gallery travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises spa and resorts

Displayed on bubble-shaped stands, Galeria Melissa’s hip, gaudily-colored prime sellers—plastic shoes made in collaboration with design stars like Karim Rashid—look like art objects from outer space. The shop aims to be Sao Paulo’s “go to” place for cutting edge styles and ideas. Housed in a space created by Muti Randolph, the architect behind the electronic music temple D-Edge’s retro-futuristic beat box design, Galeria Melissa updates itself every three months by renewing the prints and graphics on its walls, a jungle of striking tints and bold shapes.

Paula Rego Museum, is located just outside the Portuguese capital by the beaches of Cascais. The museum includes paintings and drawings by Portugal’s most acclaimed living artist. The museum is named after Paula Rego, who was born in Lisbon but has been living between Cascais and London since the 1970s. In the British capital she married artist Victor Willing and was appointed the first associate artist of England’s National Gallery. She’s also considered one of the best living painters in Britain, and her works can be seen in several museums around the world, from the British Museum in London to the MoMA in New York.

In Lisbon, you can see a couple of her art examples at the Berardo Museum and at the Modern Art Centre of the Gulbenkian Foundation, as well as in the Chiado Museum’s current exhibition “Modern Art in Portugal – From Amadeo to Paula Rego.” In the past, there have been retrospective exhibitions of her work in Madrid’s Reina Sofia Museum, Porto’s Serralves Museum, and at the Tate Britain.

Nowadays there is a permanent home for much of her art, with the upcoming museum housed in a brand-new building designed by the renowned architect Eduardo Souto Moura. It features two conical towers that bring to mind the famous gigantic chimneys of Sintra’s National Palace, while inside it will show a total of 121 works by the artist. The 750 square meters of space will also include an area for temporary exhibitions, a cafeteria, a bookshop, and an auditorium.

I will lead on a journey through slow food and rapid development, just right in Phoenix, Arizona. Phoenix is a city of uniqueness of the horizon and desert light. This optimistic attitude, accompanied with the arid climate and low cost of living has brought many people to the Valley of the Sun.

The Phoenix metropolitan area is one of the fastest- growing areas in the United States. It’s a pity because the car is king there – driving is only way to move around in 9, 200 square miles region. In this world it’s hard to state the foot and the bicycle as much as the car.

Phoenix is a lesson in freeway nomenclature. The endless pavement and strip malls remind of a distant Los Angles. But there’s a beautiful iridescent horizon and a new light – rail system will soon take place and run.

But behind all these statements comes the good. There’s a quality cuisine, a thriving art scene and unique modern architecture. The creative landscape has three museum institutions. They have the Phoenix Art Museum, a wonderful new second edition, and the other museum SMoCA, which was transformed from a five-plex AMC theater to 20,000 square feet of gallery space. And you have the Nelson Fine Art Center that combines the hispanic character with rich collections of Arizona State University.

The city is a totally electric mix. There is Temple’s musical heritage with the Gin Blossoms. The arts are there. There’s also a place called Red Modern Furniture, which is a little tapas. The city also got Passage, a wonderful boutique that is just blowing everybody away. It’s the coolest fashion spot with a spectacular environment and stylish items. It’s amazing and it’s affordable, accessible and cool.

If you happen to be there on the summer hiking the loop trail around Piestawa Peak or the trail up Camelback Mountain. It’s a great way to see the prespective of the city. As well as biking on the canal system is another perfect way to glimpse a diversity of neighborhoods and history of the city. And at the end for gourmets audience – whenever you’re going to eat in Phoenix or just have a snack, a cocktail, it’s a fantastic experience.

 Zurich is a city with no shortage of timekeepers. Zurich is also a city of landscape design, the Helvetica typeface and the Swiss Army Knife. Clocks are everywhere, over train and tram stations and from the facades of office buildings and church steeples. Time may rule this modern capital but also symbolizes the dynamic between the city’s history and modernity.

Zurich is the world’s most livable city, owing to its small size and population of fewer than 400, 000. It’s a place where bankers dance during summer evenings and where wealth attracts contemporary art.

Zurich is very exciting, attracting more young people and more foreigners. You have more galleries per person than any  other city in the world, after New York. Zurich offers spectacular museums, restaurants, boutiques and nature in every doorstep, which is very important. That’s why an Italian wants to compare his muscles, he does it with the German and the French.

On the west side of Zurich (also known as Kries 4), the industry is there and so its art. Everything is there. There are new apartments, lofts and cinemas in old factories. Schiffbau is a lovely theater with a good restaurant called LaSalle. It’s an aesthetic glass box.

Swiss people, in general plan the future too much, so they are not really alive. They know exactly what they will do at 60. and this is not sexy and attractive for me. There you can have the sexiness. They just want to do the best. You will see this in the benches or the design of bins- it’s too much. It’s too material.

