Anna Carnick

MTC facade corner

Australian design consultancy ARM continues to push the envelope down-under. Their latest projects, the Melbourne Recital Centre and  neighboring MTC Theatre, are turning heads round the globe, and recently earned ARM the Public Buildings category award from the Property Council of Australia Rider Levett Bucknall Innovation & Excellence Awards.

One eloquent judge described the projects as “understandable origami.” Looking at the new buildings, you can’t help but notice their strong angles, musical fluidity and theatrical color and shape – beautifully reflecting the spaces’ roles.

According to ARM, the complementary identities of the 1000 seat Recital Centre and 500 seat MTC theatre (both accessed from a landscaped civic plaza on Southbank Boulevard ) together “create an exciting new civic space within Melbourne’s vibrant arts precinct.”

The Melbourne Recital Centre was designed primarily as a chamber music venue. ARM’s design rationale considered the building itself as packaging for the valued music performed within, which led to its “box inside a box” structure. The Elisabeth Murdoch Hall seats 1000, while the Salon space seats 150 for pre-concert talks and experimental chamber music. The performance spaces feature timber panelling for ideal acoustics. Much of the multilevel foyer is visible from the exterior, allowing passersby a peak inside, and concert goers a view of Melbourne’s skyline.

The drama theatre is the first permanent home for the Melbourne Theatre Company. The Sumner Theatre seats 500 in a single tier, and the Lawlor Studio seats 150 for smaller productions. The building’s facade is composed of iridescent painted steel pipework and black aluminum cladding, creating a pattern that “challenges spatial perceptions through the blurring of 2 & 3 dimensional space – that which appears shaped is actually flat, and likewise, a 2 dimensional surface is actually 3 dimensional.”

For more information on ARM, visit www.a-r-m.com.au

Above:Photos by Steven Wohlwender

Photographer Steven Wohlwender’s latest personal series captures marathon runners’ emotions as they cross the finish line.  It’s a rich and beautiful moment. As Wohlwender describes it: “The idea is to catch runners at the very moment they cross the finish line of a full marathon (in this case the Grand Rapids Marathon), so my assistant and I stand just a few feet beyond the finish line and as soon as a runner crosses, my assistant raises a silk behind them, and I shoot. The whole process takes less than 5 seconds and assures they are still in the daze of exhaustion and emotion.”

For more information on Steven Wohlwender, visit www.stevenwohlwender.com

To read my PDN story on Steven’s moving series on Afghanistan, check out The Real Afghanistan on my writing samples page.

"Surf into Summer" by Mitchell Schorr

"Surf into Summer" by Mitchell Schorr

This July, the Fashion Center Business Improvement District (BID) displays Surf into Summer, a new series by artist Mitchell Schorr. A native New Yorker, Schorr is probably best known for his colorful murals (often placed in public spaces) and for a style and content consistently inspired by city life. Drawing from everyday scenes, Schorr’s work is energetic and vibrant, revealing a real sense of movement and love of color.

The paintings in this beach scene tableau installation depict surfers as they ride waves up to 60 feet tall. Says Schorr, “It’s like surfing a six-story building as it falls.”

Surf into Summer is on display in a street-level window at 215 West 38th Street through July 30th. The free exhibit is part of BID’s continuing series of public art exhibits, and is presented by the Fashion Center Space for Public Art, which celebrates the work of talented local artists throughout the year. BID, a not-for-profit corporation, was established in 1993 to improve the quality of life and economic vitality of Manhattan ’s Fashion District.

I Heart Public Art!

For more information on Mitchell Schorr, visit www.mschorr.com

To learn more about BID, check out www.fashioncenter.com

To read my interview with MItchell for BehindtheBurner.com from May ’09, visit Gourmet Groceries and Foodie Art.

Photographer Hugh Kretschmer is known for a one-of-a-kind, playful style, one that teases viewers’ imaginations. His eclectic photos appeal on multiple levels: Not only are they consistently surreal and fun, they’re also the result of a very unexpected hands-on process. Though the photos appear heavily Photo-shopped, they’re actually the result of a labor-intensive approach. I first encountered Kretschmer’s work in 2007, while I was the editor of Graphis, and I’ve loved his photography ever since.

For Kretschmer’s latest series, “Blustery Day,” (pictured above) he constructed dreamlike sets and shot models from above while they lay on the studio floor.  Says Kretschmer, “I was after a very whimsical and highly fanciful feeling. The scenarios were all very unrealistic, so I wanted the setting, styling and models to follow suit.”

Most of the elements we see in the final photo were constructed by Kretschmer himself, and were a real part of the studio’s physical set. Each of the three images above, says Kretschmer, is the product of “one shot with very little compositing.”

The clouds were made of foamcore, fiberfil, and muslin embroidered with yarn. The flowers were inkjet prints of flowers cut-out into the flower shapes, and the mountains were folded fabric with the “snow peaks” painted in. The kites were made with balsa wood, thread and tissue paper while the kite string was actually made of wire, so that it would hold its form.  The animals were little yard sculptures Kretschmer found at a prop house. The trees were made of plywood, chicken wire and Epson prints of bark, and so on. There was, admittedly, a little Photoshop tweaking (note the wine in the wine glasses in the top shot: the lawn is actually a wall with glasses mounted to it, so liquid was added in later).

Once again, Kretschmer seems to have made the act of photography just as fun as the art of it!

To read my behind-the-scenes profile of Hugh for PopPhoto.com, check out “Hugh Kretschmer Revealed.”

To see my interview with Hugh for Graphis, check out my writing samples page.

For more information on Hugh Kretschmer, visit  www.hughkretschmer.net, Bransch.net or Sharpeonline.com.