Bombitas de plástico

Aquí hay otra cosa de nuestra generación que está a punto de desaparecer: el plástico de burbujas. La razón es simplemente porque se va a suplir por otro plástico similar de la misma empresa que lo produce (Sealed Air ), pero mas barato y que ya no se puede “reventar” con las manos.

Es triste que desaparezca, no por su primer uso -el original-, que era el proteger objetos delicados en embalajes y paquetería, sino por la segunda y hasta tercera vida que muchos le dábamos. Quién no tienen un recuerdo de su infancia pasando horas de sana diversión reventando las bombitas con los dedos, dientes, pies o lo que fuese, lo que además estaba comprobando que era todo un anti-estresante.

Ya ni mencionar toda la sub-cultura de manualidades que le daba mil y un usos a este material, desde lo más ingenuo hasta creaciones de moda y propuestas artísticas completas.

Vaya que extrañaremos estas bombitas de plástico, todo un ícono de los 80s y de la cultura del plástico (llegada tardíamente a México). Pero ánimo, no todo está perdido. Siempre hay nuevos vicios a los que aferrarse (hoy en día, la mayoría de ellos dentro de computadoras y celulares). Y si no, al menos nos queda la aplicación

Bubble Wrap, the packaging material popular with shippers and toddlers alike, is losing its pop. Sealed Air Corp., the original seller of Bubble Wrap since 1960, is rolling out a revamped version of its signature product. Dubbed iBubble Wrap, the new packaging is sold in flat plastic sheets that the shipper fills with air using a custom-made pump. The inflated bubbles look much like traditional Bubble Wrap, with one key difference: They don’t burst when pressure is applied…

http://on.wsj.com/1FYqeEj

Moonscape

Un proyecto que pretende realizar un documental de toda la misión Apollo 11, para lo cual serán utilizadas las imágenes captadas por la cámara de 16 mm instalada en el módulo lunar Eagle junto con las escenas captadas en el control de misión ubicado en Houston…

Moonscape is a free and freely shareable high-definition documentary about the first manned Moon landing. Funded and produced by space enthusiasts from all over the world, it shows the full Apollo 11 landing and moonwalk, using only the original audio, TV and film footage and the original photographs,rescanned and restored from the best available sources, with full English subtitles (other languages will follow). Details of the project are here.

Moonscape is made possible by the donations and hard work of many people. If you like what you see and you want to help the project (and have your name or company name in the end credits as a sponsor), please make a donation so we can continue improving Moonscape by purchasing additional remastered HD transfers of the original Apollo mission footage, hiring a professional voice-over actor for the commentary, and adding more features (such as additional photos, Mission Control footage, animations and maps)…

http://bit.ly/1nkwzF3

Moonscape

36 ventilators         

El arte está teniendo un interesante “revival” de lo que anteriormente ya fué conocido como “arte povera“ (que es básicamente, arte hecho con basura y materiales reciclados), pero mas centrado en procesos que en objetos. Aquí está por ejemplo una colección de piezas, de las que elijo un video del artista suizo Zimoun para el Earth day, que hizo este “mar” con 4.7 metros cúbicos de poliestireno (de la que se usa mucho para embalajes), dentro de una bodega y usando 36 ventiladores…

//player.vimeo.com/video/92326468

This week, global citizens celebrated the 44th annual Earth Day — a worldwide initiative to draw awareness to environmental concerns and rally for change. Artists continue to bring attention to these issues by recycling environmentally unfriendly materials in their artwork, reusing the world’s junk surplus in beautiful and fascinating ways. Here are just a few of the creative reimaginings that speak to our planet’s use and reuse of careless materials…

http://bit.ly/1uZfNfg

36 ventilators         

Eyeball

2010
fiberglass, steel, paint
30’ diameter

Summer 2010, Pritzker Park, Chicago IL

Tony Tasset is an American multimedia artist. His works consists mainly of video, bronze, wax, sculpture, photography, film, and taxidermy.
He has exhibitions that can be seen in ChicagoNew YorkLos AngelesGermanyCanadaPortugalItalyEcuador, and London.

Tasset’s focus is in pinpointing objects that are widely recognizable, easily construed by anyone. As far as spurring reactions, Eye seems to be working: On one end, a homeless man wrote an enraged screed proclaiming the Eye was a false god; on the other, Flaming Lips singer Waynee Coyne shared the pithier sentiment “…fuck yeah!!!” in an Instagram of the still-under-construction sphere. “I was quite honored,” admits the artist…

http://bit.ly/1djSidY

artruby:

Tony Tasset, Eye, (2010). 

Only 8% of the world’s currency exists as physical cash; the rest is electronic.

The rest of the money exists electronically. This is because most countries use what is called Fiat Money, which means that the currency is just a representation of value.

Here’s a good way to understand why so much of the money today is electronic: if I send you $20 on a bank wire with no physical bill associated vs. giving you a $20 bill, or giving you $20 worth of gold. What is the difference between wiring $20 and giving you a $20 bill? Nothing really, it’s just a different way of transmitting information about money, and placing that amount from one person to another. There is nothing inherently valuable about the paper that the $20 is printed on. On the other hand, gold is considered to have inherent value by itself. Me giving you $20 worth of gold is an actual transfer of a valuable good. Once countries decided not to trade money in gold or precious metals, the need for physical bills diminished, and in the future, money will only become more and more digital…

http://bit.ly/Ny5HvR