Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The clock at the centre of the world
In November of 2005 in Paris, a professional clockmaker named Jean-Baptiste Viot, was recruited by a group called UnterGunther for the purpose of restoring the clock in the Pantheon, the 18th-century architectural masterpiece that houses famous crypts including those of Voltaire and Hugo and was the site of Foucault's pendulum experiment.
UnterGunther are the restoration unit of a larger underground organization in Paris known as UX. I say "underground" in its most literal sense: formed in the 1980's, UX began as a group of students who threw parties in the tunnels below the city's Latin Quarter. But the group continued to grow -- today it numbers around 150 members -- and expand its focus to include subterrenean concerts, poetry readings and crypt restoration; all of this going unnoticed by the authorities until 2002 when police discovered an underground cinema, complete with bar and restaurant, under the Seine.
The clock in the Pantheon had been broken since the 1960's, and suffered from neglect by the state, and the group was concerned that if it were not fixed now, it would degenerate beyond repair. Sneaking into the building at night and setting up a workshop that included electricity and internet access, the group spent around a year working on the clock undetected by authorities. On October 10 2006, they presented the restored clock to Bernard Jeannot, curator of the Pantheon, who immediately pressed charges against the group for their trespassing and, presumably, the making of a complete ass out of him. The court case just wrapped up last week with UnterGunther cleared of any charges and rumour has it that they are working on a new secret project somewhere deep amid the shadows of the City of Lights.
In November of 2005 in Paris, a professional clockmaker named Jean-Baptiste Viot, was recruited by a group called UnterGunther for the purpose of restoring the clock in the Pantheon, the 18th-century architectural masterpiece that houses famous crypts including those of Voltaire and Hugo and was the site of Foucault's pendulum experiment.
UnterGunther are the restoration unit of a larger underground organization in Paris known as UX. I say "underground" in its most literal sense: formed in the 1980's, UX began as a group of students who threw parties in the tunnels below the city's Latin Quarter. But the group continued to grow -- today it numbers around 150 members -- and expand its focus to include subterrenean concerts, poetry readings and crypt restoration; all of this going unnoticed by the authorities until 2002 when police discovered an underground cinema, complete with bar and restaurant, under the Seine.
The clock in the Pantheon had been broken since the 1960's, and suffered from neglect by the state, and the group was concerned that if it were not fixed now, it would degenerate beyond repair. Sneaking into the building at night and setting up a workshop that included electricity and internet access, the group spent around a year working on the clock undetected by authorities. On October 10 2006, they presented the restored clock to Bernard Jeannot, curator of the Pantheon, who immediately pressed charges against the group for their trespassing and, presumably, the making of a complete ass out of him. The court case just wrapped up last week with UnterGunther cleared of any charges and rumour has it that they are working on a new secret project somewhere deep amid the shadows of the City of Lights.
Labels: Signs of Our Time, Street Level
Friday, November 23, 2007
Art I Pass By On My Way To Work - #13
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Visualizing Data for the Masses
Searching for examples of info graphics from the New York Times, I found this great collection of work by Megan Jaegerman (on Tufte's site no less). Also worth checking out: Matthew Ericson, the Deputy Graphics Director at the NY Times, recently gave the keynote at an info graphics conference in California. You can download the slides (pdf) for this presentation titled “Visualizing Data for the Masses: Information Graphics at The New York Times”. (all of this via: db79.com)
Searching for examples of info graphics from the New York Times, I found this great collection of work by Megan Jaegerman (on Tufte's site no less). Also worth checking out: Matthew Ericson, the Deputy Graphics Director at the NY Times, recently gave the keynote at an info graphics conference in California. You can download the slides (pdf) for this presentation titled “Visualizing Data for the Masses: Information Graphics at The New York Times”. (all of this via: db79.com)
Labels: Design, Edge of Chaos, NY Times
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The Virtual Water Project
"The water footprint of a person, company or nation is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the commodities, goods and services consumed by the person, company or nation."
Designer Timm Kekeritz creates something tangible (and beautiful) through his poster design for The Virtual Water Project.
"The water footprint of a person, company or nation is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the commodities, goods and services consumed by the person, company or nation."
Designer Timm Kekeritz creates something tangible (and beautiful) through his poster design for The Virtual Water Project.
Labels: Design, Design Can Change the World, Edge of Chaos
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Re:Read
“The idea is that one artist takes a hardcover from a book, tears out the pages and draws in one half (or half draws in both halves) of the binder/diptyque. In a nod to Ray Johnson, the two books are mailed (swapped) and each of these will be finished by the other.”
