Simple Simon

For this year’s London Fashion Week, British fashion designer Anya Hindmarch collaborated with design collective Numen/For Use (previously) to create an installation that would excavate the playgrounds and play sets of visitors’ distant memories. The Tube, a bright blue structure created from nearly 10,000 feet of rope, was a part of a temporary pop-up in a Soho warehouse called The Weave Project which also included a cafe and store. The structure invited guests to revisit their childhood by climbing within the gigantic meandering structure. This is not the first time Hindmarch has used London Fashion Week as an excuse to create an installation dedicated to play— last fall the designer recalled another child-like object by producing a massive beanbag that filled the main room of London’s Banqueting House. (via Dezeen)

It might look like a run of the mill USB battery pack, but EnergyFlux’s Enduro pulls double duty as an electric hand warmer. Its 7800mAh of power can recharge your phone a couple of times, or heat the exterior up to 109 degrees for about seven hours, depending on how cold it is outside.

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“Iron Horse”

Artist Tim Klein takes advantage of the widely used die-cut patterns for jigsaw puzzles to form hybridized montages that combine two unexpected images. By carefully selecting pieces from puzzles with complementary patterns yet surprisingly different subject matter, he creates wild new visuals. In one montage, an old-fashioned locomotive takes the place of a powerful horse torso, while in another, the cylindrical shape of an icy-cold beer fills in for the stocky body of a teddy bear toy.

Klein credits Mel Andringa with inspiring his own puzzle pursuits, and shares with Colossal, “For me, the use of ordinary, mass-produced puzzles is essential to the surreal feel of the artwork. As I visit garage sales and secondhand stores in search of vintage puzzles, I sometimes feel like an archaeologist discovering and ‘reconstructing’ strange, shattered images whose shards have been languishing in dark boxes on the shelves of suburban game room closets for decades.”

Klein, who formerly worked as a computer scientist, lives in Vancouver, Washington. If you like these mash-ups, check out Alma Haser’s custom puzzle designs which combine and interchange the facial features from identical twins. You can see more of Klein’s combined creations on his website. (via Kottke)

“The Mercy-Go-Round (Sunshine and Shadow)”

“To Make Much of Time (Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May)”

“The All-Seeing Elephant”

“Surrogate”

“Mountain Plantation”

“Thaw (Warm Breath on a Winter Window)”

“Sphinx”

“Daisy Bindi”

In the early 20th-century English fireworks company C.R. Brock and Company (now known as Brocks Fireworks) published colorful catalogs displaying designs from Japanese companies such as Hirayama Fireworks and Yokoi Fireworks. Six catalogs of diverse pyrotechnic diagrams have been digitized and made available for download thanks to the city of Yokohama’s public library. If you don’t read Japanese, you can download each publication’s PDF by visiting their website, clicking one of the book’s English titles near the bottom of the page, and then clicking “本体PDF画像” link below the image. Each catalog is a tremendous and varied selection of the firework shapes and colors of the time, with several designs you might recognize no matter where you view contemporary fireworks displays. (via Open Culture)

“Both Worlds” (2009), all images provided by Cecilia Paredes

Peruvian artist Cecilia Paredes is the subject of her own richly patterned photographs, yet her figure is often difficult to locate at first. For each portrait she hangs boldly printed fabrics as the backdrop, which she then matches either with her painted skin, custom clothing, or both. Her torso, arms, and face fade into the background, as the curvature of her body and brown hair become some of the only indicators of her presence.

“I wrap, cover, or paint my body with the same pattern of the material and re-present myself as part of that landscape,” she explains. “Through this act, I am working on the theme of building my own identification with the entourage or part of the world where I live or where I feel I can call home. My bio has been described as nomadic so maybe this is also a need of addressing the process of constant relocation.”

Paredes was born in Lima, Peru and currently works between Philadelphia, Lima, and Costa Rica. Currently she has a solo exhibition at Museum of Latin America Art (MOLAA) in Los Angeles through December 30, 2018, and will open another solo exhibition at the Museum of the University of Navarra (MUN) in Spain on March 27, 2019. (via LensCulture)

‘Dreaming Rose”

“Mia Standing with Butterflies” (2015)

‘Paradise Hands” (2011)

“En tus alas” (2014)

“Lilly” (2014)

“Nocturne” (2009)

“Art Nouveau” (2011)

“Blue Landscape” (2007)

Founded in 2013 by 18-year-old (at the time) inventor Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit organization that’s working to clean up our oceans by removing plastic. After five years of rigorous design and testing, the Cleanup’s cleaning apparatus, called System 001, has been deployed off the coast of California.

