Felipe IV a Caballo (1635-36), Diego Velázquez. Images courtesy of Museo del Prado / WWF
Museo del Prado (Prado Museum) recently collaborated on a project with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) designed to coincide with the 2019 UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid. Paintings from the museum’s collection were digitally modified to reflect a future world destroyed by inaction. Rising sea levels, barren rivers, and refugee camps transform works by European painters into a campaign to save the environment.
The project is titled “+ 1,5ºC Lo Cambia Todo,” which translates from Spanish to mean “+ 1.5ºC Changes Everything.” Paintings by three Spanish artists (Francisco de Goya, Diego Velázquez, and Joaquín Sorolla) and one Flemish Renaissance painter (Joachim Patinir) were chosen for the project by WWF and museum experts. The altered works were installed on billboards in Madrid and shared online using the hashtag #LoCambiaTodo as a way to expand and continue political and social conversations through art.
“For the Museum, this project represents an opportunity to continue placing art and its values at the service of society,” Javier Solana, Prado’s Royal Board of Trustees President, said in a statement. “The symbolic value of the masterpieces and the impressive artistic recreation that we present with WWF is an excellent way to transmit to everyone and especially to the young generations what is really at stake in this fight against climate change.” [via Artnet]
Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx (c. 1515-1524), Joachim Patinir
Humble fields become abstracted artworks in thread paintings by Victoria Rose Richards. The artist uses a combination of tight, straight lines and lush French knots to emulate the rural patterning of closely-cropped fields divided by hedges and woods. Richards, who is 21 years old and based in South West Devon, U.K., draws inspiration from the natural beauty that surrounds her. “My art is influenced by my love of the environment and conservation, which I developed during my biology degree I completed this year,” Richards tells Colossal.
A lifelong artist who also manages chronic pain and Asperger’s syndrome, Richards landed on embroidery during college as a way to lift her spirits and engage her mind between classes and studying. “I pulled some nice blues and greens out of my grandmother’s old embroidery tin and had my first go at an embroidery landscape in October 2018,” Richards explains.
The artist is constantly learning new techniques to broaden her range of textures and patterns, finding community and inspiration through the global network of embroiderers who are connected through social media. You can follow along with Victoria Rose Richards’s thread paintings on Instagram.
In an effort to reduce plastic use, product designer Jonna Breitenhuber has conceived of Soapbottle, a zero-waste container for liquids. The colored packaging is made of soap that will degrade over time. It leaves no waste, unlike traditional plastic vessels, which often contribute to the truckload of waste that’s dumped into the ocean every minute. Each bottle features a hole near the top for a string to pass through, providing a simple and reusable storage method. When the liquid is gone, the bottles can be grated and used for body wash or detergent. Follow Breitenhuber’s eco-friendly designs on Instagram. You also might like these soap toiletry containers. (via Kottke)
Keith Williams (previously) has a knack for wowing viewers with his time-lapse woodworking videos. One of Williams’ recent projects entailed using offcuts that contain knots. In his hands, the geodesic dome becomes a multi-faceted showcase for the unique patterns, colors, and textures formed by these organic irregularities.
“In the 27 years of my woodworking business, I have never thrown away a knot,” Williams tells Colossal. “Many people see knots as a defect, but to me knots are the visual representation of a trees struggle to thrive. Not all little limbs become big branches, but their combined efforts on behalf of the tree as a whole should be celebrated.”
Step inside Williams’ Oddball Gallery workshop and see more in-progress projects on his YouTube channel.
Luke Shadbolt captures the roiling majesty of ocean waves in his large-scale aquatic photographs. Printed at 150 x 100 cm (nearly 6 feet by 3.3 feet), the color and black-and-white images show the dramatic shapes and dynamic textures of open water when agitated by major weather events.
In a statement on the artist’s website, the Maelstrom series is described as “a cursory glimpse of the exchange, cycle and balance of power fundamental to the functioning of our planet and its oceans… Maelstrom encourages the viewer to reflect upon our own naivety and place as a species within the greater natural balance of power.”
