Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

15 Years Ago May 12, 2005

The anticipation is over, as nearly $53,000 in renovations to the Platte City Civic Centers gymnasium are complete. Throughout the months of March and April, workers put in long hours installing and varnishing a new gym floor, installing a permanent ceiling with light fixtures, installing new backboards, and completing electrical work. Installation and construction of the new gym floor was $41,500 and funded by the citys park and recreation department.

Sarah Handelman, Park Hill South High School senior, is the 2005 Missouri Student Journalist of the Year. Handelman is the editor-in-chief of PHSs school newspaper, The View, and has been a member of the newspaper staff for three years. Handelman plans to attend the University of Missouri, Columbia, next year to study magazine journalism and instrumental performance on her cello. She will receive the award at Missouri Interscholastic Press Associations J-Day in Columbia.

The meeting featured the shouts and occasional angry words that have come to be commonplace at a Dearborn Board of Aldermen meeting. What may have been unexpected for many observers was the resignation of the city treasurer. Marjorie L. Williams, Dearborns treasurer for nearly 15 years, has submitted her resignation effective for May 31. In her letter of resignation she states she believes it is time to turn the position over to someone else.

Excerpt from:
15 Years Ago on May 12, 2005 - The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - The Platte County Landmark Newspaper

Although the numbers wont be in until May 28, Floyd County administrators are preparing to see a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic in sales tax collection.

Finance Director Susie Gass said Monday that the March sales tax collection didnt have a major decrease and is around what the county expected.

So really, April is going to be the numbers thatll really give us a better look at the effect of coronavirus, as far as sales tax goes Gass said. We really wont have those until May 28.

However, the finance director sat down with County Manager Jamie McCord and Assistant County Manager Gary Burkhalter and talked about how the county will adapt to a possible large dip in numbers.

We have looked at some different scenarios, but nothing has been decided yet, she said.

McCord said the April numbers could be a bit skewed from people receiving their stimulus checks and stocking up on food and supplies to shelter in place.

Im not going to fuss if theyre good and Im not going to panic if theyre bad, McCord said. A lot of people are back at work ... so hopefully well weather this.

The special purpose, local option sales tax projects wont be re-budgeted, since the county has already collected a majority of the funds, the finance director said.

As far as 2013 SPLOST, weve already collected all the money, Gass said. Then the 2017 SPLOST ... theres nothing in our budget at this point that we need to delay or hold off on.

That could change depending on what numbers look like when we get them, but right now theres no change to SPLOST projects, she said.

Right now, two county SPLOST projects are well underway. Phase I of the $2 million State Mutual Stadium renovation has actually been ahead of schedule, since there are no games to schedule around.

McCord said the new lighting installation is almost finished and construction workers were putting ceiling tiles in the new expanded team store the previous week.

A few miles down the road, Carroll Daniel Construction crews as well as inmate workers have begun the first phase of the nearly $6 million jail medical wing expansion and mental health wing construction.

The Floyd County Sheriffs Office staff felt that it was OK to continue the construction, despite the pandemic. However, McCord said that if there is an outbreak at the jail, the construction would cease.

The 2017 SPLOST also includes funds for the 911 Center, public safety technology upgrades and equipment for other county departments.

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Floyd County waits to see financial impact from COVID-19, SPLOST projects will go on - Rome News-Tribune

