“I nominate Mona Lisa and the Girl with the Pearl Earring.”

source:
tastefullyoffensive:

“I nominate Mona Lisa and the Girl with the Pearl Earring.” [via]

Ahahahhahah, i mean, meaow
(Source: tastefullyoffensive)

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brilliant!

Zelectric Motors - Vintage icons, hand re-built to order.

Based in San Diego, California, Zelectric Motors outfits air-cooled midcentury classics to go the distance into the 21st century.
http://www.zelectricmotors.com/our-story/


Got a classic Bug already?
Or maybe you're just dreaming of one. We can help with that. Our services include locating the perfect match for you if it's not already parked in your garage.

Zelectric Motors is taking some of the finest designs in automotive history and outfitting them to go the distance now. We're starting with the ZelectricBug, but will zelectrify your air-cooled classic or help you find one you've dreamed of owning and transform it into an awesome 21st century drive. Porsches, Karmann Ghias, Things, and Buses. All perfect candidates.

http://www.zelectricmotors.com/



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Don't forget to ask how much the batteries will cost you per year. Modern hybrids run about £2000 per year - that's a lot of petrol! Also, ask about available speed and range. I've looked at electric cars, and - aside from special use vehicles, like golf carts, I don't see it happening without on-board nuke generators. The available energy storage is just too inefficient.

You will be able to drive from London to Liverpool in only 2 days and only 10 stops to recharge.

79-year-old artist Christo is to create €10m art work

Christo invites public to walk on water

Artist best known for wrapping Reichstag turns his attention to creating paths in Italian lake

by José da Silva  |  22 April 2015

 http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/news/154548/

The New York-based, Bulgarian artist Christo is to create three kilometres of shimmering yellow walkways on Lake Iseo in Italy that will link two of its islands to the mainland for the first time. The nylon paths will branch out to Monte Isola—Italy’s largest lake island— then circle the smaller San Paolo before continuing into the mainland town of Sulzano to complete a route totalling 4.5 kilometres. Announced this morning at the Maxxi Auditorium in Rome, The Floating Piers will be Christo’s first major project since 2005’s The Gates, in New York, and the first since the death of his wife and long-time collaborator, Jeanne-Claude.

The 79-year-old artist’s new work is similar in appearance to his Surrounded Islands (1983), where 11 islets in Biscayne Bay, Miami, were encircled with pink polypropylene fabric resting on the water. At Lake Iseo, the fabric will be supported by 200,000 high-density polyethylene cubes floating on the lake, allowing visitors to walk on the work while crossing from Sulzano to the two islands.

The Floating Piers—fully funded by sales of the artist’s work—cost a reported €10m and will be in place for only 16 days in June before being dismantled and recycled.

THE UNTOUCHABLES by Erik Ravela

Los Intocables by Erik Ravela

THE UNTOUCHABLES
Erik Ravelo / F A B R I C A 2013
Creative Direction / Concept:
Erik Ravelo
Photo: Erik Ravelo / Enrico Bossan
Post Production: Erik Ravelo
Client: UNHATE FOUNDATION
The Right to Childhood
Should be UNTOUCHABLE.
Images and concept protected
by the law.
2013 F A B R I C A.

https://www.facebook.com/ErikRavelo

http://erikravelo.info/los-intocables/

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Los Intocables’ Might Be The Most Controversial Public Awareness Project Ever

 http://www.buzzworthy.com/los-intocables-controversial-shocking-photos-public-awareness-project/

 

 

No written copy, no stylized video editing, just a series of photos that deliver a powerful message ANYONE across the globe can understand. The photos of Cuban artist Erik Ravelo depict children as the martyrs for the sins of adults are controversial and understandably strike a nerve with parents. Ravelo is accustomed to having his artwork censored though; his “United Colors of Benetton’s UnHate” campaign that featured world leaders making out had its share of critics.
Ravelo’s latest project is titled “Los Intocables” which translates to “The Untouchables” in English and highlights some of the biggest issues threatening the well-being children across the world, issues that adults are to blame for. The photography series features a child and adult recreating a crucifixion to represent the loss of innocence through some sort of contemporary evil. Each photo tells a particular threat against children and are represented with war, childhood obesity, school shootings, illegal sex trade, black market organ trade, and nuclear fallout.
Just like previous art projects, “Los Intocables” has been met with controversy and censorship. The project garnered 18,000 likes on Facebook within days of its upload, before the social media giant put a cap on it and prevented him from uploading more images. “I am used to governmental censorship from Cuba but with this,” he paused, “my first reaction was ‘woah.'” Making the project didn’t come without its critics either. “I had people writing me, threatening me,” he told the Huffington Post. “At first the project was fun but it got a little out of hand.”
The artist says that he has no plans to fight the censorship, the photos are out there and they make people uncomfortable, which is exactly what they were intended to do. These are serious issues, issues that make people cringe for a reason, and hopefully bringing awareness to them will motivate people to educate themselves about the issues and work to make a change.

