the Air Pump

Exclusive Power Club

Mon, 21 May 2012 07:43:00 +0100

The Cremation of Care, pagan ritual at the Bohemian Club features a 12 meter high concrete owl.

This week Nelly Ben Hayoun, Nicolas Myers and I will be running a workshop at École Estienne in Paris. The students will be looking at narratives of secrecy, power and conspiracy and create their own secret society. Here is an extract from the brief:

“PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON’T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER”
Groucho Marx in a telegram to the Friar’s Club of Beverly Hills

‘Secret societies and exclusive clubs are well known to the public even though their real influence and power are concealed from us. Ranging from fraternities, religious groups, cults, political organisations, private clubs or terrorist cells, these “exclusive” clubs influence and shape our society and its future… or at least that’s what their members want you to think.

You are asked to design your own exclusive power club with its rituals and rules, goals, activities, agendas, tactics and maybe a secret handshake. Whether it seeks world domination or global happiness your club is like no other, with long term goals that are both world-changing and obscure to the non-members.

Ultimaker!

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:16:00 +0100

Gerard Rallo and I have been building our Ultimaker 3D printer, and got our first print last night. We still have a lot of settings to understand and fine tune, but there are exciting times ahead. We are documenting our learning curve here

the Electric Bookshop

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0100

I talked to the lovely people at Electric Bookshop about the Infinite Adventure Machine and the Future of Writing project last wednesday in Edinburgh. some photos of the night are up on Flickr

Stories

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:25:00 +0000

Minor website update: I’ve added a ‘Stories’ section for small projects that combine images and text. The first two, In-Vitro Kebabs and Ultra-Diamond Super-Value were made in september and november 2011. Hopefully more to come soon.

Ghost Estates

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:53:42 +0000

Ireland - photos by Valerie Anex

Dublin Observer - Photo by Topgold

Daily Mail

The Bust From a Bird’s Eye View - Ireland After NAMA

China has ghost estates too - the Journal

Odd Vessels

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:38:00 +0000

A quick survey of industrial ships, for a possible new addition to Fabulous Fabbers. Most of these are taken from ShipSpotting.com, an amazing resource for ships of all sorts.

City of St. Petersburg - Vehicles Carrier

Ken Boothe Sr. - from Flickr user Platitude_Way

Almawashi - Livestock Carrier

Pyxis - Vehicles Carrier

Seajacks Kraken - Platform

Celestial Wing - Vehicles Carrier

Southern Juice - Fruit Juice Tanker

Arctic Discoverer - Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Tanker

Light Vessel 22

Victorious Ace - Vehicles Carrier

Extreme Dog Grooming

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:27:00 +0000

“Animal photographer Ren Netherland from Florida, travels thousands of miles every year capturing these stunning transformations at ‘creative grooming’ shows around America.” Article on the Daily Mail

Photo

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:51:28 +0000

Laura MoriartySubduction into Trench 2011 Encaustic on panel 10...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:45:53 +0000

Laura Moriarty
Subduction into Trench
2011 Encaustic on panel 10 x 10 x 8.25 in

How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:55:00 +0000

Jaroslav Flegr is no kook. And yet, for years, he suspected his mind had been taken over by parasites that had invaded his brain. So the prolific biologist took his science-fiction hunch into the lab. What he’s now discovering will startle you. Could tiny organisms carried by house cats be creeping into our brains, causing everything from car wrecks to schizophrenia?

Great article about parasite Toxoplasma gondii by Kathleen Mcauliffe on the Atlantic
link

(via xkcd: The Flake Equation)

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:59:22 +0000

(via xkcd: The Flake Equation)

Real Genetically Modified Sci-Fi stock photography for sale at...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:20:00 +0000

Real Genetically Modified Sci-Fi stock photography for sale at 123RF

The Return of the Diving Horse

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:46:00 +0000

Diving horse at Atlantic City Steel Pier (source)

Dinah the diving horse and rider, circa 1955 (source)

Atlantic City’s Steel Pier is apparently preparing the return of its controversial horse diving act for the summer.
“The owners of the steel pier say the new show will feature a horse and rider, diving off a 30 to 40 foot platform into a 12-foot pool” A brand new amphitheater is being built to host the shows as part of a $102 million dollar renovation of the pier.

Diving Horse at Hanlan’s Point (source)

more on this curious practice:
Meet Lightning the diving horse Telegraph
William Frank Carver the inventor of the original show
Wild Hearts Can’t be Broken Disney film about Sonora Webster

Jelly Egg Rain

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:05:04 +0000

“The sky turned dark, then yellow, then blue balls began dropping out of the sky. Not the start of a science fiction film but Steve Hornsby’s account of a strange happening in his back yard in Dorset.”
“Josie Pegg, a science research assistant at Bournemouth University, speculated that the objects might be ‘marine invertebrate eggs’.”
Full Story on the Guardian website

First laser pistol ever made. Soviet personal defense weapon...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:58:54 +0000

First laser pistol ever made. Soviet personal defense weapon created for cosmonauts to keep the integrity of ships and stations plating. Created in 1984
found on Reddit

Lion’s Mane jellyfishvia El Ultimo Grito

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:37:20 +0000

Lion’s Mane jellyfish
via El Ultimo Grito

Photo

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:32:57 +0000

This is an actual project at the University of Aberdeen. The...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:45:16 +0000

This is an actual project at the University of Aberdeen. The graphics are incredible.

via Paleofuture “Now that atomic energy is coming, we have...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:26:00 +0000

via Paleofuture

“Now that atomic energy is coming, we have asked artist James B. Settles to picture for us one of the developments in amusement to which it might be put. He surprised us with this huge rolling cross-country pleasure ball.
With atomic energy, it has been postulated that man will have many leisure hours that he never had before. He will have most of the day to pursue as he pleases, either for pleasure, or in pursuit of a hobby, or in art, or in just plain being lazy.”
February 1946 issue of Amazing Stories

Photo

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:43:00 +0000