On the Street….The Jardin des Tuileries, Paris: “
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Remarkable unicycle riding (video)
[Kinda hot backing track, too. -egg]
Remarkable unicycle riding (video): “
Video link. This footage prepared for the North American Unicycling Championships and Convention contains some pretty unbelievable footage, including jumping over a picnic table, up a flight of 7 stairs in one hop, and the you-gotta-see-it-to believe-it ‘maxwhip.’ Also some amazing Kris Holm vids here and here.
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3M claims ownership over purple
3M claims ownership over purple: “
‘The color PURPLE is a trademark of 3M.’
I wonder if Alice Munroe Walker knows about this.
(Thanks, Airshowfan, via Submitterator!)
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Robotic hand attains sensitivity and strength with coffee grounds and balloons
Robotic hand attains sensitivity and strength with coffee grounds and balloons: “Here’s a fascinating report from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on a novel kind of robotic gripper that uses balloons and coffee grounds to attain strong, sensitive grips:
Here we demonstrate a completely different approach to a universal gripper. Individual fingers are replaced by a single mass of granular material that, when pressed onto a target object, flows around it and conforms to its shape. Upon application of a vacuum the granular material contracts and hardens quickly to pinch and hold the object without requiring sensory feedback. We find that volume changes of less than 0.5% suffice to grip objects reliably and hold them with forces exceeding many times their weight. We show that the operating principle is the ability of granular materials to transition between an unjammed, deformable state and a jammed state with solid-like rigidity. We delineate three separate mechanisms, friction, suction, and interlocking, that contribute to the gripping force. Using a simple model we relate each of them to the mechanical strength of the jammed state. This advance opens up new possibilities for the design of simple, yet highly adaptive systems that excel at fast gripping of complex objects.
Universal robotic gripper based on the jamming of granular material
(via IO9)
(Image: Turkish Coffee grounds – degustation – Ottoman Cuisine, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from avlxyz’s photostream)
- Lightning fast robot hand
- Flying robot hand wants your beer
- Robot hand plays air piano
- Dancing robot hand-towels
- Robot hand and vision snatches objects from the air
- $600 robot hands for hard core hobbyists
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On the Street….Place Vendôme, Paris
[I don’t like the overall outfit, but I love the coat. -Egg]
On the Street….Place Vendôme, Paris: “
The playful mix of three patterns is great.
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Self-abusing kinetic sculpture
Self-abusing kinetic sculpture: “
Nemo Gould’s kinetic sculpture, ‘Nowhere Fast,’ is a moving meditation on self abuse: ‘Not the intentional kind mind you, but the unwitting variety. Our poor hero pedals diligently at his machine to get away from the persistent clubbing on his head, while all he needs to do for relief is to stop pedaling.’
Nowhere Fast 2009 (72′ x 72′ x 26′)
(via Super Punch)
- Reuben Margolin’s kinetic wave sculptures
- Motor attached to series of reduction gears – final gear fixed in …
- Kinetic sculpture accuses patrons of crimes
- Build a kinetic sculpture in a serene Flash game
- Kinetic clock sculptures
- Andy Paiko’s wunderkammer of glass sculpture
- Kinetic clock sculptures
- Junk steampunk sculptures
- Kinetic steampunk submarine sculpture
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LIFE magazine on "LSD Art," 1966
LIFE magazine on “LSD Art,” 1966: “
From the LIFE magazine September 9, 1966 cover story about psychedelic art:
‘Amid throbbing lights, dizzying designs, swirling smells, swelling sounds, the world of art is ‘turning on.’ It is getting hooked on psychedelic art, the latest, liveliest movement to seethe up from the underground.’
More LIFE images from that story and the 1960s psychedelic culture
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Chris Berens new dreamlike paintings on photo paper
Chris Berens new dreamlike paintings on photo paper: “
Amsterdam painter Chris Berens has a show of new work opening today at Seattle’s Roq La Rue Gallery. Above, ‘Microcosmos,’ (mixed media on panel, 20′ x 20′). Below, ‘Leap’ (mixed media on panel, 18′ x 18′). Berens’s dreamy images have a decidedly Photoshop feel, but they are not digital. (I can tell by the paint drops?) Indeed, he prefers ink on photo paper to oil on canvas. All of the work is also viewable online. From Roq La Rue:
His work features a fantastical mélange of exotic creatures and 18th century imagery, floating in buttermilk colored clouds, lush verdant countrysides, or silvery sea blues. Photo realistic, totem-like animals and distorted childlike people float like dreams through blurry surrealistic European city scapes or drift on stormy seas on decrepit ships in a soft focus haze, shimmering as if in a fevered dream. It is almost shocking to look at, but in the gentlest of ways.
