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Freedom to innovate stands to be profoundly affected by threats to human health.
Envision the broadening of symmetrical parties!
Envision the possibility of suffering rigorously to the forecasting procedure!
Freedom to believe unrealized, credible options risks life over other species.
Social order to prompt methods that are no more!
Policymaking to follow-on explicit information abandoning!
Renew objectivity, refresh freedom...
Freedom to favour wide reproductive enhancement.
Non-human animals take into account the interests of all future modified intellects.
Friends,
Given the connection FutureHi has with visionary art, I would like to direct readers to the Energy Art Movement websites, of which I'm also a member of. It is currently holding a competition for this year, so if there any readers who feel there work would be appropriate for this (and I can imagine that to be quite a few), please get submitting! It's still not too late. Here are the links:
http://www.energyartmovement.org/competition/
http://www.energyartmovement.org/competition/submissions/
All the best,
Adam
I feel remiss that I have not mentioned Peter until now. Peter Edington is a wonderul visionary artist who lives on the Golden Coast of Australia, and whose art has been an inspiration to me, as well as coloring many articles on Future Hi in years past. Peter was one fo those lucky few who was part of the psychedelic surfer culture of Australia during the 1970's. For me his art is beautiful, warm and uplifting.
"In the last few years Peter's art has been attracting the attention of many individuals worldwide. He is to be one of many visionary artists whose work is soon to appear in "Eyes of the Soul" -exploring inspiration in visionary art and artists. This book is to be authored by Philip Rubinov-Jacobson, who teaches the Old Masters techniques of oil and tempera painting in European seminars each summer. The foreword is by Ken Wilbur, America's foremost contemporary author integrating transpersonal psychology, theology and a number of other fields into an integral philosophy.Peter has been in discussion with Allan Silberhartz, host of "Bridging Heaven and Earth", an international television format for awakening focusing on the oneness of all life without any specific spiritual or religious orientation. This Santa Barbara based show is broadcast to approx 100 cities across the United States and it is hoped that Peter's art will feature prominently when the crew eventually make it across the water.
Peter's works grace the walls of homes in locations as diverse as the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Hawaii, Macedonia, France, India and Sweden."
Many years of work have gone into the creation of these unique paintings. Years of love and joy - and pain also.
In a culture obsessed with quantity, quick fixes and surface glitz, these works represent something eternal, created with love and for the glory of God made manifest to the best of my human abilities.
They represent over ten years of work on top of a lifetime of obsession with all things spiritual. Each painting was created with incredible attention to detail using materials that determine a slow, steady emergence of the images and guarantee the highest possible quality art works.
The initial impetus for the creation of my art came from an overwhelming desire to share with others my personal special experiences that I felt unable to convey by any other medium. I have felt an almost obsessional fascination with all things spiritual since early childhood. As fate would have it I became part of a generation that pursued inner realities at the cost of personal advancement in the material world. I had always drawn as a child; however, with the arrival of the psychedelic movement I found increasingly that my energies were being expressed through visual art.
As part of the collective western fascination with all things eastern during the 60's and 70's my attention was naturally drawn to eastern art forms and particularly the mandala as a means of personal and collective healing. As the 70's rolled into the 80's my fascination with inner paths began to become much more earth centred with the realization of the ancient wisdoms contained within most tribal cultures. At times my life began to read or feel like a chapter from a Carlos Castaneda book as I became increasingly engaged with the animal kingdom. Therefore I am endeavouring through my art to synthethise the wisdom of eastern cultures with earth based tribal cultures. Basically, my art has become a reflection of my personal inner unions.
During the 90's I became increasingly interested with the work of Dr Jose Arguelles, as outlined in his book "The Mayan Factor, Path Beyond Technology". I began to share with many others on the planet an intuitive sense of the deep importance of this particular work and began to follow on a daily basis the Dreamspell Calendar.
Each of the works were produced as I underwent certain experiences of an inner nature and consequently the art works were a reflection of my spiritual psyche at that point in time. I also find this process immensely healing as it allows free expression of my inner joy and confirms my long felt feeling that creativity is of the nature of existence therefore humans in order to partake of God's essence need to be creative in some form or other.
