimated total panda population of only 1,600 of these creatures in the wilds of China today, this furry friend is one of our most endangered species. WWF is the first official worldwide environmental group dedicating its resources to help save the animal and its habitat.
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Speaking of other habitats, and getting away from it all, big nods to Arcy Douglass for his extremely well rounded reportage of the latest exhibition at SFMOMA (check out the interactive features) by house favorite Olafur Eliasson. Back in May of ‘06 I saw his show at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery (who also shows the work of Uta Barth) and had this to say:
Your Engagement Sequence
by Olafur Eliasson
“This gallery is truly dedicated to work that flares boundaries, and does it with technology, light and space in this forum. The central work, Your negotiable panorama dealt with the ripples of wavy water, its reflections and light in the round - all enabled by the motion of entrants to the space. A slight bouncing platform actually uses your weight to trip the light…fantastic! The uncertain museum was another work dealing in cylindrical space with light and shadow (and motors). Panels of steel and projection foil dangled from a centered tubular freestanding space. Upon entry the space creates large cast silhouttes to the exterior walls, along with large circular ornamental geometries rotatating in space from the ceiling, offering inner/outer projections and multiple experiences within a convex space. Upstairs hung a huge geo-prism of mirrors that dangled like a Seussian chandelier, and a super darkened room that acted as a camera obscura. The best part was your ability to walk right inside the “camera”. Great show where he is again dealing in larger than human scale optical dimensions.”