The young architect Samuel Gonalves from Summary designed the installation called infrastructure-structure-architecture at the 2016 Venice Biennale (link), invited by that editions curator, Alejandro Aravena because of the creativity behind his idea. At the time, we wrote: When we hear the word prefabrication, far too often we conjure up images of practical but rather unattractive buildings.Instead, Summary wowed us with three symbolic elements made by Gomos System, lining them up on the edge of the Arsenale, where they acted as frames for the sights of Venice and became actual sculptures. A creative and attractive way of addressing a significant challenge of contemporary architecture: speeding up and simplifying the construction processes.And now we can also enjoy a multi-residential project also made using this prefabricated, modular construction system. Its located in Vale de Cambra, a municipality in the District of Aveiro, in the Norte region of Portugal and is now part of the Greater Metropolitan Area of Porto.The clients brief was ambitious, to say the least: quick construction turnaround, multipurpose and, of course, cost-effective. All of this was for a complex formed of a ground floor with a programme for multi-services connected to the public space, topped by six, 45-square-metre mini-apartments. Given the differences between the two programmes, one public and one private, the architects opted for independent access for each one. They put them on two levels, following the natural slope of the land, as we can see in the shots of the famous architecture photographer, Fernando Guerra.They used prefabricated slabs and structural panels in the external perimeter of the ground floor. The idea here was to ensure flexibility; its possible to add or remove compartments or leave the whole level as an ample, open space. This leaves it up to the occupants to adapt the area to meet their needs.Against this, six Gomos System compartments with sloping roofs form the first floor. The maximum area allowed by law was quite small, so the architects from Summary angled the prefabs so they could leave the required gap between each housing unit, at the same time assuring the privacy of the occupants in each home.The Summary project was designed and approved as a multi-housing building - a horizontal apartment block if you like. Still, since the compartments are all separate, they have the main advantages of freestanding houses: separate entries and comprehensive noise protection between the units.The structural material used throughout the building - precast concrete - has been left exposed and unfinished. This kept down costs and construction times, and also reduced environmental impact. All the components of the new complex were factory-built and quickly assembled on-site, jointly acting as structure, insulation and cladding elements. The project by Summary with Gomos System pursues a contemporary aesthetic, where the iconic compartments made from concrete - a trendy material due to its minimalist beauty and texture - show us that its time to leave behind some of the prejudices associated with prefabrication. We can also see a creative touch inside the units, where the yellow and light blue colour palette, natural lighting through floor-to-ceiling glazing, and large balconies make us realise that architecture with prefabricated elements can even be sexy!

Christiane Brklein

Project: Summary (Architects - Samuel Gonalves, Ins Rodrigues, Joo Meira, Gonalo Vaz de Carvalho)Engineering: FTS, Technical SolutionsPrefabrication and Assembly: Farcimar, Solues em Pr-Fabricados de BetoConstruction Area: 998 m2Predominant Material: Reinforced concreteLocation: Vale de Cambra, PortugalPhotographs:Fernando Guerra | FG+SGSketches:SUMMARY

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Housing created by Summary when prefabrication goes creative | Livegreenblog - Floornature.com

Susan Chrysler White, the painting and drawing program head, will retire after 20 years of teaching at the UI. Her work has been installed on campus, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and across the United States.

From sweeping, 80-foot long installments to vibrant and colorful sculptures popping from the walls, Susan Chrysler Whites artwork featured in University of Iowa campus buildings is hard to miss. The painting and drawing program head will retire from the UI School of Art and Art History at the end of the spring semester, but her artwork is certain to remain for years to come.

White interviewed for a tenure track position at Iowa in the summer of 2000. At the time, she had been living on Broadway in New York City with her husband and two young children and held a job at Cooper University, a private university in the city.

Two decades later, White taught her last class at the University of Iowa on May 6, and plans to work full-time in her studio after retiring. She said that retirement has been on her mind for some time, since she is preparing to become a grandmother and has been helping to care for her 95-year-old mother, who lives in Mexico.

I was feeling that incredible pressure sometimes at a certain point where youre caring for a lot of people Im so used to giving 150 percent, I cant just do it part way, she said. I also felt in the last year or so, I felt myself realizing, you just sort of know when its time.

As a professor at the School of Art and Art History, White taught undergraduate and graduate courses in painting and drawing, all while working full-time in her studio in an old facility off campus as a painter, though her work has gravitated towards the art of mixing painting and sculpture together. In 2009, White received a Faculty Scholar Award, which allowed her, for three years, to work full time teaching one semester, and research practice in her studio full time the next semester.

When she first started painting in college, Whites work was two-dimensional, bearing what she described as bilateral symmetry. Now, much of her art includes a mixture of painting and sculpture. White first uses glassine (archival transparent paper) to draw and paint on, and adds layering by cutting and tearing it.

After painting images on her studio wall, White starts adding dimension to the work. She attaches several colorful patterns of plexiglass and aluminum panels, held up by radials in the center of rods to build her work upwards, or outwards.

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I wanted to see what it feels like to be making that in architectural space actual space where Im working on these big panels, and then protruding from the wall, coming off [the wall], and so Ive been doing a lot of that, White said. And then at one point it moved to and its been there for a little while into the large plexi installation pieces.