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source: http://www.buzzworthy.com/los-intocables-controversial-shocking-photos-public-awareness-project/

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liverpool in pictures

more: http://mindtheliverpool.icyboards.net/showthread.php?tid=705

Buy Nothing Year

My --- Buy Nothing Year srarts today




“Today, humanity faces a stark choice: save the planet and ditch capitalism, or save capitalism and ditch the planet.”
– Fawzi Ibrahim

We have been duped into moving capitalism’s problems around instead of resolving them, into the foolish notion that buying green is an act of divergence from capitalist exploitation.
Worried about car emissions? Buy Tesla’s Model S. Want to fight water misuse? Take shorter showers. Concerned for underserved children around the world? Use a credit card that supports a NGO. Interested in bettering working conditions for exploited laborers? Look for the “fair trade” stamp at corporate outlet malls.
But by all means, NEVER stop buying.
Identifying the central issue with this behavior, Derrick Jensen explained, “Part of the problem is that we’ve been victims of a campaign of systematic misdirection. Consumer culture and the capitalist mindset have taught us to substitute acts of personal consumption (or enlightenment) for organized political resistance.”
As individuals we should do what we can, but we have to realize that letting corporations frame/limit global issues like environmental responsibility to consumer choice is self-defeating. We need bigger tools than our individual selves. Imagine trying to fill a dump truck using a spoon. That is what we are doing when we decouple the need for organized, community-wide political resistance from our individual ability to partake in generating and sustaining solutions.

Capitalism, the Electric Car’s Achilles Heel: Shifting Pollution from Exhaust-Pipes to Smokestacks | AmericaWakieWakie

we are all fakes

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."

[MovieMaker Magazine #53 - Winter, January 22, 2004 ]”

― Jim Jarmusch
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Dulwich Picture Gallery's Made in China challenges public to spot fake artwork

Conceptual artist Doug Fishbone sets art lovers a test - to find the modern Chinese copy among the south London gallery’s 270 paintings



http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/feb/10/young-masters-dulwich-gallerys-made-in-china-challenges-public-to-spot-fake-art-work

Stop the presses… or is it the the servers? The Isleworth Mona Lisa gets “Confirmed as True” in the media, apparently because the foundation that bears her name – and is actively championing her status as an earlier version of the mysterious Florentine woman as a work of Leonardo – has … unveiled the results of new scientific tests, which, they claim, now prove her authenticity beyond the chiaroscuro of a doubt.

See the criss-cross jumble of lines in the above picture? They’re meant to showcase the work of Alfonso Rubino, an Italian expert in “sacred geometry.” The fancy compass-and-square work was released by the foundation to prove that there is the same perfected harmony of proportions in both Mona Lisas as there is in Leonardo’s sketch of the Vitruvian Man. The other test presented was a more prosaic carbon-dating test, performed by the official-sounding Zurich Federal Institute of Technology and those results point to something made between 1410 and 1455 – and not a century later.

Well, right after that spate of cheery news, the experts, who’ve since early-on cast doubt on the authorship of the younger portrait, have come out and taken down the tests as not being either conclusive – or serious enough.

Swissinfo reports that the Leonardo experts who have contested the attribution since the painting was unveiled, are still not convinced. Jan Blanc, an art history professor, and author of a book on Leonardo, dismisses the tests as belying a “total lack of control and evaluation” of the work, by the foundation. Martin Kemp, a recognized expert on Da Vinci, was more outspoken still, and has called the application of the “sacred geometry” lines to the portraits, as being “misguided” and “nonsense.” He points to the fact that many sketches by the Renaissance master exist, and that none of them shows Leonardo being obsessed with geometry – sacred or otherwise – beyond the inherent harmonic, proportions the Renaissance master’s works are imbued with.

The fact that the painting of the younger Mona Lisa is painted on canvas remains for Kemp the most glaring inconsistency, as painting on canvas was not common in the 1400s, other than for decorative banners, and that Leonardo himself never painted on canvas, preferring the smoother surfaces of wood panels.

The foundation is un-phased, and retorts that Kemp has never seen the painting. They plan on a five-year world tour, for their portrait, starting in Singapore, Hong Kong, and China, and then moving to the US, and Europe.

Previously on Art is Life:

Renaissance masterpiece or fantastic forgery? Foundation “unveils” second Mona Lisa, amid controversy

“Salvator Mundi” Leonardo’s haunting ‘lost’ Christ won’t mesmerize at the Dallas Museum

“La Bella Principessa” Leonardo’s ‘lost’ portrait continues to dazzle and stir controversy

The Canons of Beauty in the history of art – the Golden Mean

(via SwissInfo)

https://artislimited.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/this-just-in-isleworth-mona-lisa-confirmed-by-new-tests-as-a-true-leonardo-er-wait-this-just-in-isleworth-mona-lisa-scientific-findings-debunked-as-nonsense-painting-back-to-dubitabl/

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St George's Day 2015

St George's Day 2015: As Google Doodle marks England's patron saint, here are some facts that may surprise you 

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/st-georges-day-2015-as-google-doodle-marks-englands-patron-saint-here-are-some-facts-that-may-surprise-you-10196496.html

 

 

With his trusty white steed and dense suit of armour, St George is - along with tea and rain - one the most recognisable symbols of England.

