Standing in Trafalgar Square for one week only was an unusual art exhibition featuring the large tree stumps from nine different species sourced from Suhuma forest reserve, a commercially logged tropical forest in Western Ghana.

The fully grown trees would have reached around 50 metres - the same height as Nelson's Column.


The hefty stumps distributed around the square were designed to raise questions about the future of the world's vulnerable forests, although we found ourselves wondering how much of a carbon footprint was created by lugging the things here.

The Ghost Forest installation finished on Sunday Nov 22 2009 and headed off to a public square in Copenhagen, to be seen during the UN Climate Change Conference.

 

 

 

 

More pics here.

Labels: art, london, trafalgar square

I'm still far too hungover after last night's birthday bash to post up any pictures, so here's a truly amazing short film by Blu: an incredibly clever animation sprayed on to public walls in Buenos Aires and in Baden.

Labels: art

One of the largest and oldest institutions in the US dedicated to contemporary art, we checked out the non-profit P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center during our winter stay in New York.

Situated in Long Island City in the borough of Queens, New York City, it's a really fantastic gallery, and some of the work was exceptional.



Created by the Buenos Aires artist, Leandro Erlich, the Swimming Pool is a devilishly clever installation that gives the appearance of fully clothed people moving under water.



This fantastic piece by Norwegian artist BØrre Sæthre was fantastic, with a beautiful white unicorn displayed in a glass box. As you moved closer to the box, that glass would turn opaque at certain angles.



Danish-Iceland artist Olafur Eliasson had installed a piece involving a large, slowly spinning circular mirror suspended from the ceiling (similar to his excellent Weather Project in the Tate Modern in London in 2003.)



This was my favourite piece. You enter into what looks like an ordinary room, and at first it seems that everyone is looking up an opaque panel.

It was only after a few moments that I realised that I was actually looking straight up at the open sky, so that the artist had effectively turned the sky into a piece of moving art.

More photos here: P.S.1 MoMA Contemporary Art Center

Labels: art, gallery, new york, queens

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