One of her plexiglass sculptures is visible inside the UI West Campus Transit Center near Kinnick Stadium and University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. The 80-foot painted installation covers three walls and can be seen while coming down the escalator.

White has several other 3D sculptures and 2D paintings installed at the UI. Her piece Giardini hangs in the Department of Radiation and Oncology, consisting of painted plexiglass with abstract versions of plants and butterflies. Steel armatures at the main entrance of UIHC hold up Whites Migration, where giant green-and-orange painted glass butterflies perch from the ceiling.

I did these [installations] a number of years ago, they were great, White said. I mean, project art has been amazing, in terms of me, you know, giving them [the university]drawings, having ideas, and then just letting me make these things, and theyve been super supportive of it.

Along with her commissioned work for the UI, White has had several pieces installed at Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa. White also shows her work at galleries in New York, Miami, and various art fairs.

As the professor prepares to work in her studio full time, she said that she has been rethinking her use of plexiglass in her art because of its negative impact on the environment.

Heres this very light, very ethereal material, but its got this real bad footprint, White said.

White grew interested in environmental biology and botany during her undergraduate career, which she spent for one year at the University of California Santa Barbara, and the rest at University of California Berkeley and continues to explore ideas surrounding landscape and the environment through her artwork, according to her website.

For White, once she was introduced to painting, she knew there was no turning back.

Well you know, a lot of artists say that; it happens, she said. And its like, if there was something else that really ignited your sensibilities and your intellect and your curiosity, you would do it, right? Once you get kind of hooked into making art and problem solving within that it just takes you off.

Continue reading here:
Accomplished artist and painting and drawing program head Susan Chrysler White retires - UI The Daily Iowan

In Augmented Reality News

May 15, 2020 CommScope, a provider of infrastructure solutions for communications networks, has announced that it is working with Resonai Inc., an artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) company, to explore building an application based on Resonais Vera platform to leverage the benefits of AR for installation, operation and maintenance of communications infrastructure in a building or campus environment. The partnership expands CommScopes focus on automated infrastructure management to include Veras AR cloud technology along with several CommScope in-building connectivity products.

Resonais Vera solution is a fully-productized AR computer vision platform that transforms physical spaces into intelligent digital assets, also known as digital twins. According to the company, its technology imbeds intelligence into a physical space so that any device can navigate through it, apply logic, and continuously learn from the surroundings. Vera employs precise real-time localization and tracking of users within these environments, without the use of any markers. This provides the ability to inject content remotely and access analytics that can be used to personalize content and improve building efficiencies.

Were thrilled to be working with CommScope to demonstrate how AR can improve business functionality on a global scale, said Emil Alon, CEO and founder of Resonai. Once a building is converted into an intelligent digital twin in the AR cloud, CommScope and its customers can access applications that will have direct, tangible impact on business operations.

CommScope states that digital twin technology is able to allow building owners and operators to leverage the computing power of the AR cloud to create new user experiences and gain access to a new level of user analytics, as well as identify new monetization models from the digital real estate that is created. One example is that this type of AR application enables a user to expediently identify and locate faulty equipment, identify accurate placement and installation of new equipment, access step-by-step guidance for maintenance tasks, and perform these activities with equal efficiencies in a small or large building.

CommScope continues to explore unique ways for our campus and building customers to operate their networks more effectively and more efficiently said Ernie Pickens, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Solutions at CommScope. Our work with Resonai in augmented reality continues to show promise and opens up collaboration opportunities across the intelligent building ecosystem.

CommScope states that it first announced its work with AR technology back in April of 2018. At that time the companys efforts were focused on augmented reality (AR) with CommScopes imVision automated infrastructure management solution to help customers see what the naked eye cannot. Some of this initial work included visualization of cable pathways above a ceiling and identification which outlets have PoE capability.

Video credit: CommScope / Vidyard

About the author

Sam Sprigg

Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he covers news articles on both the AR and VR industries. He also has an interest in human augmentation technology as a whole, and does not just limit his learning specifically to the visual experience side of things.