And to mark St George’s Day, Google has featured an illustrated Doodle of England's patron saint battling a dragon on its homepage.
Here are some facts about the Patron Saint of England that might surprise you...
Saint George isn’t English
While St George’s exact birthdate remains unclear but is likely to be 270 AD, we know that he was born in Cappadocia, part of modern day Turkey.
He probably didn’t save a maiden from a dragon…
As if the dragon wasn't a giveaway, we’re sorry to say that the vision of Saint George in a red-crossed white tunic saving a fair maiden from a fire-breathing beast is all myth and legend.
This depiction of Saint George first came to public attention in 1483 in a book called The Golden Legend, according to the BBC. The text was a translation of a book by a French Bishop, Jacques de Voragine.

read more: 

 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/st-georges-day-2015-as-google-doodle-marks-englands-patron-saint-here-are-some-facts-that-may-surprise-you-10196496.html

 

 

 

 

 

liverpool today

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Ecocity Malmö: Sustainable Urban Development

Written by  Greg Vendena

Malmö, a city in southern Sweden that is connected by bridge to nearby Copenhagen, has undergone an amazing transformation over the last 20 years. What was a place at risk of becoming a post-industrial city in crisis has instead become a thriving inspiration for Sustainable Development. Apparently at least 20,000 international guests have been attracted to the city, not to experience Malmö as tourists, but to experience Malmö’s approach to environmentally friendly architecture and urban development. Malmö is the flagship of urban sustainability for Sweden and has won numerous awards for this commitment from the United Nations, Worldwatch Institute, and others.

Credit: City of Malmö


The transformation began in the 1900s as Sweden made a massive investment in Malmö, because the once busy Kockums AB shipyard and Saab assembly plant had both closed down in the western harbor area, Västra Hamnen. In place of former industry, Malmö University and the Bo01 housing exhibition area were built, and Malmö is now focused on a service-based economy. Bo01, the sustainability-themed 2001 housing exhibition, is what sparked the journey to adopt progressive development principles citywide. Since the completion of Bo01 and the transformation of Västra Hamnen, the city has expanded its work for the environment to include the Augustenborg and the Sege Park districts.

As a municipality Malmö has also set some ambitious environmental goals: Malmö is expected to be sustainable by 2020, with pilot projects becoming the norm for the entire city; to be climate-neutral by 2020; and to operate on 100% renewable energy by 2030. The early dates for these goals are realistic simply because they are building on some successful large-scale projects.
Bo01 and Västra Hamnen


The planning, architecture, and sustainability approaches are all very well integrated into the Bo01 district. Architect and urban designer Klas Tham was inspired in part by medieval towns, and Bo01 manifests a contemporary version of that kind of compactness. The planning approach focused on a low, human scale; tightly arranged blocks; and variegated streets, parks, and buildings. The most interesting aspects of Bo01 are the way in which the blocks are skewed and distorted and the fact that the buildings on the perimeter are higher than those in the interior, giving a sense of enclosure to the complex of blocks. Different architects designed the buildings, and the resulting urban form is welcoming and invites biking and walking. The planning process also emphasized community participation.

In terms of urban sustainability, Västra Hamnen is the first climate-neutral district in Sweden and uses 100% renewable energy. Energy is supplied by solar and wind power systems and geothermal heat pumps. Rooftops in the area frequently incorporate living roofs, solar power systems, or both. For those buildings that feature solar power systems, the sun supplies both electricity (photovoltaics) and hot water (solar hot water), feeding into the district heating system. Representing Sweden’s largest investment in wind power, the offshore Lillgrund Wind Farm is not so “lille,” with 48 large wind turbines generating 2.3 MW of electricity, enough to power 60,000 homes. For transportation, the area also offers an extensive bike path system and buses that are powered by natural gas/biogas.

Because the Bo01 site was formerly used for industrial purposes, the City of Malmö treated the polluted soil, then capped it with 5' of new clean soil, then planted bioremediators (i.e., plants that break down pollutants). The area also integrated some thoughtful, well designed parks and green spaces. The main promenade, called Sundspromenaden and designed by Jeppe Aagaard Andersen, runs along the coastline water edge and is expressed in wood. The Ankarparken, designed by Stig L. Andersson, on the other hand, is more intimate with its jaggedly undulating canal and path with trees in beech, alder, oak, and willow. The original exhibition also included a temporary “Secret Garden” conceived by West 8 with a mysterious, thicket-like pavilion.


http://buildipedia.com/aec-pros/design-news/ecocity-malmo-sustainable-urban-development

Images credit: City of Malmö



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my own pictures of amazing Malmo:

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