Muji and Louis Vuitton designers reveal inspirations

Sam Hecht and Kim Colin of design practice Industrial Facility discuss how city life influences their creativity

Kim Colin and Sam Hecht of Industrial Facility

VII’s Adam Ferguson and Gary Knight in new show

Photojournalists included in new Houston exhibition alongside Philip Jones Griffiths and Jonathan Torgovnik

Adam Ferguson - Wardak, Afghanistan 2009. A US soldier surveys a road with a long range acquisition sight

The Iron Curtain is lifted on Modernist architecture

Brilliant new show in Vienna looks at Socialist architecture from Russia and its satellite states

Ministry of Highways, Tbilisi, Georgia (1974)
© Simona Rota

Does Gehry's memorial really look like a missile silo?

The Pritzker-prize winner's plans for The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial are rebuffed by the President's offspring

Frank Gehry's  Eisenhower Memorial

Revel in Fabian Oefner's Dancing Colours

The Swiss photographer uses flash-linked mics to capture this dazzling intersection of sound and colour

Dancing Colours by Fabian Oefner

John Pawson curates Phaidon online exhibition

Churches, houses, stadia and even a police station from 20th-Century World Architecture picked for online show

John Pawson, London

Will Christo's new sculpture be the world's biggest?

That's certainly the 77-year-old artist's intention, as he revives plans for a huge work in Abu Dhabi's desert

The Mastaba by Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Pilgrims’ progress inspired by great design

Aptly-named Swiss architects Christ & Gantenbein build inspirational concrete structure on Mexican pilgrim route

Cerro del Obispo look-out point - Christ & Gantenbein

Designers on Design: Andy Stevens

The Graphic Thought Facility co-founder on why a well-designed 80s thesaurus is 'the Led Zep of reference books'

Lettering by Michael Harvey

Total’s Berlin HQ has the ripple effect

Barkow Leibinger's faceted concrete piers twist and turn, almost as if they’re plaited

Detail of Tour Total © Barkow Leibinger

MAD create new contoured village by a Chinese lake

700 apartment settlement blends with Taiping lakeside at foot of eastern China’s Huangshan Mountains

Huangshan Mountain Village - MAD

Ten questions for photographer Roger Ballen

The photographer on viewing life differently, our dark side and why birds get bored in photo shoots

Roger Ballen; Twirling wires (2001)

Buildings that changed the world - The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

How Frank Gehry revitalised a city and its arts scene by using a computer programme he didn't quite understand

Guggenheim Museum Bibao

Warhol's Death and Disaster Vs Standard & Poor's

Artnet pits Warhol's deathly prints against the S&P's stock market index. Guess who comes out on top?

Detail from Green Disaster (1963) by Andy Warhol

MoMA gets John Cage's silence

New York's Museum of Modern Art has acquired the earliest existing score to John Cage's 4'33”

Detail from the cover of the Edition Peters score for 4'33

Steve McCurry's Iconic Photographs #2

Video of the Magnum photographer describing an incredible two days spent in Niger, eating and staying with a family and observing the extraordinary marriage ritual captured in his photograph Young Wadabi Men

Young Wadabi Men, Niger 1986 -  Steve McCurry

Rolf Müller's tidal shift

A look back at the moment a young German graduate changed the course of graphic design

Rolf Müller, Kieler Woche poster detail (1972)

See KAWS' Companion at the Thanksgiving Parade

The Brooklyn-based graffiti artist turned pop sculptor has made an inflatable version of his best-known character

KAWS' inflatable Companion. Photograph by Andrew Rowat

20 ton 'treehouse' built in Swedish forest

"Nothing remotely similar has ever been done before" say Rintala Eggertsson Architects


Martha Rosler's garage sale on now at MoMA

New Yorkers combine Black Friday bargains with a meditation on the suburban culture of buying and selling

Martha Rosler's Meta-Monumental Garage at MoMA. Photo by Franco Frassetti.

