tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26691571989879191012011-07-08T15:31:43.784+12:00artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.comBlogger841100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-29222802912245028842010-10-07T23:58:00.005+13:002010-10-08T00:35:16.813+13:00

Gee, it's been a while since anything much happened around here. Art From Space is on a bit of a go-slow these days, but we'll try check in from time to time if anything interesting crops (no pun) up.Here's a great bit of linkage we've just been sent from The Boston Globe about STRANGE LAND FORMATIONS in SW Florida (thanks JR).Image: Empty cul-de-sacs fill an area south of Rotonda West in

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-87255310035237481652010-04-19T14:30:00.008+12:002010-04-20T15:49:58.132+12:00

Since Art From Space was first conceived, we've wanted to try find famous landscapes from art history but never got around to it. Rita Angus' Cass seemed an obvious starting point. With the advent of street view, the opportunity is even there to try replicate that view.In a much more physical manner, fellow blogger Cheryl Bernstein has beaten us to it, impressively driving through the Port Hills

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-64668357246922319402010-04-11T12:18:00.007+12:002010-04-11T12:55:37.520+12:00

A recent Herald article reports the curious case of islands disappearing with significant political implications, a tale that Cleo Paskal also tells in her new book, Global Warming: How Environmental, Economic, and Political Crises Will Redraw the World Map.Exhibit A is Bermeja, supposed to be HERE but mysteriously missing since 1997, potentially affecting where Mexico can set its 200

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-7216794781439992582010-04-06T14:20:00.005+12:002010-04-06T14:44:40.512+12:00

Exhibition announcement:"In an information-based age, the ability to search and organize information amounts to power. Search engines shape knowledge, modulate web traffic, and contribute to the creation of new semantics and meanings. Currently, Google's influence is unparalleled. It has expanded the way that we search and find information, and inserted itself into nearly every web-based activity

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-69716927131560703412010-03-18T10:40:00.006+13:002010-03-18T15:02:07.903+13:00

"[Elger] Esser uses found postcards from his extensive historical collection of Breton and Norman seaside views as source material for his images. Selecting a small section of them, and enlarging them to the point where the grain becomes apparent, Esser's images are lyrical and strange. Often depicting waterery views, the images are serene, but also unreal. They depict time as something lost, but

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-65356745814812618612010-03-08T19:19:00.011+13:002010-03-18T14:57:29.005+13:00

Although the novelty factor is undeniable, we are still finding TVNZ's belated screening of James May's Top Toys curiously compelling viewing, with a surprising amount of art parallels. In epidode one there were oversized KITSETS, then there were large meccano bridges. Another goodie is the recent episode where a classic motor racing track was revived to its former glory using vintage aerial

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-52952697372690393532010-03-08T09:15:00.006+13:002010-03-08T11:35:59.208+13:00

Exhibition announcement:March 5 - April 3Lighter Than Fiction (2010) by Jenny Marketou (Greece/US)Presented by the Project Room for New Media at the Chelsea Art MuseumThe Chelsea Art Museum, Home of the Miotte Foundation, and the Project Room for New Media are pleased to present Jenny Marketou: Lighter Than Fiction. What do you see when soaring over Los Alamos, New Mexico... utopia or dystopia? A

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-37904392079984424022010-02-08T21:09:00.004+13:002010-02-08T22:27:00.729+13:00

Despite a growing list of new writing assignments and good intentions of a productive evening, we couldnt' resist checking out the first episode of James May's Top Toys in which the Top Gear presenter makes really big versions of his childhood toys. First up is the classic Airfix model, the spitfire, which becomes a 1:1 kit, sprues and all - with a cast James May figurine in the cockpit. As

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-42454058601826107642010-02-03T14:19:00.004+13:002010-02-03T14:30:15.824+13:00

[exhibition announcement]A lot or a little might be said, but in the end there will be something to pass on.By WilliamHsu and Nick SprattFor their project at Newcall Gallery, Hsu and Spratt initiate a series of events that position the gallery as site within a trajectory, providing an access point to other spaces in its immediate surroundings. These events in their varied forms explore and reveal

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-33132513000066997372010-01-26T17:09:00.005+13:002010-01-28T17:26:23.608+13:00

Fans of Dr Who spin-off Torchwood (we've just finished the second series on DVD) will immediately recognise THIS view of central Cardiff, which plays a prominent role in the series. Cardiff, so the story goes, is in the middle of a rift in space and time and the Torchwood hub, where they deal with rift anomalies, is based underneath the Millennium Plaza (pictured). One episode has them rescuing a

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-292330898063776452010-01-22T15:34:00.003+13:002010-01-22T16:52:23.260+13:00