System 001 is a passive collection apparatus that works by moving in tandem with the ocean’s currents, taking advantage of the water’s circular movement patterns, called gyres, that cause the trash to accumulate in the first place. The Ocean Cleanup points out that 92% of the debris in the Patch is still large enough to be collected using the System’s large suspended net, and it’s critical to remove this plastic now before it degrades into microplastics that enter the food chain. Because of the net’s passive, slow-moving design, the group has reported that it has not caused animals to get caught, presumably because they have sufficient time and space to navigate away from the debris-funneling nets.

While the organization has global aspirations and an international team (the founder is Dutch), their first focus is on the massive Pacific Garbage Patch, which floats in the ocean between California and Hawaii. The Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest aquatic aggregation of trash in the world, first recognized thirty years ago. It is estimated to contain about 80,000 metric tons of garbage spanning 5.2 billion square feet (nearly a million square miles). Ocean Cleanup’s boat, the Maersk Launcher, towed the System 1,200 miles from Alameda to begin its work.

You can see a live update of the System’s location and learn more about The Ocean Cleanup on the organization’s website, as well as on Twitter and Instagram.

As Bicycle Crumbs describes these pins, “they’re the dumbest thing ever,” but we all can agree, they’re kinda clever. They’re in stock now, for $20 a pair at Bicycle Crumbs.

All images © Brent Cizek

Minnesota-based wildlife photographer Brent Cizek was headed back to shore before a summer storm when he spotted the common merganser he would later nickname “Momma Merganser.” At first the mother duck was being followed by a brood of more than 50 fluffy ducklings, however when spotted the group again, the total had grown to 76.

“I happened to find this group of mergansers purely by luck, but I was absolutely amazed by what I saw,” Cizek tells Colossal. “At the time I didn’t know anything about the species, so I wasn’t sure if what I witnessed was a common occurrence or something out of the ordinary. All I knew was that I had never seen anything like that before.”

The scene is extraordinary indeed. Although the aquatic birds are known to lay their eggs in the nests of other ducks, a female duck can only incubate 20 at any given time explains Kenn Kaufman, field editor for Audubon. It is most likely that several dozen of the ducklings lost their mothers and were adopted into Momma Merganser’s own brood.

Cizek plans to continue following the extra large family, and posts his findings to on Instagram. To learn more about merganser habits, read the National Audubon Society’s piece on the surprising spectacle. (via The Laughing Squid)

Imagine

Creative constructions of Lego bricks spring to life in these advertising campaigns developed by Asawin Tejasakulsin, a senior art director at Ogilvy & Mather in Bangkok, Thailand. The two series, Imagine and Build the Future, amplify the childhood wonder central to the Lego brand, devising playful scenarios that successfully interact with reality. In Imagine, storybook animals come to life, while in Build the Future, children assemble the uniforms of their dream jobs, all using Lego bricks. You can see more work by Tejasakulsin on Behance.

Imagine

Imagine

Build the Future

Build the Future

Build the Future

James D. Morgan/Getty Images

Twenty years ago, the fortress city of Carcassonne in southern France was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In celebration of the important anniversary, Swiss artist Felice Varini (previously) was commissioned by France’s Centre des Monuments Nationaux to install a massive illusion of concentric yellow circles on the city’s border. The installation, titled “Concentric Concentric,” was installed this spring and will remain up through September, 2018.

Although at first glance the striking yellow marks appear to be painted directly on the surface of the ancient stones—a somewhat alarming gesture for a declared historic site—the circles are actually very thin pieces of colored aluminum, which were carefully adhered to the city’s walls and turrets by local art students. Varini’s bold installation has garnered quite a bit of attention, not all of it positive. In a video interview, included below, the artist explains how he conceived of this particular work. You can see more of his colorful illusions on Facebook. (via Arrested Motion)

James D. Morgan/Getty Images

Mike and David’s Adventures

James D. Morgan/Getty Images

James D. Morgan/Getty Images

James D. Morgan/Getty Images

In this video by YouTube user Jeb Corliss, the adventurer takes his Go Pro camera to Six Flags Magic Mountain to film his front row ride through one of the park’s many roller coasters. As Corliss flies through the ride’s twists and turns, the camera creates one mind-bending distortion after another. By putting the footage through stabilization during the stitching process, he and the other passengers loop alongside the rollercoaster with a blown out perspective similar to a fisheye lens.

