Jordan X Quai 54: take a look at the best sneakers

Jordan X Quai 54: take a look at the best sneakers

Collater.al Contributors · 4 years ago · Style

We published yesterday an article in which we explained what Quai 54 is, how it was born and what its history is. We told you that it was born in 2003 and since 2006 Jordan Brand is interested in the tournament becoming an official sponsor, giving birth to a real mini collection dedicated to players and fans. Every year since then we have seen some of the best Jordan’s ever made pass by, one after the other.

Every self-respecting sneakerhead or basketball player, as the release approaches, which takes place a couple of weeks before the event, must be able to grab it by force. The main features of each model are the double logo – Quai54 or Jumpman or both – or just the tournament logo, the unique colors and/or the particular and bright textures.

Unfortunately, for ordinary mortals, each release is accompanied by a series of Friends & Family pairs – accessible only to a very small circle that revolves around the organization or important people – which differs from the basic one in color and detail but not in the model.

Here is a list of the most beautiful sneakers, to be politically correct and not to attract protests, in our opinion.

AJF V Wine and Grind (2008) (Europe only)

“Wine” Air Jordan Force 5 Fusion, was produced 170 pairs, which were sale only in the Opium and Collete stores in Paris. The shoes are characterized by the color “Wine” with inserts “Grind”, hence the name, as well as a mixture of fine materials.

Jordan X Quai 54: le miglior sneakers di questi anni | Collater.al

Jordan 1 Retro Quai 54 Ruff N Tuff (2009)

The shoe features a laser-blue aged leather upper with black swoosh and laces, and white midsole dotted in black. Other details include contrasting white stitching, a special “Quai 54” label on the tongue and a zebra print lining that repeats instead of under the transparent sole.

Jordan X Quai 54: le miglior sneakers di questi anni | Collater.al

Jordan 9 Retro (2011)

White upper in hammered leather with black and green hints and Q54 branding on the heel, which echoed the black midsole and green semi-transparent sole. The sneakers were only on sale from Footlocker Europe and House of Hoops and, in very limited quantities and by extraction, at the Nike store in Harajuku, Japan. A black F&F version was also produced. The Quai 54 logo is repeated throughout the shoe with the Quai logo on the tongue, balaclavas and heel. The upper is iridescent.

Jordan X Quai 54: le miglior sneakers di questi anni | Collater.al
Jordan X Quai 54: le miglior sneakers di questi anni | Collater.al

Jordan 13 Retro Low (2015)

It has intricate graphics around the midsole that mimic the projects of the Eiffel Tower to give it a bit of French flavor

Questa immagine ha l'attributo alt vuoto; il nome del file è Jordan-X-Quai-54-le-miglior-sneakers-di-questi-anni-Collater.al-8-1024x683.jpg

Nike Air Force 1 High (2015)

It’s part of the same pack as the previous one. The “Quai 54” edition of Nike Air Force 1 High has an all-over printed graphic base that has an iridescent aesthetic effect counterbalanced by an iridescent Nike Swoosh, white midsole and translucent ice sole. The map of Paris is printed on the upper and the sole in black on fabric iridescent and reflective.

Questa immagine ha l'attributo alt vuoto; il nome del file è Jordan-X-Quai-54-le-miglior-sneakers-di-questi-anni-Collater.al-9-1024x1024.jpg

Air Foamposite One F&F (2015)

The Quai 54 logo is repeated throughout the shoe with the Quai logo on the tounge, balaclavas and heel. The upper is iridescent.

Questa immagine ha l'attributo alt vuoto; il nome del file è Jordan-X-Quai-54-le-miglior-sneakers-di-questi-anni-Collater.al-18.jpg

Jordan 2 Retro (2016)

The sneaker is completed by matching laces, the sole is white and the upper is entirely in ivory leather. The heel, logo and lace system details are in gold. The sole is translucent like almost all releases of the collaboration.

Questa immagine ha l'attributo alt vuoto; il nome del file è Jordan-X-Quai-54-le-miglior-sneakers-di-questi-anni-Collater.al-10-1024x731.jpg

Air Force 1 Low Flyknit (2016)

It has a very elegant design. The soft Flyknit is complemented by black leather profiles. This affects the Swoosh and tongue tab, as well as the overlay of the heel. Unlike other models of the collections, this pair does not opt for a translucent sole. Instead, it keeps the look simple with a fresh shade of white. Finally, the gold mark is stamped on the heel.

