Category Archives: Design

copenhagen up close

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let’s start the show.

ok i’ve just got off a 3 hours youtube marathon of bravo tv’s work of art – which is honestly a really interesting/ridiculous/self-indulgent show – just for the pure fact that art tends to be so subjective and artists and media-whoring tend to be things traditionally not discussed within the same sentence. i don’t know, the premise of that show strikes me as odd, but i’m drawn to the notion of the creative process and watching how these talented people pull off their creative visions.

this being said, i blame youtube for wasting away so much of my life. haha.

but work of art did make me think of something. namely, what connotes art? and what attracts me to pieces of work in a gallery? it’s been my thing, trying to figure out the psychology of beauty and attraction, i guess. then the question is also – can a layman create art? i mean, i like my photography, but does it connote art?

hmm.

whatever it is, i’m presenting my own ‘art gallery’ here of my photography shots. and lets be “artistic” and self-indulgent with the naming shall we? =)

linear.

(realise how all the artpieces have like single-term names that seem to instantly make it uber-cool? lol)

lost in thought.

(taken inside the round tower, which is one cool public space)

 

can i just like color? otherwise titled the death of black and white.

(artsy names don’t have to make sense – but if your picture is the dullest of things and well.. just pretty, then you better give it a whimsical, long and nonsensical name. picture shot in tivoli gardens, which is a really pretty amusement park that i mistakenly paid money to enter, thinking it was some beautiful fantasmical garden. -_-)

picture of a picture of a picture.

(ahh.. confuse people as much as possible with repetition. haha. anyways, i love this shot, which was part of an exhibition of journalistic photos in one of the squares in copenhagen. what a beautiful portrait photography)

can i just like color, part II.

(of course, we need to use revisit themes and stuff)

 ahh that was fun. back to being an engineer now i suppose. lol.

rome sight-seeing: MAXXI

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laundry day!

today was a company off-day because saturday is Republic Day, so yay to a long weekend! and what sweetened the pot was that I was completely clueless of it until thursday morning when one colleague asked whether i was going to capitalize on the long weekend to head off somewhere. one of the rules of happiness: if you don’t expect something good and it happens, you derive much more happiness. =) let’s all live with less expectations and consequently, more joyful experiences eh?

but well i didn’t plan anything fancy. just a trip down to the MAXXI, the museum of 21st century arts, which was a welcome change from seeing renaissance churches and ancient ruins. =) set far away from the maddening tourist crowd, MAXXI seems also slightly out of place in what is a really quiet, nondescript residential neighboring. but once you step in through the gates, you get a refreshing whiff of tasteful design and a beautiful exterior play space for kids to play and interact and for parents to lie back , bask in the sun and relax.

i love such a concept of a museum to be honest — to double up as a public space where the public can interact with exhibits and not treat “art” as merely something that is encased in a high security frame with ubiquitous “do not touch” signs. MAXXI exudes an air of friendly amicableness and lightness, which continues on inside the building, with ergonomic curves as the predominant architectural theme.

modern and sleek. i want those sofas in my house next time. haha

architecture aside, MAXXI showcases some really cool exhibits that makes you think. I think a part of the museum appeal is that you can go by yourself and not feel any bit lonely or ill-at-ease, because all the artworks are like friends wanting to talk to you and share their point of view. its an enriching experience indeed. my favourite exhibits would be doris salcedo’s plegaria muria and giorgio andreotta calò’s pitch black pinhole room.

plegaria muria (photo courtesy here)

both exhibits take up entire rooms and swallow the observer up within their art-spaces. plegaria muria is a sobering exhibit of multiple tables stacked on top of tables with soil in between and green grass growing from the top table, signifying the graves of the many “statistical” deaths in Columbia, in bid to restore some semblance of humanity to the lives, hopes and dreams lost. observers navigate through the haphazardly arranged tables, almost as though navigating through a maze, with the austerity of the design and just the repetition in pattern swallowing them into this art-space.

giorgio andreotta calo’s exhibit similar swallows the observer up, but this time in a completely black, dark room (unintentionally i guess), in order to create a gigantic pinhole camera (where the viewer is now inside the camera), projecting the scenery around the museum into this dark room, and using water below to create the righted-up image through reflection. it’s a truly immersive experience – its really pitch black initially and you have to grope at the railings the enter (guided by a guide) and there is a true ganzfeld sensation until u approach the main gallery and see the reflected image. to be honest, i initially thought the image was so drawing, and was astounded when it was explained to me that it was a actual picture of the scenery outdoors. pretty wild!

