Theres a lot to be said for laying floors. I dont really care what kind, Ill lay anything from your unique, expensive South American hardwoods to rough cut pine to durable laminate. If its wood, or looks like wood, Ill snap it together in your house.

I only get to lay floors occasionally. Its only when Im taking a break from drawing and writing to actually make real money that I work construction, and even then Im usually put to work on the more meatheaded tasks. Ill tear out that stupid wall between your kitchen and dining room fast. But when Im lucky, I get to lay floors with Wendell. Sometimes I wonder if I could quit drawing and let laying floors be my only creative pursuit.

Wendell has been selling and installing floor products for much longer than Ive been alive. He knows floors like a good guide knows the snowpack. Hes got an encyclopedic knowledge of products, and their merits, and the decades of experience it takes to just know certain things without having to think about them. But what really makes him special is that he reads all of the manufacturers instructions about every flooring product he installs. Having spent a solid portion of my life doing menial tasks in homes that are somewhere between the drywall is hung and the owner is moving in tomorrow, Im familiar with the general lack of instruction reading in the construction business.

Were men after all. Weve done this sort of thing before, instructions are just a waste of time so just push a little harder, hand me that sledge hammer, and well make it work. Working with Wendell is exactly the opposite. If you have to try too hard, youre probably doing it wrong, is his maxim. Hes repeated it to generation after generation of boneheaded workers; Im merely his latest helper.

On the first job I worked with Wendell, a co-worker walked off the job in a huff because he thought he knew better. He felt like he was being talked down to, hated reading directions and would rather just force it. Once he cooled down and got back to work, he refused to do it Wendells way, instead he slapped flooring around, breaking off tongues and crushing grooves. He ended up having to work a weekend, tearing up floor hed installed poorly and replacing it.

My first few hours installing a new flooring product always reminds me of my first few days backcountry skiing. I know what Im supposed to do, but things just arent quite clicking. Kick turns are hard. Im frustrated, wallowing, falling, angry. But just like backcountry skiing, its all about the attitude and experience.

Now I read the instructions. Now I make sure to fiddle with every product we install before we start on the house. I try different methods of clicking pieces together. I experiment with laying floor in the opposite direction the manufacturer recommends, a skill invaluable for closets and hallways. I learn how to deliver precise taps to encourage each piece to lock itself in. Usually on the job site I move with a reckless haste. Im used to tearing off roofs, scooping shingles into the truck below with abandon. Instead I fall into a shuffling rhythm. Small strides, careful not to damage the new floor. Its translated to the skin track too. I used to galumph around trying to keep up. Now its all about efficiency, barely lifting the ski, using my heel risers at every grade change.

Once I find my rhythm, laying floor feels just like spinning my mountain bike up a smooth climb, or skinning on the pass. Its as close to meditating as I get, a peaceful monotony that allows my mind to wander. If Im lucky, and I usually am, the house Im flooring has big windows that face the Tetons or Big Holes. Every time I look up from my work I explore those hills in my mind, reliving adventures and contemplating new routes. Meanwhile, the patch of new floor grows. Tap! Click! Grab another plank.

Soon enough the snow will fall and Ill trade my planks for skis. Ill put down my tapping block and hammer, and grab an ice axe and ski poles. This house will be ready for trim and baseboards, and Ill be out searching for fresh snow and new lines. But until then, Ill be reading instructions, shuffling slowly, and tapping gently. And when I finally click into my skis, trying to wrestle my touring bindings into uphill mode, Ill remember, If you have to try too hard, youre probably doing it wrong.

Originally posted here:
Mountain mumbles: Handy work meditations and the return to adventure - Jackson Hole News&Guide

Each week, we search New York City for the most exciting and thought-provoking shows, screenings, and events. See them below.

Tricia Wright, Pandoras Box (detail, 2019). Courtesy of the artist and BRIC.

1. Present Bodies: Papermaking at DieuDonn at the Gallery at BRIC House

The BRIC gallery is presenting a curated collaboration with DieuDonn, the Brooklyn-based studio where artists can learn paper-making techniques. The exhibition features the work of eight artists (Swoon, Noel W. Anderson, Lesley Dill, Candy Gonzalez, Lina Puerta, Paul Wong, Saya Woolfalk, and Tricia Wright), each of whom are presenting works based on the theme of paper as a repository of memories.

Location:Gallery at BRIC House, 647 Fulton StreetPrice:FreeTime:Opening reception, Wednesday 7 p.m.9 p.m.; TuesdayFriday, 11 a.m.7 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday, 11 a.m.5 p.m.

Caroline Goldstein

A promotional image for John Dowell: Cotton: Symbol of the Forgotten. Courtesy of Laurence Miller Gallery.

2. John Dowell: Cotton, Symbol of theForgotten at Laurence Miller Gallery

John Dowells sobering works reflect on the histories and legacies of race relations in America. This show focuses in particular on the lives of black Americans in New York state, and includes a digital rendering ofSeneca Village, a once-vibrant community that was founded in 1825. InDowells work, the hub, which was razed to make space for Central Park, is imagined alongside the apartment buildings that replaced it.