Jordan X Quai 54: le miglior sneakers di questi anni | Collater.al

Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG (2017)

Most of the upper of the shoe is in black suede, while the accents “Italy Blue” highlight the left shoe on the ankle, the Quai 54 logo is on the tongue, laces and outsole. The right shoe has University Red inserts and has the same characteristics as its twin. The colour of the logo on the tongue is inverted – red for black/blue, blue for black/red.

Jordan X Quai 54: le miglior sneakers di questi anni | Collater.al

Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG F&F (2017)

The shoe is characterized by an alternation of suede and simple leather uppers that separate the medial and lateral walls of the shoe at the center. The tongue follows the same principle as the sister made for the common mortals.

Questa immagine ha l'attributo alt vuoto; il nome del file è Jordan-X-Quai-54-le-miglior-sneakers-di-questi-anni-Collater.al-12-1024x1024.jpg

Air Jordan 3 Quai 54 (2018)

It has a completely black upper, the laces’ eyelets are in green, blue and fluo pink. Finishing details include the elephant print in black on the toe and heel and the outsole is translucent – ice blue – with details of the same color as the eyelets.

Questa immagine ha l'attributo alt vuoto; il nome del file è Jordan-X-Quai-54-le-miglior-sneakers-di-questi-anni-Collater.al-13-1024x730.jpg

Air Jordan 3 Quai 54 F&F (2018)

Same details and features of the sister but with completely white upper.

Questa immagine ha l'attributo alt vuoto; il nome del file è Jordan-X-Quai-54-le-miglior-sneakers-di-questi-anni-Collater.al-14-1024x730.jpg

Air Jordan 8 Retro (2019)

Air Jordan 8 Retro marks the 15th Anniversary of the tournament. Black suede and mesh upper, transparent buckles and ice sole. On the tongue the multicolour logo – green, yellow, blue, white and red – in chenille with embroidered Jumpman. On the ankle and heel are the graphics that represent this year’s tournament.

Questa immagine ha l'attributo alt vuoto; il nome del file è Jordan-X-Quai-54-le-miglior-sneakers-di-questi-anni-Collater.al-15-1024x719.jpg

Jordan 1 Mid Quai54 (2019)

AJ1 Mid with black and white leather base changes the swoosh to smaller one, black and translucent, a patch of shaggy chenille with the Quai 54 logo is sewn onto the tongue. On the collar above the heel are divided the four colors chosen for this year. The left shoe alternates between yellow/green and the right shoe in red/blue.

Text by Elisa Scotti

Jordan X Quai 54: take a look at the best sneakers
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Jordan X Quai 54: take a look at the best sneakers
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Cecilie Mengel’s photos are an inner dialogue

Cecilie Mengel’s photos are an inner dialogue

Tommaso Berra · 2 days ago · Photography

One only has to listen to the conversations that arise inside Cecilie Mengel‘s head to imagine how they might be represented photographically. The Danish artist and now resident in New York makes shots that are inner dialogues born from the stimuli she herself receives from her surroundings and the people with whom she experiences very everyday moments.
The result is an artistic production that is marked by a strong variety in subjects and settings, as well as in style, sometimes documentary, other times closer to a certain posed and theatrical photography. They range from shots stolen in the home during a conversation to details of a can of Heinz sauce found in the glove compartment of a cab, all reconstructing a common, everyday story.
Cecilie Mengel’s technique also reflects this same idea of variety. In fact, the artist combines digital and analog photography, in other cases post production adds graphic marks to the images. The lights are sometimes natural other times forcedly created with flash, creating a sense of the whole that is perhaps less homogeneous but rich in personal suggestions and recounts.

Cecilie Mengel was recently a guest artist in the group exhibition ImageNation in New York, March 10-12, 2023 curated by Martin Vegas.