The rest is here:
CommScope collaborates with Resonai to enhance Augmented Reality application for intelligent buildings - Auganix

The technology partnership between Phoenix Contact, Weidmller, Reichle & De-Massari (R&M), Fluke Networks, and Telegrtner for the Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) has progressed to create the SPE System Alliance. In this group, leading technology companies from various industries and fields of application have come together to bundle their respective SPE expertise and ensure the target-oriented exchange of this knowledge. The partners in this group are pursuing the goal of driving the development of SPE further forward for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and may branch out to other areas as well. The System Alliance has now also been joined by Datwyler, Kyland, Microchip Technology, Rosenberger, SICK, O-Ring, Draka/Prysmian Group, and University 4 Industry.

The network aims to collaborate on the technological challenges faced when implementing SPE in IIoT applications. The goal of the companies is to accelerate their own development of expertise in SPE technology and to allow it to be implemented faster and more reliably in their products.

Through this orientation toward a cross-industry and cross-application exchange platform, companies from all future SPE ecosystems are coming together. The focus is not, however, on individual aspects such as connection technology. Instead, the focus is on questions and challenges that continue to exist with many market participants in connection with SPE. Rule exchange formats and collaborative project activities provide the freedom for close cooperation. The members are already working together in the first sub-communities, in the fields of connection technology, standardization, SPE use-case reports, and even for cable solutions, among others.

Thanks to its broad lineup, the SPE System Alliance already covers a large range of applications and fields of application:

Ethernet systems are being installed increasingly in the vehicle generations of today. Through the networking of control devices and sensors, further innovations in the fields of driver assistance systems such as LiDAR, high-resolution displays, autonomous driving, 4K cameras, and infotainment can be realized.

The development of the automobile Ethernet has led to the creation of two IEEE standards: 100BASE-T1 (100 Mbps based on BroadR-Reach technology) and 1000BASE-T1 (1 Gbps). Limit values for the connectors and cables and the associated measurement methods were defined from the demands on the overall channel. The partner company Rosenberger played a leading role in the standardization in both standard committees in the fields of automotive connector design, signal integrity, and EMC.

The Internet of Things (IoT) allows smart buildings and factories to become a reality more easily and cost-effectively. With this IP protocol, LED lamps, switches, sensors, thermostats, machine control systems, and motors for window blinds are connected via the local data network and the cloud to the building management system. Application-specific fieldbus systems are no longer needed, meaning that gateways, complex interfaces, and different protocols are not necessary either.

With the structured ceiling cabling (the Digital Ceiling), intelligent building automation can be combined via IP seamlessly. This simplifies installation, maintenance, and network management. In most cases, high data rates are not needed, but a high connection density is. SPE is considered an ideal addition for the Digital Ceiling. The existing cabling infrastructure can easily be expanded with SPE for higher port density. Both, R&M and Telegrtner provide Digital Ceiling solutions and can show the implementation of SPE into such a system.

SPE provides consistent IP communication from the field level right through to the corporate level, and therefore from the sensor through to the cloud. As an alternative to todays fieldbus systems, this technology will revolutionize industrial data transmission. Standardized pin connector patterns form the basis for the barrier-free networking of a wide range of components and devices.

Phoenix Contact, Weidmller, R&M, Rosenberger, and Telegrtner develop compact device and cable connectors in accordance with the standardized and fully compatible interfaces in accordance with IEC 63171-2 (IP20) and 63171-5 (IP67). The pin connector pattern can be integrated into all conventional and standardized connector versions (M8/M12) and enables efficient and future-proof cabling thanks to the high packing density and low space requirements.

Now, in addition to their use in classic automation technology, sensors are increasingly being integrated as intelligent data suppliers into IIoT applications via Ethernet networks. Due to the miniaturization of the connection technology that has become possible with SPE, smaller and spatially limited sensors can also be connected to Ethernet networks.

An additional advantage is yielded by combining SPE with the power supply over the data line. This means that additional plug connections to the voltage supply are no longer needed. Moreover, the use of SPE as the standard interface allows device manufacturers to provide an optimized range of devices with fewer versions. Sensors in a machine or system can be cabled more easily and reduce the installation work for the user.

In SPE fields of application, the transmission channels are created from various cables and a varying number of plug connections. While the transmission channels are specified through transmission parameters such as bandwidth, attenuation, return loss, and shielding dimensions in the system standards (e.g., the ISO/IEC 11801 series of standards), the connectors and cables must then be tailored to the respective channel.

