Historically, kitchens were often drab, poorly ventilated, and hidden from view in a basement or annex, but by the end of the nineteenth century the kitchen became a bridgehead of modern thinking in the domestic sphere. It served as a testing ground for new materials, technologies, and power sources, where designers could also address growing modern concerns for hygiene, efficiency, and the rational organization of space. Since the innovations of Schütte-Lihotzky and her contemporaries in the 1920s, kitchens have continued to articulate, and at times actively challenge, our relationships to the food we eat and popular attitudes toward the domestic role of women, family life, consumerism, and even political ideology, as in the case of the celebrated 1959 “Kitchen Debate” between Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow at the height of the Cold War.

The exhibition begins in the early twentieth century with the idea of the labor-saving, rational kitchen as a “factory” or “laboratory”. From the Frankfurt kitchen to the standardized, stackable forms of Wagenfeld’s 1938 glass Kubus ware, and to posters issued by the British Ministry of Information during World War II, the dominant ethos is one of work, thrift, and hygiene. The next section continues the themes of ergonomic, functional design and technological innovation while steadily shifting the emphasis to consumer choice and the “leisure” kitchen, as captured in colorful 1950s Tupperware and Tom Wesselmann’s exuberant Still Life #30 collage of 1963. The final part of the exhibition restores a human element to the kitchen—in reality an environment of mess, neurosis, and frustration as well as aesthetic pleasure, sociability, and desire. Photographs, prints, media works and sculptural installations highlight the kitchen-related imagery that has permeated artistic practice since the late 1960s as a means of addressing larger debates around economics, politics, and gender.

The sections hinge around the installation of the Frankfurt Kitchen and a 1968 mobile fold-out unit manufactured by the Italian company Snaidero. These two complete kitchens are complemented by a variety of design objects, many of which represent the changing times: appliances powered by gas and electricity (the earliest a 1907 kettle designed by Peter Behrens for AEG); aluminum, heat-resistant glass and steel cooking utensils featured in MoMA’s landmark 1934 Machine Art exhibition; colorful plastics ranging from Colombini’s 1957 bucket to Japanese artificial ‘display’ food from the 1970s; and architectural plans, posters, archival photographs, printed ephemera, and selected artworks, all drawn from MoMA’s collection, including pieces by Cindy Sherman, William Eggleston, Andy Warhol, and Claes Oldenburg. Also on view are rarely seen industrial films by manufacturing giants such as General Electric, spanning back as far as 1915, and stills from Hollywood films that helped to prime consumer desire for modern kitchens and appliances.

Throughout the exhibition prominence is given to the contribution of women, not only as the primary consumers and users of the domestic kitchen, but also as reformers, architects, designers, and as artists who have critically addressed kitchen culture and myths.

The Museum of Modern Art presents Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen, an exhibition that examines the kitchen and its continual redesign as a barometer of changing ideologies and technologies, and explores the twentieth-century transformation of the kitchen as a space of huge symbolic and practical significance. On view from September 15, 2010, through March 14, 2011, its centerpiece is MoMA’s recent acquisition of an unusually complete example of the iconic “Frankfurt Kitchen.” Designed in 1926–27 by Grete Schütte-Lihotzky, it is the earliest work by a female architect in the collection. In the aftermath of World War I, thousands of these kitchens were manufactured for public-housing estates being built around Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, as part of a comprehensive program to modernize the city and society. Schütte-Lihotzky’s compact and ergonomic design, with its integrated approach to storage, appliances, and work surfaces, reflected a commitment to transforming the lives of ordinary working people on an ambitious scale. Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen comprises works drawn from the Museum’s collection, including design objects, photography, film, prints, drawings, and paintings. The exhibition is organized by Juliet Kinchin, Curator, and Aidan O’Connor, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art.

Press Release & Images Via: MoMA

The buildings in this gallery have been painted by some incredible artists who have taken murals to a new depth. Between the large scale design, and the artwork itself- this gallery highlights the most interesting examples of building murals.

While there are a few below that are reminiscent of a Wile E. Coyote stunt, they are all astounding.

Art can be controversial, and at times downright offensive.

It’s a part of the nature of the beast. Art that pulls inspiration from current events will include reference to something the artist feels is important. They may highlight it in a way that they feel best expresses their opinion on a topic, but the presentation in a visual medium can come across as shocking, even more so than the written word.

Fashion and hard hitting current events are not usually thought of in the same way. Often photographers on a shoot for a fashion magazine will pull topics from current happenings and will utilize the medium to make a statement. In the case of Italian Vogue, photographer Steven Meisel and model Kristen McMenamy created a set of images that are inspired by the Gulf Oil spill.

Here is the behind the scenes video of the shoot (NY Times):

Kristen McMenamy in the “survivor” version, where she interprets in images the environmental drama that’s afflicting the Gulf of Mexico. (Italian Vogue)

It’s a topic that will be offensive, there is no way to sugar-coat the disaster in the Gulf.  In looking at the images from the shoot, the mixture of fashion and the oil, grime, and filth that litter the area the photographs are powerful. They are dark and macabre, with McMenamy assuming poses that emulate the suffering that is found in the Gulf. McMenamy is shown caught up in tangled nets, spitting up oil, and even posing as a dying seal. They are hard to look at, especially when the disaster is still happening. With the overtones highlighting the obvious misery, they are hard to look at.