The strange representations of reality found on google earth (and maps) got even weirder a few years ago when they launched Street View, adding another layer of time slippage and weird glitches to an already complex landscape. Just over a year ago, Google's army of camera cars trawled the streets of New Zealand and we've been fascinated ever since. Whereas once it was cool just being able to zoom

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-20595455310264091502009-12-30T10:43:00.007+13:002010-01-06T14:40:13.999+13:00

With a full moon on both Dec 2 and Dec 31, the first decade of this millennium will end with a blue moon. But before this year is out, weather permitting, we'd like to spend some time at our favourite swimming spot - Bethells Beach on Auckland's iconic West Coast. Heading north, it follows Campion and Caro's Karekare, popular Piha and McCahon's Muriwai.Of course, Te Henga (Bethells Beach) is a

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-41614127778675598832009-12-27T16:00:00.009+13:002009-12-27T16:38:35.721+13:00

A strangely compelling travel piece not so long ago in the NZ Listener describes a blimp-hangar turned holiday resort in eastern Germany. Opened just in time for Christmas 2004 and clearly visible from ABOVE, Tropical Islands is easily as big as some neighbouring villages and has its own airstrip.The website boasts the world's largest indoor rain forest, a complete tropical village, a Balinese

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-69703884848821932802009-11-25T17:59:00.004+13:002009-11-25T18:11:40.459+13:00

“In my field we’re trained to make condition reports,” said Francesca Esmay, Dia’s conservator, but she added of Smithson’s work [Spiral Jetty], composed of more than 6,000 tons of rock and soil: “Its scale is such that I can’t just go out with a camera and pencil and clipboard by myself and describe it.” So several months ago she turned to the Getty Conservation Institute, an arm of the J. Paul

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-10154016378756674222009-11-12T16:30:00.008+13:002009-11-12T17:43:38.208+13:00

Via the Starkwhite Blog, we discover the Cactus Dome of Enewetak Atoll, a cracked concrete cap more than 100m across, covering a radioactive dump left after US nuclear testing in the Pacific Proving Ground. The dome fills a crater left HERE by the 'Cactus' blast, preceded by 'Ivy Mike''s world-first test of a hydrogen bomb in 1952 as part of Operation Ivy, which completely atomised the island of

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-5134543079316767632009-10-28T12:05:00.005+13:002009-10-28T12:32:58.824+13:00

"New Zealand painter Andre Hemer’s unique umbrella art project recently came to life on the front lawn of the AUCKLAND GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL with 256 students standing in formation holding umbrellas aloft to form the word CURE. From the air the work had a “digital precision” as first the C, then the U, R and E opened to form the word. A collaborative event involving the artist in Berlin, together

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-48946141599066811692009-10-14T16:00:00.003+13:002009-10-14T16:52:39.300+13:00

"Remap Berlin spreads a thin geographical virus in Google Earth and deals with different levels of reality. The project introduces a series of b&w photographs shot in Twinity, a mirror world that reproduces a realistic 3D replica of Berlin. The photos shot in Twinity, are then geo-localized in Google maps, re-mapped from virtual to real and positioned in the exact point where they have been shot

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-7888432179981853982009-09-16T17:04:00.004+12:002009-09-16T17:34:07.697+12:00

Last week Australian sound artist and writer Ros Bandt was in Auckland for a symposium on ElectroAcoustic music, held by The University of Auckland. Although we have had her book on Australian sound sculpture for a number of years, it was great to finally meet her.After our chance encounter, she kindly left us with Stack, a CD of "original sonic explorations of a major new urban tower, an

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-38373791318983061922009-09-14T17:42:00.007+12:002009-09-14T18:18:35.688+12:00

Although Moscow is home to his MAUSOLEUM, St Petersburg (formerly known as Leningrad) is naturally home to one of the world's many statues of Vladimir Lenin. One of Russia's most iconic MONUMENTS, it has become the butt of jokes after vandals added some rear ventilation to his coat earlier this year. Fortunately nobody was hurt in this latest incident. Curiously, it was April Fool's day when the

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-64065043103495404642009-09-09T16:40:00.007+12:002009-09-10T15:28:19.240+12:00

We've passed by here before, but noticing Deborah Crowe's fabulous photo in this year's ever-so-controversial Trust Waikato National Contemporary Art Award, we thought we should offer a few new views of Kibble Palace, Glasgow: HERE, HERE and HERE.In the online catalogue Crowe says: "Little did I know (25 years ago) that the place I felt at home was the Australasian section of Glasgow Botanic

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-57226727484237956922009-09-08T17:40:00.003+12:002009-09-08T18:08:28.025+12:00

Over on Over the Net there is a recent entry on New Zealand marble, the white marble of PIETRASANTA (18km south of CARRARA) and the new works being produced there.Image: Marble blocks being quarried in the Pietrasanta mountains, found here.