all in all, a fruitful day. enough to make cheewei (nate) ng seethe with jealousy i suppose. haha. =)

 

rome in focus: villa farnesina

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i’m so annoyed with my camera.

can someone please sponsor me a new camera? my current canon g10′s lens is scratched and introduces horrid light imperfections for certain shots. its really sad when you have that good shot but it is marred by splotches. -_-

anyways, that shot is the external view of villa farnesina, a renaissance surburban villa near trastevere that was built for Agostino Chigi, with parts decorated by Raphael. this attraction counts as one of the more low-key attractions but is actually one really cool, resplendently decorated villa that does transport you back to the renaissance era and sheds light on how the rich and famous in Rome lived.

the loggia of galatea, with Raphael’s galatea to the left

and extravagantly they did so.

my art history classes taught me that this was the era where the discovery of the ancient Domus Aurea (still closed currently due to drainage issues – sigh) brought about the trend of neo-classicism, with renaissance painters and sculptors all drawing inspirations from sculptures and architecture of Greco-Roman antiquity. and the rich and famous lapped it up like crazy — to have an ancient-Roman inspired villa was the “it thing” to have at that period, which explains the decoration within Villa Farnesina.

the loggia of cupid and psyche

beautiful frecoes depicting ancient Roman mythical Gods and creatures decorate entire walls and ceilings of the rooms, complete with tricky trompe-l’oeil architectural paintings. the effect is something really spectacular and makes you marvel at the artistry and attention to detail. in particular, the loggia of cupid and psyche literally extends the garden (seen from the floor-to-ceiling glass windows at one side of the room) right into the room with the frescoed vegetations on the ceiling. it’s a beautiful, startling effect. one can really imagine how awesome it would have been to have brunch in this loggia facing the garden and fountains. (ok my next restaurant shall be called the farnesina.. haha)

 the entire length of the ceiling in the loggia of cupid and psyche

  the loggia of galatea

the room of the marriage of alexander the great and roxana

this room, originally Agostino Chigi’s bedchamber, made me chuckle a bit. i mean, consider that the contents of the fresco is pretty much impish, playful puttis essentially nudging, pushing and stripping poor roxana toward our dear alex.

bedchamber, if i can remind you. it’s real cool how you can get a glimpse of the past, and realise that whatever the era, guys will still be guys.

Villa Farnesina is open Mon/Sat 9:00 – 5:00pm and Tue – Fri 10:00 – 2:00pm. this is the most updated information i have (end May 2012) and Frommer’s information is actually wrong (annoying because i was forced to wake up early on saturday cos i thought it closed at 1:00pm). It costs you 5euros (4 if you are a student) for a tour of the few rooms. Nice place, not as impressive as say, Villa Borghese or Sistine Chapel, but intimate, beautiful and weaves a beautiful story of the past.

bir&fud and the trastevere

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lost in the alleyways.

i’m taking a short break from blogging about copenhagen, and instead focusing on something a little closer to home (well at least for these few months, i’m ready to call it home).

people who haven’t been to Rome often associate Rome with majestic, masculine monoliths and beautiful buildings, as well as copious amounts of pizza and pasta.

what they don’t realize, is that getting to know Rome well enough to enjoy the above-mentioned pleasures is one helluva task. if cities like copenhagen could be compared to like a welcoming, cheery girl-next-door type of character, then rome is pretty much that haughty brunette girl that refuses all advances, plays it super cool and well gives you the impression that she’s much better than you.

part of the equation lies in knowing the language. another is that fact that I feel parts of Rome have been completely completely hollowed out by tourists — especially within the city walls, where the massive hoards of tourists have all but transformed Rome into a tourist-minded, culture-less and soul-less place at times. and it’s pretty sad to be honest. trastevere is often cited as a sad example of how a once Bohemian, chillax district across the Tiber was discovered by guidebooks as a great watering spot, and subsequently thronged by tourists and the ensuing peddlers and tourist-minded businesses.

true enough, whilst i was walking down to alleyways of trastevere, i couldn’t help but wince, looking at signs like “beer-pong for 10euro!” and cocktails like “manhattan, cosmopolitan” and the likes. it’s kinda.. sad?

grungy trastevere.

but well, all’s not lost. trastevere still holds alot of charms – be it the labyrinthine alleyways, graffiti art and really decent food offerings tucked among touristic ones. i went to one such place, called bir&fud, which i think kinda balances well the tourist effect and still maintains a little of their personality and food standards. servers here speak perfect english but you still see italians eating alongside with you. this place specializes in good pizza and regional artisanal beer. i tasted both offerings and well, methinks it pretty darn good at a decent price.