Simon Brown sources worn-out household tools like brushes and thimbles and turns them into miniature scenes for his felted wildlife. A short, stiff brush becomes a tree branch for a perching owl, and a dense hair brush with swirling bristles forms a meadow for two rabbits. Brown, who is based in Northumbria, United Kingdom, uses needle felting to create his realistic forest creatures. You can see more of his finished and in-progress work on Instagram. (via Bored Panda)

Wacky Racists

As requested by Bangor Spruytenberg

In addition to laying claim to the title of France’s first independent bookstore, Librairie Mollat has carved a unique niche on Instagram with its #bookface portraits. The Bordeaux-based bookstore regularly features photographs of book covers held up in front of perfectly scaled, dressed, and nose-shaped people (presumably, some are customers, though some repeated faces seem to indicate a few photogenic employees). You can see more from Mollat—and perhaps even get your next book recommendation—on Instagram. If you enjoy this, also check out Album Plus Art. (via Hyperallergic)

Billowing clouds of smoke burst upon rugged mountainous terrains, deserted architecture, and blossoming fields. These vibrant, ethereal sceneries are captured by French photographers Isabelle Chapuis and Alexis Pichot and are part of their Blossom project. The duo’s smokey clouds emerge from beautiful landscapes and desolate buildings alike, transforming both natural and abandoned scenes into enchanted spaces of sorcery and wonder.

Chapuis and Pichot’s collaborative project is a celebration of the beauty of natural forms, of what nature grows into without humankind’s influence. Each cloud is created by adding colored pigments to smoke including pastel pinks, vivid blues, dark greens, and creamy yellows. The duo captures the resulting colorful scene scene with a Nikon D810 camera.

The project is set in various parts of the globe including the US, Morocco, Turkey, and Norway, each of which has unique natural topography. The clouds take different forms depending on the landscape. In one photo a mustard yellow cloud resembles volcanic smoke, yet in another, a cloud looks like an peach-hued spiritual form haunting an old industrial site.

With ‘Blossom’, the artists share with Colossal that they seek to illustrate a visual manifestation of humanity’s creative impulse, and to raise awareness on the interventions of mankind in territory. “If people are absent from these photographs, their imprint is suggested among these wild natural or abandoned landscapes,” states Chapuis.

To view more of Chapuis and Pichot’s work visit their website and Instagram.

Photographer Felix Inden recently explored the Faroe Islands with the goal of capturing the landscape’s ephemeral wintery weather. “Imagery from the islands is frequently seen in social media,” Inden explains. “What I had rarely seen was really winterish imagery, so my plan was to capture the islands in their winter dress. Easier said than done, because of the Faroese weather. It’s not a place where harsh winter conditions are likely to happen for a long time. Most often it is one or two snowy days—then new rain comes and washes it all away.”

Based in Germany, Inden travels frequently for his work, and leads workshops in such photogenic places as Iceland and Norway. You can see more of his far-flung photography from the comfort of your couch, including this captivating trip to the Lofoten Islands, via Instagram, Facebook, and Behance.

Enlarge (credit: Jeff Dunn)

Amazon confirmed an Echo owner's privacy-sensitive allegation on Thursday, after Seattle CBS affiliate KIRO-7 reported that an Echo device in Oregon sent private audio to someone on a user's contact list without permission.

"Unplug your Alexa devices right now," the user, Danielle (no last name given), was told by her husband's colleague in Seattle after he received full audio recordings between her and her husband, according to the KIRO-7 report. The disturbed owner, who is shown in the report juggling four unplugged Echo Dot devices, said that the colleague then sent the offending audio to Danielle and her husband to confirm the paranoid-sounding allegation. (Before sending the audio, the colleague confirmed that the couple had been talking about hardwood floors.)

After calling Amazon customer service, Danielle said she received the following explanation and response: "'Our engineers went through all of your logs. They saw exactly what you told us, exactly what you said happened, and we're sorry.' He apologized like 15 times in a matter of 30 minutes. 'This is something we need to fix.'"

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US Geological Survey

Hawaii's Mount Kīlauea eruptions have caused damage in the southeast corner of the Island of Hawai'i, but a new concern has been slowly building: earlier this week Reuters reported that lava is creeping onto the property of a 38 MW geothermal plant called Puna Geothermal Ventures (PGV). Lava damage could cause problems for the plant's operations in the future, and some officials are concerned that damage to geothermal wells could result in releases of hydrogen sulfide gas, which is toxic to humans. Although lava had been held back by a natural berm for days, yesterday Reuters again reported that a new lava flow had entered the 815-acre PGV property.

Thus far, the only structure that has been destroyed at the geothermal plant has been an old warehouse that was used in the early days of the plant and had been used for storage since, according to a Hawai'i County spokeswoman.

