Check This Out!!

Last night i was on Pinterest, and i came across the coolest website! You guys have to check this out, it's a collection of photographs for the year 2012. They are unbelievable. They are also super relevant to some of the projects we have been doing in class. Here is the link if you guys want to see all the pictures, which i highly recommend!

http://twistedsifter.com/2012/06/top-50-pictures-of-the-day-for-2012/


If you don't have enough time to look through all of the photographs, I'd like to share some of my favorites.

The above photograph is one of a Seahorse looking at a Divers Watch. How stinking cool is that?! I would like to learn how to take photographs with that much clarity, i feel like i'm right there with the Seahorse!

The above image is neat, but majorly creeps me out. I don't like Bees, and this photograph gives me the creepy crawlies. Doesn't that prove that it's an awesome image though? To illicit such a response from the viewer? I'm amazed that the photographer was able to catch this high speed process, which leads me to wonder if this is more a work of Photoshop rather than actual taken images, but whatever it is... it's super cool.

This one reminded me of the first days of class in Art, Science & Technology when we were talking about spontaneous art installations and i was the only person in the class who didn't know what Planking was. This is called Yard Bombing and it's in Mexico. This totally makes me want to go Yarn Bombing now..

This photograph is of an island waterfall. It's stunning, and i love the use of white space to frame the water surrounding the island for the lower half of the image. I'm not sure if this was intentionally done or if it's a case of over saturation, but i thought it tied in nicely with the discussions we have been having in class in regards to white space.

This photograph is of 7 hours in 1 image. Need i say more? Totally goes with our photomontage assignment!

This one is also a photomontage, of planes taking off from an airport. This one makes me jealous... i wish i would have done something that cool! What inspiration for another montage!

Younger Mona Lisa?

Today i read an article on Yahoo.com that talked about how a "Younger Mona Lisa" has been found. Naturally, there is a significant amount of controversy about the legitimacy of the art piece, but it looks like it could actually be true.  Apparently, there has been a huge amount of research that has gone into figuring out if this art piece really was painted before the actual Mona Lisa. They have looked at all the different angles and used the most modern technology to take into consideration  all the factors to determine the validity of the painting. Take a read for yourself:

http://news.yahoo.com/younger-mona-lisa-presented-geneva-165503097.html

I think this is super cool! The Mona Lisa is such a huge piece in the art world, and i'm the kind of person who appreciates seeing the process. Seeing an earlier version of such an important art contribution is pretty cool, and i think that based on the amount of research that the organization has completed, i think it's legit. Is it bad that i kinda like this younger version better? She looks prettier to me!

From Uncaged to Cyber-Spacialism

The readings for this week in Multimedia Authoring were difficult for me to get through. The essay was dense with words i had to look up, and i got frustrated a few times because the author definitely thinks outside the box and it was difficult for me to follow his thought proccess. The essay definitely got me thinking though, about the relationship between the physical and virtual. It's impressive to me that Nuhn had a realistic outline and motivation to reach his goal of blending the two worlds. I wouldn't even know where to start! I was also pleased that the Uncaged project was broken down into it's individual parts and explained to the reader, because after reading the artists intentions and motivations, i was very confused about how he would be able to make them happen. When reading about the different elements like blow life and bubblelabub, i was able to understand what he was doing. It's certainly helpful for me to be able to learn the bigger picture, to understand what the artist wanted to accomplish and get a little background knowledge going before being thrown into a conceptual art piece. Without the preface i would have taken two looks at the project, thrown my hands up, and walked away. However, with a little information about the intentions, i was able to connect what the artist was trying to do and see how it related in the final product. I also thought that it was interesting in the section about after Uncaged, when the Nuhn expresses how frustrated he got and how his vision changed a little bit after he completed the project. It's nice to see how an artists life is constantly changing, and the art itself lends to that.

Even Artists Argue!

Article:  http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Art/2012/Sep-22/188802-nyc-art-venue-is-not-for-faint-hearted.ashx#axzz279VU4R3f

The above article is worth the read! It is basically just an article about a huge art piece that is going on right now in New York. It's pretty interesting, but the part of the article that made me want to share it and discuss it in my blog is because of the 2nd half of the article. If you read it, you'll notice that even the Artists involved are arguing about wether or not it should be considered art, or good art! Theres a pretty negative comment from the Director of the Italic Institute of America about how he thinks it "looks like a trailer park" and he's concerned with the safety! It made me giggle just a little because everytime we are in class for either of our classes together, this "what's Art" conversation comes up, and i kinda get the feeling like we are never going to agree. Then to read this article and realize that even these people can't agree struck me as humerous!!

