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T.S.A. Communication

TSA Communication by Evan Roth

T.S.A. Communication by Evan Roth is a 2009 Rhizome Member Selection Commission, in which Roth proposed to laser cut 8.5 x 11 inch pieces of stainless steel with messages directed at the T.S.A. to put in your suitcase for airport inspections. Roth writes, “T.S.A. Communication is a project that alters the airport security experience and allows the government to learn more about you then just what’s in your backpack … Change your role as air traveler from passive to active.”

Roth is also one of the masterminds behind F.A.T. Labs and Graffiti Research Lab.

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Bright Idea Shade

Bright Idea Shade from Michael Mandiberg on Vimeo.

The Bright Idea Shade from Eyebeam OpenLab’s Sustainable Action Group is a simply designed kit-assembly lampshade for compact fluorescent bulbs, which some people won’t change over to due to their harsh light or swirly design. The shade itself is made from a number of laser-cut pieces of heat-resistant photo diffuser material, each of which is identical, meaning the product itself could be easily manufactured and sold at big chain stores everywhere. Oh, and that’s their goal. The interesting thinking behind it is to make the design with a very open, Creative Commons Attribution license attached, so it can be “stolen” and recreated anywhere by anyone.

(Also, that video is a very, very good example of documenting a project.)

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In Progress

Kim Boske, In Progress

In Progress by Kim Boske. From her statement, “I experience the “now” as a complex collection of all sorts of connected influences from the present and the past; a web of similarities and minute differences caused through the slight moving of time.”

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Augmented Sculpture

Pablo Valbuena, Augmented Sculpture Series

Augmented Sculpture Series by Pablo Valbuena “focuse[s] on the temporary quality of space, investigating space-time not only as a three dimensional environment, but as space in transformation.” I remember coming across this last year, but was reminded of it by a post on vvork. It’s very refreshing to see projection occurring on a 3D object, thereby animating something very rigid and physical. Watch the video to get the full effect.

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Statlab by Tjerk Stoop

Statlab by Tjerk Stoop

Statlab by Tjerk Stoop is an environmental art project, creating an analog visualization of air quality. From Stoop’s website, “It displays the daily average of CO2 concentration trough a chemical reaction where chalk particles are formed. The result is an analogue graph where the difference in the amount of chalk particles per tank is a global measure for the fluctuating CO2 concentration within one week.” Great to see physical/analog visualization presenting important data in a clear manner (well, assuming you read the accompanying text).

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What To Do With Malls When They Die?

Devonshire Mall, Windsor, Ontario from Google Maps

WorldChanging recently wrote about some malls in the US that died (or are in the process of dying) and what was being done with the space afterwards. It seems that some malls are being redesigned as mixed-use developments, with arts/community centres and housing. Reusing existing spaces for this type of redevelopment and activity is surely positive, but it seems that some of these projects are being billed as new downtowns. As most malls are built away from other other development, and many are designed around (or rather within) fields of parking lots, should these spaces really be considered a new “downtown”?

If this happened in Windsor, what might be the results? Devonshire Mall is over 1,000,000 square feet. That’s a lot of space for apartments, studios, galleries, shopping, markets, even a school. However, would this type of development just take the focus away from fixing our downtown (or is it already a lost cause?) Also, more questions would certainly be raised about a private space functioning as public space, as even the sidewalks of a “street” would suddenly be under private ownership. Other spaces in the city like old factories, the Home Depot right beside the mall, and even shutdown churches all seem like they could foster a good type of growth by converting those spaces into (hopefully) accessible places for artists, community groups, and housing. How do we start?

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Jennifer Marsh's Gas Station Cozy

Jennifer Marsh's Gas Station Cozy

Jennifer Marsh’s International Fiber Collaborative gathered 3,000 fiber panels to cover an abandoned Citgo gas station in central New York state. The panels were collected from students and artists spread across 15 countries. Very exciting potential for a collaborative public art project. On top of organizing the project, Marsh also gave workshops on how to crochet and make the panels to a number of students in New York and Virginia.

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Passage by Jason Rohrer

Passage, art game by Jason Rohrer

Passage by Jason Rohrer is a “journey through time.” Created for Montreal’s Gamma 256 competition, Passage allows you to travel through a maze within a 256×256 pixel area, where you meet your partner and travel through “life” together. Play it. Then read the statement.

Its simplicity is quite lovely and I realize more and more that I would enjoy video games a lot if they were all designed by artists. I would also recommend playing the Graveyard and reading Tale of Tales’ Realtime Artist Manifesto.

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GOOD Magazine – Vampire Energy

GOOD Magazine has been creating a number of these short videos with great animations discussing and illustrating a variety of issues. This one, in particular, talks about “Vampire Energy,” the energy that appliances and electronics use, even if they’re in standby mode. Best practice is always to have your TV, computer, etc. connected to a power bar that can be shut off when not in use, thereby cutting the power completely.

I think the video is a good example of distributing knowledge effectively. They took existing information/data (about power consumption) and created an animation that does a better job at communicating it than a bar graph and table of numbers probably ever could.