Cold War CityCold War CityCold War CityCold War CityCold War CityCold War CityCold War CityCold War CityCold War City

Cold War City

In Wiltshire, England, 120ft below the surface, lies Burlington, aka Cold War City – the 35 acre subterranean complex built in the 1950s to house the Conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan’s cabinet and 4,000 civil servants in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack

It was equipped with the second largest telephone exchange in Britain and a BBC studio from where the prime minister could make broadcasts to what remained of the nation. A system of underground power stations would have provided electricity to the 100,000 lamps that lit its streets and guided the way to a pub modelled on the Red Lion in Whitehall.

A spur railway was built inside a tunnel on the main London to Bristol line, linking it to the bunker. It was meant as an escape route for the royal family to flee London in the event of an attack.

The bunker’s very existence was meant to be top secret until it was decommissioned in 2004.  Inside, it is like stepping back 50 years. Hundreds of swivel chairs delivered in 1959 are still unpacked. There are boxes of government-issue glass ashtrays, lavatory brushes and civil service tea sets. Pictures of the Queen, Princess Margaret and Grace Kelly are pinned to the walls.

Guest Post: Lexie KierGuest Post: Lexie KierGuest Post: Lexie KierGuest Post: Lexie Kier

Guest Post: Lexie Kier

Guest Post: Lexie Kier // @a0k

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I often get hung up on syntax. Talking to vs speaking with vs hearing from -- the tiny subtleties between these three gerunds always gives me pause but I generally land on "speaking with" since it's the with that is of real value. Not being spoken to or talked at or hearing from, but the togetherness of with. Do we wear our relationship on our faces while thinking about, talking to, or being with one another?

Technology extends that withness (if you will): Skype enables intimacy in  conversations across continents. Artist Sandro Kopp's Being With You Skype portrait series captures this nuance in a stunning display of insight and sensitivity. 

Originally a storyboard artist with acting experience, Sandro Kopp has a knack for revealing depth and bringing Lucien Freud-quality monitor light to his work. In an interview with Dazed Digital at his 6/13 involvement in Turkey's Instancool show, Sandro addresses what it is about the Skype portraits that is elusive in a photograph and touches on the inherent link between technology and art:

I don't quite understand it myself, but I think there is some sort of exchange that happens between the sitter, the painting and myself... It's about more than just a likeness. 

[Technology and art] have always been linked. I remember Björk saying something really profound in an interview once that stuck with me...The interviewer was talking about how purely computer-generated music was soul-less and Björk said something like: "If there's no soul in the computer it's only because nobody has bothered to put any soul into it." 

Bjork's call to action mirrors the intelligence of Sandro's paintings. And in that effort to bring soul into computers lies a complexity and a duality that makes Sandro's work so magnetic. There's something about the technology he depicts that both reflects a subject in a less static way than a photograph would and also touches on how technology is changing the degree of intimacy we have with art and artists as well. Through the window into the relationships that Sandro has with his subjects (his friends and Skype conversation partners), the artist himself becomes a part of the painting's interior. And all of that inspires me.

Guest Post: Erik ProulxGuest Post: Erik Proulx

Guest Post: Erik Proulx

Guest Post: Erik Proulx  // @eproulx

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Ben. He is the epitome of creativity. He can combine two seemingly incongruous worlds and create a new world that makes complete sense. Sponge Bob flies to planet Naboo in a diaper ship? Sure. Why not. Put them in a blender, mix them up and see what happens. He doesn't yet have the grown up tendency to stop himself before going to weird and wonderful places. And I hope he never does.

 

Clara. Every moment is an opportunity to find joy. Stressed about the lousy weather? "C'mon daddy, let's go save some worms! Quick, before the birds eat them!"  Feeling a little shy in public? "I'm going to see if that girl wants to play with me!" Clara teaches me to get over myself since it's literally impossible to feel grumpy around her. Nothing gets the way of her joie d'vivre. Nothing.

As a parent, I'm supposed to be giving my children the tools to grow into confident, productive adults. In reality, they're teaching me so much more.

Guest Post: Jason Mollica

Guest Post: Jason Mollica // @JasMollica

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For nearly ten years, I’ve walked with this amazing woman. She has walked the streets of New York City with me during a blackout, held my hand as we said, “I do.” She has driven through a massive snowstorm when we both thought we were going to crash, and shared moments of joy and pain, watched our children be born, and filled my heart with passion, love, and joy.

But, I have done nothing in life without her… my wife, Michelle. Her smile fills me with happiness; her embrace gives me warmth. I always tell her that she is the best thing that ever happened to me. However, she is the one that ultimately inspires me to work harder, be better, and love more. She is my inspiration, my hope, my joy. And at the end of the day, she is all I ever need.

Guest Post: Ryan Moede

Guest Post: Ryan Moede // @rmoede

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While traveling in Africa in 1988, Simon Berry discovered you can find an ice-cold Coca-Cola anywhere on the continent, but you can’t find basic medicinal supplies. The kind of basic medicine that prevents sickness that kills one in every five kids under the age of five from dehydration caused through diarrhea. Yet, where others saw obstacles getting supplies to those who need it most, Berry saw an opportunity to leverage the soda giant’s amazing distribution network for good.

He created the idea of ColaLife – a project to swap out one row of Coca-Cola bottles in each delivery crate with a ColaLife AidPod – a special pod stuffed with simple medicinal supplies like rehydration salts to delivered across the vast Africa continent.  At first, Berry’s idea fell on deaf ears at Coca-Cola. But after launching an online movement, Berry has recruited thousands of supporters, who through Facebook and Twitter, have now lent ColaLife the momentum and voice to work with Coca-Cola in collaborating on their first trial run in Zambia.

ColaLife beautifully illustrates the idea of solving for pattern – an idea from another Berry, which is “the process of finding solutions that solve multiple problems, while minimizing the creation of new problems.”

I continue to be inspired by ColaLife’s creativity and elegance in discovering a way to utilize the best of big business to give a lifesaving service to those who need it most.