People pedal on bicycles equipped with dynamos which light up gigantic bulbs as they participate in the art installation “Dynamo-Fukushima” created by Yann Toma during the European heritage day “Journees europeennes du Patrimoine” at the Grand Palais in Paris
bicycles light up giant bulbs the Grand Palais
September 17, 2011Border Cities: Tactics of Encroachment
September 11, 2011Architect and UCSD Visual Arts Professor Teddy Cruz examines the bicultural territory formed by San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico.
Consciousness and The City
September 1, 2011CCA – Paris 2011 workshop is completed
August 24, 2011
It’s hard to kill a city.
July 27, 2011Unlike animals, cities do not slow down as they get bigger. They speed up with size! The bigger the city, the faster people walk and the faster they innovate.
A review of the Geoffrey West lecture at LongNow.
» hear the lecture
shortcuts to mobile media publishing
July 26, 2011» Intro video for iPad publishing — mostly in InDesign. These are some step by step notes related to the video.
» Download Folio Producer for InDesign
mixing type and architecture
July 25, 2011
Naji el Mir visits Biometric City on July 26. Naji is a highly skilled cross-media type designer who intervenes across all media. Shown here is a collaboration with graphic designer Max Kisman & architect Hisham Youssef. More on Typographic Matchmaking in the City – the video
» the presentation
Quantum City
July 21, 2011
With his latest book Quantum City, architect Ayssar Arida explores the relationships between the history of science, urban design and the concept of the city, light-heartedly but with a very serious aim: to radically change the way the urban realm is both experienced and designed. Ayssar visits BiometricCity on July 21.
designing by color
July 20, 2011
Fanette Mellier is the Van Gogh of French graphic design: a “colorist typographer” able to conceive vibrant aesthetics through her mastery of formal simplicity.
Flea Market: a "crime" zone
July 16, 2011
most photographed
July 15, 2011
the most photographed parts of Paris: Notre Dame, Louvre, Montmartre, Tour Eiffel & La Defense. Red represents tourists, blue locals and yellow either.
mapping the project
July 13, 2011
Initial planning of our Biometric Paris explorations. The selected areas range from a single street to the whole of Paris.
The two main key notions are “designer as observer” and “urban coding”.
CCA – Paris 2011 workshop officially begins
July 12, 2011
thoughts on mobile media
July 9, 2011Designing tools and content for mobile devices. _by GC
It is estimated that by 2013 half of all web searches will not be made by a desktop or laptop computer, but rather by a mobile phone. Designing and developing content for these devices requires a new set of skill and understandings. Forget what you know about print design or ever even desktop web design for that matter. These new devices require lean and effective design that is wrapped in the latest delivery method. In addition to knowing what technologies are available, it is equally important to understand what technology is appropriate.
In addition to iPhone, Android phone, webOS devices, Windows-based phones, and RIM devices, The proliferation of tablets such as the iPad have added a new exciting layer to mobile media. Learn about where iPad publishing and the creation of apps for such devices fits into the future of communication.
Throughout this course we will also be placing special emphasis on the use of, and designing for, mobile media. We will explore the different types of available platforms and their various uses. We will also be discussing and learning about the skills that go into producing such sites and applications. Knowing how to create content for these devices is an important skill to develop.
- Websites for mobile media: How design must conform to the limitations and requirements on mobile
- Publishing digital books and magazines for iPad, Kindle and other eReaders.
- Web 2.0 Apps and how these are different from downloadable apps.
- Creation of apps for the iPad and iPhone using COCOA and delvering your product on iTunes.
- Creation of apps for Android, Palm, and RIM devices.
- Special consideration for legacy devices.
the idea of art in the city
July 8, 2011
The mesmerizing intro credits of 1999, Psychopathologie de la vie quotidienne dans le monde des arts are from a hybrid feature documentary/performance/cultural commentary by Ultralab. This clip beautifully combines the idea of art, with the idea the museum as urban muse. The documentary itself goes a lot deeper into the “provocation” and will be explained in our workshop.
situationism dead or alive
July 4, 2011
An amusing and interesting rant on Situationism: “Instead of tired calls for social justice, Situationism demands the right to drunken play, for the spilling of semen on the cobblestones. All this sounds less like Utopia and more like Amsterdam, Dublin, Prague, or any European city overrun by drunken American college students in the summer, taking in the urban fabric late at night with pub crawls.” ~ More about Situationist International
urban wrapping
June 27, 2011
The wrapping of European monuments, when they are being renovated, has become a very interesting medium, often spectacularly conceived and sometimes poorly executed.
Here is the historic heart of the city (the former royal palace and Marie-Antoinette’s jail) now imprisoned by the Dior brand. Next to it is Le Pont Neuf, which was wrapped by conceptual artist Christo in 1985.
the temple of digital arts and new musics
June 27, 2011
La Gaîté Lyrique is the new venue in Paris dedicated to digital arts and new musics. It was launched in the Spring 2011 with a true commitment to innovation in design.
map as time-based narration
June 27, 2011
Madrid’s CityMurmur aims at addressing maps and diagrams not as passive representation of realities but as tools for interpretation and action. It wants to build a time-based narration, an historical archive of media coverage of the urban space which is able to reveal some hidden dynamics useful for city policy support, critical media analysis, and sociocultural research.
» more interpretation mapping
new approaches to data representation
June 25, 2011
Biometric City 