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Posts Tagged ‘Monument’

Art of Deception: NYC Monument to Giant Octopus Attack Misdirects Tourists

09 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

fake-ferry-memorial

Visitors to Battery Park in Manhattan will find memorials to fallen soldiers, sunken sailors and 400 passengers who perished when a Staten Island ferry was attacked by a giant octopus.

puzzling-fake-memorial

This last event, however convincing (thanks to 250-pound cast-bronze sculpture and plaque), is entirely fictional, part of surprisingly elaborate hoax. That would be hard to guess at a glance, though, given the thought and craft that went into this fake memorial and the other materials that were designed to bolster its credibility.

octopus-attack-ferry-boat

Artist Joseph Reginella invented the scenario, crafting a website, a mock documentary, news articles and fliers to complete the deception. The monument even directs people to the Ferry Disaster Memorial museum. It also weaves in real-world facts, like the name of the ship.

He had the idea while taking the ferry himself. When his won asked whether there were dangerous creatures waiting below, he invented the story, then spent months elaborating on the fabrication.

fake-ferry-monument

To keep the city from taking it away, he has moved the memorial from place to place. To add credibility, he made the day of the event the same as the assassination of President Kennedy, something that would plausibly overshadow such a massive historic disaster.

Sunken Memorial Garden Sliced into Submerged Cruise Ship

Submerged sea vessels have long been destinations for diving tourists or (intentional or accidental) marine life habitats, but what if they could serve some function still visible on the surface …

Art Attack: Berlin Drivers Paint The Town Red (& Beyond)

Not only did they paint it red, but pink, purple, blue and yellow as well. Don’t blame the drivers (and the odd pedestrian), and don’t question their sobriety either – all were unasked, …

Monument & Void: Massive Stone Museum of Mayan History

Commissioned for Guatemala City, this weighty megalithic structure is set to be the largest museum commemorating Mayan culture and history in Central America. Its architectural success, however, …

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Missing Pyramid: Louvre Installation Makes Iconic Monument Disappear

27 May

louvre pyramid camouflage 1

In a work of large-scale urban camouflage, French street artist JR has made the iconic glass pyramid standing outside the Musée du Louvre disappear. At least, it seems to disappear, when viewed from one very particular angle, thanks to a massive wrapping printed with a photograph of the museum’s facade. Known for paste-ups on a monumental scale as well as digital projections on architecture, JR transforms the 11,000-square-foot pyramid by I.M. Pei, which became a Paris landmark after its installation in 1989.

louvre pyramid camouflage 2

The illusion convincingly stands in for the entrance to the Louvre palace, despite being rendered in black and white, and matches up perfectly with the facade. Before the Pyramid became publicly accepted as an integral part of the Louvre, it was controversial, with some critics arguing that the clash of architectural styles was an affront to what the museum itself represents. In camouflaging it, JR takes us back to the days before it was built, leaving us with the distinct feeling that something is missing. The display will be in place through June 27th, 2016.

louvre pyramid camouflage 3

“Making the Pyramid disappear is a way for me to distance myself from my subject,” says JR. “The feud between traditional and modern tastes in art and architecture is nothing new. The Pyramid, Buren’s columns at the Palais-Royal, and the Pompidou Center – all of these caused controversy. My work is about transmitting history to better understand the present, and find echoes with our own times. What happened in the past is part of a broader context that can still have relevance for today.”

“By erasing the Louvre Pyramid, I am highlighting the way Pei made the Louvre relevant for his time, while bringing the Louvre back to its original state. The Pyramid is one of the most photographed French monuments. I am redirecting its energy, because people are going to have to move around it. They are going to look for the best angle to get the full impact of the anamorphic image, and really make the Pyramid disappear.”


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World’s Longest Tunnel Slide Opening at Sculptural London Monument

30 Apr

[ By Steph in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

arcelormittal slide main

Experience monumental sculpture like you never have before with a new 15-story tunnel slide that spirals around London’s ArcelorMittal Orbit monument, set to be the world’s longest. The UK is really pushing its public art to the next level by adding a record breaker to a record breaker, as the sculpture already holds the title of tallest in the nation. The slide wraps around the sculpture 12 times, and it takes forty seconds to get from the very top to the bottom in a trip through the tube.

world's longest tunnel slide 2

Opening to the public on June 24th, 2016, the Carsten Höller-designed slide features both opaque and transparent sections so riders get brief glimpses of the London skyline before plunging back into darkness. A tight corkscrew section snakes its way around the red geometric structure, ending in a straight run to the ground. The slide’s total length is 584 feet.

world's longest tunnel slide 3

world's longest tunnel slide 4

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London erected the strange and rather controversial ArcelorMittal for the 2012 Summer Olympics, offering panoramic views of the city from its location in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Tickets for the attraction are already on sale for £15 ($ 22), with a limited number available each day, and you can book more than one ride at a time.