There is a lot of controversy coming from the shoot, which appears in the August Issue of Italian Vogue (only available in Milan), with many accusing Meisel of just being shocking and offensive without any other depth. The images however do serve to illustrate the disaster, and while the presentation of being in Vogue is a part of the problem, the images do serve to show more than just McMenamy and the clothing.

Click an image to view a larger version:

Oh dolls, that marker of childhood innocence. That wonderful toy that many a wee child had as a favorite plaything, that oddly horrifying object that has turned so many into a quivering thing in the corner.

So, the below isn’t the ‘typical’, nor are they safe for your sanity. They are however incredible takes on such an innocent toy. Any of these would be more at home in a horror movie than in a toy chest, but they do show a lot of talent (horrifying, horrifying talent).

Click an image to start the gallery, attribution in under all images (the other works my these artists are as incredible):

Okay, before the break, a warning that this post may not be entirely work safe.  Or really, safe for you sanity.

Don’t get me wrong, some of these are completely fantastic, others.. well not so much.  Many of these will have you questioning humanity, but the others really are great designs.  Artists and art lovers do want to express themselves, and while oftentimes the results can really be incredible at others, they can be downright insane.

Below, some of the questionable and some of the awesome (really an interesting mix, at most).

Choosing the way you display your art and photography can be as important as your work itself.  Finding a simple and stunning choice with so many options out there can be difficult and time consuming.   Below are 12 stunning options that are as simple as they are elegant.

GalleryView

Demo/Download

GalleryView is a very simple but wonderful option.  If you are looking for something lightening fast and simple, it could suit your needs perfectly.  The overlay title and description is a wonderful part of the GalleryView script (plus, it really looks amazing with the simplicity). It definately success in it’s mission to provide jQuery users with a flexible, attractive content gallery that is both easy to implement and a snap to customize.

Supersized: Fullscreen background/ sideshow jQuery plugin

Demo/Download

Supersized really lives up to it’s name.  It’s a fullscreen gallery that is great for high definition photos, and anything with a lot of color would really pop out.

* Resizes images to fill browser while maintaining image dimension ratio
* Cycles Images/backgrounds via slideshow with transitions and preloading
* Navigation controls allow for pause/play and forward/back

Moving Boxes – jQuery Image Gallery

Demo/Download

MovingBoxes is  a very fun little gallery.  It’s incredibly simple to use, and the look is fantastic. The script uses there are buttons to change panels and the panels zoom in and out.

PiroBox

Demo/Download
Here are just some of the features:

* The script now weights only 12.5KB, (9KB Minified)
* There is a choice between five different styles
* Slideshow option More…
* Multiple image set option More…
* PngFix for Internet Explorer 6
* Keyboard navigation: Right arrow [next], Left arrow [prev], ESC [close]
* Broken Link Check
* Automatic repositioning of the image in the browser window
* Browser compatibility = FireFox 2+, Opera9.5+, Chrome, Safari (Mac/Windows), IE 6+

You can even check out some of the fantastic themes that the plugin uses.

PiroBox is similar to lightbox (and the many other versions) and is great for a simple and effective option.

Image Rotator with Preview

Demo/Download

You can use the Image Rotator for images, blog posts, and a few other things as well. It’s a great way to display portfolio pieces, eCommerce product images, or even as an image gallery. With both a simple and effective design, it’s also easy to implement and customize.

Spacegallery – jQuery plugin

Demo/Download

SpaceRotator has a fun and elegant animation when switching views.

AD Gallery

Demo/Download

AD Gallery is another simple, but visually pleasing option.

Zoomer Gallery

Demo/Download

Zoomer Gallery is really fun and it would be a great choice for someone that has a lot of images to display (much like PiroGallery) it adds in a simple ‘zoom’ effect, and could easily be customized to fit other needs as well. It has flash-like effects but is written in javascript.

ImageFlow

Demo/Download

ImageFlow is a very graceful and elegant gallery/ slider.  It has a gorgeous reflection and while it’s simple visually- it is still very user friendly and beautiful. It has quite a few features for such a considerably small plugin.

jQuery jsGallscroll Plugin

Demo/Download

Another simple and effective option. jsGallscroll takes list of images and creates a smooth scrolling photo gallery scrolling vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. The plugin will also create pagination to allow you to flow through your photos.

Galleriffic

Demo/Download

Gallerific allows you to have a full featured and easy to navigate (and set up) gallery. It comes with a ton of options including pagination, graceful degradation if a user doesn’t use javascript, and a ton of others including many different user-options as well. If you want something that has more features and can allow you to customize more than Gallerific can definitely be for you.

Dynamic Image Gallery and Slideshow

Demo/Download
The Dynamic Image Gallery and Slideshow is incredibly lightweight, at only 3kb. It’s elegant in addition, and it’s a user-friendly and easy choice for someone who may want the simplicity without too many other things cluttering things up. The developer has released a new version however if you want a few more options.

