Grand Scale Environmental & Land Art

"QUANTUM SHOT" #671 Link - article by M. Christian and Avi Abrams "Man's Reaction To His Earth" - The Grandest and the Most Sublime Land Art Go to a museum and look at the paintings, go to a concert and listen to the music... but look out the window - and see art? Often called "Earth Works", or "Land Art" these not-too-subtle masterpieces use the landscape itself, sometimes on a scale that, to appreciate it, means stepping far away from it: very far away. (left: land art by Andrew Rogers, via; right: Uysal Mehmet Ali in Parc de Chaudfontaine, Belgium, via) Travel to Catron County, New Mexico, for instance and you'll see a work that is immediately, and quite literally, striking. Created by Walter De Maria, The Lightning Field is 400 steel poles set in a grid covering one mile by one mile portion of desert land. The Lightning Field is impressive, a haunting visa of steel spears against the dramatic landscape of the Southwest, but what gives it that literal striking beauty is the most beautiful sight in the desert: lightning. (images credit: John Cliett, Dia Art Foundation, via 1, 2, 3) Given the right set of circumstances, nature itself paints in brilliant illuminations of forked electricity, shaped and sculpted by De Maria's metal rods. Not that far away, in Rozel Point, Utah, you'll see an installation that (because of the on-again, off-again nature of its media) actually vanished for close than 30 years. Created by Robert Smithson using natural rock, Spiral Jetty is exactly that: a coiling formation of stone that, when it was first created in 1970, was harshly black but as it aged its become more and more pink and white because of its home in the Great Salt Lake. As with The Lightning Field, Spiral Jetty works with the earth itself, not just in color only, but also in appearing and disappearing: when the water rose in the lake, Spiral Jetty disappeared, only to reappear again recently: (images credit: SpiralJetty, KAP Cris/Cris Benton, Fred Holley) While not as large in scale as Smithson or De Maria, there's an artist whose work has been known to bring tears to even the most jaded of eyes. Andy Goldsworthy works with nature, and nothing else, to create some truly unique, and absolutely beautiful, art. No glue, no supports, no paint ... nothing but grass, stone, ice, and the earth: (images credit: Andy Goldsworthy, via 1, 2) The art of Jim Denevan is so large, so staggering, that to appreciate it you have to step away from it all, rising above the earth itself. (Read our previous article about his Largest Human-Made Art on Earth): At over nine miles across, Denevan's creation in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada is the one for the record books ... that is, until Denevan or another artist like him goes for something even larger. His current project consists of creating huge circles on the frozen surface of Lake Baikal, Siberia (more info): (images credit: Jim Denevan, via) Another earth artist is Michael Heizer's work-in-progress called City, in Nevada. Almost as big as a real city at one and a quarter miles long, Heizer's creation is not built from steel and cement, however, but from stone and other natural materials (more info). "As long as you're going to make a sculpture, why not make one that competes with a 747, or the Empire State Building, or the Golden Gate Bridge." --Michael Heizer (images credit: Michael Heizer) James Turrell also uses the earth itself for his work but unlike some other environmental artists he uses not just the ground but also the sky above. His Roden Crater, which is as immense as Denevan's creations, is an ongoing work that will eventually transform a natural crater in Flagstaff, Arizona, into an open air observatory where the earth will provide a naturally framed view of the sky above. (images via Steve Shoffner, 1, 2) Still hungry for some fascinating and unexpected land art installations? Well, Sylvian Meyer takes a forest and populates it with impossible curves and spirals (even spiders!) to convey the wonder of the environment: (images credit: Sylvian Meyer) Unintentional land art - irrigation patterns for Kufra growing in Sahara, Africa: (images via 1, 2) Not too subtle hint about pollution: the sinister "Green Cloud" Nuage Vent installation by HeHe (Helen Evans and Heiki Hansen) - winner of the 2008 Ars Electronica Golden Nica award): (image via) From Utterly Huge to Detailed Miniature Mini-environments by Michael Samuels are somewhat endearing and cute, but don't let it fool you. He lets his pet hamsters to invade the sets when he gets tired of them, generating an interesting Pet-Zilla effect (er... just kidding): (images by Michael Samuels, via) Jack Clifton, author of The Eye of the Artist, said, "Man's reaction to his earth expressed by means of a medium is ART." In the case of these wonderful artists, the ground beneath our feet and the sky above our heads becomes art, an artist's response to his earth, a celebration of the world set all around us. And in the absence of intentional artists, the Nature itself is making art and embellishing architecture - check out these Victorian ornaments (something called a snow roller): (image via) CONTINUE TO "LARGEST HUMAN-MADE ART ON EARTH" -> Share Tweet Share->