The Acquiesce the Front series similarly seeks to draw connections between the human experience and our natural environment. “The physical manifestations portrayed are a deft reflection of those storms that are implicit to the human condition,” and our individual frailty in the face of big events. Yet Shadbolt finds hope in the potential “to learn and grow from these events. While we may be powerless to stop the storm from approaching, we can work to redirect the flood.”
Shadbolt is represented by Michael Reid Gallery in Sydney and Berlin. The Sydney-based photographer and creative director tells Colossal that he is currently in the process of opening a studio in New York City. You can explore more of his dramatic photographs on Instagram and Facebook.
As we recently reported, Banksy debuted a dystopian homewares store on October 1, 2019. Making good on his promise to open an online platform to purchase goods displayed in the Croydon pop-up (which was never, in fact, open to the public, and closed this past weekend), the Gross Domestic Product store went live today. Featuring a slate of items, ranging from a rat race clock to a static-filled HD TV, each piece serves as a social commentary on issues ranging from the refugee crisis to children’s sugar-filled diets. Most items—some of which are pointedly nonfunctional—are available to request for purchase immediately through a somewhat opaque lottery process. Pieces all seem to indicate that they are signed by the artist.
To mediate demand, the website requires would-be buyers to answer the prompt ‘Why does art matter?’ In the event of demand outstripping supply, the answer to this question may be used to evaluate your application. Please make your answer as amusing, informative or enlightening as possible, the website states. Similarly, seemingly in anticipation of those wishing to re-sell their GDP purchases, the ecommerce website also links in the footer to BBay, which describes itself as “your first choice destination to trade in secondhand art by a third-rate artist.’ Keep up with the latest from Banksy on Instagram.
I've been re-watching MadMen with Anna recently - it's hard to imagine a scene like this, representing what it does, without everyone chain smoking!
The Dalmar, a new lifestyle hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, looks back on the golden age of travel.
This Tribute Portfolio hotel in Downtown Fort Lauderdale is the latest project by the international studio DesignAgency and Wurzak Hotel Group. The team leveraged on South Florida’s reputation for travel and leisure as well as the laid back, open-air environment to design a tribute to traveling in America in the golden age.
Behind accordion doors at the entrance of the hotel is Rose’s Coffee Bar. The restaurant is outfitted with deep blue porcelain tiles, walnut pantry cupboards, and a linear white marble bar. There’s also a sunny yellow mid-century sofa and turquoise leather loungers for the more laid back moments.
The towering 25-story building features 209 guest rooms and an infinity pool. The main reception area is housed on the 6th floor and features a neon mixed media painting by Canadian artist Thrush Holmes along with emerald quartzite walls to give visual continuity to the ocean views.
Guest rooms and suites take a more sombre approach with simple earth tones and neutral finishes. But you’ll nevertheless find brass lamps, marble tops, and ocean-blue upholstery – these features give harmony and visual cohesion to the entire hotel.
As for the best place view, head to The Sparrow, Fort Lauderdale’s highest rooftop bar and restaurant, on the 25th floor.
What: The Dalmar Where: 299 N Federal Hwy, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301, United States How much? Starting from $270 Highlights: This 25 story hotel features Fort Lauderdale’s highest rooftop bar and restaurant and a 1970s aesthetic to celebrate the golden age of travel in America. Book it: Visit The Dalmar
This is pretty cool - use it for a scenic (high-speed) flight over San Fran!
Ride along with Capt Andrew “Dojo” Olson as he flies the F-35 Demonstration over San Francisco Fleet Week. Although it generated some controversy because of a negative article published on CommonDreams.org (that “earned” a complete [...]
This summer, a new elevated circular bike path was built that winds through the Belgian forest about an hour outside of Brussels. ‘Cycling Through the Trees’ is part of the Limburg bike route, and works its way up to a height of 32 feet, placing riders inside the forest canopy. Unlike another recent circular tourist attraction, the bike path is not ticketed, and also offers riders places to sit and rest in nearby alcoves with benches. You can vicariously enjoy the ride through the video below. (via Web Urbanist)
London-based design studio Priestmangoode has just opened a ‘Get Onboard: Reduce. Reuse. Rethink’ exhibition at the Design Museum in London. As we just highlighted in our questions surrounding amenity kits, there is an increasing movement to explore ways that we can use design thinking and material innovation to address the vast issue of waste in travel, something that this new exhibition covers. Over the coming years design studios and passenger habits will start to affect the supply of products and services.