Location:Laurence Miller Gallery, 521 West 26th Street, 5th floorPrice:FreeTime:TuesdaySaturday, 10 a.m.6 p.m.

Nan Stewart

Calvin Tompkins, The Lives of Artists: Collected Profiles. Photo courtesy of Phaidon Press.

3. The Lives of ArtistsAn Evening with Calvin Tomkins at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

TheNew YorkersCalvin Tompins will discuss his latest book box set, The Lives of Artistsa compilation of over 80 of his most important artist profiles from 1962 to 2019with artist Paul Chan.

Location:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, 1000 5th AvenuePrice:Free with registrationTime:6:30 p.m.7:30 p.m.

Sarah Cascone

Portrait of Michela Marino Lerman. Photo: Luis Guillen, courtesy of the Whitney.

4. Jazz on a High Floor in the Afternoon: Michela Marino LermansLove Movement at the Whitney Museum of American Art

What better way to spend a frigid winter evening than cozied up in the Whitney listening to jazz? As part of the programming for composer and pianist Jason Morans exhibition, Moran and curator Adrienne Edwards have orchestrated live performances alongside Morans installations, which riff on iconic jazz venues from around New York.

Location:The Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort StreetPrice:$25 general admission; $18 for members and students

Time:Friday, 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Caroline Goldstein

Isaac Mizrahi narrating Peter and the Wolf. with choreography by John Heginbotham, for the Guggenheim Works and Process series. Photo by Robert Altman.

5. Peter & the Wolf With Isaac Mizrahi at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahis version of Sergei Prokofievs childrens classicPeter and the Wolfhas become an annual holiday tradition at the Guggenheim. In addition to providing the costumes, Mizrahi narrates the 1936 symphony, reimagined here to take place across the street in Central Park.

Location:The Guggenheim Museum, 1071 5th AvenuePrice:General admission $45Time:Friday, 6:30 p.m.7 p.m.; Saturday, 1 p.m.1:30 p.m.;2:30 p.m.3 p.m.; 4 p.m.4:30 p.m.; Sunday,2:30 p.m.3 p.m.; 4 p.m.4:30 p.m.

Sarah Cascone

Fiona Banner, Self-Portrait as a Publication (2009). Courtesy of Susan Inglett Gallery.

6. By/Buy Me at Susan Inglett Gallery

In a new group show at Susan Inglett Gallery, curator David Platzker has brought together editioned artworks that have been self-published by artists. The show, which explores themes of commodification and the role of an artist in a commercial art world, includes works by Fiona Banner, Tauba Auerbach, Dan Graham, Hannah Wilke, Richard Prince, and Lynda Benglis, among others.

Location:Susan Inglett Gallery, 522 West 24th StreetPrice:FreeTime:TuesdaySaturday, 10 a.m.6 p.m.

Caroline Goldstein

Installation view of Elias Sime: Tightrope at Hamilton Colleges Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art. Photo by Janelle Rodriguez.

7. Elias Sime: Tightrope at Hamilton Colleges Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art

Repurposing electronic waste such as old computer keyboards, motherboards, and electrical wires,Ethiopian artist Elias Sime creates densely detailed, layered colorful sculptures. He imbues these unexpected materials with a sense of beauty, drawing comparisons between the workings of such manmade machinery and the pathways that spring up organically in the natural world.

Location: Hamilton College, Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, 198 College Hill Road, Clinton, New YorkPrice:FreeTime:TuesdaySunday, 11 a.m.5 p.m.

Sarah Cascone

Michael Apteds 63 Up.

8. 63 Up at Film Forum

In 1964, Michael Apted was tapped to work as a researcher on 7 Up, a British documentary that took a peek into the lives of 14 seven-year-old children from around the country, examining the differences across social classes. Every seven years since, Apted has followed up with his subjects, directing one of cinemas most enduring documentaries. The ninth and latest edition, likely the lastApted is 78 and in failing healthdebuted on the UKs ITV in June, and you can catch it this month at Film Forum.

Location:Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, west of 6th AvenuePrice:General admission $15Time:12:30 p.m., 3:20 p.m., 6:20 p.m.,9:15 p.m.

Sarah Cascone

Installation view of John Chamberlain & Donald Judd at Paula Cooper. Photo courtesy of Paula Cooper.

9. John Chamberlain & Donald Judd at Paula Cooper

Paula Cooper pairs the giants of John Chamberlain and Donald Judd in this two-person exhibition that highlights their friendship in the 1960s. The two influenced each others work, with Judd experimenting withmotorcycle lacquers after encountering them in Chamberlains work, and even supplying the raw materials for a series of his friends crushed metal sculptures.

Location:Paula Cooper, 524 West 26th StreetPrice:FreeTime:TuesdaySaturday, 10 a.m.6 p.m.