Cecilie Mengel | Collater.al
Cecilie Mengel | Collater.al
Cecilie Mengel | Collater.al
Cecilie Mengel | Collater.al
Cecilie Mengel | Collater.al
Cecilie Mengel | Collater.al
Cecilie Mengel | Collater.al
Cecilie Mengel | Collater.al
Cecilie Mengel | Collater.al
Cecilie Mengel | Collater.al
Cecilie Mengel | Collater.al
Cecilie Mengel | Collater.al
Cecilie Mengel’s photos are an inner dialogue
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Diego Dominici and the veil of Maya

Diego Dominici and the veil of Maya

Giorgia Massari · 2 days ago · Photography

A delicate, almost transparent and imperceptible veil floats before our eyes and filters reality, which becomes subjective and never absolute. The philosopher Schopenhauer called it “the veil of Maya,” that impediment that prohibits man from experiencing reality, that deludes us into thinking we know Truth. Photographer Diego Dominici places it between the viewer and his subjects, transforming it into the actual protagonist of the Atman and Red Clouds series. The figures – men and women – are trapped in the veil, struggling with it trying to escape, clinging tightly to it, trying to penetrate it; in other cases, instead, they welcome it, lying down and conforming to its persuading softness. The viewer is only allowed to catch a glimpse of the shapes of their naked bodies and their bones imprinted on the surface, in a dance of light and shadow that convey sensuality and loneliness at the same time.

Diego Dominici attempts to break the two-dimensionality of photography, creating two planes of depth: the one dictated by the fabric and its ripples and the one in which the subject is placed. The viewer’s eye is led to move continuously over the surface, trying to overcome it and thus reach the subject and its forms therefore, in other words, the Truth.
The analogy with human psychology is stated by the photographer who wants to “rip apart two-dimensionality to investigate the tangles of human interiority.” As in his shots, human beings can choose to be lulled by the veil of illusion, be caressed by a fictitious reality and stand firm on their point of view, or they can choose to break it, thus reaching the other side and look at reality from another perspective. The fabric, or rather the veil, becomes the emblem of relational barriers, those obstacles that come between us and others, which prevent us from understanding the motives of others and create unbridgeable distances. At the same time, the veil becomes part of us, a kind of wrapping that envelops and shapes us, preventing us from going beyond it. But, as Schopenhauer said, the veil of Maya must be torn down, ripped open like a Fountain’s canvas, human must shed the envelope like a snake changing its skin, in order to open up to the other. After all, what is love if not “the cancellation of the ego, the collapse of all conscious discrimination and the renunciation of all methodical choice?” said Salvador Dali in My Secret Life. Diego Dominici’s works thus invite deep intimate reflection but, thanks to his carefully curated aesthetics, they can also simply satisfy the eye and appear as sensual works, in which the veil becomes a prelude to intimate pleasure.

Diego Dominici | Collater.al
Diego Dominici and the veil of Maya
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The mass and the individual in the works of Sean Mundy

The mass and the individual in the works of Sean Mundy

Giorgia Massari · 4 days ago · Photography

From an Instagram reel of Canadian photographer Sean Mundy, one can sense the complexity of his photographic works. His are not just shots but rather it can be said that his works are the result of great imagination conveyed by photography, technical skills of digital post production, and detailed scenic construction. Indeed, in the reel, the photographer shows the process of making the work Summoning, which depicts a series of bodies plummeting from an opening in the ceiling. The Magritte-esque “flying” characters are actually the same person: the photographer takes multiple self-shots as he throws himself onto a mattress, simulating the fall, and then digitally processes them to create the composition. The result is a striking, conceptual work in which visual harmony accentuates and conveys social messages, with a particular focus on the dynamics of collective behavior.

Sean Mundy | Collater.al

Recurring in Sean Mundy’s works is the figure of a hooded man whose face is not visible. The total black clothing he wears makes him a mysterious, eerie, and shadowy figure, as if he were a soulless shadow. Very often the figure in black appears repeatedly in the same work, creating a united group resembling a cult, intent on actions that are at times macabre. In some works the group is set in opposition to an individual, as in the 2014 work Elude, in which figures in black chase a fleeing man, who differs in his clothing as an ordinary man in jeans and a t-shirt. In other works, however, ritual behaviors are performed, an example being the work Idolatry, which shows the group kneeling in front of a huge black cube suspended in the air. This series of works is a clear reference to social behaviors in which the individual does not possess his or her own personal identity but rather a collective identity emerges that pushes the individual to conform to the mass, both ideologically and aesthetically.
In other series the protagonist, alone or in a group, is placed in relation to elements that dominate the composition such as fire in the Barriers series, destroyed cityscapes in RUIN, and red tarps in Tethered, Sean Mundy’s most recent series. The intent always remains to communicate current issues, especially related to externally induced human psychological mechanisms but with obvious intimate repercussions.