There are some exciting innovative ideas at play at the exhibition and its certainly worth investigating. The key area of focus for the exhibition is the meal service. The driving factors here were to reduce weight – a key factor in aviation design – and minimise waste.
In an bid to reduce the vast amounts of single use plastic that come with meal deliveries – which average an estimated 500g per person per long haul flight – PriestmanGoode has explored a vast range of food safe materials that have been developed for the catering industry, from cups made from coffee grounds, to algae, bamboo and rice husk.
PriestmanGoode has selected some of these materials to re-imagine what the meal tray could look like, using edible, biodegradable and commercially compostable materials. The idea is to eliminate plastic waste, and to replace like for like. Elements that are currently rotable (washed and reused), like the tray itself, would continue to be so, and elements that are discarded, like single use plastic, would be replaced with a sustainable alternative.
Materials were also chosen to reflect the contents of the food within eg. Side salads would feature a banana leaf or algae lid. The main meal lid has been designed to stock all waste items and close into a compostable pack, for more efficient disposal.
But the company, working closely with its China office, didn’t stop there. Understanding that airports are already starting to embrace recycling initiatives like Heathrow’s water dispensers to refill plastic bottles, Priestmangoode looked at other initiatives.
PriestmanGoode’s proposal to passengers requirements for water is a bottle made from biodegradable and commercially compostable bioplastic and cork. The bottle has been designed for repeated, but short-term use, for example the length of a holiday, and is designed to address the impulse buy at airports and stations.
The shape of the bottle has been specifically designed to be more efficient for travel, and fits within the literature pocket of an aircraft seat back without infringing on valuable passenger space. The shape is also more efficient for packing, shipping and retail.
The exhibition also covers elements such as passenger service and cabin materials. These include materials like ECONYL, a regenerated nylon yarn made from fishing nets from the oceans and aquaculture. Other materials include seaweed yarn and textile dye, pineapple wood, and tasman recycled glass.
With design studios highlighting these new technological and environmental advancements, could it be that in 5 years time, these initiatives become mainstream. While the airline industry is notoriously slow to adapt to new technologies due to the complicated certification processes and supply chains involved, concepts that utilise sustainable materials should be fast-tracked.
For the 19th consecutive year, the quaint Norwegian town of Stavanger hosted another edition of the internationally known NuArt Festival. What started in 2001 as side programming at an electronic music festival has evolved into one of the most influential street art festivals worldwide. In addition to the production of public artworks, Nuart also includes a series of academic talks, debates, and movie premieres/screenings, all working towards greater definition and recognition of the street art movement. Its concurrent indoor exhibition also provides the artists an opportunity to create indoor works and installations without limitations or censoring, providing a unique blend of street art attitude showcased inside a gallery-like setting.
One of the works painted last week in Stavanger was the image of a girl taking a photo of a painting in a thick ornate frame. What seemed like an eye candy composition that creates a simple interaction of the character with an object on the wall is actually a harsh critique of the way the general public and the art world are dealing with the global refugee crisis. “On one side there is the passive position of the observer, on the other side, there is the position of the artist. Both acts as beholders of the critical situation,” the artist Jofre Oliveras (previously) stated about his poignant piece, titled Beholders. The artist further extended his critique of the art world with an indoor installation and live performance work presented in collaboration with the members of the 1UP CREW. As a way of protesting against the speculation of the art dealers based on the artist’s name, Oliveras painted a series of large works on canvas, which were then crossed over and destroyed by the notorious international graffiti crew.