Nan Stewert

Installation view of Gilles Barbier: Laughing at clouds at the Chimney. Photo courtesy of the Chimney.

10. Gilles: Barbier: Laughing at clouds at the Chimney

A native of the Oceanic island republic of Vanuatu, Gilles Barbier presents his first solo show, channelling Rene Magritte with a surreal installation of floating umbrellas that transform the gallery into an otherworldly landscape. The show was inspired by a photograph of President Donald Trump abandoning his wife Melania to stand in the rain as he engaged with reporters from underneath an umbrella.

Location:The Chimney, 200 Morgan Avenue, BrooklynPrice:FreeTime: Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m.6 p.m.

Tanner West

Tianyi Zhang, installation view of 99 Agreements (2019). Courtesy of Elijah Wheat Showroom.

11. Tianyi Zhang: 99 Agreements at Elijah Wheat Showroom

China-born, New York-based Tianyi Zhangs new gallery exhibition explores gender identity and power dynamics through media-informed role playing. In the titular multichannel video work, Zhang inhabits 99 different high-femme personas, all vocalizing the word yes in a different situation. Viewers are left to intuit each characters emotional state and broader narrative based only on minimal visual context and the tone of their respective acquiescence. Together, the 99 simultaneous vignettes nod toward the overwhelming number of women who feel pressured to comply in a whole range of personal and professional scenarios every dayand how much would change if they instead decided to bear the (sometimes significant) risks of refusing.

Location: Elijah Wheat Showroom,1196 Myrtle Avenue, BrooklynPrice: FreeTime: FridaySunday, 12 p.m.6 p.m.

Tim Schneider

Installation view of Lucien Samaha: A History of Digital Photography. Courtesy of Pioneer Works.

12. Lucien Samaha: A History of Digital Photography at Pioneer Works

Red Hook-based Pioneer Works is showing three decades worth of works by New York-based photographer Lucien Samaha, whose career coincides with the inception and rise of digital photography. In 1990, Samaha won the inaugural Kodak Professional Photography Division scholarship, which allowed him to use the companys newfangled digital camera system before anyone else. In the intervening years, Samaha has documented just about every place hes been, and the fruits of his labors are the focus of this show.

Location:Pioneer Works,159 Pioneer StreetPrice:FreeTime:Wednesday-Sunday, 12 p.m.7 p.m.

Caroline Goldstein

Vanessa German, Serena as Black Madonna #2(2015). Courtesy of the artist, Pavel Zoubok Fine Art, & Fort Gansevoort.

Vanessa Germans works are like Mickalene Thomass photo-tableaux in three dimensions, crossed with Niki de Saint Phalles colorful sculptures. In the press release accompanying the exhibition, German says: I am in love with the deep survival, elastic resilience, and ordinary creative genius of Black people.

Location:Fort Gansevoort, 5 9th AvenuePrice:FreeTime:Opening reception, 6 p.m.8 p.m.; TuesdaySaturday, 10 a.m.6 p.m.

Caroline Goldstein

Travis Boyer, Boyersock. Courtesy of the artist and False Flag.

14. Travis Boyer: Amongus at False Flag

Though Travis Boyers work is grounded in performance, the range of his practice is diverse, and includes painting, sculpture, cyanotype, videos, and textiles. Inspired by familiar scenes, such as drinking games and group fitness classes, his performative works meld the private with the public. As the artist himself explains:it is about the activity being really legible in such a way that you, as a participant, can take it or leave it, project onto it or ignore it.

Location:False Flag, 1122 44th Road, Long Island City, QueensPrice:FreeTime:Opening reception, 6 p.m.8 p.m.; TuesdaySunday, 12 p.m.6 p.m.

Eileen Kinsella

Jamal Penjweny, from the series Saddam is Here (2010). Courtesy of the artist.

15. Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 19912011 at MoMA PS1

This ambitious exhibitionwhich examines the impact on visual culture and art of American-led wars in Iraq over the past 30 yearsis not really the kind you can spin through on your lunch hour. Instead, come back two or three times, taking in a floor or two during each visit. The show features more than 30 works by more than 80 artists based in Iraq and its diasporas, as well as artists considering the warthe first to be televised during the rise of 24-hour cable newsfrom the West. Its a slow burn that will stay with you for a long time.

Location:MoMA PS1, 2225 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, QueensPrice:$25 general admissionTime:MondayThursday, 10 a.m.5:30 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.9 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday, 10 a.m.5:30 p.m.

Julia Halperin

Excerpt from:
Editors Picks: 15 Things Not to Miss in New Yorks Art World This Week - artnet News

(December 2, 2019 / Israel21c) Who would have thought an exhibit about wheat could be so emotional?

An Israeli installation titled Goren won first prizethe Big Emotions Awardas part of the Jerusalem Design Week delegation at Design Art Tokyo 2019 in October.