Sean Mundy | Collater.al
Sean Mundy | Collater.al
Courtesy by Sean Mundy
The mass and the individual in the works of Sean Mundy
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Dialogica: two projects on the elimination of racial discrimination

Dialogica: two projects on the elimination of racial discrimination

Laura Tota · 5 days ago · Photography

On the International Day Against Racism, Dialogica aims to investigate the ability of images to contribute, through an action of intercultural visual literacy, to the elimination of preconceptions related to the phenomena of migration or cultural diversity.
Since Gordon Parks began telling the poverty , social injustice and marginalization experienced by African Americans in the United States with dignity and sensitivity, a new narrative model has joined the assault photojournalism, contributing to outline a new iconography capable of restoring a de-colonized, more realistic and less stereotyped vision of the figure of the migrant or, more generally, of the black communities.

To a merely documentary approach, capable of producing hundreds of images that run the risk of feeding clichés and cheesy stereotypes, the new generations of authors working with images they prefer an investigation that focuses more on the place where they live through the use of more sophisticated languages or a insight on the social implications of the migration phenomenon.

The work “Nowhere Near” by the author Alisa Martynova focuses precisely on the need to return a peculiar identity to the erroneously unified vision of the migrant. Alisa uses metaphors and similarities to tell the stories of young migrants, interviewed in Italy (and beyond) for over three years. The groups of migrants, protagonists of exhausting journeys, are metaphorically compared to constellations of hypervelocity stars, that’s to say celestial bodies trapped on the edge of black holes, a kind of limbo from which they can escape only thanks to a clash between two black holes: an exceptional event that projects the stars away from a precarious balance to reach unknown destinations.

Thus, the Dream of a better life, trying to achieve an Eldorado imagined for a long time, but never really displayed, is poetically rendered through night shots in which light reveals for a few seconds what is hidden, showing fabrics and clothes iconographically linked to Afro/Oriental culture, but captured in other places, where the sea often bravely crossed to reach a better life is often present, or the forest/forest to hide in to become ghosts in a foreign land.

A visual short circuit that reaffirms the presence of another culture in an unknown territory, and that moves a reflection on the inner world of migrants with the intention of arousing reactions in those who look and to emphasize the individuality and peculiarity of each portrayed subject, bearer of experiences and unique and unrepeatable stories.

The project “Black skin white algorithms” by the Angolan author Alice Marcelino focuses on the danger of the black communities’ cultural flattening. Alice, whose work explores the dimension of belonging starting from the concepts of culture, tradition, migration and identity, she denounces the anomalies present in facial detection technologies when they interact with subjects with dark skin. Being mainly programmed by Western Man to detect light skin, these technologies do not equally accurately identify darker skin tones, returning summary or approximate views of the recognized subjects.

The inferiority of the black population is therefore perpetrated not only in such unconscious bias, but it’s also fueled by technologies, programmed by white Westerners, resulting in the provision of potential false statements.

To underline this leveling, Alice replaces the subject’s mug shots with the ASCII code one (a standard character set included by all computers) – which reduces their identity to a binary result, devoid of meaning and complexity: the reading of the face is thus totally canceled and made unreadable by both man and facial recognition system.

Alisa Martynova | Collater.al
Alisa Martynova | Collater.al
Alisa Martynova | Collater.al
Alisa Martynova | Collater.al
Alisa Martynova | Collater.al
Alisa Martynova | Collater.al
Alisa Martynova | Collater.al
Alice Marcelino | Collater.al
Alice Marcelino | Collater.al
Alice Marcelino | Collater.al
Dialogica: two projects on the elimination of racial discrimination
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