For those who resonate with these paintings and tune into them regularly it is possible to partake of the beauty and harmony that existed in the creation of each work. Indeed, for those who are open and receptive enough each will act as a portal and allow access to realms beyond third dimensional consciousness. Some may act as inspiration, others bringing deep peace or a sense of grounding amidst a planetary energy field becoming increasingly saturated with the opposite qualities.
I have held back a number of paintings dealing with the emerging role of feminine energy in the coming times and will release these images when my intuition feels guided to do so.
Many of these paintings are available for purchase as posters so that you may partake of their essence on frequent occasions in your own chosen venue.
It is my hope that you partake of the deep love that has gone into their creation and that this site helps strengthen the light web that we are. Furthermore, that it connects us through our hearts, minds and souls and helps change the frequency of the planet ever increasingly toward a place of deep peace in this realm of the galaxy, reflecting the oneness of love and sense of awe increasing numbers of us are partaking of within this supreme gift of life.
Peace for all members of our planetary tribe, whether from the angelic, human or animal realms who are helping bring about the resurrection of the planet in the humble service to and on behalf of the Great One.
All glory to the Supreme Creator of our shared existence.
Peter's Surf Art website and store
Paul Laffoley has created some of the most intense and trippy head posters of all time. They've begun a project to start printing posters of his most popular by vote works.
Synergensis is having their second annual event. For some reason, I never heard about it until now, even though I mentioned Synergensis 1 last year, which was held in November. Goes to show you that you can be on all the right notify lists, tribes, blogs, rss feeds, etc, and only find out about the event two weeks in advance. I've noticed this with other 'visionary' events too, and have begun to wonder about those promoting them. I know of at least three other highly appealing conferences that I didn't discover until right before the event. Two of those were cancelled due to lack of interest!
Anyway, Synergenesis has lots of great artists, including some of my favorites - Alex Grey, Carey Thompson, and Luke Brown.
I definitely want to go, but with such short notice, its up for grabs.
Thanks Bruce for letting me know. :)
Psymbiote
Adorned in titanium, latex, silicone, and electronic apparatus, isa/Psymbiote places herself in the eye of the storm: the conceptual terrain at the collision of bodies and machines, the mutation of her own identity through transformation of the body. Ultimately the project seeks to fully transform the artist into a seductively organic yet entirely unfamiliar hybrid organism, a human/machine chimera with fully integrated control systems. The costume is being animated with movement, sound, and light; activated by manual triggers, automatic body processes, and remote control. As her evolution progresses, Psymbiote appears in public spaces to stimulate dialogue regarding the future of technological enhancements to the human body. She has already been sighted at a number of universities, art shows, international conferences, and as host of the SIGGRAPH CyberFashion Show. The Psymbiote Project brings issues raised by the ongoing redefinition of our bodies into a public forum, highlighting some of the contemporary critical discourse surrounding cyborgs and all forms of human/technology integration.
Four artists collaboratively produce large-scale sculptural installation through science fiction-inspired “Communal Consciousness”
+ Exhibition opens Wednesday 29 June from 7 - 9 pm
+ Exhibition runs Wednesday 29 June – Sunday 4 September 2005
+ The Minded Swarm science fiction reading group – Friday 15 July at 7 pm
PRESS CONTACT – Matt Lipps 323-957-1777 x.17
Los Angeles, 1 June 2005 – Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) is pleased to announce The Minded Swarm, a collaborative, large-scale sculptural installation organized by Karl Erickson with Consulting Curator Irene Tsatsos. Science fiction (SF) enthusiasts and artists Andy Alexander, Kathleen Johnson, Jennifer Lane, and Halsey Rodman are attracted to the genre’s social and political models, and its exploration of the human condition. The artists have met for some years in a science fiction reading group, absorbing SF’s mode of fantastic speculation into their own practice. Assuming the model of a Gestalt Organism (Theodore Sturgeon, More than Human, Vintage, 1998.) where individual capacities merge to create a single distributed intelligence, the artists have enacted a state-change, adopting a communal consciousness (Olaf Stapledon, Starmaker, Wesleyan University Press, 2004 (1937), p. 271.) as a means of artistic production. Their resulting environment will comprise two zones or microclimates—the Zone of Encounter, a transitional domestic interior, and the Zone of the Superstructure, an unstable architectural form seemingly in flux and embodying the amorphous spirit of the Utility Fog ( Ray Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines, Penguin Putnam, NY, 2000, p. 145.). The work reflects both the utopian, speculative impulses of SF and a celebration of the everyday reality of the existing built world. As these four superpowers merged, the subsequent hive mind has harnessed group energy to address the psychological, psychosexual, phenomenological and formal properties of materials and built form, both real and imagined.