Visitors to the show at Japans Spiral Arts Center, held in cooperation with the Israeli Embassy of Japan, were mesmerized by the cloud of chaffdesigned from actual wheat and 2,500 meters of brass wireappearing to float up from the threshing floor (goren in Hebrew).

The ethereal chandelier of wheat was the brainchild of New York-based Israeli architect Nati Tunkelrot and Israeli designer Guy Mishaly, graduates of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem.

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The Middle East, for the last 12,000 years, has been home to thousands of genetically diverse varieties of wheat, explained Tunkelrot. Sadly, over the last hundred years this important building block of humanitys history has been driven to the brink of extinctionbeing replaced by a handful of high-yielding and uniform strains. We wanted to give voice to this topic and spark a dialogue.

Telling the story of the scientistsGoren originally was created for Jerusalem Design Week in 2018, which explored the role of design in conservation.

All wheat started in the Middle East region, between Egypt and Turkey, said Mishaly.

The wheat genome is six times more complicated than the human genome. But all this biodiversity doesnt exist anymore. In the 1950s, a new wheat was developed by a U.S. scientist, that was easier to grow with higher yield, and the other species went extinct.

Visitors to Design Art Tokyo examining specimens of wheat. Photo courtesy of Hansen House Jerusalem.

Through their research, the two artists discovered that the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Volcani Center-Agricultural Research Organization are working to gather, examine and conserve wheat strains indigenous to the Israeli region.

The Weizmann Institute and the Israel Plant Gene Bank [at the Volcani Center] have collected seeds of 890 species out of about 4,000 that once existed. They are growing them to find new and better types of wheat, researching and analyzing the valuable genome they hold inside, Tunkelrot told ISRAEL21c.

We were amazed by the tremendous scientific research that has been done for so many years, and decided to create a visual outcome to that story and reveal it to the public.

Cereal crops including wheat contain edible grain kernels covered by an inedible hull (chaff). When the chaff is separated from the grain on the threshing floor, the chaff rises.

An illustrative image of wheat being separated from chaff. Credit: Courtesy.

Our vision was to let the visitor walk inside that experience, said Tunkelrot. We wanted to capture the wheat chaff floating in the air, uniting ancient wheat varieties with new types so you can see the differences.

The installation changes its form to fit the architectural space. In the courtyard of Jerusalems Hansen House Center of Design, Media and Technology, the wheat chandelier nearly touched the ground.

People were standing in it, walking through it, and sitting in it, said Mishaly. When the wind picked up, the whole exhibit shifted form, and even the birds came to visit throughout the day.

In Tokyo, the installation was indoors in a round gallery. Tunkelrot noted that its form seemed to change as you went up the ramp inside the Spiral Arts Center, saying the whole piece sparkled like a talisman of golden jewelry.

Some viewers chose to lie down on a podium at the base of the spiral to get a different perspective of the installation.

Guests asked a lot of questions about wheat, an issue that had never crossed their mind. They were intrigued by the investment Israeli scientists are making in trying to preserve the most important agricultural crop for the Western world, and they were genuinely curious about what they could do to assist these efforts, said Tunkelrot.

Even before leaving Tokyo, Mishaly and Tunkelrot had a few offers for their next exhibition location.

It is precisely due to these interactions with visitors to Goren that provide us with great motivation to continue presenting Goren in many diverse metropolises around the world, so that we might spread the story of wheat and the loss of biodiversity, they said.

This article was first published by Israel21c.

Go here to see the original:
Israeli wheat exhibit stirs up big emotions in Tokyo - JNS.org

Museum of Modern Art Addition by Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Gensler | 2019-12-02 | Architectural Record This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more. This Website Uses CookiesBy closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn MoreThis website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.

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Museum of Modern Art Addition by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler - Architectural Record

Construction of the long-awaited Orillia Recreation Centre, which began with site preparation work in September2016, is finally in the home stretch.

The facility,which features a lap pool, leisure pool and therapy pool in addition to gyms, walking/jogging track, fitness centre, preschool room and multi-purpose rooms,is expected to open in early 2020.

The $55.5-million project, the largest in the citys history, was originally expected to be open last fall. The massive facility, located at 255 West St. S., has now been under construction for 38 months.

Orillia Mayor Steve Clarke said the target opening date is the end of January,just in time for the city to christen the facility during the Ontario Winter Games it is hosting Feb. 27-March 1.

He said in recent weeks, the site has been a beehive of activity.

To help expedite the process, the city has added a senior person at the site to help coordinate with the contractor and our staff.

He added, the head of Atlas (the contractor) is also spending more time at the site to ensure the work is finished.

It is truly beginning to look like a complete project, said the mayor who, when first elected in 2014 made building a recreation centre - something that had been unsuccessfully attempted multiple times over the past three decades - his and council's top priority.

On Friday, city councillors received their monthly progress update on the facility.

As anyone who has driven by recently will already know, the digital sign out front has been put in place and is operational.