ok… detractors who wanna complain that a caprese salad pizza ain’t traditional are just splitting hairs. this pizza is different from the traditional roman fare, but its undeniably good and still retains alot of italian food sensibilities, that being that the ingredients really are top-quality and bring out the flavor of what can be considered a simple dish. the bread is soft and fluffy but still crisp (something like naan, to be honest) and forms the perfect base for the delicious olive oil, fresh tomatoes and awesome buffalo mozarella (you have to try buffalo mozarella in rome). what really makes the dish sing is the exquisite flavor from the olive oil and the buffalo mozarella.

awesome stuff.

for beer, i got myself an artisanal beer that was recommended by the server and tasted solidly good. and the damage all in all? 4 eur for the beer and 10 eur for the pizza which is not that bad to be honest. service was very pleasant partially because i went during lunch (and hence there were much fewer people) and because.. haha, perhaps i’m getting used to italian service (or lack thereof).

so yeah, come down to trastevere if you get bored of monuments and monoliths and just want some moments to get lost in the alleyways. nights here are packed with tourists and the place literally transforms into a grown-up’s college town filled with alot of buzz that’s somewhat charming as well, but afternoons are more laid back and the original trastevere soul reveals itself slightly.

bir&fud | via benedetta 23, 00153 Rome | pizza, artisanal beer

copenhagen: first thoughts

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“it’s something in the water.”

that was my friend’s final conclusion for our discussion on why the danish here were well, so perfect.

you see, it’s not just the exterior, though i’d admit it plays a significant role – from the well toned, fit physique of both the gals and the guys, the stylish, near effortless getups to the blonde hair, bright blue eyes and sparkling white teeth. seriously, 90210 could easily be shot here without bringing in any actors. what’s even more appealing is their laid-back attitude, their cheeriness towards life, their quickness to aid a hapless tourist and just.. the fact that they seem so darn right happy and contented!

i’m jealous.

and it’s not like immigrating here is a solution – in a certain sense, i feel like i’m trespassing into their happy-land with my ignorance of the cultural norms and language. i’m more jealous. i’m wistful – pondering the notion of whether singapore could somewhat be like this – laid back, chilled, happy, and not with all the venom, xenophobia and hatred being flung around online these days. =(

i didn’t stay long enough to nail the causes for their happiness but this is what i gleaned from a few days in happy-land.

(1) you don’t need to rush through life. relax. wait for the lights to turn green before moving. don’t horn at the old lady crossing the road or at a bewildered tourist. there’s time.

(2) eat healthy, drink healthy and glow. i seriously am awestruck by how healthy these people eat — i mean stripping away the touristy shwarma joints and pizza places, people here seriously eat platefuls of salads paired with salmon, seared tuna or some protein variant, and drink vitamin water or elderberry juice. (ok fine, there’s beer too. and yeah i know it’s a bit of an exaggeration – but the proportion of salad eaters is quite startling) and indeed, copenhagen has a f&b infrastructure that reflects this healthy trend – i see tons of fruit juice bars selling  delicious, freshly squeezed juices (exorbitantly priced though) and i also noticed that their 7-eleven stocks protein shakes, protein bars, a whole array of vitamin drinks and fruit smoothies. i mean.. wow.

(3) ride a bike. my tour guide mentioned that this was probably the reason why even the average dude seemed so fit – everyone, from the girls with long flowery skirts to men in executive attire travel around by cycling – in fact, you’re more likely to get into an accident with a bicyclist than a car!

(4) take care of one another. this was reiterated many times by my tour guide – the danish believe in strong social and familial ties and bonds — this translates to massive taxes in order to provide for a near-perfect welfare system. the thing is, such a scheme will work only if everyone believes in such bonds, and selfishness is not rampant – cos you just need an accumulation of people gaming such a system before others get tired and annoyed. so… double wow.

conclusion? “it’s not just the water. but it’s happy-land here fer sure.”

bicycles are everywhere.

clean, pristine parks that invite you to slow down and relax in the sun.

cheery blue skies

a day in the life of

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waiting to go home.

i’ve been massively busy the past few days just getting back to terms with work, my italian studies and just settling daily life issues. which explains this post coming out at 1:23am i suppose. haha, but i guess the photography is fun, and i kinda feel committed to keep this blog chugging along even when i’m overseas.