Dinos Chapman records sloppy techno

The elder Chapman brother is set to release an album of Throbbing Gristle-influenced electronica next year

The cover image for Dinos Chapman's Luftbobler album

ITV's new logo unveiled

UK broadcaster employs a colourful twist to its new online and offline identity


Hilla Becher interviewed at Paris Photo

The legendary German photographer talks about her famous series of industrial images

Gas tanks, 1983 - 92 by Bernd and Hilla Becher

Pop Art goes to the dark side at the Whitney

Sinister Pop highlights the movement's darker, difficult themes of crime, depression, commercialism and war

Sinister Pop at the Whitney

Slum solutions in tall and short order

Two different architectural practices offer two very different visions for urban renewal

Bhendi Bazaar plans by Mandviwala Qutub & Associates

Designers on Design: Andy Altmann

Why Not Associates' principal reveals his favourite piece of graphic design

Man Ray, Keeps London Going, Detail (1938)

Ai Weiwei new video art shot on public bus in China

'How to Scientifically Remove A Shiny Screw With Chinese Characteristics From A Moving Vehicle In Eighteen Turns' follows the artist's attempts to remove a screw from a public bus as it passes by Beijing political hotspots


Scrabble design makeover - Comic Sans not included

If you love words and typography and obviously you do - Andrew Capener has designed the Scrabble set for you

Scrabble

Have Martin Parr shoot you for Christmas

The Magnum photographer and Phaidon artist will shoot 96 portraits on December 16 - book here

Dog In Sunglasses on Venice Beach (1998) by Martin Parr (the one and only time you'll see a dog in sunglasses on phaidon.com)

Jamey Stillings photographs Google power plant

Search engine's quest to become environmentally friendly documented by photographer Jamey Stillings

Blue Earth project Changing Perspectives on Renewable Energy Development - Jamey Stillings

William Turnbull dies aged 90

An appreciation of the Scottish painter and sculptor, friend of Mark Rothko and "radical modernist"

William Turnbull 1922 - 2012

Dali blockbuster opens in Paris this week

Surrealist's retrospective aims to reassess the performance works while also drawing in big crowds

The Persistence of Memory (1931) by Salvador Dali

New York shows its activist side

Two interesting exhibitions this winter show New Yorkers' role at the forefront of worldwide protest

Crowd near the Drill Hall on the opening day of the treason trial Johannesburg - Eli Weinberg

Joel Meyerowitz on innocence and experience

In a wide-ranging video interview the photographer talks about the arc of life and how he's captured it in his work

Joel Meyerowitz beside an image shot by him in Paris, in 1967 - photograph by Jill Gewirtz

David Lynch’s club comes to Art Basel Miami Beach

Film director and painter brings his Parisian Mullholland Drive-themed boîte de nuit to Miami Beach next month

Club Silencio from David Lynch's Mulholland Drive (2001)

New York’s neighbourhoods still need you

Filmmakers, photographers and art world luminaries are spearheading the post-Sandy clear up - you can help too

Rockaway - Peter van Agtmael

Magnum's Harry Gruyaert on Henri Cartier-Bresson

We bump into the Belgian photographer at the Somerset House show Bresson: A Question of Colour

Harry Gruyaert Belgium Flanders-region- Province Of Brabant 1988

Frank Lloyd Wright for sale - but is it authentic?

Scholars dispute the authenticity of this Petre island home, built from Wright plans drawn up over 50 years ago

The Massaro House on Petre Island, New York State

All you need to know about The Abu Dhabi Art Fair

The fourth edition finished earlier this month, attracting some big names - and altering some art fair conventions

Chairs by Tadashi Kawamata at the Abu Dhabi Art Fair

David Shrigley designs Aspen ski pass

David Shrigley joins roll call of artists including Peter Doig who've designed passes for Art In Unexpected Places

Ski Pass for Aspen - David Shrigley Images courtesy of the artist and Galleri Nicolai Wallner

What to see at Paris Photo 2012

The world's foremost photography fair begins today - here's what to look out for

Matthew Brandt, American Lake, WA D7 (2011)

Is that Larry Gagosian in Tom Wolfe's new book?

