“They change the common view about nomads,” says Soren Starke, Assistant Professor of Central Asian Art and Archaeology at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University (ISAW).  “The common perception that they were aimless and wandering is not correct.  They were mobile – it was essential to their way of life.  They were highly adaptive to their environments.”

ISAW will open the first U.S. exhibition of nomadic culture of ancient Kazakhstan on from March 7 through June 3, 2012.  Called “Nomads and Networks: The Ancient Art and Culture of Kazakhstan,” it focuses on the peoples of the Altai and Tianshan regions in the eastern part of the country, from roughly the eighth to first centuries BC. With nearly 250 objects on loan from Kazakhstan’s four national museums, the exhibition provides a compelling portrait of nomadic culture, challenging the traditional view of these societies as less developed than sedentary ones.

“They moved through different environments to make use of them at different times of the year,” he says.  “They moved from the lowlands to the high mountains – and their social rhythms were defined by this way of life and movement.”

Artifacts on view in the exhibition range from bronze offering-stands, superbly decorated with animal and human figures, to petroglyphs marking important places in the landscape, to dazzling gold adornments that marked the social status of those who wore them.  Also included are saddles and expertly carved horse trappings that display fascinating hybrid mythical animals.

The artifacts were frozen almost immediately after their burial some 2,500 years ago. “Most of the materials are perishable – wood or bone or textile, but they were frozen inside the tombs in the highland areas,” he says.  “We were lucky to find them.”

The sophistication of the tribes’ handiwork contradicts any misperception of them as rootless wanderers.  “They were much more constricted.  They negotiated with neighbors for routes, and to use specific meadows at specific times,” he says.

As late as the early 20^th century, people in the region were still living that way, shepherding horses, sheep and goats, and engaged in minor agriculture.  Each group was interconnected inside the steppe, and with their secondary neighbors in Persia and China.

In short, the term “nomad” is incorrect.  “They were more like mobile pastoralists,” he says.

And fine artisans as well.

For more information, go to: http://isaw.nyu.edu/

http://isaw.nyu.edu/

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With 850 beds, the Sheik Khalifa Medical center will handle about a quarter-million patients annually.  Atop a three-story plinth that accommodates expensive medical functions are three separate general, women’s and pediatric bed towers.

The effect on the human eye is that of three light and airy pavilions sitting atop a very strong base.  Embedded in the plinth and at the heart of the medical campus is a vibrant “town center” comprised of lobbies cafes, retail and education spaces.   

The site – about one kilometer square – currently houses an aging hospital.  The new campus will be built around it, and when it’s complete, functions from the old will be transferred to the new.  The old hospital will then be demolished.

Cultural sensitivity called for three separate pathways for entrances, one for each hospital.  “We tried to keep a clear organization,” said Mustafa K. Abadan, design partner at SOM.  “There’s a strong way-finding so traffic is not interfered with, and there are no bottlenecks.”

Each bed tower façade employs exterior scrims to provide privacy for gender issues and shading for a very hot climate.  The exterior sun screens vary from the simple, generic rhythm of the general hospital to playful colors and patterns on the children’s hospital, to the intricate “mashrabiya” – inspired  geometries of the women’s hospital.

Throughout the base of the building, large swatches of open space for recreation and common areas have been landscaped.  Inside, the architects called for green walls in waiting rooms and patient lounges.  “They’re specially constructed with green plant materials, and gro-lamps and irrigation systems built in,” he said.  “The plants clean and cool the air,” he says.  “It’s returned to the mechanical system, cleaned further and returned.”

The entire medical center is inspired by ancient manmade complexes in the desert, destinations for caravans that were one day’s camel ride from another. 

“It’s a functional entity that’s entirely self-contained,” Abadan says.

Except that, at two-and-a-half million square feet, it’s substantially larger.

For more on SOM, go to http://www.som.com/content.cfm/www_home

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“I wanted to learn either hair design or photography,” the Japanese/Brazilian artist says.  “I wanted to do something special, something high-tech.”