The gymnasium scoreboard an impressive, modern scoreboard that can be split to be used in both gyms or used together when both are being used for the same event was recently installed.

Tiling of the large lap pool, which could only begin after a lengthy leak test, is now 90 per cent complete; tiling of the leisure and therapy pools is half done.

The top layer of concrete is starting to be poured around the north, east and west sides of the pool deck area in preparation for the final grade before tiling.

The pool timing clock has been installed; final wiring is expected to occur soon.

Wall tile in the pool change rooms and lower gym and fitness area change rooms is complete, while floor tile has also been installed in all lower-level change-room floors.

Some countertops and faucets have also been installed in both the main and lower-level change rooms.

Drywall installation is 95 per centcomplete with taping and mudding continuing.

The installation of interior doors continues as does interior painting.

The ceiling areas above the fitness centre, gym and running track have been painted.

The ceiling lights in the gym have been installed.

According to the report to council, the phenolic panel installation around the track area above the fitness centre is 97 per cent complete and panel installation around the gym has started.

Mechanical work continues in the lower level pool mechanical room, while the east-side gym viewing area glass has been installed with other interior glass areas being prepped for installation (ie. fitness centre).

The west-side upper pool viewing area is being prepped for floor sealant application.

Basketball backboards and net prep work has begun in the gym in anticipation of basketball nets being installed.

Work is also proceeding outside.

The north lot is now paved, while grading continues on the south side of the building. Grading and prep work continues for the retaining wall at the north-west corner of the building.

The report notes there are several milestones being tracked for completion within the next few weeks. They include:

There are some things that will have to wait for better weather. Those include final landscaping and site seeding and the final layer of asphalt for the parking lot.

When the tender was awarded to the Atlas Corporation, the approved price of the project was $48.45 million.

That price tag has jumped to almost $55.5 million, although the final cost may be below that.

City council approved more money for a contingency fund that could be used to cover the cost of any changes required.

To date, 247 change orders have been approved; those include both credits for removal of work and additions for work not specified in the tender documentation.

According to the report to council, the current value of all changes to date is $2,828,674.86 of the $3,485,000 total available for contingency.

Continue reading here:
Orillia's new recreation centre expected to open in late January - BarrieToday

When a senior architect at the Office of Public Works overseeing the installation of an 808,000 printer in the Oireachtas noticed the problem with its size, it was already too late to apply the brakes.

The full cost for building works needed to fit the printer inside Kildare House runs to nearly 400,000, almost double the original 236,000 estimated after the measurements mistake forced significant alterations.

May 30th, 2018: Siobhan Malone, facilities manager at the Houses of the Oireachtas, emailed senior Office of Public Works architects Hilary Vandenberghe and Brendan Dillon.

The dimensions of the machine have been provided: 2130mm high and 1960mm wide, with need for 250mm clearance. Minor works including the temporary removal of doors would be needed.

May 31st, 2018: Final contract is signed with Komori.

August 9th, 2018: Ms Vandenberghe emails Richie Roe, the Oireachtas printing manager, and other Oireachtas staff, and again on August 10th, to confirm measurements.

August 14th, 2018: Ms Vandenberghe notices that the printer is too tall. She emails Mr Roe and Alan Ruane, deputy head usher /office keeper at the Houses of the Oireachtas.

I note that the 3160mm head height for operating the machine would not be achievable without significant structural works and mechanical works to the services floor overhead, she says. It is, she writes, a matter of urgency.

August 16th, 2018: Ms Vandenberghe emails a critical note to Oireachtas staff . Delivery on September 1st cannot be met because of the height problems.

The delivery of the printer could be delayed; it could be stored elsewhere while works went on, or works could take place around it. The old printer could be brought back into use, she suggested.

The positioning of structural steel supporting the floor above is a major issue, since it cannot easily be removed without substantial changes. Supports would be needed for the floors above.

Officials discuss housing the printer in Print Room 2.

August 28th, 2018: Ms Vandenberghe emails Mr Roe to say that definitiveinformation is needed. This is specialist-designed equipment and we do not have the competency to make assumptions on this, she says.

September 4th, 2018: In an email Garret Nolan, HEO at the OPW, asks Ms Vandenberghe and others if a smaller machine could be procured.

December 12th, 2018: The Clerk of the Dil Peter Finnegan is briefed by Derek Dignam the only direct correspondence sent to him.

It became apparent in September that some structural works would need to be undertaken to ensure that new newer press could be accommodated . . . In the end these works transpired to be more significant than was initially realised. This work is now proceeding . . . and is expected to be completed early next year.

January 8th, 2019: Mr Roe e-mails Komori and Ms Vandenberghe: Theres a lot of internal pressure to get the project finished so hopefully the floor will be up for the job and we can get moving shortly.

March 14th, 2019: In a handover document to Ciaran Smith, Derek Dignam writes:

The new press which we bought last year and paid for with 2018 funds. It is currently in storage awaiting commissioning. The print facility ceiling is not as high as required and this is being addressed by OPW. Whatever they are this is a 12-year investment or longer for both the press and the ceiling work.

