Eight easy pieces for tourists

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 LIBERTY was one of my first pieces of google travel several years ago.

I like a good shadow on google maps to provide an interesting perspective on primarily vertical structures that wouldn't otherwise be too interesting from above. The Thames almost looks like concrete and provides a great surface for sharp shadows, including this great anamorphic rendering of the LONDON EYE.

Responsible for putting the Spanish industrial town of Bilbao squarely on the traveller's map, here's Frank Gehry's GUGGENHEIM.

Originally built as a temporary structure for a world expo, perhaps explaining its daring style, the EIFFEL TOWER was originally hated by Parisians but is still going strong.

Given the usual marginalisation of contemporary art as an activity, I've always been puzzled by is the immense popularity of TATE MODERN, which is one of London's top tourist attractions. How often do the people visiting the Tate engage in the arts when they're at home, and why would they spend the hard-earned holiday time doing something that ordinarily doesn't interest them? Same goes for the LOUVRE, which is the first structure I've found so far that lets you see through a window.

On the Zambezi River on the border between Zambie and Zimbabwe, here is the VICTORIA FALLS, considered the largest waterfall not because of height or width but because it has the largest sheet of falling water.

Around, About Expanded Field

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 re-contextualising the works I represented with the silhouettes as a way to give them a new life. Because these iconic works exist in our memory and are almost weighed down by their history and their iconic status, I decided to represent them as floating shadows..."

Images can be found on his Saatchi Gallery page.

7 Pieces of Pre-modernism

Easter Island

Unfortunately this is the best view currently available on google maps.

Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico

Michael 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 sensitivity have been given similar treatment as this and Easter Island are conspicuous in their absence, particularly with a dramatic improvement of resolution so close by.

Pyramids, Egypt

That's the Sphinx to the lower right. Not ever having physically been here, I was suprised to see the proximity to an urban environment. Can you imagine having these just up the road from you? Perhaps romantically, I always imagined you'd drive for miles to see these. Of course, these were a part of a civilisation and would have been integrated into a community in some way. Finding these, I'm also struck by how indiscriminate google maps can be. I just plugged 'pyramids' into the search and this is the view I was offered with no further explanation or information, just an image to explore. By zooming out in map-view, one can confirm that this is on the outskirts of Al Qahirah, Egypt, and see exactly where it sits in relation to other borders.

Taj Mahal, India
From this view it is the landscaping rather than the architecture, if they can be separated, that impresses.

Stonehenge, England

Having become accustomed to major landmarks having substantial tourist industries built around them, the first time I drove past this I was surprised to encounter it almost by chance with very little fanfare.

Maungawhau Crater, Auckland, New Zealand

This is primarily a natural landmark but you can also clearly still see traces of the Maori occupation of this site. The natural parabolic qualities of Mt Eden (Maungawhau)'s crater have been exploited in performances by Phil Dadson, but that is another strand of art geography that we will come back to later.

Circular field, Africa

Strongly resembling a crop circle but more likely just a nice, circular piece of mowing. I'm getting a bit off-topic now but the crop circle thing is definitely something we'll return to.