Link About It: This Week’s Picks
Horror movie monsters for Halloween, cyborg performance art and more in this week’s look around the web
1. Inside the Mind and Studio of Artist Olafur Eliasson
Olafur Eliasson is a busy man. The Danish-Icelandic artist is currently working on exhibitions in Stockholm and Vienna, a project that requires moving ice from Greenland to Paris, the design of a Copenhagen-based building, a cookbook and more. And whether you recognize his name or not, Eliasson and his team are shaping the way we experience both the world and human interaction. WIRED recently caught up with the award-winning artist at his studio in Berlin, where he spoke about his passions, influences and day-to-day creative processes.
2. The Best Horror Movie Monsters
Halloween isn’t just for trick-or-treating and haunted houses, it’s the most appropriate time to binge-watch classic horror movies. Grantland has taken some of the trouble out of finding the perfect film with their comprehensive “Best Horror Movie Monsters” list. The monsters chosen had to pass five strict rules: no humans, no real-life animals, no “benevolent” monsters, no temporary monsters (like werewolves) and, lastly, no classic horror monsters (like Dracula). So if you’re searching for the movie with the most creative kill, best one-liner or most misunderstood monster, this is the list for you. View the full list on Grantland.
3. The Atlantic Theater Company’s New A-Shaped Identity
The award-winning Off-Broadway theater, The Atlantic Theater Company, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a big makeover. With help from Pentagram partner Paula Scher, the company now bears a bold red-orange, blue and white visual identity. The design centers around a main trapezoidal shape (a nod to the stage’s overhead spotlight), which serves as both the Atlantic’s insignia and as the letter “A” when company’s name is spelled out. With the new design, The Atlantic hopes to “raise its institutional profile and stand out in the city’s crowded arts landscape.”
4. How Cyborg Moon Ribas Translates Seismic Activity into Dance
In 2013, performance artist Moon Ribas grafted a small computer chip onto her elbow, allowing her to sense every earthquake in the world. She uses this connection as the basis for her latest performance, “Waiting for Earthquakes,” in which she spontaneously choreographs dances to the Earth’s seismic activity. Online publication Hopes&Fears and GIF artist Alex Thebes recently visited Ribas to discuss how life with the chip has shaped her perception of the planet, what the future of cyborgs looks like and more. View the full profile on Hopes&Fears.
5. A Conversation With the Founders of Cool Hunting
Cool Hunting founders Evan Orensten and Josh Rubin recently welcomed publication Fellow Resident into their Chelsea, NYC apartment for an intimate look at the space they call home. While there, the duo spoke about the first time they met, how Cool Hunting evolved from a simple side project, and the dramatic changes taking place in New York’s gay community. Head over to Fellow Resident to read the full interview.
6. How El Niño Will Affect Your City
This year is an El Niño year, meaning air currents and weather patterns across the world are dramatically different from last year. Those changes are especially noticeable during the winter months, when severe snowstorms and sub-zero temperatures can be especially harsh. To help people prepare for the impending weather fluctuations, TIME has drawn up an infographic detailing the changes across the United States. Luckily, last year’s frost-bitten Northeast will get some relief with warmer-than-usual weather while California will get some much-needed rainfall. See the forecast for your city at TIME.
7. How Fast Fashion is Killing Creativity
To keep up with the short attention span of style trends, the fashion industry must move fast, and this often comes at the expense of the very people fueling its creativity. Many top designers and creative directors have already suffered the effects of burnout—including Donna Karan, Ann Demeulemeester, Jeremy Laing and more—prompting them to leave their label or the industry altogether. As The Cut points out, the only way for the fashion industry to sustain positive growth is if its designers are given sufficient time to incubate and execute their ideas.
8. A Beginner’s Guide to Architectural Movements
Whether for educational purposes or just to take a shameless selfie, more people than ever are venturing out and exploring local and international architecture. Whatever the reason, it’s probably beneficial to get a few of the basic architectural eras down before heading out. Luckily HighSnobiety has written up a handy guide covering important periods of architecture that everyone should be familiar with—including Greek and Roman Classicism, the Baroque Era of Italy and France and today’s Post-Modern architecture led by designers like Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind and Frank Gehry.
Link About It is our filtered look at the web, shared daily in Link and on social media, and rounded up every Saturday morning.