July 8th, 2019: Ms Malone outlines the envisaged building costs will be 236,000.

Excerpt from:
The Oireachtas printer: how installation costs hit the ceiling - The Irish Times

The MAXXI launches show that puts Gio Pontis architecture in the spotlight

Gio Ponti: Loving Architecture, the new exhibition on the iconic Italian architects work, has just opened at the Zaha Hadid-designedMAXXI Museum in Rome and takes the visitor on a jounrey across Pontiscareer with a firm focus on his buildings

Last year Paris: this year Rome. Forty years after the death of Gio Ponti, the great Italian architect, designer and publisher receives his second major retrospective in under 12 months this time at MAXXI, the Italian capitals Zaha Hadid-designed National Museum of 21st-Century Arts.

While the Paris show, at the Muse des Arts Dcoratifs, made a heroic attempt to encompass the full range of Pontis life and work, the new exhibition at MAXXI (which opened this week and runs till 13 April 2020) focuses squarely on his architecture, with occasional asides examining his industrial and household designs and the influence of his role as the founding editor of Domus and Stile magazines.

Curated by Mariastella Casciato and Fulvio Irace, Gio Ponti: Loving Architecture takes over the museums soaring fifth-floor gallery, and overcomes the challenge of its sloping floor with ease a testament both to MAXXIs installation team and the instantly engaging quality of the many models, drawings and plans on show.

The exhibition is divided into eight sections, examining Pontis approach to houses, nature, classicism, facades, lightness, skyscrapers, urban planning and architecture as crystal, derived from his gnomic claim that when architecture is pure, it is pure as a crystal magic, closed, exclusive, autonomous, uncontaminated, uncorrupted, absolute, definitive like a crystal.

Rome may seem an odd place to stage an exhibition about Ponti, who spent most of his life living and working in Milan, but as Casciato points out, he was an architect of national and international renown when that was still a rarity, and he knew everyone and travelled everywhere, when that was far more difficult than it is today.

With an essay-filled catalogue and a series of newly commissioned photo essays featuring some of Pontis finest buildings, including Taranto Cathedral and the Villa Planchart in Caracas, this is a full-service show as well as being an excellent excuse to visit Rome, if any excuse were needed.

Go here to read the rest:
The MAXXI launches show that puts Gio Pontis architecture in the spotlight - Wallpaper*

Mark Carleton admits he doesnt know much about either cupcakes or rubber gaskets, but you can bet he knows something about the shop floors where theyre made by the hundreds or thousands. At that level, the manufacturing challenges for the two products start looking pretty similar.

Can we deliver the order by then? Do we have the materials? Will we need overtime? says Carleton, a Cambridge-trained engineer and COO of UK-based MESTEC. Carleton helped build the cloud-based MESTEC software that gives operation directors the info to make these kinds of calls.

Using Oracles Autonomous Transaction Processing Database, MESTEC cut its labor and infrastructure costs for database services in half compared to its on-premises environment.

MESTEC does this by quietly collecting data from points along the manufacturing process and tying it in with ERP and even HR data to build a clear picture of whats happening moment to moment on the shop floor. A factory will use the information to make smarter staffing decisions and pinpoint where flaws or delays are introduced.

Theres a relentless drive to improve labor productivity, Carleton says. Thats because, even as analysts tout robotic Industry 4.0 practices for repeatable products like autos and potato chips, most manufacturers need to change up their daily output depending on the orders that come in, and they rely on skilled people.

Are they going to stamp out a few pieces of aluminum or build a part that takes two man-weeks to complete? he says.

MESTECs customers make everything from pastry pies to electronic sensors and exacting marine parts, and range in size from small businesses to the likes of Siemens. All of them want to find the slack in their operations, increase output, and make commitments they can tell their customers with a straight face.

All that, and deal with a heap of regulation.

To be productive and compliant you need to be able to model your manufacturing processesyou have to define them, and you need to be able to enforce them to ensure compliance each and every time you perform a manufacturing job, says Carleton, whos early career saw him traipsing the globe installing control systems at packaging companies to monitor and drive quality improvements. This oversight includes every phase of production from knowing where raw materials came from, to making the right quality checks, to tracking material waste and energy use.

Autonomous Advantage

Thats a lot of data points being collected around the clock and analyzed in real-time for each MESTEC customer. And its customer list has more than doubled in the last two years. So Carletons small IT team moved all MESTECs data-intensive operations to Oracle Autonomous Database in May 2019. The autonomous database runs on Oracle Cloud and deploys, manages, patches, tunes, and secures itself with no human intervention while the system continues to run. Plus its built using Exadata hardware designed to run the database at peak performance. (An Always Free version of Oracles Autonomous Database is now available for anyone to sign in and try.)