one thing awesome about being overseas, is really the range of stuff that you get to see and experience, especially if you are willing to be decidedly untouristy about matters. i mean like ditching tour-buses, shunning crowded, touristy choked places and just walking off the beaten path, trying a variety of food and other stuff.  if there’s one industry i want to go into, it’ll be to set up a tour agency that creates un-touristy itineraries for the new-aged travellers. you heard it here first — business partners please come. =)

and yeah photography to me, is one way to capture the essence of the culture and vibes of the place, and hence it is very dear to me. =) now, speaking of the culture of copenhagen, i could simply snap alot of really good looking, blonde-hair, blue eyed girls and their equally perfect, muscled, low-key fashionable guy friends but ermm, i’m too hum-chee (afraid) to do such direct shots and well.. i don’t wanna be accused of as a stalked or whatevs.

but goodness. if you wonder why people here in these scandinavian countries are so darn happy and chillax, well, i offer the reason that they got pretty much the best draw from the gene lottery. it’s as though ugly danish is as rare as a black swan. (ok weak, geeky joke, pardon me)

nevertheless, as i was reviewing my photos, i realised i did take shots of the danish going about their daily lives and well, here they are:-

otherwise titled, copenhagen photoseries (1) – people shots

the hangover.

quayside.

pedal power.

fun in the sun.

 more coming soon.

a matter of perspective

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beyond the rose wall.

there’s many things about rome that makes me shake my head. the utterly horrible public transport for one. or how touristy it gets once you step within the roman walls. or how cafes here generally don’t have a sitting culture — people imbibe their espresso shots standing up and then dash off. i still don’t understand the last point to be honest.. and it really gets on my nerves especially when all i want to do is to sit at a nice coffee place and read a book to while time away. *sadz*

anyways, that being said, there’s still many nooks and crannies of rome that fascinates me and makes me really cherish my time here. last weekend, the place i explored was the aventino hill, close by to circo massimo. i was drawn to it by an off-the-beaten path article mentioning a really special view of the vatican dome from atop aventino hill – you apparently have to peer through a keyhole, and will see the vatican dome perfectly centered and framed by a beautiful row of garden shrub arches, which is in turn framed by the circular apeture of the keyhole. this curious place is at the gate leading to the gardens of the Knights of Malta (I Cavalieri di Malta).

wonder why people are congregating at this gate?

it’s a real pity that the gardens aren’t open to public, because i can imagine just how more breathtaking the view would be if one were actually inside the garden. and it reaffirms that fact that the garden planners had a terrific eye for beauty and an innate understanding of perspective. and if you’re wondering whether i managed to snap a shot through the keyhole, well.. the answer is a sad no. i reached the hilltop around 3pm and it was still way too bright for me to capture the dome. (you can google the knights of malta for the keyhole shot) photography aficionados, you need to come to this place possibly when the light contrast between the dark garden shrubs and the surrounding sky is much less.

i settled for a much easier shot.

i mean, i wasn’t going to return empty handed was i? this shot was taken at the nearby giardno degli aranci (orange garden) and it actually reminded me of an interesting psychology/perspective theory. cornell peeps, remember maas’ 101 where he mentioned about the how the moon seems to look larger at certain incidences? well, for me, this was the exact case for the Vatican Dome. in the shot above, framed by dark trees in the garden, and devoid of any other surrounding buildings to give you any visual cues of the actual distance, the Vatican Dome seems to loom at you and seem much closer.

yet when i went up close to snap a paranomic shot, i was utterly disappointed and deleted my shot after a few failed tries. the problem? the Vatican Dome “shrinks” to its original size when placed against buildings close by to it (which is what you see at the edge of the garden). and it is actually really darn far away. cool stuff eh? makes me appreciate a little better, why Rome officials have refused to allow buildings to be built taller than the Vatican Dome – any building within view would dispel the illusion immediately.

i think people like getting married here.

anyways, do come up to the aventino hill if you have time to spare in rome. it’s a pretty nice walk round a quiet, non-touristy residential district, with a nice rose garden along the way up (see first picture), as well as a pretty stoic church (Santa Sabina) near the keyhole. the church has an impressive interior consisting of 24 majestic marble columns that were originally from a nearby temple of Juno Regina. (yeah that was the era where stuff from the past were often re-used. at least in this case it forms the centerpiece in a church — some sculptures were found to be used as filler material for renaissance palazzos. -_-)

the designer’s dilemna

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i’m tired.

scratch that, i’m completely knackered.

what with entire days of conference-going, mingling with technology geeks and then dashing off for italian classes, trying to nod and gesture my way through incoherent speech and ultimately reaching home at roughly 10 for the past few days to continue working, designing and well, attempting to have a life. wowza. weekend please come soon.

