For the duration of one year, brussels’ quartier louise is enlivened by CITYSCAPE,
an impressive wooden sculpture by belgium artist Arne Quinze.
The 18 meter-high artwork is built on 12 meter-high wooden stilts. Carrying the same ambiguous traits as her earlier siblings, of which UCHRONIA (a giant wooden sculpture, last year built in nevada desert) is the most striking example, CITYSCAPE attracts brussels inhabitants to this outskirts, acting as a magnet.
It’s encouraging us to interact, boosting new energy to a somewhat discarded neighborhood. Floating in the air, it provides a shelter to curious visitors, a place for contemplation and silence.
Arne Quinze:
CITYSCAPE resembles a frozen movement; speed caught in time. It is a powerful means of communication, in many ways. if you look at it from a distance, pure movement seems to keep the volatile structure in the air. Sunrays play
with the wooden beams; a game of light and shade creates ever-changing patterns. its immense size – 40 meter long and 25 meter wide – absorbs you. CITYSCAPE calls for instant reactions, it’s impossible not to feel anything.
Quinze’s CITYSCAPE will be open to public from september 14 onwards.
Here is a very good idea : ask the crowd to create your logo, your member recruitment campaign or even your new ad big idea… and if you don’t get good creation, at least you’ll have done some buzz around your brand.
This very interesting interview of Faris Yakob, Digital Ninja at Naked Communication, and Iain Tait, Creative Strategic Planner at Poke, was shot during an event in Romania. Among other things they discuss the merge of the role of Strategic Planner and Creative in Interactive Agencies. If fully agree with most of their toughts. So if you’re in the business, stay tuned until the end.
Some of you knows that I’m the founder and President of Emakina, belgium largest Full Service Interactive Agency (they may have read the sidebar ;-). So please notes that Emakina’ baseline is “Building a Better Web.”. Seems that Iain like it 😉
We all knows those digital picture frames which allow parents to have their kids digital pictures on their desk. They exists since many years. Most of those digital picture frames have a slot for memory cards, usually SD and their interface are usually hidden buttons or a button clutered remote. Recently some of them started playing some videos (never QuickTime), MP3 music (never ACC), or having a wifi interface that allow PC users (using a Windows only software) to upload their picture remotely on their Digital Picture Frames. Ceiva has even a model that retrieve the photos from an internet connection (dialup, wifi ou wired). Cheap hardware is there but as always bad software kills the good idea. And this is a Windows only world, just like before the iPod, before the iPhone… and there is a need for us Macintosh lovers.
Now this is what Apple should create : an iFrame.
Obviously the Apple iFrame would allow you to photocast your pictures from iPhoto over wifi with at last a decent interface. It would slideshow the pictures with nice and smooth transitions. But it could also play quicktime movies, AAC tunes. Using a simple Apple Remote, or at the touch of a (single) button, the iFrame would also allow you to browse through “non interactive” widgets, like the Weather, Stockquotes, all kind of RSS feeds, special alerts, short messages (iChat?), you .mac inbox unread email count, your day calendar, …
iFrame range would go from a small 7″ cheap model (640 x 480 pixels) model for consumers to large 17″ model designed for professional that want to showcase their portfolio on their walls. All of them with stunning Apple design enclosures.
Technically Apple could create such a product by starting from the iPhone technology. As Digital Picture Frames are plugged in an outlet, Apple could remove the expensive battery. As iPhoto would resize the pictures to your iFrame screen-size on sync, Apple could save more money by downsizing the 8 Gb memory to 1 Gb. Apple has a technology in the iPhone which allow to display huge JPEG with a low memory. So viewing camera shots directly from the SD slot wouldn’t be an issue. Apple would of course remove all the GSM components, and keep the ARM processor, Operating System and the iFrame software (regularly updated over wifi internet). Finally Apple would replace the touch enabled small iPhone screen by larger non sensitive screens. All this should allow price ranging from 199$ for the small 7″ model to 499$ for the 17″.
Bonus idea : Apple could also create a “mobile” iFrame model that would use a GSM circuit (GPRS and SIM card) to receive data at location without Wifi, like your grandmother home. The whole family could photocasts their pictures to a computer disabled grandmother. Even send pictures by MMS in europe. Wouldn’t that be great ?
Steve Jobs, I hope you will find this post as I am sure, you will get it.
"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." — Anatole France