Jofre Oliveras, photo: Runa Andersen
Not far from this mural Argentine muralist Hyuro (previously) created her vision of the crisis and the way it is affecting the lives of individuals. Using hands as the universal symbol of individuality and closeness, Valencia-based artist depicted two hands interacting with a straight line between them. Symbolizing arbitrary manmade borders, the hands are both crossing over or being crossed over by the strict mark. Also talking about important social issues, Paul Harfleet introduced the concept of the ongoing Pansy Project, planting a single pansy flower on the location of homophobic abuse. Not being able to find the actual plants due to their seasonal nature, for the first time Harfleet painted these fragile flowers on multiple locations through the city and inside exhibition spaces.
Working around the festival’s theme “Brand new, you’re retro,” Julio Anaya Cabanding (previously) painted a series of smaller interventions which free a classic artwork by Norway’s Lars Hertervig in unexpected places. On the side of a staircase, at the end of a dark hallway, and finally, as part of the exhibition, his work is successfully merging the worlds of art history museums with street art.
This sensitive merging of two similar movements is an ongoing subject of the work by the Portuguese artist Nuno Viegas who painted a large mural showing a head masked with a shirt. Portraying the classic image of vandal graffiti writers with their makeshift disguise costume, the artist wanted to pay tribute to his graffiti past. “I see graffiti as the retro and street art the brand new,” the artist explained to Colossal. “But it is important that people realize the difference between both and don’t get them mixed up. Let’s respect graffiti and not try to appropriate it, let’s be proud of the “new” movement we are part of. We are writing history and it is important that we write it right and make sure we respect and do not distort what has been done before we got it to the game.”
Experimental filmmaker and motion graphics artist Dirk Koy (previously) creates dizzying short films that upend viewers’ expectations of focus and perspective. In one, a high diver seems to remain static while the sky-filled frame twists and spins around him; in another, a building appears to be demolished and constructed with the simple drag of a computer cursor. Koy lives and works in Basel, where he graduated from the Academy of Art and Design. In addition to his own projects and commissions, Koy is also a lecturer on time-based media at the Academy. You can explore more of his unusual videos on Instagram and Vimeo.
Commuters in Utrecht may notice a new green tinge to their neighborhood bus stop. Local authorities in the Dutch city have added 316 green-roofed, bee-friendly bus stops to public transit routes. More than 50% of the Netherlands’ 358 bee species are endangered; the green roofs provide safe, consistent habitat for the critically important pollinators, and are planted with low-maintenance sedum. For the resident humans, bamboo benches and LED lighting contribute to the eco-conscious construction. (via My Modern Met, Lonely Planet)
Sean Charmatz anthropomorphizes everyday objects with universal emotions of surprise, frustration, and togetherness. By adding simple black lines to fruits, plants, and office supplies, Charmatz turns these otherwise unremarkable items into relatable characters. Though the California-based artist has gained quite a following for his one-off cartoonish “explorations”, he also has a long resume in Hollywood. Charmatz has worked on several Disney and Dreamworks films in addition to his previous roles as a storyboard artist and director for six years on SpongeBob SquarePants. You can follow along with his visual musings on Instagram, and watch his animated “Secret World of Stuff” compilations on YouTube.
Have you ever wondered what a pill looks like as it dissolves in your stomach? Although this video by filmmaker Ben Ouaniche for Macro Room doesn’t create the exact same conditions as your gut, the time-lapse video does show the spectacular ways pills quickly disintegrate in water as they bubble, ooze, expand, and disappear. If this video sparked an interest in learning how other substances dissolve in water, can see a larger variety of Ouaniche’s macro video experiments (such as acrylic paint, ink, and ice cream) on Vimeo.
Enlarge / "Siri, define the word "surprising.'" "Okay. Ask me to define the word 'mother' twice, then." (credit: Apple)
Voice assistants are growing in popularity, but the technology has been experiencing a parallel rise in concerns about privacy and accuracy. Apple’s Siri is the latest to enter this gray space of tech. This week, The Guardian reported that contractors who review Siri recordings for accuracy and to help make improvements may be hearing personal conversations.
One of the contract workers told The Guardian that Siri did sometimes record audio after mistaken activations. The wake word is the phrase “hey Siri,” but the anonymous source said that it could be activated by similar-sounding words or with the noise of a zipper. They also said that when an Apple Watch is raised and speech is detected, Siri will automatically activate.