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-52180220876029208962009-09-03T21:45:00.002+12:002009-09-03T21:45:00.634+12:00

[exhibition announcement]"The 'existential function' of the act of creation leads to the affirmation and the creation of a territory, a group, a singularity, a meaning. But it is only possible to articulate the meaning of a situation in relation to an action undertaken to transform it. To situate oneself somewhere, to create a territory or new modes of subjectification and articulation, is both a

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-44286173954811052002009-09-01T12:55:00.001+12:002009-08-24T16:10:36.146+12:00

The industrial heart of Detroit has become a ghost town, according to a recent photo essay in Time Magazine (thanks SH). Images include the grand MICHIGAN CENTRAL STATION, derelict for more than 20 years; The FISHER BODY PLANT, producer of Buick and Cadillac bodies, abandoned in 1991 but still home to some floor sculpture; and what must be the grandest car park we've seen, the former MICHIGAN

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-10712713542095725252009-08-28T13:47:00.003+12:002009-08-28T13:47:00.964+12:00

A couple of interesting things we found this week: Real Google Map markers (thanks ADA/LM); and the following call for participation.QUERY in situ and online art projecthttp://www.query-online.net/ DATES:start for Application: August 20th, 2009in situ project in Munich: September 12th, 2009BACKGROUND: This project consists of two parts. Part 1. An installation in Public Space in Munich, Germany

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-22655998840703122612009-08-24T14:03:00.007+12:002009-08-25T16:05:12.922+12:00

We thought we were being clever with last year's virtual homage to Ed Ruscha's Thirty Four Parking Lots, but it seems we're not the first, and others have even been to the trouble of finding the original sites (thanks J+MB).Eric William Carrol has used Google Maps to create this flickr album, and now there is Pascual Sisto's automatic version, which rolls through all 34 locations live from google

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-39999169426719002652009-08-05T12:25:00.005+12:002009-08-05T12:54:21.178+12:00

Shared links on Facebook are proving a great source of material, far too much to keep up with given the pathetic output rate this blog has recently slumped to (hello, hello?). Today's gem (thanks JP) is a Guardian article on a 55m Manchester sculpture, which has had its difficult life brought short and is being dismantled due to safety concerns. Needless to say, the work still exists HERE in the

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-56975267288168474132009-06-26T13:54:00.003+12:002009-06-26T16:12:09.858+12:00

A facebook tip-off (thanks LV) has led us to a sweet new theory on crop circles. Turns out it's all the work of looney livestock, or at least that's what the men in black would have you believe... But does that explain the proliferation of field formations in particular pockets of the UK? Agrarian substance abuse could certainly explain THIS manifestation. But what of these, HERE, HERE, HERE,

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-22104012170575417092009-06-04T09:22:00.007+12:002009-06-04T11:29:15.160+12:00

"From the Panopticon to the Wunderkammer explores the deep chasm between ideas of ‘modern’ and ‘contemporary’. One of the most damaging fantasies of modernity was the idea that there could be a universal view to encompass all people, phenomena and things within set categories. Many museums were founded on such convictions. This view is also made evident in the punitive institution of the

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-2465838160029369872009-05-30T16:11:00.000+12:002009-05-30T16:11:00.756+12:00

Recent adventures had us primed for an exploration of the world's tallest towers but we couldn't resist a little more spelunking. A recent email (thanks again, JR) introduced us to Guatemala's 330-ft deep GIANT SINKHOLE (described here and here). And then we found our work had been done for us, thanks to this handy list of Large Holes by Virtual Tourism, which we will shamelessly borrow from:

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-9608288963592513202009-05-27T11:04:00.005+12:002009-05-27T11:35:25.117+12:00

Like John Hurrell, we've often pondered the middle-of-the-road wetland RESERVE established during the recent redevelopment of Auckland's central motorway connections. At first there was just a lot of soil being moved about, excavating a negative space while creating a corresponding mound. Then it was planted, watered, and made functional. It seems artist Cellulite Rose has beaten us in claiming

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-74776282275480326912009-05-24T15:15:00.001+12:002009-05-24T15:15:00.213+12:00

Here's another one from a reader: Flying over Taipei, home to well manicured PARKS, GARDENS AND MEMORIALS, interesting INDUSTRIAL and RESIDENTIAL configurations, swimming POOLS, monumental TOWERS, car PARKS, and other things we enjoy, it seems there are a FEW places that need to be HIDDEN from view. (Thanks JR)Image: The sinister smile of the secret 'clownface' organisation's HQ