-from the intro to the Flickr group “The Library” by Alex Itin, the current artist-in-residence at the Institute for the Future of the Book.
“For the past five hundred years, humans have used print — the book and its various page-based cousins — to move ideas across time and space. Radio, cinema and television emerged in the last century and now, with the advent of computers, we are combining media to forge new forms of expression. For now, we use the word "book" broadly, even metaphorically, to talk about what has come before — and what might come next.”
-from the mission statement of The Institute for the Future of the Book
“The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford in England is the only place you are likely to find an Ethernet port that looks like a book. Built into the ancient bookcases dominating the oldest wing of the 402-year-old library, the brown plastic ports share shelf space with handwritten catalogues of the university's medieval manuscripts and other materials. Some of the volumes are still chained to the shelves, a 17th-century innovation designed to discourage borrowing. But thanks to the Ethernet ports and the university's effort to digitize irreplaceable books like the catalogues -- which often contain the only clue to locating an obscure book or manuscript elsewhere in the vast library -- users of the Bodleian don't even need to take the books off the shelves. They can simply plug in their laptops, connect to the Internet, and view the pertinent pages online. In fact, anyone with a Web browser can read the catalogues, a privilege once restricted to those fortunate enough to be teaching or studying at Oxford.”
-from The Infinite Library by Wade Roush
“The Library Project's aim is simple: make it easier for people to find relevant books – specifically, books they wouldn't find any other way such as those that are out of print – while carefully respecting authors' and publishers' copyrights. Our ultimate goal is to work with publishers and libraries to create a comprehensive, searchable, virtual card catalog of all books in all languages that helps users discover new books and publishers discover new readers.”
-Google Book Search Library Project
“The idea is that one artist takes a hardcover from a book, tears out the pages and draws in one half (or half draws in both halves) of the binder/diptyque. In a nod to Ray Johnson, the two books are mailed (swapped) and each of these will be finished by the other.”
-from the intro to the Flickr group “The Library” by Alex Itin, the current artist-in-residence at the Institute for the Future of the Book.
“For the past five hundred years, humans have used print — the book and its various page-based cousins — to move ideas across time and space. Radio, cinema and television emerged in the last century and now, with the advent of computers, we are combining media to forge new forms of expression. For now, we use the word "book" broadly, even metaphorically, to talk about what has come before — and what might come next.”
-from the mission statement of The Institute for the Future of the Book
“The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford in England is the only place you are likely to find an Ethernet port that looks like a book. Built into the ancient bookcases dominating the oldest wing of the 402-year-old library, the brown plastic ports share shelf space with handwritten catalogues of the university's medieval manuscripts and other materials. Some of the volumes are still chained to the shelves, a 17th-century innovation designed to discourage borrowing. But thanks to the Ethernet ports and the university's effort to digitize irreplaceable books like the catalogues -- which often contain the only clue to locating an obscure book or manuscript elsewhere in the vast library -- users of the Bodleian don't even need to take the books off the shelves. They can simply plug in their laptops, connect to the Internet, and view the pertinent pages online. In fact, anyone with a Web browser can read the catalogues, a privilege once restricted to those fortunate enough to be teaching or studying at Oxford.”
-from The Infinite Library by Wade Roush
“The Library Project's aim is simple: make it easier for people to find relevant books – specifically, books they wouldn't find any other way such as those that are out of print – while carefully respecting authors' and publishers' copyrights. Our ultimate goal is to work with publishers and libraries to create a comprehensive, searchable, virtual card catalog of all books in all languages that helps users discover new books and publishers discover new readers.”
-Google Book Search Library Project
Labels: Art, Literature, Signs of Our Time
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Art I Pass By On My Way To Work - #12
Found in the alleyway at Lorne St. between 1st Ave and 2nd Ave in Vancouver.
Found in the alleyway at Lorne St. between 1st Ave and 2nd Ave in Vancouver.
Labels: Art-I-Pass-By, Street Level
Friday, November 02, 2007
Let's Get Ready To Rumble..
Not since Rob Feenie took down Masaharu Morimoto in Kitchen Stadium to become Canada's Iron Chef has one of our local darlings entered a battle of such epic proportions.
Today, center court at Coudal.com's Layer Tennis:
Bantjes vs. Vit
Not since Rob Feenie took down Masaharu Morimoto in Kitchen Stadium to become Canada's Iron Chef has one of our local darlings entered a battle of such epic proportions.
Today, center court at Coudal.com's Layer Tennis:
Bantjes vs. Vit
Labels: Design
