Weather obsession.

Remember that part in The Truman Show when Truman tries to escape his fake reality and the producer of the show unleashes "The Weather Programme" as the ultimate weapon? Is the weather control really the ultimate weapon? And doesn't it seem strange that in today's world of genetic manipulation, satellite communications, space research and all the other available technologies, people are still not capable of controlling the weather?

Conspiracy theorists of course claim that the scientists from HAARP (ionospheric research program in the US) have mastered the weather control long time ago and are responsible for series of natural disasters. I know for sure that the artist who has mastered the weather control is Olafur Eliasson.

Olafur Eliasson's work is based entirely on elements of the weather - water, light, temperature, pressure.

by Bill

This is the "Weather Project" at Tate Modern from 2003. People would enter the building and instantly be confronted with the gigantic illuminated orange disc whose light is perfectly diffused in the space so that it gives the feeling of a setting sun. There is also a giant mirror on the ceiling which creates the illusion of uneven edges of the upper half of the disc and the mist in the space is created with sugar and water air pumps.
Eliasson's work is so simple, yet so powerful and apocalyptic.

Another artist who is able to "control the weather" is Berndnaut Smilde. He has specialized in creating clouds.

via Berndnaut Smilde

He creates these using a smoke machine, indoor moisture and dramatic lighting. Each cloud only exists for a few moments before dissipating. I love the idea of an empty gallery space filled with clouds that appear and vanish after a few moments.

So,  did YOU talk about the weather today? 

forever bicycles.

Ai Weiwei's installation "Forever Bicycles"

Orange bike for lunch, via ffffound

Eyecycle by Brent Couchman

Chicago Children's Museum Chair by Bike Furniture

Henri Cartier-Bresson, taken in Hyeres, France, 1932

Victorian Bike Knob by SweetPeasKnobs

The ultimate roller coaster.

Should people have the right to end their lives?

Terry Pratchett, man with wacky sense of humor and wild imagination, was one of my favorite childhood's writers. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease few years ago. In 2011. he made a controversial documentary covering the topic of assisted dying - Terry Pratchett: Choosing to die. I deeply recommend watching this film.
A lot of dispute has been made and can be made about euthanasia, but today I would like to introduce to you someone brave enough to choose a witty approach to this sensitive subject.

Julijonas Urbonas is an artist who designed the "Euthanasia Coaster" aka the ultimate roller coaster which would kill people.

Does it really exist? No. It's just a hypothetical euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster which would take away person's life "humanely and with elegance", as the designer claims. 

The inspiration for this project comes from the fact that Julijonas Urbonas has the work experience with managing an amusement park in Lithuania so later on, during his studies at Royal College of Art, he decided to explore the limits of a human body and the altered relationship with gravity in the specific conditions such as amusement parks. 

 

His ultimate killing machine would have 7544 meters long track, the ultimate ride would last for 3 minutes and 20 seconds and would include "joyful" experiences such as thrill and euphoria, tunnel vision, loss of coulour vision, loss of consciousness and eventually death caused by the lack of oxygen supply to the brain.

You need to read Julijonas's detailed descriptions of what a rider would feel throughout the various phases of the ride as the descriptions help you imagine the experience vividly and are spiced up with some great black humor.  I'll give you just a little tease:

"If you are still conscious, you are more resistant to the high g-forces than the majority of people, but don’t worry: the loop is engineered in such a way that the force will remain constant despite the changes in speed, thus ensuring that the painful level of acceleration is not reached. And be assured, the second loop will definitely do its job."

Maneki Neko

Two days ago I had an honor of listening to one great man - a science fiction author, Bruce Sterling. He talked about the future, how his generation imagined the future 30 years ago, how it turned out and how we imagine the future today. This made me go through his work again and as a result of my digging, I came across his story which I haven't read before and which inspired this post.

The story is called "Maneki Neko" . You can read it here.

Maneki Neko is a Japanese figurine, very famous in Asian countries, but also in Western pop culture, which is believed  to bring luck and happiness to its owner. Maneki Neko is actually a cat made usually out of ceramics or plastic,  whose one paw is lifted in the air ( it looks like it's waving but it's actually beckoning) and in the other paw the cat holds a golden coin. The sculpture can often be seen at the entrances of shops, restaurants and other businesses. To me, it is quite interesting that Maneki Neko and what it stands for, associates luck and happiness to money, wealth and prosperity.

Boris Petrovsky, a German media artist, has already wandered off in the direction of my thoughts and produced a genius installation which includes 520 Maneki Neko's. His artwork is called "The global pursuit for happiness" or "The army of luck".

All images © Boris Petrovsky

Petrovsky's Lucky Cats are pre-programmed for different ways of saluting and signalizing gestures but can also interact with the audience by being given a word or sentence by a visitor which is then displayed through moving paws. All this is accompanied by sound samples of  mass or group events such as: political speeches, tv shows, demonstrations, sports events etc.

"The lined up, gold-reflecting mass of the Lucky Cats in the matrix appears almost as an insubstantially copy-paste-animation. The Lucky Cats in the matrix as an industrial made product become an »ornament of the masses« for repetetive-stererotype and globalized-industrialized ideals. Do we need more and more Lucky Cats to generate more and more prosperity for more and more people?" , Boris Petrovsky

 

And do we need more and more Lucky Cats to generate happiness? 