Melbourne is a city of layers with ever changing skies and facades. Today I will represent you the real Melbourne, which is like its inhabitants and is less public and reveals itself unwilling. In the last decade, Melbourne has radically changed the urban and cultural landscape. Architecture have become adventurous within cutting-edge buildings. The contemporary art scene is dynamic and breathtaking festivals fill the atmosphere of the city. In every corner, basement and attic initiative spirits are creating hole-in-the-wall bars, multimedia galleries, design studious and other experiences.

Nowadays in Melbourne opportunities abound. They got great design schools and really everything they have is as good as anywhere in the world. People there live on the coast looking out the horizon and they know what’s behind them. The other feature about Australian creativity and architectural culture is that they are well traveled. And they choose to come back!

Melbourne has many geographical features to explore. The Yarra River is one of them but the city boasts more about its parks and gardens. The Carlton Gardens are home to the World Heritage and behind them is the Melbourne Museum. On the south side of the Yarra is the Tan – a 2.3-mile running track. There you can pass quickly seeing some great buildings.

What I think makes Melbourne unique is the ever-changing light. The city gets four seasons in one day, which can be a bit miserable in winter. Apart from being cold, it often rains and the clouds are low and makes flat light. But in the summer the light is very harsh and direct providing great contrast like lazer.

Tourists have to walk to really see Melbourne. In that way you will get glimpses of notable architecture and some Gothic revival, urban art projects and pull up at cafes, bars and restaurants in the Centre.

The Agora Theatre is a very cultural architecture with performances and new media works. Situated in Lelystad, which is the capital of the province of Fleveland in the Netherlands. Lelystad is established in 1967 and famous for its controversial and forward-thinking city planning and with its center, the Centrale Zone, also known as West 8.

A big part of Lelystad is water. Another major area is the internationally popular nature park Oostvaadersplassen. The city is also surrounded by a square of woodlands, parks and gardens. The location of the city makes weather and skies quite wonderful. The importance of the landscape is also emphasized by many pieces of art and architecture like Agora Theatre.

Agora Theatre is not only a theater. It’s a museum and art establishment expertise as well. The structure itself worth a visit. Even if no performances were taking place, art exhibitions or lectures taking places. Also the tranquil cafe open during the day and offers sweet varieties of coffees and beautiful views over the city.

The staircase is pink and reminds of future castle. But the most spectacular premises in the theater is the red concert hall with unusual wall surfaces. Such a splendid wall gives visitors something to look at, when the actors change their costumes during the performances. The theater change the vibe of the Lelystad, both day and night.

ContaineR is a traveling film house dedicated to the cultural countdown to the winter Olympics in Vancouver 2010. The creators are a wonderful trio form of architect Robert Duke, designers Keith Doyle and Iain Sinclair, and artistic directors Nicole Mion and Evann Seibens. The containeR can fit up to 25 guests who look up to the screen in the vaulted space where they watch projected short films about movement, dance, and sports.

The structure speaks art as well. Graphic drawings of hands, eyes and cartoon cameras cover the steel walls of the originally cream and orange colored containers.  On a walk around the structure, viewers experience large-scale graffiti, and can watch a documentary of the construction on a video screen built into the container’s exterior.

The first public appearance of containR is at Moshe Safdie’s coliseum-esque Vancouver Central Library, and will continue its journey to and from different festivals over the next year, potentially taking on new capacities as a gallery, performance venue and retail space. Springboard is still in talks with the Vancouver Cultural Olympiad organization, hoping that other containRs can be built in public venues like Whistler, the Richmond Skating Oval, Cypress Mountain and downtown Vancouver.

Hopefully the structure will also continue to inspire and spark innovative uses of sustainable materials well beyond the city limits.

The Palast der Republik — the former of East German parliament building  has left a gaping hole on Schlossplatz, a square on eastern Berlin’s main thoroughfare, Unter den Linden. Just near by is the blue-and-white prefab building that’s taken up residence for a two-year stint. Since it opened in late October, the Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin (or Temporary Art Hall Berlin) has a purpose of showcasing locally based artists. Currently included on the outside of the container-like structure is “Clouds” by Gerwald Rockenschaub, an Austrian artist. The outer facade of the Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin Gallery has two abstract white clouds on a bright blue background and the cubic formations that refer to the design’s digital origin and remind us, in their universal legibility, of computer icons. Gerwald Rockenschaub project’s temporal nature and the principle of transience is the foundation for creating something new.

The Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center is one of the first institutions in the United States dedicated to exhibiting contemporary art. The CAC was founded in in 1939 as the Modern Art Society by three visionary local women. First, the CAC has been an admired leader in the international art world.

