According to New Scientist , “a handful of entrepreneurs” want to “step into a small airtight box, push a button marked ’space’, and ride an elevator all the way up a cable reaching far into the sky.”
In early 2006 the engineering firm LiftPort “successfully unrolled a 1.6-kilometre-long carbon ribbon in the skies above Arizona, stretched it taut using helium-filled balloons and sent a robotic climber scrambling up part of its length. The company aims to build a functioning space elevator by 2018.” This vision – of insectile machines climbing braided metal ropes into the sky – sounds like some kind of science fictionalization of Aztec mythology; but it’s also about to become a technological reality. Apparently a “19th-century Russian space visionary” named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky first came up with the idea, proposing “a ‘celestial castle’ in space at the end of a spindly tower, to be reached by humans in an elevator running up and down the tower’s length.” And so on and so on. Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking a lot about cathedral architecture, and about the apparent lack of structural ideas in contemporary Christian architecture, and I’ve become very interested in the idea that elevators could be used as prayer chapels – vertically nomadic radial spaces in which the pious, or simply those who’ve been abandoned by the world, could spend time alone and think. So the question is: could you reinvigorate interest in Christianity, say, by constructing a kind of space cathedral – a geostationary extension of Notre-Dame, an earthless Vatican – made of nothing but tethered elevators: glass spaces, filled with sculpture and light, riding up and down throughout the atmosphere? Or a space mosque, for that matter, a space synagogue? A cathedral made entirely from glass elevators is certainly not a technical challenge; it shouldn’t even be a question of budget or funding. In the city distance somewhere twenty years from now you see a shimmering mirage: a cathedral of glass and steel and its ten thousand elevator-chapels, each riding magneto-pneumatic enginery into space… From earth to the moon: a night in the Sistine Elevator.
“Stasi City,” a kinetic video tour of the East German secret police’s abandoned headquarters.
A relatively rousing close to MoMAs sterile display of contemporary works — touching on desolation, waste, abuse of power, injustice, loss and death — makes a trip to the current exhibition worthwhile.
Two men are having a discussion in a small apartment. The scene,
lasting only six minutes, is filmed from twenty camera positions.
A computer program then produces some 200,000 possible combinations
of images and sounds, so the viewer always sees a different version of the story.
Win, Place or Show questions our conditioned viewing behaviour.
video installation by Stan Douglas.
from ZKM Videosammlung.
Originally by doron golan from DVblog on August 31, 2006, 11:00pm
a cool music animation, created in Flash, consisting of 3D-like visual effects that are perfectly in tune with the music. this is only a low-rez version, but the hi-res version is much more enjoyable.
[michalevy.com (hi-res version)]
Design team GIFFIN’TERMEER notes that “Most electronic devices in use everyday are manufactured in one province in China and are delivered to us by containership. People generally do not realize the extreme scale of the infrastructure needed when a single geographic area becomes the primary source; even for things that most people see as insignificant. The largest of these ships hold up to 9,000 40ft containers and are too massive for the Panama Canal. They frequently return to China empty. There is nothing to bring back.” TreeHugger also notes that all those wall warts are consuming power- what better way to have this in our face than to turn the banal and ubiquitous power bar into “this ship [which] powers our electronic devices with their cords in its wake” ::Griffintermeer via ::Yanko
A study of head injuries shows that they are down 35% since helmets became compulsory in Canada ten years ago , yet many people still don’t wear them. Perhaps if they had Ted Selker’s Smart Helmet they would think differently; it has a few tricks (and a PIC microprocessor) built in, including GPS so that you can record potholes and problems for future warnings; turn signals that activate by tilting your head; handsfree cell phone; fire siren detectors that mute the iPod and my favourite: If the wearer yells at an unruly motorist, the helmet will activate a horn at a higher decibel than the human noise. Selker said this feature helps keep him out of trouble with motorists.”As a bicyclist, people don’t like it when I yell”. Selker, an MIT Media LAB research scientist, uses it to commute to work; It might be a bit heavy for our road bike, but we want one now. ::CNET
The guys at MIO have done it again. We’ve mentioned their lighting and seating before, and covered an earlier version of their 3-D wallpaper way back in 2004; the latest version builds on their previous designs. The Acoustic Weave is designed to diffuse sound, reduce acoustic glare and eliminate standing waves; add to that it’s green credentials (100% recycled and recyclable paper made in closed-loop manufacturing from locally sourced materials) and you’ve got a great way to spruce up any room, TreeHugger style. The tiles can be installed temporarily with double stick tape or permanently with wallpaper paste, and can be painted or colored. $30 gets you a dozen tiles. ::MIOculture via ::Core77
To celebrate the five year anniversary we have set up two versions of the PainStation at this year�s GamesConvention in Leipzig:
PainStation 1.0 For the first time in 3 years the very first model has been excavated from the transportation case and is now playable at the pong.mythos exhibition. The crappy looks, the biting whip and the awful slowdowns of the software give this machine a unique retro touch!
PainStation 2.5 If you prefer the high tech treatment with varying pain levels, blinding flashlights and a lot more gameplay variety, stick to our professionally build workhorse. On display is model 4/5, codename �Vaterland�.
