Nest. 5

El artista conceptual checo Jakub Geltner hace estas fabulosas series de instalaciones (llamadas Nest) en ambientes de naturaleza y urbanos, “plagándolos” de dispositivos tecnológicos (antenas, cámaras) como si fuera una nueva especie animal aglomeránose o anidando en un entorno nuevo (y alterándolo por completo y de manera disruptiva… ¿les suena familiar?)
Muchas otras cosas más pasan por mi cabeza al ver esto. Temas con la privacidad, la culturas mediáticas, la información y nuestro obsesivo temor y/o deseo por controlarla, la creación de una nueva naturaleza.

Pero no voy a influir, porque además de eso el resultado es visualmente muy poético. Así que mejor cuéntenme qué es lo que ven ustedes…

Czech artist Jakub Geltner installs sculptures of surveillance cameras into public spaces. As an “intervention into the very character of a city”, he’s been working on the ‘Nest’ project since 2011. Living and working in Prague, he created his first installation directly in the center of the city, perfectly assimilating into the surrounding architecture and design of the contemporary urban landscape. From then on, his sculptures turned up in places like a former elementary school, a palace and even on the facade of a church. His latest public space installation, Nest No. 5, features a sculpture of surveillance cameras by the sea.

A graduate of fine arts, he says about his project: “The growth process of a nest on the facades of buildings or in different urban spaces can be implemented as a congestion point or as a starting point of an infection”…

http://www.geltner.cz/

Nazca ad

Para hacer un anuncio sobre respeto (al medio ambiente), la organización mundial GreenPeace le falto el respeto a uno de los legados culturales mas preciosos de Perú: los geoglifos del Valle de Nazca.
Irónico ¿no? Nada como predicar con el ejemplo…

Greenpeace apologized to Peru today for placing a gigantic banner promoting renewable energy on the site of the Nazca Lines, an ancient heritage site, reports theBBC. The damage caused by the environmental group’s actions will be long-lasting, officials say, so the country is now planning to file criminal charges against the activists.

You walk there and the footprint is going to last hundreds or thousands of years,“ Luis Jaime Castillo, a Peruvian deputy culture minister told the BBC. "And the line that they have destroyed is the most visible and most recognized of all.”

Normally, tourists only get to the see the site from the comfort of a plane. Even top officials and presidents are forbidden from treading on the sensitive ground. And on the rare occasions where Peru has allowed officials to visit the site on foot, they were forced to wear special footwear…

http://bit.ly/1sh6yvP

#GlobalSelfie

Para celebrar el Earth Day el pasado 22 de abril, la NASA lanzó una convocatoria mundial, a tomarse una selfie y enviarla con un hashtag (#GlobalSelfie). Días mas tarde, con todas esas fotos se creo esta gran imagen de la tierra. Bueno en realidad solo usó 36,422 (no sé cuantas se mandaron).

El suceso circuló mucho por internet (incluso llegó a ser trending topic), con la mayoría de la gente comentando su admiración y sorpresa por la iniciativa, por la NASA y por el espectacular resultado (el visual del mundo creado por selfies). Seguramente muy pocos saben que este tipo de imágenes se  hacen de manera totalmente casera, con cualquier PC y hasta con sofware libre (como el de Andrea Mosaic).

Lo sé porque yo lo he usado para varios artes así y toma minutos. Así que, como dicen los gringos – y aunque lo haya hecho la NASA-: “this is no Rocket science”…

The 3.2 gigapixel Global Selfie mosaic, hosted by GigaPan, was made with 36,422 individual images that were posted to social media sites on or around Earth Day, April 22, 2014. When viewing on GigaPan’s website, clicking on the “Snapshots” icon in the lower-left corner will display a row of highlighted images…

http://1.usa.gov/1gvKes9

#GlobalSelfie

Fukushima’s real effects

El proyecto independiente de Turner Radio Network acaba de publicar unos datos extra-oficiales donde se dejan ver los efectos, prácticamente en todo el mundo, del desastre nuclear de Fukushima en 2011: niños deformes en California, ballenas suiidándose por todo el pacífico, osos sin pelo y zonas de Alaska completamente inhabitables, y la lista sigue…

