Ball-Nogues Studio

I was shown this website a couple of weeks ago to present to my class of final year textile students to show them examples of artists working with space and architecture and the idea of habitable / inhabitable space and the work blew my mind. 

Ball Nogues Studio is run by Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues. The guys set up the studio to "explore the nexus of art, architecture, and industrial design". Their work has been exhibited at many major institutions around the world and I would like to share some of my favorite images of their artwork.

The amount of planning, consideration, funding as well as the pure creative talent that it put into each projects is overwhelming and inspiring.

Ball-Nogues Studio, Hong Kong Biennale, 2009

Ball-Nogues Studio, Hong Kong Biennale, 2009

Ball-Nogues Studio, Hong Kong Biennale, 2009,

"This hanging architecturally scaled structure is comprised of 10,000 items of clothing manufactured by American Apparel – operator of the largest garment factory in the United States. Each garment serves the dual role of building component and individual article of clothing. Over the course of the Biennale, the installation will be dismantled and the T-shirts, muscles shirts, spaghetti tank tops, baby dresses, bikinis and g-strings comprising it will be dispersed to visitors. At a time when most US garment production has moved offshore, Built to Wear invites viewers to contemplate the relocation of manufacturing from the developed world to emerging economic powers like China while reconsidering notions of material lifecycle in architecturally scaled structures. By using a coveted consumer good – the garment - as its basic building block the project expands and critiques notions of “green’ architecture while activating public space through consumption."

Ball-Nogues, Feathered Edge,Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2009

Ball-Nogues, Feathered Edge,Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2009

Ball-Nogues, Feathered Edge,Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2009

Ball-Nogues, Feathered Edge,Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2009, "Feathered Edge is comprised of 3604 individual lengths of twine, totaling 21 miles, that have been dyed, cut, and then suspended from mesh scrims installed on the walls and ceiling of the gallery. With the aid of the “Insta-llator 1 with the Variable-Information Atomizing Module,” a machine designed and manufactured by Ball-Nogues Studio especially for this installation, the strings were precisely saturated with solvent-based inks, created by a chemist for the project, using four digitally controlled airbrushes and then cut to varying lengths. Using specialized parametric software developed with a software programmer, we generated a map that was printed onto the scrim to establish the proper locations and lengths of the twine in the space. Each piece was attached to the mesh scrim, and then knotted by hand in a technique similar to that used to make latch-hook rugs." 

Tiffany & Company Gehry Jewellery Launch, Beverly Hills, 2006

Tiffany & Company Gehry Jewellery Launch, Beverly Hills, 2006

 Ball-Nogues Studio, Tiffany & Company Gehry Jewellery Launch, 2006, "Ball-Nogues devised walls, furniture, and bars for the event. One wall structure, half a block long to form an elegant backdrop, curved like the human body and was constructed from 4000 layers of corrugated cardboard sandwiched together. "Peep show" type display windows, inspired by Marcel Duchamp's Étant Donnés, punctuated the wall, framing tightly cropped compositions of live, naked models wearing the Gehry designed jewelry. In addition to creating walls, twenty-four voluptuous ottomans, no two alike, invited the 600 guests to explore playful new ways of sitting."

Ball-Nogues Studio, Liquid Sky, PS1 Contemporary Arts Centre, Queens, NY, 2007

Ball-Nogues Studio, Liquid Sky, PS1 Contemporary Arts Centre, Queens, NY, 2007

Ball-Nogues Studio, Liquid Sky, PS1 Contemporary Arts Centre, Queens, NY, 2007

Ball-Nogues Studio, Liquid Sky, PS1 Contemporary Arts Centre, Queens, NY, 2007, "Ball-Nogues's exuberant project, Liquid Sky, combines the zest of a joyful event space with rigorous research into new materials and digital fabrication," states Barry Bergdoll, Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art. Low-tech assembly is joined with experiment in the latest cutting and fabrication techniques gleaned from the sailing industry."