The Zero Island

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 Elugelab, leaving a 2km-wide hole HERE.

"What you have just seen was an awesome turning point in history..."


Image: Ivy Mike makes the cover of Life, found here.

Echoes from the sky

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 amplify listening ability to up to 20 miles. Intended to provide early warning of an aircraft attack, they were soon superceded by faster aircraft and radar. I see there has been talk of resurrecting these and, using new technology, building a counterpart in France - was this ever done?

Portable versions were also developed, including the fearsomely named Japanese War Tuba. There are some great images of the acoustic mirrors here, and more about sound weapons on the Stalker blog here, here and here. As Stalker notes, this kind of weaponry is still quite contemporary and rather scary. But could be fun in the hands of an artist though. I'd love to see (hear) focussed sound being projected from hot air balloons. Thanks to James Pinker, who alerted us to this latest development with rather insidious implications if put in the hands of unscrupulous marketing people. At least the crap cannon has been shown to be an urban myth!

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.