Comments (0)

By James Kelly, August 28, 2009

OK, we all know, 98% of statistics are made up, but according to a McKinsey study, 1 in 8 of all couples married in the US in 2006 met first online… so we learn from the short film “Social Media Revolution” currently doing the rounds. For those interested in a quick look at the exponential growth of social media, this presents a compelling case for getting an awareness of what is going on. However, if you’ve an aversion to statistics, turn away!

.

Comments (0)

By James Kelly, August 17, 2009

Many will be familiar with TED – the ‘ideas’ conference which takes place annually in Long Beach, California. For those unfamiliar, the TED site is well worth a look – with hundreds of presentations on every kind of subject from becoming a buddha to the future of the electric car, there is, as the saying goes, something for everyone.

The TED site says; “We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world“, so in this context it’s great to see a lot of interesting arts material to be found here. Some examples;

A talk by Brazilian visual artist Vik Muniz, (readers may have seen a solo exhibition of his work in IMMA some years back)

.

.

an inspiring look at classical music and ‘one-buttock’ piano playing….

.

.

Finally, poetry like I’ve never heard it performed before;

.

Comments (0)

By James Kelly, August 13, 2009

Artistshare is an interesting organistion based in the US. They provide a opportunity for those interested in the arts to provide funding for artists to make work.

Rather than looking to attract a small number of large funders, they’ve used the internet to “allows fans to fund and directly participate in the projects of their favorite artists”.

As with many traditional friends schemes, there are various levels at which a fan can engage. Depending on the project, fans can pay anything from $10 (for a download) to $5,000 (to get a producers credit / dinner with the band etc, etc.).

They mostly seem to work in the area of music, but have also support film production and literature.

Here’s Artistshare’s CEO explaining what they do:

.

.

Could something like this work in Ireland? Maybe there are already examples of organisations working like this in Ireland already. If so it would be great to hear…

Comments (0)

By James Kelly,

How can you open up a space for dialogue around architecture? On a trip to Chicago last year, I came across a site which seemed to do a good job.

With entries for over a thousand of Chicago’s buildings, chicagoarchitecture.info provides an informative description for each building it features, which may include details of its design, history, various uses etc.

This is followed by a section where members of the public can add their tuppence worth – personal memories, observations etc. (and, of course, they can rate the building on the Praise / Raze scale).

It’s not the finest looking site on the web, but the content was fascinating. My favourite was the Jewelers Building built in the 1920s… “to reduce the chances that its tenants would be mugged walking between their cars and their offices, the building featured a central auto elevator that could lift cars as high as the 22nd floor”.