Link Latte 149

#149 - Week of January 16, 2011

Car of Tomorrow - [hilarious video]
Would you go to Mars... with no return? - [hundreds volunteer!]
Extreme Chase Through the Websites - [great video]
Audi Shark Concept Car - [automotive]
Most Inspiring Spaceships - [concept art]
What to do when you find something cool on the internet - [chart]
Neat (Transforming) Unicycle - [video]
Monsters in the Sky: Dieselpunk Leviathans - [concept art]
Mind-shattering Miniature Art Models - [art]
The Dakar Rally: Fantastic Pictorial, more - [autosports]
More Recycled Art: Pac-Man, Monolithic Sculptures - [cool art]
Hung Out to Dry (Somewhere in Manhattan)- [hi-res photo]
Cool Mechanism: Shaking Cherries - [neat video]
Why Chinese Mothers Are "Superior"... or Not - [controversy]
Vending Machine Dress - [art, Yoko Ono style]
The Incredible True Story of the Collar Bomb Heist - [cool article]
Your Zodiac Sign May Have Changed - [what?..]
Vintage Talking Robot - [weird video]
Testing Chinese-made Armored Door - [wow video]
This woman survived 30,000 ft fall from an airplane - [fact]
Oops! Runaway Crane, Mini Avalanche - [videos]
The Best (and Most Epic) Scrat Yet - [Ice Age 4 video]
The Dance of the Wind - [wow video]
Spectacular: Antarctica Expedition in High-Speed - [wow video]
Faceplant: Great Start to a Race! - [fun video]
Probably the Strangest Animation You Ever Going to See - [video]
Awesome "TV" Ad of Ray Guns! - [cool video]
Top Ten Places to Live in the World - [compilation]

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Steam Train Transformer

Link Scroll down for today's pictures & links. Steam Train Transformer Made by Dandeentremont - watch it in High Definition. Some images of the train are here and here. Link Today's pictures & links: Love at the First Blast: (cover for "Imagination Stories", June 1953 - see more) ------------ World's Tallest Building Planned for Rome in 1939 Not only Hitler and Stalin (see the article here) planned tallest building for their Imperial Capitals - Mussolini wanted to build one as well, the Tallest Building on Earth - more info The architect, Mario Palanti, designed many ornate buildings in South America, for example Palacio Barolo in Buenos Aires, and Palacio Salvo in Montevideo, Uruguay: (images via) ------------ Flying Towards Victory Here's a magnificent dieselpunk airship: steaming off to victory in some Iron Grip battle (concept art by Slawomir Maniak, game series from Isotx): (image credit: ManiakS) ------------ Mixed fresh links for today: Turntables Made out of Recycled Wood, site - [great design] River Turns Green: Weird Sight - [interesting] Bizarre Sea Slug is Half Plant, Half Animal - [wow nature] Robotic Aqua Jelly - [cool video] Lighters Turned Into Motorcycles, Hair Turned Into Insects - [geek art] Earthquakes in the Last Week - [cool site] Great Buck Rogers Rocketship - [retro video] The Sounds of Pulsars - [listen] Esther is the New Wall-E - [wow video] Whole Parking Lot Swept Away by the Flood - [wow video] Rollback of a Chairlift: Hair-raising - [wow video] Bear Gylls: Feats of Strength and Imagination - [wow video] ------------ Dark Roasted Blend T-Shirts are here! Buy them here! This is a joint project between Neatoshop and DRB - this way we ensure the best shopping experience, and will continue to come up with cool Dark Roasted Blend designs throughout the year. ------------ Clanking Through History Here's a steam-powered bit of historical fantasy: a coal-fired Imperial walking locomotive! (dreamed up by Totalleh) (click to enlarge; image via) ------------ Pretty ... And Pretty Tasty, As Well! These paintings, reproductions or classic works, are treats for the eye – but what makes them, the creations of Jean L. Zaun, is that they are also edible treats. Each and every one is chocolate! (images credit: Jean L. Zaun) ------------ Even Sweeter Art Getting hungry yet? Well, Osamu Watanabe's art may make you wet your lips with more than artistic anticipation. Beautiful? Sure, but they are also made from sugar and fuits. Yum! (images credit: Osamu Watanabe) And, possibly even sweeter, here's an amazing Jules Verne-inspired bit of pasty whimsy by Mike’s Amazing Cakes: (image via) ------------ Retro Tron "Tron Ancestry" T-Shirt Design - via (image credit: Infinity Wave) ------------ Jud Creations Jud Turner is up to more steampunk / robotic goodness, check these out: (art by Jud Turner - "Dieselusion", "RoundUp", "Ganesha (Remover of Obstacles)") (art by Jud Turner - "Internal Combustion: fragment") ------------ There Are Weird Bugs ... Then There's This Fellow While its name might be a bit dull, Cladonota benitezi (or a Treehopper), this insect is certainly extraordinarily ... odd. (image credit: Patrick Landmann, Science Photo Library) ------------ Driving Off In Style If you're going to go, at least go in STYLE: custom car coffins! (images via) ------------ Some Serious Motor Boating (image via) ------------ An Encapsulated Future! Stairway to Heaven? Ultra-modern (back in the 1960s), modular apartments by Guy Dessauges - more info (right image credit: P. Althoff, via) ------------ Hello Sweetheart! READ THE PREVIOUS ISSUE -> Share Tweet Share->

