This setup, dubbed “Mauritian Sunset ” by UK-based artist Sandy Smith, is made up of a ton of old, obsolete computers and monitors. Together they create a wall-sized installation that produces beautiful colors that resemble a “sunset” of some kind. While I don’t see the whole sunset thing, I think it’d make as an awesome lighting setup for a party or event.
Want to see what it looks like from behind? Hit the jump for wires galore.
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The Opto-Isolator asks the question: “What if art could view us?” This strange installation was on display at the Bitforms Gallery in NYC stirring all kinds of emotions as it mimicked the human eye. It’ll focus on any one person staring at it for too long. In addition, it’ll follow the person viewing it as well as blink along to their blinks.
The creators, Golan Levin and Greg Baltus, must’ve lost many nights of sleep working on this because I can’t imagine having this thing staring at me while it’s guts are laying all over a work bench. This device kind of reminds me of the gatekeeper droid that guarded the entrance to Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi. I wonder if the Opto-Isolator could be my personal gatekeeper to make sure no solicitors enter my house.
Santa Monica recently held its first GLOW festival on July 19th, an all-night event of media art, performances, music, and sculpture. The most memorable of all was perhaps Usman Haque’s art installation called Primal Source. It looks like a smaller-scale northern lights, being made up of a large water spray screen that projects light patterns aided by the perfect backdrop of a darkened sky.
The coolest and most engaging aspect of the design was Haque’s idea to use microphones around the installation that allowed the crowd to alter the display through their reactions and the noises they were making. The cheers and shouts of the crowd made way for a wickedly impressive light show.
I think we can all agree that drinking cold beer is the best activity ever created. But after a long day at the beach, drinking cold brews under a hot sun, we’re left with tons of empty bottles. Now because we’re vacationing in a shitty state (we’re cheap), we can’t recycle these bottles for money. So what can we do with them? Smash ‘em.
Afasia 1, aka The Beer Blaster, from Arcangelo Sassolino is a pneumatic canon that uses nitrogen to shoot empty beer bottles at a wall. The entire enclosure has a cage around it so spectators can watch the smashing. Every few minutes, a shot is fired from the canon and another bottle is smashed. So the next time you start drinking, make sure you start smashing if you want to have any sort of fun.
Great project, strange name. Created by Danish artist Alexander Laner, Viva Las Vegas is a project that makes one gaze in wonder and amazement. Creating POV visuals from a spinning set of recycled hardware and neon lights, Viva looks to engage the user in an inebriated state and hold their attention continuously. So if you’re in Copenhagen, Denmark anytime soon, stop by the Tom Christoffersen Gallery and let us know how it looks.
Japanese artist Mutoh Tsutomu has created the raver’s wet dream room. The Optical Tone installation is a combination of art, technology and science. Clad with LED light spectrums in conjunction with sensors that interact with inhabitants of the room, Tsutomu uses a special algorithm to display RGB colors. This interactively examines the problems in human perception and the recognition of dynamic characteristics of light that can’t be experienced in everyday life.
The experiment could lead to further explorations for improvement in environmental light of the digital age and research on understanding of human color perception. In turn, this will open up a new history of visual expression and communication that not even a trip on mushrooms could prepare you for.
Getting wet sucks, especially if you’re that alien species from the movie Signs. Michael Burton has crafted an award-winning concept of a virtual water interactive installation. Unlike the Light Rain, you won’t find shoddy poetry and goofy dancers throughout this video. Rather, you’ll see people playing with life-like water displayed on a board.
The water will react to anything pressed up against the board including your entire body. Plants will grow in dry areas of the board, aquatic life will spawn from bodies of water and water will become stagnant if its source is severed. With multiple users, an evolving network of virtual water is obtained. The Waterboard claims to
“offer the means to encourage creating thinking to emphasis the natural progression of the Earth’s water supply”
Looks like he’s going for an eco state-of-mind and from the looks of things, it seems to be quite the success.
Link
How often do city dwellers get the chance to see a wonder of nature such as the waterfall? Not often enough. I live about 45 minutes from NYC, and I can tell you first hand that the city is magical. It has mostly everything someone could want, and then some. While Central Park provides tourists with a dose of greenery, there is something missing in the water department that can’t be solved by the surrounding Hudson River.
New York’s Public Art Fund has launched a product which will change the landscape of the city from July to October this year. They’ll be installing man-made waterfalls in three locations around the city; lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and on the north shore of Governors Island. These installations will include 90 to 120-feet tall cascading falls and will operate from 7 AM to 10 PM, seven days a week, lit after sunset for an even more impressive and beautiful effect. (more…)