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-86287177891842680122009-05-19T11:12:00.000+12:002009-05-19T11:12:00.643+12:00

"[Ralph] Hotere was sitting beside the train driver, staring straight ahead as the train hurtled through the landscape then vanished into the blackness of the first tunnel. Then, just as suddenly, theywere catapulted back into blinding light. Then they hit another tunnel. As the artist described this journey he closed his hand when he mentioned the darkness of the tunnel then his fist sprang open

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-33675549849849982452009-05-16T17:19:00.000+12:002009-05-16T17:19:01.277+12:00

“[These works] capture western capitalism on the grandest scale; the landscape seen from outer space. The landscape from this perspective is slightly mysterious. Describe circular irrigation to most people and they will immediately recall the kind of crop circles depicted in extraterrestrial movies and conspiracy theories. There is usually a ready explanation to this kind of enigma: in the

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-91025955971338417852009-05-14T08:47:00.000+12:002009-05-14T16:34:24.402+12:00

Cheryl Bernstein's blog, has noted a local business appropriating art from its immediate environment for their own marketing use; in this case it's Neil Dawson's CHALICE. As we have already seen here on AFS, public art and puddings are not such a strange mix (let's not forget this other example in Christchurch).Despite their scale, the light-handed way Dawson's works define space make them a

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-55194337969331081402009-04-30T12:48:00.005+12:002009-05-09T09:48:28.090+12:00

Much earlier this year, a time I distantly recall as being summer, google maps was more likely to be used for scoping out holiday road trips than workplace escapism. That may not have been the purpose of the reader who, knowing our predilection for the strange parallel worlds created by time-displaced maps when they are stitched together, forwarded THIS map link. (Thanks LM)Whilst further

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-20141645000709724622009-04-08T13:33:00.004+12:002009-04-08T14:55:56.276+12:00

Until midnight tonight a giant LED clock will count through 1440 minutes to re-activate the ALBERT PARK ROTUNDA as a site of activism and free speech. This is Bik Van Der Pol's contribution to the One Day Sculpture series. Given the inherently temporal nature of this project, it doesn't naturally lend itself to the slow-release mapping we usually concern ourselves with here. However, many of

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-90472029254026330502009-03-25T14:59:00.004+13:002009-03-25T17:11:17.202+13:00

With our running interest in hidden places, negative spaces, voids and other types of monumental emptiness, we couldn't resist this post on WebUrbanist, which we have managed to mostly translate into map locations (and more deserted cities here).Hong Kong's once anarchic Kowloon Walled City was torn down not long after Jackie Chan used it as a set for Crime Story, including real footage of

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-21064252369219119002009-02-16T14:34:00.006+13:002009-02-17T11:20:37.084+13:00

"Theo Schoon, the Dutch artist, introduced me to the geothermal areas of the central North Island - areas to which I have returned many times to record on film the detail and drama of these fascinating places. Here at your feet and in the air you breathe are the feverish exhalations of volcanic activity. These sites are the art galleries of nature's creations, thrust to the surface from

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-31936931676752177552009-02-09T19:21:00.006+13:002009-02-10T16:32:00.102+13:00

Just north of the Waitomo turn-off is The Big Apple Cafe with its larger than life name-sake sculpture. We actually noticed this one over the Christmas break but it took a second road-trip to confirm the location and find it on the map. Part of the problem, which is also the reason we noticed it anew, is that The Big Apple has just had a pop make-over, now coated in a gleaming red finish compared

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-44970070134198274772009-02-01T19:57:00.007+13:002009-02-01T22:57:12.666+13:00

Last year we briefly got curious about whether crop circles exist on google maps but only found those big irrigation machines that are particularly common in places like OKLAHOMA - fields and fields of Mondrian and Mrkusich grids. Now we find there's another kind of earth art, the ominous concentric circles of bombing ranges such as those of Nellis Airforce Base, HERE, HERE and HERE. And of

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-39502420989748619852009-01-15T18:00:00.004+13:002009-01-15T21:32:40.567+13:00

It may look like not much has happened around here over the last few months, aside from a sudden burst of activity over the last week. But we've been busy building stuff out back for you. In addition to grazing through posts for links in our blog, you can now browse Art from Space's content in a more graphic format with all location links now loaded into google maps. It seems more fun this way,

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-2075440153905339922009-01-15T09:05:00.006+13:002009-01-15T10:13:19.898+13:00

The Art, Life, TV blog has just alerted us to the recent passing of Claes Oldenburg's wife and collaborator, Coosje van Bruggen. We were planning to do this anyway at some stage but it seems appropriate to launch into an overdue Oldenburg Big Things tour:INVERTED COLLAR and TIE, Frankfurt an Main (partly obscured by the tower and not yet available on Street View)Here is their giant SHUTTLECOCKS