Using Oracles Autonomous Transaction Processing Database, MESTEC cut its labor and infrastructure costs for database services in half compared to its on-premises environment, and found that database workloads run up to 600% faster with half as many CPUs, says Carleton. The autonomous transaction processing database did exactly what we needed in terms of providing platform as a service that just works, he says. When we moved that to the new environment with the database components in Oracle Cloud and application components in Microsoft Azure, across the board we saw performance improvements.

Its the same kind of load-and-go, ease-of-use experience that MESTEC is all about. Our cloud service has absolutely no upfront costs, Carleton says. Once a factory signs on to MESTECs cloud service, the information begins to flow, and analysis of that lets improvements begin, with labor, material, machine capacity, change-over times, logistics, and moreall continuously evaluated as production requirements change. Fifty percent improvement in labor productivity, a halving of customer complaints, 20% reduction in [work in progress]these things are real, Carleton says. These things are achievable.

But first you need the data. Many operations still run on scribbled notes and drawings passed along a busy shop floor. Big process improvements, Carleton says, are pretty hard if all you've got is pen and paper.

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Where Cupcakes And Gaskets Share The Same Secret Ingredient - Forbes

douard Manets Bunch of Asparagus (1880) is a winsome little painting of a pile of the vegetables on a bed of greens. It is one of the very greatest still lifes in art history (the brushwork on those greens!), and certainly one of Manets most alluring pictures. It is also a painting connected to the Nazis.

In 1974, artist Hans Haacke undertook the task of tracing the paintings history, charting each time it changed hands since it was made in 1880 for the French art collector Charles Ephrussi for just 800 francs. Haackes research culminated in a revelation: the painting had passed through the hands of Deutsche Bank chairman Hermann Josef Abs, who had acted as a financial adviser to Nazi officials. The painting was on long-term loan to the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, Germany. Haacke proposed showing a work about the history of the Manet canvas at the institution, which had invited him to participate in an exhibition held in celebration of its 150th anniversary. The museum rejected his project.

That is far from the only Haacke work that has not made it on view as he planned. Some museum officials seem to be afraid of Haacke, and their fear is not misplaced. Over the past five decades, Haacke has highlighted how institutions cannot be separated from unfettered capitalism, toxic ideologies, and power imbalances around the world. At one point, this was taboo material. Now, it is commonplace, the stuff of conversations in boardrooms and activist meetings. But the one-time edginess of Haackes art may be why Americans have not had the opportunity to witness a proper Haacke survey in more than 30 years.

Thankfully, the New Museum in New York is rectifying this situation, mounting the first proper Haacke museum retrospective in the U.S. since it last had the good sense to do one, in 1986. Curated by Gary Carrion-Murayari and Massimiliano Gioni, this incisive show comes at a crucial moment. A growing mass of workers and activists are now demanding that institutions take accountability for their connections to racism, sexism, ableism, colonialism, fascism, and a host of other issues, and calling on certain board members to be removed because of their business dealings. Museums are also being accused of having misplaced priorities, undertaking renovations worth millions instead of paying workers fairly, and pushing out historically oppressed communities through expansion projects. Protestors have called on directors to be more transparent about their activities. Haacke has been awaiting this moment.

The New Museum show makes a powerful case that Haackes work is not just the stuff of Art History 101 coursesits subject matter is deeply relevant, and the art on view has a lot to teach us. Take On Social Grease (1975), a series of magnesium plates, each of them bearing the words of a philanthropist-magnate engraved into it. EXXONs support of the arts serves the arts as a social lubricant, one plate reads, quoting Robert Kingsley, a cultural manager at the oil company. Seen from afar, Kingsleys words recede into their aluminum backgroundsthe plates become Minimalist objects that seem politics-free, even inoffensive. This is ideal for the museums goals, Haacke hints. The slicker the surface, the better.

In fact, Haacke, a pioneer of what became known as institutional critique, had his roots in Minimalist art. A superb gallery in the new survey is given over to Haackes early ever-changing sculptures from the 60s. In one, Haacke lets condensation form inside a Plexiglas cube. In another, an electrical current travels down a 22-foot-long glass pipe, occasionally hissing as it slowly glides across the gallerys floor. At a glance, these works can seem banal. But Haacke is up to something fascinating. Hes creating closed-circuit loopsliteral ecosystems in which matter is transmitted between poles, almost in the same way people exchange data and ideas. Theyre more than just science experiments, in other wordstheyre conceptual works about how disparate elements influence one another.

These works arent that different from On Social Grease, reallyas his career as progressed, Haacke has simply shifted his interest from scientific systems to the System, the larger web of power relations that makes moving money (and power) around the world possible. A number of installations at the New Museum even reflect this visually, through networks of images and words. Their texts are rife with arrows, data points, and numbersa lot of reading is required.

