COMPETITIONS – pillowculture

PILLOW Culture’s KNOT bench – a soft object for the public body

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The Boston waterfront context for Design Museum Boston’s Street Seats Design Challenge led us to begin this exploration with the rich history of maritime knotting. Rather than recreate any literal knot in Pop Art scale, Knot bench uses over three miles of nautical line in different ways to create a springy, resilient surface that is as resistant as it is surprisingly pleasant to touch. The rock-like form of Knot…

PILLOW Culture are semi-finalists in Design Museum Boston Street Seats Design Challenge

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COMPETITIONS, EXHIBITIONS

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designmuseumboston.org/streetseats/ Knot: A twisting, turning, tying, knitting, or entangling of ropes or parts of a rope so as to join two ropes together or make a finished end on a rope… The KNOT bench takes its cues from the rich maritime and nautical history of Fort Point Channel which ocean-going sailing vessels once populated. Essential to every sailor and seaman was the knowledge of rope knotting and tying. Used…

PILLOW Pageant, A.I.R. Gallery – La Vie en Rose

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COMPETITIONS, EXHIBITIONS

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artist: Anne Ferrer filmmaker: Theodora Johnson 1905 Pneumatic Pillow, L.F. Doellinger U.S. patent no. 795,108 This inflatable work references several categories of colossal pillows typically found in public spectacles such as parades, festivals and carnivals as well as large scale pillows used in a variety of industries. La Vie en Rose, or life in pink, evokes the French chanteuse whose breath can fill or deflate a gargantuan space.

PILLOW Pageant, A.I.R. Gallery – Upholstered Stone

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COMPETITIONS, EXHIBITIONS

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artist: Elizabeth Demaray filmmakers: Owen Donovan & Takeshi Fukunaga 1950 Adjustable Pillow Block, L.B. McGuffage U.S. patent no. 2,521,530 Upholstered Stone is part of a series of items that have been upholstered, including discarded shoes, bricks, tin cans, and 10-ton Nike Hercules Missile. The stone was measured, thinly padded, and then upholstered. The upholstery pieces are affixed to the stone without direct attachment, with each seam stressing the object inside. Viewers…

PILLOW Pageant, A.I.R. Gallery – Combination Pillow and Crash Helmet

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COMPETITIONS, EXHIBITIONS

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artist: Melissa Stern filmmaker: Max Friedlich 1970 Combination Pillow and Crash Helmet, S. Young U.S. patent no. 3,538,508 The pillow crash helmet, originally conceived for use on airplanes, unites notions of comfort and danger into one object. At once a soft headrest and a protective device, the crash helmet pillow is the accessory of choice whether sleeping soundly after a long business trip or hurtling to earth.

Pillow Culture Curates: U.S. Pillow Patents 1897 – 2010

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artist pillows, COMPETITIONS, EXHIBITIONS/PERFORMANCES

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Pillow Culture chosen by A.I.R. Gallery , Brooklyn, NY, to guest curate exhibition PILLOW Pageant as as part of their Open A.I.R. curatorial series. Coming SEPTEMBER 2010 PILLOW Pageant is an online exhibition on the pillow as a cultural artifact and as an engineered object of invention. Encountered in every phase of life and universally engaged as an aid to sleep, the pillow has escaped scrutiny as a designed object. Though…