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-30141385849541931272009-01-14T10:40:00.003+13:002009-01-14T11:43:19.728+13:00

"Landscape is ultimately going to subsume us all, it's the inevitable destination of all living things. So it is almost an irony that landscape is one of the expected subjects for painters... I describe my works as an unnatural staging of the natural. There is also a contemplation of monumentality, in the sense that I make a lot of very small works but I"m also drawn to making something so big

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-39446469220289785632009-01-13T09:04:00.011+13:002009-01-14T13:10:42.244+13:00

In our last tour of New Zealand's hydro facilities it seems we missed an important one. Fortunately Peter Peryer, whose use of a blog to reveal the day-to-day influences on his practice is well worth a subscription, has been keeping a close eye on the CLUTHA RIVER. He reports that the dam now has surplus storage and, indeed, it does look like we've gone from a serious low to a significant high

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-56762534057382483792009-01-01T15:42:00.005+13:002010-03-18T14:58:51.360+13:00

Since an online visit to Monet's garden, we have been keeping an eye out for visible sunflower fields, blurry haystacks, poppies, or any other plantation bringing a splash of colour to the satellite landscapes. So far, although our efforts have hardly been persistent, there has been little success. However, an actual drive through the real terrain of West Auckland a few days ago, taking the

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-3858389326766693102008-12-19T14:41:00.004+13:002008-12-19T15:55:39.810+13:00

As overthenet recently reminded us, this year is a significant one for the legacy of Buckminster Fuller, who popularised the geodesic dome and the term Spaceship Earth. A travelling retrospective exhibition resulted in a substantial feature in the November ArtForum, which also includes a piece on the Centre For Land Use Interpretation, an organisation we'll discuss on a later date.Fuller's

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-77702580452403894182008-12-17T08:43:00.002+13:002008-12-17T09:30:39.050+13:00

A few months ago photographer Frank Breuer was in New Zealand to exhibit some work and talk about his cool, typological surveys of seemingly banal subjects, such as shipping containers, warehouses and power poles. Working methodically in series, his images manage to extract an enigmatic poetry from these otherwise generic scenes.In one of his talks he mentioned that he often explores sites in

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-66282104556622195082008-12-15T16:21:00.007+13:002008-12-23T09:34:25.681+13:00

In 1995, Claudia Bell and John Lyall wrote a book about the big sculptural things provincial towns like to put up as a kind of local signifier. The book not only became a TV documentary, but also a set of postage stamps, but darned if we can find any convincing views of one on google maps yet. A recent tip-off alerted us that Australia is also rife with Big Things so, while searching for a giant

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-16722286822880862012008-12-14T15:13:00.007+13:002009-01-05T17:48:31.349+13:00

Painter Bill Hammond's 1989 visit to the Auckland Islands has become somewhat of an apocryphal story, which we are told resulted in the brooding bird paintings that followed. What little most of know of this forsaken place are the hallucinatory images Hammond has fed into our imaginations. It is shrouded in further mystery from the fact that Hammond, who does not do interviews, has never spoken

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-41029438749815255392008-12-07T10:42:00.006+13:002010-03-18T15:01:02.687+13:00

Last weekend saw the death of Danish architect Jørn Utzon, famous for building (and not completing) the Sydney Opera House. Today, 95bFM's Sunday Breakfast played an interview with Utzon's biographer, Richard Weston. In particular, we couldn't help being impressed with Weston's description of Utzon's awareness of the Opera House's visibility from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and that the building

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-35494227381465386792008-11-10T09:30:00.010+13:002008-11-14T11:00:13.620+13:00

As I flew over San Bernardino and looked down and saw the swimming pools and the houses and everything in the sun, I was more thrilled than I've ever been on arriving at any city... David Hockney, 1970, quoted in the catalogue for Stella Brennan's Wet Social Sculpture, 2005.Having spent some of the weekend observing the suburban excesses and follies on view in real estate guides, I found myself

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-12225684587172964442008-10-29T20:37:00.005+13:002008-10-29T21:13:18.970+13:00

We've been meaning for some time to bring the strange terrain of Las Vegas to Art From Space, but it appears the Art, Life, TV, Etc. blog has beaten us at our own game. Nevertheless, the Neon Museum Cheryl has provided COORDINATES for is quite a sight, even from this distance, and a welcome addition to the proverbial to-do list if we ever get there in the flesh. Even if we don't, this

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-4390033746141364862008-10-28T23:38:00.003+13:002008-10-29T00:12:09.184+13:00

