What could be more perfect during Art Month than to discover Aneta Grzeszykowska & Jan Smaga, who have painstakingly photographed small apartments from overhead for the past two years.
Using a series of images with extremely high resolution and then knitting them together on a computer, they have created a strange documentary on how we live in such small spaces and yet never have a sense of them all at once.
These two Polish artist recently showed their 10 photographic compostitions - called "Plan" - at the Robert Mann Gallery in Chelsea.
Additionally, we ran across another artist who does something similar and dutifully show his beautiful photos below as well. His name is Andreas Gefeller.
(Republished from 2006-01-11 - MGR)
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
That lady is missing one of her flip flops
I love these. I would kind of love to have my place photographed like that.
Hey, you didn't put this behind the curtain!
IKEA did something like this in one of their catalogs a couple of years ago and it shook up my perspective. I never thought so hard about my own space - from all angles - in my life!
And that reminds me: I am moving soon and need to put together a rudimentary floorplan so I can see best where to put furniture, etc.
Fun stuff. Good times. Changing homes is a huge change in perspective, all in itself.
IKEA did that on one of their billboards in the East Village a while back, and it was WILD and it was in 3D; they totally installed a living room onto the billboard. I loved that.
Good luck with the move, Anne (TFO/ID). ALthough there always seems to be a good reason for each of my moves, I really have always found it to be exciting and fun -- a new start in one way or other, and I hope your new move has something (or everything) wonderful in store for you.
This is great!
A number of years back, a friend of a friend set up cameras above folks' beds, set to shoot every 15 mins or so, and then made a composite of about 20-24 photos from the night's shoot -- they were really fascinating! Kind of like watching a dance performance in the boudoir!!!
I am really excited about the move.
It's a beautiful, quirky old building built in 1923, in a conservation district with some growing pains. (read: regentrification)
I've never lived in this part of town before, but it's in one of the oldest (and the most scenic) areas of Dallas and I feel I can't call myself a native Dallasite without living there for a while and seeing what it'as all about. I will be a fish out of water at first, though.
Rumor has it (okay, my real estate agent told me) that the street does First Friday Happy Hours and neighborhood people often get together for pancake breakfasts on Sunday mornings. (We shall see....)
I will have a bazillion windows, the glossiest of hardwoods, a yard, a small private deck.... and about 1/3 of the closet space I have in my 1950's apartment. Ouch.
Thanks for the kind wishes. I may be posting some questions here since the space is kind of wonky in layout - something with which you New Yorkers are all too familiar! (I am thinking here of Pivoting Perfection Paul with his feet in the Paul Smith sheets but his head in the oven, so to speak...)
Anne.../Dallas--
Yes, good luck on the move!!!
If nothing else, hope it will yield at least ONE trip to Ikea for something brand-spankin' new for the new space. Keep us posted!!! Take "before" pictures!! Be brave with color!
Hey, and if you're REALLY lucky with the new neighborhood, maybe the Friday Happy will lead directly in to the Sunday pancake breakfast!! ;)
Friday Happy HOUR
These are so cool. They remind me of when I made furniture and room layouts for my Barbies. Skipper had a sleeping loft!
ARGH! Not work safe! Apartment Therapy? Who knew?
Ah, Jean I hear ya there! Trippy indeed!
Why are we getting so many ancient, recycled posts? Everyone still on vacation (meow)?
Here's the Ikea billboard in question.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/groovylab/127427534/
Fun experiment but is it really necessary to have the buck naked woman as the first photo? That's not what I want to see as soon as I log on to the site. (Male or female.)
I have to agree with JaniE and KrapArtist. I am at work, and this would not be considered art, but porn.
Hey Anne (the first one in Dallas), if you're moving to Oak Lawn, the First Friday Happy Hour is not a myth. I know several people who regularly attend. I don't know about the Pancake thing though. I'm buying a house that sounds similar to yours (only its from the 50's) out by White Rock Lake. Good luck!
My reaction is: does living in a tiny apartment mean you have to take off your clothes as soon as you get home? Perhaps there is not enough room for clothes in these spaces?
I cannot believe the comments here on the nudity in the first picture! Porn!!! Pornographic material is designed to ignite some sexual feeling within the viewer...I do not see any link with porn in a picture of a perfectly fine naked woman sitting quite peacefully in her own living room. Come on prudes...it is just the human body!
It reminds me of the exhibition by artist Simyrn Gill. She travelled across the Malaysian Peninsula over an 8 week period, knocking on doors and asking people if she could photograph their loungerooms.
http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/16/Simryn_Gill/45/
Melissa Cowper-Smith is another NYC artist who works photographing spaces from above, combines the photos with paintings of the space and photoshops it all together - really nice stuff
Here's a sample
http://cowpersmith.com/archive/rachel.html
this a really interesting perspective on the way we live. i'd really like to see these in a gallery setting. at first i questioned the nude figure, but that piece does not work without it. thanks for the post.
another interesting view is in a small book new york living rooms, featuring the living rooms of people from fernando sanchez, john epperson aka lypsinka, to rev al sharpton.
