Art: July 2008 Archives

I FELT PHYSICALLY SICK WITH FEAR AS WE WALKED. Daniel Raven-Ellison

In 2008, the world reaches an invisible but momentous milestone. For the first time in history, more than half its human population, 3.3 billion people, will be living in urban areas. But does anyone, anywhere, really understand the truth of these cities?

DAMON'S DONE IT AGAIN, WHATEVER 'IT' IS.

Damon Albarn’s Monkey: Journey to the West has arrived in animated form and made a dazzling impact. The reinvention of these legendary characters of Chinese folklore first took flight last year in the form of an opera made alongside his Gorillaz sidekick, Jamie Hewlett, and acclaimed Chinese theatre director, Chen Shi-Zheng. Now, though, the ultimate stage is set. Albarn’s gang have created what will become icons of our Beijing 2008 experience.

FEW CAN SAY AS MUCH WITH AN IMAGE AS JR.

He’s called JR and he’s French. Nothing special there. The thing that strikes me about JR, though, and the world it seems, is that few can use pictures of people with the kind of impact he does. He blows photographs up big on the streets, pictures of people the world would otherwise forget. And he does it to provoke.

THAT'S IT. I'M CALLING THE DECORATORS.

The boxes are interactive, they make Mario sound effects. You don't have to smash your head on them, which is an authenticity flaw, but aside from that I think the idea is great. We all have a weakness for nostalgia, and my passion for Lego that was titillated by Jan Vormann near Rome has been equally sated by Ms. Citizen, a native of Brisbane, Australia.

HOW DO YOU REPRESENT THE EMOTIONAL BALANCE OF OUR NETWORKED PLANET?

If we look hard enough - or not hard at all at times - then we can know how a person living thousands of miles away, who we’ve never met before, and no doubt never will, is feeling.