The vast icy terrain of Greenland appears to be google's biggest blindspot and is punctuated with curious artefacts where indistinguishable bits of map have presumably been stitched together. This glimpse of MARTIAN landscape is certainly intriguing but, at 40km in length, it is this metaphysical GATE that is most striking. But should we attribute it to McCahon, Mondrian or Malevich? Kubrick? (

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-61152350719573848882008-10-08T17:07:00.005+13:002009-05-22T10:35:14.672+12:00

"A recurrent scene in sci-fi movies shows the earth withdrawing from the spacecraft until it becomes a horizon, a beachball, a grapefruit, a golf ball, a star. With the changes in scale, responses slide from the particular to the general. The individual is replaced by the race and we are a pushover for the race­ a mortal biped, or a tangle of them spread out below like a rug. From a certain

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-17380063011727637202008-10-03T17:49:00.005+13:002008-10-04T16:03:39.714+13:00

Today I chanced upon this article by Joe Banks aka Disinformation about the English sound mirrors we mentioned a few months back. I like the way Banks extends the idea of sound as an inherently temporal media to describe the sound mirrors as allowing a 'glimpse' into the future. Banks goes on to compare these structures to Dani Karavan's Negev Brigade Memorial, overlooking Beersheba, Israel,

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-20942708258773950712008-09-25T20:53:00.003+12:002008-09-25T21:15:25.988+12:00

Until 9 November, Stroom Den Haag in The Hague is holding an exhibition titled 'Since we last spoke about monuments', which is part of a programme called Nu Monument. As the exhibition's press release states, there are "fervent debates the world over about what to remember - where, how and to whose benefit -, public works commissioned, defaced or deplored, countless instances of symbolic abuse in

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-577181177965711792008-09-25T13:04:00.008+12:002008-09-25T14:54:47.235+12:00

I noticed this massive earth work in the background of a music video and, with the help of the clip's maker, managed to locate it on the map. Looking like a koru expansion of Spiral Jetty and remarkably visible from a long way up, HERE are the pink ponds of the Dominion Salt Works at Lake Grassmere, also known as Kaparatehau (wind-blown lake) - some fantastic images here.Even more impressive are

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-91469632851231926952008-09-23T14:36:00.005+12:002008-09-23T14:45:11.274+12:00

If any regular readers still harbour doubts as to whether secret societies and individuals with enough resources have the power to influence the content on google maps, then THIS LINK is for you. A fantastic digital mosaic I've just chanced upon in the port of Amsterdam, just opposite Renzo Piano's fabulous ship-shaped NEMO museum. A large part of the abstracted area is occupied by historic

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-59617427107448773742008-09-18T12:30:00.005+12:002008-09-18T15:42:42.828+12:00

"The International Date Line is an awkward nineteenth century device conceived to manage the complexities of modern time, travel and global geography - it is the boundary line between 'today' and 'tomorrow'. Drawn through what was conveniently thought of as an 'empty' ocean, it is a haphazard broken line marked by cartographers on geographical and nautical charts. It is an intangible phenomenon,

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-8650989366613441092008-09-17T15:52:00.003+12:002008-09-17T16:25:51.508+12:00

Here's a good one, sent in from a reader: A rare site-specific Donald Judd can be found HERE behind the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide - thanks JD.Apparently quite controversial at the time, Judd swaggered into town in cowboy boots in 1974 to design the work, which was completed in 1975 after he left, never returning to see the final result. If only there was access to online

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-20418757757973720542008-09-16T10:47:00.008+12:002008-09-16T11:31:16.415+12:00

Collaborating with artists, writers, curators and institutions, the Remotewords project has been marking rooftops with text since December 2007. Beginning with "Start" at their HOME BASE in Cologne, they have since added three sites: FUHRWERKSWAAGE KUNSTRAUM, Cologne, the spectacularly located KUNST:RAUM SYLTQUELLE, Rantum, and they have just activated a new site on the roof of the EDITH RUSS

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-29917518747137777372008-09-03T11:20:00.014+12:002009-01-04T16:19:46.628+13:00

A recent post on Cheryl Bernstein's blog reminded me that I had been admiring the turf at DODGERS STADIUM recently and had been planning to do an exploration of carparks. This ONE CAR, parked as far as possible from the stadium and nowhere near anything else, has me intrigued. And I love the layers of LINE WORK these images contain: palimpsest heaven HERE.Photographed from a helicopter on a

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-80064859918378575722008-09-03T10:02:00.002+12:002008-09-03T10:19:56.426+12:00