 

Oh, and one fun fact for the end of the post: Will Wright, the famous game designer, the creator of The Sims, is currently developing a game based on Bruce Sterling's story Maneki Neko.

 

Enter the noise.

photo by Xavier Voirol

This is Cycloïd-E.

A fascinating sound sculpture comes from the Cod.Act duo. It consists of five motor-driven horizontal tubes which swing like pendulums where each of the tubes is equipped with sound sources and measuring instruments which make them resonate according to their rotations. Cycloïd-E performs a truly hypnotic dance accompanied by equally hypnotic sound. Its overwhelming effect makes you transcend beyond this universe.

Cycloïd-E puts me in a mood for browsing through Kim Høltermand's photographs.

Kim Høltermand

Høltermand is a Danish photographer whose work is simply breathtaking. Very minimalistic approach, very little color, stunning angles and perspectives. One can feel the silence in his photos or a hypnotic noise just like the one that Cycloïd-E produces.

Back to the future.

Justin Mezzell's illustrations have that power to create an illusion of space and time travel. I adore the vintage feel that Justin's illustrations have, the wonderful combinations of colors and of course the SF touch.

Justin Mezzell

While on space and time travel topic, "Back to the future" movie trilogy was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid. Now you all remember the mighty Marty McFly's hoverboard which was probably every geek kid's dream product of the future. 

French artist Nils Guadagnin has created just that: a real hoverboard. 

In cooperation with Crealav, a company which invents, designs and makes prototypes of levitation technology and levitation products, Nils Guadagnin has reconstructed Marty McFly's hoverboard which actually works. Well you can't really stand on it but it really does levitate. 

Photo: nilsguadagnin.com

Now I need to finish this post with one great tune :

Cloud seeding.

In theory, cloud seeding could be defined as "a form of intentional weather modification; the attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the microphysical processes within the cloud. The usual intent is to increase precipitation (rain or snow), but hail and fog suppression are also widely practiced in airports." (source: Wikipedia)

Using the analogy of this process, Erik Carlson and guys from the art and technology studio Sosolimited designed and produced a genius artwork called Cloud Seeding set in Denver Public Library. 

The visitors of the Library who choose to participate in this artwork, by searching for books, music and movies contribute to a big visual collage on an array of LCD screens which display images and quotes related to the search terms. So for example, if a visitor searches for a certain horror movie, the display shows images from horror movies, quotes from horror books and combines it with scary music. This way visitors become seeders and the giant video display becomes a cloud.

Cloud Seeding from Sosolimited on Vimeo.

The World of Origami.

Google Doodle from few days ago which was dedicated to father of origami, Akira Yoshizawa, inspired me to write about the Japanese art of paper folding which I admire so deeply.
There's something so graceful in the art of origami , I guess because of the patience and mathematical preciseness that it takes to make any origami object.

Montroll’s tree, Walker’s floribunda, Diaz’s & Yoshizawa’s cranes. Photo by Agne Mackonyte 

One of the incredible, origami-inspired projects which I discovered not so long ago is Ribbonesia.

Ribbonesia is an art project by Japanese illustrator Baku Maeda who combines his love for origami and ribbons and turns ribbons into beautiful art objects. 

via Ribbonesia 

Another incredible origami-inspired project is Takayuki Hori's X-ray origami which features folded figures of eight endangered species. The project's aim is to highlight pollution problems in Japan and the message is delivered through x-ray exposed animal skeletons and their garbage tainted guts.

via Co.Design

And then there's Origami Jewelry...

Oh how I love these. Perfect little jewelry creations by french designers Claire & Arnaud.

via Origami Jewelry 

All this talk about origami reminded me of one of the most incredible and vivid dreams that I had last year.

I was in a small boat in the middle of an ocean. It was very dark, the ocean looked like dark ink.There were heavy clouds in the sky and the moon was shining through them. And then one part of the sky kinda cleared up creating a hole through which a light came out and suddenly huge origami animals (an elephant, a giraffe, a tiger and so on...) with very vivid colors started falling from that hole into the water.

This is one of those dreams which you remember very lively. That is why I would love to work with someone who would like to turn my dream into animation so if anyone out there feels the desire to work with me on this one , please feel free to contact me. I would be delighted.

How I Can Make You a Real HE-MAN from Head to Toe!

I couldn't stop giggling when I saw this vintage ad and so I started my research on it...

This is the ad for Charles Atlas workout program which promises fulfillment of every man's dream: biiiiiig muscles.

Charles Atlas was actually a marketing genius of his time as he pushed these comic ads all over the newspaper and comic books which eventually led him to becoming a well known muscleman back in 1920's and 1930's. The entire advertising concept of fitness industry nowadays is more or less based on his advertising campaign.
Charles took self promotion very seriously. He posed for a number of  photographs and also for a number of statues throughout his life.

Now if YOU wish to "make YOUR body bring you ***FAME*** instead of ***SHAME***", it's time for a workout:

Keepfit Cabbage from Louise Bagnall on Vimeo.

Beware! Here comes the Rising Table.

Remember the Rising Chair? Newest creation from the same designer is the Rising Table.

Robert van Embricqs' s Rising Table comes from the same idea as the Rising Chair and that is the transformation of a flat surface into a beautiful piece of furniture.
As the designer says, the inspiration during the design process was sticking to nature as much as possible and the ways transformation takes place in nature. Once again...beautiful !