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Chinese Skywalk: World’s Longest Glass Bridge Spans Two Cliffs

If you thought Twin Peaks was suspenseful, test your mettle on the new glass-bottomed Brave Man’s Bridge connecting two cliffs in the Hunan province of …
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8th World Wonder in the Works: Tunnel from Russia to USA

Back on the table after nearly a century of talk: a railway to reconnect the Far East with the Far West, enabling a Londoner to travel by rail all the way to …
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Park & Slide: 100,000 Sign Up to Slip 300 Feet Down a Street

For one day only, residents of Bristol were offered just 360 ‘tickets to slide’ (out of nearly 100,000 applicants) down a main city street at over …
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Monument is an intelligent personal photo storage device

20 Feb

Cloud photo storage services are abundant, but not all photographers are willing to pay the monthly fees associated with large storage amounts. Monument, a project currently seeking crowdfunding, aims to bring the organization and syncing features found in cloud services like Google Photos to a photography-centric storage device that you keep in your own home. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Modernized Monument: Crumbling Medieval Tower Turned Library

06 Jun

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

torre del borgo 1

Matte black steel and timber-clad stacked volumes fill in empty spaces throughout the medieval Torre del Borgo in northern Italy, a recent renovation stabilizing the crumbling stone walls and connecting the four stories together for transformation into a public library. Still strong after all these centuries, the stone shell of the fortified building works in concert with modern materials to create a space that provides an important function to the community, and helps preserve its history.

torre del borgo 3

torre del borgo 4

Before it was re-designed, the Torre was not only falling apart piece by piece, it lacked adequate means of passage from one floor to the next, and the interiors were unfinished. It needed structural support, extra space and additional windows to make it usable for the city of Bergamo.

torre del borgo 9

torre del borgo 7

torre del borgo 5

Architect Gianluca Gemini came up with “an architectonic and functional reinterpretation of the building” that identifies solutions to the degradation. Black iron ramps and walkways cut across the four main halls, making them fully accessible and highlighting a contrast between the smooth steel and glass and the rough, mottled stone. This solution is visually striking, invisible from outside and leaves plenty of room for library patrons to read and browse.

torre del borgo 8

torre del borgo 2

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The timber and concrete addition features floor-to-ceiling glazing to bring more natural light to the interior, and adds floor space, without significantly altering the original stone structure.

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Secular Conversion: Historic Chapel Turned Modern Library

A beautiful old chapel in the Italian town of Lonate Ceppino has been transformed into a modern library with a  perforated aluminum tower that adds to the …
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Religious Conversions: 15 Houses of Worship Turned Secular

Transforming these fifteen churches, monasteries and synagogues into homes, libraries and nightclubs hasn’t put a damper on their sense of reverence and …
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Ruins of Crumbling Church Salvaged with Geometric Addition

A faceted glass structure clings to the ruins of a stone church in Santpedor, Spain, filling in a gaping hole that was created with the demolition of an …
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Monument & Void: Massive Stone Museum of Mayan History

07 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

mayan museum central void

Commissioned for Guatemala City, this weighty megalithic structure is set to be the largest museum commemorating Mayan culture and history in Central America. Its architectural success, however, comes as much from its empty spaces as from its imposing structure, as evidenced by the eight-story central void shown above.

mayan museum plynth megalith

At a glance, the building looks like a monolithic box set upon a piecemeal plinth, the latter helping to give the former a sense of impossible mass. This humbling exterior gives way to an only somewhat-more-human-scaled series of spatial experiences inside.

maya museum monolithic void

Heavy stone-clad walls pierced by patchwork voids conspire to reinforce the sense of visual thickness that permeates the project, referencing ancient Mayan temples in terms of architectural materials and concepts but also sheer scale.

mayan museum exterior forest

This region-referencing design resulted from international collaboration between Harry Gugger Studio of Switzerland and Over,Under of Boston. More details from these firms below.

mayan museum gallery room

“The new Museo Maya de América is among the most ambitious cultural projects under development in Central America. It is planned to house one of the world’s most significant collections of objects, artefacts, artworks, textiles and knowledge relating to the history and culture of the Mayan Civilisation.”

mayan museum scale figure

“Located on the northern edge of L’Aurora Park, the new museum building will form the culmination of a cultural axis that includes the Guatemalan Museum of Contemporary Art and the Children’s Museum. This dense cluster of cultural institutions, in tandem with the large open spaces of the adjacent park will become a focal point for tourists and residents alike.”

mayan museum monolithic facade

An open central “void extends down in to the parking levels below ground, providing an interesting route up into the museum and a special place to display underworld-related artefacts. The landscaped roof of the museum is once again given back to the public with a series of different areas including a restaurant and terrace, roof gardens and viewing decks all accessible from the Cenote.”

mayan museum exploded axon

mayan museum central void

“The large surface of the roof will also be used to collect rainwater in a manner recalling traditional Maya practices by drawing water through a series of channels into the Cenote, enhancing the museums commitment to the environment through water recycling.”