Oops. No more Apartment Therapy while at work. Thanks for increasing my productivity, you stinkers! :-)
New Tenant,
The lady's other pink flip-flop is under her right leg! Look just left of her left heel, go straight down towards her right knee. You will see it there on the floor.
It was the first thing I noticed and searched for, too.
K.
I totally want to try this now ... I always draw floorplans of my apartments, and I've done some mixed-media stuff (illustration + photos) of the place at regular view, but shooting from overhead sounds like a great idea to get a new perspective.
And funny thing is ... I totally didn't notice the nude in the first pic as my eye was drawn to the dark table first, but now that you've all pointed it out, it's all I can see, and it is starting to bug me. If I wanted a full-on chick-crotch shot right in my face, I'd visit some porn sites! Thankfully, new posts tomorrow will bump her down out of the top spot.
anne, TFO/ID & Shannon -
i'm moving to a new condo on fitzhugh!
seriously, there should be a dallas AT.
Apartment Thereapy is amazing and inspiring - I look at my flat and think - OK - time to do something. Thank you.
Karen, London
The person in the bathroom is on the commode...Geez, do we need to get that up close and personal? Is that considered art or am I missing something here??
For goodness sake guys!!! - do not presume that because people are into design and interiors that they are also into seeing naked people - that was a REALLY bad choice of image for this post
Weeeeelllll... making the site non-work-safe is certainly one way to decrease flame wars.
These pictures make me kind of sad. The people look lazy and lethargic to me. I know the time to be lazy and lethargic is in your place, but somehow these photographers have raised that to a new level. The people just look lazy, bored and hopeless to me. Perhaps I am being too sensitive because I have been (hope this is not blasphemous on this site) craving more space of late. I am feeling claustrophic and maybe I am projecting that feeling onto those pictures.
I keep trying to convince myself that small is great, and I do living very simply, but the truth is small is all I can afford. All the rationalizations just aren't working for me.
Thorunn, I think you misunderstood...WE don't see it as porn...the mega corporations where we work DO.
Most of us in the corporate world make a point to avoid any websites that might get us in trouble at the work place. Posts that are "not work safe" are often noted as NWS for just that purpose. No nekkid pics of peeps allowed at work, LOL.
After reading the comments I had to laugh! At first site I thought the nude was a man! I was looking intently for his pecker, thinking how small his pecker must be. Then I went oops - those look like boobs - oops it's a woman.
But yes, my boss went by and wanted to know why I was looking at a naked girl. Now he thinks I'm gay.
Ha! I thought she was a man too. I was imagining a 'fold under' and wondering why Apartment Therapy would put up such a wacky pic. Still not happy with the picture whether she is male or female...I often peruse my fave sites with one or more of my children nearby. Good thing they weren't here today!
I wouldn't be bothered so much, if her legs weren't all open and her business all out there on display. It doesn't even strike me as an artful nude. And yes, I too, thought it was a man at first.
Pictures of pee in toilets, pictures of women's p***ys ... what's next AT? What else can you put up to turn people off while they eat their lunches at their desks and faithfully tune in to your site? I agree with the person who said you shouldn't assume that just because people like art and design that they like this stuff too.
Does it change anything to know that,
a)the photograph in question is a self portrait (the remote shutter release is in her hand)
b)when you view the entire image (the photograph is cropped on AT- the original shows the entire apartment)you also see her partner in the bathtub. Don't fret, his genitals are obscured by murky bathwater!
If you click on their name, it takes you to the Raster site where you can see the original image in all its glory.
I really like their work. Thanks for the post, Maxwell!
It's creepy to look in on humans in their habitats. It makes me feel very small, humbled, almost like an animal or insect even, trapped in a little cage.
It's rare to see humans from this perspective, and I like that the artists went for it and shot these images - very spooky but extremely interesting and though provoking.
Some of us may be hung up on the nudity in one of the images, but step back and consider the art as a whole, what you can learn from it, and how it can influence your life or behavior at home. These images are here to make us all think beyond flip flop colors and bare breasts.
When I see it, I think of whoever may be 'upstairs' watching down over me, beings greater than I am (not ET, either), observing my life and how I'm living it. I also think about, in general even if no one is there to watch over me, how am I living my life.
I think it's a great question to ask yourself, "How am I living my life when NO one sees me?"
Holly
Well I'm currently working for a major US bank, and the picture is still safe for work - its the fact that it comes with a comments section that means I was chance-ing my arm...
Do you know where I can find images of offices seen from avobe? ag*
Ya I saw this work a couple a months ago. I had been thinking about adding people to my own artwork (naked-not naked?)--and here it was already done! Wanted to correct the link Seneca posted below. Check out: www.cowpersmith.com
stunning