Beyond the wondrous imagery there is another startling and unusual aspect to Chris’ work, in which the smooth, translucent look of the his medium of choice (all works are created with drawing ink, bistre, graphite, parquet lacquer, alkyd coating varnish on inkjet photo paper that is then mounted on wooden panels and adhered with bookbinder’s glue) is contrasted with fact that the paintings are patch-worked together, in pieces ranging from 1 to 3 inches across. Each section has been been painted numerous times and layered over each other and each segment flows seamlessly into each other, creating a cohesive image…This new series of works, entitled ‘Leeuwenhart’ (‘Lion Heart’) take a turn from his last body of work which depicted icicle-like skyscrapers and NY cityscapes that sparkled like diamonds, to more of a lush, fairytale world of forests, rolling green hills, and ancient looking villages. And while the usual assortment of magical animal spirits show up in all the works, another character makes an appearance, Chris’ new daughter Emma Leeuwenhart Berens.
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10.3.10: Metal Opera
[From David Byrne’s blog]
The other day I stumbled across some photos of the late
Ronnie James Dio’s LA home, which is for sale. If you wondered what kind of place a metal God lived in, well, here’s your
answer.
The Teutonic touches, like the beer stein collection and the gothic windows, made me think of other Gods: the characters in the Wagner Ring
cycle that has just recently begun a run here in NY.
That production uses a high-tech set and video projections to evoke the Rhine
maidens swimming across the stage and other events in the story.
So, I wondered to myself, wouldn’t this be a natural fit?
Dio already lived in a kind of Valhalla, and the imagery and themes of metal
bands often deals with death, destruction, and demons, so metal bands have those
elements in common with the Wagner epic as well. Why not do a Ring cycle (or
maybe an abbreviated version as the whole thing runs 15 hours) with the music
played by metal musicians and sung by them too? The sets would be like Dio’s
house, a home fit for the Gods, and there could be spectacular live performance
scenes, which some bands already stage as myth-laden rituals. Here’s a live
shot of a Rob Zombie concert:
And the Gods, assembled:
Other metal genres are less ghoulish in their themes and
imagery, but are no less appropriate to this concept. Here is the band SUNN O))), an exemplar of doom and drone
metal, along with other bands like Earth.
While still others are blatant in their Norse, Viking and
Teutonic themes, this Swedish band sings about Valhalla and about having Odin
on their side:
Rammstein, a band composed of
former East Germans, is known for shows featuring amazing pyrotechnics, and for
lyrics that deal with politics, sometimes controversially. As the ring cycle
ends in the destruction of Valhalla and the end of the reign of the Gods, there
are some big metaphors at work that would seem to resonate and run parallel to
what this group is doing already. Here’s a shot from one of their shows.
Many metal musicians possess incredible technical facility. These bands often feature songs in odd time signatures and with complicated
fingerings, and the groups frequently possess a cohesiveness that leaves pop bands
in the dust. Which is to say: they have the chops to handle Dick Wagner’s
scores, no problem. They could probably even find a real dwarf to handle the
Alberich role (the creator of the all-powerful ring) which would mean we
wouldn’t have to imagine that a big actor/singer is actually small.
Has no one done this already? Have I just not heard of it?
Or are some of these bands sort of already doing it (or something very like it)
piecemeal, episodically—picking out random scenes and moments from a parallel
mythology? They’re definitely swimming in the same waters. Many of these groups
place a high value on their integrity; with such non-pop looks and themes they
aren’t about to get radio play, so their “authenticity” and being true to their
genres is of prime importance. That might be why no one has risked the ridicule
of a high-concept piece should it fail or be unpopular with their fans. Or
maybe they feel that tackling an old opera is superfluous, as they are doing
the same thing, but with original music, and updated imagery.
[See also: 12.12.09: Art Funding or Arts Funding]
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Small World 2010 photomicrography winners
Small World 2010 photomicrography winners: “
Above is a mosquito heart, at a magnification of 100x. Biologist Jonas King, of Vanderbilt University, used fluorescence to make this stunning example of photomicrography. King’s photo landed first place this year in Nikon’s annual Small World competition. All of the winners are absolutely stunning. Small World gallery, 2010
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