Category Archives: Unexpected

Lunch at the Ariana

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I am early for a lunch meeting at the Ariana Museum. I take a seat in the discrete little restaurant. The tables are as yet empty. There is a display of large china dishes and vases. Not so surprising given this museum’s standing in the world of ceramics and glassware.

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Jan De Vliegher “China Blue V&A” 2014 Acrylic on canvas

Then a double-take. This is not a display case. It’s a painting! I approach Jan De Vliegher‘s “China Blue V&A” in awe. The realism is extraordinary.

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Detail of China Blue V&A

More extraordinary still is that the tones, perspective and depth of field have been produced by a combination of the boldest of brush strokes, splashes and drips; a technique rarely associated with, let alone accomplishing, realism. I can’t draw my eyes away from this painting. This is master-class beautiful stuff.

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Paul March “In Pulverum Speramus” Clay, 2015

After lunch, I look around the rest of the museum. In a corner by a door I stumble upon something recognisably from the studio of Paul March. Five smooth ceramic forms are arranged in the pose of a sleeping dog. I want to pick up each part and heft it in my hand. The whole is pleasing. Although caught between abstraction and canine imagary, the piece captures the awkwardness of man’s best friend lying on a hard floor. The title is “In Pulverum Speramus.” My schoolboy latin tells me this reads something like “We hope in the dust.” (Perhaps Paul will tell us the “why” of this title?) His work has a way of finding corners in the Ariana. Remember his spider?

Nice day! Lunch with surprises! But then the Ariana has a way of serving up surprises.

Cracked London Bike Logos

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Bike

You assume somebody designed this logo that you find on every 30 metres on every cycle lane in the city of London. And then you wonder if he or she thought ahead to how it would, with sun, rain and frost over the years, evolve from stencilled traffic designator to cracking and rather beautiful urban feature. You’d like to think so. On yer bike Andy Goldsworthy!

The Wind Tree

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I am cycling along thinking of not a whole lot. What looks like a sci-fi futuristic tree-like sculpture has been installed outside that very discrete private bank Banque Piguet Galland at the end of my road, Avenue Peschier. I notice the “leaves” are turning in the light, cool January breeze. Intrigued, I stop and take photos. Still thinking this is “art” only, I find a brochure in the bank about the Wind Tree (Arbre a Vent®) and stumble upon a feel good story.

The Wind Tree 1

The Wind Tree is the brain-child of Jérôme Michaud-Larivière, free-thinking engineer and founder of NewWind R&D. Some years ago, whilst walking down a street, Michaud-Larivière noticed that although there was no perceptible wind, the leaves of the nearby trees were still fluttering. This got him thinking about how, in a city environment, the energy from winds from any direction can be harnessed. The outcome of his research is the Aeroleaf® a “biomimetic wind turbine.” The whole arborial structure upon which the 63 Aeroleaves are deployed is a design masterpiece by Geneva’s very own Claudio Colucci.

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NewWind’s aspirations are inspirational. “What was gigantic, NewWind has made small. 
What was unsightly, NewWind has made beautiful
. What was unique, NewWind has multiplied
. What was far away, NewWind has brought close to home. 
What was noisy, NewWind has made silent.”

As a statement of its corporate view of an eco-responsible future, Banque Piquet Galland bought and installed this Wind Tree; one of the first five produced. The brochure tells me that it can produce enough electricity to power 15 street lights, an 100m2 office environment and most of the domestic energy needs of a family of four. Such technology should bring a sustainably greener future for the 70% of the world’s population who live in urban environments.

Beautiful stuff! It brings hope!