This picture was taken with a camera worth $150 (By NASA)

On May 29, looking southward from a vantage point about 350 kilometers above the southern Indian Ocean, astronauts onboard the International Space Station watched this enormous, green ribbon shimmering below. Known as aurora-australis or southern lights, the shifting, luminous bands are commonly seen at high northern latitudes as well, there known as the aurora borealis or northern lights.


What's more impressive was that the shot was taken using a cheapo 7 Mega Pixel camera used by one of the crew.

The Transcendent City

Richard Hardy, a recent graduate from the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, produced this eye-popping video—exploring an all-encompassing machine-forest populated with mechanical flowers and fluttering urban biotechnologies, with architectural sponges perched high atop masts—for Nic Clear's Unit 15.

THE TRANSCENDENT CITY from Richard Hardy on Vimeo.

Richard writes:

The Transcendent City is an autonomous artificial machine that extends across the earth adapting to the natural eco-systems it encounters while deriving its energy from the renewable resources available at each particular site. The systems desire is to maintain homeostasis within itself whilst maintaining homeostasis within the greater system, Gaia. Its processes are engineered on the molecular scale by nano technologies controlled by molecular computers that monitor and analyse the environment.

All images courtesy of Richard's Flickr account.

Summer Fireflies

Click image for full size

"I was spending the Fourth of July back in Nebraska, in the farmhouse where I grew up, and there were more fireflies that summer than I'd ever seen. I went out to the dirt road behind the house and shot this using a long exposure, just after sunset."—Rachel Blaser 

Image courtesy of the International Photography Contest 2009.

Everest, As it Happens.

'As It Happens' is a short film featuring two mountaineers who decide to document their journey through the Himalayas on the go; uploading their experiences independently via satellite. 

Equipped with an array of pricey gear; their film proposes a more authentic and accurate description of events rather than something stitched together in a clean editing studio months later. 

Results are as follows!

Runtime: 16:27

As It Happens from renan ozturk on Vimeo.

The Congo, In Pink and Red

All images courtesy of Richard Mosse.

It's All About the Details - A Short on Macro Photography

Runtime: 2:39

macro kingdom from clemento on Vimeo.

Six Retro Sci-fi Illustrations from the 1960's

Credits

Examing the works of Warp Records devotee Mira Calix

Mira Calix, real name Chantal Passamonte, is an artist signed to Warp Records, specialising in mixing her intimate vocals with jittering beats and experimental electronic textures.

As a live performer and DJ, she has supported and toured with a broad range of acts, including Radiohead, Plaid, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Aphex Twin.

This video explores some of her more experimental and collaborative pieces with a series of visual artists.



http://www.miracalix.com/

'Eavy Metal - Exploring Russian Industry

Runtime: 6:07mins

Music: Klaus Schulze

Magnitka from Sasha Aleksandrov on Vimeo.

Solar Equation - Public art in Wintery Melbourne, by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

As part of the 'Light in Winter' Festival in Melbourne Australia, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer has created one of his largest projects ever: a three-dimensional, animated scale model of the Sun, tethered in the sky above Federation Square, called 'Solar Equation.' Lozano-Hemmer employs a giant helium-filled balloon, approximately 47 feet in diameter (100 million times smaller than the real Sun), upon which he projects a simulation of the turbulence, flares and spots on the solar surface comprised by observatory images from NASA.

That's not all, the piece is also interactive:

"Using an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, people may disturb the animations in real-time and select different fluid dynamic visualizations," writes Lozano-Hemmer. The five projectors used for the animation are joined with audio loops of "rumbles, crackles and bursts" also simulated from solar activity. While pertinent environmental questions of global warming, drought, or UV radiation might arise from the contemplation of this piece, Solar Equation intends to likewise evoke romantic environments of ephemerality, mystery and paradox, such as those from Blake or Goethe. Every culture has a unique set of solar mythologies and this project seeks to be a platform for both the expression of traditional symbolism and the emergence of new stories.

Photos: Julie Renouf

http://www.lozano-hemmer.com

Haunting Grafitti of Kids in the Ghost Town of Pripyat, Ukraine

All shots were taken in Pripyat and the surrounding area affected by the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

Photo Credits

Get Up and Go - Tokyo Timelapse

Runtime: 2:21mins

Music: Broadcast 2000

Get up and go from Stefan Werc on Vimeo.

Five Unedited Pictures of Mars

All images NASA

Seeing the World in Miniature with Tilt Shift Photography

HD Versions of these clips can be found here.

Mardi Gras from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Hulkamania from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Helpless from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Metal Heart from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

All videos were shot in an around Sydney using tilt shift photography techniques by Keith Loutit

Serra da Leba, Angola - Desert Road

From the Photographer, Kostadin Luchansky: 

This is Serra da Leba, a landmark in Angola. It has been one of the country's postcard images for decades, but all shots were taken by day. I needed something different. I decided to try a night shot, but it seemed impossible: pitch black, foggy, an altitude of 1,800 meters (5,000 feet). My Nikon can stay open as long as 60 seconds max. But a car takes a few minutes to climb and descend and complete the "drawing." The fog was blocking! Suddenly the fog cleared, a car went down, another went up, and they met in the middle in under 60 seconds.

Urban Abstract - Tokyo/Helsinki inspired animation

Runtime: 4:08mins

Sound Design & Music: Chikao Maruyama

Urban Abstract from Musuta on Vimeo.