“There have been countless instances of recordings featuring private discussions between doctors and patients, business deals, seemingly criminal dealings, sexual encounters and so on,” the source said. “These recordings are accompanied by user data showing location, contact details, and app data.”
UK based-brothers JP and Mike Andrews began taking aerial photographs of the Earth after a year-long trip experiencing the incredible landscapes found in the Australian Outback. Using a drone, the pair have continued to capture natural and manmade scenes across the world, stumbling upon unique patterns that can only be discerned from above. JP and Mike are attracted to sights that exemplify how “weird and wonderful the world can look from above,” such as the shadow from a cargo ship imitating the shape of a city skyline, or a loaded parking lot creating a dense fabric of interlocking lines.
The pair publish their photographs under the name Abstract Aerial Art. You can view more of their work on Instagram, and purchase prints of their images on their website.
Airbus has unveiled a stunning conceptual design for a new airliner that pushes the boundaries of technology and innovation with its bird-like appearance, created to inspire a new generation of aeronautical engineers.
The design isn’t just a flight of fancy though, dubbed the ‘Bird of Prey’ due to wing and tail structures which mimic those of an eagle or falcon, it features individually controlled feathers providing active flight control meaning it could actually fly.
Even the split tail enables fine control while the lack of a vertical tail significantly reduces drag. Among the other biomimicry features are a blended wing to fuselage joint mirroring the graceful and aerodynamic arch of a bird of prey. It’s not just an elegant design, it showcases the future capabilities of airframe design spearheaded by the UK’s world-class aerospace industry.
Sadly, before you start looking to purchase tickets, the Bird of Prey is not intended to represent an actual aircraft concept; its primary purpose is to inspire young engineers meaning we probably won’t ever see it in the skies above us. However, the concept is grounded in reality and gives an insight into what a future regional aircraft could look like. It is an extrapolation of what could be done with technologies that currently form the basis of research within Airbus, such as hybrid-electric propulsion to reduce atmospheric emissions, active control systems and advanced composite structures.
The UK is unique in having widespread presence in advanced engineering and a thriving digital sector. Bringing those together with the imagination of a younger generation is intended to give the UK a lead in the global re-engineering of engineering itself.
Martin Aston, Senior Manager at Airbus said about the project, “The Bird of Prey is designed to be an inspiration to young people and create a “wow” factor that will help them consider an exciting career in the UK’s crucially-important aerospace sector. One of the priorities for the entire industry is how to make aviation more sustainable – making flying cleaner, greener and quieter than ever before.”
From someone who has worked in the aviation industry for two decades, there are many ways that young eager talent can get involved. If you are inspired by engineering, flight, piloting or even airline management, there are multiple ways to get started, but most of these are rooted in a good education, or failing that, at least work experience in a similar field. The industry more than ever needs innovative new minds to help challenge the increasing pressures placed on the industry, and now, like every year before remains an amazing time to enter the industry.
Dutch designer Frank Tjepkema of Studio Tjep created the Recession Chair in 2011 as a response to the world’s economic crisis. To produce the work, Studio Tjep sanded down a mass-produced IKEA chair to a ragged and skeletal structure. “The resulting object is barely functional as it most likely won’t withstand the weight of the person it is trying to support,” said Tjep in a statement about the chair, “much like a society plagued by recession.”
As an opposing gesture, Tjep cast the work in bronze, adding strength to the chair’s areas of fault. You can see various states of the chair in the images below, including a partially sanded version of the chair in white, and several examples of the piece fully cast in luminous bronze. To view more examples of Tjep’s work with architecture, objects, and interior design, visit their website. (via @designers_need)
With the help of a small army of 400 volunteers, French artist JR (previously) pasted thousands of strips of paper around the Louvre in Paris, turning the courtyard around the museum into a massive optical illusion. Installed in honor of the structure’s 30th anniversary, the collage titled “The Secret of the Great Pyramid” provides a glimpse at what may lie beneath the iconic glass pyramid.