He chose photography – in Brazil.   And on Feb. 1, his work will be on display at 1500 Gallery in West Chelsea.  “Hidra” consists of 11 works, including a diptych and a triptych, curated by Brazilian artist Miguel Rio Branco.

The title refers to the many-headed beast of Greek mythology.  Moreover, the photos were shot in the bregas, or inexpensive brothels, found in Salvador da Bahia.  Hirosuke has been taking photos there for more than a decade.

Says Hirosuke:  “I didn’t have any interest in the visual arts until I began my photography,” he says.  “But now, the people who like my work say that it makes them think about the strong colors – some say that my photographs look like paintings.”

Hair design it’s certainly not – but it does emphasize the value of the road less taken.

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The intent of the film?

The first reason for making the film was to tell the story of a man whose vision and design can be seen all over the world. To me, his personal story is an inspiring example of someone who has risen from a modest, working-class family to the highest level of success through pure effort, will and risk-taking. The other reason for making the film was to try to communicate to a broad audience why architecture matters.

The inspiration for the film?

The inspiration for the film was Norman, his passions, and the architecture itself – which are all linked. At one moment making the film I realized that to show the buildings was to show the man, just like a poem gives you a particular insight into the soul of the poet. Some of the things that were constantly in our minds making the film are Norman’s love of clean lines, the way light plays with the exterior and interior of a design, his love of aircraft. A clear example of this is the Millau Viaduct sequence. It’s the world’s tallest bridge, a massive structure, and yet it looks like a delicate set of strings floating in the clouds. And if you see it from above, flying high up in the air the way it’s shown in the film- to me it’s the essence of Norman Foster.

The challenges inherent in making it?

I think the greatest challenge was convincing Norman to agree to make the film. He was absolutely opposed to making something that would seem like self-promotion. He’s a very private person, so the idea of having someone follow him around with a camera horrified him. It was a long process, but once we realized what we were doing and how the architecture was being shot, he accepted the idea more and more. Also, we were very careful not to get in his way whenever we traveled together. Personally, I enjoyed being with the architects and seeing what they were doing. I learned a lot from how they work and from Norman’s approach to work in general. It influenced me as a filmmaker and I think that also made him more receptive.

Why Norman Foster?

There are many films about architects and architecture from a variety of viewpoints. This project in particular is the brainchild of Antonio Sanz, the executive producer. Antonio is the key collaborator in all of Elena Ochoa’s ventures in the world of modern art and publishing, specifically Ivorypress.  Antonio has a project in the works to make a series of films about masters of various crafts. It seemed logical to him to make the first of the films about Norman Foster, a master of his craft and a film that was feasible.

Why does his architecture matter?

Architecture is extremely important to the quality of our lives. It’s not just about making pretty buildings, which is not to say that aesthetics are unimportant. Your surroundings have a direct impact on how you feel, how you perform. Nobody is happy living in a dump. Add to that issues that we know today, like ecological impact and construction costs, and you have another example of where a good design can make a huge difference one way or another. Something as simple as where you put the windows has an effect on how much energy the building will consume. It seems obvious but there are myriad of examples where designers haven’t paid attention to these details. This, in an era where the majority of humanity lives in cities.

What’s he trying to achieve with it?

In my personal opinion I think Norman’s design is about simplicity, intelligence and elegance. I think this is most clear when you look at his drawings. I remember one sketch of a thread going through a needle– well, voila, there’s a bridge! I think all of his works follow basic principles. A building is not a dead chunk of glass, steel, and concrete, but rather more like a machine. Again, this goes back to environmental issues. How do you reduce energy by allowing more natural light to come in? How do you block that light when it’s too intense. How does the air flow in, out and around the building? How do people flow in, out and around the building? How can a design revitalize a dead space and transform it into a place where people gather together? How do you modernize a historical place without losing the “history” by creating a dialogue between the past, present and future? In the end, it’s all about asking the right questions. I think Norman is questioning what he does all the time.

What about the spirituality of his work?

