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Art

design

A Rotating House Makes For One Dizzy Dwelling

Over the last month or so, residents of Tilburg in the Netherlands have bore witness to artist John Körmeling's bizarre artistic vision. The project, nearly a decade in the making, involves a rotating house sitting smack dab in the Hasselt roundabout—a spot that has been designated to showcase works of art (not to mention acting as one of the most important gateways to the city). More »

art

Raku Ray Guns (Sorry, They're Just Ceramic)

Maybe by next year we'll be telling you about real ray pistols, but for now you'll have to settle for these charming Raku Ray Gun sculptures. Each is completely one-of-a-kind, constructed on a pottery wheel and fired using the low-fire "raku" method. The sculpture is then placed on a 12" by 9" moon crater plaque for proper wall mounting, the perfect replacement for that singing bass you've been meaning to take down (because we all know it was never meant to be ironic). The Raku Ray Guns run $275 a pop.

[Muddy Mountain Pottery via BoingBoing]


science

Mouse Jacket Grown, Euthanized In Museum Lab

In one of the odder stories we've spotted in some time, an installation called "Victimless Leather" was on display at NY's MoMA. The piece was actually a living jacket crafted from mouse embryonic stem cells, fed nutrients through tubes. But after five weeks, it grew too large for its containment flask and had to be killed. More »

art

Video: A Robot Drawing Beautiful Stars In The Sand

Here's a video of Sisyphus V drawing shapes in the sand using a magnetic arm on a 2-axis plotter. [Maker Faire]

beijing

Beijing's Gigantic LED Wall Is Fully Solar Powered

Say what you will about the fiascoes leading up to the Beijing Olympics, but the event has brought along with it some amazing new architecture. Greeting visitors attending the Xicui entertainment complex near the site of the games is a 20,000 square foot wall of computer-controlled LEDs, the largest of its kind ever built. Better yet, the wall manages to power itself completely using only the sun. More »

art

Sisyphus V: A Robot Making a Zen Garden

This isn't a sandbox with a marble in it. Sysyphus V, a kinetic sculpture by Bruce Shapiro looks like a Zen Garden. But instead of a buddhist monk carefully raking gravel, it's an autonomous steel sphere carefully crawling over and over, making polar geometric shapes that can best be described as iterative lilies or stars. A magnet on an arm on a two axis plotter sites underneath the half-ton set up, and Sisyphus is making its first appearance here, at Maker Faire 2008. An unrelated but cool Interview with Bruce, by Cool Hunting\, after the jump. [TaoMC at Makers]

More »

design

Azoo Eco-Desk Puts a Self-Cleaning Aquarium in Your Desk

I'm pretty sure Missy Elliot had something similar to Azoo's Eco-Desk, which has a self-cleaning tropical fish aquarium contained within a glass and aluminum body. Alas, hers was made by Lamborghini, so this is the poor man's / international female hip-hop star's iteration, but it's still a bit of cool for your apartment. The glass top rests on a hinged support, which can be pulled open to allow Nemo to escape back home, or better yet, add some company to the captives inside. The aquarium contains Azoo's solution for biological, water and temperature control, meaning you don't have to worry about anything other than why your Coi Carp look so damn uncomfortable. More »

nanoart

Nanomaterial Photos As Modern Art

Sunflowers? Nope. Actually, they're silicon oxide nanowires grown in gallium and gold catalysts — and they're only several microns in length. The photo, by Chinese University of Hong Kong professor S.K. Hark, is part of the Materials Research Society's semi-annual celebration of the most artistic and eye catching images found during the study of nanomaterials. Some choice picks after the jump. More »

graffiti

GRL Documentary Switches Us Onto Electronic Street Art

Never heard of the Graffiti Research Lab? Well, if we tell you they were wrongly suspected of being involved in the Boston LED Mooninite mess, and their self-declared mission statement is to be "dedicated to outfitting graffiti writers, pranksters, artists and protestors with open source tools for urban communication" do you have more of a clue? A documentary is due out soon on the work of these technology-mad urban artists, and the video shows a few snippets from it. It's pretty fascinating. We're tempted to strap some magnets, batteries and LEDs together and start decorating boring urban steel things with glowing throwies right away. The film premieres at MoMA in New York on May 4th. [BoingBoingTV]

