Oooh you have gotta love the NHS...

What happens when a proportion of the people using a new technology see it to be so enticing that they are willing to sacrifice every other aspect of their lives in order to engage with it?
In most instances, people can comfortably moderate their use of computers and the Internet. Occasionally however, some individuals feel compelled to indulge to an excessive degree, disrupting their lives and fracturing relationships. This uncontrolled behaviour displays many characteristics of addiction.
This project centers on the role design can play in guiding these individuals through their turbulent affair with the technology.

The Computer Hood is in 'Design Week' magazine this week as part of the promotion of the RCA Summer Show.

via VintagePixel for more infor goto http://www.joemalia.com/

"Technological addictions are operationally defined as non-chemical, behavioural addictions that involve human-machine interaction. They can be either passive (e.g. television) or active (e.g. the computer) and usually contain inducing and reinforcing features, which may contribute to the promotion of addictive tendencies.

The opportunity for dysfunctional engagement with computers and the Internet is being compounded by their standardisation in society. Flat rate broadband fees and online social software combine to provide a platform ideal for inclined individuals to develop an expansive social network across the digital landscape. In moderation this is fine, but it becomes problematic when usage is sustained over extended periods; especially when at the expense of existing 'real world' relationships and responsibility. The situation can deteriorate even further as the individual begins to display the salient features of addiction, i.e., mood modification, withdrawal, conflict and relapse.

Addressing this issue is rarely approached through design; generally, cognitive behavioural therapists prescribe treatment through rigorous counseling. Often this treatment is helped by medication. A very drastic measure and one that can only be taken by the affected individuals once they have accepted that this is a worthy problem. Designers have previously given very little consideration to the thoughts and actions of these individuals before or after a decision to seek help has been made.

Upon identifying a space for design in this dysfunctional sociotechnological landscape, I wrote three briefs based upon the differing experiences of real people affected, directly and indirectly, by this behaviour. The 'Design for the Computer Obsessive' project does not set out to solve all the issues it raises; instead it has been developed to highlight the impact of extreme engagement with a new technology. I want the projects to almost follow a narrative from one part to the next. A series of products that could easily coexist but also enjoy success independently."

iPod Gelaskins designed by top international artists including Bob Dob, Nate Williams, Brandt Peters and more. GelaSkins are very thin, protective iPod covers made with high grade 3M vinyl and patented adhesive technology. An ultra-clear, scratch resistant, glossy coating is then applied to the GelaSkin for added durability and a photo quality finish.

iPod Mini GelaSkin Punk Rock Blues by Bob Dob


iPod Mini GelaSkin Las Americas by Nate Williams

iPod Mini GelaSkin Vaccine by Aaron Kraten

For more 'Gelaskins' designs for all iPods including iPod Nano iPod Mini and iPod Video goto UrbanRetro

The three-day free show titled Barely Legal - and billed as a "vandalised warehouse extravaganza" - has an overall theme of global poverty and injustice. After much hype and secretive planning, the event opens to the public on Friday following an invitation-only, celebrity launch party. The organisers have said Cameron Diaz, Colin Farrell and Orlando Bloom are all expected to attend. They will be treated to a familiar, but in some respects, head-scratching display of graffiti-inspired artwork.

The exhibition's centrepiece is a live elephant, painted to look like pink floral wallpaper - a reference, it is believed, to weighty problems such as poverty.

A 37-year old Indian elephant has been painted, from head to tail, in a floral pattern reminiscent of an old fashioned living room or a British pub. The animal is made to stand in a makeshift living room, complete with sofa, chandelier and decorated with wallpaper in the same pattern. Banksy, as ever, was not on hand to discuss his creation, but it is understood that the elephant, blending into the background, is meant to represent the big issues in life, such as poverty, that some people choose to ignore.

The exhibition also features film footage of Banksy's latest stunt, when he placed a life-size replica of a Guantanamo Bay detainee in a theme park ride at Disneyland. The operation was caught on camera, covertly, and has been edited into a short film.

As for more stunts in Los Angeles, during the exhibition weekend, Banksy's people are coy - "Keep your eyes peeled."

Angelina Jolie has forked out £200,000 for art by the "guerrilla" artist Banksy. The Tomb Raider actress, who attended the artist's exhibition in LA with Brad Pitt, spent £120,000 on a painting called Picnic, which shows a white family eating lunch beneath an umbrella while starving Africans look on. She also bought a white bust with a bleeding bullet hole in the forehead and a piece showing a man being hit by a custard pie, both for around £40,000.