Update: I just got a call from Andreas Lange asking for replacement whips for PS2.5. The first set is already used up � more than 36 000 people visited the show yesterday!
We were recently sent a link to these amazing ‘maps’ and thought they were so interesting that we just had to share them with you. Then we realised that Collin wrote a post on the Transportation map only last week! Never mind there are several more maps in the series which we think are worth looking at, especially the Map of the world’s water, pictured above. The International Networks Archive is based at Princeton University and is described as, ‘A global alliance of scholars who believe that geography is becoming increasingly irrelevant. INA is developing a new way of mapping our world, based on global transactions instead of geography.’ The artist Jonathan Harris, aka Number 27, formerly Flaming Toast Productions, collaborated with the INA to create these powerful and informative graphics. Jonathan describes the project as ‘an experimental mapping philosophy, merging data, maps and technology.’ Click over the page to see other maps depicting the global impact of Starbucks and McDonalds, the arms trade and the tobacco industry Thanks to Gustavo for the tip.:: International Networks Archive
S.U.I. stands for Smart Urban Intelligence and caricatures the growing tendency towards computer-controlled surveillance of public and private spheres. This project, by Japanese artist Ryota Kimura, is based on the SUICA, the RFID-equipped cards that are used in the Tokyo subway system. S.U.I. reads out the data from such cards and interprets them in an arbitrary, prejudiced way. I’d like to add immediately that i was very happy to find this work at ars electronica. I wish i could talk with Ryota Kimura more than i did yesterday but his english is not great and my japanese is inexistant. I keep hearing in talks about media art in Asia that Japanese artists do not have a critical approach to technology like we do in the West. It might be right for many case, but as this project shows we shouldn’t generalize so easily.
S.U.I. is a “fictive service in the very near future.” Reading actual data in a real SUICA smartcard for a railway ticket, it displays on a screen the history in the card in the form of motion video and of visualized route map in real time. At the same time, a bot as “the agent of the service” automatically analyzes the data and interprets it in an arbitrary way. He makes extremely shortsighted presumptions, mixes fictive things with the real fact related to the card, and so on.
The bot speaks about the following things: Card holder’s “living place;” his or her “favorite place” to visit, and the related intrusive recommendation; records of his/her “returning home,” of “staying out overnight” etc; a very shortsighted assumed “profile,” something not worth bothering about each station in the history, etc.
As the artist writes: I hope people become more aware of the growing situation, that is “administration of individual body by the RFID technology,” and of the problems it potentially contains through this work.
Korean artist Hyungkoo Lee’s helmet is fitted with interchangeable concave and convex lenses which shrink, expand and distort his features while allowing him to perform any normal daily activities
‘Head On’ by Cai Guo-Qiang at the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin. The installation consists of 99 life-sized wolves, fabricated from painted sheepskins and stuffed with hay and metal wires, barreling in a continous stream towards - and into - a glass wall. Only the first ones crash into it, but the pack chases after the leader.
This picture of a type of mushroom called Sulphur Shelf (also known as Laetiporus sulphureous, chicken of the woods, the chicken mushroom and the chicken fungus) resembles that of human intestines.
Despite its look, it is actually edible with a taste quite similar to lemony chicken. However, it should only be eaten when young. And one should always only try a small amount the first time. This is due to the fact that approximately half of the population is allergic to this kind of mushroom.
It can be found mainly on wounds of trees, mostly oak, yew, cherry wood, sweet chestnut and willow and comes back year after year from late spring to early autumn.
A video showing up all over the place lately is this three-and-a-half-minute digital walkthrough of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. Made by “a Half Life user known as Kasperg,” the video was produced using the game’s own source engine.
Using the Source Engine, as opposed to more traditional Architectural Software, allows the use of dynamic lighting and a real-time walkthrough of the scene in high resolution. The movie demonstrates the quality of Half Life for visualisation using both a standard walkthrough and half way through a fly-through using the Half Life ‘Noclip’ option.
Meanwhile, architectural schools could instantly boost students’ morale if their course orientation packets came with a videogame wherein users go around blowing up anything built by Le Corbusier, in the most violent way possible. The exact explosive dynamics of architectural masterpieces. Or Space Invaders: The Next Generation, in which you, armed to the teeth, defend 100,000 acres of pristine Colorado wilderness from an architecturally unimaginative suburban housing boom…
(With thanks to both Timo Tolonen and Ben Brockert for the tip!)
Filmmaker and musician Killian MacGeraghty of the San Francisco band The Gun and Doll Show packed his Super 8 camera into a hand-carved styrofoam “aerodynamic” protective shell, hooked it to a fishing rod, hit record, and tossed it off the Golden Gate Bridge. The result is this excellent video for his group’s song The View. Link(Thanks, Vann Hall!)
the best of the four fiveonfriday videos - a series on advertising hosted by guerilla advertising guru Floyd Hayes
This video was put together in June, but worth watching if you haven’t already seen it. In particular look for the “All Things Bright and Beautiful” segment which profiles such products as the world’s smallest torch, “The Daddle”, Sony’s new gadget vending machine, and of course, the Geek Shield featured above. -PJ”
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