Nudes by Egon Schiele

(image source: juxtapoz magazine)

Broken Things by Livia Marin

(http://www.artandsciencejournal.com/post/57100224296/livia-marin-broken-things)

Geometric Polaroid Collages by Randy Grskovic

(photos from http://thejealouscurator.com/blog/ )

Weapon of Mass Instruction

More: http://www.junk-culture.com/2012/04/weapon-of-mass-instruction.html#more

By La Mode Outre

Using Bowls of Water to Slow Down Reckless Bus Drivers

Link: http://www.weirdasianews.com/2010/06/17/water-slows-chinese-bus-drivers/

Can City by Studio Swine

Found or recycled items make cheap, interesting and eco-friendly materials for creating new works of art and I admire the process of turning a piece of trash into a treasure. A little bit of creativity can give an object whose non-sentient existence might even be longer than that of a human being's, a more meaningful life than if it had ended up in a rubbish dump to decompose for the rest of its history.

As seen in the video, Can City uses aluminium cans found off the streets to create a series of furniture, but what strikes me about this project is the process. Using a mobile furnace built out of recycled materials and fueled by recycled vegetable oil collected from cafes, Studio Swine melts down the aluminim cans he finds in the streets and then casts the molten metal using sand - also readily found in the streets - along with other found objects to create the pieces of furniture. I really like that from start to end, Studio Swine found ways to make use of rubbish, and could either build them up into something (like with the furnace) or break them down to their base material (like the molten aluminium). I think it shows that what something could potentially become is just as important as what it was before and it's good to think about all the different paths you could take to arrive at a creation.

The Drop Rest Mug by Kim Keun Ae

Tim Brown: Tales of Creativity and Play

In this talk, Tim Brown talks about the connection between creativity and play. One of the first points he makes is that adults are much more sensitive to the opinions of others than kids are and this makes the adults lose their freedom to be creative. Therefore, an environment where it is secure and comfortable and does not cause a person to feel afraid of judgement on his ideas is ideal for creativity. This is where it is easier to play and to take risks that might ultimately lead to a good solution.

Brown mentions three ways of important play that we can learn from kids:
- Exploration play
- Construction play
- Role play

Exploration play focuses on quantity over quality, so the ideas you come up with while brainstorming don't have to be so different from each other. It is better to have a variation on the same theme than having only a few very different ideas.

Construction play is about building and thinking with your hands - learning by doing. It can involve building prototypes for designs so it is easier to wrap your head around the rough form/function of the product and get a hands-on understanding of it. A prototype also helps to communicate the idea to others much more easily.

Finally, role play is when you act out scenarios pertaining to the product or service you are designing. This helps to give you a feel of how well the design works, spot flaws and develop empathy for the different roles involved to gain a wider perspective.

Brown ends off by emphasizing that play is not anarchy; there are always rules, especially if it is group play. Like kids playing, we will follow a script or a set of rules that is agreed on, and these rules are what will lead to productive play. Also important besides how to play is when to play. Brown suggests that in design, play is much more important and effective in the stage of brainstorming and exploring ideas. When it comes down focusing on finishing up the product and there are not too many problems to be solved, then it should be time to get serious, and being able to go from playful to serious is good.