Britain's famed guerrilla artist Banksy has launched a three-day exhibition in an industrial warehouse in Los Angeles, called Barely Legal.

Those attending the event were only given the address two hours beforehand, in true Banksy style.

Banksy uses the show to take a sideswipe at heiress Paris Hilton, who recently started a singing career. He has replaced hundreds of her UK CDs with doctored versions.

The exhibition also features footage of Banksy's most recent escapade - placing a life-size replica of a Guantanamo Bay detainee in a theme park ride at Disneyland. The 37-year-old Indian elephant has been made to stand in a makeshift living room, to blend in to its surroundings.

Check out www.banksy.co.uk for more Banksy mentalness

Neasden's first book, 'Neasden Control Centre', published by Die Gestalten Verlag in 2003 sold out ensuring cult status immediately. Neasden's second book 'Smithfield Building' a reference to the development of inner city warehouses has been published by Rojo Editions and promises to follow suit. Neasden Control Centre produce a phenomenal output and the books are a lasting documentation of Neasden's prolific work-rate.

Installation view

Recent exhibitions have seen Neasden working in New York, creating a one off installation for Hidden Track at Francois Marithe Girbaud flagship Wooster Street store, Helium Cowboy Gallerie in Hamburg and at the Polished T Gallery in Liverpool. Other past one off projects include the participation and transformation of Hotel Fox in Copenhagen illustrating and designing one of the bedrooms sponsored by Volkswagen. 2006 looks to continue in a similar busy fashion.

Neasden Control Centre work on a simple principle: 'fusion and frission' is the studio mantra.

Recent clients include Arkitip, Action Aid, BBDO, 55 DSL, Volkswagen, MTV, VH2, Smart Cars, DDB and British Telecom.

Poster for Design is Kinky semi permanent conference in London

Front cover for Modart Magazine

BT press ad for Abbott Mead Vickers

Illustration for Frame magazine for an article on Philippe Starck products

For more information goto www.neasdencontrolcentre.com plus check out the ir blog at www.neasdencontrolcentre.co.uk

You'd be hard-pressed to find a less offensive set of materials than a pair of socks, a sponge and a bottle of kitchen cleaning fluid. They're hardly the tools of today's high-tech urban anarchists, right? Wrong.

Leeds' 'anti-graf' artist Moose is turning the accepted rules of graffiti on their head. His method involves the cleaning, or 're-facing', of his home town's cityscape so that his work - be it a Big Brother eye on a road sign, an underpass with 'Thank U 4 Not Breeding' writ large across it or 'Go Gently' daubed across the mouth of the M1 - quite literally shines through.

The idea came to him in 1999 when, working as a musician, he noticed something strange on the tunnels and walkways that surround Leeds. "When people walked along the narrow pathways their shoulders would leave marks on the lime green tiles. These marks were a different tone and colour; they had a different lustre too, shining and twinkling in the cars lights."

Full article and pics here

'My head is slightly smaller than average and I have girls arms', explains Mr Bingo when describing himself, 'I have the same haircut as my mum' he adds. Listing his influences as 'my local Asda supermarket, thick humans, fat humans, dogs who wear clothes, the British abroad, overheard conversations and juvenile graffiti' he sees his dream project as 'a record cover for a band or artist that I'm really into'.

Mr Bingo works from his studio in the Isle of Dogs, London which is best described by the man himself - 'it's somewhere between a library, charity shop, a museum of junk and an office' he says without even a whiff of irony. Mr Bingo's work has been featured in Creative Review and Icon magazines.

When asked how he sees himself ten years from now - 'with a slightly fatter chin/neck, a little potbelly and maybe a new hairstyle' he replies.

Recent clients include Oxfam, Carhartt, Converse, Nike, Orange, Howies, Dazed and Confused Magazine, Absolut, GQ Magazine and Miller.

For more information and a new website go visit www.mr-bingo.co.uk

One day people might have a HULGER phone for every outfit, after all it costs less than a nice pair of shoes! Mobile phones are not only a bit boring but there are also rumours that they cook your brain. At HULGER we think this is a bad thing & in initial tests we see that the P*PHONE cuts radiation exposure to the head by around 90%. We think that cooking is something good for food, not brains. HULGER thinks hands-free kits don't make sense. They might be practical but they make you look crazy - as if you are talking to yourself in the street. HULGER shows you are talking with a friend, not one of your other personalities. HULGER does not understand why we have to have a new mobile phone every year. We don't like disposability, we like things that we keep forever. Just like Mr Hulger.

