and the winner is...

 

RIO DE JANEIRO

I may be a Chicagoan, but I'm thrilled about Rio 2016! We watched the bid videos at work today (aired on ABC) and I have to say, theirs was definitely the most powerful/passionate. Perfect mix of the city, the culture and sports. Still trying to find it online and will post it when I do...

If used properly, this could be an amazing chance for Rio to improve its infrastructure, restructure (instead of just pushing out) its slums, improve its terrible crime rates and from there...who knows what could happen.

CONGRATS South America!!

One of the main complaints about the Chicago bid was that our performance was "flat" -  without a sense of passion and direct vision for our Olympic plan. I'd have to say I agree. Our bid, compared to the others, just seemed SO corporate and sort of took the fun out of the games. It was all about producing a sustainable, economically- viable and efficient games, which IS important but should be one of many focal points when we're talking about an international celebration that should be exciting, vibrant and a real shared experience.

These aren't THE videos that they played in Copenhagen, but they are promos for the bid:

RIO

MADRID

(This video is very focused on the actual plan - which the short promo videos played in Copenhagen weren't AT ALL. But alas, I can't find them...)

TOKYO

CHICAGO

rethinking value

Related to the previous post on Kawano Takeshi's work:

Fabrica, Benetton's communications research center that commissioned Takeshi for the global warming awareness project, has done a lot of other interesting, innovative work. The group, based in Treviso, Italy describes themselves as an "applied creativity laboratory, a talent incubator" where young, modern, international artists develop innovative projects that have a communications focus.

One project that grabbed my attention is titled, "Colors of Money" which, in the wake of the financial crisis, examines the root causes of the economic meltdown - "the desires, the fantasy and the hubris which fuelled the financial abuses and brought about disastrous economic consequences".

The installation, exhibiting in Luxembourg through November 2009, includes a variety of media - photography, creative writing and art. It questions the "cultural dominance of finance" and explores the ways in which artists and designers are attempting to counteract this force that has so influenced the formation of our global, contemporary culture.

The exhibition corresponds with the 73rd issue of of Fabrica's Colors Magazine ("a magazine about the rest of the world" - that examines global trends & themes from innovative perspectives) - which has a feature that focuses on 15 different substances found through lab analysis of currency that had passed through hundreds, thousands, millions of exchanges...They then explore each substance found (ex: oil, microbes, metal, soil) and critically analyze its value and use in a variety of national and international contexts. For example - on the island of Yap, Micronesia, soil is a measure of wealth much like currency. This approach exemplifies the ways in which Fabrica breaks information and concepts down into pieces, parts. This approach allows the viewer/reader to critically analyze how "money" is a just false construct with no real or concrete value or utility.

Some examples of installations in the exhibit:

The Podium by  Erik Ravelo (Cuba, 2008)
"An interactive installation built with thousands copies of COLORS 73, this podium speaks to symbols of opulence in a society which encourages us to accumulate more and more to supposedly reach the top of the world. The podium invites visitors to go backwards: take some money, leave the rest, and watch the hierarchy slowly collapse as each of us do the same."

Piggy Bank by Sam Baron (France, 2009)

"Save money, spend money. Save money, spend money. Start over. An innovative design object, Sam Baron’s Piggy Bank questions the endless process of accumulation and expense that rules our daily lives by showing the futility of this social game we always lose."

More here.

dirty water for $1

Read about this UNICEF campaign over at Artsy Time.

For the dirty water campaign, UNICEF placed a "dirty water" vending machine in Union Square in New York. The vending machine provided consumers with 8 options, themed around diseases contracted from drinking contaminated water.

The campaign was created by communications firm Casanova Pendrill as an initiative of UNICEF's Tap Project, founded in 2007 to raise awareness about (and funds to combat) the poor quality of water in developing countries.

Operating on budget of $0, all materials and services were provided pro bono.

Video for the campaign

The end of this video is really disturbing: two idiotic girls making jokes about diseases that "make you skinny" because they involve throwing up and diarrhea... "yea, i mean if it doesn't kill you, it'll just make you skinnier." Tap Project responds with the message "There's still a long way to go." Good for them for keeping this in there - it's a reality check that these issues are not present enough in the public dialogue. You would never see people publicly making a joke like that about a disease like cancer.

It's unfortunate that people like this exist, and a mass-impact campaign will most likely never change their perceptions. What it does do though is:

1) raises funds using a combination of the brilliant vending machine concept (forgo the pack of m&m's to provide a child with 40 days of drinking water? i think so), text messaging and a probably less immediately successful, but still very accessible online donation option
2) provides people with something physical and visual to make sense of the pressing issue - rather than mere statistics, it uses a bright vending machine in the middle of one of the busiest areas in Manhattan and then, the bottle of dirty, brown contaminated water
3) makes the very critical connection between the 8 life-threatening (but PREVENTABLE) diseases and water sanitation & access. This provides a reminder, and in some cases newly informs people that these diseases are directly related to the dismal state of water quality in developing regions like Africa and India.

According to UNICEF, for every dollar raised, a child will have enough water to drink for 40 days. Donations raised by the Tap Project fund targeted projects that increase access and improve sanitation of water in a few countries within Africa, South America and in Iraq.