Rocky Messages
These SMS-style messages scribbled into the mountains by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye, make us so humbly aware of the discrepancy between our everyday human experience and some of the larger forces of nature.
What is Next Nature?
With our attempts to cultivate nature, humankind causes the rising of a next nature, which is wild and unpredictable as ever. Wild systems, genetic surprises, autonomous machinery and splendidly beautiful black flowers. Nature changes along with us.
Posts Tagged ‘Made-to-debate’
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http://www.vimeo.com/8569187 Augmented (Hyper)Reality
In his short animation Augmented (Hyper)Reality, Keiichi Matsuda’s offers a glimpse of an alternate universe, with augmented reality cranked up to the next level. But what to think of these kind of slick animations that provide us with either utopian or dystopian visions of our technofuture?
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One day at the Dentist
Do you also have that feeling sometimes that your dentist is undertaking all kinds of activities in your mouth that aren’t really necessary? Yet, you usually just trust the dentist on its expertise as you realize the prospect of an all organic natural mouth just isn’t an viable alternative – at least, not one your environment will appreciate.
Dentistry is technological by definition, but when to say enough? Perhaps one day when your dentist proposes to implant a Tooth Phone? Although it might be handy to silently listen to your voicemail, chew SMS with your friends and have your insurance company continuously monitor your health levels and food intake – feeling paranoid already? Don’t worry, the Tooth implant from Motorola is science fiction (still).
Rendering created by Sean Hamilton Alexander. Same guy who photoshopped the Google lens.
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Half Life
Meet the next species. Director David Lea’s wondrous fantasy of remixed biodiversity after nuclear meltdown. Made for Greenpeace.
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Oil Diet: Recipes for Disaster
Do you know how much oil you use per day? Neither did director John Webster. In 2005 he decided to make a documentary about oil from his own families perspective. How would it be to live a life without fossile-based products? John put a ban on things packaged in plastic like food, makeup, shampoo, toothpaste and kids’ toys in order to reduce their carbon footprint. “Recipes for disaster” (2008) is the result of a one year oil-detox.
From the director’s statement:
“(…) The first concern of every film maker is how to make the subject matter visible. One of the difficulties of this subject, and the great tragedy of the world, is that greenhouse gasses are invisible. So too, is the 31 billion barrels (1 barrel = 159 litres) of oil the world consumes every year. When that oil is burnt, it releases as much carbon as a forest fire four times the size of France. If France was burnt to cinder every three months, we would be aware of it, but somehow the oil we use (and mostly burn) fails to catch our attention.” -
My Webwill – Serving your last online wishes
We live an increasing amount of our lives online, but what happens to our digital identity after we are gone? Until now our blogs, photos and social network accounts have lived on without us, leaving our loved ones powerless to control them or wind them down. My Webwill is a new service that helps you tweet, email, or Facebook after you die.
Subscribers can set up a digital will with directions on what should happen to their e-mail and social network accounts after they are diseased. Currently, a Facebook profile, for example, can remain active long after its creator has passed away. In some cases they become posting boards for condolence messages or even gossip – against the family’s wishes.
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CosmoCosmetics
Things that make us feel and look good. Branded nature? Created by Russian design agency Firma.
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The Modernist agenda uncovered
Peculiar image of the week. Created by Merijn Bolink.
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Archaeologist finds ruins of ‘Friendster’
Last month internet archaeologist Dr Maxwell Fry stumbled upon the perfectly preserved ruins of an online community called ‘Friendster’. Created by The Onion. Via Beyond the Beyond.
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Melting polar bear reveals a metal skeleton
Unsure how this melting polar bear ice sculpture created by artist Mark Coreth fits in Next Nature mythology. The art piece was presented last week in Copenhagen and is sponsored by WWF to create an awareness on the human impact on the climate.
Once the ice sculpture has melted – which should take a day or ten – a metal skeleton remains that remotely reminds of the metal skeleton of the Terminator. Should we read this as a symbol suggesting that biological species are being be replaced by technological species? Anyhow it does provoke one to reflect upon the question if and what species would take the polar bears place if it were to become extinct.
Related: The World without Technology, The Order Electrus, Killer Robots. Thanks Dreg.
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Highway Nomads
Whereas 40.000 years ago we used to roam the Savanna, today many people live the live of highway nomads. As an investigation of this lifestyle, artist Melle Smets and philosopher Bram Esser spent four continuous weeks on the highway.
Their journey brought them to tank stations, motels, gay-meeting spots, road-restaurants and industrial outskirts. The question they tried to answer is intriguingly simple: Is it possible to live on the highway? And what does it to people?
Website: Snelwegmuseum (Dutch). Related: Observing Next Nature, Waves of Asphalt, Magic Highway USA, Interchange, On the Road, Via Trendbeheer.
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Tribal Communication Technology
Mobile phones are nextnature: Twenty years ago they didn’t exist, now everyone has one and when you leave your house without it, you feel amputated. Like you are missing a limb and you quickly run back to your house to get your ‘fifth limb’.
Telecom shops already seem to be growing phones in infinite variations. Nonetheless, students of the University of Dundee managed to find an original twist by creating a series of extremely specialized phones that communicate music, communicate nearness, or give you a massage when you get a message. I especially like the ‘tribal’ design of the series of devices. Although the wood style is somewhat illustrative, it is well chosen to provoke a debate about the tribal communication technology penetrating our everyday lives.
Related posts: Handset gets taken to the grave, Anybody else hear that Ringing?, Phone Tooth, CrackBerry Addicts, Cellphone Treemasts.