In Norman’s own words: “Architecture, I guess, for me is something that moves the spirit, that really works in terms of all the senses. In that sense it’s about the things that you can measure you can quantify and, if you like, the spiritual dimension which is rooted in all of the senses and which you can’t measure. But you know it’s there. It moves you. It moves your spirit.”

For more information, go to http://firstrunfeatures.com/mrfoster/

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And she’s done that with “Windfall” – her first documentary film, art directed within an inch of its life – and one that delivers a profound message:

Look before you leap into wind power.

“People who are living with these turbines nearby are developing hypertension, migraines and heart palpitations,” she says.  “There are some really spooky health effects, even with a turbine a mile away – I’ve heard people say they can feel their heart beating at the same pace as the turbines.”

The effects of the turbines’ low frequency sound are chilling – nearby residents sleeping in basements, unable to stop the 24/7 noise and visual pollution.   But the budding industry – growing now at a startling 39 percent annually – is choosing not to deal with them.  “Instead of dealing with it, they’re trying to discredit the people complaining,” she says.

When the sun gets behind the blades of the turbines, an incessant and mechanical shadowy flicker is the result.  Closing shades and curtains makes no difference.  “It just doesn’t stop,” she says.  “People say you don’t get used to it – you get sick.”

“Windfall” documents the effects of a proposal of a wind developer on residents of the town of Meredith, N.Y.  Attracted at first by the green aspects and financial incentives that might boost their dying economy, many residents grew alarmed when they discovered the 400-foot-tall windmills would bring side effects they never imagined.

“People say it sounds  like a jet that never lands,” she says.

Sales people working for a contracting company usually approach a town and its elected officials, selling them on the idea and contracting for the use of their property.  Contactors then move in to build infrastructure – widening roads to transport the turbines, and installing transmission lines.  Energy produced is usually owned by the large power companies – sometimes Duke Energy, General Electric or Deepwater.

“The landowner profits a little bit, and the town a little bit - if they make a good deal,” Israel says.  “The companies profit most, because most of the benefits come from federal subsidies to build and to sell wind energy for more money.”

The intent of “Windfall,” which opens in Manhattan at the Quad Cinema on Friday, Feb. 3 is to open up the topic to communities nationwide.

“I want to create discussion and encourage people to look at this industrial development for what it is – industrial development,” she says.  “I want them to discuss it in a more balanced way.”

Don Quixote, she’s not.  And she’s certainly produced an eye-opener of a film.

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Its moderate summers appealed to tourists from the South and its short winters were a balm to their counterparts up North. A visiting George Vanderbilt liked the area so much that he bought 125,000 untamed nearby acres. Vanderbilt recruited Beaux Arts master Richard Morris Hunt and landscape guru Frederick Law Olmsted – and the gifted trio would open the doors to a private and lavishly appointed Biltmore Estate on Christmas Eve, 1895.

But Asheville would become known as a year-round health resort too. Doctors sent patients there to recover from respiratory ailments, including tuberculosis.  Among these was Edwin W. Grove, a millionaire tonic inventor whose St. Louis physician recommended the area to him as a cure for his bronchitis and bouts of exhaustion.

Halfway up the slope of Sunset Mountain, he would open the Grove Park Inn in 1913 with 150 guest rooms.  Its massive stones, some weighing as much as 10,000 pounds, were hoisted into wagons and moved by “auto train” to the site. Chains, pulleys and timbers manipulated the granite blocks inside to form twin fireplaces in the Great Hall. Each one, composed of 120 tons of granite, rose two stories high and spread 36 feet wide, designed to burn eight-foot logs.

With its Arts and Craft furnishings by the White Furniture Company of Mebane, N.C., its fixtures by the Roycroft Copper Shop of East Aurora, N.Y, and its carpets woven in France, it was at once quite grand – and rustic too.

But Asheville has a fantastic collection of Arts & Crafts homes as well, according to Bruce Johnson, who’s organizing his 25^th annual Arts & Crafts Conference at the Inn from March 17^th through the 19^th.  “In Ashville you can see not just the typical Arts & Crafts bungalows, but plenty of homes as big as their Queen Anne and Victorian counterparts,” he says.  “They were homes to many of those who lived and to the craftspeople who came here to work – they built Biltmore House and the Grove Park Inn.”