Back To Blood uses Art Basel Miami Beach as the backdrop to a tale of excess in the art world

Larry Gagosian and Damien Hirst

Bacon helps Sotheby's bring in highest sale ever

Sheer 'wall power' of Rothko, Pollock Warhol and Bacon sees Sotheby's take $375,205,000 - breaking all records

Untitled (Pope)  (1954) by Francis Bacon sold for  $29.8m earlier this week

Hadid on life as an Arab woman architect

'The moment my woman-ness is accepted, the Arab-ness becomes a problem', says Pritzker Prize-winner

Zaha Hadid

J Mayer H's Black Sea sculpture: foundation or folly?

German firm's striking new structure opens in the Georgian Black Sea Port of Lazika but it has an uncertain future

J Mayer H Lazika sculpture (2012)

Steve McCurry's Iconic Photographs #1

Legendary Magnum photographer talks about the chance meeting that led to his photo: Young Monk In A Teashop

Young monk in a teashop, Bodh Gaya, India 2000 - Steve McCurry

Beijing art district threatened by Las Vegas makeover

798 Art Zone to undergo redevelopment, including Cirque du Soleil-style theatre - what will happen to the artists?

Beijing's 798 art district

Jon Crispin's suitcases of psychiatric patients

Poignant photos of belongings left behind at New York insane asylum reveal private lives of patients


Brazilian artist Rodrigo Braga at São Paulo Bienal

Nature, blood, pain, death and struggle feature heavily in the work of this hotly tipped young Brazilian artist

Rodrigo Braga, Comunhão (2006)

Warhol sale results: one Arnie worth two Stallones?

The first Warhol at Christie's sale raised $17m last night, though figures varied among the celebrity photographs

Sylvester Stallone (1980) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (1977) by Andy Warhol

Art lovers protected by giant funnels in Taiwan

Dadong Art Centre in Taiwan uses membrane roofing and funnels to deflect extreme weather

Dadong Art Centre - de Architekten Cie / MAYU Architects

Gregory Crewdson laid bare in new film

Ex-punk rocker turned photographer's obsessive and impeccable attention to detail on show in new documentary

Untitled (Ophelia) by Gregory Crewdson from the Twilight series (2001)

Saadiyat: 21st century architectural mecca?

The newly developed Abu Dhabi island is set to house architecture by Pritzker Prize winners Frank Gehry, Sir Norman Foster, Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid and Tadao Ando

The Zayed National Museum, designed by Sir Norman Foster

MoMA captures Tokyo's post-war Avant-garde

New MoMA show examines the Japanese capital's avant-garde art scene during the boom years 1955 - 1970

Ay-O Pastoral (1956)

Andy Warhol in 3-D

Why is Christie's giving away 3-D glasses to view Warhol's work at its New York sale this Wednesday?

detail from Statue of Liberty (1962) by Andy Warhol

Marimekko takes to the air

Finnair planes to become 'roving ambassadors' of timeless Finnish design and creativity

Marimekko for Finnair

Nika Neelova wins Sculpture Shock award

Phaidon's one to watch at Crisis Commission show wins Royal British Society of Sculptors award

Nika Neelova, Partings (2012), concrete casts from a Somerset House door, burnt timber, rope, 4m x 3m approx

Thomas Brown and Anna Burns take on B movies

Guns and girls are replaced by the humble umbrella in the photographer and creative director's homage

Pop Pop BANG - Thomas Brown and Anna Burns

Why is Arthur Bispo do Rosário so revered right now?

Brazilian artist Arthur Bispo do Rosário was compared to Andy Warhol for the way he recycled everyday objects, never sold a work during his liftetime and died in 1989 - why the sudden fascination ?