peripherals

The Graffiti Keyboard is an Absolute Catastrophe

Using an old keyboard as his palette and a mixture of markers, pens and knick-knacks lying around the house as his mediums, Flickr user Divine Harvester managed to create something that can only be described as "keyboard vomit." The K3YB04RD, as it has been dubbed, may not be the prettiest peripheral out there, but it certainly has to be in the running for the most personalized. [Flickr via Make via about:blank]

clocks

Matchstick Clock Spells Out The Hours But Can't Tell Time

Christiaan Postma's morphing, malleable matchstick clock is pretty amazing, though a tad flawed. A portion of the 150 white lines plastered about the clock's 160 cm by 160 cm face form a word corresponding to the hour of the day. If it's three o' clock, the area where the number three appears on a typical clock would read "three." As four o' clock approaches, "three" disassembles and "four" slowly takes shape. There is one omission that could be painful if you're trying to use it to, well, to tell time. See a time lapse photo of shifty clock in action and the reason for its failings after the jump. More »

art

Little Big Man, Robot Within a Robot

Fact: every robot is controlled by a tiny robot pulling all sorts of levers in its chest, just as every human is powered by a gnome yanking on your lungs, heart and various coils of intestine. The Little Big Man kinetic sculpture by Nemo Gould outlines this principle, and was commissioned by the San Jose Museum of Art for a show going on now through October. Constructed from, among other things, vacuum cleaners, an old food processor and a vintage radio. For video of the sculpture in motion, hit the jump. More »

design

MVRDV Floating Stairs Don't Show You the Way

MRDV is a design group that put together this absolutely crazy roof extension in Rotterdam. I'm wondering how they managed to get planning permission for the blue monstrosity, as it just doesn't look right on the outside. Frankly, it doesn't look right on the inside either—check out those crazy floating stairs in the gallery below. My brain hurts. Still, you gotta love the architecture, even if the design does make your grey matter swell. [materialicious]


humor

Indian Firefox Bus Probably Doesn't Have Wi-Fi

In what appears to be the endless spread of Firefox, a new addition to the unofficial Firefox catalog has been spotted—in India. On the back of a bus. We're guessing the bus doesn't have on board Wi-Fi to make use of its web browser of choice, but we admire the support. Also, if that text in yellow above the artwork doesn't read "Safari and IE blow", well, then we'll eat our cats...I'm seriously mixing up my modern proverbs this weekend. Dammit. [Neatorama]


crockery

Flavour Designs Solves the Mystery of the Tipping Bowl

Sure, this soup is great. Yeah, I'm really enjoying it. Aw, crap—the spoon's only gone and tipped the freaking bowl all over my Diesels. Well, not anymore, friends. Please welcome Flavour Design's problem solving bowl, cleverly titled, And the Dish Ran Away With the Spoon. It is so simple it will make you cry about all those embarrassing times you could have easily avoided—a receptacle for the spoon actually built into the bowl. Pure genius. Nobel Prize committee, the search is over for this year's Peace Prize winner. [Neatorama via Boing Boing]


art

Andre Kutscherauer Robot Art Reminds Us Not to be Cocky

Check out these awesome CGI images, all put together by Andre Kutscherauer, a super-talented 3D artist. The works all include some form of evil robot madness, and with titles such as Brute Force, Selfillumination and Dandelion of Screws, how could we be anything but massively impressed? If you think we're talking junk, as usual, dive into the gallery and be amazed by the fantastic art installations. For the record, that little light bulb was just asking for moth based trouble—we'd be surprised if he doesn't have his head shattered in no time. That's the problem with being too clever for your own good; given enough cord, you'll plug yourself in...or something like that. [ak3d via io9]



where's waldo

Where's Waldo? Available to Play on Google Earth

Fans of Waldo, the geek in the striped beanie and glasses who'd pop up where you least expected, can now hunt him down on Google Earth. Canadian student Melanie Coles has installed a 55-foot painting of Waldo on a Vancouver rooftop, and expects other people to follow suit with their own Waldos. More below the gallery.

More »

usb

Every Memory has a Silver Lining with USB Jewelry

See that little glittery thing 'round her neck? Yes, I know she's attractive... but listen: it's a 2GB USB memory stick. Yup, in sterling silver nonetheless. I mean, forget hiding a tiny memory chip on your keychain, this has got to be the way to go. For that "posh" feeling, anyway. The limited edition collection has bracelets and cufflinks for guys too, each with concealed memory with USB connector. More »