What's Art To Me?

When i was reading the news today, i began to read an article about how this Giraffe broke free from the circus, and was running around the city for hours before the captured it. Now, the story ends sadly for the Giraffe, but the part that caught my eye was the image that they posted along with the article.

Look at that! Now i took one look at that, and it evoked an emotion in me. One of freedom, running free, breaking the rules, such excitement! I loved this picture! That sparked me to start thinking about how to alot of people.. this would be just an interesting image that went along with the article. But i seriously want to print this image off, frame it, and put it on my wall! I get such a giddy feeling when i see it, i love it! Talk about an image having an impact! So now i feel like my eyes are opened a little bit more about the discussions about what counts as Art, and what doesn't. To me, this picture is a work of art, because it allows me to have a moment outside of my everyday life and feel an emotion i wouldn't normally feel and i enjoy it. To me, that's enough for me to be able to call it a work of Art. Now i can appreciate how sometimes something that comes across to me as totally pointless could be a priceless work of art to someone else. Love it!

Penny Paintings

I came across this slideshow on Yahoo.com today, and i really like the art involved. The artist (Jacqueline Lou Skaggs) was an avid collector of pennies throughout her life. She then decided to use the pennies as her canvas, and painted beautiful images onto the pennies. She initially wanted to then spend the pennies to put them back into circulation, but ended up being to attached to the artwork to let them go. I think they are phenomenal, and the amount of attention to detail that they require is immense. Take a look through the slideshow and see for yourself. I especially like the one with the bowl with what i interpret to be bread rolls inside, it almost looks 3D!

Slideshow : http://gma.yahoo.com/photos/12-miniature-paintings-on-pennies-slideshow/12-miniature-paintings-on-pennies-photo-1347990534.html

Readings of 9/17

When i was doing the readings for Tuesdays Art, Science, and Technology class i read about the artist who did the Empire State Building piece. When i was reading about the live view, i initially thought it sounded kind of silly and pointless. When the book started talking about how he did a solo presentation of the Empire State Building in September 2001, and how the events of 9/11 unfolded on the live feed... it got me thinking. That installation ended up recording a huge historical event.. and none of it was planned. I never thought that something like that could come of an art presentation. Obviously, it was never the artists intention to have this happen, or to include anything like that in his installation, but by chance it happened. It makes me appreciate this type of art a little more because of the potential for it to interact with something much bigger than it was created for. I've been thinking about that part of the reading since i read it two days ago, it just really impacted me so i thought i would share.

Real-Life Sleeping Beauty

This Art Installation in Ukraine has captured my attention, for multiple reasons. The artist ( Taras Polataiko) created the intallation that was shown in Ukraines National Art Museum. He chose 5 women to pose as "Sleeping Beauty" and sleep on a bed in the middle of the room. Suitors would then line up and kiss the sleeping beauty. These suitors were the visitors, just regular people who were participating. Before you could go and kiss the woman, you had to sign a contract agreeing to MARRY the sleeping beauty if she woke up! How insane is that! Now the reason this installation has gotten so much attention is because one of the women woke up after being kissed by a girl. The artist says he doesn't expect the two women to get married, but he hopes the  situation will spark a conversation on same sex marriage in Ukraine. Now... this is nuts to me! People actually signed this contract, and legally binded themselves to marry these random women if they woke up! I mean, it's cool. The idea is cool, and the anticipation of "will she wake up? Will i be the one?" is neat, and plays into the fantasy of a fairytale romance... but to actually get married? Wow. Now i didn't read anything about the other beauties. The article that i read was just about the fact that the sleeping beauty woke up to a girl, and what that meant. What do you think? Is this taking Art too far? Or should we be accepting of these types of installations?

http://news.yahoo.com/video/sleeping-beauty-wakes-unexpected-kiss-193000577.html

Readings: Art, Science & Technology

My favorite part of the readings was The Legible City by Jeffrey Shaw. I thought this was neat how you became immersed in a world different than your own. The visitor rides through cities that are represented through words that are blown up in 3D, and they ride through on stationary bike. It got me thinking about how i think the part of interactive intallations that i find the best are the ones where you can immerse yourself in a different land. I thought about how it could be even better if the words represented a book, I remember reading those books where you got to choose your own endings. You felt like you were completely absorbed into the story. Imagine if you could read the book while walking through the digitally recreated land, and you got to physically see the words and follow them and perhaps even choose your own ending. Very cool! I think Jeffrey Shaw had an ingenious idea with this work, and he really thought it through. The fact that the letters are the same dimensions as the actual buildings on the actual map that they represent is abstract, but in a form that even i can enjoy.