As part of The Minded Swarm, the artists invite the public to join them for their regular July book club meeting. They have chosen Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and invite all interested parties to read the book and join them for the discussion on July 15 at 7:30 pm in the LACE galleries. The artists will also publish the list of books the club has read to date on LACE's website, www.artleak.org.
A reader who just signed up with the Forums has a most excellent website - very psychedelic, very cool art, and all around fun. Check it out:
http://www.illumination-design.com/
I'm having the weirdest Deja Vu right now, just seconds after watching one of these animated hypnotic patterns. The deja vu is of me blogging about these patterns! lol.
I'm having the weirdest Deja Vu right now, just seconds after watching one of these animated hypnotic patterns. The deja vu is of me blogging about these patterns! lol.
I remember watching David Bowie's video 'Major Tom' in 1981, during the first few weeks of MTV being on the air. MTV was really something back then, nothing like it is now. I've been a fan of his ever since, not so much for his music (some of it I really like), but for his vision. I never guessed thought just how far-out and intelligent he really was until around 1987, when I was listening to an interview with him on radio.
When I first tuned in I had no idea it was him. The interviewer asked him about what he thought UFO's might be, and he said something like (paraphrased),
"A friend and I were travelling in the english countryside when we both noticed a strange object hovering above a field. From then on I have come to take this phenomona seriously. I believe that what I saw was not the an object, but a projection of my own mind trying to make sense of this quantum topological doorway into dimensions beyond our own. It's as if our dimension is but one among an infinite number of others."
I was amazed at his use of language, and then even more suprised to disocver it was David Bowie who was speaking.
Peter R Koenig is working on a book about David Bowie, and he's provided a preview of his work here:
The Laughing Gnostic: David Bowie and the Occult
I'm very glad I watched this movie tonight. Love Actually is bittersweet, moving and funny. I think it will lighten the heart of even the most cynical. The above picture shows all the love connections between the characters, and a reflective way love actually works.
In light of the Oscars tonight, I am amazed sometimes how much movies have shaped my outlook on life. Where would I be if it wasn't for watching Star Wars at the dawn of my adolescence? Being moved to tears at Brian's Song, the sublime astonishment at 2001: A Space Odyssey, the stunning realism of Blade Runner, the funny Princess Bride, or my coming of age film - Buckaroo Banzai, the even more campy but for me influential Barbarella, and one of my recent favorites, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
What are some of your favorite movies and genres?
For those of you who haven't heard Alex Grey is working to raise money for the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors. There will be a fund raising party in LA this week.
Where: Hollywood Athletic Club, 6525 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, CA. 90028
When: Saturday, March 5th, 8 p.m. until 3 a.m.
Tickets are $25.00 before event date and $30.00 (cash Only) at the door.
Visit CoSM to find out more or make a donation.
From their press release:
Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) is a sanctuary in New York City for contemplation and a center for events encouraging the creative spirit. The Sacred Mirrors, on display in the Chapel, are a series of paintings that allow us to see ourselves and each other as reflections of the divine.
CoSM provides a public exhibition of the Sacred Mirrors and the most outstanding works of mystical art by Alex Grey. The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors is a 501(c)(3) organization, supported solely by charitable donations from the community. The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) is happy to have been invited to open upstairs from Spirit New York.
The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors is an exhibition of the most outstanding and widely appreciated works of art by Alex Grey. Offering devotional portrayals of the universal human journey from birth to death with healing, love, and enlightenment as the iconic narrative, the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors is a unique pilgrimage place for contemplation and spiritual renewal.
Gallery Hours - Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 6pm
For event listings and information:
212.564.4253 www.cosm.org
540 W. 27th Street 4th floor New York, NY 10001
The Sacred Mirrors
The Sacred Mirrors series is a totally unique work of contemporary sacred art created by Alex Grey. This installation of 21 framed images, consisting of 19 paintings and two etched mirrors, examines the anatomy of body, mind and spirit in rich detail. Each painting presents a life-sized figure facing viewers and inviting them to mirror the images, creating a sense of seeing into oneself.