Por su supuesto, estos datos nunca van a llegar a los medios masivos, asi que lo correcto es ayudar a difundirlos…

Por cierto, en su sitio web (

turnerradionetwork.com

) también se ofrece el servicio de alerta directo en tu mail, por si te interesa enterarte cuando la radiación llegue demasiado cerca de tí…

November 25, 2013 – (TRN 

http://www.TurnerRadioNetwork.com

 ) – Radiation reaching the United States from the nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima, Japan is causing significant harm; affecting newborn Human babies in California, Pacific Ocean sea life, and even inland wild life.  Radiation is causing massive die-offs of sea life as well as mammals, birds and reptiles inland. High percentages of inland animals that are not already dead are losing their fur, bleeding from lesions all over their bodies and failing to reproduce. Radiation contamination of sea food is already confirmed and contamination of the inland food supply is now taking place as rain carries radiation from the Pacific ocean to inland farms.  U.S. Government propagandists are claiming everything is all right – but they aren’t even monitoring radiation levels – while scientists outside the government are warning the worst is yet to come. Newly released government projections (contained in this article) show parts of Hawaii, Alaska and the entire west coast of North America may become uninhabitable due to radioactive Cesium-137 making its way toward us in the Pacific…

Turner Radio Network – Providing the facts the mass-media won’t…

http://bit.ly/1e5B9ol

Fukushima’s real effects

Genes and environment

Para quienes hacen promesas o dicen sus propósitos de año nuevo cada navidad. Ahora ya saben porqué nunca los cumplen…

Why make New Year resolutions if genes and environment decide our behaviour rather than free will?

The new year is a time for resolutions. You promise to take up jogging, spend more time with friends, do good works or maybe smile a little more frequently. But are you fundamentally deluding yourself into thinking you can change?

A growing body of research suggests that much of our behaviour is determined by either our genes or our environment, leaving little room for personal choice. The age-old notion of “free will” is under attack, boosted by examinations of brain activity during decision-making.

An influential 2007 study, which monitored people’s brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), suggested people became conscious of making a decision only after the relevant neurons had fired into action. Neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes, who asked participants to hit a button with their left or right hand, was able to predict their decisions seven seconds before they were even aware of making them.

Earlier this year, a series of projects got under way in what is the single biggest research programme on free will. The $4.4 million (€3.4m) four-year initiative is backed by the John Templeton Foundation in Pennsylvania, which funds research spanning theology and science.

Philosopher Alfred Mele of Florida State University, who is charged with overseeing the project, says neuroscientists and evolutionary biologists are helping to deepen our understanding of an issue that was once the preserve of religious thinkers. Speaking to Nature in September, he admitted that if studies like Haynes’ could be reproduced to predict a range of decisions “that would be a threat to free will”…

http://bit.ly/s6aWe6

Genes and environment

environmental sculptures

Imagínense una medusa marina de 10 pisos de altura, meciéndose al ritmo del viento. O una aurora boreal artificial, congelada en el espacio. Esa es la sensación que uno tiene (según algunos críticos) al ver estas esculturas. La metáfora es hermosa, ojalá un día traigan por acá algo de esta artista norteamericana, para ver si es cierto…

Janet Echelman builds living, breathing sculpture environments that respond to the forces of nature — wind, water and light— and become inviting focal points for civic life. Exploring the potential of unlikely materials, from fishing net to atomized water particles, Echelman combines ancient craft with cutting-edge technology to create her permanent sculpture at the scale of buildings. Experiential in nature, the result is sculpture that shifts from being an object you look at, to something you can get lost in…

http://bit.ly/15ecGh