The work being performed in the IEC46C committee is taking the lead here. Cables with a 20 MHz bandwidth for fixed routing, connecting cables suitable for the 10BaseT1 channels, and cables with a bandwidth of 600 MHz for 100BaseT1 and 1000BaseT1 are available (IEC 61156-11 series of standards and those following).

Along with the transmission of signals, the advantage lies in the simultaneous transmission of power along the single-pair cable, for example from the switch to the sensor. Known as PoE in the field of building cabling, the single-pair cable is called PoDL (Power over Data Line) here. Coordinated with the cross-sections and channel length, powers of up to approx. 15 W can then be transmitted.The different ambient conditions in industry and in building technology result in requirements on the mechanical, chemical, thermal, fire-related, and even electromagnetic resistance aspects. The system partners contributing their experience in this field are Datwyler and the Draka Prysmian Group.

Ethernet in general and SPE in particular play a central role in the establishment of the Industrial Internet of Things. Often, however, the need for further training of employees is not considered when introducing such technologies. This is where University4Industry helps with online learning content from various areas of IIoT, e.g. on the topic of Ethernet APL.

The SPE System Alliance is an open platform for companies that want to further advance SPE technology on the market. Details and options for contacting the System Alliance are available on the website http://www.singlepairethernet.com

See the original post:
Technology Companies Join Forces on Single Pair Ethernet with New SPE System Alliance - IEN Europe

Originally constructed as two separate residential properties, nos 1 and 2 Craigmillar Castle Road, Edinburgh were later converted into a GP surgery and operated as such for many years.

With the premises now back in the ownership of Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association, work has been carried out to turn the former surgery into new commercial premises and products from ESP and Ovia have being installed to provide lighting, emergency lighting and fire safety solutions.

The starting point was to replace the two existing fuse boxes with a new one to serve the entire building. A full lighting upgrade was also required to ensure the premises met with the various legislative requirements and a new fire protection system was installed.

ESPs recently launched MAGDUO Two-Wire Fire Alarm System was selected as it offered a highly flexible and adaptable system that saved valuable time and money on the installation process. Two-Wire fire alarm systems are based on standard conventional system technology. Unlike standard conventional four wired systems where the detectors, call points and alarm devices for each zone are wired on separate circuits, MAGDUO utilises intelligent Two-Wire technology, which allows all devices to be wired on the same set of two-core zone cables back to the control panel - enabling it to use a single circuit per zone both for detection and to power the sounders. This advanced technology can reduce both installation and material costs.

The products used were the MAGDUO 4-Zone Fire Panel along with heat and smoke detectors and manual call points.

Lighting products from ESPs Duceri emergency lighting range have also been installed. These include LED 2W maintained exit sign legends and LED 3W maintained emergency signs.

When it came to choosing general lighting solutions to cover smaller rooms, corridors and storage areas, the popular Ovia Inceptor EVO LED bulkheads were the preferred choice - with the emergency variant being utilised on escape routes and corridors.

The Inceptor EVO Bulkhead was designed with the contractor very much in mind. It is quick to install and simple to use and offers a number of features and benefits unmatched by competitor products. As well as integrating the control gear and the light source within the diffuser, the bulkhead has the added benefit of a Flow plug which allows for fast and simple connection and disconnection for testing and maintenance of the luminaire.

With other bulkhead products, the installer will need to first unscrew the diffuser and then the gear tray, fix the base to the wall, terminate the conductor, re-attach the gear tray and re-screw the diffuser. Ovia has taken away the need for time-consuming and unnecessary screws and integrated the control gear and light source within the diffuser and added a Flow connector. The installer, therefore, simply removes the diffuser, fits the base to the wall/ceiling, wires the conductor into the flow connector and secures the diffuser in place.

Alec Macindoe, Works Manager, working on the installation commented: It was an easy decision to make when we were given the opportunity to quote for this work and deliver it with our in-house labour. The next decision was which products to use. We have a great relationship with Scolmore Group and when one company can cover all aspects of the project from design, specification, technical support and all at a very competitive price, then that made the decision easy for me.

Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association is part of Places for People - one of the largest property management, development, and regeneration and leisure companies in the UK. Places for People is made of over 20 companies and manages more than 182,500 homes. They are planning to build over 1,000 homes in the next 5 years

Read the original:
Two become one with the help of ESP and Ovia | - Voltimum

Judd might be the rare artist you can think about in your home during a lockdown nearly as well as you can walking through a pristine gallery space. His aesthetic has filtered so thoroughly through American culture that its fundamental principles are often distorted, diluted, or lost in other ways. His ideas, his life, and his trajectory as an artist offer a fuller way to understand the promise of Minimalisminside and outside the museum. Judd and his cohort made the visual qualities of industrial mass-manufacturing as worthy of aesthetic appreciation as a Michelangelo. Even if they didnt create our material world, Minimalist artists invented how we see it.

After a sojourn in Korea with the U.S. Army, Judd studied art in the 1950s under the GI Bill. His own art practice, sustained by a side-career of writing art criticism, consisted of derivative Abstract Expressionist paintings that gradually reduced into linear abstractions in saturated solid colors. Then the two-dimensional image began projecting out from the wall, in a reverse of Ab-Exs race toward total flatness. Judd embedded found material in his paintings, like a baking pan that makes a shiny divot in a field of black in a work from 1961. The works jump off the wall into three dimensions in the box structures that Judd fabricated with the help of his father (an executive who also happened to be an experienced carpenter) and painted a blazing, inorganic cadmium red.

Theres a poignancy to these early pieces, the handmade joints and seams straining to look more industrial than they are. This vanishes in the mid-1960s, when Judd begins to outsource his work to local manufacturers like Bernstein Brothers Sheet Metal Specialties. The boxes that result are slick, gleaming, and perfect, such as a smaller brass number at MoMA from 1968. You could almost call it cute; it looks to us like a pedestal in a Prada boutique only because retail later adopted (or appropriated) Judds style. In the 60s, such work was perceived as alienating and obtuse. Critics argued over whether to describe the work of Judd and his compatriots like Dan Flavin, Frank Stella, and Yayoi Kusama as Boring Art or Literal Art.

Cantankerous and reclusive as Judd was, he became a kind of Martha Stewart of the avant-garde, a tastemakers tastemaker.

The term Minimalism came from the British philosopher Richard Wollheims 1965 essay Minimal Art. The work contained minimal art-content, Wollheim wrote. If Abstract Expressionism moved from figuration to nonobjective abstraction, then Judd et al. were going even further. Painters like Jackson Pollock or Willem de Kooning still purported to express stuff with their canvasesmessy things like love, disgust, nature. The whole point of Minimalism was that it didnt express. There was no narrative, no feeling to communicate, no lesson to teach. What you see is what you see, as Stella once said. Instead of dramatic brushstrokes or extravagant symbolism, artistic decisions were limited to a premade paint color, the size of a box, or the finish of a material.

Originally posted here:
The Minimized Life - The New Republic

Today it is a virus that has left the museum empty, but long before it was the artists. In fact, the destruction is inscribed in the origins of the museum, an institution that was born from the secular and republican looting of the assets of the monarchy and the church of the Old Regime. The disagreement comes from far away. Since the 19th century the Impressionists still scream when they are remembered complaining about the official juries of the Parisian Salons. While Claude Monet blurted out the dont go to the museums, be like children!, Eugen Kalkschmidt wrote in 1906 The museum of the future inviting to create the Anti-Visitation Union of Museums to fight the boredom that produced him traveling from above downstairs rooms full of Etruscan sarcophagi. We want to destroy the museums! Said Marinetti from the Futurist Manifesto in 1909. Paul Valry, a notorious enemy of the art galleries, also missed the good weather outside. He was not without reason. It was what led Valry to write in 1927 The Conquest of Ubiquity, a short text, quite prophetic, where he announced the advent of a society for the distribution of Sensitive Reality at home , a society where the supply of the images guarded now The museums will function as the supply of water, gas or electricity. A network that predicted the service of art at home. A utopian idea that today seems like an omen.

Tristan Tzara also supported this idea from the Cabaret Voltaire, which opened its doors in Zurich in 1916 under the idea of anti-museum. There is a destructive task to be done; sweeping, cleaning, he said in 1918. That year, when the Spanish flu broke out around the world, Dada was also a virus. Also the assemblies that Duchamp made as curator brushed against the fair booth. At the International Exhibition of Surrealism, held in 1938 in the central hall of the Galerie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he did everything he could to make access to works of art an almost impossible endeavor for the visitor. He hung 200 sacks of coal from the ceiling and a brazier in the center. The truth is that neither the sacks contained coal nor the ember brazier, but the heavy presence of the sacks made the public suffer under the threat of three thousand kilos of coal on their heads and the possibility that everything would explode into the air.