Arthur Bispo do Rosário, Installation view, Sao Paulo Bienal (2012)

Ten questions for Pace Gallery's Arne Glimcher

The legendary international dealer on his lifelong friendship with Agnes Martin, the increasing importance of Chinese art, his little known Hollywood career, what he hangs at home and his favourite ever mambo song

Agnes Martin and Arne Glimcher in her new truck, Galistera, New Mexico (1979); Arne Glimcher photographed by Ronald James

The story behind the most retweeted photograph ever

Photograph of Barack Obama embracing his wife after re-election is most popular ever on the net, but who took it?

Scout Tufankjian - Barack and Michelle Obama

Huge Francis Bacon show comes to Sydney

The Art Gallery of New South Wales hosts the painter's first major retrospective in the country

Francis Bacon, Three studies for a self-portrait (1979–80)

Harland Miller closes White Cube Hoxton

The British artist's show, opening today at The White Cube Hoxton Square, will be the London gallery's last

Harland Miller Fuck Art Let's Dance (2011)

Record prices or a crack in the market?

Views differ as big NYC auction houses meet the post-Sandy, post-election bidders at their autumn sales

Claude Monet's Nymphéas (1905) sold for $43,762,500 (£27,570,375)

René Burri's 'The Germans' inspires Andreas Herzau's 'The Swiss'

German photographer Andreas Herzau was born in 1962, the same year that Swiss photographer René Burri's series The Germans was published. Guess what he's done. . .

Die Shweizer - Andreas Herzau

Would you live in Softkill's house?

It's made with 3D printers using an algorithm that mimics human bone growth

Softkill's Protohouse. Photo by Julia Kubisty

Andy Warhol versus Star Wars

Camille Paglia calls Revenge of The Sith most powerful work of art in 30 years (but she thinks Andy's great too)

Andy Warhol with camera (1967)

Hermitage modern art wing opens with shows by Jake and Dinos Chapman and Dmitri Prigov

12 modern art rooms planned ahead of massive refurbishment of 250-year-old St Petersburg museum

Fucking Hell - Jake and Dinos Chapman

Mexican architects model chapel on Virgin Mary

Robes of Our Lady of Guadalupe provide divine inspiration for architects FREE in Miami

Miami Chapel by Free

Warhol's flowers are out again in New York

The 1960s series of paintings are brought together in Manhattan once more - 48 years after they first appeared

Flowers by Andy Warhol (1964)

Randall Museum fosters love of science

San Franciscan artist Charles Sowers turns aerial currents into a fun art exhibit at kids museum

Windswept by Charles Sowers (2012)

Photographers capture America at the polls

Yesterday was an historic day for US politics and The New Yorker’s photographers were there to document it

Photo Darcy Padilla

Protest posters: democratic graphics' high point?

An exhibition of Californian posters remembers an age when people power and great design worked in harmony

Ecology Now, Earth First, (1970)

Nicolas Karakatsanis's dark side

The Belgian shoots ads and movies, but his fine-art photography throws commercial work into relief

Untitled (2011) by Nicolas Karaktsanis

Do you know a kid who can do better than Mariscal?

If so get them to enter our competition to redesign The Art Book cover and win a Phaidon art library for their school

The Art Book

Ai Weiwei - "I wish Obama luck on election day"

"Obama seems more reliable than his opponent," says Chinese artist and activist as America goes to the polls

Ai Weiwei

Joel Meyerowitz - "Every street has its own identity"

Diamond dealers, dames and the long dark days of winter - photographer Joel Meyerowitz spent day after day, year after year, walking the streets of Manhattan - in this video he describes some of what he saw

NYC New Year's Eve 1965 -  Joel Meyerowitz

Oscar Niemeyer designs Converse range

The Brazilian Modernist master architect works his philosophy of curves into a new range of shoes

Converse x Oscar Niemeyer's Chuck Taylor All Star Hi

'New' Titian St John the Baptist confirmed by Prado

Third St John the Baptist painting is confirmed by Museo del Prado as created by the hand of the master


Will Foster's Paris Twin Towers get the go ahead?