anyways, i was tasked to design posters for the latest event for my company and well, it hasn’t been easy going through many iterations of revisions (with me doing them mostly after returning from italian class..), but somehow i suppose there’s a passion for it, since i would nonchalantly head to photoshop and start working on any outstanding projects?

anyways, i wouldn’t mind comments to be honest — i think my fatigue can actually be seen from the posters as compared to my past efforts, so i’m kinda sad. nevertheless, i think i gave alot to it, so yeah i guess i’m satisfied. =)

scenes of the colloseum

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the colloseum is pretty photogenic regardless of the angle eh?

i think i once commented that i had pretty much snapped the colloseum at every single possible angle and under every single light condition (yeah i’ve been there that many times). and i suppose it’s no surprise, since the gargantuan monument is pretty much 4 train stations away from my house with a direct line.

then i headed in for the first time.

view from the ground level (gladiator level)

now to be honest, i was never really interested in entering the colloseum. i mean, its just a pile of rocks and crumbling structures right? i’m the sort of geeky arts/history guy that would rather spend time gazing at bernini statues or catching that elusive caravaggio painting and hence I had always passed up the opportunity to get in.

thankfully, i was notified that parts of the colloseum that were closed for renovation works for a long time were recently re-opened – this included the underground level, the gladiator (ground) level as well as the uppermost deck of the colloseum. you can’t access these parts normally, but had to register for one of three tours, as mentioned in revealedrome.com. of course, me being the cheapskate, opted for the cheapest option (which was still darn expensive!) which was to buy tickets granting a colloseum-only one hour tour (covering those re-opened special levels), as well as entry to not only the colloseum, but the palatine hill and foro romano grounds (but to be honest, you do need a guide for the latter two as well, else you would be staring at a pile of rocks). this costs roughly 21euro per person and you need to call Rome’s cultural association, Pierecci at +39 06 39967700. i’ve tested it and it works – though they require you to pay via credit card through the phone, which was kind of annoying.

still, once you’ve chosen a timeslot and booked your tickets, things will be a breeze on the actual day as you saunter past the normal ticket queue and head direct to the “tours/bookings” counter and tell them you booking code. easy does it.

and the tour is really decent and imo, pretty worthwhile. the structure really does come to life under the masterful storytelling of the tour guide and its a thrill to somewhat re-enact scenes of the past, to envision how the gladiators fought and how the entire structure worked as a whole. (i’m not gonna spoil it for you guys). yup, they do answer questions like (i) why are there so many holes on the exterior of the colloseum? (ii) did they really flood the colloseum to engage in naval battles before? (iii) what happened to the one entire part of the exterior segment of the colloseum?

and really, i think what makes the tour worthwhile is also access to the top floor (third level) of the colloseum, where you get a commanding view of not only the entire colloseum, but also of the surrounding cityscape – a rare vantage point in a city so skyscraper-scarce where no buildings can exceed the height of the Vatican dome.

view from the third level

so yeah, go for it. i’ll recommend some restaurants/cafes nearby in the upcoming posts. =)

running around rome

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dont ever give up.

today was the rome marathon! which was kinda all sorts of annoying because major streets were all blocked up for large parts of the day. but to be honest, i think seeing all these runners run, and hearing the cheers from passerbys, and just to soak in the atmosphere of such a beautiful city.. made me go sign up for my own marathon. lol, its like.. if i can’t do standard chartered marathon in singapore, then i’ll substitute it with (much more expensive!) the copenhagen marathon instead. (oh yeah, and try to sneak my way into the waiting list for noma. -_-)

anyways, task 2: take a walk around the romantic/renaissance city center.

via cavour blocked for runners. these runners got an amazing route i tell you.

i think this is via del corso – to be honest, after ambling round rome for awhile, i’ve come to the conclusion that rome is quite the labyrinthine city simply because the churches and supposedly unique structures are actually replicated multiple times across the city, making it impossible to use landmarks to make your way around. many a times i would turn a corner, spot a beautiful church facade and think i had been there before, only to realise it was a completely new piazza.

publikompass S.p.A. @ piazza colonna. one very posh piazza indeed. and by the way, there’s an amazing gelateria pretty near here called giolitti. don’t miss it.

my lunch stop – bar del fico. nice quaint french-styled cafe serving italian food and playing raucous pop jazz music.

via di parione, close to santa maria della pace. lol.. as if telling you this means you can find it. amazing race, come to rome!

santa maria della pace, currently having a miro exhibition

courtyard splendour

campo dei fiori. i think that statue looks creepy, like some assassin creed character.

i think those connectors are so cool.