View of Urs Fishers Day for Night at the 2006 Whitney Biennial. Sheldan C. Collins

That idea of exposure-nightmare took another turn in 1942 when he staged First Papers of Surrealism at the Whitelaw Reid Mansion in New York. 16 miles of twine was spent making a spider web that was not accessible. An exaggeration that had all kinds of reactions among the artists included in the sample: Remedios Varo could not find comfort while Man Ray was angered for not being invited. Years later, New York was filled with irascibles, a group of dissident artists who exploded against the Metropolitan Museum in 1950 and whose history awaits confined to the rooms of the Juan March Foundation in Madrid.

Other artists, instead, opted for negation from the opposite side. Yves Kleins empty room dates from 1961. Those sixties were the time when the assault on the museum as a paradigm took the big leap. Institutional criticism leaves great examples of clear opposition to the establishment of cultural institutions: Daniel Buren, Michael Ascher, Lawrence Weiner, Dan Graham, Marcel Broodthaers, Hans Haacke From Argentina, Graciela Carnevale proposed a running of the bulls in 1968, within the Cycle of Experimental art. He placed an ad in the newspaper and brought the public to his exhibition at number 22 of the Melipan shopping arcade. Once they were all inside, he went out and locked the door, and left. Breaking the glass was the only way to get out of that also empty exhibition. In 1970, Emilio Hernndez Saavedra, left from Peru one of the mythical works regarding the idea of the museum void: The museum of erased art. An empty center that in 2002 Sandra Gamarra retakes as Limac: a museum that does not exist in a physical headquarters, but that is presented as real through the various ways in which real museums arrive in Lima: through souvenirs, catalogs and cards .

View of the exhibition First Papers of Surrealism (1942), at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia Museum of Art / Art Resource

Although if there is a key name in the idea of destruction and museum that is Chris Burden. In 1985, and for the Henry Art Gallery, he presented Samson: a 100-ton motor connected to an access winch and an extendable wooden double girder that pushed strongly against the gallerys load-bearing walls. Every time a visitor passed the access lathe, the beam pressed against the gallery walls until it cracked. The more visitors, the more destruction. An installation that he repeated in 2004, in the New York gallery Zwirner & Wirth. Urs Fishers gaps at the 2006 Whitney Biennial, titled Day for Night, went along those lines of pushing the museum to its limits. A year later, he raised the floor of the Gavin Browns Enterprise and called it You. A giant hole for $ 250,000. In 2008, the most unique So Paulo Biennial arrived, when Ivo Mesquida left the third floor of the Oscar Niemeyer building empty and was assaulted by young people who filled the walls with graffiti.

A reflection on the possible disappearance of the museum cannot be separated from examining its goals and objectives, its limits. The Antoni Tpies Foundation in Barcelona dedicated an extensive colloquium to this in 1995. I remember one of the curators, Thomas Keenan, defining the museum as a declining institution and inviting all of us to a museum that is responsible for its loss and it emerges from its deconstruction in the form of a museum of museums. That sounded like a phoenix of modern culture. Perhaps from that dysfunctionality you can read the wedding of Shristi Mittal and Gulraj Behl at the Museu Nacional dArt de Catalunya held in 2013. Beyonc and Jay-Z remembered it from the Louvre and Rosala sings it from her Fucking Money Man, looking at I glance at the Macba. Museum excesses and defects. The lights and the shadows. Martin Creed winning the 2001 Turner Prize.

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Continue reading here:
From Monet to the coronavirus: a history of attacks on museums | Babelia - Explica

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered humans relationship with natural landscapes in ways that may be long-lasting. One of its most direct effects on peoples daily lives is reduced access to public parks.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines urging Americans to stay at home whenever feasible, and to avoid discretionary travel and gatherings of more than 10 people. Emergency declarations and stay-at-home orders vary from state to state, but many jurisdictions have closed state and county parks, as well as smaller parks, playgrounds, beaches and other outdoor destinations.

