Art
ksharpe | May 15, 2007Ah, science fairs.
To the left, observe my colleague, fellow Seed-ster Lee Billings, feeling the science fair glow at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Intel ISEF is the world's largest and most acclaimed gathering of pre-college-age scientists. Held each May, the fair brings together 1,500 students from over 40 nations to present their research, meet one another, and compete for prizes including a $50,000 college scholarship. As PZ Myers notes at Pharyngula, "when I was growing up, this was better known as the Westinghouse science fair, and…
cevans | May 14, 2007
I've been thinking a lot about über-couple Charles and Ray Eames recently; those of you who attended last week's Urho Talks will know the territory I'm about to shlep into.
If you don't know, Charles and Ray were designers, architects and filmmakers who are responsible for many classic, iconic designs of the 20th century (Thanks, Wikipiedia!). Notably, a great deal of wonderful furniture, the IBM Pavilion of the 1964 World's Fair, ground-breaking exhibition designs, and over 100 short films.
Their place in the world of "Design" (whatever that means) is both unclear and totally manifest,…
voltagegate | May 13, 2007Found this on TED the other day. Edward Burtynsky presents some staggering images, especially of China's growing industry.
voltagegate | May 12, 2007I was pointed to an interesting video experiment this morning called Ecolanguage, which attempts to describe complex systems - societal, economical and ecological - through the use of simple animations and symbols. It's a neat idea, up to date, and well researched, but I suppose that the specific parameters of each system could be debated. See for yourself. I think there's a definite need for alternative descriptive methodologies, and this fits neatly into that "niche."
Thus far, the producer of these video shorts has about a dozen posted at YouTube; two of the best are posted below.
Nature…
voltagegate | May 8, 2007Heather* has been working on a few politically charged editorial comics for the Union of Concerned Scientist's second annual Science Idol contest:
We're looking for your creative take on the issue of political interference in science. Submit one-panel or multi-panel print cartoons that address the misuse of science on a specific issue or in general. But before you put pen to paper, please check out the contest guidelines to make sure you're on the right track.
Grand prize is $500 bucks, cartoon featured on the cover of the calendar featuring all 12 finalists and a lunch in DC with Tom Toles.…
chaoticutopia | May 4, 2007Words cannot quite describe this fractal piece, which is abstract, yet seemingly (and sensually) familiar. As any of my regular readers will know, it isn't too hard for me to find fractals which subtly imitate natural forms. Still, it was quite a surprise to find these anthropomorphic forms lurking in the set. The flesh-like curves appeared as I was feeling around a vortex Julia set, using 3D fractal Brownian motion as a coloring formula. Originally, I was trying to find something that looked like a feather or a leaf. (When I first saw the body, I had it colored green. Talk about abstract.)…
chaoticutopia | April 30, 2007
Geese at Standley Lake (soft pastel and charchol on canvas) by Karmen Lee Franklin, 2007
It seems that in life, nothing ever turns out as expected. Over the past week, which was, of course, National Wildlife Week, I participated in the Blogger Bioblitz. The experience was loads of fun, quite educational, and full of surprises. By the last day, I'd sort of given up on counting (overwhelmed by the diversity I'd discovered) and switched into artistic mode... but the surprises kept coming.
I dropped by both sites A and B over the weekend. I completed a small count at the beaver ponds at site B…
pharyngula | April 27, 2007You'll need to scroll from side to side to appreciate this scientifically inaccurate but very cool act of vandalism.
pharyngula | April 20, 2007I met the fellow who was doing this animated short at the Bell Museum a while back, and now he's let me know the work was done … so here it is for everyone to enjoy.
vhughes | April 20, 2007New York's American Museum of Natural History presents Beyond, a new IMAX show of 30 tweaked--and stunning!--space photos. Michael Benson, the brains behind the exhibit, spent years browsing the digital archives from NASA and the European Space Agency, selecting photos from Mars, Venus, and Jupiter's moons, Europa and Io. He enhanced the photos to highlight exotic features of these faraway landscapes, like Europa's frozen plains and the lava flows of Venus.
As Beyond's website describes:
Bringing together science and art, Benson asks us to consider questions of life in the universe, the past…
omnibrain | April 19, 2007Usually we feature visual illusions since they seem to be the easiest to make and of course nearly a third to a half of our brain is dedicated to vision so we may just be more interested. In any case here are three auditory illusions from Mighty Optical Illusions.
