Category Archives: People
Climbing Down Into an Active Volcano [Video]
In october 2010, the volcanologist Geoff Mackley came up with the crazy idea of descending into the Marum volcano which was active at that time. He gathered a team and went to Ambryum Island, Vanuatu, in an extreme adventure to approach as much as they could of the boiling caldera. To document the furious lava lake up close, they had to descend into the giant pit, facing hazardous toxic gas vapors and foul weather. See how they managed to confront the danger in the video below.
What do you think- challenging or plain crazy?
Art Installation Linking People from London&New York in Real Time: Telectroscope [VIDEO]
Even if many of you probably already heard about the Telectroscope, this great invention captured our attention and we thought of sharing it. Although it had a short existence (May-June 2008), it is a famous creation that consisted in outdoor interactive video installations linking London (near Tower Bridge) and New York (Brooklyn Bridge). It was an modern art installation constructed by Paul St George (a London based multimedia artist and sculptor) who stated his inspiration was a project developed by its grand-father in the 19th century. The Telectroscope appeared one morning on both sides of the Atlantic, revealing a 37 feet long by 11 feet tall brass and wood Victorian–looking contraption. To achieve a real-time encounter between people, the installation used two video cameras linked by a VPN connection to provide a virtual tunnel across the Atlantic. The connection used links of between 8 and 50 Mbps and the images were transmitted using MPEG-2 compression.
Photo by Michiel Souren
Here is a excerpt from Telectroscope.com about the immediate effects of the unusual art installation: “The Telectroscopes connected London and New York through a number of tunnels and visual amplifiers. This enabled passers by in London to see and interact with the passers by in New York in real time. The 9–hour time difference between London and New York meant that the very first interaction between people in London and people in New York was between a group of office workers on their way to work in London and a curious NYPD officer on his night shift. The office workers at the London end were ecstatic; they had never seen, let alone interacted, with an NYPD officer in real life before. Until then, NYPD officers had only existed in the fantasy of ‘NYPD Blue’. It did not take long before the police officer was throwing his best salsa moves and the office workers in London were responding with an impromptu cha–cha.”
Come to think of it, this is also a form of unconventional tourism, wouldn’t you agree? Here is where you will find the whole story behind the Telectroscope.
Photo by Gilles Diaz
Photo by David Parker
Photo by David Parker
Photo by Matthew Andrews
Photo by David Goldberg
Photo by Dmitriy
Photo by Alessio Gorati
Photo by David Parker
Photo by Matthew Andrews
Photo by Cameron
Photo by Tom H.
Parkour, the Art of Displacement [VIDEO]
Photo by Jonathan Lucas
Parkour is a physical discipline originating from France (founded by David Belle) in which the runners chooses a route in the surrounding environment and attempts to negotiate obstacles in the most efficient way, using only their body. Parkour can be practiced in any environment, but the most popular are the urban areas where dense and challenging obstacles are preferred to pump up the adrenaline. Most based on the original principle of self-preservation and the abilities to help others, this extreme sport involves discipline, interior strength, years of practice and knowledge about the environment, with all its shapes, dimensions, surfaces and many other things that have to be analyzed in order to get out without injuries from crazy attempts. Many traceurs (derived from the Parisian “to move quickly”) believe that parkour influences their thought process by enhancing self-confidence that allows overcoming mental obstacles.
In order to make a much clear picture, Belle makes a distinction between freerunning and parkour or l’art du déplacement, explaining that “the term freerunning is sometimes incorrectly used interchangeably with l’art du déplacement. While l’art du déplacement aims to enable the practitioner to be able to move quickly and creatively past obstacles, freerunning is a competition sport and includes moves such as aerial rotations and spins.” Wikipedia
Find all about it by visiting parkour.com.
Photo by Jonathan Lucas
Photo by Jonathan Lucas
Photo by Jonathan Lucas
Photo by Scott Bass
Photo by Jonathan Lucas
Photo by Jonathan Lucas
Photo by David Degner
Photo by Sam Kong
Photo by Jonathan Lucas
Garma Festival, a Vibrant Celebration of YoIngu Aboriginal People
Garma Festival is an annual festival organized by Yothu Yindi Foundation held in Gulkula, at north-east of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Before starting the festival, the ancient sound of the didgeridoo (a wind instrument) spreads around the region, calling all people to come together in unity and peace. The wild symphony of the local “musicians” announces the Garma Festival, an event that resisted over time, being the most vibrant celebration of YoIngu Aboriginal people of northeastern Arnhem Land. As the most important Indigenous cultural celebration, the festival is the perfect cultural exchange for clan groups from Arnhem Land and also for clan groups throughout the land and Australia.
Garma Festival, with its spectacular traditions and practices which include dance, song, music and art, has a spiritual significance for YoIngu, as a practice and as a place. It happens when people leave their anger and selfishness, when different values and ideas emerge and negotiate knowledge in a respectful learning environment. Garma Festival can be seen as a colorful gate between two worlds: the inheritance of YoIngu culture, one of the oldest living cultures on Earth (stretching back over 40,000 years) and the modern culture represented by Ngapaki or Non-Indigenous Australians.