Theres good reason for these actions, especially in places where people have spurned social distancing rules. But particularly in urban environments, parks are important to human health and well-being.

As a landscape architect, I believe that Frederick Law Olmsted, the founder of our field, took the right approach. Olmsted served as general secretary of the United States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, and his knowledge of contagious diseases informed his visions for his great North American urban parks, including Central Park in New York, Mount Royal Park in Montreal and Bostons Emerald Necklace park system. In my view, closing parks and public green spaces should be a temporary, last-resort measure for disease control, and reopening closed parks should be a priority as cities emerge from shutdowns.

Olmsted was born in 1822 but became a landscape architect rather late in his career, at age 43. His ideas evolved from a diverse and unique set of experiences.

From the start, Olmsted recognized the positive effect of nature, noting how urban trees provided a soothing and refreshing sanitary influence. His sanitary style of design offered more than mere decoration and ornamentation. Service must precede art was his cry.

Olmsted came of age in the mid-19th century, as the public health movement was rapidly developing in response to typhoid, cholera and typhus epidemics in European cities. As managing editor of Putnams Monthly in New York City, he regularly walked the crowded tenement streets of Lower Manhattan.

At the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, Olmsted led efforts to improve sanitation in Union Army military camps and protect soldiers health. He initiated policies for selecting proper camp locations, installing drainage and disposing of waste, ventilating tents and preparing food, all designed to reduce disease. And in 1866 he witnessed adoption of New Yorks Metropolitan Health Bill, the first city law to control unhealthy housing conditions.

The insights Olmsted gained into connections between space, disease control and public health clearly influenced his landscape architectural career and the design of many urban park systems. For example, his design for the interlinked parks that forms Bostons Emerald Necklace foreshadowed the concept of green infrastructure.

This system centered on stagnant and deteriorated marshes that had became disconnected from the tidal flow of the Charles River as Boston grew. City residents were dumping trash and sewage in the marshes, creating fetid dumps that spread waterborne diseases. Olmsteds design reconnected these water systems to improve flow and flush out stagnant zones, while integrating a series of smaller parks along its trailways.

Olmsted also designed Americas first bike lane, which originated in Brooklyn, New Yorks Prospect Park. Of the tree-lined boulevards in his design for Central Park, Olmsted said, Air is disinfected by sunlight and foliage. Foliage also acts mechanically to purify the air by screening it.

In all of his urban parks, Olmsted sought to immerse visitors in restorative and therapeutic natural landscapes an experience he viewed as the most profound and effective antidote to the stress and ailments of urban life.

Today researchers are documenting many health benefits associated with being outside. Spending time in parks and green spaces clearly benefits urban dwellers psychological, emotional and overall well-being. It reduces stress, improves cognitive functioning and is associated with improved overall health.

In my view, government agencies should work to make these vital services as widely available as possible, especially during stressful periods like pandemic shutdowns. Certain types of public green spaces, such as botanical gardens, arboretums and wide trails, are well suited to maintaining social distancing rules. Other types where visitors may be likely to cluster, such as beaches and playgrounds, require stricter regulation.

There are many ways to make parks accessible with appropriate levels of control. One option is stationing agents at entry points to monitor and enforce capacity controls. Park managers can use timed entries and parking area restrictions to limit social crowding, as well as temperature screening and face mask provisions.

For example, in New Jersey, many public parks have reopened for walking, hiking, bicycling and fishing while keeping playgrounds, picnic and camping areas and restrooms closed. They also have limited parking capacity to 50% of capacity.

In Shanghai, China, the government recently reopened most parks and several major attractions, including the Chenshan Botanical Garden and the city zoo. Entry requires successful screening and online reservations, and visits are limited to a maximum of two hours.

Technologies such as GPS tracking and biometrics can set a precedent for future green space interaction. Residents could sign up for reserved time slots and log into apps that monitor their entry and distancing behavior. Some Americans might be put off by such technocentric means, but officials should be clear that making visitation easy and safe for all is the priority.

There will be challenges, especially when people flout social distancing rules. But urban parks and nature offer plenty of benefits that are especially important during a pandemic. I believe that finding ways to enjoy them now in a manner safe for all will be well worth the effort.

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Parks matter more than ever during a time of sickness something Frederick Law Olmsted understood in the 19th century - The Conversation US