The life-sized representations of the human body, portraying its physical and energetic systems, are both rigorously precise and vividly visionary. The Sacred Mirrors dramatically reveal the miracle of life's evolutionary complexity, the unity of human experience across all racial, class and gender divides, and the astonishing vistas of possibility inherent in human consciousness. Alex Grey has combined ancient wisdom, anatomical accuracy and post-modern eclecticism to produce elegant, universally accessible, eternally relevant and resonant symbols.
Looks like Sydney, Australia has a little of that Burning Man spirit. I can't imagine any city in the US, except perhaps Berkeley, where women would be able to ride topless down public streets. Goes to show you how uptight America is in comparison.
Links:
http://www.sbar.websyte.com.au/site.cfm?/sbar/3/
http://www.sbar.websyte.com.au/site.cfm?/sbar/2/
[Thanks Teresa!]
3 minutes², by French art collective Electronic Shadow, expands architectural space of a reduced volume via interartive and enhanced imagery. The space reconfigures itself in response to the individuals activities and over time.
'3 minutes² is an installation mixing space and image, real and virtual and proposes a hybrid habitat metamorphosing endlessly around its inhabitant. Hybridising of space with images, fusion of material with immaterial, architecture of memory and information design, the habitat isn’t only measured by its surface but by the sum of its potential dimensions. Parallel realities melt in one space-time, 3minutes are a space, 10 square meters are a space. 3 minutes² is a surface-time, a hybrid space living according to its inhabitant’s rhythm, his trace, his electronic shadow.
3 minutes² is an installation presenting an extremely reduced living unit. This space has the particularity to extend beyond its physical borders via the image, the space being its projection surface. This volumes demultiplies thus in as many functions as the ones described in the scenario of use of this living space.
In fact, the space permanently reconfigures itself according to its inhabitant’s activities and also defines itself in time. The scenario presents in a few minutes the compression of most activities and functions taking place in the habitat and corresponding to its inhabitant daily life, eating, sleeping, working, etc.
The inhabitant himself is contained in the image, represented as a silhouette. This shadow which represents the projection of a neutral individual in this habitat is the installation’s neuralgic centre, the habitat building itself around him as a cocoon, a more cultural than a natural extension; the habitat becomes then a character.
The presented functions correspond to vital needs and also to more complex behaviours. 3 minutes² doesn’t try to caricaturise the habitat’s functions but to draw the shape of a daily life deeply modified by technologies and the presence of the virtual, or the materialisation of immaterial.
Beyond the traditional functions adapted to this type of habitat, some activities are directly linked to this conception of space and inevitably induce radical changes in the political, economical and social organisation.
The status of the image compared to the space is permanently ambiguous, is it an individual’s printed memory in his habitat, the virtual reflect of a real life or the scale 1 model of a future space, prefigurating the use of technologies in development, such as the nanotechnologies?
3minutes² doesn’t answer to this question but tends to shift the traditional debate opposing real to virtual. Here, hybridation of real and virtual is fictively acquired and becomes the ground for the proposition of a habitat which anticipates the technological and social modifications making it possible.
No screens, no visible interfaces, the two characters touch the walls, make movements, the habitation responds to them. The technology has become totally invisible and the effect of technologic becomes then magic.'
I composed and produced an album back in 1990 called Galactic Pleasures. I was 25 at the time. When it was made I had been playing keyboards about 7 years, and owned 2 synthesizers - a Roland Juno 6, and the phenomenal Korg M-1. For recording I had a 4 track analog with mixer. I then transposed it to DAT, and there it sat for years. I tried a few times to get my music published, but this was before the internet, and I had limited resources to make it happen. Music is very near and dear to my heart... almost a constant narrative running through my life. But life has a way of shifting priorities around. Music composition has fallen into the background, hibernating for a time to flouring in my life again. Until then I thought I'd share some of my work with you.
