Toronto, Canada, hotel features a new kind of art using sexy male athletes

While you can usually expect a nice landscape painting or maybe even a piece from a well-known abstract artist on your hotel room walls, the Hôtel Le Germaine Maple Leaf Square in Toronto, Canada, puts a new spin on hotel art by featuring sexy portraits of athletic male bodies in the rooms.

Because the hotel is part of the Air Canada Centre, Canada’s premier sports and entertainment venue, the company knew it wanted to have sports images in the rooms of players doing the things they usually do. The trick was combining the elegant and refined ambiance of the hotel with the rougher side of sports.

Matthew Plexman, the photographer behind the project, explains, “The idea was, because it’s a sports complex, to bring some sports figures into this, and not necessarily showing faces but to focus on their bodies. Kind of the engine under the hood, so to speak.”

That’s great for the ladies, but what about for the men? Apparently, the blinds on the shower open from the outside of the bathroom.

For a look at how the photo shoot went, check out this video:


New public artwork imitates the changing mood of the city

For the people of Lindau, Germany, there is no such thing as keeping your mood to yourself. At least, not since German artists Julius Von Bismarck, Richard Wilhelmer, and Benjamin Maus installed a “Fuehlometer” (Feel-o-Meter), an interactive piece of public artwork that gauges and replicates the city’s mood swings.

The large smiley face is set on top of a lighthouse and changes expression as the people of the city do. How it works is a digital camera set along the water takes photos of peoples’ faces, which are then sent to a computer program to be analyzed. Once the mood is determined, the artwork will either show a happy, sad, or indifferent expression.

Want to see what the Feel-o-Meter looks like in action? Check out this video.

Stroll through the Field of Light at the Holburne this winter

From now until January 8, 2012, the Holburne Museum in Bath, England, will feature renowned lighting artist Bruce Munro‘s “Field of Light” exhibit. The art installation features over 5,000 light bulbs planted around the venue that alternate and shift their appearance in groups. A magical effect is created by acrylic stems topped with frosted spheres that contain fiber optic cables illuminated by a color projector.

Everyday from 4PM-7PM, the Field of Light is turned on, and visitors can enjoy strolling through the grounds free of charge. While exploring the exhibit, try to see if you can imagine the barren dessert in Australia and how it bursts into bloom after it rains. This image is what actually inspired Munro to create the work.

The Director the Holburne Museum, Alexander Sturgis, comments, “We are delighted that Bruce Munro’s artwork will bring such a magical experience of light within our grounds at the darkest time of the year. At what, for most people, is a frantic time of festive preparation we are pleased to be able to offer a tranquil and uplifting experience at the Holburne.”

If you’d like to visit the Holburne Museum, it is located on Great Pulteney Street. You can also check out the gallery below to get a better idea of exactly what this serene and mystical world really looks like.

%Gallery-141182%

Artists make childhood dreams a reality with an interactive land submarine

While this submarine may not go underwater, it certainly has a lot of features. Five Ton Crane, a San Francisco Bay Area collective arts group, has created a life-sized vessel called The Nautilus in West Oakland, California, that not only has built-in iPad technology, a library, GPS navigation, hydraulic drive controls, a night vision periscope, and a full bar, but also the ability to defend against enemies with a Harpoon gun water cannon that shoots up to 13 gallons per minute.

The retro-futuristic art installation was built in line with the idea of steampunk, meaning that the submarine is a design of the past with the future in mind. Alan Rorie, one of the Five Ton Crane artists who also happens to have a Ph.D in Neuroscience from Stanford University, explains it perfectly by saying, “Let’s imagine that technology was a little bit more advanced in the Victorian and Edwardian time. What would that be like?”

While there is an emphasis on technology, the artists also make sure to focus on craftsmanship, creating a look that appears hand-built (because it is) instead of machine-made.

This isn’t the first big kid’s toy that Five Ton Crane has created. Other pieces include a gigantic tree house and the Raygun Gothic Rocketship, which is currently on display along San Francisco’s Embarcadero waterfront. If you dreamed about it as a child, chances are Five Ton Crane will make it a tangible reality.

For a better idea of the project, check out this video:

The Nautilus submarine from Oakland North on Vimeo.

Want to walk up a giant, looping roller coaster?

On November 13, 2011, the “Tiger & Turtle – Magic Mountain” sculpture in Duisburg, Germany, opened to the public. This isn’t your average piece of public art, however, as it is designed like a giant roller coaster with stairs and slopes that people can actually walk on.

Traversing over the sculpture, visitors will be put 148 feet above the surrounding countryside, gaining access to great views of the famous Rhine. While trekkers will reach great heights, they unfortunately will not get to go upside down, as the intimidating-looking loop actually contains stairs that keep you standing straight up.

The piece, which took one year to build, was created by German artists Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth, who describe the sculpture like this:

“The curved flight of stairs inscribes like a signature on the landscape and recruits the nimbus of the classical roller coaster. Having a closer look, the public is disappointed in a disarming way. The visitor climbs on foot via differently steep steps the roller-coaster-sculpture. So the sculpture subtly and ironically plays with the dialectic of promise and disappointment, mobility and standstill. Visitors happen to briefly meet with oncoming visitors on the steep and about 1m | 1yd wide corridors. Led-lights are integrated in the handrails and highlight the flight of stairs so the sculpture is accessible at night, too.”

Make sure to visit during the day, as well as at night, when the LED lights are on.