Art Director Jopsu Ramu from Musuta Ltd. (a multidisciplinary design agency based in Helsinki & Tokyo) has created together with Shun Kawakami (artless Inc) an artist and designer from Tokyo - a piece titled Urban Abstract. This digital art piece is being shown as the November break bumpers on one of the biggest commercial TV channels in Finland: TV Nelonen.

The website urban-abstract.com works as a part of the piece and creates an extra dimension for the clips shown on TV.

The Concept:

Urban Abstract is a journey across urban space that unfolds in forty, 5 second parts. The journey, in one, two and three dimensions, is a bit like abstract surfing in which the original destination is only reached after a number of seemingly random yet linked detours occur. Points , lines, planes and other abstract elements create a journey through an Urban Abstract.
The space between things is as important as intended space, perhaps creating a fourth dimension. Meaningful shapes and purposes occur in this dimension's reality as well. The concept of negative space has meaning here.
Nature plays a part as well. To be able to understand and differentiate what is urban one has understand what is nature.
The style of the shorts is fluid and, though seemingly random, stream into a cohesive whole. Perhaps watching them in a different order would be more like seeing the same journey from another point of view. The sound world is also very important -- movement in space is sensed even if watching the shorts with eyes closed. Sounds overlap, fade, come and go.
Architectural, abstract, someway minimalist and abstract with a touch of humanity.
This feeling is reached through mixing techniques such as vectors , hand drawn lines and painting.
Urban Abstract was realized in Tokyo by a team of artists, designers and animators from Finland and Japan. Urban Abstract was created by Jopsu Ramu from Musuta Ltd, a concept, art & design -studio based in Tokyo and Helsinki.

The Hairy Cathedral of Shanghai

This is the Seed Cathedral. The British entrant for the world expo in Shanghai earlier this month. 60,000 rods of clear perspex are inserted into a large accessible, walkable structure, creating a shimmering, moving almost hairy building.
At night, LED's illuminate the structure, but by day the innards of the cathedral glow with natural light. Each one of the rods contains a different seed donated by the world seed bank, China.

The creators of the piece, Heatherwick Studio reports that the Seed Cathedral has already found favour with the Chinese public, who have nick-named the pavilion 'Pu Gong Ying', which translates as 'The Dandelion'. We are also glad to hear that the studio have planned for the afterlife of the pavilion when the World Expo ends.
"After the Expo, just as dandelion seeds are blown away and disperse on the breeze, the Seed Cathedral's 60,000 optic hairs, each one containing the huge potential of life, will be distributed across China and the UK to hundreds of schools as a special legacy of the UK Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai Expo."

The UK Pavilion rather sensibly doesn't aim to compete with Asian high-tech solutions, but goes for a spectacular low-tech approach instead. Heatherwick Studio describe their approach as engaging "meaningfully with Shanghai Expo's theme, Better City, Better Life, and standing out from the anticipated trend for technology driven pavilions, filled with audio-visual content on screens, projections and speakers."

A full and very watchable description of the piece from designer Mark Heatherwick can be found here: iPlayer - Culture Show

But be quick, the interview is only available until Friday.

Heatherwick Studios

Curious Mirrors - Audience, from rAndom International

Audience by rAndom International with Chris O'Shea

Installation in the US for private art collector.

Audience, February 2010 from rAndom International on Vimeo.

Audience February 2010 - Setup from rAndom International on Vimeo.

An earlier set up inside the Royal Opera House in 2008:

Royal Opera House: Audience. from rAndom International on Vimeo.

 Further Information and Artist's site 

 

Progressive games and their designers examined in upcoming Indie documentary.

I'm wary of games. They give us a great platform for interactivity and immersion, though rarely tap into their full potential creativity.
However, there are groups within the gaming industry that do attempt to push the boat out and attempt to redefine what games can be and do.
Independent games designers. They are freer to produce original, but on occasion, commercially unsound packages. Here below is an upcoming documentary which examines one such designer and his motives.

Indie Game: The Movie - Growing Up Edmund from IndieGame: The Movie on Vimeo.

The game mentioned above (Aether) can be played for free here.

Northern Sahara shot with Canon 5d mk2 - Predictably awesome

Runtime: 4:14mins

Music: SaReGaMa

HD Version here (Recommended)

Sahara Wonderland from zoomion on Vimeo.

Old Photos of the San Franciscan cliff house in 1907

Photographic Credits 1 & 2

1024architecture - French duo and their hypnotic audio installations

I came across Pier Schneider and Francios Wunschel's work some time ago. They mix their own electronic audio with fantastically complex live projections to produce some pretty dramatic results under the name 1024architecture.

From their website:  1024 works on the interactions between 1024 dimensions: Space, Sound, Visual, Light, Body, Architecture, City..

I'm such a sucker for audio-reactive stuff. It's odd how mainstream acts often seem to settle for less when it comes to their own stage design.

Selected Works:

EUPHORIE / P.Burst / 02.10 from 1024 on Vimeo.

MOMENTO MONUMENTO from 1024 on Vimeo.

Nuit Hypnotique from 1024 on Vimeo.

SQUARE3 / E. De Crecy Tests from 1024 on Vimeo.

GRrrrrridWave from 1024 on Vimeo.

Website: http://www.1024architecture.net/

Mount St Helens Aftermath in 1980

Click Images for Full Size.

Photographic Credits