Good Reading for the Weekend

Taschen books, one of my favorite art book publishers, has several new releases out. New Media Art, looks at art in age of digital communication. Artists have always been early adopters of emerging media technologies, from Albrecht Dürer and his use of the printing press in the 16th century to Nam June Paik’s experiments with video in the 1960s. In 1994, the advent of the Internet as a popular medium catalyzed a global art movement that began to explore the cultural, social, and aesthetic possibilities of such new communication technologies as the Web, video surveillance cameras, wireless phones, hand-held computers, and GPS devices. This book addresses New Media art as a specific art historical movement, focusing not only on technologies and forms but also on thematic content and conceptual strategies.

Igor Polyakov's Nordic Design Blog, posted the release of the new Phaidon Design Classics Book.
Phaidon Design Classics features the 999 ultimate design classics
- Meticulously researched and selected after wide consultation with designers and design-world insiders
- Incomparable, a resource without parallel, the final word
- 3-volume set, more than 3,000 images and 500 drawings

‘An extraordinarily absorbing, enticingly packaged and comprehensive collection of design classics that will, ironically, become a design classic itself.’ Jeremy Langmead, Editor-in-Chief, Wallpaper*

‘…makes good design accessible to all — and is sure to provoke many a “substance versus style” dinner party debate!’ James Dyson, Designer

‘The battle of design is almost won, but a good book like Phaidon Design Classics can help to finish the war.’ Philippe Starck

You can read more about the book at the special feature website.