More information about Garma Festival here.
Photo by Cameron Herweynen
Photo by ABC Open Top End
Photo by Wayne Quilliam
Photo by Wayne Quilliam
Photo by Cameron Herweynen
Photo by WorldNomads.com
Photo by Original Nomad
Photo by Cameron Herweynen
Photo by Cameron Herweynen
Photo by Nicole Skeltys
Photo by Wayne Quilliam
Photo by Wayne Quilliam
Copenhagen’s Cycling Life, a Short Movie
In case you did not know, Denmark’s capital is a haven for bicycles. We found this well made short film about Copenhagen’s cycling life by director Martin de Thurah on Good Transportation and liked it. We will let you draw the conclusions.
EXPO bicycle city from martin de thurah on Vimeo.
The Art of an “Invisible” Man: Liu Bolin
Liu Bolin or “The Invisible Man“, as he is well known by the international media, is a Chinese artist known for taking photographs of himself, painted in order to blend in with the background. In his famous artwork series called “Hiding in the City“, Liu manages to camouflage himself in every background, whether is about a building, monument, graffiti wall, city square or colorful nature. The main motive for this amazing art project was generated in 2005, when Liu Bolin’s art studio was shut down by the Chinese authorities because of his nonconformist way of expression. Since then, he has chosen to protest through his art (with a camouflage work which can take up to 10 hours) against the suppressive actions of the Government regarding human rights, especially focused on intellectuals or art creators. Beside this reason, Bolin tries to transmit a worldwide message: “Me, as an individuality, I don’t fit in this modern society! If I have values and strength to protect them, then I become a menace or a threat for the mass culture.”
Pictures via 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
Breathtaking Ephemeral Artworks by Jim Denevan
Jim Denevan is an American artist who creates temporary land art mostly on sandy beaches and dry lakes from all over the world. He’s using natural surface as a canvas to create massive scale drawings in sand, ice and earth. The interesting part is that Jim draws these large scaled shapes using only a stick or rake, reinventing the area without interfering with the natural habitat. Even more intriguing are his unusual themes, most of the projects representing complex geometrical drawings, which can be comprehended only from above whether it is from a high hill or even from a plane. When we take a more focused look at this unusual and ephemeral forms of art, an obvious question appears in our mind: how on earth it is possible to draw these amazing works in a such simple way with such primitive instruments?
Visit Jim Denevan’s website to find more information or take a look here to see his latest project in Siberia, on the Baikal Lake, where he created the world’s largest single artwork on ice, representing spirals and circles along a Fibonacci curve. We invite you to accept our challenge of contemplating on the meanings and messages and reply with your discoveries.
Amazing 3D Street Art by Edgar Mueller [Video]
You probably all heard about 3D street painting or even got “stuck” in such a fantastic scenery. For now, we won’t get into the history and other definitions of these specific contemporary art expressions, as we plan on elaborating that in a vast post. We will let you get surprised or curious about these new ways of expressing dreams, fears, memories of lost ages, weird things that can only be imagined. And we consider that a proper introduction would be to showing you the works made by one of the most appreciated 3D street artists, Edgar Mueller (Germany). This master of street painting uses the street as a canvas for its pavement art and if one looks from the right spot, his three-dimensional painting becomes the perfect illusion. His main goal is to give a new appearance to urban public life, challenging the people to imagine themselves as characters or to sense a new imaginary environment. You will find more about Edgar Mueller’s work here.
1.Ice Age – in Dun Laoghaire, at the “Festival of World Culture”
2. Lava Burst - in 2008, on the 30th anniversary of the international competition of street painters in Geldern (Germany)
3. Unconditional Love – a creation of 100′ x 40′ 3D street painting that for the first time in history was designed to metamorphose, the image changing from day to night from a giant into a fetus, through the use of photoluminescent paints.
4. Waterfall – with its 270 m², is the first large sized project of Edgar Mueller. On the occasion of the Prairie Art Festival in Moose Jaw (Canada) he turned the ‘River Street’ into a river which ends in a huge waterfall.
5. Duality – where the smog made the colors looked pale, disguised by the dense filter. The horizon looked particularly blurred.
6. A Cave in London - on the occasion of West India Quay’s Festival in London
7. The Cave in Geldern- for the International Street Painting Competition in Germany (Geldern), in 2009
Mark Visser’s Night Surfing or How to Conquer a 30-foot Wave in Maui
Mark Visser is known for his extreme “job”, one that implies hunting down and riding some of the biggest waves on the planet. The wave-rider is said to be able to hold his breath underwater for more than six minutes. On January 20, 2011, Mark Visser did the impossible: at 2:00 am local time, he caught a 30-feet wave near Jaws Beach in Maui: “Riding in complete darkness meant I had to go off feeling,” says Visser. “I had to zone out from how you normally ride and just be a part of the wave. I am so pumped to achieve something that no one thought possible and that I was told couldn’t be done.” Equipment? A helicopter, a jet ski, a buoyancy vest tricked out with LED lights, and a surfboard laced with submarine lighting built for NASA. Check out the video to see Mark’s impressions and spectacular wave taming. – The Outside Blog via The Sly Oyster
