A long piece of rope represents three dimensionally a series of waves floating in space, as well as producing sounds from the physical action of their movement: the rope which creates the volume also simultaneously creates the sound by cutting through the air, making up a single element.
Depending on how we may act in front of it, according to the number of observers and their movements, it will pass from a steady line without sound to chaotic shapes of irregular sounds (the more movement there is around the installation) through the different phases of sinusoidal waves and harmonic sounds.
It's kind of hypnotic, but I kept wondering what happens if the rope breaks. (via coilhouse)
Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 13, 2012 -
Comments (7)
Category: Art
Here's more art from Art Domantay (the guy who did the chocolate toilet). This piece is called "See Man". It was exhibited at The Project in the Fall 2002. It consists of "Invisible Man model toy, artist's semen, refrigeration unit."
I can't see any invisible man model toy -- must be because it's invisible! Which reduces this exhibit to being this guy's semen in a refrigerator. It would never have occurred to me to call this art. But then, I'm no art critic, so what do I know. I'm just a guy who posts random stuff on Weird Universe.
Edit: After posting this, it occurred to me that the joke is probably that he gets people to peer into the refrigerator looking for the invisible man, but they're really just staring at his man juice. i.e. Do you see the man? Yes I See Man! -- Maybe it is brilliant in its own twisted way.
William P. Harrison was a professor of dentistry at the University of Southern California between 1929 and 1963. He had an unusual way of teaching dentistry skills. He made his students create tiny wax carvings. He figured that if the students had the manual dexterity to make a good miniature carving, they also would have the skill to be a good dentist. Over the years, he amassed a collection of hundreds of wax carvings made by his students. I have no idea what became of them all. It's the kind of thing I'd like to see in a museum, if they were on display. Some text and images below, and more info here:
1955 image of one of Harrison's students making a carving.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 08, 2012 -
Comments (7)
Category: Art
Belgian artist Wim DeIvoye has an installation he calls "Cloaca." Food goes in one end, gets processed in various ways, and comes out at the other end as poop — or something closely resembling poop. He's got various versions of this thing: the mini cloaca, personal cloaca, cloaca professional, etc. The version shown here is the "Cloaca New & Improved." It's been displayed at museums throughout Europe.
Retired teacher Geoff Ostling is covered in tattoos by Australian artist eX de Medici. He likes them so much that he wants them to be preserved for posterity. So he's bequeathed his skin to the National Gallery in Canberra so that after he's dead it can be tanned and hung on the wall for everyone to see. The Gallery hasn't accepted it yet, and Ostling realizes the bequest is controversial, but he thinks the controversy is a result of people being overly squeamish:
What are the ethical problems with the display of human skins? Is it because a beautiful tattooed human skin may force people to confront their own mortality? That we all will die one day and none of us really knows what will happen after we die. Is this the big problem that makes some people shiver? I see the tanning of my skin and donating it to the Gallery as being no different to allowing the transplant of my heart or my lungs if they will save another person's life. The skin is the largest organ of the body.
British artist Marcus Coates thinks Nature can help address the concerns of the urban poor. So he's trained himself to be an animal, so as to bring Nature to them. He goes to slums, gathers groups of the local residents, and then does a shamanistic trance thing in which he "journeys to the lower world" to seek the wisdom of animal spirits. He does this while wearing a deer's head and skin, and uttering grunts and cries. Sometimes he'll wear a horse's head, or a badger hat. More about him here and here. Check out the video to see him in action.
Nightmarish or artistic? (or both?) Created by UK artist Billie Achilleos. On display at the Louis Vuitton Omotesando store in Tokyo. (via fashionstoyou)
Posted By: Alex - Thu May 03, 2012 -
Comments (6)
Category: Art
It's that time of the year again, a favorite moment for all WU-vies. The shortlist for the UK Turner Prize is announced! We get to see a selection of the best and the brightest UK artists, those figures who contribute to humanity's glorious heritage of imperishable art that uplifts the soul and defines what it is to be human.
My personal fave this year is Lali Chetwynd. "She reworks iconic moments from cultural history in deliberately amateurish and improvisatory performances." Such as you see above.
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.