Fantastically Intense Wiring, Part 7

"QUANTUM SHOT" #670 Link - article by Avi Abrams The Mothers of All Messes (and maybe a few fathers, too) The goal of this series (other than to simply entertain) is to raise awareness about the abundance of various tangled messes in the world and to establish the humanitarian fund dedicated to eradicating this blight from the face of the Earth entirely. (well... maybe not, but in any case... take a picture of some private miserable mess which you face every day and send it to us!) We'll start with a few simply very complicated wiring "landscapes", and will progress to nightmarish ones pretty quickly. Image below shows "Years of Progress"... Really? - New York in 1890: (image via) Support wires in the 1893 ferris wheel in Chicago (notice how small the people appear in this photograph): (image courtesy Brooklyn Museum Archives, via) Vintage supercomputer wiring ("intense" is the word here): on the left is The Collossus (the World War Two era computer, more info) and the Bombe, the machine designed to crack the Enigma code (right): (images credit: Mirjam Visser) Inside a vintage supercomputer: the unassuming front view, and... the peek inside - (images via) This is a sound console - "Nine Inch Nails" dimmer racks from the Australian SoundWave Festival - which has around 400 channels in all (ironically, all this gets controlled by one 5-pin DMX cable quarter-inch thick): (image sent in by Andrew Nissley) Some ugly telephone cabling work, sent in via: (images via) Nightmare Server Rooms, courtesy TechRepublic: (images via) Embryo of Transformer (waiting for the touch of AllSpark)? - (original unknown) Some crazy wiring in Bucharest, Romania: (sent to DRB by Jej) Something is not right here (found in Japan): (image via) ------- Really Good Wiring Jobs We have to provide a visual relief to our readers, realizing that they've seen too much nightmarish wiring already. So here are most beautiful wiring jobs - the first of which belongs to the CERN's Hadron Collider (see the article showing this machinery in detail - click here): (images courtesy/copyright CERN) Another good organized switch board, all the way from the times of Cold War - from May 1959 General Dynamics brochure: (image via) And now, great wiring in fashion: just imagine how it would feel to have a Bad Wiring Day for this model? - (design by students of the Pontificia Bolivariana University, Colombia; photo by Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images) Great wiring in art? Well, how about this "Wired" sculpture, by Jud Turner: (art by Jud Turner - "Wired") "Tangled" lamp design, Matthew Booth: (image credit: Matthew Booth) Troy Paiva, famous for his "Lost America" series of abandoned sites, lights up vintage cable and wiring with cool colours - making "Light Painting" art out of abandoned machinery: (images credit: Lost America) "Miles of wiring in a junk 60s jet airliner at Aviation Warehouse in El Mirage, CA, a Mojave Desert aircraft boneyard" And here is the Great Wiring: the "Wired" Magazine! - (image via) ------- Passionate about their work An Iraqi electrician checks the wires leading to a block of flats, in Baghdad's Karrada district: (image credit: EPA/ALI ABBAS) These guys take risks, so that you could enjoy communication: (originals unknown) READ THE WHOLE "CRAZY WIRING" SERIES! READ THE PREVIOUS PART -> Share Tweet Share->