Repeat visitors may have noticed a few changes around here. There's a bit of a spring clean going on.Firstly, we've realised that, with all the contextual links, it isn't always easy to find the core material - the art from space. So from now on the main links will be in CAPS and all the tangental digressions and cross-referencing won't. And we'll get to work rolling that through older

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-44041370351482358692008-08-13T13:25:00.010+12:002008-09-03T10:28:56.773+12:00

While in London last week, I was able to see the excellent Psycho Buildings exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The exhibition makes good use of the Hayward's sculpture courts, one highlight being Gelitin's installation that allows you to admire the London view whilst paddling about in a boat on a flooded upper courtyard lake. Surely it would be a sight

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-36383941865804608202008-08-12T20:19:00.008+12:002008-09-03T10:15:49.914+12:00

I'd be lying if I said I gave even a passing thought to the state of our grounds at home during our time away. So it was without an ounce of guilt that I read a feature on great gardens of the (Western European) world in the August issue of Cathay Pacific's in-flight Discovery magazine on the way home last week.Most impressive is the 17th century HET LOO gardens in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-83112993851517450102008-08-10T15:36:00.013+12:002009-01-13T12:31:12.529+13:00

Given that a primary interest of Art From Space is to curate and explore art by appropriating images of existing phenomena via the digital assemblages of satellite photographs found on google maps, the second life of art works is something we pay a lot of attention to. Although the Mona Lisa is generally considered the world's most reproduced artwork, in Spain it seems that honour goes to Las

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-74142344513323427872008-07-20T08:48:00.003+12:002008-07-20T09:57:51.023+12:00

Art from Space is going on honeymoon for the next few weeks and will be back in August. We'll be visiting some of these places while we're away and will be introducing some new Art From Space contributors on our return. Until then, in no particular order, here's some virtual travelling for you:Looking like a Martian landscape, ULURU, often referred to as Ayers Rock.Not sure why but the STATUE OF

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-46754826066797767522008-07-15T09:30:00.007+12:002009-06-09T16:19:11.549+12:00

Since first seeing Disinformation's photos of them in the catalogue for David Toop's 2000 Sonic Boom exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, I've always been intrigued by the sound mirrors near Dungeness, and eager to visit if an opportunity ever arises. Meanwhile, they definitely warrant a GOOGLE VISIT. More are scattered around the South-east coast of England and were built from as early as 1914 to

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-38153299975408260792008-07-07T17:35:00.005+12:002008-07-15T09:29:45.392+12:00

This interesting one came over the Audio Foundation list a few days ago... The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (defra) have been recording towns and cities all over the UK to produce noise maps so you can see, and preserve, the quality of noise in your neighbourhood. The resultant maps are based entirely on the volume of roads, rail, airports and industry but, as this blogger

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-10422728556001249302008-07-02T17:08:00.009+12:002009-01-04T16:33:43.177+13:00

I've been doing a little reading about apocalypse movies in advance of next week's exhibition, The Swarm. Whether it's attacking insects, tomatoes, tidal waves or aliens, according to a text by Kim Newman, most of these films are a symptom of anxiety about the bomb. As Newman puts it The China Syndrome (1979) "takes its title from the facetious term for what would theoretically happen if a

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-44372679987109142532008-07-01T11:44:00.009+12:002009-01-05T16:51:49.948+13:00

Once more following the lead of overthenet, currently at large and posting art missives from around the world, I decided to hunt out some Richard Serra works and see how his iconic structures bare up to the harsh truth of the satellite eye. For starters HERE is the work overthenet have just cycled through (cheers for the plug M&J).Also in Germany, Bramme for the Ruhr District in Essen shows up as

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-56406733776172942962008-06-20T09:03:00.007+12:002009-01-04T17:39:09.189+13:00

The Auckland Art Gallery's Outpost blog has just posted some great images of their George Rickey (1907-2002) Double L kinetic sculpture being put into storage for the duration of the gallery's lengthy redevelopment. Outpost also notes a couple of other editions of the same work; one outside the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, which has much better AERIAL IMAGERY (pictured) than its AUCKLAND

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-55219463088270122132008-06-19T10:50:00.008+12:002008-06-20T17:31:37.844+12:00

It passed me by earlier this week, but apparently Firefox staged a download day as an attempt to set a Guinness Record for software downloads. The final count was more than eight million and, at time of writing, the record is being assessed by Guinness.What is especially interesting is, if you look at the interactive map showing which countries downloaded how many copies, it provides a

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-8812718712280470322008-06-12T17:40:00.006+12:002009-01-06T22:27:17.037+13:00

Yesterday I received an email at work about the falling storage in New Zealand's hydro lakes and the need to conserve power. You can check the daily status of the lakes here. I thought I'd have a look at the actual lakes...Here is the CLYDE DAM on the Clutha River, forming Lake Dunstan. Notice the historic MINING SITE downstream towards Alexandra. This was one of several controversial hydro

