“It’s easy to build a house, much harder to build a community,” as Cynthia E. Smith, the show’s curator, told me. “Cities are very complex, and what the best designers illustrate is how to give form to sometimes very simple ideas. Good design involves bringing not just a fresh eye to problems but, most of all, listening to the people who live in those communities. We’re talking about a billion people living in informal settlements today,” she added. “You can see them as a billion problems or a billion solutions.”

Exhibition on now at the UN in NYC. Article on the show in NYT.

Amnesty International Media Awards Winners 2011 is up until November 8 at Amnesty International UK’s Human Rights Action Centre and Simon Roberts -

We English remains open through 19 November 2011 at Flowers galleries.

- from we-make-money-not-art.com

- from Contemporary Art Daily

I watched Gasland today (more on that to come) and then came across this work by Katharina Grosse, which triggered all kinds of thoughts about how humankinds shapes and colours our landscape, transforming ecosystems and even our geology… I understand Grosse is more focused on transforming the gallery space and working directly onto the surfaces of galleries, but to me it speaks about the human need to leave a mark on the environment… for better or for worse.

- from tinsheds.wordpress.com

Oz is one of the few things that makes me wish I had been born 30 years earlier. One of the most controversial, funny and truly cool things to come out of Australia, it broke all the rules and launched the careers of some of our most brilliant artists, critics and writers (including one Bob Ellis – I will have to quiz him on that point).

This exhibition at Sydney University’s tin sheds gallery brings together collages by Oz art director Jim Anderson Lampoon. I’m definitely going, hoping that some of the genius and damn-it-all recklessness rubs off on me.

Find out more about the exhibition here.

- from garrytrinh.com

A centrepiece to the exhibition will be a new series of self portraits covering the span of Yang’s life. Shown in a smaller selection at GOMA Brisbane as part of The China Project these delightful images tell us more than we already know about the nature of Yang’s bold journey embracing his identity as an Australian citizen and a contemplation of life’s milestones. All these works have a written commentary, which has become a hallmark of Yang’s later works. The tone is always gently wry with a delightful mix of humour and seriousness.

Prophetic Initiatives (P.I.) is a multifaceted collaborative project which began in 2009 with artists David Capra and Leahlani Johnson as a ‘ministry’ to the art world. Through performance and installation P.I. projects aims to highlight the art world’s ability to house experiences that surpass the rational realm. One of the branches of Prophetic Initiatives is their street ministry, Prophetic Art Stall, an interactive performance between created personas and the spectator. Documentation of these exchanges at Mori Gallery and Mop projects (both 2009) can be viewed at www.propheticartstall.blogspot.com.