Galactic Pleasures was composed mostly in my head. Sometimes, I can hear 6 or 7 different tracks all going simultaneously. That was the way it was this album. It was also composed during a very high time in my life. During that time I swear I was living out on the spaceways more than here. I was also able to record about 8 minutes onto a single track directly into the M-1, as it had 4 megs of storage. So I would take it with me on trips during the summer of '90 out into the remote regions of Arizona and let the music out of my head onto the keyboard.
I was deeply influenced by the cutting edge electronic and space music of the time. I never cared if my music was accepted by anyone else, it was my way of accessing higher states of consciousness. To this day I'm not sure what genre my music would fall under - perhaps 'space fusion'.
I've added the first 2 tracks of this album to the media section. They are:
Paradise Found.mp3 (9mb) and Heartbreak.mp3 (9mp)
The guitar you'll hear on these tracks was completely synthesized.
Enjoy.
2001: A Space Odyssey had an enormous impact on me as a child. It wasn't until I was in college that I began to appreciate this film's deeper undercurrents.
Here is a nicely done flash animation in 4 parts (just like the movie) that offers up an explanation of the film. They did a really good job, except in my opinion they missed the biggest metaphor of all - the sexual/spiritual one. Here's my explanation.
The Discovery ship represents the pinacle of mans technological achievment - a phallic vessel from which it ejaculates the sperm-pod containing mans best DNA - Dave Bowman, who then enters the labial-vaginal stargate. Along the way 'Dave the sperm' experiences orgasmic psychedelic splendor culminating with germinating union with the ovum of motherly higher intelligence - resulting in Dave's death and rebirth - conception of a new being, humanities next stage in evolution - the starchild. Sprach Zarathustra!
Here is a quote from my old (1994-98) website, (archived here).
Seeding space with our phallic vehicles, we oursleves perhaps have already been seeded, are already embryonically becoming that creature who will enter the labial stargate in apotheosis to concieve yet another being...
In this metamorphosis, we are forcing ourselves like the birth of a butterfly, to continually mutate and reprogram our conceptions of the cosmos. In spite of psychocultural forces, we are creating a radically in-process, holistic open-system cosmology... an infinite noosphere awaiting our imagination...
Thanks to Bruce, this new production play put a smile on my face too.
How would we know? Maybe it is an alternate reality. But some believe it to be an alternate reality musical comedy scheduled for production at the height of this fall's election insanity.To paraphrase the infamous Twen Cen President Bill Clinton, what "reality" is depends on your definition of what "is" is.
In other words, each person’s reality is a chemically mediated, preconceptually-biased, culturally conditioned experience and interpretation of selectively filtered perception. In the case of Really Leary, we’ll go straight to the precise words of Tim Leary himself, uttered during the waning days of his first incarnation: "Everybody gets the Tim Leary they deserve."
We think you deserve a highly entertaining and imaginatively-staged spoof of politics, the media, cheesy science fiction, and the fabric of reality itself. In our world (and yours should you attend or otherwise share in the hallucination), Really Leary is a staged alternative reality, more commonly known as a rock musical comedy. Really Leary tells the altogether plausible story of the presidential election of 2052, which pits two cryogenically-thawed 20th century icons (the fully-restored Walt Disney and the head-only restored Timothy Leary) against one another. The campaign unfolds on the Disney Asteroid (DisneyRoid for short), an off-world corporate tax haven controlled by the feisty, God-fearin’ Purlie Gates, daughter of Bill Gates’s second clone (an unfortunate Beta version, plagued by troublesome code errors reminiscent of early Windows operating systems). You’ll follow the campaign from defrost to debate, with the victor decided in a dramatic showdown as the candidates go head-to-head on the interactive presidential game show, Choose Your Chief.
Posted by paul at 11:50 PM | Comments (1)
I'm sitting here crying real tears while watching segments of this new achingly beautiful DVD from Alex Grey, called World Spirit.
Experience it here. Watch all the video segments, turn up the volume, and wear head phones if you can. You won't be disappointed.
From the blurb:
WORLDSPIRIT is a landmark audio-visual theater experience featuring poetry and storytelling by visionary artist Alex Grey, music by electronic composer and violinist Kenji Williams, and multi-screen projections of Alex Grey's world-famous paintings.
WORLDSPIRIT represents a radically new form of entertainment that brings together evolutionary spiritual teachings, visual art, music, live performance and advanced technology; speaking at once to body, mind and spirit.
