A Russian Artist Proposes Massive NASA Space Blanket Installation for Burning Man Festival

Russian artist Alexander Shtanuk has established a crowdfunding effort to flip NASA’s metallic crisis blankets into an enormous art at this season’s Burning Man festival.

The artist has established a fundraising campaign on crowdfunding website Indiegogo to raise $17,500 to bring the Blanket installation to Burning Man, taking place in the Nevada desert from 26 August to 4 September 2018.

His proposal involves joining together a string of NASA’s space sheets, which the US space agency created in 1964 from a reflective material that provides insulation.

Measuring 2.1 from 1.6 meters, they are intended to be used to warm people up in emergency situations and now are generally awarded to runners following races.

Shtanuk plans to utilize reinforced tape to make a huge square version that spans 100 meters each side. It would be permitted to billow in the end, casting a shadow over a sizable section of the desert so visitors could rest in the shade. Alternatively, it might be placed onto the sand and also used as a seating area.

“The Blanket will constantly be changing its shape from the ability of wind, taking different surreal kinds — waves, mountains or any giant sculptures that are amazing,” said the announcement on the project’s fundraising page.

“During the hot day room under the Blanket will be used as a refreshing and comfy rest place, where anybody can unwind, cool, and have a rest or dancing.”

At night, the artist plans for the installation to take on an entirely different function. He guesses participants dressed in suits featuring electroluminescent cable — also called el-wire, and made by coating aluminum cable a glow-in-the-dark phosphor.

They’d then crawl beneath the blanket,” creating an effect of oceanic bioluminescent plankton or moving waves of equalizer.”

Funds for the project will go towards materials, renting a room to assemble the piece, hauling it from Russia to Burning Man, as well as equipment rental.

So far, a total of $720 was increased by 28 backers.

Burning Man attracts 70,000 visitors annually, and its community is responsible for building a range of elaborate structures around the temporary settlement called Black Rock City.

H/T dezeen

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A Spanish Street Artist Creates Huge Sculpture for Valencia’s Fallas Festival

Each March, Spain has a traditional festival in Valencia, dating back thousands of years, also called Fallas. Held in commemoration of St. Joseph, neighborhoods throughout the city spend the year developing a giant puppet known as a falla. And this year, Spanish street artist Okuda San Miguel joined the festivities, creating an 82-foot-high falla called Equilibri Universal.

For such a traditional occasion, the invitation of a street artist has been revolutionary. Okuda worked diligently for a year to come up with the notion and took in the recommendation of local fallaartisans to make his vision a reality. Fallas is a serious company in Valencia, with every neighborhood working year-round to increase funds and then make their falla. Fittingly, falla translates to torch, and each one is filled up with fireworks that explode before burning.

Okuda is no stranger to big projects, having changed a sizable church into a skatepark. However, Fallas introduced a completely new challenge. His largest sculpture to date he used over 700 spray cans on the colorful piece and had a group of 10 supporters to bring the work to completion. Ultimately, it was worth it. “It was one of the strongest feelings I have ever had in my entire life, but at precisely the same time very positive and unique,” he shares.

His inclusion in such a traditional setting is yet another mark of how street art has become further incorporated into mainstream culture, moving from a fringe, underground motion to among the most significant artwork phenomena of the 21st century.

Read more: Website

EFE/Manuel Bruque

h/t mymodernmet.com

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Creative Twisting Wooden Pavilion Revealed By Arthur Mamou-Mani For Burning Man 2018

Burning Man festival has shown a spiraling wooden pavilion as the main temple to be constructed and subsequently sent up in flames at the Nevada desert this year.

Called Galaxia, the temple will be formed of 20 wood trusses that spiral up and form a tower as they converge.

The triangular trusses will create different paths to the center of the pavilion, in which a giant 3D-printed mandala is going to be put. Little alcoves along the routes provide spaces for people to write and reflect.

The structure was designed with the help of digital 3D-modelling tools like Rhino and Grasshopper. It references the literary world Gaia in the 1980s sci-fi publication show Foundation by American author Isaac Asimov.

“Galaxia celebrates hope in the anonymous, planets, stars, black holes, the movement linking us in swirling galaxies of fantasies,” reads a blog post on the Burning Man site.

“A superior type of Gaia in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, Galaxia is your greatest network, the fabric of the world connecting living beings into one thing.”

French architect Mamou-Mani can be a lecturer at the University of Westminster, also has been taking classes of pupils to Burning Man for several years with co-tutor Toby Burgess.

Structures his pupils have built include the Tangential Dreams installation, one of those highlights of this 2016 edition.

 

Last year’s temple was created by artist Marisha Farnsworth and constructed out of 100 dead trees to highlight the “dramatic changes happening in our forests.”

 

It had been joined by an artificial tree lined with “light flocks” by Studio Drift and several more installations and artworks, some of which were captured architects and artists in presence.

 

Beautiful Images From Fire Festival In Hokkaido, Japan

Each year, far to the north in the Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido, a masked figure bursts through a wall of flames. The sight is strange and wild, a like a demon breaking through the flames of hell.

This really is a fire-walking festival called Furubira. The monster that walks the fires is known as a Tengu, so a “Heavenly Dog.” A Tengu is a mischievous soul from Japanese folklore who’s typically regarded as related to some mountain goblin.

Throughout the festival, he crosses two feet of flames followed closely by local teenagers. Together, the team performs a ritual lion dance.

These photos were taken by photographer and musician Laufen Katsu.

h/t Grape

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Video installation Animal Watching @ Electric Zoo, New York

Video Installation presented at Electric Zoo festival which transformed the trees of Randall´s Island Park, New York, into huge 3D animal motion faces.
The intervention goal was raising awareness about the destruction of ecosystems and animal species.

According to the WWF organization, in the last 42 years, almost half of the wild animals have disappeared due to the serious deterioration of their habitats.
DESCRIPTION
Animal Watching is a video installation designed and produced by the studio Maizz Visual in which trees in streets and parks are transformed into gigantic animal heads. The animals disply intense eyes that watched and followed the public passing by.
The video installation looked for the reaction of the public when they realize some gigantic animal shapes emerge from the trees. Animals that were staring at public and pedestrians walking in front of the park.
Animal Watching positively surprised many of the over 50.000 festival goers gathered at the park from Friday to Sunday.
Before New York Animal Watching has be shown only at Parque España, Mexico City, during the celebration of Marvin Festival back in May 2017.
 

EVENT
A total of 8 different animal faces appeared and disappeared in a continuous sequence with post-production effects between each transition.
The total duration of the piece was about 7 minutes and it was repeated in a continuous loop between 20:30 and 23:00
TECHNOLOGY
2 video projectors full HD and tele zoom optics reproduced the 3D animations on the leaves of the trees
Using various 3D animation software the faces of the animals where animated to move and gesticulate. Different parameters applied on the images intensified the depth experience of 3D when mixing light and tree leaves.

MAIZZ VISUAL & VIDEO PROJECTIONS ON TREES

Maizz Visual is a Mexico City creative studio, specialized in video art installations and video mapping directed by José Morente and Israel Villalobos. Maizz Visual got over 3 years experimenting on video projection on trees and vegetation. It has created two main pieces, Dioses del Maíz (Corn Gods)  and Blink Twices hows, and they have been presented at international events in Mexico, USA, Canada or Ireland: Roma-Condesa Corredor, Life Festival, Pemberton Festival, Summerset Festival or Wakarusa between 2013 and 2015.
Full gallery: http://ift.tt/1gQxyaZgallery/56575457/Animal-Watching-Electric-Zoo-Festival-New-York

http://www.maizz.mx/

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