These are Monorex custom HULGER P*PHONEs. Monorex, a London-based collective of artists and designers, are all over the city producing small underground projects, staging events with live painting, dancing and beat battles as well as designing for the likes of Nike

Monorex were brought together by their desire to produce work which they felt people wanted to see. Not seeing any platform for them to do this, they decided to go it alone and create their own - Nice work Monorex

Here are the artists...

MESEK

'I like playing and mixing with my styles of painting to yield a more unique and dramatic finish. The challenge for me is to avoid being repetitive and monotonous, as it is easy to fall into that trap and difficult to become unglued. My eyes are offered and exposed to so many spectacular images described with every possible adjective everyday, why not try and give something just as unique back?'

KEPT 1

'I'm an illustrator and graffiti writer from a small sea side town on the south coast. I'm currently studying illustration and animation at Kingston University where my work is largely observational drawings of people. My work is a mixture of loose illustrative drawing with a graffiti mentality resulting in imaginative scenes and stylised figures that crawl out of my pencil and onto whatever's in front of me. Since hooking up with the Monorex fam I've been collaborating with a whole lot of crazy folk to produce some new and interesting stuff. Long may it continue.'

MR MEANER

'Mean, Mr.Meaner, and more recently MN are all aliases that have been associated with my work, but I'd say my most recognisable work comprises of a vacant looking, round headed character. My obsession with this character is the result of a combination of numerous different influences ranging from graffiti and comic books, to tacky horror movies and cinema confectionary. I've tried to really define each of my influences and portray it through a solitary image that can fit comfortably within each separate style. '

FYBE

I like to explore new and original ways of projecting my artwork so I am constantly on the look out for new methods of design. Over the last couple of years I have applied my style to a range of products, such as flyers, logos, posters, murals, corporate identity design, stickers, art direction, clothing, and websites. You name it, I'll spray it !!!

ALPHA MALE

Hailing from the deep southern countryside, Alpha Male has been slowly adjusting to city life, breeding his very own unique family of misfit humans and weird mutant creatures along the away. Known for a fast turnover of characters his work has become notorious among black book pages, canvases and walls

For more information go here www.hulger.com

Artist, illustrator, graffiti artist and young ornothologist Matt Sewell hails from the rural everglades of County Durham in the far North East of England. As a child, Matt was cruelly torn away from his wood-dwelling gingerbread foster-parents by a band of cruel, funny talking city types and forced to move south to work in the treacherous world of freelance illustration. Making his trade in the world of t shirts, editorial design, advertising, flyers, paintings and prints, Matt's characters and friendly approach to design eventually earned him respect and acceptance from the city dwellers, ultimately gaining clients far and wide.

However, Matt seceretly pines for his natural habitat of big trees and grassy meadows - a subject explored in Matt's larger street/graffiti based works, interior live painting, canvases and exhibitions. Showing solo or with groups such as Scrawl Collective and Goback2d, Matt continually brings his own merry band of lonely girls, birds, cloud pandas, woodland creatures and dreamy landscapes to galleries, boutiques and hidden back-streets across the world.

Sewell series 3

Miziyaki

Swings and roundabouts

Barn Owl - central Manchester 2006

She dreams of foreign lands

For more information on Matt Sewell goto www.mattsewell.co.uk

Antonio Riello was born in 1958, in Italy, in a little medieval town called Marostica near Venezia. Now he divides his life between Marostica, Milano, and Amsterdam. After high school he earned a degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Padova University. He also has a degree in Architecture from Venezia University. After his studies, he decided to travel around the world working hand-to-mouth with various odd jobs. These jobs included working in a Sadomasochist club in Zurich-CH and as a magician for a German television show. Now he is a professor of "videogame aesthetics and related matters". He teaches in Italy and abroad.

Since the beginning of his artistic career, he wanted to be a social reporter investigating his immediate environment. He is particularly interested in the "dark sides" of Italian contemporary life. His artistic inquiries examine: prostitution, criminal scenes, bad tricks, "shortcuts for happiness", "home killers", mafia activities and domestic crimes against women and children.

Following the concept of "Ladies Weapons", Riello has begun a similar project called "Ladies Armors". Using plastic, steel and kevlar, he intends to create body armor for women as elegant and effective as the weapons.