Here is an excerpt of Alex's spoken word from one of the clips:
And now for my biggest trick
Requiring precision timing and a leap of of faith
I shall enfold myself
A topological wunderkind.
Gastolation is perfect this time around
God is at the wheel
Steering thru the Devas eyes
Driving my cell clusters around my morphogenetic field
Those aren't gill slits
Those are my ears
My genomes are humming
There is a veritable Niagra of blood coursing through my umbilicus
The sounds are a deafining roar inside the meat pump of the body.
[via Worldchanging]
Look out--here come fifty-legged wind-powered robots from Holland!
No, really.
Dutch artist Theo Jansen has made some insane, and beautiful, things. Click on "film" under the first picture to see movies, or here are a couple direct links to Animaris Currens Ventosa walking and Animaris Rhinoceros.
The best part? The walking movements are all cam-driven. No computer control, no electricity even; just rotating-motion input and good mechanical design. Someone needs to invite Jansen to Burning Man.
I'm amazed by the first video. It has to be seen to be believed. I had to watch it twice. Here are some more pics of these machines.
From the same people who brought us the mini Jawa Crawler, NAO Design has lots of other goodies, many of which have been inspired and created for the Playa. Below are some of my favorites. They remind me of something I might see in Barbarella or in Spock's quarters. Most of these are reproductions can purchased from NAO's online store.
Vertebrate Lamp
A columnar lamp comprised of a white lycra sleeve stretched over circular fiberglass ribs. The Vertebrate is adaptable to be stretched and anchored floor-to-ceiling, or made to be free-standing with an internal frame of up to 8 feet in height. The lamp is illuminated internally with either standard halogen or fluorescent blacklight, or a combination of the two. Dimmer switch included.
Eliptolux Lamp
A steep cut across a tube of high impact plastic exposes the elliptical cross-section of the Eliptolux table lamp. A halogen bulb sits in the base, weighted for stability, and the white interior projects light up and out, providing a warm glow without direct glare.
Tower Lamp
Three stainless steel slides, each perforated with hundreds of holes and lined on the interior with hanji paper, come together to form the triangular hanging Tower Lamp. Can also be converted to a standing desk lamp. Uses a standard halogen bulb and measures 24 inches high.
Holey Glow
Three thousand, six hundred holes perforate the plastic cylinder of each Holey Glow lamp. The interior is illuminated with a halogen bulb and lined with dyed hanji paper of a variety of colors. Measures forty inches by six inches wide.
Nellophone
Musical organs operate on the principle that reverberating the air within a pipe of given length will produce a note an octave above a tube that is twice its length, and it is this effect that the Nellophone utilizes to sound its thirty different note from A an octave below middle C to D and octave above middle C. With the musician standing at the instrument's axis, a slap of the special paddles across the padded mouth of each tube produces a hauntingly electronic sound. The tubes range in length from 6 to 30 feet, and the entire device spans 12 feet wide by 15 feet high.
Cauldone
9 triangular plates of welded steel comprise the hexagonal basin and feet of the Cauldrone fire pit. Measuring 35 inches across and standing 16 inches tall, the conically-shaped basin accommodates a large volume of ashes to minimize the need for emptying, while the pointed feet minimize heat transfer to the surface below. The mood, however, is maximized when the dark, angled form of the pit frames bright curls of flame.
Antler Fire
In the cold of winter of the dark night, this odd headpiece actually does serve to provide both heat and light, though it is usually worn just for looks. The helmet itself is made of leather and steel to protect the wearer's head. A portable 1-lb. propane cylinder is worn on the belt and connects via a small hose to the back of the helmet. Six shape-able copper tubes protrude from the helmet and are specially tipped to prevent blowout of the flames. Runs for 1 hour on a single tank, and includes a manual valve on the helmet.
KinetAural Suit
Pressure, light, and flex sensors embedded in the neck, elbows, wrists, knees, and feet sense and transmit bodily movements to a PC where they are synthesized into sounds that move with the user. Various sound templates allow modulation of seven variables including pitch, volume, phase and waveform.