About 3,000 people attend the conference every year, filling the Inn’s expanded 510 rooms.  They come to see and purchase more than 20,000 original and newly crafted Arts & Crafts furnishing, carpets and accessories presented by 50 antique dealers and 50 contemporary crafts firms. “Every piece in the show has a price tag, so you know if it’s $50 or $1,500,” he says.

At Johnson’s urging, the city is now jumping on the Arts & Crafts bandwagon too.  Citing the role that the Arts & Crafts movement has played in the “artistic, architectural, aesthetic and economic development of the City of Asheville,” Mayor Terry Bellamy has signed an official proclamation earmarking the week of February 12th-18th as Arts & Crafts Heritage Week.

It’s a week of group discussions, presentations, tours and workshops – and much of it’s free.

For more information on the “Arts & Crafts Capital of the South,” and the conference, go to http://www.arts-craftsconference.com/acheritageweek.html

For more information on the Grove Park Inn, go to http://architectsandartisans.com/index.php/2010/05/the-grove-park-inn-a-southern-tonic/

For more information on Biltmore Estate, go to http://architectsandartisans.com/index.php/2010/09/a-proper-home-for-napoleons-chess-set/

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“He took a different tack – that the negative didn’t have to be the departure point,” says Phillip Prodger, exhibition curator and PEM’s curator of photography.  He’s currently pulling together 90 of Uelsmann’s images and three-dimensional projects, some never seen before, for an exhibit that opens Feb. 11 at the museum in Salem, Mass.

Uelsmann is often described as the “Father of Photoshop,” because of the darkroom techniques he pioneered 60 years ago.  The synthetic images he created then are now routinely developed with a computer.  “His work foreshadows what has become a major form of photography today,” Prodger said.

In the late 1950s, Uelsmann began experimenting with multiple enlargers and advanced masking, diffusing, burning and dodging techniques, to create imaginary images.  His work references surrealists like Rene Magritte, Max Ernst, and Man Ray, as well as modern photographers such as Edward Weston and Ansel Adams.

“He said he discovered the surrealists late in life,” Prodger said.  “When he found them, he said it felt like discovering long-lost friends.”

Uelsmann attended Rochester Institute of Technology, where he studied with Beaumont Newhall, who introduced him to the history of photography, as well as with “equivalents” photographer Minor White.

Prodger prepared for “The Mind’s Eye: 50 Years of Photography by Jerry Uelsmann” by going into the artist’s studio and reviewing every one of the thousands of photos in his collection.  “There were thousands and thousands,” he said.  “Because of the way he operates, he makes many variations on a theme.  He wanted to cover all the themes – home, relationships, places, politics and psychology.”

Earch is represented there, in a show that runs through May 13.

For more information, go to http://www.pem.org/calendar/event/549-opening_day_a_master_of_photography_jerry_uelsmann

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It’s as though he’s still gathering information as he’s photographing the grit and rust of urban walls – but interpreting them now in a highly personal way.

He likes the random splash of pink or yellow, the sketchy old signs and the ancient posters still plastered to walls.

“Ultimately, it all represents a reflection of my personal vision of our culture,” he says.  “It’s about our engagement with the world around us – a blend of culture that comes in through my eyes and processes through my filter.”

Not surprisingly, he’ll open an exhibit in September at the Jung Center of Houston, an institution dedicated to the education of the human spirit through psychology, the arts and the humanities.  It’s named for Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, who founded analytic psychology at the turn of the last century. The discipline emphasizes the value of an individual’s creative forces and the development toward wholeness.

Thetford’s “Seven Questions” series of mixed media works are designed to create a dialog between the viewer and the artwork. “The Juggler,” for example, seeks to look at an individual trying to balance work, career and family, while “The Man in the Boat” asks whether an individual is all alone, or if we might all be in this together.

So it’s all about questions, rather than answers.