Shepard's ascending tones (MP3) - This is a recording of Shepard's paradox synthesized by Jean-Claude Risset. Pairs of chords sound as if they are advancing up the scale, but in fact the starting pair of chords is the same as the finishing pair. If you loop this sample seamlessly then it should be impossible to tell where the…
vhughes | April 16, 2007
Alan Saunders, a.k.a. Kaptain Kobold, is a 42-year-old computer programmer and former biology student from Staines, England. He uses Lego blocks to depict famous scientists at work.
"I have no idea why I started making Lego scientist scenes," says Saunders, who's married with two children, one cat, two guinea pigs, "and couple of cockroaches." His children like the scientist figures, though they have no idea yet who they are.
At top right, Gregor Mendel cultivates his pea plants. Next, Charles Darwin stands in a "family portrait" with a yellow Neanderthal, an angry-faced Lucy, and an…
omnibrain | April 12, 2007Art Week (Ok...so its retroactive art week) continues with this strange little commercial with Salvador Dali pimping Alka Seltzer. Enjoy,
zooillogix | April 11, 2007A Chinese born, Paris-based artist hailed for his groundbreaking work that helped pave the way for a new generation of young artists in China is on the defensive after his most recent installation at the Vancouver Art Gallery. His work "Theatre of the World" features snakes, lizards, scorpions and a variety of dangerous insects trapped together inside a cage shaped like a turtle shell. The artist calls it a mirror of society's conflicts. Sadistic eight year olds call it a a rip-off of a favorite Saturday afternoon pastime. Regardless, it may be short lived as the SPCA has determined that the…
omnibrain | April 11, 2007Many famous artists and musicians have had the perception of their own art altered by abnormal physical or mental changes. Critics and historians have often credited these changes as major sources of creativity. Insanity and Drugs seem to usually be the most cited and obvious candidates but very often something a lot more vanilla, like hearing or vision loss, can have the greatest impact on an artists art.
Probably the most famous case of an artist (in this case a musician) losing the one sense that was the most important to their work is Ludwig Van Beethoven. Over the course of the last…
voltagegate | April 10, 2007Heather, my fiance, finally found a few hours between painting, printmaking, throwing pots, writing papers and taking exams to draw up the second biomes banner in the series, this time, as you can see, representing an African savanna. I'll be working on a tabbed page (like contact, about, etc.) to compile her work. Heather is willing to take commissions (for blog art or other media), and can be reached at haravenscroft0 [at] gmail.com.
From left to right: A Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), a male Greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), Meerkats (Suricata suricatta), an African White-backed…
chaoticutopia | April 9, 2007What is sprouting this spring on the Denver art scene? This past month, the botanical illustrations of Susan Rubin were on display at the Spark Gallery, in the Santa Fe art district. This area, along one of the oldest stretches of road in the west, recently experienced urban renewal and has grown to become one of Denver's hippest new cultural scenes. The gallery, one of the oldest installations in the area, is the perfect fusion of classic southwest and contemporary art. Outside, the stucco walls have been painted a deep grey, while the indoor space is light, open and airy. The setting was a…
pharyngula | April 5, 2007
I'm sure you're familiar with the ubiquitous Darwin fish (which you can buy from Ring of Fire Enterprises, by the way). Here's your chance: now you can improve on that old design by intelligently designing your own version (or as I prefer to think of it, developing and evolving your own version by a trial-and-error process). Follow the link to find the requirements and email address for submissions — the deadline is soon, on 16 April.
The winner's design will be manufactured and sold by Ring of Fire — wouldn't it be thrilling to see your heretical/scientific fish proudly displayed on random…
aardvarchaeology | April 3, 2007
Yesterday the spring issue of Fornvännen, Journal of Swedish Antiquarian Research, arrived from the printers. I'm proud to be one of its editors.
Very few Scandinavians realise how unfortunate the English title of the journal is. It came about due to a mistranslation of the Swedish adjective antikvarisk, meaning
Concerning the far past and ancient artefacts,
In accordance with professional standards in heritage management,
Of the used-book trade."Antiquarian", on the other hand, has the primary meaning "of antiquarians". This is really embarrassing, because the moniker "an antiquarian" is…