Floating Speakers
Acoustic speakers are comprised, in essence of a thin diaphragm to couple sound to the air, and a driver to resonate the diaphragm. In these speakers, the driver is optimized for lightweight, and the diaphragm is a special Mylar balloon which enables sound of surprisingly high fidelity to emanate from the silvery orb floating overhead. It is anchored by a stylized base which contains a miniature amplifier, 9-volt battery, and plug for connecting to standard headphone jacks.
TeleFloatation
The core of this craft, which houses a color video camera, 2.4 Ghz video transmitter, and radio control receiver, mounts onto an 8-foot balloon and propeller assembly for flight, or onto a 7-inch car chassis for terrestrial use.
The camera's video signal is received by a wearable module that displays the onboard view to the remote pilot via a custom heads-up display helmet, which itself senses lateral and vertical head movement and translates that motion into equivalent panning of the camera. The result is a surreal experience that immerses the user in a disembodied form and allows a dream-like exploration and interaction.
A psychedelic quilt only possible on a computer. Use the flash version if you can. Amazing.
An artist companion and I will be in San Francisco this Saturday to participate in a psychedelic art workshop and exhibition called Syngergenesis. Several very cool people will be there including Alex Grey. If you want to attend, the website has all the information. You can show up and pay at the door. I would be delighted to meet you there if you want to contact me and we can exchange personal contact info.
ABOUTE THE EVENT:
Visionary art is evidence of a world that does not yet fully exist; a world that we are calling into being through the very act of creating and participating in the Work. This is not an art that will support the present system of environmental exploitation, social alienation and spiritual commodification. This art is not just painting--though it is that--not just poetry, nor just music, nor just something for a target audience to consume. This art is an integration of creative manifestation and daily life; of technical craft, spiritual practice and cultural experimentation. Visionary art is dissolving the boundaries between audience and performer, between work and play, between activism and prayer. In this way we are returning to the tribal, shamanic roots of art, tapping into an endless potential for healing, community and transformation.
Synergenesis is serving as a powerful catalyst for the (r)evolutionary creators of our time to converge and collaborate on manifesting the reality our art invokes, creating a portal through which our collective vision is crystallized and potentiated.
This is the most amazing optical illusion I have ever seen of this kind. The artist is Akiyoshi Itaoka.
Click on the picture for a full size pic.
Earlier today, I became aware of some beautiful work being done by visionary artist and community builder David Lightman. It's difficult to describe the multi-faceted nature of everything he's doing, so here is some info from his website:
Dlight is an artist by accident, a revolutionary by intent. His art is strictly functional, springing from serious attempts to further what he terms the New Tribalism. He is dedicated to creating spaces, systems and structures designed to foster the development of a new breed of focused communities which act as artistic, economic and spiritual vortexes – cultural incubators for the 21st century.His first architectural experiment was at Burning Man 1999. Two 30 ft reinforced mylar wings were attached to a metal ladder, creating a shade structure that kept people cool even in the peak of the searing desert heat. It resembled a bird attempting to take flight, with the wings alternately rising and falling. This structure was strong enough to withstand 60 mph winds surviving a week in this hostile environment. Although large enough to shelter 20 people comfortably, the whole structure weighed only about 30 pounds.
In February 2002 Dlight founded a project now called Tribal Oasis, (www.tribaloasis.org), a detailed plan for a self-sufficient eco-friendly arts village in the middle of Los Angeles. This pioneering project mobilized a large group of people to develop detailed architectural and financial plans to make this ambitious dream a reality. Dlight designed a community currency for this village called Ecos.
As a member of several communities that hold gatherings in harsh desert environments, Dlight has been fascinated with the idea of portable structures designed to be erected quickly and easily, yet providing a significant level of comfort, modularity and beauty. After learning about a new kind of structural mathematics called helical geometry, Dlight immediately realized that it might be the ultimate solution for the “movable city”. Although it was only a few weeks before Burning Man 2003, Dlight was able to create the first “Helix” in time. Later he erected a 23-panel Helix for the Solids show in December 2003.
Dlight studied physics and psychology at Cornell University. He was responsible for the computer graphics on the film “War Games”.