Two 323 metre-high skyscrapers designed by Foster+Partners could change the shape of Paris skyline

Fosters + Partners' Hermitage Plaza

NYC's arts community rallies around after Sandy

NY's art scene is trying to bounce back. Here's what it's doing and here's how you can help - wherever you are

Detail from 20X200's Blue Marble Hurricane Sandy print

Introducing Magnum's newest recruit Olivia Arthur

Photographer spent time gaining the trust of women in Saudi Arabia and captured a startling series of images

Olivia Arthur

Daniel Baer's collaboration with Joel Meyerowitz

The Swiss designer tells us about making an incredible book for an incredible photographer

Joel Meyerowitz - Taking My Time

Lucas Arruda brings painting back to São Paulo

28-year-old Brazilian painter's work is a hit in a Latin American city dominated by conceptual and video art

Lucas Arruda, untitled (2011)

The Art Book Challenge at St Pancras

Art buffs, French tourists, wayward school kids and grandparents all took the Phaidon Art Book Challenge at St Pancras on Saturday. Could there really only be one winner?

The Art Book Challenge at St Pancras on Saturday

Iwan Baan photographs a powerless New York

New York magazine uses the Dutch photographer's image of New York for the Hurricane Sandy edition


New York art world counts the cost of Sandy

"The whole river came in and swept up Chelsea," Pace Gallery's Arne Glimcher tells phaidon.com

CRG Gallery - photo Robert Caplin

Mercury City beats Shard to 'tallest in Europe'

New Moscow tower tops out above Renzo Piano's Shard to become tallest in Europe

Mercury City - Moscow

Win Phaidon books at The Art Book Challenge

Your chance to win an entire library of books at The Art Book Challenge at St Pancras International


Danh Vo wins Hugo Boss prize

Show at the Guggenheim for one of Phaidon's favourite artists at this year's Frieze Art Fair

We Are The People - Danh Vo

HENN build 'floating' museum on the Yangtze River

The diamond-panelled Nantong Museum of Urban Planning is HENN's latest high-profile waterside project

Nantong Urban Planning Museum - HENN

Arne Glimcher talks Agnes Martin

On the night Sandy hit New York, super dealer Arne Glimcher was on the Charlie Rose show - here's the video

Arne Glimcher by Weston Wells

Sao Paulo Bienal hailed as best ever

With Brazil in the ascendency the Sao Paulo Bienal steps up a gear and is widely hailed as the best in history

Parque Industrial - Edouard Fraipont

Detour art and design festival opens in Hong Kong

Launched in 2006 as a fringe programme in Hong Kong’s Business of Design Week, Detour is now a high-profile art and design festival in its own right - this year it reaches out to Denmark, Germany, Japan and the US

Brainwashing machines - Kacey Wong

Studio Fuksas covers building in petals

Innovative roof system sees 11 steel petals protect Georgian Government workers against inclement weather

Tbilisi Public Service Hall - Studio Fuksas

Henri Cartier-Bresson: A Question of Colour

Fascinating new show of unseen Henri Cartier-Bresson photographs looks at how the master's black and white prints influenced the colour ones of those who trailed in his wake

Helen Levitt - Cat next to red car, New York - 1973

A new look for Noma

Space Copenhagen reworked the interior of world's best restaurant while René Redzepi watched the Olympics


Hurricane Sandy as captured by VII Photo's Ashley Gilbertson and Jessica Dimmock

The VII photographers headed out onto the streets of New York to photograph the aftermath of the disaster

Jessica Dimmock - Reporters on 8th Avenue October 30, 2012

Ten questions for branding guru Michael Johnson

The Creative Director of design consultancy Johnson Banks on how to pick up good ideas by osmosis, which countries turn out the best design and what he thinks about eBay's rebranding

Milton Glaser, I Love NY More Than Ever (2001) and Michael Johnson