Space has long been the subject of intense fascination by humans.  With modern technology we are better able to see thing that once were thought to be just the subject of fantasy.  Incredible images have been captured and have fueled more fascination for our cosmic home.

We are learning more and more about the universe, and while at times things we learn serve mainly to give us more questions than answers, the images we have are beautiful and truly serve to show that beauty is truly universal.

Click an image to browse the gallery.

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There is something to be said about human ingenuity, either that or our collective insanity.  In  a previous article I covered Strange Homes People Actually Live In, and it’s become a top article on this website.

So, by popular demand below are some more completely insane homes (that are actually lived in).

Guest House From Hang Nga, Vietnam

Images: You Live Where

Nakagin Capsule Tower (Tokyo, Japan)

Epcott House Arizona (?)

Upside Down Wonderworks Building

Snowball House

Shell House, Japan

Jenga Complex

Maze House

Suspended Home

Island Home, Literally

Iceberg House

While the last two are claimed to be real, I’m not entirely sure that they are.

I’ve included it just due to it being awesome, but if you know the story please let me know in the comments.  That also goes if you know where any of these are located (Country and City preferably) or if you know the original source of any of the above (well, save for the Worth 1000 images, as they are watermarked).

The actual Amityville Horror house if for sale. While the story itself if debatable at best, as the Lutz family may have made up everything in a bid for fame (by may have, I of course mean they did), the DeFeo murders however were very real.

The house on 112 Ocean Avenue (different address, as the name had been changed) is infamous for being haunted by demons, flies, and an evil (demon) pig named Jodie.

The books themselves scared me when I was a kid (but in a good way, I love me some horror novels) and it wasn’t until a few years later that I I found out that the actual murders were a real part (considering we are talking pre-internet days of the 1990s cut me some slack here).

The house itself has been through a few different owners, and only the Lutz family reported anything out of the ordinary. The house has been through a huge facelift as well, and it’s beautiful and doesn’t’ have any sort of creepy factor at all.

With the story by the Lutz family, it’s pretty easy to forget that the home is still the place of a real and brutal crime, by someone who was either ill or strung out (as the DeFeo’s own stories go).  In real life Ronald DeFeo Jr, killed his: mother, father, two sisters, and his two brothers.  Right now he is still in jail, and during his trial the prosecution has argued the murders were due to issues Ronald had with drugs and mental conditions.

The psychiatrist for the prosecution, Dr. Harold Zolan, maintained that although DeFeo was an abuser of heroin and LSD, he had antisocial personality disorder and was aware of his actions at the time of the crime.

Source: Wikipedia

Ronald himself has changed his story many times over, and only one was claiming anything out of the ordinary (presumably for an insanity defense, although there isn’t any sort of proof- just assumptions).

Admittedly, the home is beautiful regardless of it’s macabre history.

One of the reasons so many still believe in the Amityville Horror tale is the various ‘researchers’ who have supposedly confirmed the existence of many things that go bump in the night.  The researchers that had made by far the biggest impact are the famous Ed and Lorraine Warren, who claimed that it wasn’t a hoax and the house was indeed haunted by demons.

Lorraine Warren told a reporter for The Express-Times newspaper (Easton, Pa.) that the Amityville Horror was not a hoax, saying about the Lutzes, “We know them”. Beneath pleasant outward appearances, the Warrens’ Web page on Amityville casts them unfavorably in describing the Amityville case’s most vociferous critic, the late Stephen Kaplan, coauthor of ”The Amityville Horror Conspiracy.” The Warrens write: “It’s believed that the hoax rumor began with a man who called himself Dr. Steven Kaplan, although he held no doctorate degree from any university. This fact was exposed on several occasions, yet that never stopped Mr. Kaplan from making these claims. He was the self-proclaimed president of the Parapsychology Society of Long Island and some other related societies, presumably founded by himself.” The Warrens failed to note that they, too, had founded their own paranormal organization and saw nothing wrong with it.

Source: Wikipedia

Would you buy a home with as much of a sordid history as this one?  If you believe in the Lutz family story, would you live there? Just in thinking about how many random people would wind up on your doorstep, buying the infamous house may be more trouble than many think it’s worth.

Do you believe in any part of the Amityville Horror story?  Why or why not?

BP’s comedy of errors in fixing the leak is having a lasting effect on the environment and economy.  With their many flawed attempts at fixing the leak, they may be doing more harm than good.  The wildlife and sea creatures in the areas effected are dying and creating an alarming and lasting environmental tragedy in the area, while the ocean environment itself is being irreparably damaged by both the leak itself and some of the more questionable leak control methods.

The devastation and tragedy are completely overwhelming.  The lasting effects are horrible, and there is seemingly no end in sight.  For such a large, multi-billion dollar company, it’s a PR nightmare.  For the rest of us, a environmental terror.   It’s an unfortunate fact of modern life, that this type of horror is going to happen.  No matter your opinion on global warming, our Earth is the only one we have.  We still need to protect it, and sadly our dependence on fossil fuels will continue to have an impact on the environment. 

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(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

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