I really hope his group is successful in getting Tribal Oasis off the ground. There is no question that people are hungry for this type of community. I have hungred for it almost my entire adult life. The ideas are sound, and as always come back to economics. My thinking is if you can create a diverse and dynamic enough community it can become both economically and environmentally sustainable, whether it's in downtown LA like Tribal Oasis, or out in the country. If Dave and his group can make a go of this, it will become a prototype for other communities to emulate.
David's designs remind me a lot of of the stuff coming out of the late 60's in a book called, Arthropods by Jim Burns. I have an original signed and mint condition copy of this book. As revolutionary and radical as the ideas in this book were then, they are even more relevant and perhaps revolutionary today. I will definitely make a point of blogging about this book in the near future, and I will expand upon in it the growing archives section under Spaceship Earth.
Pelenque Norte is hosting an mp3 archive of a talk given by renowned visionary artist Alex Grey and his wife Allyson. The talk - titled Art, Love, & Psychedelics - was presented at last year's Burning Man.
It was hot. It was dusty. It was Friday, and it was noon in the desert. But that didn't prevent the Palenque Norte conversation with the Grey's from being one of the best-attended daytime events of Burning Man 2003. After a spectacular Thursday night of revelry, when the citizens of Black Rock City would normally still be asleep, a small crowd began to form Aetheria Village's lecture pod. By noon the pod was packed, bicycles and people filled the village's common areas, and several art-cars were parked within range of our sound system. Later we were told that additional hundreds listened to the Grey's on KPOD, our village radio station. For many of this year's burners, it was one of their most talked-about events. Now, those of you who couldn't attend this wonderful presentation can hear it in the comfort of your home (or wherever your Internet connection is :-).
Via Boing Boing
Loop.ph is a design group "exploring reactive luminous surfaces in the built environment." Products that respond to the activities of the human beings using them. Things that emit light, things worn or lived in. Here are a few:
Proposal for a tiling system to illuminate public spaces. Each tile forms a pixel that responds to a moving shadow being cast upon it, mapping a physical pathway with an inverted| illuminating shadow. Light trails linger as you move through space providing localized and personal illumination.
A silent alarm clock, an illuminating, personalised alarm integrated into your bedding that gently wakes you in the most natural way. Ever since the beginning of time light has controlled our body clock telling us when to sleep and when to wake. As lifestyles are rapidly changing with increased travel and demands on our time, people's natural body clocks are out of sync. This pillow and duvet simulates a natural dawn that eases you into your day. Light Sleeper Bedding uses electroluminescent technology allowing traditional textile surfaces to become a reactive light source.
And then this via DRT News:
LiTraCon© is a "common" concrete stone-block that turns out to be light conducting through its embedded glassfibers. From one side to the other light passes the stone without any significant loss and illuminates the darker side of the stone. Shadows are transmitted and shown in precise shapes on the opposite surface.
Just heard about these art exhibitions of Spot Draves.
Spot Draves of Spotworks is the author of the brilliant Electric Sheep screensaver -- this is a distributed rendering application that grabs its users' computers' idle cycles to create computationally expensive, vivid and beautiful animated fractals. Users vote for the animations they like best while the screensaver is running, and those fractals are then given precedence within the computational gene pool, spawning variations that are rendered out again, dancing for their human masters who have the power of life and death over them.
The result is a breathtaking, psychedelic form of artificial life whose fitness factor is the ability to tickle the aesthetics of computer geeks.
Spot has assembled the best of these animations -- these "Electric Sheep" -- on a DVD, with DJ mixed background audio. The contents of the DVD are all online as small QuickTime movies, for for the high-rez, you'll have to order a copy or go to the launch on March 31, in San Francisco:
Wednesday march 31st 7pm-2am StudioZ
314 11th st @ folsom san francisco 415.252.7666 www.studioz.tv 21+ w/ID
free admission.
Featuring the soundz of Spool, jhno, mbb, dj vordo, and Kenji Williams/ABA Structure.
Spot Draves has released a bunch of Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur (Artforms of Nature) as Creative-Commons-licensed, high-resolution scans in PNG format, with painstaking alpha transparency channels that allow you to easily composite them onto other images. Haeckel was the naturist who stated that "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" -- that foetuses step through their evolutionary history in the womb. It turned out that he was kind of making that up and faking his evidence, but he sure drew pretty pictures, and the meme's got legs. Well, first it had a tail, then it had legs - Cory Doctorow.