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Ship Shaped: Undergound Maritime Museum in Dry Dock Void

Using the existing vessel-shaped space of a six-decades-old dry dock, the Danish National Maritime Museum in Helsingor, Denmark takes visitors on a unique …
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Lanyang Museum Juts Out from the Landscape Like a Rock

The Lanyang Museum in Taiwan is inspired by the geological formations that surround it, jutting up out of the ground as if it’s pushing forth out of the rock.
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Human Body Museum: Undulating Design Wins Competition

Its organic form fits its function as a Cité du Corps Humain (Museum of the Human Body) like a metaphorical glove – interlocked fingers were, in fact, …
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Fair use? US stamp featuring photo of monument nets sculptor $650,000

29 Sep

Stamp.jpg

Heard the one about the sculptor awarded over half a million dollars because a stamp was made including a war memorial he’d designed? At first that may sound surprising, but reading the court’s judgement (and the rejections of the various defenses put forward by the US Postal Service), is an informative lesson about copyright and fair use. Click here to read more.

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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20 September, 2013 -Navajo National Monument

20 Sep

Miles Hecker a regular contributor shares a new article on the Navajo National Monument.  

Kevin Raber has posted a new image on the Home Pgae.  This image was made last month on a journey from Svalbard.  Polar Bear On The Edge illustrates the environment the Polar Bear lives in.  This was a fascinating trip to learn of the challenges facing the Polar Bear all throughout the north.  

Check back often for an update to Michael Reichmann’s continuing review of the Olympus OM-D E-M1.

 

 

"Having been to Antarctica with Michael and Kevin, I would say after having traveled the world and shot nearly my entire life as an exhibiting photographer,  it was one of my highlights in my life and I talk about it, all the time.  The images and experience of seeing something visionary and nearly extinct from the world, to see and experience the wildlife and scenery that does not fear humans is amazing.  The images I shot there won me two Smithsonian awards and nearly 18 other international awards". – Tim Wolcott

 Find Out More Now
These Expeditions Will Sell Out Quickly. They Always Do

 

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The Luminous Landscape – What’s New

 
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Vertical Landfill: Monument to Civilization Honors Our Trash

10 Mar

[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

Monument to Civilization Vertical Landfill 1

Nearly all of our most majestic architecture reflects pinnacles of achievement for our species, and one architect aims to call attention to yet another way in which we are ‘spectacular:’ our unmatched ability to produce incredible amounts of waste. ‘Monument to Civilization‘ is a vertical landfill tower that offers both a serious solution for urban waste management and a commentary on our unsustainable habits.

Monument to Civilization Vertical Landfill 2

Monument to Civilization Vertical Landfill 3

The third place winner in eVolo’s 2012 Skyscraper Competition, ‘Monument to Civilization’ is not just a sobering daily reminder of how wasteful we can be, and the pressing need for new solutions. It’s also a power plant, harvesting methane gas from all that rotting trash and using it to help keep the city running.

Monument to Civilzation Vertical Landfill 4

Lin Yu-Ta envisions a narrow tower reaching high into the sky. Noting that we often “build towers for towers’ sake,” the Taiwanese designer puts some meaning behind the spectacle: the 1,318-meter (4,324-foot) height of this tower proposal represents the space that would be needed to store just a single year worth of trash from New York City alone.

Monument to Civilization Vertical Landfill 5

“The ever-growing Monument may evoke the citizens’ introspection and somewhat leads to the entire city’s waste-decreasing and better recycling. Perhaps all metropolitan cities would inverse the worldwide competition from being the tallest to the shortest.”

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Vertical Landfill: Monument to Civilization Honors Our Trash

08 Mar

[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

Monument to Civilization Vertical Landfill 1

Nearly all of our most majestic architecture reflects pinnacles of achievement for our species, and one architect aims to call attention to yet another way in which we are ‘spectacular:’ our unmatched ability to produce incredible amounts of waste. ‘Monument to Civilization‘ is a vertical landfill tower that offers both a serious solution for urban waste management and a commentary on our unsustainable habits.

Monument to Civilization Vertical Landfill 2

Monument to Civilization Vertical Landfill 3

The third place winner in eVolo’s 2012 Skyscraper Competition, ‘Monument to Civilization’ is not just a sobering daily reminder of how wasteful we can be, and the pressing need for new solutions. It’s also a power plant, harvesting methane gas from all that rotting trash and using it to help keep the city running.

Monument to Civilzation Vertical Landfill 4

Lin Yu-Ta envisions a narrow tower reaching high into the sky. Noting that we often “build towers for towers’ sake,” the Taiwanese designer puts some meaning behind the spectacle: the 1,318-meter (4,324-foot) height of this tower proposal represents the space that would be needed to store just a single year worth of trash from New York City alone.

Monument to Civilization Vertical Landfill 5

“The ever-growing Monument may evoke the citizens’ introspection and somewhat leads to the entire city’s waste-decreasing and better recycling. Perhaps all metropolitan cities would inverse the worldwide competition from being the tallest to the shortest.”

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Towers of Trash: 5000-Foot Junk Skyscrapers to Fuel Cities

Instead of burying our legacy under the Earth’s surface, these structures showcase the impact of the millions of tons of trash major cities produce on an annual basis.
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Skyscraper Squatters: Lessons from Ad Hoc Vertical Slums

Recipe: an abandoned office tower without occupants while people all around sleeping on the streets. Result: 45 floors now inhabited by over 3000 people.
Click Here to Read More »»


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