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-61672983835054919032008-06-11T09:29:00.010+12:002009-01-05T17:50:00.695+13:00

Currently on show at Te Tuhi, Pakuranga is Land Wars, an ambitious multi-platform exhibition curated by Emma Bugden, which looks at the ways land is contested in our present age. John Hurrell has reviewed the show on his eyeCONTACT blog.Amongst the usual contemporary range of documented sites and actions, relational projects and moving image footage, there is a set of intentionally old-fashioned

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-8367999159141870672008-06-09T18:03:00.010+12:002009-01-14T11:19:10.186+13:00

A recent post on overthenet had me wondering about just how impressive sculpture parks might look by satellite. There's a bunch of them around and they're specifically set up for big outdoor work.Here's Vigeland Park, as recommended by overthenet. An impressive setting but not much to be SEEN FROM ABOVE.There are two public parks just out of Auckland. Connell's Bay on Waiheke Island; the YELLOW

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-65425899569702281122008-06-06T11:20:00.007+12:002009-01-05T17:41:06.308+13:00

I've been thinking a lot about how I'm using google maps as a ready-made material for curating (art-making?), and therefore wondering about the materiality of this resource. How to consider the surface and is there a way to punch through it; to rupture the material? More on that later, but here's a strange IMAGE-HOLE I've found just off the coast of San Diego. Kind of like a portal of some sort.

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-31871493428701561252008-06-06T10:50:00.007+12:002009-01-05T17:44:07.754+13:00

Hard to tell what we're looking at in this strange LIBYAN LANDSCAPE I chanced upon yesterday while admiring the incredible desert patterns just to the east of here. Presumably it's got something to do with oil production as I've just noticed a burn-off happening just over HERE. All very impressive when you realise the scale of these images. A view of the ENTIRE INSTALLATION is comparable to the

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-89018153522014522132008-05-14T10:42:00.009+12:002009-01-05T17:45:21.156+13:00

I have been admiring the good resolution available in London , which now allows you to zoom right in. At the closest resolution, there is a nice analogue grain to the image, which had me thinking about Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 movie Blow-Up. The film has the main protagonist obsessively making photographic enlargements to try and confirm a murder he may have inadvertently documented but the

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-36232573859738690712008-05-01T13:41:00.007+12:002009-01-13T12:28:24.639+13:00

The front page of today's NZ Herald has the interesting story of three activists bursting one of the bubbles that protected the notorious WAIHOPAI SPY BASE near Blenheim and denuding the satellite dish hidden within. It wasn't that long ago that the NZ government denied that it even has such a facility, let alone was using it as part of an international intelligence network shared with other

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-33374990688751961182008-04-24T10:09:00.011+12:002009-01-09T16:33:19.413+13:00

There is an interesting relationship between minimalist sculpture, monuments and memorials, as someone commented to me a few weeks ago. Conventional monuments, through their inherant longevity and ability to outlive their original context (and maker), to some degree inevitably become a consideration of mortality, whether it was the original intention or not. The traditional model is the cenotaph

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-52259879504498436992008-04-11T08:25:00.006+12:002008-06-13T10:35:55.013+12:00

The April/May Art World (Aus/NZ) magazine is out and includes a feature on New York artist Peter Coffin. In discussing his Around, About Expanded Field (Sculpture Silhouette Props) (2007) works, which are MDF silhouettes of famous pieces, from Brancusi to Koons to the Easter Island heads presented with a projection of landscapes taken from a helicopter, he says:"I was interested in

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-83855826337426913722008-04-09T08:26:00.008+12:002008-09-16T11:32:40.846+12:00

Easter IslandUnfortunately this is the best view currently available on google maps.Chichen Itza, Yucatan, MexicoMichael Heizer visitied this ancient Mayan city prior to starting his own "City" project. Again, this is the best view available on google maps. I've heard of government departments and people with privacy issues requesting removal from google maps. I wonder if sites of cultural

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2669157198987919101.post-17729493016913612562008-04-04T19:46:00.004+13:002009-01-14T16:37:52.920+13:00

Here are some classics:Walter De Maria, Lightning FieldMichael Heizer, Double NegativeMichael Heizer, CityNancy Holt, Sun TunnelsRobert Morris, ObservatoryJames Turrell, Roden CraterRobert Smithson, Spiral JettyDonald Judd, Chinati FoundationI'll come back to each of these later on, once things get going, but for now we need some sort of foundation to get the ball rolling. I know, they're mostly

artfromspacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07641175844723908039noreply@blogger.com0