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The Weather Girls gleefully performing their most famous hit “It’s Raining Men" whilst surrounded by a scene of absolute carnage as the bodies of the unfortunate aforementioned men lie dead and dying around them, having inexplicably fallen from the sky. Meanwhile, Michael Fish and Sian Lloyd look on, bewildered.

As requested by Anthony Mitchell

Fantastic Planet by Amanda Parer. Photo credit: Parer Studio

In partnership with Hyperallergic and the Exploratorium museum, we’re giving away a trip to San Francisco to see the museum’s summer exhibition, ‘Inflatable’, curated by Colossal. One lucky reader and a plus-one of their choice will be provided with hotel accommodations, airfare, and tickets for the exclusive preview night of Inflatable on Friday, May 25. Read more about the exhibition here;  the prize package and how to enter are detailed below. This giveaway is available only to US readers.

Prize includes hotel, flight, and admission for two to the preview event on May 25, 2018:

Hotel accommodations include three nights at the Hotel Zephyr at Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco.

Flights to be awarded with two $500 Visa gift cards.

Tickets for two to exclusive preview event on Friday, May 25, 2018, including meet and greet with the artists and curator of Inflatable.

$500 in gift certificates to The Colossal Shop and the Hyperallergic Store ($250 each).

Enter to win below or via this link.

Japanese designer Kosuke Takahashi has created an ingenious font that merges different typefaces to allow both sighted and blind readers to use the same text. Thinking ahead to Tokyo’s hosting of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, Takahashi shares on his website that he hopes his font will “create a truly universal space where anyone can access information.”  Braille Neue is comprised of two typesets: Braille Neue Standard, for the English alphabet, and Braille Neue Outline, which accommodates both Japanese and English visible characters and letters. Takahashi’s creation addresses two related problems. In a statement, the designer explains,

Currently, we rarely see braille implemented in the public space since it takes additional space and sighted people consider it not important. Braille Neue addresses this issue by making braille easy to use for sighted people. By spreading this typeset I believe more people will get acquainted with braille… [And] braille tends to be small and invisible, but with Braille Neue it has the possibility to expand spatially into public signages in new ways.

Takahasshi acknowledges that he is not the first to combine braille with visible latin letters, but Braille Neue is the first typeface that also incorporates Japanese characters. Braille Neue has its own website and Twitter handle, and you can see more of the designer’s projects on his website.  (via My Modern Met)

26-year old photographer Paolo Pettigiani (previously) has been taking pictures since age 11, and in the last few years has produced several series of eye-popping infrared images. Pettigiani’s most recent work showcases the Dolomites, a craggy mountain range in the northeastern region of his native Italy.

Infrared photography uses a special film or light sensor that processes the usually not-visible wavelengths of infrared light (specifically near-infrared, as opposed to far-infrared, which is used in thermal imaging.) The resulting images from Pettigiani depict the stands of coniferous trees as watermelon-pink, while surfaces that don’t reflect IR light stay more true to their nature hues. You can see more of the artist’s photographs on his website, as well as on Behance and Instagram. Pettigiani also offers prints of his work via Lumas.

José Naranja creates beautifully detailed sketchbooks by collaging elements of photography, writing, stamps, and his own precise drawings of everything from poison mushrooms to a bird’s eye view of his dream studio. The ex-aeronautic engineer began working with sketchbooks after he discovered pocket-size Moleskine notebooks in 2005 and realized they were the perfect vessel to document his daily experiences and develop his wildest ideas. After 13 years of using the same style of notebook, Naranja now crafts his own by hand.

“It creates a special link between my journals and me,” Naranja told Colossal. “Drawings of calligraphy are just useful tools to express ideas They are the visible layer in the whole notebook as a piece, a mandala, and it’s the final artwork. Every detail in the process should be taken into consideration because I give the best effort. At the moment they have given me back only good news.”

The sketchbook artist also sells edited copies of his best work in a compilation called The Orange Manuscript, which you can find on his website. You can see up-to-date sketches and follow his travels (which happen nearly year-round) on his Instagram.

For the 400th anniversary of Madrid’s Plaza Mayor, urban artist SpY (previously) transformed the bustling square into a centralized place of respite. The temporary park titled Cesped, or “Grass,” was created by bringing in more than 35,000 square feet of sod, which formed a perfect green circle at the center of the pedestrian plaza. Over the course of its four day installation last fall more than 100,000 visitors lounged, played, and rested in the celebratory work.

You can watch a time-lapse installation of the project on the Madrid-based artist’s website, and view more urban interventions on his Instagram.  (via designboom)