Here is a link to a video where you can see The Legible City
http://youtu.be/s5wEuclfnN0

Readings: Multimedia Authoring

The element that sparked my interest the most from the readings due for today was the "Human Race Machine". What a neat idea! I understand how this would be a politically sensitive interactive art, but if you put politics aside for a second, how cool is the idea that we can see ourselves as a different race. This also got me thinking about internet responsibility and being honest about our true selves. Last semester the topic of online identity was a common subject for discussion, especially when Google Plus required people to submit their real first and last names. They were trying to get people to portray themselves honestly, as their true self, and to get rid of people pretending to have different names. With this interactive art, it shows how today's technology is making it easier to defy  "online honesty". If someone were able to take the software and that Nancy Burson had, and use it for their own enjoyment, they could potentially add a whole new dimension to their identity online. Not only could they use a different name, create a different personality, but they can now alter their identity to look different too! How would we have any idea that this isn't how they really looked? It's fascinating to me! It definitely shows how art is breaking all barriers, and meshing our lives with art, science, and technology.

Here is a link to learn more about Nancy Bursons Human Race Machine : http://nancyburson.com/pages/publicart_pages/hrmachine.html

What Makes "Art"?

I was reading an article today about how Japan is restoring the only tree that survived the Tsunami that hit last March. When i was reading this article, i got to thinking about how i now viewed this tree as a work of art. The fact that this tree was just a regular old tree that no one looked twice at, and probably also didn't pay much attention too immediately following the disaster either, is now a symbol of hope and strength. This was the only tree that survived, and the image in the article is a powerful one. The tree has been damaged since by the salt water, so Japan is restoring it by putting a carbon spine in the trunk and plastic replicas of the leaves, and then returning it to the original spot. This tree is now a work of art to me, the fact that it stands for something more than itself and the fact that people identify this tree with the strength of Japan and value it enough to spend the equivalent of $27 million on it shows that this tree should be valued as Art. It sparked my interest in how this phenomena happens, through events... regular objects can be turned into art. What do you think?

Here is a link to the original article, which provides an image worth seeing!
http://news.yahoo.com/miracle-pine-tree-removed-tsunami-ravaged-city-133025066--abc-news-topstories.html

Postcards Predicting Future

It's amazing how when i heard about starting this blog, i was so worried about finding articles or events to talk about that combine art with science or are interesting. Now i see stuff all over the place that i can use for this blog, it's kind of like when you get a new car you start seeing that car everywhere!
Today i saw an interesting slideshow on Yahoo.com about how some French artists made postcards depicting how they thought we would be living in the year 2000. These postcards were created in the 15th century, and although some of their ideas are still far-fetched, some of their predictions are super close! It's an interesting slideshow, here is the link. : http://news.yahoo.com/photos/historic-visions-of-the-future-slideshow/postcards-from-the-future-photo-1347289263.html#crsl=%252Fphotos%252Fhistoric-visions-of-the-future-slideshow%252Fpostcards-from-the-future-photo-1347289263.html

However, if you don't want to go through the slideshow, i'll provide some of my favorite slides right here.

 1) The above image shows how the artists thought our barber shops would be. A robot that does all the work for us, with just a push of the button!

2) The above image shows what they thought our firefighters would look like! Flying firefighters, now theres a thought!

3) Check out this one! It's them predicting video chat! Now that they got right, how cool!

England's Largest Nude Land Sculpture Unveiled

England's largest nude land sculpture was unveiled recently and Yahoo posted an article about it that captured my attention. The sculpture is actually in a 46 Acre park in Northumberlandia. They added new land to the park in an effort of restoration, and in my option made sometime totally cool. The image below is actually a shot from the air, which shows the nude lady reclining.



I thought this was so neat! And classy too, i normally don't prefer nude sculptures but i really do like this one. Apparently you can walk the paths because it is a real life park. The part about this that i thought was the best is the fact that the sculpture will forever be changing. With growth of the vegetation and then land shifts over time, the woman will forever be changing over time. Talk about a combination of art, nature, science, everything! To read more about this, you can access the article that i read using the link below.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/09/englands-largest-nude-land-sculpture-unveiled/