A follow-up to his 2016 work that made the museum disappear against the backdrop of the Louvre Palace, JR’s new illusion reveals a construction site with the tip of the pyramid at its center and a much larger structure extending down into a rocky quarry. In a “Photo of the Day” post on his website, the artist explains that the installation was designed to last a single weekend. “The images, like life, are ephemeral,” JR writes. “Once pasted, the art piece lives on its own. The sun dries the light glue and with every step, people tear pieces of the fragile paper. The process is all about participation of volunteers, visitors, and souvenir catchers. This project is also about presence and absence, about reality and memories, about impermanence.”
Some visitors took pieces of the installation home, while other strips torn by foot traffic have been discarded. To see more of JR’s large-scale photo installations, follow the artist on Instagram.
French director and photographer Romain Laurent (previously) turns imagery from expressly planned still and video shoots into animated GIFs where only an isolated section is in motion. Focusing primarily on human subjects and the spaces around them, the looped compositions turn everyday scenes into surreal animations that you can’t help but to watch over and over. In one, a silhouetted subject has fiery sparklers for eyes, and in another, a rain-jacketed pedestrian’s face loops in the frame of his hood.
Separate from his commercial work, Laurent tells Colossal that his once weekly project has become more selective over the past two years in terms of the concepts and ideas that he translates into GIFs. “Other than that the approach is the same—find an idea and movement that amuses or speaks to me and make it right away!” Each GIF is unique, and depending on the complexity of the concept, Laurent can spend anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours capturing the photos before manipulating them in post-production for an hour or several days. To see more of Romain Laurent’s quirky partially-moving portraits, check out his Tumblr and follow him on Instagram.
Finnish artist Liisa Hietanen crochets and knits one-to-one imitations of her friends and fellow neighbors, accurately representing the subjects from their favorite outfits down to their furry companions. The series, Villagers, is a way for the artist to more deeply engage with those she often passes but might not interact with in her town of Hämeenkyrö, Finland.
“I meet my models in natural everyday situations,” she explains in an artist statement on her website. “The process of choosing a model is intuitive. The person depicted might be someone I meet in the library, in the locker room of the gym, or walking their dog on the way home. I don’t know most of my models beforehand but as the process goes on I get to know them.”
The slow, methodical style of her yarn-based craft works to counteract the pace of life, and also reflect the patience needed to get to know and understand another individual. The accuracy of her works to their origin subject is never the focus, but rather how she is able to get to know the person as she takes the time to build their double.
After completing each new work it is displayed somewhere public so the piece can engage in a deeper dialogue with the population of the town. Previous sculptures have been displayed at the local library, a flower shop, and a restaurant, however they also travel to contemporary art exhibitions such as the group exhibition From the Shadows of Night to the Brightness of Day at Makasiini Contemporary in Turku, Finland through April 7, 2019. Hietanen is currently working to complete a pair of new life-size sculptures—a local father and his four-year-old daughter. You can see other works included in her Villiagers series on her website and Instagram.
The full trailer for the documentary Float (previously) introduces the world to a niche indoor sport that involves building and flying self-propelled model airplanes. Directed and edited by Phil Kibbe, the film follows two American pilots, Brett Sanborn and Yuan Kang Lee, as they gear up for the sport’s main event: the F1D World Championships in Romania.
The new trailer showcases the elegant movement of the model planes, and the delicate technique that the pilots use to tightly twist the rubber bands that power them. The movement of the planes appears to be slowed down, but the movement of the pilots and spectators confirms that the footage has not been altered for effect. The world premiere of Float will take place on April 5 at the 43rd Cleveland International Film Festival, in Cleveland, Ohio, with additional screenings throughout the weekend.
![More likely: Click on all the pictures of people who appear disloyal to [name of company or government]](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/machine_learning_captcha.png "More likely: Click on all the pictures of people who appear disloyal to [name of company or government]")
Ride along with Capt Andrew “Dojo” Olson as he flies the F-35 Demonstration over San Francisco Fleet Week. Although it generated some controversy because of a negative article published on CommonDreams.org (that “earned” a complete [...]