Today the CAC is a non-collecting institution that focuses on new developments in painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, performance art and new media. The center showcasing contemporary art and artists relevant to diverse audience, and developing programming that examines and reflects the importance of the art.

Its current architectural redesign was directed by Zaha Hadid – a london architect known for her innovative structures. As they describe it, “From the street, the CAC’s jutting concrete reliefs trace the outlines of the galleries inside. Once inside, visitors can’t get lost: The floor is slightly tilted, and following its enforced flow around the lobby leads you to a floating stairway to the mezzanine.” CAC is a must see. If you visit Cincinnati be sure to stop by.

The London National Gallery displays one of the finest and most comprehensive Collections of European painting. These paintings belong to the society and entrance to see them is free.

The Gallery was founded in 1824, but the site in Trafalgar Square was chosen for its central location in 1838.

The building has been extended and improved through the years,most remarkable in 1991, when the Sainsbury Wing was opened.

It includes many famous works,such as Van Gogh’s Sunflowers

All major traditions of Western European painting are represented from the artists of late medieval and Renaissance Italy to the French impressionists.

This plan will help you to explore the collection. You may wish to start by finding one of the famous paintings .You can also plan your route using the ArtStart touch-screen guides,which are available.

I present you a fantastic structure located in Spain, the Espacio de las Artes at Santa Cruz, Tenerife. The building has urban beauty and generates a triangular plaza. Along the facade, over 1,200 openings in 720 different shapes filter the natural light to the inside, while generating an amazing view during night.

The structure features a public library, a contemporary art museum, the Photography Centre of the Tenerife Island, a store, a cafe/restaurant and several public use spaces for the community.

During the grand opening,  this building will change the image of Tenerife, and along with the Calatrava auditorium will turn the city into a cultural focus.

Photographs by Iwan Baan:

The Artfarm is located near Salt Point in upstate New York (1.5h drive from the City). The client is an art collector and owner of Chambers Fine Art, a well known gallery located in New York City and Beijing and which is specialized in contemporary Chinese art.

The building is designed as a gallery for a professional art collection.  The three volumes are put on a solid concrete slabs, which follow the existing grade on the site. The different levels are connected through a continues cascading ramp in the middle axis.

Royal T is a wonderful place of art gallery, cafe and retail shop situated in warehouse in Culver City, California. The space is amazing and you can spend a splendid day there. You can explore the art stuff, which are really extraordinary. Then have a snack with the help of pretty Asian ladies.

Inspired by the Maid Cafés in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, the highly conceptualized space of Royal T reflects the interior realm of fantasy that strongly influences the artists included in owner Sue Hancock’s private collection.

Recontextualizing the underground ‘okaku’ (geek) culture of Japan that celebrated ‘cosplay’ (costume play), the café servers dress in maid uniforms with a Lolita-esque touch.

The look-but-don’t-touch theme continues with the art and retail offerings contained within the acrylic vitrines. Even the requisite café ceiling is acrylic, allowing the existing bowstring trusses to remain visible.

Kunsthulle LPL is a temporary installation for a major new venue  for contemporary art in Liverpool. The rooftop building is experimental place for lectures, performances, films and events. The space consist the old factory, an existing staircase, the rooftop and extending out over the public facade of the building.

The structure is made by PVC curtain and the translucent skin has two layers: an outer white layer which protect the space from the weather conditions and inner red layer which isolate the noise.

The curtain responds to the  environment and to the particular event, performance or exhibition. Its translucent skin acts as a beacon that links art centre to the city, offering a space for talks anddiscussion with astonishing views to the river Mersey and Liverpool.

Liverpool is a city which combines a large-scale World Heritage Site, a variety of renovations and old-school buildings. It’s a wonderful mix.

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2008, in England is now open to the public. The spectacular structure – designed and engineered in collaboration with Arup.The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion is one of the most anticipated events in the international design calendar.

The architect, who is Frank Gehry express his opinion: ‘The Pavilion is designed as a wooden timber structure that acts as an urban street running from the park to the existing Gallery. The Pavilion is much like an amphitheatre, designed to serve as a place for live events, music, performance, discussion and debate.”

When the visitors walk through the Pavilion they have access to terraced seating on both sides of the urban street. In addition to the terraced seating there are two elevated seating pods, which are accessed around the perimeter of the Pavilion. These pods serve as visual markers enclosing the street and can be used as stages, private viewing platforms and dining areas.’

Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director said: ‘It is an exciting moment for London. Frank Gehry’s visionary Pavilion is remarkable and will be a landmark for the city this summer.’

The Pavilion project is the architect’s first built structure in England.

The Pavilion is a fully accessible public space in the Royal Park of Kensington Gardens, London attracting up to 250,000 visitors every summer and is accompanied by an ambitious programme of public talks and events.