"In 1998 I decided to focus my artistic research mainly about a "fashion-fiction" visual story regarding an old passion of mine: weapons - objects full of symbolic senses. I want to mix, in an artistic way, traditional 'female stuff' like fashion with very traditional 'male stuff' like guns. It consists in a restyling of real military weapons into fashion items for ladies".

Every weapon is one of a kind and named after a woman who has been important in Riello's life. Say hello to "HELENA".

Riello uses real military weapons to create his works: assault rifles, pistols, sub machine guns, hand grenades, rocket launchers, etc. He uses weapons from many armies: Russian Kalashnikov, American M-16, Italian Beretta, Israeli UZI and Galil, German HK 33, etc.

"Using leopard skins, brightly lacquered colors, inset jewels and fake furs, I create a range of specialized items for wives of mafia bosses, arms dealers, sophisticated ladies and exigent soldiers... hybrids born from Italian obsession for high fashion as well as for violence".

Found on www.hoardmag.com

Following  on from yesterdays post 'Paris Hilton and Banksy Collaboration (ish)' some clever fellow who happened to be in the right place at the right time with a camera managed to get these shots of the Paris Hilton CD as doctored by graffiti artist Banksy. Found in Birmingham HMV, UK. Thanks Sharl

Why Am I Famous?

Race To The Bottom of the Pile

Thou Shalt Not Worship False Icons

Life Wasn't Meant to be Fair

Every CD you buy puts me even further out of your league

90% of Success is just Showing up

Everytime someone asks me how I am I hesitate for Little too long

Photographer Jill Greenberg has whipped up a storm of controversy with her new exhibition, End Times. The pictures in the show, for which she deliberately provoked tearful outbursts from children by taking away lollipops she had just given them, have been described by some as tantamount to child abuse.

Greenberg herself insists that the children had the sweets returned within 30 seconds, that no lasting harm has been done, and that her concern was to depict what she says reminded her of the "helplessness and anger I feel about our current political and social situation."

Judge for yourself by going here

Here's what the gallery says about Jill Greenberg End Times
Following her enormously successful series 'Monkey Portraits', which debuted in October 2004, Jill Greenberg’s new work takes a more serious turn and has already hit a national nerve . "End Times" combines beautiful, poignant imagery, impeccably executed, with both political and personal relevance. Greenberg’s subject is taboo: children in pain. She utilizes this uncomfortable image as a way to break through to the pop mainstream and begin a national dialogue. Jill Greenberg's images are sharp and saturated, stunning and quirky; her work is soaked with realism and imagination.

Bill Moyer’s article “There is No Tomorrow” more than touches on Mrs. Greenberg’s subject matter. In the article he states the amazing statistics: “For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington. Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a worldview despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. The offspring of ideology and theology are not always bad but they are always blind. And that is the danger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious to the facts.

Continue reading the press release »

Read the essay "Regarding What is Real in Photography" on the exhibition

See full gallery here

Hundreds of Paris Hilton albums have been tampered with in the latest stunt by "guerrilla artist" Banksy.

Banksy has replaced Hilton's CD with his own remixes and given them titles such as Why am I Famous?, What Have I Done? and What Am I For?

He has also changed pictures of her on the CD sleeve to show the US socialite topless and with a dog's head.

A spokeswoman for Banksy said he had doctored 500 copies of her debut album Paris in 48 record shops across the UK.

She told the BBC News website: "He switched the CDs in store, so he took the old ones out and put his version in."

But he left the original barcode so people could buy the CD without realising it had been interfered with.

"It might be that there will be some people who agree with his views on the Paris Hilton album" HMV spokesman

Full story on the BBC

Australian environmentalist and television personality Steve Irwin has died during a diving accident.

Mr Irwin, 44, was killed by a stingray barb to the chest while he was filming an underwater documentary in Queensland's Great Barrier Reef.

Paramedics from the nearby city of Cairns rushed to treat him at the scene but were unable to save him.

Mr Irwin was known for his television show The Crocodile Hunter and his work with native Australian wildlife.

Police in Queensland confirmed the naturalist's death and said his family had been notified. Mr Irwin was married with two young children.

"It is believed that Mr Irwin collapsed after being stung by a stingray at Batt Reef off Port Douglas at about 1100 (0100 GMT)," a police statement quoted by AFP news agency said.

"His crew called for medical treatment and the Queensland medical helicopter responded. However Mr Irwin had died."