Dont come expecting beauty. Haackes work has a hauteur to it because of its reliance on ideas over aesthetics, and he is a conceptualist at heart. His weakest works actually tend to come when he tries to create something visually engaging. More recently, Haacke has had a tendency to create overcooked statements about the state of America, dealing in well-worn tropes like torn-up stars and stripes and distressed images of white-bread suburbia. One work in this veina new installation called Make Mar-a-Lago Great Again (2019), in which Donald Trumps tweets are displayed on an upturned monitor alongside Statue of Liberty bobblehads and a golf clubis unfortunately placed front and center, in the museums lobby. It is thuddingly obvious.

Peculiarly, some of his older works feel more contemporary than his new ones. MetroMobilitan (1985) is an installation that calls out the Metropolitan Museum of Art for accepting money from Mobil, which provided funding to South African police during Apartheid. Total denial of supplies to the police and military forces of a host country is hardly consistent with an image of responsible citizen in that country, one banner included in the installation reads, quoting corporate literature. This is eerily similar to signs brought by protestors to the Whitney Museum earlier this year, when activists demanded the resignation of Warren B. Kanders, then the vice chair of museums board, following reports that he owns a defense manufacturing company that produces tear-gas canisters used against migrants and protestors around the world. (Kanders capitulated to activists in July.)

Like any activist aiming to have sway, Haacke has had to walk a fine line in terms of his own power and complicity. His practice, in one sense, exemplifies that old American Express slogan: Membership has its benefits. He is a card-carrying art-world member, with a Chelsea gallery and a long tenure as an admired professor. At the same time, he has been persistent in taking audacious risks, both political and aesthetic. If some of his work has lost its change, it may simply be because its targets have vanished into history books. His enduring presence on the scene, his zest for the next cause, is inspiring. Just a month before the show opened, the museums newly formed union voted to authorize a strike amid demands for a new wage structure. Many observers wondered if the artist would address the issue; in the end, the New Museum came to an agreement with its workers, potentially avoiding becoming Haackes latest victim.

When he is at his best, Haacke avoids any straightforward political polemics. He probes power, and aims to ascertain public opinion, which alone is often enough rile up gatekeepers. Since the 1970s, hes polled visitors about their political views in his art. At the Museum of Modern Art in 1970, he asked visitors about their thoughts regarding MoMA trustee and New York governor David Rockefellers support for Richard Nixon and his interventions in Vietnam. (The majority of the 37,000 who cast ballots decried it.) After MoMA Poll, Haacke didnt show another work at the museum for 29 years. In the New Museum shows catalogue, the curators ask for his feeling about this. Haacke responds: I am not sorry.

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Hans Haackes Art Has Long Targeted Museums. A Career Retrospective Tests Its Potency Today. - ARTnews

This a sponsored article on behalf of The View from The Shard.

With its arty light installations, illuminated landmarks, and a plethora of glowing Christmas displays, London turns those dark and dreary winter days into truly magical occasions.

Above them all, looms The Shard, Western Europe's tallest building. Not only is The Shard getting its own stunning winter makeover its top 20 stories transformed into a colourful spectacle of light designed by local school-children but the gleaming glass landmark also provides an incredible vantage point for admiring the rest of the capital's illuminations.

Step inside the high speed lift and whizz up 68 floors to the viewing gallery at The Shard's summit. Situated 800 ft in the sky, The View from The Shard boasts floor-to-ceiling windows in every direction, giving visitors breathtaking 360 degree views of the capital.

On clear days, you can see up to 40 miles over London from here, but if you want to really see the capital sparkle, you need to visit after dark. Luckily for impatient types, the sun sets pretty early at this time of year... though not so early that you can't justify a glass of bubbly from London's highest champagne bar!

Once you're feeling suitably refreshed, it's sightseeing time. Spot the pale glow of the famous dome of St Paul's Cathedral, see Tower Bridge cast its shimmer upon the inky black River Thames, and watch the towering skyscrapers of Canary Wharf glitter in the distance.

There's also the bright red glow of the London Eye to behold, though come February it'll turn hot pink to herald its new sponsors. But those aren't the only shiny new lights to admire from The View from The Shard...

Illuminated River has begun to light up London's main artery, with the first few pieces of this massive art installation on the River Thames unveiled in summer 2019. From your vertiginous vantage point, look out for the warm rainbow hues projected onto London Bridge, the moving pulse of light that creeps along the Millennium Bridge, and the Impressionist-inspired illuminations on Southwark Bridge.

Suffice to say that The View from The Shard makes for a pretty spectacular date night, then. Treat that special someone to an unforgettable evening this month (psst... you can even get special packages with champagne and photo souvenirs), or buy a gift ticket, which gives your lucky recipient the flexibility to choose the time and date that suits them best. So that's one present ticked off your Christmas list and a brilliant way for you and your loved ones to beat the January blues. We'd call that a win.

The View from The Shard, Joiner Street, SE1 9QU. Tickets start from 24 per person and must be booked online in advance. For more information and to book your space visit The View from The Shard website.

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Treat Your Loved One To London's Twinkliest Date Night This Winter - Londonist