Urbanism 14 January: New Year, New Chances to Win
Win with urbismagazine.com 
The team at Urbis would like to wish all of our readers a happy new year, and to thank you again for reading Urbanism. We’ve added a new competitions page to the website, where you can find the latest giveaways and subscription prizes, including a Richard Wiles handbag, Fold ‘Ruby’ light and your chance to win an Urbis summer design pack worth $6,000. Be in before the end of the month or you’ll miss out!
We’ve also got plenty of stylish goodies lined up to give away in Urbanism this year, so look out for the next edition, due out 28 January.
>> Visit UrbisIn Transit 
Japan has perfected the art of making things smaller, simpler and more standardised for technology – and now it’s applying the same principle to hotels. The 9h/Nine Hours Capsule Hotel in Kyoto is a practical, albeit slightly unromantic, solution for those who find long-haul travel a painful, sleepless bore. It breaks down guests’ needs into three activities: showering (1 hour), sleeping (7 hours) and getting dressed (1 hour). There’s no time factored in for minibars and bubble baths, but the rooms do use a Panasonic computerised lighting system to get you to the land of nod and back as quickly as possible.
>> Visit www.9hours.jpI Can See the Music 
On tomorrow, Auckland’s 17th Big Day Out continues to evolve into a wide-ranging creative event, while keeping the music centre stage. This year features installation art from Angelica Mesiti. Rapture (Silent Anthem), a silent, slow-motion video capturing faces in the crowd at Sydney’s 2008 event, reveals the ability of music to generate a near-mystical response. Perth’s Graffiti Research Lab will be on hand to turn your tag or art into a large-scale guerrilla art projection, and Carlos Van Camp returns with his newly devised Tesla coils that will produce a display of sound-modulated lightning bolts. As the press says: WATCH THE MUSIC! YOU WILL BE AMAZED!
(Image © 2009 Angelica Mesiti)
>> Visit The Big Day Out
New Design Capital Named 
Helsinki was recently named the 2012 World Design Capital by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid). The bi-annual WDC competition began in 2008, and seeks to acknowledge cities which have used design to improve quality of life and become part of a global creative network. Like the first two design capitals, Turin (2008) and Seoul (2010), the Finnish city is not presently synonymous with design innovation but quietly nurtures a solid design pedigree: architects Eliel and Eero Saarinen and Alvar Aalto hailed from Helsinki, and big brands Marimekko, Nokia and elevator manufacturer Kone are based there.
>> Visit World Design Capital 2012
Springtime in Paris 
It seems like only last week we were at the Maison et Objet show in Paris, but the next date for this twice-yearly design fair is already upon us. The next show, running from 22 to 26 January (and 3-7 September 2010 for those who want to plan ahead), showcases the Northern spring-summer collections from a huge range of young talents and established names. Urbis editor Nicole Stock was at the 2009 show – see her report in the current issue of Urbis magazine.
(Image: Beads pendant lights by Winnie Lui for Innermost)
>> See Maison et Objet
Brought to Light 
Christchurch Art Gallery recently reconfigured its gallery space to give visitors a different perspective on its permanent collection, which now appears in a long central arcade flanked by newly enlarged exhibition spaces, and includes the gallery’s ceramics collection. The rejig has allowed large scale installations such as Bill Cuthbert’s Pacific Flotsam (pictured) to go on show, and is intended to create “conversations” between art of different periods. For example, Rita Angus’ Cass – recently voted New Zealand’s greatest painting – now hangs adjacent to a contemporary photograph of the same landscape by Peter Peryer.
(Image © Bill Culbert 2007. Fluorescent light, electric wire, plastic bottles. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, purchased 2008)
>> Visit Christchurch Art Gallery
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