10 NEW ART CONNECTIONS THAT WOW

Great art is connection as much as it is departure. We’ve curated a group of recent works that make Beautiful Connections. Some connect places; some connect dots. Some connect objects. And all connect ideas.

1. LIGHTRAILS

A train used to run on these tracks, through these tunnels, connecting people to each other along its route. And then it stopped. Abandoned, it deteriorated into a dark and dangerous place until a new connection was made.

Sculptor Bill FitzGibbons was commissioned to create LightRails, a permanent installation designed to bring life back to this desolate place.

The installation consists of computerized LEDs that run throughout the tunnel, changing colors and patterns, to create an ever evolving experience.

LightRails provides a beautiful connection in Birmingham Alabama between downtown and Railroad Park.

2. STATION TO STATION

Artist Doug Aitken’s most recent project, Station to Station: A Nomadic Happening connects artists, musicians and creative pioneers with diverse communities. It is a public art project that is an installation piece, of sorts -- it consists of a train cum kinetic sculpture that also serves as a mobile cultural studio that brings the arts to the people along its journey.

Station to Station embarked on a three-week journey, traveling from New York City to San Francisco, making ten stops along the way. At each stop, leading artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, and chefs participate in a site-specific event.

Proceeds from ticket sales and donations went to support non-traditional programming at seven partner museums around the country, including MoMA PS1, Carnegie Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Walker Art Center, SITE Santa Fe, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).

The project will continue to evolve through the museum program, the release of a Station to Station documentary, and a published book.

Also see our post 10 INCREDIBLE SUNDANCE WORKS OF ART, for more from Doug Aitkins.

3. UNNUMBERED SPARKS

Unnumbered Sparks is a sculpture created as a giant floating web, spanning 745 feet, tethered to surrounding buildings. It was originally installed in Vancouver this past March, to mark TED’s 30th anniversary celebration. It is a result of a collaboration between artist Janet Echelmen and Google’s Creative Lab Creative Director Aaron Koblin.

The piece is made of fishing line that is 15 times stronger than steel, with lights and projectors on the ground.

According to the project's technology video, the entire piece is basically "a distributed website on the sculpture." Spectators connect to the project's Wi-Fi and a browser opens on their smartphones that lets them draw on the piece with giant beams of light as well as to contribute to the ambient sounds.

Unnumbered Sparks will later travel to other cities around the world.

4. MANA

Artist Kumi Yamashita created incredible portraits by connecting threads to strategically positioned nails. One piece, Mana, part of her Constellation series is made from a single unbroken sewing thread.

5. PLEXUS

Another artist working in thread connections, Gabriel Dawe, has wowed us with his Plexus series, a number of site specific installations. The works explore the connection between fashion and architecture, and how they relate to the human need for shelter in all its shapes and forms.

The brightly colored threads are pulled taut, forming intricate precise patterns, gorgeous from any angle of of view.

The works have been exhibited in the US, Canada, Belgium, and the UK.

Professor Kliq - Wire and Flashing Lights from Patator on Vimeo.

6. STOP MOTION WIRE AND PAPER VIDEO

Victor Haegelin of Patator Prod does some amazing things by connecting wires and paper. Those were the only materials he used to create this incredible stop motion video, featuring music from Professor Kliq.

7. PRESENCE

Universal Everything-founder Matt Pyke, created a beautiful audio-visual performance together with Benjamin Millepied, the renowned French choreographer and founding director of the vanguard LA Dance Project.

Universal Everything: Presence on Nowness.com

Entitled Presence, it explores the connections and intersections of human movement and computer coding. It is mesmerizing.

8. JR VIDEO

JR: Blow Up on Nowness.com

This video by Matt Black showcases the work of the artist known as JR.

JR won a TED Prize for his ability to connect people to each other as well as to each other’s circumstances and issues.

In his most recent efforts, JR has developed a new system that allows everyone to print and post works in their own neighborhoods, all for free.

9. VICISSITUDES

Jason deCaires Taylor’s underwater sculptures connect art with nature. Each of his pieces is meant to change over time with its environment, acting as an artificial coral reef and supporting new life.

This piece, Vicissitudes, featuring a ring of figures, facing outwards, connected by holding hands. It is stationed in the West Indies, where it will stand until it is gradually taken over by the coral.

Another of Taylor’s pieces, Alluvia, is currently being displayed at the Canterbury City Council in Canterbury, England.

10. DAILY OVERVIEW

Daily Overview is a wonderful art project that was inspired, and derives its name, from an idea known as the Overview Effect, referring to the sensation astronauts have when they observe the earth as a whole from a vantage point in space. A big part of what is seen is a network of connections formed by roads, rails, and other pathways.

Each day, Daily Overview posts a new image captured from Apple Maps.

“From our line of sight on the earth's surface, it’s impossible to fully appreciate the beauty and intricacy of the things we’ve constructed, the sheer complexity of the systems we’ve developed, or the devastating impact that we’ve had on our planet.”

Read more about Beautiful Connections, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including A Bounty of Beautiful Connections, New Beautiful Brain Connections, and Amazing Flavor Love Connections.

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Connections in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 06.22.14. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!

PHOTO CREDITS:

1. Photo: Courtesy of Bill Fitzgibbons. LightRails.
2. Photo: Courtesy of Bill Fitzgibbons. LightRails.
3. Photo: Courtesy of Bill Fitzgibbons. LightRails.
4. Photo: Courtesy of Doug Aitken. Nomadic Light Sculpture.
5. Photo: by Ema Peter. Unnumbered Sparks.
6. Photo: by Ema Peter. Unnumbered Sparks.
7. Photo: by Ema Peter. Unnumbered Sparks.
8. Photo: Courtesy of Kumi Yamashita. Mana.
9. Photo: Courtesy of Gabriel Dawe. Part of Plexus series.
10. Photo: Courtesy of Universal Everything. Still from Presence.
11. Photo: Courtesy of Matt Black. Still from video.
12. Photo: Courtesy of Jason deCaires Taylor. Vicissitudes.
13. Photo: Courtesy of Daily Overview. French side of the Channel Tunnel.
14. Photo: by Alex Maclean. “Picnickers Watching Live Concert at Tanglewood.” Featured on Daily Overview.
15. Photo: Courtesy of Daily Overview. Arlington National Cemetery.