“It’s about ‘What is this?’ or ‘Who am I?’” he says.  “ It’s amazing what people bring to these – one person will see love and hope, while another says it’s full of pain.”

There is, he says, a lot of projection going on.

That would be true for the paintings as well as those who experience them.

For more on Daryl Thetford, go to http://www.darylthetford.com/darylthetford.com/HOME.html

For more on the Jung Centerof Houston, go to http://www.junghouston.org/

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He had a paper route, he said, and hoped that the architect might design for Eddie, his black Lab, a house “which would be easy to build and would go with our house.”  His father had commissioned Wright to design a house in 1952, and would spend 20 years building it in San Anselmo, Calif.

Wright wrote back.  A dog house for Eddie would be “an opportunity,” he responded.  “Someday I may design one, but just now I’m too busy to concentrate on it.  You write me next November to Phoenix, Arizona and I may have something then.”

Berger complied, and sure enough received a full set of working drawings for a triangular-shaped dog house of four square feet, to be built of the mahogany and cedar scraps left over from the main house.

“It looks like a Star Wars cruiser,” says Michael Miner, who’s taking a reconstructed version of the original on a coast-to-coast tour to promote Romanza, his film on Wright’s work in California.  “Frankly, it’s the best story ever about Wright.  People think he was this curmudgeonly old architect, but here he was, breaking down and doing something wonderful for a 12-year-old.”

Berger would grow up to join the army, and never build the dog house.  But his father and brother took up the project, completing it in 1963.  After his father died in 1973, Jim’s mother would take it to the dump and discard it.

“Then it occurred to me in 2010 to ask if it might be rebuilt,” Miner says.  “So Jim and his brother Eric built it exactly to Mr. Wright’s specifications.  They finished it in the fall of 2010.”  Miner filmed the constuction process, and included it in Romanza.

The new dog house will likely prove more popular than the original, which was shunned by Eddie and all subsequent dogs.  “He didn’t like it – he liked to sleep by the warmth coming out of the front door,” he says.

Even the new little house suffers from that complaint common to many of Wright’s larger designs:

“Yes, it does leak,” Miner acknowledges.

For more on Michael Miner and Romanza, go to: http://www.designedbyfranklloydwright.com/

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That’s certainly the case with the new 57,000 square foot campus center at Molloy College on Long Island, designed by BRB Architects.

They started out designing a 75,000 square foot building in 2005, only to get tangled up first in environmental reviews, and then in the market crash of late 2008.

“It went through a number of iterations,” says architect Mark Maljanian.  “The program shifted and changed, and then we started to design in earnest all over again in 2008.  It gave us time to really think about what was really important – in shrinking it, it got better and more vibrant.”

The Catholic-affiliated school, known for its nursing program, is in the process of transitioning from commuter college to traditional campus.  BRB was asked to design its first dormitory, as well as the student activities center for the schools’ 2,500 students.

The public square creates and frames a central campus quadrangle.  A café, lounge and study space are located on the east side of the building, overlooking the quadrangle through a glazed east face of the building. The indoor spaces are an extension of the quadrangle, together creating a vibrant center for student life at Molloy.  A glass and zinc-clad eastern layer acts as a veranda, visually connecting lounge and study spaces to the outdoor quad.

“We’re trying to make the interior spaces an extension of the quad, which is a new outdoor space,” he says.  “We want to make the quad feel energized by the kids when they’re out there.”

At the heart of the three-story building is a 550-seat theater, complete with orchestra pit.  One volume drops down to the stage at the basement level, while a balcony hovers from the second floor.

It’s a far cry from earlier, 1950s and ‘60s flat roofed, generic brick structures on campus, with rooms connected by corridors.  “There’s an openness to it, with an orientation to the outside,” he says.  “There’s permeability, connectivity to spaces inside too.”

At night, it’s lit up well past dusk.  The café is open late, as are its study areas.  “Now the school has a longer day on campus for those who commute,” he says.  “They can collaborate and socialize with their fellow students, and their professors.”

For Molloy College, that’s a new step in the right direction.

For more on BRB Architects, go to http://www.brb.com/

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